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Homura Akemi	MITAKIHARA TOWN, (A) JAPAN. A big great metropolis half underwater, evidently due to some kind of natural(?) disaster that pushed water levels uncomfortably up. Judging by reconstruction sites, it must have been a month or so back. Maybe a bit more. It's evening, it's comfortably cool outside, and the sun's still out. But you're not here for sightseeing. A generic SOS signal, the kind you'd deploy from store-bought devices found in the larger, more meshed-together parts of the Multiverse, has been put out. More than one, actually. Three? Four? They all have the same signature. In fact, here's one! It's a small cylinder with two buttons for on and off, and a light. As cheap as it gets. It's been left in the bushes outside a homeless shelter, a large rectangular building that looks less like a shelter and more like a hurricane shelter. Probably because that's exactly what it is! There's something in the air, like the feeling of being prey, the eyes of an invisible hunter stalking your every move. You're in something's turf, and it knows. But the shelter is barred shut. The doors are locked. The windows barricaded. - THOSE WHO GO AROUND THE BACK: A dozen cars are parked behind the shelter, left to idle. Their exhausts are piped and feed directly into the building through a few of the windows. - THOSE WHO GO IN: Doors and windows need to be busted open, but that poses exactly no challenge to the group gathered, let's be honest. The hiss of carbon monoxide leaving the building would be hard to miss. The shelter is essentially just one massive room, with countless beds strewn about on the floor and belongings surrounding them like tiny living spaces. There are unconscious people in various stages of health, some that evidently tried to get out, others that just stayed on their beds. The air is predictably hot and heavy, and breathing it for too long wouldn't be a great idea until the situation around back is addressed, or more windows are opened. In the center of the shelter, all objects of value - watches, pendants, money, keepsakes, even expensive clothes - sit in a large pile, which a number of people have made a cage comprised of their unconscious bodies around.
Android 17	Android Seventeen happened to be nearby when he heard the SOS signals go off.  The man looked towards the sky for a moment, deciding on the best course, and with a matter of moments, the top of the forest waves back and forth as if a large wind blows through. Moments later, the man with an orange armband lands.  His eyes look over the field, but getting a unsettlingness stirring in his thoughts.  He knows when something is hunting, as he's grown accustomed to dealing with predators...but he can't really do more than a feeling.   Of course, seeing the cars turned on, and put into the back of a building causes his eyes to raise their brow.  He takes little time to move, aiming to grab the back of each car and flip it over and away from the window.  He just goes down the line one at a time, trying to flip them away from the windows as fast as he can. Sometimes, being an android has its advantages.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang was in the area, riding along a less-submerged street on her bike. She angles around, and comes up in front of the shelter, frowning as she takes her helmet off, and kicks the stand out, leaving her helmet behind on her bike and approaching the boarded up front. She knows that feeling, the hungry beast sizing up prey, but she's a Huntress, whatever wants to take a piece can come for her.     As she hears someone behind the building flipping vehicles, she just goes to punch a hole clean through one of the boarded windows, yanking planks clear, and coughing as the malaise of CO hits her in the face. "Damn it..." she pulls her Scroll out, and taps the local emergency services number, requesting ambulances at the shelter, before going to smash some more windows in, trying to clear the poisonous gas as quick as possible.
Staren	Mitakihara town.     Staren fills in Tanya: "We're probably going to be up against a Witch. They can bend reality around them to make a pocket dimension, filled with deadly traps and creatures of their own devising. Local elites will probably be magical girls. There's this little white talking animal with big ears and red eyes that agressively recruits people, offering wishes in trade. Not that I think any of us are at risk, but locals suddenly becoming new mahou shoujo might add chaos to the situation."     And they arrive at... a shelter? "Huh. Is the Witch inside...?" Staren starts scanning for dimensional disturbances and sends some drones to search the area.     Which soon enough find the cars. The danger... isn't a Witch at all? "Fuck! They're being poisoned! Get fresh air in there!" Staren's quick to help bust down doors and windows and pass out portable air supplies to anyone who wants one -- as always, he's in environmentally-sealed armor.     And then he hurries inside, hoping he's not too late to revive whoever's inside. They're... all passed out in a pile? "F*CK! ...They're still alive!" As he starts trying to drag people out, his support AI runs a google search. "We have to get them to a hospital. My tanks are all air mix, they need more O2."     "...Wait, why were there beacons here?"
Spring Breeze	Spring Breeze has rarely been out of Brockton Bay since she was born. There were trips to visit her grandparents on occasion, one or two family vacations when she was younger, before her family became dysfunctional, but that's about it. She's definitely never been outside the U.S. Now she's in Japan, in another dimension (or not, since they're all connected together now? She's still trying to wrap her head around that. She understands the concept of parallel universes, but some kind of... Megaverse that absorbs other universes into it and makes them a single conjoined whole is staggering in its scope and complexity).     She only just signed on with the Paladins, hasn't even gotten around to introducing herself because she keeps typing and retyping her message, second-guessing her own thoughts, how to phrase them, and worrying about how other people will interpret them. And now she's been sent out to investigate... What? A city? Anothr new world like her own, that just joined? Is she really the ideal representative of the Multiverse (or of the Paladins? Or even of her own world? Of the Wards? Of just her team in the Wards East-North-East)?     Suffice to say, she is all kinds of anxious and agitated, as she deploys to investigate an SOS signal. She really hopes no one asks for her I.D. or questions whether she's qualified to be here. In a hood, mask with aviator goggles, pastel colored bodysuit, with gloves and boots, and a long, flowy scarf, the teen super heroine tries to follow the device she was given to the source of the beacon, totally unfamiliar with her surroundings, and finds... A homeless shelter? It looks like the shelters that sprung up in the wake of the destruction of the Storm. In fact, now that she looks up from the hand-held tracer and really looks hard at the storm-ravaged environment, it gives her chills how familiar certain sights can be in a place one has never been before.     She looks over her shoulder anxiously while trying to sneak around the building, but sees some flying guy flipping cars and decides maybe she shouldn't go that way. As well, it looks like exhaust is being pumped into the building. She summons her powers and attempts to exert pressure on one of the windows near her, pushing with concentrated air pressure to crack it. It's harder tha it looks, and she's already sweating by the time she makes an opening. But once she finishes with that, she sends the air from outside flowing inwards, circulating it and pulling it like she's scooping the gasses out with big invisible hands. In fact, from the inside, it looks exactly like gossamer hands, are clawing through the vapors, almost 'beckoning' them outside. It may take a bit to do on her own, but without a clear view of who is inside, she just focuses on trying to reduce the toxicity level as much as possible. Thankfully, she's not the only one who had this idea from the sounds of it, so it isn't solely on her amateur shoulders.
Tanya Degurechaff	An overabundance of distress beacons in one place, all activated at the same time? Yeah, that's suspect. Something worth an investigation. And it's a plainclothes-dressed Tanya von Degurechaff who disembarks a Mitakihara Transit bus, toting a backpack and wearing mismatched shoes. Because the right shoe is an armored metal boot-- and the backpack is the guts of her flight unit. A large gemstone pendant seems slightly gaudy but not terribly out of place.     The Luger pistol is concealed underneath her jacket.     When cars start flipping and windows start getting broken, Tanya herself gives these two parties a wary look while circling innocently around the building, looking at her phone. She only stops when her foot hits something-- and the girl crouches down to collect the cheapo-brand distress beacon. It's turned over in her hand a few times, then lowered as she looks up at the building itself, "...Mmm. And this isn't the only site?"     A light clicks on her boot gear, and the girl floats upward, "That kind of enemy, is it? Fine. Though I dislike how many signals I was picking up." As she ascends to inspect the building exterior from the air, she mutters, her eyes changing from blue to a vibrant gold, "Lord give me the wisdom to guide the aimless. To usher them into Your arms and welcome them to Your promise of Light and Love."
Runa	Something is a little unnerving. Runa can't quite put her finger on it, but she clutches the large book in her arm a little closer to her chest as she walks down the street in search of whoever requires their soul to be saved.     The sudden sound of smashing glass cause Runa to jump in surprise for a moment, before she moves off in a run towards the sound. She comes into view of the shelter, seeing others already responding to the crisis. She doesn't understand the specifics of the cars that are-were, thanks to a rather strong looking individual-connected to the building. However as she gets close, Runa can certainly understand the bad air that's flowing out and causing her to cough.     Moving her sleeve over her mouth to try and breathe easier, Runa rushes up to where some of the victims have been pulled out. She raises her hand to the first, calling out a muffled, "Heal." Light briefly engulfs the person to recover their health and pull them away from death's door. Runa then continues on to the next person, once more repeating, "Heal." She continues this as more are pulled out, beginning to move into the building as the air is cleared and more victims become accessible.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur regards one of the lost SOS BEACONS with a frown. "Who the fuck GOIN' AROUND LITTERING this shit? HELLA RUDE and probably ILLEGAL. Can't just DING-DONG DITCH the EMERGENCY SERVICES." He pokes his head through Yang's gap in the window. "Shit." He mutters, eyes going wide. Instead of popping through that, he makes a finger-guns sort of gesture to make his way in early, and starts forming large PORTALS to help give ventilation in an area that has no functioning ventilation of its own. Until he gets something from Staren, he's got a weird O2 STATUS BAR under his HEALTH VIAL bar.     "Dunno, STARBIES. Shit's WEIRD. Might'a been someone with a li'l more PRESENCE OF MIND? Before some SHIT WENT DOWN." He doesn't know what's going on and has very little understanding of what Witches are, but he can recognize some spooky shit when he sees it. He heads in and looks around, then examines the pile, the human cage, and the overall layout of both. His own academic and intuitive understanding of magic in general is something he doesn't like doing while others are around, but he can pass it off as something stupid sometimes.     He presses a hand to the ground, and tries to use his MAGIC ANALYSIS to see what went on here, identify spell-like patterns, lock on to supernatural residues, and otherwise get a hint about how to handle this. He distinctly stays away from the unconscious people, but he's not at his worse state due to them not being corpses. Over his head, displays of magical analysis minigames chime away, where blocks have to be lined up with other blocks, and conduits linked through shifting lines. Is the threat still here? Should he blast off to somewhere else? Gotta make sure he keeps an eye out for more quest markers -- that is to say, the SOS beacons.
Priscilla	Mitakihara.     Now that's a city name that brings back . . . memories. Just memories. Difficult to categorize. Strong enough to be a draw. She hadn't expected to see this play out again. Priscilla still kind of hopes it won't.     The state of post-disaster flooding and population displacement is a new trick, as well as an odd mark on the city's otherwise slightly too-clean, too-modern aesthetic, normally very slightly eerie and surreal. It almost feels strange to her than something so organic and mundane as a natural disaster could befall this . . . place. SOS beacons being set up all over would make perfect sense in this environment, if the catastrophe weren't old enough for reconstruction to be well underway already. With the only other cause she could think of, they wouldn't be eager to let anyone else know.     While not precisely familiar with the symbology of closing the windows and leaving the car running, showing up to a huge pile of people collapsed across an entire small building with a hot, smoggy, difficult to breathe air reeking of exhaust fumes makes it pretty easy to guess why they're unconscious. For now, she resolves to blame it on the presence she feels --the presence she especially doesn't like, reminding her both of a particular day, and the fact the roles should be reversed-- and almost thoughtlessly steps into the middle of the CO2 choked room, calling up a bitingly cold snowstorm gale from nowhere, wrapping herself in a swirl of chill winds and expelling it in all directions. It's hardly gentle, easily enough to cover nearby surfaces in thin frost and make some lovely carbon dioxide snowflakes, but it has power; enough to smash out any remaining windows, and scatter the pile of shiny things.     "Now if all of them were trapped inside, who was it that didst leaveth a distress signal outside? One who kneweth what had transpired within, but called blindly, rather than those already close?" she then just asks slash thinks aloud.
Touta Konoe	Upon first arriving to Mitakihara Town, the elevated water levels sort of remind him of his own world. Only this clearly must have occurred recently with the notable construction. While there probably isn't much need for Touta to come to address an SOS like this usually when the factions have plenty of man-power to handle them, the fact that so many went off at once make him wonder what in the Multi-verse is going on.      Though something feels off. He knows he's not alone, he's positive that other Elites would have likely beat him here. They just had better communcation resources to get word of incidents like this before he would. And yet, there's an unnerving feeling in the air. He can't describe it that well but the last time he had a sensation like this...He was dealing with Priscilla. That's how unsettling the moment was.      Though it does seem like there's some who've already stepped in. Seventeen had gone through the back which at first Touta had no idea why till Yang and Staren start breaking down the shelter windows and such. There's so much exhaust that just getting close to the building reeks.      "I'll try to move some of them out!" He tells to Yang and Staren as he follows the armored-up Cat Boy. While the two may have had a scuffle before they can at least agree that leaving people in this situation is bad.      Touta enters into the building without any sort of environmental suit or wind-magic to support him. It's not like he's gonna die from Carbon Monoxide poisoning anway... That said he'll do his best to try and drag people out along with Staren.
