Magical Girl Mechanical Heart

I've gotta say, even though I already knew Eliza had PTSD, I don't think it really sunk in for me until I watched her descend into war flashbacks in real time. Eyes unfocused, heart rate spiking, emotions freaking out in every direction… it was kind of terrifying to see from the outside. I bet it probably wasn't super fun on the inside, either. Up until this point, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to be friends with Eliza. The whole thing about secretly being one of her enemies in disguise is a pretty major trust issue, and it's even worse with Eliza than it is with Castalia because Eliza's on active duty, but this clinched it for me. The poor girl needs all the help she can get.

Fortunately, all the other girls seem to be of a similar mindset. It was no trouble at all convincing the rest of them to conspire with me to make this an Eliza day. A day where she can just focus on having fun since she almost certainly never got to do that as a child. Because holy shit, it sounds to me like her home life was so bad before she got superpowers that she became a literal child soldier to escape it all! And then she repressed all her memories so hard she doesn't have a single one left from before she was eight! Gee, I wonder why she ended up manifesting an alternate self that identifies as a child!

Anyway, our plan was going great. Let her affirm her wardrobe, get the butch to the butch store, and finish it off with a well-needed bout of physical relaxation. Easy. But then wouldn't you know it, Ms. Trauma Trigger herself decided to show up for a chat and I just fucking lost it. Like, I know Anath has her own issues, but holy shit she's lucky I didn't hold her forehead to the ground and keep spraying. I was this close to Mortal Kombat finishing that girl.

Was blowing my top at Anath the smartest move? Probably not. But hopefully, it raised Eliza's spirits enough for her to be able to enjoy her massage. Surely nothing else will… wait, what's that big mass of fear over there? Oh my god, is that Thea's incarnate form!?

She's still pretty far away, but she's approaching us fast. The Earth Guardians will sense her pretty soon. Fortunately, Castalia notices before Eliza, floating a bit closer to where Eliza is being laid down and doing… something with her massive aura of joy that I think is intended to block out other magical signals. Interesting. But also, good save! I wish I could actually tell her that without blowing my cover.

Unfortunately, with Castalia sticking by Eliza and me forced to act like I don't notice she's coming, there's nothing we can do to stop Thea from just running up to us, a terrified expression on her face as she fiddles incessantly with her dress.

"I-I-I'm s-so sorry, but have any of you seen Anath? I was supposed to k-keep an eye on her but she ran off and oh my gosh I'm so sorry please tell me you didn't kill her!"

Eliza lifts her head to say something, but Castalia pushes it back down and motions her own head in the direction we left Anath writhing on the ground.

"Thank you! Sorry! Thank you! Sorry!" Thea yelps, rushing off in that direction, her enormous witch hat flopping around with every step.

"Who the heck was that?" Chloe asks.

"Amalthea," Castalia answers simply, watching the girl go. Huh. That's right, isn't it? Castalia and Thea knew each other. Maybe not well, but they were both local Earth Guardians around the same time.

"…Okay," Chloe says, her tone indicating that didn't answer her question in any meaningful way whatsoever.

"She's one of the bitches slowly turning into a monster and acting progressively crazier," Eliza grunts.

"Hush," Castalia says. "Enjoy your backrub."

"It mostly just hurts," Eliza mutters.

"I'm so sorry," the massage therapist apologizes.

"S'not bad. A good hurt. Like a workout."

"Well, that's a good sign," the therapist nods hesitantly. "I've never felt muscles like this before. They may as well be rock."

"That's 'cause I'm ripped," Eliza mumbles. "And also 'cause my body is a magical construct, probably."

"Incarnate forms can have backrubs," Castalia says firmly. Ooh, I wonder how she knows… ugh, it's Melpomene again, isn't it? Unpleasant mental image. "Be quiet and enjoy it."

"I'd change back to my human form but then I'd be wearing two sets of clothes," Eliza comments.

