"Uhhhhm," Aurora sat on the couch, the dim lighting of Chloe's apartment giving it quite the eerie atmosphere. "Jeez, you really got the whole 'dark and evil' thing going on here, don't ya?" Trying to start up a conversation with Chloe was like trying to poke an angry snake. An angry, soul stealing snake.
"Evil? Me?" Chloe laughed, nearly spitting out her tea. "My dear little Aurora, if I'm evil so are you now...and you don't think your evil, do you?"
"Wha? No! I'ma pretty magical girl of justice and purity!" Aurora puffed out his cheeks, trying to appear angry but failing completely. "Annnd I am going to bring justice and purity to all, yep!"
"Mhm, indeed. I'll have you do something for us soon." Chloe silently took a sip of her tea again, mulling over the situation. She hadn't heard back from the archive yet. Did they take the information and run? Pathetic. Liars were impure. She'd have to cull them too, perhaps. "Since the Archive has failed us, we'll have to return to the usual plan for now..."
"Aye aye! Just tell me what you wanna do!"
"Well for now I want you to meet a friend of mine." Chloe reached for her phone, quickly texting a message to Penny. ""Hey, hey, hows my Penny doing? Heard there was some kinda commotion over at the stadium. You're alright, aren't you? Stop by my place soon? I got pizza! <3" Standing up, the lights in the apartment returned to a less broody and dark level.
"She might be helping us...or even joining us soon. I want you to get along with her. She’s very...useful, to have in our good graces." Flopping down on the couch, Chloe laid on her stomach, propping her chin on her hands as she waited for a reply. Aurora contented himself with eating a slice of pizza that had recently been delivered.
Elsewhere in a Denny’s in downtown Penrose Penny would be finishing up her rather large meal, when she would get Chloe’s text. With a smile she would double check that Beacon hadn’t tried to get a hold of her before paying for the food and heading back to the alleyway she had pulled her disguise on in earlier in the day.
As rather then send a text reply, Penny was just going to show up at the apartment, easier all around the hidden mechanical girl would think.
So less than ten minutes after Chloe had sent the text she would hear someone walking through her front door ”Hey” Penny would call out as she stepped through “Got you text and since I wasn’t up to anything figured I would just come over now”
"Oh...!" Chloe looked up from her teacup, blinking in mild surprise. Setting the item down on the table, Chloe grinned, running over and giving Penny a hug. "How's my little Penny?~" Aurora was busy chewing on a rather cheesy slice of pizza, a thin strand of melted cheese connected her mouth with the rest of the slice as he turned his head towards Penny.
"Ah, If I would have known you'd be so swift I'd have cleaned up a little. Chloe continued, releasing Penny from the hug and motioning for her to take a seat wherever she wanted. "You look tired, Penny. Didn't work too hard I hope?"
Aurora remained silent, silently observing Penny. Specifically her chest region.
”I’m doing good, the stadium was an interesting encounter” Penny would reply as she returned the hug before she wandered in, taking off her jacket and tossing it on the back of the couch as she sat down. “Someone summoned a giant horror, me and a couple of other Metal girls took care of it while Beacon dealt with helping the people caught in the crossfire”
It was then she would actively take note of the new person in the apartment, “You must be the friend I was told about earlier” Penny would say offer a hand to Aurora “Name’s Penny nice to meet ya” The bemused look on Penny’s face would make it obvious that the boy had been caught staring, but wasn’t sure how she wanted to react to it.
"Aurora McKenzie." Aurora replied to Penny in a decidedly deadpan fashion. Chloe quickly moved on. He took Penny's hand, shaking it though he didn't say anything else, continuing to stare. Chloe simply stifled a quiet laugh as she moved on.
"A giant horror?" Chloe frowned in seeming concern, holding a hand to the side of her face. "Well, I guess since I wasn't alerted you had it handled, but really doing such dangerous things is going to make me worry." The dark magical girl sighed, though she didn't linger on the topic and moved onto the current introductions.
