Magical Girl Quest - The Fire That Burns

Morgan POV

You raise an eyebrow at Cerys sudden statement. You aren't really that surprised that she decided now is the time for a break, she's been working hard for weeks, but you'll have to find time to remind her to run these decisions past you at least. Trying to organise some sort of workable schedule with the endless interruptions lately has been driving you mad, you should take the chance of relative peace to hammer something out with her, your previous schedule is basically irrelevant now.

She takes your musing silence as an agreement, turning her eyes to Sabina next, barely stopping on Daiyu who just nods. Hah, not that I expected much different. Cerys and Daiyu's relationship was... strange to say the least. The complete trust they seemed to have for each other and the comfortable skinship they seemed to share was just... odd. Not that there was anything wrong with it particularly, but when they met, they'd just clicked perfectly.

You push away the thoughts that always creep up onto you when you think about the Duo. Cerys is still my friend, she's just very busy. It's perfectly fine that Daiyu is so much better with her than me... Maybe if you repeat it enough times, you'll believe it too.

You let out a quiet sigh, making sure it goes unnoticed as you shuffle closer to your newest project. All it takes is a raised finger to coax Sabina from her playful sulking and she lets herself fall back against the sofa. "Yeah, fine, whatever." She clenches her fists and stretches her arms. "Where we going?

You resist the urge to sigh again. At least she's trying, kind of. You were pretty sure Sabina didn't want to do much of anything beyond learn magic, but at least she was trying to fit in properly, as awkward as her attempts were to you.

Cerys responds in that tone, sliding a pair of socks on as her voice sends tingles through you. "We're going shopping." That was... kind of out of character for her, she must have something planned. She continues with a softer voice. "Then we are going to visit the Belfast." Mmm? A little curious, but you'd find out sooner or later. Cerys slips a pair of combat boots on, new ones that you had slipped into her room, propping the door open before she turns back. "I need to deliver something to R&D, I'll be right back."

That makes your eyebrow raise again, but you don't say anything as you move to sit down next to Sabina. You'll find out whatever it is later, you had an idea to bounce off of James anyway.

Sabina turns a little awkwardly at your close presence on the sofa next to her, but doesn't say anything. At least she's stopped moving away from me now. You take control of the conversation without any real effort, Sabina isn't exactly easily manipulated, but given her recent shocks she seems a lot more malleable than you guess she normally would be. It's probably for the best that Cerys gave her some time to settle, even if it would be great if she was locked into the Clocktower. You promptly cut that line of thought short, before your mind wanders any further down paths it shouldn't.

"It's not that hard to affect sword or blades with magic, it will probably be easier for you, since your sword appears to be made of magic like Cerys." She tilts her head at your friends, name, obviously thinking hard about something.

"What magic does she use? Apart from her big thing." Mmm...

"She can control temperature somewhat, she uses that for fire and ice spells, apart from that she only has one other spell. A kind of binding spell." You see her tap her finger against her leg, digging the nail in slightly as a thought crosses her mind. Distraction go! "They both know how to fly." Her eyes flick back up to you. "I have no clue how they can fly, but they can. Maybe you can see if she can't teach you?"

You see her eyes flick down to her hand, where her sword was sitting in her palm and whenthefuckdidthatgetthere? You stifle your immediate reaction and watch her, she doesn't draw it, but you see her looking along the length and around her. Ok, ok... Just ignore that. "Thinking about using your sword in flight?"

She nods slowly, running a finger down the bladed side of the sheath. "Yes, I'm questioning how I would even use a sword while flying. It would be so much simpler to just stay on the ground, but flying gives you a lot of mobility..." Her words trail off her she begins delving into her thoughts, sooner or later, she would turn to you and ask every question that she could think of, she'd done it last night. Honestly, she's worse than Una is.

The door clicks open and Cerys steps through, looking perfectly ordinary. Nothing interesting happen then? She pats Una on the head as she skips over, shoes ready. "Will everyone be ready to go in fifteen minutes?" Nods all the way around, Cuifen was actually looking pretty exited now. She one of those shopping girls?


Ten minutes later, you set off. Cuifen rushed everyone onwards, smiling gleefully as she went. Definitely a shopping girl. You repress the urge to sigh before glancing over at Cerys. You are entirely unsurprised to find her quietly talking with Daiyu about something, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that they were just about leaning against each other as they walk. The sight of them garners some strange stares but most people mind their own business.

You look back to your own conversational partner, who was musing on something related to the validity of how you would fight in a skirt. Cuifen looks like your last bastion of sanity, before you see her scoop Una up, leg wobbling a bit before she steadies herself. She takes off skipping, pointing things out and letting Una explain them to her. Eeeeeeeeeee-

You promptly ignore the wide eyed look Sabina is giving you at nothing, you didn't make any noises, nope. Completely silent.

