Scene #6474: Worth A Thousand Words

Owner	Pose
Tomoyo Daidouji	The offices of one 'Richie Malone, Investigative Journalist' can be found in a crummy apartment block. The kind where the small apartments are within a building that surrounds a courtyard that hasn't seen a broom in years, with a fountain that hasn't been drained for even longer. A van is parked outside the rusted gate that does little to bar the entrance. And from that van emerges Tomoyo, flanked by her four bodyguards. "Thank you all for coming," she says, her face smiling genuinely in spite of the prospect of what may be done. "He lives on the second floor apparently. I'll try to appeal to his better nature, but... if it comes to violence, try not to break the camera." She starts up the path, but stops suddenly and continues talking. "Not because I want it or anything! A strange artifact like that... well, who knows what it might do if destroyed?" It's a fair point, and she sounds genuine when she says she doesn't want it. Up the stairs (because of course the elevator isn't working here, did you expect otherwise?) to the fifth floor. Apartment 504 has a crummy plaque on it with 'Richie Malone, Investigative Journalist' on it. But a lot of letters have fallen off, so it's more like 'Rich Mal tig nal.' Tomoyo raises a hand and knocks politely on the door, which is immediately answered by a hulking wall of meat squeezed into a fine suit. His face is a mess of stitches behind a pair of spectacles, and his white hair is neatly slicked back. "Yes?" he says in a voice like gravel in a food processor. "Good day sir," Tomoyo says, sweet as you like. "We're here to speak with Mister Malone?" A voice from within the apartment shouts out. "That's her pal! Get rid of 'em!" The mountain hears, and replies. "Mister Malone is unavailable at the moment. For your own sakes, you should make yourselves unavailable too. Capeesh?" The door is closed, and the sound of many locks being put into place can be heard behind the thin wood. "Oh dear... I suppose word must have reached him somehow," Tomoyo murmurs. She looks to everyone. "If it comes down to a fight, you're the experts. How would you like to approach this?"
Sarracenia	Sarracenia heard her favorite dress maker was in trouble, and so of course answered the call for help. But, since the issue is a camera that could potentially produce questionable material, she is in disguise. Sort of. The princess is wearing a completely black dress, not quite as billowy and lacy as her usual outfits. She is also wearing a black masquerade mask so that just in case a picture of her is taken...perhaps they won't be able to tell who she is. When the gorilla answers the door and then promptly slams it in their faces, Sarracenia hmphs. "...if that is how he wishes to play this...then I believe a show of force is necessary." She steps up to the door and gives another polite knock. Then, whether it is opened and the monster of a man is there or it remains closed, she pulls her DK Hammer out of her satchel...and gives it a mighty swing to clear the path into the office!
Staren	Staren steps out of the van with Tomoyo. He's not armored for once, since they're only here to talk... at least, that was the plan. "Listen, you know a door's not gonna stop us, right?" Staren sighs. "You've been going around ruining people's lives for no purpose but to make money for yourself. Tell you what: How about you point that camera at yourself, and I'll see if there's some way we can give you what you /really/ want, and then you won't need the camera for money anymore, right?" He continues, "I mean, it's not /just/ to be rich, right? You want that money /for/ something. Perhaps something that's more easily obtained elsewhere in the multiverse? Or perhaps you want something that can't be bought with money and are just--" WHAM, Sarracenia hammers the door, and Staren flinches. "--filling the hole with money that will never satisfy you! I dunno man, let's talk!"
Ritsuka Fujimaru	Normally, Jeanne wouldn't even humor a request like this. Since when did she /help/ people with their problems? Since hearing that someone has an artifact that could cause her problems, in this case. Going after random gangsters and churches only works for so long before it just becomes samey, so maybe this would be a good change of pace. "Destroying that thing and anything it spits out would be far easier, but you're lucky I've been bored out of my mind. Now let's grab this thing before I change my mind." Donning civilian clothing for once, Jeanne is clad in a navy/nearly black jacket with black fur, a black tracksuit, and black boots. It's... A style, at least. She leaves the talking/'talking' to Staren and Sarracenia, laughing at the latter's more direct solution to getting that door open. "If it's negotiations you seek, then you'd best make it interesting. Otherwise, I might get bored and start lighting some fires underneath everyone's asses!" Strangely enough, though, she isn't moving in to start setting fires or muscle her way in yet. No, she's standing back to watch how the others handle this for now. Her sword is still hanging from her hip, though, and her hand is resting on the hilt for the time being.
