Outside: Grass touch place

[Shadowcaller]

[Well Training]

"Guns aren't really more difficult than other weapons to use. Easier, even. I'm curious what a gun made for a dragon would look like, though." She looks to Emily's gun again. "Can I try holding it?"

[Well Training]

"You both can, sure," Emily says. Dexterously, she spins the massive thing in her hand to catch it by the barrel (being careful of the underslung blade) to offer the handle to Thariza, "I keep it unloaded normally, so no risk of it going off by accident."

The huge thing has a real weight to it, when Thariza grabs it. It's a little over 20 pounds (or 9kg if you prefer), and clearly made with the assumption of truly impressive strength and size. Thariza's hand is only going to sit on the grip with problems, being too small for what it's intended as, though as uncomfortable as it is she could potentially use it without any extra steps.

There doesn't feel like there's a Legend buried within the gun, sadly. It hasn't soaked up that much of a story.

Jen holds her hands out to her sides as best as she can, trying to take up as much space as possible and add some drag to her descent, to delay her eventual meeting with the ground. She's aware this doesn't really do much of anything, that her body isn't really all that aerodynamic, but the only other real alternative is to just go limp and hope her body bounces off the ground like a ragdoll, and that's not really a great option either, s-

Oh hey, it's Anika! Sure hope she knows how to catch an entire human(oid) being out of the air without crashing violently to the ground with them. How big is her falcon form, anyway?

[The Tower of Oujet]

I guess we'll be finding out here in the near future exactly how much weight Anika is capable of carrying while she's being a large bird.

Thankfully there isn't anything ELSE making this situation more awkward and dangerous than it already is since all the zombies got blasted to ashes. Best possible outcome there, really. Yep! Just ashes under the soles of our heroes feet. Just don't forget the orb at the top of the tower, guys. That's technically why you came out here to begin with. It would be really embarrassing to almost finish this quest and then leave without the McGuffin.

[The Tower of Oujet]

Good questions, Laz!

For the first one, she's actually about the same size as her humanoid form but appears a lot larger because of all the feathers.

As for the other question, well, she's gonna attempt to grab onto the falling ghoul knight with her talons. Or more accurately, grab onto her armor since she's pretty sure she'd end up with bits of Laz if she tried to dig her talons into her flesh.
If that fails, there's always plan B (as in Bear!).

[Well Training]

"It seems to belong more in your hands than mine." Ambrosia remarks as she sees Thariza accepting the weapon from Emily. "I've had little experience with technology like that unfortunately." She sounds a bit embarrassed about that really.
"But to answer your question Thariza, they're really big. As if to assure that no one else could possibly wield them. Honestly, it mostly look like they're compensating for something else in most cases." Particularly male dragons had a tendency to do that and Ambrosia can't resist rolling her eyes just thinking about it. Something she very much wouldn't do with a dragon present of course.

[Rebonack]

[Cloud Nine]

Dizzy tires to ignore the dramatic pixie and is mostly successful in this, which, frankly, is pretty impressive. Nina is very good at being attention grabbing.

"No, the castle was moving and you were moving, too. The castle was just moving away faster than you were," Dizzy reports. They'll figure out this puzzle yet! Not because it's important, but because it is sitting there being a puzzle just begging to be solved.

In Dizzy's opinion this is WAY better than getting kicked through walls by one of Samyaza's minions.

"It's moving closer when you're walking back. This thing can definitely tell when we're trying to walk straight toward it. It got closer when I flew up, though," Dizzy points out.

Maybe they need to...

Walk NOT directly toward it?

Like diagonally or something?

"Avoiding invisible walls sounds hard."

Since you can't see them.

"What kind of key would we need? Like holding something to stop the castle from moving away?"

What would such a key be like? Maybe like a rude bird?

[bc56]

Maids on a Train
Jade was going to guess "always mermaid," since she would expect someone forcibly converted into a mermaid to be a lot more angsty about it. But then the (still unnamed) mermaid says she was actually a secret third option.
"Sounds like an adventure," the gang thing is a little worrying. Skyside's gangs can be nasty even by street gang standards.

Ruins of Oparul
The remainder of the day is spent making camp. Cultists erect tents and unpack supplies and tools. Sleeping arrangements are made (Sekhmet, Feathers, and the two priestesses each are given tents to themselves). A simple meal is served (although the cultists try to give Sekhmet better fare, she refuses) It's not until morning that the excavation will commence in earnest, with scouts and workers being sent to look for likely places of interest amidst the ruins.

[Thursday Violist]

Maids on a Train
Jade was going to guess "always mermaid," since she would expect someone forcibly converted into a mermaid to be a lot more angsty about it. But then the (still unnamed) mermaid says she was actually a secret third option.
"Sounds like an adventure," the gang thing is a little worrying. Skyside's gangs can be nasty even by street gang standards.

