BrokenPromise

Can't upload animated gifs? (Solved)

@Light the Dark@LegendBegins This indeed will work for my purposes. And it seems like APNG is a much smaller file size than GIF, so it's a win all around.

I guess this is solved unless APNG format breaks down the road. Thanks guys!

Symphony on High

@Ponn@ERode@Vertigo

When a fire is extinguished and the arsonist is executed, few people search for the match that started it. Finn was too fast to be stopped by anyone, and nobody wanted to stop him. Ashley and Estelle were too busy dealing with the aftermath, Magical Dream Princess was just waking up from her trance, Pink Pounder didn’t care unless he got too close, and the dragon seemed more interested in what was happening inside than the boy fleeing. Finn might have gotten a few judgmental glances, but the only people that could feel the weight of his sins was himself.

The Pink Pounder gave Ashley a thumbs up, even as the blood of several gang members dripped off of his crooked sword. Violet, however, did not react to Ashley’s praise. As soon as her eyes were open, she stood up and looked inside the building. She skipped her way over to the window and jumped inside. Pink Pounder was about to follow her, but she raised a finger, signaling him to stop. The wizards all seemed to be relieved by this.

Ciri’s outburst seemed to be ignored by most, save for the Pink Pounder. He spun on his heel and shouted at her. “LEAVE MAGICAL DREAM PRINCESS OUT OF THIS!” His body quivered with rage. Every square inch of him was splattered with blood, save for his pristine shield.

Fritzi listened to Ashley’s report. ”I was anticipating things would go south. Maybe not this far south, but the cleanup detail is en route.” Fritzi was keeping her jovial tone up, but she didn’t hide tired sigh. ”I’ll see if I can get a hold of our runaway tin-can soldier. In the meantime, your mission is not over. These monsters are foxy, and it’s very possible that Timekeeper’s curse wasn’t placed on him by Dante directly. We know he employs succubus as waitresses. Finish your investigation before returning to HQ. It would be a shame if the only thing we managed to do was create a power vacuum with all this.” Then a bit quieter, Fritzi grumbled. ”Why was he so packed? Monsters don’t even like to be out in the middle of the day.” Then Fritzi spoke up. ”You’re going to write a detailed report when you get back. Can I get you anything else, ma’am?”

During the entire bar brawl, one corner of the bar had always had exactly one cowboy, dryad, and wizard. Despite belonging to vastly different gangs, they all sat together without fighting. The only time they did anything was when the wizard raised a magic shield to absorb the blast of a fireball. They had been watching Ashley, but their eyes turned to one of the broken windows. A man with a dragon head and a tuxedo was standing just outside.

”Boteg you old dog!” The cowboy slapped his knee. ”We was waitin’ to play cards with ya!”

”Were you dumpster diving again?” The dryad placed her hands on her hips. The feathers on the back of her neck raised when he looked at her.

”Thinkin’ we’ll need to find a new joint. Don’t suppose a burning building is a great place to play.”

But the dragon, Boteg, only gave them a glance. He seemed far more interested in the grieving girl.

Amanda did not react when Estelle initially embraced her. Dante’s daughter hid her face behind her arm and cried into her father’s remains. But as she calmed down, she noticed who was hugging her so tenderly. She shrieked and pushed out of Estelle's grasp, before using her feet to push herself into a corner. Her arms were still clutching what remained of Dante, and her face was as red as a cherry. Even if she wanted to be comforted, only a fool would let an esper, and especially a gemini esper, touch you. Nothing was stopping them from blowing you up with a melody, or worse, robbing you of all your energy so that they could drag your tired corpse to one of their experimental labs. Though Amanda seemed content with this setup. A little bit of personal space, with Estelle kneeling just a few feet outside of it. When there was a break in the sobs, she surveyed the room. Then she looked back at Estelle.

”Where is he?”

---

@Majoraa

Finn could run, that was something he was really good at. How many times had he just taken to the streets in no direction at all? How many times had it helped? The answers to both of these questions were very different.

But the bigger issue was that Pax Septimus was just not a safe place for espers to just run around. Even if one could ignore the looming presence of the Hand, espers were just sort of destined to run into each other. Sometimes they were friendly, sometimes they weren’t.

That oni girl looked like she was running from something. Or chasing something. Maybe whatever she was hunting was still around, and Finn… Just so happened to run into something.

He fell backwards, a piece of buttered toast was laying on his chest. And before him stood…

"Problem?"

— Oros the Mad

Oros groaned. "Oh come on! I’m supposed to run into someone important with that trick!" She reached for the slice of toast and pulled it off of Finn. "Shit, and of course it lands butter side down. Could you do me a favor and run a lint roller over yourself every so often? Is this barbecue sauce or cowboy blood?" She took a bite. "Cowboy blood… I guess you’re forgiven." She continued to talk while chewing her food. "Are you alright? You look like you just did something very ‘you’ a few seconds ago. I’m kind of running late, but you’re dating Betty, so I can spare a moment for you Romeo." She took another bite. "Befides, if profifly hifafious!"

Even if Finn felt and looked like he was on the verge of screaming, he was still able to shoot the one esper he was wanting to avoid a quick glare. At this point it was expected of his luck to force them to literally run into each other. So it was some damn miracle Oros was willing to spare him cause of… Betty? That’s twice now the Mad had brought her up in relation to him, what was so important about her to this woman? And he and Betty hadn’t even had their first date yet!! His expression soon broke into a frown, his bottom lip quivering. God no, he can’t break down crying, not here, and not in front of Oros of all people. But yet once he could manage to speak, he could stop his voice from trembling.

_{”...W-What’s wrong with me…?”}

---

@Kero

Noah Anderson had only recently become an Esper, and only very recently became a freelancer. She had been enjoying the sights that Pax Septimus had to offer. The historic district was the city’s single biggest draw, but there were plenty of eateries and parks to visit as well.

It was just a shame she didn’t get to see it all before the diver showed up in town.

It was a colossal monster that was spoken of in hushed whispers, and the reason some parts of the city were still off the grid. Only recently, Noah’s room had working power again. It wasn’t uncommon to see volunteers distributing food and water to the recently homeless, and repairs had only just started on many buildings. It made for an unusual tourist experience, but at least her new side hustle would be getting some action.

But what to do? As a Freelancer, all Noah had to do was open her Shimr app and ask where she should get started. Several espers said that the “Great Escape” was a nice place to start. The Bate Twins regularly appear there and it’s the largest hangout for freelance espers in the city. It has a humble hometown feel, they serve breakfast at every hour, and the orange juice is good. Raphael the Righteous Hearted had also been spotted there a few times. Some of the app’s users noted that Noah looked like a nun, and thought that it might be worth seeking someone who worked directly for the pope. Though many more users said that he was more likely to be found visiting the local churches, if not assisting with the distribution of supplies to the hopeless. In mere seconds, an esper had taken a picture of Raphael doing just that. He was at an intersection on Fifteenth Street ensuring everything was in order.

The good thing about being a Freelancer is you usually had choices, but that was also the issue. Noah had to decide if they were going to try and catch up with Raphael or meet up with other freelancers in the Great Escape.

Of course, just walking around was also an option. There was a rumor that espers who wandered were destined to run into another esper, if not a monster. Then again, this city was plagued by horror worshiping cultists, a weretiger mafia, among many other unsavory sorts. So just “walking around” was ill advised. However, it could prove to make for a very interesting event.

---

"I feel popular."

— Mika Fang

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

"I see." Mika hated to admit it, but the burning guy was kind of cool. A little rough around the edges and not a subtle sort, but definitely someone who rose to the occasion regardless of how insurmountable it seemed. His line about making things work sounded similar to something her mother might have said, except in perfect english. He’d probably survive a total of three operations. That was how many her mother had survived in Pax Septimus. "Let’s keep our eyes open. Trap or not, there should be some clues."

It was a shame they hadn’t managed to kill a single one of those nuns. But their presence here told her something. Lenore had been working with Justin von Carnage, and he had been working for the hand. Oros was not working with the Hand. In fact, she had given Ashley some information regarding the Diver before that operation. Moreover, Sovereign was working with Oros, and she refused to hand Mika over to Lenore even though she had a perfect opportunity to. This could have been an act to earn favor with GEMINI, but-

Oh great, Sovereign was speaking to her.

As Mika had predicted, one of the first things the money obsessed esper did was tease her because she tried to save Sovereign’s life. At least she seemed appreciative of the gesture, even offering her a “request” in the future. Mika was about to thank her for the offer, and be glad the verbose esper had decided to keep things short for once. But then she went on to add that she thought Mika should leave GEMINI when she gets tired of being “bossed around” and should “join up with her” along with other things that sounded like a joke. But when it was time to laugh, Sovereign didn’t.

