Latest revision as of 14:33, 25 October 2015

Homura Akemi has posed:
It's a late evening in downtown Mitakihara. Once in a while a car drives by, filling the street with light for a brief moment before vanishing around a corner. The shining stars are obscured by passing clouds overhead, and the moon hides behind its haze.

Three girls stand at the entrance of an alley, right behind an arcade. Two of them are dressed in beautiful costumes: One in cotton candy pink and blue, and the other in gold and gray. The Gold/Grey one carries with her a scythe.

The third girl is dressed in white and a grayish purple. Purple eyes and black hair. Tuxedo Mask may have seen this girl before. It's Homura Akemi, dressed in her full Puella Magi atire.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" says Homura, perhaps a bit harshly.

"You said yourself, we're already dead. Why worry about the rest?" says Gold/Gray.

"Don't be careless. You're way too valuable to just throw your life away," insists Homura. "You don't know what lies ahead."

"You two are so gloomy!" says Pink/Blue. "Keep your chin up! Getting depressed won't do you any good."

Homura and Gold/Gray pause, conceding the point. The three of them are silent, then one by one they turn their heads further down the alleyway.

Gold/Gray and Pink/Blue vanish down the alleyway, and one looks they don't even see where they went. A second later, Homura looks around, and starts walking down the alleyway herself. Soon, she too is no longer there.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The shadow lurking above the alley from the streetward corner watches in silence, the white outline of its pointed mask bright in the darkness. Tuxedo Kamen crouches by the edge, perched like a gargoyle: these seem, at first glance, to be as bright and fearless as the mess of mahou at the DART concert, or-- wait, one of them /was/.

And they're not talking like anything he's heard before. 'Already dead'? Is he seeing ghosts? It's not unheard of, but--

One by one, they vanish into the shadows, and he can't even see them anymore. That can't be right. He could see the bottom of the alley before, light reflected off a dumpster's battered parts, torn posters, crumpled papers dim shapes in the dark. He can't see anything now, nor hear it.

There's a flash in his mind's eye of bright gold hair, so very long, and terrified bravery. If something happens to him, he won't be able to look out for her. If something happens to them because he did nothing, he won't be able to look her in the eye.

Without another thought, he drops to ground level with the impossibly light tap-tap of dress shows on pavement, and silently steals after them into the dark.

Homura Akemi has posed:
As Tuxedo Mask rushes forward, he'll probably run into the entrance of a Witch's Labyrinth.

The inside of the Labyrinth is a strange place. An infinite blackness stretches in all directions. Orange steel platforms, looking like several girders fused together, float in the air at various angles, slanted this way and that. None of them are too steep to stand on, but nor are any of them flat.

These platforms go far up above into the sky, though it seems as if there are none below. The entrance of the Labyrinth seems to be at the bottom of this tower. At the topmost platform, one can see nothing but a shining light. Perhaps if one were closer, they could see what was so bright up there.

The three Puella Magi are making their way up by jumping from platform to platform. Gold/Gray says in a miffed tone, "What, no ladders?"

"Don't think that this is all there is to it," responds Homura. "Never underestimate a Witch."

Large alien tentacled faces, some blue, some white, some green or red, fly up the sides of the platforms. They fire small white squares at the platforms, and each bullet eats away at the orange steel wherever they land.

Homura turns to face them, shouting, "You two, go ahead! I'll cover things here!" She produces a pair of pistols and starts taking out the invading Familiars.

The two other Puella Magi continue on, as a vaguely female, yet inhuman, cry of pain beckons them from above.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
'Probably run into'. The second Tuxedo Kamen goes from the pitch blackness of the alley to the strange light and architecture and non-euclidean platformer environment of the Labyrinth, he spins on his heel, eyes wide behind the mask.

The alley is gone, the entrance is gone, it just stretches out behind him as it does before him.

Well. Makes his objective easier. He hangs back for a moment, tense and watchful, trying to make any kind of sense of what he's seeing-- and while it's no geometries he's used to, the place at least seems to have its own internal logic.

And then the Familiars show up.

He may be reckless, but Tuxedo Kamen isn't actually stupid: he can be extremely practical. Practicality, at this time, demands he link up with the girl who seems to know exactly what's going on. Leaping up platform to platform, the absurdly tall caped figure calls out (while dodging) "Don't shoot me, coming up on your left!"

One thing the tentacle-faced flying shooty monsters seem to be good for are aerial path changers: he stabs a spectacularly handily-placed one of them to in order to swing himself onto Homura's platform, then shakes it off his cane. "Please don't let me interrupt; I'll try not to get in your way," he says, reflecting a shot from another monster via judicious placement of cape, then stabbing out at it as it swoops in.

