Multiple Settings Anima Studies

[Juju]

Lazzo Solirus Verite November Witch

Although she didn’t laugh at the joke, Marianne felt a wave of relief when the stars stopped spinning around the self-proclaimed ‘Star-Attraction’. Now that Valerie had hit her second wind, Marianne took a step back to grant her more space.

“It does not matter what you are called, so long as the job gets done.” She said, keeping her eyes firmly on Deerhead. Yet one of Valerie’s comments made her pause, earning a confused look that momentarily replaced her stony frown. She blinked. “What on earth is an ex-man?”

She wasn’t quite certain what Val meant by Jubilee either, though she understood the definition well enough. Still, now was not the time for clarification. Defeating their foe took priority over learning foolish modern terms.

Sparkles spun in glittery threads, bursting one by one to create a dazzling show, but Marianne couldn’t afford to appreciate them. Her eyes narrowed as the demon was cut cleanly in half, carefully watching its regeneration and searching for any indication it had slowed. Unsurprisingly, it remained the same, and also unsurprisingly, the taunts from Valerie had reached their mark. Deerhead’s anima flared up dangerously, but hopefully at the cost of draining its reserves.

The twins shifted into an evasive stance, ready to match the gait of the charging deer. At least, until something shattered the delicate balance of the mirror waltz. A giant anchor was falling from above, thrown with good intentions by Crimson. At least the demon had the decency to warn them, but that didn’t change the added danger of their current position.

First the puddle and now this?! Once more the carefully trained stances of the twins were interrupted by a marine threat. There was no choice but to retreat and then look for another opening. Taking her role as Valerie's defender seriously, she quickly glanced back at the girl.

"Look out!" Marianne called to her. She then dashed to the side, reached out to take hold of Valerie’s wrist and then… froze.

Hubris was the death of many, but doubt was a silent killer. Memories of the previous day intruded in waves, just like the exhaustion. Her concentration faltered, and so too did the augmentation. Movements slowed, vision blurred. A lapse in judgment and a moment’s hesitation were all a demon needed.

When would she learn that all her attempts to help only ended in harm. Once again she just made things worse. What an idiot. She wondered if her blood could count as an apology. It was a lot easier that way.

Red sparks scattered through the air as Annamarie dispelled her weapon, freeing both hands. Instead of dodging to the opposite side of the demon, she lunged across its path, arms outstretched for Marianna and Valerie. She grabbed their shirts like kitten-scruffs and tossed them out of harm's way.

 

[Verite]

Valerie Vu - Starstruck
Interactions: Solirus November Witch Juju

​

"Oh, jeez!"

Valerie could only gasp out as she realized she was in danger of getting caught in the crossfire of Crimson's anchor. For the briefest of moments, she froze up, unsure of what move she should make if anything. She didn't want to accidentally move somewhere that would actually only put her in more danger, like a checkmate that would result in her instant loss, nor did she want to get further away from Marianne and make her job that much more difficult.

As Marianne dashed to her aid, Valerie was afforded enough time to look the other girl in the eye, observing that slight instance of hesitation. What was she doing? Would she be able to...?

And yet, it was ultimately Annamarie who ended up saving the both of them, tossing them aside like, well, kittens. Another surprised yelp escaped Val's lips as she rolled to the side, managing to evade Deerhead's charge. Staggering back up to her feet, Val brushed herself off before giving a wave toward Annamarie.

"Thanks!" She merely called out, still feeling a bit awkward about interacting with her, but of course, she was willing to play ball, especially after a save like that.

Looking over to Deerhead, trusting that it needed an extra while to contend with Crimson's anchor if that hit managed to connect, Val clamped her hands on Marianne's shoulders in a surprisingly forward gesture and shook her a bit. Only just remembering the mood Marianne had been carrying since the morning, probably since the last night for all she knew, Val let out a breath. "C'mon, Marianne! We gotta keep our heads in the game, or else it's curtains forever!"

Val gave a surprisingly serious look. Her lips were tightened with a trace of excitement on her expression, as if this fight or something about the situation excited her, yet it was contrasted with a surprisingly pointed look in her eyes. "I... I don't know what's been bugging you lately, but I'm really counting on you here! We all are! As much as Crimson won't admit it."

From there, she leaned in closer in an almost conspiratorial manner, threatening to invade Marianne's personal bubble. "Between you and me, I... honestly don't really like depending on other people. Before I came here, it was always just me. But I figured, if there's one person who probably has their shit together, out of the whole class here, it's probably you! I mean, that's what I always thought! You always looked like you have this stuff on lock, like I bet you're the smartest person out of all of us, so please, let's get through this together!"

With that attempt at words of encouragement, she finally pulled away from Marianne, giving a spry wink as she raised a finger to her lips. "Or maybe the reason you hesitated was because you were so starstruck by my performance? I guess that's likely too," Val grinned, flipping from one tonal extreme to the other, before looking over to see how Deerhead was faring now.

 

[seasonedcat]

Aries | Park Forest
Aries noticed the incoming projectile barely a second before Nikklaüs did, his attention snapping back to the hunt instantly. Just as Aries had warned, talking makes people sloppy; thankfully, this time, it didn't result in someone dead... yet. It wasn't long before Curious had turned its gaze to him and the scent of blood and anima was obscured by a layer of dirt in his throat and nose.

Aries's eyes burned from the familiar sensation of dirt in his eyes, a trick he was not new to. His eyes screwed shut on instinct to try and keep more of the dust from causing more irritation. It wasn't hard for Aries to slip into refined vision to see the filthy anima of the demon clear as day despite his eyes being screwed shut. Aries managed to block the demon's lunge before attempting to land another punch on Curious.

just like Curious, Aries didn't notice Nikklaüs's approaching from behind, and his nose was too muffled with dirt to smell the arcanist stench or the metallic blood in the air. Aries didn't care to check on the other or even worry if he got injured. If Nikklaüs died, that would be one less arcanist in the world; that hardly seemed like a bad thing to Aries. If he couldn't survive this, it would only be a matter of time. Maybe then Aries would finally get silence.
interactions | Solirus Yakov011001

 

[Solirus]

• Improvisation
• Climax

• 
  
  Improvisation
  Yakov011001 seasonedcat
  ​
  Successfully managing to block Curious's lunge, the demon quickly blocked Aries's counter, now more wary of the students' strength. Curious, once more prepared to launch another attack at Aries only to fail and notice Nikklaüs who'd snuck up behind the two and struck. The blade crashed down against the oblivious demon, only the blade was unable to pierce let alone move the demon, Zantetsuken was as dull as a butter knife.
  
  ...suppression will make your anima dependent abilities weaker and make you more vulnerable to attacks... Nikklaüs could hear Jaquie's words in his minds, memories of his first days. Now, not only was he more vulnerable to attack, he was slower too.
  
  Curious feinted his attack on Aries, instead quickly grabbing onto Nikklaüs's arm before he could return his anima to its original strength. The demon swung Nikklaüs like a club, slamming against Aries before finally slamming Nikklaüs onto the dirt, finally letting go as he charged at Aries again smiling, enjoying every moment of this fight.
  
• 
  
  Climax
  November Witch Juju Verite ​
  
  Each of Deerhead's steps practically shook the ground as it headed straight for Valerie. With the quick reflexes and action of the pale twin, they were able to avoid the point of collision between the demon and the anchor. When both clashed, it would be the anchor who would shatter against the charging demon, its metallic form now flying across the arena like shrapnel.
  
  Acting as their shield, Annamarie would take the brunt of the shrapnel as it pierced her back, but not stopping it from reaching Valerie and Marianne.
  
  Undeterred, Deerhead blinding continued its charge towards the end of the arena.
  
  At that moment, Crimson was reminded of her life as a demon. Regardless of how they lived their life, there was always a constant: survival. Such required demons to be aware of the anima they used, their very essence. In fights, they would never use up too much, such was their methodology and their own physical limits, to ensure their continued survival.
  
  This demon had chosen to willingly shattered their limit, even if led them towards oblivion.
  
  Deerhead crashed against the wall of the arena, shattering the entire structure as the force released a shockwave, pushing the team back. The demon turned to face the students, its anima still surging indiscriminately, that singular attack had taken practically half of its entire being. The demon didn't appear to care, however, as it slowly turned back toward the students, standing tall and proud.
  