"Hush," Castalia orders again, and Eliza finally quiets down, letting herself be loosened up as much as she can. She does seem to be enjoying it, at least a little. Bit by bit, maybe we can get her to value herself a little.

Because that's sort of the problem, right? She doesn't value herself. She doesn't think her own happiness is important. She probably thinks she has good reason not to, honestly. She's an Earth Guardian. Humanity's only line of defense against monsters with powers outside their comprehension. If she prioritizes herself over that, she's basically calling herself more important than all of humanity, or at the very least everyone who lives in the area she's responsible for.

Buuuut that is, of course, bullshit. Firstly because I believe in the whole 'every person has intrinsic value' claptrap, but secondly (and more objectively) that kind of rhetoric is pretty obviously due to major depression. And I know what that's like, I can spot it from a mile away. This girl is so good at depression she could be a fucking trash compactor. It's a little painful to watch, honestly. To be out the other side of that wretched swamp and turning back to see someone else just about drowning in it. I wish I could yell everything she needs to know to escape out at her. I wish I could grab her hand and yank her free myself. But I can't, for an unfortunately high number of reasons.

Reason one: I can't fucking talk. I mean, I can, obviously, but not to Eliza. This isn't really the sort of conversation to have in a big group, in my opinion, but communicating everything to her over text would be… I don't know, I guess I could manage it, it's just awkward in person. I'd need to win her respect first, though, or she'd have no reason to listen to me.

Not that it would matter, because reason two: the fact that she's depressed isn't just sad, it's absolutely fucking terrifying. I was told in no uncertain terms that depression involves the suppression of one's emotions, the inability to feel anything particularly strongly, and it leaves the soul naturally hollow. Yet here Eliza is, trading blows with Nanaya while she effectively has both hands tied behind her back.

It was Castalia's offhand comment that… er, uh, I mean, Castalia's spur-of-the-moment comment that made me realize it. Loving yourself is magically significant even if you aren't a yellow mage. She didn't know why because Earth Guardians apparently think emotional control is a perfectly functional replacement for emotional intelligence, but I know why. And now I'm worried that if I help Eliza cure her depression too well, she'll morph into a second, much angrier Castalia and obliterate the Dark Rebellion.

Hopefully I'm overexaggerating, but I've been in Eliza's place and I couldn't muster up enough emotion to get out of bed in the morning, let alone shoot lightning bolts. This girl has training weights on and she doesn't even know it. I literally can't try to actively help her work through her depression. It would be a potential violation of several of my orders, given what she's likely to do to me the next time she sees my robotic self.

…I'm still going to do what I can to bring her a little happiness. If that ends up letting her other friends handle the deeper issues, well, I'm happy for her. I hope it happens, honestly. But I can't really think too much about it. The chains are still tight around my chest. I will not allow myself to die. I may not use my transformation stone without Melpomene's say-so. I must keep my identities separate. I will keep Melpomene's secrets. And I follow only my will in all other things.

That last order is the true key to my freedom. It allows me to finagle my way between the lines of the others, squirming in just the right way to convince myself I'm heading in the right direction. But I am still chained. No matter how happy I might be now, I could be hanged by them at any moment. I still don't know what to do about that.

"U-um! Sorry to bother you again, we just, uh…"

I have my body glance towards Thea, acting like I'm just now noticing her and Anath approaching us again. Thea has a firm hand around Anath's arm, but she's obviously still nervous, both in general and especially about Anath, whom for her part is glancing between our group with an unusual intensity in her eyes.

"I just, I mean, we wanted to say sorry," Thea says, bowing low and tugging on Anath to make her do the same. Anath complies, giving a sheepish shrug when she returns to a standing position. The fur on her shoulder is matted with the tears and snot she must have wiped on it to try and get the pepper spray off.

"…I came at a bad time," she says. I have to admit, I'm impressed with how well she can articulate after all that. "Sorry."

