Active Dramatis Personae:

Name: ф Stephanie Smith ф

Appearance: A tall and skinny girl, with a pronounced slouch. She has black hair styled in a messy ponytail, due to a lack of means to properly take care of it. Wears thick prescription glasses. Previously did not own many clothes aside from a pair of school uniforms, so her fashion sense is still catching up. At this point she wears clothing fit for a hiking trip, this is due to the urgent situation she woke up to.

Profile: Being previously an orphan, Stephanie puts on a jaded, cynical, and self-serving exterior—aided in no small part by a rather foul vocabulary—, while in truth being quite soft and sensitive. Though loathe to admit it, she will go to great lengths to help someone she even remotely considers a friend, and especially those she considers family. Like her current one, the Imeredalas, and her Friend-turned-sister, Megan.

Her Wish was “To have a loving family, loyal friends, and a place to belong. Maybe a pet dog. Or a cat? Both?”

Stats
>£ Physical Affinity: 12
>λ Magical Affinity: 12
>彡 Dexterity: 14
>メ Perception: 12
>⸫ Wisdom: 10
>π Intelligence: 10
>ღ Charisma: 10
>φ Mind: 14
>Ω Constitution: 14

>Abilities

Stephanie can be able to make herself, objects, and other people, adopt qualities from other matter nearby. She can make her body as hard as a steel wall and a rock as soft as a pillow. Turn her body into fire or water. This Magia is named “Families of Matter” and “Adoptions”.
Stephanie can use Physical Affinity to force objects and people to gain the qualities of other objects. If the target is against the change being done, then Stephanie’s PA Vs. Target’s Con will be tested

Name: 𐤌 Abigail Fulson 𐤌

Appearance: A girl with a standard build, long, brown hair that is let down and not styled in any particular way, and many freckles. She likes to wear long dresses and otherwise modest clothes.

Profile: A shy girl that speaks with a slight stutter. Whenever she’s overwhelmed by emotions and nervousness she can barely speak a complete sentence and retreats into her mind. But strong passions lay beneath the surface that flare when needed and cause her to spring to action. A budding artist with a good eye, and a passion to do the previously impossible for the sake of what she believes to be good and fight against unfair conditions.

Her Wish was that "I'd really like it if Oliver was my boyfriend..."

Stats
>£ Physical Affinity: 10
>λ Magical Affinity: 14
>彡 Dexterity: 12
>メ Perception: 14
>⸫ Wisdom: 10
>π Intelligence: 14
>ღ Charisma: 12
>φ Mind: 14
>Ω Constitution: 8

>Abilities:

Abigail can link her mind (and soul) to another person. When this link is established, each person knows exactly where the other is at all times, and each person can communicate past all language barriers. Including stuttering and mutism.
Abigail can scan the thoughts and memories of a person she is linked to with an MA test.
Abigail always has a link to Oliver that can never be broken.

This connection can be made easily if there is consent between both participants. In the event where a non-consensual connection is made, Abigail’s MA Vs. Target’s Mind will be tested.

A side-effect of her Magic is that Abigail knows exactly where her thoughts end and others’ begin. She has an acute awareness for what she is thinking at all times and whether or not those thoughts are normal for her, making forceful mental manipulation impossible.
Abigail cannot be mentally influenced by Magic that does not originate from herself.

Abigail can disassociate from her body to enter a separate realm that she’s been told is called the “Crossroads” by using the Magia “Crossroads Jaunt”… It’s Astral Projection. Her tutor doesn’t like the term but it’s Astral Projection by another name.

Abigail has a Witch named “Claire” or “Clarion” sharing living space in her Soul. Claire is an entity of Grief and Abigail is blocking the effects of her Grief by subconsciously using a mental filter. Claire is never intentionally antagonistic, she even helps Abigail develop her Magic. Though darker aspects of her personality sometimes rear their head...

Name: Emily Brighton

Appearance: Skin stretched across a gaunt, almost skeletal form. Over it, loose clothes hang. As comfortable as can be found. For pants, belted jeans, always, without a belt, they'd simply fall. The blonde hair is short, less bother washing it, the cut is rough, self done when it grows too much. Tall, for her age, used to do bouldering, she was quite good, before all of this.
Her face near always bears a grin. After all, why not? It signals your brain that you're feeling good, making it release a steady stream of happy hormones. When happiness is a choice, take it.

Profile: Denied the luxuries of life due to years in a hospital, she yearns to experience pleasure. This is mainly in the form of food, that one thing that was replaced with slurry before her Wish; But she’s not a blind glutton, she’s a gourmet, a connoisseur. She’s willing to do many things for a chance to get more food, and her plans often tie to that one goal. Despite looking terrifying and being a shameless girl with food on her mind, she’s actually a fairly amiable person. If anyone looked past her appearance and appetite then they would find that she’s a great conversation partner. Her Wish was ”to bite, tear, and devour, whatever I desire and however much I desire, without suffering ill effects.”

ф Stephanie Smith ф:

Stephanie’s Adoption: Solid Earth (+2 PA, +2 Con. +2 PA when manipulating Solid Matter)

Stephanie leaned up against one of the cabinets and stared up at the clock. She watched a minute pass. Then another.

"Starting to get tired of playin' nice. Got cause to go proper mental right about now..."

She could just get the party started all by herself, make it so that the others have no choice but to go into action and kill the witch without all the mucking about they were doing trying to keep up appearances. Attuning to fire and electricity and finding a power conduit. Stephanie bet that if she could siphon as much energy as she could and then abruptly dump it back in, maybe she could trip the main breaker and cause a total blackout...or, in case she was overestimated the infrastructure at this school, start a pretty serious fire. She could still work with that, though. It would make it a whole lot easier for them to get to and then inside the labyrinth.

Stephanie caught herself. Where were these thoughts coming from? Sure, wanting to stop the witch out of pure motives, like helping the people she was tormenting and feed on was a part of it, but there was also...something else. From deep inside her soul, disembodied as it was, came a strong, burning urge to fight, to win, and, ultimately, to kill whatever it was that stood in her way. And she felt her patience wearing thin, millimetre by millimetre. Thankfully, it wouldn't be long now. The witch did herself no favours by going on the offensive. The whole mess would be sorted soon and she'd be able to go back to having fun with Megan and the rest of her new friends. Pretending to have a normal school day while the enemy was right there really was driving her up the wall.

Maybe there was some merit to the earlier rash of...very rash thoughts. Abigail's illusions could help them sneak past people, but they didn't really have an answer for cameras. Perhaps Stephanie could provide the aforementioned with her abilities...

>Change to Adoption: Plasmic Fire
>Find a power conduit to tap into the school's electrical system from. Explore Stephanie's ability to map, navigate, and manipulate the flow of electricity at this scale to the potential end of causing localized blackouts or disabling specific pieces of equipment, like cameras or electronic locks.
>If Megan and Ashleigh still aren't back, look around the room for anything that could be particularly useful or interesting to the rest of the gang (Perception 12, could be 14 with Water Adoption, though).

Stephanie focuses on her frustration and anger. That anger feels like a painful flame in her chest heating up her body.

But it’s not just her body that’s heating up.

She pushes that anger outwards, not to banish it but so everything around her can feel the sparks of her emotions. The world, like a vengeful parent, responds and uses her anger as fuel for fire and energy.

Stephanie’s Adoption: Plasmic Fire
Magic Affinity: 12 -> 14
Constitution: 16 -> 14

Stephanie calms herself down again and looks around the room for any security cameras, and she doesn’t see them first, she senses them. Devices that store and use energy just stick out like a sore thumb to her. Expanded senses? When she was in Solid Earth she was able to sense what physical objects were made of, right down to how sharp a knife was. Maybe this was the same for energy?

But that wasn’t her main reason for changing Adoptions. Stephanie looks for a power conduit that’s out of the way of the security cameras and… can’t find any. Her senses do tell her that power conduits go through this room; she can feel the electricity circulating through the area and pooling into the various appliances. She guesses they’re in the walls.

“This is going to be a ballache.” Stephanie mumbles.

She reaches out, not with a hand but with her mind and emotions. Stephanie asks the electricity ”Could you turn off those security cameras?”

Stephanie feels the cameras being starved of power and is taken aback. “Wait, it was really that easy? I’ll never get used to doing this stuff by just asking the world nicely to do what I want.”

Stephanie’s experimentation continues with attempting to find the limits of her range and control over electricity.
Overall, she’s found that manipulating electricity is easy as long as she doesn’t overthink things and goes with her gut. She once tried to wave her hands like a wizard or a psychic to force the electricity in specific directions but that just exhausted her and made her look like a fool; she was very thankful she turned off the cameras and no-one was recording her.

In frustration of her failure despite multiple attempts, Stephanie thought for a moment that it would’ve been nice if she could turn the microwave on with her mind so she could multitask. The microwave closest to her made the distinct beeping sound of activating. She similarly thought about closing the lights, and they closed. These instances shocked her at first because they happened abruptly due to random passing thoughts, but she eventually managed to get them under control.

“Now for the last test.”
Stephanie raises her hand as if she’s reaching for something, clenches it into a fist, and tells the energy to Stop, Now.
All of the lights abruptly turn off, leaving the only lighting to be the scant amount of sunlight coming through the windows. All of the microwaves and ovens die immediately. And-
“Oh shit!” Stephanie shouts as she runs to the back of the room and sees that the refrigerator and freezer are also deactivated. “Aw shite. Oi, can you turn them back on for me? Don’t want to get in trouble with the staff for spoiling the food.”
The refrigerator and freezer comply, lights back on, and Stephanie sighs in relief. Disaster averted.

Stephanie, after all of her experimenting, comes to a few conclusions about her Magic:
>Stephanie can sense the element of her Adoption and instinctively knows certain qualities of them. In Solid Earth she can tell the specific make up of a physical object, in Plasmic Fire she can sense areas with large amounts of heat and/or electricity. The others have not been explored in detail enough to know.
>Her Magic works on instinct and emotion rather than logic. She doesn’t need to know the specific circuitry of a security camera to turn it off, she just needs to know that it’s powered by electricity and that she wants it off.
>Phrasing her actions in requests and commands makes the process easier. It doesn’t have to be verbal, she just has to ask nicely in her head.
>The total range of control is about one large building (enough for the school, how convenient!), but the amount of fine control she has decreases as she stretches the range. She could individually control every appliance in one room, but if she had to control an entire building then she could only make simple “On/Off” commands for the whole area.

Stephanie tries to occupy herself by doing more shocking parlour tricks. Making fire in her hands and manipulating air to prevent the smoke from activating the fire alarm, absorbing the ambient heat around her to warm herself, she even managed to make a cool plasma sword using a combination of fire and electricity!
But as she looks into the sword’s light and feels its heat, she keeps thinking: “The Witch is right there. I could maybe get in and kill that bitch right now with this sword.”

”God, I’m just about ready to get violent on some poor bastard.” She thinks in frustration.

Ө ”Well. Those must be some strong homicidal thoughts if I can hear them accidentally.” Ө

Stephanie can recognise that authentically posh RP anywhere. Viktoria Walker.

[”Why’re you in my head again? I thought you said I didn’t have ‘pertinent information’.” Stephanie asks in annoyance.

Ө “Yes, but I do now and I need to share. First of all, there are multiple entrances to the Witch’s Labyrinth.” Ө

Stephanie opens her eyes wide in shock. ”What?! Where?!”

Ө “I found one within a shed in the street near the school’s entrance. But if there is two then there is likely more elsewhere, keep your eyes out. Now for my second piece of information: This Witch can create doppelgängers.” Ө Viktoria’s voice, despite delivering news that she considered horrifying, was calm. A trained kind of calmness.

This completely contrasted Stephanie’s reaction. Her plasma blade flares up in surprise and she extinguishes it before anything bad happens. ”Lass, how’d you find this out anyway?!”

Ө “A Familiar appeared from the Labyrinth entrance in the shed while I was investigating. I was initially going to strike it down immediately with my Temporal Piercer, my firearm, but when I took aim I saw… you. I was startled for a second but quickly realised it was not the real you because you were still in school. I decided to toy with the Familiar for a while to gather some information and found out more things about these doppelgängers; They do not have any of your Magic, so the same might be true for doppelgängers of others like us; It also did not act exactly like you, the gait was off, and the countenance was not what I remember of you. There are likely other tells but those are the ones I have found.” Ө

Stephanie sighs in exasperation. If it wasn’t bad enough that someone almost got stabbed and she can’t just kill the Witch, she has to worry about doppelgangers as well. At least there are ways she can spot them, but it’s another example of how the situation is only going to get worse the longer the Witch is around.

>>6322915
Welcome back! I'm already in one of the other Meguga Royales (and waiting with baited breath that they come back) but I'll be following this thread! Go team!

Ө “That is all the information I have to deliver. I have to say it is diabolical that this Witch would attempt to steal the likeness of others; could she have not just made a custom body for herself and come at us in honourable combat rather than attempt to trick us with these farces of Humanity?” Ө
Viktoria sighs to keep herself from getting too heated and continues. Ө ”Farewell to you fellow lady, I must bring in my maid for backup and ironically have no time for more prattle. Oh! And watch those rash thoughts of yours; Negative emotions are much more dangerous for us than any commoner.” Ө

Stephanie is finally left alone in her own head. She didn’t think that it would be novel to only have your own voice in your head but she supposes nothing is normal any more in her new life.
”Does Abigail have constant mental conversations like this? It’s very taxing on the brain. And what was that Viktoria said at the end about my thoughts? Sure I’ve been having some rash thoughts recently but I haven’t actually done anything rash yet. In fact, I’ve been pretty productive!”

“Stephanie?” A familiar voice says.

Stephanie is snapped out of her thoughts and freezes for a moment. That’s Megan’s voice. Megan’s back-
”Wait, I was just warned about doppelgangers. There’s no way I’m going not going to be suspicious about this. Maybe Alba was onto something about team names and such.”

Stephanie turns and puts on a smile, which is easy when looking at her friend-turned-sister, then replies. “Yeah? You’re back from the toilet?”

Megan nods. “Yep.”

“So where’s Ashleigh? Isn’t she supposed to stay with you?” Stephanie does think it would be strange if the staff members had to go with students to the toilet but not come back with them.

“She apparently had to talk with someone in the SEN Office and trusted me enough to come back here myself.”

Stephanie nods, but knows that she has to be more wary. As sad as it makes Stephanie to be suspicious of her own sister, she doesn’t want to find out that she’s been talking to an impostor the whole time and her sister is dead or something. God, the thought of that burns her.

>Megan is here. Or at least, something that looks like Megan is here. Confirming where Megan is might be more complicated now that doppelgängers are at play, but perhaps there’s a simple solution to confirming whether the Megan in front of Stephanie right now is the real Megan.

Emily Brighton:

Emily nods at the questions. Straying a smidge into philosophy, but one rooted in practical reasoning, so she sees no reason not the answer.

"Why do I like food?" She echos.
Emily opens her mouth to speak, but pauses, finding the exact words is a precarious task. "Food" She begins slowly. "Is one of life's simple pleasures. Each flavour represents a different, readily available source." Her speech gradually finds it's footing. "The pleasure from eating a delicious ice cream, for example." She takes a cup of steaming black coffee and put a spoonful of mixed vanilla strawberry ice cream inside. Relishing a sip with a smile, the bitter hot coffee and the sweet cool ice cream mixing on the tongue. "Isn't the same as the pleasure from a freshly baked bread." She saws a slice of a woodcutters bread, the crunch is a song to the ears. Texture even better, the hard crust that shatters, allowing access to the soft crumb underneath, a few nuts interspersed in both layers. Simple, pallet cleansing, delicious. She sighs in satisfaction.