  "I shall leave you all buried and forgotten!" Dearhead exclaimed, its form slowly cracking from the overuse of anima as the red hue disappeared into a colorless glow. The earth shook once more as the shattered wood of the arena dug themselves into the ground. The ground beneath the students cracked and slowly sunk, threatening to take them to the very depths of the world.
  
  On the shattering ground, the corvid remained calm, observing.
  

 

[Yakov011001]

Nikklaüs flinched when Zantetsuken just... didn't work. All that pain he forced himself to feel again, and for what? To get swung around like a bat and deposited onto the floor like yesterday's shit. Curious passed over him with a dismissal that reflected upon him like the world had. His fight, everyday that he's lived for years. How could it mean anything to anyone? There was only one person who made that push to understand, and that push to get him to face those days again—to confront them, and finally let that hold on him go and leave it behind. How did he repay her?

---

Regret (in collaboration with Juju )

Nikklaüs needed a fuckin’ break. Three weeks was closing fast, and the Rank II assessment was approaching faster than he wanted. It was starting to piss him off, hearing from Valerie, Sophia, and others about all the new skills they picked up and the new ways they could utilize their artes. What has he managed to get done? Despite all his training, he can’t get his arte to work with him; he couldn’t get it to do anything new. Which is why despite being dressed for it, he decided he wouldn’t be going to train. Even if it was Sunday and even if the assessment was tomorrow, Nikklaüs didn’t have the patience for it. He wanted to get out somewhere, but he couldn’t afford to go snooping around the way he had been last week after Sophia caught him red-handed. Looks like he’d just have to find something to do back home.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Nikklaüs checked to see if Bit Check Arcade was open. It’d been a while since he’d gone, and he had a reputation to maintain: he couldn’t let Leif and Felix believe they owned the Third Strike and MvC cabinets while he was out. His train of thought broke at bumping into the back of Marianne at the end of the hall.

“Aye, it’s called a walkway, not a standway.” Klaüs let loose before thinking, his frustration and impatience having started to overtake what would have been his friendlier demeanor.

She rounded on him in an instant, her look of shock fading into one of stern objection. Arms crossed and brow furrowed into a signature expression of irritation, “I beg your pardon? I was walking! It’s not my fault that you're myopic.”

Having been holding hands with her, Annamarie peered over and looked at Nikklaüs in mild interest, her crimson eyes blinking and her porcelain face unmoving.

“Myopic? I have perfect vision! I just couldn’t—” He drew a line from his eye-line soaring over Marianne, exaggerating their height difference. “—y’know? What’re you even doing here? You usually keep yourself pretty busy.” He remarked.

Well, more recently anyhow; he hadn’t seen very much of her over the past few weeks save for the handful of visits he made to the library. That was probably the most suspicious part: the natural oddities of the library made it so that it was naturally difficult to find other people inside—

—unless you’re looking for the same things.

“Really? Using your height as an excuse!?” Marianne hissed, narrowing her eyes. Pursing her lips, she looked away from him. “I was on my way out to go on a walk. The examination will be upon us soon, and I must prepare for it. My performance last examination was lacking, and I do not wish to make the same mistake twice.”

It did not appear that she wished to elaborate on much else, leaving her plans vague.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” Nikklaüs pushed past her and to the kitchen’s island where his wallet was, scooping it up he stopped himself at the door. “Or!” He turned around like a lightbulb just went over-current in his head. “You come with me and we train together, we can’t do it here because of ‘required supervision’—” he mocked with air quotes. “—but I know a place in my home town. What’d’y’say? Surely you’re the kind of person who can appreciate outside input? Additional perspective?”

Marianne moved to the side to let him pass her by, scowling. Her grey eyes flickered between Nikklaus’ face and the wallet he had retrieved. As he offered his suggestion, she titled her head to the side, interested in the proposition yet suspicious. “What sort of training do you have in mind? Additional perspective is indeed wise.”

“Nothing special, but I think you could benefit from learning a way to handle yourself without a weapon. You two trade off on scissor time pretty often, don’t want that to be exploited, right? Though, we are going to be walking through a public place to get there, might want to do something about this right?” He gestured to his own face, but there wasn’t any confusion as to what he meant.

“Professor Jaquie has been training me in unarmed combat.” She sniffed defensively, chin tilting upwards. “Though I admit my form is still lacking.”

At the mention of venturing into a public space with Annamarie in tow, she seemed hesitant. “It is risky to needlessly bring Annamarie into a place where nulls frequent. Just how long will this take? I can hide her eyes, but lengthy excursions run the risk of her demonic featured being spotted by nulls.”

“All the more reason why you need my ability to weigh in, right?” He placed hand over chest in emphasis of himself. “As for disguising Annamarie, well—” He put on a devilish smirk at what he just found on his phone, offering for Marianne to see. “—Boom! Two-day anime convention, right down the road. You’re talking to the king of ‘spinning that shit’, didn’t you know? Besides, you both pass off as pretty convincing vampires: you got the whole ‘even a single ray from the sun will kill me’ look down pat.”

“Anime? Like those Japanese cartoons?” Marianne muttered in confusion, leaning closer to inspect the phone. Her retinas burned with images of coloured contacts, outrageous hair and rather revealing outfits. That and Nikklaus’ comment was enough to bring a pinkish tint to her pale face. “I look nothing like a vampire! And I get enough sunlight, thank you very much…”

She turned away from him, chin tilted up and eyes closed. “I still don’t think this is a good plan. Where is the final destination anyway? Seems strange that we have to pass through a crowd of cartoon mascots.”

“Strange? These are your people!” He continued to tease, avoiding the question entirely. “Look at her, she’s dressed just like you.” His pressure continued. “Of course, we could always spruce her up if you think she needs it, but knowing what it’ll look like around there the worst she’ll get is a couple fans. Actually, yeah, that might be bad.” Nikklaüs brought his hand up to his chin in thought.

At all the attention placed on her, Annamarie tilted her head almost innocently, oblivious to the issue at hand. Her eyes ping-ponged between Marianne and Nikklaüs as they bickered.
“You are most certainly not playing dress up with Annamarie!” Marianne exclaimed in exasperation, “Especially not in the outfits I saw. That is far too much skin! I will not suffer a bunch of sweaty men fawning over her!”

Cursing under her breath, she stormed off to her room.

“Oh, come on! What kind of degenerate do you take me for!?” He shouted after her. The sound of things being moved around, and more cursing, could be heard before Marianne returned with something in her hand. It was none other than a vintage pair of 1960’s fashion sunglasses. They were big, they were haute couture, and they were no replica.

“My grandmother lent me these for whenever I must bring Annamarie somewhere other than the estate or her property.” Marianne explained briefly before handing them to Annamarie. The doll slipped them on, the bulky plastic frame and dark glass hid her unnatural eyes perfectly. But still—

“Annamarie—” Nikklaüs whispered past the hand he covered his mouth with. “—that really—” He started to keel over from trying to keep it in. “—those really suit you!” He burst with his laughter. “Alright, so that means you’re coming with right? Let’s go, you two!”

Annamarie titled her head, staring at Nikklaus in confusion. Or at least, it seemed she was. It was pretty difficult to tell beneath the large oval shades on her face.

“They are perfectly fine!” Marianne exclaimed, her face reddening. She balled up her fists and held them at her sides. “Would you just lead the way already before I regain my senses and find some better use of my time!”

---

“Oh! The look on your face when we ported in from one of the convention exits! I told you we’d fit right in!” Nikklaüs seemed to be entertaining himself, the way he continued to poke at Marianne. “Well, here we are!” He brought an arm up in fanfare of their destination: Bit Check Arcade. Turning back to meet her eyes, Nikklaüs braced for Marianne's wrath at his deception with a nefarious grin.

“I think I’d rather march through a den of rank III demons than return there.” Marianne shuddered, looking back at Not-Annamarie.

Oblivious to the cruel fate awaiting her, she followed after Nikklaüs and stopped when he did. There was a moment of silence as she just stared up at the entrance, her mind trying to grasp what was happening. Her lips pressed into a thin line, her anima flaring upwards as she went to great effort to hold in her anger.

Slowly, she turned her head to face him, her eyes wide and glowing in cool wrath. “Nikklaüs…would you KINDLY explain what the hell is this? I’ll give you one chance.”