[Maids on a Train]

Obviously, the unnamed mermaid cant be angsty about being a mermaid. Mermaids are cool! Like, on the level of fairies.

"Yeah! It was pretty exciting. And, even better, I didn't have to go through some kind of hazing to leave the gang, either."

Over the speaker, the train announces that they're coming up on Shadowhaven. The mermaid leans over to look more out the window to see what it's like. Looks like the train is going into a tunnel, and it starts slowing down a little.

"I think I'm going to get off here."
She uses the seat in front and behind her to get up, and 'stands' on her tail, to get a suitcase from up top.
"Yeah, it wasn't that bad," she reiterates.

[Cloud Nine]

Dizzy tires to ignore the dramatic pixie and is mostly successful in this, which, frankly, is pretty impressive. Nina is very good at being attention grabbing.

"No, the castle was moving and you were moving, too. The castle was just moving away faster than you were," Dizzy reports. They'll figure out this puzzle yet! Not because it's important, but because it is sitting there being a puzzle just begging to be solved.

In Dizzy's opinion this is WAY better than getting kicked through walls by one of Samyaza's minions.

"It's moving closer when you're walking back. This thing can definitely tell when we're trying to walk straight toward it. It got closer when I flew up, though," Dizzy points out.

Maybe they need to...

Walk NOT directly toward it?

Like diagonally or something?

"Avoiding invisible walls sounds hard."

Since you can't see them.

"What kind of key would we need? Like holding something to stop the castle from moving away?"

What would such a key be like? Maybe like a rude bird?

[Cloud Nine]

As Nina has failed to grab enough attention, she keeps on playing dead. She even tries to write out the name of her murderer in blood! Except she's not bleeding, and she's not really sure what to write out either.

"Hmmmmm...." June says.
She arrives back at Dizzy and the pixie.

"The key would be the bird, probably," she says. "But I don't like that bird so let's not do that."

She strokes her chin, and finds herself disappointed that she no longer has a cloud beard. "So it got closer when you flew up, right?" she asks. Yes, Dizzy literally just said that. "Maybe it's only on the watchout for people on the ground walking towards it. So it doesn't notice when you fly at it, so maybe the only way there is by flying."

[Rebonack]

[Cloud Nine]

"I didn't like the bird much either," Dizzy admits, standing back up. Just roll things wings a bit and re-settle them. Always a good idea to do that after you stop laying down on some clouds. "That's a good idea, though. We could try flying up. I'm PRETTY sure I would be able to carry you but it might be awkward. And Nina might fall off my shoulder since she's dead."

Dizzy points at Nina, who is definitely dead.

Just look at how dead Nina is!

"It's a shame, I don't think we'll be able to solve this mystery without her. If only there was some way to bring her back."

But there isn't.

They'll just have to bury Nina in the clouds and mourn for her.

[Morty]

[Well Training]

"Hmm. Well, I couldn't fire it either," Thariza says as she weighs the gun in her hand and points it into the distance. "Making big guns for the sake of it does fit some engineers I know. But it applies to both genders. Maybe it's just how Charr are with weapons."

[bc56]

Maids on a Train
Seeya. Good luck out there. And come to Inside sometime!" Jade waves the mermaid farewell and stays on the train. She's got to get home. Hopefully her brother won't be there to laugh at this outfit... She misses her old clothes.

[Thursday Violist]

Maids on a Train
Seeya. Good luck out there. And come to Inside sometime!" Jade waves the mermaid farewell and stays on the train. She's got to get home. Hopefully her brother won't be there to laugh at this outfit... She misses her old clothes.

[Maids on a Train]

The mermaid nods and puts her suitcase on the ground.
Using the chairs to her side, her suitcase, and by hopping on her tail, she moves towards the train exit.
She stops for a moment and holds herself upright, and gives a small wave to Jade. "Yeah, I'll visit there later, to see if it's really as exciting as you say," she says.

She goes out of the train once it fully stops and the door opens. As a last thing to say before leaving, she adds, "Your outfit looks really cute, though!"

And, after a few more people enter onto the train and the train sits around for a few more moments, it starts up again, leaving the underground city of Shadowhaven. It's got a few more random towns and stops before getting to Inside (notably including GLoG's station!) but it'll get to Inside soon enough.

[Cloud Nine]

"I didn't like the bird much either," Dizzy admits, standing back up. Just roll things wings a bit and re-settle them. Always a good idea to do that after you stop laying down on some clouds. "That's a good idea, though. We could try flying up. I'm PRETTY sure I would be able to carry you but it might be awkward. And Nina might fall off my shoulder since she's dead."

Dizzy points at Nina, who is definitely dead.

Just look at how dead Nina is!

"It's a shame, I don't think we'll be able to solve this mystery without her. If only there was some way to bring her back."

But there isn't.

They'll just have to bury Nina in the clouds and mourn for her.