Marisa nods before taking a nibble of bread herself. Emily can tell that Marisa doesn’t eat unless she needs to because her bread is just wholemeal with no additions. One of the types who sees food as a source of nutrients and nothing more. But the fact that she’s eating despite her disinterest shows an attempt to empathise that Emily was not expecting.
“I believe I’m starting to understand. But surely food isn’t the only aspect of life one can enjoy?” Marisa asks.

"Food isn't the only pleasure, of course.” Emily responds.
“The beauty of nature, satisfaction of exercise, a good book read properly, and even spending time with good company." Emily nods towards Marisa. "But all of those are individually equivalent to a single flavour, not higher, nor lower. And while I don't claim to have found or experienced even a fraction of either, there are simply many more flavours then there are other pleasures. With many other pleasures overlapping. While flavours are much simpler to contrast, allowing the continuation of the chain of experience forevermore."
She finishes her ice cream coffee, and takes another bite of the bread, before dipping it into a meaty bean stew and swallowing the result in one bite. The flavours and textures smoothly transition from one to the other, the pleasure unceasing.
"That is not to say that the other pleasures are comparatively worthless, a flavour long untasted is that much better when you have it again. Plus, many of these other pleasures can be combined with food to further enhance the experience, like a delicious picnic in beautiful nature."

A smile crawls onto Marisa’s face as she makes a crêpe with pistachio, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. Unhealthy for sure but undeniably packed with flavour. She takes a hearty bite and makes one of the few grins Emily has ever seen her make, if at all. She’s starting to learn.
“Hm. It’s not the path that I follow but I can understand the appeal. Reminds me of the Hellfire Clubs but more… restrained, despite your voracity.” Marisa polishes off the crepe with a cup of tea and dabs her mouth with a napkin. She isn’t as good as Emily at downing large amounts of food without making a mess.

“Despite my want for food, I wouldn’t describe it as mere hunger or voracity. More as a want for the enjoyment of varied flavours, but measured and...”
Emily pauses for a moment, thinking on her words, then catches herself.
"Oh, nearly forgot. By flavours I don't just mean salty and sweet, or bitter and sour, or things like that. Textures also apply just the same. Smells too and even appearance has influence. Though one has to have a proper mindset to take pleasure from what is there, instead of lessening it."

Marisa seems to have gone for the classic tea and crumpets for this round of food. An understated taste. “That is true. I doubt I would have the proper thinking to truly enjoy such pleasure the same way you do, I have other passions. Though, Now that I know of your…” Marisa tries to avoid the word ‘philosophy’.
“Way of life, I can more properly tailor tasks to your liking so they don’t interfere with your wants. But now for the question that often reveals much of a Puella Magi’s character: Your wish.”

Emily nods. "Right, the wish though. I mean, it was pretty simple, just to be able to eat again. Though I also didn't want to get that thing where you gorge yourself after not eating and die, or poison myself on something I wasn't used to, so I tried to word it more generally, y'know? I mean, that white thing seemed like a damn fairy, or genie, or something, not including a safety clause was just asking for trouble. I think the exact wording was:"
Emily clears her throat with a cough. "I wish to bite, tear, and devour, whatever I desire and howevermuch I desire, without suffering ill effects."
With a smile she adds. "Also happens to remove the only weak point of eating food for pleasure, a full stomach."
She laughs wholeheartedly. Taking a few moments to calm after the last few chuckles.

Marisa chuckles as well, though it’s not a noblewoman’s chuckle or a mad scientist’s crazed laughter like Emily was expecting, but rather something akin to a Witch’s cackle. “An interesting Wish. A very interesting Wish. I will certainly have a fun time with you- Oh, I don’t mean to scare you. It’s just that some wishes people make can be awfully drab and not well thought out. But enough about that. My last question, requests?”

"Ah, as for your remaining question, now that's an important one. I will make requests, don't think I won't it's just." For a moment, Emily's newly gained bluster falters. "While I have put a lot of through into this I haven't actually... had a chance to experiment much." She scratches the back of her neck. "Right now, the beer variety coouuuld be a bit better, but even there, more testing is needed."
"BUT" Emily grins. "That's one hell of a great problem to have. So don't worry, I'll get back to you on that."

Giving Marisa a few moments to process the information, Emily licks her lips again, catching a stay droplet of the meaty stew, and immediately hones on the bowl. Beginning the process of its content's annihilation. Taste buds singing, while her mind wonders despite herself. Magical girl... honestly, it doesn't sound like it effects what she likes to do, so she doesn't see a reason to dig beyond what Marisa tells her. Getting unplugged from her body would be annoying though, but seeing as that hasn't happened... Maybe she swallowed her soul gem after the deal and didn't notice? It was before she went to sleep after all, maybe it appeared and she managed to snag it while dozing off? She is used to waking up with drool on her pillow, sometimes even chewing on a piece of it (though lately some bite marks too, whoops). Well, whatever is the case, she's feels fine, so it's pointless thinking about it.

Marisa looks up at the ceiling – made of golden caramel and toffee – while deep in thought. Taking a few bites of a beefsteak, she finally responds.
“I do like experimentation myself, obviously of a different kind than yours, so I will offer you a task to play guinea pig.”

“Already? I thought you already had plenty of dead bodies to experiment on?” Emily says between mouthfuls of soup, mostly as a joke.

Marisa smiles and shakes her head. “Oh no, just the one.” She jests then she takes on a more serious tone. “Besides, this is something that can only be done with a specimen like you, with your Wish. But first an explanation of the situation:
I am not the ultimate mistress of this domain, no matter how it may look. I… took this location under my control from a supernatural creature that we call a “Witch” and this is actually a “Labyrinth”. It was a complicated thing that I believe only someone like me could do, but it gave me the domain that we are now enjoying. My hold over the Labyrinth is not complete though, occasionally this Witch regains its strength and takes back control over the place. That’s why you saw those dancing teapots and what-have-you before I beat some sense back into that Witch.”

Emily gulps down some plain water for once and says: “Sounds troublesome. Why not just kill this Witch and take over the whole place? You’re not stupid, that’s for sure, so you must have a good reason.”

“Yes, the reason why is because I can’t without losing this place. You see, the Witch is like… the source of the Labyrinth. If the Witch is killed then the magic maintaining the Labyrinth disappears. As much as I say that I don’t like food as much as you do, you have to agree that an infinite food source is nonetheless useful, correct?”

Emily finishes a roast chicken before responding. “Yes, absolutely. Though I do wonder how this is relevant to my task? Are you going to ask me to kill the Witch? Surely you know that I don’t want all of this,” she spreads her arms out, “To be gone?”

“Yes, you will be killing the Witch-”
Emily opens her mouth.
“But not in the usual way.”

Then she cocks her head slightly. How else then? ”Wait, she said that it was something that only I, with my Wish, can do...”
“You’re going to ask me to eat the Witch?” Emily asks in genuine confusion.

Marisa claps her hands. “Yes! I was hoping that you would figure it out just so I wouldn’t have to say something so preposterous. Before you ask ‘Why’: As I said before, this Witch is the Source of the Labyrinth and if it dies then the Labyrinth will disappear. But you can eat anything with no downsides! My guess is that if you eat the Witch then you will become the source of the Labyrinth by digesting the Witch’s power. I will warn you that this task won’t be easy. You’ll have to fight the Witch in combat and I won’t be helping because I need to be able to check on you after you devour the thing. Just in case anything goes wrong.”

Emily thinks about it and nods. “I can see the logic. Though I do wonder if I will gain anything from this. Excuse me, I know that you’ve already introduced me to paradise so asking for more looks greedy, but you did say I have to fight it in combat and that’s a risk to my life. Not to mention there’s the risk that your guess isn’t correct.”

Marisa frowns. “If my guess is correct then you will gain sole control over this Labyrinth and all it holds. Not only that, but I believe that you can… bring it with you. For all the good we can say about this place, one downside is that it’s only in one location and that location is an obscure corner of York. Not only that but it’s under my control, not yours. At any moment, if I were a more ruthless woman, I could just sic every Familiar in this Labyrinth on you. Or the Witch can because she shares control! Honestly-”

Emily interrupts. “Excuse me, what are ‘Familiars’?”

Marisa calms down and performatively clears her throat. “Right, I’m getting ahead of myself. Familiars are creatures that Witches create to perform menial tasks like kidnapping innocents and killing people.”

“Are you telling me that there are supernatural creatures in York that skulk around kidnapping and killing people? How have I never seen nor heard of them? How strong is the ‘masquerade’ here?” Emily asks both in curiosity and horror.

“You never see nor hear of them because you usually can’t unless you’re like us. And Puella Magi usually hunt down Witches, and therefore Familiars, like their lives depend on it. As for the ‘masquerade’-” Marisa winces before continuing. “I want to say it’s strong but it’s only really as strong as the least discreet Puella Magi.”
“Anyway, there are direct downsides to this current situation that we can be rid off if I’m correct. Think about it: Infinite food wherever you go and you’ll have absolute control over it. All you have to do is fight something that should be within your power to defeat.”

>Emily honestly wasn’t expecting to get into a fight today, among other things, and she doesn’t need to. She could say that the current splendour satisfies her already, not go along with this, and just keep eating.

𐤌Abigail Fulson 𐤌

Abigail’s Status: Unconscious (Full access to the Crossroads. Can regain consciousness by using “Crossroads Jaunt”)

Abigail wakes up to her being asleep.

”I’m outside my body?” She says in confusion.
She quickly realises that the only reason she could be out of her body is that she’s in the Crossroads. She looks around and sees that the Art classroom looks more like a painting than a real life room, with the teacher having a higher colour saturation, looking more vivid, than anything or person in the room.

”Oh hey, you’re finally up!” The Witch exclaims.

Abigail rubs her head and turns to look at Claire. The Witch in her mind, sharing space in her Soul. She looks like a regular black-haired girl, she always does in the Crossroads, but she’s constantly oozing some sort of dark aura around her that’s likely the Grief her Soul is still filled with. Claire wears a black day dress with bow details and puffed sleeves straight out of the Victorian Era. Abigail guesses that’s what her Magical Girl attire was like.

”W-what happened?” Abigail asks.

Claire adopts a sinister grin befitting her former nature. ”You suffered a mental attack from the Witch while not paying attention. Shows you to just sit around waiting for the lesson to end.”

Abigail folds her arms together and leans in to give Claire an accusatory glare. “You’re a terrible liar. You know I know that my mind filters out unwanted mental effects- usually anyway.”

”Alright, you caught me red-handed. You actually just fell asleep in class. No-one’s bothering you because they’re focusing on their own work and the teacher can’t lob more work at you because you complete it in your sleep.” Claire explains.

”I’ve been doing school work in my sleep?!”
Abigail knew she found Art Class easy but not to the point that she could literally do it in her sleep. She doesn’t know whether to be proud of herself or disappointed in the school.

”Enough about that though. I dragged you here instead of letting you sleep so I could tell you something. This Witch can make doppelgangers.”

Abigail suppresses her shock from the statement to ask an important question. ”How did you find out about this?” She has a suspicion…

”Oh, I eavesdropped on a conversation between Stephanie and Viktoria.” Claire casually replies.

Abigail thinks she’ll never get this girl to stop spying on people.
”F-for goodness’ sake, why do you keep invading people’s privacy by mind-reading?!”

The question seems to prod directly at some bad experiences Claire had. Her countenance becomes distraught, her tone is defensive and the dark aura around her spikes.
”Look, this was the only way I could make friends when I was human! I had to look in their heads to figure out what I could say to get them to like me!” She starts making quick short breaths. The beginning of crying. T-that’s all I could do, so I have to keep doing it- and-”
She breathes in deeply to calm herself. She can’t have an emotional breakdown now. She’s a Witch in another Witch’s territory and has a risk of hurting a person she genuinely cares about.

Abigail looks at the floor. She feels a bit guilty about the reaction she caused, but she can’t just let that behaviour slide. Okay, comfort. She can do that, right?
”Remember: I’m here for you and you don’t have to read my mind- you can’t really anyway. You should talk with the others in our group more often, both to stop spying on them and so you don’t rely on me for conversations with people.”

”Yeah, I should.” Claire replies with the emotional numbness that comes with baring your emotions, but Abigail can tell she’s sincere.

Abigail waits for the atmosphere to cool before talking again.
”S-so, doppelgangers, huh?” She mentions awkwardly

Claire, now fully calm, responds.

”The Witch seems to be able to craft her Familiar’s appearance and behaviour to a facsimile of a real person. Of course, there are limitations: Familiars do not have our Magic, the Witch does not know us more than we know each other and so tells can be spotted between close relationships, and it’s just off from human that it can trigger people’s “Uncanny Valley” senses at times.
But that’s not the most efficient tell. There are sure-fire ways to spot impostors.”

Claire remains silent after. Abigail was really hoping for an explanation of any of these “Sure-fire ways”.
”S-so? Are you going to tell me?” Abigail finally says, breaking the, now awkward, silence.

”Oh no, I already gave a massive amount of exposition, I’d rather not bore you to sleep- though you can’t really sleep here. Besides, this is one of those things that’s better when you figure it out yourself. A hint though: Familiars do not have something that you and our group have which ties us together.”

Abigail sighs in frustration. She thought she had Claire pegged as the “Regretful formerly evil mentor” archetype, not the “Strange cryptic mentor” she’s playing as now.

>A sure-fire way to spot impostors… It would be useful since they’re a thing now. If someone tried to take Oliver’s identity... that would be dangerous for Abigail’s heart and soul. Abigail doesn’t have much to work with, but she feels like it’s enough to figure this out.

>>6322931
Hey! We seem to have a trend here with the Meguca Royales.
This thread should be more fast-paced. It will likely have Total Witch and Familiar Death.

>>6322917
Name: Himari Nakamura

Appearance: 6 feet 3, with thick black hair that almost reaches the ground, she is not too thin- quite chubby, in fact, but has outright nothing up top. Her eyes are a dull brown.
Her face is sharp, her fingers always shake unless she pulls her hands into fists, and she wears her school uniform most of the time (that of a middle-class university).
19, but very very strange

Quirks: Shy, self deprecating, with immense loneliness and a great desire for love. Deep down are buried terrible anger issues.

Wish: “I w-want to have the b-biggest boobs in the w-world… p-please?”

>>6322980
oh, forgot: very, very, VERY gay- unbeknownst to her

>>6322980

Himari Nakamura

Himari Nakamura sits in a stall within one of the girl’s toilets of the University. She doesn’t like coming here, it’s cramped and smells horrible no matter how soon it was cleaned like a universal constant that can’t be scrubbed out, but it’s one of the places that’s left alone and she knows no-one is looking at her. It’s one of those things about herself she never understood: She wants people to look at her more but is deathly afraid of people looking at her. But she doesn’t have time to in-depth introspection.

