BrokenPromise

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Who said rainbow and I still can't have fun together?”

— Suki Oyama

This was not a surprise either.

A normal magical girl would have easily been able to perceive the tell tale signs of a ball being kicked with above human strength. But Tsubomi only feared Rei. Anything else was below her notice, even something as obvious as a sonic volleyball. At least, that was what Suki would have told someone if they asked her about it. But nobody asked her, and she didn’t waste a single brain cell thinking about all the strange contradictions that Tsubomi was wrapped up in. All she cared about was the satisfying clap of the volleyball hitting Tsubomi’s head. It was enough to roll her off the size of the van. She placed her hands over her mouth to suppress her emotions.

A smile?

A gasp?

Suki felt conflicted. Tsubomi was just a filthy spy for Rei, but she had also been something of a friend. A very unenthusiastic friend, but the only one she could think of off the top of her head. There was Aria, but she was a long distance friend and just someone she messaged a few times a month. Suki wasn’t sure how to feel. She couldn’t laugh at Tsubomi’s pain, nor could she bring herself to go check on her former pal.

Over her shoulder, the volleyball players had just witnessed the wind catch their ball and fling it at a school girl’s head. They were shouting to each other while a total stud ran over to see what the hell a girl was doing on top of a van, and if she was alright. That’s right. Even out here, Tsubomi had people that were willing to look after her.

There’s only one person out here that’s truly alone.

Suki walked off. Maybe there were some children building sand castles she could kick over. It was always fun to see the wet sand fly, and there would be absolutely no repercussions for her actions, so why not?

…

…

…

”Wut did I tell ya?! Now I gots da powah!”

— The Magnificent Morganite

These dark magical girls were idiots.

It was hard not to point and laugh at their struggles. Even when alone, Morganite had a hard time containing herself as the team split up right before her eyes. She had heard that the Hibusa Town girls were strong, but their numbers were so disjointed that they practically defeated each other. She thought it would be a lot harder to split them up and defeat them, but this was going to be easy. After she dealt with the sleeping one, she’d dispatch the summer dress girl. Then she just had to bide her time for the other two to return. She doubted they would be a match for her even together, but maybe they’d get into a fight once they got back. This was going to be like taking candy from a baby.

But first, some much needed revenge.

As a light girl, Morganite didn’t relish such dark emotions. Yes, while this woman had wronged her, dealing with her was always going to be more about protecting others and righting past injustices. Morganite had seen what depravity like that could do to people. Having their ability to act removed so that someone could impose their will on them. How ironic that such a twisted individual was now left vulnerable before her former victim. Imagine having karma so bad that it catches up to you just a day later.

A shield floated over either one of Morganite’s shoulders. While defensive instruments by design, anyone who came across a magical girl with shields knew they had plenty of offensive capabilities too. But killing her opponent in such a state was dishonorable. She had a better idea.

Her hand came out of her pocket with a marker. Extra thick, the really cheap dollar store ones that were as thick as her pinky and smelled like paint thinner. She pulled the cap off with her teeth and gave Tsubomi a mustache. Then a little triangular devil beard, and some swirly marks on her cheeks. While she was at it, she gave her big blocky eyebrows and a pair of glasses too. Morganite giggled while she drew her masterpiece.

---

The sea life was beautiful, but Nyxia had come here to hunt Miseria. So she swam deeper into the ocean. And deeper, and deeper, and deeper. And after a few minutes, Nyxia’s schooling kicked in.

An island was effectively a giant underwater mountain that poked above the waters. Japan was a very “plump” mountain, which tapered off slowly. While most light didn’t make it any deeper than a few hundred feet of ocean water, you’d need to go down at least a thousand feet before you reached total darkness. Depending on where she was, she may have to swim as far as fifty miles out to sea before she could find water that deep. That was assuming the Misseria weren’t even deeper, in which case she may need to swim a hundred miles, or even two hundred miles out. Her body was far greater than that of a normal human, but this was still going to be quite the trek. It would take hours, and they might not get back before nightfall. They didn’t even know if there were any miseria out that far. And if there were, who knew if they were any stronger than the land based ones? And if they were stronger, did she have a plan to get away if they were too strong? Was it worth the risk?

Maybe those questions never crossed Nyxia’s mind, but they should have crossed Roche’s.

Symphony on High

Hunts are live! Just peer into the zeroth OOC post for a gander.

But before you participate in them, some of you may wish to upgrade your glamors first.

@The World@TaintedMushroom I feel like we discussed or even finished discussing them, but your character sheets have not been edited yet?

@Nakushita@FamishedPants@Vertigo I don't think I've heard any ideas from any of you yet. might wanna get on that.

@Kero You get an upgrade because an operation has concluded. that's what happens when you app for an rp months in advance smh my head.

