Tiresias kept looking around as she rang the doorbell looking for any sign of any of the people affected by her involuntary use of magic. As the door opened she opened her mouth prepared to recite her well prepared introduction speech when the girl in uniform cut in and spoke before her.
So many people I could be? Does she know who I am? Maybe Juno spoke to her about me… Still she’s someone to keep an eye on.
Tiresias smiled as the girl pointed towards the open tea room she gave a slight bow as a greeting and slowly she entered the home.
「Thank you so much. Please lead the way. 」
Tiresias would then follow the girl into the room and take one of the available seats. She wouldn’t take any of the cakes or the tea unless directly offered by the girl.
"You could definitely find something!" Tenshi responds, "If you want to get out, that is. If not-" she pauses as she notices what Chell is looking at, "Golden cats bring good fortune." she says as she turns back to Chell for a moment, then shrugs. "But I think Ravens are bad luck... I think." she chews her cheek for just a moment, then shrugs. "Need to go. No time to say hello, goodbye..." she announces as she slips away, and slowly towards school.
The Sakuras slowly start to wake, the ringing of the bells causing their eyes to flutter open, the grumbling of their stomachs keeping them awake as they search out clothing to wear.
[b]「Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear. Did you say that there was a Seiyuu on the bus earlier?」 she asked, casually trying to insert herself into the conversation... while doing her best to not mess up her makeup.
Tiresias looks suspiciously to the tea. She wasn't used to taking drinks from complete strangers, still not even showing interest could be considered rude. Aware that someone could be watching she slowly took the cup of tea and lift it up to her face letting the smell reach her. She would keep it there, ostentatiously enjoying the tea's aroma for as long as possible without drinking.
I hope she gets here soon enough. I can't hold this cup too long, that would just look weird.
Alex was just about to take a well-earned nap when a burly weathered master at arms came into the berthing area.
Boatswain's Mate Second Class Ramirez had been in the Service for a good two decades, and wasn't the sort to just drop bombs on folks, as it were.
"Brooke, we're going to have to field day the berthing in about an hour. Know you're on leave, so you don't HAVE to participate, but... it'd be a shame for you to burn a day of leave helping us clean, don'tcha think?"
Alex quickly hopped into the shower and secured the manga in his carrying bag.
"Thanks, bos'n. That WOULD be a horrible way to spend leave. Appreciate the 'head's up'."
Shortly thereafter he's back to exploring the city, because anything beats working on theoretical 'time off'. Once again, he's clad in typical 'tourist' clothing, and makes no secret to hide that he's indeed being one...
The other woman openly scoffed, 「I don’t like it. She could do literally anything with.. you know… magic.」She says that last word like a curse. Shaking her head, she continues. I don’t know why I’m even giving this a second thought. If I hadn’t been there, I would never have believed it.」
「But it is real, and she’s here to protect us!」
「She’ll do what she thinks is right, and destroy anything she thinks is evil. Believing in magic is not the same as believing in social abstractions like good and evil. What if she decides she doesn’t like rain because it’s too gloomy?」 The other woman elbows her again, and she wards her off.
After a few hours of ogling, You start to notice that the city is not quite as exciting as it might have been yesterday. Even a thirty-foot-tall digital display on the side of a building isn’t quite as enchanting as watching a silver train emerge from a circle of dancing fire. There’s also a dead, immutable quality to all this metal and concrete which you don’t think you’ve ever noticed before. As you’re looking up, you spot a raven coming in for a landing at the top of an apartment building.
Tenshi nods slowly, as the two interact more with each other than her, she tried to keep her face towards skeptical, 「So... You're saying that a plain-clothes-wearing beautiful stranger rode on this bus, and then just told you she could work magic?」 She lets the skeptical portions of her look go, as she tilts her head and nods.
「That actually... Sounds right, somehow. The magic thing... And the what is good and what is bad, thing... I think I'd like to try to find her after my interview, if you can point out at which exit she disembarked?」. She asked, making a mental note of her possible failure the night before... And reiterating the question of what was right and what was wrong. 「And what kind of magic did she show you?」
She tried to pick out who they might have spotted.
