1257/The Heart's Desire

The Heart's Desire
Date of Scene:	23 March 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Shopping Strip
Synopsis:	Fate is looking for a Jewel Seed and finds one. Rune is looking for Fate and finds her. Riventon is looking for a book and finds Ayana instead. Ayana and Ikiko may have been looking for happiness, but that's not to be found here.
Cast of Characters:	Fate T. Waldia, Runealy Waldia, Takashi Agera, Nanoha Takamachi, Ayana, Ikiko Hisakata

---

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Classes have just recently let out for today, and many children are on their way home from school.

    Not Arf and Fate, though. They don't wanna go to school. They just wanna break the rules. Especially the law of Gravity, as they float in the air scanning for more Jewel Seeds. Well, Fate is scanning. Arf is puppy-whining, swishing her tail against Fate, and trying to distract her from monotony with petting.

    Arf is happy to have a master who loves and takes care of her, but not every animal is so lucky. Rather, there is one lost dog, growing thin and almost boney from malnourishment, marked with the occasional scar from his rough life, who fondly remembers what it was like to have a happy loving family. He remembers what it was like to be petted and loved and adored an played with. But he doesn't have that anymore, and he doesn't know where his family went.

    The poor lost doggy roams through the streets, mostly ignored or pushed aside by the many people who walk right past him. Sometimes he'll meet a kind soul who spares him a bit of compassion, but those are few and far between. When he wants to get away from the crowds, he ducks into an alleyway, but only reluctantly. Alleys aren't always safe, especially for him.

    A bright light glows in the alleyway, backed by a dark glow. The red letters 'XV' glow briefly upon its surface. Magical lightning arcs from a shining black gem, reflecting in the dog's eyes. The animal isn't magical in any way, and he doesn't know what he's looking at. All he knows is that it's small, and he misses his family who used to throw small things for him to fetch, and so he does what he wants to do, and closes his jaws around it.

    That may have been a mistake. The Jewel Seed's power spikes suddenly and hard.

    Fate gasps. "Another one is here!" Arf perks up, tempted to tell her to ignore it, but she knows better than to think that Fate would.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune has not yet joined any clubs, so after school she heads around Tokyo. Truth be told, she has much greater worries on her mind than fun after class. There are concerns of how she found herself struck down by Queen Beryl recently, giving her a vivid and first-hand look at what /should/ have made apocalypse inevitable on the alien princess' world. That it ended up not being so, due to what Sailor Moon wrought, is only a partial relief.

Beyond that, she remains worried for Fate. And /that/ is what really drives Rune today as she wanders Tokyo, heading toward Game Center Crown in the hopes of finding any residual clues she overlooked about the encounter with Fate's mother.

She doesn't get that far though, instead noticing Fate in the sky. Rather, the flash of light from an alleyway helps get her attention, and then she spots Fate past that. Gripped by an urgent wish to get close to Fate and speak with her, Runealy hurries in her direction, hands waving wildly in the hopes her friend will notice her on the streets below.

Doing so from this far away however may not yield the desired effect. Still, Rune is trying to 'chase' Fate now.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Takashi, as Riventon, pretty much instantly henshined once it was safe to do so outside of school, and began searching. He's not looking for Jewel Seeds, though - not, at least, primarily. He's looking for the Compendium of Infinite Worlds - the book stolen from Eclipse, his top priority now.

But a massive surge of energy like a Jewel Seed creates is, in no way, something he can avoid. The power spike calls to him like a month to a flame, and after a note to Fate (not knowing she's already headed that way) sent off, he's on his way, too. This means he's likely to meet Fate, and Runealy, over the Jewel Seed's new owner and fantastic transformation.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi does go to school and doesn't break the rules. Well usually. Today she's on her way home when her phone beeps off with a text. Then another one. and another one-- it's Yuuno lighting Nanoha's phone up about a Jewel Seed activating!

One Barrier Jacket setup later and off into the sky she goes on those feet winglets.

< Area Search > pings off Raising Heart.

She doesn't quite need it though as she spots a little flash. Is that it? She begins heading in that direction--she peers---

There's... Runealy running wildly with her hands in the air (but like she really does care!) and Fate in the distance--- Riventon isn't noticed yet!

Ayana has posed:
Winter has broken, and the spring has come. It's not quite blazing hot in Japan, yet, but it's warm enough that milkshakes are certainly a possibility. Ayana still doesn't have to attend school, but she knows when Ikiko gets out, and when Animal Care club lets out, and so for today she has made her way to the best ice cream shop nearby to get a pair of delicious and ridiculous milkshakes to go.

