2238/Watch your step

Watch your step
Date of Scene:	18 December 2016
Location:	A rock quarry outside Tokyo
Synopsis:	A rock quarry is having problems with the Earthy card. With the help of some magical girls and a big sword, Sakura manages to capture it. She also manages to make a new friend who won't beat her up anymore!
Cast of Characters:	Sakura Kinomoto, Mara Brando, Tsubasa Kazanari, Kunzite, Naru Osaka

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Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
It was cold and wet, the rain pouring down on the city. The local rock query filling with water as the rocks and dirt remained in great piles. The crew worked hard, trying to get their jobs done as they hauled things around.

Then, a scream. A few of the workers came running, moments before one of the tractors was flipped over and sent flying...

A few days later, things had calmed down, though all the machinery was still left out and about, most of it flipped and burried, the massive rock query filled with great stones and pitfalls. But it seemed almost abandoned.

Which was why Sakura leaped over the fence, with the jump card, trying to escape the psycho path who was most likely chasing her with an axe. She was wearing a weird yellow jump suit today. Because it was raining. She'd called some friends, finally only got naru and told her that she was sensing something at the quarry... then Mara had met her on the way. Oh dear. Tomoyo was on the way, but left behind!

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara had spotted Sakura, and immediately henshined to continue pursuit of her target she has been trying to mentally break. She definitely wasn't really running as fast as she could, or using that much strength to keep up with Sakura.

    Unlike Sakura, Mara doesn't jump over the fence. She hefts her axe, swings it once in a horizantal direction against the fence ripping some portions, and cutting the posts. Half way cleared she swings her axe over head, and down on to the damaged portion of the fence making quite a bit of noise.. She has effectively cleared herself a path instead of jumping as he walks over the defeated fence.

    Mara pulls her hood back, and grins wickedly, "Sakura... Where are you?" She starts walking into the quarry area, and looks around for the other girl, or at least acts like she is looking for Sakura.

Kunzite has posed:
It's been a deeply rough week for Mamoru and the people around him -- not a pleasant anniversary. Which means that the unsettled feeling he got a few days ago, associated with this place, wasn't something they had the time to follow up. Not until there was a minor piece in an even more minor local Fortean newsgroup about the Flying Tractor Incident.

Which is why there's a figure in gray uniform and white cape standing above the quarry, studying it silently for hints of movement.

A ten-year-old in a brightly-colored outfit and an ominously armored teenager chasing her count as a little more than a hint. From his vantage point, Kunzite frowns, and lifts hands to prepare to intercede -- but only to prepare to. Given Sakura's life, 'strange girl chasing her with axe' could actually just be an overenthusiastic friend.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
A black chopper flies over the quarry, and a red-haired man, with a red goatee in a red suit looks down, then opens the door. A girl in blue then jumps out without any kind of parachutes or similar. Her voice rings clearly as she descends, singing some words in a long-dead tongue.

"Imyeteus Ame no Habakiri-tron~"

Flash of blue, and the girl is suddenly wearing protective plates of some kind, holding a sword, and two swords extend from her feet. She's spinning quickly as she falls downwards, her sword growing to be a size big enough to make a final fantasy protagonist jealous, and when she hits the ground near Mara, it's this thing that breaks her fall.

She pulls it out of the ground, returning it to its normal katana-size, and she's singing some kind of sad traditional Japanese styled song, mostly ignoring Mara as she proceeds to the quarry itself.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Going to a quarry that is doing weird stuff in the rain? That sounds like a GREAT idea only when one is trying to procrastinate on studying. Naru had to put aside almond cookie recipes and training plans to get a whole new level of procrastination in.

Now that she's actually out in the rain, at the quarry, Naru has the hood of her rain jacket up and she eyes the slashed and destroyed fence and steps carefully through the hole to see what the devil might be going on here.

A helicoper. An axe weilding someone chasing someone else, and a Kunzite up above watching everything.

Right. Soo.. day that ends in Y.

Naru picks her quiet way closer, towards where Sakura is running.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
Sakura Kinomoto raced down to the quarry, jumping down the many layers and hitting a mud pile. She let out a shriek, tripping and landing on her butt. "Owie... ack!" Right, axe girl. She got to her feet and raced towards the cover, behind a tractor. Drawing a card, she turned back. "I don't want to fight you! Just leave me alone!" She tapped the card. "Arrow!" A flurry of arrows raced at Mara as Sakura raced behind a tractor for cover... then a scream came from her. She didn't come back out from behind the tractor.

A moment later, mara, tsubasa, kun and naru would feel the ground start to rumble. And then it collapsed from under the two of them, sending an avalance of stone and mud under them to try and haul them down into the depths of the quarry!

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara stops walking for a few moments, looking around. She looks up, spotting a helicopter, and sees someone in a white cape as well. Mara blinks a couple of times, not because water is falling in her face, but more or less sees someone fallig from the helicopter. "Oh..? Did she call friends this time?"