"Penny, this is Aurora. He's a new magical boy that will be helping me with a few things." At being called 'Boy' Aurora seemed to pout slightly, sending a few glances towards Penny, of a mildly less friendly manner. "He'll probably be doing some errands around Penrose for me soon, so if you see him do treat him well. He's rather new to all of this, and his magical capacity could be better...but he'll be a good luck charm if you ever need some, heh~"
Penny was tempted to explain that of everyone at the Stadium she was likely the most safe due to being in possession of Earth Bastion, but kept with the flow of the conversation instead ”Ah, bet he’s still got better magical skill then I do” Penny would say before noticing the pout that Aurora was sporting, along with the less than friendly glances and her eyes would narrow in suspicion for a moment before she would shrug it off.
”So, how long have you been a part of the magical community?” Penny would ask turning towards Aurora. The new guy was at the very least an ally of Chloe’s so that meant Penny try to get to know them, as they likely would be seeing each other a fair amount in the near future.
"Oh, uh...." Pausing for a moment, Aurora scratched the side of her head. "About five hours? So uh, really, really, new."
"There was an...incident yesterday," Chloe sighed. "Aurora was an unfortunate victim of it. I managed to...shall we say, take him under my wing~"
"But-but really!" Aurora pouted slightly, shooting Chloe a few angry glances. Standing up, he walked over to Penny, taking a seat next to her. Outlining the shape of Penny's boobs. "Why'd I have to become a guy! Why couldn't I get boobs and looks as big as hers?! Like c'mon, I can't be sexy and go out with guys like this!" Folding his arms against his chest.
"Ahem, Aurora was a girl until recently. He's still adjusting." She didn't make an attempt to hide her amused smile.
Penny would visibly shy away from Aurora while he ‘outlined’ his issues but wouldn’t be able to contain a chuckle at the boy’s outrage. “Have to say he’s doing a better job at handling it then I was” Penny would quip and sad smile on her face as she glanced at Chloe “Seems you’ve a knack for finding people out of their depths”
“I’ve got the opposite of your problem plus extra” Penny would explain to Aurora “I was a guy before all of this and now when, I’m human, I’m a girl.” Shrugging Penny tore a small bit of her sleeve off absently as despite her cavalier attitude about it, Penny still hadn’t fully come to terms with her change.
"Ufu, well, I like to think I can give people a new chance." Chloe mused.
"Huh? No kidding?" Aurora seemed shocked to hear Penny had used to be a guy. If that was the case though, then maybe they could be besties? He quickly grabbed Penny in a hug. "That's great! I mean like, not great great but we could be like, super unlucky together!" He pressed his face cheek against Penny's, with little regard for personal space.
Penny could not help the full body flinch that happened when Aurora hugged her. The same could not be said about how she roughly shoved the boy away but that didn’t stop her from doing so. “Don’t!” She growled eyeing the boy harshly, a red gleam entering her eyes for a moment as she did. She looked as if she was going to start shouting but she forced herself to stop and take a few deep breaths.
“I…” she sighed a little seeming to deflate a little with it “I’m not really comfortable with being touched” She admitted withdrawing away from the boy as she did. There was currently only two people she was comfortable enough around to not freak out about physical contact while she was in her sealed state and since Thalia had ran, Penny had only gotten worse about it.
"Oh..." Aurora quickly withdrew, seemingly mildly upset, and a little terrified. "Okay, but like you're really huggable so that angry look doesn't -"
"Aurora, that's enough." Before he could say anything else, Chloe interrupted. "Didn't I give you work to do?"
"Ah!" Suddenly bouncing to his feet, and nearly tripping over the edge of the couch, he gave Chloe a playful salute. "Right right! Almost totally forgot."
"Well then get on it and stop flirting with Penny." Chloe stood up, placing her teacup on the table. "Or I might get offended." Aurora visibly flinched, a cold chill running down his spine before responding.
"Yes Chloe sorry Chloe. I'll go do that work now...old hag..." Chloe visibly flinched at that last comment, but before she could say anything the magical boy ran for the door, pirouetted, and left the room, leaving Penny and Chloe alone.
Chloe took a second to compose herself.
"Ahem, sorry about that Penny." Chloe proceeded to take a seat next to the other girl, giving her a friendly smile. "...this might be a bad time to bring it up," The dark magical girl sighed lightly, offering a hand to Penny. "But seeing you again made me forget how adorable you are, you know."