This girl…

"Are you okay?" Mika raised an eyebrow. "I just want to kill as many monsters as I can before I die. I do not think you are going to help me do that from what I have seen." Sovereign’s performance was rather lackluster. She had killed a few of the construction workers, but it almost felt like she was holding back. Like she wasn’t willing to put in as much effort as everyone else. She was fortunate that Mika found her too irritating to yell at. Otherwise, she would have been much more vocal about her poor performance. But they still had a job to do. Sovereign was a hard one to judge. She was reckless, so her number should be up in an operation or two. But it was weird. Mika got the impression she was being catty. It was possible she could outlive everyone here.

But all of that left her head when Marrie brought up her partner. With a groan, she hopped down from the balcony and walked towards Angelie’s severed head. "No." She said with a sigh. "Dead is dead." She lifted the head up while trying not to look at the stump. Though she inadvertently got a glimpse and noticed it had all been charred black. That smoke nun must have struck her with a melody once Lenore transplaced with her. Again, she lamented the fact that they hadn’t killed a single nun. Angelie might have been annoying, but all of the other agents had been fine sending Mika on an operation without any backup. She would have expected Ashley to be fine with it, but even Estelle and “that cute boy” were fine with placing one of their own in the hands of strangers. She really was alone now. Though maybe that was for the best. Maybe there was some merit to what Sovereign had said. It was every esper for themselves, and the ones that didn’t think that way ended up like Angelie and her mother. That was how she knew Marrie was only going to survive two more operations, and Justin would be lucky if he survived one. How he survived this one was a miracle.

Well, that was a lot of crap Mika really didn’t want to think about until she got back.

Mika placed Angelie’s head with her body, then turned to everyone present. "Oros didn’t hire those nuns. Let’s keep looking and see if we find something." And with that, she headed to the back of the church to inspect the cathedral. It looked like there was a podium with a script on it.

Symphony on High

@Kero This was accepted months ago, and I'm too excited to look it over to see if you did a switcheroo on me. You didn't do a switcharoo on me, did you? Either way, have her take a pilgrimage to the character tab.

Symphony on High

Hey hey people, GM update here.

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”

― Theodore Roosevelt, gigachad

While operations are still going, the fighty part is over(?), so you can start working on your esper’s upgrades. Pyramid level up system, one silver becomes gold, can’t be a supplemental glamor, you’ve all done this before.Oh! But one change. I’m not going to force anyone to post their updates on the forum. You can send Majoraa or I a PM/DM and we’ll weigh in on it and get back to you with a yay or nay. That’s probably easiest for everyone. Of course I won’t stop anyone from slapping their updated glamors in the OOC. You do you, rockstar.

Speaking of supplemental glamorous, You guys can talk amongst yourselves and make a bronze glamor with an esper you feel your character connected with. I think I gave everyone the go ahead at the start of the operation, but there wasn’t much time to review anything. At least the nuns got theirs done on time. Anyway, we’re announcing it plenty early this time. So go use the power of friendship and stuff.

Also, some of the espers have performed well enough to upgrade their PR, but I’ll cover that once the operation officially ends. Along with patch notes, though there’s not a whole lot happening in that department.

Anywho, it’s going to be a few weeks before freetime officially starts, so feel free to have your espers do esper stuff. I’m not going to patronize you, I know you fellas know how to RP.

Mahou Shoujo No 30 Dai- a spoof rp!

@Villamvihar I think we're all waiting on the GM. But since their last post was about a month ago and the last player post was about two weeks ago... It's looking like we all belong to Sienna's coffins.

I don't mind, they're kinda cozy.

Can't upload animated gifs? (Solved)

@LegendBegins A'ight. Thanks for letting me know.

Can't upload animated gifs? (Solved)

Nope! Just started trying it today. I would like to clarify that the images aren't turning into static ones, it's just outright refusing to upload them and throws up an "unsupported file type" error.

Can't upload animated gifs? (Solved)

I've started using RPG's image host because...There aren't a whole lot of reliable options.

It works great, but I've noticed that I can't upload animated banners with a .gif extension, even though non-animated gif files work. The files are under the 2 MB limit, so I know that isn't the issue.

Is there something I'm missing?

Symphony on High

@Vertigo

Joshua was having a pretty interesting day.

He had really just come here for a few days to visit his family, and was using the hotel because his parents didn’t have enough room in their house to accommodate him. In truth, he didn’t like to move around very much, and would have preferred to stay home. But he did genuinely care about his parents well being, even if it was kind of a hassle to hire a ‘figurine sitter’ to protect his collection when he was away for an extended period of time. Not only that, but Pax Septimus had some pretty high crime rates and was experiencing all kinds of weird weather phenomena. Though that was also why he was here. He planned to help them a bit and return home. It was just a shame there weren’t any stores around that catered to his very specific tastes.

Then some totally hot oni cosplayer jumped through his window, along with someone in a bigfoot costume. She flashed him a pretty disgusted look, which just made him more curious. Her outfit looked well made, and the beauty wearing it was very in character. He couldn’t tell if she was a tsundere, dominatrix, or something else. The situation was a little strange, and he figured it was best to not give chase. The guy in the bigfoot suit was probably her boyfriend, and if she was single, she might have just been a very well dressed thug. He sighed, thankful for the chance encounter, and prepared to boot his favorite website for looking at scantily clad anime girls.

Then someone fired a shotgun.

This was very confusing. The oni girl didn’t look like she could conceal a sawed off. It seemed inconceivable that a fight had broken out on his floor, but then again, how often do really cute cosplayers run through your room? Maybe something happened to her, and he could be the one who saved her. Only when he rushed to the door to open it again, his punk oni princess dove on top of him, just in time to avoid the buck shot.

Was this real, or fantasy?

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy how assertive she was. This was the closest a woman had ever been to him, and he could feel the warmth from her finger as she shoved it into his nose. She smelled nice too. But more importantly, she needed his help. So as soon as she got up, Joshua screamed. It was shrill, unmanly, and drained his dignity faster than it did his lungs. His eyes darted between the empty doorway and the Oni gir- Hey, where did she go?

Thensomeone in pillaged military gear stepped in the doorway and aimed their gun inside the room. It was at this point that Josua wondered why he was asked to scream like that. Surely, if this soldier person was hunting them, wouldn’t they have naturally come into the room anyway, him screaming or not? Well, he wasn’t going to stop screaming anyway. His eyes darted to where the cute oni girl was last seen, and then back at the soldier. He must have been pissing them off, because it looked like they were going to shoot him.

Then a bolt of darkness slammed into the side of the soldier’s head. It looked powerful. He fully expected the soldier’s head to explode. It certainly looked like it might with the helmet fragments flying everywhere, but there was no blood. Only lots and lots of cyan hair swirling in the air. It eventually came to rest on the soldiers' back. Though their face didn’t look like it belonged to a soldier. Aside from their aqua colored hair, they were wearing a gas mask that had glowing yellow rods sticking out of it and… Holy shit, was this a girl too?! It was hard to tell with the mask, but the face shape did look kind of feminine.

The soldier/gasmask girl pointed her shotgun down the hall, only for a shadow creature to barrel into her back and shove her out of the way. There were a few more shotgun blasts, some sounds that he couldn’t comprehend, and then…

Joshua looked out the window. It looked like the three of them had left the hotel and were running through the street. Well, the soldier girl and the shadow thing was running, but the oni was sitting on the shadow creature’s shoulder.

This was the best day of his life.



@Ponn@Majoraa@ERode

Just the Shadow Wizard Money Gang and Dante now.

The wizard “holding Estelle at gunpoint” didn’t exactly look relieved. While still holding the gun at Estelle, he looked to the pile of dead bodies by the door, the window that Ashley “opened” to let plenty of fresh air in, and the flames that were being fed by all that fresh air. It wasn’t clear if Estelle was mistaken or just making a threat, but the wizard pulled his gun off of Estelle and started to walk around the Diner. The flames around him faded and went out, as if there was some oxygen deprivation bubble around him that was suffocating the flames.

The one holding onto the school girl drew his gun as soon as Ashley’s magic flared up, but he didn’t point his gun at anyone. It took a moment for the words to sink in. He looked back at his homies. Two of them were out cold, with the third pacing around like some fire sweeping roomba. With a nod, he gave the school girl a push. With a groan, she stumbled into Ashley’s arms. ”A’ight.” He pointed at the window with his finger. ”I ain’t goin out there with no pink nutjob though.”

Which left Dante, Finn, and his hallucinations.

Their arena was no longer the entire Diner, just the small space behind the counter. At one side was the world’s second largest man holding a hammer, and at the other was a small child with a chainsaw that barely had an effect, and magic that had no observable effect. A wall of sand against a firefly, and that was without considering the impossibly large demon lunging for Finn.

Finn looked for something to use, anything at all.

He found something.

