619/You Scream, I Scream...

You Scream, I Scream...
Date of Scene:	24 November 2015
Location:	Mitakihara/Pikarigaoka - King Penguin Park
Synopsis:	WPS goes to screw up an evil ice cream plot!
Cast of Characters:	Madoka Kaname, Mami Tomoe, Homura Akemi, Yuko Minami, Hannah Sharpe, Mikoto Nakajima, Mara Brando

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Hannah Sharpe has posed:
It's the middle of the day, and children are playing out in the playground! Laughter and birds chirping fill the air, with a gentle breeze keeping the air cool. A perfect day for ice cream!

An ice cream truck with its distinctive jingle comes to a stop in the park, an employee leaning out. A smiling young woman with a Red Octopus Ice Cream uniform leans out from the little window, and already kids are clamoring!

Just as the first round of children get their ice cream, a barrier forms around the area, and children and adults alike are passing out. Miss White waves on her companions towards the now stranded truck. Thankfully, the keys are still in the ignition.

"Okay people! One of you drive! I'll check to make sure this is the stuff we're looking for! Keep an eye out, this barrier isn't exactly subtle and I'll have to drop it as soon as we're ready to leave. If you see any youma, don't hit them too hard, they're probably kids!" Into the back of the ice cream truck Hannah goes.

There's a car that pulls up as well, black and unmarked. Several robogoons step out, watchful as Miss White gets to work scanning ice cream in the chilly back area of the truck! Wham! She hits her head in the rather cramped truck. Mutter mutter.

Homura Akemi has posed:
"I can't believe someone would sell evil ice cream to kids," mutters Homura, with no small amount of bitterness. It's loud enough that those close enough to Hannah and her can hear it.

As they approach the truck, Homura flips her hair, saying, "I can drive it."

Nobody should actually want Homura to drive.

Well actually, all things considered, Hannah might enjoy it.

"If we get the ice cream can we turn them back? I don't exactly have any sort of purification method on me."

As Homura reaches the ice cream truck, she jumps on top of the roof, dropping to one knee and placing her hands on the chassis. Does she intend to drive the truck from up there?

The whole truck glows purple.

Yes, yes she does. Though clearly she's waiting for others to pile in, get seated, or whatever.

Mara Brando has posed:
     Mara stretches a little bit as Hannnah barks out the orders. She only glances around a little bit to make sure there aren't any youma hanging around at all.

    Mara walks over to one of the passed out kids, and crouches down next to the little girl, inspecting her for a moment while keeping her wits about her.

    "Why can't you just drive it like normal?" Mara turns her head to look over at Homura on top of the ice cream truck, then starts to walk over to it to look into the driver side of the truck. "Well, it is an automatic, should be easy enough to actually drive?"

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami Tomoe doesn't so much notice the presence of a barrier as she's caught within it - ever on duty, she had her Soul Gem in her hand, using it to track a Witch she'd been hunting for the last day or so. It's been a while since she's been back in Tokyo, having been sent on various witch-hunting assignments through Japan by Blue and/or Tsukasa, who were both very adamant she was the only one who could handle them.

Her eyes narrow. "I haven't even been home very long and already someone else is causing trouble." Her foot digs into the earth, she twirls, and there's a brilliant glow of yellow magic as she changes from Mami Tomoe into Puella Magi Mami, the veteran witch hunter and ribbonista extraordinare!

She pulls out her phone and tries to put out a general warning, but it's not calling out from inside the barrier. So she makes her own way to the what she presumes to be the center, swinging like a very elegant spider-woman on her ribbons. She makes good time, and lands just about twenty feet in front of the truck Homura's perched on.

"Akemi-san, please tell me that Sakura-san isn't in the back of that ice cream truck." she says, sounding somewhat exasperated. "Oh, and tell me what's actually going on here, please."

Kyubey is wrapped around her neck like a scarf - while he says nothing, he does keep a very continuous, red eyed stare at Homura.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Ms Blue is, of course, tagging along with Miss White. She's in her usual customized barrier jacket - looking like a dark blue businesss suit - nicely professional, that look. She likes it.

"They're a soft target, Akemi-san." She walks a circuit around the truck, checking for possible youma hanging around. "And one that the moral person is obligated to defend."

