It's a sunny afternoon at Homurahara as class breaks for the day. A knot of your friends are in...
Fate/Hollow Liner Prisma Alfons
- Thread starter ZerbanDaGreat
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 160
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 9
-
Statistics (9 threadmarks, 25k words)
User Total ZerbanDaGreat 9
Chapter One: Contract Negotiation
ZerbanDaGreat
Daemon Noble of D E M O G R A P H I C S
- Pronouns
- They/them
It's a sunny afternoon at Homurahara as class breaks for the day. A knot of your friends are in no hurry to leave, clustered around their desks in various combinations of sitting, standing and leaning, but you don't have time for them today. You have places to go, things to see. So you stuff your things into your bag as quickly as you can, probably bending your books, and race out the door as fast as your feet will carry you.
"Good afternoon Miss Fujimura!" two boys say pleasantly as they pass your homeroom teacher coming the other way up the hallway. She replies in kind, a smile on her face, some folders tucked securely in her arms. No doubt she's on the way to the teacher's lounge for some reason or another. You just get a flash of her, the short brown hair and matching eyes, striped top beneath a green dress, as you sprint towards the stairs.
"NO RUNNING IN THE HALLWAY!" she roars behind you with a voice like thunder. But it's the end of class and you're going to be off school grounds in minutes, so there's nothing she can do. You almost laugh to yourself as you shoulder your way past throngs of students who are moving way too slowly what is this a sightseeing tour it's the end of class get a move on go and burst out into the sun-drenched courtyard.
"Hey!" you cry as you approach the front gate. The figure at the bike rack outside turns and waves in reply.
"Hey yourself!" Yuko waits for you to draw closer, a hand on the handlebars of her bike. There was no mistaking her, even from that distance - to be blunt, there are very few people in Fuyuki with a complexion as dark as hers. She still she looks more like your father's child than you do, what with her black hair and dark eyes.
"It's today it's today!" you exclaim.
"Don't tell me you're taking estimated delivery times seriously, Alfons," Yuko says, putting a hand on her hip and leaning more heavily on the bike. "Knowing how these things go we've probably got another week to wait."
"Hah, shows what you know!" you retort proudly. "I used the online tracker and double-checked on my phone during lunch and I happen to know for a fact that it got delivered while we were in school!"
Yuko grins broadly. "Then let's go get our animu on, little dude!"
"I am the same height as you!" you protest. Yuko ruffles your silver-white hair.
"Then try to keep up with me if your stubby little mouse-legs can take it~!" And with that Yuko takes off, the wheels of her bicycle click-click-clicking away parallel to her as she races down the road. You splutter and start running.
"That's cheating! You have a bike!"
"A bike I'm not even riding!"
"SHUTTUP!"
***
***
"Welcome back, you two!" Sella's smiling as she opens the door, silver-white hair pulled back in a distinctly 'housewife' style and still wearing an apron. The only way she could look more like a maid is if she wore a sign. Or the outfit, you suppose. But that's possibly the last thing in the universe you want to see.
"Hiya Sella! How was-"
You hear muffled J-Pop in the distance. You dump your bag right there in the hallway and race into the living room, leaving Yuko in the dust as she tries to get her bike put away. You arrive to discover Leysritt draped across the couch like a used washclock, pocky in her mouth and a remote in her hand. You see brightly-coloured asian cartoons on the TV as the opening titles of Bushido Musashi come to a close. You look down at the coffee table. The Blu-Ray case is wide open, revealing the empty space where a disc should be.
"WHY!?" you cry to the heavens. "FOR WHAT PURPOSE!?"
"I got bored," says Leysritt, scarlet eyes remaining affixed on the screen. A physical mirror to Sella but as far from her in personality as is humanly possible.
"You wouldn't be bored if you helped me around the house like you're supposed to," Sella says testily.
"Wow, I didn't know it was possible for someone to be so wrong," Leysritt remarks.
"I don't care if you were bored! Stop! Cease! Desist!" You snatch the remote out of Leysritt's hand and return the Blu-Ray to the title screen as quickly as you can. The twinkling, peppy tones of the opening theme fill the air once more.
"Hello, Alfons. Thank you, my day was fine, how was yours?" she asks flatly. You sit down on her knees in protest. She doesn't react.
"Now we are going to sit down and all watch it together like we agreed," you declare grumpily. You look over at Yuko. "Pull up a leg."
Yuko sits down. Leysritt's body is engulfed almost from the waist down by the bodies of her young charges.
"I need a better union."