Maybe he found something.

He just needed time.

And that was when Estelle swung her Dai-Katana. While she could feel the presence of the massive demon, it was a creature that only existed in Finn’s imagination. And a child’s imagination is a very powerful thing. The demon’s body split, not because Estelle cut it, but because it wished to avoid the incoming attack. As soon as her blade was free, the demon slammed back together and surged forth. Dante on the other hand was struck by the sword. The swirling barrier around the sword did more to disperse his body than the chainsword could. In fact, Dante was half spun by the attack, and was turned to face Estelle in the process. While he spun, one of his hands flew up and tossed a handful of sand at Estelle. After being burned, the sand hardly bothered her at all. But now she could see a second demon, one that more closely captured something she was afraid of. What did Estelle see?

Finn was not going to waste the opportunity afforded to him. He became quick, and immediately rushed to fling as many burning drinks at Dante as he could. The first one soared over Dante’s head, but the second one hit him square in the chest. He roared, as the flames hit his gut into glass, which fell to the ground and shattered. If these were normal flames, Dante might not have been affected by them. But they were arcane and devastating in nature. Momentary exposure was enough to do serious damage to him. Dante could not reassemble his body due to the curse Finn’s sword inflicted on him. Neither demon could protect him, as Finn and Estelle’s imaginations were incapable of affecting the real world. The next bottle turned his shoulder to glass, then he stumbled backwards into the flames and his leg turned to glass. Each new molotov he was struck with, his body would harden and shatter. His hammer fell out of his hands. Before long, he was just a torso and a head.

”Amanda! Ruuuu-

The last molotov struck Dante’s head, turning what remained of him into a glass sculpture. Half of his mustache cracked and fell off.

The demons disappeared instantly. There were no more hostiles, the battle was over.

Right?

What remained of Dante was parked directly in front of the doorway to out back, where he had been trying to keep the school girls and Finn out of. But now someone was emerging from the confines of the darkened room. It appeared to be a teenage girl, who couldn’t have been much older than Finn. She was wearing a few unusual accessories. She had a bluetooth headset on. It looked very space age, and had to be something designed for gamers if the boom mic was anything to go by. She had a long white shirt that came down to her knees, and it had a picture of a controller on it. She was also wearing a wrist computer, and a choker that had lights to show how strong the area’s wi-fi signal was.

Her gaze was fixed on the glass sculpture in front of her. Wide eyed, mouth agape, she sank to her knees beside the glass bust and wrapped her arms around its neck.

”Dad!”

She called to the glass sculpture several times, her voice cracking more and more every time. Finally she was sobbing too hard for her words to be understood.

Estelle could sense one more chaotic entity in the vicinity, and it was that girl grieving over her father.

---

@Vertigo!?!?!?

Viper dove out the window, and Ciri followed her on the back of her friend. There was a point where it looked like Viper might have been chasing the gold dragon, but she ducked into one of the side streets and disappeared mid chase. The dragon was running into Maverick territory, and Viper wisely chose to keep her head down.

That shadow bolt should have knocked her head clean off. It certainly should have done more than just shatter her helmet. But it wasn’t uncommon for some espers to have special forms of defense against possibly life-ending attacks. It was difficult to determine the exact nature of Viper’s defenses with just one attack. For good or for ill, it didn’t seem like Ciri would get the chance to experiment further.

But the dragon was in view now, at least. They just needed to make sure he didn’t take to the sky. While there were wider streets that might be better suited to the dragon, it didn’t seem like it was pursuing them. Instead, it stuck to the backstreets. Maybe it felt it would have a better chance losing them in the narrow passages of the city. Or…

The trio had arrived at what looked to be a run down diner. Standing just outside was a girl in a pretty pink dress, a knight in pink, and now the dragon man. He had stopped running, and cast his eyes inside the smoldering building.

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Expensive melodies were always a gamble. Sometimes they did what you wanted, sometimes they didn’t, and sometimes the results were greater than what you anticipated. Regardless of the outcome, it was always unexpected.

Lenore was already upon Marrie, hacking away at her. It almost felt like she was being played with. Several times, Lenore’s blade would make a shallow cut in her cheek, or swing through her ethereal skirt. Having your back to anything put you in a pretty bad spot. IT was fortunate that a melody only need a second or so to prepare.

Marrie could hold her weapon however she wanted, but anyone with experience with the paranormal, especially an esper, was going to know when a spell or melody was being prepared. Even something as swift as a projectile had tells that someone like Lenore could pick up on. What Lenore couldn’t pick up on was the nature of the melody, which would prove to be critical.

She had hopped backwards in preparation for what was coming, and raised her blade. But a sword was ill suited for protecting against a flurry of ice shards. Briefly, her eyes went wide and she attempted to roll out of the way. Her blade managed to cut through a few of them, but one of the shards found its mark in her ankle and severed her foot. With a groan, she rolled to her knee, just in time to raise her blade and meet Marrie’s Apexer.

After deflecting Marrie’s follow up attack, she fished a cigar out of a pocket and chomped down on it. The cigar immediately burned into ash, and a cloud of smoke connected her ankle to her foot. In no time at all, her foot and leg were one again. She stood back up with a grin.

”Not too shabby! Think you can do that again?” Her body surged with blacklight, her sword poised to strike, and then she disappeared in a spray of black particles. As the darklight faded, Angelie’s head fell out of the light and landed where Lenore had been standing.

Further down, Himiko rolled out of the way of incoming napalm and stood back up. The stabilizing cat that plugged her wounds did enable her to move like normal, but a single shot was all it would take to undo the melody. Not that Himiko had any sense of self preservation. It was her mana supply that she was primarily concerned with.

What is the definition of insanity? Himiko fired at her unseen adversaries, and it was unclear if she hit any of them. She couldn’t see it, but they turned their guns on her and were prepared to fire. However, not all of the variables were the same this time. Much like the rest of the freelancers, the construction workers had been ignoring the little duel between Marrie and Lenore. As such, they were woefully unaware of the guided ice shards flying in their direction. They were both struck down, as one lost his head while another was punched straight threw the chest. They both sunk to the ground without firing a single shot. Some of them even entered the fog where Nova was hiding. It was inconclusive if any of them hit, but everyone could hear her mumble an ”Aw shiiiiiiit!” from inside the smoke.

"If I had a nickel for every time I was disappointed…"

— Mika Fang

Justin had already exhausted enough burning wordplay on Bobo that Mika didn’t feel the need to mentally add any more. Yes, “flame off” had to be the lamest thing she had heard all fight. She wanted to be done with these nuns.

The air sparked in front of Bobo. Of course she was just going to notice it and jump over it, what was Justin expecting to accomplish with-

Suddenly, outta nowhere, Asher just up and teleported onto the burning bunny nun and tackled her out the open window. Normally grabbing onto anything that was on fire was a bad idea, but would that have been cool? Could Asher look at himself in the mirror if he let some scalding napalm get between him and a cool stunt? Was he going to totally wuss out and try to shield himself?

No.

Fuckin’.

Way!

”You imbecile!” Was all Bobo got out before the two of them tumbled out the window. Though part way through their decent, Bobo’s body started to fall slower. Asher was dangling from Bobo’s mace swinging arm, all while the napalm on her uniform tried to eat through his fingers. ”Let go of me, jackass!” It was a bit of a stalemate. Asher couldn’t get a hold of Bobo’s other arm, and Bobo couldn’t aim straight with Asher trying to wrench her mace out of her hand. Blobs of napalm flew past Asher and scorched the earth beneath them. Eventually, she channeled a force into her mace that shoved Asher away. By that point he was close enough to the ground to make a graceful landing. Bobo pointed her flamethrower at Asher, but a beckoning cat sprouted up between them. ”I hate you!”

Behind her, Nova and Lenore ran out of the smoke barrier that blocked the front door. ”Come on, Bobo. Let’s get out of here.” Lenore waved her hand. ”One out of two ain’t bad, and we’re fresh out of support. We’ll have Lexi with us next time.”

Bobo seethed, staring directly at Asher through the transparent spirit cat. A wall of smoke erupted behind her courtesy of Nova. She pointed into her eyes, then pointed at Asher, before vanishing behind the smokey veil.

Mika was leaning against the edge of the window frame, observing Asher from above. He was kind of annoying, loud, and everything Fritzi had cautioned her about freelancers.But when the chips were down, he had taken the operation seriously.

"I… Didn’t think that was going to work." She raised an eyebrow. "Did you need any help putting out your fingers?"

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Did you say...anything?”

— Suki Oyama

"You don’t like your new nickname?” Nyxia’s response was what could be expected. Oros let out a heartfelt chuckle in response. "As a light girl, you get stronger by performing virtues.” She explained. "Helping old ladies across the street makes you stronger than slaying Miseria does. We’re not light girls, but I think it’s worth experimenting with!”