"Are you serious?" Eliza grunts. "There wouldn't be a good time, you know."

"I don't believe you," Anath says simply.

"Anath!" Thea yelps. "I… look, please be respectful, okay? Castalia is right there."

"Hello," Castalia says.

"U-u-um! Hi! Please don't obliterate us," Thea squeaks.

"I am retired," Castalia says simply.

"See, I told you!" Anath says. "She didn't do anything any of the other times, why would she do anything now?"

"Why did I agree to keep an eye on you?" Thea groans.

"'Cuz you also wanted to go to Earth!" Anath reminds her. "I haven't been in a mall since I was tiny! It's so loud and smelly here."

"Okay, we're leaving now," Thea insists, dragging Anath away. "Really, I'm so sorry for her, I'll keep better track of her. I promise we didn't come here to fight."

"You didn't come here to fight," Anath corrects. "But… I guess we can fight later. Bye, Fulgy! I hope you feel better soon."

"You know I hate you, right?" Eliza asks.

Anath smiles sadly.

"Yeah," she says. "I know. See ya later."

Thea and Anath both give me a hesitant look as they depart, but of course we don't say anything to each other. Hmm. Both of them did a pretty good job of acting like they don't know me. That's nice, but I should definitely head back soon and talk with them about what happened. I feel a little bad about what I did to Anath, but… well, it's good to know that works. I should thank Castalia for the tip.

"…So who the heck were they?" Chloe asks.

"The Corrupted," Eliza answers.

"Anath and Amalthea," Castalia corrects. "We used to work with Amalthea. She's your age."

"She didn't work in this city, though," Eliza grunts. "We didn't talk much. Just saw her occasionally when we had big fights, or when my teammates were injured and we needed the help."

Castalia nods.

"I don't really know her either," she admits. "But I remember her. It is strange seeing her like that. Sad."

I can't say I like that.

"Why?" I ask, waving a little to get her attention.

"Fulgora," Castalia says, "do you remember her name?"

"Huh? It's Amalthea," Eliza answers. Er, Fulgora answers? Eh, I'll ask what she prefers later.

"Her full name," Castalia clarifies.

"Oh," Fulgora says. "It was Fearful Sage Doomed Amalthea."

Castalia nods slowly.

"Yes," she says. "That makes sense."

Oh. Right. 'Doomed.' Yeah, that's… that's pretty sad. I haven't really talked to Thea much about that, have I? Her feelings on her life and the Dark Rebellion as a whole. I guess it's because I can't. Not in any real meaningful way, when the most important person to her is the one I can never be honest about.

[WrenchWitch]: Hey Luna is this you?

Eh? I got a DM from someone I don't… well, I guess it has to be Thea.

[LunaLightOTK]: Thea?

[WrenchWitch]: Woah! How did you know that? Did you hack me already?

[LunaLightOTK]: Your name is WrenchWitch.

[WrenchWitch]: Oh yeah.

What a dork.

[LunaLightOTK]: So what's up?

[WrenchWitch]: Uhhh that's sorta my question! Anath says you filled her mouth with pepper spray?

[LunaLightOTK]: I super did! She okay?

[WrenchWitch]: I think so but uh. Why. Why'd you do that.

[LunaLightOTK]: Cuz she fuckin' deserved it. Eliza was coming down from a literal PTSD flashback and her supposedly empathic ass walked up and asked for a fight.

[WrenchWitch]: Wait like literal literal

[LunaLightOTK]: Of course literal literal. She's a child soldier! You're a child soldier!

[WrenchWitch]: I am not! Except for that one time with you I haven't fought anything since I was twelve!

[LunaLightOTK]: …

[WrenchWitch]: ok maybe i see it now

[LunaLightOTK]: I hope so, yeah!

[WrenchWitch]: But is there not like. An expiry date on child soldier status?

[LunaLightOTK]: I think if you were at any point a child soldier that kinda shit sticks with you for life. But hey, maybe not. You tell me. Maybe you don't get any terrible spiraling memories from the times you almost died or whatever.