Ignoring her, you select the very first episode and hit 'play'.
***
Five hours later you realize that maybe marathonning the entire first season at once was an excessive move. The minor break to have dinner might have been appreciated, but once the spell of anime is broken and you have to stand up you realize just how much your whole body hurts from sitting on the bony discomfort of Leysritt's legs that entire time. You look down, briefly concerned that you've given her cause for a double-amputation. You find her soundly sleeping, unconcerned.
Sella tsks. "You should really set a better example, Yuko. I mean I don't mind the anime, it's nice to see you and Alfons sharing an interest. But really, five hours all at once?"
"Oh come on. What's the harm?"
"When's your homework due?"
Yuko raises her finger. She pauses. "... Alfons, you get first dibs in the bath. I have some stuff to check up on."
"Later, then!" you say brightly as she heads off to her room. You head for the bathroom instead, stripping down as you walk and balling it all up into a crumpled and somewhat sweaty lump. You dump it in the hamper and head inside, shutting the door behind you and flicking on the lights. You turn the bath tap on full blast and look in the mirror while you wait for it to fill up.
You're a pretty strange-looking lad, you won't lie. It's been the subject of many a conversation. Silver-white hair bordering on colourless, skin just as pale, eyes as red as blood. You're glad your parents explained to you what albinism was, otherwise you might've grown up thinking you were an anime character. You suspect Sella and Leysritt were first hired to look after you because they shared your condition. Now, of course, they're as much a part of the family as your parents. Perhaps more. It's been far too long since you saw them last. But hey, it's not all that bad. Yuko's still around.
Still. Perhaps it's all the anime your brain's been fermenting in in the past five hours. But as you look at your reflection you can't help but think about things. A strange idea that entered your head once, perhaps a month ago or so. Why is it always a magical girl? You may not exactly have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the medium, but it seems like the only people who get visited by strange beings and pick up magical powers with all the sparkly effects powered by love and friendship are girls. Guys always seem to have to train hard enough that they can swing their surfboard-sized swords. Not an appealing fantasy.
You turn the tap off and watch a bath toy bob back and forth on the rippling surface. A grey-furred lion dressed in a blue-and-red suit, a joke gift from Yuko. You sit on the edge of the bath for a moment and think. It's a juvenile thought, a silly and childish fancy. But you wish that kind of magic really existed.
Something sparkles in the night sky beyond the bathroom window. You try to peer through, but you can't see a thing with all this light. You hop over to the door and flick the switch, plunging the bathroom into darkness. The only light is from the stars, gently rippling off the bathwater. You walk to the window and lean on the sill, gazing up at the stars. Maybe it's a shooting star? Or a comet or whatever their proper name is. Maybe you'll get to make a wish on one.
"Sorry Alfons, you snooze you lose!"
The bottom drops out of your stomach. You turn your head, heart freezing solid. The door opens and the light switch flicks up. Yuko walks through the door, still looking back over her shoulder, unknowing. She turns her head. She makes eye contact with you. This awful, awful moment will be indelibly stamped into your brains forever.
And then a meteorite shoots over the top of your head and beans Yuko in the forehead.
It all happens so fast there's nothing you can do. One minute Yuko's there, the next she's flat on her back and completely unconscious. And sitting on her face is a... magic wand? No, there can be no mistaking it. That's definitely a magical girl's wand. A long salmon-pink handle topped with a golden five-pointed star, encircled by rose-pink wings.
"Aha! I've found you at last!"
And it talks.
"What," your mouth says. Your brain still hasn't caught up.
"Greetings! My name is Ruby!" Not only is the stick talking, its feminine voice filtered oddly, but it's moving and bending in impossible ways. The wings are curling and flitting around like arms, the handle bending and swaying as if made of rubber to simulate body language. "And I'm here to make you a magical girl!"
You say nothing.
"... boy! Magical boy!" the wand corrects itself.
"Um," you say.
"It'll be fantastic!" Ruby goes on. "Just think of it! You'll get to fly around, fighting evil, saving the world, all sorts of fantastic opportunities! Wear pretty outfits! If that's your thing, I mean! I don't know much about you but I'm sure we'll become the best of buddies as we fight to save the world from the evil forces of-"
"Do you, um, have references? Or something?" you ask. "I don't feel comfortable making any contracts without context. That goes badly for some magical girls."
There's an awkward silence that seems to stretch on for eternity.
"If you don't become a magical boy I'll move your sister's towel," says Ruby.
You throw the bath toy at it. The rubber lion bounces off the star with a sad little squeak, bouncing on the floor.