Muramasa	This city was in some ways, similar to Shinto in Fuyuki. It was nothing more than a passing resemblance, really, like the kind of half-remembered comparison you'd make to something you migtht have seen ages ago. His arrival is, more than anything, happenstance. He'd been in the city on his own business when he received the SOS, leading the Paladin to his current whereabouts, watching a man flip cars over like they were made of cheap and thin cardboard. Easily summoning his Servant garb of a white haori that exposed his bare chest, and black pants tucked into leg-guards and metal plated shoes. Eastern skirt armor lined its sides, and a tachi had appeared in his hand, held by the middle of its sheath. As it didn't take very much inspection for him to realize that the cars were pumping exhaust into the building, he wasted no time in rendering his assistance, attempting to separate the pipes from the vehicles with his sword before turning them off. This was a rather elaborate setup, Muramasa thinks to himself. If this was just to kill everyone on the inside then there were surely less convoluted ways to go about it, so why this? In the first place, how did they do all of it without being noticed? It was odd.
Homura Akemi	-AROUND BACK: Cars are dealt with. Windows are opened. This isn't even remotely a challenge to people who could easily take down entire walls (or the building) if they wanted. Doubly true as Priscilla, from the inside, flushes out a large amount of air and breaks remaining windows. -INSIDE: Air cycles into the building thanks to convenient wind powers and broken windows. This takes care of the immediate threat almost entirely, and only leaves the matter of helping the homeless. When healing magic is thrown in, and Staren has the good idea to get people out (and visible for incoming medical care), their survival is ensured. But something, not their health, resists Runa's magic a nudge. -THE UNCONSCIOUS PEOPLE: A few of the people, those who looked calm or organized, have a mark on the back of their neck. An iron cage around a heart, like a tattoo, but clearly magical in nature. It resists attempts to dispel or purge it, like a very stubborn curse. The largest group of them was around the pile in the center, which... -THE FUCK IS THAT: Arthur discovers the pile seems to be home to... something. A rift. A crack. A swirling tiny portal seed of oily red and orange color, like an oil paiting slapped onto the 3D world with no regards for how much sense that makes. And being the MAGE OF SPACE lets him immediatly figure out it's a pocket dimension. It reacts rather violently to being found. The WITCH BARRIER deploys, sucking everyone around the shelter into its realm, interrupting even those moving bodies out. Mercifully, it only seems to take the lot of you, not the bodies. Reality becomes oily. That's the best way to put it. The shelter is only barely a shelter anymore, looking more like a large, broken-down crypt in awful shades of green. No ceiling. Huge chunks of the walls missing. Outside, the sky is red and orange, extremely windy, as indicated by white lines that travel the decor quickly in cartoony wind spirals. Fire and brimstone is raining from the sky - and it's very real, and very painful. Most jarring is probably the fact everything looks like an oil paiting - lines between things are blurry, shading is off, light barely affects anything, everything kind of static in its appearance, but also drippy and oily at the same time. Where the beds used to be are now tombstones and half-dug graves, tended to by thin stick figures given definition only by their large plate helmets, as if they were pretending to be knights. Some shovel. Some fill the graves with gold and jewels. Some just... stand there. Outside the massive crypt-shelter are more and more crypts, as if an endless cemetary. Some damaged. Some not. It might be an idea to find shelter from the fiery rain. At your feet, you find another SOS device.
Spring Breeze	With more and more of the car exhaust being sucked out of the building, and more aptly than she herself can with her grasping wind hands (pulling things with wind is a lot harder than blowing them, especially when she can't see what she's trying to pull), she focuses on searching for people inside, groping around with those fingers of air to see if she can locate any victims. Everyone else is also trying to break open the building, so she assumes there's a reason. Those idling cars belonged to someone after all, right?     As prone as she is to second-guessing, she can't think of any reason for someone to be doing this to a building with no one in it, even if pumping poison into a building with people in it is only marginally less incomprehensible to her. She keeps looking over her shoulder every once in awhile, still feeling like she's being watched, but as she finds people in the clouds of carbon monoxide with her wind-appendages, tracing faces, bodies, clothing filled by a wearer, she calls them out over the local radio as she locates them. Without a clear view of them she can't even try to roll them towards safety, so that's the best she can do for the moment.     "To anyone else in the vicinity of Mitakihara Town, at the shelter, there's a group of people gathered together in the center of the building. I can't tell how many, and there's others scattered around. I don't think any of them are moving, but they might still be alive." she reports. She isn't relocating from her spot until she has confirmation that someone is evacuating them, but she is looking for another place she can enter in advance. Thankfully, it seems she has multiple options now.     Though if this is happening at this beacon, she feels a great deal of urgency to run to the next and see if there's something happening at that one too. Unfortunately, she doesn't get the chance, because reality warps around her. She's... Sucked into a new environment. That's the only way she can describe it. She's just sucked into the maw of something terrible, and her surroundings change. Emotionally, she's frozen in fear, but her brain runs automatically through a list of possibilities on what's happening and what she can do about it. Unfortunately, most of them are drawn from her personal knowledge base, so the details are a bit off, but still reasonable accurate. 'Another Shaker is using their powers to create a pocket dimension.' is the conclusion she comes to before remembering she's in another universe and there could be a literally infinite number of other causes she has no data on.     Breeze only needs to get burned once by the fire raining from the sky to get a move on, seeking cover as she brushes frantically at her shoulder with one hand. If she notices any more falling towards her through the gaps in the oily structure, she focuses on blowing it away with concentrated wind while she seeks to locate anyone else affected if they aren't immediately visible. If they are, then she heads for them while keeping her distance from those stick figures for now. A Shaker/Master combo could be pretty deadly.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang was helping move the unconscious outside, when suddenly she's sucked into the Witch Barrier. Her initial reaction is, "Well, this isn't good." and her second, immediately following the first, reaction is to let out a yelp of surprise and pain as a chunk of flaming rock slams into her back, staggering her forwards and causing a flare of golden light to ripple around her body. "Guys, philosophize on this later, we need shelter."     Lilac eyes turn to look around the area, shifting and kicking the beacon at her feet... "What the...?" she stoops, ducking into the lee of a crumbling wall to get some shelter, then checks out the device... she then takes a quick look to see if there's any more, like a trail to follow."
Android 17	Seventeen gets the last car, whew!  That was close, he thinks as he walks around to smash a window...only to see that it's already broken thanks to frosty powers.  Huh! He jumps in through the window and walks towards the center as people start carrying others out or applying aid, this is a bit outside of his wheelhouse, so he looks towards the dragon lady who just made things frosty.   Before he can say a word, the world becomes weird.  Being sucked through time and space is not an enjoyable experience, even as he tries to resist with his (un)natural flight with no success.  Landing in a three-point stance, Seventeen slowly stands up.   He asks a few questions over the radio to people who seem to be actually in the know, only to be disappointed by those who aren't very in the know.  Oh well... When the SOS devices get pointed out, he looks towards Tanya, "Well, guess you're right.  Only one thing to do then," Seventeen says, and walks towards the trail.  "I'd be rude to keep the host waiting," he says, cracking his neck slightly.
Tanya Degurechaff	Floating above the shelter, Tanya waves a hand to project a magic screen in front of her. Turning in place, she sweeps the exterior, searching for anyone here who hasn't announced their presence already. Golden eyes narrow when the search turns up nothing, and the girl turns to check for the best place to set down and go inside-- when reality turns inside-out.     Suddenly finding herself afloat in an alien sky over a bizarrely constructed landscape, Tanya pushes her hands down to either side. Her screen disappears immediately, and she lowers down to ground level. The little girl seems awful cross with Arthur, but he's already explained that it wasn't _actually_ his fault, so she doesn't bother with lecturing.     Rather, the little girl crouches to collect the beacon on the ground. Reaching, she produces the one she'd gathered outside, comparing them, "Same model. The same person probably dropped both of these." It's flipped off, tucked away, and she pulls out her phone, "In light of any other leads, and with the locals appearing uninterested in harassing us," A fireball slams into an unseen field right above her head, briefly revealing her magic barrier, "We should probably follow this before the rain overwhelms our defenses."
Touta Konoe	There's not even time to take a look at what drags them all into the Witch Barrier. One moment everything in reality seemed fine and normal, the next thing he sees everything looks like he just got pulled into some sort of oil painting. He's not too familiar with being dragged into pocket dimensions, but apparently this was that sort of experience. Speaking of experience it still seemed like Staren still had an idea of what the Hell was going on. Goingo on about 'Witches' causing it, and the first thing that comes to mind to which he asks to confirm which he just gets a blatant 'no' to.      Well looking around at least it seemed like anyone was here besides the Elites..And the odd stick figure grave-diggers. Yeah this place was weird. But what was probably the most weird was that the only thing besides the Elites that had been dragged in, or at least was the same from outside of the dimension were the SOS devices. The ones that appeared at their feet. Maybe Yang was onto something with thinking their was a trail. At the very least they definitely had some sort of significance. Even if this was quite the anomaly though it still felt like these SOS devices were still just that...A call for help. 'Save Our Souls'      That ominous thought rings in the back of his head as he speaks up again, "Well, at least it looks like it only sucked up the El- Ah, okay yeah shelter sounds good!" And he starts running off towards the train with the others trying to avoid the pelting of inferno like rain that was coming down on them.
Staren	The patients have some magical symbol on them? Damn, Staren doesn't remember ANYTHING about that.     And then the world goes all oily. Oh. See, now THIS is what Staren was expecting to encounter, even if he's only been in a witch barrier once and barely remembers it. Well, twice if you count that time that Homura used her own witch barrier as a spaceship. ...Wait, why did Homura have witch powers? Staren feels like he just remembered a bit of something important...     The gravediggers are Familiars. That much he knows. The fire and brimstone though, is a Problem. Staren tries to dodge it for a bit, then deploys shelter from the matter manipulator, making sort of a crude concrete roof to hide under.     He wonders if the witch led them here, but he got the impression that they weren't that kind of cunning. Traps inside their barriers, maybe, but manipulating outside to lure people? The trouble is, how do they find the center? A magical girl could probably do it, but they don't have one here. Could Arthur serve as a substitute magical girl?     Then another possibility occurs to Staren: What if one of the local magical girls left a trail of SOS devices to lead elites to the witch? It seems worth a shot.     Staren tries to track the next SOS signal and then fly that way, dodging the rain of brimstone!
Arthur Lowell	Arthur leaps back, but the expansion of this rift is a little too fast for him. "SHIT!" he shouts. "Woah woah WOAH WOAH, hey, we got GEOSPATIAL BEAR TRAP shit going on!" It's not tearing apart his personal geometry, so it doesn't trip his self-defense wards, but that means that as usual, a unique method of geometric assault slips him in easily.     They're deep in the barrier, with no clear way out but forward. "Alright, we gotta find the, whatcha call it, the WITCH? Shit, I hope this ain't a WITCH OF SPACE." Arthur has strong abilities of ANALYSIS, but he distinctly lacks the SENSORY abilities of a Seer; he's gonna need to depend on a more conventional approach. He immediately projects a gravity field above his head, meant to blunt the rain like an umbrella, but he's going to overheat eventually.     "Yo, Luftwaif," He's apparently talking to Tanya Degurechaff. "You look zippy on the FLYING, gimmie some BACKUP? This shit's HELLA GRAVELY, we gotta find, like... a CHURCH or a HOSPICE or SOMETHING, where the TOP MOTHERFUCKER around here would be." He's going to mount his broom and try to ascend, and get a bird's-eye view despite the falling fire. A cemetary needs a central space where the dead -- or the valuables -- are sent from, right? Though... he's on the lookout for anything that looks like a central site of wealth as well.