She doesn't seem to find any youma, at first, but doesn't get into the truck yet. Because We Are Not Alone, it seems. "As for what's going on, what does it look like?"

Yuko Minami has posed:
     Yuko's probably an odd sight in that playground. Why? She's not there to play, she has no siblings there, and she's not even wearing her work uniform to show that she's doing any sort of... Well, work!

     So why /is/ she there? She's heard good things about the Red Octopus' ice cream, and seeing as how it's not in stock at her store, there's only one way for her to get it! The only real indication she gets that something's wrong is the telltale unconsciousness spree hitting the people around her. That's definitely not normal, and if people are passing out, then there's probably Youma around, aren't there?

     There's definitely other magical girls about, though. The one with the amazing long hair, a blonde she doesn't recognize, another blonde she doesn't recognize with very impressive... Hair, one in a nice suit, and...

     "...Miss White?" Yuko steps away from the side of the truck slowly to try and get a better look at the back of it, suddenly lurching sideways with a sickened groan. That'll teach her to eat ice cream too quickly! Yet... Something feels wrong. Tainted ice cream, perhaps? Whatever it is, it's enough to absolutely floor the green-haired girl!

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Yay, ice cream! Who doesn't love ice cream? Everyone likes ice cream! Madoka Kaname likes ice cream! That's why she's walking up to the truck, ready to get in line and have a sugary, delicious mid-day treat.

    She's almost there when the barrier goes up and the people in front of her begin to collapse one by one. Not exactly used to this specific phenomenon herself she lets out a gasp and jogs forward, checking a few of the people on the ground.

    There's a relieved sigh from her when she feels their vitals and realizes they're out cold but otherwise healthy and strong, standing up and looking around at the rest of the people still standing. It doesn't take a genius to figure out their all magical, especially when she recognizes the majority of them.

    Then the truck begins to glow, and her head quickly turns in that direction and she lets out a gasp, "Homura-chan!" A half beat's pause and she talks a half step back before quickly looking around the area, eyes scanning wildly for some unseen threat, "Who are you going to crash that into?!"

    A natural conclusion.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
"If I've learned two things, Homura, the first is that yes, there's always someone who is willing to do the absolute worse kind of things to innocent people once they get magic. The second, is that no matter how much of a jerk I feel like at the end of the day, someone else comes along and makes me feel a bit better. With luck, we'll find them, and get to give them a knuckle-icecream-sandwich."

There's a thumbs-up from Hannah as she finishes her scan.

"Oh yeah, this is the real mccoy! Grade-A evil-infused ice cream! Seriously, do /not/ eat this stuff!" Warns Hannah to her compatriots, though those outside might just hear her.

"Yeah, something like that. We can either research it, or send Gull-chan on a search-and-purify mission!" It wasn't entirely due to pure altruism that Miss White let a Pretty Cure on board, after all.

The youma around are the robo-goons that Miss White brought along, but they don't seem to be doing much more than standing guard. Mara, as she inspects the girl, would notice her twitching. There's the lightest traces of dark magic, though it only looks like she took a small bite of her ice cream cone! Not enough to transform immediately, but the danger's there.

A few other children similarly have that feeling of taint, a foreign thing, rather than something done by a Witch.

"Where's the fun in doing things normally? I mean, we're stealing magical ice cream? No point in being boring about it!" Encourages Miss White. Oh yes, she's excited for Homura-based rides.

Mikoto would notice similar things, several children lightly tainted, and one or two more heavily so. Darkness wafts from them, and one or two start to get up. Their eyes glow red as they shiver, the transformation process already beginning! There's at least five kids that begin to stumble around!

Miss White chooses this time to peek out at the sound of more voices. Oh snap.

"...Been a while, Mami. Sorry if I don't exactly waste time on catching up just yet. Let's do lunch some time, huh?" Grin! Her demeanor lasts for all of five seconds as she notices Yuko just bite the dirt, followed swiftly by the presence of Madoka Kaname.

"...Crap. New priorities people! Someone get the green haired girl in the truck! And...Homura! Either get Madoka in the truck too, or...or I don't know, you're the master of Madoka-based strategy!"