Sat in her lap is a strange white creature. It’s not a fox, she’s seen many foxes in Britain and none of them look like this one but, once again, she can’t think much about the details. What she does know is that this thing said its name was Kyubey and it promised a wish granted after she left the cafeteria in a rush. She could feel an aching feeling in her chest and nothing good happens when she feels that.

“I w-want to have the b-biggest boobs in the w-world… p-please?” Himari mumbles out.

The creature looks up at her. Its expression never changes but she swore there was confusion in its head movements.

”Himari, Wishes are a powerful thing. You can have things beyond your dreams and in the realm of fantasy when you become a Magical Girl. There are much more fantastical things to yearn for than a simple change to your body.” Kyubey says.

Are you really sure you simply want a modification to your body and nothing more substantial? Fulfilling? Powerful?”

>>6322989
Himari thinks back to all the times she’s been left alone, picked last, made fun of. The only one not invited to a party, or to grab a drink, or to watch a movie.

All the times she was grouped with the losers, the freaks, the weirdos- only to be rejected by them too because there’s really nothing freakish or weird about her.

All of it would’ve been different, if she’d just been… prettier.

With a face redder than a bleeding sun, she nods, mumbling oh-so-weakly
“I’m s-sure”

She doesn’t need powers. She just needs to be pretty, and everything will be fine! Perfect, even!

>>6322960
for real, your persistence is admirable. at this point im sure that your readers know that they can think up long term plans and see those come into play at some point

>>6322980
for the record, i had this almost very exact same idea a few weeks ago. LET IT BE KNOWN
that being said, i'm glad that it's a theme others already find interesting

>>6323046
Trust me, I haven’t read the other threads. Giant tits are just like crabs- everything eventually leads to them

>>6322960
The prodigal son returns. You were really testing my faith in you for a sec there.

>>6322952

Huh, if Witches do all that, maybe the medieval people had a point.
Though as to her involvement with this, well, that's pretty clear. Marisa is her friend, and she wants a favor. Nothing else to it.
The morality of killing someone... eh, it would have been more of a thought if she didn't get a conformation of souls existing. At that point it's just sending everyone where they belong.
Eating someone is a bit more gnarly, but she heard that humans taste like pork, so it can't be that bad.

But, with the theoretical quandaries dealt with as swiftly as her mushroom souffle, the practical ones rear their head.
The main problem is Emily's own safety. The last thing she wants is, after getting this windfall, to go off and die. If it was one on one, she would trust her chances, but with the Familiars involved? It becomes a question.
Still, Marisa wouldn't suggest it if she didn't think Emily could do it. But even then, it doesn't hurt to ask.

"If you need it done, then I'll do it, all there is to it. Though fighting a whole group with my hands and uh, teeth, is not really something I'm used to, and losing all this just by getting knocked on the head from a blind angle is something I'd want to avoid. So, any tips for improving my odds?"

>>6323183
((Forgot my trip, but at least I have a chance to welcome the thread back! I was worried after the last one went down.))

>>6322934
Stephanie was gripped by the absolute terror of something potentially having happened to Megan. Sure, the familiars weren't all that, but, as far as magical girls Stephanie would rate to hold their own in a stand-up fight, neither was Megan. If she somehow got separated from Ashleigh and—...

Stephanie grit her teeth and banished that line of thinking. This was neither the time nor the place to be freaking out. Viktoria saw a doppelganger that looked like her and she was none the wiser—to say nothing of going unharmed. The familiars could just take on other people's appearances at will, so Megan potentially being impersonated didn't mean that she was in trouble. For all Stephanie knew, she was still with Ashleigh doing...stuff.

Either way, she had to suss out if this was a doppelganger before she could kick off. And quick, too. It'd be proper awkward if Ashleigh and the real Megan walked in right as she was in the middle of ripping off fake Megan's head. Stephanie put on an easy grin and commenced the first test to see if this Megan was real.

"So, little cherub, manage to get on the Essex bint's good side before duty called 'er or what? Ha, must've been just like in episode 9 of Drillface, where she and Queen Evilia get locked in that storage room."

That, of course, never happened in episode 9, something that the real Megan would immediately point out after she was finished being flustered. Stephanie came up with quick, if inelegant, backups. She'd ask Megan to use her magic to enhance her abilities so she could show off a new trick—partially true; Stephanie did want to see how big she could make the plasma sword. Viktoria did say that the doppelgangers didn't have their magic. The real Megan wouldn't balk at that. As a last resort, asking her to show Stephanie her soul gem would also work. She'd need a pretext, though, and saying that something looked wrong with her gem would have to be it. That would give the real Megan one hell of a fright, so Stephanie thought it best to be avoided.

>Commence the Stephanie Inquisition. If it finds that this is a doppelganger, proceed as follows:
>"Plasmic fire, please give me more power so I can do this cunt in!" plasma sword goes swish
>change adoption to Solid Earth
>"come on, solid earth, help me do it to 'em!" bash the familiar's head in
>Vivisepulture to get rid of the evidence
>clean up most of the mess and wait for Meg and Ashleigh

>>6322930
Viktoria is still based as usual, damn doppelgangers though

>>6322937
A pretty interesting philosophy here, Emilyanon put in good work

>>6322959
Impostors, perhaps even among the magical girls... a harrowing thought. I will warn the others over the link, particularly Alba and Oliver, and tell them to be careful. Wait, is Alba even in the link? Ah... maybe just Oliver will have to do, and he can tell her himself.

As for detecting impostors, we can say hello to each other over the link whenever we see one another, and if there isn't a response, they are probably an impostor. Though to be safe, we should come up with a password over the link, like "lolipop", that we can say or ask of the potential imposter in person as another verification step. The link had to be the "something" we all had that the impostors didn't, right? Unless maybe... our souls? We do mostly have our souls externally, and they are magical so we should be able to detect them for what they are (or are not in the case of the impostors). So, we can just look for the jewelry that manifests as our soul gem on each other. Not as easy to use on mundane people, maybe we'll observe other tells in time.

>>6323000

Himari Nakamura

Kyubey looks into Himari’s eyes, but with how unerring the gaze is it’s like it’s peering into her soul to look for hesitation. After a moment of this impromptu staring contest, it hops off Himari’s lap.

”In that case, I will make your Wish come true, and you will become a Magical Girl. Try to relax and nap for a moment, you’ll feel heat building up in the region of the thorax between the neck and diaphragm for reasons that should be obvious.”

Himari’s heart beats faster. ”It’s happening! It’s actually happening! I’m going to be pretty and people will actually look at me more often, and I won’t feel embarrassed by it, and my friends might even complimen-”

Himari’s mind blanks out for a moment and she recovers shortly after. She reaches into a shirt pocket to pull out her phone and has to finagle her hands. Was her shirt always this small? Eventually she gets it out and finds that only a minute passed, thank goodness.
Was all that stuff just a hallucination or something? It’s definitely too weird for she herself to believe. If someone told her about everything that happened she would’ve called it some bad wish-fulfilment fantasy story. Though she does feel some heat around her chest…
She discards such thoughts. The time between lectures only lasts for so long and she can’t spend it daydreaming in the toilet all day, she needs to prepare herself and maybe find some of her friends.

Himari gets up from the toilet seat and almost falls over. She manages to get the stall door open but her balance feels off. There’s more weight on her upper body than usual and chafing around her chest.

”No way. There’s no way.”

She gets in front of a mirror and immediately spots her new growth spurt. She’s both elated and shocked that her Wish worked. Magic is real and it gave her large breasts! She jumps in celebration and regrets it immensely as her bra digs into her skin. She’s going to need a bigger one soon.

>Magic is real. The magnitude of this discovery pales in comparison to the size of Himari’s breasts. What to do first? Show off to her friends? Look in the mirror a bit longer? Go get proper clothing so the chafing stops?

>>6323183

Emil(l)y Brighton

Marisa looks at Emily quizzically, not understanding her question, before her mood shifts in revelation.
“Right, of course you don’t know. You should have a much higher chance of survival if you Transform before going in.” She says.

“Transform?” Emily questions through a mouthful of pancake.

“Yes, Transform. We’re ‘Magical Girls’ remember? What kind of Magical Girl doesn’t have a fabulous transformation sequence?” Marisa asks rhetorically.

“Deckcatcher Sakuya.” Emily responds quickly after swallowing.
Emily’s family was fairly large and it was bound to have one sister who would constantly pester her to watch anime as a Sister-bonding event. Hazy memories now, but replaced with worse ones and soon to be replaced again with better ones.

Marisa looks at Emily with a confused expression. “What?” She shakes her head. “Whatever. Transforming will increase your capabilities and fully bring out your Magic. I’m assuming this is your first time, so you’ll need some help, but you can rely on instinct.”

Emily nods. “Good to know. But how do I Transform?”

Marisa looks away from Emily. If Emily didn’t know better she would say Marisa was embarrassed. “I should really remember that I’m dealing with a new one here. Transforming is simple: Just focus on the reason you made your Wish, why you live the way you do now, and reach out for your Soul. The last part sounds esoteric but is very easy once you get the first part down. This is the simplest way I can explain it.”

“Thank you for the explanation. Now, can you Transform? Just to give me an example.”
Marisa glares at Emily while she prepares a glass of grape juice with that same smile as always. Emily doesn’t really need an example, she’s just curious about seeing a real life Magical Girl Transformation Sequence in person up close. It would probably be the largest example of Magic being real she could get.
Marisa knows Emily is doing this out of pure enjoyment and curiosity but can’t bring herself to do more than glare viciously, and she swears that Emily’s smile is more mischievous than usual.

“Fine.”

Marisa stands up from her chair and reaches into her clothes. Defying what Emily knows about how space works, Marisa pulls a worn brown teddy bear out of an internal pocket that shouldn’t exist and caresses it like a child.

Then she jams her hand into its chest.

This act of violence was to extract a piece of jewellery from it; what looks like a white Fabergé Egg. A Soul Gem. It shines brightly, so bright that it nearly blinds Emily, but she notices that the light isn’t coming from the Soul Gem, it’s being sucked in and refracted outwards. The refracted light curves and wraps itself around Marisa like a cocoon then disperses, revealing an outlandish attire that Emily wouldn’t see anywhere except for maybe a Halloween party.

A white witch’s outfit, complete with a pointy wide-brimmed hat. Though it is more frilly around the skirt and brim of the hat, at least, more frilly than the dark, conservative clothing Marisa usually wore.
Emily gives applause, having already devoured a bucket of popcorn while watching.
“Did you enjoy the show?” Marisa says with a resentful tone.

“Yes! A good example of what you instructed.” Emily replies.

“Really?”
Marisa asked that question rhetorically, she wasn’t expecting Emily to actually get something out of her performance. Emily, for her part, was not a fool who just wanted to see Marisa Transform for the hell of it.

”The moment where she snatched her Soul Gem from the teddy bear might be symbolic or it could just be a convenient hiding place. At least I know where hers is now. The Transformation was also faster than I expected, taking only a few seconds rather than a minute; I guess those close-up shots take up a lot of screen-time. It’s also convenient that you get some clean clothing for free, though I wonder if it will magically fit my body. And...”
“I feel a form of pressure or heightened presence from you. Like I can tell that your current outfit isn’t normal.”

“Ah yes. While Transformed you constantly exude magic. Regular people can’t feel it but Puella Magi, Witches, and Familiars can. This means that being Transformed all the time is not recommended, it makes you a beacon for Familiars and Witches, who will likely run away or attempt to nip the problem in the bud; And Puella Magi who may pressgang you into their service or coerce important assets from you. Not to mention that wasting magic is foolish in our line of work.”

“Good to know.” Emily was wondering why she couldn’t just stay Transformed all the time. “And the increased capabilities you spoke of?”

As an example of the increased capabilities her Magical Girl Outfit gives her, Marisa stabs herself in the neck with a kitchen knife.

The knife breaks into pieces without even piercing her flesh.

“Stronger attacks are possible with Magic, but Transforming definitely increases your survivability."

>Marisa also informs Emily that Transforming right before or after entering a Labyrinth is a common tactic, as it reduces the waste of magic while allowing you to be prepared for danger. Emily was resisting making a ‘witch’ joke at Marisa’s expense the whole time, what with her outfit.

>>6326728

𐤌Abigail Fulson 𐤌

Abigail’s Status: Unconscious (Full access to the Crossroads. Can regain consciousness by using “Crossroads Jaunt”)

Abigail breathes in. Just consider this a test but with higher stakes, right?

“The simplest way to identify each other would be the link, wouldn’t it? Familiars don’t have our bond, which ties us together, so they wouldn’t be able to communicate over the link. All we would have to do is communicate some over the link.” Abigail answers.

Claire claps her hands together with the smile of a proud teacher. “Yes, that is the simplest way.”

Despite answering the question within Claire’s expectations, Abigail wanted to cover other bases.
“We also need to identify people not part of the link, and mundane people. We could go with a password? Another thing we have is our Soul Gems, for people who aren’t in the link but are Magical Girls, like Alba, we can just ask her to show her Soul Gem. It’s not a perfect solution but we can hopefully come up with other tells.”

”Hmm. I think I can also do something due to my nature as a Witch. I’ll get back to you later if I succeed.”

Abigail doesn’t even pay attention to Claire’s words as she remembers something, or rather one, important to her.
”Oliver, there’s doppelgangers around the school now so you should watch out for anyone who looks familiar but is acting strangely.”

”Well that explains what happened in the toilet just now.” Oliver says.

”Huh?”

”I saw something that looked like you but it definitely wasn’t you. I could just feel it in my guts that it was something pretending to be you. After that situation in the playground, I played it safe and just shot it. It disappeared into some purple mist after so I’m guessing it was a ‘Familiar’ or whatever you guys call it. This is ignoring that it was in the boy’s toilet. I don’t think you’re the kind of person who sneaks into the boy’s toilet.”
Oliver was able to spot an impersonator of Abigail in one glance. A strange preternatural instinct.
”Also, there’s some portal thing with a symbol on it in the back of the room.” He adds.

”WHAT?! Don’t go in there!” Abigail screams.

”Wait, Oliver can see the Labyrinth Entrance? I don’t think I ever mentioned this, but mundane people usually can’t see Magic, they can only see the effects of Magic on the physical world. Oliver shouldn’t be able to see the Labyrinth Entrance.” Claire explains.

>”We still have the rest of the lesson. Considering that you can do this work in your sleep, I suppose we could visit Oliver and see what’s happening there. Or perhaps check some more rooms a bit since there are apparently multiple Labyrinth Entrances we could find.” Claire suggests.

>>6324907

ф Stephanie Smith ф:

Stephanie’s Adoption: Plasmic Fire (+2 PA, +2 MA. +2 PA when manipulating Solid Matter)

Stephanie paces around the tables and ovens, getting closer to Megan. Or at least, something that looks like Megan. She hopes that it’s actually her just so she doesn’t have to be worried about Megan’s safety, but that’s why she has tests prepared. They both stand in front of a gas stove.

"So, little cherub, manage to get on the Essex bint's good side before duty called 'er or what? Ha, must've been just like in episode 9 of Drillface, where she and Queen Evilia get locked in that storage room."

Surprising herself, she does feel a bit happy when talking to someone that she doesn’t even know is the real Megan. But… That’s not what happens in Episode 9. The real Megan would no doubt know this and correct her afer recovering from being flustered, followed by a synopsis of all the scenes in the episode.

Megan raises her brow. “That’s not what happens in episode 9 of Drillface.” She corrects.