The window behind Oros opened up, and Earthshaker delivered her own idea. This caused Oros to erupt into laughter.

"Bedshaker thinks it’s a good idea! I can see it now, you and I in the front seats, holding hands, growing in power as we watch a show!” She sighed. "But if Bedshaker thinks it’s a good idea, it probably…” She paused to think of a way to explain it. "Really fucking sucks. I mean, I only have two tickets, so I couldn’t invite them. Which means that Boss Baby is going to have to buy a ticket for one of her yes girls who can spy on us and relay our actions to Bedshaker. And honestly? I don’t think I could relax in an environment like that. But as bad as that idea is, it’s gotta be more productive than these pointless get-togethers. My time’s more valuable than that, and I think yours is too.” She saluted Nyxia. ”Let’s revisit the theater idea tomorrow and see if we’ve changed our minds. My condolences with all the bullshit Bedshaker wants to do with you.”

And with that, Oros walked off.

Strangely, Tsubomi hadn’t shown up, despite the two being nearly inseparable during the day. Had something happened?

Yes, a few days ago.

…

…

…

”What happened Tsubomi? I thought I was the toesucker to your emu-yah?”

"Study finds depression hits losers the hardest."

A dangerous foe had issued the Detention Club a challenge. A wise magical girl would spend their time training up until the day of the challenge, not wasting a second on leisure or unproductive activities. Momentarily abstaining from pleasure to ensure one’s survival. But that day was so far away. Surely one night at the arcade wouldn’t have that big of an impact on their future?

Suki was used to getting to places before Tsubomi. The girl had no energy to do anything, and was only motivated by cold, unfeeling objectives. There was no reason to expect her to appear any earlier than she had to. Suki on the other hand was excited about the occasion. She didn’t usually do “extra” stuff very often, but she decided to put on some black lipstick and wear her double jolly rodger tube top with her fishnet today. Not only that, but she had arrived at the arcade a full half hour early. She hummed a tune, occasionally checking her phone. Suki’s heels bounced in anticipation of her friend’s arrival.

***

There she is… Kate Carson thought to herself as she observed the goth girl’s excited bouncing through her camera’s viewfinder. And it looks like she’s already living up to her name…

As she preferred to go unnoticed by her unwitting subjects, a preference that went triple for this particular individual, the diminutive photographer had chosen to hide herself in a darkened corner of the arcade and surreptitiously photograph Suki while peeking around the corner of an ancient Lunar Lander machine. Triple checking to ensure her flash was off, Kate focused on the perky goth, pressed down on the shutter button, and then…

***

Was it fear? Maybe a little. Apprehension? Some people might not realize that was even an emotion, but it was a bit more accurate than fear. Maybe she was just giddy, but whatever Kate may have been feeling, it was in enough supply to have caught Tsubomi's attention from far away. Enough variety that she wanted to get closer to drink it all in. Fortunately or not, the place she ended up was the arcade she was supposed to be at in twenty-ish minutes. She looked on from behind Kate as she watched the photographer line up a shot of… Suki? She tapped the girl on her shoulder.

“Gah!” Kate yelped in shock, before whirling around to face Tsubomi. “W-Where the heck did you come from?!”

Though before Tsubomi could respond, it seemed that she had received a voice message from Suki. More specifically, it was Oros the Joyful’s number.

”...” No response. Neither to Kate’s question, nor to the phone beeping at her. Several seconds later and Tsubomi finally reacted, slowly pulling out her phone to listen to the message, a blank look on her face. As it began to play, she spoke. ”Behind you.”

“Wha…?” Kate began, whipping her head around to see if Suki had moved, before turning to look back at Tsubomi when she realized the perky goth was still bouncing in place. “Wait… You mean you’ve been hiding back here this whole time?” the photographer asked, her voice and visage filled with confusion.

Kate wouldn’t see it, but as soon as she looked away, Tsubomi could see Suki stand up and walk out of view. Then her voice poured through the phone.

”Hey Rainbow! I’m already at the Yen Dungeon, but I’ve heard some enticing rumors and I wanted to share them with you since this isn’t going to be strictly for playing games.” She giggled. ”Another magical girl came to town, but this time it’s a light girl. She’s a foreign beauty named Kate Carson. She’s a brunette with hair that cradles her head like a helmet. It’s neck length with just a few rebellious strands sticking out here and there. Her eyes look like pretty blue sapphires that glisten like the ocean, with marble white skin that’s free of blemishes. She also wears a red blazer with a white hood, and she’s got a black undershirt that’s cut just low enough for her collar bones to peek out of. She’s sixteen, but looks younger because she’s on the short side and is as flat as you are. Oh but Rainbow, when she transforms, she’sinapristinewhiteweddingdressandicantevenqueeeeeeeeeee ~” At this part of the call Tsubomi would be forgiven if she thought a pig had decided to squeal into Oros’s phone. ”And the best part? She’s a photographer, and she’s planning on taking a picture of me! Even though she’s a light girl and a little shy, I guess she has a perverted side, so she takes pictures of girls she likes. I have it on good authority that she’s going to try and take a picture of me at the Yen Dungeon. She simply can’t leave without that photo. In fact, she’s so into the photography thing that she has a custom camera for it. I think it’s ‘Nickin’ this’ brand or something? Point is, Rainbow, this could be my big chance! So if you see a girl with that description, just call me.” The phone beeped again. Apparently Oros sent out another message while Tsubomi was listening to this one. ”Oh! I got a better idea! I just saw Mr Shen leave the Yen Dungeon. I’m going to sneak out back and look at everything through the surveillance system. If you see her enter the arcade, just stall her and I’ll give her the ol’ Oros the Joyful greeting!”

The message ended. While a voice asked if Tsubomi wanted to save or delete the messages, a camera’s eclectic motor hummed as it looked straight at their positions.

With each new word of Suki’s message, Kate’s eyes had widened ever larger and her “marble white skin” had grown increasingly paler, even as her body began to shudder in horror. It was fairly obvious to see that the photographer was screaming internally, yet, it only took a few seconds for her demeanor to shift from frantic horror to weary resignation.

“Alright, fine,” Kate sighed. “Let’s just get this over with. But just to clarify,” she added. “I’m not a ‘light girl’, or a pervert. I’m just an ordinary freelance photographer who was hired to take a picture. That’s all. So don’t get any crazy ideas, okay?”

As Kate began explaining her totally not a pervert status, Tsubomi finally registered the message. She clicked to save it, and lazily looked back up from her phone to look at Kate. ”Okay.”
Several seconds passed. ”Who hired you? Why do they want a picture?” If Suki was in potential danger, then Tsubomi had to know about it, even if she didn’t seem very interested. Her partner’s safety wasn’t enough to make her act, but it was enough to make her want to be careful in her own strange way.

“I was hired by my friend, Nikki,” Kate replied, sounding almost as tired and done with life as Tsubomi did. “She’s a fan of magical girls, and Suki caught her attention,” she explained, hoping it would be sufficient to mollify this strange girl’s concerns.

And speaking of concerns, what little peace that may have existed within the arcade vanished as both girls could hear someone taking slow, labored breaths. Oros the Joyful peaked out from behind an arcade machine the two were “hiding” behind with a giant smile. Even the folks at Glasgow couldn’t smile like that. She stepped totally into view and looked down at Kate as if she was desert after an especially decadent meal.

”Ah! I see you overheard my conversation. That wasn’t really meant for you, I just talk to my friends in a particular way.” She poked her chest with all of her fingers. ”I’m the one you’re looking for. I had no idea I had a secret admirer. Do you think Nikki would like to meet me? Maybe if you brought me back with you and were like ‘I got you a picture, but look what else I got?’ And then I could pop out of her birthday cake and she’d cry tears of joy.”

Kate couldn’t help but cringe at Oros the Joyful’s sudden appearance, but she still managed to retain most of her composure.

“Well, first off, Nikki’s kinda socially awkward,” the photographer explained, holding up a finger for emphasis. “And second,” she added, holding up another finger. “She can get extremely violent, so I don’t really think havin’ ya show up to surprise her would be a particularly good idea.”

”In other words, she’s the opposite of you.” Oros spread her hands and stepped closer to Kate. ”Which is just as well! Honestly, I have a hard time picturing someone much cuter than you are! What I was told does not compare to what I see. Oh, I actually feel inspired.” She cleared her throat. ”Your hair is like my morning coffee: It’s dark in color, has a nice aroma, and I can’t wait to press my lips against it!”

Tsubomi, for her part, stood almost as still as a statue as Suki appeared and began her barely-restrained activities. It was lucky that Suki wasn’t doing as bad as she normally did, or someone might have called mall security. As the other girl began to give her compliments, Tsubomi put her phone away. ”No haiku, this time.”