    Mara starts to move farther way from where the giant sword girl, or whatever is going to land. Once the other girl lands, she doesn't seem the slightest bit disturbed, but she does let out a slightly annoyed sound sight.

    Mara turns her head to where she hears the voice down in the quarry, "Oh.. Why don't you want to fight me?! I hope these are your friends! It can make things..." She sees the arrows flying towards her, and quickly runs to the side so that she doesn't get hit at all. She then stops, and tilts her head to the side, feeling the ground rumbling. She however doesn't bother waiting for the rock/mud slide and runs, then jumps down into the lower area of the quary.

Kunzite has posed:
Americans are upset by the appearance of black helicopters, rumor has it. Kunzite is not American, and the appearance of Tsubasa and her blade (or her blade and its Tsubasa) prompts him to straighten a little; there's a flicker of almost-expression on his face, something that gets remarkably close to pleased.

And then the ground makes that sound, and he exhales sharply through his teeth instead, lifting his hands in a gesture that has shadows sweeping up in smooth curves around him before the ground itself has time to give way. He and cave-ins have a long and violent history. Nobody besides him and Endymion needs to know that's why he developed that trick in the first place.

That doesn't mean that he stays high up. It only means that he drifts down within the dark embrace of his shield, above the avalanche and breathing still-clear air. Keeping a sharp eye out for anyone else who might have been caught in it and less able to handle herself than ... well ... axe girl, for starters.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
"You two stop fighting until whatever is going on is handled." Tsubasa's sword splits into two swords, one pointed at Mara and the other at Sakura, "Or I'll kill you both." The threat is made in stone cold sincerity, and then the ground starts to rumble, and she jumps towards the tractor Sakura hid behind, aiming to land right on top of it.

She's still singing, and if she has any response to Kunzite being here, she's not showing it.

Naru Osaka has posed:
There had been a moment where Naru was trying to place Tsubasa, at least until the sword and the declaration about killing both of them if they don't stop fighting. Ah yes, now she remembers.

Naru tucks her phone away before she drops it as she ends up trying to keep her feet as the earth freshly rumbles and shakes and she gets to try and ride the slide down into the quarry itself. On her butt, granted, but down into the depths of the quarry to see what's going on down there.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
The area behind the tractor was noticably empty. So either Sakura was getting great at playing hide and seek(at her age a distinct possibility), or she was gone! The sploosh sploosh sound of all that much collapsing into the quarry filled the air as the rain pounded down around them, a reminder of what was going on. And then...

It started. Pillars of rock began to rise up, each about ten feet tall and trying to form AROUND the new gathered people, attempting to wrap them up in great bonds of stone and mud. It was going to get messy.

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara lances on her feet gracefully down in the bottom of the quarry.. She lands to the side of the piece of equipment that Tsubasa landed on, not seeing Sakura. "Huh?" She blinks a couple of times.

    Mara turns to look to Tsubasa, "Oh? I think you might want to point that cute little object somewhere else..." She narrows her eyes with a slight smirk stretching across ehr lips. Her attention on Tsubasa now, not really paying much attention to Kunzite or Naru as they aren't any threat to her at the moment.

    Mara's eyes widen and sees the pillars of mud and stone. Mara spins around quickly, and slams her axe into the ground. She places her feet shoulder length apart, and sticks her hands out turning her head, lookig about as if she was getting everything's location, not caring if it was friend or foe. Sphears of energy appear around her about the size of basketballs.. They are a bright red, and she suddenly shouts, "Broadside!" Suddenly the spears shoot away from her at the pillars of mud, and a few more firing off in random directions. She these explosive spheres of energy do not discriminate on anyone, so everyone and everything is a target. They are moving quite fast as well, and the closer someone is, the more likely they will want to get away. At least she isn't firing in one direction?

Kunzite has posed:
Advantage of still being in that sphere of darkness: retaining flight capability. Stone reaches up for Kunzite, and he pulls away -- not swiftly, but his shield is a broader target; mud curls around the outside of his shadows and squelches as he pulls clear. Rule one of helping: do not become a casualty.