Homura Akemi	After receiving tons of help, it's probably about time Homura actually get out of her nice, safe space and... do things. With no ulterior motives whatsoever, and simply a desire to help. Yes, that's what it is. This is why Homura is suddenly there, whereas she was not before, perhaps appearing to shuffle in from behind Staren, whose familiarity is a nice, reassuring thing right now. She is transformed, because it seemed obvious this might come to blows, or worse, but it does nothing to make her look like she belongs in the lineup, given how she holds herself. Or doesn't, in this case. Refusal of entry is followed by a HAMMER, which makes Homura squeak in surprise and then shake her head to steel herself. It almost works, which is better than usual. "I, um... I think destroying their door will make them angry..." she points out, as HELPFUL AND PRESENT as she is.
Tomoyo Daidouji	So, it seems that Tomoyo has drawn the attention of an edgy goth gf, a gloomy unconfident magical girl, a maniacal princess, and an obsessive engineer. She can work with this. But it will be hard if they're stopped at the door. This is why Tomoyo doesn't say anything when Sarracenia pulls out her hammer and swings at the door. "I'll cover the expenses," she says off hand to everyone as the door caves in. But it doesn't go all the way through. As the wood crumbles, the big lug behind it actually managed to catch the flat with his hands the size of dinner plates. "Wow, persistent aren't ya?" says that voice from behind him. It's a man who... well, if some internet artist ever drew a personification of the concept of 'tax fraud,' it would look like this guy. He's wearing a dingy trench coat with a fedora, an obvious attempt to go for the hard-boiled look. But the person wearing them looks more deep fried, in that they're greasy. He smirks at the group, and holds up a Polaroid camera. "You think I didn't selfie with it first thing kid?" he asks Staren. "Sorry, but if you're hoping for some forthright humanity and decency revealed in the photo I took, you're wrong. And I'm not about to let some upstanding punks and edgelords stop my little operation. So I got some hired help. A lot of people want to know what their desires are. Isn't that right Bruno?" The big man grunts, and steps through the broken door, before aiming to pick up Sarracenia and unceremoniously drop her over the balcony railing. "Get out of here," he cautions again, when someone else comes up the stairs. A girl with an edgy fuscia cyberpunk haircut, clad in a much nicer trench coat and carrying shopping bags. She sees the crew and rolls her eyes. "Ah hell, every time. Every time I go shopping something goes down." The coat comes off, revealing a fully mechanised body. The torso segments and splits apart, unfolding into multiple spiderlike limbs and leaving her upper and lower body connected by the 'spine' before she speedily scuttles towards the group upon them, aiming at tackling Staren! But one more person comes out of the apartment. An extremely stereotypical magical girl, all puffy clothes and bright colours. She points her emblem-headed wand at everyone and declares in a bossy voice, "Leave at once! I don't get to have my photo taken if you don't! Prism Star!" A kaleidoscopic blast of magic is fired at Homura! And... no one else showed up. Did he only get three? Or are more waiting in the wings?
Staren	When Tomoyo says she'll cover the expenses, Staren waves his hand. "Nah, I got it." He taps the matter manipulator on his belt. Hoping for decency? Staren shrugs, "Not necessarily. I just want people to be happy. We're allowed to want things for ourselves sometimes, geeze." And then CYBER-SPIDER POUNCE. "Oh COME ON!" His forcefield goes up, leaving her jabbing cybernetic spider-legs at an amber sphere of force, and chipping away at it.. And then the field disappears, Staren is gone, and a black cat wearing a sea green bandana is dashing under her body between her legs. In a squeaky voice it calls out to the magical girl, "Dude, /we'll/ take your picture with it if you WANT it taken, sheesh!" It then leaps through the balcony railings (or atop them and off them), transforming back to Staren in midair -- he suddenly has buzzing wings of orange energy, turning in place to face the group. "Whatabout you guys?" He asks of the cyborg and the wall of meat. "Can we make you an offer or does your honor as mercenaries require you to fight us until incapacitated?"
