Oops!

** About A Half Hour Ago **

Lacrima stands within the ritual circle in the manor. Within is some sort of malevolent force. It seems to be some sort of dog-like creature. The circle is keeping it bound, but she seems to be trying... something.

"Obey..." she mutters in Spanish. "Obey...!" she mutters out-- there's a sudden burst of purple aura and for a moment-- the creature suddenly turns docile. Lacrima suddenly seems surprised! "It worked?... It worked!" she says.

Then she looses control in her excitement. And the thing is suddenly...gone, hopped out in a bolt of dark energy, through a window. Into the streets, down the road. Car alarms go off in the nearby distance. "...." she silently stares at the spot the creature /was/.

"But...I..I /had it under control!/" she spits!

** Now! **

There's a big wolf/dog like youma with red glowing eyes, made of shadow terrorizing the lower downtown area of Mitakihara. It's sort of traipsing right down the middle, sending people screaming. Cars sometimes get flung to the sidewalk. It's draining energy as it goes- causing people to collapse. It roars and growls and makes sounds that sound undoglike in retrospect.

Lacrima is sort of floating softly after it. She's yelling. "OBEY! Argh!" she spits. "I had it under /control!/." she cries out. "Nrg... maybe there's someway I can harvest it after the fact." she mutters.

"STOP RAMAPGING!" she yells out. Then she just tries all sorts of things. "BAD DOG!" she screams out.

Yeah that didn't work, as it picks up a lamppost in it's mouth, and now it's running with it.

Amu Hinamori had been... well, there'd been an awkward dinner. Very, very awkward. Eilam had asked her out on a date! Well, less a date. More a thank you dinner. But in her mind it was a date so she'd spent all day panicking even though she knew it technically wasn't a date it was just dinner but what if it was a date and he was making a move on her and what if he liked her but she didn't like him but she did kind of like him and he was cute but she had Tadase and no no no no! So, all in all, a giant demon dog was a good thing.

The moment she'd felt it she'd run off, just saying "Monster!" then leaving. Poor Eilam to pick up the check. Then again, he asked her out. It had only taken her a few moments to get into her amulet heart before she leaped up onto the roof tops and ran after the beast. and when she saw it, well... "errr... Hey! Boy! Over here!" She lifted up her heart rod. "Get the stick!" She yelled before flinging it, trying to direct it away from the civilians. Then her eyes noticed Lacrima and... "Lacrima-chan! Do you know what this is? How we can stop it?" She'd yet to have figured it out, it seemed.

    "..."

    Monster?

    Monsters were real?

    Eilam vaguely recalled Lacrima talking about a 'dusk zone', whatever that was, but beyond that? He was unaware. In fact, it rather terrified him, the idea of monsters. Things he couldn't really control. More things that he couldn't control no matter how much influence and networking he spread around the world, no matter how much income and the likes he earned. But one thing he could do? Reach into his coat and pull out a wad of yen to place onto the table and call the server to point it out before stepping away to try and follow. What could he do? Probably not much at all. He was even dressed nicely. Not that he wasn't always dressed nicely, but a little more than normal, having invited Amu to dinner to thank her for being nice to Lacrima and not giving her more reason to freak out around the Light than she already has. "If I get one more outfit ruined due to this crap, I'm going to be pissed." he mumbled, stepping out the door with his stave in the crook of his arm until he was outside. In fact, he'd already started to unscrew it before he happened to see...

    "I'm getting too old for this s..."

Again, darkness reigns, and again Ayana senses it. This time, however, she was careful not to allow herself to be drawn unprepared. Transforming into Cute Fox Inariko was an easy option, allowing her the power of the god who backs her as a buffer against the drawing dark.

She can't fly, like some magical girls, but she can hop from building to building. Silent as a shadow, she chases Lacrima through the streets, watching with narrowed eyes as the massive Youma rampages through the city.

Hokuto is out for dinner, herself, and has just been enjoying some rather good sushi - a fresh shipment of shrimp is in, it seems, and she's spent an hour or so indulging. "That was amazing, she tells the chef as she passes him a tip, before heading out.

And out in the street, there is darkness, and some sort of giant dog waving a lamppost around. What.

"Excuse me," she says. "This just will not do." A wave of her hand, plucking a pair of ofuda from the pouch at her side, and the papers fly into the air as the inked characters glow and expand. The glowing characters wash over her, leaving her clothes changed to the familiar red and white miko's garb.

Thus prepared for combat, she hurries after the beast, plucking more enchanted paper slips from her belt-pouch.

Jiaying Maki had been making her way to the the manor anywa, not really hiding anything either. Her original ghost is floating alongside her, she's talking to it in Chinese, her tail's on full display, though her ears are hidden beneath a hoodie. Maybe she's just going for the weird angle, or the viral video angle. Either way, she doesn't seem to be in a great mood. Then a giant dog demon thing runs past and she actually squeaks in fear and quickly scrambles to get on top of something. The ghost doesn't even laugh this time, which is a rarity.

There's a Norie running past too. This gets a confused look, then she calls out, "Hey what did you do!" trying not to sound too much like she's having a anic attack. At least it's not the same as being angry or sulking! She hops from the car eventually and starts to run towards Norie to help... somehow.