And then I need to do mine, once I get done setting everything up.

Also remember that you guys can make bronze backup glamors, haven't seen anyone going for those. y'all need more friends huh?

Symphony on High

Hey hey people, the new DoCS patch is live! Give it a look if you're curious about the changes. Summon might be overtuned for the cost, but we'll be keeping an eye on how it performs in the next operation. The temptation was to sneak in a craft update, but I feel like there are enough balance changes in this “patch” that it wasn’t necessary.

Hunts and information about how to join them should be up later this week. In the meantime, I gotta get some character sheets updated and participate in some collabs.

It’s gunna be an exciting week.

SoE Patch Notes

The complete blink rework is finished! It’s the same blink you know and love, just now with a time delay that makes it easier to punish at lower casts. Naturally, Transplace got a small update too.

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Blink: Mana cost (4) Instantly teleport to where the effect activates. Teleportation fails if the spell activates in an area that cannot fit the teleporting esper. The esper can also decide not to teleport where the effect activates, but the mana spent on the note will still be expended. At rank D, Blink allows an esper to Blink to a location. But higher ranks allow for blinking with other items. C allows for some small items to be taken along with you, B allows larger items or children, A lets you blink with an adult, and S lets you blink with an 800 LB creature or machine. Any target you attempt to blink with must be willing. Transplace: Mana cost (8) Same as above, only the caster swaps places with the target so long as the target is as large as an adult human or smaller. The caster can also choose not to swap, but will have to expend the mana regardless. The target of a transplace note can resist the note if their arcane defense rank is higher than that of the note.

Blink: Mana cost (4) Teleport to where the effect activates after a short delay. At rank D, the delay is two seconds. Each rank above D shaves a half second off the teleportation delay, until it’s nonexistent at rank S. Espers, magi, and some monsters know when the casting esper is going to teleport after it’s been cast. Teleportation fails if the spell activates in an area that cannot fit the teleporting esper. The esper can also decide not to teleport where the effect activates, but the mana spent on the note will still be expended. At rank D, Blink allows an esper to Blink to a location. But higher ranks allow for blinking with other items. C allows for some small items to be taken along with you, B allows larger items or children, A lets you blink with an adult, and S lets you blink with an 800 LB creature or machine. Any target you attempt to blink with must be willing. Transplace: Mana cost (8) Same as above, only the caster swaps places with the target so long as the target is as large as an adult human or smaller. The caster can also choose not to swap, but will have to expend the mana regardless. The target of a transplace note can use their arcane defense to resist transplace for an extra second for each rank their arcane defense is over the note, or transplace sooner. Those below the note’s rank are unable to affect the timing of transplace.

And of course, this necessitated the reworking of the cast notes. Nothing major here, just definitive times to assist with balancing other notes down the road, and Blink/Transplace. Most importantly, there’s a compose and cast time. Compose indicates how long it takes for an esper to convert their mana into a melody, and cast is how long it takes to release that energy and hit their target. Most of the time you’re just going to add these times together to get your total cast time. However, there have been a few instances of espers “composing” their melodies behind cover and then “casting” them when there’s an opening. Under these circumstances, there’s less time for an opponent to react. Basically, it’s just some nerd shit to make GM rulings more fair.

Also changing how things are worded because it’s too clunky and we generally don’t care how notes are ordered in a melody.

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Bronze Projectile: Difficulty (6) Base Rank (D) Silver Projectile: Difficulty (9) Base Rank (C) Gold Projectile: Difficulty (12) Base Rank (B) Diamond Projectile: Difficulty (15) Base Rank (A) Launches a projectile that flies faster than a stone throw, but slower than a bullet. When the projectile strikes something, it triggers the next note on it. Bronze Self: Difficulty (4) Base Rank (D) Silver Self: Difficulty (6) Base Rank (C) Gold Self: Difficulty (8) Base Rank (B) Diamond Self: Difficulty (10) Base Rank (A) The melody is channeled inside one’s own body. The next note only affects the caster. If a single point for the spell is necessary, the caster may select any point on their body, but it will still only affect them. Bronze Touch: Difficulty (4) Base Rank (D) Silver Touch: Difficulty (6) Base Rank (C) Gold Touch: Difficulty (8) Base Rank (B) Diamond Touch: Difficulty (10) Base Rank (A) The esper channels their magic into their hands, feet or instrument, and the next note activates on contact with whatever they touch/hit. Bronze Beam: Difficulty (8) Base Rank (D) Silver Beam: Difficulty (12) Base Rank (C) Gold Beam: Difficulty (16) Base Rank (B) Diamond Beam: Difficulty (20) Base Rank (A) After a small charge window with a “tell” (glowing energy, gathering particles, etc) the esper can fire a beam. The beam travels in a straight line, fires near instantly, and activates the next note on impact. Bronze Spawn: Difficulty (12) Base Rank (D) Silver Spawn: Difficulty (18) Base Rank (C) Gold Spawn: Difficulty (24) Base Rank (B) Diamond Spawn: Difficulty (30) Base Rank (A) With focus and little else, the esper can choose a point and activate effects there. Spawn is the slowest to cast, and has an obvious “tell.” Trigger: Difficulty (0) Base Rank (Dependent on rank mark was made with) Causes any number of marks the esper has placed to trigger. Can’t be cast with any other notes.