"Rude," says Ruby.
"You just threatened to flash me with my sister!" you exclaim. Ruby glances down at Yuko then back at you.
"Clearly there's no blood relation, so it's fine."
"That is so not how that works!"
"I don't see why you're raising such a fuss! All I'm asking is for you to join the age-old battle against evil and help save the world! I mean, excuse me from imposing on your life! I'm sure your problems faaar outweigh the needs of the universe!"
"That's it, get out!" You storm over to the thing, wrap your hand firmly around the handle, and whirl around to hurl it straight through the window and out into the yard.
Only it does no such thing. Your arm halts mid-motion, as if the wand suddenly became affixed to the very air itself. Your muscles bulge and strain as you struggle against it but, try as you might, you can't shift it. Or remove your hand, not even as you feel a sharp sting in your palm.
"Hehehehehe~. Exactly as keikaku," Ruby giggles in a low voice. "With that blood sample, the contract is fulfilled!"
"I don't think this will hold up in court!" you protest.
"State your name and complete our bond!" Ruby cries, completely ignoring you. Despite your best efforts, you find yourself unable to resist, your arms moving against your will as you raise the wand high above your head in both hands.
"A-Alfons...viel... von... Einzbern!"
The world around you is consumed by prismatic light. The bathroom is gone, entire suburb is gone. It's just you whirling in a void shifting through every colour in the rainbow, and about a dozen others you have no name for.
"CONTACT FULL OPEN!" Ruby yells for seemingly no reason and no one's benefit but her own. "MIRROR WORLD CIRCUITS ENGAGE!"
Shifting light swirls around you like liquid, like oil catching the sun's rays. It flows down from the magic wand, wrapping around your hand and coursing onward like a river. It engulfs your arm nearly to the shoulder only to hop, skipping the joint in question and splashing across your chest. It leaps across your left shoulder too, coating your left arm from the bicep down. It feels like having a bucket of warm bathwater poured over you, washing away all the dirt and ache and impurities of the day in an instant. More importantly, it's resolving itself into-
Oh various deities it's your transformation sequence.
The magic becomes gloves, shoulder length and black. The magic becomes a matching black singlet clinging to your previously-naked chest, quickly covered by a scarlet vest trimmed in white. No, not a vest, it's lengthening now, parting at the navel-waist area to flow down about calf-length in flowing crimson coattails. Your modesty is returned to you by brilliant white shorts, giving way to jet-black leggings all the way down to your ankles. Boots wrap around your feet, red and mid-calf high. At last the light begins to clear and you feel yourself set back down on solid ground, Ruby still in your hands.
"There, doesn't that feel better?" Ruby asks.
"... how come I'm outside?" you ask in return.
"Oh, the bathroom was a bit cramped for a transformation sequence. So I took us outside!"
"You tossed me outside while I was still naked?" You shake the wand intensely.
"I covered everything up with light! Gosh, I thought you were the magical girl connoisseur!" Ruby protests.
"Oh forget it!" you exclaim. You look around furtively, and more than a little self-consciously. You edge your way over to one of the bushes, ever-wary of the windows. You hope nobody noticed the light-show. "So, uh... what was that about, uh... saving the world or whatever? Because you were a bit vague."
"Oh. Oh yes, I did mention that." Ruby touches a wing to its 'face' in thought. "Well, you see-"
"Ruby!"
You whirl. A woman is stomping her way down the side of your house towards you, arms held away from her sides, hands balled into fists. She seems to be completely soaked through and very angry. Her red sweater must have doubled in weight from all the water it's absorbed, and her twin black pigtails hang limp and bedraggled.
"Why helloooooooo there Rin~" Ruby replies, curling around to face the newcomer.
"S-sorry, who are you?" you ask.
"Someone who was just dumped in the Mion," Rin snaps, somehow towering over you despite not actually being that much taller than you. "You? You I have no problem with. Just hand over the stick and I'll be on my way to have some words with it."
You're more than happy to oblige the terrifying lady. You hand Ruby over.
Or at least, try to. Ruby completely locks in place once more, despite your and Rin's best efforts to shift it. You stammer out a hundred apologies while you try to pry your fingers off the handle as Ruby giggles wickedly.
"The contract was completed, Rin! Now there's nothing you can do to-"
CRASH. Rin drives Ruby's 'face' into the solid concrete wall, leaving a crater bigger than your head. Whatever Ruby was going to say trails off into a delirious groan, the handle going limp and loopy. You take a step back, holding the thing out at arm's length.
