Day 15 Chapter 20
- Location
- Around here
[X] Plan: Counting on you, Sis!
You spiders unleash their payload of icy bullets, and you join in, invoking your rune of ice as Oriko says commands "Light them up, Lancer!" as her servant sends a torrent of flame into the kill-zone your party has set up. All seems to be going well- You see your spiders being blasted at with bullets of ice- Their own bullets of ice? Before you can comprehend what's going on, you see your own wall of ice being thrown back in your face, Lancer's own flames shot back at her, and if it weren't for Oriko and Lancer throwing up defensive barriers to block your own rebounded attacks, you would have been frozen, and Oriko and Lancer would have been incinerated. Your vision is whited out by the thick wall of ice that's frozen over Oriko's barrier, but when the wall breaks as Oriko's barrier shifts itself around in anticipation of an incoming attack, you see that the slimes, which had previously been blue, are now a glossy, metallic silver.
"Well..." Kirika drawls. "That's not good." Tomoe-san and Oriko are both silent, while Lancer steels herself and adopts a ready stance. "So, uh, how do we deal with these things now?"
"If magic attacks won't work on them," Oriko says, "Then we'll just have to hit them with physical ones." Oriko looks down at her own hands, wholly unsuited to dealing physical blows, and she says to Kirika "I... May not be the best-suited to carrying out my own ideas, though." Oriko turns to Tomoe-san, to Kirika, and to Lancer, and she says "Akemi-san and I will be counting on you three to get the job done."
"Okay!" Kirika shouts enthusiastically. "Oriko's counting on me!" Your 'command' soldier looks at you with an expression that you might charitably call confusion as Kirika springs up and steals a kiss from Oriko, and it's all you can do to shrug, because that's just how your sister is. Kirika draws in deeply, drinking in Oriko's mana before tearing herself away, Soul Gem shining brightly. "All right!" she shouts again as she readies claws in each hand. "Now I'm all fired up, I've got Oriko watching me, and I'm gonna do this all by myself!"
As Kirika throws herself forward into the wall of slimes before her, you and Oriko both turn your attention to Tomoe-san and Lancer, and you hear Oriko say to them "Do make sure Kirika doesn't get herself seriously hurt, won't you?"
Lancer wordlessly nods her head, setting aside her rune of flame and bringing up her massive spear, while golden ribbons snake their way around Tomoe-san's arms and legs. "Don't worry, Mikuni-san," Tomoe-san announces as her ribbons take the form of armoured gauntlets and greaves. "I'd never let anything happen to one of my adorable juniors." Tomoe-san winks before throwing herself into the fray as well, and you see the bemused lookk on Oriko's face at Tomoe-san's words. You aren't sure if it's funny because Tomoe-san has been a puella magi for longer than Kirika, or because Kirika is a few months younger than Tomoe-san and just barely slips past the cutoff date of being Tomoe-san's oldest 'junior' in terms of age.
Being ill-suited to physical attacks yourself, you are forced to sit back and watch alongside Oriko as Tomoe-san, Kirika, and Lancer make marginally more successful attempts at damaging the slimes than your previous attempt. Actually, it's a lot better than just marginal successes. A wound-up punch and a cry of "Turbina Dinamo!"sends one of the reflective slimes flying with a burst of wind. It crashes against the bank of the river, not shattering, but rather splattering like jelly before reforming itself. A swipe from Kirika's claws cleaves one slime into four thin slices, before she brings her other hand sideways and slices four into eight - sixteen, however many, you can't pay attention to how fast Kirika's hands are moving - smaller pieces still. Seeing no central 'core' inside the slime, Kirika settles for stamping her foot against the largest share of slime, though you see her quickly regret doing that wen the largest share reflects her stomp back to her and she's forced to hobble away in momentary pain, before you see the telltale steeling that accompanies the shutting off of her body's pain receptors.
"Make sure to give that foot some attention when we're done," you say to Oriko, who you're sure is already planning on it. "Um, I'll try to give you two some privacy when we get back so you can give her some other attention." You don't mean what you're sure mom would think you mean by that. You just mean, you want to give them some privacy to kiss while Oriko is working.
"Think nothing of it," Oriko replies. She's still doing what she can to corral the slimes into kill zones for Tomoe-san and Kirika, but Lancer doesn't seem to need luxuries like that. She brings her spear down, and its massive size, combined with the clustered nature of the swarm of slimes, ensures that she hits something when she swings it. Then, you see something stir in Lancer's eyes. You wonder what she's thinking of, even more so when- "Lancer, what are you doing?" Oriko sees it first, Lancer invoking her rune of fire- That's not fire. You see Lancer invoke the rune Tiwaz, as moments later a chorus of steel shoots up from underneath the wall of slimes. It's the sort of move you've grown used to seeing from Assassin, so seeing it from Lancer instead, whom you've always seen use flames as her primary rune of attack, is a bit surprising. But it appears surprisingly effective, and that's when Oriko calls out "Kirika! Follow Lancer's lead!"
"Got it!"