And the night was actually going smoothly for Seth. A dinner and a movie with his sister, to take his mind off things - that was all he wanted. Nice dinner, check. Good movie, check. Good popcorn during the movie, check. Everybody coming out happy. Check that, too. Then, when they reach the door to the building, he tells her to go on up, he was just gonna go out for a stroll, he'd be right back; hesitatingly, Amanda told him to be careful at this time of night. Oh, come on!, it's not like some demon dog was going to pop out on... the... street...?

...

...Yeah, that was asking for too much, now wasn't it?

Seth is just going around the corner, and BAM!, there it is, as if straight out from the old ghostbusters movie, rampaging through the street - and heading his way at full speed.

"Oh, sonuvabitch...!" Yeah, he's running! He's running! To try and get on top of a car, climb up some building's fire escape, whatever. This seems like a little off his pay grade, here.

Lacrima is still chasing this thing when Amu, or rather, Amulet Heart shows up and she 'ughs' how can this get any worse? "I summoned it!" she insists. "IT'S SUPPOSED TO OBEY ME AND IT ISN'T!" she screams out.

"BAD DOG!" she yells out as she tries to blast a bolt of dark energy down at it. It misses.

It sees Amulet's Heart Rod and it drops the big lamppost in it's mouth with a thudding crash onto the hood of some poor truck. How the media is going to spin this one is anyone's guess. 'Freak torando hits downtown area?'

Probably.

It however, stops just in front of Eilam. Who is getting too old for this s---- The thing turns it's head, leans down and just engulfs Eilam in it's monstrous jaw. Eilam gets devoured by this big dog thing. Just like that.

"ARGGGH SPIT THAT OUT!" screams Lacrima. "NO! BAD BAD BAD DOG! EILAM-KUN ISN'T FOR EATING!" she screams out.

More dark blasts that don't hit home.

The Cute Fox goes unseen for the moment because right now she's suddenly VERY VERY much more upset at Clifford, The Big Black Dog.

Hokuto races to the scene! Some people sort of crash by her. People are running. Luckily, Amu's distraction did pay off. A little bit. Except for the part where it ate Eilam like a dog treat.

"Ugh! It's from the Dusk Zone so your stupid...light..magic purifying whatever stuff should work!" she spits out at Amulet Heart. "But probably need to weaken it first now." she says. "I think the thing's reaching an energy peak." she says.

"Maybe." she insists. "I'm not really sure." she mutters.

She stares at Jiaying. "I figured out how to summon things from the Dusk Zone. This apparently isn't the same as controlling things from the Dusk Zone." she says plainly, suddenly. Oh, then back to panic.

Does it see Seth?

Yeah it saw Seth. That's bad. That's very bad.

Amu Hinamori eeked as he got eaten. "No no! Bad dog! Bad!" Su stepped forward. "Ran, switch with me!" There was a moment hesitation, then Amulet Clover was there. She took a deep breath before smiling. "Oh little doggyyyyy!" she called out in that tone.

Oh joy. Su was a dog person. Spirit. She popped up and, landing on its back, reached down and proceeded to... scritch it just behind the ears. "Now, put down Eilam like a good boy, okay? Who's a good doggy. Do you want a treat? do you want a big doggy treat?" She holds out her hand and a wisk appears. She flashes it once and... gold honey spreads out onto the ground before... turning... into... a big... golden... dog bone. Toy.

Inariko pauses as the dog starts to eat Eilam. Should she help? No, there are others here who can do that. Besides, she's got her eyes on someone else, right now. Carefully, the kitsune creeps towards the edge of the building, then frowns at the words from Lacrima. "Really?" she asks low and ujnder her breath. "Summoning things?"

Jiaying Maki swallows any retort she might have, first and foremost the question of any kind of wards in the room, something she'll definitely be going over after! She sends her ghosts ahead of her and seems to be hanging back as much as she can while still trying to help. She really does not seem to be the sort o enjoy this kind of thing.

The first ghost, a feral looking thing itself, the librarian's angry ghost seems to pick up speed and with the help of Jia herself, gains glowing green claws, sinister looking things as it tries to leap on the dog from behind, tearing into it with those makeshift claws. "H-hey! Let go of him!" She quickl ooks around, then starts to climb over something, trying to stay out of reach of the dog. This means she misses Ayana at the moment, but she's got some words there! For now, she tries to continue her climbing, now with the help of ghosts!

Hokuto finishes her transformation just in time to see Eilam get eaten. That's just not something she can allow to stand. One might even say she finds it fofensive.

It really doesn't help when she overhears Lacrima's remark about summoning things.

"Sorry, but you violated rule one: Do Not Call Up That Which You Cannot Put Down!"

One ofuda after another flicks from her hands, plastering themselves to the fronts of various buildings along the street. Energy crackles around each one as whatever mandala she's building starts to form, waiting only for the remaining components.

"Try to keep it in this area!" she calls to the others. "Don't let it out of this block!"

Yeah, keep it in this area. Were those words directed at Seth, by any chance? Because, you know... HEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!!

The demon dog rampages through the street, has eaten one person already, it seems, and he's the next on the menu. So, HEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!!

This, however, doesn't mean that his panicking doesn't allow for reason; the creature is large, so it's also wide - so, what if he maneuvers into a dark, tight alleyway?

