Battle Vixens! - 145

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Episode 145: Steady as She Goes

Amp started the call, and they discussed the plan over speakerphone.

"We've got three spots to defend starting off, and after that they'll show up at various points around the city," Clark said. "I've spent some time plotting some fairly efficient 'lines' to use, but we pretty much need three groups no matter what.

"There'll be several of them in that new 'training area' of ours—you know, where the Gigaworm trashed the ground. Might be tricky to move around on."

"Hey, Light and I have some practice fighting there!" Magus volunteered. "I mean—not fighting monsters, but at least with like, how to get around the place and stuff."
"That works for me," Light agreed.

A gryhpon dove toward what it thought was Light, trying to rake its claws into her. "Photon Wall!" Magus called from the side, and the light making up the illusion joined some more light focused nearby, arranging itself into thin, pure-white rectangular barrier that the monster slammed into, shattering it while crashing onto the ground. The real Light came and slashed through its wings, while Magus fired another prepared orb of light out as a bunch of sharp spikes straight from the tip of her blade into its side.

The snakewolf that had arrived with it couldn't see either of them, but could hear Magus, so it charged at her. This was well anticipated, Magus silently transposition-ing out of the way while an illusion of her was left behind; behind it, a tangle of metal wires (a trap spell she'd set earlier) snapped up around the monster's limbs, making it crumple into a ball and tumble helplessly for a moment. Then Light was on top of it, slashing into its body with two swords, and Magus threw a few fireballs into the gryphon while it tried (with no success, thanks to shredded wings) to get back into the air.

"Would it be acceptable to lend us Ning?" Rowan asked. "Wide coverage is crucial for dealing with the swarm. We could trade out Tora, perhaps—she's very efficient at fighting Class 1's, and has higher mobility to easily maneuver from one target to the next."

"I've got a babysitter ready, so, should be fine?" Ning said.

In the city, a dark cloud began spewing out an array of small, flying or crawling red-eyed monsters. Almost as soon as they appeared, a branching bolt of lightning shot out from the roof of a six-story building near VI's headquarters. Ning had one hand gripping a 240-volt extension cord running out through a roof access door while the other one was spread skyward. Electricty arced all over her body, but most of it flowed through the arms and chest—from one hand to the other—to concentrate the charge on the outstretched hand. Whenever there was enough, she fired it out into the sky again.

Several more cords ran next to that one, continuing over to the other side of the roof. They were plugged into a huge speaker system, borrowed from a resident inside, playing some dubstep—and Hugo stood in front of that. The monsters missed by the periodic lightning strikes hit a wall of pressure waves going out in time with the bassline, knocking those that survived the impact itself down to the ground.

A rooftop garden between them had some unusual trees growing out of it. Nico was sitting on a conveniently-shaped branch of one of those near the center and humming along to the music.

"If I stick with Gemma to get plenty of weapons, then maybe Tora can go with my husband," Rory decided.

"Let's do that, then. Better get transport arranged pretty quickly, though," Clark said.
"Already on the way."

"Great. Rory, you'd better start toward the apartment complex, then."
"Alrighty~. Love, you dear!" She took a moment to audibly kiss his cheek, then left, the door-closing barely audible over the phone.

Rory punched a triplet at a nearby building, and the structure's shadow erupted into a short-lived spike to impale it. She caught the "handle" of another one's spiked-hammer-arm, using that to judo-throw it to the ground. Then she held out a hand. "Scalpel."
"You said that one already," Minus pointed out, handing her a longsword made of wind and shadow.
"Forceps?" Rory immediately plunged the weapon into the prone triplet's center mass, slamming it halfway into the ground with a fist and then stomping it the rest of the way down so only its handle was visible.

"We're not even near a hospital." The one she'd thrown at a building was running their way, and Rory accepted an axe from Gemma just in time to swing it straight through that body's middle, erupting black mist off of its body and sending it tumbling sideways.

The third "part" of the monster was trying unsuccessfully to hit an illusion of Plus, while the real one tossed some fire and lightning and rocks at it from one side or another of the fake.

"How about a jackhammer, then?"
"I can do a normal hammer." Electricity and steel wire formed into a sledgehammer, which Rory took and used on the still-prone triplet's head. Minus followed up the axe swing with a few daggers made of some elements not already in use. "We really—" "—need to get moving soon—" "by the way!"

"No worries; these are almost dead. Two swords and I should be able to finish 'em myself, if you wanna start toward the next set?"
"Okay!"

"It's raining monsters!" Karis ran around, jumping occasionally, punching a gauntleted fist through one stunned flying beast after another; her Stand did much the same thing, only slashing with her sword instead.
"Would you prefer it was raining men?" Petra asked. One of her stone fists was holding onto the last survivor of a group of chargers, while the other one exploded apart into a bunch of rock-shrapnel to bury into the front end of a freshly-appearing bear-monster, the combined momentum enough to knock it prone. She pressed the advantage, launching herself into the air by briefly shoving the concrete beneath her upward, summoning her sword into the hand not clenched into a fist to keep the charger held, and then plunged it straight through the beast's neck. She didn't linger, just planting the blade and then leaping back away to the side as it tried to swipe for her.

"I think that'd be more terrifying, but prolly less dangerous at least!" Remedy went over to keep the "bear" busy, slashing into its leg as it stood up and then hopping back just ahead of its attempt to grab her.

"Focus, please?" Zeno caught a few bits of the swarm with some arrows just as they began to get up off of the ground. then threw up a hard-light shield to block a swipe from the bear when it had nearly cornered Remedy.

"I am focusing!" both other vixens responded in unison.

"Send Tora to campus; that's where I'll be." Clark sighed slightly. "The courtyard, same as usual. At least there shouldn't be anyone congregating there this morning."
"Affirmative."

"C'mon!" The basher stumbled, its thin legs tripping over each other, when it tried to turn to retaliate. Tora leapt and slashed into its side, then landed her feet onto it and kicked herself off, the impact knocking its already-unsteady stance completely off balance and toppling it onto its side. "Gimme a real fight!!"
"Please don't ask the universe for a challenge," Clark said, tossing a net of prepared string around the beast's tangled legs. "It'll be all too happy to oblige."

"I know, just—" Tora went back to their first target—another monster of the same type—as it began to snap the strings holding it, and slashed her claws repeatedly through its side. "I really like to get the adrenaline pumping!"

"Well, there's plenty more 'excitement' on the way." Dr. Quinn's left hand was busy controlling a couple of puppets, using them to lure monsters toward them, while her right hand waved about alongside her needle, assembling thread to trap them with. Tora was very good at keeping the monsters' attention on her, allowing Clark to essentially stand still in the middle of the courtyard without much fear of attack. The only thing more reassuring would've been, maybe, Light or Gemma making her invisible too, but if push came to shove, she could always bring out another puppet to take the heat.