Homura Akemi	They have a magical girl! And she homes in right on... Homura, of course. The Puella Magi raises her arms to cover her face, her buckler front and center. A field of purple light forms a half-dome briefly, and the kaleidoscopic blast impacts it hard enough that she backs away two whole feet and then lowers her arms like she's in pain. Which she is! Hasn't figured out the no-pain trick yet. Or rather, doesn't even know that's possible. "P-Please stop! M-Mister Staren is right, we could... we could take your..." Wait, hang on. She's here to have her picture taken. What if it HAD happened? Homura doesn't raise a weapon or attack her fellow magical girl, instead focusing her attention on... nothing? She's looking right past her, sideways and into another reality. Or five of them. It's hard to focus. "Please give me just a moment!" Pls. She's a sitting duck for now, though!
Ritsuka Fujimaru	Jeanne resents being called a GF. WHO SAID SHE WAS ANYBODY'S GF?! She'll burn them for LIES AND SLANDER. And then there's another child. Children, even, when a girl calling herself Prism Star starts firing magical light death at Homura. Raising an eyebrow slightly, Jeanne steps off to the side for a moment to let everyone square up with their respective bodyguards, and the her gaze turns towards the greasy one. So greasy. So slimy. So flammable. "Quite the prepared one, aren't you? Did you have any plans in case anyone started setting fires? Because I feel like this would be a little more interesting with a time limit." Her grin grows wider as she flicks her sword into her hand, then thrusts it upwards at the ceiling. And then she starts blasting fire into the ceiling. No, she doesn't quite seem to care about collateral damage, nor does she realize that this might be a setback as far as actually getting paid. Grinning madly, she lowers the sword to her side, then lunges towards the greasy one, poised to thrust her sword right at him. "Now if you have any other bodyguards, you'd best bring them out! I won't be the only one left without someone to fight!" ... Although she doesn't actually thrust the sword. She'd crash into him without any intervention, but she's trying to goad him into swinging first! For... Some reason.
Sarracenia	Sarracenia hmphs again and gives her long reddish-blonde hair a flip as Homura speaks up. "This rather rude man is already quite angry. I doubt this will make it any worse than it was going to be." she says, then looks at Staren. "You want to -reward- this 'man' for his terrible behavior?!" She even uses the quotation fingers when saying man. "No, he should not be rewarded unless he apologizes and disposes of any of these pictures he has taken." she says, making sure that her voice carries enough to be heard by anyone inside. It is then that she blinks as she realizes...her hammer didn't go all the way through. Her eyes widen a bit when she sees that the big guy just caught her hammer. "H-hey! Release that at..." She pauses as she realizes she is suddenly suspended over the railing. She looks down and her eyes widen again. "...once..." she murmurs before she is dropped. Five stories is quite the fall, and Sarracenia can't help a bit of a scream as she starts to drop. But, she isn't helpless. She quickly reaches into her bag and pulls out...a stuffed raccoon doll with only blackness and some big shiny black eyes where a face would go? She squeezes it, and suddenly she is wearing it! And a few waggles of that tail have her landing safely on the street below. She immediately breaks into a sprint before leaping into the air and flying back up to the balcony. "...what? Why would anyone need to pay to find out their deepest desire?" she says, then hmphs. "If that is all you need, I will pay -you- to stop protecting this lowlife. Then, once we have recovered the camera, we will take pictures free of charge if you actually want those pictures taken." To demonstrate that she can back up her claim of paying them, Sarracenia reaches into her satchel and pulls out a large handful of solid gold coins. Of course, that might all be undermined by Jeanne charging right at the greasy man in the trench coat.
Staren	"I was gonna lead into asking for reparations /after/ we worked out how to grant his wish! If it's something ethical to grant." Staren replies to Sarracenia. Then holds out an arm in Jenane's direction. "See, now the building's gonna burn down! It didn't have to go this way!"
