Joy and VV merged during this part. They did so because Grey was reveling to VV that he knew she was an avatar and while merged they are presumably stronger and in tune with each other which would make them ready for the assumed dangers of their secret being revealed.
I idly wondered if I might be able to ask the Rainbows what in nacht's name was going on there. Given how often Sunflower and Azure played with their surroundings, they clearly knew some esoteric trivia regarding how human vision worked. Maybe I would get to ask if this coup attempt worked out.
I couldn't make out the exact word, but I heard someone unseen utter something in the tones of a curse. Our escort was doing quite a good job of staying unseen, apparently. Or had been doing a good job until they presumably lost a bet.
Heh. Curses, foiled again. And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for my loudmouthed boss!
...don't tell her I said that! No, I see that look, don't. She'll make me her next shoe ornament!
*haggling intensifies as the betting ring adjusts to its new reality and that poor guy has to bow and scrape to keep his skin intact against a threat he doesn't realize is imagined*
"The more power exerted by born gods in cooperation with their hosts," Gray resumed, "the more that reality will struggle to accommodate them. Their voices will echo in the ears of those they wish to hear them, regardless of distance, yet only in the ears of those individuals."
I struggled to keep a straight face instead of cringing. I could feel Joy sharing my sheepish sentiment.
"They will seem more real than the world around them to such an extent that they can be seen even in the deepest darkness or most blinding of light."
Gray's gaze did not do anything as revealing as letting his gaze settle on Us. That did not stop Us from feeling as though he was giving Us a pointed look.
Crimson's gaze flicked to Us, and — did not move on. She continued staring even after We met her gaze, and even started to smile. Given the conversational context, We did not at all care for the potential reasons behind her scrutiny.
Heh. Feel the thirst, Versatile. Live up to your name!
...no, not your darkname, you twit, your original one. You know, Eskarne aka Mercy? Resurrect that dead romance in your cold and blackened heart! HEROES NEVER DIE...for a price.
Heh. Nice dodge, Crimson. If only your teammates had noticed how often you compare her to the divine and, you know, thought about that for a few minutes without assuming it was the thirst speaking.
No, Gray. No you did not. You sly dog, did your family give you classes on how to keep nobility happy while you watch their backs? Because you should start ignoring those lessons, this one's not noble in any way shape or form and doesn't really want to be.
It's from those smash or pass things people do. I think people used to call it 'Would you hit it?' (or maybe that was simply a different take on the same thing) and from there we got a new slang word.
See I thought it was a pun on "wood," which made considerably less sense. But it was either that or the geass acting up again and that made even less sense given her relatively calm demeanor.
It's basically "Yes, I would fuck it", but comedically compressed for exactly the reasons that Crimson is using it here - getting it out faster is more unexpected and therefore funnier.
It's basically "Yes, I would fuck it", but comedically compressed for exactly the reasons that Crimson is using it here - getting it out faster is more unexpected and therefore funnier.
Wheels within wheels. "Are you an angel," indeed, Crimson. I would criticize your obviously flawed moral standpoint if I didn't 110% understand your struggle and agree with basically everything you stand for.
Oh my g-d. I love VV freaking out at the mistaken concluaion that Crimson is also an Avatar - while Crimson, pervert that she is, is probably thinking something along the lines of: "Wow, that's so hot! I'm completely powerless to resist your advances~ I'm all yours, you could do anything~ you~ want~❤️"
Similarly, Joy insisted that the Rainbows always stayed the same color, yet to mortal eyes, the colors of their uniforms would seem to change depending on the colors near them. Not to blend in, as might be sensible, but to stand out; their clothes would look brighter in Curtained regions, yet somehow darker in sunlit areas.
Honestly, part of me wonders if the MG super-luck that all seven share is because Joy just now decided she likes them and ate (or will have eaten in the future) all the bad luck/mishaps/"dark destinies" that would prevent this from happening.
Could also be that they needed to be alive to keep V.V. from dieing, and there luck is collateral damage, or considering the issues of differentiation are just getting some form of bleed-over
I think that's more that when Joy insists that their clothes stay exactly the same color she really means it. They don't change color with the lighting conditions, so it gets optical illusioned into you thinking it's brighter in darker areas because you're accounting for poor lighting that (as far as the clothes are concerned) doesn't exist.
Not after the (former) core Rainbows forgot that the world didn't revolve around them, and therefore failed to discuss their plans anyone outside their small group.
Abyss, half the 'insane' punishments issued by past gods made much more sense if one was willing to accept that they had not, in fact, been punishments, but mistakes that their pride demanded they try to justify.
"Further signs vary by pair. Perhaps they might manifest temporary wings and an armored shell. Perhaps they might turn into living fire, a shifting mass of tentacles, or even a swirling vortex of aether. Regardless, they were often slow to settle and split back into two distinct entities."
"Would," Crimson said, but did not follow with any sort of question.
"Honestly," I huffed. "You've fought me. Why would you be wary of one little gorehorse? They're perfectly sweet babies when you treat them right."