For now, a couple of the tentacled rats came along chasing those puppets. Tora seemed to know exactly where those tentacles' blind spots were, dashing in and out of what should've been a dangerously close range to them and slicing into their core masses with her claws without being so much as touched herself. The basher she'd just been working on stood up, so—freed as they were from the chase thanks to Tora—the puppets went to deal with that instead, one of them grabbing the net Clark had just finished weaving while the other picked up and threw a rock at the monster's head to get its attention.

"Miss the rain?" Fay asked, lightly tapping her staff against some surviving pieces of the swarm, each touch placing a point-explosion just big enough to finish that one off.

"Not particularly." Rowan was drawing water up from a nearby storm drain and forming it into some spinning blades to help keep her current opponent—a razor lizard—busy and make openings to slash into its body with her sword. When it backed her against a wall, she let Warp move her out of range; Fay took advantage of its overcommitment to an attack to tap it on the back with her staff, placing the largest explosion she could right inside of it.

It staggered briefly as black mist erupted off of its body, then whirled, starting toward her. Rowan regathered the water that had recently pooled all over the ground into some limbs to wrap around all six of its legs (and its tail), pulling it backwards and pinning it to the wall. Warp took this moment to appear in front of the monster and throw her weapon at it, retrieve it to the other hand, throw it again, and repeat in rapid succession until the mist bleeding off of it began to obscure her vision; then she disappeard again. Rowan tossed her sword at it, splitting it apart into the shape of her water-dragon's "teeth", and reformed some of the water holding the monster into the shape of a mouth just long enough to carry the weapon's momentum into a bite.

"Second one's on the way!" Warp reported; Fay came back to shove another explosion into the lizard's midsection, and then Rowan retrieved her blade to slash through it several more times as it turned indistinct and began to dissipate.

As things started to get more crowded, Magus began to feel like Light had an array of "spells" of her own. A shouted phrase brought down a bolt of lightning from the clouds to finish off the gryphon; another shot a fireball out from her hand to explode right in the middle of a pair of twins just as they formed. She caught the snakewolf's back head in a thin limb of water before slashing through the base of its "tail" with one of her swords, severing it completely and making that part of its body dissipate back into mist.

The mage vixen was hardly idle herself, continuing to use the provided orbs of light to toss out some efficient attacks, running or teleporting herself out of the way of retaliation, and occasionally setting off a prepared trap or two to hurt and stall their opponents. They steadily moved from one end of the ruined street to the other like this, drawing the surviving monsters along with them and constantly damaging them as they went. Soon they came close to the edge of the area, and Light leapt past a wide trench of lower ground, Magus using transposition again to get herself to the opposite side too.

"Ready?" Light asked.
"Feels like it—let's see!" Grabbing the brim of her hat in one hand, Magus swept her weapon in an upward arc with the other. A "seed" previously planted in that trench sprouted and grew out all at once, becoming a collection of thick, thorned structures resembling the roots of a tree, but colored in a similar blue to the "special effects" that tended to accompany Magus's magic. They spread themselves out rapidly thicker and longer, twisting around the limbs and bodies of the monsters that had been pursuing the vixens and holding them tight.

This was a summon spell she'd cast the "first part" of before the fight began, and had been channeling to give it plenty of power and duration ever since. Light went running along the branches once the beasts were caught in them, slashing her swords into one after another and occasionally following up with a "borrowed" lightning bolt or fireball. The mage just kept her sword held out at a forward-up angle, feeding the "Yggdrasil Roots" as much magic as it needed to remain stable against the monsters' struggles.

"Looks like the swarm's done coming out," Ning reported, yelling toward her phone, which was sitting several feet away on a small wooden table.
"Good. Are you feeling any exhaustion?" Rowan asked.
"Nope! Borrowing from the grid super helps, I guess."
"I may have to take a breather, though, boss," Hugo added, stumbling her way to behind the speakers before sliding down to sit on the concrete leaning against them.

"Affirmative. Ning, Warp is on her way to move you."
"Trap's nearly ready," Sam added.

"We're headed toward it!" said Karis. "Got plenty of guests!"

A scorpion tiger was advancing on Plus, while Minus kept a pair of chargers busy. Rory ran up next to the former, grabbing a leg and using it to toss the monster behind herself, landing it upside-down onto its back. She barely even slowed her run while doing this, and only stopped a couple of feet in front of Plus to hold out an empty hand.
"You lost the swords already?" she said, making another new one and handing it over.

"Extra weight. Needed to run fast!"

"Fair enough." The monster was already halfway to righting itself, so Rory turned and grabbed a limb with her free hand again, twisting to turn it over again. Then she hopped onto its underside, gripping the hilt in both hands to slash through it several times.

Plus had already made another sword, so she stuck it into the ground for Rory to get later and ran to attack Minus's opponent.

"Hey, don't these things usually screech sometimes?" Rory asked, sheathing her current weapon into the monster's underside before hopping off of it to get away from a stinger strike.
"I'm muting it.—" "—Have some sound." the noise of one of its vocalization was bent around to in front of Rory and then formed into a dagger, which she caught and then threw into the scorpion tiger's eye as it began trying to charge toward her.

"Great, thanks!" She moved aside, grabbed a limb and threw it into its back again before going to get the sword in the ground.

When the chargers ran toward "one" of her, Gemma had the other one strike them from the back or side. Then they would turn toward that body and start trying to charge, giving the other one a breather and another couple of shots. Since these monsters still couldn't learn anything, she had an easy pattern to follow, broken up only by Rory's next couple of requests for weapons. All three of their remaining targets were looking very indistinct before long, so it was just a matter of keeping them nice and far from each other so they wouldn't merge or do anything else nasty.

The city's vixens converged toward a certain park, letting the surviving monsters from their respective fights chase after them as they went. Sam stood in the middle, surrounded by several interconnected nets of thorned metallic wire, some of which had already closed around the monsters Phoneix and Dawn hadn't already dispatched. Ning was teleported next to Sam, and they exchanged a brief nod as everyone else began to show up.

Limbs of water and hands of stone grabbed and tossed any monsters whose own momentum didn't carry them onto the nets, landing them deeper into the park. Sam set each trap in turn, turning the park into a strange kind of zoo whose freakish collection would be (to everyone's relief) very temporary. The vixens stopped at the rim of the network, where Sam's pair of teammates had already gone a moment earlier, and once the last of them arrived (and the last few of their enemies were caught in the net), Sam yelled to double-check: "We got 'em all?"
A few separate voices called out, all saying some form of "yes".

So Sam put out her free hand—the other one holding on to one end of the wire—and Ning took it. "Light 'em up."

"Yeah!!!" She lifted her free hand to the sky, drawing all of the excess charge recently deposted into the clouds back down toward herself and having it flow through their two bodies and branch all throughout the wire nets, electrocuting all of the monsters at once. One by one they dissipated into mist, the most stubborn of them receiving some extra fireballs or chunks of ice from Cynthia and Don respectively, until they were all gone, the lightning fully spent, and the park was quiet.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

At least Tora was having fun. Clark watched her dart from one monster to another, slashing through them each in turn. Her puppets played support, and she kept tying them up in string whenever possible to keep the heat off. Some of the earliest arrivals were turning indistinct by now, but the two of them they weren't meant to finish off this group alone anyway.