[WrenchWitch]: Um. No comment?

[LunaLightOTK]: You people need therapy so fucking bad, oh my god.

[WrenchWitch]: I'm… not sure that would work out. And anyway, it's not really why I'm messaging you! Part of why we came out here is that we could use your help with something. Another big fragment is going to converge tonight and Mel thinks it'll be glutted with ruins.

[LunaLightOTK]: Ooooh. Okay, I'm in. What time?

[WrenchWitch]: Probably like 1:30am-ish? Be back by one, if you can.

[LunaLightOTK]: Don't see why I can't. See you then, Thea!

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

[WrenchWitch]: Yeah! See you!

A loud yawn turns my attention back to the people I'm with, and I turn just in time to watch Eliza stretch like a cat as she gets up from the massage table.

"Okay, that was pretty nice," she admits, looking more relaxed than I've ever seen her… mostly because I usually see her while she's trying to beat the shit out of me. I definitely prefer this look.

"Told you," I sign, letting Chloe translate. "Good job keeping her down, Castalia."

Castalia nods as Eliza blushes slightly.

"…I'd thank you for getting Anath off my back too, but you really shouldn't have done that," Eliza says. "That girl is incredibly dangerous. You could have gotten seriously hurt. Besides, what would you have done if your little spray stuff hadn't worked?"

"But I knew it would work," I sign. "I had a test subject."

Pepper spray is just aerosolized capsaicin, after all. Literally the stuff inside spicy peppers. That's how it works and why it's relatively safe, at least by the standards of intentionally packaged pain in a can. So if Castalia's incarnate form doesn't have the spice tolerance to handle Nanaya's recipes, there's no way Anath's base form can handle pepper spray right on the tongue. Castalia gives me a pained look, and I shoot a peace sign at her. See, roomie? All those spicy dinners were for science!

"Wait, so do you normally carry pepper spray, or did you just start doing it after you learned it worked on magical girls?" Chloe asks. I shrug.

"I like to be prepared," I answer cryptically. But yes, that was the impetus. I figured being able to believably defend myself might come in handy for my human disguise, and what do you know, it did.

"But why did you think to prepare a method to attack magical girls at all!?" Chloe asks.

"Because I like to be prepared," I sign slowly. "Try to pay attention."

"I wonder if you getting angry helped at all," Eliza frowns. "You felt that, right Castalia?"

Wait, what?

"I did," Castalia confirms. Uh oh!

"Is there something I should know?" I sign.

"You have an abnormally high magical capacity for an untrained human," Castalia says simply. "It is not a bad thing."

"Wait, are you saying Luna has magic!?" Chloe gapes.

"No," Castalia answers. "Nothing out of the ordinary. It just means that if she knew magic, she would be unusually good at it."

"Are you sure she's in the normal range?" Eliza asks. "I felt a lot of anger behind me."

"I think you may have also been feeling mine," Castalia says. "If Luna had not stopped Anath, I certainly would have."

Oh. Cool.

[LunaLightOTK]: So hey btw I just saved Anath's life and you should tell her she owes me a soda.

[WrenchWitch]: What? Wait, you can't drink soda.

[LunaLightOTK]: Yeah I'll probably just give it back to her but don't tell her that. The true victory is forcing her to give up one of her snacks. That's how I know the contrition is real.

[WrenchWitch]: You sound like Nanaya.

[LunaLightOTK]: Anath could probably use another Nanaya in her life.

"You guys don't have to do that," Eliza insists. "She's my responsibility. Not yours."

"Yeah, but my way is way funnier though," I sign, which Castalia translates in her usual complete deadpan. It's the perfect delivery. I love it.

"But this isn't a joke," Eliza insists. "This was seriously dangerous."

"I'm not afraid of someone's high school OC squirrelsona," I respond, needing to fingerspell that last word because ASL has truly failed me. "Let's just head to the food court and then go relax at home."

