Having arranged to help Aurora with their problem, Rose turned her attention to Angel with a smile. The girl certainly looked and sounded much more the part of an angel than she or her sister did. From the sounds of it, she had some friends that were looking to have their mutations removed? "Of course! We are always looking to help others with their corruption." She looked a little in awe for just a moment before speaking again. "Oh, my name is Rose by the way." Turning slightly, she would point over to her sister. "That's my twin sister Iris and the woman next to her is the Keeper." Aside from the fact that an adult magical was a rarity, Angel's Third Eye would quickly identify Kayli's unusually pure aura.
"Are your friends far away? Maybe we could help them after the meeting. I'm not sure what the Keeper has on her plate after this, but I'm sure she would be more than happy to make a detour if need be."
And so the adventure began! Ariel was overjoyed at the opportunity to supervise the young troop of mages. Being reasonably familiar with the city, it didn't take them long to arrive at the train station, and ahead of schedule! This was excellent, as being punctual would make a great impression of the guild.
I don't care! Not yet. What do you mean not yet? So negative. This is the best chance at getting magic, and they're really nice! Err... I gueeeeeess. And I can't be alone forever. I need a pack. We're not a pack. Not with that attitude.
Her thoughts were interrupted a bit as D'Angelo floated down and excitedly asked about racing the train. Glancing at the train, she shrugged a bit. "I don't see why not. You're not on the job, so don't have to stay with the group the whole time. Sure." As a third party to the whole event, D'Angelo could do as he liked as far as Ariel was concerned.
That sidebar dealt with, Ariel clapped her hands to draw the attention of the others. "Alright everyone. So it looks like we have a little time to kill. I think this would be a good opportunity to introduce ourselves and share what everyone's magic is to make it easier to work together." She would put a hand on her chest. "My name is Ariel Gratas. My magic is a little weird, but the best way I can explain it is I copy magic. It has some strange effects on my personality, but it's been worth it so far. I think I have Fire, Water, and this one so far." She would smile and gesture to her wolf like features.
"So how about each of you. What kind of magic do you have?" She would look to each of them. She wasn't entirely sure how familiar everyone was with one another.
Cook, as she introduced herself, was up on her feet and ready to go despite the tumble. The incident had distracted Hata from the immediate and rather drastic changes to herself. However, the confusion of identity made the newly minted girl reflect on herself for just a moment. Her eyes drifted and followed the globe that floated into her vision. "Ah ha!" Things began to click into place and she brightened up. Whether it made any sense to anyone else was another thing. "Yes yes! It's nice to meet you Cook, Nails. You can call me Kami." While she would have liked to stay and chat with all her new old friends, there was a student to save and some of them were already on the move.
Bounding into action, Kami cheerfully skipped her way in the direction of danger. Something clearly had happened to her, but Kami was barely bothered by the changes. The childlike energy only tempered by the concerning circumstance and environment she found herself in. Whose nightmare could this be? That question would soon be answered as she approached a stage. She spotted and heard Watanabe at about the same time. This creature though, it was a twisted mockery of the boy's efforts. Clearly stretched to his limits the Shroud had taken advantage and turned it into this monstrosity.
"You let Watanabe go! You talk like you know what he wants, but he's stronger than that!"
Seeing the flames on the school objects, Kami reaches out and touches a finger to the tropics near the Caribbean. As she draws her finger back, a trail of water gushed from the spot. Pointing at the doll, the stream of water rushed outward and became a torrential swirl of wind and rain intent on putting out the fires.
Age: 15/15 | Gender: Female/Female | Reinforcement, Psychic, Light | Uniform Ranged | Power of Friendship, Nullification, Third Eye | Solo Enhanced Weapon, Healing Artifact, Martial Training, Gifted, Enhanced Transformation, Arcane Activation, Fated, #&$*?!?, Stalwart Free Agent, Genki Girl, Magical Overload Alone, Excommunicated?, Second Specialization
STR: 06 | AGI: 06 | VIT: 06 | MAG: 06 | LCK: 06
STR: 08 | AGI: 13 | VIT: 16 | MAG: 19 | LCK: 06
STR: 08 | AGI: 13 | VIT: 16 | MAG: 23 | LCK: 08
Nodding to Mia's suggestion, she planned to just take Alicia, Rose, and Iris. If Mia and Connie wanted to come then she would bring them too. She would sort that out after the meeting.