[Cloud Nine]

Nina opens her eyes and looks at Dizzy to see if she's serious.
She quickly closes them again so that she won't get caught, though. She's definitely dead, probably.

"I'm afraid only True Love's Kiss can revive her at this point," June says. She shakes her head as if it's hopeless. "Alas, her heart was two sizes too small, she never achieved true love."

The pixie suddenly says, indignantly, "Hey! I -"
then June snickers,

June then seriously considers being carried. She looks up in the direction of the sun, and holds her hand over it. "If only someone would slay the sun..." Then it wouldn't be an issue. "If it's that awkward, I would recommend you just flying there without me, just to check if it works or not. But then, if it does work, flying back and forth might be too much..." She trails off.

[Rebonack]

[Cloud Nine]

Definitely probably dead.

"Ah, that's too bad. Where would we ever find a frog willing to kiss her?" Dizzy inquires.

BUT THEN!

The pixie revives!

It's a miracle!

"Well hey! You live again! Elyon be praised!" Dizzy says, totally and one hundred percent serious just as Nina was totally and one hundred percent dead. Then? Talk of slaying the sun. Dizzy looks up there, too. "That probably isn't a great idea. The people in the villages down there would freak out. And it gets really cold, too."

This is all said as if slaying the sun were an actual thing that could be done.

"Carrying you would probably be safer. Just saying. I know I can lug around at least my own weight and I'm pretty sure you weigh less than me unless you've got lead bones or something."

Does June have any lead bones?

[Thursday Violist]

[Cloud Nine]

The pixie folds her arms and grumbles. "I don't want to kiss a frog, they're slimy and only some of them are princesses."

June, however, has to relent on her idea for slaying the sun. "You're probably right, I hate the cold."

As a matter of fact, June's bones aren't made out of lead. Yeah, she's significantly lighter than Dizzy. Since she's not even 100% made out of real stuff she's in fact a little lighter than she ought to be.
She walks up to Dizzy. Looks over her, from foot to head. "...I have a policy where I only let people I know carry me." She holds her hand out and up for a handshake. As it happens, she has a pink-and-black ring on that hand. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm June. I like sports, music, and the outdoors. Also, if I yell really loud then things get knocked away."

[Rebonack]

[Cloud Nine]

"How do you know only some of them are princesses?" Dizzy counters. "You only know for sure if you kiss all of them."

Very wise.

"Though sometimes there are unclean spirits that are only SHAPED like frogs. You don't want to kiss those. Not that you could, since they're bodiless spirits."

That's an important addendum.

But then!

The time for introductions has also come! Looking Dizzy up and down results in an eyebrow raise. Dizzy is, of course, very tall. That much is all the more obvious up close. Not built like a body builder or anything like that, but definitely built like someone who does plenty of physical work. Also those weird leonine features and that too-big mouth. Bat-like wings. Fuzzy scorpion-like tail ending in a mess of spikes. Clothing that can accommodate wings and a tail are tricky but Dizzy appears to have pulled it off.

"Hey June. That's Nina, back from the dead," Dizzy says, pointing at the pixie. "You can call me 'Dizzy'. It sounds cuter than the name my dad gave me. Uhh... I like rocks. And beach combing. And beach combing specifically for rocks. And singing, though a bunch of my singing consists of sweet *doot*s."

The doot is, of course, a trumpet sound.

"Walking around places then flying over them, that's cool. I like religious stuff. And not getting kicked through walls by other giants but that kinda comes with the job sometimes. And I can sorta conjure up this sooty black smog from the Abyss and do stuff with it? It gets soot all over everything though."

A beat.

"So that means we're acquaintances now, right?"

[Halae]

[Well Training]

"It seems to belong more in your hands than mine." Ambrosia remarks as she sees Thariza accepting the weapon from Emily. "I've had little experience with technology like that unfortunately." She sounds a bit embarrassed about that really.
"But to answer your question Thariza, they're really big. As if to assure that no one else could possibly wield them. Honestly, it mostly look like they're compensating for something else in most cases." Particularly male dragons had a tendency to do that and Ambrosia can't resist rolling her eyes just thinking about it. Something she very much wouldn't do with a dragon present of course.

[Well Training]

"Hmm. Well, I couldn't fire it either," Thariza says as she weighs the gun in her hand and points it into the distance. "Making big guns for the sake of it does fit some engineers I know. But it applies to both genders. Maybe it's just how Charr are with weapons."

[Well Training]

"I have to admit, there's something viscerally satisfying about pointing at something and having it completely explode from the raw force. Especially when you can feel the impact; guns are especially good at both of those things," Emily lets out a little laugh, "I try to avoid using this one much. It's mostly for intimidation and shooting down flying enemies."

[Thursday Violist]

[Cloud Nine]

"N-no, you don't have to kiss them all to know!" Nina protests. "Some of them are farmgirls! I saw a farmgirl get turned into one once." And, as everyone knows, farmgirls aren't always princesses.