The sailor had been concerned about becoming a man again. The twins could only fit that description if they had been separated. The haughty one likely wouldn't be caught dead in a man's clothes. Then there was the scary girl who was eerily beautiful... But she was fairly certain that such a thing would have been at the start of the description... And then there was book girl.
The 'man's clothes' part didn't really make sense for most of them. But the honesty, made it seem a lot more likely to be the book girl or he soldier boy.
「Is there anything else you can tell me about the magical girl?」
The more exuberant of the two pulled a bus map out of the rack beside her and produced a pen from her bag. 「She got off at the coast, where all the rich houses are, and headed this way. She told us not to follow her. I think maybe Lady Shirakawa is a demon- or owns a demon- or is possessed by a demon! I mean, who makes a bajillion yen in like five years? Definitely some nine-tail fox business if you ask me. Oh my god, are those for real too?」 The map she hands you has a stop circled and an arrow showing the direction of regress.
The other young woman rolls her eyes. 「She looked to be about your age, maybe a bit taller? She had silver-white hair, and a very distracted, tired look to her eyes... like she's much older than she looks, or--I don't know--is witness to the secrets of the cosmos laid bare, or something weird like that. -very deep. Didn't you take a picture with your phone?」
「Oh, I did, but it didn't come out. My hands must have been shaking.」
She pauses for a moment and suddenly frowns. She has to stop herself from smacking her forehead. She knew she'd recognized the bratty one.
「Sorry, I didn't sleep well, have you seen anyone else you thought might be magical?」
The development made a bit of sense, with the small navy base nearby. Towns, villages, and even cities were known to spring up almost overnight as if by magic when the Navy settled somewhere -- after all, sailors are usually trapped aboard vessels for deployments, and then end up with free time and money to spend...
The 'tightly-built' nature of the new metropolis is a bit unnerving, almost as if it is trying to *crush* the spirits of folks who live in it by limiting the mobility of the residents.
The storefront moments leave him a bit shaken. Not gay. Not transvestite. WHY was I going in there? They have nothing I could wear! It shakes him enough that he drops into a local watering hole and gets some warm sake with a light lunch before resuming his meanderings.
The raven, though, that definitely got his attention. Wasn't there a raven last night?
Alex makes his way into the building and up the stairs -- or elevator if there is one -- to try and get out onto the roof and confront the raven. If he's wrong about his hunch, well, at least there was that momentary burst of curiosity.
"Were you looking for me?" he offers to the obsidian avian.
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"Porcelain skin... that would be either Chrysanth or... Tiresias. Yes. Yes, of course. This definitely feels like something that could happen. I suppose I need to get dressed, then." Kiyomi sighs, feeling too generally bothered to be specifically upset about this.
Kiyomi shuffles through her mother's clothes with Suzu, having a surprisingly difficult time finding a dress that does not make her blush. She eventually finds a yellow dress she can be satisfied with, still a bit short but more playful than provocative, and accentuates the outfit with a pair of pearl earrings from her own collection.
Kiyomi follows Suzu to the sitting room and, as expected, sees Tiresias waiting there. She whispers to her maid, "Wait outside the door. If you hear a scream, run and find help."
When Suzu departs, Kiyomi turns to Tiresias, frowning at her. "It's safe to drink. If poor Suzu-chan knew you thought she had poisoned the tea she might cry."
Tiresias blushes as she finds that her clever plan was so easily discovered and slowly places the cup back on the table without drinking from it.
I’m sorry, I meant no disrespect. Still now that you are here I can give you some good news.
Tiresias smiles, the promise of news should be enough to allow for a clean change of subject and to divert the attention from the offered refreshments. She slowly took her small notebook from her pocket and started writing in it. As the pen touched paper a feeling of dread sunk to her stomach. She spoke again, without raising her eyes from the notebook as she wrote.