Runa	The strange resistance does not go unnoticed by the Priestess. She kneels down beside one of the individuals. Her gazes is quickly drawn to the mark on their necks, the appearance and feeling of magic unmistakeable. Runa was about to try some more aggressive forms of dispelling when reality suddenly warps.     Runa gasps in surprise as she stands once more, looking around at their new surroundings. She moves her hand to rub her eyes, thinking the strange appearance is a result of her eyes. When the effect doesn't clear, she suspects it's actually the world itself.     Admiring the artistic nature of the world, or being unnerved by the creepy aspect of its content, will have to wait though as Runa winces in pain. That fire falling from the sky is going to prove troubling.     Runa reaches up light forming around her as she says, "Angelus!" A large floating bell appears above all of the elites that have been pulled into this reality. They swing, sounding out a combined *Dong* before fading away. The effect is quickly obvious as the pain from the rain is dulled, though not completely gone.     Protective spell set, Runa begins to quickly follows the others, as they follow the trail of beacons, "It's hard to believe someone else could be here... I wonder how long they've had to endure these conditions."
Muramasa	Assisting the android in clearing out the back, he isn't able to speak much of anything to him before a sickening sensation runs over him. The world itself changes, as the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "This is...?" Truthfully, he wasn't a very good magus. Even after becoming a pseudo-servant, the knowledge provided by the life of Shirou Emiya isn't all that grand. Even after learning a little more about it in the intervening time, his 'world' was largely a mystery to him. But, perhaps in the same way that like can recognize like, as the addage of 'taking one to know one' would proclaim, he could say without a doubt that this had to be a phenomenon of an identical nature. This was someone else's 'world'. It was just like that time in Shimosa, too, he thinks. It doesn't take much to prompt him to fleet into the shelter with the others. The fire and flame creates yet another uncomfortable memory for him. It seemed that no matter where he went, he wound up in some sort of caricature. But at least in /this/ Flame Contaminated City, he could do something. Yes, Saber can do something that Shirou hadn't been able to. Things will be different this time, he promises himself. "You have my thanks, missy." Muramasa says to Runa. Even though he didn't look any older than twenty, he spoke like an old man. His speech patterns were pretty irregular to boot. "What a terrible place. Whoever it is, they have to be suffering, huh?" he mutters, looking at the stick-knights doing their work.
Priscilla	Priscilla, despite her generalized Multiverse venerability (and the normal kind) has only done this thing once, very arguably twice, before. Though she'd been expecting it to come out at any time, simply waiting for the other shoe to drop and the spider's burrow to open up and swallow them all, since she'd felt that keenly hostile presence on the lot of them, her best effort at going through it looking very serious and unsurprised is simply to stand there, looking grimly introspective, and then stay completely still until the landscape has resolved itself enough to make sense of.     "Blame not Sir Lowell." she finally says out loud, trying to pick up her voice to the volume where it will carry. "This was an inevitability. I am certain thou all felt it. Those hungry, demented eyes. A trap sprung in defense, rather than the opportune moment, is seldom worse." She checks twice to verify the location of her Concord troopers, seeing Tanya and Staren coping with the falling fire and brimstone just fine, she takes a moment under the instant concrete. "The one laying beacons here no doubt intended to lead us precisely here. Their lack of confidence in resolving the issue on their own is unusual. Most oft, their type abhor competition for the hunt. They must believeth something to be especially amiss, if they art indeed still alive."     "The ones outside shall not improveth meaningfully until those marks art removed. Such requires the the death of the Witch. This much I am aware of." With an ethereally shimmering bell-like ringing sound, she draws the Moonlight Longsword, holding the sword of revelation close; that blade that transcends realities and FromSoft games, bringing clarity of purpose against the madness of the world. It's a nice, cool, slightly unsettling blue against all the sickly oil oranges and yellows and greens. Its cyan, finely etched surface ripples like liquid.     "Indeed, follow them. As thou dost, look about thee, to maketh what sense of the land thou art able. There is a theme to these places, experience hath found. One that may be crucial to understanding what thou art about to face." Before doing what she'd said however, Priscilla lingers to eliminate the stick figures, sweeping the sword in a revolving triangle of cutting arcs around herself, and sending cleaving blades of deadly explosive light through the gravediggers.
Homura Akemi	It's around the time that Tanya's magic flares up to shield her from the flames that the Familiars turn their heads, as if their tasks had suddenly stopped mattering. They don't have glares, exactly, so much as it's obvious from the helmets that they're looking at Tanya now. And from her, their gazes shift to Runa when the protective spells go up. Even as the group seeks cover - crumbled walls would do, but another of those crypts, more intact, would be better - the stick figures with helmets follow their movements, having stopped digging or just standing around to walk in the same general direction. But they don't attack, oddly. In the sky, flaming wooden wheels, like halos, circle the group like vultures waiting for the right time to swoop down, the movements of the painted-on wheels more bird-like than anything. The group can easily reach another crypt, while keeping an eye out for one that stands out. Arthur can easily spot a larger mausoleum, looking a bit more ornate and than the rest. The Familiars still do nothing, until something loudly CLANGS in the direction of the mausoleum. Another crypt on the way to it, actually. There's a girl hiding in the broken building, holding onto a bent golf club. There's a Familiar at her feet, its head caved in by the obvious weapon. If Staren and Priscilla recognize the face and hair, the panicky posture and stutter are probably new. The girl with braided hair and glasses, wearing a purple, white and black "magical girl costume", does not seem to want to be here in the slightest. There's a purple gem on one of her hands. "H-Help, they took my w-weapons!" They sure did. The rest of the Familiars around her are using handguns and rifles, katanas and a variety of other weapons. Baseball bats, decorative spears, grenades. And sure enough her call for help makes them all swoop in like the vultures they are. Shovels swing, rifles fire, a variety of weapons come crashing for everyone indiscriminatedly. And the halos overhead crash down like literally flaming meteors, except for being made of wood, not rock.
Spring Breeze	There's definitely others here. Not knowing who is or is not friendly, she doesn't get too close, but Breeze recognizes Staren at least as she runs for cover. He was that guy who talked at the villains and was very carefully neutral, so she isn't sure what his angle is here. Is he going to try to philosophize at the source of all this or does he hope to gain something? Or, based off of what he said on the radio, does he actually have enough information in this situation to decide on a course of action? He didn't have to warn people about this... Witch thing after all.     She is just starting to catch up with him, having decided to trust that for now he has the interests of others in mind, when he leaves the shelter he set up and goes flying off. The super hero stops, hunched over, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. She should have gotten in better shape for her heroing career. She didn't realize it would involve so much running. Stupid.     Thankfully, she isn't the only one sheltering under the concrete roof that Starn provided, so she gets to hear a little bit more about what she's dealing with. It doesn't make her any more capable of dealing with this situation in the emotional sense, but there might be some practical application to the information. She's used to that. Finding any advantage she can get, learning how her enemies tick, and trying to use that against them, to defend herself and survive.     Again Breeze feels that sense of urgency as she learns the people this 'Witch' has been predating upon are incapable of improving on their own without removing the source of the affliction. She pushes through the complaints of her body and leaves the shelter, blasting wind at the falling brimstone when she notices it in time, getting burned when she doesn't. She's going to have holes in her costume and ugly red blotches of painful flesh all over by the time this is done, she just knows it!     To provide a bit more cover she wraps that big scarf around her shoulders like a mantle. There's people in trouble, herself included, and she doesn't want to wait around to find out what those helmeted figures or the ones shoveling or really any of them will do if they notice her. She'll observe them, and her surroundings, and try to make the best use of the cover she encounters to stay out of sight, but those people outside need medical treatment, so there's a bit of a time crunch at play here. Maybe that lady was speaking literally, and she should try gathering oil to use with the raining fire as some kind of improvised weapon? It didn't really seem like 'normal' oil though...     If the 'familiars' need to go, though, she has a much more immediate method of dealing with them in mind. Finding another crypt to hide in, she peers out from around a corner, looking for one of the familiars at work near a grave. Before she can find a likely target, however, she realizes the familiars are aware of them now and following them as the heroes move along. Fuck. So much for stealthy take-downs. She just keeps an eye out and follows after those who seem to know what they're doing, until she encounters... A girl with an improvised weapon, a familiar at her feet, clearly in distress. She doesn't look like a witch, so she's probably legit.     When the familiars and flaming vulture wheels start pelting everyone the decision of who is or is not legit stops mattering. Breeze concentrates on her power, feeling currents of force flowing from her, directing and funneling the air into channels. Targeting the incoming weapons, she tries to blow some of them off-course, possibly even pushing some of the less aerodynamic weapons back where they came from and towards the familiars themselves, but she's not holding out hope on that one. Survival and rescue come first.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang is sprinting between cover, turning and snapshotting at a swooping wheel-bird-thing occasionally. She skids into cover and grits her teeth. "This entire place is set against us. I'm getting pissed off." she growls, cycling the chambers on her gauntlets.     That's when the call for help sounds out, and the Huntress in Training leaps from her cover, focussing tunnel-vision on the young magical girl being dogpiled by stickfigure monsters. "Hold on! I'm comin'!"     Yang mantles over debris, weaves through ruins and then with a powerful leap, soars into the air, and brings herself down into the center of a group of those Familiars, firing a blast into the ground to ripple it out around her, trying to knock the Familiars away with the burst of energy.
Android 17	The world is just...weird.  It's like being in an oil painting, which is just throwing him off slightly.  Still, it doesn't look like he's affected, besides the increasing san damage of this place.  Walking turns into flying as he tries to get a better view of things. Of course, he's forced to avoid flaming halos as they fall from the sky.  To that, it isn't overly difficult.  With help from Arthur, they know where to head next.  Landing nearby to see... Well, a very scared little girl with no weapons surrounded by familiar with weapons.  With the eyes narrowed, and a call for help...they attack.   Seventeen rushes through the group, moving on avoiding fighting and attacks, aiming to flip and fly through the air and over their heads before landing in front of the girl with braided hair.  There is a flash of green as the Android Barrier forms, aiming to shield the two of them from danger.   "Stay close to me, I can protect us.  We're moving to the group of weird looking people.  Can you walk?  I can carry you if I need to," Seventeen says calmly, barely emoting with everything going on.
Staren	Once Priscilla starts cutting down Familiars, Staren starts shooting them too, but he's more focused on finding the next beacon. Those halos are... concerning. At least Runa's buff has made him not have to worry about the fiery hail as he flies through the sky...     And at last sights a... sort of familiar figure? The outfit, face, and hair color are familiar, but the hairstyle, glasses, and... manner are not.     They took her weapons? Staren just pulls a caseless submachinegun out of his bag and flings it at her. She can literally stop time to make sure she catches it right, after all. "Homura, what happened? Did the Witch's magic do something to your mind?"     The familiars attack! Staren puts his forcefield up together with Runa's barrier -- it only has to drop for split-seconds for his beam cannons to fire. When one of the wheels dives him and hits the field, his left hand pulls out a plasma sword and stabs up just as he drops the field, hopefully taking care of that. Still, the rain of bullets is wearing down his forcefield at a visible rate as layers start to break apart and shatter, one by one...     "Snap out of it, Homura! We've gotten out of worse scrapes than this! Hell, you and Vruasa have saved my life, I'd have done something stupid long ago if you two hadn't taught me about time travel--!"     Staren freezes for a moment, familiar attacks just plinking into his field, wearing it down.     Time travel. Why does she need glasses. How did she mess up badly enough to let /familiars/ steal weapons THAT SHE KEEPS IN A POCKET DIMENSION. /Time Travel/.     "Oh no..."