Bronze Self: Difficulty (4) Base Rank (D) Silver Self: Difficulty (6) Base Rank (C) Gold Self: Difficulty (8) Base Rank (B) Diamond Self: Difficulty (10) Base Rank (A) The melody is channeled inside one’s own body. After composing the melody for half a second, it is instantly cast. If a single point for the spell is necessary, the caster may select any point on their body, but it will still only affect them without something like an Area or AoE note. Bronze Touch: Difficulty (4) Base Rank (D) Silver Touch: Difficulty (6) Base Rank (C) Gold Touch: Difficulty (8) Base Rank (B) Diamond Touch: Difficulty (10) Base Rank (A) The esper channels their magic into their hands, feet or instrument. After composing the melody for half a second, it takes a fraction of a second to cast the melody on whatever they touch/hit. Bronze Projectile: Difficulty (6) Base Rank (D) Silver Projectile: Difficulty (9) Base Rank (C) Gold Projectile: Difficulty (12) Base Rank (B) Diamond Projectile: Difficulty (15) Base Rank (A) After composing a melody for half a second, the esper may launch a projectile that flies faster than a stone throw, but slower than a bullet. It generally takes about a half a second for a projectile to fly from the esper’s hand and hit the target. Bronze Beam: Difficulty (8) Base Rank (D) Silver Beam: Difficulty (12) Base Rank (C) Gold Beam: Difficulty (16) Base Rank (B) Diamond Beam: Difficulty (20) Base Rank (A) An esper can fire a beam or a high speed projectile that flies in a straight line. It takes half a second to compose the melody. While the beam fires instantly, it takes a full second for an esper to line up their shot and ensure they are accurate. Bronze Spawn: Difficulty (12) Base Rank (D) Silver Spawn: Difficulty (18) Base Rank (C) Gold Spawn: Difficulty (24) Base Rank (B) Diamond Spawn: Difficulty (30) Base Rank (A) With focus and little else, the esper can choose a point and activate a melody there without a clean shot. It takes half a second to compose a spawn melody, but two seconds to cast it. Trigger: Difficulty (0) Base Rank (Dependent on rank mark was made with) Causes any number of marks the esper has placed to trigger. Is composed and casted with a thought, making it the fastest cast note of them all. If you ignore the setup, that is.

Might as well revise casting melodies so that the above makes more sense. This is more for clarity than a real change.

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CASTING MELODIES: When an esper wishes to cast a spell, they simply choose notes they have access to and arrange them to create the desired effect. Each note has a mana cost and increases the difficulty multiplier, save for cast notes which have no cost but establish the base difficulty of the spell. If you add the mana cost up and multiply it by the total difficulty, you can see how much mana the melody will cost. If it is not greater than your current mana points, you may deduct them and cast the melody. Complex melodies can quickly eat away all your mana, so cast wisely. There is a calculator available for doing all the math for you, but if you would like to learn how to do the calculations yourself, that will be explained later. Notes activate in sequential order, going from left to right. The cast note determines when the next note “activates.” If a bunch of effects are together, they will all activate at once unless a mod alters the timing. And lastly, the melody will have a rank to determine how powerful the notes are. This is tied to the cast note that you use to cast your melody, but other notes can cause a melody’s rank to go up or down, such as [Powerful] and [Quicken]

CASTING MELODIES: To cast a melody, an esper chooses from a pool of notes they have access to for a desired effect. Each note in a melody has a mana cost which is added together and multiplied against a difficulty multiplier, which is affected by the cast note and number of notes being used. If the esper has enough mana points to cast the melody, then it can be cast. Complex melodies can quickly eat away all your mana, so cast wisely. There is a calculator available for doing all the math for you, but if you would like to learn how to do the calculations yourself, that will be explained later. Melodies are not instantly barfed into reality. Once the mana cost is paid, that mana needs to be “composed” into a melody, at which point it can then be cast. Composing melodies is not subtle. An esper, magus, or intelligent monster will know you are composing a melody, but not what it does. There are almost always cues, like a fireball manifesting in an esper’s hand or light particles collecting in front of a wand. And that’s the more subtle part of a melody. Casting melodies is noisy and followed by flashy effects. A target can take evasive action and avoid getting hit if they are shrewd enough. And lastly, the melody will have a rank to determine how powerful the notes are. This is tied to the cast note that you use to cast your melody, but other notes can cause a melody’s rank to go up or down, such as [Powerful] and [Quicken]

And finally, Quicken and Powerful are getting an adjustment now that compose/cast times are more concrete. I know I said quicken would make melodies cast instantly, but what I had meant to say was that they would be composed instantly. My B.