He has to try it. Looking over his shoulder, he can see a number of mahou shoujo coming after it, but he has to assume he's on his own on this one.

So, he runs to the nearest tight alleyway, where a creature that large will have a hard time maneuvering. Heck, he might even be able, if he times it just right, to escape underneath it while it struggles to maneuver and go back after him.

Yes, it could work, especially if those girls keep attacking it, he might just have a chance here.

Amulet Heart becomes Amulet Clover and tries to use a giant dog treat to distract the creature! It's hard to tell if the thing just looks like a dog, or acts like one too. It doesn't seem particularly interested in the giant bone too hard.

Lacrima continues to yell out at the thing. Bad Dog! Put Eilam-kun down! Nothing new here yet as she blasts bolts of dark energy down at the thing. She does connect occasionally, but her dark energy attacks are expectantly not having much effect on the Dusk Zone creature.

Yes Ayana, summoning things! From the Dusk Zone! It obviously didn't go as planned.

"Nrg, I'm supposed to be able to control these things, I /saw it/." she insists. Saw where!? In her dreams!? Well. Yes. In her dreams. Like she's learned everything else.

There's obviously something she's missed there.

The dog however, stops dead when the ghost claws itself into it, yeah- it didn't like that and it begins to try to thrash at it's back to attack the ghost, causing it to tumble around and roll around in an attempt.

"HEY! NO ONE ASKED YOUR OPINION!" she shouts at Hokuto. Hokuto does... something. Luckily, the ghost is keeping it busy now while Seth runs-- wait Seth?

Lacrima sort of narrows her eyes. Ugh, it's.. that boy. Of course it's that boy. "JUST HIDE!" she calls down the road. Yeah. That should be enough, right?

"I swear if this thing doesn't burp up Eilam-kun in a moment I am going to get /SO CROSS/." she yells.

Amulet Clover blinked as it started thrashing. "H-hey! Bad dog, come on doggy, it'll--" Aaaaand then it rolled over. When it came back up, amu was no longer on its back. She laid there, groaning in a little crater in the ground.

All of her world was pain. Lots and lots of pain. "Bad... bad doggy..." She suspected something might have been broken, but hopefully not.

The little green lady was just going to take a little nap for a bit.

    Darkness. Total darkness. Eilam couldn't see anything at all. What was going on? Everything hurt. He felt like he'd somehow been squeezed through something he shouldn't have. What was going on? The last thing he remembered was the giant monster dog and... was he eaten? Honestly Eilam couldn't even tell, it was the strangest feeling, the monster draining his little energy and at the same time, well... his curse trying to restore him to how he should be. He could feel the dislocated shoulder popping back into place, the broken ribs from being swallowed(?) fixing themselves. But honestly, he was still trapped. Was this how the rest of his time was going to be spent, until he came out the other end? Was there another end? Monsters might not even digest, they might just... try to absorb him forever.

    With everything so disorienting and... slimy, and no sight at all, he started feeling around before he felt something familiar. His stave. Rather weakly he began to try and unscrew it. It took him a bit, especially as he was getting jerked around from gravity thanks to the dog moving about. But finally he managed and pulling out the sword, he just started trying to jab around with the razor sharp edge of the sword. Not chopping, not swinging, just... putting what weight he could onto it trying to pierce through wherever he was in hopes of getting some semblance of idea what was going on besides 'Maybe he was eaten'.

Supposed to be able to control it. But, "You can't control the darkness, Lacrima." The kitsune's whisper doesn't carry far, then she sighs and closes her eyes. Reaching out with her mind, she searches, hunting for her target. Searching, seeking mind to mind, until, "Twilight Inspiration," she murmurs ... and flips the world upside down as she attempts to draw Lacrima's consciousness onto another plane.

Hokuto just shakes her head at Lacrima. "You made the mess, you get to listen to people kvetch about it, sister."

She hurries up to get closer, robes flapping in the wind, with a pleasant surprise as the dog stops dead. "Good dog," she mutters, "Now stay there."

More ofuda flicker out from her hands, the characters gleaming bright blue as they adhere to the storefronts, and lines of energy start to connect them along each side of the street.

But wait... It seems like there might just be no need to continue his escape... Oh, who is he trying to fool?

Heading into that alley and finding a fire escape, he climbs it as fast as he can, hoping to reach a safe distance - several stories high - and observe the fight from afar.

Once he reaches up, he clutches his chest, grimacing. Man, that took the breath out of him...

Gathering himself back into a standing position, he grabs his smartphone, and presses the camera button to study the events later on...

Jiaying Maki continues funneling the energy into her ghost, letting it ear and shred at the creature, seemingly not too worried about ti turning to swing at it or roll about. Should it try to drain it though, the ghost would immediately recoil away from it! She's still hanging there when she hears the name of one of the two peple she wanted to run into. Hanging there, much like a scared child hiding in a tree, she calls out to Ayana, "You! Where did Sora go!" It almost sounds like an accusation.

Not that she's got much force in her voice, hanging there, trying to make sure she's well out of reach of the dog. There's a faint huff as she almost considers climbing down. Instead she climbs higher, ignoring the mocking Chinese coming from her help.

The thing rolls over! and... squish. There goes Amulet Clover. She needs a minute it looks like and Lacrima sort of floats there with a ... 'eh?' look. >,>. "Seriously?" she asks. This is who she was afraid of? Someone that just. Gets flattened? By a simple youma? In one go?