The Rainbows looked back incredulously before collectively turning to a newly-arriving Gray. He met their gaze, shrugged helplessly, and glanced at the gorehorse affectionately demanding further attention via gentle nuzzling.
"In hindsight, that really should have been a warning sign," Gray muttered.
That you needed a heart to breathe, a stomach to digest, a soul to feel? Unless Magenta's breeding program also managed to imbue you with knowledge, I sincerely doubt the answer is 'yes.'"
Having magical princess animal friendship is cute and non-threatening if there's only rabbits and doves. It's less so when we're talking about shadowy murderbeasts.
It becomes non-threatening again if you're already way scarier, just kind of confusing and a little cute.
Technically speaking, you do, if by breathing you mean supplying oxygen to your cells. And that isn't even just a pointless technicality, since people also say amphibians breath through their skins.
...I mean, he would be a complete fool to not support you. He knows that he's already on good terms with you, and you with him, he clearly appreciates your power, he also knows that you're pretty competent and good and working stealthily... either he continues being your trusted close subordinate and either a friend or one of the closest you have to one, safe in your shadow and perhaps with him and his family riding your wake to the heights of power, orrr he tries turning on you, presumably making you very upset with him over the betrayal and being a priority target of yours for strategic reasons.
Option A: Gain safety and quite possible great wealth and power by upholding the Power of Friendship with someone you already like
Option B: Via carrying out a betrayal, almost certainly become Very Dead, probably in the process setting up more trouble for your family
Not really the most mindbendingly difficult choice, there. I mean, granted, many of the nobles in the Shaded Empire probably would pick Option B, from the sound of it, but she knows Gray better than that.
(Oh, just to be clear, I'm not criticizing the story; I'm still enjoying that, and thank you for writing! And I do think this makes sense, because, well, failsafe paranoia's kept the two of them alive and in good standing so far. Not too surprising they'd still default to it even in this case.)
(Oh, just to be clear, I'm not criticizing the story; I'm still enjoying that, and thank you for writing! And I do think this makes sense, because, well, failsafe paranoia's kept the two of them alive and in good standing so far. Not too surprising they'd still default to it even in this case.)
No worries! I actually really like it when people mention possible motivations and such; I consider it to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the Unreliable Narrator medium.
Yeah, there's a bunch of reasons why they might not have reacted as strongly as expected.
This might just be someone covering their ass after stealing the maintenance budget for the dam.
As reprehensible as it is, it's still an attack on fortified target. It wasn't declared an open city or something.
If you're at european medieval level population, that's a lot. Compared to the casualties of industrialised nation-stated fighting a a war of survival, it's really not.
To be fair to her it took her until this very chapter for her to consider that maybe this whole claiming her rightful throne could end in anything but abject failure and her untimely demise, I think she of all people would understand someone siding with the empire over her. It's a pessimistic but still somewhat reasonable outlook.
Also, and this is a bit of a reach, she has been hiding her avatar status her whole life so someone who accidentally learns about it might ask themselves "How far would she go to keep it secret?" and then start thinking about double crossing her before she can solve the problem with her trademark Versatile Violence. And while Gray clearly hinted that disappearing the recall order looked unmistakably like the work of a fused avatar that doesn't mean it looked like she revealed herself deliberately. It's a paranoid and overthinking but still somewhat reasonable outlook.
(This wordy post brought to you by my reluctance to use pronouns.)
Fascinating. Even in the midst of a girl faking being in touch with a goddess and the girl who really has been the entire time, Crimsom still manages to be the biggest disaster.
Not after the (former) core Rainbows forgot that the world didn't revolve around them, and therefore failed to discuss their plans anyone outside their small group.
Thinking more in this, perhaps it's one part them just being dumb teens, but I suspect that a large, if not overwhelming portion is that they simply don't identify with the RRR. Magenta doesn't tell them much of anything, and they're basically just pointed at the Empire. The forces are traumatized by a lifetime under a tyranny and don't like to speak to them, tell them anything or help them; they're essentially quite isolated from the rest of the army, it seems at least somewhat intentionally. Which might have its benefits for Magenta and the RRR, but it does have the flaw that they don't feel any real personal loyalty to the cause, and if someone (VV) comes up to them and takes apart the reasoning they do use, when Magenta isn't even around to push back, well. Suddenly this unit that has had a distinct sense of distance from the rest of the army, which fight for ideological reasons and not much sense of comraderie, when given a route that feels more likely to accomplish those goals, is likely to just take it. Because they've never really been part of the revolution.
Crimson's gaze flicked to Us, and — did not move on. She continued staring even after We met her gaze, and even started to smile. Given the conversational context, We did not at all care for the potential reasons behind her scrutiny.
Why are you looking at Us? We internally panicked, already rattled by Gray's pointed hints.
A horrifying thought struck and stuck like a burr. Crimson couldn't be a born avatar herself, right? Right? Oh, nooooo, I fretted, splitting from Joy's intense curiosity.
A terrible sense of foreboding settled over me.
... 'Unless her goddess is a real jerk, I am fully supportive of this courtship!' Joy said brightly.