"Uh... are you alright?" you ask haltingly.
"f-fiii~iineee..." Ruby replies, voice pitching wildly up and down. "Just... (think the words 'curse you' and I'll feel better...)"
"What?" You wiggle Ruby around in confusion. "Why would 'curse you' make you feel-"
The moment the words leave your lips Ruby snaps back into action, ramrod straight and blazing with power. Indigo lightning spews from the tip, enveloping Rin in a crackling corona that stinks of ozone. She screeches in pain as all the moisture in her hair and sweater flash-fry in an instant. When the barrage finally ends her sweater's practically become a tube-top.
"That is our only answer to you, Rin!" Ruby declares. "We will fight you with all our might!"
"H-hey hang on, don't speak for me!" you protest.
"I'll show you, you glorified vibrator!" Rin snarls, raising her hand. You note the absurdity of the finger-gun she brandishes at you, as if she's planning to say 'pew pew'. It's not so absurd when dozens of burning bullets of black and blood-red power erupt from the tip of her finger, slamming into you in a solid barrage. You cry out in fear, flinching back. Yet... you feel nothing. It takes you a moment to bring your arm away from over your eyes and inspect yourself. There are scorch marks all over the ground, the wall and the fence, but you're unharmed. You see a layer of light shining against your skin, like a soap bubble stretched skintight.
"Ooohohohohoho~" Ruby guffaws. "Did you forget? A-ranked barriers, Rin! My magical energy crystallizes in response to physical or magical trauma! You can't hurt us!"
Rin retrieves a cut, milky sapphire from her pocket and flicks it into the air like a coin.
"Wait what no we're not worth a ge-AUGH!"
You cry out in pain right alongside Ruby as everything goes completely white, your retinas seared blank. You wave your arms about wildly in a mad effort to... you're not sure what, exactly. But you trip over something and fall flat on your ass with a thump, blinking desperately to try and clear your vision. Ruby's yelling something about running into your ear but that's a pretty useless command. You'd be more likely to run straight into Rin or into a wall than get away. So you more or less just sit there and wait for the end.
You feel a fingertip against your temple. "Just sleep for a moment."
And what do you know? You do just that.
***
And then you come to again, as if you'd only blinked. You're sitting up against the side wall of your house in the grass and dirt, looking up at Rin. She's got Ruby clutched in her iron-like grip, looking down at you. You've been defeated.
... and you're naked again.
You shriek like a trodden-on cat and cover yourself.
"Well. Apologies for all of that," Rin says with a grimace, tossing Ruby aside. The wand hits the wall and bounces to the ground beside you with a quiet 'ow'. "Seems Ruby was telling the truth. The contract is forged and I don't have the power to change that. Dammit."
"Can I, um, have some more context?" you ask. "Because I am very lost. And cold."
"What stands before you is a choice that is no choice at all," Rin turns and says, seemingly ignoring you. "You are now a magical gi- ... boy... and only Ruby can release you from that duty. And it is not cooperative."
"Says you," the wand retorts.
"So you must instead fight!" Rin says, her voice dripping with power and import, pointing right at you. "You must labour beneath my tutelage to hone your skills, and you must fight great heroes from ages past! You must collect the seven scattered Class Cards and emerge victorious!"
[ ] "I accept! I'll be a magical boy!"
[ ] "Please tell me how to make Ruby go away, I just want to watch this stuff on TV."
[ ] "Can I please get some pants?"
"Good afternoon Miss Fujimura!" two boys say pleasantly as they pass your homeroom teacher coming the other way up the hallway. She replies in kind, a smile on her face, some folders tucked securely in her arms. No doubt she's on the way to the teacher's lounge for some reason or another. You just get a flash of her, the short brown hair and matching eyes, striped top beneath a green dress, as you sprint towards the stairs.
"NO RUNNING IN THE HALLWAY!" she roars behind you with a voice like thunder. But it's the end of class and you're going to be off school grounds in minutes, so there's nothing she can do. You almost laugh to yourself as you shoulder your way past throngs of students who are moving way too slowly what is this a sightseeing tour it's the end of class get a move on go and burst out into the sun-drenched courtyard.
"Hey!" you cry as you approach the front gate. The figure at the bike rack outside turns and waves in reply.
"Hey yourself!" Yuko waits for you to draw closer, a hand on the handlebars of her bike. There was no mistaking her, even from that distance - to be blunt, there are very few people in Fuyuki with a complexion as dark as hers. She still she looks more like your father's child than you do, what with her black hair and dark eyes.