Stop looking at me like that, it's cute ok?


The only part of your group that needs new clothing is Sabina, not that you don't take the chance to look for something, and damn she is picky. Despite the fact that you insist that her transformation will store her clothes, she insists on finding something she can move freely in. You just about manage to steer her out of the boys section and towards the girls.

You nearly walk into her when she stops dead, staring to the side. You follow her eyes, landing on a short skirt, barely even upper thigh length. She snags the skirt and marches back towards the boys section. You follow her silently, curious about her choice, until she stops in front of a rack of shorts.

Oh no. You can practically feel the amused smile on Cerys face from here. Sabina is worse than she is. You step forwards to try and steer her towards more normal clothes, but she turns to you with pleading eyes, clearly practised a great deal in the past.

You sigh. "Fine." She smiles, peeling off towards the girls sections again, Cerys and her limpet following you with amused grins on their faces.

Her path through the sections confuses you, until she stops in front of a pair of long stockings, they would easily reach up under the skirt, as short as it was. What is she?

From behind, you hear Cerys take in a breath before speaking. "Are you trying to emulate your transformation?" The target of her scrutiny freezes, hand halfway towards the tights. She slowly pulls her hand back, not looking back as she lets out a quiet maybe. Cerys shares a look with Daiyu before turning back to Sabina. "There is nothing wrong with that, I like your transformed clothes. If you want, you should have Morgan look at them and custom order something." Daiyu whispers something in her ear and her lip quirks upwards. "Or, you could transform in a tailors and take it off, I'm sure she won't mind a better look."

This is new... but I approve. You watch as a flush of red creeps up Sabina's neck, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Aaaaand... "Well, I wouldn't mind." Bingo. The flush quickly spreads down into the t-shirt she's wearing and onto her face. And I thought Una was the teasing type, I suppose she must have gotten it from somewhere.

Sabina puffs up, pressing her cheeks together into a cute pout as she picks up the stockings. She takes only a few steps before she stops, staring down at the clothing in her hand. You can't see her face from this angle so you step to the side, catching a single tear rolling down her cheek before she rubs it away, shaking her head and clenching her fist.

You step next to her, gently clasping her fist and running a finger over it. "Do you need a minute?" She hesitates for second before shaking her head again, clearing her throat sharply and nodding at you.

"Sorry I just-" She stops as she stares down at her hand. She gently loosens her fist, letting the fabric slide through her fingers as you move hold her hand. "This-" She closes her eyes, biting her lip before she speaks. "The last time I spoke to my mother before she died was when we were shopping." She takes a long, steadying breath. "She kept trying to convince me to buy a pair of stockings, she said they would look great on me." Her mouth quirks to the side, a single tear escaping despite her best efforts. "I guess she was right after all."

You take a long breath before you speak, taking in her soft fragrance as you close your hand around hers. Mmm, she smells like sword oil. The thought comes out of nowhere, but it isn't wrong. Like oil and steel.

You catch sight of the other pair quietly stepping away, moving a little sombrely as they leave the two of you alone. You take the chance to step a little closer, wrapping your other arm around her shoulder and letting her set her face against your chest. God she's tiny. You lean down to her ear and whisper "You can cry if you want, you're safe here."

The tense lines of muscle in her back loosen somewhat as she pushes herself into your embrace. She doesn't cry, but you can feel her shake as she grips you tightly, enough that you use the tiniest lick of magic to stop her from crushing your hand.

Neither of you say anything for the longest time, but you occasionally see Cerys divert people away from your corner of the store and make a mental note that you really need to thank her later. How does Pasta Bolognaise for dinner sound? Extra ketchup.

Eventually, you feel her pull away from you, reluctantly letting go of her hand as she straightens up. She looks at the creased legging, still held in her hand and slowly nods. "Alright." She steps back from you. "I'm-" She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Thank you."

You smile down at her with the gentlest smile you can muster, tenderly brushing a bang out of her face, where it stuck when she hugged you. "It's fine, I'll always be around if you want to talk, ok?" She nods at you as the two of you make your way to the front of the store, the others waiting for you outside once Sabina buys the clothing. I've got some spares I can give her, at least until we come back. She only actually bought those. Her forgetfulness here was entirely excusable.

Cerys nods at you as you walk outside, Una firmly seated on her shoulders, Cuifen tiredly leaning against a bannister nearby. She wear you out huh? "We're ready to go to the Belfast, we were planning on eating at..." She turns her head upwards to Una, who looks down at you with a wide smile. "Home! I want your food!"

You smile back at her and nod, taking in the bag of books dangling from Cerys hand. When did you have time for that I wonder? Cuifen maybe.


You blink as you stare up at the towering form of the HMS Belfast.

You are...
[] Morgan
[] Cerys
[] Daiyu
[] Cuifen
[] Una
[] HMS Belfast