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.