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Powerful: Mana cost (0) The melody is twice as slow or takes longer to activate, but the effects are all stronger by a single rank. Quicken: Mana cost (0) The melody is twice as fast or quicker to activate, but the effects are all weaker by a single rank.

Powerful: Mana cost (0) The melody’s compose time is doubled, but the melody is stronger by a single rank. If two melodies would finish casting at the same time, the one with a Powerful note will always be a little slower. Can’t be used in a melody with the Quicken note. Quicken: Mana cost (0) The melody is composed instantly, but is weaker by a single rank. If two melodies would finish casting at the same time, the one with a Quicken note will always be a little faster. Can’t be used in a melody with the Powerful note.

Time for that Summon rework huh? Hopefully the new tech, lower mana cost, and better explanation of its capabilities will make them more useful in combat. Craft will be getting a little love later on, but this should be a marked improvement for summons.

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Summon: Mana cost (4) Creates a minion who can fight on the esper’s behalf. They are made out of their element, and while they can’t cast melodies they are capable of manipulating simple machinery(pushing buttons on controllers, actions that require low precision/reflexes) and fighting. They are stronger than humans but their fighting abilities are weak when compared to an esper. The grade of their weapons and defenses are equal to the grade of the note used to create them.

Summon: Mana cost (2) Creates a minion who can fight on the esper’s behalf. Minions can be the size of an adult human, twice as big, or half the size. All of their non-stat attributes are relative to a human scaled up or down depending on if the summon was made larger or smaller than an adult human. IE: A summon twice as big as a human has double the reach and strength a human would have, regardless of what form it takes. They are capable of following simple commands, such as “flip that switch” or “protect the cargo”. Their fighting abilities are weak when compared to an esper, but can hold their own against monsters that aren’t smart enough to work around them. The grade of their weapons and defenses are equal to the grade of the note used to create them, and any damage they deal is arcane. Minions can only fight in melee, but they can use tools such as weapons made with the Craft note. Additionally, notes used along with a Summon note can instead imbue the minion created with the melody, allowing it to use any effect note it’s been imbued with on touch a single time. Minions cannot be imbued with modification notes.

Purify and Dispel: Demystified! Also they will now weaken negative effects with the possibility of removing them completely.

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Purify: Mana cost (6) Removes debuffs and negative effects caused by physical/chaotic afflictions, such as tear gas or a poisonous breath attack. Effects must be equal to or weaker than the rank of the melody to be removed. Will not heal wounds, fix physical afflictions, or unbind magical constructs such as those created with a restrain note. Dispel: Mana cost (6) Removes positive magical effects from a target. If the target is a magical construct, it will be destroyed instead. Effects/constructs must be equal to or weaker to the rank of the melody for it to work.

Purify: Mana cost (6) Weakens or removes negative effects caused by physical/chaotic afflictions, such as tear gas or a poisonous breath attack. Physical effects are weakened by 25/40/55/70/85/100% at rank E/D/C/B/A/S respectively. Chaotic effects are ranked down 0/1/2/3/4/5 steps at rank E/D/C/B/A/S respectively. If an effect would be ranked below E rank, it is removed instantly. Purify will not heal wounds, and can only remove a single effect on each target it hits, caster’s choice. Dispel: Mana cost (6) Weakens or removes arcane effects or unbinds arcane constructs. Arcane effects/constructs are ranked down 0/1/2/3/4/5 steps at rank E/D/C/B/A/S respectively. If an effect would be ranked below E rank, it is removed instantly. Dispel will not heal wounds. If trying to remove arcane effects, dispel can only remove a single effect on each target it hits, caster’s choice.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"Nyxia claims to hate me, but I seem to be on her mind a lot!”

— Suki Oyama

This was not a surprise.

Suki would forgive anyone that thought Roche was leader material. She was the track team captain and Rei’s right hand. Neither of those positions could be filled by someone without some leadership abilities. Though in her time observing Roche, the blood witch had realized that she only really had one quality that made her a leader of any kind, and that was that she ordered people around a lot. That might have worked for the track club, but Suki found it a little disappointing. Moreso that she felt like she had to put her special leadership powers at work here on the beach as well.