Crimson didn't know if that particular revelation was why Violence's power now more closely resembled a satisfied celestial cat sprawled across the sky, but something had put it in a good mood. Even the sensation of serrated teeth had been replaced by something closer to a cat's sandpaper tongue: still uncomfortable, but in a friendly way
"Little Bird, caught between celestial paws - there's no escape, nowhere to run, no squeaking will alert the mice around you!"
- Crimson's delusions about the [Thing Maybe Goddess] she's witnessing around her crush
Crimson being the only one that knows how fights with VV are constantly, eternally edging closer to her and her friends' total annihilated doom, but she's bound by silence, forced to witness to alternating aura of relentless domination and destruction, constrained only by VV's immense personal self-control and restraint.
Crimson instantly loses the second she must face her crush, because she knows in her mind that it's a no-win situation, her life was already in VV's hands from the moment they engaged.
She might even be... getting acclimated to such a dynamic.
Crimson had been in trouble after the very first time that Violence loomed over her, rapier jammed into the ground beside Crimson's throat, and demanded that Crimson surrender. Like. If they'd been in a more harmless social situation rather than combat, Crimson totally would have.
... (Obviously, this did not stop Crimson's imagination from conjuring completely unrealistic scenarios related to the latter.)
"So, out of curiosity," Crimson started, then stopped.
...
"Born gods wouldn't happen to drive people insane through mere proximity, would they?" Crimson said, face smoothing to reflect none of the obvious displeasure of moments before.
With her geas applied, the only question she can get out is... delightfully relevant to her personal struggle with [Oh no, she's hot] while still being thematic for her teammates' ruse
"Not inherently, no," he answered.
...
"It could be argued that they drove their lovers mad, however. Attempting to court an avatar and not their god — or, rarely, vice-versa — is a venture that seldom ended well. Shared interest could be just as dangerous: a mortal drawing the gaze of a born goddess and her avatar could not safely refuse any advances even should they wish to leave
The answer is just PEAK at making it even better. And with Grey knowing, it's just chef's kiss.
But as Crimson is thinking that over... eyes glazed as those words match with her already-barely suppressed fantasies, terrified rigid and unable to even move as she [w i t n e s s e s]...
VV is Staring at her, gaze boring into her soul and judging it under the weight of Their combined attentions.
Seemingly encouraged by my meeting her gaze, Crimson's smile brightened. Any hope that I might be misinterpreting her behavior vanished when she outright batted her eyes at me.
Oh yeah, Crimson's still hella into it. The gears in her head only ground for a bit before reaching that conclusion.
Questioning her life choices indeed, but still Would.
After all, what exactly about her situation changes except now her increasingly maddening fantasies might actually manifest some satisfaction along with the already-present "not being able to safely refuse potential advances engage in their fated combat" aspect.
Bravo.
Now everything VV is wary of about Crimson's totally-yup-definitely 'goddess' will make VV more and more guarded and protected via Joy, and thus acts more and more powerful and terrifying when she feels she needs to 'rebuff the [Interested] goddess' (anytime Crimson flirts) from 'getting carried away' and having 'defend' against any attempts to 'control' her... all without actually revealing her [TRUE POWER]
Meanwhile Crimson gets overwhelmed by VV (she doesn't actually have goddess support, she's completely paralyzed and frozen stiff) anytime she flirts with VV (and loves it, as a result, even if it's really bad for her heart).
But All VV sees is Crimson and her 'goddess' freezing up wide-eyed stares with 'interest' and 'attention' thinly-veiled while then 'backing off' (VV thinks 'Wow, I really have to keep up my guard, her predations are so blatant and frequent!').
But Crimson, of course, keeps flirting because the reaction is only encouraging her, yet she cannot speak aloud her situation.
The rest of the Rainbows Prism just see Crimson flirting dangerously, all the time with VV, and VV 'flirting back' heavily - to their immense shock, and mild distaste at how blatantly their useless lesbian Crimson is enjoying getting terrified into submission by scary wargoddess mode.
Not ever realizing that the said scary war-goddess' moniker is closer to truth than they know.
(more internal screaming for Crimson)
Anyway, they're gonna be so sick of the disgustingly heavy and sickeningly spicy unresolved sexual tension, constant flirting between the too-scary-to-reprimand VV and the its-not-worth-encouraging-her Crimson, now added atop everything else to the group. And they won't even KNOW how it really is. And can't really SAY anything either, leaving no openings for easily resolving the tension.
Absolute Word-Cinema.
Studious Sunflower eyed the monochrome interior of their current carriage and wished that it would be socially acceptable to set surrounding upholstery ablaze. She had grown used to some odd side effects from her powers, but having the impression that the black cushions wanted to eat her was a new one.
Or it might just be the aura of the evil horse outside, Sunflower gloomily acknowledged.
Honestly, she was feeling more and more regret with every passing minute. It had been bad enough when they thought Azure was imitating someone possessed by an olympian-style god. Hearing that some avatars could casually destroy the world if their gods were so inclined quite neatly demonstrated the sheer depth of the Rainbows' folly — and, at the same time, explained why the whole 'instant heir to the throne' law existed in the first place. It was best to appease the potential world-killer, right?