Rule two: protect the high-value targets. He closes his hand around a blade of pink-gold energy, draws it back, sends it flying. It does not intersect the pillar of stone threatening Naru. It does intersect the basketball-sized sphere of explosive red energy coming her way, and sets it off -- an instant sooner, and with his own weapon deflecting that part of the explosion that would have caught her. How much good that will do her is a good question, but it may at least buy her time to get on her feet. Or whatever else she takes in mind to do.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
The insult to Tsubasa's sword is entirely ignored as she leaps further to try to dodge those pillars, only to get hit by one of Mara's attacks, being thrown aside, though she rolls with the blow and recovers quickly. It's at this point that blue energy starts to form in the sky, forming blade-like shapes pointed at every suspicious ground activity... and a few more at Mara for good measure, because Tsubasa is starting to believe that in the 'friend or foe' calculation, Mara is probably foe. Then suddenly they all move within less than an instant, high speed magical swords that seek to dig deep into what they hit, then fade

Naru Osaka has posed:
The pillars of earth and mud are not, to be truthful, Naru's first consideration. That would be the basketball-sized spheres of energy coming at her non-combat self. She doesn't seem to care too much about getting more muddy, even if her rain jacket has now become a white outfit that is rapidly going to become a formerly white outfit. As the sphere of red energy is directed away from her by a pink-gold zot of energy, Naru can, indeed, get to her feet and have a better chance of not ending up on a pillar rising up entirely too high over the quarry.

Entirely too high.

And then she has to also dodge blue energy coming from the sky which may or may not consider her suspicious. Naru reaches for some mud to scoop up, to play with in her hands. "What the /hell/ is going on here?"

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
There are booms and explosions and Earthy is almost COMPLETELY ignored. So it does the next best thing as its pillars start getting wrecked. There was a loud, ominous thoom and a moment later Tsubasa and mara could look up to see a pair of tractors falling at them. Yes it just hurtled tractors out at them.

A moment later, a pillar of vines rose out from the ground, bursting free. It rose a good twenty feet from the air, before revealing a giant flower. The flower opened to reveal... Sakura.

Rather than being pretty and cute and ssome kind of flower princess. She was instead covered in mud, on her knees and hacking and wheezing as she gasped for air, coughing up mud that had gotten in her mouth.

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara takes in a deep breath, and straightens herself up. That little defensive attack of her's corrupted her soul quite a bit. If someone could see her soul gem under her armor, it is a nice mix of swirling red and black.

    Mara look to Tsubasa's direction after a moment to see glowing swords flying at her, then quickly tries to swing it at them to only have them blow up in her face, with one of them hitting her right in her left arm..

    Unfortunately, Mara can't see too well and doesn't really noticed the bulldozers, frontloaders, and all the other heavy equipment falling down toward her. There isn't any screaming from being hit by the explosions either, so this might be bad for her as she possibly might be burried under a lot of equipment..

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite: not, at present, any kind of ground activity, suspicious or no. He shifts sidewise away from one of the falling blades; his shields swallow a little of the ensuing explosion, but not enough to be useful on its own. All right. Violent armored girl, buried by heavy equipment. That probably won't last, and soon there may be shrapnel. Tsubasa: eminently capable of taking care of herself. Naru: at least on her feet and active. Kunzite sends himself Sakura's way, therefore; the flower is not so mobile and, while it's not completely likely to try to eat her, /everything else is/. And remote shields eat energy like crazy, even faster than the trick he's pulling now does. He's got a better chance of keeping someone from taking the little girl out by accident if he's closer.

Also, by this point, lately anything that involves chaos with no immediately visible source he's suspecting of being one of her cards. Including an incident that turned out to be his housemate's fault and one that happened in another country, but those are beside the point.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
One problem taken care of for the time being, Tsubasa jumps atop one of the heavy machines flung her way and then her sword grows to be buster sword sized, she leaps forward in the direction of Sakura and that flower, and then swings the blade, still too far away to touch it. However, the blade unleashes a cutting shockwave of energy that is aimed straight for the flower.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Getting piled on by heavy equipment can't be a whole lot of fun, even for someone who was indiscriminately throwing around energy balls. Naru winces a little as she watches Mara get squished. She's still working the mud in her hands, stretching and shaping it in ways that is entirely impossible with the mud that at least a few of them are covered with, but somehow it has the right texture to be worked in her hands. There's one going to protect Sakura and one working on flower cutting and one under a few tractors. Naru tries to keep her balance, and eye out for projectiles as she works with the earth in her hands, smoothing and molding and making it beautiful.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
Sakura Kinomoto was allowed a moment to catch her breath and--

And then her flower was cut? She blinked, then shrieked as her sanctuary was literally cut out from under her, sending her plummeting back down into the mud below. A pillar of stone was already rising at her! However, she quickly drew another card! "Freeze!" she yelled, tapping the card.

The water logged quarry was flash frozen, starting from her position, then spreading out to form a great frozen earth. She grabbed the frozen vines that had supported her, though they were quickly wilting.

But hey, at least now the ground wouldn't--

A moment later cracks began to form across the ice rink as a loud roar filled the air. Then a massive... thing burst from the ice. It looked like a giant spiked snake made of stone and mud.

The ice around the quarry cracked and crumbled as the quarry of stone began to turn into a spiraling vortex of ice, mud, dirt, rock and construction equipment. Sakura held on for dear life, trying in vain to clamber up her quickly collapsing vine tree as the swirling mud below threatened to envelop them!

