Libra's Lament, a Magical Girl Quest [Complete]

---

You can feel the warmth on your back... it is nice in here. Looking around from your position in Eva's arms, you can see shadows dancing over the place. Everything is so... metal. Except the ceiling, there is a hole for the smoke.

Your sister is grimacing, though she thinks you can not see it. Her lips are all pushed together and she clenches her teeth. Ah, there it goes away and now she looks at you. She feels so warm to you, a shining light you can rest on.

But... this is not the right thing to do and you know it. Eva is there for you and you love her, of course you do... but it is wrong to just have her baby you. You are a big girl, too.

It still hurts... you did something really, really bad. You did not want to and you are sorry, but that does not change what happened.

You murdered a soldier.

Eva's hand strokes your back and you cuddle closer into her, but you do not stop thinking. You have to make a decision, both of you do. And you... you must not let this weigh you down. You could not do anything before, Eva did almost everything... and that is wrong, too.

Big sis said that there is nothing won with moping around... and you get that now. Of course you can sit here and have your sister hug you... it is a nice hug. But now is not the time, you need to do something.

Eva lets go of you once you try moving back; she gives you this concerned look and has her head slightly tilted, so she is curious. You just take a deep breath and lift an eyebrow at her. "What? I can't mope forever."

You poke her with thanks and love, though. You will be strong, for your sisters and for your mother... and for Ludger, even if he is busy dreaming of hunting kittens or something like that.

You get up from the bed and walk over to Judge and Iron, Eva following right after you. The older girls are watching the fire, but they turn to you when you sit with them. "We will go meet your leader."

Judge blinks and raises an eyebrow, but Iron does not look any different... it is weird, she does not smile or frown or scrunch up or anything at all. She just looks calm and cold all the time.

"I see. Mirror and Igni will be glad to hear that."
"Okay, seriously... what's with them that Knight wants to meet them?"

Iron now turns around to Judge and you take your seats; her response makes you flinch, though. "Primordial Sun and Primordial Moon are confirmed as Minister Vescovi's siblings."

Oh... so you pretty much gave it away already? That is... not good, is it?
"Oh. Ohhh... yeah, that makes sense."

Judge gives you another look and then shrugs... but you can see how her lips dip down and she almost grimaces. "Ouch... okay, girls... look, I have no beef with any side, but that kind of thing is something you should keep to yourself as long as you can. There's a lot of girls not really happy with how things are."

That is mean; you already know how it is a bad thing to tell people. And you know that Magical Girls are not happy. "Of course they aren't happy."

"Neither are we..."
Eva says it quietly, but all of you can hear her. The cute smile she always has is gone and she looks down to the ground. "So we will go and meet Abyss Knight... and see if there is something we can do to help. I want everyone to be happy... and big sister is the same."

They do not say anything after that and everyone gets to sleep soon after, your sister's warmth right next to you under the blanket.


Uh... something about big sis... you rather not remember, it did not feel nice. Is it morning already? You want to sleep, but there might be another bad dream, so you open your eyes after all. Eva lies right next to you... huh, weird. She is usually up before you, but now she is still sleeping. It feels relaxing to sense for her.

"Urgh..."

You roll on your belly and take the blanket with you, then weakly push yourself into a sitting position. Rubbing your eyes helps in making the sting go away and when you look around, you can see that everyone except Iron is still asleep. The cold girl is staring outside, her bright red hair still messy from the night.

...
You have a comb, right? Or a brush? Please say you have one, your hair will be tousled and messy and... ugh.

You slowly crawl out of bed and try not to make too much noise. With how much Eva worked yesterday, she earned herself some sleep. Once you are out, you pull the blanket back over your sister and try to blink yourself awake some more. The gentle waves coming from your twin are not helping you think clearly, though.

Iron does not say anything while you walk over to your backpacks and go find new clothes to wear. Those you have are sweaty and stink of smoke and fire. Yawning quietly, you get changed into another set of shirt and trousers. And a cute pair of pink socks.

A quick look shows you that the others are still sleeping. Mirror is tucked in under her blanket and you can only see a bit of her face... Judge is the same but lying on her belly... and Ignition Sentinel threw her blanket away and curled up on the pillow, just like a kitty.

That last one looks really cute, actually... but other things come first. You kind of never had the chance to talk to any of them before, so you sneak over to Iron. She is still staring at the small opening in the metal shelter, her glasses almost falling off the little nose and her expression as cold as always.