In Sunflower's opinion, there was absolutely no way that they were going to escape this campaign without fighting what sounded an awful lot like abominable elder gods. Except, explicitly without any of the presumed maturity of those entities, because apparently they were as old as their hosts.
Oh, good grief, Sunflower internally sighed. We're going to have to fight a literal five-year-old, won't we? One without any friends.
"Alright," Aquamarine started off. "So. Standing right outside that door, we have a homicidal hellhorse smart enough to only give us the death glare when Violet's back is turned, and otherwise pretends to be a perfect little angel. Not gonna lie, that was actually pretty funny now that I look back on it. Still, I think that means Versatile Violence is either a friend to all animals, or a horse girl. I don't know why this surprises me."
"I wanted to be the animal whisperer," Thyme pouted. "Instead, the best I can do is bribe them with berries. I demand a trade-in."
"Did anyone else notice how dramatically her behavior shifted, though?" Sunflower asked quietly. "And I don't just mean her getting flustered–"
"Which made my day," Aquamarine interrupted, giving Crimson a thumbs-up. "Ten out of ten, did not expect her to just straight up start boiling in the middle of the road."
Crimson bounced in her seat and grinned. Sunflower tried to suppress her annoyance at being interrupted. Aquamarine had a bad habit of blundering her way into conversations, but Aqua at least wasn't a hypocrite about being interrupted as well. She just didn't really seem to grasp how rude it was.
"Right?" Crimson gushes. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe she didn't just brush me off! I expected her to be stern, not tsun. I usually hate that trope!"
Sunflower sighed and shook her head. As always, the others seemed to forget that Topaz didn't share the same vocabulary as the rest of them, or that Sunflower also missed half the words they sometimes spouted. Directly explaining vocabulary to Topaz was an often-necessary compromise, but doing so still made Topaz uncomfortable. Studious Sunflower tried to instead include hints to meanings when she could manage it.
"Calling her tsundere is kind of reductive," Sunflower disagreed. "We have two people who pretty much swap confidence levels depending on whether or not we're in a safe place–"
She nodded at Thyme and Topaz.
"–and we've only ever seen V.V. from the other side of tense situations. It isn't strange for her to act 'cuter' when she's more relaxed and hostile the rest of the time."
Crimson deflated and transitioned from bouncing in her seat to bouncing her right leg. Topaz seemed to understand the new term, though, so Sunflower would take that as a win.
"I know, I know," Crimson grumbled. "Sorry. It's just nice to elicit a reaction that wasn't totally negative, you know?"
Sunflower did indeed know. Although they remained in too much danger to add the inevitable complications inherent to new romantic relationships, that didn't mean Sunflower hadn't tested the waters. Just little compliments here and there that could be interpreted as flirty or platonic, but could also be easily shrugged off if they didn't want to interpret Sunflower's words as flirting.
Thus far, literally every single one of Sunflower's teammates — except Magenta, who was a fake color and far too old for Sunflower — had proved receptive. Even Topaz had been happy until she thought too hard about her own reaction and retreated back into the closet. Hopefully, Thyme's little lecture about polyamory would help Topaz relax over time; Sunflower would certainly be painfully overthinking matters if she had to try to 'choose' between five girls she wanted to spend her life with.
"I get that," Sunflower acknowledged. "What I meant was that brief bit with the horse. Violet was acting a little hostile toward us, which is normal — but she pouted and cooed over it, which very much is not. I suspect that such behavior would, in fact, be rather dangerous for an Imperial captain."
"She flipped from the p-perfect soldier t-to glaring at all of us," Azure agreed quietly. "A 'p-princess' included. She — mostly hasn't been, since the r-reveal, and I thought it was nice. I d-don't think we can j-just d-dismiss—ugh.Dismiss her b-behavior as b-being — away from c-combat. Any other ideas…?"
"Not a different idea, but, um. I do agree?" Topaz ventured. "This is an empire run by literal villains. I, um. Don't think it's very likely that she hasn't seen plenty of animals harmed at the hands of those who could execute her on a whim."
Sunflower winced and quietly sighed. Sunflower really did just wish that she could hole up in a library and live up to the name of Studious Sunflower. There was a whole new world here, one that undoubtedly had its own collections of folklore and fiction, and Sunflower couldn't even take the time to read any books at all. It had initially felt like cheating, to be able to sample another culture's writing without first needing to learn the language. It had been foolish of her to assume that a second world would be any more willing to let her retreat from reality than the first one.
"She could be religious?" Thyme proposed. "Like, here we have someone who is desperately trying her best to fight for an uncaring empire across multiple months, apparently aware that the consequence for failure is death. Anyone would grow despondent from that. Then we show up with a divine excuse and effective permission to throw away any oaths she might have sworn — oh, and agreeing with her not to commit what's sounding an awful lot like literal genocide. Like. Seriously, Magentism, what the fu–?"
Aquamarine coughed loudly, undoubtedly saving them from needing this ridiculous world to interrupt Thyme in a less pleasant way. She wrinkled her nose and directed an odd look at Crimson.