June waves at Nina.
"Religious stuff is pretty exciting. I've never been kicked through a wall, though. Sounds like a pretty awful job if that's your job."

June runs her teeth over her lip. Hmm....Acquaintances? She shrugs. "I would've gone with 'friends' but acquaintances is good enough, too."

She thinks about what would be the best way to be carried, then. "Well, how do you want to carry me?" Dizzy would probably know the best way for her to carry someone. After all, she likely has the most experience in doing it. "Just to warn you, though, I've been carried both by a dragon and that angel before, so you've got tough competition for flight review score." At the very least, to stand a chance of receiving a review above a 7, there had better be some kind of in-flight service.

[Rebonack]

[Cloud Nine]

"Yeah but how are you going to know if the frog is a princess or a farmgirl until you kiss her, huh?" Dizzy demands. "Not like she can tell you before the smooching since frogs don't talk unless this really is Narnia."

Did Narnia have any talking frogs?

There was that froggy dude from The Silver Chair but he wasn't a talking animal like the beavers. Does that still count?

"Religious stuff is most of what was going on these days, what with the apocalypse going on and everything," Dizzy says with a shrug. "Hence the getting kicked through a wall. It's a real power struggle going down. But apparently not here? Like a third of the sky isn't scorched. So clearly this isn't Earth."

"I mean... friends I guess? We did just kinda meet," Dizzy replies a little uncertainly. "But usually I just grab someone under the arms and hoist 'em. I've done this a few times. It isn't exactly comfortable. I don't think I'm going to be able to compete with a DRAGON."

That last bit gets a laugh. Is that really a thing that happens around here? Riding on dragons?


[Magical Girl Brave Cat-Tamer Nekohammer and the Shrine of Doom]

Catherine has had an interesting past couple days. After getting her soul gem cleaned out by Tahara and Karaglen she's felt great! Busted some Witches, did Magical Girl stuff, found out that Kyubey is probably some kind of giant eldritch monster. Fun stuff! It lead to actually digging into some FUN TOPICS kinda adjacent to all that crazy space-monster stuff.

See, Cat was just a tiny kid when That Day happened. She really wasn't old enough to really get all of what was going on. But it really left a mark on the Nexus. Like Arkham Street. And Arkham Street's best known library.

Cat miiiiiight have checked out some books on spooky stuff and she found something that might actually work. That might actually be able to break the contact. See, she read some stuff about what her new pal Karaglen actually is. And that's something a person can become. And that's a thing that cleanses the soul. Not like goop scooping out sort of way. More like getting tossed in a crucible sort of way.

And she's already kind of messed up, right? Kyubey shouldn't get THAT mad about her checking this out? And hey, if it works then cool! If it doesn't work then-

Well.

At least she tried?

Catherine is feeling like she got really lucky. Like she got another shot at the whole NOT BEING A WITCH thing. And she wants to use it. Maybe learn something that can help other girls. Make her second chance worth it.

So!

That's why she just rode Giga-Mittens out here to the middle of nowhere following a creepy looking map she found in a creepy looking book and arrived at a-

Well.

The dungeon isn't creepy looking, she's got to admit.

It looks like some sort of bronze clock tower rising out of the giant mass of creeping vines spread all over EVERYTHING. Cat has no idea what sort of vines they are but she is literally unable to see the ground. It looks like this might have been the main street of a little town once, but absolutely everything is vine-smothered. There are vague shapes here and there. Like maybe cars or buildings. But they're all utterly obscured by bright green vines covered in even brighter magenta flowers.

Except the tower.

The tower is just kind of draped in the vines.

Like a really half-hearted attempt to TP it with plants that was given up without trying too hard.

Cat takes a deep breath and grins a No Fear! sort of grin at the tower.

"Well this is the place, Mittens. Time to find out if this works or not."
"Mrow."

The girl and her loyal companion start down the hill into the ghost-town. Cat does her best to try to avoid feeling creeped out by the empty husk of civilization.

[Thursday Violist]

[Cloud Nine]

There was that froggy dude from The Silver Chair but he wasn't a talking animal like the beavers. Does that still count?

"Religious stuff is most of what was going on these days, what with the apocalypse going on and everything," Dizzy says with a shrug. "Hence the getting kicked through a wall. It's a real power struggle going down. But apparently not here? Like a third of the sky isn't scorched. So clearly this isn't Earth."

That last bit gets a laugh. Is that really a thing that happens around here? Riding on dragons?

[Cloud Nine]

Nina, realizing that she doesn't have an argument against what Dizzy's saying about frogs, decides to stop talking about it. Except, even if she decided that, she still can't hold herself to that decision. "If it comes down to kissing a farmgirl or kissing a princess, of course I'd just rather kiss a frog princess than a frog farmgirl."
June interjects her opinion, though: "I'd rather kiss the farmgirl." and she gets a tongue stuck out at her from Nina in response. "She's a much better kisser," June adds, for context.
June glances at Dizzy to see if she'll say which she would rather kiss. Princess or farmgirl? It's a very important question. Possibly the most important question they've discussed this whole time.