Priscilla	Wooden wheel enemies. Priscilla is queen of the wheel enemies, so this shouldn't be^5^5^5^5 fuck wheels. Priscilla disappears from the hanging cloud of slowly dispersing ice mist with a puff of displaced air, a couple of audible footsteps hit the crypt floor, and then those echoes disappear into nothing.     Chasing the beacons, and following Arthur's vague directions, Priscilla arrives at the battle zone far faster than should actually be possible. Even for a very fast runner, her presence is there almost instantaneously, her arrival felt as only a dark and uncomfortable ripple in the warp and weft of an already dark and uncomfortable space, like letting a grave and abberant frost in through some crack in a door pushed open. She does indeed recognize at least a couple of things about the girl; it would be impossible not to. In lieu of time to ask for explanations or give any, however, she acts quickly. The feeling of ice-cold existential dread spikes to a vertiginous prickle.     It's as if an unholy wind had suddenly rolled through and divested everything of its bodyparts. So many fast, invisible motions, strung together into a single, fluid, advancing chain, push through the surrounding mob of familiars so quickly and violently as to bring a palpable wake of wind pressure. A contiguous slicing arc, only visible as a trail of chopped pieces and whatever it is that familiars bleed, dances and swirls from the vanguard of the group all the way to the back, cutting revolving orbits of precise and brutal dismemberment, as well as gratuitous hyperviolent bloodworks, through all the weaponized stick figures within three arms' reach. The ground frosts over in its wake, making the sound of crackling glass as translucent, pale blue crystals form and grow in the space of a couple of seconds, and then erupt into small pillars of pale, icy soulfire, blowing up in a carpet of magical ice explosions to saturation bomb the further away familiars before they can close in on 17's barrier.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur's flying on, not really recognizing what's going on, but a heavy halo smashes into him. Runa's protection blunts it, but it still gives him horrible splinters, horrible burns, and sends him on a crash course for the mausoleum. He impacts hard into the ground near it, barely turning over in time to avoid another spurt of fire. "SHIT!" He shouts. "Wasn't gonna MAKE THIS HAPPEN, but if you wanna PLAY, let's PLAY!" He's up on his feet after a twisty flip, one of his brooms out and ready, and smashing about in melee. It roars and roars loudly.     He can hear the noise of Homura herself though. "Huh? HEY! YO!!" He shouts, happily. "Good seein' ya, TH! You here to get your FISTS RED too?" He points in a particular direction, the larger mausoleum. "That shit looks HELLA BOSS-LIKE. We gettin' UP IN THAT BIZ?" He only knew a little about Homura's business in other matters, and a little about Homura's other life. What he sees here doesn't seem to trip his recognition. "Get that ass IN GEAR, girl! We're goin' BLOOOOOD SHOPPING tonight, and I'm in the mood to MAX SOME CARDS!!"     He unloads his rifle wildly, spewing bolts of magic and force, trying to cut a path for Homura -- and he assumes /with/ Homura -- to the grand mausoleum, and trying to breach it as he does.
Muramasa	So long as the familiars didn't become aggressive, Muramasa was content to leave them be. His eyes stayed fairly glued to Priscilla's sword. There was something profoundly off about his gaze, as if he were seeing something that couldn't be perceived. His fascination with her choice of armament is quickly cut off by a cry for help. With the stick-knights showing themselves as the danger they can be, everyone was jumping in to help in their own way. With Touta pairing off with Yang, and Staren going to assist the girl directly, Muramasa decided he'd make himself most useful by reclaiming some of her weapons. Hunkering his body down and holding his sheathed sword out to the side, he entered a stance of a kind of battoujutsu, a sword style that combined the action with drawing your sword into an attack and focused on techniques revolving around it. The Saber-class Servant takes off like a bullet. "Draw!" His sword leaves the confines of its sheathe in an accelerated slash to disarm one of the gun-toting familiars before it could finish raising the weapon on him. Sticking his cursed tachi into the ground so that he could catch the small-arms rifle before it hit the ground, Muramasa tossed it over his shoulder. Shockingly, his aim is fairly true as its sent hurtling in Homura's general direction. "Take this!"
Runa	Runa glances around as the strange stick-figure creatures appear to be 'looking' at her. Ever since she cast her spell. They're drawn to magic... Not too surprising. Still creepy though.     Runa goes still at their stares, looking at the others with a questioning look. Even with the adventures she's been through in her own world, this is something entirely new. The sudden cry for help cause Runa to whip her head around to look. The sight of the girl, surrounded by the vaguely skeletal looking creatures causes a brief flash of frightened recognition in Runa's eyes.     Runa turns back to look at the familiars. A number of the others are already going to the girl's aid, so Runa assists those in trying to fight off the other creatures that are approaching. Raising her hand, she calls out, "Holy Light!" The cross made of light goes flying from Runa's hand to explode against the first target, delivering its destructive holy power. Runa then carefully shifts her hand towards another, repeating her previous chant as another cross goes flying.     As the blasts of holy light continue to go flying, Runa slowly begins to back up. Quickly forming ice on the ground cracks, gunshots wizzing past as Runa calls out, "We should find the source and free it from the darkness before their numbers begin to overwhelm us!" She's starting to head in the direction so eloquently detailed by Arthur.
Touta Konoe	Touta isn't one of the first ones to have the attention drawn to which is...Good? Well given the circumstances it gives him an idea on that the two using magic appear to be grabbing some 'aggro'. Wow that felt like an Arthur statement. Though it was odd that the so many of them stopped what they were doing at once to simply peer at the two. Still for the time-being that was unimportant. Up above the flaming wooden wheels encircle them like vultures encircling prey, it definitely fit the ominous feeling that had been given off since arriving in the city. Yet even that is also just a bit less important than what Arthur warns the others. Seventeen and Yang alright are pushing up towards the building and Touta follows suit intending to provide as much back-up as he can. Like Yang doing everything he can to avoid incoming halos or slice through them with his blade. Though once he makes it to the next point of cover and sees the girl screaming out in help, and he hears the two discuss making a path for the girl...      "I'll trying helping Yang with that One!"      Touta pulls out another tool at his disposal and places it at his waist, a hula-hoop. He starts spinning it around and it's probably one of the weirdest things going on, even in an oddity of a place like this. There is purpose to such a thing though and he's about to show it. Even if Touta tried dashing over as quickly as possible there was no guarantee that he'd make it over there before the familiars overwhelmed. It was also possible he might get caught up in someone else's attack or them in his. So he would go for the best non-lethal option he can think of. He lowered his stance from the point of covering and just as Yang would fire off one of her shots from her gauntlets, a beam of light would shoot forth.      "Magic Cancel Blow!"      Touta doesn't know much about these Witches, but he assumes that they use magic like any other which, and that their familiars are comprised of magic as well. If that was the case than this was the best option he could use. A magic negation attack that could clear a path for this girl to be escorted through by Seventeen. What was good about this attack though was it had no impact against non-magical entities. Even if for some reason someone got caught up in it, there was no issue that any of the Elites here would likely be harmed...Except for Maybe a servant.      "Magic People! Heads up!"
Tanya Degurechaff	"Luftwaif..?" Tanya blinks at Arthur. What? Well, he's probably picked up some things from her chatter on the radio over time, she can excuse that, but she closes her eyes all the same, "I appreciate the wordplay, but that's still about a decade ahead of my time." But even so, when the Mage of Space ascends, so too does the White Silver. However, she's not even reached Priscilla's head level before she feels those non-stares on her, canceling her ascent to hover, glancing at the familiars who've taken an interest in her. Glowing golden eyes narrow. That doesn't bode well, not in the least.     "Flight seems like a bad idea, Lowell," She lifts her gaze to the burning halo creatures, "Keep a low ceiling for now."     Shit hits the fan. Wheels dive out of the sky, and Tanya is on the move. Her teeth bared in a tense frown, the young girl reaches into her jacket, unbuttoning the strap holding her firearm in its leather holster.     Ugh. Everyone around her is just leaping into the fray around this random twin-braided girl. Very likely the same one that put down those beacons. Once in range, the young Major swings her legs forward to brake herself. She unholsters her luger, a magic screen reappearing while she flips the safety. Frustration's written all over her face as she skims the melee for-- there-- and squeezes the trigger.     What is a single bullet explodes like an artillery shell in a group of familiars that should be far enough from close-range fighters that it shouldn't do more to them than be loud.
Homura Akemi	"E-Eh?!" Homura looks at Staren like he's a ghost. That is to say, with panic and incredible fear at the nonsense he's spouting out. Then he throws a submachinegun at her. To her credit, she catches it. To her not-credit she catches it the same way you'd hold it, and pressed on the trigger immediatly from all the tension she's under. The spray of bullets makes her smack herself in the face with the back of her hand, and while it very luckily catches a Familiar and riddles it full of holes, the gun is quickly out of her hands and on the ground again. "A-Ah, ow...!" That didn't work out. And it gets worse when another rifle gets tossed to her. This one makes her lose her balance wholesale and end up on her ass. It's not the weapon, it's how utterly embarassed she is right now. "I-I don't... have any idea what..." No, she can't even finish her sentence, sorry Arthur. You are throwing her entirely off. It's a good thing 17 gets in and shields her, weapons bouncing off his barrier before being suddenly silenced by an invisible dragon waifu. "T-They have my... shield..." Homura finally manages to explain to Staren, who really wants to know how this happened. At least, taking care of the Familiars goes a lot better. Wind blows a few of them around, and Yang easily blasts several more of them away with her punch. Staren has no trouble landing shots of his own, and these Familiars are frail, damage-dealing types, not tanks. The bodies pile up (or don't, really, since they desintegrate) when Priscilla maneuvers through the cluster effortlessly, slicing invisibly like a natural disaster. The same is true of Arthur's firepower, his experience at dealing with crowds of mooks speaking for itself. Muramasa, as previously established, finds little resistance when trying to disarm those stick figures, their limbs as thin and fragile as they look. Runa's holy blast find no particular increase in effectiveness against the Familiars, but even without that, shred through them like butter regardless. She's not wrong, though. Their numbers aren't dwindling much. Touta's sudden weaponized anti-magic seems especially offensive to the Barrier though. The Familiars twitch, like recordings that suddenly skip several frames, and fall down. The landscape rumbles, as if angry. Tanya momentarily re-thins the herd, which buys everyone safe passage towards the mausoleum. But the horde of Familiars is rapidly regrowing, forming out of the oily landscape as if the lines of paint were becoming alive. Homura, not wanting to be a burden on 17, shakes her head and insists she can run. This is TECHNICALLY TRUE, in the sense she's putting one foot after the other at a faster-than-walking pace. Her form, however, is disastrous, and not at all suited to running. The heels probably don't help.
Homura Akemi	But as the party reaches the mausoleum, it shatters open. A massive iron cage, protecting a seemingly infinite hoard of treasures, clothes, weapons - and yes, a small silvery buckler - floats out of it, shaped more like an iron maiden than a cage. The top is distinctly more akin to a massive helmet than a cage, with several of those flaming halos circling it. Inside the cage, along the treasures, is a mass of red and blue tentacles, hands and claws, like a jellyfish made entirely of arcade-game cranes. Something follows, not unlike a psychic screech - not an attack per se, but that thing is forcing subtitles on the screen of your eyes. Nonsensical subtitles in a runic language you've likely never seen before, bar perhaps Priscilla and Staren. It's not painful, just unsettling, uncomfortable.    #####   #####         ###########   ####   ####     ###### ########   #####     #######   ###    #####   ########   ##  ## ###  #     #####   #######  ####   ##   ####  ###     ###  ##########  ## ## # ## ###     #   # ##########  ##### ### ######  ###     ###   #########   #### # ## ##      # # #  #########  ##### ### ######  ###########   ##########     ##  ##    #### # # #   ########  ###   ####  ####  ### ## ####   ###         #####  ## ### ##  # # #  ###  ####  ##### #########  ####### ###   #########  ## #### ## ######  #   # ####   ##   ##### ########   ### ##  ###   ###   ###  ##  ### #########  #####  ##   ### # ###     ######   ############# ####   #### ######   #######  ######   ######  ######                                      MCDOUGAL                                 THE MORTSAFE WITCH And then, the Witch's tentacles shoot out of its cage. Almost all of them are trying to grab Touta's hoop! The Witch wants to add that bloody offensive thing to its collection, apparently, and is deploying hundreds of hands and grabby cranes to accomplish this. As they reach for Touta, they no doubt swoop past other people - slashing, clawing, grazing, - but only incidentally. Weapons do seem a lot harder to hold, though...? It might make off with them if you're not careful.
Spring Breeze	A flaming wheel meteor crashes down right behind Spring Breeze. She doesn't have eyes in the back of her head, and is focused on defending from the front, trying to stop bullets and halt sword swings and what not. So she has zero shielding against the powerful impact even if not a direct hit. It takes her off her feet, hurled forward through the air, and traveling a fair distance before landing hard on hands and elbows. Pain shoots up her arms from her stinging palms, her knees are sending a sort of cold painful numbness through her legs and hips, and her back is burning. She doesn't even know what hit her or how this happened. She's just stunned momentarily.     But adrenaline is making her body move even when the thinking parts of her brain aren't giving directions, so she is forcing herself back up to a standing position and trying to identify what is immediately threatening her.     In the brief moment while she was downed, chaos has exploded through the crypt. Everyone is fighting, she can't even tell where all of the attacks are coming from, or who is responsible for what. There's familiars getting chopped up, lasers firing, shockwaves, blasts of... Holy. Whatever that is. Basically, >everything is exploding<. She feels about as terrified and out of her depth as the pig-tailed girl looks. Frontline combat isn't where she belongs, and as she backs up while sweeping wind at the legs of any familiars that start to get too close, trying to just take them to the ground to keep them from giving chase, she moves along with those who know better what to do in this situation. Like always.     "I am trusting that you all know where we're going!" she calls out, feeling more than hearing her aching knees clicking weirdly while she hurries to keep up. That's probably not good.     Eventually, they make it to the mausoleum, thanks to the momentary drop in familia activity, followed by artillery bombardment, only to encounter... A weird... Thing. With subtitles. Breeze blinks repeatedly behind her goggles to try to clear the imprint, and almost misses a ton of hands and tentacles surging towards them...! Or, well, towards Touta. She doesn't know why. She just tries not to get in the way as she instead slips towards the treasure. A shield, a shield. Apparently important, and people mentioned that this Homura is a 'magical girl' who may have some sort of ability to fight these witches on even terms or something? Re-equipping her seems like priority one, and Breeze is the sneaky type, so she just tries to avoid notice as long as possible as she goes for the buckler.