You only get out a mumbled "G'mornin...", your mind still a little hazy from sleep... but the older girl does not even react to you. A moment later, she grimaces and scrunches up all of a sudden... and relaxes again.

"Woof."
And Ludger is nudging your leg, wanting attention. When you look down, he looks back up and nudges you again.

Hm. You have a really cold girl and a cute corgi.
You can feel your smirk before realising that there is an idea you like a lot. Shaking off the sleep some more, you quietly pick up your dog and hush him to be quiet. Then you walk over and set him down in Iron's lap.

The girl flinches and looks at you now, her eyes still so cold... no wait, are those tears?
"Good morning, Primordial Sun."

Her voice is a little raspy and she sniffles a few times, even though her face does not show any sadness at all. She wipes off the tears and looks down at the corgi in her lap with visible confusion, though. "Since when was your dog there?"

"I put him there."

Weird, she really should have noticed that... you narrow your eyes a little and look closer at the older girl. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."
"But you were crying."
"I am in optimal condition."
"Then why were you crying?"

She pauses at that. Her voice did not change from that cold monotone at all... it makes no sense, how can someone be sad and then not show any sadness at all?

Iron keeps quiet and looks back outside. A little breeze sneaks through the opening and makes you shiver; it tousles both her and your hair a little more, too.

"I sometimes do, without much reason. It happens mostly when I remember my emotions."
Uh... how does that work? You give her another look and sit down, absentmindedly scratching behind Ludger's ears. He yips happily and cuddles closer to Iron. "I don't get it... you cry when you're sad, right? And why do you have to remember how you feel?"

The only noise you hear for a while is your dog's panting and after a while, you just look outside like the older girl does. Hm, it is pretty cloudy and foggy today... but it smells nice and fresh, is what you can tell from another breeze. The inside still reeks of fire.

Then a hand lands on your own. and you stop petting Ludger to look up at Iron. Her eyes are full of longing now. "I lost them when I became a Magical Girl. My emotions", she adds over your confusion and you remember what you asked her before. "Just like Mirror lost her mirror image and can never get it back. But I remember them, sometimes... almost remember."

She gets more quiet and you can see tears sitting in the corners of her eyes, rolling out and down her cheeks with every blink. "I want them back..."

You quietly take her hand with your right and use your good hand to wipe the tears away, like your mother always does for you. You have to take her glasses off, first, though... and that stops Iron from crying. She just watches as you work, the cold look back completely. You can not even imagine how it must feel like to... not... feel. Or something like that. But that does not matter, it upsets Iron so it is not a good thing.

Now your fingers are wet, but you just wipe them off on your shirt and then pet the older girl's head. "It's okay, I'm sure they will come back. Maybe you just have to really remember them?"

Ludger whines quietly and nudges your hands a few times, then he snuggles closer to Iron. The girl herself only watches you with her mouth slightly opened. Then her lips tilt upwards... only the slightest bit, but it is enough. "You are very nice, Primordial Sun."

You smile back and hold out the glasses to her. "Can you just call me Sun?"
The primordial part sounds a little mean and Iron is a good person, so you like her. That is how things are done, right?

Going by how she is smiling again while taking the glasses, even for just a moment, it is. "I would like that."


An hour later, everyone is awake and you had breakfast. Iron has a lot of neat stuff hidden somewhere... you have no idea where she puts it, but it is great. She even somehow absorbed your dirty clothes so you do not have to push them back into the clean things!

Ignition Sentinel looks a little weird, though. She sits a bit away from everyone else and does not talk to anyone. You do not really have the chance to talk to her, though... once you noticed, the meal is basically over and the Mementos push a metal table around. "Alright then, let's see what we're going to do."

You all gather around it and Mirror unfolds a map of the world. Her black hair lies half on the table with how far she is leaning over it. Iron takes over the talking and everyone else just listens. "UES-presence nearby is scarce, only a few observers that were ordered not to engage us. We are free to leave, although there are a few complications."
"Such as?"

Mirror turns one of her red eyes to Judge and winks at her. "Such as two of us pretty girls wanting to go solo again."

Her words make Judge give her a second-long stare before she looks back at the map. "Yeah, that's about right. You mentioned that Igni's doing some special stuff, too."
"Correct. Additionally, we are getting reassigned."

"Wait, what?"