"…What is a 'squirrel-sona?'" Eliza asks, furrowing her eyebrows together. Castalia shrugs, clearly also having no idea. I roll my eyes, grab both of them by the front of the shirt, and just start dragging them towards the food court. We are not going to get anywhere unless we get Eliza's mind off of Anath.

Woah. Dragging Castalia around like this is really fun, actually. It's like having a balloon. I should get a string to tie around her and—

Automated alert: Don't think about boobs.

—whoopsie daisy, better not wonder too much about whether or not she'd like that! Our relationship has very clear boundaries, which do not encompass tying each other up without clothes on. Or with clothes on, probably. Instead I should probably think about which food court meal will be easiest to pretend to eat without arousing suspicion.

Heh. 'Arousing.' Wait, shit, no—

Automated alert: Don't think about boobs.

—aw gosh dang it. I really need to turn that shit off one of these days. It barely even works!

Well regardless, we manage to get through the rest of our friendly outing without further incident, and Eliza seems to have had an overall good time, which for the rest of us is a complete win. We've officially formed a 'help that dumb bitch' alliance (name pending) and are already plotting additional friendly interventions. I'm not sure if anything we'll do for her will end up as more than a drop of water in that sludge-filled bucket of trauma she calls a brain, but the right thing to do is try.

Back at campus, Castalia and I split off from the other two and head home, Castalia letting out a wide-mouthed yawn as we make our way back into our dorm. Which… y'know, is pretty adorable. She even brings up her stump to cover her mouth a bit. So polite.

"Tired?" I sign, internally checking the time. Just before seven PM. That's even earlier than when she usually nods off.

"Yes," Castalia admits. "Struggled to keep my energy up today."

Hmm. Seems like a good opportunity to bridge the gap between what I know and what I'm allowed to let other people know I know.

"Is that a magic thing?" I sign.

"Yes," Castalia nods. "I am powered by happiness."

"Like actually?" I ask.

"Yes," Castalia says. "You do not seem surprised."

Oh fuck.

"…There are a lot of theories online about how magic works," I say. "I've looked into them since becoming your roommate."

That's technically not even a lie! The best kind of outright blatant lie.

"Oh," Castalia says. "Would you like me to tell you how it works?"

I blink. I nod. Yeah, Castalia, I would definitely like to know how magic works. Honestly, I'll probably learn some new things just by hearing it from the horse's mouth.

"Emotions are magic," Castalia says. "Feeling strongly about something influences it. Normally this is undirected. Nearly impossible to notice. But the more you understand magic, the more control you can exert over it. Or, alternatively, you can use one of these."

She levitates the necklace holding her transformation stone slightly off her chest before dropping it back into place.

"It doesn't really matter what the emotion is," she continues. "All of them are capable of being equally powerful. But different emotions have different colors, and working with only a single emotion at a time tends to be more efficient. The emotion I use is joy. Fulgora uses anger. Minerva uses fear. And so on."

"So to float around everywhere all day, you have to be happy?" I summarize in a purposefully crude way.

"Essentially," Castalia nods. "I must remain in my incarnate form to move around, and that requires magical energy. I did not know Eliza was struggling as much as she is. I am not a very good teacher. So today has been… difficult."

"I'm sorry," I sign.

"There is no need to regret difficult days. They are still valuable," Castalia assures me. "Though I would prefer you did not put yourself in danger again intervening in Earth Guardian business. Fulgora was right. It is not safe for you. I do not want you to get hurt."

"I don't want to get hurt either," I assure her. "But I am not going to stand back and do nothing when my friends get hurt. I don't want anything to happen to you any more than you want something to happen to me."

