Shifter_Master

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Veronica

_{-Phone tag-}

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop Penny took a steadying breath as she pulled one of her lest favorite contact numbers at the moment and sent the call.

It rang once before the booming voice of Laat echoed out from her ear piece. “You Seek My Counsel?“

“You could say that My Lord” Penny replied unsurprised at the quick pick up, Laat was always watching her and what was going on around her, unsurprising considering she was near literally a walking alter to him and his goal. “I wished to ask about the accusations lain towards your name, the genocide of the Gold Dragons.”

“A Misunderstanding, Though Perhaps An Understandable One, I Did Not End The Golds But They Did Suffer The Beast and It’s Wrath. If The Survivor Who Seeks Your Death Faced It I Have Little Surprise That It Would Imagine Being The Last One Left.” Laat answered his tone conveying his lack of care for his actions “Once It Learns You Have Stolen from Its Hoard, It Will Likely Wish You Dead Regardless, They Are Vain and Greedy Creatures”

“Wait, what? When did I steal from a Dragon?” She asked nearly stumbling at that fact

"With The Acquisition Of The Earth Bastion And The Salvaging Of The Sky Bastion, Both Held the Magic Of A Gold Dragon. Likely The Very One Who Now seeks Your Demise." The god replied with the same disinterested tone of voice.

“Fantastic.” Penny ground out as she continued her track to the Beacon HQ. “Would you be capable of getting me some supplies?”

"The Funds I Send To You Will Be Required For Your Digital Equipment, But I can Restock The Tools You Lost on Your Assault Of The Castle"

"Add in an EMP if you can." Penny replied "Not going to go hunting after This dragon and his girls but I’m sure as hell going to be ready to retaliate if it comes down to it."

"You Shall Have Your Things In A Few Days Time." Laat agreed before the line went silent.

Penny spent a block or two, coming to terms with the fact that she now had a Dragon hunting her down and she was at least partly to blame for it. She knew that Amber was dead, that bit of information had filtered back to Beacon through the various channels that they had. Yet there was something that Penny was missing, she didn’t know what just a feeling she had.

Setting that thought off to the side for a bit Penny pulled up another one of her lesser liked contacts and gave them a call as well “Veronica, What can you tell me about gold dragons in Penrose that won’t add to my Debt?”

“Contrary to popular belief, I'm not constantly trying to add to your debt.” Veronica's tone was clearly agitated. “There is only a single golden dragon left, and his name is Boteg. He's hiding in Penrose somewhere, and he has a vendetta with an unknown entity. I do not know much about that, as my previous agent who was working for them was slain.”

“Don’t really care” Penny grumbled under her breath before speaking up “Well he found his target, Me apparently. Mika attempted to attack me because of it when I went to talk to her yesterday” She explained as she dropped down in to an ally way as there was no more good buildings to jump too “Can you tell me anything about who Mika hangs out with? I’d rather not get jumped without a bit of warning next time.”

There was a brief pause on Veronica's end. “She is a relatively new magical girl, and I know very little about her. But if she's working for Boteg, that makes her a person of interest. I might have more for you later, but I don't know who she could be in contact with. I would assume not too many people.”

“Well this is shaping up to be just peachy, call me if you find anything out." Penny said shaking her head at her luck "Two more questions before I have to go, anything you can tell me about the Independent and a girl by the name of Olympia? It was the only lead I got out of Mika before she tried to jump me.”

“Just some magical girl reporters. I've been reading their news articles but I haven't paid too much attention to the names. They haven't done anything to warrant my interest yet.” Veronica groaned. “I'd talk to Olympia though. But be cautious, this information came from a hostile target. But it's the only lead you have.”

"Why do you think I checked with you first?" Penny asked “Still thanks for what did have. Beacon’s on the other line so I’m going to let you go”

After hanging up with that call Penny thought about giving the independent a call as well, but opted not to. Having no idea how long that call would take, she didn’t want to have to drop it in the middle of a conversation if she made it to HQ before she got the information she was looking for. After all she was only a few minutes away by this point.

---

_{.:Opening act:.}

Last night had been quite a bit of fun for Kyle, and while it he had lost many more hands then he won that had been intentional. People in good moods tended to be more talkative, so by the time he had called it a night he had made a few new friends and had gotten a better feel for this slice of Beacon.

Now it was early in the morning and he was about to get another chance to see how this group operated. Monster attacks had a way of showing people for who they were. Already transformed and ready to go Aurelio stood next to Sally and Cherry while they waited for the last member of their squad to show up.

Seraph and her Squad had already taken off to deal with the attack at the cathedral and once Penny arrived Aurelio would initiate the teleport to get them to the stadium. Unlike most of Beacon, Aurelio’s Spark functioned as an express pass for the system so he didn’t need to head to the Pads, so long as he was at one of their HQ’s he could be teleported to anywhere they had the location locked in. Plus always being able to teleport back to HQ was handy.

Turning to look around for the oddest member of Beacon Aurelio was aware he looked over at the door just as Penny came rushing through it. “Sorry about that, I live out near the industrial zone” The cyborg said as she came to a stop near the three waiting on her.

“Nonsense” Aurelio replied with a wide grin “You’re just in time”

“Cool, so what’s the plan?” She asked, not phased at all form her nonstop run to get here.

“We pop over to the stadium really quick, save everyone we can and strike out and the ruffians who are causing this ruckus while we do it” he exclaimed happily already starting the teleportation sequence as he did.

