Lonewolf685

Grimoiric Heart

Suzuya Kuzunoha

Desperate times called for desperate measures but did the battle maniac of a substitue really expect a group like theirs to have spontaneous and perfect team work? Just when Suzuya was managing a short conversation with Oliva and Xolys she was left slackjawed at the giant mechanical hornet with bear hands that they had to kill. She barely had an inkling what half the girls present could do based on one night out together!

Even her Grimoire was taking umbrage with the tiny robot reading off a liability waver she did NOT sign at any point, and somehow her vague idea Merrywell was a place of darwinian savagery was growing firmer as it rooted itself in uncaring reality. If that stranger from her homeland wasn't so insidious looking she'd begin to join Camelot in considering alternatives, but imminent robot attack leaves very little time for long term plans.

Instead she sinks herself into the girding embrace of her Grimoire and turns a critical eye to Xolys as a great bow emerges from her tail. It was a foot longer then she was tall and the following arrow looked more apt for a ballista then a human hand. Because it entirely was, but magical girl strength made the idea of conventional weaponry far looser to define.

"Excuse me for asking this, but might I trouble you for a ride? I'm somewhat...diminished, on my own feet." Burning Heart admitted, furtively looking between the wasp and the pair of Beauty and Beast. "I would not mean to intrude but seeing as this foe flies and scrap heaps are not known for their stable footing...."

Tower of Fable

Kanbaru Otoko

For all the force that they could bring to bear and the power could leverage, it soon became crystal clear that the Abyss was a prison for monsters. Monsters like Nephy and Runa who had endured the creeping fog of death and everything else which lived there and only seemed to grow stronger from it. Even the JSTR could not dim Kanbaru's awe at finding her subversion of the lances countered so quickly, and even if Nephuna would hardly be using them either, they were more a detriment then a weapon in Kanbaru's hands.

Eyes of blood amidst fathomless water took note of the ancient wolves joining the battle, the grand irony of an undead priestess endeavoring to kill the very avatar of Death itself a delicious treat gone untouched in the mealstrom of conflict. It was growing akin to a pitched battle against armies at this point but the scale would not escalate further, as Nephuna drew her power into the calamitous edge of a weapon marrying the signature weapons of both wolf and demon. Kanbaru had no choice but to accept she alone could not halt it's swing. For once she acknowledged she simply hadn't the power that the two-as-one possessed, and she required more.

Kanbaru released the haywire spear shut her eyes as two cards drifted through the water untouched and settled into her porous hands.

The Spawn of Greed and the Mad Virus.

Though their personalities where like water and oil she felt an affinity for their desires, and at the juncture before her she needed not their aid but their might. The water curled and crushed, meshing the cards into herself as the two Serei were absorbed. It was wrong, an erosion of what morals she held dear, but as the Serei washed over and through her Kanbaru knew the time for such was well and truly in the past. Nephy would survive this, and nothing more would be promised.

With the Serei infused like two devils upon her shoulder, Kanbaru's command of water ceased to be sporting. She reached into her allies from Thomas to Akiko and invigorated them. Perfection of bloodflow, a ceaseless muscle system, and the subtle reinforcement of their every motion as they had no choice but to put their all into each action. What was the sovereignty and sanctity of allies bodies when she needed them to do better?

Nephuna's nature made playing with her body a non-starter, too time consuming to even hope for, but her wolves? They popped like balloons. Bones snapping under the pressure of every drop of blood expelling itself with sudden force, while the undead samurai and priestess would begin to shrivel in their vestements as they expelled their fluids in a steam of evaporation. Unlikely to be a killing blow on its own, but even the staunchiest of warriors will be easily felled if their arms wither to sticks and their fingers struggle to pluck the string of their bow.

Shimmering portals of golden radiance opened from void to void, candlelights banishing the darkness of data as weapons uncountable poured out into Kanbaru's raging waters and an equal infinitude of hands grasped them. Some echo of Henry exulted in finally having the means to use all that he hoarded, and the whale unleashed him with nary a grunt as she turned fully to the blessings of the Mad Virus.

A being that existed as data and could match the JSTR by its lonesome. Now they worked together and slammed against Nephuna's grasp upon the Tower floor like the jaws of a bear trap. For while the corpse wolf and demon may have grown accostomed to the taste of the JSTR, the Corpse Collector was a savage berserker after Nephy's own heart. Data twisted and screamed, a deluge of scrap code filling in the gaps deleted in the assault upon the Tower while the JSTR cemented it in their influence.