She emerges from the Game Center Crown with milkshakes nearly as large as her head, dressed in a white summer dress and a silly wide-brimmed straw hat. Time to head for Seishou, to surprise her girlfriend with a delicious treat.

"Oh, hello puppy," she says as a poor lost doggy roams past her, sniffs at her sandaled feet briefly, then rushes on. Ayana grins after him, showing a little bit of fang, then turns to head in the direction of Ikiko's school. What flash of energy? There's no flash of energy, here.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
With school out for the day, it's a time for club activities -- or, in the case of a particular Animal Care club member of Seishou Elementary, hobbies that can be passed off as club activities. Ikiko feeds the packs of stray dogs of Tokyo on a loose schedule, although she's pretty sure that there's many more that don't attend her feeding sessions, especially if they're avoiding the main packs of strays. She can't do everything, but she does what she can.

"No need to push, there's plenty for everyone," she tells the gathered strays in caninespeak with a smile. The early spring weather has the strays antsy and playful, and sometimes it comes across as being pushy when going for the food. But gentle reminders help keep things peaceful, and the pack is mostly good about making sure everyone has a chance to eat.

Ikiko isn't the most aware of magic surges, especially when they're not of Darkness; combine that with being preoccupied with feeding her street-dwelling canine friends, and it's not surprising that she hasn't noticed the activation of the Jewel Seed yet.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Fate's too focused on her goal to notice the approach of a few friends, but Arf isn't. She sees Runealy and Nanoha in the distance, and cringes to herself. They aren't going to like what's about to happen. What Fate's about to do to herself. Maybe it's a good thing that Fate doesn't see them right away. Or maybe it's the worst thing.

    Bardiche does ping to Fate, telling her telepathically that Riventon is on the way. She barely has time to acknowledge it as she dives to her target. When she reaches the alleyway, the dog and current Jewel Seed bearer... isn't there?

    "What?" Fate mutters. Twin tails swing behind her as she looks around frantically.

    Arf descends right behind her, a few seconds later. "Hey! Tough break, huh? Maybe we should just forget we ever saw this one and--"

    Bardiche pings. Fate looks in a specific direction. "It's that way! ... Impossible. Even I'm not that fast. Did it teleport?"

    The others approaching might notice that it is not teleportation that is carrying away the jewel seed bearer. The lost pet, in this case, doesn't seem particularly mutated or distorted. Yet, it's pretty clear that the dog is being affected by the Jewel Seed, because it's moving at lightning speed! His tongue hangs out and his ears flop around as he runs.

    The doggie barks as he runs past Ayana from behind, breaks the sound barrier as it passes Ikiko, and throws up a cloud of discarded newspapers and garbage as it races towards Nanoha and Runealy.

    Fate speeds around the corner of the alleyway, not noticing Ayana or Ikiko as she speeds past them. She's not breaking any sound barrier, but she's very audible regardless.

    "Wait! Please wait Dog-san! Wait!"

    She's not going to catch up. She looks down at her device, frowns. Arf senses her master's intentions, but she's too far away to talk her out of it. "Fate-chan! Wait!" She's trailing behind, not nearly as fast as her master.

    "There's no way around it," decides Fate.

    <Dark Move>

    Fate is engulfed in a flare of darkness as evil energy is pumped through her device, and in turn through her. It gives her a boost, but not enough of one.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune raises her eyes, alarmed as she hears barking coming her way... and hears Fate's voice pursuing the dog that's heading her way. Then... then she sees Fate doing something very awful, a chill of anxiety and dread rushing through Rune's body as dark energy is infused.

If Fate is doing that, there must be some reason. Some desperate reason where she would turn to such methods, even after having seen firsthand what it can do to others. That means this situation is dangerous, even if the princess doesn't understand it.

And so she calls up to Nanoha, "Be careful! Something's /wrong/! Summoning Princess' Tiara!"

Jeweled headwear appears in hand. "The Line of Succession," it's passed to her other hand, which brings it to her forehead in the same motion. "Transform!"

A flash of red light puts her in full magical attire, wand in hand as she calls out with worry - not anger, but raw concern - "Fate, what's going on!?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon is there, now, watching the dog move so fast it might as well be teleporting. And with those around... he knows Fate, especially with her... choice of upgrades... is in the best position to catch it. So what he can do, should do, is run interference. And there's a certain princess he has a long-standing argument with.