Penny just looked at Aurelio oddly for a moment before shrugging her shoulders “You leave to striking to me and I’ll leave the saving to you.” She said before turning to look at Sally “When do we leave?

“Right now” Aurelio replied as a great flash of light encompassed the four of them before snapping down to a single point of light that winked out with an audible pop.

Moments later at the stadium a large complex spell circle would appear in the center of the baseball field and with the same audible pop the four of them reappeared nearly back to back as they appeared just a few feet behind Alex.

“A bit more warning next time would be appreciated” Penny nearly yelled as she surveyed the insanity of the situation she had just dropped in too. There wasn’t much she could really pick out over the general madness that seemed to be going on everywhere but there was one person she recognized in all of this as an enemy.

The moment she was sure that it was Elroy she fired off a Gauss round at him, the cacophonous boom letting all who didn’t see know that even more people had joined in to the mess that was happening here.

At the same time that Penny was letting loose the first round of Beacon’s counter offensive Aurelio was already weaving his magic. ”Magician’s Mark!” he intoned as a simple glyph appeared on his allies, that looked like a pair of cards. These glyphs acted as an IFF for Aurelio’s magic so he wouldn’t them with any of his offensive or debilitating spells. As in a mess like this he might not have the time to aim correctly, plus it would let him monitor their status from a distance.

“Now then!” He called out as he strode towards the hordes of mummies and minions ”Let the show begin!”

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{-Early morning-}

It was early, very early, first light had only just broken over the horizon, but in a small hidden nook of the industrial zone Penny was waking up. Her lair was filled with the sound of thunder as her phone's alarm went off rousing the cyborg from her rest. With a small groan of annoyance Penny pushed herself up to a sitting position and silenced her alarm before looking around the single room of her Lair.

The lone table and its chairs had been pushed up against one of the walls, and all of the supply boxes had been placed on top of it so that there was enough room for Penny to lie down without bumping in to something as she slept as the mechanical girl had set Eliza down on the nest of blankets that normally served as a bed. Reaching out with her magic she started the electric motor, and thus turned on the lights.

It was stupidly early but Penny had things she needed to get done before checking in with Beacon today, and with luck her guest wouldn’t mind the early wake up.

"Ugh..." With a drowsy groan, Eliza turned over to where she was laying on her stomach, and hid her face in the blankets. "F-Five more minutes, Mum..." she grumbled mindlessly, then finally raised her head up and looked around. "Okay, how did I get here?" The witch asked herself, a bit concerned.

"That would have been me" Penny would reply from her position over at the table. She had cleared off most of the boxes from it and set them off to the side and was currently digging around in the parts boxes occasionally pulling out computer parts and setting them off to the side. "Found you passed out in a wrecked alleyway" She explained as she looked over her shoulder at Eliza "Figured It would be safer for you here then out on the streets"

"Oh. Right, I nearly got killed." The witch scratch the back of her head. "Well, thanks...Penny, right? Last I saw you, you turned into a war machine. Sooo, what happened after that?" She asked.

"The chick I was fighting went nuclear and tackled me in to the lake, I survived the explosion through sheer luck, then reinforcements arrived and after we got patched up I tore down the castle." Penny shrugged "Nothing all that interesting if you ask me.But I take it something must have happened on your end if your sporting wings now, as I'm pretty sure you didn't have those last time I saw you." she added pointing at the new appendages for emphasis before returning to looking over her supply of spare parts.

"Oh and I've got some food if you're hungry, not all that filling but better than nothing" Penny slid the cardboard box labeled food over to the bed. Inside the box was dozens of protein, cereal and granola bars. "Help yourself"

"By yourself? That's pretty cool." Eliza said, grabbing a couple of cereal bars. "After we got teleported away from the castle. Me, Alex, Sue and Shade were the only ones left fighting Justine. In the middle of the battle, I got pinned down by a spear to the foot and couldn't free myself. So I used my black coin to become a monster girl. Starting to regret that choice now, heheh.." she explained with a sad chuckle. "Turns out though, the ritual wouldn't have worked after all. Justine still loved her sister, so it was null and void. And now here I am, nearly getting murdered by a lizard girl, getting some of my feathers plucked out, and now probably going to get my ass kicked for not completing my mission."

Penny snorted when she learn that the reason for the assault was nearly pointless “We did rescue Janet and Lily, plus that’s one less evil lair in the Overcity, so it wasn’t a waste in the long run. And I know the feeling of having a target painted on you back for no good reason. Ran in to a beast girl the other day who wants me dead for no other reason than who my patron is” Penny sighed at that bit, she still needed to call Laat and verify that assumption plus possibly call Veronica to see if she knew who Mika’s Patron was. Her list of enemies was growing and she was still undecided how to deal with it.

Shaking away those thoughts Penny continued “And If you really regret the Corruption I know Beacon has ways of purifying it. I’ve been looking in to it in my spare time and it should be an easy process for you as you just ended up with some wings. Can’t say anything about the mission failing bit though, I try and keep the Mint at arm’s length so no idea on that front”

There was another crack of thunder from Penny as she received a text. Pulling it up on her eye piece she saw that it was from Chloe smiling she sent off a quick reply

"Sure I should be free tonight, got some plans this afternoon myself so if nothing else I’ll see you tonight "

Penny

"As that reminded me, you got any plans today Eliza? As I've got a couple and it's something of a nightmare to get in or out of here if you don't know how and I've got a bit more time before I have to head out" Not that Penny was trying to get rid of Eliza, but she really did need to make a few calls, she had some parts but she needed more if she was going to build a decent computer and she needed to get some answers from Laat if no one else.