As formless beings of nascent power warred for reality Kanbaru dispersed, popping like a soab bubble only to emerged closer upon the tides directly before the snarling wolf demon. In hard hands was not her own blade or a weapon from the vaults, but a set of chains and an open collar of unquestionable metal. It brooked no dissent in its integrity, an unbreakable instrument of domination. The chains that could bind a Hound of Tindalos were beyond time and space, and now Kanbaru lunged to clap them around Nephuna's neck as the crackling spear of calamity thrummed ominiously at her hip.

Tower of Fable

Kanbaru Otoko

In her present state Kanbaru knew neither shame nor reluctance. Individuality was a bygone concept as she and the JSTR pushed themselves into a state of frenzy. Power enough to make most drunk was surging as though through veins she no longer had, and Kanbaru didn't give it a second thought. Power was a means to an end, at most it was a birthright that her family had disdained in their pursuit of the only thing that really mattered in any world one called home.

Connections. Whether one called themselves her enemy or her lover, a bond was formed joining Kanbaru to another. There were those she hated with an all encompassing passion and she cherished them for it. There were those she loved so deeply their loss makes her ache forevermore. Power was a tool, and position was merely a bargaining chip to entice or dominate. The mindset was in line with the JSTR's own in some regards, the parasite ever spreading it's influence, bringing more and more into its fold.

And now they saw Nephy as one to bring in, so Nephy would be brought to heel. There was no question of possibility, as even were they alone Kanbaru would have made it happen. But she wasn't alone, the party fighting like the monsters in mortal skin this Tower had made them into and the whale comprised of fathomless waters could only smile as spears and wolves degraded all around her.

"You make such sweet promises, Mastephos, but I already bare another's collar and yet another's ring. You will have to settle for wearing my leash yourself." In a world of data, the JSTR was subordinate to very few and made this clear as even Runa's once impressive spears turned to scraps of code by presence alone. Kanbaru had bigger ideas, a hand of water snapping around the haft of Runa's weapon.

Every Runa was Runa. A walking Schrodinger's Cat, but each was as real as the next, and that applied for everything she carried. This spear was both original and copy, so Kanbaru took the fullness of JSTR's authority and plunged it into the weapon, overwriting the ties that connect it to Runa and supplanting her with Kanbaru.

Every spear was a spear. A soul bound weapon that answered the call of its master regardless of how many there were or what was asked of it. That Master was going to be Kanbaru and she'd see how Mastephos enjoyed eating a weapon a bit thicker then a katana when they turned upon the hand that held them.

Grimoiric Heart

Suzuya Kuzunoha

Suzuya hadn't expected Tesni of all people to approach her after their disaster of a first patrol together offering an ice cream cone of all things to her. She stared with no small degree of uncertainty before gingerly taking the offered treat, her own magical heat dimming as she felt the wrapped confection soften at just her touch. As much as the loud, boisterous, and spontaneously violent girl seemed anethma to her reserved sensibilities, her waiting for Oliva had given her time to consider her fellow Magical Girls more.

And for the life of her, she couldn't find anything to hold against the Monkey. Just thinking of those giggling clown girls made her consider the swinging of the world's largest measuring stick rather appropriate.

So she quietly if amicably enjoyed ice cream with her tea, only later coming to regret the combination as her stomach went into open revolt over something besides the heavy greases in local foods. But that was after meeting her roommate once more, only for her planned tea time to be swept away with explosions and concerns that had them trotting off back into the school to investigate.

Suzuya was concerned this school was turning out to be more Yankee by the day.

---

The concerns over American influence prooved unfounded, as the pair of German Magical Girls would attest if one was not serving as an educator and sentencing them to spending their evening in some manner of training room. It was amusing to think that if one looked past the flagrant use of magic, the room she now stood in with mixed wonder and concern was the only peculiarity for a school of Merrywell's stated mission seperating it from any other school.

Her concern was entirely typical for her, a low level aversion to the new and dangerous that her Grimoire wanted to strangle out of her, but the awe was keeping it contented for the moment as her eyes roamed the scraps of robots past. Robots. Robots! If there was every a Magical Girl to fabricate mecha, Suzuya was starting to believe it was the one with arms that could shoot firewords, and her tentative hope was turning into a wildfire even without her transforming.

She found herself turning to her roommate, that same determination to get on better terms after her patrol still firm in her chest, and asked Olivia the first thing that sought to escape her mind. "Do you think sensei does commisions?"

Grimoiric Heart

Just when i tried to get some interaction with Olivia we get pulled into team practise. Alas, such is life

Grimoiric Heart

I’ll be posting tomorrow

Grimoiric Heart

Still waiting on Olivia.