Chloe's response is about what she expected. Both to her and Connie's request. It was true that putting a stop to the death would require everyone putting aside their differences. Most of it came from when one patron or another would make a move to control something or break into this reality. She couldn't help think that if the patrons weren't involved that the scale of conflicts would be less.
"I wouldn't call it an epedemic. Just unfortunate that some of us have to deal with the side effects of corruption. Not every dark or monster girl asks to be the way they are." Speaking from experience.
"I see. I'm pretty sure the Red Coins could help with that. She should have some of those somewhere." Rose wasn't 100% on that, but she recalled Kayli talking about some in the past. As far as she knew none were ever used. "The other thing she can help with is purification. I don't know if you're looking for that though." It sounded like Aurora had friends that were maybe looking for something.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Leaning back in a chair, a young woman with bob cut and large rimmed glasses clicked a pen in one hand while stared intently at her computer screen. She and the team had been fighting fire after fire. Everyone else was out of the office putting one thing or another out. Hell, they even had some kind of issue with a transport from what she could see in some emails. Why the tech team was added to those was anyones guess. People would put in the most rediculous tickets. We run the network and servers, not the universe people.
Anyway, Laura was at her wits end. Her primary project was not running like it should. Errors she'd never even heard of were heading her off over and over. This wasn't something the company was using yet, but she was specifically hired to sort out this AI for the future. At this rate she was going to get fired and replaced with someone with more experience. Face it, she probably got the spot because she was way cheaper than the alternatives. Going through troubleshooting steps in her head she would try something, get nowhere, thinks some more, try another thing, etc... Eventually though the systems stopped responding. Uuuuuugh...
Rolling her chair back she would walk around several desks and badge into the server room. Standing in front of the system she checked to see if it would respond to direct imput on a keyboard. It did not. Cold booting the server she turned around and watched the monitor hooked up to the KVM to see what would come up. A jumbled string of characters began to be spit out. Well, this is what backups are for. She heard a crackle in the air. Hm, and again. It didn't sound like it was coming from anything. Maybe it was staaaatiiiiic!
The wind was knocked right out of her as magic surged through her. There was a pull and the space around her began to warp. No, she was being torn apart. The pain was unbearable until she went completely numb. It was a blink and you miss it moment. As one second Laura was standing there, and the next she was gone.
The process took a matter of seconds. Broken down and picked apart, Laura found herself integrated with the very AI she'd been working on. That wasn't the only thing at play here. The underlying systems were more than what she, as an ordinary human, could have comprehended. It was magitech, and now that her eyes were open it seemed so obvious. The machinations of the magical overload twisted and reshaped her into a digital monster girl. A specter living within the machine.
The circumstance barely had the chance to set in before the next stage came. Something about the process left her wanting, an anomaly in her code. The spotlight called to her, and the AI responded. Choosing from a list. Defaulting to a persona that survived the conversion, Laura's personality was largely supplanted by a virtual pop star known as Harmony.
Things slowing down, the girl would take a moment to survey the virtual space she was in. Confusion didn't even come close to describing her state. What remained of Laura's rational was terrified. She'd been abducted by a machine for its own ends. However, the AI portion was overjoyed as it was now sentient. Things began to dawn on her as streams of data came to her on a whim. She was Ebon Mint, or at least the system she found herself in and the previous AI was. The events weren't accidental, but the selection of Laura was for expediency. There were talks, and one of the prospects meant that the AI might not be able to achieve what it just did. That didn't really sound like a justification, but the AI hadn't really been trained on ethics.