Kate visibly recoiled when Oros started talking about kissing her hair. “Uh, t-that’s a nice, um, poem…?” the photographer replied with a nervous chuckle. “But I’m not really into girls that way, so, uh, I think whoever told you about me might’ve had the wrong idea,” she added, holding up her hands in a probably feeble effort to halt Oros’s advance. “S-So, um, I-I’ll just take that picture now and be on my way…”

”Oh you can take as many pictures as you want. But first you’ve gotta transform!” She was starting to pant like a dog. ”It’s not every day we get a new magical girl in town! Least of all one that doesn’t run away as soon as I show up!”

Tsubomi nodded, slowly but surely, in camaraderie with her partner. ”That’s rare.”

“Not like I had much choice…” Kate muttered. “Okay, look, I absolutely hate transforming, but if indulging your sick fetish is the only way I can get a picture, then fine, I’ll do it,” the photographer conceded with a tired sigh. “But first, I want you to promise me you’ll stick to staring. No touching,” she added, holding up a finger for emphasis. “Second, I’m only gonna stay transformed long enough to take the picture, then I’m changin’ right back, so try not to blink.”

”Not even hand holding?!”

“No touching,” Kate reiterated in a flat deadpan.

”B-but I wanted to do some marriage roleplay!” She pouted. ”But okay…”

”... Should Suki get a picture too?”

As quick as it had left, Oros’s smile returned. ”That’s a great idea!” She reached under Tsubomi’s armpits and picked her up like she were a cat. She then swapped places with Tsubomi before setting her back down again. ”Here, you can take a picture with this.” she handed Tsubomi one of her cellphones before looking back at Kate. ”You’d better be smiling when she takes your picture…” She straightened out her posture. ”I guess there’s no reason to hesitate. Show us what you’re made of!”

After sighing and rolling her eyes in exasperation, Kate muttered, “Picture perfect.” There was a swirling of mystical energies, followed by a bright flash. When it faded, the photographer was wearing an overwhelmingly elaborate and comically impractical wedding dress, while her hair had gone from black to blonde, and lengthened to such a degree that it rivaled even Rapunzel’s famous tresses. Looking up at Tsubomi, the blushing bride smiled as best as she could under the circumstances and, once the picture had been taken, she turned to give Suki a weary stare. “You happy now?” she asked, her annoyance clear in her voice.

But Suki wasn’t really in a position to answer Kate. Sure, she was there physically. The blood witch was on her knees with her hands folded together, mouth agape, as if she had just heard the voice of god. Her eyes continued to dilate the longer she looked at Kate. Noises were coming out of Oros’s throat, but they failed to convey anything in a language anyone present could understand. While she babbled, her skin started to change color. Suki’s flesh was so red that it was indistinguishable from her blood soaked dress. The temperature difference between her body and the environment was so great that it caused a fog to form around her. Her jaw swung all the way open and she blasted steam into the air, whistling like a boiling kettle. She disappeared behind a veil of white smoke.

Then, without much warning, Oros’s torso rose out of the smoke. Her shrinking irises were replaced with heart eyes. ”Oh Kate, happy does not even begin to describe it! I thought you were lovely before, but seeing my white princess in uniform Has me all-” Her eyes frantically darted all over Kate. ”Your flaxen hair shimmers like fields of wheat, the luster of your skin is only matched by the gold you wear, And those ribbons…. Gah!” Something in Suki’s nose ruptured, and a pressurized stream of blood shot out of her nose. She sank back to her knees with a blissful smile on her face, even as her blood ran down her face.

”That’s a really good one.” Tsubomi finally said. ”She doesn’t react that way to just anyone.”

“Gah!” Kate yelped as she rapidly crawled backwards after a torrent of blood shot from Suki’s nose with all the force of a pressure hose. “G-Glad you enjoyed it,” she muttered once she’d gotten a safe distance away. “Now, mind if I take that snapshot?” the photographer asked, holding up her much more ornate golden, jewel covered, camera. “I’d ask if you wanted to get cleaned up first, but since you’re a blood witch and all, I think it’s fine if I photograph you as-is,” she added with a wry smirk.

”Sure!” In the next moment, Oros the Joyful looked no worse for wear than she had prior to witnessing Kate’s transformation. ”Just let me do the pose!” And with that, she hopped to her feet and spread her legs. She had one hand on her hip and her other was making a sideways peace sign right beside her eye. It would have looked just like the pose sailor moon uses if it weren’t for the bloody tendrils raised over her head. ”Ta-da!”

Rising to her feet as well, Kate raised her camera, took careful aim, and…

*SNAP!*

“Okay, that should do it,” the photographer declared with an approving nod as she looked over her camera’s display. “Guess I’ll be headin’ out now,” she added, while shifting back to her mundane appearance. “Uh, have fun playin’ games, or whatever.”

”Yea, playin’ games…” The corners of Oros’s lips stretched as she squinted her eyes. ”You know how you’re going to leave and never come back again? I was thinking we should do something a little crazy to remember our fateful encounter.” She started to walk towards Kate.

“What did you have in mind?” Kate asked wearily as she slowly backed away from the blood witch.

”Somehow, I think you already know!” With laughter that could belong to a cherub or an imp, Oros sprinted towards Kate, arms spread, eyes filled with hearts. Her tongue hung out of her mouth like she was a dog that stuck their head out of a moving vehicle.

Eyes going wide in horror, Kate dodged to the side, placing a nearby arcade machine between herself and the slobbering blood witch, before frantically trying to find the best escape route.

”Shitshitshitshitshit!” the photographer swore as she darted between the blocky arcade cabinets, her slight form able to squeeze through gaps impassable for an average-sized person. Yet, for all her “evasive maneuvers”, Oros remained hard on her heels (in more ways than one). “I thought we agreed to no touching!” Kate called behind her as she continued her flight.

”One yes after a thousand nos is still a yes!” Oros chased Kate through the arcade from the ceiling. Bright red spider legs dug into the ceiling and skittered after the photographer like a spider. Suki’s shadow loomed in the corners of Kate’s vision wherever she went.

Kate was about to squeeze between another pair of arcade cabinets when she got stuck. Or more specifically, a bloody tendril coiled around her ankle. The bloodwitch dropped to the ground and touched her fingers together. ”Kate! You’re stuck! I know you’re nervous, but I’m not going to do anything lewd, okay? _{Not right away at least.} I’m just going to pull you out, so don’t struggle too much.” Not that Kate could fight back if she wanted to. And if she could, she’d need to produce something fairly strong to break Oros out of her trance. A second tendril coiled around Kate’s waist and pulled her out from the arcade machines and into Oros’s arms. ”I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to do, okay? So just take a deep breath.” She placed her chin on Kate’s shoulder. ”Nobody wants to hurt you.”

“You’ll forgive me if I call bullshit,” the photographer muttered, even as she tried not to cringe too hard at the blood witch’s close proximity.

”If I end up doing something lewd, it’s going to be because you want it to happen…” With a hop, Oros landed on a seat for a driving game.

“Gah!” Kate yelped as she was abruptly dragged into a game booth. However, although she was still in unnervingly close proximity to Oros (and more precisely, sitting on her lap), the photographer did her best to distract herself by focusing on the racing game’s demo screen.

”...But I’m fine just sitting like this.” Largely because regardless of how repulsive someone found Oros, regardless of their common decency, loyalty to other partners, sexual preference, or anything else that might get in the way, someone touching Oros would eventually become infatuated with her. For a normal human this took a few seconds, but magical girls could resist the effect for much longer. A kiss would speed the process up, but Kate wasn’t struggling, and there was no reason to rush what was Oros’s favorite part of meeting light girls.

”... You said no touching…” Tsubomi, finally reacting to Kate’s comment as she began fleeing a moment ago, spoke aloud as her head lolled towards where Kate was just grabbed from.

”Eh?” Oros looked at Tsubomi out of the corner of her eye. ”I-I mean she did say no touching, b-b-b-b-but she wasn’t very specific! I mean, she was clearly talking about her magical girl form! And I did! I kept my hands to myself! At great harm to myself! Restraining myself always causes nose bleeds!” She pointed at her nose. ”You saw it, right? A-and Kate is free to change her mind. Sitting here with me isn’t so bad, is it, babe?”

“On a scale of one to ten, I’d have to say it’s a negative fifteen,” Kate deadpanned. “And I meant both forms,” she clarified pointedly. “Though I wouldn’t expect you to abide by it either way,” she added with a tired sigh.

Oros nodded. ”Well, I have a feeling we’ll move up to negative ten before long!”

”Suki, you’re cheating.” Tsubomi wasn’t particularly concerned, not that she ever was, but Oros had gotten in trouble with the boss before for doing stuff like this, at least in a public place.