"Don't have anything else to do besides update Maura and Veronica on what happened." Eliza shrugged. "...Do you really think the beacon could help me? What if they try to kill me too?"

"So long as you had the right introduction I'm sure they would help out. I can even ask about it and let you know, as I'll be checking in with them later. You'll just want to keep the Mint thing secret. That is unless you want to join up with the Beacon." The cyborg replied as she gave all the parts she had pulled out another look to make sure they were useable and putting any that didn't pass her second inspection off to in a pile "And I'll make sure they don't try and kill you but I doubt that will happen. They're going through some reforms at the moment and have started to cut back on the monster hate"

"Really?" Eliza tilted her head in confusion. If the beacon was going to start trusting certain monsters, then what was with the girls with the Bates? Something didn't seem right with them. "Okay, yeah! I'll ask them for help. As for joining, I'll keep that in mind for when my debt's cleared. But I don't wanna part with Maura yet. Not till I help her out with her curse problem."

"Fair enough, and yeah they have, though at that moment it's just me and a cat girl named Kimble. But they pardoned Janet for being messed up by Justine." Penny explained turning to face Eliza as she absently munched on the parts she had deemed unusable "Can't help with the curse issue, not very magic myself, but if Maura's been stuck with it an especially long time Laat might be able to help. He tends to dislike things staying the same for too long"

"According to her, she's been stuck that way for as long as she's been a patron to magical kids. A demon, possibly a horror, wearing a strange mask was the one behind it. She's been trying to hunt it down so she can convince it to change her back, but it's not easy for her." Eliza explained. "I'll let her know about Laat and see if they could meet up."

"Ouch, that’s got to suck, only been under a small curse myself, one that was weak enough to fade after a few minutes, can't imagine what it would be like to be stuck with one for that long." Penny sympathized while shuddering slightly "Hopefully it's not a horror, they tend to be trickier to deal with from what I've gathered" Checking the time Penny stood up "Well I've got to head out things to do, people to call, Laat among them. So how about I help you out of the maze that is my front lawn?" Penny asked moving towards the entrance of her Lair as she did.

"Oh, sure!" The witch nodded, walking up besides the cyborg.

Crouching down Penny helped Eliza up on to her back and waited for her to get situated before opening the entrance in the massive scrap yards that was the inside of the warehouse she hid her home in, and a few moments later both Penny and Eliza were standing atop one of the other dozen or so buildings that lay abandoned in this part of Penrose. "I would say feel free to come back, but as you can tell it's not the easiest place to get in too without help. So instead I'll just give you my number" Penny said as she crouched down to let the little witch off her back "That way you can reach me if you need to"

"I'm surprised you can get through this place easily." The witch said, climbing off Penny's back. "But thanks! Again!"

"Eh I've got the advantage of having set the place up and no worries" Penny replied with a smile before the sounds of Cymbals emitted from her eye piece as an alert popped up in her field of view

Two monster attacks have been detected. You have been assigned under Sally's command, report to HQ ASAP

Beacon Updates

"Seems Beacon's got trouble so I'll have to catch ya later" she added before taking off at a run towards Beacon HQ while firing off a reply to the Beacon

En route to HQ, ETA 45 min. Give me my target local and I'll redirect and meet with Sally there

Penny

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_-Onward-

@BrokenPromise

“That sounds like her” Penny said holding in her sigh, it was starting to seem as if Thalia snapped or lost herself to the monster within. The cyborg wasn’t sure which truth she preferred at the moment, but didn’t dwell on it too much. She had other worries she had to keep track of right now. Turning to face the Golden Trove Penny started burying her hacked entry way and pulled out of the system. She might need to slip in again if her fears were right and this way she could do it from any computer she could find rather than need to come back here.

All the while Penny kept her attention on Mika, but didn’t turn to follow her as the other girl started to stalk around her. Sure she was trying to be nonchalant about it but Penny had spent a fair amount of time living with a Beast Monstergirl, she could tell the difference. Thus she had time to prepare for how she was going to deal with the incoming attack.

Barely a moment before Mika pounced at Penny the cyborg’s left eye flickered back to life and she reacted instantaneously when she felt the other girl land on her back. The first thing that happened was her body surged with electricity, effectively turning her into a living stun gun. Penny intentionally keep the power output low as she didn’t want to hurt Mika just stun her. Then, once the electricity had stopped, Penny reached out with her magic and tagged Mika’s phone and copied over the contact information and GPS codes in the phone. This would let Penny track Mika’s phone later. After doing that Penny turned and threw Mika back towards the middle of the roof before she could recover from being stunned.

”Take it I was wrong on my assumptions.” Penny would say neutrally as her eyes flickered through various colors before landing on a deep blue ringed with red. With a sigh she turned back towards the way she had taken to get here “Thanks for the info I guess” without any further delay Penny took off in a sprint away from the Golden Trove Hotel. She knew well enough not to loiter around in enemy territory.

---

@Flamelord@t2wave

Penny had been running none stop for the last five minutes. She didn’t have a destination in mind; she was just trying to put distance between her and the encounter she had just left. While she did have another lead to follow up on when it came to finding Thalia, she also now knew that there was someone, possibly more than one, who wanted her dead for no other reason than she was under Laat’AlOfan’s guidance. At least she was pretty sure that was the case, she would have to ask him to be 100% sure.