From how surprised Judge looks, you can guess that what Iron just said is unusual. Mirror taps her partner's shoulder and actually looks a little sheepish... her smile is a little wide and she does not meet Judge's eyes. "We got word that something's going down in Africa, something big. Knight wants us there to prepare a base for her, so this was actually our last run in Europe for a while. We're going back to pick up some stuff, then head out right for Africa. We... uh... we actually wanted to talk about that with you, too."

She looks away and at you. "I guess it was a lucky coincidence that you girls were around this time. Anyway..."

Mirror pauses while Judge eyes her with raised eyebrows, then she sighs. "I know you like being independent, but we can't help you out anymore. You probably should at least come closer to us, even if you don't want to join after all."

This sounds difficult, but... does that mean everyone is splitting up again? You rather ask just in case, maybe you can do something. "What does that mean?"

Eva watches the others and you can feel her being curious, too... but she leaves it to you. That is alright, you always do things that way. The older girls look at you with mixed faces, though. Judge and Mirror look at each other and Ignition Sentinel is still shifting awkwardly without saying anything.

Then Mirror answers you: "You see, girls... we have a weird situation right now. Judge doesn't stay with us for long, but we won't be able to come back for a while."

"Guess I'm taking Strength up on her offer", the blonde girl chimes in with a shrug. "So I'm going east..."

She groans and rubs her head while your face falls. You knew she would go away at some point, but already? You just met and... and who is going to look after you when she is not there? Iron is nice, but you have no real idea about the other two... and they are all Yggdrasil, so...

"...you're leaving?"
Eva's lip is quivering and you can tell this is no pouting. She likes Judge, too.
Then a small hand lands on her shoulder and Mirror gently smiles at her. "You don't need to worry that much. I've been a Magical Girl for a while... and there are very few bitches as tough as her... whoops, you didn't hear that."

She blushes for some reason while Judge snorts and laughs behind her hand. You just look at Eva and poke her with question, but she shrugs right back at you. So you turn back to Mirror with your curiousity awake. "What's a bitch?"

She groans some more and hides her head in her hands. Iron just tilts her head at that and then tells you: "One word for a female dog, although 'bitch' doubles as a swear word used to denounce other females."

"And," Judge chimes in before you can ask why Mirror insulted her, "sometimes people use it in a positive way. It depends on the people and the situation, really. And please, girls... don't try to do this, okay? You can get in trouble if you mix it up and insult someone without meaning to."

She gives you a hard stare and you nod slowly. Eva does the same before Mirror sighs and points at the map. "Anyway, our home is in America and we'll be traveling for a while to get there. Iron has some mobility somewhere in her scrapyard, so that's no problem."

"Alternatively," Ignition Sentinel adds from the side, "you could also fly back with me. That would be the faster route, although you probably want to take your dog... so you'd need to carry it somehow."

Huh.
"Think about it. We will break camp in a bit, you have a few minutes."

So you sit down with your dog on both of your laps. Eva tickles his little tail and you scratch his head while your thoughts go back and forth.

You like Iron and Mirror is... uh, nice. Ignition Sentinel always is by herself, even when all the older girls are discussing over the map. She stands a little to the side and still looks a bit off.

Maybe she would like to have some company?
But maybe she would rather be alone... and would you even get along?

Or... maybe Mirror and Iron would need the help more? From how they talked, they are far less good at fighting. If Brave Heart showed up again, the kitty-Magical Girl could just fly away after all.

Ugh, so complicated...

---

[] Go with Iron and Mirror
[] Fly with Ignition Sentinel

[] You have another idea (Write-in)

---

Time-Skip coming up! Decide on two things to do while you are not traveling!

[] Enjoy yourself and play when you can

[] Get to know your companion(s)

[] Work on your magic and make a new spell

[] Train to control your Spells better

[] Train hitting things with your weapons

[] Brush up on history; your traveling companion(s) should know more about what happened

[] Double Down (take the other option again)

[] Write-in


[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it


+5xp Into the Abyss
+10xp Unbalanced Reflection
+10xp Made the Emotionless Girl Smile (only Rico)
+2xp Learned a Swear Word

EXP gained: 17 + 27 = 44

(Unlocked Level 2 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Iron Memento)


By the way, before the shadowrunning starts: both routes will bring you to your goal without arbitrary drama. Even if you chose to fly with Igni, you will not just drop Ludger mid-flight or something like that.

There is a time for needless cruelty, and this is not it.