Staren	They have her shield.     Staren feels a chill.     He starts dodging, looking around for Homura's iconic device. It doesn't seem to be here. He grabs the two guns as he flies after the group. Hopefully they can recover it after the Witch and its barrier are destroyed.     And there it is. Staren expected it but it's STILL jarring, although it's probably made worse by the situation of seeing Homura like this. At least the Witch doesn't seem to understand how to USE its treasures.     The rifle and SMG become hard to hold. Staren lets the witch take them and flies to Homura's side, pulling out of his own magic bag what looks like an assault rifle and pressing it against her chest. "Take this. Hold tight. Shoot." (It fires tiny missiles the size of pens, like HEIAP rounds without the I part. It has 12 shots, make them count!)     Then he turns his attention to the witch and starts firing, focusing on using the beam cannons built into his armor rather than bothering with handheld weapons.
Android 17	Seventeen watches the attempt at running, and though he keeps pace with her, he does scoop up the first gun she dropped.  Catching up to her easily, he hands the weapon to Homura. Though he notices the form is all wrong and he sighs.   "Just stay close to me, I can shield ya," he says, with a smile.  Though it's hard for him to emote in the best of times, it might come off as 'artificial'.  Given his name, it might not seem obvious despite the fact the reason is far more complicated.  "We'll work on your form when we get out of here.  I happen to be an exercise enthusiast and Park Ranger." True to his word, he keeps close to the Magical girl, only for everything to go very horribly wrong.  Tentacles strikeout and he focuses on the shield itself, trying to keep it around himself and her.  Luckily, he was not the main target, so he was able to move with the blow.  However, a nice long slice across his upper chest is what he escapes the exchange with. He sees Spring Breeze go for the shield, so he decides to act on his own and draw the creature's attention directly.  Beams of energy fly from his hands, aiming to pepper the tentacles as he continues to place himself in defense of the girl for now.  "Name is Android 17, nice to meet you," he says calmly, apparently cool under pressure. "Hey Yang, I don't get any squid puns, you got any INKling of some?" he says, towards the other member of the watch.  "Oh wait, that works as a painting pun too."
Yang Xiao Long	Yang's a punching machine, detonations of flame spraying from her fists as she punches Familiars left and right, helping to plow a pathway towards the obvious boss room... as the Witch explodes out of it. Yang winces at the runes. "What the hell was THAT!?" she demands, growling angrily.     Shaking her head, Yang purges her spent shells in a rain around her, then reloads with a flick of her wrists tossing a pair of fresh links of shells up into the air. She slams her arms into them and they wrap around, the feed mechanism cycling to lock them into place.     The Witch is trying to take her weapons? Well, she'll have to try harder, because they're built around her entire forearms! She feels the tugging on the gauntlets, and grins. It's an evil, malicious expression, one Touta's seen up close and personal. "YOU WANT 'EM!?" she bellows, firing behind her to launch herself toward the Witch, heedless as those multitude of hands, blades and claws rake across her body, scoring against her Aura and gouging slashes into her arms, legs and torso. "LEMME GIVE YOU 'EM FIRST CLASS!"     Midair, Yang explodes with an aura of force, and redirects down from over the Witch, bringing a wound-up haymaker down atop the cage. She fires a shell on impact, then tries to get footing and continue to pummel down against the Witch.
Muramasa	Muramasa continues cleaving through the familiars without issue. Even the flaming meteors have issues phasing him, as he often uses an air-cutting technique to repel the flaming meteors and searing heat between his high-speed, hit-and-run styled attacks against the various familiars assailing the group of Elites. Touta's advice is taken well into account as, even out of the anti-magic attack's range, he felt the danger it posed to him deep into his bones. What was the saying about knowing your own limitations? He couldn't say for sure what would happen to him if that attack was used on him, but it could be nothing good. Eventually, the group finds their way into a mausoleum. Recoiling briefly, Muramasa holds his cursed sword aloft as Mcdougal shows herself. The various clawed tentacles scratch and tear little cuts into him as he tries to repel them, ultimately holding himself steady long enough to make a long, flowing slash. It was a technique to form a wind blade, a razor sharp slice of air to render Touta some measure of assistance in retrieving his hoola-hoop. Addressing McDougal, even if she couldn't talk back, he felt the need to try. "This is your world, huh? No, rather, this is the world as you see it. I'm sorry." He means it, even as he .... begins sheathing his sword. Muramasa addresses the others as he begins to move back. "This is embarassing, but, could you all please protect me? It'll only be for a minute. Please trust in me to end this."
Tanya Degurechaff	Well, the artillery spell was at least useful. With the gap created in the enemy ranks, Tanya follows the party's exit at an altitude of just over Priscilla's head level. Not that she can SEE the half-dragon, it's just a habit she's taken to when the First is around to avoid running into invisible obstacles. She checks her pistol out of habit-- yes, it had ejected the spent cartridge just fine.     The building they're approaching reveals its true nature. And its occupant. The tiny blonde swings her legs forward again, free hand going to her temple, teeth bared, "--Ugh..!" Despite the surprise, when the creature tugs at her pistol, she grips the weapon with both hands to keep it in her own possession. Her voice hisses out between her teeth, "Well this puts those of us who rely on weapons at a disadvantage... Damn--"     A grabber going for her Luger gets her attention. The weapon is swung away, that tendril slapping into the barrier surrounding her. Tanya ignores the bruise that works its way through her defenses, simply ascending to make herself a harder target. When she finally targets, though, it's not the Witch that she opens fire on. Rather, Tanya's shifted to a Precision spell, fixating on arms of the Witch that menace SENGO MURAMASA. If he can end this quickly, she'll facilitate that as best she can.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur doesn't remember Homura being this way. But, also, he only dealt with Homura rarely, often when time travel was involved. In matters of Sgrub, of his first excursions into the Medium, in the Mizuki business, she was a persistent influence as a guardian of time more than a witch hunter. But even so, it's hard to imagine her being like this. "What, that shit like a COMFORT BLANKET? Always thought'cha had a little more OOMPH to ya, HOMIE." He stops, briefly, just outside the mausoleum. Homie. /Heh/.     He heads inside. He doesn't open fire immediately, waiting with a sort of boss-battle respect for the being. Arthur's not un-used to boss titles. This one is particularly aggressive -- in the UI of his life, it has smashed its way out of the window and all around the screen -- but it's something at least he understands. It's something he holds respect for. He waits until it's done, and leaves silence on his part for the enemy to say their piece. Then, of course, he swaps over to a shitty Xbox Live screecher.     "ALLLLLRIGHT, MCDOUGAL!" He calls out. "You want some GRAVE GOODS, I'mma put you in a GOOD GRAVE! GIMMIE THAT FUCKIN' SHIELD, YOU ABYSSAL BITCH! I'm 'boutta turn that HOARD into a GARAGE SALE, you ready for some goddamn HAGGLIIIIIIING?!" He blasts forward, rushing to strike! But soon, the tentacles zip by -- and one of them crashes into his body, slamming him back. A status effect appears over his HEALTH VIAL as he loses a chunk from it! A large no sign over a broom! This damn thing is disabling his BROOMKIND ABSTRATUS, and has stolen his BATTLEBROOM!     He slams into one of the far walls with a meaty crunch, gritting his teeth. "Fuck! HEY! GIMMIE THAT BACK!" He can't fight without it! Not in front of everyone here, anyway. He pulls himself out of the oil-painted walls, rises. He'd like to get everything re-armed, himself included. So he slams both hands together, builds up a heavy charge of starlight, and blasts out a swirling stream of magic! He's specifically trying to make sure Spring Breeze has some cover. And that /he/ has some cover to launch a GATE near her, one that she can bring any stolen gear back through quickly! Sengo Murasame, though Arthur may not know them by that name, has plenty of protection so far, so Arthur can afford to split his own attention off right? Especialyl if Arthur can't protect him at full power right now!
Runa	Runa was in the middle of flinging holy spells at stick figures when she hears the mausoleum they're heading to break apart. So she doesn't get a chance to look at the cause yet. However, the sudden cry in her mind causes the Priestess to falter, clutching her head at the pain. The sudden view of the strange runes cause Runa confusion, though the powerful feeling coming from behind her suggests a likely source.     Runa slowly turns to face the wicked creature, neck craning upwards as she looks across its odd body. The sudden assault of tentacles rushing past her is too much for her to handle, some of them smashing into her and sending her flying.     Runa slowly picks herself up, reaching for the book that she had dropped. But oddly, she seems to have trouble picking it up. Her face scrunching up in some confusion, she tries again. This time successful, she rises to full standing and opens the large tome.     The runes etched into the pages of the book glow as Runa calls out, "O Lords above, seek us out in this twisted world and grant unto these brave warriors the power to drive back the darkness. Magnificat!"     The air above Runa lights up as a small section of this strange reality is granted normalcy. The power called forth from the Priestess's own world manifests, a large transluscent figure of angelic design appearing above her. The being spreads its large wings out over the battlefield, feathers of light beginning to fall from them. As the touch upon the fighting elites, they'll find their own sources of energy-whether it be their physical stamina, magical power or even generators powering beam weapons-supercharged, allowing them to fight harder and faster.
Priscilla	As odd as it still seems to call that thing a shield, from what of Priscilla's distant familiarity with it remains, those four words are immediate cause for deep concern. Not just for the girl stuck without it, but for what heinous catastrophes are now waiting in the wings for that thing being fiddled with by a Witch, even by accident. There's not really a lot of time to spare to stand around and be dramatically ominous about it, but it is certainly the first thing Priscilla stops to identify about the Witch when it forces itself on screen and proclaims its identity with that horrid penchant for the psychically theatrical.     "A witch that hoards treasures and guards them with the dead." she intones, flat and level, from out of nowhere. "Straightforward, even from what we hath seen before, but further raising the question of why it wouldst target men of little means. A crypt is not a hard thing to create, but for a rich one, more than the scant wealth carried in the pockets of those fled to a shelter is needed."     There's exactly enough dead air to imagine an invisible look of disbelief going towards Muramasa. "I didst tell thee before. Thine breath is wasted on this absurdity." When the Witch starts trying to snag weapons though, her attention is pulled right back. She worked really hard to vindictively get this sword out of her dick-ass crazy dragon dad's soul.     Because they're dealing with a GIANT BOSS, and also partly to keep some of the bulk of the hands and snatching claws off everyone else, Priscilla both toggles off her invisibility and ceases maintaining her polite 'very tall human' size, reappearing as a near-20 foot tall mythical god-stature person within extended melee range of the central cage. Both hands on Moonlight, she draws the blade back to level its point with the heart of the tower of treasure, and motes of clinking, chiming, dancing blue light gather about the blade, becoming a dense, glowing miasma of rippling light and shadow. She then plunges it in with a full body forward thrust, the moonlit haze becoming a whirling vortex of magic that makes the piercing stab many times more destructive, and then explodes inward on its own, like a magic shaped charge, as deep into the treasure core as she can manage.