So as Rune calls out to Fate, suddenly, her progress is arrested by Riventon cutting her off, gauntlet raised, black energy already begining to pour into it to create a blasting orb. "Really, haven't I told you to stop getting involved in things that don't concern you?" he says, frowning. He'll keep trying to be between Rune and Fate.

"You know your priority, Fate-chan. Let me deal with the unwanted guest." he shouts to her.

Ayana has posed:
The dog rushing past Ayana moves so fast he knocks one drink out of her hand. The girl yelps as milkshake spills all over the ground. She turns at exactly the wrong moment, trying to figure out what's going on--and then Fate goes streaking by just as fast, and the second milk shake gets spilled all over poor Ayana!

"Whatno!" Ayana wibbles, staring down at her pretty white dress all covered in blueberries and cream.

She turns again to try and figure out what is even going on, and it's then that she recognizes those blonde twintails and the streak of lightning.

And the dark energy.

"Fate-chan," she whispers worriedly, and then reaches up to clasp the marble at her throat.

"Hoshi-no-tama!"

The ball shatters and expands outwards, engulfing Ayana in a void of pure creativity and destruction.

Fox tails and fluffy ears form in that void, as her soiled dress is blown to shreds, leaving the jerkin and shorts of Cute Fox Inariko instead.

The sphere collapses back in on itself until it is once more a marble at Inariko's throat. She's already dashing forward, calling out, "Twilight Step!"

She vanishes into the void, and reappears on a rooftop just even with Fate. Still running forward she calls out, "Fate-chan! Fate-chan! What's going on!?"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Stray dogs and diluted werewolf alike are scattered by the supersonic canine. Ikiko sits up dizzily in time to watch Fate go by, and is significantly less dizzy when Arf follows soon after. Well, something's definitely up!

"I'll be back shortly," Ikiko says to the dazed strays. "Stay safe, and enjoy the food!" She quickly dashes after the wolf-familiar, weaving behind a bush as she goes. "Lycan Locket!" she calls out, and with a silvery glow Cute Wolf Tsukiko bounds forward.

The Seed-boosted dog is way too fast for Tsukiko to catch up with, and even Fate is going at a clip that the wolfgirl can't keep up with. Arf, on the other hand, in close enough in speed for Tsukiko to slowly catch up with. "Arf-san! It's me, Ikiko -- what's going on?" the werewolf call out.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    The dog speeds past Runealy. Then Fate speeds past Runealy, hearing her question but already gone before she can answer. Then the dog, seeing itself chased and called to and thinking that this is a game, suddenly turns around and speeds past Fate, and past Runealy again. Upon Fate's second pass by Runealy she answers, "I need to catch that doggie!"

    Then Riventon is here, and cutting off Runealy. She winces, but somehow... somehow the idea that Riventon is getting ready to fight her is a bit easier to swallow. Must be the dark energy, she immediately thinks. Well, good. She wasn't taking this seriously enough as it was. What was she even thinking, making friends?

    That's something about dark power. Using it makes you just want more. She sends a signal to Bardiche, and her blazing yellow aura grows darker, black electricity arcing all over her.

    She still isn't fast enough. Not against this dog.

    After a minute of chasing, Fate pauses. She has to, to catch her breath. The puppy stops a few hundred feet ahead, turning around and wagging, barking to Fate in invitation.

    Ayana is nearby. ... Wait, Ayana? Fate looks at the foxgirl, and then back at Riventon, and then sweatdrops at Ayana again. She leans in, still floating, and whispers. "He is here, you know. He's right over there."

    Pulling away, she looks at the dog barks at her again. "... Sorry about your milkshakes. I just... dog-san has the Jewel Seed... and I don't think I can catch him by myself. She keeps her wine-red eyes on the dog, who has given up on getting her to play again and has started chasing cars instead.

    And actually catching them, closing his jaws around their rear bumper and dragging them to a stop amidsts the sounds of loud car horns and screeching tires.

    Arf stops nearby Ikiko, looking around at the carnage her target and master have both caused, and scratches the back of her head. "S-sorry about this. That dog ate a Jewel Seed, and Fate is trying to get it back."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune's body jolts in place as Riventon confronts her, a mix of fright and anger taking hold. "Fate /is/ my concern! I know you like doing everything you possibly can to ruin my life and my entire world, but just this once... leave me alone!" It almost sounds defiant, but there's some fear in her voice as she's not immediately confident she can handle Riventon alone.

Not that she expects him to actually stand down. Even now, wide trembling eyes are darting around and trying to come up with some kind of a plan to fight him. She may not get another choice, other than 'walk away from this situation'... and abandoning Fate right now is simply intolerable. So even if a fight is ill-advised, she's getting ready for it. Not attacking first, she very much hopes Riventon really will stop attacking her for the time being, but... she does not have high hopes.