It would take a moment for Penny to respond, and not before she took another deep breath and let it out slowly “It’s alright” she would say softly drawing her knees up to hug.
She was tempted to take the offered hand and it was easy to see by the way she looked at it, but she didn’t. Too off center to feel comfortable with the action right now. Instead she let out a soft snort “Yeah, an adorable mess maybe” she would say shaking her head slightly, though she was at least smiling again now.
“Sounds like you’ve got plans in the works. Anything I can help out with?” Penny would ask not wanting to dwell on her issues at the moment. She seemed to do that every time she came to visit her friend, so she worked to push them down, for the moment at least.
She could take it out on a derelict building later.
Chloe gave Penny a mildly upset frown.
"Hey. I'm worried about you, y'know." That sounded genuine, at least. "But alright, if you don't feel inclined to talk about it, I can't really force you." She sighed, letting Penny have her space before pondering her question. Hm, what could Penny help her with. What indeed. Penny wasn't a very magically inclined girl, so there was very little she could really help with in terms of her own plans...but perhaps...
“It’s not that... ” Penny would interrupt before Chloe would have a chance to answer she had asked “It’s just all I seemed to be doing recently is moping and I’m starting to get tired of it. I know you care, your one of the few people that do” The monster girl would go on to explain as she uncurled to better face her friend. “I’ll talk about it though, if you think it will help.”
"Well, Penny, you're my friend, aren't you?" Chloe smiled. "And friends help friends, do they not?" Scooting a little closer to Penny, Chloe picked up a teacup and took a sip. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what it is, you know."
“I.. I still don’t feel comfortable in my own skin” Penny would start off slowly “I haven’t since I woke up and realized that I wasn’t human anymore, but you already knew that” Penny looked off in the distance as she spoke “Nothing feels right anymore and as you saw getting hugged out of the blue has me getting ready to murder the person who did it. Because my instincts freak out and suddenly I’m fight or flight, but I don’t do flight as my monstrous instinct aren't wired that way, so it becomes fight or destroy.” As much as Penny tried to fight it her agitation and frustration were starting bubble up again.
“I used to be better than this as well, kinda had to be as girls tend to be more touchy than guys, especially with other girls. I mean I was fine with casual contact for the most part, I could deal with a random hug without freaking out,” Gritting her teeth Penny stood up and started to pace, she could feel the urge to break things starting to well up again and tried to ignore it “But now I can’t handle practically anyone touching me when I’m sealed up unless I trust them, which I’m thankful for otherwise I would have lashed out at you as well the other day.”
Her voice continued to get louder as Penny got in to her ranting till she was nearly shouting ”And I have no god damn idea why! It’s doesn't happen when I’m unsealed but then again that’s a whole different set of issues on it’s own. And I have no Idea how to fucking fix it! I’m sick and tired of feeling uncomfortable due to some prick tearing me away from my life and... Gahhh!” Penny let out a screech of frustration as she punched the wall as hard as she could. The sound of a bone breaking was muffled by the sound of the wall breaking.
Quietly Penny would slump down next to the hole she had just punched one hand over her face as she forced herself to reign in her emotions before they got further out of control, the other cradled against her body. “I just want to feel comfortable with myself again…” she would finish softly tears in her eyes the she refused to let fall.
Through the entire rant, Chloe merely silently sipped her tea and let Penny vent. Now this was just getting absurd. Uncomfortable in her own skin? A small smile crept into the corner of Chloe's mouth. An opportunity?
"Ah that's going to take a bit to fix." Chloe sighed in an amused tone. "The wall, not you. Well maybe both." A laugh. "Well, Penny, it seems to me like you're just fighting yourself right now." Chloe stood up, setting down her teacup and taking a slow, long walk around the coffee table.