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura turns around as a new voice speaks up. As a monster comes up behind Tuxedo Kamen, she shoots past him and hits the thing between the eyes.

The familiars, as they are defeated, fall one by one into the endless abyss below. They never really seem to vanish, they just fall so far into the distance that one can no longer see them as anything but a brightly colored dot. They don't seem to bleed either, instead parts of them simply vanish.

Homura takes a moment to look at Tuxedo. His neck isn't showing any Witch's Kiss, and he doesn't seem particularly suicidal. He actually seems pretty aware, and even somewhat familiar. "Haven't I seen you before? At the concert, right?"

The sounds of battle ring out up above. Shouts, the clang of metal against metal, and the tinkle of magical sparkles can be heard.

"There isn't much time to explain," says Homura, to Tuxedo. "Watch your step. If you're here to fight, then follow me up top."

The black-haired Puella fires a few more rounds, until her guns click empty. She tosses them aside, pulling out an SMG to continue firing, taking the time to work her way upwards by jumping from one platform to the next.

Homura takes shots at the aerial targets, but while she's taking care of them Mamoru is attacked by Familiars of a different nature: ghastly apparations fly towards him from the darkness, attacking him from each side. They are many, but they are also easily dispatched with a good solid hit.

Homura looks up, concerned. One of the Puella Magi is screaming. Homura shouts, "No!"

She vanishes, freezing time long enough to make upwards. It may seem like she's abandoned Mamoru at this point, but in that same moment many of the Familiars that were coming after him are suddenly dead, shot to pieces, and falling into the black.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I figured I could ask after we get out of here," Tuxedo Mask agrees, then adds as he leaps up after Homura, "and yeah, there was takoyaki."

He follows her without hesitation, flipping himself over things he can't punch or kick out of the way, or stab with that distressingly effective cane; even if he's not shooting anything or doing anything even nearly close to Homura's AoE, he's graceful and inhumanly swift and he does pack a respectable punch.

The lanky youth is holding his own, but there's that screaming above and the newcomers, the ghost-things, swarm him. Anyone else might think Homura had just abandoned him, but if she hadn't vanished he'd have told her to leave him anyway.

Alone in the labyrinth, echoes of Homura's shout and the unknown Puella's screaming mixing with the unholy sounds of the Familiars in his ears, Mamoru tries not to think. The solidity of the ghosts is filed away; maybe those girls are dead and he followed them into some strange middle ground between life and death, and he can think about that later. Maybe Homura was never--

He just fights. When there's no thinking, there's rote motions and adaptive battle tactics, there's grace and speed and and and

there are so many of them

and that was almost no time at all, and with the rhythm he's in, he makes quick work of what's left without questioning what just happened. He doesn't even trust time in this place.

The second nothing's immediately following him, Tuxedo Kamen leaps straight upward, making for the light at the top. Homura and the other girls must be up there. They have to be. He can't actually be here alone.

Homura Akemi has posed:
What Mamoru sees when he reaches the top platform, with the bright golden glow, is a strange sight indeed. There is a cage with a strange yellow sphere trapped inside, seemingly the source of the glow. The side of it seems to open and close like a mouth, baring strange and malformed teeth. As threatening and strange as it looks, it's actually the one trapped.

Homura is standing over a pile of slain ghost familiars. Pink/Blue is covered in her own blood, and she hangs limply in Gold/Gray's arms. The latter's scythe is stuck into the platform.

Homura turns around to ask, "Is she still alive?"

Gold/Gray's voice is shaking. "I... I don't know..."

The loud inhuman crying from before turns into laughter, as a large strange vaguely-female shape rises up from the abyss. It looks like a woman, but it is clear that this is no human being. It's more like a deranged cartoon of a girl, with a twisted and mocking face. Brown hair and a red sunday dress seem to be her only identifying features.

"Is that her?" asks Gold/Gray.

"She's just a Witch now," says Homura. "Don't forget it."

Homura is caught in a tight spot. She has one Puella Magi wounded, possibly dead. The other is looking after the previous. The unknown male might be able to do something with his takoyaki beams.

She hesitates, even as she brings a rocket launcher to bear. The Witch produces a large burning barrel, and throws it at the platform. The resulting explosion is large enough that everyone will have to deal with it.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's not a lot about what's going on that Tuxedo Mask understands on any kind of deep level. What he does get is that the thing in the cage is prrrrobably what covered Pink/Blue in her own blood, the fact that Pink/Blue is covered in her own blood and it's not a normal occurance, the fact that Gold/Grey is shaky about it and Homura is not, and that there isn't time for any of--

"--give her here," the boy calls to Gold/Grey as he sprints across the platform while Homura's raising her rocket launcher, "and help fight!" His voice isn't sharp, but it rings with the kind of authority that's designed to cut through dazes and force action, any action. It's with that same decisiveness and confidence that he starts to take the limp and bleeding girl from Gold/Grey-- but then everything is exploding.