Especially in light of the arrival of new individuals she doesn't recognize very well, such as Ikiko and Inariko. For all she knows, they might side with him.

Her gaze stays stuck on Riventon, only allowing peripheral vision to follow Fate and the dog even while talking to Bardiche's wielder. "You don't need to do it /that/ badly. I saw what just happened... please don't do that to yourself! Please...!" There is no immediate attempt at 'reasoning' for it, Rune is pretty much just begging Fate right away to stop using dark energy. Reasoning might come later when Runealy isn't terrified on multiple levels; for her own life and well-being, for Fate's possible health (Rune knows firsthand where this route can lead)... for a lot of things that are just rendering her less rational, running on raw feeling.

Ayana has posed:
Inariko glances back towards Riventon, then swallows. Ulp.

But this is Fate. Her friend. Her kohai. The girl who bought her a treasured collar for Christmas. "Okay," says Inariko, turning back to Fate suddenly. "Come on, let's get you the jewel s--" and there's Tsukiko, bounding towards Arf. Inariko's heart soars a little higher at that moment, and she smiles at Fate. "Race ya to it!" she calls, encouraging her friend as she turns to step into the void once more. Another twilight step carries her another several hundred meters after the supersonic puppy dog.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon's attention is diverted by the arrivals though. He doesn't /immediately/ process who 'Inariko' is. But he does /immediately/ process who the Cute Wolf is. There's a surge of anger that builds up in him like a rolling storm. Rage. Hate. Absolute, unquestioning Hate. Because he knows that she had something to do with it. The Orange Prism Keeper said as much. He knows she must know where his fox is.

The Jewel Seed gets knocked down to priority three, as the energy he /was/ intending for Rune is suddenly condened into a ball in his hand, crushed, and becomes a rocking burst of foul negative energy, erupting in a raw surge of fell power.

    <SCHATTENSCHLAG!> his device chimes.

"YOU! WHERE IS SHE?" he asks, having apparently completly lost it in that moment. On the bright side... Rune's free to chase Fate?

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko looks towards the Seed-boosted canine and winces slightly at the inadvertent werckage. "Well, I can always see about trying to talk the dog down," she muses to Arf. "Especially if there's a way to remove the Jewel Seed that doesn't hurt him; that should--"

Riventon's rage quickly interrupts her line of thinking. "On the other hand, it's probably safer for everyone if I'm not being pursued by a Dark-slinging bully when I try that!" Tsukiko yelps quickly, bounding away from Arf and going around in a wide circle -- close enough to possibly offer help in a pinch, but staying far enough away so that Riventon's fury doesn't catch the others in the probable line of fire.

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    So, she has just now started using dark energy, and already Fate's friends are begging her to stop. She isn't surprised, but she really is that desperate. She's not using it in spite of what it will do to her, but because of it. "If I don't start taking this seriously..." Fate shouts so that Runealy (and possibly everyone else) can hear her. "I'll never make my mother smile again! I'm only doing what's necessary."

    The dog growls and snarls as it tries to drag another car to a stop, paws tearing up asphalt in order to do so, when Inariko appears right next to him. He releases the car, allowing it to speed ahead into another car in front of it, causing a low-speed collision. Looks like the traffic problems are starting to pile up. He barks cheerfully and jumps around, looking up at her while panting joyfully.

    Fate looks at the destruction. It's because of this that she usually sets up barriers, right?

    That gives her an idea. But wait... what if that dog moves out of the area before she finishes casting the spell?

    "Keep him distracted!" Fate shouts at Inariko, who currently has the doggie's attention, as she raises Bardiche to the sky.

    Fate winces again as she hears the voice of her boss, demanding the location of Ayana. This isn't going to end well, she thinks. In any other situation, she'd be tempted to mitigate the damage somehow, she must focus on the Jewel Seed. At this point, she'd be doing the city a favor.

    Arf smiles at Tsukiko's offer of assistance, only to frown again as Riventon is firing at her again. Arf backs away, not wanting to get involved in that, instead charging towards Inariko in order to see if the foxgirl needs help.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Rune winces, tense as... Riventon inexplicably and suddenly changes targets? Part of her is tempted to help Ikiko, since the 'mental math' Runealy is running through suggests 'enemy of Riventon equals most likely friend of mine or could be'. It would be a good, kind gesture to make.