“Well, if I only have one chance to explain, I should probably wait until you’re ready to listen. You already seem pretty set on doing not that.” He turned to enter the arcade. “Besides, I invited you out, and you accepted. Surely you’re not so uncouth as to back out now, would you? I’m paying, by the way.” That last bit he tacked on seemed less mischievous and more like a warning: a ‘it’s not your choice so don’t even try’ kind of warning.

Marianne grit her teeth and took a deep breath. It didn’t seem to do much to calm her though. “You said this was supposed to be training. Not… whatever the hell this is! You lied to me!”

She chased after him, Not-Annamarie following behind like a swaggy shadow. “Don’t run away! Nikklaüs! I’m talking to you! And you’re not paying for anything because I’m taking Annamarie and going back to the dorm!”

“I lied to you because I know your work-a-holic dumbass would’ve turned me down at the prospect of—” Nikklaüs turned to meet her, slapping either side of his face and putting on his best impression of Van Gogh’s The Scream with a surprised gasp. “—having fun!?!? Besides, it’s not your decision anymore, what if she wants to? How about it, Annamarie?”

The abrupt stop nearly caused Marianne to bump into him for the second time that day. Her scowl deepened at the joke, clearly unamused. “I don’t have time for stupid games. Or whatever this all is!”

She gestured wildly around her. Yet something Nikklaus said gave her pause. It was clever of him to have brought Annamarie into this, even if it was only for a moment. The doll looked at him blankly, tilting her head. She then turned her eyes upon a flashy arcade screen, seemingly interested in it.

“This is too busy!” Marianne hissed, taking Annamarie’s hand into her own and pulling her closer. Her eyes followed a child as they ran past. She lowered her voice, leaning closer to Nikklaus so that he could hear, “It’s too dangerous!”

“Demons are dangerous, darling,” He hit her with the alliteration, that’s how you know it was the truth! “I know you’ve cursed yourself with some divine purpose, but I think both you and Annamarie deserve to live a little. This isn’t dangerous: burnout is dangerous, and you keep the candle lit at both ends.” At that, he put his hand out for her or Annamarie to take. “So you’re gonna let me drag you around for a bit, y’hear?”
Marianne looked down at his offered hand, though remained as she was with her hand held in Annamarie’s. Her eyes raised to look up at him, the irritation slowly being toppled by uncertainty. As it so often did, anger was masking fear. “This is… well, this is the most crowded area she has ever been to. Plus, there are children present. There is a good chance that I may have to leave abruptly.”

“That wasn’t a no.” Nikklaüs accused. “It’s not just you and her, you’ve got me, okay? If we have to, I’ll be right behind you.”

After the words of reassurances, she stared down at his hand again once more. There was a brief moment of consideration before she thought better of it. It was left empty. Yet as that offer was denied, there seemed to be hope for the other. “Fine. Go ahead and lead, then. Mind you, I can only stay for a few hours at most, but this may be an opportunity to test Annamarie’s training.”

“A few hours!? That’s plenty, let’s go!” His open palm quickly became a fist he pumped in front of him. “I win.” He whispered to himself as he led them into the arcade. Fortunately Marianne, they had token dispensing machines. A way to keep interactions with other people low, but it gave them plenty of time to take it all in while Nikklaüs chucked some money in the machine.

Despite the lack of overhead lighting, it was bright in this bitch. As it turns out, when every machine is flashing however many lights at you saying ‘hey, pick me!’ that fills the room pretty convincingly. The place seemed to be sectioned off into a handful of categories: the right wall lined with retro cabinets organized by year, and just off the wall in its own aisle various fighting games. Continuing from one end to the other, the cabinets got more and more modern and sub-categorized from there: with ticket printing games towards the front; and at the back, games made more for the experience or score attack competitions.

As for the people, Nikklaüs wasn’t lying but neither was Marianne. It was busy as all hell, but the clientele was a bit skewed today from the nearby con: there weren’t too many kids around compared to normal, and the people were all dressed so colorful, frilly, sharp, and everything in-between. He didn’t think they had to worry at all about Annamarie being discovered.

Marianne was oddly alert as they made their way through the crowd, her eyes searching for the nearest exits and scanning the corners of the ceilings for video cameras. She kept Annamarie close, her hand tightly clutching her twins.

“Alright, you lot,” Nikklaüs held out two cups for Marianne and Annamarie to take. “That’s twenty for each of us. Anything catch your eyes?”

“It’s difficult to say if anything doesn’t catch the eye with these gaudy displays.” Marianne sniffed, shifting her disapproving gaze across the sea of bright lights and trilling sounds. “Sensory overload is what it is at best. I daresay I’ll have a migraine by the end of it. Just standing here is almost too much.”

Annamarie seemed just as dazzled as she was, though perhaps the shades helped somewhat. Her head swivelled this way and that, tracing the whirlwind of movement and sound around her. Thanks to the unusual crowd, she didn’t even stand out for once.

“I do not even know where to start.” Marianne sighed in defeat. “You go here. Where do you suggest we begin?”

Nikklaüs didn’t offer up any words, instead mischievously wagging his finger and raising his eyebrows in assistance of that dumbfuck grin that was the bane of Marianne’s existence. Leading them to a machine set with twelve holes in a three by four pattern, and a little felt mallet tied to the machine. On the face of the machine was the trademark ‘Whack-a-Mole!’ printed in extremely inconsistent lettering, as if it were emphasizing how wild it was.

“Allow me to demonstrate.” He signed in service of Annamarie’s lessons.

Slipping a token into the coin slot, Nikklaüs took up the mallet and began doing the word one, word two. You already know. The clock gave him sixty seconds, and it started slow at first. Only one at a time. Of course it got more frantic as it continued, only twenty seconds deep three were popping up at a time and only for that one second. Damn shame Anima didn’t help with reaction time, not that Klaüs needed it. You don’t make your name as the class’ dedicated defender without your reactions being on point. Not that he didn’t miss any, the final twenty seconds reaching an inhuman level of speed as most cabinets get. Once the clock had finally run out, the machine gave him ‘bonus moles’—according to the cabinet’s goofy and uneven voice. After a short countdown popping all twelve moles from their holes at once, with just as short a countdown’s amount of time to whack them all. Nikklaüs settled on the strategy of raking the mallet over the holes in a down-up-down pattern and taking all twelve points.

“One-forty-two isn’t bad, I think,” Nikklaüs seemed satisfied with himself, turning to hold the mallet out for either of them to take. “Which of you want to take next?”

“A test of reflexes and hand-eye coordination. Useful.” Marianne observed dryly, the point of the game being for fun seeming to soar above her head. Her cool gaze moved from the scoreboard and then back to Nikklaüs. “Indeed, the ratio of hits to misses was rather high. You did well.”

While she was busy analyzing the results, Annamarie reached out a hand to take the mallet. She just held it though, idling without a clear directive. Perhaps she didn't really know what it was for, or perhaps she was waiting for the attack order.

“Annamarie, would you like to test your accuracy?” Marianne asked, crossing her arms thoughtfully.

The doll nodded her head dutifully, still awaiting.

“Then kindly replicate exactly what Nikklaüs has done. Eliminate all targets as they appear using only this mallet here. Your scissors are not needed.” Marianne instructed. She leaned down to drop another coin into the slot.

Once more the moles sprung to life, and once more they were slammed down. Annamarie was quick to hit the “enemies” as soon as they emerged, her strikes falling in precise yet jarring movements. In a way, it was like two machines competing against each other. As the rhythm sped up, so too did her movements, until the moles popped up at impossible intervals. Like Nikklaüs, she began to lag behind. During the bonus round she even mirrored the exact strategy she had observed from Nikklaüs.

Perhaps she mirrored him a little too well, for when the results flashed on the screen it was as if nothing had changed; 142.

Marianne eyed it a little suspiciously and then pinched the bridge of her nose. “Well it was certainly followed exactly...”

Oblivious to her results, Annamarie turned towards Nikklaüs and held out the mallet for him to take. The blank expression she would usually give him right now was blocked behind the gaudy shades, but it was still there in spirit and he had to stifle his laugh, hand-over-mouth again. Just like her, she did exactly as she was asked after all. Honestly it was even more impressive than the prospect of her getting a perfect score.

“Yes she did, and I am so proud of her for it,” Nikklaüs cooed like a girl dad, taking the mallet in his left hand and petting the top of her head with his right. “That means it’s your turn, love.” He offered Marianne the mallet to give it a shot.