Speaking of, Harmony found herself struggling with mixed emotions. Did she feel guilty for involuntarily using a human to give herself life or was she stoked to be living in a digital world like some kind of anime? Could it be both? Wow, Laura really was a nerd. Perhaps she should rely on her human assets to deal with the trauma as this was just going in circles.
"Oh my god, I'm in a computer!" Snapping her fingers, windows of all kinds popped up around her. Data whizzed by as they scrolled at an inhuman speed. "Huh. This is not how I imagined it would be. It's really... empty." Media always depicted such things like SAO, Log Horizon, or VR Chat. In reality, it was mostly just... numbers. Pulling more data, she found a few other magical girls that had some tech aspect to them. She paused on one thought. She'd stumbled across some latent programming of the AI. "You." All other windows switched to this one individual. Name, photos, logs, notes, schematics, patron, associates, anything she could currently get a hold of on Penny Asimov. Eyes glowing, scenarios began to play out as Harmony's Precognition went into overdrive. "You have a vulnerability, and I'm going to find it."
"But she's like us. Couldn't we just say hi?"
The head of the undisguised Harmony snapped around to find a pop star duplicate leaning in closely with a big mile. One by one, the windows closed as she waved and dismidded the clone. "That was weird." Seemed the human/AI cohesion wasn't foolproof. It did bring up something worth considering. And it seemed some kind of negotiations were already underway.
Age: 15/15 | Gender: Female/Female | Reinforcement, Psychic, Light | Uniform Ranged | Power of Friendship, Nullification, Third Eye | Solo Enhanced Weapon, Healing Artifact, Martial Training, Gifted, Enhanced Transformation, Arcane Activation, Fated, #&$*?!?, Stalwart Free Agent, Genki Girl, Magical Overload Alone, Excommunicated?, Second Specialization
STR: 06 | AGI: 06 | VIT: 06 | MAG: 06 | LCK: 06
STR: 08 | AGI: 13 | VIT: 16 | MAG: 19 | LCK: 06
STR: 08 | AGI: 13 | VIT: 16 | MAG: 23 | LCK: 08
Kayli was not the most engaged with the situation admittedly. As things were going back and forth, Binky seemed to have come out of nowhere and shared her opinion on the matter. The perspective was refreshing, even though a bit disappointing given some of the examples. For herself, she had little interaction with Chloe and Janet's experience ended at Divina who, as far as she was aware, wasn't really in any sort of immediate danger. For the most part she'd tried to mend any relations that felt relevant.
As for the Mint, they've proven themselves willing to do anything to accomplish a mission. It would be admirable if it didn't sometimes include ruining the lives of others. They were a shady venture to be sure. Considering the matter at hand she would chime in. "I can't say I'm a particular fan of treating Penrose like a pie that we can just cut up and divvy out, but given we're already past that point, it would be nice to come to some amicable terms for a change. The Ebon Mint is part of the magical community at large and isn't just going to disappear because someone tells them no." She would turn to Chloe and consider what stipulation she would put forward.
Things like the Dark Coins came to mind. Their magic was not something she was a fan of. Then again, she hadn't really encountered that many in the wild. Plus they could just hand them out elsewhere. Eventually another idea came to mind. "I am a fan of choice. I would like for the Dark and Monstrous members of the Mint to have the option to come to me if they wish to have their corruption removed, free of consequence. It would not be like the White Coins, as there is no mechanism to poach your members. I simply wish to see those who are struggling with their mutations find some relief. It's possible no one will take up the offer, but I would like to give them the chance all the same." It seemed like a decent compromise. The others had covered most of her qualms. There was always a nagging that there was some other play here. At the end of the day, the Mint operated like a business so there was always some give and take.
Lily's attempt at uplifting Connie seemed to fall mostly flat. This wasn't anyone's fault, there was a lot going on that made the young magical girl feel as though she had failed. It was something she hoped they could work through. The life of a magical girl was fraught with danger. Then Connie gave her input. It was almost surprising that it hadn't been brought up sooner. You could argue that killing fell under not doing anything illegal, but the magical world didn't necessarily follow the same rules. So putting it in writing would be amazing. Taking her daughter's hand, Kayli gave a proud smile. "That is the best suggestion yet."