Unfortunately... while she's not exactly /glad/ that Riventon has instead opted to just hurt someone else instead of her, Rune at least is eager to make use of this opportunity. With a muttered "sorry...!" about Ikiko's situation, Runealy turns to chase after Fate before her friend can get /too/ far ahead.

Fate's words, a chilling explanation as to why she's doing something so horrifying, only spur Rune on even harder. "I don't think she'd smile about you getting sick or worse, from that! You saw what happened when I did it! Do you think she wants that? To see you choking like that!?" Again, there is no anger; Runealy is nearly sobbing as she tries to talk Fate down from this, vision blurring with tears. The dog itself is really secondary to Rune right now; she is hell-bent on chasing her friend, not the canine with the magic artifact or the rising traffic issues.

Ayana has posed:
Distract it!? Inariko turns to see the dog bearing down on her, and she for the second time in as many minutes she lets out a soft, "ulp."

Dogs hate foxes. Dogs eat foxes. Sure he may look playful, but Inariko knows better.

Oh this is not going to be her day.

But Fate needs her help, and she asked so nicely. Okay it was more like an order, but in Fate's usual stilted way, it came across as a plea for help.

How can Inariko say no to that?

As the dog bares down on her, she reaches up to touch her star ball and murmurs, "Twilight Inspiration."

And then her world just stops. To those on the outside, Inariko just seems to stand still, facing down the big magical dog as her mind prison assaults the dog's senses, dragging his mind into a reality of Inariko's making, and leaving the connection to his physical body a tennuous thing at best.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon's, oddly enough, so single-mindedly focused on blasting Tsukiko he hasn't yet noticed Ayana - not visually except as another 'interloper' and not magically either. But there's a surge of energy as his rage builds his power, and each shot tears divots into the ground. Ikiko's too fast for him to hit, and he's too upset, for the moment, to focus on leading her properly.

But eventually he grows tired of this and tries to close to melee with her, gauntlet flaring black energy. "Where is Ayana?" he asks as he tries to swing that dark energy into the wolf-girl. "How dare you take her from me? Do you know what she meant to me? Do you know that she's a part of my SOUL?!"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"A part of your soul that you were ignoring!" Tsukiko yells back at Riventon as she continues dodging and leaping. "I've been informed that familiars serve as consciences to their masters! And you outright ignored Ayana when she tried to fulfill that role! The only value you seemed to find in her was the power she could give you!"

The wolfgirl does a quick reversal of direction as Riventon gets too close. "She cared about you, but you treated her like an absent parent treats a latchkey child!" she yells. "She still cares about you, and worries that your darkness will devour what good you happen to have within you! She doesn't want that to happen to Fate, and she really doesn't want it to happen to you!"

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Rune has an advantage on chasing Fate for the moment, since Fate is hovering still in the air and also Riventon is distracted. Rune tries to reason with Fate, and Fate frowns at her. Most of her focus is on the spell she needs to cast now, but she does spare some amount of focus to respond to Runealy. "Didn't you see her at the Eclipse? Didn't you hear what she said?"

    Fate looks down at Runealy from above. "She expects this of me, and I'm tired of disappointing her."

    Inariko acts, and it was a plea for help from a girl who has little understanding of (and little time for) manners, bringing the dog into her astral plane. This both works and doesn't, because on the outside it seems as if Ayana and the dog are standing perfectly still.

    However, on the astral plane, that dog is huge, the power of the jewel seed making him large enough to knock over a building if he was too careless with it. He lowers his head and sniffs Ayana for a moment before responding to her with a thundering woof.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, just enough time has been purchased for Fate to complete her spell, and Arf runs up behind the dog to grab it in her arms. This might be a bad idea on Arf's part, but the sooner this is over the sooner Fate will stop using dark energy, right?

    The sky darkens and turns green. All non-magical people vanish, and even the cars disappear. The dog might still break from Arf's grip the moment Ayana's spell ends, but at least the dog has nowhere else to go.

    Fate isn't really paying attention to the conversation between Riventon and Tuskiko, and she isn't sure how she'd respond if she did.

Ayana has posed:
For the third time, Inariko makes a soft little, "ulp." Even in the real world, that anyone near her can see.

In the void, Ayana's ears flatten comically to either side as the wind from that sniff draws her towards the dog, then the whuff shoves her stumbling back three steps.

But this is Inariko's world, and here she's the master. Right?!

The problem is, this place relies on confidence and belief; the laws of physics and reality simply don't apply in the void, where pure blief and confidence are king.

Staring down a massive monstrous dog does not lend itself to belief. Inariko whimpers, then turns to run, all four feet flashing foxy as the cute fox bounds into her fluffiest form. 'Distract'. Riiight.