Yes, Suki thought. Go on, tell me what I should be doing. Task me with finding a place to set up a parasol and towels, keep Tsubomi busy too. Then run for the sea and swim with Nyxia. Because the only reason why any of us are here is to support your fetishized megalomania. Did you forget what you told me on the mountain? You said this was going to be fun, but perhaps it was only supposed to be fun for you?

Nobody was even in a swimsuit. Roche and Nyxia were transformed, and Tsubomi didn’t look like she had the ambition to change into anything interesting before coming. Suki could have put herself in a swimsuit, but there was no point. Nobody around her could see her, and the ones that could had no interest in doing anything with her. For once, the feeling may have been mutual.

Suki wondered why Unstoppable Doom decided to run into the great blue. She had a hard time believing Nyxia would do it for any other reason than to find a Miseria, but it was the wrong time of day. While it wasn’t impossible to find them in the middle of the day, night was when they liked to come out and play. That was why they usually did midnight hunts back in town. Perhaps the idea was just to get some lonely time, which Suki could respect. Only she was doing that back in the forest when Roche found her.

She didn’t know what she was doing, but she definitely wasn’t going to do what was asked of her. Even “scared of authority” Tsubomi had enough self respect to not become Roche’s tool. At least if Tsubomi was this lax about Roche’s wishes, it meant that this entire thing really was Roche’s idea and didn’t have Rei’s stink on it. Not that any of that really mattered. Roche begged Suki to come, so she was going to do everything in her power to have as much fun as she could.

But what did she feel like doing?

They say to let sleeping dogs lie, but Suki was feeling a bit mischievous. The volleyball game was in play, with the ball being passed from side to side in nice slow movements. Nobody was trying to score a point, they just wanted to bat the ball back and forth. But an unseen skater on crimson blades flew across the beach to the net’s location. When the volleyball was at the top of its arc, Suki dove above the net and gave the ball a solid kick. It screamed through the air on its way to Tsubomi’s head. Oros’s face was frozen in glee, anticipating the satisfying smack the ball would make against her partner’s head.

Symphony on High

@ERode Slap that in there.

Symphony on High

Alrighty then.

In case it wasn’t apparent (it won’t be for some characters), a few espers have gotten their PR improved this post cycle. Ashley, Asher, and Cirilla may all improve their PRs by one grade and enjoy the improved special/larger loadout that comes with it.

Also a reminder to everyone who hasn’t submitted a glamor upgrade yet, remember to get that to me. These operations are tough enough when you’re equipped for them, and being under equipped could spell disaster. Probably. So make sure to do that.

And this is optional, but guys are also free to make bronze backups! Find a friend and start brainstorming.

There won’t be a GM update next week, but don’t be idle. Some of you have a bit of work to do before your characters are in order.

But I’m not just giving you guys time off, I need some time to update the notes in the DoCS. Here’s some stuff that’s coming down the pipe.

Blink/Transplace is getting its (hopefully) final rework, and cast notes are getting definitive cast times.

Blink has always been a weird one. It’s something that feels like it needs to be in the RP, but it’s hard to balance just because of how it functions. I won’t bore you with the details, but what’s made it kind of broken is it has few counters and lots of applications. It doesn’t even really matter what grade you cast it at.

So to fix this we’re doing two things:

#1: We’re giving Blink/Transplace a delay between when the effect activates and when the teleportation actually happens. It’s still a viable movement tool at lower levels, but you'll need to use more mana if time is of the essence or to minimize the chance of getting intercepted.

#2: Cast times are going to become more concrete. I’ve been keeping it kind of nebulous, but as time goes on, it’s becoming more apparent that having definitive time for all cast notes to activate is useful for making judgements. This really shouldn’t change how they function in the RP very much.

Quicken will make melodies cast instantly.

It’s underutilized, likely because there’s been no definitive cast time for melodies… Until now! This should make a fair number of melodies much harder to dodge and justify that grade drop associated with it. We’ll keep an eye on it moving forward

Summon Rework

Summon is one of those things that nobody really used until recently, so I haven’t had a lot of data points to use for making adjustments. It’s not an expensive note, but for now we’ll drop the price a bit. While it has potential for some big shenanigans, it does take some time to set up. Beyond that, it’s going to get better defined, and notes you cast with it will allow you to have the summon apply those effects on touch. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

Purify/Dispel Rework

Purify/Dispel have been famously difficult to tell which one works in which situation, so it’s going to function as such: Purify removes physical/chaotic ailments inflicted by monsters and physical weapons, and Dispel unbinds magical effects, such as magical buffs, magical debuffs, and magical constructs such as arcane constructs, spells, etc.

With the movement towards removing “all or nothing” mechanics, Purify/Dispel are going to primarily be used to weaken effects rather than outright remove them. This will be applied to other notes down the line, but there’s quite a bit happening this update and I don’t want to over promise and under deliver. *Points at username*

And that’s not all…

Hunts are coming back!