Touta Konoe	Touta's magic appears to be effective. Like...REAL EFFECTIVE. The moment his attack attack makes contact with the entities everything within this Witch's world seems to just...Distort? That was the best way to put it. It gives everyone enough time to reach the mausoleum which is a good thing and now that he knows that his Magic Cancel seems to be pretty an effective skill for this kind of Witch. Perhaps a little too effective?      The runes appear, and tentacles propel out like weeds from out ofthe cage. Hundreds upon hundred all aiming for Touta?      "I think I might have pissed it- Crap! Hey, back off!"      It had definitely singled out Touta as it began latching onto Touta, or better put it was latching onto his stuff. His Hoop, his sword, his two main weapons of choice! How rude... What was even worse though was that without his hoop spinning he wasn't able to separate the two magics in his body, and that just basically meant no magical negation nonsense. There's not much he can do about the hoop, but at least with his blade if he's not going to be able to use it, neither can they!      "500,000 FOLD!"      The blade's weight magnifies and likely any hand trying to pull it out will likely find it a bit difficult to do as such. Unless magnified weight is a construct of strength to which these magical hands don't care about...DETAILS! Who needs them?      Thankfully, Shimosa's assistance gives Touta some leeway. Hearing Muramasa's request he intends to act inorder to he nods. "You got it! I've got your back, Shimosa! This withc isn't the only one who can snag things!"      And he was going to prove that point. Touta goes back into the same stance as before, his right hand reeled back and his left hand at his side with an open palm. Before he had used negation magic, but it was clear that he couldn't negate all those hands at once, or at the least he wasn't sure that he could. So instead of trying to create a magical attack that could blow them away, he instead would take the full brunt of this Witch's magic, and make it his own!      The hands that would come at him from all different angles. The ground below him would crumble below him, and he would extend out his left palm outwards. In the next moment, all those claws were sucked into the boy's palm as if he was a vacuum cleaner. They'd spiral from all directions onto that singular suction point and then he would be uttering his own little spell.      "COMPLEXIO!!!"      It'd be at this moment Touta's appearence would change. Not much but enough to tell something had occurred. A flaming halo similar to the one used by the witch began to spin atop his head. Masses of red and blue tentacles similar to the ones used by McDougal protruded from his back, the only difference being the claws given off a more demonic claw like appearence completely covered in black.      "Magia Erebea: Mortsafe of Heaven, Great Vigor."      And without another words, Hundreds of tentacles similar to the ones used by the witch expand out attempting to hold off all any and all of the claws that would come Shimosa's way as he prepared his attack.
Homura Akemi	Spring Breeze heads for the treasure. This would probably be a ridiculous endeavor to consider for most people when they take into consideration that the treasure is inside the Witch's body, but it's easier for Breeze than others at the moment, owing to not being especially... visible. She's not radiating power or magic, for starters. And so begins the task of climbing the Witch, as it moves and fights no less! The bars of the mortsafe are large enough to squeeze through, but once inside, Spring Breeze has to deal with the contents of the Witch just... shuffling around. A lot. Heavy metallic baubles, vases, sharp weapons, just thrashing about wildly. The shield's within reach, if she can just avoid dying! "O-Okay," Homura manages at Staren and 17, examing the fancy rifle. Did she just get pressured into attending some kind of bootcamp? She does seem to kind of know how to hold the rifle at least, but even without recoil it's obvious when she shoots alongside Staren that she doesn't have experience firing guns. Or if she does, it's not a lot. His shots (and 17's, by the same token, being energy too) are finding their mark much more easily, and to more effect, scorching the helmet atop the Witch and cutting off tentacles where energy catches them. She doesn't manage to introduce herself while trying to focus on aiming. Yang's massive blow grounds the Witch immediatly, the helmet cracking under the pressure. It flails wildly (especially bad for Breeze!) in response. Muramasa is mostly clear, owing to Tanya's efforts in keeping hands from reaching him. It helps, too, when Arthur unleashes another blast of light in vengeance for the theft of his broom, which stills the Witch and its grabby-arms for a moment. The portal will make it a lot easier to snap that shield up, too! Runa makes things better for everyone all around. That's never bad. Priscilla, then, decides to turn huge and stab the Witch in the treasure. There's a sound like a heart beating, and coins, gems and jewelry gush out of the cage, unwounded, as if it were bleeding. The entire cage contracts and then expands a few times, beating like a heart, pulsing in what is obviously pain. This makes it MUCH easier for Breeze to finally snag the shield, and safely to boot. As long as she doesn't accidently eat Priscilla's sword in the face and all that. While the Witch is down, Touta eats chunks of it. His own tentacles shred at its vulnerable body, shattering the helmet wholesale, revealing the squishy head of the jellyfish underneath, like a sickly, deformed heart, dark red and blue. It's on its last leg already. It can't even retaliate. But Touta gets a sudden surge of... something. It's absolutely awful. Maybe eating a Witch wasn't a good idea. It's like he's suddenly someone else, for just a brief few moments. A victim, maybe? That's not a wrong way to look at it.
Homura Akemi	------------ "Karin. Where were you last night?" "I was out, I had stuff to do! I'm sorry. Tell grandma I'll visit her tonight instead, promise." "Karin, please sit down." "Huh? What's the big deal? I go out at night all the time." "It's your grandmother." "Grandma?" "She passed away last night." ------------ "STUPID! WORTHLESS! WITCHES! Look what you did!" A scythe plunges into a Witch. "Now I'll never...!" Hacks, and hacks, and hacks. The Barrier disappears along with it. Karin crushes the Grief Seed in frustration. "Please calm down, Misono Karin," :3 "You! You can shut it, too! It wasn't supposed to be..." "I don't understand why you're angry at me at all," :3 "Because it's your fault! All this time I could have been..." "I didn't force you to do anything, Misono Karin. You chose to become a hero and to go out every night. If you didn't use your magic to help people everyday, you wouldn't need to hunt as often," :3 "SHUT UP!" ------------ "Geez... I really let my guard down, huh... used up all my magic on the last one, and I'm out of Grief Seeds too... I guess this is fine. Hold on, grandma..." ------------
Spring Breeze	Rather than risking the wrath of this entity that hurts her brain to look at and that she is trying very hard not to examine too closely or try to analyze in what way it qualifies as a 'witch', Breeze just tries to get as close as is reasonable to the shield without taking any action that could draw attention (she hopes. Climbing the witch would ordinarily be something she'd consider as attention-getting if she didn't have allies all around kicking its butt), and then pauses for breath, her body screaming at her, as she hangs onto the 'bars'. There! The buckler is in sight! Now how to get to it? She could slip through and try to retrieve it from among the contents of the witch's body, but in her current condition she's not confident she could make it back out. Especially while everyone is shooting or stabbing or crane gaming it. She doesn't want to compromise their ability to fight by being in the line of fire.     So starts gesturing towards herself with large, sweeping motions of her free hand. She grits her teeth through the protesting of her joints while she does so, but steadily air circulates in accordance with her power, curling inwards around Homura's shield (and other baubles and items of wealth she really doesn't want to grab hold of but may be lighter than her target).     It's a bit heavier than most things she manipulates, so she has to concentrate hard on it, pushing from the opposite direction rather than actually pulling or vacuuming it. She doesn't have that kind of control yet. But steadily, steadily, she draws the shield towards her, helped along by the lurching of the Witch herself (itself? She's not really clear on that point), building up enough momentum in the air currents and the buckler that she can hopefully snatch it up when it rolls towards her. She reaches, grasping as it wheels towards her... And then the bars open up suddenly. She's surprised, but takes advantage of the opportunity to grab her goal.     Now to get down--     The witch collapses, and hurls Breeze off of itself in the process, and back towards the others. Unless caught, she'll probably land painfully, with more aches and bruises for her trouble. But the shield is clutched tightly in her hand.
Muramasa	The sword was held tight as Muramasa opened his mouth. He stood perfectly still, and yet -- there was a disturbance. Touta's anti-magic attack earlier had 'bothered' the Witch's World, so to speak. In a way, this was similar. This was the Witch's World. And so, by speaking these words, a shudder ran through it. "Once Seeking For The Ultimate Blade." Inside its sheath, the sword begins to undergo a 'chance'. He was going to use his sword as a medium for his Noble Phantasm. It was just a sword, a Muramasa blade. It was an excellent sword, at the level of a divine construct, it could be considered a Noble Phantasm itself in some ways. Many swords he'd made when he had been alive were like that. But that is not his 'true' Noble Phantasm. Rather ... "A Blade Of Steel That Cuts No Flesh"    "Nor Bones"     "And Neither Life"    "What I Seek Is To Clear Resentment"         "To Cut Bonds And Destiny"         "To Sever Karma."
Muramasa	Deep within himself, he felt the hammer striking hot metal. His magical circuits were already burning hot, even before he was supplied with more energy by Runa. Chanting everything out like this was more than anything, he supposed, a sign of inadequecy. He required the chant in its entirety, right now, to hypnotise himself. To put his mind the correct state to perform his technique. "Upon One's Arrival Are Countless Tools"    "Carved Over A Thousand Blades"             Forming A Pile Of Swords" Muramasa closes his eyes, breathing in deeply as he could feel the second imaginary strike of the hammer.         "This Is Where All Paths Cross."         "This Is Where All Desires Flow."         "This Is Where All Death Waits.         "My Whole Life Was For This Swing." The third strike of the imaginary hammer. Muramasa draws his sword, which had become so hot it shone a reddish yellow. Almost a golden hue, the ideal state of a perfectly made sword just as it was forged. It was accompanied by deep, crimson flame -- or, is that wind? It's hard to tell. A scalding vapor, perhaps. "The Heart Of The Sword!" Discarding the sheath to hold his sword aloft with both hands, Muramasa waits for an opening to ensure that none of his allies would be in the way of his cut. It should be clear to everyone when they should move, at least. Finally, the blade falls.             "TSUMUGARI MURAMASA!!" A gouge outlined with blue light cuts the mausoleum in two. The whole battlefield is turned into something of a gorge .... no. That's not it at all. The sword slash was powerful, yes, enough to dig out this massive trench. Maybe to even cut that Witch clean in half. But that is not the purpose of the Noble Phantasm, rather ... The Witch's World itself is the target. His Noble Phantasm was Truth. Even if only a fraction, even if it were only a brief instant. As such, false realities like this would be destroyed when exposed to it. That is the nature of his true Noble Phantasm. Within his cut was the 'real world' and, Muramasa could only assume that it would not take long for this place to collapse into it.
Staren	Staren assumed that since Homura was trying to use guns, she'd at least practiced at this point in time, but seeing her struggle with the seeker rifle, it's soon clear she hasn't. Dammit. At least it should be /pretty/ hard for her to mess up point and shoot... right?     While the Witch is focused on grabbing weapons more than hurting him, Staren takes the opportunity to focus on his aim and just get in lots of hits.     And then TOUTA TURNS INTO A MONSTER SINCE WHEN CAN HE DO THAT? It's good to see it before it gets used on HIM, though.     And then it's down. Staren hesitates. He kind of wants to see what Sengo is going to try to do... Staren half expects the attack to cause some weird metaphysical interaction and unmake the witch outright.     Instead, it unmakes the witch's barrier.     Huh. That's neat.     If it didn't kill the Witch, though, Staren resumes shooting.
Android 17	The witch is unable to fight back, it looks like things are about to end.  However, out of the top of his vision, he notices Spring start flying away.  He nods, okay someone got that shield.  That's good! 'Wait, can she fly?' Seventeen asks himself looking up as she seems to be traveling uncontrolled.  Huh.  "Hold on a moment, Mystery Girl," He says towards Homura.  There is a flicker of motion, and Seventeen is just GONE.  Moving so fast he simply seems to appear right next to Spring.   He moves to catch her falling body, and with that same flicker of motion aims to land her right on the ground, aiming to allow her to stand on their own feet if they can/want to.   "Nice grab!" he says towards Spring, though his hands are far too occupied to give a thumbs up.  He focuses on the shield, keeping those around him protected from any potential retaliation, but it doesn't seem like it's needed.   Still, like Priscilla said earlier...they didn't get here because they were TOO careless.
Tanya Degurechaff	With a grim expression, Tany alifts her pistol up and away in the moments that Shimosa Saber unleashes what she assumes is his Noble Phantasm. A Japanese-sounding weapon or technique which befits the Japanese word he'd chosen to identify himself. Well that seals the country of his origin. Whether his actual identity becomes something she'll need to figure out or not remains to be seen.     This Servant is, after all, not of the Concord. And in her book, that means there's only so far she's willing to extend her trust.     But the monster appears to be down. Someone's already retrieving weapons from it. The little blonde lowers her own weapon, ejecting the magazine and checking it. Two rounds left. With a little frown, she slides the magazine back in and shifts her aim from protecting Shimosa Saber to the Witch's 'carcass'.     No sooner has Spring Breeze tumbled off the thing, it's riddled with explosions, as Tanya expends her last two rounds as Artillery spells.