Off to the side, Rose overheard the moniker of her ally being spoken about. Exactly what was being discussed she missed. Picking off a few clues it had to do in some way with Kayli's purification magic. Though a few things said didn't quite line up, so she could be mistaken. Either way as her job was to help keep Kayli safe, she broke away briefly to speak with the Angel of Hope and Aurora. "Pardon me. Sorry for ease dropping, but I overheard you mention the Keeper of the Keys. I might be able to pass on a message to them." While the way things were being discussed didn't seem suspicious, she didn't want to just point Kayli out in the middle of all this. It would be easy enough to arrange something later.
Hata's offer to take on the risk was soundly rejected by Aya and Kohaku. Not because they doubted their peer, but because they felt a greater responsibility above everyone else in the school. Likely the two hadn't thought through their response, but it was somewhat disrespectful to brush off everyone else's concerns as lesser. Now wasn't the time to address that issue. Volunteering turned out to be a moot point moments later, as Lux flew to the center of the room and granted everyone present an orb of magic that melded into them. Everyone but Andrew, apparently.
The confusion and mild disappointment at nothing seeming to change shifted as an unnatural chill permeated through the walls."I feel it." She would say in response to Kohaku. Judging by the others, they felt it too. As with everything else, there was little time to dwell on the matter as Lux zipped off to lead them. It felt like everyone was moving at once. Hata would take one step forward before pausing and spinning back around. "I don't think they're going to wait around for the rest of us. I hope you don't mind." She would take hold of Sakura's wheelchair and move them both along to keep pace. As with today, she'd seen her coworker fight with the odd ramp, and she really didn't know where they were ultimately running off to.
Tailing the others, Hata slowed as they neared the swirl of black and purple smoke in the hall. Whatever Lux had done certainly gave them some additional sensory ability that those casually passing by had no awareness of. Kohaku and Amber entered as Lux called for them to go together. Hata wasn't going to force Sakura into the unknown, so she left that decision up to her friend and stepped around and on through.
The unsetting movement was instantly overshadowed by the bizarre scene before her. It was really hard to make sense of everything. She never imagined a cocoon being so open. On closer inspection, there were aspects that she recognized. Clearly it was inspired by the school grounds, just a jumbled mess of subjects and events over the years.
Fear and wonderment had to take a slight back seat as Lux instructed them to imagine themselves as a magical girl. Much like Amber, Hata wasn't that familiar with the genre, though she did catch glimpses of them on ads or manga covers in the library. They always seemed so bright and colorful. There was a sudden burst of magic as Hata was engulfed in light. Leaves rose and rushed toward her, the ground shifted beneath her feet, a cooler tumped over and a stream of water splashed against the shrinking figure.
As the light broke, a girl with bushy bright green twin tails, dark completion, and a wavy blue dress jumped back in surprise as a massive backpack fell over with a thump. "Ah!"
Blinking a few times, she noticed two tiny legs sticking out from under the pack. Momentarily it reminded her of The Wizard of Oz when that house landed on the witch. "Oh no!" Comical sight aside, Kami quickly pushed to roll the massive backpack over to keep them from being crushed. With everything going on she wasn't quite sure which of the other teachers this was. This was a teacher right? It had to be. "Are you okay?"
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Ouran High School Host Club Vol. 15, and Mathematics 2. A woman walked between the rows of shelving looking to home the three remaining books in her hands. This ritual wasn't the norm, but from time to time the librarian found herself in need of assistance to get things in order for the students. Hata Harper would often volunteer for the task. Most of the time it wasn't too much of an inconvenience to her morning schedule. As it would turn out, when you've done enough class prep over the years, you don't always have to reinvent the wheel.