”Oh. Well it’s time for the other-”

“Also, why would I want to get on the good side of Ashleigh?” Megan continues

”What?!”

“Y-you’re having a laugh right? You’re falling arse over tit for that lass, it’s obvious as all hell!” Stephanie exclaims.

“Why would I be attracted to a woman who brought a weapon into school and might be a threat to us? That makes no sense.” Megan rebuts.

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?! You practically melt whenever you get close to her! Don’t you want her to be your tart?!”
Stephanie was thinking that she was going to catch the doppelganger on Drillface trivia, not her taste in women!
“Megan, are you really going to say to my face that you never thought Ashleigh was fit?”

“Yeah, it’d be real strange for me to be attracted to a member of staff wouldn’t it?”

“…”

The gas stove nearby activates at max heat and spews blue-hot jets of fire directly at ‘Megan’. Her clothes burst into flames but the fire alarm doesn’t activate due to the smoke and fire somehow sticking onto her body and not floating up. Stephanie follows that up with an air-enhanced kick to the abdomen that sends ‘Megan’ away from her and onto the floor.

“S-Stephanie, what are you doing?!” ‘Megan’ screams out.

“Screw off, wanker! I have you bang to rights! How could your creator get Drillface trivia right but couldn’t even figure out my sister being all up for blonde models?!”

‘Megan’, still on fire, manages to get up and squeak out a “what?” in her throes of pain. Her time in existence was drastically short. It’s going to get cut down to zero soon.

Stephanie rushes towards the doppelganger as soon as it gets up, her gait less like a graceful jaunt and more like a brute’s charge. Midway through her charge, she reaches a hand into the air and makes a request:
"Plasmic Fire, please give me more power so I can do this cunt in!"
The world understands her plight, as crass words do not matter between family. Heat and electricty coalesce in her hands, ionising the air to create a blue blade of plasma. As soon as it coheres, Stephanie performs an air-enhanced slide with no friction or air resistance and makes a wide swing for the Familiar’s legs that strikes true, amputating the Familiar.

>>ф (1, 4, 5)<< (Roll for damage.)
>>Bezzie HP: 30/30 -> 6/30<<

Stephanie pushes herself up with one arm combined with a burst of air and focuses. People don’t get away with insulting her family like this on her watch and if she has to use brute solid force to get the message across then so be it. She reaches the arm not occupied by her blade straight up and makes another request:
"Come on, Solid Earth, help me do it to 'em!"
Stephanie’s Adoption: Solid Earth
Magic Affinity: 14 -> 12
Constitution: 14 -> 16
The air around her arm depositions and takes the shape of a crystalline war hammer. Which she introduces to the Familiar’s face.

>>ф (6, 2)<< (Roll for damage.)
>>Bezzie HP: 6/30 -> -18/30<<

Stephanie takes a few breaths to stabilise herself. Right underneath her is the burning and demolished body of an impostor. She makes a silent request for the heat to absorb into her blade, and briefly considers using Vivisepulture for cleanup before seeing the Familiar dissipate into purple mist. She almost forgot that Familiars clean up after themselves.

Stephanie looks at her plasma blade in one hand. A condensed jet of fire and electricity pulled into the form of a sword.
She looks at her crystalline war hammer in the other. Solid crystals seemingly made from nothing shaped into a war hammer.
When did she get so good at making weapons? Something to keep in mind anyway.

Magia Refined

Inherited Arsenal
“The world is my arsenal.”

>A refining of her weapon creation skills and an expression of her willingness to commit violence, Inherited Arsenal is Stephanie’s ability to create weapons from nature. There are 4 different weapons, one for each Adoption, but she does not need to be in the proper Adoption to use the designated weapon. These roll PA to hit.
>Solid Earth: Deals damage equal to Stephanie’s Ω (Con) + 2d6. Ignores blocking attempts.
>Liquid Water: Deals damage equal to Stephanie’s メ (Per) + 2d6. The enemy’s dodge attempts are considered to be halved.
>Gaseous Air: Deals damage equal to Stephanie’s 彡 (Dex) + 4d3. If a 3 is rolled on any of the dice in the damage roll, the target must pass a Ω check or be knocked airborne.
>Plasmic Fire: Deals damage equal to Stephanie’s λ (MA) + 3d6. If a 6 is rolled on any of the dice in the damage roll, the target catches fire.

Stephanie spends some time afterwards making sure everything was in order. Cleaning any possible debris from the beat down, making sure the cameras were still down, making sure nobody saw anything (the fact that no-one walked in soon after answered this question). Until, finally, her sister and tour guide returned.

Megan was red in the face and seemed a bit out of breath but otherwise unharmed. Ashleigh was as spotless as always.
Stephanie caught Megan in a hug as soon as she walked through the door, causing Megan to be flustered.

“Whoa- uh, did you miss me that much?” Megan asks.

“Yeah, why were you taking so long in the toilet?” Stephanie replies.

“The food in this school gives me major shits, absolute ringburner. Next time I should just bring food from home, especially since we don’t qualify for free school meals.”
They’re not poor orphans any more so they don’t get free food. Not that the food would be worth it even if it were free.

”The real reason is because I had to fight six Familiars at once in there.” Megan communicates, moving the conversation to telepathy.

”Six? How’d they all fit into that one toilet?

”They didn’t. There’s another entrance to the Labyrinth in the toilet.”

”Another? Viktoria found one in a shed near the school. She also said that doppelgangers are around. I had to fight one that looked like you.”

”Oh, you too? I had to fight, like, four Megans and two Stephanies.”

”And you’re still okay? I won’t lie, I was worried sick.”

”For God’s sake, sis, I can take care of myself!” Megan says in frustration.

”Well, it’s not like you’re great in a fight-”

”You think I don’t know that?! I’m worried about you dying as well!”

Stephanie’s thoughts pause. Megan is worried about her dying? It makes sense, they are sisters, but her words and tone implies Megan is more justified in her worry than Stephanie is. That sounds strange from Stephanie’s perspective.
Her thoughts are interrupted again by the Essex blonde walking into the main kitchen while wearing an apron.


“Hey loves! Am I interrupting your dramatic reunion?” Ashleigh asks with a playfully theatric flair.

Megan detaches from Stephanie and turns towards Ashleigh in a heartbeat. “N-no, no! I’m always ready to listen to you- I mean- to my teachers!”

”Smooth. Did you get on her good side in the toilet? Like in episode 9 of Drillface, that scene with Queen Evilia in the storage room?"

”Wha- No! N-no I didn’t! She didn’t go into the toilet with me, not that I would compla-” Megan stops for a moment to reorient herself. ”And that didn’t even happen in episode 9, what the bloody hell are you talking about?! You said that just to mess with me didn’t you?!” She says in an accusatory tone.

Stephanie nods and walks towards the back of the room.
”Never change, sis. Never change.”

The task that Ashleigh assigned to show off the capabilities of the Food Tech Kitchen was to make a full course dinner. Entrées, a main course with a focus on meats such as roast chicken and beef, and a cake for dessert.

“Do we even have enough time to make all of that?” Stephanie asks.

“Yes. As long as we’re smart and know how to manage our time and delegate tasks well. Part of the reason this class exists is because Uni students often have terrible diets.” Ashleigh frowns briefly. “Not that staff members are much better.” She quickly perks up. “Thankfully, we have a great recipe written out for us. If we follow it we should get this done in a jiffy!”

Megan and Stephanie, dressed in aprons, look at the daunting collection of ingredients and tools they’ll have to use. Despite recently fighting inhuman creatures they honestly think that this potentially might be more exhausting.

Megan leans towards her sister. ”We can use this time to discuss somethings. Ways of getting into any of the Labyrinth entrances now that we know there are multiple. Ways to identify real people from doppelgangers. Important stuff.”
Stephanie doesn’t miss that she didn’t note how they’re both worried about each other’s lives as important. Before she can even think the words to ask her, they have another conversation partner.

Ө “Greetings, my fellow ladies.” Ө

”I thought you were getting your maid to help you. How do you have time to talk to us.” Stephanie says in an annoyed tone.

Ө “We are jumping across rooftops as I speak with you. Also, Harriet, say hello.” Ө

”Hello, esteemed acquaintances of my lady.” Harriet says in the perfectly measured and polite tone of a trained maid. Aren’t they jumping across rooftops, how are they so calm?

”Hm. Why are you bringing your maid here anyway? Sure she might put up a decent fight, but is it really worth putting another person at risk?”

Ө “About that: it seems that my servant was naughty and lied to me about the extent of her knowledge. Harriet has had multiple run-ins with Witches and Puella Magi but did not deign to tell us.” Ө Viktoria says, her resentful tone obvious by the end.

”I apologise, my lady. I believed that my past was irrelevant to my current service of you.”

Ө “Now, as I was saying, my servant has much more experience with the supernatural and occult than she lets on. So she’s a good guest to have with our discussion.” Ө

>A small break after a conflict. But it seems that things are heating up considering the Megan is actually considering methods of breaking in, and more Labyrinth entrances have been found. One question is: Which one to enter through?

>deckcatcher sakuya
ah yes, my favorite show to watch at my local wcdonalds lol

>>6327807
>GET A NEW SCHOOL UNIFORM
Wondrous though this may be, now is NOT the time to grope myself in front of a mirror like a weirdo!
And what happens if the teacher decides my uniform is indecent?! I’ll be expelled! Or worse, I’ll get a bad grade and my parents will be angry!

No, no, I need to get a new uniform. If they ask me why I’m bigger, I’ll say, uhhh… I was wearing a compression bra, and it broke, yes, yes everyone will believe that!

…wait, don’t deals tend to have side effects? Like… am I going to hell now?
But… but hell isn’t real, right? No demons or anything…

>>6327823
This was going to be a right drag. Food Tech was one of the classes that, in her experience of being bounced around various schools, was a relatively easy one to slack off in. That is, of course, assuming that there were more than two students in the bloody classroom. She had to talk to Megan over the psychic link and it sure seemed like there was a lot on her sister's mind (!), while also preparing a full course meal (!!), and all the while carrying the conversation with Ashleigh, lest the two of them come off as mute weirdos (!!!). Stephanie hoped that a dozen or so familiars would burst out of the fridge or some other hidey–hole and deliver her from the hellish torment she was in for.

"So, Miss Walsh," Stephanie adjusted her apron and glanced at the recipe, but didn't linger on it too long, lest the sheer quantity of stuff they had to prepare make her eyes glaze over. "What's t' game, then? These're well nice facilities, better than most schools I've been to. Can't say I know my way 'round everything 'ere. Help us out?"

Hopefully that would keep Ashleigh doing the bulk of the talking for a while, giving Stephanie and Megan time to touch on at least a few important points of discussion over their psychic link.

First things first, the task at hand—the actual task of killing the witch, that is, not whatever Ashleigh had them doing now.

"So there's at least three portals that we know of. Make much of a difference which one we use so long as we all go together? I'll say, I'd much rather use the one in't shitter than t' principal's office. Do we have time t' scout out these entrances and see which one's best? That something we can do?"

The witch kicking things up a notch with the attack on Oliver and the doppelgangers had somewhat derailed their plans, but Stephanie recalled one of the side objectives they had set out beforehand, if only due to her express role in it.

"Think I can go t' meet that Kanata lady? SEN office, lunchtime, she said. An extra magical girl on our side can't hurt. Or two, if 'er and Walsh 'ere are workin' together."

Unfortunately, a personal topic, one that potentially seemed like a sore spot for Megan, had to be left for last.

"What's all this about about me dying, Meg? It'd take more than one o' them naff cunts to even make me break a sweat, much less do me in. Between the two of us, you know I can handle myself in a dust-up, right? What's t' worry? Somethin' I should know?"


As for actual game actions:
>Despite the living purgatory she's in, Stephanie will try to use the break in the action to calm down a little (Mind 14)
>"Air. Water. Anyone. Send help." Use Adoptions to make the kitchen work a bit easier as needed.
>Hmm, the elemental weapons will surely be stronger if they have cool names Stephanie can shout in the middle of battle, right? Let's have her come up with a few wicked-sounding ones. (Intelligence 10)

>>6327812

Emilly's friend seems prone to spooky thematics. First mad science, then spectral apparition, now witchery, what ne-wait a second.
"If magic is real, doesn't every somewhat unstable practitioner also count as a mad scientist?"
A very important quandary indeed, for it shall decide if Emilly should think up some new punny mashup to nickname her friend.
What would even work? A Mad Science-Witch? A bit forced, but not too bad.

While Marisa processes Emilly's highly intellectual query, Emilly considers the rest of the information. Specifically, on transformation.
If nothing else, Marisa's reaction is probably going to be pretty funny, after all, she only saw Emilly in her baggy clothes. Sure her portrait, arms, and legs are visible, but seeing the whole of her is a bit of a different caliber. If her outfit is anything more revealing, or even just more form fitting, well, Marisa won't be the only one costume-ready for halloween, though she'd bet on winning any scare contests. Emilly barely suppresses a giggle as she drinks a salted milk tea.

The transformation itself though, now that sounds like the ticket. The cloth doesn't look too durable, but it could pack some serious plot armor for all Emilly knows, and Marisa wouldn't lie besides.
Though as for the process? Focusing on the reason she made her wish? No, that goes against one of her very simple fundamental rules. The past is gone, she will not dwell on it, end of story.
...There might be a way around it. Emilly hasn't changed much, and she's not gonna change now, at least not when it comes to what matters. Her wish, naturally, got her closer to those values, so if she focuses on them, it shouldn't matter if she's doing so because of the past, or the present.

Well, speaking of the present, no time like it.
>Emilly swallows the last of a shishkebab, and focuses on the most important things in life. The pleasure, and it's sources. She focuses on the smells around her, the warmth of her clothes, on the lingering taste in her mouth, on her stomach that seems pleasantly almost-but-never-quite full, and of course, on the silly face Marisa is making.

>>6327814
The Labyrinth Entrance, already? Just like that? That was easier than expected. I thought we were going to need to sneak into the Headmaster's room, but this is much easier.

Tell the others over the Link that Oliver's found a Labyrinth entrance. If we are going to go get the witch during school, now at least we have the avenue.

I'll go through the Crossroads to Oliver's classroom to see if there's anything going on that I can see that he can't. If that doesn't turn up anything that warrants my further presence or intervention, I'll go check the other classrooms for similar. If I need to get there physically and urgently, I should be able to excuse myself to the bathroom with little issue.

Also tell the others through the Link that a Doppelganger of myself has been spotted (and eliminated) and we should come up with a passcode or something to distinguish each other.

>>6328120

Himari Nakamura

Looking at herself in the mirror, Himari gets her priorities straight: She needs new clothes.
There’s no way she can go to a lecture like this! To say nothing about how wearing a shirt a size too small feels. Himari tries to prepare herself and heads towards the supply room. She can’t actually go into the room and has to wait in front of the desk to make a request.
The people in charge of resources like spare uniforms and equipment are a mix of students, alumni, and actual staff. The trust the university has that these people won’t steal anything is impressive.
A fair-skinned young man about Himari’s age walks in front of the desk while looking down at a tablet in his right hand.

“’’ello, what do you need?” He asks in a disinterested casual tone.

“I need a new uniform. I… outgrew my old one.” Himari answers.

“oiright, what size?” He continues while tapping the tablet in his hand.