You brace yourself for Kirika to do something really, really edgy, but she surprises you, slamming her claws not into her stomach, but into the ground. "Infinite Blades!" she calls out, as Lancer once more invokes Tiwaz. Two seas of blades of all shapes spring up from underneath the slimes, skewering massive hordes of them and leaving them defenceless as Tomoe-san unleashes waves of ribbons, which snake through the field of blades and tear apart the slimes that aren't already disintegrating. "Hey, nice work," Kirika says to Tomoe-san. "But, uh..." Kirika looks to Lancer, and then both of them look to you and Oriko as Kirika asks "How are we supposed to clean all this up?"
You shrug, and respond "Cleanup was never our responsibility before;" and since you're already in trouble with the Mage's Association for coming too close to breaking the masquerade, it's not like one more incident will get you into any more trouble than you already are. "More importantly, are you all right?" you ask Kirika, gesturing to the leg she injured earlier. "That looked like it hurt. Do you think you can make it back home, or do you want Oriko to look at it now?"
"I think I can make it home," Kirika says. She's already standing on the leg uneasily, even with her pain receptors turned off. That rebound must have done more harm than it looked like. "Besides, it's freezing out. Even if it's Oriko, I don't want to take my shoe off and get my foot cold just so someone can look at it." In spite of her protests that she's fine, you don't see Kirika complaining when Oriko offers her a shoulder to lean on. "Thanks," she says to Oriko.
"Think nothing of it, dearest," Oriko responds. Oriko looks to you, and then to Tomoe-san and the Kirika that's currently leaning on her, and she asks "What of the circle Kim stole from the mansion's basement? Did either of you find anything?"
"Yes, we managed to find it," Tomoe-san says. "Unfortunately, it is rather heavy, and neither Kure-san nor myself were able to move it. But we know where it is and can direct someone stronger than us to its location once we've decided where we're going to store it so Franziska's team can't find it."
"There's, uh, there's just one problem," Kirika adds. "That blonde girl? The one who looks like Wakaba and is kinda bitchy? Yeah, she found us wandering around and asked what was up. She saw the circle, too, and got real suspicious about it. I told her to shut up and piss off, but I don't think that'll hold her for long." Tomoe-san nods her head in agreement with Kirika, who adds "I think we're going to have to address whatever this is with the rest of those girls sooner than you might have been hoping to, sis."
Oh, for the love of-
[ ] Where do you want to move the summoning circle?
[ ] What do you do about the blonde girl?
[ ] What do you tell the rest of the girls (if they ask)?
[ ] Other (write-in)
You spiders unleash their payload of icy bullets, and you join in, invoking your rune of ice as Oriko says commands "Light them up, Lancer!" as her servant sends a torrent of flame into the kill-zone your party has set up. All seems to be going well- You see your spiders being blasted at with bullets of ice- Their own bullets of ice? Before you can comprehend what's going on, you see your own wall of ice being thrown back in your face, Lancer's own flames shot back at her, and if it weren't for Oriko and Lancer throwing up defensive barriers to block your own rebounded attacks, you would have been frozen, and Oriko and Lancer would have been incinerated. Your vision is whited out by the thick wall of ice that's frozen over Oriko's barrier, but when the wall breaks as Oriko's barrier shifts itself around in anticipation of an incoming attack, you see that the slimes, which had previously been blue, are now a glossy, metallic silver.
"Well..." Kirika drawls. "That's not good." Tomoe-san and Oriko are both silent, while Lancer steels herself and adopts a ready stance. "So, uh, how do we deal with these things now?"
"If magic attacks won't work on them," Oriko says, "Then we'll just have to hit them with physical ones." Oriko looks down at her own hands, wholly unsuited to dealing physical blows, and she says to Kirika "I... May not be the best-suited to carrying out my own ideas, though." Oriko turns to Tomoe-san, to Kirika, and to Lancer, and she says "Akemi-san and I will be counting on you three to get the job done."
"Okay!" Kirika shouts enthusiastically. "Oriko's counting on me!" Your 'command' soldier looks at you with an expression that you might charitably call confusion as Kirika springs up and steals a kiss from Oriko, and it's all you can do to shrug, because that's just how your sister is. Kirika draws in deeply, drinking in Oriko's mana before tearing herself away, Soul Gem shining brightly. "All right!" she shouts again as she readies claws in each hand. "Now I'm all fired up, I've got Oriko watching me, and I'm gonna do this all by myself!"
As Kirika throws herself forward into the wall of slimes before her, you and Oriko both turn your attention to Tomoe-san and Lancer, and you hear Oriko say to them "Do make sure Kirika doesn't get herself seriously hurt, won't you?"
Lancer wordlessly nods her head, setting aside her rune of flame and bringing up her massive spear, while golden ribbons snake their way around Tomoe-san's arms and legs. "Don't worry, Mikuni-san," Tomoe-san announces as her ribbons take the form of armoured gauntlets and greaves. "I'd never let anything happen to one of my adorable juniors." Tomoe-san winks before throwing herself into the fray as well, and you see the bemused lookk on Oriko's face at Tomoe-san's words. You aren't sure if it's funny because Tomoe-san has been a puella magi for longer than Kirika, or because Kirika is a few months younger than Tomoe-san and just barely slips past the cutoff date of being Tomoe-san's oldest 'junior' in terms of age.