Castalia is quiet for a while, floating wordlessly by the door as she considers that. I'm not really sure what all there is to digest—that's just how friends work, as far as I know, though I guess I don't have much experience with them—but one way or another I see no reason not to give her time. I start unloading the dishwasher while I wait. She must really be deep in thought because normally there'd be nothing I could do to stop her from helping me, yet now she doesn't move an inch.

"…Luna. Could I get your help with something?" Castalia asks quietly.

I look up, pausing for a bit with forks in each hand before remembering I have to put them away in order to talk.

"Of course," I tell her. "What do you need?"

She doesn't answer verbally, instead just floating over to the door to her room and psychically unlocking it. Opening it, she floats inside, but the door doesn't close behind her and lock the way it normally does, so I hesitantly step out of the kitchen and peek my head in. There's… some kind of big bulky machine next to her bed, the rest of the room almost entirely barren. What is that?

Is it… a medical ventilator?

It is. A machine for people who can't breathe on their own. I've mostly seen it in retirement homes, set up next to wheelchairs or as part of a walker to let people continue living more or less normally in spite of their lung problems. This doesn't look quite like those, though. It's not designed to be particularly mobile. It's designed for someone who absolutely will not be moving from their bed while they have it on.

"You know about incarnate forms?" Castalia asks.

"The thing where Eliza changed her face today, right?" I answer.

"Yes," Castalia nods. "It is our magically generated true self, which we use mainly to fight. I use mine out of preference, but also necessity. When I leave my incarnate form, I will not be able to stay conscious for long. I am used to ensuring I will have a safe sleep during that time, but… I would not be opposed to assistance."

Oh. Oh gosh. No wonder she's never seen outside her incarnate form. Everyone who has seen her that way is probably bound by medical confidentiality. This is… a lot of trust she's putting in me.

Oh god, this is way more trust than she should be putting in me. But I can't very well say no.

"How can I help?" I ask, and Castalia starts guiding me through everything. Apparently she still has limited access to a much weaker form of telekinesis while outside of her incarnate form, so the whole process is something she can take care of by herself without any issues, but I can definitely see why it would be a little scary to do so. Make too many mistakes or get too exhausted, and that's it. She suffocates in her sleep.

"Mostly, you are two more eyes," Castalia summarizes. "I shouldn't need you. But, if I do… you are there."

"Yeah, absolutely," I assure her, downloading every ventilator operating manual I can find on the internet in the back of my mind.

"Just watch this time," Castalia instructs, and I do so, keeping careful track of everything she does to get ready before dropping out of her incarnate form. And then, after getting underneath the covers of her bed, she lets it happen.

It's hard to ignore the scars on Castalia's incarnate form. They cover almost half her face, blind one of her eyes, crawl down her neck, eat through her shoulder, and continue down beneath her shirt until some point above her waist. She displays them proudly, and based on what I know about incarnate forms they probably wouldn't be there if she didn't. Some part of her deepest self considers them an important aspect of who she is, and looking at her human form I think I understand a little more about why that might be.

The first thing I notice is that she has both of her arms, though by the look of them they are no more effective than her stump. Thin, frail, the muscle has atrophied to almost nothing, and the same can probably be said for both of her legs, based on the way the blankets cling to their thin, bony outlines. Is she quadriplegic?

The next thing I notice is her neck, and how a plastic port keeps a hole open in the middle of it so the girl can levitate the tubes of her ventilator into place, which then begins to force her chest to rise and fall. Thin, wispy hair falls over her face, and it's… a different face, like most magical girls have when they transform. I want to call it cute simply out of bias, but honestly it's gaunt, boyish, and more similar to a corpse than anything. Still, though, it's Castalia, and that knowledge alone is enough for me to look past that first impression and appreciate the face. Because it is still her face; her mouth seems as unexpressive as ever, but her eyes flick to me once she's done, the edges crinkling in thanks. I respond with a nod, and barely a couple minutes later she is unconscious, breathing as steady as a machine.