Her ears picked up the noise of two people running, and before long Magus's voice casting some spells. Light showed up near Tora, helping slash apart the "free" monsters while Magus focused on taking out the ones still bound up in string. It only took a couple of minutes for the four of them to finish cleaning up the first of the day's four messes.

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Amidst numerous reports of a successful defense against the day's first wave of attacks came one less-than-optimistic message:

Good work so far, but don't start thinking like, 'this is supposed to be worse than yesterday?'.

You know full well by now what the enemy is really capable of.

The words "You", "know", and "full" linked to news stories covering increasingly severe devastation and loss of life that attacks over the past couple of weeks had brought on; "well" was a map link, the coordinates pointing to a city in Mexico they had more-or-less completely leveled before Espadas could arrive.

Complacency is the tip of a blade in one's own chest. Be careful, and be ready.

So, if the Giver was impressed or satisfied by the vixens' performance so far, she wasn't showing it.

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We pretty much get a warm-up victory lap to show off how everyone has learned and grown throughout the story before things start getting bad. Some highlights include Rory fighting a scorpion tiger in a repetitive but effective way; Gemma comfortably playing along with her banter; Magus and Light showing off some of the results of the previous day's training; Ning trusting others to protect her grandkid to the extent of going over to the other town without her; and a whole lot of just "fighting smart" overall. I actually imagine this episode (in an audio/visual format) as being a montage, sort of like some of those scenes in Guardians of the Galaxy that have semi-diagetic music built in.

P.S. I don't know whether sending electricity up from the power mains up into the sky would ever actually "accumulate charge" that could come back down as actual lightning later, but Ning thinks it works that way, so her magic is helping make it so.

Battle Vixens! - 144

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Episode 144: Deep Breath

Marcus came back from his 'training montage' with Light, opening the apartment door to a sight he would have found positively surreal just a week or so earlier: A curvy, blond-haired catgirl lying on the couch asleep, hugging one of the pillows. Yet now, it was just Thad—or maybe 'Thalia'. As worn out as he felt from all of the sparring and experiments with magic, a stray part of his mind sputtered out that he should put on his hat and join her...but he immediately shook his head to dispel the thought, continuing on to his own bedroom. The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful.

After Emma left to negotiate and possibly sign a contract with the VI, Amory headed back to his own apartment. Both of them kind of wanted to go back to what they'd been doing before the call...but there was an eventual, mutual, semi-reluctant agreement that they'd do so the next day, after all the fights were over. It was good to have something to look forward to, maybe, for both of them—and besides, they both had some other things to take care of. He pestered Blake to go to bed early that night instead of continuing to read comic scans on his computer, and turned in himself not long afterward. Well—more like herself, given the plan for the night.

Rowan sighed, leaning back in her chair. Fox ears didn't miss a single whisper, of course, so a neighboring vixen at the table said, "Long hours getting to you?"
"I can't even rest when I'm asleep. If this crisis ever ends, I won't know what to do with myself," she admitted. "I may end up committed."
"Don't count on getting free time anytime soon," she advised; despite her young appearance, this person was in her nineties, if Rowan recalled right. "The cleanup after a hurricane is often far more work than living through it."
"True..." She looked over to where Espadas was busy arguing with an Italian vixen, noting their volume getting louder and their tones increasingly heated, and took a sharp breath in before standing up to intercede.

Simon treated his wife to a dinner out. Sure, he had dramatically instigated a few large-group meals which she also attended over the past couple of days, but that wasn't quite the same thing as just the two of them sitting across from each other at a table, with nobody else around.

"I think I've got her warming up to the idea," he was saying.
"You mean you feel like you've bullied her enough for the moment?" Karis retorted.

"Sure," he said with a small shrug. "There's an art to this sort of thing, you know. Push too little and they'll forget; too much and they'll refuse to do it just to spite you."

"You're not gonna forget that it is Cynthia's own choice what to do with her life, are you?"

"Oh, perish the thought. But it would be a terrible shame for the art world to lose such a talent just because she's a superhero," he said. "Now, look—she's going to have to pass the GED. If going to college is what she wants. And I have no idea how good her math skills are; they might be even worse than mine."
"Now that's scary," Karis said.

"Right? So I was just wondering, you know, pre-emptively, whether you'd be willing to play tutor once in a while. In the event that it's needed?"
"I guess that wouldn't be too bad. As long as she doesn't start burning the books or something."

"Rowan's been helping her learn better control. Besides, I don't think that's the kind of thing she'd have done even before all this."

"Good, good. Say—you're not worried at all about tomorrow, are you?"

"Worrying really isn't in my nature, my dear."
"I know, I know. But, after everything we've been through so far...I admit I don't really like imagining what 'even worse' is supposed to look like. Maybe we'd better, at least, go to bed early tonight."

"Well, I am more or less caught up on my portraits for the moment," he mused. "I've got some projects from before this disaster started that I really should get back to, but I think the people waiting on them will be understanding if I put them off just a bit longer."

"So you spent more than half your day off talking to youg'uns?"
"Yeeeah...but it's not so bad. I mean, it helps I look like one of 'em again," Ning said, "complete with all the energy." She'd called Corporal Samuel Langdon for a chat a couple of hours after her lunch, now that the shop was empty of both applicants and customers. "I got some pretty good applicants once the folks who were just there to gawk had their fun."

"Being the owner of your own business seems awful tough. Can't say I'd be cut out for it."

"Well—what'd you do today, army man?"
"First thing in the morning, back to base to help run a few drills. After that..Simon bugged me to do a press spot in that t-shirt Lucy gave me."

"Lucy, Lucy...ah! You mean No Evil's leader, right?"
"Seems I'm an 'honorary member', on account of missing half a leg. He reckoned it'd be a 'good angle', for me to talk about what it's like going around on a prosthetic."

"Uh-huh. So, did you do it?"
"Aaaafter some thinkin'. On a couple-a things Lucy told me when she was handing over the shirt. It would be awful nice if everyone who's missing pieces could get 'em back as easily as I did mine...or, 'least, something more similar than what they can make now."

"Heheh~, well, I guess even talking to the press can be tolerated for a good cause.

"Hey—you get any time to talk to your kids? Or grandkids?"

"Just over the phone. They gave their well-wishes, told me to be careful, all that. I said they might want to locate the nearest storm shelters, print out some maps—just in case."

"You think it'll be as bad as that?"
"I don't know, but...it don't hurt to be careful. Our 'spy' told us the enemy's got something big coming for us; it'd be a fool who doesn't take a threat like that seriously."

"True. I guess I'll be sharing Nadia's bedtime tonight.."