"Actually, is it even ethical to pursue Violet right now?" Aquamarine questioned. "I don't want to be a killjoy, but you're basically one of her commanding officers; as far as she knows, you can just ask Azure for anything and Azure would agree. That's a bit of a perverse incentive encouraging her to quietly go along with whatever you want, isn't it?"
Sunflower side-eyed Crimson and found herself agreeing with Aquamarine, albeit for mostly different reasons. Sunflower wondered if her smitten teammate had truly thought her plans through. Sunflower didn't understand the attraction to someone that had repeatedly tried to kill them, but sure, whatever. She could overlook that, and already knew that other people cared more about appearance than Sunflower did.
The glaring part was how Versatile Violence was very much a native of the Shaded Realm, and almost certainly wouldn't want to move to Earth. Long-distance relationships were hard enough when they didn't cross dimensions. A long-distance relationship with someone possessing a medieval education and potentially matching values? No pretty face could excuse that, in Sunflower's opinion.
Admittedly, Sunflower suspected that there might actually be magic back on Earth after all; a cross-dimensional relationship might not be an inherently doomed venture. There were plenty of little hints, ranging from all four times where 'bioluminescent microorganisms' infested and devoured offshore oil spills, to the wealthy families with members who looked suspiciously identical to their 'ancestors,' to the titanic stone throne explorers found buried in arctic ice.
Back on Earth, they'd seemed like been charming coincidences. Quirks of biology, genetics, and geology, respectively. Now that Sunflower knew magic was real, though, those 'coincidences' stank of conspiracy.
An even more egregious hint, in Sunflower's opinion, was how Crimson kept trying to deflate their expectations of what it would be like to have magic back on Earth.
"We should be careful to keep our abilities a secret," Crimson had said. "We all know how governments like to seize and exploit new sources of power."
"We can probably deflect bullets with our faces, yeah. I bet it'll bruise, we still need to breathe, and materials science can probably make unreasonably strong capture netting."
"Given how many shows feature Magical Girls and heroic summonings, I bet that we'll be far from the first to return home with new magic. Oh, and can't forget the recurring, 'find a magical artifact in Grandma's old stuff!'"
"I think it's pretty suspicious how vampire stories went from 'will literally eat you' to 'whitewashed sparkly vegetarian propaganda' as the centuries passed."
"I'd rather find some way to open a discreet pathway rather than a one-way trip. Earth is not a kind world."
And, most glaring of all, how Crimson's face would tighten whenever the topic of fairies came up. She never said anything of substance about them, yet such an omission might as well have been a blaring klaxon that not all was well in the nation of Dunemark.
...Especially because if the fey truly were fantasy, Crimson would totally be audibly fantasizing about them during relevant discussions. Sunflower knew well how Crimson's brain worked by now, thank you very much.
"Violet did start acting a little 'girlier' right after you tried to flirt with her," Thyme reluctantly agreed. "Maybe that's how she thinks a lady should act when she's being courted — or, since I can't see that matching an Imperial lady, how she thinks we want a lady to act. She also acted kinda spooked when Aquamarine invited her in.
"Her avoidance could just be trying to avoid the perception of being thought a traitor," Thyme continued, "but it's still… ugh. I don't know how to put this. She's not in a good situation, okay? She doesn't seem to realize what dysfunctional, backstabbing disasters her superiors are, but those superiors still cheerfully kill people for the slightest misstep, and she definitely knows that much. Like, I'm not saying don't pursue her at all, but maybe ease up a bit until she's not in danger?"
Crimson nibbled on her own lip and switched to bumping her knees together, visibly torn. She opened her mouth — and then stopped, face flipping through the twisting-smoothing cycle that Sunflower had come to recognize as the product of information suppression. Sunflower felt adrenaline shoot through her body and promptly paid far more attention to Crimson's attempts at acting.
In the age of the Internet, people often said that magic and myths couldn't be real. That someone would share such secrets simply for clout. Such quirks of human nature, combined with the prevalence of phone cameras, made it seem exceedingly unlikely that any sort of masquerade could possibly stay intact.
But what if, as Crimson was demonstrating, people couldn't undo the masquerade? What if there was some sort of massive spell to ensure that people didn't have any choice in whether or not to keep their mouths shut? Even what few hints Crimson had dropped might only be possible because they weren't on Earth anymore. If so, this might be the only opportunity for the Rainbows to study and break such a curse before they, too, returned to Earth and were bound by it.
If Crimson's curse was acting up now, when the subject wasn't at all similar to fairies or magic, then Sunflower could only guess at some sort of self-defense mechanism. Crimson wasn't anywhere near heartless enough to pursue a relationship with Violet just to have her curse broken, but that possibility might push the timing forward. Crimson couldn't know that Sunflower was quietly trying to find a way to free her, too.
"I'm kind of willing to have my heart broken if it makes her feel safer," Crimson said slowly. "I'll try not to pressure her, okay? She noticed my interest, so I guess I'll just — leave her be for now, I guess."
Crimson closed her eyes, stilled her fidgeting, and took a deep breath. Her legs inevitably resumed their movement a few seconds after Crimson reopened her eyes, of course, but it was the thought that counted.