I have… so many questions. Was she born this way, or did something happen? Her incarnate form pretty clearly got hit by some kind of magic blast or whatever, but her human body doesn't have the obvious scars that would indicate she was attacked. There are a lot of reasons that could be, though. One way or another, I have just been shown something very deeply personal. I'm not sure what I could have done to earn it in her eyes, and I definitely don't deserve it, but… I suppose I am glad I get to help make sure her sleep is as restful as it can be. As I suspect has been the case every night, the machine is in perfect working order, so there's nothing more for me to do but leave her room and close the door behind me.

Well. That was a lot. What do I do now? I don't really have any plans until one in the morning. Although… hmm. Yeah, she's still online.

[LunaLightOTK]: Hey, you guys still on Earth?

[WrenchWitch]: Yeah, but we're about to head back. What's up?

[LunaLightOTK]: Wanna head back together? I'm a little worried about getting attacked if I happen across an EG with my skin off.

[WrenchWitch]: Oh, yeah, that seems safer. I'll send you our location data.

Ooh. The satellites whisper secrets to me from beyond the veil of space.

[LunaLightOTK]: Cool, I'll meet up with you soon. How was Earth, by the way?

[WrenchWitch]: Well, other than the part where Anath pretty much immediately went back on her word and ran after Fulgora the moment she felt her, it was pretty good! Being around Castalia was terrifying, though. I can't believe you live with her.

[LunaLightOTK]: She's honestly just a big sweetie when you get to know her.

[WrenchWitch]: Really? Mel's never had anything but bad stuff to say about her.

Well! There's a lot I want to say about that! 'Melpomene is a crazy bitch who explodes over the stupidest bullshit and should never be trusted to hold opinions about anything?' Nope, that one's a bit too harsh. 'Melpomene is a disgust mage and may be abnormally prone to holding grudges?' Better, but still no. Let's see…

[LunaLightOTK]: She's probably still salty about their breakup.

[WrenchWitch]: Their WHAT!?

[LunaLightOTK]: I don't know, that's just the vibes I've been picking up. Melpomene/Castalia/Thalia throuple. Went sour when Thalia got vaporized. Neither of them are over it but the way they are handling it is very different.

[WrenchWitch]: Are you being serious right now?

[LunaLightOTK]: Mostly, yeah. I don't know if they were actually officially dating or if they were just basically dating, but textual polycule or not they definitely had something going on that was a little more than just teammates.

[WrenchWitch]: What's a polycule?

[LunaLightOTK]: Oh boy. Maybe Melpomene will tell you when you're older. Actually, you should ask her about it. While I'm in the room, preferably.

[WrenchWitch]: ??? Okay?

[LunaLightOTK]: Anyway see you soon. Try not to think about Melpomene and Castalia having sex.

[WrenchWitch]: I WASN'T GOING TO!!!

Chuckling to myself, I head out of the dorm, taking a short jog to a mostly abandoned part of town in order to do my sickass henshin transformation. …Except not really, since I just kind of say one word and make my skin disappear, but the end result honestly looks more like a tokusatsu character than a magical girl. Oh, well.

Once my robo-toes are out for all the world to see, I sneak my way closer to the spot Thea told me to meet up with her at, doing my best not to draw attention to myself. After all, as far as the Earth Guardians know, I have been hiding out while still looking exactly like I do now, because some sort of human disguise skinsuit obviously does not exist and I would obviously never be hanging out with the people who want to kill me at the mall. On the off chance I get seen, it's best for my current actions to match up with that assumption.

Fortunately, I make it to my destination without incident and immediately spot Anath and Thea sitting next to each other on a bench and eating ice cream. Thea munches one small scoop at a time out of a disposable bowl while Anath, completely matching what I expected from her, is desperately attempting to work her way through five scoops all on top of a single cone without letting the entire thing topple over in a sticky mess directly onto her face. So far, she seems to be surprisingly successful. That's probably for the best. She's already gonna have a hard time in the bath getting the tears and snot out of her fur, not to mention the pepper spray. I wouldn't wanna stick my face too close to her if I had organic olfactory sensors. I got her ass good.