"I wanna have some fun tonight, too!"
Clark sighed, then chuckled slightly. "You realize that would mostly defeat the point of turning in early, right?" It was good to have his wife fully back. Even if it wasn't precisely the "old Rory", he would still call it a "new and improved" version. But some things hadn't changed.
"Bleeh, nonsense!" Rory said. "I sleep way better after. You're telling me you don't?"
"I suppose I can't argue otherwise." Now that she'd had a taste again, she was back to being insatiable.

...Well, that was something he'd always loved about her.

Ezekiel walked back inside, and then to the office, reporting: "That's the last set packed up and shipped out."
"Good..." Dr. Brand nodded slowly, lifting his near-empty coffee cup like it was made of lead and attempting to take a sip from it.

"Have you considered, maybe...using that younger form of yours instead of ingesting unhealthy amounts of caffeine?"
He glared up, ever-so-slightly, and then slowly put the cup down. "I know my limits. Exhaustion carries between appearances anyway."

"I told everyone to go home, you know—of those who didn't already need to before. It's past 2 AM—we're really testing the limits of 'same-day delivery' at this point. I'm about to head home to catch a little shut-eye myself. What've you been staring at there, anyway?" Ezekiel leaned over the paper on his colleague's desk; the fact he was looking at it upside-down didn't make it any more comprehensible.
Dr. Brand just shook his head in that 'you're-not-a-physicist' way, then sighed. "If our work is done for the day, then I will go to sleep."

"You make it sound like you intend to collapse at your desk." Ezekiel offered his arms over. "C'mon, I can drive you home if you need me to."
"I'm sleepy, not drunk," he said, rising a little slowly from the chair.
"Impaired judgement comes from both."
"My judgement is not impaired."
"Okay, okay—just, take it easy, you know? Maybe sleep in a little bit?"
"This body loathes a late morning."
"That body? What about the other one?"
Dr. Brand glared briefly, then shrugged. "Haven't tested."
"In that case, I'd venture that an experiment is warranted. You've got to get some rest somehow, right?"
"Hmmph."

---

"Let's see..." Amp had her laptop at the kitchen table, and scrolled around a map of the college and town. "Attacks here, here, here..." She was mostly mumbling to herself. "Not exactly simultaneous. If we go from one to the next...three teams might be able to manage it. Probably gonna have to do some kiting, though..."

Her ears picked up Blake getting out of bed, going about a typical morning routine in his room and bathroom...and then he came into the kitchen. "Hey! I've got breakfast in the oven," she said. "Actually—it's prolly done by now."
"Thanks. Smells good," he said, going over to get it out. "We already have warnings?"

"Yep! I was just thinking about the most efficient way to handle the first set. Looks like it's gonna involve a lot of running around no matter what."
"Greeeat." He put together plates for both of them, setting hers next to the computer before sitting down on the opposite side of the table. "How long do we have?"
"At least another hour right now. Uh, the probably bad news is—this is first of four. And she's said there will be 'at last thirty minutes' between one attack and the next, which...isn't much time to rest."

"That's...hmm. If they happen as soon as possible, they'd be over by the afternoon," Blake computed aloud. "But if they're as spread out as they can be, two to two-and-a-half hours between."
"Right, right," the fox-girl nodded.

"You had a look at how things are for our neighbors?"
"Grrmfh," she mumbled through a mouthful of food. Then, after swallowing: "Not yet. Lessee...oh, oof."
"What's 'oof'?"
"The city's getting a 'swarm' like last Friday, plus several Class 1's and a few 2's around to make it extra spicy. They're already putting out public warnings and notices to 'shelter in place'. Aaand..No Evil's town has got something similar to ours. Oh, hey—they added a new team member! Uh...'Love No Evil'? ...Treatment-resistant arrhythmia, apparently..."

"Getting off-track there."
"Oh! Right. Anyway, I'm in a group-text with Dr. Quinn an' Rowan an' Lift in case one of us gets a bigger attack when either of the others has a gap, or anything like that—so we can send support back and forth. The police are volunteering some vehicles for rapid transport, you know, kitted out for a high-speed chase."

"That's good..."

They ate quietly for a couple of minutes.

"Three weeks," Blake said eventually. "Almost a month."
"Yeah."
"I guess we've been over this a dozen times already, but—tell me I'd wake up to a blond, curvy fox-girl making breakfast in the kitchen, I'd have thought someone had been...watching too much anime or something. Maybe sleep deprivation from studying too much."

"Heehee."

"The thing really making it surreal is that it's just so...normal now. I don't really notice it unless I take a step back and try to put myself in that frame of mind."

"I have a cute, strong, brave, girlfriend," Amp added. "I, myself, literally am a classified asset. There are other universes out there—not just a few, but too many to count. Like the stars in our sky, and each one with its own sky full of stars and planets. The list goes on and on, huh?"

"Yeah. And yet, somehow..our lives go on."

"Not if we don't really want them to. Not if we don't keep fighting for it."
"Right—right," he nodded.

"I won't let everything we've fought for and struggled through and suffered be for nothing. Not now, not ever. Today I...today we'll be heroes. And again tomorrow, and..for as long as it takes."

"Pfft. Finish your breakfast, hero. Then I'll put us on a call to figure out who goes where."

"Y-yeah."

Battle Vixens! - 143

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Episode 143: She Hates Me

Emma sat up in the large bed abruptly at the sound of knocking. It wasn't the same sound as the last couple of nights: A different amount of force, a different rhythm. The person at the door of the room she occupied in her dreams was not Amory.

She hopped down, stretched very briefly, and hurried to answer the door. The person on the other end..looked a little bit like Amp after all. She was taller and more mature-looking overall for sure, but the blue eyes and blond hair, and the fur of her ears and singular fluffy tail taking on the latter color as well, besides a great many details about her face and build overall, made her almost look...kind of like the cute girl's "mother". Despite the drastic difference from any previously-known appearance, however, Emma also recognized exactly who she was looking at, and not just from context; the sense of familiarity was just as if this was how she had always looked.

She smiled slightly, but her expression overall seemed almost...a little bit nervous. "Hello there~." Well, the voice was the same, at any rate. "Could I..come in?"

"Yeah, sure!" Emma hurried to take a few steps back. "You look uh—really different!"
"Well...I don't know whether I have a 'true form', but this appearance most closely matches how I looked during my earliest memories," she said with a slight shrug, walking inside. "I tend to use it when I'm not trying to intimidate or impress my audience. You must not be happy to see me, either way."

"Hey, don't be like that! I've wanted to see you again for days! C'mon, let's—sit down somewhere."

Emma gestured emphatically toward a part of the room that had been empty a moment ago. She and Amory had figured out a lot about how this place worked: Expecting a comfy couch and chair to be there more or less caused them to be, so she just hurried over and hopped onto one side of the former.

"Hmmph—how could I say no that?" Her guest went to sink into the chair, slumping back a bit in the process. "I really am surprised, though. You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah, of course! We've been friends for like two years!"
"That wasn't really—"

"I know, I know—Beryl never was real or whatever. But that doesn't mean you didn't enjoy being her, does it? I just can't believe you'd spend so much time and effort being that nice, actually helping people who can't do anything back—if there wasn't something you were getting out of it, yourself. Maybe you are a huge jerk, and hurt a lot of people, but I think...that's not really all you are."