Did you manage to sleep well? I hope you did. What about the twins? How are they? I haven’t seen them since I got here and I’d like to give them the news as well. After all it’s relevant news for all of us.
This bus runs around the bay and across the Kirakira bridge. This stretch of the route runs along the coast and could be reached by the naval base. The chatty women disembark at the marked stop, which looks like a park-and-ride, though there are only two cars parked. It's a popular stop, and the bus is filled with passengers. After the stop, the bus heads north through a commercial district toward the college.
「Yeah, of course. It just doesn't make sense for there to be only one magical girl in the world. The shows always have at least five. You guys have a nice day!」 she calls, as the pair is departing, then she slides to the inside of her seat to allow for the new burgeoning load of passengers.
Chell gets a glance and a stare for a second, the raven not so much.
"You can shut things off by saying your watch is done, or something to that effect. It's how I got back to normal." Thank goodness. I hope I don't have to do that again, it was kind of scary.
The raven gets a squint.
"So, ravens are cool and all, but I really don't want to be the doofus without the instruction book. Right now only that seer-lady has it. So a bit more info would be appreciated and I think we both have the clearance to hear it?"
Just in case the raven turns hostile, though, Alex is reaching into his backpack for his heavy flashlight.
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"They're still in bed, as far as I'm aware." Realizing that this is what someone who totally murdered the Sakuras would say, she adds "I didn't invite them because I have some things to say I'd like to keep between the two of us. If you would like to speak with them I would be happy to bring them in before you leave."
Kiyomi takes a sip of her tea; it's delicious, prepared to Kiyomi's specific preferences as usual. As she sets the cup down again her hand is visibly shaking as she breathes deeply.
"I... assume you recall vividly the encounter from last night. Particularly the part where I did not put my best foot forward, so to speak."
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As Kiyomi started to speak Tiresias kept a close watch on both her and the note she was writing, she got all the way to “My watch is” when Kiyomi set the cup down. As she spoke again, referencing last night, Tiresias tensed, Kiyomi had her full attention now.
So she wants to discuss last night’s events? Maybe she wants to discuss it with all of us individually? That’s a smart strategy, get us alone, gauge our reactions, know who she has as an ally and an enemy. I should appease her, no reason to be aggressive about anything.
Tiresias let out a low sigh and smiled faintly. She consciously relaxed her pose and spoke in a calm and non-threatening manner.
I do recall the events of last night. Before you say anything about them though, allow me. The temptation of power is a strong one, especially to those that feel wronged by the ones that have it and by the ones that never had it at all. I understand that, and I can honestly say I’m not sure if I would have been able to resist it myself should I be given the opportunity.
She paused for a moment to allow Kiyomi some time to digest her words.
But, please continue.
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"That is a very... measured thing to say." Kiyomi sighs; she is trying to be honest here, to reach out to Tiresias, and though she understands why she would choose to play close to the chest it's certainly not helping Kiyomi.
"I suppose I should just say it outright-I'm speaking to you about this because there has been a problem, and since you are apparently the one who knows things you are likely the only one who might know a solution. My brush with the eldritch appears to have some... side-effects." Kiyomi brushes her hand against her stomach. "I have this... hunger, now. For magical energy. I'm sure that knowing this, my behavior on the train might be a little more understandable."
Kiyomi gulps, her nerves getting to her again as she waits for Tiresias's reaction. If she were to deem Juno too much of a threat to save, Juno would have to fight back. She wonders if the transformation has had any long term effects on the visuals of her power.
A hunger? That is a surprising development. So it’s not just a mental temptation but an actual physical need. That changes things considerably.
Tiresias sat back into her seat and resumed writing.
I think I may have something that can help.
She places the now complete note on the table turned upside down. On the bottom face she wrote “My watch is done”. As she continued to speak though she did not take her hand from the note holding it in place.
This is all I know right now. The incantation on the note should be enough to return you to your regular self. I believe that it should suppress whatever magical side-effects you may have contracted as well. However it’s a poisoned gift. So far I have no idea how to turn you back into your magical form after using the incantation, if you take it you may not return.