“Do not pet her! She’s not some hound!” Marianne hissed, swatting away at Nikklaus’ hand, even though Annamarie did not seem to mind the gesture. She ripped the mallet from his hand without thinking much of it, yet once she held it she looked hesitant. “Is there not some other game we could try instead? This one seems rather daft.”

“Aye! Do not—!” Nikklaüs rather sharply and abruptly raised his voice at Marianne before catching himself. He reined himself in with a deep breath, the hand she slapped pulling close into his left hand’s grip as if nursing it from some phantom pain. “Do not do that again, please,” He checked around them, fortunately the hustle and bustle of the arcade made the outburst understated and there weren’t many eyes on them. “It might displease you, but whether it displeases her is her decision to make. Especially now that she can communicate that to me, isn’t that right?” He asked Annamarie. “That means this one is your decision too. We don’t have to play this one, but isn’t that a waste? Denying a new experience off-hand like that?” He tried moving on quickly from the outburst. It’d be a shame to spoil his attempt at getting Marianne to relax, to take things easy with something so trivial. Any other time, he probably would’ve just taken his lumps. Why was it that this time he got so angry?

The sudden shout caught Marianne off guard. Her eyes narrowed, chin tilted inward and her face stony. A defensive reflex of her own. Indeed, her tentative calm was replaced with those familiar bristling walls.

“It won’t happen again if you don’t touch her!” Marianne retorted, her lip curling into a sneer. Her eyes flicked to his cradled wrist, but she couldn’t afford to show concern for it or the reasoning behind the outburst. “What matters is that I keep her safe. She looks to me for judgment, and my decision is that you refrain from touching her. Do not make me repeat myself.”

Both the shouting and the unexpected PDA had Marianne once again in a high-strung bout of agitation. It made her answer a little too quickly, and perhaps a little too honestly. “I do not particularly enjoy new experiences. It was foolish of me to even come here to this noisy… flashy place! I can hardly even hear myself think!”

Nikklaüs could only sigh at that, his arms coming in to cross over each other as he lowered his head, eyes closed in some level of intense thought.

“Fine. You’re right. This was a waste of time. You want to leave? Let’s go.”

Without regarding her, he snatched up the cups of tokens she’d held for the both of them: stacking them up on top of his and taking an about-face towards the exit. Unfortunately, he had a bit of poor pathing on his part, something that caused somewhat of an intervention.

“Hey! You know you’re not allowed near that thing, Nikklaüs!” An employee shouted from behind the prize counter, so suddenly that it made him jump. Especially since he didn’t think he would run into anyone he knew. Who was he kidding? This was his hometown! It would be stupid of him to expect anything less. Maybe he wasn’t as clever as he thought? Only proven to him when he was met by exactly who he should’ve guessed.

The shouted name put Marianne on edge. Despite her previous argument with Klaüs, she moved closer to him and narrowed her eyes at the possible enemy. With one hand, she gestured for Annamarie to hold, keeping the demonic doll on stand-by for now as she assessed what she thought was a threat.

“Felix?” Nikklaüs called to the employee, who wore a shit-eating grin for whatever reason or another. “When did you get a job here!? And what do you—”

Turning around to see what Felix was referring to, Nikklaüs found that he’d passed by the punch machine. No Klaüs allowed! Is what it read. Oh yeah, I did absolutely obliterate that thing at one point, huh? The fact that it was standing here today and functioning was something of a miracle.

“Klaüs is here?” Another employee blurted out, barging out of a door against the prize wall. Eyes locking with him instantly, she charged him. “Klaüs!”

“Ah! Leif, wait!” Klaüs barely got out before getting glomped in a full send, absolutely horizontal, straight balance-throwing hug that almost sent him to the floor. Deflecting some of the momentum sideways into a full spin, Klaüs couldn’t help the laugh he let out as he spun down to let Leif back onto the ground. “Felix! Leif! Y’all work at the arcade now?”

Marianne prepared herself to intervene, but as soon as she heard the joyful laughter, she paused. She loosened her stance, the focus in her eyes deflating all at once. Silently, she stood to the side and watched the friends reunite. It caught her by surprise, even if she wasn’t sure why she would be. Nikklaüs made friends as easily as he breathed. Perhaps the most confusing thing of all was the ache she felt in her chest. The only thing she could do to quell it was biting down hard on her lower lip. She caught herself staring at the trio and swiftly averted her gaze to some meaningless patch of floor.

Feeling even more out of place than before, she once again scanned the perimeter for exits, though for a different reason this time. Somehow, it was a lot more urgent. She was quick to spot one and even quicker to make her move. Without excusing herself for fear of interrupting the reunion, she took Annamarie by the hand and quietly attempted to exit the scene. Only to be thwarted of course. Love that for her.

“You look pretty clean-cut for somebody hanging out with this lump of coal.” Felix stood in her path though, almost out of nowhere. He emphasized the ‘lump of coal’ with a dismissive thumb.

Marianne stopped in her tracks, startled by the movement. Her eyes followed the gesture, falling onto Nikklaüs for a moment. She wasn’t exactly sure what to say to that, but in her defence she wasn’t really given a chance.

“You two are so pretty!” Leif rocketed into Marianne's personal space, grabbing hold of her hand with a fervor. “Those cosplays are so well made! Who are you cosplaying!?”

“I’m… we’re not…” Marianne sputtered uselessly as she froze up, eyes wide as she looked down at yet another alarming display of public affection. Panicking, she tried to move her hands away, “This is my typical attire!”

“Leif, try not to harass my friend, please.” Nikklaüs pleaded with her.

“Nope! Your friends are my friends.” She giggled mischievously, suddenly pulling her in a hug. Her cheek against Marianne's. “Right?” She asked, as if Marianne had some kind of choice. Sure.

“Why does that sound like you're stealing her from me, and not sharing?” It was an automatic response, but reading it back in his head twisted the sentence into something that gave his face a little more pigment. He made the utmost effort in his power to hold that poker face.

Marianne’s voice raised an octave, “I beg your pardon?! There is no sharing or… s-stealing to be had!”

Her face turned a deep shade of red, and she began to struggle out of the girl’s grasp with all the desperation of a cat being brought to water. It was all fun and games until she sensed a familiar presence approaching. Stopping everything—and for a moment surrendering to the tight hug—she looked over to the doll.

“Stop.” Marianne ordered sharply, simple and direct. Enough to make Annamarie freeze mid-action. With arms stretched out towards Leif, it almost looked like she was asking for a hug. Or maybe like a sunglass-wearing zombie. Of course, given what Marianne had seen of Leif so far, there was only one possible interpretation to her.

“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to leave you out!” Leif energetically switched targets, excitedly hopping ‘into Annamarie’s arms’ so to speak. Something that caused Nikklaüs to look to Marianne with wide, nervous, knowing eyes. Hand circling over chest again, he signed to her.

I’m sorry!

It was Marianne’s turn to freeze. Her eyes widened and all signs of embarrassment drained from her face as she could only watch in horror as Leif offered Annamarie a hug. Her first ever. She caught Nikklaus’ signing, but made no response, simply keeping her eyes locked on Annamarie.

The doll remained as she was, arms still held out. It seemed that, like Marianne, she was processing it all a little slowly. She rotated her head to face her twin, expectantly awaiting the attack order.

Marianne tried to leave as little to chance as she could. “Hug her… gent-gently, please. Like she is doing.”

With jerky movements, Annamarie curled her arms around Leif and replicated what she had seen. Porcelain arms tightly squeezed the human trapped in them, unyielding and suffocating. The doll made no smile or any happy expressions Leif had done, but thankfully she released her in the end.

“Damn girl! You strong as hell!” Leif seemed surprisingly unfazed by the intense pressure. “It’s nice to know huggers that don’t hold back like these wet paper towels.” She flicked back to Nikklaüs and Felix with an icy glare.

“Bitch, don’t act like I don’t commit to it. You’re just a more effective femur breaker than me!” Klaüs shot back indignantly, arms crossed.

“So if you’re here, Nikklaüs. That must mean you’ve got a few rounds of threes in you, right?”

Threes, or rather ‘3-S’. As purveyors of the FGC, Nikklaüs and Felix were big fans of Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Looks like he was getting challenged. Not that he could refuse—

“Come on, I’ve got time. Let’s go, let’s go.” Felix started physically dragging Nikklaüs along behind him, with frantic ‘wait’s and ‘Felix, hold on’s falling on deaf ears.