Even as she speaks, the five children that had eaten enough ice cream grow taller and thinner, frosty red-eyed creatures that seem to be formed out of pure ice! One of them leaps for Madoka, while another decides to fight Hannah's own youma. The robogoons go down in drives, even as the other three shoot big freezing shards of ice at Mami, Miss Blue, and Mara!

Miss White kicks a blast of wind that's enough to deter the incoming youma from getting too close to Madoka, but it seems she won't be but so much help as she goes to start drag Yuko towards the truck!

"Don't just stand there, kiddo!"

Homura Akemi has posed:
"This is easier for me," says Homura to Mara. "... but fine if you want to do things normally..."

When Hannah chimes in with her approval, Homura smiles and says, "Well you're the boss!" She's secretly glad that she doesn't have to drive with a steering wheel like a plebian.

Mikoto's reply is responded to with, "It's inexcusable. Even to those of us who aren't quite so moral. There are lines that one does not cross."

Suddenly a flash of pink catches her eye. Pink hair. Homura's first thought is of Madoka, and when she confirms that she actually is here, and that Homura isn't just imagining it, she gasps. Homura actually doesn't say anything to her at first, watching her as she checks on the people to make sure they're fine. Madoka always was thoughtful like that.

Mami appears suddenly, and Homura lifts her hands from the roof, letting the purple glow fade and standing tall. Homura stares coldly at Mami, studying her, unsure. Mami was never an easy fight for Homura. Quite the opposite, Mami often made Homura look like a chump. Homura wonders if a bit of honesty can avoid the fight whatsoever.

"Last I heard it was still Apatite-san, not Kyouko-san." says Homura to Mami. Apparently she's out of the loop on that. "Unless she's changed back? I wish people would warn me about things like that."

"Secondly I doubt she'd be all that worried if she was in a truck surrounded by ice cream. Though maybe she should be, considering what's here."

"... This ice cream isn't particularly healthy. We have reason to believe that it's very bad for you, in a magical sort of way. I wont allow this to be distributed to kids. Especially not with White-san confirming that it's dangeorus."

Granted, Homura doesn't know exactly what Hannah intends to do with it, but she doubts that it's anywhere near as bad as turning kids into youma.

A few more people are showing up. Homura glances around, wary. If this becomes a fight with so many passed out kids around...

When Madoka's attention finally falls to Homura, the purple-eyed girl blushes.

"I-it's not what it looks like! I'm just..."

She stutters for a moment, then looks over as Yoko collapses. Homura points at Yoko and says, "See? The ice cream is bad for you. We can't let people get poisoned by it."

It's a little too late to avoid that, it seems. The kids start turning into youma, and Homura is suddenly horrified. She can't just run away from this, not with Madoka and Mami here...

When one of the youma starts going after Madoka, Homura's first reaction is to pull out a gun, but before she can fire she remembers that her usual powerset isn't an option right now.

One timestop later and Homura is puling Madoka out of harm's way. When time resumes she turns around and glares at the monster viciously. "You're not hurting this one. Go find someone else to bother!"

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"I cannot argue with you there, Akemi-san." It's a good thing someone decided to actually check for youma. Ms Blue lets out a soft sigh as she sees the children transforming.

"Oh, that's never good," she mutters to herself. And she really has no expertise at all at purification magics. In fact she's not sure anyone here knows any.

She looks back to Mami, and a hand waves expansively at the kiddie-youma pack. "I believe our point is made, madam," she says, throwing up a quick shield to interpose between the kids and anyone not yet affected. "If you have any questions, now's not the time."

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara smiles a little bit, as she turns to look at Mami almost seeming like she is a little too happy.. "Oh?" She reaches around to her back to grab her great axe with a couple of latches releasing the axe as she pulls it around to in front of herself.

    Mara then waits a little bit as she eyeballs the Kyubey around Mami's neck before growling a little bit at the little creature.

    Mara glances over her shoulder to look to Yuko for a couple of moments, "Huh?" She then turns her head to look to Madoka as well.

    "Aww... And here I thought I was going to get to fight other people.."

     Mara sighs softly, turning her head to look towards the youma that just spawned from the children. She then mumbles a little bit, "She said not to hit them hard.." She takes a couple of quick steps the the side to avoid the ice shards, "You mean I can't use my axe on these youma?!" She sounds disappointed.