She sat straight again and left the note on the table.
This is what I came to discuss with you. I’m going to find the raven that gave us the poem. If you would like to accompany me then I urge you not to use the incantation. At least not yet.
"And you shouldn't be talking guess we've all got problems." Chell sighed as she looked over her new form again, maybe she should have just stayed in the states this was all way too much for her to handle. "So what are you supposed to be an omen?"
Chrysanth peeked through the door anxiously to see the others were already there and studying. She catches her reflection again and pulls out her hair tie, taking a deep breath before tying up her long dark hair and steps into the room, "Koni- Er... I-I mean... Hello... everyone..." She watched their reactions carefully, especially Dhital's, and clutched her bag tight, full of English and Psychology material. As she waited for them to respond, she quickly had second thoughts about arriving in her current state, struggling to remember exactly what the phrase Tiresias had sent her earlier.
All she had to do was check her phone to be sure, but she might miss any subtle clues the others would give upon first seeing her. If the reaction was bad, how would she play it off? She couldn't just change on the spot, she'd have to run to the restroom, probably. But what would she say when they asked how she changed back so quickly?
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Kiyomi thinks for a moment. "Well, I've controlled it this long. A little more won't hurt."
"I think I will join you, yes. Some answers from the source would be appreciated." Kiyomi stands up and opens the door. She tells Suzu to find the twins and bring them to the sitting room. When Suzu leaves she speaks up again. "Sakura and... also Sakura will be along shortly. I'm sure they will appreciate knowing how to turn back."
“So, yeah. Uh, cheat codes and stuff. The ‘my watch is done’ one should work for all of you to change back to your human forms, just make sure you have a trinket with you. The poem you guys used before is the one used to make a new trinket, you’ll just have to use a different essence for each. Be careful with those, by the way. You can really get hurt if it gets lost or broken. Most of the watch keeps one in a safe place, but you would need two to do that. The base of a tree is a popular choice of hiding places. To release your magical girl form, you just need to call out her name. Mizugameza, you’ve been passed the watch of Moon Warden Chell, and Uoza, you’ve inherited Cresting Tide Niad, may you make up for her past transgressions. Uhm, is there anything else you guys want to know?”
Tsuchi is also fully absorbed in what she is doing, and merely lifts a hand from her phone to wave.
Dhital looks up from his book with a wave. “Hello. Do you need I can help you? Are you having English with us? I am sorry, I do not remember you from... class.” His expression remains relaxed, if a bit tired, but something strange and glowing, like a bubbling doll of madness, crawls up his shoulder, spilling ephemeral blood and carnage around it. He’s had a sudden spike of an unusual fear. From his greeting wave, he moves his hand to his chin to scratch his sparse beard, which has grown a bit of stubble outside the clean-cut angular pattern in which he usually keeps it. He picks up a thumb drive from the desk with his other hand.
Before either of you can do something about the tension growing in the room, Tsuchi laughs. 「There’s people in the city that think they’ve found a majokko. They’ve got a picture of her and everything. She looks like a really pretty hobo.」She turns her phone to Dhital, who cocks an eyebrow at it. What do you do?
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Tenshi steps into the room and looks from person to person, taking just a moment too long.
Then she raises one finger and points back towards the door, before turning on her heel and heading back out into the hallway, and walking as if she knew where she was going in the same direction she'd initially been heading. It wasn't even that she'd forgotten. It's that it had simply never come up. She paused at the end of the hallway.
Like a fool, she hadn't even expected for there to be competition. She pulled out her cell phone, and quickly pulls up information on portfolios... and discovers that the mistake was untenable. Unless she could transport herself back home and here within mere moments, there was no way she would be able to produce enough quality art... and even then, arranging it apparently often took months.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Maybe she could... do what the others had done. They had used magic to make things happen. But that was to fix real problems, wasn't it? It wasn't for petty things like this. Was it?