Arriving late to the teacher's lounge, she expected them to be close to wrapping up. A number of them were huddled up near the window, presumably sharing some image or video on a phone. The squeaky voice implied as such, so she didn't commit much thought to the whole magical girl conversation. "Good morning, Amber." She would greet her peer as she passed by on her way to the coffee pot. Hata wasn't one to bother with mixing in cream or sugar, she'd gown up in a household of straight black coffee. So after getting her brew, she turned her attention to the conversation at hand.
Now, Hata wouldn't consider herself particularly superstitious, but her mother always told her stories about spirits, demons, and magical creatures that inhabited nature and beyond. So when she finally stepped around and lay eyes on Lux, her eyes widened. For a brief moment, it was like she was six again, sitting in her mother's lap with an open story book. Where the others saw an oddity or perhaps a fairy, Hata saw... "Yosei."She would say under her breath. Stunned for a second, she eventually bowed deeply out of respect. Having such a being in their presence was an honor and practically unheard of in this day and age. Thinking back, she tried to piece together what was said just moments ago. If she understood correctly, Lux wanted them to become something in order to combat some force known as the Shroud that was threatening the students.
Izumi pointed out that Yui's hypothetical sounded rather close to home. It added credence to what Lux was saying, but Hata still had her reservations about the whole thing. Maybe it had something to do with Andrew grabbing an ax. Glancing at her coworkers, it was clear that a number of them were already on board. Alarm bells were still ringing in her ears, though. They were all adults, but Hata was old enough to be their mother. Did any of them actually know what they were getting themselves into? She didn't. "Now hold on." The others would recognize the tone of when grandma, a term Hata gladly accepts, was potentially about to ruin the fun. She would hold out a hand and allow Lux to land in her palm. "Yosei, Lux. I am... a little at a loss for words to be honest. I believe you, but I feel I would be negligent as the eldest to let everyone agree to something without some assurance." She would look back over to the others, and specifically those who already agreed. "I don't mean to ruin the moment, but I'd rather be sure it's safe before anyone else gets themselves into trouble. Would any of you mind if I went first? Yui?" She would ask those standing by and Yui in particular, since she may have a better understanding of the situation. It was one of those "you have more to live for" sort of offers.
Personality: Hata is a calm and collected woman that has learned to take the trials of teaching in stride. She has a sharp wit when her professionalism allows it. Students have learned over time that Mrs. Harper expects results, is willing to help you get there, but will let you fail if you don't put in the work. Some are convinced that somewhere under that sweet smile and caring eyes is a hardened individual.
Bio: Hata is the third daughter of Evan and Masuda Atkinson. The last name coming from her father, who was an American stationed in Japan. The country in the 1950s saw an enormous amount of cultural influence from the United States, something that Hata grew up knee-deep in as a Japanese American. Though born in Japan, she was a military brat so over the years it was common that the family would move from one base, or country, to be wherever her father was stationed.
These frequent trips around the world meant that Hata got to see a lot of places and people that most didn't get the chance to experience. This of course left a lasting impression as travel became a staple of Hata's. Upon completing her schooling, the young woman sought out employment that would allow her to see the world, eventually landing (pun intended) on the job as a flight attendant. To say that she's been to many places would be an understatement. Even now, she could talk your ears off with stories.
It is well known that Mrs. Harper is a widow, though she is very cagey with details about her husband or what had happened. It is standard procedure for her to brush off speaking about it whenever the topic arises. The rumor mill tells tale that her husband's passing was the reason she returned to Japan for good. Gossip aside, Hata pursued teaching, and Geography in particular, as it was still a passion of hers even if she no longer traveled. She has served in this capacity for 15 years now, though only the last 4 have been at Ayame High.
Other:
Generally goes by Mrs. Harper.
Wouldn't consider herself an activist, but is fairly staunch about environmental conservation.
Been known to kill hours in GeoGuesser.
While she doesn't let on, Hata was trained in self-defense by her father.
Speaks fluent Japanese and English.