"Oh, hey! It's L—uhhh, the beep boop!" Anath says, waving happily at me with her free hand. "Hi, the beep boop!"

"It can't wave back, Anath," Thea reminds her. I'm a little surprised to note that she's not in her incarnate form anymore, her bladed tail slapping against the slide of the bench as she shyly avoids eye contact with all of the many people who turn to stare at her as they pass by. I guess it makes sense, though. They've been on Earth for at least a few hours now. Not everyone can be Castalia.

"Oh yeah," Anath says, dropping her hand. "Man, I bet it can't eat ice cream either. That sucks."

[LunaLightOTK]: >:(

Thea glances over at her laptop and then elbows Anath in the side.

"What? Oh. Whoops. Sorry," Anath says sheepishly.

I come to a stop in front of them both, still as a statue, and Anath picks up the pace on eating her ice cream so we can get going a little faster. I'm not gonna try to make her walk and eat that at the same time. That would just be mean. She finishes pretty soon, though, and then we're off towards the liminal space. Even though a couple people notice us crossing into the evacuation zone, no one bothers to try and stop us. Normal people don't really know what we are, but it's pretty clear we're more than just a pack of cosplayers. Our costumes are a little too realistic.

It's when we enter the liminal zone that we encounter the problem.

"You guys feel that?" I ask quietly.

"Yep," Anath nods.

"What?" Thea asks. "What is it?"

"I'm pretty sure that's Amaterasu," Anath answers. "She's by the portal home."

"…Of course she is," Thea scowls. "She's going to pick a fight, isn't she?"

"Oh yeah, for sure," Anath nods.

"We don't know that," I insist. "We can at least hear her out. And when that definitely fails to work, we can kick her ass."

"Can we…?" Thea asks, but we're getting a little too close for me to be comfortable answering, and for whatever reason Anath doesn't bother to either. And sure enough, once the portal to our shard is in sight, we can clearly see Amaterasu waiting in front of it, her wolf-like ears flat against her head as she stares us down.

"Hey, Su-san!" Anath waves at her cheerily. "What brings you here?"

"My duty," the girl answers, her knives already in her hands. "Despite the ill-advised leniency you have been granted, it seems you cannot wait even a single day before smuggling artifacts, not to mention trying to attack my comrades. It is clear you have no intention of honoring the terms of your agreement."

"Is it really smuggling an artifact if she's just walking right beside us?" Anath asks.

"More importantly, do you really want to fight us here?" Thea frowns. "Because I don't want to fight. And I don't think you do either, given how hard we'd clobber you."

"I've beaten each one of you before," Amaterasu says, her eyes narrowing. "I can beat you all together."

"Seriously?" Thea sighs. "This is so dumb and wasteful. Are you okay?"

"I am an Earth Guardian!" Amaterasu shouts. "It is my duty to protect my planet from that which threatens to destabilize or destroy it. Your insistence on tampering with forces beyond you threatens all of us, so I will stop you. I must stop you. That is what we are!"

"So that's a no, then," Thea concludes, placing a hand on her tome. "I really don't wanna do this."

"So don't," Anath says, stepping forward and cracking her neck. "I got this. You guys can just head home."

"Come at me, then," Amaterasu sneers. "I crushed you the hardest out of everyone, so this should be quick."

"Nah, you just cleaned up Fulgy's sloppy seconds," Anath says. "And hey. Do you know what a manic episode is?"

"A mental disorder is not going to make you powerful enough to defeat me," Amaterasu growls.

"Don't I know it," Anath says, settling down into a combat stance. "But that's the thing. I'm actually feeling kind of mellow for once. Usually I just crash hard and have a terrible time when those things end, but nah. I had a pretty good day. A great day, actually. So come on."

She crouches down, a feral grin splitting her face.

"Let's make it perfect."