The world around Inariko changes as she draws on her own memories to paint the scenery as Mount Takao, the place of her birth. The little black fox races ahead of the dog, doing its best to keep out of those flashing teeth. All she has to do is buy Fate time to get the jewel seed. She can do that! Right?!

Oh god those teeth are scary.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Runealy feels another emotional, anxious chill slam through her as she recalls Precia's words and what they might mean for driving Fate's actions. It's an easy equivalency to make; what if Rune's own mother had expected this of the princess? Would Rune have complied? Probably. Almost certainly; hero-worship of the late Queen runs high in the Guardian Princess.

The problem in this thought process is that Rune cannot imagine her own mother making such a demand or expectation. 'Poison yourself for temporary power to fulfill my goals' is just short of unfathomable when she tries to visualize this in her head. It's scary, and it finally drives home a vital point about Precia: The events near Game Center Crown were probably not a bluff. Precia may well have been entirely willing to turn Tokyo into a mass grave, and might not care if Fate gets hurt.

Now she /is/ outright sobbing as this realization sinks in and the situation continues to change rapidly. What to do? Help subdue the dog to force this situation to end faster? ...Maybe. But something seems off about it; if she helps Fate succeed, won't Fate just get sent back out to do this again, to keep using more and more dark energy to pursue Precia's goals? It seems plausible. And thus cooperation is rejected.

Instead, her boot wings light up. Silver glow pulses as Rune is launched toward a rooftop, trying to get at least somewhat closer to Fate. "Fate! Tell me something... how much would be enough to satisfy her? You saw what happened when I did this, and I remember how you reacted at first... you flew off. It was pretty scary, right? Why do you need to risk that now to make her happy!?" She'd rather just keep shout-pleading to her friend, and let Inariko and Arf handle the dog. She /hopes/ they can do it without that creature interrupting her!

Takashi Agera has posed:
"So you do know where she is!" he shouts, trying to find a grasp on the Wolf. Eventually, as he moves in, orbs of black energy begin to generate in the air and soar at her. They lack his usual accuracy, but they make up for it in size and strength.

"I knew I should've never let you fill her head with that garbage, but I thought she was stronger. Look at how strong Fate is now that she understands. Ayana was strong! Ayana was a part of me. How dare you say that I didn't care for her. You don't know what I did, the sacrifices I made, the changes I made. When something scared her, I made it go away."

"When she wanted something, she had it. You have no right to pretend you have a higher moral ground than me!"

Riventon decides to show the proof of this 'high moral ground' by generating a field of small charged orbs of dark energy and swarming Ikiko with them, all at once. "If you think you can take one single hair of one single familiar or employee from me without punishment, you have another thing coming!" he shouts as they swarm in.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Avoiding one person and singleton blasts isn't too challenging for Tsukiko, although it's not exactly easy when said person is as persistent as Riventon. But a swarm of charged orbs, coming in from multiple directions? Much harder to dodge all of them, and once one hits, it becomes easier for the others to hit, first pass or not.

Pummeled by the swarm of orbs, Tsukiko crashes into a nearby building. She staggers to her feet, still glaring defiantly at Riventon. "She's someplace happy, where she doesn't have to worry about being unmade for pointing out that someone is doing something wrong," the wolfgirl growls. "She's where she can enjoy being a magical girl, where she is known and accepted for what she is. Where she doesn't have to hurt others just on someone's say-so."

She spares a quick glance towards the Seed-boosted stray, then looks at Riventon again. "Ayana has grown beyond what you made of her," Tsukiko continues. "She has approval from Inari-sama, she has love, she has freedom. "Her path is hers to choose, and I am honored that she chose to go with me. You might have used part of your soul to make her in the beginning, but you lacked the heart to keep her, and that is why she is free of you."

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Inariko is very brave. Fate doesn't really know how much. However, Ayana is providing Fate with a perfect opportunity. One that she can't pass up. She'd be acting even more urgently if she knew just how much Ayana was suffering especially for her.

    <Sealing Mode>

    Bardiche is still afflicted with that Dark Energy, but for the moment Fate turns it off. She can't have that particular magic interfering with the Sealing spell. Her aura turns a bit more golden, returning almost to its normal form, but there are occasionally streaks of dark electricity curling over her form.

    No one is interfering with her getting the Jewel Seed directly, and in fact everyone seems to be either helping or distracted. Rune, however, still has strong objections to Fate's actions. Doesn't she understand?

    No, of course not. No one does.