She sat up slightly. "Hah...you might be the only person of your entire world who thinks even that highly of me."

She leaned her head on a hand, with that elbow on the chair's armrest. "..Don't get me wrong. It's not like that was ever by accident. If I wanted to be adored by all the inhabitants of a planet, it'd be all too easy for me. Only ever telling the truth is hardly even a handicap."

"So, what, you made everyone on Earth hate you, on purpose?"
"Of course," she sat up again to nod slightly, folding her hands across her lap. "If I came off as some sort of benevolent goddess, then most of those wielding my power would never stop 'praying' to me. It'd be cute at first, but I could never afford to protect you that way forever. I just..didn't think success at this task would bother me as much as it does. I've been hated by entire universes' worth of people before and hardly felt a thing."

"How many of them did you really meet? Spend a week or two with, let alone over a year?"

She shrugged, "Not too many, I suppose. Hardly ever in a context that wasn't just them demanding things from me."

Emma said, "Well, there's gotta be something in between 'everyone worshiping you' and 'everyone hating you', if like you just—wanted us to grow power of our own instead of using yours."

"But that was the most efficient way. It doesn't really matter how anyone feels, including me, if it gets the right results."

Emma leaned up and forward a little bit. "You've got such an awful way of thinking about things, you know? All 'efficiency' this and 'results' that. There's way more to being around other people than just getting what you want out of it."

"I don't know of any other reason," she said, tilting her head slightly. "If I want to make someone else happy, that's still something I want. And if I must choose between making someone happy or helping them to survive, then surely it's only a matter of whether I like them or not."

"Does that really have to be a choice?"

The Watcher was quiet for a moment, then just shrugged. "Hard to say. Really, I haven't cared at all about whether I make anyone but myself happy until very recently. Even then, I don't fully comprehend why I do...

"I apologized to you for doing to you and your friends what I still feel was right. But not even my closest acquaintance at the moment—you've never met her—would agree that it was. Light certainly doesn't."

"Do you...care a lot about Blake's opinion of you?"
She nodded slowly.
"You said you like her before. But...why?"

"I don't know whether I can really explain it. I've just been fascinated, watching the 'Hero' do her thing, since the very beginning. Such a talent for creative, flexible uses of her power, but such a strange, hard-headed way of looking at things. So willing to forgive even those who would take her life, but holding such a deep hatred under the right circumstances. Besides, she's just so cute when she glares..."

Emma thought about it for a moment. It was easy for her to think of reasons why she liked Amory, although..the point where respect, gratitude, interest and then friendship, turned into attraction, affection, or infatuation...it was hard for her to really draw the line. Maybe her question had been unfair. So, instead of pressing...

"You know...one of Blake's strongest beliefs is that anyone can change. Being a bad person isn't something that you're just, stuck with forever, after it happens. No matter how much bad."

"I know that..." Her expression shifted to a kind of crooked, sad smile. "But even if I somehow became the ideal person, I don't think I'd be able to show her. She told me she never wanted to see me again, last night, and most definitely meant it. And I will not visit someone who won't let me in. Hmmh..." She closed her eyes slightly, still smiling.

"You don't look that upset about it, though. Are you thinking of some way to trick her into talking to you again anyway?"
She opened her eyes again. "No, no—nothing like that, I promise you. It's just..

"Hahah...heheh...For once, I don't have the words—or better, I don't think they exist in your langauge. Pain just...isn't something that comes naturally to me. I don't really comprehend it. Even emotional pain, is brand new to me as an experience. Light hating me and wishing I were dead hurts, it hurts so much—but I'm also fascinated by that feeling itself." She sniffed once, and Emma realized there were about two or three tears coming down her cheeks.

"You haven't heard of 'masochism' before?"
"Pffhahah!" She chuckled. "No, no—it's not that, I swear! I do...I do want it stop, but I also don't want it to end. It's so much easier to just stay the same, and savor it, but a part of me wants to change anyway, and see what happens then."

"Okay...so what makes changing so hard anyway, if you want to?"

She wiped her face on a sleeve, the tears gone as soon as they had appeared. "I have made a great many decisions. Commitments. Promises. I must be fair to everyone, as much as I can. Being 'good', according to Light, means acting immediately just because one person is in trouble, but I have to think about the price of every action in terms of what it will cost billions of others. Worse, I don't have the excuse of not having time to think things through. In under a second, I can compute the consequences of my next action out to at least several decades in most situations. So...even if I truly wish to do something kind for someone, I'm trapped within the many constraints that my own actions have created. In short, being an adult is hard," she said, shrugging.

"Do you regret starting to help people fight those monsters?"
"Never," she answered instantly. "Not one bit." She sighed. "Now and then, I do miss the days when I was only an audience member, sitting back and watching events play out...but I've had my focus drawn to plenty of exciting things I would never have noticed otherwise. And, my time with the people of your world has been another unique experience all its own."

"You know, it doesn't sound like it'd cost you that much to just...get to know the people of some other world. Like, one that's not in danger? You could show up and just talk honestly with people—like, actually honest, not that 'tell only the truth' thing, but not going out of your way to make them hate or love you, either."

"Emma, I legitimately don't know whether I'm capable of that kind of honesty."
"Well—then—you definitely can't figure that out unless you try!"
"Hmm, perhaps not..."

She paused for a moment, looking over at the door, then back Emma's way. "Time here doesn't work exactly the same as in your waking world, but.."
"Are you wondering about Amp? Rowan wanted her help to hold a last-minute meeting thing with a bunch of the other leaders," Emma said.
"That's good..but I did already know that. I was going to say, I've been here for a while as it is. It's...good you're all taking tomorrow seriously. And it's nice to have the opportunity to talk to you again..."

Emma gave her a long look. "There's something you're not saying, isn't there?"
"Well," she shrugged, "I..don't know whether this will be the last time. Obviously I never do, but especially..."

"Tomorrow will be, difficult. Exceedingly so. More than you might expect. For your world, the enemy's usual pattern of behavior was thrown off a little by my interference; its first few strikes were the sort that would have wiped your world out if you had no help. But after that, it began its usual...'strategy', to use the word lightly. A number of probing attacks, with a certain pattern of intensity to them. That's what it does with worlds full of magic, which at least appear to be well-prepared for its assault. After that, a brief pause, and then..."
"And then?"
"It makes its true strike. An all-out assault, you could say. The earlier attacks tend to expose the weaknesses of a world's defenses, widen the cracks that were narrowly present before—often in ways the world's own protectors barely notice or can do little about in so short a time. And then, at this point, those cracks are hit hard enough to shatter everything, if it's possible. The good news is that if this fails, it tends to give up for a while...but if it perceives a serious weakness this time, it will continue to strike at it again and again until the world falls."