No.. she was always more afraid of that. Open Heart.

Lacrima nrgs and cries out. "AMU YOU GET UP RIGHT NOW!" she screams. "YOU HAVE TO BE AWAKE TO DO THAT THING TO IT! YOU KNOW! THE FLUTTERY! PINK THING!" she calls out. She means Open Heart it. "GETUPGETUPGETUP!" she repeats rapidly.

Eilam's in a very dark. Very slimy place. This thing doesn't exactly have a stomach it's like he exists in some sort of jelly in it's form. It isn't even digesting him. He's just. Floating there. Maybe it was gonna drain him later then spit out what was left? Who knows. The dark matter is malleable however, it doesn't take much to pierce through it-- but keeping it /open/ is another matter. It pushes and resists when openings are made. Re-sealing them as they are made.

Twilight Inspiration. Lacrima sees Ayana just a moment too late-- and even if she'd seen her before- well- she wouldn't had expected an attack on her person. Ayana is a friend....

Right?

*****

Something happens to Lacrima right at this moment as the majorly dark part of her is pulled into some sort of... Twilight World? No one else sees this world besides Ayana and Lacrima It's for them alone it seems. Lacrima stops full in this world. "...I'm here." a pause. "With you!? Alone!?" she spits out. The voice is menacing , dark, horrible. "Where is she, where's the other voice!?" she says as she moves to lunge...."What did you do to us!?" Lacrima screams.

*****

Outwardly, Lacrima floats there for a moment, seemingly dead in the air as she sort of spins down slowly in a spiral. She blinks once. Purple eyes go to blue. The hair, and pale complexion remains, but she seems shocked, and confused for a moment- and unsteady on her feet. "W--what just happened?" asks Lacrima. She doesn't quite sound like Lacrima right now. Mainly. There's actual emotion in her voice. "Hello...?"

She doesn't seem to be speaking to anyone here. She blinks and looks up at the creature that is still fighting- and who's there that's... Amu...? and Jiaying? Someone... she doesn't know. Wait. Didn't thing just eat Eilam!? That's Seth... she blinks a bit. Something stings inside her. Then a dull ache. She clutches herself. "Nrg...."

Yeah being this prone to a beast isn't a good idea, someone may need to try to get her somewhere else in a moment if they care enough too. "I can't hear the other voice. I'm sorry." she manages to stammer out.

The beast continues to try to deal with the ghost. This is getting unmanageable for it. Amu's probably gonna wanna get up and try blasting the thing with Open Heart soon.

Unfortunately for Jiaying, the Cute Fox isn't in any state to answer questions. Like a statue, she stands still, barely breathing, hardly blinking, eyes glazed and staring towards nothing. Her mind is in another place--another realm--and she doesn't even hear the near-accusation lobbed her way.

*****

The twilight around Lacrima isn't the endless dark of the Dusk Zone. It isn't the deep gloom of nothing; this is a place of creation and power. The rules here are as alien as the Dusk Zone's, but they aren't the Dusk Zone's.

And here, Inariko is the queen. "She is there," Inariko replies, "right where you left her. You and I need to talk, just the two of us. Or, if you'd prefer, we can yell at each other and accomplish nothing. It's your choice. But first you must understand--" And then the world begins collapsing, crushing inwards down upon Lacrima, threatening to destroy her, "--this is my world."

Amulet Clover slowly reaches up. "O-okay. I'm okay. Negative heart--" BAM! Dog rolls over her a second time. She just lays there, swirls for eyes, giving a light, pained groan. Amu dowwwwwwwn. She's going to need a moment.

As he overviews the area, he finds Lacr... No, Norie, and he focuses his cellphone on her. She seems different; her posture does not irradiate as that of the emotionless child, but as that of an actual girl of her age. She seems in distress. So, perhaps it is time to try and reach out to her. Somehow - he doesn't know how, just... /somehow/. Why? Maybe it's a sort of brother/parental instinct, given he has a sister about the same age as she. So, in his good nature, why wouldn't he try to help?

Coming back onto the street using the fire escape on the other side of the building, he walks to get close to her, all the while avoiding the battlefield and risking becoming a statistic in the mahou casualty roster.

Reaching just a few yards from her, he replies, "Norie...?"

Hokuto steps to one side as the dog continues to roll around. It's regrettable, but Amulet-girl seems to be fairly resilient. She'll have to wait until the dog's been neutralized. Besides, she's almost done building her mandala.

One more wave of ofuda flickers out from her nimble fingers, these hanging in mid-air - some in front of her, some flying on past the dog to hover there in the middle of the street.

Lines of energy flow between them and the ones along the walls, forming a twelve-point circle about the creature and the battlefield.

She's almost done. Her fingers start to weave together as she focuses her power, murmuring sanskrit syllables under her breath... just another few seconds...

Jiaying Maki looks confused when Norie looks normal, this surprises her enough that she drops to the ground and runs out to her, trying her best to focus entirely on Norie rather than on the dog that's thrashing around. She may be feeding more energy into her ghost, subtly nudging it into attacking it with increased ferocity. "What happened?" She asks, before saying, "Come on, get out of the street, get away from that thing!" Thinking, hoping that she's powerless and normal and that means she needs to be protected before something bad happens again!