She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall as she slid the cell phone back into place. She forced herself to breath slowly, keep calm. But that wasn't possible given that it pushed her hummingbird heartbeat to the forefront. Was it beating faster than before? Stress could lead to a heart attack. She'd read that last night.
It would be easy... to just use her magic. She had worked hard for this.
But so had everyone in that room. Arguably harder, while it may have been more work within her busy life, she didn't know their circumstances... and taking something from them, when they'd actually done the work...
She sighed and opened her eyes, shaking her head. She couldn't do that... and what happened if she only got one 'whammy'? Or what if her magic just didn't work like theirs? Ridiculously irresponsible and dangerous... at least until she had a better idea of how it worked. Stupid omen crow. Her wings struggled briefly with her clothing, annoying her still further.
'Doesn't matter.' she thinks, as she slips back down the hall the way she'd come, heading back for the bus stop. She'd just give them a call and let them know there had been an accident with her portfolio. 'What accident? Oh... no one told me I needed one. Yeah, that was my own, stupid, stupid mistake.' Probably better to go with an email. Less personal.
As she reached the bus stop, she pulled out her cell phone and started tapping away once more.
Second Cell Phone Text: 'Silver-haired girl headed for the Rich-People district. Apparently spilled the beans to a couple people, not sure how, but everyone believed her. I think I've figured out that one of us is a Shirakawa. Going to head that way if you want to meet me there. Still have the lunch thing, but then a free afternoon.'
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Tiresias smiles once again. Having backup is never a bad plan, even if the backup could be somewhat unstable.
I am so glad you decided to come along, thank you. I feel much safer now.
She took the note from the table and scribbled on the back of it, in a few moments she had her phone number written down and placed the note on the table again pushing it in Kiyomi's direction.
Keep the note, it's yours. The incantation should help you and you can use it at any moment when the... hunger, gets too difficult to resist. Also, I placed my contact in the back of it, in case we get separated.
Tiresias closes her eyes and breathes deeply.
Before they get here. I just want to say that I admire you. If what you told me is true then you must have gone through a terrible ordeal. You must be passing by one right now! But you remain strong. I can admire that.
The Sakuras stumble as the knock on the door startled them while they dress. The one closest to being presentable answers the door, her hair missed and tangled with her eyes only half open.
Huh wha?
Chrysanth eyes the other two before locking on Dhital. The obvious confusion as he greets her as a stranger sinks in quickly. They apparently don't recognize her as she is now. Somehow she felt slightly disappointed. She wasn't sure if she should announce who she was or run to change, but the thoughts vanished with a flash of panic as the gruesome fear crawled into view. He was afraid of her.
Of course he was afraid of her, she was a literal embodiment of fear in her current state, baggy jeans and Studio Ghibli hoodie aside. The tie decides then to slough free of her hair, letting the long inky locks fall over her face ominously as Tsuchi shows off the picture. She tries to get a look as well, wondering if it was any of her fellow transformed train spotters from the night before.
The young lady of the house invites you and your sister to tea in the parlor. Whenever you are ready, of course.
Tsuchi doesn't flinch, but there is a flare of jealousy, or the fear of replacement that glows in her eyes. She seems to take your look as a well-curated affectation which she's going to have to out-do if you commit to joining the study group. She tries to turn the phone so you can see, but you've already snaked your way across the table, your hair dragging across the books lain open there.
Kusaka seems to be trying to count his push-ups in English, but has already stopped and restarted twice because he can't remember how to count past nineteen.
Dhital looks from you to the phone, and back to you. He seems more confused than afraid now, but he tucks the flash drive into the breast pocket of his jacket. 「Are you sure you're where you need to be? We're a study group for the Psychology program, section 34?」 He stands with some difficulty and offers you his hand. 「If you're lost, I could help lead you to where you need to be.」
Chrysanth blinks at the picture of Tiresias, furrowing her brow curiously. Sure the alabaster young woman was impressive, even if dressed in oversized men's wear, but she was by no means flaunting her new powers. As Dhital moves to stand, she notices her long inky hair laying across the table and books and quickly takes a step back, "Gomen... S-Sorry..."