    "That isn't driving... I'm sure it would be more fun to drive a car rather than just move it around... Go to an arcade.."

Yuko Minami has posed:
     "Nguh... Just brain freeze. I-I'm okay!" Despite Yuko's statements to the contrary of what Homura had said, she definitely doesn't look like she's just dealing with standard brain freeze. The girl's alternating between actually moving along with Miss White's dragging and just falling over herself.

     "... O-okay, maybe it is bad. But I'm fine! I can... I need to-" She's cut off by another cringe, the concentrated darkness in that ice cream still battling it out inside her. Just what the hell was in that ice cream? "Gotta... Get those kids out...!"

     She reaches for the inside of her vest, fumbling around without really managing to pull her PreChange Mirror (or anything else) out. There's some hesitation, of course, what with so many other magical girls on the scene. Between the children transforming and Madoka being in trouble, though, could she really afford to just lay around doing nothing?

     "I'll.. I'll be fine, White-chan. Just keep the others safe and I...I'll be alright!"

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami looks at Miss Blue. "Well, it looks like a criminal and known kidnapper, along with her compatriots, are trying to steal in ice cream truck for reasons I cannot even begin to imagine." Mami says to Miss Blue as she notices Miss White.

"I don't think it's been long enough." she says, with a curtsey. That curtsey naturally includes two long rifles dropping to either side of her, which she picks up and levels at Miss White - before all of the kids start transforming into youma.

She makes a sound of dissapproval at this, and the rifles dissappear - right after she twirls them in both hands and uses the whirling weapons to deflect the ice. Then she loops two ribbons forward, where they contact the youma that attacked her and bind it with flowery magic - complete with an adorable bow and a lock.

"Not right now, I'm having a talk." she says, wagging her finger at the youma. "You have to wait your turn."

Homura explains the reason for their presence, and that's why Mami doesn't return her rifles to pointing at either of them. In fact, she seems a little shocked. "That's... that's just horrid!" Even though she's been dealing with Witches left and right, the conscious evil some humans do seems to keep shocking her. "Yes, we have to put a stop to this. I'll help. But this doesn't mean we don't need to talk about business later, Akemi-san."

Mami blinks, because it seems as though Homura just moved implausibly fast. "We're not letting those monsters hurt anyone!" she corrects.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka's simple nursing skills have nothing to help her detect the presence of tainted magic! She probably would have been better off not even checking them since she now thinks the ice cream eating children helpless and to be protected rather than threats.

    She stumbles over herself as one of the former children rises up and leaps at her, Miss White's wind blowing the creature enough to the side that it's attempt at snatching her up is much slower.

    Homura would find Madoka off balance and about to tumble over backwards, but with time stopped it's no impediment to pulling the pink haired girl out of the way of the leap. For Madoka it's a bit disorienting- one moment she's moving one way and the next there's the brief flash of resuming time followed by moving an entirely different direction. She reaches up to Homura's shoulder to steady herself, getting her feet back under herself.

    Madoka s about to offer a quick thanks when the red-eyed Youma, (the once children; Kyubey isn't a Youma at all!), roars it's indignity at it's prize being snatched away from it in her and Homura's face, which instead draws a gasp from her and a moment of cowering fear, turning her head away and lifting her arm a little, moving closer to Homura for protection.

    There's several moments where she starts to tense up weapons are drawn and threats are made against magical girls and the Youma, children really. But since level headedness seem to be the order of the day and the magical girls withhold from trying to destroy the child Youma or each other she doesn't get to the point of calling out to them about it.

    If she were she'd probably be much less worried about her own personal safety right now.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
In between trying to haul up Yuko, Miss White adds on to the Puella Diplomacy going on!

"This stuff is definitely tainted. On the high end, too! Urgh...come on Yuko-chan, we're getting you somewhere relatively safe at least!"

The youma going for Homura slashes into nothingness! It tumbles, the icey creature getting its claws struck in the ground, before standing back up. Starting to walk towards Homura and the incredibly juicy-looking Madoka, it lets out a cry, and a pained one.