"It's today it's today!" you exclaim.
"Don't tell me you're taking estimated delivery times seriously, Alfons," Yuko says, putting a hand on her hip and leaning more heavily on the bike. "Knowing how these things go we've probably got another week to wait."
"Hah, shows what you know!" you retort proudly. "I used the online tracker and double-checked on my phone during lunch and I happen to know for a fact that it got delivered while we were in school!"
Yuko grins broadly. "Then let's go get our animu on, little dude!"
"I am the same height as you!" you protest. Yuko ruffles your silver-white hair.
"Then try to keep up with me if your stubby little mouse-legs can take it~!" And with that Yuko takes off, the wheels of her bicycle click-click-clicking away parallel to her as she races down the road. You splutter and start running.
"That's cheating! You have a bike!"
"A bike I'm not even riding!"
"SHUTTUP!"
***
***
"Welcome back, you two!" Sella's smiling as she opens the door, silver-white hair pulled back in a distinctly 'housewife' style and still wearing an apron. The only way she could look more like a maid is if she wore a sign. Or the outfit, you suppose. But that's possibly the last thing in the universe you want to see.
"Hiya Sella! How was-"
You hear muffled J-Pop in the distance. You dump your bag right there in the hallway and race into the living room, leaving Yuko in the dust as she tries to get her bike put away. You arrive to discover Leysritt draped across the couch like a used washclock, pocky in her mouth and a remote in her hand. You see brightly-coloured asian cartoons on the TV as the opening titles of Bushido Musashi come to a close. You look down at the coffee table. The Blu-Ray case is wide open, revealing the empty space where a disc should be.
"WHY!?" you cry to the heavens. "FOR WHAT PURPOSE!?"
"I got bored," says Leysritt, scarlet eyes remaining affixed on the screen. A physical mirror to Sella but as far from her in personality as is humanly possible.
"You wouldn't be bored if you helped me around the house like you're supposed to," Sella says testily.
"Wow, I didn't know it was possible for someone to be so wrong," Leysritt remarks.
"I don't care if you were bored! Stop! Cease! Desist!" You snatch the remote out of Leysritt's hand and return the Blu-Ray to the title screen as quickly as you can. The twinkling, peppy tones of the opening theme fill the air once more.
"Hello, Alfons. Thank you, my day was fine, how was yours?" she asks flatly. You sit down on her knees in protest. She doesn't react.
"Now we are going to sit down and all watch it together like we agreed," you declare grumpily. You look over at Yuko. "Pull up a leg."
Yuko sits down. Leysritt's body is engulfed almost from the waist down by the bodies of her young charges.
"I need a better union."
Ignoring her, you select the very first episode and hit 'play'.
***
Five hours later you realize that maybe marathonning the entire first season at once was an excessive move. The minor break to have dinner might have been appreciated, but once the spell of anime is broken and you have to stand up you realize just how much your whole body hurts from sitting on the bony discomfort of Leysritt's legs that entire time. You look down, briefly concerned that you've given her cause for a double-amputation. You find her soundly sleeping, unconcerned.
Sella tsks. "You should really set a better example, Yuko. I mean I don't mind the anime, it's nice to see you and Alfons sharing an interest. But really, five hours all at once?"
"Oh come on. What's the harm?"
"When's your homework due?"
Yuko raises her finger. She pauses. "... Alfons, you get first dibs in the bath. I have some stuff to check up on."
"Later, then!" you say brightly as she heads off to her room. You head for the bathroom instead, stripping down as you walk and balling it all up into a crumpled and somewhat sweaty lump. You dump it in the hamper and head inside, shutting the door behind you and flicking on the lights. You turn the bath tap on full blast and look in the mirror while you wait for it to fill up.
You're a pretty strange-looking lad, you won't lie. It's been the subject of many a conversation. Silver-white hair bordering on colourless, skin just as pale, eyes as red as blood. You're glad your parents explained to you what albinism was, otherwise you might've grown up thinking you were an anime character. You suspect Sella and Leysritt were first hired to look after you because they shared your condition. Now, of course, they're as much a part of the family as your parents. Perhaps more. It's been far too long since you saw them last. But hey, it's not all that bad. Yuko's still around.
Still. Perhaps it's all the anime your brain's been fermenting in in the past five hours. But as you look at your reflection you can't help but think about things. A strange idea that entered your head once, perhaps a month ago or so. Why is it always a magical girl? You may not exactly have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the medium, but it seems like the only people who get visited by strange beings and pick up magical powers with all the sparkly effects powered by love and friendship are girls. Guys always seem to have to train hard enough that they can swing their surfboard-sized swords. Not an appealing fantasy.