Eventually she came to a stop atop one of the taller buildings in Downtown Penrose. “This is so messed up” she muttered to herself as she looked out over the city. She knew it rather well as she spent her days patrolling with Beacon and her nights hunting Solo. It didn’t feel like home though, and sometimes she wondered if it ever would.

She kept her silent vigil for an unknown amount of time, just taking a moment for herself to relax and forget about all the insanity that was her life.

Said isolation was eventually interrupted by a text bringing up the message on her eyepiece Penny couldn’t help but give off a genuine smile at the selfie of Alicia and Janet. ‘Glad that went well’ Soaking in the happy outcome for her friends a thought came to Penny and she sent off a reply before she could second guess herself.

YAAY!
Glad to see things went well for you two, we should celebrate tomorrow. Shopping and lunch on me?

Penny

After sending the message Penny found herself once again looking at the picture message she had gotten. She spent a few more moment’s just admiring it before closing it when she noticed her gaze had been lingering on Alicia for a bit longer then she meant.

Shaking her head, Penny forced herself to not think about why it was she had just spent the last few minutes gazing longingly at Alicia’s picture. Instead she started her trek back to her lair as it was starting to get late.

---

@Majoras End

Penny was about half way home when she stumbled across what looked to be a battle field she assumed she had missed the party as she couldn’t hear anyone fighting, but curiosity demanded she take a closer look any way.

As she walked through the wreckage she started piecing together bits and pieces of what happened here. She could tell it was a larger brawl, and that most of the combatants seemed to be on the same side, but couldn’t make heads or tells of the magic used. She could find burns here and there as well as what looked like concussive impacts but could only guess at what magic might have caused them.

Eventually she would find her to where the fight had ended, and Penny was honestly surprised to find someone still here, and not dead, though they seemed to be out of it. Unsure if it was due to injury or fatigue or even magic Penny cast a cautious look around before she started moving closer to the unconscious Witch.

Penny was once again surprised as she recognized Eliza, though she couldn’t place a name, she remembered the girl from the assault on Justine’s castle. A quick once over told the robotic girl that winged witch was mostly unharmed, but Penny was by no means a doctor.

After thinking about it for a moment she reached a decision. Picking Eliza up, Penny gently positioned the smaller girl on her back using her spider legs to keep the witches wings folded as well as keep her stable. After making sure everything was in place Penny continued her trek back to her lair, though moving with a bit more urgency and keeping an extra eye out for any impending danger.

---

_{.:Turning in:.}

”No worries Alica, I can tell you’ve had it rough. I’ll catch you two around” Aurelio replied waving off the apologize as he could latterly feel how tired the two of them were. With a parting wave he turned and walked back to the gaming room he had been shown to earlier.

As he walked he let his transformation fade.

After he was once again in his civvies he called out “Who’s up for a few rounds of Poker?” After all he was still planning on getting to know more of the people here at this Beacon and he had been promised a few hands earlier.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{- Contact-}

As Penny had figured her travel had been uninterrupted and before too long she found herself atop a building across the street from The Golden Trove. She took a moment to examine the hotel in case there happened to be anything of interest about it before looking around the roof top she was on seeking the right spot to start the next part of her search.

Most people have little idea of how most building are wired, for unless they worked in IT there was no real need to know. Penny did know, both because of a life time ago she had earned a college degree in the field and because her sensitivity to Metal and Electricity made it impossible to miss if she went looking for it. Thus after a moment of looking Penny found the nearest bundle of cords tucked away in the walls of the building she was on. Positioning as close to the cords as she could while staying on the rooftop the Cyborg begin using a skill that she hadn’t really told anyone about, and hacked in to the network of the building she was standing on. From there she jumped over to the network of The Golden Trove.

‘Still find it weird to do it this way’ she though as she worked her way through the security systems that stood in her way with nothing more than her unique physiology, her weak magic and her old know how. ‘Guess that’s just the perk of being made of the future’ it took her barely three minutes to slip in to the systems of the hotel and start searching for Mika.

By a quirk of chance, Mika ended up find Penny first. Turning to face the Beast spec’d girl it would be plain as day that Penny’s left eye was ‘off’ as it wasn’t glowing and was a flat dull gray. The reason was that was because she was feeding all the incoming data to her left eye for processing thus it was currently hooked up to the cameras in the Golden Trove.

Still Penny was notably confused at Mika’s introduction. “Hey Mika I’m Penny” was the given reply before Penny shook off her confusion “And no idea who the Terrible one is, so I’m going to go with no to the first question and I assume the first and second questions are connected so I’m going to assume no for the second question. I mean Laat is an asshole but he’s not one who goes about causing genocide if he can avoid it” She continued as a knot formed in her gut. While Penny was speaking truthfully, Laat was infuriatingly tight lipped about the things he has done or the things she would have to look out for. So it was possible that Laat had caused a genocide and Penny was about to find out there was a grudge about that the hard way.

Hoping that it was just a case of wrong place wrong time Penny moved forward with trying to find Thalia. “I was actually wondering if I could ask you something Mika. I’ve trying to find someone and I was told you might have had a run in with them. They are a Foxgirl with Beast and Fire magic, does that sound familiar?”