“Uuh…” Right, Himari doesn’t actually know how big she is now. “I’m not sure.”

“Well oiright then, we can take your measurements. All you have to do is-” The man finally looks up from his tablet and is gobsmacked. “S-shite. Kayleigh! Get out here!”

A red-haired woman slightly older than Himari walks out of the supply room in a grumpy mood.
“Wot do you wa-” She becomes distracted for obvious reasons. “Holy fuck. So, you need new clothes?”
Himari nods, and is dragged into the supply closet.

Kayleigh genuinely struggles to get Himari’s measurements at some points, but succeeds. Unfortunately the result just make things more complicated.
“Okay, I’ve got your sizes. But before you start celebrating, I’ve got bad news: We don’t have any shirts, suits, bras, or anything like that in your size. Not a single one. What the ‘ell kind of genes do you need to have tits this large anyway? Actually, don’t answer that, don’t wanna know.”
“So we’re going to need to commission new clothes for you specifically, and they’re definitely not going to be ready today. You should either go home and find some spare clothes yourself, or go to an M&S or TK Maxx or something and buy some clothes fast. Either way, here.”
Kayleigh gives Himari- £100 in cash!
“You’re going to need it, trust me. A comfortable bra at your size? They’re going to price gouge you. Best I can do for now is give you the biggest set we have and hope that does you well.”

Himari nods absent-mindedly while looking at the money in her hands.

“Well, that’s all I can do here, good luck. Also, don’t worry if anyone ogles you; just swat them right in the solar plexus.”
Kayleigh leads Himari out of the supply closet with the largest size upper-body clothing they have, which is admittedly more comfortable than her previous clothing but is still not big enough. Himari can hear Kayleigh already trying to haggle with a tailor for the clothes over the phone, so she guesses that she’s in good hands on that front.

>Himari has a better (but still slightly uncomfortable) set of clothes that makes her decent, so she can actually go to a lecture dressed as she is. Or maybe she should go back home or to a clothes shop just to be safe.

>>6328200

ф Stephanie Smith ф:

Stephanie’s Adoption: Solid Earth (+2 PA, +2 Con. +2 PA when manipulating Solid Matter)

Stephanie and Megan look at the frankly ridiculous amount of ingredients in front of them. Megan regrets suggesting to have a talk over the link while cooking, while Stephanie is silently hoping that a dozen or so Familiars would bust out of the fridge or something, that would actually be easier for her to deal with. Can that white rat do second wishes?

"So, Miss Walsh," Stephanie adjusted her apron and glanced at the recipe, but didn't linger on it too long, lest the sheer quantity of stuff they had to prepare make her eyes glaze over. "What's t' game, then? These're well nice facilities, better than most schools I've been to. Can't say I know my way 'round everything 'ere. Help us out?"

“Oh, of course!” Ashleigh says with a blindingly bright smile. “This school tries its best to have the most varied amount of tools for the job, so there are not only gas hobs but electric ones as well! Not to mention the ovens. We have some blenders and mixers to help people who’s hands are too weak, though usually we put people into groups to speed up the cooking time…” Ashleigh continues but Stephanie and Megan tunes her out.

”Yeah, usually there’s a whole class cooking in Food Tech and not just three people. Who even thought that three people could make a full course meal in less than an hour?”

Э ”A pillock, that’s who.” Э Megan answers.

Ө “My maid can make a full course meal in less than an hour” Ө Viktoria adds.

Stephanie and Megan were briefly shocked at Harriet’s efficiency until the maid herself added an important detail.
“My lady, you enchant me with temporal Magic so I can work faster. Just like how you do so I can catch up with you while leaping across rooftops.”

Ө “Ah, well… I am sure my ensorcellment is merely enhancing your inherently impeccable performance. Thou art a great chef.” Ө Viktoria says in an attempt to save face.

This does remind Stephanie to put in some subtle Magical elbow grease into this. Anything to make this quicker.
Stephanie and Megan discuss the delegation of tasks with Ashleigh and come to an agreement: Ashleigh will make the entrée, Megan will make the main course, and Stephanie will make the dessert. Stephanie and Megan start to think that this might be easier than they thought when they look at the recipe a bit longer. It’s just some Chicken, beef, and a cake

Then they look at the recipe even more closely and notice there are far too many ingredients for just one of each. They realise: this is a recipe for three full course meals. One for each of them.

>>ф (Mind φ Roll: 4, 3, 3 (Target: 14) = 4 Successes)<< (Keep calm.)

Stephanie can do this.
ф ”Harriet, you’re a crack cook right?” ф

”According to my lady and previous acquaintances, yes.” Harriet responds.

ф ”Good. Harry, help us with the food prep. Please.” ф

”...My lady-”

Ө “For goodness sake woman, you don’t need my permission for everything! Besides, Stephanie, despite her crass language and behaviour from her low pedigree, is a member of our troupe and a friend. In fact, I can help as well! I was taught by the best, and the basics of culinary arts cannot be ignored even today.” Ө

Stephanie ignores the jab at her character and focuses on the fact that she has people who will call her a friend and help her when she needs it. Moments like this remind her of why she ‘lives’ like this now.

ф ”Alright, lets get this shit done!” ф

“...And that’s all of the alternative ingredients we have for people with allergies! Now, are you ready to cook?” Ashleigh finally says, finishing her exposition.

Both Stephanie and Megan nod, and begin.
Stephanie starts with making the batter; according to Harriet it is common practice to make the batter and bake the cake before preparing the toppings. The problem is that Stephanie is making three 3-tiered lemon cakes which means she’s going to be making a lot of batter. Stephanie and Harriet alleviate some of the struggle using proper beating and creaming technique combined with some sneaky applications of Air and Water requests. It turns out that creaming butter and sugar along with beating eggs is much easier when the butter and sugar are being carried by the air and the eggs are beating themselves. After adding some lemon zest into the batter and dividing the batter into nine sandwich tins, Stephanie puts them all in different ovens and prepares herself to make the lemon curd.

Megan was making the roast beef and chicken with help from Viktoria. Both Megan and Stephanie thought that roast beef and chicken were simple dishes that didn’t require much finesse.

Viktoria rectified their misconceptions.

It turns out that making roast beef to Viktoria’s standard was a science. Megan needed to account for the weight of the roast beef and calculate the roasting time with different timings depending on the cut of the beef, choose a roasting tin that was the correct size to stop the juices from evaporating, and don’t even get her started on the vegetables.
All while being drilled by what Stephanie could describe as a female Gordon Ramsay but more patriotic.

Ө “Those cuts of onion are too thick! At that point I could wear them as a bracelet and it would be a snug fit! But one thing I wonder is how you managed to cut the onions too thick but the carrots too finely?! The commoners over in Éire could do a better job at this than you!” Ө

Megan had no idea whether the tears in her eyes were because of the onions or the words being hurled at her. “I-I’m trying my best! Just- holy shit, it’s just roast beef, it’s not that deep!”

Ө “I won’t have you diminish a national English dish! Have you never heard the ballad:
‘When mighty Roast Beef was the Englishman's food,
It ennobled our veins and enriched our blood.
Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good’?!” Ө

Э ”N-no?!” Э

Ө “Unbelievable. Hopefully you can understand the importance of this dish after eating a well-prepared version of it. I have full hopes you can make a roast beef that will make us proud.” Ө Viktoria says in a strange mix of condescension and hope.

Э “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me so far! Thank you!” Э Megan replied tearfully.

“Wow, you two are working even more efficiently than I thought you would! And you haven’t even needed to ask for help!” Ashleigh says. The dramatic irony is palpable.

“What can we say? It seems we have a talent for cooking.” Stephanie says while finishing the preparation of the lemon curd.

“Except for my issue with the onions. I don’t have much experience with them.” Megan says in the calmest voice she can muster behind tears.

“That’s okay. Happens to everyone at least once. Now, I’m almost-”
The sounds of shouting from outside the room catch Ashleigh’s attention.

In the hallway near the Food Tech room, a couple of students are having a heated argument. This quickly devolves into a violent fight with grappling and clawing.

Ashleigh sighs and rolls her eyes. “Excuse me, loves. This will take a while.” She takes off her apron and storms out the door.

Stephanie and Megan wait for Ashleigh to clear the room, then sigh in relief and go to wash their hands. The effort of cooking along with the heat in the room caused them to be more sweaty than fighting did. Hopefully this was an exception and not every Food Tech class was going to be like this.
But there are more important things they can do now. Such as discussion on dealing with that Witch.

"So there's at least three portals that we know of. Make much of a difference which one we use so long as we all go together? I'll say, I'd much rather use the one in't shitter than t' principal's office. Do we have time t' scout out these entrances and see which one's best? That something we can do?"

Э “I’m honestly not sure. I haven’t seen multiple entrances to one Labyrinth before and I’ve been at this for a while.” Э

”I have seen multiple entrances to one Labyrinth before. A lot, actually.” Harriet responds.

Megan and Stephanie look in the general direction of Harriet, the Link telling them where she is.
”Well go on then lass, explain this.” Stephanie says impatiently.

”Although usually only one Labyrinth entrance appears over one area, it is possible for multiple to be created. In my experience, this happens when the Witch wants to spread their Familiars over a wider area than one entrance would allow. As for which entrance is worth using… That’s up to you really. But I will say that Witches, being formerly people, ascribe importance to certain locations just like we do. Witches often put themselves in the most important location of an area. Sometimes this is personal emotional importance; if a Puella Magi Witched Out in her own house then the Witch would likely be located in her bedroom as she associates it as the place she has the most control and safety in. Sometimes it’s about the seat of authority; if a Puella Magi Witched Out in an office building then the Witch would likely be located in the highest ranking person’s room, such as a CEO or somesuch.”

”...And in this case the highest ranking person is the Headmaster.” Megan concludes.

”Yes. So the choice is to go through the effort of sneaking into the Headmaster’s room and have a higher chance of confronting the Witch immediately, or going through an easier alternative entrance and dealing with the Familiars and strange maze-like geometry that Labyrinths are known for.”

”If we go in through a portal that’s closer t’ the Headmaster’s office, we’ll be closer to the Witch, right?”

”As a rough rule, yes. But I’m not a scholar, I am merely a maid; I don’t truly understand the incredibly unusual geometry of Labyrinths.”

”Well, best guess we have mates.”

Stephanie then remembers that she does have a potential contact with more information.
The witch kicking things up a notch with the attack on Oliver and the doppelgangers had somewhat derailed their plans, but Stephanie recalled one of the side objectives they had set out beforehand, if only due to her express role in it.

"Think I can go t' meet that Kanata lady? SEN office, lunchtime, she said. An extra magical girl on our side can't hurt. Or two, if 'er and Walsh 'ere are workin' together."

Megan thinks for a moment before sighing. Э ”Honestly a pretty tough choice. Normally I would be confident in saying that going to the meeting is the best play here. We don’t need more numbers but she has information we may not have, possibly along with influence and resources if she’s a member of staff. But with Oliver almost getting stabbed, doppelgangers appearing, and even more students getting violent, it’s hard to say that we should wait any longer...
But I still think you should go.” Э

”And how will that work out?” Harriet asks.

Э ”We just need to keep it short. Try to expedite the meeting as much as possible. If Kanata is a Puella Magi then she should understand when we say that we don’t have time to arse around and she’ll get to the point. As for Ashleigh… I can only hope.” Э

”So I’ll go have a chin-wag but make it fast then, got it.” Stephanie concludes.

That left one last item on Stephanie’s agenda. Unfortunately, a personal topic, one that potentially seemed like a sore spot for Megan, had to be left for last.

"What's all this about about me dying, Meg? It'd take more than one o' them naff cunts to even make me break a sweat, much less do me in. Between the two of us, you know I can handle myself in a dust-up, right? What's t' worry? Somethin' I should know?"

Megan freezes like a deer in the headlights at Stephanie’s prodding before looking away.
Э ”Can we have some privacy?” Э

Ө “”Of course! One part of high society I do not miss is the gossip and rumour mill. Harriet, let us leave family matters alone. Besides, I’m going to go back into the shed and need some help.” Ө “

That leaves Stephanie and Megan alone. And for once they can talk face-to-face rather than through the Link. Despite that, there’s a silence that quickly becomes awkward before Stephanie breaks it.

“So, why’re you worried about me dyin’?” Stephanie repeats.

Megan looks down solemnly. Downcast. She takes a deep breath then starts talking.
“It’s a fear I have that’s honestly irrational now. But it’s because of my past. Before I was brought into the orphanage.”

“Even before then?” It makes sense that Stephanie doesn’t understand where this is coming from, but how long has Megan been hiding these feelings inside her?

“Yeah. Before I was in the orphanage I was just a homeless street urchin. I don’t even remember my parents or why they threw me out, if they did anyway. When Summer arrived I had to deal with fleas, mosquitoes, and wasps. When Winter arrived I was afraid of frostbite taking me. Everyday I wondered: ‘Why I do I have to live like this? What did I do that denied me what other people get? A warm house, a family to go back to, someone who can protect me…” Megan sniffles and she starts shaking. Every sense in Stephanie’s mind tells her to run forward.
Thank goodness she did. Stephanie catches Megan as her legs give out and she’s pulled into a hug. She murmurs a ‘thank you’ before continuing.
“I-I was sitting outside a supermarket, a Sainsbury’s I think, when Kyubey, that white fiend, approached me. I thought I was hallucinating due to malnutrition but I was desperate. And I, when my soul was ragged from hardship, Wished for-”

”Guys, I have really important news for all of you!!”

At that moment, Stephanie mentally hurled every pejorative she could at Abigail.

>>6332601
>>6328200

𐤌Abigail Fulson 𐤌 & ф Stephanie Smith ф

Abigail’s Status: Unconscious (Full access to the Crossroads. Can regain consciousness by using “Crossroads Jaunt”)
Stephanie’s Adoption: Solid Earth (+2 PA, +2 Con. +2 PA when manipulating Solid Matter)

“There’s another Witch Entrance in one of the boy’s toilets!”

”Another one?”

"Not only that, but in the toilet again?”

Abigail pauses at Megan mentioning that. ”Why are the Witch Entrances popping up in the toilet?”

”Well if that posh lass’ maid is right then it’s because the Witch thinks the bog is important.”

Abigail pauses again to parse Stephanie’s words. “Viktoria’s maid knows about how Witches work?”

”Yeah, were you not listening in?”
”That’s actually a good question. Abigail, you’re the centre of our Link; If this were a network then you’re the relay or the centre of the star topology. You could listen in on all of our mental conversations. Why don’t you?”

”W-what? Why would I do that? That sounds like a massive invasion of privacy. I would rather talk to you normally if I want to connect to you rather than stalking your minds. I’m not Claire.”
”Hey!”
”Speaking of the Link: Although it is a good way of identifying each other we should probably use a passcode or some other identifying factor. Alba isn’t in the Link and I have mundane friends. Not to mention that Oliver shot down a doppelganger of me.”

”Hm. I’m drawing blanks on passcodes.”

”That fake Megan was able to figure out Drillface trivia but not relationships. The Witch didn’t know that Megan has a crush on Walsh.”

”It sounds like the Witch knows about facts but not feelings. In that case it could be more simple than we thought. We just need to ask each other emotional questions. Instead of asking about Drillface trivia or Art technique and stuff, we need to ask each other questions like ‘Why do you like Drillface so much’ or ‘What does Art mean to you’ in order to figure out if we’re talking to a real person.”