"Do we...have a huge weakness like that?"
"I don't believe so. And at least you don't have...

"Well, a world having powerful magic from the start, especially if it's closely concentrated, can be a double-edged sword, is all. We lost such a world recently; its gods made powerful protectors so that their people could live in peace and harmony, but all it took was the enemy swallowing just one of those for the rest to fall like so many dominos. If only more of them had swallowed their pride and accepted my help...

"Your world doesn't have that problem, but as a result, you aren't terribly secure either. Your collective power is just about enough to resist its strike. So I'm su...sssuuu....mmh." She appeared to be unable to finish her sentence. "I mean, I hope you'll make it through this. I, believe you are capable."

"But—you can't actually say you're 'sure' we will."
She nodded slightly. "Sorry. I've...given you all I can afford to. It is your fight now."
"It kinda always was, though, wasn't it?"
She grinned a little wryly. "...Yes. You're right."

Battle Vixens! - 142

First / Previous / Next / Latest

---

Episode 142: The Future

No sooner had the news crew packed up and left than a line began to form outside the door. Maybe it was more accurate to call it a crowd instead. Ning leaned back in her seat, sighed, then stood up. The kids had the day off from school, and there was no risk of an attack interrupting things...so there was no better time to take care of this. Still, it was going to be a long day, if every single one of them was here to apply for the job. But delaying any more would only make it all take even longer, so she hopped to her feet and went to let the first person in.

"C'mon in! One at a time, please. Form a line out there, if you don't mind!'

"Uh hi!" The first to enter was short, thin young woman in casual dress. She seemed nervous, excited, and very fidgety.

"Morning. You have a resume?"
"N-no. I just. Tobehonest myfriendskinda pushedmetocome."

"That's fine. Take a seat, and a deep breath, if you don't mind. We'll just do a short interview for now. To begin with...why don't you introduce yourself?"

The fifth was an average-height guy, slightly overweight, wearing glasses. "Do you have any experience working retail?" Ning asked.

"Yeah. I've stocked shelves at a big grocery in my hometown before."
"You have their number? Or location? For a reference, I mean."
"Uh, not on me...honestly, we didn't really part on theee, best of terms..."

Applicant number ten actually brought a resume...although it more closely resembled a kindergartener's art project. Ning couldn't read what much of what she'd handwritten in glittery ink on that pink piece of paper.

"And how are you with kids?"
"Oh, I'm great~. I worked as a babysitter for my mom's friends~," she said.

"Why do you want to work here?"

"Are you kidding? You must meet all kinds of amazing people! Hey, does Light hang out here often?"
Ning said, a little wearily: "Not really..." Number fifteen wasn't looking too promising.

---

April looked over a table covered in fox-masks, eventually picking a couple of them up to inspect more closely. "Impressive work..so many variations. I certainly couldn't have imagined all this from our first couple of phone calls." Setting them down again, she turned to the two men who'd hired her. "Are you certain you're academics and not artists?"

"We didn't directly make these designs," Dr. Bridges said. "There are several artists in our department. But they needed your original ideas to go off of before these started actually working."

"Strange. You couldn't simply mass-produce the same appearance, either?"
"We obviously could. But only the first copy of any specific design is functional," Dr. Brand said. "As if the blasted masks themselves know they're not 'original enough'."

Dr. Bridges adjusted his glasses. "Thankfully, only a slight change is usually needed to fix that...but eventually we run out of working variations for the paint, and have to come up with a different shape."

"This is bound to become a fundamental limit to our output at some point. Unless someone like you can do something about it."

"Goodness. I never expected the limits of creativity to have such a practical consequence," she said.

"Hmmmh." For a moment April closed her eyes, tapping her cheek with her index finger. "Surely we could move on to other sorts of accessories...and we haven't exhausted the potential of hats with just the one, have we?"

"Probably not, but that one was difficult enough to produce," Dr. Brand said. "It would be preferable to use rings, bracelets, watches—something which is not supposed to hide one's original appearance. We received a hint from the Giver to the effect that something like that may allow powers without the need for a change in one's overall appearance."
"It sounds as if you want a jeweler," April said. "I work largely in thread, you know; the masks were already a stretch for me. I suppose it would be impractical to use the likes of shirts or dresses—they'd take too long to put on when needed."

"What about gloves?" Dr. Bridges suggested.

"That, at least, I could produce. Although there is still something of an aspect of covering one's true appearance with those."

Dr. Brand sighed, "We tried gloves before, with no success. I wouldn't be opposed to another attempt, if we weren't in the middle of a crisis."

"Ah—what about..?" Thinking of her conversation with Emma earlier that day, April took off the headband she still had on, presenting it to the researchers. "This is hardly the direction you're asking for, but in the interest of having more variations to pick from..."

They looked at each other as if something terribly obvious had been pointed out to them. "Right..." Dr. Bridges said. "Probably because of the Giver's actions, there is a certain preference for 'animal ears', let's say. We've received a little bit of evidence lately that it's moving away from exclusively foxes..."

"It's an idea, at least," Dr. Brand said, not looking particularly happy (but April was rapidly forming a suspicion that he almost never did). "While there is still an emergency to respond to, we can't afford to be too picky. We will need to hammer out a functional prototype today."

April nodded, putting the headband back on. "I hope it shall not be a surprise to you gentlemen that I have little experience in making these, too. But I am always looking for new challenges, especially now that they're in fashion..."

---

After the conversation with all of the other "Reborn" was over, Simon followed Cynthia out of the room. She turned a couple of random corners to confirm that he was actually trying to stick with her and not just coincidentally going the same direction, and then turned and glared. "You want somethin'?!"

"Oh, well, since you asked—I have a short break, and I thought we could resume our conversation from last night for a minute or two," he said.

"Last night...what, you mean about the colleges? I thought you were done with that stuff once you started talkin' to other folks."

"I gave you some opinions, sure, but then I just got distracted. My main point was: Considering all of the options, where do you think you'd like to go?"

"'To go'?"

"You know, starting mmmh, possibly next fall? I don't think it's quite too late to get some applications in," he said, "especially not for a celebrity."
"Wha—?! I d—! Back up like five steps, would ya?"
"Oookay?" He started literally taking steps backward.
"I don't mean it like that! What're you talkin' about applications in the first place for?!"

"Oh." Simon stopped. "Well, you're obviously an extremely talented artist, so it only seems right to me to find you somewhere you can actually develop those talents. Ideally with the option of making a career out of it, but obviously it's not up to me which way you want to ultimately steer your life."

"You think I, should go to some college somewhere? Me?"
"Sure. You're, what, eighteen or nineteen? That's about the right age for college."
She crossed her arms, glaring. "I can't afford jack."
"There are these wonderful things called scholarships and student loans. The latter are less pleasant, but if you get to be rolling in cash the way I am, they can be dispensed with pretty quickly."

"I ain't got enough schooling. Neither me nor Donny ever graduated, y'know?"

Simon shrugged. "A minor obstruction. A GED isn't that tough to earn."