"Do you have some...I don't know, tear gas or something Homura? It might at least slow them down!"

The youma going after Miss Blue is met with a shield, the creature slamming and clawing against it. It soon gives up, instead seeking easier prey: one of the fellow kids that fainted to the ground!

Miss White is quick to call out to Mara.

"Use the blunt end! Knock them out, and bind them if you can! We'll need a specialist! Is /anyone/ here able to purify?" Why, oh /why/ didn't she drag Gull into this? Oh, right, the whole stealing an ice cream truck thing from kids.

Once they're near the truck, Miss White props up poor Yuko against it.

"You sure? Okay, just don't get eaten alright? We'll take you somewhere safe once we deal with these things."

Mami is quick to tie up a youma, leaving four of them remaining. The guns pointed at Miss White have her grinning, though not quite as smug. For once, actual diplomacy would help, but it seems that Homura pulls it off.

"Good to know we can actually work together sometimes, Mami. Right. Anyone able to bind, do it!"

One of the ones trying to get at Yuko is quickly met with a binding spell from Miss White, even as the youma that was shooting ice grows claws similar to its comptriots! It leaps into the air, trying to slash at Mara, just as the one hurting her goons goes for Hannah! White and Youma go tumbling, the former giving light jabs as they wrestle on the ground. It's hard not simply hurting the turned youma children!

Homura Akemi has posed:
"If you have something to say to me, fine," says Homura to Mami, "but I don't really think that now is the time."

Without the use of her weapons, Homura's options are pretty limited. There's a chance that the youma might not retain its damage when it gets turned back into a person, but Homura doesn't really want to risk it.

"Can't you just tie them up or something?" Homura sounds a bit curt. 'Or do you only tie people up when it's going to get you killed?' is what Homura only thinks about saying.

Homura holds her shield arm around Madoka as she gets close to Homura for protection. Technically Homura would like to save everyone here, but it's clear that she has a certain priority.

"It'll be okay, Madoka-chan."

To White, Homura shouts, "I have some, sure. Tear gas Isn't going to really solve the problem, but it might buy us some time."

The youma hisses at Homura, and she sticks out her tongue. "What are you looking at?!" She takes Madoka by the hand, pulls a canister out of her shield, and tosses it at the youma's feet before running off with Madoka in tow unless Madoka does something to escape it. She's running towards the truck, but she's tossing tear gas canisters at youma as she passes by them, and leaving before enough of the gas gathers to be a threat to her or Madoka.

Is this a good decision? Homura sure hopes so.

Mara Brando has posed:
    Mara grumbles a little bit again, "Fine..." She pays attention in front of her again, seeing the youma in the air descending towards her. Mara turns her axe quickly so that she is going to swing the flat side at the youma..

    "Not fun!" Mara growls as the youma Slashing at her with it's claws meet with the flat side of her axe. She then pushes forward to try and push the Youma away and to knock it off balance.

     "And I do not have a way to bind them! Or I don't think, because I never really tried." She says to Miss White.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Ms Blue smiles widely as Mami agrees to throw in with the truck-theft. Ah, the joys of relative morality. Joy. As if. Still, she'd really rather not hurt the kids... but letting them run around as youma would also be unacceptable. "Well, unless anyone's got a purification type magic..."

She shakes her head. It worked with Amu... might as well.

((Flakschrecken, Level One)) She draws her blade, then whips it through the air, waving it in the general direction of the possessed kids. And a dozen little mana vortices form as the blade slices, each one whipping free as it reaches the tip to hurl out at one of the children. None of them is particularly strong - indeed, they're quite weak - but the idea isn't to hurt the kids, it's to make the youma waste their limited store of Dark Energy.

Assuming, of course, that their store of Dark Energy is limited. If nothing else, it'll keep their focus on her and not on someone who can try to do something more effective.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami looks askance at Homura. "What do you mean?" she asks, as she gestures - and as she does so, a new gun forms in her hand - at the tied up and bound youma. It's possible Homura just couldn't see it with the angle - or with the much more present issue of keeping Madoka safe.

Then, she summons a set of further guns, in a semicircle around her, and (likely to the shock and horror of those around her) fires them at the youma Miss White is wrestling with and the others who might pose a threat! But, instead of her normal rounds, these rounds travel slowly, and impact with a thicker sound (and no penetration) - they're akin to beanbag rounds.

