Something Wicked (Villainous Magical Boy Quest)

Voting closed! Looks like we're going with The Alien, Otherworldly, and The Princess. If everything goes well, these characters will have names by the next update.

Your name is Zaiyu Es Talis. You are among the best and brightest the Estil species has to offer. As the most gifted thaumaforge alive and one of the best illusionists, you are the spearhead of the force that will reclaim your lost world from those who have stolen it and restore the greatness of your people. Right now, you have your nose pressed up against the glass of the observation deck, watching as the blue marble in the distance grows closer.

"So that's earth," you breathe, eyes wide. You haven't blinked in several minutes. Too busy committing every twinkle of distant stars and the swirl of atmospheric conditions to memory.

This isn't the first time you've seen a planet, but it is the first time you've seen such a perfect garden world. You've seen pictures of earth, of course. Your textbooks are jammed full of them, alongside countless theories about why the Estil can't seem to thrive on any other world. Seeing it in person, though… it's a whole different experience.

It's beautiful. You've never seen such a perfect blue before.

So naturally, a tiny, tiny redhead with a soldier's boring red tattoos and a sour expression has to ruin it.

"You're looking in the wrong direction, dumbass. The moon is this way!"

Rins Es Talis is the team's heavy firepower, a genius at elementalism in general and specifically on spell adaptation. You've read their thesis on converting deep space combat spells to work in atmospheric conditions. It was brilliant. Left you actually excited about living and working with the mind that created it. Then you moved onto the Talis, the cutting-edge experimental spacecraft requisitioned for this mission, and actually met Rins.

If pressured, you would admit that you still consider Rins a genius and you would happily pick their brain any day. But being trapped in a very small spacecraft with them? Sharing a ship-name with them? Getting into arguments with them literally every day about whether or not basic spells can be used safely on-planet or if every new magic needs to be tested to death first? Basically a fate worse than death. You would know, you've spent the last eight months stuck on the Talis with them and you're beginning to have extremely vivid fantasies about strangling them in the middle of one of their ridiculous rants about 'standard testing periods' and 'following protocol even when protocol is stupid.'

They're a hypocrite anyway, you've caught them throwing protocol out the window plenty of times when it was inconvenient for them.

Ugh. You scowl and peel your face away from the window. "Nobody cares about the moon, Rins."

"You should!" Rins places their hands on their hips and glares at you like they want to set you alight. For all you know, they may be seriously considering it. Unfortunately for them, you're wearing like six different shield charms. They couldn't make you catch fire even if they tried. "It's where we're staying for the foreseeable future. Or did you remove that from your memory with the rest of your life skills?"

"'Foreseeable?' Wow, what a big word," you drawl. "Did you steal that from Captain?"

Rins bristles, every hair on their head puffing out in a vain attempt to make themself look bigger. It doesn't work. Even with hair down to their thighs, they're still tiny. You're not exactly tall yourself, but Rins barely reaches your chest. Puffing up like that only draws attention to their doll-like physique. "At least the Captain likes me!"

"Stop fooling yourself. The Captain doesn't like anyone. Accept that his hatred of you is just low enough to correct you when you misuse words and move on with your life."

They open their mouth to retort, visibly reconsider, and cross their arms instead. "Shut up and stop gawking. You'll have plenty of time to gush over earth later. Now come on, we're almost there, and you know what that means."

You sigh. "The Captain's called a meeting?"

"The Captain's called a meeting," Rins says grimly. "Don't even think about escaping out the airlock. He'll go out and drag you back in."

Damn it. There goes your only hope of getting out of this. "I'll see you there, pipsqueak."

"One day I will incinerate you and they'll make the day an empire-wide holiday."

All things considered, a reasonably productive conversation with Rins. You steal one last glance at the blue planet and turn away, a teleport crackling over your skin as easy as breathing. The rest of the day can only go downhill from here.

---

You always forget how much you hate team meetings. Everyone hates team meetings, but for some reason, Captain Shayin Es Talis—the pilot, navigator, and general technical specialist attached to this mission—insists on holding them regularly. If he was a better leader, he'd realize all of you Es Talis despise each other and would be much happier if you all stuck to your respective corners of the ship, communicating exclusively through text message. Maybe you could even schedule meal shifts so nobody had to run into each other in the dining hall. Mithos, that would be amazing.