Instead of taking one girl from the other, he barrels into both of them and flings his arms around them both, then yells at the top of his lungs, "JUST SHOOT IT!!"

Controlled fall. Controlled fall, right? That debris, those jagged shards of platform, they're projectiles aimed every which way, and he's not thinking about that at all, just about maintaining his grip on Shellshock and Deadweight and finding surfaces with his feet and lifting off them, just about getting to the ground. He is trusting that someone who can pull rocket launchers out of hammerspace and vanish at will can take care of herself.

Homura Akemi has posed:
Gold/Gray looks up as Tuxedo Kamen shouts out to her. She understands, perfectly well. Underneath her golden hood, one can see a small stream of tears, but those tears are drying up, sadness replaced by determination.

Unfortunately, before she can hand over Pink/Blue, the barrel hits the ground and the explosion happens. Tuxedo can certainly protect the two of them from the explosion, though the blast threatens to knock them off the edge. The two girls are almost sent flying, but Gold/Gray's scythe comes out of the ground and flies towards her, and she strikes the ground with it again, holding onto it to keep the three of them in place.

Homura herself is nowhere near the blast. Instead, she's flying high into the air, rockets firing all at once, multiple from many directions, each launch causing her to fly higher into the air due to the lessened gravity.

Gold/Gray stands up after the blast, tears drying on her face, as she hands Pink/Blue to Tuxedo Mask. "Please... take care of her."

"Masako Haka," is all that Gold/Gray gives as her introduction, while Tuxedo is still in earshot.

Masako walks towards the now-blasted Witch. Her scythe makes a high-pitched screech as it drags along the steel platforms. The Giant Witch's fist crashes into the platform, attempting to crush Masako, but she steps to the side with a flash of speed. Within a moment, she is running up the arm that attempted to crush her. With a single swing of her scythe she leaves a deep gash in the Witch's neck.

It isn't dead yet, but from the loud screaming its making, it's death isn't far off.

Homura lands next to Tuxedo Mask, and comments, "That was very brave of you."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
--he expected to fall. He expected to be falling, he didn't expect the sudden determination to blossom, or the scythe to respond to Masako's command. He didn't expect magic, even here in hell. He should have known.

He sees the tears drying on Masako's face as they both stand, the tears under the bright gold of her hood, and his face is solemn as he takes Pink/Blue from her arms, finally. His eyes are smiling at her from behind the mask despite his gravity, despite hers. Finally, he watches, half turned away and shielding the limp girl in his arms with his body and his vacuum-black cape.

When Homura lands beside him and comments, he shakes his head. "That's bravery," he says quietly, inclining his head in Masako's direction. "Decisive action even when you're hurt and scared out of your mind."

As the Witch starts screaming, he glances down at Pink/Blue, shifting her a little so he can cradle her against his chest and feel for a pulse with his other hand. "Will the floor hold? Is there a way out?"

Homura Akemi has posed:
Homura spends a long moment looking at Tuxedo Kamen. She considers him for a moment, and then decides that he's alright. "Once you enter a Witch's Labyrinth, leaving can be difficult. Usually, you get out by slaying the Witch. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like the floor will have to hold much longer."

Masako works on the Witch for a while, avoiding the flailing attacks of its limbs while cutting small gashes into it. After a moment, she's forced by an attack to land on the platform again. "Homura!" she shouts.

"On it," responds Homura, before vanishing. If one was looking, they'd notice that the Witch suddenly had a large barrel shoved back into its mouth.

In desperation, the large yellow sphere breaks out of its cage, bursting through the metal bars, and makes a beeline for Tuxedo Kamen. Masako moves to defend, but Homura reappears and says, "Forget about him. Let's just go."

Homura walks away from the Witch as she explodes, and towards Tuxedo Mask and Pink/Blue. The labyrinth vanishes; along with the Witch, the yellow monster, and all of the familiars; and the three Puella Magi + Masked Man are standing in the alleyway again.

A black ornamental jewel, a Grief Seed, drops to the ground. The immediate threat is over. Now it's time to worry about the aftermath.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
In the instant that Masako's moving to defend Tuxedo Kamen and his (unconscious! that pulse was faint, but there) charge, he's bracing to leap out of the way--

--Homura's saying to forget about him, and it processes as he straightens up again, as the hell-world, the Labyrinth, disappears around them.