*****

"You stupid animal!" calls out Lacrima. Lacrima, by herself-- maybe itself- isn't really pleasent. One can really only attribute it's concern and care to it's human half. That it's currently cut off from. All she is just- that surge of negative emotion. Of dark energy. Without the conscience. "PUT ME BACK!"

And then the world seems to shrink around her and enclosure her. "Why should I listen to you!?" she coughs out. Well. It's not like she can exactly stop herself from listening to Ayana right now. She's the only other /voice/ here.

"Fine. Speak. Then. You're going to put me /back/." she seethes.*****Lacrima, or maybe rather, Norie is sort of trying to deal with having part of her that's been attached to her for the better part of a year ripped out. It's a dull feeling. Like something you wanted very very much to happen just happened-- and you are happy! But it hurts so much--- and what's happening around is very much your fault-- so she is very sad.

Amulet Clover tries to end it. And she flails about as the creature flails about. "Nrg! G--get further away!" she calls out. It isn't the frustrated yelling from earlier, rather one of concern and safety and generally 'trying to give good advice'.

She still. Feels wrong. She's still cold. Her hair is still that long purple, she still has the pale complexion. But she can't.. do anything. Not right now. The other part. The other part knows how to wield this darkness she is. Norie? Norie knows how to dance really well maybe and make brownies just the way her dad likes them.

Fighting a monster the gestalt of you and a dark force summoned then tried to control because having control is important isn't really either of those things.

Hotaku is doing her thing. She may want to do it soon. Amulet Clover doesn't seem to be able to get her big hit in.

A voice calls out. Norie blinks once and looks over to Seth. "You're Seth... right?" she asks. She remembers. She thinks. Her head is a haze. She doesn't know Seth very well. Neither as Norie or Lacrima. "Go. You should go." she says with concern.

Jiaying runs out. "Jia-chan." she says with wide eyes. "No--No-- I'll be okay. I'm not fixed. I just. Can't do anything. Like this. I don't know how... Just...please. Do... something!" she begs, and pleads with wide eyes.

Ghosts and Dogs still fight in the background.

Amulet Clover got up, and rolled over one more time. For a moment it lookedl ike she wasn't going to get up again. Then she turned into amulet heart! The dog rolled over her one more time and she leaped fully into the air. Light as a feather, she blew on the wind for a moment.

"Negative heart, lock on!" she called, forming a heart with her hand. "Open heart!" A beam of pink hearts shot out from her chest, aimed directly at the dog.

Fail or success, she'd come crashing down a moment later, panting with exertion and just laying there, letting out soft, weak groans. Every. Single. Thing. Hurt. She was at least ninety percent sure she broke something.

Inariko waits until her point has been made ... and then the universe ceases to collapse. When Lacrima finally acknowledges the situation, she doesn't smile--no there's a little glint to her eyes of dark pleasure. "I might," she agrees, "or I might keep us both here for an eternity. I suspect that if my body dies, my soul will remain here with you. It might even be worth it to keep you out of the world.

"But I won't do that," Inariko says, "because I don't know what having you here will do to Norie. What I do know," says the Kitsune in the twilight, "is that I hate you, and everything you have done to her. She could have been a good person. A beautiful person. Instead, you have made her a monster. You are a monster. Know this, Lacrima: I am going to hunt you. I am going to find a way to understand you. And then I am going to unmake you. Unless you release Norie from your evil hold; unless you allow her to be a normal girl again ... I will kill you. Do you understand me?"

Hokuto continues chanting for a few seconds more... then spreads her hands wide, more characters appearing between them. They fade away as they flow over the ofuda nearest her...

And then chains of ectoplasmic light hurtle from each strip to every other strip in the array. Each of the twelve connects itself to all of the rest, hemming the beast in place.

And then the whole structure starts to rotate around the dog-youma, winding the chains tighter around it with every revolution.

"So it is ordered, so it is done. Let the chains of Heaven be unbroken."

Jiaying Maki watches Norie quietly, her mind jumping to multiple places all at once. "What happened!?" Is all she can ask for now, desperately trying to ignore the rampaging beast behind her. Her ghost continues it's assault, claws gouging and tearing, the ghost seeming to take glee in the violence. Something else she'll have to deal with later, sadly.

"What can I Do?" thinking she's talking about the state she's in right now rather than the demon dog behind her. What, she can't acknowledge that thing or she'll start having a panic attack again. One that's right on the verge of happening anyway. Her other ghost has joined in the fray though, the other poltergeist that is. She's trying to tear up anything loose to swing at or throw things at the dog!

"I am", confirms Seth. "And yes, I'll go. But you come with me." He looks at Jia, nodding to her with a silent 'hey', then back to Norie, where he nods towards Jia. "Or rather, with us. Or her." He explains, "I dunno any of this myself, it's all new to me, but... When I saw you up there on that building, and saw you the way you are now... I think there's got to be some way to undo whatever's happened to you."

*****

The Cute Fox makes demands of Lacrima. She scoffs. Yes she scoffs. "Excuse you?" she asks. "You make it sound like either of 'us' asked for this. Any other person could had touched the crux. A politician. Maybe someone who wanted the power. Maybe someone who would had found it fascinating. No, instead some bleeding heart who just wanted 'a pretty necklace' touched it and now we're both stuck." she frowns.