Touta Konoe	At first everything seems fine with the transformation. What is absorbed ends up integrated into his soul just like how Magia Erebea has always done it. His transformation is without an issue. All he needs to do is keep Revolution going by spinning those hoops and there'll be no issues. Shimosa was already preparing his Noble Phantasm's chant. It'd all be over soon.      So why was he in so much pain? Why was he hearing things he didn't remember? Why was he feeling things that weren't his own? Karin? Who was Karin? What did she have to do with this? What was going on? This...Wasn't usually.      Unfortunately, this pain wasn't just internal. Something was clearly affecting Touta, something that was making him unstable.      "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"      He let out a scream of so much agony that seemed out of place for those who knew the boy to be able to heal so easily. What could cause such an agonizing wail? Whatever it was, his body reacts. The hundreds of tentacles upon his back flail about, they swing and crash into one another. They slam against the ground and at some of the remaining constructs. They trail across the ground. Some hands act even stranger. Some join together in pairs of two as if putting hands together in a prayer. Some reach out towards the sky as if looking for salvation. Some almost look like they're reaching out towards the Elites like a creature in agony...      But before anyone can make sort of inferences on them, they shrivel up like weeds. Touta can be seen fallen to his knees, clutching his chest. The hoop maintaining his ability no longer spinning making it impossible for him to maintain that peculiar form. It should be a relief for Touta to not have that burden any longer. It was only for a few moments but whatever that was, was truly Hell. Or he thought it was...As his eyes look upon the witch, upon the unmasked face of the jelly-fish Witch...Except...In his mind he's not seeing a Jellyfish. He sees a girl. A girl no older than him.      His eyes go wide in terror as he screams out one more time.         "SABER NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"                Tsumugari Muramasa...
Runa	The Witch appears to be in the final stretches of its life. If it truly is a person, then they must destroy this manifestation of evil if they have any hope of saving her. The world splits, Touta partially transforming into an abomination (that gets a concerned look from Runa), the others continue their assault against it. And Runa continues to support them.     Raising her hand once more towards the Witch, Runa calls out, "Lex Aeterna!"     Another being of light appears. This one appears above the With, more heavily armored and wielding a large sword. It swings the sword around, before stabbing it down into the Witch's monstrous form. Several more swords manifest in the air around it, stabbing down into the dark creature of their own accord. The blades do no actual damage themselves though, instead amplifying the damage the others are inflicting for a short time.
Priscilla	With what looks to be that choice, fatal blow that Priscilla favours so much, swiftly dealt, the crossbreed wrenches free her huge, glowing sword, and skips back out of range again, covering a pretty enormous amount of ground when scaled up without slowing down. Moonlight still crackling with sorcerous, psychoreactive energies, she stands by in a low, loose, but attentive guard, eyes on the creature, waiting for its next move while letting it 'bleed out', widening the gap between her stamina and that of her enemy.     So badly crippled as it is though, it seems that it can't move to prevent the shield from being recovered, nor to intterupt whatever the Saber is doing, which is fine by her. An outswept arm sends the frost of the Painted World rushing forward across the floor of the almost equally painted sub-reality, adding a wave of skewering ice spikes to the generalized barrage, stabbing through the holes in the cage and freezing together to hook it in place.     Touta exploding for having copied its powers grabs her attention very sharply after that, but by the time she looks back to him, his new additions have already shriveled and burnt away into nothing, and so there seems nothing to be done. She simply moves to cut in the path that 17 is taking once he goes past, blocking him out along with Homura and Staren from the Witch's direct line of effect.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur notes a dangerous collapse, and maneuvers as fast as he can to get into advantageous position about it. He rushes up, arcing above, and then down. Runa's boost of his ASPECT bar is quite conspicuous and visible. While it /helps/ to have his weapon in dealing damage, he can make due. While this thing is down he can move in, pulling deep from Runa's boosts, and grab at his broom! If Spring Breeze isn't gonna grab it, he will! He leaps in, and all he needs to do is get a hand on it to start spinning it up...     If it's down, he can attack! The blender spins hard, trying to churn through the armor, and he starts moving for the head of the beast! He rushes with his broom... But Touta's screaming. Someone's attack is over-the-top. "Wh-- TOUTA?!" He holds back from striking! What Sengo is doing here is something Touta's screaming to stop. He rushes back to him, leaping off and letting the others focus their attacks, because he can't strike out if striking out is going to be the source of that sort of anguish.     "Touta?! T, talk to me here. You okay?" He actually rushes to Touta's side! "You eat something in the mind here, T? Focus, you're the kinda dude who handles this shit. We got lives on the stakes! Deep breaths, think it through fast and calm, and do what you gotta!" He's not even asking for an explanation, he's just focused on encouraging the guy's mind to settle into a better place and to focus his actions on what needs doing according to whatever he knows, or even on standing aside if he needs to.
Homura Akemi	You never know, the Witch might have taken the shield with it. Or worse, it might have been destroyed in the ensuing chaos of everyone wailing on the thing. So in that sense, nothing Breeze did is a waste. It's better to be safe than sorry in a situation like this.     The Witch is Slashed, and it'd be hard to say why what happens next happens. Calling this a fake reality might not be the right way to look at it, when one knows all the facts, too. But it's not... wrong, either.     With a sharp rumble of pain, like the sound of two rusted doors scraping against one another, the Witch wails on the ground. It explodes numerous times as Tanya unloads the rest of her ammo into it, all the while Touta's hands flail wildly, crushing Familiers and ripping the Witch to shreds even without meaning to.     An angel of light appears and hacks the Witch clean in two, additional holy blades rending it. Ice joins the mess, the Witch frosting over as icicles pierce it and pin it to the ground.     Arthur then blends it. Well, what's left of it. Oil and gold spills everywhere, and the Witch's Barrier, finally, wobbles out of existence entirely like an illusion brought on by a heat haze.     Leaving everyone in the homeless shelter, just as it was before. With one extra detail: where Arthur had originally found the rift, a black orb inside a silver cage hits the ground and rolls slowly, a black needle under it, and another thorn at the top, with two stars side by side for an emblem.     Homura vaguely motions towards it. "Ah, u-um, I'm... I'm going to... need that, please." Her shield too, come to think of it. That'd be nice.     She still hadn't found the right words to even answer Arthur.
Muramasa	The inner world vanishes, collapsing in on itself. Everyone finds themselves in the 'real' world once again. Muramasa looks down, the blade of his sword had already disappeared. The hilt was crumbling to dust in his hands. He could only make a mirthful noise as he clenched his fists, crushing the remains in his palms. Holding his hands out, the lifeless remains of his sword are blown away by the wind. Sharing a somber conversation with Touta, he looks back to the rest of the group. He didn't really have the whole story about these 'witches' or anything like that, but this encounter had left him with a rather sour taste in his mouth, and not just because he revealed his Noble Phantasm. "You need that orb, huh, little missy? ... Well, take really good care of it, okay?" Muramasa tries to take his leave abruptly at that. Truthfully, he was exhausted. Even with the extra energy given to him, using Tsumugari Muramasa drained him completely.     "Goodbye, everyone. This old man has a lot to think about."
Spring Breeze	Breeze is caught and is back on the ground again pretty quickly even though she's pretty sure she was in the air moments before. The witch seems to be dead or dying, allies are freaking out, others are unloading on it, and she isn't really sure what's going on. Just being rescued from a fall was painful given her physical state. So she is taking a moment to fight off the disorientation that comes with the pain and stay out of any further conflict after thanking 17 for the rescue.     Once the witch has finally fallen and they are all back in the warehouse, Breeze responds promptly to Homura mentioning wanting something back, and assuming it's the shield she's asking for. So she holds it out carefully. "So, uh. Hi. Others here seem to know who you are, but this is our first time meeting. You can call me Spring Breeze, or just 'Breeze' for short." She pauses and then says, "I hope it's not broken."     Now to go check on those civilians and make sure they get to the hospital promptly.
Staren	Witches and Magical Girls are connected somehow, aren't they. More memories start coming back, as people discuss the idea that the Witch was once a person.     It all started when a little black cat got hit by a car. So then a little white cat came along and offered the innocent pure maiden a wish. And then she became a magical girl...     They're back in the shelter, and the Witch dropped an item. Staren looks at it, then at Homura. "Why? What is it?" There's so much he never learned or forgot.     "And... how long have you been a magical girl?"
Android 17	Seventeen returns Breeze's thanks with a small wave, "Nah, no problem," he says casually.  He watches people hand over the witch core-thing and the shield back to Homura.  Well, things turned out alright, so that's a positive.   Seventeen turns around to see if Touta is alright, helping up or whatever he needs.  "If you want, I can walk ya home to make sure you make it?" Course he might just be wanting to impose on his hospitality and free food again, course he is genuinely concerned for the lad. Towards Homura he speaks, "Soooooo...we're gonna need to work on your form if you're gonna keep doing this very dangerous job.  Your running form was all wrong, and while I'm not an expert with a gun, I've fired one a few times."
Arthur Lowell	Arthur is busy helping Touta up. Whatever happened here, he doesn't entirely understand, but the anguish and pain? That gets to him. He tries to get him on his feet, and make sure everything's okay. Then he's gonna go see what's up with Meguca, possibly bringing Touta along if he's up for it.     "Hey TH, what's haps?" He says, tilting his head. "You try taking a bite out of tall dark and greedy too, or what? You look absolutely fucked up on stress, homie. Usually you were high-strung like a violin on an airplane. You gonna be alright after a bit?" He snatches up the weird little orb, and brings it on over to Homura. While he does, he immediately assaults her hand with an impossibly fast and varied series of daps, pounds, bumps, low-fives, finger-wiggles, wrist maneuvers, elbow-twists, and other coolkid-handshake gestures, before leaving the little thing in her hand in a way that makes it hard to figure out when she actually grabbed it.     His UI identifies it as something to put in his GRIST CACHE. It is wrong.
Runa	The world is once more altered, this time in the form of the strange oil panting vniashing in a haze to be replaced by the shelter that had formerly entered. Maybe it was all just a dream?     Probably not.     Runa is confused by the sequence of events, having experienced very few similar situations in the past. And while the confusion is evident on her face, she doesn't let it sway her from her duty.     If that dark creature really was once a person, someone who was not returned with the creature's destruction... Then it is likely that that person no longer lives. Unfortunately there isn't much Runa can do without their remains. Except.     Runa clasps her hands in front of her, quietly saying, "May the gods show mercy and grant the lost soul the peace they could not find in their end days."     That done, Runa is quite curious about Homura, considering where they found her and the state she was in when they did. However, her curiosity must wait as she focuses on checking on the unconscious people. Making sure that they will survive until proper help arrives.
Tanya Degurechaff	Reality asserts itself. Tanya lifts her sidearm, the last vestigages of smoke spilling from the muzzle. The magazine is ejected, tucked inside her jacket, and she rummages a little. A fresh magazine is produced, slid in-- and then the piece is slipped back into its holster and snapped into place, safety on.     "You fly with force of will and punch things while shooting lasers from your hands," Tanya comments to 17, floating down at last to the shelter floor. The hum of her flight unit fades in turn with the light on the boot. A moment later, the gold in her eyes fades back to the vibrant blue she had before this all went awry, "If someone's going to teach this girl how to shoot, shouldn't it be a career soldier, old man?"     She glances sidelong when Sengo makes his exit, but doesn't stop him. It seems that calling 17 old reminded her of the Saber class, and she's just checking on him. Her attention returns to the Android promptly, then to the magical girl he's addressing. Out of habit, she clicks her heels together, "Major Tanya von Degurechaff, Imperial Army Mage Corps, 212th Aerial Mage Battalion. Hand of the Concord, Official Concord-Empire Liason."
Android 17	Seventeen laughs at Tanya calling him old man, seemingly taking it in stride.  "It's a bit more complicated than that, little girl, but sure we'll go with that.  Also, career soldier?  Shouldn't you be in school?" he says in return, with the same good nature. "Japes aside, the shooting part is probably in your wheelhouse more than my own," he comments, though looks...blankly when she introduces herself all professional like.  "Huh.  You weren't kidding about that military thing huh."
Homura Akemi	"Akemi Homura," she answers Breeze, having not yet learned the basic principle of DON'T TELL PEOPLE YOUR NAME WHEN YOU SUPERHERO. She takes the shield and places it back onto her arm, to rest over the gem on her hand. "Thanks."     If she had any chance to stabilize, this chance is destroyed when Arthur performs some hand witchery she can't keep up with and meekly responds to with... actually, not even a handshake. Now she's afraid she'll look even lamer for offering after missing the obvious chance.     "I don't... know what you're talking about, sorry," she manages, gripping her left arm with her right hand like she feels the pressing need to claw her skin off.     17 puts her on the spot. So does Staren. And then it becomes a bit more obvious when she answers. "A month... and a few days..." But who's counting, really? SHE IS. 47 days 22 hours. It's important, okay? For her. For reasons.     "And that's a Grief Seed," she tries to explain. "Magical girls use them to... replenish our powers," she settles on, after hesitating on how much to say and erring on the side of safety.     Tanya is a real military officer and immediatly makes Homura freeze in place. "I'm nobody, s-sir. Ma'am. It's ma'am, right?" Probably.