For those that don’t know, in the past I would let players team up their espers and go on small side operations that are made for two people. It’s good for going on a romantic date teaming up with espers that you normally wouldn’t get a chance to. More details will come around next week, but if you are interested in participating in an operation that is smaller in scale when compared to the mainline ones, then keep an eye out for them. They can also tie into the main plot. Dante and the were tiger mafia were introduced in hunts during the old RP, so don’t look at them as mere busy work. I mean you can, but it would be wrong to do so, and Majora would laugh at you.

Symphony on High

Finn wasn’t quite out of the woods yet. He needed to be taken to a lab at HQ and scanned to see if his curse had been lifted. Fritzi had already mentioned that it was possible that Dante wasn’t the one who had cursed him. However, Finn thought it might be a good time to speak with Fritzi, since she had been rather short with him over coms. Even now, she wasn't her usual jovial self.

"When you first questioned me about my curse, I had initially left out a few details. The last time I passed out, I wasn't met with a demon with the intent to torture me, but Amanda. Apparently I had peaked Dante's interest for whatever that means, and she was supposed to have arranged me to meet with them at a later date. For what, I don't know. My original plan was to go along with it to see what their intentions were if they weren't intending to kill me on sight. She had also wanted to show me something but I dropped earlier than expect and- ... Well. Guess I'll never know now. I didn't know she was actually rea- was Dante's daughter. Much less that my theory of Dante being the culprit was correct."

Fritzi was looking at a computer monitor that was throwing up all kinds of data. Numbers, several bar graphs, all monitoring different aspects of Finn’s esper form. Most of it didn’t make any sense to him, save for the giant message that read “SANDCURSE_TRACE NOT FOUND.” Apparently, he was cured.

”Your theory...” Dr. Muller looked away from the screen. ”Well, I’m glad you were able to diagnose yourself. I’m a doctor, and you were even able to beat me to the punch.” She placed a hand on her chest. ”If I’m being fair, I’m not used to my patients lying to me. Least of all ones as young as you. But maybe you’re just unusually dense? You know when I said ‘did you have any strange dreams’, seeing a succubus who introduces herself as an acquaintance of Dante maaaaaaaaaaaay have been worth bringing up beforehand.” She tapped her fingers on the back of her clipboard. ”I don’t think you’re stupid Finn, and that’s a problem, because now you have to explain why you decided to hide that from everyone.”

The boy's gaze remained on the monitor for a moment. "They were well aware I was working with GEMINI. That was why they hadn't given me any specifics at the time." He still looked a little out of it. He looked downward in thought. "Earn their trust. Keep them complacent. See if I can get anything out of whatever their deal was. Rat them out soon as things take a turn. With Oros' attempt to kill me, I figured I might as well be resourceful in case she ever tried again." A tired sigh slipped through Finn's lips.

"Withholding information was what got Dante killed. I won't make the same mistake again."

”That's great Finn, but that doesn't answer my question. Why withold information to begin with?”

Finn furrowed his brows in confusion. "...I guess I thought if I told the whole truth and they learned about it, they'd actually kill me." The boy frowned deeply. "I mean Dante- Or Amanda, I guess, I don't know, already knew about my other screw ups somehow. Me leaving Betty behind only for her to get kidnapped, me siding with the Mavericks during the mansion raid, th-they knew about Lydia no less! If they were able to stalk me for that long then..." He curled up into a ball in his seat, hugging his knees to his chest. _{"I don't want to know what they'd do to me."}

Fritzi pinched the bridge of her nose. ”Ever since Betty got abducted, your life has been pretty public. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few dream demons could peer into your thoughts either.” She shook her head before refocusing on Finn. ”The second you give into fear, they have already won. Contrary to what you may think, I do not think the death of a monster bartender is a huge loss. He didn’t have to die, maybe, but he knew what he was doing. Had you met up with them, they may have done something even more depraved with you. No, the issue is that you’re a loose cannon that doesn’t respect authority. You need to have faith in your squad. Unfortunately, I do not think your squad has a lot of faith in you right now.”

Finn remained quiet for a second. She was right, for however they all wanted to think. He nodded along and opened his mouth to speak up again, but what came out turned into a dry chuckle as she brought up the strained relationship between him the other agents. "You really think it'd be that easy? I tried to follow your orders, Dr. Moller, but I might as well have been left for dead no thanks to them." He tensed and untensed himself up, picking at his sleeves to stay calm. "Agent Orion over-relied on the backup you sent just cause she didn't want to kill the patrons and allowed herself get swarmed as a result. Witch Hunter, while I can't argue against her as she focused on keeping the schoolgirls safe, practically ignored me when I called for her to redirect a fireball towards Dante instead and ended up setting herself and the whole place on fire as a result. I was left to fend against a monster I was at a disadvantage against. If I didn't put two-and-two together in time Dante would've still been alive. It's not even the first time I was left alone like that." He took deep breaths as he ranted to Fritzi, his fight against Betty crawling back into the surface of his mind.