"I can't throw her anymore than she can throw me." she spits out.

"It's a constant... series of compromises. Middle grounds and I hate it."

"So just put me back. Before I get more upset- and give no credence to whatever the hell you want. Hell, both want." she scowls.

*****

Open Heart! It tears into the creature and begins to 'heal' it. When you heal pure darkness, there's nothing for it to go back to. It just begins to melt, and dissapate. Hokuto's sealing magic works in the same vein, making it dissipate faster and harder--- until it's screaming and turn into soupy, goopy mess on the ground of black ichor...

Probably leaving a very messy and very unimpressed looking Eilam in it's wake.

She does frown at Seth. It's not the hard, glaring frown that Jiaying's come to know, but it's still a frown. "I may be confused but even I know better than to follow some strange boy I don't really know somewhere!" she huffs. The tone sounds. Weird. Coming from What is effectively 'Lacrima but with Blue eyes'. "Besides..Jia-chan's here. Jia-chan will take care of me...." she says. "I trust... Jia-chan." she says. As she blinks. "I don't know...? I can't hear... other... me. And.. I can feel again...!" she grabs at Jiaying's collar. "Oh my god!..." she says wide eyed at Jiaying. "I don't know how long this'll last!" she says. "But.. but! You better... tell Kukai-kun that I'm really sorry!" she says frantically and wide-eyed. "If it doesn't last! And--and-- you better.. tell Kunzite I'm sorry! and--- you better!---" you better a lot of things, really. "You need to tell Natsumi-chan! You need to tell that I..." she pauses and just begins to suddenly sulk like something just broke in two inside her. "Love her...! and...and..."

"And.. you better... talk to my brother! anyways! I don't care what other me says, you better do it! and My birthday is the thirteenth! Other me.. us whatever wasn't going to tell you!" she says.

"And--and..oh my..." she says out of breath. There's only so much stream of consciousness that's been built up for the past year one can get out before she needs to actually take a breath.

Also, she has to actually /take a breath/.

"Dear lord, I forgot what breathing felt like." she says out of breath. All the positive energy attacks nearby make her form quiver and mist a little, as she holds her body a bit. But she isn't experiencing the same psychological effects of it. It just... hurts. And burns. Like fire at the edge of her senses.

"I don't know what happened." she finally answers finally in ragged breath. "I remember... Ayana's voice?" she blinks and looks around frantically.

Inariko rolls her eyes just a tiny bit. "Guess you'd better get used to the idea of your death, then," Inariko says quietly, "because it will be soon." But she really can't hold Lacrima here any further. What she can do, however, is collapse the entire world in on Lacrima, showing her mentally what nothing truly is like. An eternity of nothing, even; though it only lasts a few moments in reality, it might as well be an aeon here in the twilight.

But the Kitsune's concentration breaks, and she whimpers. Cute Fox Inariko collapses to her knees on the roof, releasing her hold over Lacrima--releasing the monster back into Norie's body.

Amulet Heart is just going to lay here for a while wile all of her aches and pains make her miserable, thank you very much. She groans and rolls over, completely unsure of what's going on now.

"Did... did we win?" Her henshin drops from sheer exaustion and pain. "I really, really hope we won." She started to sit up, fell back down. "Just... just going to take a little... a little nap... please..." She closed her eyes in the middle of the street. Oh dear.

    And in the pool of... goo, or whatever the hell the Dusk Zone monster melts away into, there was Eilam. His nice, fancy clothing looked half worn away, rips and tears, stains from god knows what, and in his hand his guardless estoc. And around him pieces of his stave. While he seemed in one piece enough, he did just get swallowed by a monster and wasn't really... aware enough, or conscious enough, to make much of things.

Hokuto holds her spell in place until the dog-thing is fully dissolved, watching with satisfaction as it is returned to whence it came. As it vanishes, the chains disappear, and the ofuda that generated them to up in heatless flames.

And then Amulet-whatever collapses in the street, having had a tough time fighting the monster up close.

Well, that won't do. Hokuto sprints over to the girl's side to see what she can do for her. Another ofuda is applied to Amulet Heart's forehead, carrying with it an infusion of light energy to hopefully help her heal a bit.

Jiaying Maki quickly pulls a tag from her pocket, listening to Norie while trying to split her focus to try something. She begins to hastily draw the necessary symbols across the charm before handing it to Norie, something of a protective charm, trying to see if it will keep the evil side away from her. She's hesitant at first, not sure if it will hurt her now, or even later should this work.

"I'll do all of that Norie, but we need to try and keep it like this now, it's better than before right?" Sounding like she's really set on that. She looks confused at Seth's comment, just now realizing he's there. She looks confused and asks, "Why aren't you running?" Then there's the whole dog thing and she quickly moves behind Norie while still working

Ouch! "Well, that's cold...", Seth comments. "Look, what I mean to say is, I'm not here to hurt you, and I was very much suggesting you'd get somewhere where a lot of pissed off people won't try and come after you after that thing over there is dealt with." Naturally, he has no idea who's who, nor what their idea of 'helping' Norie would be, so yes, it may stand to reason hostilities towards her would ensue.