    Fate thinks to her own actions back then. She responds. "I thought you had died. I didn't know what to do. It was dangerous, yeah, but Riventon uses this kind of power all the time. Are you sure you just weren't using it wrong?"

    That's not completely accurate, Fate knows, because she can feel the sickness running through her veins even after she's stopped its use. That isn't completely... right. But it's a side issue. It's something to deal with later. Right now, she finally has what she wants, even if it was debatable whether or not she needed the darkness to begin with.

    "Hold on! Just a bit longer!" Fate pleads, unaware if Ayana can hear her, while her two-pronged Intelligent Device sprouts golden wings, charging up a massive amount of electrical energy. It's unleashed, all at once, in a powerful yet mostly harmless beam. The shock of having the jewel seed forcibly removed causes the dog to collapse, and the astral form of the dog suddenly shrinks to a much more manageable size, but other than that there's no harm done to the creature.

    The beam mostly misses Ayana, but even if it hit her it wouldn't do much. It's a utility spell, not an attack spell, using magic that is usually non-lethal unless the mage using it specifically decides otherwise. As for Arf, well, she knows when to get out of the way.

    As for the Jewel Seed, it rises up out of the dog, and Fate extends her hand as the Jewel Seed floats up towards her. The smile on her face is just a little bit... unlike her.

Takashi Agera has posed:
"She was stolen from me." Riventon says, glaring at her, bearing down on her. "Stolen. She was happy with me. Do you know what we did on our last day together? WE HAD A PARTY." Riventon shouts as he unleashes another bolt. There's no announcement from his Device now - this isn't a warped Mid-Childan spell, nor a pirated attack. This is the raw negative energy of Riventon's feelings born into innate, natural weapons, true hostility.

"She said I was the BEST EVER. SHE WAS NOT UPSET!" another blast "OR SAD. YOU MADE HER SAD." Another burst. "YOUR LIES ABOUT WHO SHE WAS, WHO SHE COULD BE. YOU MADE HER LIFE A LIVING HELL."

"You turned her from a happy, kind, caring fox-girl into a miserable sad creature unhappy with her current circumstances! And it tore my heart out but I FIXED THAT. And then you came along and stole her instead? THE ONLY THING YOU CARE ABOUT IS YOUR OWN GREED TO HAVE WHAT SHOULDN'T BE YOURS." he says, finishing the tirade with a dual-handed blast that will leave a foot-deep hole in the earth as it passes. "DON'T YOU TALK TO ME ABOUT HER BEING HAPPY."

Runealy Waldia has posed:
Using it wrong? That's a very good question, and one Rune has an immediate answer for. At first it sounds like the one Fate might be expecting. "I was using it wrong! Using it /at all/ is wrong, it doesn't work! Whatever you get at first isn't worth it! What you saw was after I had been using it for a pretty long time, and you... I don't want you to wind up like that!"

Notably, Rune by this point has stowed her wand behind-back, it 'magnetizes' to the side of her dress' rear ribbon. She wants her hands free to toss them out wide in a pleading gesture for Fate, even as Inariko and Arf continue to help with the sealing or at least not interfere with it, depending on how one looks at certain actions.

Even as the Jewel Seed rises, Rune makes no move for it. She actually has a decent guess that this might, possibly, provoke Fate into attacking her. So she keeps out of the way, pointedly so.

"I'm not going to stop you from taking that, but I'm going to call you later! We need to talk about this! What you're doing right now is really scary, and I can't just ignore that you're hurting yourself to make her happy. So please...!"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Cute Wolf Tsukiko manages to move out of the way of a direct hit, but Riventon's blast still clips her. "If I ruin her happiness as much as you think, why did she give me a heartfelt Valentine's Day gift?" she replies to Riventon as she pulls herself to her feet. "And why was she so ecstatic when I gave her a White Day gift? The only time I've known her to not be kind was when you had jammed her full of dark energy in your so-called attempt to 'fix' her!"

The glow of Fate securing the Jewel Seed is noticed, but Tsukiko's attention is on Riventon. "And the first time I knew her to be sad was when you had told her to stop being a magical girl," she growls. "But thanks to Inari-sama, Ayana is able to be a true magical girl as much as she wants to be. And her only sadness, the only thing she worries about now..."

The wolfgirl stands up straight, bruised but still full of defiance. "Is you. You, and your dark energy, and what it makes you do. Meeting me might have conflicted her mind, but you are the one still causing her sorrow."

Ayana has posed:
The dog is very big, and the fox is very small. She doesn't stand a chance to outrun the massive creature, not in this realm or any other. But especially not in this realm when her own fears are working against her.