Tomoyo Daidouji	"Doesn't work that way kid!" 'Richie' says as he paces through the brewing fights, patting the camera as he goes. "No matter who takes it, the outcome is the same. I've seen what I want, and I'm getting it." He points the camera at Staren and tries to snap a picture as the cybernetic woman climbs out onto the railings, using her many limbs to secure herself. "If you can guarantee me a way, right now, to get me inside an old-fashioned tumbler safe that's rigged to blow if it's tampered with or of the wrong code is entered, I'll consider it," she says, before launching herself from the edge and attempting to grapple Staren out of the air and bear hug him! Homura attempts to reach into a hypothetical future in which she gets her picture taken. This is probably for the best. If she asked this guy, he might charge her for it. Right here and now, there are plenty of futures that have this photo, so she retrieves it easily. And thankfully, the other magical girl does actually stop when Homura asks her to, but she still looks impatient. "Hurry it up! I need to know how to solve my problem!" Jeanne starts spreading fire, which has Tomoyo sweating for reasons beyond the heat. She lunges for the fire alarm, which does thankfully still work. Old klaxons creak to life and begin blasting the building with sirens. Doors begin to open, and the occupants of the other flats start pouring out. There's a kid on a hoverboard, a ninja, a cowboy... uh-oh. "Hey boss, what's going on?!" "Oh damn! Are we under attack?" "Shit, fire's real!" "Someone put that out! Everyone else, get 'em!" Now the reason why Richie is staying in a place like this when he's making 'celebrity blackmail' money is clear. He's bought the whole place out, and is using it as a residence for his guards. Meanwhile, the Servant herself lunges at Richie, only for the stab to be intercepted by... a wooden sword? "Oy oy oy oy oy oy oy oy oy oy!" says the wielder, a huge delinquent with wild hair and wearing a ripped school uniform. "Polite to introduce yourself before you go waving steel around, y'know? I don't like! Bad! Manners!" He starts swinging that bokken at Jeanne, the air pressure from the swings actually carrying cutting force! And all the while, Richie takes her photo too. Sarracenia flies back up, forcing Bruno to confront her once again as she brandishes her riches to try and sway Richie. "Hahaha! I do like freely offered coin but... nah. It's not as fun that way. I like seeing these rich-types squirm when I threaten to expose them." He snaps Sarracenia's photo too, as Bruno walks up to the woman. "Ma'am, I just want that picture. Don't make me break your bones to get it. Coming at you from your left." He swings a haymaker. It's kind of slow, but with that much mass behind it, it'll still hurt if it hits! Meanwhile, Richie points the camera at Tomoyo, whose bodyguards immediately bunch up to obscure her. "Oh... Ooohhh. You're exactly one of those rich types I was talking about, aren't you?" There's a devious tone to his voice.
Homura Akemi	It's a good thing she's not getting murdered while doing this, because Homura's incredibly distracted right this moment. Eventually it seems that she blurs, or maybe shifts to the left or right slightly and unnaturally, and then she's holding a picture. She did sneak a peek at it, because who could resist, but hands it over to her opponent without much hesitation the second she's focused again. "U-Um, I think this is... the picture, right? That you wanted, from his magic camera?" Nevermind the fact the date on the picture might be a bit off by a few minutes. Hopefully this can defuse the situation and maybe even get them an extra pair of hands to help take down Richie. But really, Homura'll be happy enough with not needing to fight right this moment! "I-Is that fine? Can you leave now, or maybe... help us take him down? That camera's... not good in his hands. I-I think a magical girl should definitely want to stop him."
Ritsuka Fujimaru	That's more like it. Spotting the other colorful bodyguards coming out of the rooms, Jeanne finds herself face to face with a delinquent. One that's managed to turn a wooden sword into something capable of holding her sword at bay, even, and drawing an intrigued chuckle from the fire-spreading Servant. "Funny. I wouldn't have pictured someone with your appearance to be so concerned about manners!" Bracing her blade with both hands, Jeanne finds herself stinging a fair bit from the wind slicing into her even as she defends against it. Richie's photography goes ignored for the time being as her focus is on the opponent in front of her, but she makes a mental note to immolate the greasy one later. For Richie's trouble, the image is an odd one. In it, Jeanne is taking down a painting of herself on the stake. The Jeanne in the image is clad in white, however, and the Jeanne moving the painting has her eyes are fixated on a mirror behind the painting. There's likely some significance to this, but the Servant isn't in any state of mind to pay attention to that now. She's got other priorities! Priority 1: Immolating the stick-sword-wielder first. "If you want to know my name, then listen closely. I am Jeanne d'Arc, Dragon Witch of France!" She thrusts her sword upwards, and a burst of flame surrounds her before whirling around the blade. She does a few flourishes with the flaming sword as dark spears appear in the air behind Jeanne one by one. She watches the delinquent's reaction briefly, then launches the volley of spears right at him with clear killing intent!