"You think I'm'onna get a scholarship, with a GED?"

"It could happen! But, really, success is often in large part to do with who you know. And you know me," he said, giving a grand gesture toward his own chest, "And I am good friends with plenty of people in the art world, including the academic side. A couple of phone calls, maybe a visit to show off some of your sketches, and I'm sure I could work something out with..at least most of the less-picky colleges. Besides, that's not even counting the other advantages you have."

"Like what? 'Celebrity'!? You think I oughta use how I'm sorta famous to get accepted over somebody else?"

"Well, obviously. Anyone who aims to get ahead in life should leverage every advantage at their disposal, especially if you think you're at a disadvantage to start with. I don't mean hurting other people, obviously, but the fact that you are miss came-back-from-the-dead Phoenix will carry some weight no matter what. If nothing else, your powers could literally protect campus—if those monsters keep attacking the world for that long, anyway. But, hey, even if not, who knows what else we vixens might be called on to help out with?"

"You...I just don't get how you think."

"It's pretty straightforward," he said with a shrug. "I'm always looking out for number one."
"Then what you wanna help me out for?"
"You're very talented, remember? So if you turn that talent into a career as a famous artist, then I get to be the man who 'discovered' you!" he said, pointing to his own chest proudly with his right thumb. "You mention how very much I helped you in aaaallll your big award speeches. Introduce me to all the movers and shakers you happen to meet. And as a result, my fame and influence grows all the more!" he concluded, spreading his arms out dramatically.

"You think I'd do all that, knowing you only helped me so I would?"

"I don't see any reason to be coy about it, at least. People like you better if they think you're honest, after all. So, what do you say? How about applying to some places for next school year?"

He had an irritating grin on that was probably supposed to be charismatic and winning...no, on second thought, Cynthia decided that this grin was an intentionally annoying one because that would make her respond faster. She just sighed. "I guess I'll think about it."
"Perfect! Think about which college too, while you're at it!" he said. "Maybe do some of your own research on them. Well, I've got to run now, so we'll talk again later!" With that, Simon about-faced and practically sprinted out of sight.

Cynthia paused a long moment, then started off in the direction she'd been going before noticing Simon following her. She realized slowly that he'd done all of that specifically to make her start thinking about it, and now she was, so as far as he was concerned, he'd "won" the conversation. The way he thought was a little less opaque now, but still just as much of a headache for her.

---

After the nineteenth semi-disastrous interview, Ning took a short break to get up, stretch, check on Nadia, and drink some water. Glancing out the window before she let the next one in, it seemed like the crowd had thinned considerably. She could almost make out a coherent line now, and a few of them were even dressed up instead of just wearing casual clothes or worse. Probably a lot of people had just come around to gawk, or (optimistically) to cheer their friends on, and/or egg them into coming in to apply.

Number twenty was already looking better: He had an actual resume, had experience...

"What hours do you think you'll be able to work in a typical week?"
"Uh...let's see..classes are out right now, but with my usual schedule...I guess I'd be free most afternoons? Just not Wednesday, I've got a lab class."
"Weekends?"

"Uhhhmmostly?" he said.

"'Kay then," Ning noted that down. "And—how are you with kids?"
"Prretty bad. I honestly just kinda find it tough to relate to anyone under, like, fifteen."

She nodded. "Got it. Thank you for being honest. I'll call you if I wanna hire you."

Applicant twenty-five came in wearing a proper dress..and a fox-ear headband. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Oh, sure. I'm Maria Faye, senior year but I'm probably gonna need a fifth one at this rate. It's how things go when you switch majors."

No experience..but she expressly wanted to learn how to handle a store, for her future career. So at least she was serious...
"My schedule's pretty rough this semester...I've gotta go to class all day Thursday and Friday. Mornings are open otherwise?"

And she'd never been around any kids...being the youngest of a few siblings. But she was sure it couldn't be 'that hard'...Ning had to restrain herself from shaking her head and/or saying something like 'oh you sweet child, bless your heart'.

The end of the line was visible out the window by number thirty-one. Ning felt like she might be able to get in a lunch by maybe 2:00, and then open the store normally for the rest of the afternoon. This one came wearing a suit, and he was...tall. Huge, broad-shouldered, fit. He had to duck to get into the door, and made the interviewee chair look like it was designed for someone a third his age.

"Mmh, sorry about the chair," Ning said. "You can stand if you want?"
"Nah, I'm used to it," he said, offering her a proper-looking resume.

"Thank you. Now, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Uh, sure. Gustav Cooper. Lot of people just call me Gus. I'm majoring in theater...kinda. I work in the props department, but I'm actually hoping to be a modern-day blacksmith. Make real swords and stuff, like for ren fairs. Pretty niche, I know."

"Interesting. And—do you have any experience working retail?"
"I'm..not sure it counts, exactly. But I've done a lot of booths at cons and fairs, that kind of thing. Not..you know, a normal store or anything," he shrugged.

"That's fine, if you're open to learning a thing or two. Why do you want to work here?"

"I just thought..you know, some extra money and experience might help. Seems like you're pretty good at managing your own business, financially speaking, so..thought maybe I could pick up a few tips? If you don't mind."

"We'll see. What hours do you think you'll be available to work?"
"It's..a little up in the air. If they need me doing props, I've gotta be at the theater department all day, whether it's the weekend or not. But when I'm done, I get a lot of time free. No classes on Wednesday, not much on Tuesday or Thursday. It's all squeezed into the edges of the week."

"Oo-kay. And: How are you with kids, Gustav?"
"Oh, I'm great! Got some younger cousins who're always begging for piggyback rides. Or they wanna play Lilliput and Gulliver, try to 'knock the giant down' and stuff."

"That sounds nice." Ning stood up and offered him a hand to shake. "Thanks for your time; I'll call you if I wanna hire you."

"Sure. Thank you." While he was walking out (and carefully ducking through the doorway again), she made a quick note that this one was a definite keeper.

"...Next, please!"

---

April took command of a small temporary office—mostly just needing the desk and the chair—and got to work sketching out some designs. After making a few reasonable attempts at animal-ear headbands, she also tried her hand with a few hats, pairs of gloves, and a choker. The numerous back-and-forth exchanges while designing Magus's hat had taught her the sort of designs that were likely to "work" and the sort that definitely wouldn't, but she would struggle terribly if asked to put that comprehension into words.

While she was coincidentally taking a brief stretch break, there was a knock on the door, so she went to answer it. "Ah, Dr. Brand. Something I can help you with?"
"Perhaps. If you wouldn't mind speaking in confidence for a moment?"
"Oh, no trouble at all," she said, heading deeper into the little office again to get out of his way. The aged physicist carefully closed the door behind him, clearly trying to minimize the noise it made, and paused to glance at the desk, and the half-finished sketches upon it.
"I suppose that's going well enough?"
"Yes..I believe I should have something adequate soon," she said. "Although—some of these designs are rather obvious. If they do work, it'd be rather surprising that nobody else has already stumbled upon them."
"That is true, but constructing the object is only the first step of the process. It must be the right kind of object for the rest of the process, which is classified for the moment, to work."