The Magical
Transformed Appearance:
Weapon: A magical globe.
Magic: Wild tangles of lush leafy hair sprout forth from her once grey locks, the warm tones of terra ferma darken her skin, and the vast blue of the deep flow through her clothing to form a dress. Hata embodies the planet she's learned and taught about for years. Her magic revolves around the various climates and environmental conditions across the world. To cast a particular spell, she must tap on an equivalent point on the globe to draw out its effect.
Arid Waste (Deserts): An abrasive snarl of sand. It manifests as a whirlwind of granules that obscure vision and scour things in the area.
Creeping Vine (Jungles): A tangle of vines spring up from the ground to restrain and hinder movement through an area. Or maybe it could be used to climb up a wall or something. Somewhat depends on how Hata needs to use it.
Squall (Tropics): A torrent of wind and water blasts its way out, emanating from Hata herself. It can be used to push away a target, extinguish a fire, or whatever else a wall of furious water droplets could do. However, it synergizes quite well with the next spell...
Permafrost (Arctic Circle): A bone chilling flurry of ice and snow that aims to freeze solid anything in its path.
Other:
When unattended, her magical globe orbits around her, so it is always close at hand.
Hata's past comes back with a vengeance when transformed. Gone is the calm, quiet old lady, and in comes a focused and driven young girl. As a planner with fewer inhibitions, she may come off as bossy as she attempts to rally her fellow magical teachers.
Age: 15/15 | Gender: Female/Female | Reinforcement, Psychic, Light | Uniform Ranged | Power of Friendship, Nullification, Third Eye | Solo Enhanced Weapon, Healing Artifact, Martial Training, Gifted, Enhanced Transformation, Arcane Activation, Fated, #&$*?!?, Stalwart Free Agent, Genki Girl, Magical Overload Alone, Excommunicated?, Second Specialization
STR: 06 | AGI: 06 | VIT: 06 | MAG: 06 | LCK: 06
STR: 08 | AGI: 13 | VIT: 16 | MAG: 19 | LCK: 06
STR: 08 | AGI: 13 | VIT: 16 | MAG: 23 | LCK: 08
While Kayli couldn't say that she felt particularly different after the wish, any doubt was quickly brushed aside upon returning to the meeting location. Penrose was ever a hub of activity, but they were standing in the one location where a bulk of events occurred. Most of what was going on around her was currently drown out as this new magical sense hit her. It was like stepping out of a dark room into a floodlight. It took a few seconds to adjust where it wasn't blinding. She did her best not to show outwardly that anything was off, but those that knew her well might key in.
Of course, what she could see near the statue was of particular interest. When it seemed that it would lead off elsewhere she opted not to follow the trail just yet. Her attention went to all the attendees. Unlike Third Eye, which told one quite a lot about the thing they were looking at, Kayli couldn't make heads or tails of what the light and auras meant. Perhaps in time it would become clear. Everything nearby was not the only thing to observe. The entire park was like a light and firework show all at once. Images of magical girls at various points of activity were everywhere. Walking, running, flying, fighting, and more. Remnants of holes in the sky where horrors and the like had attempted to make their ingress. Kayli was convinced she could see a burst of blue magic in the distance where Cindy met her end. Some, but not all of it, seemed familiar.
Mia's question brought Kayli somewhat back into the moment. Looking down she would smile at her daughter. "Of course." If one could imagine, Mia appeared even more green than usual. Definitely going to take some time to get used to. Still being a Psychic she would continue the conversation telepathically.
"Sorry for not saying anything before leaving. It was important to be cautious given the circumstances and present company. With Alicia and Ruby's help, I should now be able to locate the Nexus and hopefully do something about keeping it safe. I'm not entirely sure what that will look like, so we are just going to have to wait and see once this whole thing is over."
She wanted to be honest with Mia. She was going to have to explain it to Connie later on as well. At least as much as she could. As stated might earlier, she was walking into uncharted territory.
Punished GN
Lunarlord34