Being ill-suited to physical attacks yourself, you are forced to sit back and watch alongside Oriko as Tomoe-san, Kirika, and Lancer make marginally more successful attempts at damaging the slimes than your previous attempt. Actually, it's a lot better than just marginal successes. A wound-up punch and a cry of "Turbina Dinamo!"sends one of the reflective slimes flying with a burst of wind. It crashes against the bank of the river, not shattering, but rather splattering like jelly before reforming itself. A swipe from Kirika's claws cleaves one slime into four thin slices, before she brings her other hand sideways and slices four into eight - sixteen, however many, you can't pay attention to how fast Kirika's hands are moving - smaller pieces still. Seeing no central 'core' inside the slime, Kirika settles for stamping her foot against the largest share of slime, though you see her quickly regret doing that wen the largest share reflects her stomp back to her and she's forced to hobble away in momentary pain, before you see the telltale steeling that accompanies the shutting off of her body's pain receptors.
"Make sure to give that foot some attention when we're done," you say to Oriko, who you're sure is already planning on it. "Um, I'll try to give you two some privacy when we get back so you can give her some other attention." You don't mean what you're sure mom would think you mean by that. You just mean, you want to give them some privacy to kiss while Oriko is working.
"Think nothing of it," Oriko replies. She's still doing what she can to corral the slimes into kill zones for Tomoe-san and Kirika, but Lancer doesn't seem to need luxuries like that. She brings her spear down, and its massive size, combined with the clustered nature of the swarm of slimes, ensures that she hits something when she swings it. Then, you see something stir in Lancer's eyes. You wonder what she's thinking of, even more so when- "Lancer, what are you doing?" Oriko sees it first, Lancer invoking her rune of fire- That's not fire. You see Lancer invoke the rune Tiwaz, as moments later a chorus of steel shoots up from underneath the wall of slimes. It's the sort of move you've grown used to seeing from Assassin, so seeing it from Lancer instead, whom you've always seen use flames as her primary rune of attack, is a bit surprising. But it appears surprisingly effective, and that's when Oriko calls out "Kirika! Follow Lancer's lead!"
"Got it!"
You brace yourself for Kirika to do something really, really edgy, but she surprises you, slamming her claws not into her stomach, but into the ground. "Infinite Blades!" she calls out, as Lancer once more invokes Tiwaz. Two seas of blades of all shapes spring up from underneath the slimes, skewering massive hordes of them and leaving them defenceless as Tomoe-san unleashes waves of ribbons, which snake through the field of blades and tear apart the slimes that aren't already disintegrating. "Hey, nice work," Kirika says to Tomoe-san. "But, uh..." Kirika looks to Lancer, and then both of them look to you and Oriko as Kirika asks "How are we supposed to clean all this up?"
You shrug, and respond "Cleanup was never our responsibility before;" and since you're already in trouble with the Mage's Association for coming too close to breaking the masquerade, it's not like one more incident will get you into any more trouble than you already are. "More importantly, are you all right?" you ask Kirika, gesturing to the leg she injured earlier. "That looked like it hurt. Do you think you can make it back home, or do you want Oriko to look at it now?"
"I think I can make it home," Kirika says. She's already standing on the leg uneasily, even with her pain receptors turned off. That rebound must have done more harm than it looked like. "Besides, it's freezing out. Even if it's Oriko, I don't want to take my shoe off and get my foot cold just so someone can look at it." In spite of her protests that she's fine, you don't see Kirika complaining when Oriko offers her a shoulder to lean on. "Thanks," she says to Oriko.
"Think nothing of it, dearest," Oriko responds. Oriko looks to you, and then to Tomoe-san and the Kirika that's currently leaning on her, and she asks "What of the circle Kim stole from the mansion's basement? Did either of you find anything?"
"Yes, we managed to find it," Tomoe-san says. "Unfortunately, it is rather heavy, and neither Kure-san nor myself were able to move it. But we know where it is and can direct someone stronger than us to its location once we've decided where we're going to store it so Franziska's team can't find it."
"There's, uh, there's just one problem," Kirika adds. "That blonde girl? The one who looks like Wakaba and is kinda bitchy? Yeah, she found us wandering around and asked what was up. She saw the circle, too, and got real suspicious about it. I told her to shut up and piss off, but I don't think that'll hold her for long." Tomoe-san nods her head in agreement with Kirika, who adds "I think we're going to have to address whatever this is with the rest of those girls sooner than you might have been hoping to, sis."
Oh, for the love of-
[ ] Where do you want to move the summoning circle?
[ ] What do you do about the blonde girl?
[ ] What do you tell the rest of the girls (if they ask)?
[ ] Other (write-in)