You turn the tap off and watch a bath toy bob back and forth on the rippling surface. A grey-furred lion dressed in a blue-and-red suit, a joke gift from Yuko. You sit on the edge of the bath for a moment and think. It's a juvenile thought, a silly and childish fancy. But you wish that kind of magic really existed.
Something sparkles in the night sky beyond the bathroom window. You try to peer through, but you can't see a thing with all this light. You hop over to the door and flick the switch, plunging the bathroom into darkness. The only light is from the stars, gently rippling off the bathwater. You walk to the window and lean on the sill, gazing up at the stars. Maybe it's a shooting star? Or a comet or whatever their proper name is. Maybe you'll get to make a wish on one.
"Sorry Alfons, you snooze you lose!"
The bottom drops out of your stomach. You turn your head, heart freezing solid. The door opens and the light switch flicks up. Yuko walks through the door, still looking back over her shoulder, unknowing. She turns her head. She makes eye contact with you. This awful, awful moment will be indelibly stamped into your brains forever.
And then a meteorite shoots over the top of your head and beans Yuko in the forehead.
It all happens so fast there's nothing you can do. One minute Yuko's there, the next she's flat on her back and completely unconscious. And sitting on her face is a... magic wand? No, there can be no mistaking it. That's definitely a magical girl's wand. A long salmon-pink handle topped with a golden five-pointed star, encircled by rose-pink wings.
"Aha! I've found you at last!"
And it talks.
"What," your mouth says. Your brain still hasn't caught up.
"Greetings! My name is Ruby!" Not only is the stick talking, its feminine voice filtered oddly, but it's moving and bending in impossible ways. The wings are curling and flitting around like arms, the handle bending and swaying as if made of rubber to simulate body language. "And I'm here to make you a magical girl!"
You say nothing.
"... boy! Magical boy!" the wand corrects itself.
"Um," you say.
"It'll be fantastic!" Ruby goes on. "Just think of it! You'll get to fly around, fighting evil, saving the world, all sorts of fantastic opportunities! Wear pretty outfits! If that's your thing, I mean! I don't know much about you but I'm sure we'll become the best of buddies as we fight to save the world from the evil forces of-"
"Do you, um, have references? Or something?" you ask. "I don't feel comfortable making any contracts without context. That goes badly for some magical girls."
There's an awkward silence that seems to stretch on for eternity.
"If you don't become a magical boy I'll move your sister's towel," says Ruby.
You throw the bath toy at it. The rubber lion bounces off the star with a sad little squeak, bouncing on the floor.
"Rude," says Ruby.
"You just threatened to flash me with my sister!" you exclaim. Ruby glances down at Yuko then back at you.
"Clearly there's no blood relation, so it's fine."
"That is so not how that works!"
"I don't see why you're raising such a fuss! All I'm asking is for you to join the age-old battle against evil and help save the world! I mean, excuse me from imposing on your life! I'm sure your problems faaar outweigh the needs of the universe!"
"That's it, get out!" You storm over to the thing, wrap your hand firmly around the handle, and whirl around to hurl it straight through the window and out into the yard.
Only it does no such thing. Your arm halts mid-motion, as if the wand suddenly became affixed to the very air itself. Your muscles bulge and strain as you struggle against it but, try as you might, you can't shift it. Or remove your hand, not even as you feel a sharp sting in your palm.
"Hehehehehe~. Exactly as keikaku," Ruby giggles in a low voice. "With that blood sample, the contract is fulfilled!"
"I don't think this will hold up in court!" you protest.
"State your name and complete our bond!" Ruby cries, completely ignoring you. Despite your best efforts, you find yourself unable to resist, your arms moving against your will as you raise the wand high above your head in both hands.
"A-Alfons...viel... von... Einzbern!"
The world around you is consumed by prismatic light. The bathroom is gone, entire suburb is gone. It's just you whirling in a void shifting through every colour in the rainbow, and about a dozen others you have no name for.
"CONTACT FULL OPEN!" Ruby yells for seemingly no reason and no one's benefit but her own. "MIRROR WORLD CIRCUITS ENGAGE!"