”Great. Hell, I stumbled into that by accident. Impostor didn’t get Megan’s crush on Ashleigh so I cut her down.”

”Good. I’m going to check up on Oliver and Alba then look at the other classrooms. Keep on guard.”

Stephanie and Megan are still a bit pissed that their intimate Sister-bonding moment was interrupted but don’t vocalise those thoughts physically or mentally as Abigail leaves.

>>6332601
𐤌Abigail Fulson 𐤌

Abigail’s Status: Unconscious (Full access to the Crossroads. Can regain consciousness by using “Crossroads Jaunt”)

Abigail and Claire float into the Engineering Classroom to meet-

”Whooooa.”

The subjective nature of the Crossroads rears its head again as the classroom looks less like a classroom and more like an early-modern blacksmith’s workstation. She doesn’t think the classroom even has furnaces or mills like the ones she’s seeing. And-

”W-why is Oliver dressed like that?!”

Oliver, from Abigail’s biased memory, looks like a very attractive fit boy with muscle that’s not too defined but you can notice if you have a discerning eye like her. He somehow radiates energy, safety, and competency at the same time while being attainable to a girl like Abigail due to their shared interests.
Oliver in the Crossroads looks more… mature. He’s taller, his face looks a bit more aged, his eyes look like they see more than the average person his age. He’s also dressed like a blacksmith right out of a High Fantasy novel.
Abigail nudges Claire’s side, which breaks her out of her stupor, and points at Oliver.
”H-huh?” She stutters before focusing. “O-oh, yeah, um- Oliver looks like that because that’s the mental image most people in this room have of him. I guess they see him as someone more experienced and mature than all of them while being a master blacksmith.”

”And what about Alba?” Abigail asks, moving her pointed finger towards the girl in question next to Oliver.

Alba is a short girl with unkempt ginger hair, likely due to cutting it herself with scissors, and an unexpectedly athletic body who wears a now iconic green beret that looks like its seen better days. She also radiates energy and usually wears the school uniform (Abigail doesn’t know how Alba gets away with the beret with the uniform policies).
Alba in the Crossroads is still a short athletic girl who radiates energy.
She also looks like the most stereotypical Magical Girl Abigail has ever seen. It’s like she was dragged out of a manga panel or anime scene and plopped into reality. Her hair looks well-maintained, she has an outline that makes her stand out against the ‘background’, and the only way her frilly clothes could look more like a stereotypical Magical Girl outfit is if it were pink instead of green.

”I’ve got no idea what’s going on with her, except...” Claire’s face shifts into an ugly look, all jealousy. ”Don’t you think she’s a bit too close to Oliver? And those pervy eyes- ow!” Abigail flicks Claire’s head.
”They’re talking about something important. Cut out your jealously and focus.”

Oliver asks Alba a question while placing a small tube into a box.
“Alba, why do you watch so many shows anyway? I don’t think it’s just for entertainment, no-one is that interested in something out of some passing fun.”

Alba chuckles nervously but answers sincerely. “I’m pretty small, you know that? I’ve always felt like people kinda don’t take me seriously or even pay much attention to me. When I watch those shows like Sailor Queen and SeCure, I think about how cool it would be to be the main character or even a consistent side-character. Someone who’s skilled and awesome and people look at everyday.”

“Alba, you shouldn’t need other people to tell say you’re cool, you’re already cool.”

Alba looks disappointed. “It’s hard to think that when only one person tells me I’m cool and it’s you.”

Oliver clutches his chest in faux-pain. “Ouch! Do you not value my opinion? I thought we were friends!”

“I do and we are.” Alba says, not parsing the jocular nature of Oliver’s words. Strange, she’s usually a lot more happy and joking herself.
“But I do wonder, later in life when I’m in Uni or something, will anyone remember me?”

“I certainly will.” Oliver says candidly. Abigail knows from experience that even such candid words from him mean something.

“Well, thanks.” Alba says with a slight smile.

“Also, we’ve got your passcode.”

“What? Passcode?” Alba asks in confusion.

Oliver gets closer to Alba and lowers his voice. “Doppelgangers are around. I saw one of Abigail. You need you to share these feelings with the rest of the group just in case we need to prove your identity. I doubt whatever this thing is can perfectly replicate all of our pathologies.”

Alba perks up to her usual energetic self and nods. “Yep, I can do that for sure! Also, I can’t wait to rub this in Megan’s face. Maybe now we’ll get a cool team name!”

Oliver shakes his head and chuckles. “You should quiet down. Also, help me with the fluting of this barrel. Something tells me we’re going to need to get ready for the Labyrinth soon.”
He looks into the distance- from the perspective of everyone else. Abigail swears that he’s looking right at her. But that can’t be right, Oliver can’t even perceive this plane of reality.

”L-looks like there’s nothing bad or noteworthy happening here, let’s go to the other classrooms.”
Claire nods in agreement, and they float out of the Engineering Classroom.

Most of the other classrooms are normal. Well, “Normal” in today’s terms of some students getting abruptly lynched for breaking unknowable rules. Disturbingly, when Abigail and Claire examine the students, barely any of them have been Kissed; implying that this behaviour is now mostly natural among the students.
They try to salvage the situation by focusing on cleansing any of them that are Kissed, scanning classrooms in a rush, until they eventually reach a classroom that’s completely empty. It’s one of the Maths Classrooms.
It also has a Labyrinth Entrance inside clearly placed on the whiteboard.
Before Abigail and Claire can react they see a disturbance on the surface of the Entrance before two people step out into the classroom.
Viktoria and Harriet.
Harriet, quick as a whip, throws a metal plate directly at a camera that no-one even noticed, destroying it, before assuming a calm posture.

“My Lady, this is one of the classrooms within the school.”

“Good to know. I find it a bit perturbing that one can sneak in and out of this establishment so easily.” Viktoria says calmly

“My Lady, I do not mean to diminish your observation but we are using a supernatural entry point that shouldn’t exist to begin with.”

“That is true my dear. To say nothing of all the things we encountered in our small time within the Labyrinth. If only one of our comrades were here so we could share this knowledge of great import with her.” Viktoria says in very well-acted grief.

“I concur my Lady. It is a shame that one of our comrades, maybe even our leader, isn’t here to hear us out.” Harriet says in fake solemnity.

>”Wow, they are not being subtle. We should probably ask them what the heck they saw in the Labyrinth. They’re probably the closest thing to scouts we have. Also, do you wanna do this in person or…?” Claire says.

>>6328200
ф Stephanie Smith ф:

Stephanie’s Adoption: Solid Earth (+2 PA, +2 Con. +2 PA when manipulating Solid Matter)

Stephanie and Megan were going to continue their heartfelt talk but Ashleigh happened to return very quickly. Despite this, Megan promises that she’ll tell Stephanie the full story later today, she even offers her Soul Gem as a show of trust. Which Stephanie refuses.

“Alright, the food should be done cooking since I was out. Now all we need is to prepare the food for presentation!”

Between the two of them, Stephanie had the hardest task. Whatever Ashleigh did was a cinch, Megan just had to prepare some gravy, while Stephanie had to spread the lemon curd and cream on each cake base before placing each layer properly and firmly to avoid destabilising the cakes.
But they did it. They managed to make a full course meal in less than an hour while having a mental conversation and almost having an intimate moment before it was interrupted. And the feast looks glorious. Stephanie doesn’t think she’s seen this much high-quality food in one place before, and she made some of it herself! Any gourmet would be happy to see such a spread.

“Phew. I always knew we were going to finish this but I wasn’t expecting it to be so exhausting.” Despite saying those words, taking part in the cooking, and having to stop a physical altercation, Ashleigh doesn’t have a bit of sweat or any actual signs of exhaustion on her body.
“But, that’s it! We’re free now!”

Stephanie and Megan stare at Ashleigh blankly before realising what she’s saying.
“Wait, that’s it? The period isn’t even over yet.” Megan says.

“Yes. This recipe was always meant to take less than an hour. Part of the reason why is because we need to have time to eat.” Ashleigh explains.

“Eat?” Megan replies

“Yes. Eat. You know, that thing you do to food? How do you know if you’ve done a good job at cooking if you don’t taste your own food?” Ashleigh says in exasperation.

Right. Who else was going to eat this food?

“You can dig in now and leave when the period finishes or save it for lunch. If you’re feeling particularly generous I can pack it up for you and you can gift it to someone else. Or just bring it home to eat at some later time. All up to you.”

>”Also, you can walk around the school some more before the next period. You stayed in here while I was gone so you two probably know how to keep your heads on straight and I don’t need to helicopter over you.”

>>6328279
Emil(l)y Brighton

Looking at Marisa, Emily notices that she seems to be going through all of the spooky scary classics. First mad science, then spectral apparition, and now she’s dressed like a witch. Or rather she is a witch considering she does magi- wait.
"If magic is real, doesn't every somewhat unstable practitioner also count as a mad scientist?"

“Huh?” Marisa seriously considers Emily’s thoughts no matter how silly they might sound. “Hm. Not really. Most Magical Girls do not take a scholar’s lens to Magic, and even less are like me. Besides, that implies we’re practising science when our Magic absolutely breaks some theories of physics, thermodynamics to be specific. But then what would we call ourselves, we’ve never made such a specific term, hmm...” She rubs a hand on her chin in deep thought.

While Marisa is considering one of Emily’s intelligent queries, Emily herself finishes a shish kebab skewer and all, slides out of her chair, and prepares herself.
Marisa said that the Transformation often requires one to consider one’s past and the reason one made their Wish. That is far from what Emily wants and the fundamentals of her Way: The past is gone, dwelling on it is useless compared to enjoying the present. She does have something to substitute her past however… Her Way, values. She’s not going to change them any time soon, and her Wish was to get her closer to fulfilling her desires. It shouldn’t matter if she’s focusing on them because of her past destitution or her present splendour.

Emily’s smile becomes more authentic when she thinks about Marisa’s reaction to her new outfit, whatever it is. No matter what, it will be a shock to her considering she only saw Emily in baggy clothing. If her Magic, or mind- whatever decides the design of her clothing, decides to give her a more revealing or even form-fitting outfit then they could both go out for Halloween. Though, Emily believe she’ll win any scare contests.

But- ah, she’s been thinking about this for too long. Emily downs a salted milk tea and focuses.


There’s no time like the present

Emilly wants to live a blessed life full of pleasure. But all others pale in comparison to food. Extreme sports, Skydiving, Snowboarding, BASE Jumping, are all of one variety of flavour. All other pursuits have a similar issue: When you have one experience, they are far too similar to others and therefore equivalent to merely one pleasure.

But food, ah that comes in a variety of flavours! The sweetness of a strawberry and cream crêpe cannot compare to the savoury richness of a well-cooked Aberdeen Angus beef burger. The sweet burning heat of a spicy ramen is not easily mapped onto the fullness of a Cornish pasty. Food is a superior choice to focus on when wanting to experience as many different pleasures as possible.

Which made her previous predicament- no, she can’t focus on that. The past is empty-
But it’s what lead to her current situation.

As much as she wants to forget it, she will acquiesce to the point that the… incident caused her to lose one of her greatest pleasures for far too long. And her body… it was no longer suitable for enjoying food. That’s why they gave her that damnable slurry to consume all the time.
But, if she really wants to enjoy food, is her current form really the best for it? No!

Her body must not only be able to consume food but pursue it as well. Not all dishes will fall into her mouth like this time, she will have to rush forward and hunt it down to devour it with her all-consuming maw!
Her body needs to ADAPT! It needs to be HARDER! BETTER! FASTER! STRONGER! In order to properly partake in pleasure of all forms, one must be ready for all forms of activities!

But- She already established that not all forms of activities are worth pursuing. In this case, specialising in consumption is the goal of her Magic.
Emilly opens her eyes and squints through the intense red light she’s radiating. Marisa is watching her Transformation intently, but otherwise has no reaction. A shame, she was hoping to give her a shoc-

Emilly is booted out of lucidity by a horrible feeling in her guts. Literally, she can feel her guts… churning? And her whole body is becoming unbearably hot and itchy. The crimson glow encompasses her body, and she feels naked underneath it. She briefly wonders if she’s in THAT part of the Magical Girl Transformation, but can soon only focus on getting through the process in whatever comfort possible. She falls to the floor and feels just as helpless as she did in the hospital, a fucking abominable feeling that she hoped to never experience again! She clutches what’s in her hands to focus on anything else.

Then she realises: There’s something in her hands?

In her hands—that she can witness changing shape before her eyes—is an opulent, crimson piece of jewellery akin to a Fabergé Egg. She instinctively knows what it is: Her Soul Gem.
Compared to the harsh red around her, the crimson glow of the Soul Gem is rather comforting. She remembers her Way, and what she’s willing to do for it. She’s willing to suffer this much if it means a chance at a lifetime of pleasure. As long as her Soul is fed with happiness, she can truly withstand anything. She closes her eyes, and prepares herself for the true pursuit of happiness.

One morning, as Emilly Brighton was waking up from painful dreams, she discovered that she had been changed into a Magical Girl. She lay on her toned back and saw, as she lifted her head up a little, her red, black-trimmed frilled dress.
"What's happened to me?" she thought. It was no dream. Behind the table, on which an extreme collection of comestible goods was spread out (Brighton was a budding gourmet) stood the girl which she had met out in the nearby woods a little while ago and joined as her partner in crime. She is dressed in an outlandish frilly white witch outfit. She stood erect there, her countenance displaying shock and confusion at what she saw.

Emilly gets up and sighs now that the Transformation is over. “Phew. Is the Transformation always going to be so intense?” She asks with the same smile as always.

Marisa snaps out of her daze and stammers out an answer, “No, no. The first Transformation is usually the most dramatic. I remember my first one being a pain, and now it’s a rote procedure. Like a dance.”
She starts examining Emilly’s body with her eyes soon after.

“You seem to be very interested in how I look. Is there something on my face? Is my outfit revealing?” Emilly asks.

“No.” Marisa replies. “It’s just… You should see this yourself.” She creates what looks like a crystal mirror but is actually candy clear enough to be reflective, and throws it to Emilly who resists the urge to eat it.

Emilly’s eyes widen when she inspects her face in the mirror. “Oh. Oh my. This was truly unexpected.” She says as she rubs her face.
Her body looks the same as it did before her time in the hospital, if you account for her ageing since then. Healthy and slightly toned from her Bouldering, an average body all around but beautiful compared to her previously gaunt physiology.

“This change will only last for as long as you’re Transformed. I’ve seen and heard of Transformations that change the body of the person, but this is perhaps the most dramatic change I’ve seen.”

“Well, that explains the pain. Also, I found my Soul Gem.” Emilly taps a red gemstone pinned to the black ascot on her upper-chest.

“Ah, good! I was getting worried. So, how do you feel now?”

“I feel…” Emilly starts.