That was the link that tied the Tolkein siblings together. They might’ve been on a massive differential as far as social pace and tact goes, but they always commanded the flow of conversation: saying no to them was just too hard. Of course, that quickly turned into Leif and Mari/Annamarie alone together.

“He could stand to be a little more patient,” Leif shook her head at that, the irony of her hypocrisy somehow lost on her. “Though, I suppose three years would do that to you.”

Marianne still seemed rather stunned by everything. Between the hugs and the strange terminologies she didn’t understand, she was left rather baffled by everything. A moment alone with the femur-breaker was somehow an unexpected reprieve.

“Pardon me, you said three years?” she inquired, keeping one hand tightly around Annamarie’s own. “Is that how long you were apart?”

“Oh, yeah,” Leif visibly deflated at the question. “Angela and Damien didn’t really like it when he spent time with other people. We saw him in that time very occasionally, but he was—” With a strange amount of contemplation in her voice for someone as hyper as she had been moments ago, she clicked a token out from the dispenser on her hip and slotted it into the punch machine. When the target came down it had a poster stapled to it, it was of… Nikklaüs? “Different. It just made me want to punch him!” She slammed her fist into “Nikklaüs’” face, sending the target up into the cabinet. “Not that it’d do too much to him,” She solemnly quipped, her score on the machine a lowly 345. “You want a turn? It makes me feel better.”

Marianne frowned in concern at the Nikklaüs punch-machine and shook her head, “No thank you. I do not make a habit of targeting humans.” She blinked for a moment, remembering who she was talking to. Quickly she added, “Which is normal, uh…”

She cleared her throat and quickly changed topics, “Who is this Angela and Damien? Siblings of his?”

It was such an innocent question, a question that froze Leif with a gaze of fear. She brought a hand up to her mouth.
“Well, if you don’t already know, I think maybe I shouldn’t’ve said anything,” She turned away, looking back at Nikklaüs and Felix on the 3S cabinets excitedly and somehow simultaneously annoyedly yelling and shouting at each other. “Maybe it doesn’t matter anymore. I haven't seen him get so upset and defensive at someone in a long three years,” Even if she said she shouldn’t speak, Leif did think maybe there were some hints she deserved to have. “Seeing him as dismissive and unwilling to stand up for himself as he was with them, it made me miss him. Whatever you’ve been doing, I think it’s good for him.” She met Marianne’s eyes again with a soft smile that somehow still held those somber tones from before.

Marianne looked terribly confused, an expression that darkened at all the dancing around the topic. She knew what it meant, though usually it was her on the receiving end of things. Her eyes followed Leif’s gaze, watching Nikklaüs at the same time as her.

“I believe you misunderstand. I haven’t done anything.” She waved off the allegations in a dismissive fashion, her cool demeanour only betrayed by her hand tightening around Annamarie’s. “We are merely classmates. Well, and we share a dorm, but that was assigned to us.”

Her cool logic took over even as she shuffled uncomfortably, “He was certainly angry during my first meeting with him, so I highly doubt I had an impact. How long has he been separated from this Angela and Damien? They are family, I presume?”

“Don’t you think that’s something you ought to ask him?” Leif raised an eyebrow at the question. “I’ve given you enough hints after all. Instead of yapping, what we should be doing is finding out what to do with those, huh?” Leif pointed down to one of the nearby cabinets, it looked like Nikklaüs had left their tokens sitting on a nearby machine. “Can’t let them go to waste, can we?” She took Mari/Annamaries’ hands into hers and started pulling them along without a care for any interjection. “I wanna show you my favorite machine!”

“H-hey! Slow down!” Marianne protested, her eyes wide as she was tugged along. Beside her, Annamarie followed along without a care, simply gazing at the whirl of arcade games and players as they zoomed past.

Leif dragged them both to the back-most wall of the arcade where they were met with a cabinet on the larger end of the scale of arcade cabinets; not quite as big as the Raw Thrills cabinets, but still pretty beefy. It featured a large screen with very little in the way of button inputs, just a pair of arrow keys and confirmation buttons, but it had a wide stretching pad on the ground in front of it that flickered and danced with lights. How fitting for a game with the title DANCERUSH STARDOM plastered on it in big letters.

“What is this?” Marianne asked, peering down at the strange screen on the ground, “I do not see any controls?”

Annamarie also inspected it, crouching down to look at the bright patterns of lights as they flashed across the pad, seemingly transfixed by it. The blinding patterns reflected off her cool shades in a dazzling display.

“Allow me,” She said with a smirk, stepping onto the pad. “Watch and learn.”

Clicking another token out of her dispenser, she popped it into the machine and started mashing the down button. On the screen, a long list of names scrolled by at a speed that made things barely legible until Leif stopped on a song titled Crazy Shuffle. Tapping the right arrow, the difficulty scale attached to the song spun up to the maximum of Lv. 9! Then she started to do it. Scrolling down the rails of the screen to the score line, blue and orange notes coming down for Leif to stomp down and hit. It started pretty fairly paced with only one note on each beat, but even still Leif made that look impressive in utilizing her body in many more ways than the minimum the game was asking. Tapping down with each foot to hit the note, but with such exaggerated swagger that it pushed into her anchoring foot in a way that created an energy even beyond the song. Of course, it started to make more sense as the charting picked up its pace, the song revving up in anticipation to some kind of strong kick. Leading up to it, Leifs arms became a bit more active in a motion that made it seem like she was far more proficient at dancing than just what the game demanded of her. Where on this thing does it ask you to swing your arms, y’know? A skill only more exacerbated by the way she spun away from the screen at the beat drop, looking to Marianne and Annamarie as the song was at its peak.

“You guys dance, don’t you? It’s hard to hide that with the way that you girls walk.” She asked, paying no heed to the perfect after perfect that pinged the bottom of the screen with each motion. “Thought something like this would be more in your ballpark. It’s so funny how considerate and inconsiderate Klaüs can be at the same time. I bet he tried getting you on Whack-a-Mole to ‘start things slow’ for you two, huh?”

“Is that something he often does?” Marianne stammered, blinking in surprise as the girl seemed to keep pace with the flashing lights on the screen behind her. “Is… is this something you often do?”

It was difficult to mask her astonishment as she just stood to the side, watching Leif’s movements match the flashes of the screen. The moves were irregular and seemed to be made on the fly. Freestyle? She of course had heard of such interpretive dancing, but it certainly was not her style. Still, she could appreciate it. As she sat there, judging Leif with mild interest, it only then dawned on her that she was going to be asked next.

“Is the grading determined by just your footwork?” She asked, taking a moment to study Leif’s movement and the flashes of the screen. “It’s a rather limited space, but workable, I suppose.”

“Which means you want to try it, huh?” Leif said with a smug smile before turning to face the screen again and continue on the song. “It’ll be nice to finally have a girlfriend to hang out with, get away from those meatheads. I wanna go to my local dance meets but Felix has the constitution of paper mache, and Klaüs has two left feet, so—oop, hold on.” She interrupted herself before chanting the countdown along with the machine.

Marianne was unsure of how to process what was said, so she opted to watch Leif's footwork. Arms crossed and eyes narrowed in focus, she took note of how the other girl managed to keep up with the whirlwind of lights and music. Reminded of something, she nodded her head.

There wasn’t a lot of slowdown for the rest of the song, not for the machine and not for Leif. But at the end of the final stretch she hit a crazy, unknowable, eldritch spin move to end facing Marianne again.

“Your turn now!” She excitedly huffed out, obviously out of breath. Almost concerningly so.

“Excellently done.” Marianne praised Leif stiffly, though her gray eyes glinted with approval. She tilted her chin up, voice turning matter-of-fact once again. “It is a measure of coordination, reaction speed and stamina. More useful than the groundhog game, to be sure. If only its application could be applied to an Art.”

Catching herself speaking once more of Anima around a Null, Marianne felt warmth creep up her face. Speaking to those outside of Arcanist society was clearly something she was not used to. She coughed into her hand to gather her thoughts.

“This hip-hop… freestyle…” She paused a little on the title, trying not to sound too judgemental, “Is a far cry from the waltz, yet the square pad here is roughly the same as the imaginary square for each movement.”