But, on that note she says, "Speaking of princesses, I would've thought princess carry would be easier, but...whatever. I'm not a princess anymore so-" She gets interrupted by Nina: "You were never a princess."
June clears her throat. "Anyway." She holds her hands out into a T-pose position, so she can get picked up under the arms. "Let's get going before the world decides it needs to send princess frogs after us."

To change the topic, June says, "By the way, Earth's a pretty dumb name for a planet. If you ever get home, you should petition for it to get changed. More importantly, not only is it a dumb name, it's also really common. Tons of people say they're from there. Tell someone you're from Earth? Most likely they'll say 'me too' then brag about their voyage past the icewalls or something ridiculous like that."

[bc56]

MGBCTNHatSoD
"You probably shouldn't go in there. You don't know what you're getting yourself into." A drow-looking girl with a white streak through her hair is speaking, wearing a blue dress that wouldn't look out of place behind a bar. In fact one could easily imagine that she just stepped out of Trog's Tavern. She definitely doesn't look like she belongs out here in these ruins.
She wasn't there a second ago, was she?

[Rebonack]

[Cloud Nine]

That IS a pretty important discussion, honestly.

"I'm still not seeing how you tell whether it's a farm girl or a princess before you kiss the frog," Dizzy replies, completely avoiding the question in the process.

But anyway it's time for carrying now. And not princess carrying because, "Well, I can't do that since you aren't a princess and it also makes it way more likely that I slap you in the head with one of my wings by accident."

That's true. If you're being carried sideways your head sticks out a whole bunch more and that means you might get wing-slapped. No one wants to get wing-slapped it isn't any fun. So! Now for taking off. Just loop those arms there, spread those wings, crouch down a bit and then-!

Jump!

And flap!

And you're off!

This definitely isn't as nice as riding on the dragon but Dizzy DID say that was probably going to be the case.

Once they're up in the air it looks like they're actually getting closer to the castle now. Helpful!

"Earth isn't a dumb name for a planet what else would you call it?" Dizzy objects. "Pretty much every language just uses their word of 'dirt' or 'land' or something like that."


[Magical Girl Brave Cat-Tamer Nekohammer and the Shrine of Doom]

Oh!

Yep.

That makes Cat start a bit when someone's talking to her all of a sudden. She's even brandishing her hammer just in case she needs to clobber someone, the head of the weapon flashing with little kitty-face shaped sparkles. When it's just some half-elf lady her posture relaxes. And that relaxing is quickly replaced with a broad, somewhat manic smile.

"Hey lady! Wow you sure popped up out of nowhere, didn't you? Really suspicious-like. It almost reminds me of someone," she says, tapping her lips thoughtfully.
"Mrow," says her giant pet cat.
"Well I was going to say like Karaglen since she looks like her but I guess Kyubey does that too, doesn't he? Hey lady! You aren't related to Karaglen, are you? I bet you are you look like you're her big sis am I right?"

She shoulders her hammer and motions Mittens to begin heading toward the spooky tower.

"I know exactly what I'm getting myself into! Trouble! And maybe getting myself out of turning into a Witch, too. I've just got to collect four magical trinkets and put them back together and POW! I become an angel! With, like, a halo and cute wings and stuff! Way better than becoming a crazy despair ghost that eats people."

[bc56]

MGBCTNHATSOD
"Oh, you know Kara? Yeah, she's my little sister." that confirms that at least. "I'm Selekhael. Call me Sele. And trust me, being an angel certainly is not cute." She won't deny that it's probably better than being a sad cannibal ghost. "This isn't about people with wings and haloes, this is 'be not afraid' kind of stuff. I can't let you do this unless you know the risks."

[Rebonack]

[Magical Girl Brave Cat-Tamer Nekohammer and the Shrine of Doom]

"Selekhael, huh? That's a cool name it sounds really angel-y," Cat replies with a sagely nod since she is clearly an expert on angel names.
"Mrow."
"No, I mean, all the angel names are like that aren't they?"
"Mrow."
"What do you mean how do I know? Mom's got those shrines she prays to. All the names are like that."
"Mrow."
"No we didn't worship YOU you're a cat."
"Mrow."
"Those weren't offerings they were just your breakfast you fuzzy goofball."

Typical conversations with a cat.

"But yeah, anyway, I know. I read, like, three books on it! Or one book and skimmed two more. Close enough. I'm practically an expert at this point. However it goes it's still better than what I've got line up NOW and even if this blows up in my face then, well, at least the other Magical Girls will know this doesn't work right?"

She's got a weirdly up-beat and at the same time a weirdly fatalistic attitude about all of this.