ⱑ Emilly Brighton ⱑ

Stats:
>£ Physical Affinity: 16 (Her ability to devour anything is a good part of this score)
>λ Magical Affinity: 10 (This would be 0 if she was limited to just physical food)
>彡 Dexterity: 14 (Although her muscles have atrophied, she still knows how to move her body)
>メ Perception: 12 (The Puella Magi Average)
>⸫ Wisdom: 14 (She’s seen and heard far too much from a hospital bed, and she is shrewd if food is the goal)
>π Intelligence: 14 (She was actually a decent student before all of this)
>ღ Charisma: 8 (14*)
>φ Mind: 14 (She’s very determined if she has a set goal, and can justify many things for its sake)
>Ω Constitution: 8 (The only thing made of iron here is her stomach)

*Emily is an amiable girl. She also looks abhorrent and, when Transformed, emanates a predatory aura. This is unattractive to most people (understatement), but if she uses a form of communication where she doesn’t show her face then those disadvantages disappear. To say nothing of the power of friendship.

>Abilities:

Emily’s Magic is simple, macabre, and has many horrifying applications.
Emily can bite, tear, and devour, whatever she desires and however much she desires, without suffering ill effects. As per her Wish. This has all the implications you can think of.

Another ability, likely a side-effect of her main Wish’s “Without suffering ill effects” and thoughts of her body, is that she can metamorphose her body into many different forms and shapes, and even regenerate it, by using whatever she’s eaten. Her body usually uses this Magic subconsciously to heal any wounds she suffers, and adapt her stomach and digestive system to anything she eats. Her body usually converts everything eaten into regular nutrients and biomass.

One technique Emily knows instinctually is to turn her entire body into a gaping maw that can swallow anything. This is an attack which deals PA + the result of a 1dPA roll. If this attack kills or destroys the target then it is devoured and Emily can adapt qualities of the target to her use. This technique tests PA to hit.
There are direct two choices (so far):
>Test Physical Affinity and Intelligence to create man-made objects (Knives, Clubs, Swords, etc.)
>Test Physical Affinity and Wisdom to metamorphose internal processes and skills (Extra mobility, toughness, strength, and more esoteric skills)

“A sensation familiar to me. It’s not the hunger of wanting food but rather the feeling one has when a roast dinner is on the table and is free to eat. Anticipation.” Emilly finishes.

“And I can sense the other side of it. A rather predatory aura. I recommend not trying to talk to regular people while transformed, they’ll likely be disturbed by thoughts of their demise through your maw. If you feel like the gourmet eating a turkey then the other person feels like the turkey being eaten.”

“Hah! I hope you aren’t too scared of me now my Mad Science-Witch.” Emilly responds with a smirk.

“I am far too removed from humanity to be scared. Also, Sorcerer.” Marisa corrects.

“Hmm? ‘Sorcerer’?” Emilly questions.

“You were wondering what to call somewhat unstable practitioners of Magic, right? I consider ‘Sorcerer’ to be a proper term to describe someone like me. We do not practice science, that’s for sure, so ‘Mad Scientist’ doesn’t work. ‘Witch’ is the same term we use for those fiends so it’s right out. ‘Magician’ and ‘Wizard’ are far too general and boring. In the past we may have been known as ‘Cunning Folk’, but that is far too confusing and antiquated a term to use now. So ‘Sorcerer’ it is. A specific term used in the past to describe morally dubious practitioners of Magic in some parts of the world.” Marisa explains in a monotone.

Emilly raises her brow and is a bit surprised. “You really thought seriously about this didn’t you?”

Marisa folds her arms and gives Emilly a stern look. “This is the term that you might refer to me as when you speak to others about me. I would rather have something that’s not misleading or stupid.” Her countenance shifts into a prideful smirk as she puffs out her chest. “’Sorcerer Marisa Windsor’. A grand name and title to be known by!”

Emilly stifles a chuckle. Whenever Marisa lets slip her pride and more ‘human’ emotions she can’t help savour the taste of the experience. Unfortunately Emilly couldn’t completely stop her chuckle as Marisa notices and performatively clears her throat before shifting back into her more serious and emotionless posture.

>“You should be able to accomplish my task through brute force if nothing else now. If you have no more questions or want for experimentation then I can lead you to where the Witch is.” Marisa says.

I would've had this posted 4 days ago but I was seemingly ragebanned. Likely related to the Cloudflare issues.

>>6338118
hello fellow gigapost enthusiast
i count 18 lawl

>>6338094
>go buy new clothes as fast as possible
It feels… good, right? I got my wish! And people are noticing!
Except it doesn’t feel good. Not at all. It feels kinda embarrassing, actually.
Pretty shit even.

Himari thanks Kayleigh quietly, before leaving to get the required garments for hopefully non-terrible prices.

As she leaves, she promises to herself: she’ll make it feel good. She’ll believe in herself. She’s fixed her one flaw, now she’ll be perfect!

Worst case scenario, she can always just ask the white thing for help again, right?

With a renewed (if fragile) resolve, Himari marches off the school grounds.

>>6338646
(By the by, do I get stats like the cool kids?)

>>6338647
(Living your life. For how may anyone determine who you are until your actions speak?)

>>6338116
Emilly laughs at Marisa's antics.

"Well well, a proper Fate binding Spirit talking Sorcerer Marisa Windsor! What does that make me? A familiar? An apprentice? A bound spirit of Endless Hunger?"
Emilly bares her teeth wiggles her finger in Marisa's direction before giggling.
"Honestly, Marisa you're making little old me feel downright inadequate! Though I guess these new powers do help. Would have no problem hauling a body with my muscles!"
She makes an exaggerated flex.

"And with the magic? I-I could probably- I could... probably..." Her voice trails off.
When she focuses, she feels it, the potential. Her body is more malleable, enough to shift, transform, more mouths, more taste buds, more *everything*. Before, she was limited to single experience at a time, now? NOW!? A near ENDLESS amount of permutation of experiences, it's no longer about a single endless circle of continuous taste. It's circles within circles, endlessly spinning and overlapping with each-other. Her mind can scarcely comprehend the possibilities.
Emilly's eyes mist, heart aches, a single tear falling, lips trembling as her grin widens beyond human limits.

She wants to go wild. Berserk, start the eternal ravage of the of the endless feast.
If she lets herself go, she will be out for a while, she can feel it. She knows it.
But... that wouldn't be right, now would it?
Her friend got her all this. Her *best friend*.
She wanted a favor, and after all this, she has PRIORITY. That doesn't just go away just because she gave her *even more*, Emilly is not that kind of girl.
So come on! STOP DROOLING and FOCUS, at least for a moment, at least until you're pointed in the right direction.

She feels her internals shifting, bellow her skin it feels like a churning pond of ravenous piranas. The surface of her skin waiting, *hoping* to burst open and drag under any unfortunate prey she wishes.
Emilly locks eyes with her friend. She feels the drool dripping from her chin, but her mind is focused on more important matters.

"...You know Marisa, suddenly, I feel like I could go for a Witch."
With... witch, you wonder how she tastes like. Wait, Marisa also looks like...
"I-I don't mean you! The other one, you know, just... just lead me to the entrance, give me the skinny. I need a second portion, go wild for a bit, y'know. Got enough focus for that."
She's not sure if she's convincing Marisa or herself. Should she add more? She probably should, it feel like it.
"If, I, uh. If I am distracted for a long time. Well, you're about to give me paradise, I might be out of it after, you know! But that doesn't mean I don't want to help you, I'm not a liar, not a traitor, not to, not to my friends. But I still might be out of it, not hear you. If that happens, please tell me Marisa, poke me with a stick or something, I'll wake up, I'll help you, I promise."

Her will holds yet, but her desire sings so seductively, she doesn't know for how long.

>>6338108
"That's well nice, Ms. Walsh, really. I reckon we could eat some now and pack away the dessert and anything we can't manage for later. Say...how soon is lunchtime, anyhow?"

Stephanie speaks to Megan over their mind link. "If we're in right hurry, I could sod the lunchtime 'n see Kanata now. You stay out t' bogs while the Big Sister™ is gone, yeah? We'll talk after all this shite is over with."

Waiting for the witch to cause more havoc didn't have the makings of a good plan. If Stephanie had to move up the timetable on her meeting with Kanata, she'd bloody well do so. If they indeed couldn't wait, then she'd have to march on over to the SEN office right now and all she'd have to do then was get Kanata outside for a spell. The rest, under the assumption that Kanata was also a magical girl, would be a piece of cake. As for how to get her out? Just saying that something urgent needed her attention wouldn't cut it. Now, telling her that Walsh here sent for her and needed her help, though, going by the assumption that the two were close and working together, might just be what would do the trick.

Odds on update before christmas, QM?

>>6338106
We can get a bit creative here to facilitate faster and safer communication: alter the perception of those in the room to project words into either thin air in front of them, a wall, or conjure a floating piece of paper, whatever is within my capabilities and obvious enough.

"How convenient, your leader is in fact here right now to hear you out! Go ahead with your report, daring scouts."

>>6338646

Himari Nakamura

Himari thinks back for a moment on the looks the supply staff gave her. They were looking at her and gave her attention… But it didn’t feel like good attention. It felt kind of shit, actually.
She shakes her head away from those thoughts. Things are going to get better, she can feel it! At least her body is more rounded out, silver linings? She tries her best to see the positives in this situation while walking out of the university. It’s easier than she thought, she IS closer to what she thinks her ideal body is.

The closest clothes shop was fairly close. The University of York was located in Heslington, deep in an urban city centre filled with things to do and places to explore. Even the University itself made up a good portion of the area and had plenty of amenities.

But not a clothing shop. Himari had to go outside for that.
She gets much less attention than she was expecting while walking, maybe its because it’s late morning and people have places to go?
But then she sees what’s really grabbing people’s attention.

“Someone go after that girl, she’s stolen clothes from our shop!”
A staff member of the clothes shop Himari was going to runs out of the store chasing after a girl but quickly has to catch her breath.
“Shit, I really need to exercise more… What are you muppets staring at?! After her!” The staff member points at the fleeing thief.

Himari looks at the thief running away. An unassuming girl wearing a backpack and holding a bag filled with her ill-gotten gains.
And Himari is pissed. Not because she’s stealing but because of what she stole.

”Her bag is filled with massive bras! She doesn’t even have tits that big! What does she need them for?! She’s not a fat bitch like me, she’s like three sizes smaller! What the fuck is wrong with these people?! I swear I’m gonna-” Himari calms down a bit. ”What WILL I do? I’m just a Uni student looking for underwear, I can just pretend I didn’t see this and look for another shop- or even go home.”

>It’s possible for Himari to cut her losses here and just continue or give up her search. The alternative… is likely chasing after that thief which stole what she’s looking for.

>>6339554

ⱑ Emilly Brighton ⱑ

Marisa looks at Emilly. The drooling ravenous girl struggling to resist starting an undertaking of infinite pleasure. And Marisa genuinely smiles.
“You remind me of myself when I was younger and just starting out at being a Puella Magi. All desire and anticipation of what I could do now that my Wish was granted with none of the weight of the world on me.” Marisa sighs and adopts her more familiar poker face before throwing a small sphere at Emilly. “Catch.”

Emilly, immediately sensing that the tossed object is food, pounces at the object and catches it in her mouth in a display that would make the most well-trained dog jealous. She rabidly sucks on the sphere, it has a sweet orange-flavoured taste that isn’t too overpowering but is definitely an orange flavouring rather than a real orange extract. The taste is secondary, for once, compared to another oddity that Emilly notices.
“This sweet isn’t getting smaller in my mouth.” She says with one cheek bulging.

“Observant. Are you familiar [i]Charlie and the Chocolate Factory[/i]?” Marisa asks.

Emilly scoffs. “Of course I am.”

“Good. That,” Marisa points at Emilly’s mouth, “Is an Everlasting Gobstopper. Usually such a thing is only in the realm of fiction but Magic can make wondrous things. That should curb your appetite until-”
Crunching sounds reverberate through the ballroom.

“Hmm. That wasn’t the best way to eat it. Now all of the other flavours in the gobstopper are mixed together rather than pronounced and separate.” Emilly laments.

Marisa stares at Emilly in raw confusion and shock, then shakes her head. It’s not worth getting worked up about in her opinion.
“Let’s just get you to the Witch before you go wild.”
She motions to follow her.

The duo walk through multiple corridors. Some are nondescript, only being made out of animal bones, but others are more strange. One room was made out of Wagyu beef and had meat proliferating through the room like fungi. Another had an orchard growing giant fruits. Emilly resisted the urges surging through her body like a tsunami; she wanted to at least fulfil the request of her friend before digging in.
Marisa eventually leads them to a solitary steel door leading to a staircase down to a basement of some kind. Marisa may have been using the word “Labyrinth” but the architecture of the place reminds Emilly of a dungeon.

Unlike the outlandish rooms she saw upstairs, the basement is depressingly mundane. A drab hall made of grey bricks filled with jail cells. It’s large and tall for sure, but nothing outstanding.

“Is there any rhyme or reason to the architecture of Labyrinths?” Emilly asks Marisa. There’s no way someone made the wacky landscape upstairs and just gave up on the basement. Magic should make such things a cinch.

“The Labyrinth’s architecture is mainly influenced by the ‘Theme’ of the Witch and the actual architecture of the physical location that the Labyrinth is laid over. The reason we are seeing a boring prison is because this building was an abandoned prison before the Witch arrived.” Marisa explains.
Emilly spotted other oddities that she didn’t ask about. Like runes inscribed on the walls. Does runic magic exist? If so, do all of these runes have a meaning? She pauses for a moment to look at the runes but can’t make heads or tails of them. They look like they’re inspired from English or Latin, but she would need time to figure out the script.
ⱑ Time she doesn’t have. ⱑ

ⱑ Emilly’s instincts tells her to dodge-to the right. In Marisa’s direction. ⱑ
She narrowly avoids being buried under rubble as the wall collapses where she was. Marisa and Emilly look at the destruction and the culprits come into view.
One of them is a pink gelatinous creature. Emilly and Marisa can tell it’s made of bubblegum. Marisa because she’s knowledgeable; Emilly because she knows food when she sees it.
The other one is a spear-wielding skeleton moving like it still has muscles. It’s made of hard candy. Emilly can smell the sucralose.

“Familiars. They’re under the Witch’s control and not mine.” Marisa states in a monotone. “We can ignore them. They’re not in our way to the Witch-.”
ⱑ Emilly intercepts the gelatinous creature’s attack with supernatural celerity. It lurches part of it’s body at an alarming speed towards Marisa but Emilly blocks it with her hand. She can feel the substance crawl up her arm and attempt to drag her in; So she does what she’s best at and bites them off. The Gelatin. And her arm. ⱑ

“Whoops!” Emilly quickly regenerates her limb. “So, you were saying about leaving them alone?” She says to Marisa.

Marisa looks incensed, uncharacteristically. In the most venomous tone Emilly has ever heard, she gives her next order: “Kill them all.”
She summons a great sword-sized pair of scissors and poises herself for battle.

>It seems that violence is on the table now. Emilly would be a bit miffed about the distraction but this provides a good chance to stretch her new body’s legs. And the Familiars are made of food so she’s getting a snack out of this!

>>6346340

𐤌 Abigail Fulson 𐤌

Abigail’s Status: Unconscious (Full access to the Crossroads. Can regain consciousness by using “Crossroads Jaunt”)

Floating around the room, Abigail thinks for a moment.
Information needs to be truncated in order to facilitate faster and safer communication. Abigail is already trained in something perfect for this. Art is medium for communicating ideas and the world is her canvas.

The wall furthest from Viktoria and Harriet has all of its posters and signs removed, becoming a blank canvas. This puts the maid on high alert and she guards Viktoria with her body.