Shifting light swirls around you like liquid, like oil catching the sun's rays. It flows down from the magic wand, wrapping around your hand and coursing onward like a river. It engulfs your arm nearly to the shoulder only to hop, skipping the joint in question and splashing across your chest. It leaps across your left shoulder too, coating your left arm from the bicep down. It feels like having a bucket of warm bathwater poured over you, washing away all the dirt and ache and impurities of the day in an instant. More importantly, it's resolving itself into-
Oh various deities it's your transformation sequence.
The magic becomes gloves, shoulder length and black. The magic becomes a matching black singlet clinging to your previously-naked chest, quickly covered by a scarlet vest trimmed in white. No, not a vest, it's lengthening now, parting at the navel-waist area to flow down about calf-length in flowing crimson coattails. Your modesty is returned to you by brilliant white shorts, giving way to jet-black leggings all the way down to your ankles. Boots wrap around your feet, red and mid-calf high. At last the light begins to clear and you feel yourself set back down on solid ground, Ruby still in your hands.
"There, doesn't that feel better?" Ruby asks.
"... how come I'm outside?" you ask in return.
"Oh, the bathroom was a bit cramped for a transformation sequence. So I took us outside!"
"You tossed me outside while I was still naked?" You shake the wand intensely.
"I covered everything up with light! Gosh, I thought you were the magical girl connoisseur!" Ruby protests.
"Oh forget it!" you exclaim. You look around furtively, and more than a little self-consciously. You edge your way over to one of the bushes, ever-wary of the windows. You hope nobody noticed the light-show. "So, uh... what was that about, uh... saving the world or whatever? Because you were a bit vague."
"Oh. Oh yes, I did mention that." Ruby touches a wing to its 'face' in thought. "Well, you see-"
"Ruby!"
You whirl. A woman is stomping her way down the side of your house towards you, arms held away from her sides, hands balled into fists. She seems to be completely soaked through and very angry. Her red sweater must have doubled in weight from all the water it's absorbed, and her twin black pigtails hang limp and bedraggled.
"Why helloooooooo there Rin~" Ruby replies, curling around to face the newcomer.
"S-sorry, who are you?" you ask.
"Someone who was just dumped in the Mion," Rin snaps, somehow towering over you despite not actually being that much taller than you. "You? You I have no problem with. Just hand over the stick and I'll be on my way to have some words with it."
You're more than happy to oblige the terrifying lady. You hand Ruby over.
Or at least, try to. Ruby completely locks in place once more, despite your and Rin's best efforts to shift it. You stammer out a hundred apologies while you try to pry your fingers off the handle as Ruby giggles wickedly.
"The contract was completed, Rin! Now there's nothing you can do to-"
CRASH. Rin drives Ruby's 'face' into the solid concrete wall, leaving a crater bigger than your head. Whatever Ruby was going to say trails off into a delirious groan, the handle going limp and loopy. You take a step back, holding the thing out at arm's length.
"Uh... are you alright?" you ask haltingly.
"f-fiii~iineee..." Ruby replies, voice pitching wildly up and down. "Just... (think the words 'curse you' and I'll feel better...)"
"What?" You wiggle Ruby around in confusion. "Why would 'curse you' make you feel-"
The moment the words leave your lips Ruby snaps back into action, ramrod straight and blazing with power. Indigo lightning spews from the tip, enveloping Rin in a crackling corona that stinks of ozone. She screeches in pain as all the moisture in her hair and sweater flash-fry in an instant. When the barrage finally ends her sweater's practically become a tube-top.
"That is our only answer to you, Rin!" Ruby declares. "We will fight you with all our might!"
"H-hey hang on, don't speak for me!" you protest.
"I'll show you, you glorified vibrator!" Rin snarls, raising her hand. You note the absurdity of the finger-gun she brandishes at you, as if she's planning to say 'pew pew'. It's not so absurd when dozens of burning bullets of black and blood-red power erupt from the tip of her finger, slamming into you in a solid barrage. You cry out in fear, flinching back. Yet... you feel nothing. It takes you a moment to bring your arm away from over your eyes and inspect yourself. There are scorch marks all over the ground, the wall and the fence, but you're unharmed. You see a layer of light shining against your skin, like a soap bubble stretched skintight.
"Ooohohohohoho~" Ruby guffaws. "Did you forget? A-ranked barriers, Rin! My magical energy crystallizes in response to physical or magical trauma! You can't hurt us!"
Rin retrieves a cut, milky sapphire from her pocket and flicks it into the air like a coin.
"Wait what no we're not worth a ge-AUGH!"