But you live in the bad timeline, so you pop into existence floating several inches above a hard plastic circle orbiting slowly around three other hard plastic circles. The Captain is already sitting above one of them, his unfairly long legs crossed obnoxiously elegantly. From the tight wraps of his nine-foot-long sea green braid to the distant crackle of his sensory field to the soft, regular pulse of his gold navigator's markings, everything about him is obnoxiously elegant. But that's to be expected. Shayin Es Talis was once Shayin Na Yutol, pilot of the capital flagship, youngest son of the current Estil Prime Minister. In other words, he's basically royalty, and you have no idea why he committed himself to such a high-risk mission.

You don't like not knowing things, which gives you a solid reason to dislike him. He has no such reason to dislike you, and yet he clearly does. But then, you weren't kidding when you said he hates everything. Everyone else on the Talis has reached an unspoken, tacit agreement not to call the Captain by his actual name. None of you are close enough to him for that.

"Zaiyu is two minutes early. Has someone perished?" His voice is deep and smooth. It's one of those voices that would be unbelievably attractive if he didn't always sound so flat and clipped all the time. Such a waste.

"If one of you died, I'd definitely skip out on the funeral. Rins fetched me, so this better be important."

"We'll talk when everyone is here and not before."

"Because you don't want to say this twice or because you're not done making up your speech?" you ask.

Almond-shaped eyes glowing the same solid sea green shade as his hair narrow a fraction. From the Captain, that's basically a death threat. You feel accomplished.

Anyway, that leaves you sitting in annoyed silence with the Captain for eight solid minutes before Rins and the final member of this little expedition, Mitl Es Talis, teleport into their seats.

You can't spend five minutes with Rins without someone yelling and you're 90% sure the Captain fantasizes about murdering you, but Mitl is by far the worst person on the ship. All your life, you laughed off complaints about how single-minded and oblivious mages can be to anything outside their field of expertise. Then you met Mitl Nes Eyrit. He's stick-thin, always hunched over, and his solid gold eyes have the feverish glow of a man who has not slept properly in years. Leaf-green lines swirl up the right side of his body while pitch black designs trace down the left side. Both sets of symbols are partly obscured by the mess of black hair that shrouds him like a cloak.

In the twin fields of botany and necromancy, he has no rivals. Unfortunately, he has an alarming tendency to combine the two fields in new and exotic ways without telling anyone, often while innocent bystanders are still in the room.

You have teleported away from so many explosions of necromantic energy on the trip over here. So many.

And then there's you. Standing taller than Rins but shorter than Mitl and much shorter than the Captain. Willowier in build than anyone else but with more muscle than Mitl's stick arms can boast. Your dark green hair is cropped short in an angled bob, stray strands floating around your face in a modified sensory field. The net they cast isn't as wide as the Captain's, but you're an infiltrator, not a navigator. You don't need to detect everything in an asteroid belt, you need to be able to catch ambushes and spy on people in the same ship or base.

Rins has on the drab, drapy one-piece of a soldier. The Captain is wearing the purple skinsuit of a pilot, of course—you don't think he owns any other clothes, and if he does, he certainly wouldn't show them off to the rest of you. Mitl appears to have wrapped himself in a bedsheet and called it a day. You are the only one trying to look like an actual person on this ship, with your flowy crop top and slit skirt over leggings, and you think you deserve some praise for that. You deserve praise in general because you are amazing and talented and handsome. And also because you're the only person here who's sporting dendrite extensions in the form of a myriad of floating magical scarves wrapped around you. Honestly, it's like the rest of them aren't expecting to need an extra arm or ten.

Everyone else only has one or two colours of tattoo to mark their occupation. You have every colour but black pulsing regularly across your skin. Thaumaforging requires a working understanding of virtually every other school of magic. Creating life from stardust and spite is not a specialty for the faint of heart. Every time one of the other three looks at you, their eyes automatically find their colours on your skin, and they know you already digested their subject of choice and found it wanting.

Huh. Maybe this is why the Captain hates you.

Finally, the Captain speaks. "We are about to enter stable moon orbit. Once we have arrived, we will begin disembarking. All hands on deck. I expect all of you to handle your own equipment." He takes a moment to give each of you a deep, penetrating look. "That way, if anything gets broken, it's your own fault and your responsibility to fix it."

Mitl sticks his hand into the air like a little kid trying to get teacher's attention over a video call. "What about shared gear? Like furniture? Or culture tanks?"

"Shared gear gets moved by whoever has time for it." The Captain's tone makes it clear that this will not be him.

Rins' question is at once less relevant and much more important. "Are we calling rooms? Is there dibs?"

The whole room sings with tension before the Captain's voice punctures it. "Rooms have already been assigned. Your names are on the blueprints. You should have read them already."

You roll your eyes. "Why would we have read the blueprints? It's just a moon base."