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{- Lone Wanderer-}

If any other Magicals were to see Penny as she slowly made her way over the roof tops of Penrose, they might wonder what had her so distracted. Her half glazed eyes glowing a dull blue-green, the sluggish movements and a general lack of awareness of what was around the cyborg, all gave off the image that she wasn’t fully there at the moment.

She was heading roughly in the direction of the Golden Trove Apartment buildings, but at her speed wouldn’t be there anytime soon, and Penny was okay with that. She was using this time to think. In front of her, nonexistent to everyone else, were dozens of text windows filled with lists upon lists. Some of them were lists of the people she knew what their affiliations were and who their patrons were. Others were of the Patrons she was aware of, and others still were dossiers of the various organizations that were known to the magical world.

As she looked over all this information Penny pondered the same question that had been bugging her as of late. ‘Where do I fit in this?’ In a little under five months she will have been a Monstergirl for a year and she still felt lost and clueless when confronted by the realities of the magical world. The fact that Laat seemed more than willing to place her in the middle of every mess he could find didn’t make anything easier for her either.

With a sigh Penny saved and closed the various files she had opened. She had no better answer now then she did last time she tried to figure this out. Checking her phone app, she sighed again, there was still no reply. She figured she would have gotten something back from the texts she sent earlier but figured the Trial would have started by now. It made sense that Janet didn’t reply; they didn’t know each other all that well but being brushed off by Alicia stung, especially as it wasn’t the first time.

Looking skyward Penny could say she honestly never felt as alone as she did right now. She didn’t feel like she could trust anyone at the moment, she blamed Veronica for that. Pushing those thoughts out of her mind for the moment Penny focused on her current task; Finding Mika. As she leapt to the next building Penny hoped that these apartments had decent security cameras, as it would make finding her target easier.

Now that she was focused on the here and now it wouldn’t take Penny more than a few minutes to get to her destination, so long as nothing interrupted her that is.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{.:Heart of the People:.}

The Hall of Judgment, a grand center piece that if everything went well most in Beacon would never see, even though everyone knew of it, one could gather a fair bit of understanding from the various different HQ’s by how they themed their Hall.

Due to his silent appraisal of the hall Aurelio lost his chance to make it to the defenders platform alongside Alicia, but that was fine. He didn’t know enough about everyone here to be of much help up there anyway. Down in the crowd, surrounded by people while transformed he held vast potential to help, It would all depend on how he went about it.

The opening statements hit hard, not because of what was being said but due to all the emotions floating around the room, it felt like he was in a tumble dryer filled with bricks. ‘No matter‘ he thought to himself ‘Still gives me plenty to work with.’ Silently he moved toward the pit in the center of the room and stood near the edge with his cane placed in front of him in plain view of the Beckoners and Jury. He wasn’t planning on hiding his actions from them, because he wasn’t planning on anything that would, in his opinion, violate the ruling.

Taking a deep breath he started to draw on the ambient feelings around him. Never taking more then what was considered spare; he started to spin the emotions in to different ones. Determination and Confidence, he wove and sent towards Alicia. She wasn’t as alone in this as she felt. Understanding and Peace, he wove and sent towards Janet, even the best have cracks in their armor and she wasn’t going to be abandoned for being controlled.

Towards the Jury he sent Calm and Focus, the truth was their goal, not revenge, he would make sure they stayed on track to find it and for the crowd around him. He wove Patience, they would still comment, still whisper about what was happening but they would wait to act, he would dull the Tension they felt so that no one would do something rash.

For those who sat as witnesses he did not weave anything. For that would be seen as trying to influence their testimony. Thus he left their raw emotions speak for themselves. Plus he was multitasking enough as it was, trying for anymore would cause everything to break down. He cane was glowing with the colors of the rainbow as he wove his magic throughout the room. Hoping that it would be enough to allow sounds minds to prevail.

He also didn’t bother sending any of his magic at the Beckoners present; he knew well enough that it wouldn’t actually do anything other then get him in trouble if he tried.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Veronica

_{-The Hunt Begins-}

Despite having the capability of heading straight to the park, Penny took something of a meandering route to her meeting with Veronica, even taking out the odd monster along the way to delay a bit longer. It was partly because she really would have rather not talked with the Coinbroker if she could and partly because she was still mad from watching her friends get accosted by the people they worked with. But mostly it was because she wasn’t looking forward to the topic of discussion.

Still, even with her roundabout path, she made it to the park within the time frame she had given earlier and set about wandering the park. She kept away from the main paths, too much risk of being seen by a normal person, but otherwise didn’t have any real destination in mind, figuring that Veronica would see Penny long before Penny saw Veronica.

Veronica looked like she had been waiting in the park for some time. She had her briefcase opened on her lap and was typing out something on a keyboard. Though if Penny cared to look, it would appear Veronica was writing part of a novel. Something about a monk entering a cave.
“I suppose it was too much to expect you to come disguised as something.” Veronica closed the briefcase and looked up at Penny. “Anyway, I have some information that points to the whereabouts of Thalia. Unfortunately, this information is owned by the mint. As such, I cannot freely pass it along to whoever I choose.” She folded her hands together on top of her briefcase, which was still in her lap. “That is to say that I can give you this information, but it will increase the size of your debt. Your operations will get noticeably harder, and the Mint will expect results.” Veronica gave the cyborg a sideways glance. “I can understand if you don't trust the mint. But I verified the sources myself. I have no doubt this will lead you directly to her.”