She freezes again as Dhital politely offers to walk her, realizing she'd reached a moment of truth. Did she clear up the confusion, or bolt to find a place to change back? Could she tell them the truth? They probably wouldn't believe her. What if they did? She couldn't make that decision all on her own. There were others to think about. 「Wrong study group.」 She blurts quickly and dashes for the door.
She tries to remember where the nearest restroom is and heads for it, hastily claiming a stall before pulling out her phone to confirm the phrase Tiresias had given her. "My Watch is Done," She says as evenly as possible, returning to her normal mousy self and again tying her hair up. She pauses in the stall a moment longer to pull her hoody off and tie it about her waist, hiding the front and hopefully stopping the others from recognizing her attire was the same as the mysterious, ghastly beauty that had just left when she returned.
Sakura looks down at their state of undress (mostly from them trying to figure out how to put the bras on) Um. Could, you help us.maybe, please? We're not used to putting this kind of stuff on.
Chell nods to Alex but doesn't give him much more than that as the talking raven was a bit more important at the time."Pretty sure that's speciesism but either way any kind of explanation would be nice, what is a moon warden, why did we get their power, why am I talking to a drunken raven?"
Alex returns Chell's nod and watches the raven warily.
"Y'know, in the Navy if you showed up to work loaded like you claimed you were, that'd be grounds for dereliction of duty charges, and that could take you all the way to a court martial. But that's not as important right now as WHY you keep calling me 'Uoza'. My name's Alex. Alex Brooke. Who the *hell* is Uoza?"
Alex, despite the rather heated words, is pretty chill. He's on leave, this has gone back into the surreal, and hey, talking raven is the least of his worries right now. What if I have to do the thing again?
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Kiyomi blushes slightly at Tiresias's praise; Kiyomi is certainly used to receiving compliments, and as far as compliments go "good job on not murdering everyone to satiate your lust for power" is a fairly faint one but Tiresias's words still come as a greater comfort than most. Perhaps it is in the sincerity of the praise.
"Ah, um, thank you..." Kiyomi manages, taking the note and storing it on her person. "I suppose I should provide my contact information as well. Calling my cell might be more convenient than whatever dark ritual brought you here, hoohoo."
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In the space of seconds the Sakuras are overwhelmed and shrieking at the invading hands while saying anything they can think of to stop the fashionable assault while cringing away from the invading hands. A sundress would be eek!
Ahh don't touch those!
Ouch! Watch the pins!
Tiresias chuckled a bit when Kiyomi spoke of a dark ritual.
It's funny that you would mention that actually. I did use some magic to track you down. To track all of us down plus our helpful familiar. Here let me show you.
With those words she took her book from her waist and opened it on her marker. She hoped to show Kiyomi exactily where they were and the mall where she last detected their familiar.
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"Ah... That is a very interesting book you have there. Yes, it is quite lovely. I think I shall admire it from over there." Kiyomi backs away, curious as to the feasibility of devouring the tome in one gulp but also trying very hard to prevent a test from occurring.
Ripping her eyes away from the book, Kiyomi makes an effort at changing the subject. "I wonder what's taking Suzu so long... I hope she didn't get distracted. She's a good servant generally but she can be a bit flighty sometimes."
Tiresias observed Kiyomi stand back and only then did it dawn on her what was happening. Quickly she retracted the book and turned it towards her.
Oh, I'm incredibly sorry. I have to be more careful when waving this around.
She's like an alcoholic, I can't go waving a glass of wine on their face and expect them to control themselves. This was very careless of me, but still she refused that's reassuring at least.
She was about to close the book when she noticed the new location of the alchemical symbol of their familiar.
Well, it appears the familiar is on the move and Naiad intercepted him. I guess I won't be going to the mall after all.
Tiresias then closed her book and placed it back in its place. She folded her hands in front of her.