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara stirs under the equipment that is on top of her. She can hear what is going on outside of the construction equipment that has her burried.. She would be in extreme pain, or possibly shock if she wasn't a Puella Magi.. She starts to gather energy and pushes the one piece of equipment that mostly landed on her up a little bit as it shifts some. It wasn't quite enough, but she was trapped, and mostly broken.. The broken parts would heal, but there was something amiss..

    Mara felt the ground tremmor again as something was going on and the ground started to move under her. "What the..." She groans a little bit.. "Gotta do something.." She takes in a deep breath, gathers more energy as she starts to push on that front loader that is on her in a way where she can't move. It moves enough to where she can escape from under it just in time to move on top of it to see that vortex of mud, gravel, rock, ice, and equipment getting close to her.

    Well, Mara is not a pretty sight as she stands up on the piece of equipment as it shifts under her.. Her left arm looks completely broken, she has a piece of shrapnal stuck in her left eye, and does not look in the slightest bit enthused as she is covered in mud and blood. She mumbles a few words that definitely isn't audible to anyone at this point. Her one good eye looking at that massive snake thing as she rides on the piece of equipment..

Kunzite has posed:
First cave-ins. Now ice. It's like something has a checklist of Things Kunzite Hates To Have To Deal With. He resists the urge to glance over his shoulder in case Riventon suddenly manifests (live, from his South American vacation, it's --!), and concentrates on drawing himself close to the decapitated flower, shifting up from beneath Sakura in case of --

CAVE-INS ACTUALLY COMPOSED OF ICE.

He bites back a phrase not suitable for ten-year-olds in any language, and calls to Sakura instead, "I've got you." The shield is shifted to permit her passage; he draws up beneath her, folding her into the sphere, giving her a steady base to work from. "If, of course, you'll permit me to catch you when you're actually conscious this time. The ground's trying to eat the other three. Do you have anything for that? Or to figure out where the source of this is?" Her magic's piecemeal, unpredictable; he genuinely doesn't know what she can do.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
As the stone snake appears from the ground, Tsubasa is already making her next move, she leaps as high in the sky as she can, and throws her sword up. There, it starts to grow, and grow, and grow, until it's larger than most people's homes, and when it starts to fall back down, she puts her foot against the hilt, then magic lights up across it as gravity, her foot and magic combine to drive down this massive blade, right for the stone snake.

Tsubasa pointedly looks at Mara while this is going on.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Recent conversations about ice skating were intended to be on a rink. With skates. Not in a heaving quarry that is becoming a whirlpool of ice, mud, rocks, frozen dirt and construction equipment. Probably with a pissed off puella thrown into the mix /somewhere/. Yep, there's the pissed off puella, who is probably as much of a hazard as everything else in here at the moment.

Naru jumps up to try and keep herself out of the swirling vortex of icy rocky hell /and/ away from the snake, looking to keep herself from finding out just exactly how Mara felt, buried under everything. Up, up, up. Staying /up/ seems like a feature at the moment, and out of the centre of that whirlpool. Staying away from Tsubasa and the giant sword by virtue of keeping away from the snake, also a feature.

Running and dodging a rocky spikey snake AND a whirlpool of icy doom is really making both the sculpting and the drawing particularly difficult.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
The whirlpool got faster and faster and then-- THOOM! Excalibur, space ship edition, came crashing down on the snake. The whirlpool stopped as dirt and mud scattered, flying in every direction. Then sploosh! A massive explosion from below. Sending mud flying everywhere and drinching the poor saps.

Fortunately for sakura, she was safe on top of Kunzite's shield. For the time being. But the whirlpool had stopped, for the moment. She let out a sigh of relief, before standing and lifting her staff up. "Return to your true form! Clow card!" she yelled. The rocks around the area began to crumble and form into spirted wisps, flowing up towards a card in front of Sakura... before flying up and stopping in front of Tsubasa. The earthy card. There was another sploosh as more mud fell. For now, it seemed, it was all done with. She used the jump card to jump down... then promptly slipped in the mud and landed on her butt. "Ow!"

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara laughs a little bit when Tsubasa looks to her, and doesn't look at all impressed. Mara looks behind her for an area that isn't moving in the vortex. There were a few pieces of equipment that didn't get trapped, and she suddenly launches herself from the one she was on to one that was a bit away from everything.

    Mara even with the mud and ice falling, she reaches up to her left eye, or what is stuck in her left eye touching at the piece of metal that has itself stuck in her eye socket.. She growls softly, as she shakes her head softly, trying to calm down a bit. She thinks to herself as she is hit in the head with a small chunk of ice causing more damage to her head, but it just opens up another spot that will just need a few stitches.. "...."