”The only ‘disguise’ I have would require more trust than I have for you at the moment Broker” Penny replied calmly as she stepped closer to the bench but remained standing. She held herself in a loose stance and there was a thin line of red rimming her, currently green, eyes. She did glance at the novel but only for a moment before returning her attention to the woman on the bench.

Upon hearing that it would cost more debt to find Thalia, Penny clenched her jaw and sound akin to a metal latch being locked and unlocked could be heard coming from the cyborg for a moment as she forced her instinctive reaction down ”And how much debt am I under at the moment? And how exactly do I pay off that debt?” Penny would ask “Because I would much rather work off what I own before adding more to it first”

“Debt is difficult to quantify.” Veronica didn't take her eyes off of penny. “However, your starting debt was rather low to start with. Which is largely why I've just been using you to collect information about Laat and Beacon. Relatively small, low risk operations. Laat seemed interesting in having you on board with us, so it's important that you always retain a small amount of debt to remain inside our organization.You've been completing enough missions that the interest isn't compounding too badly. We could say in a roundabout way you have no debt.” she patted the suitcase. “This will be a bit more substantial. I would like to just give it to you, I think it would be a great way to build trust between us. But unfortunately, it's not mine to give. Should you choose to accept it though, I will be able to help you if you need to make heads or tales of anything. Missing people are my specialty.”

“You make it sounds like there is no way to be part of the Mint and be debt free at the same time” Penny resisted the urge the start pacing, she didn’t like this. The fact that her debt was negligible was good to hear, the reminder that she couldn’t completely sever ties from the Mint until Laat said something was not.

This whole situation made Penny realize how trapped she was. The Mint had something that she obviously wanted, but it would add more chains to Penny if she accepted. She couldn’t directly deny it Laat didn’t want her to drift away from Mint, nor could she embrace it as she still had ties to Beacon that Laat was wanting as well. Even though most of the girls in the Beacon despised her on principle.

Gods how she hated Laat’AlOfan right now.

”What kind of Operations could I expect if I accepted this information?” A fresh spike of anger seeped in to Penny as she asked, her voice remaining calm even as more red bled into her eyes. She was stuck and knew it and there wasn't any options to free herself at the moment. ”And what do you expect me to do once I find Thalia?”

Veronica raised an eyebrow. “I'm not sure what you're going to do once you find Thalia. She is of no interest to the mint, and by extension, me. You are free to do what you please. I believe I've already spoken to you previously about the matter. I told you what I would do if I was in such a situation, but you are free to do as you please.” Penny was able to recall a discussion Veronica had with her about love and trust. Veronica made up a very convincing story about being a beacon girl in love with a monster on the spot. While Penny couldn't clearly remember Veronica's answer, she did remember saying that she would personally want to hurt that girl. But that was before Veronica revealed it to be a fabrication. Unless that too was a lie. “You would have to be a bit more active in Mint activities if you wanted to keep your debt down. I do not know what sort of missions I will receive to delegate to you, but I won't ever order you to kill your friends. We are primarily interested in the gathering of intelligence. The horror stories you've heard about girls being forced to kill people are tales from desperate girls who drew on the coin's power.” She adjusted her tie. “I've never ordered the death of a magical girl who didn’t deserve it.”

”You might not order such things, but that doesn’t mean other Brokers are the same way. The Mint likes it’s secrets after all.” Penny replied sarcastically before shaking her head. She was angry, angry at herself, at Laat, at Thalia, but venting at Veronica wouldn’t solve anything “But maybe that’s why Laat’s been watching you.”

Penny let loose a sigh as she thought about what was next. ”Regardless, I’ll take the info” she said moving to sit on the bench as she did “And your help if your offering it freely”

“For the record, I do not enjoy our secretive nature any more than you do.” Veronica popped open the briefcase. “I have actually started to notify my operatives of each other's missions, which isn't something I've done since I started my time as a coin broker.” She shifted her eyes over to Penny. “Speaking of which, I understand you met one of them. We'll talk about that shortly if you'd like.” Veronica pulled a file out of her briefcase and handed it to Penny. It was a dossier that contained two photos of a young girl and some notes. The pictures were presumably her magical girl form and normal form. “She calls herself 'Mika,' and is a fairly new magical girl. She's been taking refuge at the golden trove apartment complex. She was attacked by a girl who closely fits Thalia's description. Talking to Mika is your first step to finding her.” She closed her briefcase. “If you need help, you may contact me over coms. Now, was there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

Penny leafed through the files while Veronica explained the basics. She wondered about the attack, as that didn’t sound like Thalia, but neither did her running away and that happened. So maybe Penny didn’t know Thalia as well as she had thought. “Not really” She would reply as she handed the dossier back. She had been copying it with her eyepiece as she read it over and didn’t need a physical copy as well. “But your statement does answer whether or not Silhouette recognized me”

Rather then standing up to leave, Penny slumped in her seat. Her anger was still simmering just below the surface, but at the moment the girl just felt drained. Once again she was at risk of losing everything due to Laat’s intervention and her only real option was to go along with it and hope for the best.

Veronica stood up. “We might be mint, but we take care of our own, Penny.” She eyed the cyborg before turning around to leave. “I’ll be in touch if you need me.”

A few minutes later, Penny would stand up and start her trek to the Golden Trove Apartments. After all she bought the information, might as well track Thalia down to get her pound of flesh. Who knows it might even make her feel better.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{Sticking close}

Kyle, or as he referred to himself while in costume, Aurelio was just a bit out of his depths. This Beacon group seemed to be having some internal strife if this scene was anything to go by, but he couldn’t in good conciseness stay out of it. Mainly because he was a nosy person by nature, but also because of the emotions floating around, frustration from those denied, resignation from the one bound, conviction of all for their actions.