There aren't the sorts of things a child should be worrying about.

Speaking of things to be worried about, the alien vines that are encrusting this whole desolate abandoned town are absolutely the result of a pretty big empyrean eating everyone and everything here. Which is creepy.

[bc56]

MGBCTNHATSOD
Sele looks skeptical. "You're more likely to die. At the hands of the shrine guardians, (which are probably some sort of vine monsters) or to a trap. Even if you succeed, you'll die, body and soul utterly annihilated to give birth to an angel that shares your memories." She pulls no punches on the description. Unless Cat is extremely certain about this, she shouldn't be doing it.

[Thursday Violist]

[Cloud Nine]

Clearly, the frogs that are wearing crowns are secretly princesses.

To June, a princess carry has their heads pretty close. So unless Dizzy gets close to hitting herself in the head with her wings, she doesn't think that would happen a all that much. "Okay, I'll trust you," she says.

Nina holds on tightly.

June, in this position, doesn't have the greatest way to hold on tightly, so she just trusts Dizzy to do the tightly-holding instead. And, since she thinks it's possible the castle might try to flee if she looks at it too hard, she makes sure to not look directly at it. After all, in all their testing, there's still one possibility that she didn't bring up or that they didn't disprove: the castle only fled away as June herself or both June and Dizzy were approaching.
So maybe the castle is just afraid of June specifically. It's unlikely, of course, but she can't rule it out.
And since she's not looking, she can't actually confirm that they are approaching the castle.

"Are you serious?" she asks. Of course Earth is a pretty dumb name. "That's ridiculous. All those languages are ridiculous. There's much better names for your planet. Like, Our Mother or The Lower Place or Place of Mortals or The Lesser Mother or anything else like that. Jeez." She blows at her hair to try to move it out of her face. It's ineffective, because flying. "And those are just all the common ones. And what about mermaids? They would never call their planet 'Earth' unless they were conquered pretty early in their civilization."

June actually isn't sure if there's mermaids in the world Dizzy's from.

[Rebonack]

[Magical Girl Brave Cat-Tamer Nekohammer and the Shrine of Doom]

"Hey let me tell you I'm no slouch! I'm the Magical Girl Brave Cat-Tamer Nekohammer and this shrine can't stand up to my feline fury!" she declares, pointing her hammer at the tower. "I'm not afraid of vine monsters or creeps or anything else!"

Though she looks slightly taken aback by the 'you'll still die' comment.

"W-well I'll still think I'm me, right? Close enough. Listen, I just about popped one time already. I got REALLY lucky that your sis and Tahara were able to do a soul cleaning thing on me otherwise I would be a crazy people eating ghost already. I've GOT to figure out if this works. I'm the only one who can do it since Kyubey already thinks I'm messed up. If any of the other girls are getting too nosy with ways to break the contract he'll just Bewitch them so he doesn't lose the juice."

She looks again to the tower, her expression defiant.

"It's got to be me. If I die along the way, well, better than being a Witch."
"Mrow."
"Haha, you said it Mittens!" she laughs, patting her giant kitty on the neck. "C'mon, let's go check it out. It couldn't be worse than dealing with Witches and familiars."

They make it down the hill and into the vines and immediately discover that it is, arguably, worse than dealing with Witches and familiars. Familiars aren't that dangerous, provided you can see them. Witches are nasty, but usually a single Magical Girl can take them down if they're careful without too much trouble. As soon as Mittens steps onto a vine the landscape begins heaving like the earth is trying to vomit.

Imagine, for a moment, what it would look like if a bunch of corpses that were burned to death had their charred meat replaced with dark jelly and their burned bones with bronze. If their immobile bodies were lashed about with vines, jerking their dead limbs like the strings of a puppet. If their defined forms distorted and burst in places, spilling forth torrents of grasping hands seeking to seize whatever they can and drag it back to themselves.

It doesn't have to be imagined at the moment, because that's exactly what the husks that pop out of the vine-covered landscape are like. People, once. But every spark of themselves utterly burned away until all that remains is the Path of Tiqvael burning within them, pushing them to hold fast to their warped existence. Hope is a powerful force. And a powerful curse when blind hope is all that remains.

"OH GEEZE WHAT."


[Cloud Nine]

The flying does seem to be working out thus far and thankfully Dizzy is pretty strong so June is in no danger of being dropped unless she wriggles around a WHOLE bunch. Hopefully she doesn't decide to do that since it would be bad.

"We're getting closer to the castle," Dizzy informs June. This doesn't disprove June's idea that maybe if she looks at the castle it'll run away from her so she had better continue not looking at it.

"Or middle-land I guess. But that still has 'land' in it and that's what Earth means," Dizzy points out. "Why the heck would you call the planet your mother, anyway? It doesn't give birth to anyone we just live on it. A dog isn't a mother to her fleas."

To be fair, Dizzy hasn't ever asked a flea if they consider the dog they live on to be their mother.