"I really don't think she was acting 'girly' just because I flirted with her," Crimson said carefully. "If she was acting that way out of self-preservation, she wouldn't have glared at Azure, right? I think V.V. just really likes gorehorses, and at least that one seems to like her enough to pretend at being a docile baby until her back is turned. Going by Gray's resignation, I somehow doubt that's an anomaly."
Crimson hesitated, then started to slowly frown.
"Then again," Crimson said uncertainly, "if I don't follow up, maybe she'll think I was just playing with her? I'm sure there are nobles who do that kind of thing. Just — ugh. I don't know how to put this, and I'm not saying any of you are wrong. But I think that she's safer than we are, now, and knows it; hasn't Violet repeatedly told us that? Besides, she can always just offer us up on a silver platter to save her own skin. I don't think she would, but it's an option."
Sunflower really, truly hated the people responsible for an enchantment so intrusive that it was interfering with Crimson's potential love life. She didn't think Crimson would brush off their ethical concerns unless she had a good reason to think all would be well, but apparently, Crimson couldn't just say why she thought it would be fine. Sunflower couldn't even tell if any relationship damage resulting from blatantly half-baked explanations was a deliberate part of the enchantment or not, but she was leaning toward very much so. After all, what better way was there to avoid spreading knowledge than by isolating the people possessing it?
"…Just to be sure, you aren't trying to seduce her to our side, right?" Aquamarine said skeptically.
"No!" Crimson burst out, shaking her head frantically. "I just–"
Crimson lapsed into silence once more, and Sunflower felt hate flare. At this point, Sunflower had every damned intention of breaking Earth's secrecy enchantment and spreading magic as soon as she could.
Sunflower didn't believe that knowledge deserved to be free, and would accept that sharing magic widely might well lead to mass suffering. However, she trusted the general public far more than she trusted preexisting power monopolies. Anyone who said the populace shouldn't be trusted with power could not themselves be trusted with power, to say nothing of what they'd done to Crimson.
If Sunflower's guess was right, and there's truly was some grand enchantment protecting magic from public knowledge, Sunflower would find that spell's anchor and fire it into the Sun. Crimson's blatant suffering demanded nothing less.
"Let's move on, okay?" Sunflower proposed. "Love is complicated, and now that we've raised the issue, I think we can all agree that Crimson would agonize over ethical concerns far more than we ever would."
A murmur of agreement met Sunflower's offered lifeline; none of them liked arguing with each other. Crimson let out an explosive breath of relief and shot Sunflower a grateful look. Sunflower winced and once again wondered if she was making the right call by not telling everyone about Crimson's curse. Sunflower had heard too many tales of curses with terrible consequences should they be discovered, but she didn't know Crimson's curse acted like that. The consequences of speaking up might be awful, but the consequences of staying silent were also agonizing.
Maybe Sunflower could find a way to discreetly tell the others without letting Crimson know that they knew. The hard part had always been how Azure was the only one of them capable of soundproofing an area, and Azure was the person Sunflower trusted least with trying to keep secrets. Sunflower truly loved Azure, but convincing Azure that they wouldn't hate her at the drop of a hat had taken ages. Sunflower didn't want to introduce secret-keeping into that mess.
"So, uh, I guess we're going with plan 'Disorder Exacerbation?'" Aquamarine said awkwardly.
Sunflower did wish that 'chronic backstabbing disorder' wasn't going to end up being their best chance of victory. Magenta's original plan had been to siege the Spired City and wait for the nobles to start violently insisting that everyone else go first. That she thought this method would work with a minimum of bloodshed really did say terrible things about the state of the Shaded Empire. Or, possibly, Magenta herself; Sunflower felt increasingly disillusioned with their former mentor with every passing hour. Magenta's siege plan might have been just another palatable lie.
"I think we need more information," Sunflower said bluntly. "Our plan was based on things Magenta told us, and she's — not reliable."
"Gray would definitely be willing to help us if we asked," Crimson immediately agreed. "He has to be at least somewhat politically savvy to avoid being promoted or demoted despite how many times we beat his bosses."
"…Which might also be encouragement to sabotage our efforts with misinformation," Aquamarine disagreed.
"At a risk of encouraging any teacher fetishes Crimson might harbor," Thyme said blandly, "might I propose asking, y'know, the seventh member of our team? Sure, let her bring a chaperone if she wants to avoid the perception of conspiracy, but her avoidance of us is just going to end badly. We need her support too much."
There was a small pause while the Rainbows presumably struggled with the idea of trusting the woman who had spent months trying to kill them. They all agreed she was almost certainly Violet, but she was also a Dark Magical Girl. Bringing them to the side of the light was always difficult, and seldom without hiccups.
"We d-do have to t-trust her eventually," Azure hesitantly pointed out.
And that was the big issue, wasn't it? They had to put their faith in someone whom they merely suspected was Violet. They didn't–
"Horse girl," Aquamarine said simply.
The entire team simultaneously relaxed. Sunflower found it incredibly disturbing how reassuring those two words were. Seriously, Violet had to be a Magical Girl with all the evidence arrayed against her.