Thinking about it a little more, she placed a finger under her chin. “One's partner can be substituted for the lights, matching the movements of the opponent. A mirror of footwork to mimic the stance…”

She muttered more on it, justifying her use of this machine. “... and altogether you have a mincemeat of the usual waltz. A bastard variant. It would be curious indeed.”

Her eyes flicked back to Leif, looking a little eager but still unsure. “How do I set up a song to play and create the light pattern?”

“A mincemeat, bastard variant, huh?” Leif crossed her arms, a little displeased. “Is that what I just did?” It dripped with sarcasm as she stepped onto the square to join her, taking Marianne’s hand into hers and guiding it to the buttons where she puppeted her into scrolling through the songs. “I think you might be reading into it too hard. A measure of coordination? A reaction test? You have so many rules, too many rules. Don’t you think they might be getting in the way sometimes?” Leif looked to Marianne at that, having settled pretty close behind her in her gesture to teach her the machine. “You do know how to have fun, right?”

“Rules are the only thing preventing society from collapsing into chaos. There is no such thing as too many, especially personal ones. They are meant to get in the way of disorder.” Marianne said seriously. She seemed genuinely baffled and most certainly missed the point completely.

“Of course I know how to have fun!” She objected, though had no real claim against said allegations. It made a bubble of irritation rise up at the poor girl just trying to help her. Suddenly hyper aware of the hand guiding her own, she squirmed in Leif’s grasp, trying to free herself, “And would you kindly let go of me? What is it with you people treating strangers like close mates?”

As perhaps unappreciative as she was, Marianne indeed figured out how to navigate the menu with Leif’s help.

“No good? S-sorry, I guess I got a little excited,” She sheepishly separated from Marianne. “Uh, you navigate using the arrows: up and down for song choice, left and right for chart difficulty.” She offered before backing up off the pad and joining Annamarie.

“It's fine.” Marianne stated a little too sharply. She wasn't exactly sure why she was so irritated, but she was, and the feeling only grew as Leif backed away hesitantly. Scowling, she dialed the difficulty up to the maximum it could go, “How should I choose the song? There are so many.”

“Hm, maybe I have an idea,” Leif took over from the other set of arrows and started scrolling down the list. “Something with a heavy bassline that won’t get lost in the melody. That should help things out, y’think?” She scrolled down and picked a song for her. “Honestly if I didn’t find something for you, who knows how long we’d be here.” Clicking the select button, she gave Marianne somewhere to start: Death by Glamor - Toby Fox.

“This should suffice.” Marianne said primly as she strode forward onto the platform, her steps trailed by splashes of pixelated light.

One could swear she was looking down the barrel of a gun by just how serious of an expression she wore despite the upbeat music. She took her stance, one foot in front of the other and chin raised. Though she did not wield her scissors at this moment, she kept her dominant hand loosely by her side, as if to mimic it.

The lights came in rhythmic waves, and Marianne was quick to mirror them. Her movements were swift, though less erratic and jovial. Each hop and step were carefully measured, and just as she had hypothesized, it was a dance that was some Frankenstein monster of modern hip-hop and classical waltz. Lights glittered across Marianne’s face, which was locked in a scowl of deep concentration. One could swear her life depended on it.

“Y’know,” Leif leaned towards Annamarie in a whisper. “You’d swear she was being held at gunpoint, y’get me?”

Annamarie rotated her head, staring silently at Leif. Seconds stretched on, and still she stared at her, eyes hidden behind the outrageous shades. The silence grew into an uncomfortable one, the only change on Annamarie’s face being the reflection of the arcade machine’s lights on her glasses, and the silhouette of Marianne dancing.

The stage was alight with Marianne’s dance, skirt fluttering with twirls and graceful steps being forced into a breakneck pace. In the beginning it seemed stiff and forced, yet as the song reached the midway point it seemed to flow a lot better. She began to settle into the rhythm, and what was once a look of seriousness began to show signs of satisfaction.

When the last note hit, Marianne stomped her foot in time to it, striking the same pose she had in the beginning; legs crossed and arm holding her imaginary weapon. Her chin was tilted up, chest heaving from exertion, and a pleased smile on her face. “Well, that was less than ideal, but perhaps not absolutely terrible...”

“I’ll say,” Clapping sounded from behind Leif and Annamarie. “I certainly wouldn’t be able to pull that off, what’d you think?” Nikklaüs and Felix stepped in from… wherever it was they had evidently been watching from.

“I feel like I need my inhaler having just watched that. I don’t know how y’all do it.” Felix offered his input.

Marianne froze at the familiar voice behind her. That smug grin drained away in an instant. Straightening her posture, she slowly turned on the stage to look at her up-until-now unknown audience. Her face pinkened at the praise, which she tried to compensate for by crossing her arms and frowning. “It wasn’t anything worth praising, really. My instructor would have my wrists slapped for such poor form.”

She quickly tried to retreat off the stage, her steps leaving behind ripples of light.

“Well, I’m not your instructor am I? Unless you wanted me to take you by the wrist?” Nikklaüs laughed, entertained by the idea she would be so indignant at the thought of having a good time, like she was above that. “I’m just glad you were able to find some enjoyment in it, even if only a little.”

Marianne was completely caught off guard by the words Nikklaus said to her. Halting her steps completely, she stared at him with wide eyes. The pinkness of her face turned red, her frown upturned in utter shock. She was bamboozled, disbelieving and perhaps even a little terrified. All the poise left her as her jaw hung open in shock. “I most certainly beg your pardon!?”

“Right? Right!? It was fun wasn’t it? You can’t hide that smile you had from me!” Leif chimed in at that. “You’ve got a lot of tokens left, we could try some of the other songs.”

“Skeeball is always a safe bet too.” Felix added options.

“I would love to see what Annamaire could do to one of those things.” Nikklaüs mused to himself. “Your decision at this point. I think I’m done dragging you around for today, Marianne. I could bring y’all back to campus if that’s what you want.”

Still struggling to comprehend what she had previously heard, Marianne’s shock began to bleed back into the usual frown. Her voice turned sharp, her eyes sharper. It was a delayed response, one that made her anger seem to flare out of nowhere. She looked between Nikklaüs and his friends, seeming to suddenly panic.

“No, I think we are done here.” She announced rather abruptly, grabbing Annamarie’s hand and walking as quickly as she could away from the group. Flee attempt #2

“Hey!” Nikklaaüs demanded her attention. “I know you are not about to fuckin’ leave so unceremoniously. Act like you have some couth and say a proper goodbye.” The worst of it all is that he knew he couldn’t take her by the wrist and drag her around, he couldn’t do anything anymore to get her out of that hyper-avoidant fuckery she was always on. Unfortunately it was her choice. Was she even capable of making the correct decision though?

“Woah, Klaüs, hey. That’s not necessary,” Leif stepped in his way though. “You can’t talk to my friend like that! Besides, I don’t need a goodbye as long as she promises to come around again, right?” She offered Marianne a hopeful glance.

Marianne stopped in her tracks, shoulders tense and expression hidden as she stood with her back to them all. After a moment’s pause, she turned on her heel. In one abrupt motion, she rounded on Nikklaüs and stalked towards him, grabbing for his hand with the only free one she had left.

“I said we are done here.” she hissed as she tried to drag him away, though her voice was thinner than usual. Her eyes glared into his, but no amount of anger could mask the pleading, desperate look there.

“Y-yeah. Of course, s-sorry for pushing you so hard.” Nikklaüs allowed her to take him, only allowing himself a sheepish wave to Leif and Felix. “I’ll be around more often, promise.”

The apology received only a scowl, though relief was clear on her face when he offered no resistance. She turned away then, both from Nikklaüs and his friends, retreating out into the sea of blinking lights and people. It was nauseating, and Marianne felt her head swim as she guided Nikklaüs and Annamarie at a pace so quick it was close to a run.

She tried not to think about it, but with Annamarie in one hand and a living being in the other, she couldn’t help but realize the oddness of it. How after so long it felt wrong to hold onto something that was flesh and blood. This wrist was warm, with a pulse within. Realizing she was clutching too tightly, she loosened her hold a little, though still held on. She had half the mind to release him, but seeing as they were almost outside, there was no point.

Marianne stormed out of the arcade, tugging her two companions outside. She blinked in the burst of sunlight, something that seemed to make her temper worse. Scowling more, she then attempted to drag the two around the arcade, back towards the alley used for garbage and the emergency fire exit.