Sarracenia	Sarracenia huffs at 'Richie'. "The coin is not for you. It is for you thr-....four." she says, looking to each hired guard. Bruno swings slowly and with plenty of warning, and so Sarra drops quickly to avoid it before flying back up again. She is looking at Bruno with confused and skeptical thanks as she rises back up. "...I'm offering to pay you to not protect this guy, then I'll make sure your picture gets taken. Taking pictures against someone's will and using them to profit is just plain rude, and he certainly does not deserve the services of a gentleman such as yourself." She doesn't try to hit Bruno, instead speaks up so she can be heard. "Listen to me! There is no reason to follow this vermin!" she shouts, almost screaming to make sure everyone hears her. "If a picture is all you want, take my offer to pay you for your lack of service to him and we can take your pictures once he is handled!" She huffs, then pulls off her mask. "I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom!" She lands on a balcony across the way and with a twirl her tanuki suit disappears, revealing a bright red dress and her crown made of gold and rubies. She continues twirling to try and show off her fancy dress and her perfectly styled hair to get her point across. "Once your pictures are taken, I can probably help make them a reality!" she says, smirking confidently. "...and if you still refuse...well I'm giving you a chance here. This man is not worthy of that camera or your loyalty, and following him means you shall follow him to either prison...or somewhere worse!"
Staren	Staren's picture is taken. What does he really want? For the Multiverse's seemingly-unsolvable problems to be solved, and to have played a useful part in it all? What's that even look like, a screen that says 'Satisfaction: 100%'? Staren's not worried about his picture being taken. He is worried about spider-bear hugs though. The forcefield comes out again and she's left slowly crushing it -- cracks start to spiderweb across it. "Yeah but is what's in the safe a teleological goal or an instrumental one? It's not materials you're being blackmailed with. Is it money or something valuable to help you get /something else/? Records that prove something to someone? Come on, you can't win here long term. You can stop us from getting the camera for now, but how far are you going to escalate things? Let's get everyone what they want, instead."
Tomoyo Daidouji	Homura produces a picture and peeks at it. It depicts the girl holding the hands of both a demonic-looking fellow, and a nice looking, slightly punkish young man. The girl gasps, and snatches the photo to look at it... before her face goes bright red and she throws it to the ground. "T-That doesn't help me at all! Are you trying to trick me?!" An energy blade erupts from the wand, and she swings it at Homura! All the while, Richie takes Homura's photo too. Jeanne clashes with the hoodlum who smirks. Richie looks at the photo he took of her once it prints, evidentially confused. "Man, I hate it when they come out artsy," he complains before pocketing it. The delinquent smirks as he pushes against Jeanne's blade, ignoring the spreading flames. "Jean Dark huh? I am Matsumoto Hiiro! Urabancho of Daitorii High School!" He clashes with her, but elemental weakness applies. The wooden sword is exactly that, wood, and it soon catches alight. The spears hurtle towards him... but with a strong, two-handed overhead swipe, he creates a big enough burst of air pressure to knock the most lethal ones aside, leaving him cut up but alive. "Heh... not bad. But I still got my fists! ORAAAAAAA!" He charges Jeanne and swings at her face! Sarracenia makes a big offer. Throwing around her wealth for all the guards to come to her aside, help them relieve Richie of the camera, and then use it for everyone. It's a strong offer, and a lot of them seem to be considering it. But then the man himself pulls out a gun and points it at the camera in question. "If a single one of you turns tail, I break the damn thing!" Discontent ripples through the crowd, but the point is made clear. If they do defect as it stands, they don't get what they actually want. They're starting to pour up the stairs now, some brandishing weapons, others fire extinguishers. "Good try miss," Bruno says sadly before approaching the princess again, cracking his knuckles before charging in to full body-check her. Staren grapples with the spider lady who just rolls her eyes. "Don't dodge the question dipshit. If you can't promise it, you can't. So let's do this." Once the cracks in his shield start forming, she takes her chance. A hatch in her chest opens up, revealing a plasma blaster which charges and fires right into the shield, aiming to break through and blast Staren also! Tomoyo's guards have surrounded her now, as they are trapped on the fifth floor by the onslaught of guards. Richie is very much enjoying this, and holds the camera up. "Tell you what, rich girl. If you let me take /your/ photo, I'll let you all go. Let's see what secrets you're hiding."