One or two might hit Hannah - totally by accident, of course. It's not at all like Mami feels she deserves them.

She turns back to Homura. "Well you know, Akemi-san, with the way we keep meeting each other, this seemed like as good a venue for discussion of your current actions as any other."

Yuko Minami has posed:
     Stealing an ice cream truck would be met with objections from Yuko in any other situation, but here? Tainted ice cream just had to go. She grunts lightly at being propped up against the truck, a grateful (if somewhat pained) grin crosses her face as she nods at Miss White.

     "I'll be fine... Ah! Watch ou-" And then White gets into a scuffle with that Youma! It's not the best distraction, but it'll have to do even though she can't quite thank her just yet. Lurching with each step, Yuko moves around to the other side of the truck while finally managing to pull out her PreChange mirror. As stealthy as she's trying to be, though, transforming into a PreCure probably is anything but considering all the light flashes going along with it.

     "THE HAND OF JUSTICE IS HERE! CURE BOOST!"

     Also probably not conducive to stealth. Either way, she's finally transformed, and the tower shields are brought out and ready for battle! Spotting a Youma not too far away, the green PreCure charges towards them before noticing a strange pain around her face. Is it the corrupted ice cream's lingering effects? Whatever it is, she'll just have to power through as she tries to knock the Youma right off it's feet (even though the burning is getting pretty bad already).

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    It's easy to know who to turn to for protection when someone appears next to you to offer it. This is one of the times Madoka is actually accepting it without much struggling, staying behind the shielding arm put around her. She gives a quick nod, "I'm sorry for being such a nuisance! I don't know why these things keep happening while I'm around." Truly she hasn't actually sought out any magical danger in quite some time, but it always seems to find her.

    Her eyes go a little wide when, right in front of her face, Homura pulls some kind of canister out of nowhere. Then a moment later Madoka is running behind Homura, dashing towards the truck and proving that her one decent physical attribute is the ability to sprint surprisingly fast, her free arm held up in front of her nose and mouth just in case some of that tear gas wafts near.

    Right now she seems to be willing enough to follow Homura to whatever safety that truck offers, though without use of that time-stopping magic even her 'fast for a civilian' running is going to slow the dark haired Puella down and make her an easier target.

    As she follows along she takes a few looks at the magical girls as they struggle to fight the Youma without harming their child hosts. Her eyes briefly fall on Kyubey about Mami's neck, and her eyes slightly widen while moving to the children as the lack of purification magic needed to save them is discussed.

    Her head gives a slight shake and she forward again, and down to just in front of her feet.

    She makes a soft, pathetic whimpering sound that Homura might just be able to hear.

    Why is she letting herself be so selfish, when all these other girls are doing their best?

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Tear gas out! White billowy clouds of the stuff now cover the park, and the youma going after madoka and Homura isn't unaffected! It stumbles, rolling around, magical-infused gas finally causing it to just pass out. The remaining youma stumble amidst it all, their attacks wild as they've all drenched in white!

Combined with the tear gas, Mara's hit is a home run! It's claws slide off, and it gets klonked in the head! The thing lands hard, little swirlies in its red, evil eyes!

"Don't complain, this is work! Besides, I didn't think diplomacy would actually work here! This...it's actually a first." Seriously. Miss White sounds utterly mystified in between trying to not get her neck ripped off by a youma.

Mana slices batter against the remaining youma, even the one on top of Miss White. Mara's opponent finally hits the dirt, and much of its youma-like form dissipates into a background hum of dark energy clinging to a kid.

Miss White's opponent ends with a boot to the gutt, followed by a hard headbutt right into tear gas and flicker shots, just in time for Mami and Yuko to get to work!

"What are you doing, idio..." Comes Miss White, swiftly cut off as she's forced to dodge another swipe, and then proceeds to eat a face full of ribbon-beanbags that knock her off her feet.

Thankfully, the same can be said for the remaining two youma, as Mami finally volley knocks down Miss White's opponent for the count, and then the OH SO STEALTHY! PreCure wades her way into a tear-gas, flicker-shot, mami-based-beanbag laden battlefield, slamming into the creature and one-woman dogpiling it down.