As soon as they're back in the alley, his feet on the ground, the masked man abruptly feels something he lacked: some unspoken connection, some unnamed strength, a solidity and reassuring presence that he chalks up to being back in reality.

He instantly lowers the girl in pink and blue and bloody, bloody red to the ground and gets down on his knees next to her, squinting in the dim light. "Haka-san, did you see where she was wounded? She's still alive--"

Homura Akemi has posed:
Haka looks up, hopeful, as Kamen delivers the good news. "... for a moment, she was surrounded by those ghost things. They clawed her up... With her in the middle of them I couldn't just..."

She hesitates, but really, looking at her weapon it'd be easy to guess that she wasn't sure how to attack them without also hurting her friend.

Homura walks up to Pink/Blue and looks over the bloodied body. She checks the Soul Gem first. It's intact, but the blue jewel is turning further black. "Haka-san, the Grief Seed."

As Masako dutifully retrieves the seed and brings it to Homura, Homura inspects the blood for wounds. "Looks like she took a claw wounds to the stomach, shoulders... pretty much her whole body. There might be some in her back." Homura hesitates. "Even with a Puella Magi's ability to recover, we may... have to take her to the hospital. We could say that a large animal attacked her, or..."

Masako hands Homura the Grief Seed, and Homura holds it close to the Soul Gem, soaking in the growing darkness. Her breathing, previously stopped, seems to have started again. As bad as she looks, she at least seems somewhat stable. Probably not a good idea to move her unnecessarily, though.

To Tuxedo Mask, Homura says, "You held together pretty well in there. We could use more people like that. I guess by now you have a number of questions."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Thanks. And...yes, but 'why Latin' is less pressing than calling emergency services," says Tuxedo Kamen with astonishing mildness, his eyes still on the girl on the ground. "I'll worry about asking you questions in a minute." He looks up at Masako, then. "You don't have to tell them anything, just sound frantic when you call and say you found her here, then completely fail to be visible when they arrive. There's a payphone across the street and a block to the right, coming out of this alley."

Then he sits back on his heels, cape pooling around him, and takes off his hat with his bloody-gloved hands. His shoulders lower slightly, tension draining out of them. For a second his blue eyes are closed, and then he looks at Homura. "I don't have powers like you do," he confesses, not ashamed, just matter-of-fact, "and I have my own mission, but if I can help you, I will. I take it this is at least a semi-regular occurance."

Homura Akemi has posed:
Masako considers Kamen's words, and then she seems to accept the idea. She won't just abandon her friend, but she can watch over her from the shadows until the ambulance comes. She then runs off, to take care of the phone call. Even if it's an emergency, it'll take time before the ambulance arrives.

Homura nods at Tuxedo's confession, and says, "We all have our own goals. I also have my own motives here, but I think doing things this way /will/ benefit everyone in the long run."

"Witches like that show up all the time. It's consistent enough that I can usually find one every few nights or so. They lure the innocent and the unaware into their Labyrinths and kill them."

"Hunting them alone is too dangerous, and there are terrifying Witches in the days to come, so I'm trying to pull together a group to fight the worst of them all."

Homura glances down at her wounded friend, and at the frantic Masako who... actually isn't really acting.

"I guess now isn't really the best time. If you want to know more, look for me by a tree near where the concert was. You know... the one that was interrupted by those two monsters." Ail and his youma, she means.

"We can meet again there, if you want."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"By a tree under the moon?" Tuxedo Kamen asks wryly, quietly. He holds his hat in his hands, looking down at it for a moment, silent. He's half-listening to Masako in the background, but mostly he's thinking.

He decides that if he thinks any longer before he can be alone, he won't be cool with the consequences: trauma is private.

Finally, he rises to his feet, towering in the light from the streetlamp, his shadow long and thin in the alley. "It'll be tomorrow night sometime," he tells Homura with faint amusement. "I'll be there." The he gives a respectable bow of farewell. "Until then, Homura-san."

Then he's abruptly leapt straight upward, and he vanishes into the dark above, out of the orange glow of the poorly-lit alley and away.

Homura Akemi has posed:
"Well I mean... that's a... meeting place we've been using," explains Homura, perhaps a bit shyly.

Tomorrow Night? That sounds good. "I'll be there, too." Homura promises. "See you then."

After Tuxedo Kamen leaves, Homura says, "Thanks again."

Homura and Masako vanish as they start to hear the sirens approaching. From the roof tops, the two Puella Magi watch on as EMTs appear on the scene to carry away their friend.

Once satisfied, they go their own way. They'll visit her tomorrow, if they're able, but for now it's out of their hands.