"I cannot wait until I can banish you to another planet."

"Trust me, I'm looking forward to it, too."

Mitl puts his hand back in the air. "When were we given blueprints?"

The Captain narrows his eyes slightly. "The blueprints were sent to your devices when you boarded and changed your ship-names."

"But did we ever receive a print-out?"

"We're in space. Storage is at a premium."

"I need a print-out," Mitl insists.

"…I'm charging you for the paper." The Captain almost sounds like he's experiencing an emotion. Not a good emotion.

"That's fine, I'll use it as mulch."

"Do not use it as mulch."

Across the room, Rins' eyes have taken on the slightly unfocused quality of someone scanning a holographic screen. After a moment, they scoff loudly and drop their head. "Zaiyu, wanna swap rooms?"

You take a moment to check your own room assignment. Oh, wow, look at that. Rins' assigned room is right next to the swatch of land set aside for Mitl's nightmare garden, and your room is all the way on the other side of the base with the Captain. "Not on your life."

"I hate you," they hiss.

You ignore that with the grace of someone who isn't going to be kept awake by Mitl sweet-talking his man-eating plants.

Then the ship shudders slightly as it enters moon orbit and all four of you can't teleport out fast enough.

---

Rins is the first one out of the ship, but you're a close second. They peel off to go secure the perimeter. As if there's anything that needs securing on a desolate, lifeless planetoid. You occupy yourself with flying over the dusty grey surface, watching the slice of cloudy blue planet you can see from here.

This moon doesn't have a lot of atmosphere, but you can still feel its faint presence, 1,000,000 molecules in each cubic centimeter pressing down on you. Some of the many little charms dangling from your outfit are dedicated to processing that information. Others are shielding you from the vacuum of space, stabilizing your flight, and a million other little conveniences. All of that leaves you free to focus your attention where it belongs.

Having a photographic memory is useless if you aren't paying attention. And you want to remember this—all of this.

Standing on the moon, watching the earth rise, you feel something unfamiliar swelling in your chest.

"We're back," you whisper softly into the void. "After all this time, we're home."

The earth shines down on you from the horizon. It feels welcoming.



You've arrived on earth—well, you've arrived near earth. Your team is getting ready to set up the new moon base, install all the stuff you brought with you, and generally move into your new moon habitat. There's still a bit of time before your invasion actually begins.

What will you do?

[ ] MOVING DAY

All hands on deck means all hands, including yours and also all your prehensile scarves. You're very good at moving things from one to another, especially things too delicate for teleportation. Unfortunately, this means you will probably have to interact with all of your teammates as you make sure the stuff is moved to the right place. Ugh.

[ ] ESPIONAGE? ESPIONAGE!

Set-up is boring and the others can get it done without you. More importantly, the earth is right there! Your long-lost homeworld! An alien planet populated by alien species! The place you've travelled across millions of lightyears to find! Disguise yourself and start investigating earth in person. It's what you're here for, after all.

[ ] HIT THE BOOKS

Getting straight to business is tempting but maybe you should do some preparation first. Make sure everything is lined up properly before you head planetside. You brought a lot of information with you, go over the stuff about humans to ensure it's fresh in your mind. It would suck if you went down there and screwed up. You'd never live it down.

[ ] MONSTER MAYHEM

You should definitely do some preparation before you go down there. In fact, as the only thaumaforge here, you should have a monster ready to go before you ever touch earth. They tell you there's such a thing as being over-prepared, but you don't believe it. Go set up your lab and make a monster right now. Keeping it on the moon base may annoy your teammates, but that's a price you're willing to make them pay.

[ ] WRITE-IN

---

The price of picking the most redeemable option is that you have a bunch of annoying coworkers to put up with. Of course, to them, you're the annoying coworker here.

Character sheets will be up shortly!

Name: Zaiyu Es Talis

Species: Estil

Age: Approximately 17

Magic Specialties: Thaumaforging (Expert), other branches of Estil space magic bar necromancy (Advanced).

Archetype: The Alien

Level: Advanced

Description: A slender teenager with bronze skin, an angled dark green bob cut, and a feline grin. Like most members of his species, Zaiyu sports retractable claws on his hands and feet, possesses a set of small fangs, and has the ability to fly. Unlike most members of his species, Zaiyu also has the distinctive shorn haircut and multicolored tattoos of a thaumaforge. Anyone remotely familiar with the Estil will know exactly what he is on sight. His fashion sense is distinctly otherworldly, ending up somewhere between Xianxia chic and CLAMP character. He never goes anywhere without his dendrite extensions--the assortment of floating magical scarves that he controls like additional limbs--or a massive collection of little dangly charms that manage minor, moderate, and sometimes major spells for him. His eyes glow a solid pale green. After an incident with a sample of the very magical and very dangerous plant Crystalvine, most of his right arm is composed completely of immobile white crystal. A pulse of white light is visible under the clear stone surface.