Maybe they do?

Of course, fleas would need to be able to have thoughts for that to be the case and they probably don't.

"What about mermaids? Are those real here, too? I mean, I guess if this place is Narnia adjacent that makes sense. Because there were mermaids in Narnia. There aren't any on Earth, just manatees."

And who would mistake a manatee for a mermaid?

Someone who is REALLY drunk, that's who.

[Gold]

[Junkyard]

Since the fake TARBot never entered the firetruck, neither does Zeeland. Instead, he spits more curses and turns toward the fake's new position, looking and feeling seriously irritated.

"Alright!" the robot exclaims, pointing his right index finger in the air. Beginning to walk towards the dummy and Wenomir, and without a hint of irony in his voice, he says "You know, it's a good thing colossal wastes of time are part of the culture I grew up in, or else I wouldn't be here, still doing this."

After taking a few steps, he points the same finger toward the dummy and says, more quietly, "I've been practicing this technique for a
situation just like this one... except less f**king stupid." With that, a thin blue beam accompanied by a high-pitched whine shoots from Zeeland's finger to the dummy's centre, staying for about five seconds or until something breaks either the laser or Zeeland's concentration. If the laser remains unbroken for the full five seconds, a light of a similar colour will encase the fake TARBot, rendering him completely stiff, seemingly unresponsive to any remote commands, and indeed stopped in time.

[bc56]

MGBCTNHATSOD
"The followers of Tiqvael! What's left of them!" Sele won't do anything about the rising vine-zombies unless they start to attack her. It's not her place to interfere in a supplicant's trials. She wouldn't want Tiqvael to interfere in hers. This is for Cat to deal with. And probably complain that Sele isn't helping.

[Rebonack]

[Shrine of Doom]

That sounds like an angel name, too. But Catherine really isn't thinking about that right now since Mittens is dodging between those masses of WEIRD HANDS that keep exploding out of these zombies at he and his rider.

Thankfully Mittens is a MAGICAL giant kitty and he's dodging pretty well.

Cat swings Meowmir at a group of the husks, sending a blazing kitty face sizzling toward them like a rainbow lightning bolt which explodes with a thunderous NYAN! upon impact. By the time the colorful pastel smoke clears Nekohammer is already grinning in triumph!

Obliteration!

"Haha these guys aren't so bad! They just look really creepy. Nothing but big familiars."

Then there comes a rattling, slurping sound as the exploded husk bits all come flying back together again like the explosion is playing in reverse. In but an eyeblink they're all assembled again and pressing the attack.

"SerIOUSLY?!" Cat yells, her voice cracking slightly. "Hey how come you aren't helping? Are you just going to stand around over there like a weirdo?" she demands of Selekhael.

[bc56]

Shrine of Doom
"Sorry. It wouldn't be Correct for me to interfere in your trials. The best I can do is give you advice." Sele shakes her head. "I won't help you fight, but ask me whatever questions you want." She isn't promising to answer those questions.

[Thursday Violist]

[Cloud Nine]

June doesn't wriggle.
So she's safe.
She also continues to not look at the castle.

"It's called a mother because what else are you going to call it, a father? That'd be pretty weird," June claims. "I don't know why, though. Maybe you should ask the people who do it. Most of the time, I just call the place I come from 'Eris' most of the time."
She doesn't shrug, because that might mess up Dizzy's grip on her.

Not looking at the castle ends up actually being relevant, somehow.
Every place where June took a footstep on the cloud starts having translucent black hands emerge from the ground.
And.
And the gazebo's roof opens up, revealing the top is a giant eyeball.

June clears her throat to catch Nina's attention. And gestures behind them with a twitching finger. Nina needs to fix that.

Nina nods, and tries as carefully and quietly as possible to fall off of Dizzy's shoulder. She flies off back towards the eyeball to fix that part first.

Continuing the conversation, June says, "There's a little fairy on your shoulder and a fire goose in a cage and a redhead in your arms, and you're asking if mermaids are real." She thinks and screws her eyes a little, and then says, "Wait, yeah, you're right. Mermaids usually have nothing to do with fairies or fire gooses or redheads. One can be real without the others being real."
She clears her throat again.
"Well. Um. It's just that here, there can be basically anything. If you ever feel like wondering if something exists or not, the answer is 'yeah, probably'. And I'm sure the there's also just some manatee-shaped mermaids too? Maybe? There's probably at least one sailor who would get tricked by that."

[Rebonack]

[Shrine of Doom]

"That's lame!" Cat yells whilst ducking under a flurry of grasping hands and retorting with another kitty-bolt from her hammer. At least THIS time the zombies don't reassemble themselves when she blows them up. Maybe they can only do that once? These things are way worse than familiars. Familiars just sort of shuffle toward you and manage to be a nuisance. These things are actually pretty active in their violence. Sure a bolt from Meowmir can blow them to bits, but a bolt from Meowmir can blow MOST things to bits. "I guess me and Mittens will have to do all the work, then!"