Tower of Fable

Kanbaru Otoko

Not paying attention to her allies seemed to have cost Nephy more then it did Kanbaru, a flash of shock paralyzing her when Thomas barreled through clad in black flames and launching the white wolf into the abyss of caverns with a vicious thrust. That on its own wouldn't have brought the undead samurai down but the whale knew full well she'd already beaten her to her limit, a cold certainty gripping her that Nephy would be limping to her death if she even rose at all after that. Her moment's hesitation passed and she whirled, pained expression melting like wax till she was gnashing her teeth in a tumultuous scowl.

"I had her under control! She would have lived long enough to apologize to the damned Princess herself when she came back, and now you've made a liar of me!" The Whale felt ready to snap, fed up with the constant backstabbing of her companions. It was like everyone of them was as much an enemy to her when it really mattered from Caprice to Akiko, and now Thomas goes and kills the stupid bleeding heart wolf she promised to show the sky. "Why don't any of you trust me? Why does no one ever listen and let me have a chance to carry through?! Is my parasite the only one who fucking lis-"

The rant died with an audible change in pressure, body turning with every instinct both natural and JSTR related screaming at her to witness something. Something never thought possible but long clamored for, a merging of entities whose destinies were divided along a clear line yet were now joined in body and spirit. Her relief that Nephy hadn't bit the bullet yet was swept away, a mote of dust in a maelstrum of emotion that was the JSTR when it was roused to action. It wasn't gentle in pushing her forward, any ire with Thomas smothered as she stood beside him and the steadily assembling party. Katie was there, clothes whole but powers diminished with what were undoubtedly the lesser Vassals Erika and Esa overseeing the battle like the Valkyrians they were.

"Marianne in the flesh." She noted, finding it almost expected that every member of the group was possessed by some power. The Tower may as well have been training them for it with their early reliance on Serei cards. Still there was precious little room in Kanbaru's mind to not focus on the fight before her, this apotheosis that had to be tested. There was no room for being fair or sporting, the whale's power surging beyond her limits. Flesh teared and muscle shredded, bone pulverized and washed away under a swirl of blood. The Abyss shook yet again, not from a force that threatened the foundations of the floor, but from the fathomless depths themselves as the very waters they entered from drew upwards and carried it to the effigy of blood in Kanbaru's shape.

She drew the water into her self, blood diluting, mixing, and merging with all that had drowned in the murky depths, yet her shape did not swell. Denser and denser did she grow, the stone shattering under the weight of her body at rest till she could not stand a moment longer. Kanbaru formed her sword from the same bottomless well of mass and a thick orca tail sprouted from her rear, striking the earth to rouse a mighty tremor as she hurtled through the air upon a torrent of water to clash with fusion of Nephy and Runa.

"Don't make a liar of me, Nephy, or I'll drown you right here and now!"

Grimoiric Heart

Suzuya: Audibly gulps as she tries to befriend Olivia and Xolys without transforming.

Grimoiric Heart

Suzuya Kuzunoha

What followed after the team's run-in with Moonlight Tsubasa was less a patrol and more a tense walkabout the city. If any of them had the presence to truly be keeping an eye out for Pageless they didn't find anything, but it was more likely attention would be turned inwards, at least for Suzuya. At least the rainy weather was a familiar comfort, the soft crackle of rain evaporating against her bushy tails forming a steady background noise she savored.

Even with the awkwardness of the other team flying by to check in on them. And for all her frustration and discomfort, Suzuya didn't say a word of it. Slipping into the role of the shy foreighner was easy when it served a purpose, and it let her reach the academy without any further attempts at provocation. And Suzuya was quite aware she'd tried to provoke a response at the stupidest time, nearly re-igniting the conflict they'd barely averted with her slap to Camelot.

Pride was not something Suzuya was used to holding in high regard, but her Grimoire was not something she felt she could stand to be insulted on top of everything else. She was no King Arthur and she was hardly to ever be known outside her home country, but it wasn't some great hero that had saved Suzuya from her first brush with the Pageless. It was the story of a warrior wife who lived for love, only to suffer as her supposed allies betrayed her and placed insurmountable odds before her that claimed the life of her heart's dearest.

Suzuya blinked, a moment of realization dawning upon her and snapping her from her thoughts to notice steam no longer wafted from her cup of green tea. Sitting beneath an umbrella-covered table in Merrywell's courtyard, her magic keeping her dry and cozy as she looked out over the grounds. She found herself waiting for her room mate, the elegant Alter with her terrifying paramour that Suzuya found a newfound desire to connect with.

Her likely deepseeded trust issues aside, she found the hypocrisy of judging Camelot while following her mistakes simply impossible to swallow. Even if it proved...difficult, she was going to get to know her roommate.