”Cheating?” She raised an eyebrow. ”This girl has no respect for us. If she could take a picture of me without my permission, she’d have done it! Why should I honor a deal made with someone like that?” She hugged Kate tighter. ”It doesn’t sound like this is a surprise for her either. Why don’t I become the freak she thinks I am?”

Suki, Oros, in all her infinite wisdom had decided to try to make an emotional appeal to her apathetic empath of a partner. It took a few seconds for her to process the question, but when she did… ”Boss said to tell Earthshaker when you do this. She’ll get mad at you.”

”Is that right?” There was disbelief in her voice. ”Well, I never cared about what any of them thought…” She looked at Kate. Oros mouthed something that even she couldn’t hear before patting her head. Then her arm moved away and her tendril placed Kate on the ground. Oros looked off into the distance without making eye contact with anyone.

“W-Wha…?” was all Kate could stammer as Oros released her. “Well, that was unexpected…” she mumbled as she brushed herself off. “Uh, thanks for the help,” she told Tsubomi with an awkward smile.

Truthfully, Tsubomi didn’t tend to act compassionate when she wasn’t in her magical form, but for the sake of making sure Suki didn’t do something else she’d get in trouble for, she placed a hand on her shoulder. ”Maybe she’ll stay around for a meal… If you keep your hands off?”

“Y-Yeah, fine,” she conceded. “W-We can hang out some more, and even get some food, just as long as you don’t make it weird.”

”Well, I’m not hungry.” Oros brushed Tsubomi’s hand off of her shoulder before hopping off of the seat. She fished a cigarette out of the same magical place all magical girls seemed to keep their belongings, followed by a zippo lighter that looked like the ace of hearts. While she walked, she slipped the cigarette between her lips and lit it up. She didn’t look back, not even when she pushed her way through the front door.

“Welp, I tried bein’ nice,” Kate said with a shrug as she watched Oros depart. “Not my fault she’s such a fuckin’ pervert…” the photographer added under her breath.

”...” Tsubomi expected Suki to jump at the idea to cook for Kate, but this was fine too. She shrugged, waved at Kate, and followed after her partner.

As soon as Tsubomi got outside, she could see that Oros was leaning against the side of the Yen Dungeon, still holding her cigarette in her mouth. ”You know Tsubomi, there are a finite number of magical girls with pure white dresses. They’re actually quite rare. Rarer still are ones that have wedding dresses. Even more rare than that are ones that decide to stop by Hibusa town. I think Kate’s the only one that’s all three.” She lazily looked at Tsubomi out of the corner of her eye. ”But do you know what’s even more rare than that?” She inhaled her cigarette, hard. The entire thing turned into ash right up to her knuckles. When she spoke, white smoke flowed out of her mouth. ”A partner that won’t try to backstab me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those.”

Tsubomi lazily let her head lilt to the side. ”... You don’t want to cook for her?”

Oros lit up a second cigarette, but paused before inhaling it. "...Oh!” A smile crossed her face, one that was just a little too big. "Yea! I could do that for her! Except... No, no that wouldn't work. Because if she got sick, you'd tell Bedshaker about it and I'd get my shit pushed in. Darn, that would have been fun. It's a shame you're a fuckin' rat huh?”

Tsubomi blinked, taking a few seconds in doing so, before holding up her hand and counting on her fingers. ”... I don’t think the boss said anything about getting someone sick?” After she finished counting, Suki’s words sunk in and she began spinning slowly in place, looking behind herself for a tail. After failing to find one for a few moments, she spoke again. ”Do Mascots eat rats? Ours has been nice lately.”

"If they ate rats, the Detention club would be finished.” Oros growled. "Come on, Tsubomi, take me seriously! You understand why I'm upset, right?” She tapped her cigarette until the ash fell on her shoes. "Why did you have to invoke her name? You could have said anything. You could have told me anything else and I'd have stopped. But you had to bring what they wanted into it. How am I supposed to trust my back to someone who's going to report what I do to the worst possible person, huh?”

”Boss’ orders… It’s not to make shaker happy. Something about…” Tsubomi’s head rolled on her neck until she was looking upwards, deep in what could generously be called “thought.” ”Veal? Something about veals? I don’t know why cows matter to the boss, though…”

"Of course not…” Veal? Oros thought. Was that how Rei referred to all the young super cuties? Not the worst slang term she had ever heard but it was a little demeaning. "But this doesn’t change that you’re holding what someone else wants over what I want.” She sighed. Her shoulders slumped and the cigarette tumbled out of her hand. "I get it though. It hurts, but I get it. I hope you know our relationship isn’t going to be the same after this.” She placed her hand on the door. There was no way Kate was waiting for Tsubomi to come back. She probably used the back exit, at which point she could be anywhere. Her appetite was starting to return, but she’d probably be eating by herself tonight. "If I was thinking I would have stolen her wallet when I had her. Bleh, I always lose my head around the super cuties...” Suki said to herself as she walked around the side of the building.

Once again, something approaching thought came into Tsubomi’s mind. She was still holding Suki’s phone, somehow having not dropped it. Disappointment was pouring off of Tsubomi’s partner, and it was truly a shame that the empath put her own benefit above her partner’s. Still, the boss hadn’t been around for a while, so maybe it was safe to begin disregarding her? The thought that she’d think about it more later came, but she knew better than to bank on that possibility. Maybe Acid Drop would be able to figure something out? She supposed she’d find out eventually. But more immediately, she needed to give Suki back her phone. She began to follow her partner’s path.

When Suki reached the alleyway at the back of the arcade, she would find a strange, golden machine. It was composed of several concentric, slowly spinning circles, arranged in a way that called to mind a gyroscope, with a small, cushioned chair at its center. Standing next to it was Kate, and she appeared to be conversing with what was apparently the machine’s owner, a small dog in comically dapper attire…

“You see,” the dog was saying. “After creating the cross-world conveyance behind me, I suffered quite the catastrophic setback, when what was to be a routine test run sent me spiraling off into the uncharted depths of the multiverse! Hopelessly lost in the infinite infinities, I had begun to despair of ever returning home, but, now, at long last, my path has crossed with a dear friend capable of aiding my own dreadfully deficient efforts! Oh joyous day!”

The spectacle was more than a little beyond Oros’s understanding. She had honestly expected to find nothing back here, at which point she could go home after safely saying she gave it her best effort. Finding Kate again could have been a good thing, but now she was talking with a … Mascot? A Magical Boy? It couldn’t be a Miseria. The tiny dog didn’t neatly fit into any category of magical creature that she had ever seen before. The absurdity of it all caused her to freeze in place. She could hear Tsubomi approaching from behind. Her eyes briefly glanced over her shoulder at her partner before returning to the spectacle in front of her.

Tsubomi got to where she could see the… whatever the hell that was. ”... Oh, one of them won the game.” She glanced from the dog to Kate. ”Do you know each other?” Still listless, she was beginning to at least speak at a normal rate, something rare for her outside of her transformed state.

“Great… Of fucking course you two would follow me back here…” Kate muttered. “Yeah,” the photographer added in a louder voice. “This is Parr,” she introduced, gesturing to the dapper dog. “He’s an old friend.”

Oros looked at Parr, then back at Tsubomi as she walked closer to the dapper hound. Once she was in front of Parr, she squatted down and looked him over. "An old friend, eh?” she folded her arms. "You’re pretty lucky Mr Parr. I only met Kate today and I can tell she’s something special.” She stood back up and rubbed the back of her head. "So um, sorry for earlier.” She nodded at Kate. "It’s just been a rough week, and I was really excited to meet you. If you guys want, I can cook us something. Talking over a meal might make for better ambience than the back of an arcade.” She rubbed the back of her head. "Also, can I pet Parr? Are you cool with pets?”

“Oh, yes,” Parr replied. “Such a kindness would be most appreciated, my dear young lady!” he added, wagging his tail eager anticipation. “As would your generous offer of a personally cooked meal! Indeed, having an amiable chat with friends new and old, while enjoying what I am certain shall be a most marvelous repast, would serve as a most superlative way to celebrate both my reunion with Miss Kate, and my long-awaited return home! Oh, but goodness me!” he exclaimed a moment later. “I do believe we have yet to be formally introduced! As Miss Kate has already told you, I am Parrthineas E. Doxxon The First, or Parr, for short,” he continued, removing his hat and giving a small bow of his head. “Now then, how might I address you lovely young ladies?” he inquired.

Oros paused. "Oh right! Uh, when I’m working, it’s Oros the Joyful. But Joy or Oros works too!” She extended one of her fingers and stroked the bridge of his muzzle. "And that’s Tsubomi behind me. ” Her fingers slipped between his eyes as she started to pet the back of his head. "She’s kind of weird, but she’s okay. Say hello, Tsubomi!”

Tsubomi waved at the dog. ”Hi, doggy. How much was the… pot? The pot, anyway? Must’ve been good to get all… this?”