Well fine.

That's just fine with Cat.

She and Mittens doing all the work is NORMALLY how it goes. Nekohammer doesn't team up with other Magical Girls THAT often. After all, she's always got her partner with her! Obviously she isn't going to be able to just breeze through the minions like she's use to, so that means getting serious!

Nekohammer leaps off Mittens, pulls off her hat, and yanks two more spirit kitties out of it!

Which are also Mittens.

Just smaller than the horse-sized Mittens she was riding on.

"Okay, Mittens! Let's show this handsy creepers we mean business!"
"Mrow."
"Mrow."
"Mrow."
"Mrow," reply the four cats, one of which is her hammer at the moment.

And then they do! Nekohammer begins dashing about and smashing monsters with her hammer, each impact leaving massive cat-paw shaped craters in the ground. The two cats, meanwhile, are mauling the heck out of the husks! They're doing a pretty good job! She's doing pretty well until one of the hands manages to grab a cat and promptly freezes all the kitty's thoughts in a moment of time and begins hauling said kitty back toward its gnashing form.

THAT husk gets a hammer straight to its melty face.

Once freed, the afflicted kitty will gradually escape from his enraptured state. Which is pretty hard to tell apart from a cat just flopping over and being lazy but Catherine is very perceptive!

"Hey! Lady!" Catherine calls out as her felines are finishing off the last few husks. "That thing gave my cat some bad petting is he going to be okay?"

[bc56]

Shrine of Doom
"It'll be fine. It'll wear of in a Layer or two," Sele answers. That probably raises more questions than it answers. Even Sele doesn't really understand what Layers are, she just knows how to count them.
But wow, this girl really likes cats. Or just the one cat. Sele would put money on her apotheosed form being part cat. Possibly part that specific cat, which, if it's her pet, would be creepy.

[Rebonack]

[Cloud Nine]

"Doesn't seem any weirder than calling it a mother. I know it usually goes father sky and mother earth but there's no reason why it can't be the other way around since it's just made up anyway," Dizzy replies without a shrug. Since unneeded movements when you're flying isn't a great idea. Dizzy knows that SOME part of this flight is metaphysical. Somehow. But a big chunk of it is still normal aerodynamics. That's why the wings are so huge and there's that membrane running about a third of the way down the tail to make one big flight surface.

Dizzy has no desire to stall. Flying while carrying someone is already hard.

"Isn't Eris the name of one of those little planets waaaay out at the edge of the solar system? Like Pluto? I mean, unless you're from there. But I'm pretty sure that place is really cold and doesn't have an atmosphere," Dizzy recounts. Technically Eris is a little bigger than Pluto, isn't it?

Anyway!

Dizzy doesn't notice any weird hands and eyeballs.

"I think it was more of a pheasant than a goose. But yeah, just because one weird thing is real doesn't mean ALL weird things are real. Like, giants are real right? And angels and demons obviously. But that doesn't mean mermaids have to be real. Or, I dunno, vampires? Wait are vampires real here too? I'm trying to keep track of this stuff so I don't get surprised when a dead guy pops out of a coffin and goes BLEH! at me."

Is that a thing vampires do?

Dizzy has no idea, hence the asking.

Anyway!

Dizzy lands on top of one of the towers of the castle which is thankfully the open sort with crenulations. Which means now is a good time to put June down. There's not much up here. Just castle architecture and a trap door leading down. Though the trap door is REALLY big. Like the gazebo it appears to be sized for someone about twelve feet tall.

Hmm. Apparently just about anything is real here. "If everything is real that sounds like way too much to keep track of. How far does that go, I wonder? Like, what if I just make something up right now? Could I find that here somewhere?"


[Shrine of Doom]

Which of course means that Catherine asks, "Layer? What's a layer?"

That's a reasonable question.

And yes!

Nekohammer is very cat themed. Cats are her element! Normally you wouldn't think cats can be an element but Magical Girls can be kind of odd. Things like fire and water and so forth are the elements people would normally think of. Or maybe plants? But while those are definitely options sometimes Magical Girls end up with weird elements like ribbons or sparkles or kitties.

Regardless of the answer, Nekohammer picks her way across the vines, insentient cat in her arms while the rest of her cats wipe out any more husks that pop it. It seems like MOST of them were limited to that initial mob. Maybe. Hopefully. Upon reaching the shrine Catherine frowns.

"Eh? It doesn't have a door! What gives?" she says, eyeing the archway that LOOKS like it should be a door but doesn't offer any way in. Above the door is an inscription. "'Grasp hope with your every thought for it is the tether upon which we ascend moment by moment.' What the heck does that mean?"

Sounds weird. Angels are weird.

Around the archway are three depressions that look like they could fit... something? Like keys maybe?