You cry out in pain right alongside Ruby as everything goes completely white, your retinas seared blank. You wave your arms about wildly in a mad effort to... you're not sure what, exactly. But you trip over something and fall flat on your ass with a thump, blinking desperately to try and clear your vision. Ruby's yelling something about running into your ear but that's a pretty useless command. You'd be more likely to run straight into Rin or into a wall than get away. So you more or less just sit there and wait for the end.
You feel a fingertip against your temple. "Just sleep for a moment."
And what do you know? You do just that.
***
And then you come to again, as if you'd only blinked. You're sitting up against the side wall of your house in the grass and dirt, looking up at Rin. She's got Ruby clutched in her iron-like grip, looking down at you. You've been defeated.
... and you're naked again.
You shriek like a trodden-on cat and cover yourself.
"Well. Apologies for all of that," Rin says with a grimace, tossing Ruby aside. The wand hits the wall and bounces to the ground beside you with a quiet 'ow'. "Seems Ruby was telling the truth. The contract is forged and I don't have the power to change that. Dammit."
"Can I, um, have some more context?" you ask. "Because I am very lost. And cold."
"What stands before you is a choice that is no choice at all," Rin turns and says, seemingly ignoring you. "You are now a magical gi- ... boy... and only Ruby can release you from that duty. And it is not cooperative."
"Says you," the wand retorts.
"So you must instead fight!" Rin says, her voice dripping with power and import, pointing right at you. "You must labour beneath my tutelage to hone your skills, and you must fight great heroes from ages past! You must collect the seven scattered Class Cards and emerge victorious!"
[ ] "I accept! I'll be a magical boy!"
[ ] "Please tell me how to make Ruby go away, I just want to watch this stuff on TV."
[ ] "Can I please get some pants?"
Last edited:
A Nation's Virtue
南國山河南帝居
[X] "Please tell me how to make Ruby go away, I just want to watch this stuff on TV."
zerban no
zerban stahp
zerban no
zerban stahp
LupineVolt
Now with 200% more Puns
- Location
- Michigan
[X] "I accept! I'll be a magical boy!"
Well right to the point then. Nice and tidy.
Well right to the point then. Nice and tidy.
Deadly Snark
Tryhard As Fuck
i dyin
send halp pls
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
send halp pls
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
The Curious Fan
Perpetually sleep deprived
[X] "I accept! I'll be a magical boy!"
TenfoldShields
Lounging on a Hoard of Words
- Pronouns
- He/Him
/me in chat with zerban like three minutes ago:
"oh my god"
"ZERBAN YOU FUCK"
"oh my god i'm actually crying"
"NO BUT ZERBAN YOU FUCK"
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
pants are perpetually a primary priority
"oh my god"
"ZERBAN YOU FUCK"
"oh my god i'm actually crying"
"NO BUT ZERBAN YOU FUCK"
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
pants are perpetually a primary priority
Last edited:
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
Hyacinthium
Writing about sad cannibals as we speak.
- Location
- Bedroom
- Pronouns
- He/Him
zerban
zerban yes
CAN THIS STAY FOREVER PLEASE
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
zerban yes
CAN THIS STAY FOREVER PLEASE
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
Omegahugger
Inattentive Idiot
yes
yes.
Yesh
YESH, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
EDIT: ZERBAN, IF THIS IS JUST AN APRIL FOOLS I WILL PERSONALLY GO TO AUSTRALIA AND THROW A TURTLE AT YOU.
Except I wouldn't because plane-tickets are expensive and turtles are cute.
yes.
Yesh
YESH, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
EDIT: ZERBAN, IF THIS IS JUST AN APRIL FOOLS I WILL PERSONALLY GO TO AUSTRALIA AND THROW A TURTLE AT YOU.
Except I wouldn't because plane-tickets are expensive and turtles are cute.
Last edited:
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
Well, this is certainly a thing...
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
will408914
(slouching towards bethlehem)
- Location
- California
[X] "Please tell me how to make Ruby go away, I just want to watch this stuff on TV."
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-
-*cough* *cough*-
-*choke*-
someone help
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-
-*cough* *cough*-
-*choke*-
someone help
- Location
- Your Native Universe
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
King_Rule
The Guy With The Things.
- Location
- Yes
Why Zerban Why? I could be wasting hours of my time on a trivial amount of pointless things that will never bring me true joy but you just had to play to the crowd and create this wonder piece of a lolicon's nightmare.
I don't even care if it's an April Fool's Joke.
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
Yo Edison!
I don't even care if it's an April Fool's Joke.
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"
Yo Edison!
ArcticMan94
Esarus thar no'Darador
[X] "Can I please get some pants?"