Even as Madoka begins to whimper and makes it to the truck, the battlefield starts to grow quiet. The children are all unconscious, the youma-kids are back to kids (if still tainted!), and everyone seems alive.

Miss White has a lovely shiner though, and she /glares/ over at Mami.

"Jerk. Graceful princess-jerk is what you are!"

Then, she starts to bind up all the youma-kids into one convenient pack. She makes a quick phone call, and sighs.

"Hopefully I'll have someone over to deal with those kids. You okay over there, Madoka, Yuko? Let's get in the truck people, I can't hold this barrier up too much longer! We don't need to have cops asking weird questions." Then, Miss White takes her own advice, already climbing into the ice cream truck.

Homura Akemi has posed:
"I'm a little confused, Tomoe-san." Homura shouts over the din of combat as she continues to toss tear gas canisters around. "What exactly is it that you're objecting to? My attempt at the Pon Pon dance wasn't that terrible, was it?"

Homura actually doesn't remember having done anything particularly wrong recently, though she admits to herself that she just might not be remembering it.

To Hannah, Homura says, "It's just a matter of knowing what people want. Mami-san tries to be a soldier of justice and protector of the innocent, so there's no reason for her to object to this. Not everyone is as stubborn as Kyouko-san."

Madoka's whimper stings Homura in the stomach. She doesn't like to see Madoka suffer... Yet there isn't much way to avoid it. Maybe if Homura weren't so useless... No there's no time for that kind of thinking.

The battlefield grows quiet, and it's only after a moment or two of calm that Homura relaxes her guard. Madoka can probably notice Homura relaxing first, because the grip Homura has on her hand loosens a bit.

Homura turns to Madoka and says, "Sorry you got caught up in this. Are you okay?"

To Hannah, Homura says, "Yeah, I'll be right there."

Back to Madoka, Homura says, "Do you want to come with us? At least with us I can ensure your safety... but you'd also probably be fine on your own if you leave here quickly."

Homura will probably soon be climbing up to the top of the truck, though that depends largely on how Madoka answers.

Yuko Minami has posed:
     That smoke isn't just smoke, is it? Even after taking the youma down, Cure Boost is having trouble just keeping her bearings straight. It takes her quite a bit of effort just to drop off of it, mere seconds before it transforms back into a child! And when she hears Miss White calling out for them to get into the truck, she practically flings herself into the back of the truck with a loud THUNK.

     At least the shields have disappeared by then. That probably would've been hell on the vehicle's engine! Unfortunately, so does her transformation, and Cure Boost is quickly turned back into Yuko Minami! She can only hope that nobody else sees her doing that nor saw the similarly colored PreCure just faceplanting right into the back of the truck.

     She can always hope the uncontrollable whimpering from the tear gas and the constant queasiness from the tainted ice cream might throw them off, right?

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"Well, then, I'll let you lost settle your differences. But I suggest you do it elsewhere. White-san has a point about the police." Ms Blue shakes her head. At least something seems to have worked right today. But it's always better to make sure. She lets Homura deal with Madoka and Mami, for now, as she moves to address the more pressing question.

Are the kids alright?

She stoops over each, running a quick scan, just to verify that what she's done (or the dark energy) hasn't caused any more injury than necessary. Grumbling. "Damn idiots... ice cream of all things? Going after kids? That's just sick..."

Once the kids are checked, and any wounds needing treatment noted, she turns back to the group by the van... and there's a Cure Boost in the middle of the tear-gas cloud. Oh what the frack.

"This job just keeps getting better and better," she mutters, as she moves to assist the disabled girl, helping her up and into the truck - and some relatively clear air.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami has a hand over her mouth. "Oh my, Miss White, I simply have no idea how I missed." The obvious answer is that Mami did not miss. But she won't say that. She's actually still mildly annoyed about the ordeal with Kyouko, even if that was a while ago - the fact remains that at one time Kyouko was both her closest friend and her kohai, even if Kyouko chose to break that arrangement.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Akemi-san. I merely have some concerns about the company you're keeping, and their intents - and since this IS my territory, I intend to voice them. I just thought perhaps it'd be more appropriate to do so with words rather than some other manner."