"I see—that does make a bit more sense," she said, nodding.

"Well then...there was something else you wished to discuss?"

"I have a strange question," Dr. Brand said. "Have you had any contact with persons...especially women, whose names sound like some kind of gemstone?"

"I can think of several, off the top of my head," she said with quick nod. "Names like 'Ruby', 'Diamanda', 'Sapphire'...are all fairly common among fashionistas and models, you know. Although I can't say for certain whether those are their legal names."

"Yes, of course," he nodded just slightly. "Have any of these people..said or done something notably strange? I'm not sure how to put it—have they, seemed to demonstrate extraordinary knowledge? Or refused to lie when it clearly would have been beneficial to do so?"

"Hmmn." April tilted her head slightly, thinking. She wasn't really built for intrigue. "I have the feeling...one of us knows something they shouldn't, and I'm not certain which one it is. Oh, well, I'm certain I can trust you to keep something quiet either way. My younger sister Emma—I'm sure you're somewhat acquainted?" Dr. Brand nodded. "She had a roommate by the name of Beryl. I can't say that I ever saw anything unusual from her, but Emma evidently worked out that she was really that person they call 'the Giver'. It was something of a game for Beryl, to see how long it would take her to work it out, and once she did, the game was 'over' and she left for good. Perhaps that is the sort of thing you wanted to know?"

"...It is. Thank you." Maybe April just wasn't used to how he displayed his mood, but Dr. Brand seemed slightly more irritated than usual.
"Is something the matter?"
"Not exactly. I don't really enjoy being led by the nose, but it's only been to our benefit so far." He shook his head. "Thank you; I'll leave you to work."

---

"Mrrr~rrh..."

There was no telling exactly how long "a while" was turning out to be. Emma was entirely too focused on cuddling with and petting the other fox-girl with her on her couch to really keep track of time. And, rather than either of them breaking it off, a sudden noise interrupted this process. Emma yipped loudly, pulling herself partly upright and off of Amp, looking around in a brief panic before fully making sense of what the sound even was.

"..Oh. That's my phone."
"Pffheheh," the blond fox-girl giggled softly.

"Whaat?"
"Cuu~ute."
"Hmph..." Emma pouted a little. "You're one to talk."

They reluctantly and a little slowly disengaged enough for Emma to go retrieve the source of the noise, but unfortunately still quickly enough that she could answer it. "Uh..hello?"

"Hiii! This is Felicity Brown," the woman on the phone said in a chipper tone of voice. "Do I have miss Emma Hayes on the other end there?"
"Uh..yeah?"

"Well! I'm with the Vixen Initiative's research department—or, more specifically, hiring and allocation. As far as I know, you spoke with our psych lead—Dr. Bridges—some time a couple of days ago, about possibly working with us at some point?"
"Uhm...I think I remember a conversation like that." That whole visit to the VI was kind of a blur for Emma, except for meeting the various former-puppet people.

"Well, we would be just as interested as ever to have your help with some things—paid help, I should emphasize, maybe part time? I was asked to call you because, err. While it is for very unfortunate reasons, I'm sure, one of the major obstructions to a normal hiring process at the time has since been uuhh, removed! Yes."

Emma looked over at Amp with a very confused expression, knowing that her giant fox-ears could hear the other end of the conversation. So she explained: "She means, since your identity is publicly known now, it's way easier to legally hire you."

"Oh! Uhhh. You want to hire me? I don't really know how much help I'd actually be with, researching magic, though."

"I've got the wrong area of expertise to argue with you about that, but I can say our research leads at least think you'd be a lot of help. If you find some time to come over, when you're not busy with your studies, or with the giant black monsters. Aaaalso, not all of what our department's engaged in really takes much expertise. I can think of at least one job you'd do twice as fast just from having two bodies to do it with."

"I guess...uhm.." Emma was briefly distracted by trying really hard to read Amp's lips, until she finally discerned the words 'how much'. "How uh..what kind of 'paid' do you mean, exactly?"
"Oh, we're willing to negotiate a pretty generous hourly rate—the VI's doing really well financially, you know, with plenty of donations and other sources of bankrolling. I admit the numbers haven't fully been crunched yet, but I've got some of the paperwork around my office here if you'll give me juust a moment."

"You need to know the actual job description, too," Amp pointed out while they both heard some papers shuffling on the other end of the phone. "They probably wanna meet in person for the paper-signing anyway."
"Uh, y-yeah," Emma said with a small nod after pulling the phone slightly away from her face.

Felicity quoted a 'lowball' estimate of the hourly rate that made Emma's eyes pop. When looked to for advice, Amp said "Up to you, but I'd take it." She eventually agreed to head over and meet with someone to talk about it in the late afternoon, which (she finally looked at her phone to check) would be a couple of hours later. After all, everyone was going to be too busy for this kind of thing tomorrow.

---

After a lunch with Nadia, Ning went shuffling through all of her notes and the fairly small number of resumes that she'd acquired from the forty-something applicants of the day. Most of them were instant rejections, but she was fairly sure there were decent applicants whose available hours could be combined to fill most of the day on most days of the week. Her granddaughter took one of the rejected resumes and started drawing something on it in crayon, which she probably should've stopped—after all, even if she wasn't going to hire that particular person, this was maybe a bit disrespectful. But she'd already started by the time Ning noticed, and this really didn't qualify as misbehavior worth scolding her for, so she just let it go.

After a few minutes, Nadia presented her with the results of her work: A few stick figures with fox-like ears and tails, standing under a smiling sun. "Oh, that's sweet~," she said, patting her granddaughter's head. "Who all is this, dear?"

"That's you, an' Gemma, an' Amp, an' Light." The tails were more or less the right colors for each, and she probably should've guessed Gemma was the one with two tails.

Ning nodded. "Thank you! Now, if you'd like to draw some more, use this paper, hmm?" she said, offering some blank pages.

"A'kay!"

Not everyone Ning intended to hire had said they were good with kids, but babysitting wasn't really going to be their job in the first place. Ideally, Nadia would be in school most of the time they were working anyway. She consolidated her decisions into a short list, with the names and numbers and the weekly hours she expected to get out of them, and then wrote some back-ups on a second piece of paper. Then she gathered everything together—including the resume Nadia had drawn over—with those papers on top, and set them aside. The time to hire would be another day, after she'd had time to really mull it over, and had someone draft out the legal paperwork, come up with a way to train the new hires and possibly introduce them to each other...

But at least she had a plan now.

---

I've had this part mostly written for so long, and then entirely written for a little while, but kept putting off publishing it until I had "more done". Well, no more of that. And I'll publish the next part I've finished, too. This story has been stuck on this day for too long, time to move on, but I admit the next day is going to involve writing a lot of action. Writing action is fun but also uniquely hard; I have to be in the right mood...well, hopefully I can manage it.