Priscilla	The second Barrier reality she's seen wobble away and dissolve around her like a hologram, Priscilla exhales, puts Moonlight away so that it stops shedding little dancing particles everywhere, and then puts on her 'normal' (the opposite, technically) size again, so she fits in a shelter.     Turning to Homura, she does her level beast to talk slowly, quietly, and calmly, which is of course kind of the default anyways. "Well met. Thou art a lady Akemi, yes?" She's just answered right away though. "Worry not. I am vaguely familiar with thee, thine ilk, and thine duties." The word 'duties' is selected very lightly and somewhat stiffly, as it a euphemism. "I assumeth that it was thee who littered such beacons about the city. Thou were expecting more than thou were able to handle, yes? How is it that thou came across so many of these? And if thou art still so inexperienced . . ."     "Hast thou no friends to cooperate with? Art thou truly attempting to defend this city all alone?"
Homura Akemi	"Y... yes, I'm sorry, I put them down before I start that way if something happens to me... and if nothing does, I can turn them off before anyone shows up," she answers Priscilla, trying to ignore the fact Priscilla was, moments ago, a giant.     "There's other magical girls, but... we don't always get along. And Grief Seeds can't be used by two people, s-so..." Limited resources creates starvation creates rivalry. Basic stuff.     "P-Plus, I need them to do... something else. Others probably wouldn't agree to waste their energy on something like that."     A lootless hunt is always a bad deal for any experienced magical girl. But it's what she chose to do. She can't back down.     "I-If you want to see, I can... I can show you, after we rest a bit." Meaning, not today.
Staren	Staren steps away from Seventeen when he emphasizes Tanya's age.     "Subjectively?" Staren quirks an eyebrow at Homura's answer. Hmm. Grief seeds replenish powers. Interesting. But seemingly unsustainable. Homura must've figured out a workaround, she's smart. Or she will be. Was. Will be. Anyway.     Staren takes off his helmet. "I'm Staren Wiremu. Also a Hand of the Concord." He extends a hand to shake. Whether she takes it or not, he tilts his head to the side.     "...It's not fair not to tell you, I think. How do I put this... well, it's easier since you're a time traveler, I guess. We met future you in the past." He smiles what he hopes is reassuringly. "She's... she /will/ be a real badass hero. You will be, I mean. Not that that means you can take it easy and assume your death is impossible. I'm pretty sure either you or Vruasa told me it doesn't work that way."     Staren taps his chin. "I think Vruasa said if someone tries something like that a time traveler will show up and beat them up for messing with the timeline."     Of course, maybe she's a parallel Homura from a different timeline (time helix?) completely, but he feels like this situation is already weird enough and if she's already familiar with time travel it's better to stick with the simple explanation. 'Simple' 'explanation'.
Runa	The unconscious people in the shelter have been seen to and will live another homeless day. Thus Runa joins the gathering around poor Homura. Although she doesn't wan't to add to the girl's already mountainous stack of issues she's obviously dealing with, Runa is concerned for her well being.     So rather than heap another heavy question on Homura, Runa simply gives her a friendly smile and asks, "Are you injured anywhere? Do you require healing?"
Android 17	Seventeen frowns at this a bit, this seems...needlessly survival of the fittest, and uh...he is really concerned about the girl's ability to survive.  Of course, this causes him to think.  If he helps her...then if she outcompetes the other girls then... No no, let's not treat it like that, these are people after all.  He kinda turns his head towards Staren and stares at him for a moment.   "You really shouldn't have said that," he comments, "I mean, knowing about your future never ends well."
Tanya Degurechaff	When 17 starts talking down to Tanya, the murderous intent eminating from her becomes palpable. She reaches back, unzipping a side pocket of her backpack-- but then he backpedals as a result of her litany of titles. The serious aura remains firmly in place, and she clutches the plunger grenade she'd wrapped her fingers around for a moment longer, before releasing it and drawing her hand back out, empty.     "Yes. I am in plainclothes so I don't stand out in a new contemporary Japanese world." She resists the urge to barb that response, as well, "Would I claim to be a Hand of the Concord with the First present if I was not?"     She returns her gaze to Homura, "You're a civilian, so 'Tanya' will do. But the offer stands. If you don't learn how to fire a weapon, you're more likely to hurt yourself than your enemy. That goes doubly for explosives and grenades. Consider it, if nothing else."
Homura Akemi	"I'm not... I'm not a time traveller," Homura argues, although she takes a moment to consider it. "... am I?" IS she? What she does doesn't really... no, there's no way that's the right word.     "N-No, if I was, it'd be... it'd have been better, maybe... I could have... fixed..." She'd always avoided looking in that direction. Never wanted to look at her alternates. Still doesn't.     "I'm... nothing like her, then... sorry."     Staren may not be great at reading people but surely even he can tell Homura's comfort levels are at -11/10.     To Runa, she shakes her head. "I'm fine. I don't want to be a burden. S-Sorry." She adjusts her glasses and rubs her nose, because it's still hurting from smacking a submachinegun in her own face.     She learned a way worse lesson first time she shot a shotgun, don't worry. That one sucked.     17 kind of expresses what she was thinking there, in much better words than she could have. As if she needed the pressure of measuring up to /herself/ when she can't even measure up to anyone else.     "I-I'll think about it. Thank you..." she says to Tanya and 17. She'll work out the courage to follow up on that eventually! Maybe soon if she gets pushed enough, even.
Arthur Lowell	Arthur examines Homura intensely, as if he's going to solve a puzzle written on her. He stays relatively quiet. He contemplates things. He looks for the most part like he's actually /putting thought/ into something. It's not often he does that. A little loading bar actually forms over his head, fills up, and when it hits the end, he snaps.     "NEW GAME PLUS." He declares.     "Alright, Homu-slice, I dunno what the fuck is up around here where you come from, but I know for sure you ain't hitting that potential. For real, dawg. I dunno what this shit is all about like, witches and magical girls and griefing each other or whatever, or even badass heroism or whatever, but I do know!" He declares, grabbing Homura's shoulder. "That you had a fuckton of friends, and some real good positive shit figured out in your life! You were crazy high-strung but I knew you had some shit sorted properly! So, whatever's going on about witches or whatever, I'mma get you sorted out for that shit!"     There's a subtle offer. Arthur takes it up hard. "So! You're gonna show us something cool! I bet everyone's gonna /love/ it/ Let's get a day figured out! Week from now is the anniversary of me meetin' you! Let's do it then. And we'll invite some people! So they can all see your stuff, and I can too."
Android 17	"Fair enough," he comments towards Tanya, "Hope it turns out better for you than it did for me." He says, as a chaser to that statement, with absolutely no context. Towards Arthur, he blinks at again, "Maybe...not compare her towards the other version of herself?  I mean, I'd get kinda upset if you compared me to a murderer." Oh yeah, he knew about his alternative self.  Screw that guy. "Well, do more than think on it, okay?  It sounds like things are kinda rough here.  Gotta do more than just survive, right?  Gota thrive and be happy," He comments towards Homura.
Staren	Staren straightens up and looks back at Seventeen. "If it was me I wouldn't want everyone dancing around the truth being all Mysterious about how they know stuff."     Staren blinks at her response.     And then she says 'I could have... fixed...' and his face pales and he steps back in horrified realization of what the girl in front of him has lost and is never getting back.     Adult perspective catches up to him in a moment, though. She knew Madoka for what, a few weeks? People... people move on.     it takes another awkward moment for him to find a new context for the situation. Eventually he settles into Default Staren.     "...I see." He solemnly bows his head. "I'm sorry for your loss." Then he looks her in the eyes. "But you haven't given in to despair. You're still fighting. Bringing us here saved those people today. What do you fight for, Akemi Homura?"     He realizes he's getting kind of intense, breaks eye contact, and smiles what he hopes is reassuringly. "What future are you working to build? Perhaps we can help."
Touta Konoe	Touta takes up Art's offer to bring him over to Meguca and the rest. Truthfully, he's more exhausted than he'd like to admit, but at the very least he seems to be walking well enough. Upon finally getting up close and personal he can get a proper look at this Homura. It takes them a moment to realize what's going on with this girl and as he looks at her he realizes something.      She was just like Evangeline. Someone who had a copy of themself somewhere else in the Multiverse, or at the very least at some point had one. But rather than tell her that's the case he just tries to greet her like he would anyone else.      "Phew, that was definitely crazy, huh? Guess I should introduce myself too. Name's Touta Konoe. Nice meeting ya." There's alot he wants to ask now that he's seen what's happened. Did she know that Karin girl, did she know what that white thing was? What were witches actually? Did she know what he just saw? There was a lot to unwrap, but maybe this just wasn't the place. So he'll just say one more thing.      "Next week coming up? Sorry Art, I gotta help someone move in back home. But if you guys need anything from me, let me know. Also...Uhm...I hope you put that thing to good use." As he says that he looks towards the Grief Seed. His eyes going solemn if only for a moment.
Homura Akemi	"O-Okay... sure..." Homura says to Arthur, completely overwhelmed by his enthusiasm and going along just to avoid disappointing him. Story of her live. With expectations set so high she can't just... not stick around. Then she'll look awful. But if she goes she'll probably mess it up, and...     Lose-lose.     Might as well pick the option with... people there.     "R-Right. Yes. L-Let's... let's meet some other time, then," she says to 17, putting the obligation IN THE FUTURE where it can't hurt her. That's how time works.     What future, though?     "I'm not... sure..." she answers Staren, fidgeting with her shield to occupy her free hand, the other holding on to that Grief Seed. "I just..." Want to make her proud? Want to live up to her? Want to help people move on? Want to move on?     "I don't know, I'm sorry."     Touta motions for the item. She nods. "I-I'll try."
Staren	One day it won't be that big of a deal, yes. But now... Staren tries to remember what it was like to be a teenager who liked someone.     Gosh he sure is glad he snuck into this bachelorette party, hanging out in hot springs is way better than hanging out in a bar and he met this girl who's really cute and interesting and they're going to go out for ice cream later and maybe one day he'll figure out how to get her a body of her own so she doesn't have to jump into other people's bodies to experience stuff like tasting food--     Hmm. He's not sure how helpful that is for gauging anyone else's experience, especially Homura's.     Come to think of it he'd thought their story was a wonderful example of true love triumphing over fate, at the time, but... Looking back on it now, from a reality where it didn't happen... Gosh, what would HE be like if something killed Twilight six months after he started hanging out with her, and then he spent decades in time loops trying to stop it, only to get a 'happy ending' together? It only lasted a few years, but once he was SO SURE... making a decision that defines most of your life just because you're so sure someone's the one... What does that DO to a person? Is it healthy?     --And then the dark magical girl shot the white cat over ten thousand times. And she said in a heroic voice: 'No! You must not make a wish, it's a trap!' And it was really weird because I had just gotten out of the shower and she was right there peeking in the window... I mean the maiden was--     Staren realizes he's spaced out, and looks back at Homura. She doesn't know. She's sorry?     --Anyway the Dark Magical Girl tried gathering other heros to fight the legendary Walpurgis Beast! But they all fell apart a lot because one or three of them always went crazy or didn't believe the hero--     "Listen." He puts a hand on her shoulder, then awkwardly pulls it back when he realizes that was maybe too forward. "You're not her. You don't have to be. You shouldn't have to be. You're free to live your own life. The one she never could have considered, because of a single choice that closed everything else off. There's a whole Multiverse of possibilities out there. If you want to be a hero, we've got experience and we can help. And if you don't want to... that's fine too."     Speech over, he looks kind of awkward again. "...S-sorry. I'm bad at... talking to people."
Homura Akemi	That's like the third person to put their hand on her in the last five minutes! How does this keep happening? Why does it keep happening?     Homura shrinks, like an extra in a movie who screwed up their part and kind of hopes nobody noticed and maybe they can just disappear behind a prop.     "I'm not good at it, so... i-it's fine."     Does she want to be a hero, though?     She does want something, but it's not... something she can just say. It's probably best to keep that in. It kind of involves being a hero, technically! This is good enough.     "I'll, um... I'll think about that, too."     Noncommittal, the best answer to everything.     "I um... I should go... I'll... call you all later."     Homura's shield clicks, twists, and opens, revealing - oh she's gone. Just, gone. Well, THAT hasn't changed, at least.
Staren	Staren reaches into his bag and pulls out a tablet. "Oh, hey, you should have a-- Huh. I wonder if that works the same or not." He puts it back, then looks around at the others. If noone has further questions that aren't terribly intrusive about Homura's life, he heads outside to check on the patients and figure out how to call local emergency services.