It was bound to get messy with such an emotional cocktail floating around but with a bit of luck he might be able to keep everyone’s heads on mostly straight. With that thought Aurelio fell in step with Alicia “Need any help? Granted I’ve got little to no cluse what’s going on but I’ve got the feeling your friend is getting the short end here” He asked softly as they walked, hardly noticing his habit of spinning his cane as he did such.

If he wasn’t in the middle of so many flowing emotions he might have noticed the vibrant anger of the other witness to the encounter at the front doors.

---

_{Backing off}

Penny stayed right where she was as she took deep breaths and quietly pushed aside her anger, while it was true that she tended to have a short fuse It was always a bit more frayed right after she transformed. She wanted to be right there helping out Janet and Alicia she knew she was going to be more harm than help at the moment and knowing that just made her angry again.

After a few more moents to calm down Penny shot off a text to Alicia and Janet

Hey. Happened to get a bird’s eye view of what happened at the entrance. Got to say that Slyvia was a bit quick to jump down your throat for smacking them, though to be fair I’m not sure I would have been as kind as you were. I’d like to be there to help you two out but I’m more likely to cause a indecent of my own at the moment, so I’m off to do some renovating. Keep me in the loop.

Penny

Letting out a sigh Penny resisted the urge to punch the railing and instead took off towards the park. She had another appointment to get to, and unfortunately no longer had an excuse to avoid it.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{In to the Fray}

”Ooh, fancy Rec Room is fancy” was the impressed response Kyle gave as he took in the room that they had been lead too. He spent a small bit of time taking a look at the various games and posters that were scattered around the room getting a feeling for how it was this division of Beacon operated.

”I am always up for a game of poker” He answered as he turned back to face Sally. As he did he caught a commotion happening out in the hall and could tell form the voices it wasn’t a good one.

Heaving a sigh Kyle snapped his fingers and in a grand puff of smoke…

He had transformed, and could much more easily tell the feeling of the crowd. “Sorry ladies, card game is going to have to wait. Trouble is afoot.” He stated as he rushed off to get a better vantage point to assess what was going on.

---

_{-Steel sentinel-}

Meanwhile Penny was already at a perfect vantage point to witness the events happening outside. Rather than go down in to the HQ, she had been planning on hopping off the roof and walking inside through the front door.

She put a stop to that plan when she looked over the edge and saw Alicia already transformed confronting the girls guarding the front doors, along side Janet who was tied by a golden rope.

Currently she was just waiting, but the red in her eyes and the cracked railing in her hands made it easy to tell it was a near thing and she would be down there the moment Alicia was attacked.

Beyond the Looking Glass: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

_{-Out of the Parlor-}

Upon hearing the front door swing shut behind Sam, and having made sure she was no longer in danger of choking on her tea Penny couldn’t help but remark sarcastically ”Cheery that one. Figures she would be Mint” Shaking her head she drained the rest of her tea “Wonder if she recognized me as well”

"You know her?" Chloe asked curiously. "She could certainly stand to be less rude. At least she accepted my coffee without a complaint. Hmph. I had half a mind to smack her, but as generous and merciful as I am I overlooked her bratty behavior." Chloe stood, taking the mug and placing it back on the countertop.

"That aside though..." Quickly, Chloe took a seat next to Penny. Her body was pressed gently against the other girl's arm as she continued. "Who's been messing with my adorable little Penny? And what's this about you joining beacon?"

“Wouldn’t say that I know her, we tried to kill each other about a month ago” Penny leaned back in to the couch as she spoke, her exhaustion starting to come to the forefront due to feeling safe here in this apartment. “They were trying to destroy a flying pirate ship for some reason, I needed the ship intact to help assault a Dark Magicals castle in the Overcity. I was something of a mess at the time.” her eyes had a distant quality as Penny pulled up the memories that felt like they had happened so long ago, but in truth was only a month and a half ago.

“There was this girl, Thalia” Her voice cracked slightly at saying the girls name and a slight shine could be seen in her eyes. Penny forced herself to swallow before continuing “She’s a Foxgirl, I keep running into her. Have since I got dragged in to this crazy world. Kinda like you and Laat and Alicia, the only solid points of reference I have anymore.” her voice wavered at that declaration “I ran in to her at a fight at a hospital, and we just stuck around each other for the next couple weeks. I didn’t know where you had vanished off too and the key wasn’t working so I welcomed the company” Penny just shrugged helplessly, she knew how it sounded, but that didn’t make it any less true.

“Then the day prior to the ship fight I had been out doing some patrols, Laat had made a deal with the Beckoners so I’ve been working alongside the Beacon since a day or two after the meeting in the park.” She gave a soft, wistful chuckle at remembering that deal being forged. Not much good had really come from it, outside of meeting Alicia, granted nothing all that bad had come from it either.

“A fight broke out and I got winged by a few makeshift metal lances right after someone cursed me to compromise my durability.” Faded anger and frustration colored her tone as she continued her tale and for the moment her sadness seemed to be forgotten “Thalia Redlined and hauled me out of there and back to my Lair, ‘cause I guess I looked like hell. I was in the process of rewriting my regen to incorporate the lances into my chassis, which always takes an annoying amount of time, but I had back up and the fight was pretty much done with so I was going to be alright.”