    Mara turns her head to look to Sakura falling on her rear, then closes her right eye in thought.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa's sword returns to its normal size as a katana, and then she puts it in one of her boots, where it disappears. She grabs the card, then she walks over towards Sakura, hand reaching out to help the girl up. "You need practice, or you'll just hold people back." She tells the girl bluntly, not bothering to introduce herself, nor bothering to ask for an introduction. "I believe this is yours?" She hands over the card.

Kunzite has posed:
"She's improving," Kunzite observes aloud in answer to Tsubasa's comment. "No hundred-foot falls this time, and she's still conscious." The matter is, apparently, a side issue. He comes to a relatively solid place -- more stone than mud -- between Sakura-and-Tsubasa and Mara, closer to the latter, and settles to the earth there; the sphere around him flows into a dome-shape instead as he studies the axe-wielder warily.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Explosion from below and there's Mud. Mud /everywhere/. Naru is coated in mud, and there's more mud and ice falling that Naru has to dodge. Her white outfit, not so much with the white at the moment.

The quiet post vortex and Naru's attention goes over to where Tsubasa is talking to Sakura. Her own mutter is hard to hear, but probably includes something about 'damnned cards' as she heads over to where the group is gathering. The sculpted mud is still in her hand, more like fired clay at this point than random mud from the quarry.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
Sakura Kinomoto nodded, taking the card. "Thank you. I... I'm sorry. I'm still learning. But I'm learning from Cure Spark and Gull sempais. A-and, ummm... a few others. I'll try to do better. Thank you for helping me." She took out her pen, drawing on the card, then pulling out the bubble card! With a flick of her wand, she was covered in bubbles. As was Tsubasa and kunzite! And... they'd be completely clean. Every drop of mud and muck gone.

And then her eyes fall on Mara. She shrieks, stepping back with a look of horror. But then the horror faded and she looked worried. She raced towards the girl. "Mara-san!" she yelled, seemingly forgetting this girl had tried to cut her in half with an axe. "W-what happened? Kunzite-sempai! W-we need a doctor! O-or a healer! You know healers, right? You can teleport her to one, right?" she asked, skidding to a stop in front of Mara. "Mara, don't move, you'll only make it worse!" She pulled out the bubble card again. "Just... I-I'm going to clean the mud off you. Try to keep it from getting infected and, and we're going to need bandages. Mara, try to stay awake, don't pass out!"

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara is across from where everyone else is at as she watches them. She moves to sit down on top of the tractor she is on, then sighs a little bit.

    Mara smirks a little bit at Sakura's shriek and the look on her face. She knows that her eye isn't in the best of shape, and her left arm is just messed up. Probably going to need pins, screws, and rods put in it as it is likely broken in several areas.

    "Huh?" Mara watches Sakura run towards her, then sighs a little bit when Sakura stops in front of her. "Are you really that worried about someone that tried to kill you, and still might try to do so?" She looks to Sakura, standing up, then hops down to Sakura and stands in front of her. She gets a really big smile across her face, "That was fun.. hehe... You should really try to run more often.. I met some wonderful people to try and hunt down, and pick on."

    Mara watches Sakura pull out the bubble card, and seen what it does, "I will be fine.. I just need to heal up and go hunt some wraiths..."

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite-sempai.

There is a moment in which wistful thoughts are entertained; but Mamoru would approve of none of them, and he lets them go. Instead ... she's not any of the ones he keeps an eye out for these things for. But Mamoru would approve of that, and so despite his frown, he calls something to him all the same. Encases it in a bubble of blackness, a smaller one, perhaps a handsbreadth across, and sends it drifting across to Mara. At close range, the darkness is translucent.

At the heart of the black are two grief cubes, both unused.

"That should make it feasible to tackle those in that order," Kunzite says aloud, matter-of-fact, almost toneless. "Young lady, you might consider stepping away from the executioner." While he's implicitly bribing her to leave the ten-year-old alone temporarily. "Her kind of people don't recover the way you're expecting them to."

He doesn't, quite, glance toward Naru's approach, but his head turns just enough to keep her in peripheral vision.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa makes an annoyed face as this continues, and instead of the important things being discussed they're apparently worrying about some random girl's health. So instead she takes out a phone and dials a number, "Situation seems clear. Waiting for extraction." She then closes the phone and looks towards Sakura, "So what is that anyway?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru lingers away from the main group, close enough to watch and listen, and clearly far enough away not to be part of the mass cleaning going on. She watches Sakura fuss at Mara and her attention settles upon the puella, watching her thoughtfully. There's a slow nod, some information falling into place as she watches Kunzite offer over some grief cubes.

Naru folds her arms across her chest. "How many cards are left, do you know?" She asks of Sakura.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
Sakura Kinomoto shook her head. "No! You're hurt, you can try to kill me later, okay? Just... just get better first, please?" she said softly, staring up at Mara. Then it looked like the girl might run. She reached out and grabbed her hand in a panic. "N-no! You can't just run off! You need help! If... if you tried to run now, you might get really hurt! A-and die! For real! Please. I-I'll let you chase me and... and even swing at me a few times if you want, just... I-I don't want you to die!" She seemed sincere, at least.