Homura Akemi	"N-No, this is what his camera would make, I swear!" Energy blade! That's an issue. Homura's hand rushes into her buckler, pulling an entire scythe out of it. It'd look like a magical girl weapon, if it wasn't scracked and scarred in places, with an almost dull blade. It does glow an idle purple from her own magic, which is why when the energy blade crashes into the weapon's shaft, between Homura's hands, it doesn't slice right through. But Homura is immediatly on one knee, because blocking that hit took more than expected. "H-He lied to you if that wasn't the picture you wanted! His camera shows... i-it shows what you want most, not how to get there! N-Not how to solve your problems!" If it did, she'd have lined up to have her picture taken herself, rather than try to stop Richie. "H-How could I have gotten that picture if I was lying to you? He was probably going to use it to blackmail you o-or worse. It's probably worth lots of money to the media!" She's not doing so hot in that weaponlock. Speaking of pictures: Richie ends up with a picture of Homura and Madoka. You may gasp in surprise. They're in a field of flowers and clearly just enjoying a selfie on a nice, sunny day.
Staren	"Fair enough. You know, at this point you guys might wanna just all run anyway? If Richie's gonna destroy the camera anyway, I might as well just drop a missile from space on this building. I /tried/ to be nice and talk to you, and look where it's getting me!" As Staren speaks, he pulls out the matter manipulator and builds a little tube of concrete around himself before the shield drops. The shot that breaks the field doesn't pierce it, leaving the spider clutching a tube of concrete that cyberlimbs can probably crush in seconds. But a second is all Staren needs to go cat form and leap out the end, transforming back and flying FAR away this time. If she sees that coming and blocks the sides of the tube, though, she's got him. What now?
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"Artsy? Oh, is the camera spitting out some sort of modern art garbage? What a shame... I was hoping for something interesting!" Despite not having seen the picture, Jeanne sounds rather confident that there's nothing of value to her in that camera. Thus, she's free to focus solely on the one introducing himself as Matsumoto Hiiro Urab... "... Too long! Just say it in four syllables or less!" She fires an angry glare at the delinquent, sending flames here and there with each move of her blade. As he comes in for that punch, she... ... Actually lowers her blade to return the favor with her own punch at his face in return. He can probably feel something cracking on that impact, and a normal person would be recoiling from taking that hit head on. Jeanne, though, is looking and sounding a little unhinged. Par for the course, really. "Not bad. I don't know if you're brave or just stupid, but maybe I won't kill your employer right away when I get to him." Grinning through the fist digging into her face and the bloody lip, Jeanne starts firing off her own punches right back at Matsumoto with flames following her every swing. Then she hears the threat, and Jeanne starts laughing even harder. "Is that how you're planning to win their loyalty? Let's see how loyal they really are, then!" The fires grow hotter as they flare around the Servant. It's clear that she's trying to just burn the entire place down with this fight!
Sarracenia	Sarracenia lets out one of those frustrated growly screams that women tend to do when someone is being completely unreasonable and it -isn't- herself. Bruno charges and the princess lets out a nervous, "Thank you?!" as she is once again knocked off the balcony. She doesn't get out a power-up this time. Instead, she grits her teeth and aims her hammer downward, then stands atop it and rides the hammer down. Right to the base of the balcony stairways. The hammer causes a shockwave when it impacts the ground and punches a crater several feet deep and around. Her aim? To collapse the stairs and bring down everyone on it. She hears Staren and grins. Seems he had much the same idea. "Yes! How about that? I will simply call in an airstrike and destroy this entire building with you still inside! How about that, Mr. Blackmailer?!" she says, reaching into her satchel and pulling out a cellphone. "My airship can be here in moments, and a Bonzai Bill will turn this building and you to ash!" Crazy princess held in her crazy as long as she could, really. And the picture of her? Well, it shows her holding her hammer with her smug smirk on her face, standing in front of a throne with someone lowering a larger crown onto her head and several people standing around her, smiling genuine smiles and cheering.