Just as Inariko is about to become a doggy snack, however, the creature chasing her (it's fun!) shrinks down to normal size. Unfortunately for the little black fox this is still larger than her; still terrifying!

The dog woofs and bounds towards her, pounces from behind and they go tumbling.

It's half-way through the tumble that the little fox realizes the difference.

If he's this small, then that means ...

... Inariko gasps and stumbles backwards, falling to the ground beside an overturned car. One of Riventon's blasts slams into the ground where she was standing only moments ago, and she stares at the sizzling thing, afraid and alone.

She's seen this side of Riventon before. She's seen his rage played out. This is the Riventon that overwhelms her with darkness. This is the Riventon that destroys his own laboratory because she tried to be helpful. This is the Riventon of her nightmares.

Inariko's ears are folded over in fear and worry, which makes it harder for her to hear what's going on. THe crash of Tsukiko into a building is just a dull noise of collision. The explanation about how much she enjoys being a magical girl are just muffled words.

But not everything fails to reach her. Riventon's screams about how happy she was reach her. But he doesn't know that her happiness was a lie concocted to make him hurt her less. He doesn't know how sad and miserable she truly was.

How can he? She never told him.

Inariko's ears slowly unfold, swiveling upwards to hear the rest of the argument. All the heartfelt words of Tsukiko's arguments. All of her understanding and love. And also the slight edges of pain in her voice whenever Riventon manages to land even part of an attack.

For the fourth time tonight, Inariko lets out a soft, "ulp," and gathers her courage.

Rolling to her feet, she calls out, "Arf-chan! Please take Fate-chan and the Jewel Seed and get out of here. This is going to be ... dangerous. Please, keep her safe!"

And then she steps through twilight.

Just behind Riventon and to a side, standing on a building within easy distance of him, Cute Wolf Tsukiko brings forth the illusion of the girl she used to be. Her orange hair streaks with black, and her fluffy tails and ears, too. It's incomplete; there's still so much orange in her. But it's enough that the thin shred of a disguise should now be worthless.

"Riventon!" she calls to him. "Leave her alone! I'm the one you want!"

Fate T. Waldia has posed:
    Now, at long last... The Jewel Seed rests in Fate's palm. Not directly, because that would be dangerous, but her fingers do tighten around the sparkling translucent orb that contains the Jewel Seed.

    "This is the easiest time I've ever had. I can't help but notice that there's no one here to stop me this time." A part of her knows... knows that the Dark Energy isn't to thank for that, but rather because of goodwill and friendships and---

    That part can just go ahead and shut up. Darkness is here now. Go away.

    She peers off to the side as the Jewel Seed sinks into Bardiche. Runealy wants to talk? Fine. "We can talk. First, I have a delivery to make. Mother will want this as soon as possible."

    With a small twist to her smile, she adds, "... maybe it is dangerous, but right now? Right now the only people it seems dangerous to are my enemies. Thanks for coming. We'll meet again soon."

    Arf has been watching the drama unfold out of the corner of her eyes. She really can't help but worry. When Inariko says to take Fate away, Arf whispers, "Are you sure? ... okay, Ayana-chan. Be careful."

    Fate telepathically tells Arf to come close, and this time it is a command. Far more forceful than how Fate usually addresses her Familiar. When Familiar comes close, Master runs her small fingers through orange hair. Then, the two of them speed away, their prize captured.

Runealy Waldia has posed:
As much as Rune wants to refuse, to interfere with Fate bringing anything back to Precia... she's pretty sure nothing is to be gained from trying it this instant. Being an obstacle between the delivery strikes her as very similar to how Rune felt when people got in the way of energy collection the princess felt was needed to save her world.

In other words, she's reasonably certain Fate might attack her if pushed too hard while a 'top priority' is at hand.

So she opts to just get in what final words she can, calling to Fate: "'For right now'... that will change soon enough. I'm going to get through to you /before/ it does. Before what you're doing becomes 'something you can never take back'!"

And then... she glances to the other battle at hand. It's far too confusing to follow right now, and fear over so many things guides the princess' decisions. In the end, she turns and begins to flee from the area. Wrenching herself away from all this hurts, eyes and head 'burning' as it feels like a betrayal of Fate, but rationality and experience force her to do what seems to be the best thing for Fate right this very instant. Don't force her into a bad spot. Leave. Make the next move later, when Fate might be more open to listening...!

It won't make trying to sleep tonight any easier. Following good sense can force the right decision, but it often can't shout down the objections one's heart makes despite that.