Then Kunzite said that and she glanced back. "What?" Magic cubes? She looked to them. "Will... will those cubes help her?" she asked, then looked up at Mara, her eyes soft with concern. "It'll... help you, right? You can heal... these?" she asked softly. Not wanting to use the bubble card yet if she can heal herself. After all, she'd hate to use it and make her situation worse.

She glanced to Tsubasa. "Errr. That, ummm, was a clow card. They can be a tiny bit..." She tried to think of the right word. "Destructive? But they're really, really nice once you get to know them, honest!" She then blinked, mentally counting. "Okay, and with... and then... Haruka has one andddd... Twenty-one caught! so there are only thirty-one to go!" she said happily... then sighed. "Still so many..."

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara sighs a little bit, and looks to Kunzite then Tsubasa getting on her phone. She narrows her right eye a little bit before looking back to Kunzite with a soft sigh. "Right.." She mumbles something very softly, "...nk... ..." More mumblings and she takes the grief cubes. She holds them in her right hand looking at them, then to Sakura, nodding to her.. "Yes, these will help me more than your bubble... I can heal up, but.." She touches what is stuck in her left eye.. "I'm not worried about that part.. I think wearing an eye patch would be pretty cool." She grins happily.

    "Kunzite, is it?" She looks back to the man that gave her the grief cubes, "I owe you for these..." She stuffs them somewhere in a pocket in her pants. "Two favors and that's it.. So if you need help, just ask.."

    "Sakura, I don't want to kill you.. I just find your reactions funny. I have a sick sense of humor, and a twisted personality that I am having too much fun with." She reaches out to pat Sakura atop her head a couple of times, "I'm done chasing you." She looks to Kunzite, "And no, it isn't because you asked me to."

    She then looks Naru, blinking, "So, sculpting mud in the middle of a fight isn't the brightest thing to do, you know?"

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite's teeth show, just for a moment. Not all Puella recognize that kind of not-quite-smile, but Mara seems likely to be one of the one who did. "I'd presume not, since I didn't ask," he agrees to the lady of the axe. He inclines his head to her at the favors, asked-for or not, and continues to consider her apparel. (All that black. Is she one of the ones working for Eclipse? But she preferred to trade something for the cubes -- ah, well, she's smart enough not to show him where she keeps her soul gem and leave herself vulnerable with the slow cleansing at the same time. Details. Maybe Kyouko will know her.) "Kunzite, yes. Do you have a name you go by?"

He glances back to Tsubasa's question, and amplifies, "Mischievous troublemaking spirit that the girl can bind into the form of a card. Different specialty areas per spirit. Deeply annoying, though the others I've seen have had a smaller range of effect than this one."

He does not defend Naru's mud-sculpting. It's perfectly capable of defending itself.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
Tsubasa nods as she gets the explanation, and her threats at Mara are a little less subtle than Kunzite's. "If I run into you doing anything like that again? I will kill you." There's a cold, emotionless attitude to it, a statement not made out of passion but sheer running the numbers, there's no doubt in her body language that she means it, and that she believes herself more than capable of doing it. She still hasn't introduced herself.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Work with what you've got." Naru answers Mara with a flicker of a rueful smile as she watches the exchange of grief cubes. "I am not a combatant. Let me know if I'm up next on the chasing list, I'll wear my favourite running socks."

"Thirty one to go?" Naru quirks a brow at Sakura. "I'm not sure Tokyo can handle another thirty one cards."

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
Sakura Kinomoto blinked a few times. And then mara said that. YES! Her eyes lit up. "That... that means we're friends now, right? YES! I knew you'd come around!" And then she hugged Mara. And realized a second later that she was still mud covered and... okay. No. "Ewwww..." Bubble card time. Within a few moments they'd be polished completely.

She then grinned up at mara, though. Trying to keep her eyes off that... well... eye. And then came the threats. Her eyes went wide and she turned to tsubasa. "W-what? NO! You can't! S-she's not, she doesn't, I mean, s-she's really not that bad! I mean, she can get a tiny itty bit... axe murdery, but I'm sure deep down she's a good person!"

She glanced to Naru and cringed. "W-well... errr... I-I'm sure there... won't be any more giant snow storms? Probably? Kero-chan said there are only two more cards that can do something like that... eh heh... eh..."

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara didn't really get the smile, but she just has her own morals if anything. A bit odd, but she is a bit on the chaotic side of things, "I guess Miss White won't be the only one capable of hiring me if you are willing to give out grief cubes. It's my only request if you want my help."