"I know. I know I need to be able to work with them. But what's the point if they don't want to work with me?"

What's the point if they'll never respect him?

Fritzi rubbed her chin. ”You know Finn? I think those are all very good points.” She shook her finger in the air. ”But I think you’re forgetting a tiny little detail. Ashley initially wanted everyone to go around back. But someone decided to eschew discussion and took it upon himself to confront Dante directly, despite the fact that his cover had already been burned. This endangered everyone in a mission where the sole objective was to try and free you from a curse. Do you understand what I’m saying? Everyone risked their lives for you, you weren’t a team player, and now you’re pouting because Estelle chose to not incinerate you and Ashley along with Dante? And what even does Ashley’s aversion to killing bar patrons have to do with anything? After you ran out of the diner, she-” Fritzi stopped herself. ”You know what? This isn’t a discussion you should be having with me. I think you should tell your squad what you just told me and see how they respond to it.”

Leaving him to the sharks. So that's how it is.

"Fine." He quietly conceded, and wordlessly stepped out of the room. Everyone in this city really was fickle.

Everyone except...

Finn pulled out his phone to text Betty:

Date might be delayed. I'm so sorry.

Finn’s thumb missed the “send” button when Fritzi bumped into his arm. She lifted up her hand and started counting her fingers. His head snapped up to look at her in confusion. ”Number one, it’s ‘yes ma’am’, not ‘fine.’ Nothing is fine right now. Number two, I was not being serious. Finn, I can put every esper under my command into fighting a monster. I can assess your well-being and give advice, but I can’t change how you’re perceived by your peers. That's something only you can effect.”

Finn's expression softened in response.

"S-Sorry, ma'am. I understand."

@Ponn@ERode

”That’s better.” The door at the end of the corridor opened up, revealing Ashley and Estelle in the briefing room. As soon as Fritzi passed the threshold of the door, her smile returned. ”Well! That was a lot more difficult than it had to be, wasn’t it?” Nobody answered Fritzi, but she didn’t seem bothered by this. ”Anywho, Orion? I have something for you.” She reached her hand out towards Ashley and presented her with a small golden badge. ”I wanted to give this to you with a bit more fanfare, but then I’d have to wait another week. Congratulations! You’re being promoted to lieutenant. You’re officially leading the Pax Septimus squad now. Presently you outrank everyone but Binky and myself. We’re going to have fresh reinforcements coming before long, and I hope you’ll take the time to get to know them.” Fritzi was about to excuse herself. ”The other operation had some complications as well. Cerberus was able to complete her mission, but she’s going to be running a little late returning here. Angel was killed in action, and she’s insisting on finishing her report before returning.” Fritzi sighed. ”Please finish your reports as well, and get some rest.” was all she said before departing, leaving the three espers together.

---

@Vertigo

it could sense Ciri’s distress as they fled.Well, that she was distressed with its choice to flee. But it wasn’t a sure thing that Boteg’s attack would have petrified any of the GEMINI espers. They were fortunate that the princess looking esper had aided them, but it suspected that she would not have helped them should they decide to counterattack. GEMINI’s reputation was on the decline, but this wouldn’t have been the first time a freelancer had decided to bail instead of help mavericks out. Moreover, there were a few monsters still in the diner that seemed to know Boteg. It would be a shame to let him turn his friends into gilded statues just because he lost his composure. But it knew better than to talk with Ciri when she was like this. Upon returning to the Bastion, it made itself scarce until she cooled off a bit.

While Ciri was still wounded, she was free to change back into a human once she was inside the bastion. There was a zero percent chance of anyone here leaking her true identity, and it was a lot less painful to move around. That didn’t mean someone wasn’t going to insist on healing her anyway.

”Oh hi, Oni-chan” Ciri hadn’t been with the Mavericks for very long, but she had been with them long enough to know Trixy liked to give people dumb nicknames, and didn’t seem to care if they liked them or not. ”Did you get hurt out there? You know my kisses have special healing powers, so if you let me kiss your boo-boos I can make them go away!” It was probably just a touch based melody. ”Oh! But who are your friends?” She looked at Boteg. ”They look handsome!” She looked to Amanda ”And pretty!” Shortly after changing back, Boteg seemed to have regained his “composure” and was back to being a mostly skittish dragon headed man. He avoided making eye contact with Trixy and patted the back of his neck. Amanda had withdrawn inside herself. Her lips were quivering. Her body didn’t know if it wanted to fly into a rage or cry, but was too weak to do either. ”I see…” Trixy placed her hands on her hips, and her goofy smile disappeared. ”I’ll give you guys some space. But if anyone needs a kiss, I’ll uh, I’ll be over here. Right, over here, in the corner.”