I'm sure all is fine. Maybe the twins are being a handful.
Alex squints a bit as he listens to the description of Chell's affinity, which makes a bit of sense given the night before, offering no comment on that in particular because it doesn't directly impact him or his situation.
"Okay, that 'trying to find a good name that doesn't raise issues' is a very good idea. But going around calling me 「Pisces」 may not be such a good idea around the base. That's even saying I'm still going to remain involved in all of this. What's keeping me from just walking away and pretending this was all just a really bad drunken dream? I'm not sure this is covered under regs and I don't want to get court-martialed going out having adventures, right? Or worse, dissected?"
Or even worse, trapped like last night forever... He shudders a bit, though it might look to the outside observer that was in relation to the 'dissection' comment.
Chell tilts her head at the crow. "Professionals, and what happened to that?"
At Chell’s question, Ayatori rocks from foot to foot and ruffles his feathers in agitation. “We had a Vorpal Knight go off the deep end while their leader was away on errands. I don’t know where the others are, if any of them survived, but if they’re smart, they won’t draw attention to themselves by transforming or performing magic. That’s another part of why we don’t bother trying to familiarize ourselves with you humans or your weird, greasy ways. Not everyone that makes a pledge has such a solid code of ethics, and if they thought they could shake me down for their names and nests, my goose would be cooked. Which brings me back to that other one. Scorpio? Little miss angel of darkness? I didn’t give you those feathers for you to bind my magic like that. It’s dangerous and… well, rude. I’ve got enough trouble from that rogue Aries.”
“Look, I’ve gotta catch up with the other new Dawn Watch members, get them their core incantations and such. Are there any other pressing questions before I go? You can always call me back with your trinkets. Man, what do they say to summon me again? Uh, Ayatori of the air, I think. I’m not usually there to hear them say it. Oh, and exchange truenames on your scrying mirrors, or whatever you call those things. If something comes up, you’ll want to be able to call for help.”
Someone with a skilled brush has managed to exaggerate the perfection of their faces with makeup. A father would be outraged, and someone with more mainstream tastes would be nursing a critical nosebleed. Suzu seems to beam with pride in presenting the pair, like an artist who got the chance to restore the Sistine Chapel. She gushes over them and only occasionally adjusts their hair and the fall of their skirts. She is, however, blessedly silent in her adoration.
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Kiyomi slaps her hand against her face, exhausted by the absurdity of her own delusions and Suzu's "work". The girl had always enjoyed dress up.
"Well, I suppose that explains why you took so long. Thank you, Suzu, that will be all." Thinking about it, Kiyomi has to feel a little grateful for the delusions switching off her desires. The thought of lusting after these two children even in their young adult forms makes her deeply uncomfortable.
When Suzu leaves the room, Kiyomi bows slightly to the Sakuras. "I am very sorry. Suzu does not know what she did."
Tiresias giggles slightly as Kiyomi finishes speaking to the Sakuras.
Well I find you both adorable in those dresses, to be honest I even feel a bit underdressed right now. Anyway, I trust you slept well?
She smiles and starts writing on her notes again while trying to still pay attention to whatever the Sakuras or Kiyomi could have to say.
The two run into Kiyomi the second Suzu leaves only to hear her apology. k-keep her away. They say as they envelop her in hugs from either side, their assets pressing firmly into her.
They look over at Tiresias. Nightmares. D-did you find a way to change us b-back?
Miyako gave Dhital a friendly wave as she saw him approach and glanced at the crutch in concern, trying to remember if the limp and injury were a new thing or something that had transpired during her week of new memories. 「M-Maybe.」 She replies quickly at his obvious description of her other form. 「H-How's the leg?」
She blinks at the sudden curse and turned to look down the hall as well 「Whatwhoreally?」 She turns back to Dhital. 「M-Maybe we should go s-see what's wrong?」 The can of mace in her pocket kept most of her usual fears of social interaction at bay, but as always, she had a nagging doubt at the back of her mind.