"I understand. I really do. Monster girls such as yourself can't help it. It's such a shame that you have to play to the whims of unloving, uncaring gods. I got really lucky - and that's why I do what I do. Help less fortunate girls find the right path." She had arrived next to Penny now, crouching in front of the robot girl with a soft smile. "You're afraid no one will love you if you're violent. You're afraid that you'll hurt people." She leaned in a bit closer. "Penny, you adorably silly thing - I think I've told you before, but I love you. I'll never hate you...and I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you're safe. Even if I get a little hurt in the process. The other girls...those from the beacon. I'm glad they're treating you well, but how long will that last? Us and them, we're incompatible to begin with. We can't help it. You're driven to destroy...I'm driven to control. We can suppress and ignore it, but when we do it boils over and hurts more in the end. Eventually it will end in tragedy."
She held out another hand to Penny.
"...but what if I told you, I could fix that, my dear, sweet, Penny?"
Penny listened to Chloe very closely as she talked, and trying to be completely honest with herself Penny knew that most of what Chloe was saying. The robotic girl was afraid of hurting people that she cared for and she was at odds with herself more often than not as of late, least when she wasn’t out hunting monsters that is. There was even the fact that Penny had already made a mess of things once before by trying to suppress her destructive desires.
But still she was cautious, this situation was starting to reminded her far too much of the first time she had meet Veronica and as Chloe had just admitted to, she was a controlling person driven to such by twisted urges and not everything the spirit wielder had said was true. Penny couldn’t believe some of it, not if she wanted to remain intact.
Penny wanted desperately to take offered hand, but she didn’t. It could have been the venomous word of Veronica whispered in the back of her mind stalling her, making her wonder if she could really trust Chloe, or maybe it was the pain in her arm, cutting through her emotional turmoil making her focus on the long term repercussions that were at stake here, of the many tangled strands she was connected too. Or perhaps it was the backend desire to break things that had Penny testing how far she could deny the Control her dark friend was seeking.
That didn’t stop Penny from asking though “How would you be able to do that?” her eyes flicking back and forth between Chloe’s eyes and her outstretched hand as she awaited an answer.
"It is not something that would be easy," Chloe replied with a sigh. "We have to change this rotten world. This world that rejects us for simply being ourselves because it's controlled by fools scared of us. Scared of loosing their own power. The Beacon. The mint. Even that fool god of yours. For someone so focused on change, why is he the only constant?" She paused a moment, bringing a hand to her chin as she thought. A small wince of pain flashed across her features. "I have a plan. Something that could burn the ugliness from this world...but I cannot say much more than that. It is too soon. I trust you, Penny, but if someone finds out it could end before it began."
She flashed Penny smile.
"...but if you help me I can promise you that no matter what happens, I can give you a world where you can be yourself. Free to love, rage, or whatever it is you want without having that silly thing known as fear."
It would be a few long, silent seconds as Penny scrutinized the girl across from her, the disguised robot’s face was netral and seemingly molded from steel as she searched for something in Chloe’s eyes. But eventually, Penny would shift her weight, the wall crumbling a bit as she did, and although hesitantly she’d reach out, and accept the hand offered. “How can I help?”
Chloe smiled, helping Penny to her feet.
"Hmm, a power source of some sort would be nice." Chloe replied. "Preferably something magical in nature...say, souls, for example." A pause. "Though perhaps something more electricity based could potentially work."
“An electric engine I could build rather easily, would just need the parts and an Idea of how much power you need it to output.” Penny would reply easily enough though there was an odd look on her face as she regarded Chole “But I would need a soul to, mess around with” She would pause and shake her head after saying such due to the near absurdity of the statement from her point of view before continuing on “To see if I could even do anything like make an engine ran off them”
"Hm, I think I can arrange some spirits for you to play with very soon." Chloe replied. "Just need to rest a bit. Helping Aurora took quite a bit out of me and I'm frankly exhausted and I still need to get back into contact with those Archive girls." Walking back over to the couch, Chloe flopped down on it and stretched.
"Want to stay over tonight?"
“Sure” Penny would reply as she followed over to the couches “I’ll have to head to my place to get a change of clothes later, but otherwise I’ve got nothing planned” The robotic girl knew she wouldn’t forget today, the burning pain in her arm told her that. She wouldn’t mention it to Chloe, as part of her was sure the spirit mage didn’t truly care.
’Time will tell’, Penny thought ’Time will tell’
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