He shrugs, nervously observing the events taking place, just in case something else decides to pop in. "I know it seems out of the blue, so forget what I just said. But you seem to trust her, so you should go."

He looks at Jia, "Because I was trying to help out someone, as you can see."

*****

Lacrima, or the thing that is Lacrima, or the power, has dealt with the nothingness before. It was nothing until Norie shaped it into 'Lacrima', and before that, it was nothing until the man who would become Poderoso shaped it into that. Beyond that? Who knows how long this...thing's existed. Of course, that isn't to say the feeling is pleasent, oh no, it's horrible and it causes her to scream and curse into a nothing at Ayana and anger it....

*****

The dog is now a puddle of dog goop that is rapidly turning into nothing. The fight is over! The day is won! Hokutu goes over to Amu and handles the apparently knocked unconscious girl. That was some battle!

Norie blinks once at Ayana and frowns. Did she just collapse. She couldn't see from this angle. She hopes... she's okay. She doesn't know what she did but... even if she got out.. even a few of those things it'd been worth it. She'll consider this the best early birthday gift /ever/ for right now from the fox.

Though for now, Jiaying slaps a charm into her hands. Her hands immediately grasp it. "A--ahh! Burns!" she insists. Yeah, she's still dark energy and still some sort of construct. There's just a lot less 'everything' in the way of positive feelings at the moment. She can /feel them/.

"Nrg.. Eilam-kun... Amu-chan..." (Amu-chan!?) "Are they okay!? Is that other girl okay!?"

She looks to Seth, guiltily. "I'm s-sorry." she says sort of holding that tag, which is actually starting to burn away- yeah. Lacrima is coming back. "Jia-chan will protect me though, okay? She won't let a bunch of people hurt me... besides... I know the people here I don't think... they'd hurt me..." she says quietly.

She frowns at Jiaying. "I'm sorry. I know you tried!" she says. "But I think whatever Ayana did is done---nrg!"

Yeah, there goes the tag. Burnt to a crisp. On the ground.

And With a wince and another opening of the eyes, blue eyes are purple again and she blinks- and she immediatly takes that deadpan expression again. And she looks around confusingly.

"I hate that fox." she says with a certain annoyance and hatred. "Why are my hands burning?" she asks.

She pauses-- as if thinking. Then looks to Jiaying, a little dissapointed. "Sorry." she says deadpan. "I'm sure it was a good effort..." a pause. "Was it?" she asks. A pause. "Did I really feel normal again?" she asks. "Nrg.. I can't remember." she says trying to hold her head.

"Maybe it was just a dream."

Inariko grimaces and reaches up to rub her forehead. "Nnnnnggg," she mumbles, then sighs curls up. She'll go home later; for now it's safer to just sit and pine for some jerky where no one can easily find her.

Amulet Heart groans as some warm, healing light washes over her. She slowly openns her eyes and smiles. "Heyyyyy. I... I don't know you. Did... did I die? I feel like I died. I feel like I almost died. Oh shoot I de-transformed, didn't I?" She slowly, slowly sat up. "Ow ow ow ow ow. Ugh... I'm not sure what was worst. The fight or the date..."

Jiaying Maki scowls and says, "It was a hurried try. You were different for a moment." She taps her foot on the ground and says flatly, "That tells me we can break something and... well not fix you, but make it better." She runs her fingers through her hair and turns to finally acknowledge the pile of demon dog. Anyone that can smell it, would know she was actually quite afraid! Terrified even. She's sure only one, maybe two there coudl though. And it's not like she could hide it anyway. She leans forward and rubs her eyes with her thumb and forefinger, then turns to the thers, "Is anyone hurt?" while looking to both Seth, Amu and even Ayana. She walks forward, crouches down and while she doesn't seem happier with the fox at the moment, there's other problems after all, she does ask, "What did you do and can you do it again?"

Hokuto helps Amu to her feet, gently and carefully. "'s okay, kiddo. I'm Hokuto. Exorcist by trade. Which seems to've been what the situation called for." She dusts off Amu's clothes with a scarf.

"And don't worry, I don't think anybody saw you. They all ran off when the giant dog monster started ripping up light-posts and stuff."

She shrugs and fishes in her billowing sleeve, producing a small bottle. "Here, have some aspirin, ought to help with the aches."

Amu Hinamori groaned and looked at the bottle, before shaking her head. "N-no. I don't do drugs while transformed. There's just no telling how it will affect my stuff or me. Magic and all that." She FELT like a dog had fallen on her. Which was probably normal. Since a dog had fallen on her. Multiple times. "Amu. Nice to meet you."

Seth Locke nods to Norie, "I understand. And I'm sorry if I seemed suspicious in any fashion."

Then, he sees the transformation in her expression, and he notices Lacrima is back - which makes him take a cautious half-step back.

He finally looks at all the people here assembled, and comments with a smirk, "So, is the apocalypse adverted? No more hounds of hell?" Hes still adds, "No coming of Gozer?"

    Eilam finally seems to be coming around and winds up staring at the sky. "If I find out who let that thing out, or made it... oh this smells awful I need to find some water." A soft complaining came out of Eilam, and not even in Japanese. Something vaguely European. Though as he pushed himself slowly upright and started looking around, he saw several people he knew. Amu, Jiaying, Lacrima... "H-hey, are you okay?" he asked towards Lacrima was, seeming a bit more concerned with her than the others. But what would others think of the slime-drenched, seen-better-days Eilam? Probably nothing positive.