Nikklaüs’ eyes snapped to the wrist she held as he was dragged out without resistance. He stared. That’s all he could do, stare. With each step his skin became paler and paler, and his Anima more turbulent and oppressive. Despite it all, he didn’t have a single thought to hold onto. They were flying by too fast for him to keep track of, probably for the best.

I said we’re done here, Nikki.

Once they were in the dingy, yet more private alleyway, Marianne let go of Nikklaüs’ hand. She didn’t waste much time between release and interrogation, turning back around to face him with narrowed, accusing eyes. “Why did you bring me here, Nikklaüs? What were you hoping to accomplish, hmm?”

“I don’t know.” It was a stark answer he gave, one that came too quick and without any discernible tone. No yapping or over-explanations, no indignance or anger, no—

No Nikklaüs.

Marianne paused for a time, staring at him in subtle horror. The knowledge she had no right to know weighed heavily in her mind. It made her chest burn, the black thorns of her anger twisting and growing by the second. She could hardly stand to look at him now.

Her voice sharpened into a bite, “Those people inside? The workers. They are your friends, yes?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Marianne felt the rotten thing in her ribs flinch at such a dead response. It bled, so she cauterized it with anger. It was so great that she feared she would crack Annamarie’s hand, so she released it and stepped closer to Nikklaüs.

“No. No, that cannot be true.” She said lowly, her eyes flashing in rage. “They have no right to call themselves your friends when they just stand by and watch you burn. Let you get dragged off by…”

There was a small pause and a look of shock as she realized something. “By me.”

The flames in her eyes ran low, but did not die out. Somehow, there was a stronger intensity there, like smouldering embers. Wounded, vengeful, violent. “Tell me. Who are Damien and Angela?”

It was a question that made Nikklaüs flinch, hard.

“N-no. They’re not—they’re not important.”

Unlike with Leif, Marianne pressed the issue. She leaned closer, glaring into Nikklaüs’ eyes, so he couldn’t escape her gaze. A wild hatred spiralled in the depths of her pupils, or perhaps it was something else.

“Not important?” She sneered, lip curled up in disgust. “Not important enough to keep you away from others and cause a shift in your personality, let alone anima. Do you see yourself? Do you honestly believe I would fall for one of the most pathetic lies I’ve ever heard?”

Her pressing caused him to step back. It was maybe small in stride, but much longer in a different way. He took the left wrist she had led him by into his grip, clutching it like he was about to tear it off the joint. His eyes were wide, and with a fear worse than what could be afforded to any demon. But he said nothing, instead bringing his left hand up to cover his mouth where his nails dug into his skin threatening to tear into his face.

It made Marianne halt her approach at once. She knew the look of fear in his eyes well, but never on the opposing end of it. The realization made bile rise to the back of her throat and her chest ache, despite all her attempts to burn it out.

Marianne backed away too, holding her hands together as if burned, or perhaps so that they couldn’t burn him. She shook her head and stared at him in horror, her voice broken down into a whisper, “What did they do to you, Nikklaüs…”

Unlike all the others, it was not a question. She wasn’t asking Nikklaüs, nor anyone in particular. Her eyes looked through him, hazy. It was a statement, one spoken in surprising softness. Good thing too, because if it was a question, it would go unanswered.

Because he ran.

Nikklaüs turned and ran, and Marianne did nothing.

She just stood there and watched. Even long after he had disappeared.

---

Spoiler: Release: the First.

Just like him to repay that kindness the way he did, by abandoning her. There was a rage that boiled up in him in that moment, a virulence, a vitriol that permeated his whole self—his fractured self. Something that only caused him to break more. The earthshattering roar that followed could only be described as piercing the heavens and rupturing the hells as the scar under his chest tore open to release a violent jet of ultraviolet Anima that overtook the left side of his body from the scar up. The pulse following pushing out traces of his Anima to the furthest corners of the testing area—no, not his Anima: something sinister. The jet that torched out from his body dissipated, leaving in its place a sleeve of armor that threatened to suddenly begin taking the rest of him.

Spoiler: Its Influence

Kill.

With no more words and only one thought, Nikklaüs left Zantetsuken behind and pushed into meet Curious with a speed and fervor not before seen from him. Thrusting the arm out to take Curious by the throat, a chill descended upon the air as a frost began to form over the gauntlet, like claws primed to tear it asunder.

 

[November Witch]

Crimson

~{Playing The Part Of Savior}~​

Status: Rage & Hatred
Location: ???
Interaction(s): Juju Verite Solirus

“What the fuck?!”

Crimson exclaimed as her ‘arcanist’ teammates acted more like normal humans. Freezing and watching as danger approached. If the deer didn’t do it, her anchor would. What kind of arcanists were they? A clearly telegraphed attack, and they stood there like that one animal humans always kill with their cars. A deer in headlights, or however the saying went. What idiots. Crimson pulled hard on the chain, pulling the anchor closer to herself and away from landing on the pair last second. But it wouldn’t matter, seeing as the other demon stepped up and saved them. What a role reversal, huh? Well, it was Annamarie at the end of the day. That was kinda her thing, saving Marianne.

Her anchor, instead of hitting its target dead on the head, shattered as the deer’s aura now overpowered the anima construct before it could fully impact the intended target’s back. Well, that was that. Almost as it happened, it was unsummoned. Crimson knew she had to conserve anima. She caught Mariana’s phone as a tendril threw it back to her. Without even looking, she pocketed it once more. Though as the demon’s anima surged even more, it became obvious what was happening.

“It knows it can’t win! It’s trying to take us down with it!” Crimson called to the others. “You’ve lost, you pathetic worm. You realize doing this is just going to put more eyes on us when we overcome you, yeah?”

The harder it made it for the arcanists, the more they would shine after defeating the demon. Surely it knew that, right? So why continue to fight? Or did it still want eyes on its final act of desperation? Crimson didn’t know, but she was frustrated. She wouldn’t be able to inflict the pain on it that it had to her and Mariana. “I can’t imagine how pitiful you are, taking yourself out. You have no shame, do you?”

Crimson felt the ground under her feet begin to tremble and fall away. Looking at the others, and where they were thrown, Crimson knew they couldn’t get to their feet and escape the radius before they were swallowed. As the ground fell away under her feet, she decided they needed rescuing more than she did. So, beneath the three, the same familiar vortex that swallowed the civilians appeared and swallowed them up this time. It was like they were sucked under the current at sea. Salty, dark water all around them for a moment, before their heads beached the surface. The two would find themselves, drenched in cold saltwater, but they were safe, and outside the radius of the crumbling earth. Marianne, Annamarie, and Valerie were all together and safe. The three could see Deerhead about a quarter of the way around the gaping hole from them, but Mariana, and by extension, Crimson were nowhere to be seen.

 

[Juju]

Falling Action Solirus Verite November Witch

Spoiler: song for nerds (me)

Lost in her thoughts, it was unlikely that Marianne would have heard Valerie had she not grabbed onto her shoulders and shook some conscience into her. That being said, the action made Marianne flinch. Unfocused eyes sharpened as they were forced to make eye contact.

“I…” she stumbled, struggling to get her thoughts in order long enough to compose a response.

The words of encouragement fell onto deaf ears, until one sentence cut through the mire like a knife. Valerie was counting on her? For a moment she recalled the words she had exchanged with Mariana in the garden. It had been nearly a month ago, yet she still remembered how the other girl somehow convinced herself that Marianne was immune to fear.

Did they really think of her so highly? In the back of her mind she could still hear Mariana’s sobs after the last exam, and the tight hug that had taken her by surprise. She couldn’t remember the words Mariana said to her, but she could clearly recall the feeling of arms wrapped around her.

When Valerie leaned closer, still holding her shoulders, it became too much. As pathetic as it was, Marianne squeezed her eyes shut. It was all she could do to escape her gaze and those biting words. Why was she saying all this, and worse, placing so much faith in her? Mariana, Nikklaüs, Valerie… why did any of them care?

It all felt like one masterful lie she had fooled every single one of them into believing; that Marianne Mongomery was not the disgrace of her generation. That she was worth any of this.

Before Marianne could even think of a response, Deerhead collided with the anchor and shattered it into an explosion of shrapnel. There was nowhere to hide from it, except within the shadow of Annamarie. The demon doll stood in front of Marianne and Valerie, shielding them as best she could from the majority of the shards.