Tomoyo Daidouji	The magical girl seems very upset as she pushes against Homura's scythe. "I-I'm not that kind of girl!" she insists. Wow she is actually crying. "I-I just want to know which one I should pick! Why can't love be easy?!" She drops her wand and claims Homura's shoulder to cry on. "He's such a jerk too, bossing us around all the time..." Richie examines the photo he got of Homura, snorts, and pockets it. Matsumoto is laughing as he clashes with Jeanne. Even as she's beating the hell out of him, he swings back. "Ah I don't really care about him. You though, you're great! If we don't kill each other here, wanna get dinner sometime?" Boy, he's straightforward. Threats are dropped, air strikes are threatened. A lot of the people who were on the stairs before Sarracenia collapsed them take their chance to get out of there. That, coupled with the fire, is definitely enough to get people trying to escape. But those who were on the higher floors are now stranded, and not all of them can get down. A panic is brewing, people are shoving, and Richie is sweating. At the same time, those who are braver are starting to be swayed, both by Sarracenia's words, and by Richie's plain disregard for their wants. The lady attacking Staren doesn't even lunge after him, she just hangs there. Bruno turns to Richie, and his hands curl into fists. "You think I'm gonna let you lot get away with this?! You lot with your glamorous lives and exciting adventures make me sick!" He begins taking photos all around, the photos printing thick and fast. "You'll get your photos after you KILL THEM!" And with that, he hard spikes the camera to the ground, and it breaks. =======================================X========================================Homura feels the sun on her skin as she brings the camera close to check the photo. It came out really well, and Madoka is smiling at her. It's wonderfu- =======================================X========================================Sarracenia feels the weight of the crown on her head as she assumes the mantle of queen. The throne room is filled with people who know and celebrate her. She's finally mad- =======================================X========================================Staren feels his eyes get heave as he slumps in front of his computer. No more death, no more war, no more suffering. He's done it. He's achieved maximum ultilit- =======================================X========================================Jeanne pushes aside the painting and sees her own reflection. It's her. There's only her. She is her, and no one else. No one else to get mistaken with, conflated with, compared with. She is her own per- =======================================X======================================== The strange spell is broken. Everyone still within the apartment complex seems dazed and confused. Richie looks aghast. Bruno is crying. The spider woman smiles. The magical girl dries her tears. Matsumoto slams his fist into his palm with a look of understanding. Tomoyo takes a breath and speaks aloud. "We should get out of here before the place burns down. Someone call the fire brigade?" Those who can help those who can't off the higher floors and the fire brigade soon arrives. People start breaking off the crowd after a while, but Richie takes the time to find the Elites and press the photos he got of them into their hands before wandering off.
Staren	He's done it. The world is saved. But what will he do next? Will it really have any meaning? ...He's standing on the ground some distance away, and takes in the scene of the burning building. He pulls out a handheld speaker that works like a megaphone: "Are you gonna let me help you down or are you gonna make me kill you?" It seems the fight has gone out of them, though, and his flight can help people to the ground. Water from the matter manipulator can even slow the fire somewhat, although Staren doesn't have the firefighting skill to know how best to apply it. When handed the photo, he just looks at it for a moment and pockets it. He could ask what Richie saw. What any of them saw. But if they don't want to talk, it's not his business. If people need their problems solved, his door is always open... ...Speaking of which... After things have calmed down, Staren flags down Homura. "Hey! I have some stuff for you." And he passes her a pair of AR glasses that match her prescription, and an AC adapter for the ecto that can plug into Japanese wall outlets.
Sarracenia	The camera is spiked...and really nothing bad happens. Sarracenia gets that flash of her desired future and gasps, then she is still a few moments before a few tears roll down her cheek. "...as if that will actually happen..." she says quietly to herself. She blinks as Richie wanders by and gives her the photo he took of her. She stares at it and her tears intensify, then she whimpers a bit and shakes as she is torn between destroying the picture that can never possibly happen...or keeping it in the insane hope that it can. There are a few people in it she recognizes, but she doesn't believe any of them would actually show up and be happy for her, or that she would be able to be herself like that and be crowned by her parents. She finally just...drops it. No one here would even recognize her, so it doesn't matter who ends up with the photo. But, she can't stand to look at it. "...well...it seems nothing too terrible happened." she says when Tomoyo makes it back down to ground level. "Should we capture him or let him go?" She is very solemn now. She also dials her cellphone and after a few words the airship she threatened does come in, but rather than an HE bomb it lets down rope ladders to help any trapped people get to safety, and plant creatures onboard aim ice shots at the flames to help fight the fire.