As soon asTrixy stepped off to the side, Billy Black’s hulking form waded out of the shadows. The giant man with gray skin and an outfit that belonged to a dystopian road warrior might strike fear in most, but anyone from Maverick Alternative would think otherwise. He was probably the most charismatic man to ever dawn spiked leather armor.

”I say I say, Are my eyes playing tricks on me or is that a golden dragon standing next to you?” Boteg adjusted his bowtie, but remained silent. ”Damn girl, I say damn, girl! I’ve been waitin’ for him to show up at my doorstep, and who'da thunk you’d be the one to bring him in? It’s official, you’re part of the team now!” The giant’s eyes drifted towards Amanda. ”Oh, who’s this?”

---

@The World@Nakushita@TaintedMushroom@FamishedPants

Unlike the espers of GEMINI or Maverick Alternative, the freelancers were free to do as they wished. They could regroup at the great escape to tak with other freelancers, rush to the bottom of a bottle at their favorite dive, or sleep the rest of the day away. Pax was their oyster!

"Does anyone even read reviews on the internet?"

— Mika Fang

Mika was sitting in the back of a black van. She had covered the important parts of the operation with Fritzi, but was finishing her report so that she could turn it in. There was nothing stopping her from entering Gemini HQ, but it didn’t seem like a good idea. From what Fritzi had mentioned, Finn did a bunch of stuff that put the rest of his squad in jeopardy before deciding to go AWOL. Mika almost asked why she didn’t just get rid of him, but it sounded like she was busy and it wasn’t her place to make such suggestions. It wasn’t like Mika was told the entire story. For all she knew, Ashley had done something to drive Finn away.

But Mika didn’t really have the headspace to worry about that right now. Behind her seat was a viewport into the back of the van, where a body bag containing Angellie’s remains was stored. There was nothing more to do, but the operation kept playing over in her head.

With a groan, she looked back at her laptop. The Freelancers needed to have their performance graded, and she was the only surviving GEMINI agent to do it. Of course upper management would get involved. She just had to write a comment about each one, which Binky would look over before committing it to their Shimr profiles. She began to type. Writing on a computer was one of the skills her mother had insisted on teaching her. While she could type quickly without looking at the keyboard, her mother always found fault with how she structured things. But that was fine. Binky would make any necessary corrections.

Freelancer: Dead Head
Score: 5/5
Evaluation: Did job well, guarded VIP well, rushed enemies head first, not a coward, worked well with his teammates. Might be too cocky but he did well this time. Felt like I was being guarded by the secret service.

Freelancer: Noble Spark
Score: 4/5
Evaluation: Protected VIP with good foresight, was flopping all over the place, managed to knock down a target by falling on them. Can’t tell if skilled or lucky but seems quick on his feet. Kind of flashy, but did well. Felt protected.

Freelancer: Marrie Knight
Score: 3/5
Evaluation: Combat was intense, didn’t see a lot of her. Took a beating in my place and held back a skilled attacker. Did her job, not someone to hire solo. Might need some coaching, still a good kid.

It felt weird to call someone a kid. Was Marrie younger than her? Didn’t matter. She made a face before writing her last review. Though in hindsight, Himiko brought it on herself.

Freelancer: Sovereign
Score: 2/5
Evaluation: Knows how to use her pistols. Talks too much, VIP had to save her, not even sure if she knows how to use her melodies. Almost a liability.

After looking at what she wrote for a bit, she groaned and hit backspace until everything was gone. Then she typed again.

Freelancer: Sovereign
Score: 3/5
Evaluation: Knows how to use her pistols. Talks too much, VIP had to save her, not even sure if she knows how to use her melodies. Enemy tried to bribe her and she didn’t take it. Loyal to job, needs more experience.

"You owe me."

Mika mailed everything to Binky before falling back into her seat.

Symphony on High

@The World Yes, that works.

Symphony on High

@ERode Keep the mana burn rank up, lose the 50 burn upgrade, and pick between esper note category suppression or monster stat debuff. Regardless of which you choose, jot down that it lasts six seconds.

@The World Try to keep your weapon details and special separate, please. The mana siphon upgrade is an interesting concept, but we'd like it to operate a bit more simply. How about hitting a target with the chain siphons 10 mana and hitting with the blade siphons 20? Then have a 50 mana cap per six seconds/post rotation and additional hits on the same target in this time frame do not activate the effect? Essentially mana earned in a round is based on targets hit rather than number of times a target has been hit.