“Guess I shut down at some point, so my regen could do its thing, because the next thing I remember is waking up next to a sleeping Thalia. She had just Redlined to get me to safety in full view of Beacon members and the only goal she had was to get me to safe. What can I say, I fell hard right then.” Penny’s voice had a touch of awe as she recalled that moment, but the hurt of what came next was unmistakable “Only to have her bolt when she woke up.” she curled in to herself as she finished her voice straining to not waver as she kept herself from crying over it again “I tried to chase after her, but every time I thought I was getting closer she seemed to freak out and would get faster. I tried calling her for hours afterwards. Voicemail every time. I’ve yet to see or hear from her since”

“To make my situation even worse I had been approached by a Coin Broker while Thalia was still sleeping. Felt like such an idiot, still do.” she finished weakly rocking softly as she did. It still felt raw to think about it, still hurt to remember. But she was feeling better, and now that she had been able to tell someone she felt a weight lift from her. She had wanted to tell Alicia, but fear had kept her silent, she always felt she was on shaky ground due to being a Monstergirl, a Black coin would have been too much.

As Penny recounted the past few months of her absence, Chloe could only frown. It was painful to hear it, really. Penny had a rough time of it, it seemed. Ditched by someone who was involved with her. Twice if she included herself in that that. Being alone without someone to care for you was always a difficult thing. At least now though, she had been caught up and she was never going to leave her little Penny again.

"Ah…I should never have left." Chloe replied quietly when Penny finished. "My dear little Penny has had a rough time of it, and for that I apologize. I should have told that crotchety old dragon to stuff it, but it's difficult to ignore direct orders. I also was busy ensuring that should he be killed, we have an insurance policy for that." Chloe continued, releasing Penny from the hug. Leaning back on the couch, she sighed. "And the Beacon! I'm surprised they even tolerate your presence. Humph, perhaps they're not entirely bad…best not to tell them about the black coin or the fact I'm your best friend. I doubt they'd take kindly to such things." Smiling over to Penny in a friendly, if mildly suggestive manner.

"But enough of that. You look tired, Penny. If you're not busy…take a rest? I have missed you quite a bit, you know." She pointed to her open lap, her suggestion of a lap pillow fairly obvious.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I can ignore direct orders from Laat when he gives them, so I get it.” Penny said with a weak smile, truth of it was she was just glad to have her friend back regardless of the reason. Checking her phone Penny set a quick alarm for twenty minutes from now “I’ve got a bit before I need to head out and some rest sounds great” she answered before indulging in the offered ‘pillow’ not caring about what it could mean, just glad for comfort that was offered.

“Most of Beacon are more or less how the stories portray them, rigidly adhering to their rules and ignore me on principle even though It was one of their Beckoners who sought me and Laat out, but there are a few who aren't so bad.” Penny explained as she got comfortable, yawning softly as she did “Even made a friends with one, her name is Alicia, she wouldn’t get on my case for being your friend I think she knew about me hanging out with the fox, but you're probably right about the coin, only you and Laat don’t care about me having it.”

Closing her eyes Penny just set aside everything and just enjoyed the comforting presence of the apartment, something that had been lacking in her lair since Thalia had left. “Feel free to wake me if I start drifting too far, not sure how much I weigh when I’m unsealed but I’m doubt it will be comfortable”

"Heh, don't worry my pretty little Penny." Chloe replied with a chuckle. "Just rest your head."

Quietly time would pass. Penny would never reach a point where she was fully asleep but would fade in and out always hovering just near the edge of sleep. Then the soft quiet would be broken by the loud rumbling of thunder that was Penny’s phone alarm. At which point the tattooed teen would sigh and open her eyes once again “Thanks” she would say with a smile before sitting back up “But I’ve got to get going before they wonder where I wondered off too and start looking for me”

With a sigh Penny stood and stepped away from the couch she didn’t go too far before the sound of an engine started to hum out from the girl. A few moments later there was a brilliant flash of light accompanied with the sound of tearing metal and once again Penny stood in her true form. Turning to face Chloe Penny fished a small piece of paper from one of her compartments “Here, it’s my number since I actually have one now” she explained handing it over as she did.

Chloe mostly had contented herself with just making sure Penny got some rest, as well as painting her fingernails a lovely shade of purple. For the most part, she was happy to assist her so-called friend in getting some much needed rest. When she finally awoke, Chloe sighed, seemingly a little disappointed.

"Tsk, I was hoping to get you to stay longer, but fine." Chloe grumbled lightly as the mecha girl handed over her phone number. "I'll try not to bother you too much - oh, and, one thing from me." Reaching into her dress, Chloe pulled out a small necklace. The silver colored pendant was beautifully designed in the shape of several interlocking diamond shapes. In the center of it was a small amethyst. "If you ever get into trouble, I'll come running, okay?"

“I’ll likely spend the night here so I’ll be back” Penny replied “And feel free to call anytime, not much going on at the moment”

At the gift of a rather elegant looking necklace Penny was momentarily stunned and openly confused until she took a closer look at it and could feel the simmering magic just below the surface running her thumb over the gem in the center Penny gave a heartfelt smile to Chloe her eyes glowing a soft indigo “Thank you” she said earnestly as she slipped the gift on her plating shifting around it so that it would not get damaged but it could still be seen.

Reaching back for one last hug Penny turned and walked out the apartment door and back to Beacon HQ.