    Mara closes her right eye then sighs a bit, "Your threats mean nothing to me.. I have been doing quite a bit lately and not having a grief cube on hand for quite a while since my grief seeds seemed to have escaped me some how.." She looks to Tsubasa, "Pick your threats carefully." She then gives Tsubasa a sweet smile.

    "I am definitely not going after you, mud sculpter." She nods to her with assurance, and she steps to the side then bows deeply to Naru, "Forgive me, I panicked a little bit, and shot in your direction earlier.. I did not mean to do that to you.."

    Mara then looks back to Sakura, "Friend...?" She looks at Sakura for a long moment as she is hugged, then laughs softly at Sakura's reaction.. "I.. I suppose we can be friends.." She looks off to the side as she finds herself being cleaned with Sakura's magic.

    "Mara Brando.." Mara looks back to Kunzite with a smile.

Kunzite has posed:
"Miss White," Kunzite repeats, and this time gives Mara a slight bow. Remarkably formal, for a rain-spattered mud-pit of a wrecked quarry. "We have an acquaintance in common, then. I work for someone who's fond of her, for all that they've both been too busy the last few weeks to see much of one another." Not to mention the running socks. Kunzite glances to Naru with a downright gleam in gray eyes, but doesn't interfere in that little exchange.

Doesn't interfere in the one between Sakura and Tsubasa, either. Hannah being the one that said employer's neutral-ground policy is most often invoked over -- this seems like a good thing for him to stay entirely out of.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
"It's your funeral." Tsubasa answers Mara casually, then turns towards Sakura and kneels a little to get on her level. "I am a sword that protects from evil. Nothing more, nothing less. She exhibits cruel tendencies and admits working for a known associate of an evil organization, I'm not going to give her the benefit of the doubt, ok?" Then she turns towards Kunzite, "Tell your boss to stop associating with Eclipse associates, it leaves him open to corruption."

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's a flick of a smile from Naru back to Kunzite as he glances at her and then she turns her attention back to Mara.

Naru nods to Mara at the apology for earlier attacks. "These things happen, I understand."

Naru equally doesn't comment on the probably wise and sane (and likely to be ignored) advice from Tsubasa to Kunzite, merely listening to her explain things to Sakura.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
Sakura Kinomoto nodded. "Yay! I knew you'd come around! It could have saved me so many bruises but, oh well! Now we get to be friends and everything will work out okay!" she said happily.

And then tsubasa. She blinked a few times and... "I... don't know who Miss White is or... or this organization but... but I don't believe anyone is really evil. I think she's just mis guided and... and made a few bad choices. I mean, she's a magical girl too, right? And that means we should all be on the same side, trying to help the world and making it a better place no matter what, right? I mean, we all make mistakes sometimes, that doesn't make us bad! I screw all the time, but daddy says what makes you a good person is that you keep trying hard, even if your first mistake goes poorly! And so I truly believe that... that Mara and this Miss white can be good people! They just really need a chance!"

She had so much to learn still.

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara sighs a little bit, and nods to Kunzite, "The only reason I work for her is because she pays me in what I need to live." She nods a little bit, "I won't ask.."

    "Funeral? I don't think I will have a body left if you do manage to kill me." She shrugs a little bit.

    Mara shakes her head to Naru, "No, it shouldn't have happened... I lost my cool and did something stupid, and even wasted valuable power that would have allowed me not get hurt like this." She at least admits to her mistakes, which must also she learns from them like someone just got talking about.

    "Sakura, I don't think Miss White will change, and I won't change much. I don't like people in general, and I definitely don't like others that are like me. Honestly, I don't really like Miss White, but as I said, she pays me.." She then smiles, "Some people just won't understand that some people can change.." She doesn't admit it, but Sakura does have her figured out..

Kunzite has posed:
"He maintains regular connections with the Senshi and the Guardians as a check against that," Kunzite says to Tsubasa, matter-of-fact as if they weren't discussing oozing evil, potential destruction of souls, or the wholesale conversion of the population of Tokyo into negative energy. "My sister, however, will be delighted to hear that someone else agrees with her on the subject; she complains at him regularly about the neutral-ground policy."

He considers Mara again for a moment, at her words about Miss White and being paid, but says nothing at present; he paces over to examine Naru instead. Naru did not get bubbled. It's a little hard to tell through the mud whether she's genuinely injured, or just battered in the general kind of way that her magic is likely to heal without consulting her. Well. In her case, possibly less healing than just redrawing to match her mental image. Close enough.

Tsubasa Kazanari has posed:
"He's a fool, then." Tsubasa says harshly towards Kunzite, adding, "Your sister has the right of it." That opinion was obviously predictable. Mara gets a simple, "People bury empty caskets, didn't you know?" And then she turns her attention back towards Sakura, "Your father is right, but that only matters when people /are/ trying. Eclipse isn't, miss White probably isn't. This girl probably isn't either."