The barrier fades out, and the children seem to be OK - though Mami is going to rush over to make sure, and use her ribbons to clear away any smoke that might be there. "Perhaps we can talk tomorrow after school. Over tea?" she offers.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka clambers into the truck while listening to conversation between Mami and Homura, looking between both Homura and Miss White while answering, "I'm not hurt; I'll be fine. I was just a little scared." It's true, but there's a little more to it than that. She doesn't want to make them worry about her now that she can feel Homura starting to relax.

    "You didn't get me caught up in anything, Homura-chan. I think you guys did me a big favor." She looks down a little, "I was going to get some ice cream." She does perk up a little though at the invitation. "Sure, I'll come! I think I'd feel safer with you. I'm also a little interested in seeing what you're going to do with all the evil ice cream." Now that the danger is over her curiosity about magical things starts to return.

    She lets out a little sigh of relief as Ms Blue checks on the kids, now distinctively less ice claw vicious, glad that someone is paying them attention and trusting their care to the mage.

    She then looks between Mami and Homura and one can almost see the gears turning in her head. "Ah... are we going anywhere specific, Homura-chan?" Another look between the two Puella, "Maybe she could come with us and we could all talk things over?"

    That same soft, hopeful pink eyed look Homura has seen countless times before is once more upon her.

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura stares at Mami as she talks. It's hard to tell if she's glaring, exasperated, or if that's just her usual expression. Those who know her well might pick up on some amount of irritation, though. Multiple sources of pressure do not add up to a happy Homura.

"Yeah, sure. We can talk then."

Whatever problems she might have with Mami Tomoe, the fact remains that she's just too powerful to ignore, and while Mami isn't always reasonable she often can be if you don't push her buttons.

Homura frowns as Madoka mentions that she was there to get ice cream. To think that Madoka would've been in danger if Homura hadn't been there... Homura has a certain level of competence that comes from experience, but she's not used to dealing with threats that aren't Kyubey or a Witch.

As for the evil ice cream, Homura says, "Well... I hadn't really asked, but... we're probably just going to dispose of it? Maybe melt it first, just to make sure? Also I'm a bit curious as to where the ice cream came from to begin with."

With Madoka safely inside, Homura jumps on top of the truck. It glows with purple energy again. Homura looks down at Mami from her perch, saying, "If you want to come and talk, fine, I don't care. Otherwise we'll meet after school."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Miss White tries to glare, tries to stay angry...but she can't help but laugh a little. Alright, so she probably deserved that multiple times over. By her own admission, she is a /jerk/.

"Feel free to come with, or not, Mami. Up to you. Don't hang around too long though."

Madoka is fine, and Miss White lets out a sigh, ruffling the pinkette's hair.

"You have the worst or possibly best sense of timing, kiddo. Seriously, I should strap a camera to you so I can find 'where is the worst possible magical place to be' at any given time. Glad you're okay, though." There's genuine warmth for the girl in Hannah's voice.

Thunk. There's a suspiciously Yuko-sized thud in the back. Where'd cure Boost go!?

She's a PreCure, she can handle it! The back doors are kicked closed, and then Hannah's into the truck.

The kids are mostly okay, some tainted, but otherwise fine physically. Hopefully Hannah wasn't wrong about that specialist!

"What, did you think this job would be all sunshine and rainbows, Miss Blue?" Quips Hannah.

But Homura has a good question.

"Study it, obviously." Pause. There's muttering that follows about thermite and general usage of Homura's explosives talents. Miss White might not be morally straight, but she's not dumb enough to give her superiors access to something this blatantly evil.

Then Hannah's smacking the side of the truck.

"Alright! WPS, we are off! Back to HQ, Homura! And try not to get us arrested along the way!"

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami smiles softly, and she even does a little curtsy (this time without the guns falling out) towards Homura. "I'd much rather talk in a less tense environment, Akemi-san. It seems like you have rather a lot on your mind right now." she adds. This is probably an understatement.

"Also, there's a dire lack of tea here, and I just don't feel right having a serious conversation without it." This is something she had even BEFORE she spent so much time with Blue and Tsukasa. Now it's almost a compulsion.