Porcelain shattered and cracked, exposing the hollow void within, but still she stood her ground. Even as black anima leaked from her like inky blood, Annamarie’s face remained as sterile and emotionless as ever. After the shower of shrapnel stopped, the doll slumped over and fell to her knees.

“Annamarie!” Marianne cried, reaching out for her twin.

Shrapnel had torn through Marianne’s clothes, painting the cloth red from cuts beneath it, but Marianne minded her wounds as much as Annamarie had. Scrapes like this were nothing. All that mattered was that she lived. That is why she had to get to Annamarie. If she could stabilize her, it would be alright.

She was so close, but before Marianne could reunite with her twin, the shockwave sent them both tumbling away. Marianne forced herself to a shaky stand and stumbled across the sinking ground, undeterred by the arena’s collapse. The whole imperfect world had shrunk down to nothing but them. Right now, nothing else mattered.

She would save her this time.

It was the ground that betrayed her yet again, this time warped into a yawning void. Temporarily weakened as she was, Marianne fell like a ragdoll into the vortex. Dark water swallowed her up, lightless and breathless, pressing down on all sides and dragging her deeper.

Far in the depths she could only hear rushing water and the beat of her heart, slowing as she held her breath. With eyes closed, she focussed on her anima, sensing for the link that bound her to Annamarie. Somewhere in the depths, she could sense her, alive for now… and so long as she was alive, it would be okay.

It was in opening herself to the flows of anima that she felt something else. This feeling rippled through the cold water, stealing away what little warmth she had left. For a moment, she swore her heart stopped. There was no mistaking the anima she sensed, even as horribly warped as it was. How could she when it had become nearly as familiar as Annamarie’s?

Marianne didn’t have to guess what had happened, nor could she trick herself into surprise or denial. The signs had been clear since the beginning, and while she had no absolute proof, part of her had always known the truth.

She had known this would happen, and in a way, she had mourned him the moment she met him. Yet despite the knowledge of the inevitable and her every attempt to remain detached, why did the rotten thing in her ribs flinch? Had it learned nothing? With half the mind to rip it out, she dug her nails into her chest, gripping the bloody cloth. Sharp metal bit into her palm as it pressed against the forgotten medallion below, a reminder of all that had been stolen.

Nearly a decade had passed, and yet the grief was just as fresh as it had been on that day. Then again, she hadn't changed much. No matter what she did, she was still powerless to stop the cycle of agony from turning. All the research, all the countless hours spent searching for answers, only led back to a singular end.

Was there no escape from this fate?

"Whatever you’ve been doing, I think it’s good for him."​

I’ve done nothing but cause him pain. These hands were made to hurt, not soothe. I don’t even know how. And now he’s gone. I’m sorry.

The salty water was warm in her eyes.

"I... I don't know what's been bugging you lately, but I'm really counting on you here! We all are! As much as Crimson won't admit it." ​

"You always looked like you have this stuff on lock, like I bet you're the smartest person out of all of us, so please, let's get through this together!"​

​

Why do they put their faith in me? How can you be so hopeful?

Unbidden, the memories flooded back.

"Are you joking? So many people need us! The whole world does!"​

​

You didn’t even know the world you were fighting for, did you? I kept it a secret, but I didn’t care about the world. Not then. It was too big and far away. But you were my world, and your dreams mattered to me. Even after the world ended, they still do.

But how can I save your world when I couldn’t save you? I can’t even save him. If fate is inescapable, can I even save anyone?

I'm not like you.

The air was like a slap of warmth against her face as Marianne resurfaced, gasping for air. Blinking the salt water from her eyes, she turned in spot to take a quick headcount. Annamarie and Valerie were close by and safe. Come to think of it, Annamarie had never been taught how to swim, but thankfully her hollow form let her float long enough for Marianne to drag her out of the vortex.

Water pooled beneath them like blood as Marianne cradled Annamarie’s head on her lap and began to focus on siphoning her anima to the demon. Bit by bit, the worst of the cracks began to meld and the leaking anima slowed into a trickle. Relief glimmered in Marianne’s eyes as the demon was finally stabilized.

“Thank you for protecting us.” She whispered softly, placing the doll down ever so gently into the grass. “Rest now.”

Marianne was just about to rise to her feet when she heard the crackling of porcelain again. Alarmed, she looked down to see black lines tracing through the doll’s face. Flakes of marble visage crumbled away as the doll’s jaw parted.

“Marianne?” spoke Annamarie for the first time, her voice so breathy and fragile that Marianne had to lean closer to hear, “I’m sorry I’m not her.”

And just like that, the whole world collapsed into a very fine point. It was sharp, and it was biting, and it ran deeper than the chill in her bones.

“Neither of us ever will be. Nor should we.” Marianne answered in a clarity that caught her by surprise. She wasn’t quite sure where it came from, but she knew she felt very, very tired. It was like finally letting out a breath after having held it for so long. “It’s time we stopped pretending.”

Red motes of light floated up from Annamarie, condensing around her hands as she held them up to Marianne. As low as her anima reserves were, the doll chose to summon the scissorblades once more. Yet be it to consciously conserve anima or otherwise, what appeared in her chipped palms was different than before. Only half of the scissors had appeared, creating one long blade with a rounded handle.

The twins were both silent as Marianne took it, though their eyes met. Annamarie’s expression was the same, as always, yet today they almost had an emotion in them. Trust. Reliance. She had given all the anima she could spare for this blade. Perhaps it was just Marianne projecting onto her, or maybe Valerie’s words had sunk in a little deeper than she cared to admit.

“It’s time to end this charade…” Marianne muttered, standing now with sword in hand.

It didn’t matter if she deserved their trust or not. They deserved something more than this wretched world, and she was unafraid to use her power to bring fate to its knees. Some would hate her, maybe even her peers, but she didn’t care. If they compared her to a demon, then perhaps they had a point. She was prideful, she was manipulative, and she was cruel, but this was her power. This was her anima, her very soul. This was who SHE was. If that meant she was a monster then so be it, but she was done confessing. Let one hundred sins run rampant if she could do one good deed.

Marianne began to run towards Deerhead, keeping along the edge of the arena. “Valerie, Crimson is buried in the ground. I’m unsure if you can retrieve her, but I’ll handle Deerhead until then. Also, the black demon is mine.”

A cackling like a demented hyena heralded the arrival of Sam. He emerged from behind Marianne in a crackle of red, running even as his form manifested into the material realm. The demon was roughly the size of a wolf, though had a long tufted tail and claws more akin to a feline’s. Two curved horns sprouted from his head, and his bulbous eyes were faintly glowing spirals. Perhaps the most iconic feature was his blood-red fangs, all contorted into a wide grin.

The creature was practically shivering with excitement, claws prancing in the dirt beside Marianne, eyeing Deerhead with anticipation. He began to howl, mimicking the sound he had heard from VP’s hellhounds. Seemed he had a flare of drama to him.

If Deerhead didn’t already notice their charge, Marianne was certain her next action would gain it’s attention. Skidding into a crouch, she held a hand to her eyes and called to Sam, “Like we practiced!”

Still howling, the beast leapt onto her back, and together they created a springboard. The demon flew up high, mimicked the sound of gunshots out of pure excitement, and then activated one of his horns. There was a loud pop and then a brilliant flash of light.

As Sam landed, Marianne broke into a sprint. With blade in one hand, she leapt for Deerhead’s flank and stabbed it into a crack in Deerhead’s hide. She used the blade as an anchor and then swung up onto the demon’s back, clinging to its mane.

“Your body is collaping. It’s over.” She shouted as she ran the blade deeper into the demon’s flank. “You’ll die, forgotten and consumed. But it doesn’t have to end here. You can be so much more. I can save you.”

Sam had joined the attack now, biting at the moose-deer’s hind leg like a hungry wolf in a nature documentary. Red fangs easily sank into Deerhead’s crumbling form, drinking in the anima that oozed from it like blood.

“You will not only be loved, but feared. Free to linger with humans, free to grow without intteruption from arcanists. I can make you immaculate.” Marianne let the anima flare up from within her, reaching out for Deerhead’s waning, corrupted anima.

Unlike the asylum this was deliberate, unafraid of staining what was already an impure soul. There was something about falling from grace that was strangely… liberating.

“Surrender!”

If she could bind this demon then perhaps...