Naru Osaka has posed:
The question about if Mara will have a body left if Tsubasa kills her prompts a thoughtful quirk of Naru's head and a soft mm. "I get along fine with Miss White." She comments absently into the mix. "We haven't worked together professionally, however."

The mention of Kunzite's sister's opinion of Miss White brings another flash of a smile to Naru, brief enough. She looks up at Kunzite as he comes over to examine her. Mud seems to be the worst of her complaints. If there's injuries, they aren't showing themselves through the mud, nor in her expression. Her arms are still crossed over her chest, making it harder to read her body language.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
Sakura Kinomoto blinked a few more times, then turned to Naru. Oh, dear, how could she forget? "Bubble!" And once again, bubbles washed over naru, this time, cleansing her of the mud and making her sparkly clean.

She then turned to Tsubasa, then back to Mara. She took her hand and smiled up at her. "That's okay. You don't have to like me. You... you can even hate me if you want. But I'll always think that you can be a good person. And this White lady, too. Or her moon company. And I'll keep believing in you no matter how many times you try to hit me with an axe or bully me or I have to hit you with a cake or shrink you down to super tiny cute size."

And then smiled back to Tsubasa. "Well, I think she will. In fact, I'm sure of it! I think Mara-san will become a great magical girl! She's already really, really strong! and I think she'll protect people one day! and maybe this White lady will, too!" It was truly the mac truck of optimism. Running down anything in its way. She then looked around and cringed. "Errrr... you... don't think I'll get blamed for all this damage... do you? I don't think I have a card that can fix this..." That poor obliterated equipment.

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara closes her eyes, and just forgets about what Tsubasa is saying for the moment as she has no clue how Puella work..

    Mara's attention is mostly on Sakura now, "If I hated you, I would keep trying to kill you. If I am trying to kill you, that wouldn't make me a friend, now would it?" She walks up to Sakura and lightly bops her on the head. "Friends help friends, just keep that in mind, and we will be fine... Just...." She shakes her head. "I should get going and get working on fixing myself up.."

    "Oh, I wouldn't worry too m... Oh.." Mara blinks, "You have a card for just about everything, don't you, Sakura?" She can feel her soul slowly being corrupt from negating all the pain in her body.. "I really should go..."

    Mara turns to Kunzite, "Do you have a pen, and paper?"

Kunzite has posed:
"And I trust you won't have call to," Kunzite says aside to Naru. A moment's pause. "Do you have pen and paper? I don't carry them." And one doesn't slow a departing Puella if one can help it. Even if one would prefer to be correcting Sakura about the moon company business -- that will wait, and Mara won't.

He comments aside to Tsubasa, after, "Miss White sometimes has a sense of proportion." Whether he thinks that's trying, or thinks that's agreeing with Tsubasa, is ... a good question.

Naru Osaka has posed:
And then Naru is clean and it's much clearer that there's only a few scrapes, possibly a few bruises that might come up later, but nothing dire.

The question about pen and paper brings an arched brow from Naru as if to say 'well /duh/' and she reaches into the inside pocket of her jacket to come out wiht a pencil and a sketchbook. A blank page is torn out and offered to Mara with a pencil. "I'll want that pencil back, it's a favourite." No yellow school pencil, it's a fancy artist's pencil, perfectly sharpened, even if it lives in a pocket.

Sakura Kinomoto has posed:
Sakura Kinomoto nodded, then gasped. "O-oh! You're right! I do! Ummmm... Earth! Repair the damage you caused!" She yelled, activated the earth card. The spirit of the card lashed out, enveloping the ground around them. The ground rumbled a bit, before the mud and much slowly began to reform, creating the little roads and such that were used to travel out of here.

Once it was completely done, sakura caught the card and... kinda fell to her knees, gasping slightly for breath. Her eyes were wide and she looked shocked. "Oh. I don't... I don't feel so..." She shook her head and slowly got back up. "I... I think I'm going to... to head home and get a nap.

She then turned to mara and... "Call me, when you're all better, please? I won't bother you any more than that. I just want you to be okay... my number is..." And then gave her her number.

Mara Brando has posed:
     Mara looks to Naru and blinks, and points to her left arm. Would you mind writing it down for me, and Sakura's number as well? Then give a copy to Kunzite and Sakura, please?" She smiles a bit.
     She sighs a little bit, "Sakura, contact me.... if.. well... If you know... Need help.. You don't have to pay me.."
     Mara looks back to Kunzite, "You on the other hand still have to pay after those two favors."

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite ... almost smiles. Whether it's at the look Naru gives him, or at Mara's comment to him, again is anyone's guess. It's definitely not at Sakura's near-collapse.

(It isn't a question of whether someone will be following her partway home. Only a question of which of them winds up doing it.)

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I can play stenographer." Naru writes down numbers and passes them out as needed. Added advantage, she gets to keep her pencil. Win!