"Who also arrived late to our parley with toast in her mouth," Thyme added, grinning.
Now I just feel silly for worrying. This world couldn't be more blatant if it tried—no, wait, please don't take that as tempting fate!
"Anyone have any objections to me heading up, then?" Aquamarine asked rhetorically. "Nobody? Azure, it's fine if I break the soundproof—okay, good."
Aquamarine scooted toward the exit, flipped its deadbolt, and pushed the door open. Flickers of movement on the far side had half the team tensing and holding out their hands in preparation for summoning weapons. However, they were not greeted with the conventional jumpscare that they more than half expected.
That was not to say that the far side of the doorway did not contain something scary. Specifically, two black-haired, grey-skinned, and red-eyed identical twins wearing matching black and red maid uniforms. Sunflower immediately found herself distracted by the style. She knew it wasn't healthy to question everything she saw, but seriously, how recent was the stereotypical 'frilly French maid' uniform? What kind of cultural bleedover was at work here, and how badly did it infringe upon free will? Was it simply some sort of seers getting glimpses of Earth and acting upon those, or was it something far less innocuous?
""Good afternoon, your highness!"" the two twins said in eerie synchronicity, dipping into perfectly mirrored curtsies.
Thyme feigned a cough to conceal laughter. Aquamarine slumped and sighed. The rest of them could only stare as the consequences of their actions sunk in.
"Haven't you two tried to stab us before?" Aquamarine asked rhetorically.
Of course there are twin murder maids, Sunflower thought, resigned.
Sunflower didn't know if the fate-like force influencing their lives was a side effect of being Magical Girls, or just a product of the Shaded Realm. Either way, it never ceased to be exasperating.
"That is indeed part of the reason we have been assigned to Her Royal Highness," agreed the left twin.
"It would be somewhat embarrassing for a crown princess to need to defend herself," supplemented the right.
"Furthermore, there is too much all of you need to learn–" the left twin started.
"–and it is frankly impossible to teach you all of it," finished the right twin.
"Not even by splitting you into pairs and covering different material."
"As such, my sister, Gloom–" said the right maid.
"–and my sister, Doom–" continued the left.
"–shall be compensating for much of the material that you cannot possibly learn in time," Doom finished.
Sunflower closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands. Maybe if she wasn't looking, their gimmick wouldn't bother her so much. Even their voices sounded eerily identical.
"Lady Nightshade, Lady Wisteria, and Lady Draining Dread are currently ensuring that you will have adequate supplies for upcoming lessons."
"In the meantime, we intend to start you on some of the more flagrant behavioral breaches."
"–Never assume that other people are telling the truth about who sent them."
"Incidentally, we do have sealed letters of introduction available for your perusal."
"However, as we are quite confident you do not know how to recognize improperly calibrated seals–"
"–we intend to use them as our first examples in what Lieutenant Gray's seal is supposed to look like."
"Including the small-scale phenomenon produced when a seal is broken by an umbral injection."
""We sincerely hope that your memories are adequate,"" the two said together, ""or else this is going to be a very painful series of lessons!""
"Oh, well," Crimson muttered. "Guess I'll die."
Thyme, Aquamarine, and Azure all produced wordless noises of agreement.
On the bright side, half these noble houses won't exist next year, Sunflower thought spitefully.
༻VersatileViolence༺
In the span of about three hours, I went from trying to engage the Rainbows almost whenever possible, to trying to avoid them as much as I could. Which, as it happened, was quite a bit. I had a legitimate excuse to let others handle them, while Doom and Gloom took pride in their ability to seize and keep the attention of others. Even if the twins usually distracted foes, being assigned to combined bodyguard and tutoring duty posed no special challenge.
I expected their mild addiction might pose problems once we were in the Spired City proper, where servants were expected to be silent and decorative. In the meantime, they were quite happy to monopolize the attention of individuals who previously viewed them as little more than person-shaped pointy obstacles on the battlefield.
With the Rainbows occupied, I thought myself safe. I believed I could work out how to handle Gray's new knowledge. I assumed that I would have time to consider the consequences of a second avatar who apparently decided that the woman trying to murder her was worth romantically pursuing!
Silly me. Oh, I had time, but there was no running from the cheerful voice in my head.
'Really, I keep telling you that you're perfect!' Joy tried to encourage me. 'It's nice that someone else now recognizes this!'
My body remained almost completely still in long-honed imitation of a stalwart sentinel. My mind, in contrast, felt like it had been seized, shaken, and dumped in a public b—in a sauna. Why did Crimson have to choose right then to flirt with me? Why try at all when we were about to go into a supremely stressful situation? Why not wait?
'She might be worried about pressuring you into a relationship?' Joy hazarded. 'Gray did talk about unrequited attentions earlier that very minute. If she tries before being revealed, well, problem solved? Suit fails, we can walk away safely. Suit succeeds, she won't need to worry about it being due to perverse incentives.'
Joy's reasoning did not help in the slightest. I didn't want Crimson to have good reasons for her actions. I wanted to be able to condemn Crimson as unacceptable and summarily reject her. Instead, Crimson might well be someone I could actually see myself with. I already knew that she possessed a functional moral system, the will to use it, a sense of humor, and competence tempered by naive ignorance.