“I do apologize, Miss Tsubomi,” Parr replied. “But I am afraid that I am completely at a loss as to what you mean. Please, what is this ‘pot’ you refer to?”

Oros laughed. "Like I said, she’s a weirdo.”

Meanwhile, Kate was simply watching the proceedings with the look of someone who was dying a little more inside with each passing second. Finally, she spoke up. “Fine, apology accepted,” she told Oros with a tired sigh. “And I guess we can have some food,” the photographer added. “But wouldn’t it be easier to just get some pizza back at the arcade?” she asked, pointing her thumb at the building in question.

"Eh?” Suki raised an eyebrow. "As cute as Parr is, I don’t think Mr Shen would approve of a dog being in his establishment, regardless of how good their manners were. Also, everything is made with processed meats and salt, which isn’t good for a dog’s tummy.” She placed her hands on her hips. "When I make food for Tsubomi we gather around a picnic area. It’s well lit, secluded, nobody’s going to bother us and the food will get made on the spot with fresh ingredients.” She sighed. "I know you have your guard up, but trust me. I’m not trying to guide you into my super sexy dungeon to make you do lewd things.” She looked off to the side. "I wonder if there’s a world where I even have a super sexy dungeon… Anyway, the prices are high too. I don’t recommend it.”

“Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking of bringing Parr inside,” Kate replied with a dramatic eye roll. “I was thinking we could get the pizza and eat it out here. I mean, he’s also got this machine of his, and I doubt he’d wanna just leave it here unattended,” she added.

“Oh, not to worry!” Parr reassured her. “My Syllogismobile is fully capable of subspace mass conversion for ease of storage!” To demonstrate, he tapped a button on his wristwatch, and the strange machine swiftly shrank down to the size of a marble, which was then picked up and placed into a vest pocket. “Quite convenient, wouldn’t you say?”

“Okaaay…” Kate sighed in clear exasperation. “Then I guess we’ll be dining at Suki’s, or rather, Oros’s picnic tables. I’m sure your food won’t be highly toxic or do anything crazy like turn into a monster and try to eat me,” the photographer added pointedly as she turned to give the blood witch a “I’m so done with this” expression.

"Not since I revamped the recipe!” Oros reassured Kate with a nervous smile.

”Didn’t you win a poker game?” Tsubomi finally responded to Parr’s question. Was he not one of the dogs in that painting?

“Hmmm… I do not recall ever playing a game of that name in my life,” Parr replied after a moment’s thought. “Perhaps you have me confused with someone else. Or perhaps it is a game I shall play in the future, and news of my upcoming victory has reached even here!” he added, seeming quite thrilled by the possibility.

Well, regardless of Parr not being famous like she thought, Tsubomi decided it was best to get going before getting caught up in the meal. She walked over to Suki with her trademark slow steps and tapped her on the shoulder, holding out Suki’s phone that she had taken the picture with. As soon as she took it, Tsubomi spoke up. ”Sorry to have made you upset.” And with that, she departed for her home, not looking back at the girls and dog.

The phone felt heavy in Suki’s hand. She found herself biting her lip as she watched Tsubomi leave the alley and turn out of sight. She continued to stare in the direction she had left in before her eyes moved to her phone. With a snort, she put the phone away without looking at the pictures. "Like I said, weird.” Oros kicked a stone. "Um, yea, this way…”

…

…

…

The picnic area was the same as it had always been, but somehow it felt lonelier at this hour. Instead of ten magical girls getting ready for a meal, it was just two and an adorably dressed dog.

"I wasn’t expecting anyone to show up today, heh. But dinner shouldn’t be long.” It was just like last time. The awkward tension in the air, the judgmental looks from the girl she wanted to make out with, she had hoped things would have been different the second time she came here. "Do you guys want anything to drink? We’ve got all kinds of juices, and some seltzer. There’s milk too. I think there’s a few beers left, but someone might have had them this evening.”

“I would very much like some apple juice, if you have it,” Parr spoke up from where he sat opposite Kate.

“I guess I’ll have some lemonade,” Kate added in a tired deadpan. “So, uh, what exactly are you making us, anyway?” she asked.

"Well, there’s this recipe I typically make. It’s just sort of a concoction of my favorite foods. But uh, you know, I’m going to change the recipe a little bit so that everyone can enjoy it.” She rubbed her arm. "So um, I’ll be back shortly. With the drinks.” She excused herself with a bow.

As soon as Suki was inside the kitchen, she peeked out the window to make sure everyone was still seated. Then she untransformed, as using tentacles made out of blood to assist with cooking was sort of gross. She was sort of gross, but that was beside the point.

She peered around the kitchen and looked in the adjoining rooms. It seemed like everyone was retiring for the evening, and was likely in their rooms, if not out on the town. There wouldn’t be anyone to notice her.

Suki reached into the fridge and pulled out some of the ingredients for Endless Eclipse. She’d have to hold on adding the nuts, lemon, and tomato sauce like she normally would. But she’d add lots of stuff that was good for dogs. She pulled the lid off of a frying pan and tossed in some cheese, a beef, sliced mushrooms, eggs, some cleaned fish, honey, apple slices, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, rice, honey, and peanut butter. Come on, what dog didn’t like peanut butter? And then some watermelon and pumpkin. Normally it would take Suki all day to prepare so many ingredients, but the folks at the shared home always had stuff portioned out for snacks. She added some pasta too. Dogs liked pasta, right? So long as it didn’t have tomato sauce on it. More honey.

It didn’t take more than a minute to get everything together. The counter was filled with tupperware containers, all of which would have to be returned to the fridge. She wasn’t trying to feed an army here, and just hoped she resized the quantity of each ingredient properly. Suki was feeling nervous, but she had no idea why. She was in her element here, but her heart was pounding in her chest. She turned to the empty space in front of the fridge, and scowled.

"So, fucking, what?” She chopped through the air with her hand. "I don’t care what Boss Baby wants you to do! They don’t need to know about this! Would you jump off a cliff if she told you too?” She placed a hand on her chest. "I think she’s hot, sure, but I’m not going to run to her and tell her that you went easy on some light girl. Do you think that would make her happy?” Suki placed her hands on her hips and thumped her foot. It was like she was waiting for a response, but she wasn’t going to get one. "I could get us both implemented if you decide to ‘call me out’ for my behavior. It’s not like I chose to be this way. Did you choose to be an unfeeling doll? Ah, but you’re just being rational right now. Unlike people who can get hurt, you’re free to ignore everyone’s emotions and make a logical choice. And getting between me and the one thing that makes me happy was-”

Wait, she needed to deliver drinks!

"Shit!”

Suki quickly threw open the fridge and got some lemonade and apple juice. After pouring the glasses, she pushed open the door with her shoulder and marched over to the picnic table. She set the drinks down in front of her guests and, after eyeing them for a second, swapped them. She had delivered them to the wrong recipient initially.

"You guys want ice? I mean, the drinks are cold, just…” She squeezed her wrist.

“Uh, sure?” Kate replied with a lopsided frown.

“Oh that sounds delightful!” Parr added with far more enthusiasm. “Thank you so very much for the kind offer, Miss…” his voice trailed off as he paused to look his host up and down. “My goodness, Miss Oros! Did you perhaps do something with your hair?” he inquired. “I must say, it makes you look like a completely different person!”

Oros hadn’t forgotten to transform back, she just didn’t really care. Kate knew who she was, and Parr was likely going to make himself scarce before long. "It must be the hair, let me fix that up.”

Suki walked back She pulled a pitcher full of ice out of the freezer before looking back at the space in front of the refrigerator. "And getting between me and the one thing that makes me happy was hardly something I’d call rational! Do you think just anyone is going to team up with you? Is there anyone else in the Detention Club that’s going to put up with your shitty personality? I know you were scared shitless when Rei said she was going to make the team that killed the fewest Miseria pay for dinner, but who kept you out of the bottom bracket!? We could have been in first if you pulled your weight!”

Suki continued to scold her invisible friend until the kitchen timer went off. She picked up the pan, but kept talking.

"But you know what the worst part of this whole betrayal is? It’s how I had to find out about it. I’d have had more respect for you if you just struck me down while my back was turned. But this…”

Was that footsteps? Shit! Someone had heard her! Suki transformed, gathered everything up, and bolted out the front door. She glanced over her shoulder once before arriving at the table.

"Someone hid the ice, but I found it.” Her tendrils set the table in record time. Though that was largely because of how small the gathering was. Once the plates and utensils were out, Oros lifted the lid off of the pan and gave it a sniff. "I’ve never made it this way before, but it looks mostly normal? Usually the color’s a little darker.” Suki dolled out some pink and violet colored “food” onto everyone’s plate before sitting down next to Parr. "Well, you don’t have to wait for me. Dig in.”