Goal: Take over the world. Eliminating humanity would be nice, but the most important thing is that humans not be able to stop you from recolonizing the planet. Planetary Threat.

Role: Elite.

Traits:

• Thaumaforge: Any Estil can use magic, but it takes a true genius to create life from nothing. You are one of those rare souls. Thaumaforge options unlocked.
• Knowledge Is Power: Magic is awesome, but you know what's more awesome? Actually knowing what you're doing. You're the information and stealth specialist on this team. That makes it your job to know things.
• Two-Faced Liar: You can pretend to be a human if you want, but you don't need a secret identity. And really, you probably shouldn't stick to just one disguise. Your mission requires flexible hours and locations, after all. Bonus to disguise roles, expanded disguise options.
• Trickster Archetype: You're having a ton of fun with this whole invasion thing. Your fiendish creativity terrifies your foes and your playful laughter gets under their skin. All opponents suffer a composure malus.
• Space Magic: Your powers are rooted in the vast depths of the cosmos, not the puny blue planet you're invading. Absolutely no one on earth knows how your powers work or how to counter them. The heroines will always be on the backfoot when fighting you.
• We Have the Power: Unlike some villains, you have the backing of an entire civilization. Sure, most of home is far away and out of reach, but you've received training from the best and you have an incredible array of tools to fall back on. There's no way the heroines will be able to infiltrate your base when it's on the moon! Expanded resource options.
• Teen Genius: You may be young, but you're one of the best your people have to offer. What other people take years to master, you learn in days; what takes them decades takes you weeks. You may not understand humans yet, but you're learning fast. You will learn rapidly.
• Tunnel Vision: You get fixated easily. This is part of why you were chosen for this mission—it makes you incredibly skilled and focused in your areas of expertise. It also means you can miss things that are right in front of your nose, or get obsessed with things you shouldn't. Reduced perception options.
• Fish Out Of Water: You studied up on earth for this mission, but reading about something is nothing compared to actually being there. You don't understand how things work here and you'll get confused easily until you get your bearings. Reduced general options until you learn more.
• Hopeless Romantic: You are an isolated teenager from a dystopian planet who just arrived on a seemingly peaceful world filled with people your approximate age. There is a 100% chance you will fall in love with the wrong person. This will definitely disrupt your mission.
• Not A Team Player: You've got three other people on the elite team to work around and share toys with. And you hate sharing. Malus to interacting with teammates.
• Impossible Dream: Deep down, you don't really want to hurt people. You try to hide this as much as possible, but it's the truth. And if you're not careful, that truth will get you killed by your own allies. Reduced villainy options unless character development kicks in.
• Traces of ???: Like all Estil, you have been reincarnated, and your soul was damaged in the process. Very little remains of your previous self… but 'very little' is miles from 'nothing at all.'

Items of Note:

• Powered-up Edach Barrier Charm: Can reflect anything up to a small bomb without help from other charms. Blocks status effects, too.If you'd had this when Mitl started yelling near his dangerous plants, you'd still have the use of your arm. Currently equipped to Sasori.
• Restored Charm Collection: You've got the charms you used up—and petrified—during the Crystalvine assault functioning again. This means you can once again juggle practically infinite spells at once, provided you don't have to alter more than one or two or fifty at a time. If you want to expand your collection, you'll need to find more small, cute items to use as bases for additional charms.
• Daisy Ash Crystal: A powerful but unstable magic item found in the aftermath of Rose's explosive magical awakening. Could grant a monster the ability to use magic. May have other uses. Can only be used once. Concepts: Crystal, Poison, Awakening.
• Tournament Flyer: A magic item found in the aftermath of Rose's explosive magical awakening. Can only be used once. Concepts: Stone, Collision, Fierce.
• Arcade Token: A magic item found in the aftermath of Rose's explosive magical awakening. Can only be used once. Concepts: Hunger, Poison, Strive.
• Azurevine: A mutated strain of Crystalvine that no longer hunts or creates edach, but is an even better conductor of magic. Concepts: unknown.

Familiars (total mana 40):

• Sasori (Beginner): Cost 10. Remaining mana: 20
• Size-Shifting Bat (Beginner): Cost 10.