Ignorance and naivety could be fixed. Morals and personality were harder.
She didn't seem to hail from any noble family, and as such, I could rest assured that she wasn't just viewing me as breeding stock. Commoners weren't half as obsessed with having 'ideal heirs' or generally trying to 'improve' their own bloodline — an effort which, I noticed, seemed to produce a disproportionately high number of morons with more arrogance than actual ability, so clearly they were doing something wrong.
Crimson's avatar status only made her advances even worse. I couldn't help but be intimidated by the idea of a second mind not only passing judgment on my actions, but apparently, egging Crimson along.
'Violence. Eskarne. Sweetie. Love of my eternal life. I can almost guarantee that you would be reacting almost identically if she wasn't an avatar. The only thing letting you repress blatant infatuation was condemning the Rainbows as maliciously ignorant, and oh look! That shield is gone.'
I growled under my breath. I was not infatuated! It was normal to look at a happy, healthy group and wish you could take the place of one of their members.
She doesn't even know about you! I hissed. How is this supposed to be a good idea when we don't know half the people involved?
'I approve of her. Her goddess approves of you. I'm willing to get to know her goddess, and I somehow doubt that they won't like me; I'm amazing.'
Joy's exaggerated arrogance succeeded in shoving me out of my spiral. I snorted, took a deep breath, and started shoving bewildering feelings back into the hole where they belonged. This wasn't the time.
'Nnnnope. We're not doing that again,' Joy said, deliberately bludgeoning me with her exasperated concern. 'Ahem: Are you an ange–'
Shut uuup, I whined.
I quickly scanned my surroundings for observers before surrounding myself with a concealing cocoon of umbra and burying my face in my hands.
Pick one life-derailing thing and stick with it, won't you? Push to put me on the throne, or for me to humor Crimson. Pushing for both at once is unnecessary.
'I refuse!' Joy cheerfully denied me. 'Really, what are you so worried about? If Crimson is indeed an avatar, which does look pretty likely, that's two gods supporting the coup. Her help would provide more than enough wiggle room to compensate for–'
I have enough trouble understanding people without throwing messy attraction and an unseen conversational participant into the mix! I snapped back. Just look at literally earlier today, where I cruelly upset Azure, or earlier still, when they laughed at me as I approached the fountain and I still don't know why. Eating while I walked shouldn't have been that amusing! I've seen them do it! So what else was I doing wrong and didn't notice?
Joy was gratifyingly silent for several long seconds before she sighed.
'I should really have pushed you onto the throne earlier,' she said mournfully. 'Look at what these heathens have done to my wonderful avatar. All convinced that she needs to care what others think.'
I balked and tried to pin down what Joy was feeling. If she was joking, that was one thing, but Joy deciding that mortals were irrelevant would be a massive step back. One with potentially lethal consequences.
'Such a sad, forlorn princess outside her natural habitat,' Joy continued. 'Neglected for so long that she doesn't realize her rightful state is being pampered and admired. Worried that someone wanting to do so might somehow be a bad thing.'
Concern gave way to immediate indignation.
You're not nearly as funny as you think you are, I grumbled. Just–
'Fearing that she might somehow make irreparable mistakes,' Joy plowed over me, 'when Crimson has already demonstrated that she will accept outright murder attempts. Truly, this is the tragedy of our age.'
I hated that she had a point there. Still, she didn't have to be so insufferable about it.
'Unwilling to take risks!' Joy melodramatically wailed. 'Fleeing the field before battle can be joined!'
It's not unreasonable to worry when Crimson has only ever seen the mask instead of me!
'Pretending that she doesn't often enjoy wearing a mask when there aren't horrible consequences for letting it slip!'
I don't — well, maybe a little, but only that much!
'Defaulting to lying to herself and her goddess both!'
Are you trying to set me up for failure? Encouraging hiding my actual self seems like awful advice.
'Seeing conspiracy in every corner!'
...How long are you planning to keep this up?
The answer to that question turned out to be, 'until well after the platoon relieved me and dragged me off for clothing measurements.' Joy used to worry about discovery, but it seemed that time had passed; I suspected that only the well-honed self-preservation instincts of my subordinates kept them from questioning why my face kept twitching even as I diligently kept the rest of my body still and pointedly pretended that I had no clothing preferences.
'Forever doooomed to loneliness!'
Seriously, just what has gotten into you?
'Ignoring the consequences of her own actions on her highly impressionable goddess!'
I'm taking up vanguard duty if you don't stop.
'You're planning on that anyway. Ahem: Convinced that her problems will vanish if she runs far enough, and scapegoating her goddess to justify her own fear-driven decisions!'
I wonder if the information suppression curse also suppresses the spread of information about itself.
My other thought is ... why were we ever expecting Joyful Devourer to be able to properly detect the curse when VV worries about things like "if she tries to eat magic swords, she might mistakenly include important structural elements and architectural enchantments"? Perception and analysis is explicitly a weak point of Joy