If one looked at the dog safe version of Endless Eclipse long enough, they might hear the screams of tormented souls echoing out from beyond the dish. Even the porcelain plates seemed like they wanted to get as far away from what they were topped with as possible.

“Looks… delicious…” Kate said in a voice utterly devoid of sincerity as she cringed away from her plate and fought the urge not to gag.

“Oh my!” Parr exclaimed as he gazed down at the “food” in awe. “How absolutely fascinating! This looks just like the eldritch meat moss Miss Alura created for Professor Reed’s transmutation class! Don’t you agree, Miss Kate?”

“Uh, yeah…” Kate replied with a gulp. “It actually kinda does…”

“Oh, but since Miss Oros couldn’t possibly know anything about that, I suppose it’s just a sublimely charming coincidence!” Parr added with a jovial chuckle as he smiled up at their host.

Yet, despite his exuberance, Parr mirrored Kate in not making even the slightest motion towards the utensils, something Oros was sure to pick up on.

Oros picked up her spoon. "Yea, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone called Alura.” The spoon made an audible squishing sound as it cut into the “eldritch meat moss.” When Oros lifted her spoon, it almost picked up the plate with it. Whatever Oros had made, it was very thick, and very sticky. She bit her concoction off of her spoon and started to chew. Oros had to open her mouth wide to properly chew it, and the multicolored mass had stuck to her teeth like molasse. "Huh, it’s not that bad. I think I prefer the original recipe though.” She cleaned her teeth with her tongue before going for a second spoonful. "Are you guys going to try it?” She asked without looking.

“Uh… I think I might choke if I ate this…” Kate replied.

“I am hardly an expert, but perhaps if you cooked it some more so that it hardened a bit, it might make for a far more palatable treat,” Parr suggested.

While Parr’s suggestion sounded good, there was no way Suki was going back into the kitchen when she was almost discovered. Not to mention the temptation to continue her discussion would be too great to resist. But why would she consider doing that to begin with?

"You’re not even going to try it then?” She set down her spoon. "Not even a nibble? Not even…a lick?” Her hands trembled. Oros looked between Kate and Parr, and then she cracked a smile. Shortly afterwards, she laughed. "Right, right, Kate’s at her limit. It’s probably taking the last of her willpower to just endure a meal with me. But I’m a little disappointed with you, Parr.” She lifted her spoon to her lips. "You’re trying to pass yourself off as a gentleman, but you won’t even try something that I made specifically for you. Moreover, you think you can tell me how to improve it without even tasting it.” She narrowed her eyes. "I’m also very disappointed with your thinly veiled mockery of my food. How would you feel if I said something you made looked like ‘eldritch meat moss’? ”

“B-But I would never mock a meal so painstakingly crafted!” Parr stammered, clearly taken aback by Oros’s claims. “I meant that comparison as a compliment! A-And I suppose it would do no harm to have a small taste…” he added, cautiously bringing his muzzle up to the mound of goop and giving it the most tentative of licks.

A smile lazily crept across Oros’s face. She leaned towards Parr, stretching her arm across his back and placing it on his hip. "Well? How is it?”

“It’s… actually rather sweet,” Parr replied after a moment’s thought. “In fact, it bears an uncanny resemblance to frosted bubblegum taffy!”

“I’ll, uh, take your word for it,” Kate added with a dubious frown.

"Oh really?” She pulled Parr into her lap and folded her arms across his chest. "I can’t say I’ve ever had that, maybe I’ll have to try it some time.” Oros giggled. Then she raised her hand until it was under Parr’s chin, and elevated it until they were both looking at each other. "Though maybe, you can tell me if the taste compares to this…” She closed her eyes and placed her lips over Parr’s. Her grip on him tightened as she pulled him into a hug.

Parr, clearly caught off guard by this latest development, could do little more than squirm in discomfort as Oros showered him with “affection”.But as soon as he started struggling, Oros stopped. Something was off. Normally when she kissed someone they really enjoyed it, but this dog was different.

Kate, on the other hand, didn’t even try to hide her disgust.

“Okay, that is just gross,” the photographer stated, her cringing visage one of complete revulsion. “I mean, I know you’re desperate, but come on.”

"No, you don’t have a clue how desperate I am.” Oros turned her blood red eyes on Kate. "You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You have people who love you. You get to explore the world. You don’t get to judge people who are ‘beneath you’.” She whipped out a cigarette. " I had hoped that prostrating myself would be enough. Were the ice cubes not cold enough? Did the chef not have enough Michelin stars?” She raised her hands. "Why are you even here? This was a choice, and the only thing I’ve seen you do is mope and complain and-”. She pointed behind herself with her cigarette. "Go. You got your picture. Go, just go! Parr, it was nice to meet you, but you should go too. Both of you just go. Go!”

“M-My goodness…” Parr stammered after finally overcoming his initial shock. “M-Miss Oros, I…”

“I only came here because I promised someone I’d try to be nice to you,” Kate snapped at their host. “But ya sure don’t make it easy! First ya assault me, then ya try to poison me, and ya wonder why I’m so uncomfortable?! Come on, Parr,” she told the confused canine as she got up from her seat. “Let’s get outta here. Thanks for the meal, Oros,” the photographer called over her shoulder. “Hopefully someday you’ll find someone just as fucked up as you are to share it with.”

“O-Oh, well, um, f-farewell, Miss Oros,” Parr added in an awkward daze as he slowly followed after Kate. “I-It was… v-very nice to make your acquaintance.”

As her guests took their leave, Oros lit her cigarette. After inhaling some smoke, she exhaled. Not like a cool delinquent who doesn’t care about anything, but like someone who was relieved that an event was finally over. She leaned onto her elbows and held her head with both hands. The cigarette burned in the darkness.

"What happened?”

It wasn’t difficult to discern what had transpired, but it was hard to pinpoint what caused everything to end in such cataclysmic fashion. Suki wasn’t herself during this dinner session, but things were bad before she decided to stand up to Kate. Things didn’t seem horrible when Tsubomi and her met Parr and Kate out back. No, Kate was a little irritated even then. The events inside the Yen Dungeon really could have only gone down a few different ways. Kate was a light girl even if she claimed she wasn’t. All things considered, the most tame outcome was what happened. But then what triggered the dramatic escalation? How did we go from picture taking to this?

A man and a young girl stepped out of the kitchen area. They approached the picnic table and gasped. Oros stood perfectly still. So long as she didn’t use any magic, she would remain invisible to them.

”What the flipping hell happened here?”

The girl scoffed and pinched her nose shut. ”It’s Suki! She does this every time she gains access to the kitchen. She cooks some inedible mess and tries to feed it to strangers!”

”The kitchen was locked up. I made sure to check all the doors.”

”Well she got in somehow!” The girl sighed. ”I’m sure she broke in somehow, it’s just so wasteful! How could you think anyone was going to eat something like that?”

”She’s a little weird.”

”And stupid. We’ll just have to lock down the kitchen tighter.” The girl reached for a plate, but the man stopped her.

”Leave it. We can show the others in the morning. Maybe confront Suki about it.”

”You don’t have to convince me not to touch it.” They walked off.

Another way to look at the events of this evening was to see who you could remove to ensure everyone had the best possible time. You could remove Parr, but honestly, he was the best part of tonight. None of the problems that presented themselves would go away as a result of his absence. Removing Kate would have solved a lot of drama, but then Parr wouldn’t have been able to reunite with his friend, and Suki likely would have never met him. That would have been more tragic than not seeing Kate in a white wedding dress. You could remove Tsubomi, but then there would be no evening. Oros didn’t really have a reason to go to the arcade by herself, and even if she did, Kate would have slipped away. But if Oros removed herself… Ahh, the answer is in plain sight now. Tsubomi is just babysitting her for Rei, Kate can’t stand her, and Parr is too polite to voice how he really feels.

Oros pulled the plates in front of herself. She finished her plate and started on Kate’s. Once she was done with those, her eyes turned to examine Parr’s plate, and she picked it up with both hands. Then, with a sigh, she began to lick the plate clean. Bubble gum taffy, she thought, even as tears streamed down her face.

…

…

…

Back to the present now.

While Tsubomi thought about ways to get swole, she could feel something furry rub against her leg. A single glance would instantly reveal it to be the club mascot. It stepped in front of Tsubomi and pointed its screen at her face. It wasn’t uncommon for mascots to venture around. Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. The Detention Club mascot was the only mascot in Hibusa Town, and that mascot tended to move about on occasion.

Apparently, mascots were there to offer guidance, but their guidance needed to be interpreted, as they could only speak by throwing up symbols and emoticons on their screens, and old commercials. This made them somewhat unreliable as they couldn’t express complex ideas easily.

ovo

-v-

ovo

^v^

The mascot began to purr.