“My Lady-”
“Wait. I think this is our illustrious leader in action, is it not?” Viktoria says, catching on fast.

Abigail, dressed in her school uniform, appears right in front of them from thin air and give a greeting wave.
𐤌 “I’m manipulating your senses and enhancing our link. Your leader is in fact here right now to hear you out! Go ahead with your report, daring scouts. I could look around inside your memories but that sounds like a gross violation… So you can show anything you found by ‘projecting’ it on this wall through your mind.” 𐤌 She explains.

A smile crawls onto Viktoria’s usual resting bitch-face and she looks around the room for any other changes. “Impressive. Also disturbing. At any moment you could have shown me an image of Hell rather than giving me a blank canvas.”

𐤌 “I try not to think about those possibilities.” 𐤌 Abigail replies in a glum tone.

“Ah, fair enough. Hardly the most calming thing to think about and a good mood is critical in our line of work. As for what we found… Harriet, help me make the image. I was taught in the fine arts but two heads are better than one in this case.”

From there, Viktoria and Harriet attempt to paint an image purely from their mind’s eye. It’s definitely more efficient than them trying to explain it with words or draw it physically. No words or physical instruments needed, just focus and imagination.
“This is what the Labyrinth looked like from our scouting…”
Eventually the image became more developed. And it wasn’t a 2D image either, it was a detailed 3D image that one could almost step into. Abigail thinks that, if she allowed it, they could have made a full sensory environment for her to explore.
The artists put the finishing touches on the piece and step back to present their work.

The Labyrinth bares some resemblance to the school Abigail is familiar with, except for a few changes. The ground floor is flooded for one, and the architecture is somehow more sterile than the school regularly is which paradoxically gave the Labyrinth its own style: A spotless landscape where everything was in a seemingly pre-ordained place. Although there was one sign of strange logic in its architecture that Abigail noticed.

𐤌 “Are you sure there weren’t any stairs or a lift? Anything?” 𐤌 Abigail asks.

Viktoria shakes her head. “None. We had to leap between each floor and room. Every room was like a glass holding cell in a gaol, suspended from the ceiling with chains that did not look like they could carry that much weight. A worrying piece of information that I am not sure comes from my inexperience with the building, the strange nature of Labyrinths, or some combination of the two: I could not find where the Witch could possibly be located. I consider myself a perceptive lady so I consider that a shame, but perhaps it could do with me ironically not having enough time.”

Abigail raises a brow at that last part. 𐤌 “How did you not have enough time? Considering- you know…” 𐤌 She says, hinting at Viktoria’s Magic.

The blonde time-traveller sighs and crosses her arms, which inadvertently brings attention to her endowments, before explaining the predicament she was in. “The place was swarming with Familiars, all of them a facsimile of a human. I saw some familiar faces among them but that is besides the point; I could not stay for long without being caught and I did not like my chances in a protracted battle with large numbers, even with my trusty maid. The only reprieve I had from nervously sneaking around was when I would stop time to avoid detection, but my servant and I eventually considered that a flagrant waste of energy and left through the nearest exit we could find.”

Abigail performatively rubs her chin in ponderation while looking at the map of the Labyrinth, committing it to memory but also thinking of another fact: They couldn’t find where the Witch was located. Abigail was expecting this, there was no way they could find the Witch in its own domain so easily. The fact they scouted enough to make a detailed map was already beyond her expectations. But Abigail herself is well-acquainted with the school and Harriet, who has been strangely silent, is also somewhat aware of how Witch behaviour in relation to Labyrinth structure works.
If they point out exactly which room the Witch could be in, the most important place in the school, it would make navigating their way through the Labyrinth that much easier.

>What is the most important room in the school? Answering this correctly gives an additional +3 to the target roll when navigating this Witch’s Labyrinth. Alternatively, you can brute force the answer with an M3 INT or WIS Check.

After studying the map, Abigail calls for the opinion of another person that’s been abnormally silent.

𐤌 ”Claire?” 𐤌

Claire appears near Abigail. Somehow sitting on a chair.

Abigail always floats through any chairs she tries to sit on in the Crossroads. Out of all of the things Claire taught her, she hadn’t taught Abigail how to sit in a chair. She’s actually a bit miffed about that.

ʘ ”What is it?” ʘ Claire responds.

𐤌 ”What do you think of all this?” 𐤌 Abigail asks while gesturing to the Labyrinth map.

ʘ ”Hm. I think the Witch is a previous student of the school.” ʘ

𐤌 ”Really?” 𐤌 Abigail can believe it but she wants to hear Claire’s reasoning.

ʘ ”Witch Labyrinths take some themes from the physical location it lays over but usually have themes of their own which mix together. A sweet-themed Witch in a prison would result in a prison with sweet themes, which would clash heavily and result in an outlandish place. But what’s the theme of this Labyrinth?” ʘ

Abigail looks at the detailed 3D representation of the Labyrinth and starts to understand what Claire means. The Theme of the Labyrinth doesn’t really interfere with the aesthetic of the school at all. In fact, it sort of... complements it? Abigail knows that some staff members dream of the school being this tidy and orderly. Ignoring the completely flooded ground floor, that is.

ʘ ”A Witch’s theme… is caused by a combination of factors. Their Wish, trauma, favourite thing, whatever they’re associated with metaphorically, their entire life history could be seen through it. A Witch who’s theme doesn’t interfere with the location’s aesthetic… that can sometimes mean that most of their life was defined by the building. That can certainly feel true to a school student.” ʘ

Abigail gazes down with a sad, thoughtful expression before asking one question that’s come to the forefront now.
𐤌 ”Do you know what your Labyrinth’s theme was?” 𐤌

Claire looks up. Abigail can somehow tell that she’s not really looking at the ceiling but rather through it to the sky.

ʘ ”My Wish was similar to yours, a Wish to bring people together. Though in my case it was just to have friends. Despite my ability making it easier to get people to like me, I still felt alone. Like I wasn’t really friends with anyone and was still an outlier. Separate. I could only stitch things together haphazardly and not naturally bond with anyone. You can imagine how Oliver’s rejection got to me; it was like a confirmation that the whole thing, all of the ‘friends’ I had, was a sham put together by a selfish, short-sighted Wish that trapped people into my web of deceit.
And that was part of my theme as a Witch: A forest that attempted to isolate and trap victims before they were hunted down by animals that I forcefully sewed together into monsters. So they could feel my isolation at least once before dying.” ʘ

Claire explained all of this calmly, but Abigail can tell this was hardly an easy topic for her to visit.
𐤌 ”Claire...” 𐤌 Abigail utters in sorrow.
Before Abigail can say another word, an electronic tone that sounds nothing like a real bell rings throughout the school. The next period is already starting.

ʘ ”You know you’ve been asleep for the majority of this period, right? I know you can literally do artwork in your sleep but I doubt they’ll let you stay awake between periods. You better wake up and get ready for the next lesson.” ʘ Claire says, having already put the previous topic behind her.

>Abigail only has a small amount of time, five minutes to be exact, before the next lesson starts. Though, for some reason she can feel a form of pressure rising. Her nerves might be getting to her since there’s only one period between now and Lunch.

ф Stephanie Smith ф

Stephanie’s Adoption: Solid Earth (+2 PA, +2 Con. +2 PA when manipulating Solid Matter)

"That's well nice, Ms. Walsh, really. I reckon we could eat some now and pack away the dessert and anything we can't manage for later. Say...how soon is lunchtime, anyhow?" Stephanie asks. She doesn’t want to pull out her phone in case the teach confiscates it or something.

Ashleigh glances at her watch and responds. “Around one hour and twenty minutes.”

Stephanie hides a wince behind her regular tone. “In that case we can take a peck now and bag the rest for later. Maybe share it with the family. Right Megan?”

Megan couldn’t hide her distraught mood but quickly shifts over to the tone of an eager student. “Yeah sure! Just some now to make sure I didn’t ruin the beef or something.”

Ashleigh raises a brow. “How do you ruin roast beef?”

Megan gives Ashleigh an empty smile as if she had years of experience behind her. “Many ways, Ms. Walsh, many ways.”

Stephanie and Megan dig into the food a bit while Ashleigh flips through a notebook. But the students are thinking about the time. One hour and twenty minutes ‘til Lunch?

ф “There’s no way we can wait that long.” ф Stephanie starts.

Э “No shit. Oliver almost got stabbed in the mere fifteen minutes that Break lasts. In one hour this place will become pandemonium.” Э Megan adds.

Stephanie looks up from the slice of cake she’s sampled. ф "If we're in right hurry, I could sod the lunchtime 'n see Kanata now. You stay out t' bogs while the Big Sister™ is gone, yeah? We'll talk after all this shite is over with." ф

Э “Grand. I’ll stay here to pack up and keep Ashleigh distracted.” Э

Stephanie gives Megan a playful smirk. ф “Ah, you’re gonna keep the lass ‘distracted’ eh? All alone in a room with a bird you fancy? I see you.” ф

Megan blushes and finishes the last of her vegetables. Э ”Oh- bugger off to the SEN Office already! Maybe you really do need a social worker.” Э She says in a flustered tone.

Stephanie washes down her food with apple juice and goes to wash her hands.
“Ms. Walsh, I’m going out for a moment. To the SEN Office.”

“The SEN Office?” Ashleigh questions.

“Yea. I ran into one of the staff and she wanted to meet. I wanna go over some stuff about the meeting if that’s fine with you?”

Ashleigh flicks through her notebook. “Hmm…” She stops on a page. “So you do have a meeting. Alright, love, you can go.”

“I’ll be staying here to help with the packing up.” Megan says.

“Oh good! Alright, the containers are around the back…”
Their voices fade out as Stephanie leaves the room and traverses the hallway.

Stephanie walks to the SEN Office. She notices that rooms dedicated entirely to staff and admin have actual opaque walls while classrooms have transparent glass walls. She can see why Miss. Kanata wanted to meet here.
When she knocks on the door she’s greeted by a bland looking staff member.
“I’m here to talk with Miss Kanata, if she’s here?” Stephanie says. She hardly has to lie, students probably have plenty of reasons to talk with Kanata, right?
A few moments later, that shy-looking office lady walks out into the hallway with her.

“It’s probably not good to talk in front of everyone else. But then…” Miss Kanata’s eyes move to a corner of the hallway. “This hallway isn’t very secure either.”
Stephanie follows Miss Kanata’s eyes and sees what she means: Security cameras here as well.
The security cameras in the corners of the hallway abruptly lose power and turn off. So do the ones in the middle of the hallway. And the ones in the Atrium leading up to the hallway.

“What?” Miss Kanata utters in shock.

Stephanie has a prideful smile on her face.

“So that was you? Useful. [i]Very[/i] useful. There are security cameras that can follow you from the entrance of the school to pretty much anywhere except the toilets; that trick will be a godsend to avoid trouble and I might need to pull less strings. But I doubt you came here early just to show this off. I take it there’s an emergency of some kind?” Kanata says.

“Good head on your shoulders lass. Yea, there’s an emergency: This school’s going wild way too fast. We can’t faff about until lunch for a meeting; we need to have it as soon as possible and end this.”

Miss Kanata is obviously worried but asks a question to be sure. “What makes you say that? What’s happened since we last met?”

Stephanie scowls. She really has to prove that? Whatever. “There’s Familiars impersonating students, multiple Labyrinth Entrances to spread those Familiars, and the violence has escalated to the point where my friend’s boyfriend almost got stabbed in the middle of the playground while everyone cheered.”

Miss Kanata blinks at that last one. Then her face darkens. “Yes, you have a point. This can’t be allowed to continue...” She thinks for a moment before snapping her fingers in revelation. “I can get you, anyone else you’re working with, and I into a secure meeting place next period as long as those you’re working with are students.”

Stephanie is a bit surprised she’s so sure of that. Is this the true power of a school staff member?

“Also: do you have any mental disorders?” Miss Kanata casually asks.

Stephanie is a bit surprised she’s so sure she wants to die. Is this the true power of a cunt?

“I’m serious. It’ll make my job easier.”

>Does Stephanie have any mental disorders (as far as she knows)?

“We’re going to have the meeting somewhere else. Not here in the SEN Office. It’ll be in a different building near the school but linked to it. Invite anyone that you’re working with, I should be able to get them in as long as they’re students. We should be over with this by the time the next period ends, I swear it.” Miss Kanata says.

Stephanie sighs in relief. “Thank God you get how rough this whole day has been. Maybe I’ll get to have a regular school life after this is done.”

Miss Kanata gives her a knowing smile. “You never get a normal day in this line of work unfortunately, trust me.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll do my magic.” She heads back into the SEN Office to do who knows what.

And that left Stephanie alone. Waiting outside the SEN Office door.
She’s tempted to pull out her phone- all of the cameras are off and no-one’s in the hallway so there’s no way she would be caught. But there’s something else she was curious about…

>>ф (π INT Roll: 3, 4, 1 (Target: 10) = 2 Successes)<< (Think of cool weapon names.)

Those weapons she developed recently. Magical Girls usually have cool names for their weapons that they shout out right? Even ignoring them, there are plenty of other character shouting out their attack names; they have to do it for some reason right? Maybe her weapons will be stronger if she has something to shout out during battle? Can’t hurt to try.

>>ф Totally Cool Names for Totally Cool Weapons ф

>Solid Earth (War hammer, Blunt weapons)
>>Crystalline War Hammer
>>Petrified Mjolnir
>>Shattering Crystal Crusher
>>The Mourning Star
>>Spinebreaker
>>The Queen’s Inherited Sceptre of Royal Jewels
>>The Elf Queen’s Branch of Yggdrasil
>>Behemoth’s Hand
>>40K Ton War Hammer
>Liquid Water (Spear, pole-arms)
>>Hadopelagic Spear
>>Frozen Gungnir
>>Spear of The Dead Sea
>>Leviathan’s Spine
>>Running Brook Lance
>>Spear of the Burns
>Gaseous Air (Gauntlets, hand-to-hand weapons)
>>Gale-force Gauntlets
>>Wind God’s Limbs
>>Typhoon Body
>>Gust of Violence
>>Vacuum-Impact Gear
>>Crimson Tempest – Dance of a Thousand Graves
>Plasmic Fire (Sword, bladed weapons)
>>All-Razing Blade
>>Blaze Laevateinn
>>Red Silence
>>Explosive Flame Edge
>>The Sword Saint’s Devil-slaying Blade
>>Infernal Requiem: Blade of the Burning Dawn
>>Solar Ruin: Crimson Dominion

>You can also make your own weapon names if none here satisfy you.

After a while of Stephanie thinking about weapon names – even pulling out her phone for some cool esoteric occult stuff she can use for motifs – Miss Kanata returns from the SEN Office.

“I’ve got the building, we’re meeting there next period. Remember what I said-”

An electronic tone that sounds nothing like a real bell rings throughout the school. The next period is already starting.
Miss Kanata curses under her breath and shoves a piece of paper into Stephanie’s hands before running off. “Invite everyone you can! I’ll see you soon!” She shouts.
Stephanie looks at the paper: It’s a map to the “Complex Needs Centre” outside the school but close by. That must be the meeting place.

>Stephanie only has a small amount of time, five minutes to be exact, before she has to leave. She can feel it: This is probably the last moment of preparation she has before things kick into high gear.