Lacrima frowns to Jiaying. "Still. Thank you. For trying." deadpan. "I guess." she says as she stands up and looks around. "Huh?" she asks at Seth. "Oh. I summoned. That." she says. "To try to. Make it obey me." she says. "That didn't. Really work well." she insists. She looks around. "I...."

"I should.. go home..." she says as she begins to leave. She stops and turns back to Eilam. "I am fine." she lies for now. She isn't fine. She just. Wants to be alone. Right now. Very very alone.

    "..."

    Perhaps the others could see the look on Eilam's face, as Lacrima said such and walked away? He knew she was lying. He wanted to hug her, help her. But he didn't. He just... watched her leave before quietly doing the same herself, walking over to start gathering his slime-covered stuff.

Hokuto ignores Lacrima's departure for now. The shadow-girl will keep. She'll get around to doing something - sometime. It doesn't seem important right now.

"But you're not transformed," she objects to Amu's objection. "And you're hurting. Probably ought to get checked out by a proper doctor..."

Amu Hinamori groaned and walked a bit, then nearly fell over. Her transformations didn't exactly... protect her so well. "N-no. Fine. I'm fine. I'll be... I'll be fine. Just need... jsut need to crawl into bed. That's all. If my parents thought I got hit like... like that... they'd ask too many questions. I'm fine. I'll be fine. Jsut going to... to go home and take a nice nap..."

"Ummmm... Amu?" Su asked. "I think she's right." "I said I'm fine, Ran!" "I'm su...."

A number of questions rush through Seth's mind, questions he wants to ask Lacrima - mainly the one that pertains to the 'why?'. But she leaves, and he looks to the others. "I guess I should say 'pleased to meet you all'. Name's Seth, and I've seen this stuff happenning day-in day-out." He sighs and shakes his head, scoffing and mumbling under his breath. "And still, no kaiju..."

Some people would just take Amu at her word and let her crawl home like that. Fortunately, Hokuto isn't one of them. "You can barely stand straight, kiddo, much less walk. At least let me call a taxi to take you home?"

She does her best to guide the girl over to one of the sidewalks and a place where she can sit down and rest for a bit. And maybe get a drink of water and an ice pack for the bruises.

Amu Hinamori nodded. "Y-yeah. Yeah. A cab... a cab sounds good. Yeah. I think a cab is a good idea. Just... just going to close my eyes for a bit..." She started too. "DON'T LET HER SLEEP!" Su shrieked. "She's not telling the truth!" Ran yelled. "She's just being stubborn, she's really hurt!" Miki said. "I-I'm fine!" Amu objected, closing her eyes. "Just need a minute. That's all."

Hokuto sighs and shakes her head. But takes the Charas' warning at face value.

And so, she drops an ice cube down the back of Amu's shirt.

"Stay awake, kiddo. You don't want to sleep right now. You've gotta be able to tell the taxi where to go, right?"

Amu Hinamori yelped and shrieekd. "T-t-t-that wasn't necessary!" she wiggled. "S-she doesn't need to go home, she needs a doctor, amu you need a doctor. You might have a concussion!" "I-I'm fine," she sai, shaking her head. "I'll just get some sleep and it'll be fine. I've had worse." "you should go to Virtue, they can heal you and keep it secret!" Ran objected. "I said I'm fine!'

Well, Hokuto has been meaning to look into this Virtue group. She'd heard good things about them in general, after all.

"Okay, chibi, where do I take her, then? Where do you meet the healer?" She addresses Ran directly, this time.

The spirits share looks, before finally... "We have no idea!" They say together. Oh, wasn't that wonderful.

Insert facefault here.

Once Hokuto has recovered from that, she squeezes Amu's shoulder. "Come on, then, kiddo. Stay with me. If the monster hurt me, who would you take me to? Where would you tell me to go?"

Amu Hinamori took a slow, deep breath. "I am fine. It's probably just a concussion or something. I'll go home, sleep it off. If I don't feel good later, I'll go to the doctor. If I go to the doctors now, my parents will freak out and want to know what happened."

"Then let them freak." First aid training was not neglected in Hokuto's upbringing. "Sleeping off a concussion is a good way to wake up dead."

She keeps one hand on Amu's shoulder, and pulls out a cellphone with the other, opening it up to dial. "Now, what's the number?"

Amu Hinamori shook her head. 'I-I can't. If they find out what I'm doing, they don't know about this." She wobbled a bit. Shaking her head was a bad idea. "L-liste, I'll go to the doctor then. Just call me a cab and--" "She's lying." "Ran!"

Hokuto makes her decision. You can almost feel the 'snap' as she chooses. "Right, then. Chibis, whatever you do, don't let her sleep."

Then she's dialling the phone.

"Yes, it's me. No, no, I'm fine. Just a giant dog-youkai, I bound it and somebody else hit it with a purification. It's taken care of. ... no, no, not me. It's the other girl. I think she's got a concussion, but she's being a stubborn little knurd. ... yeah. Send Makie-chan with the usual kit? Thanks."

She tucks the phone away. "Okay. My family doctor will be here in ten, maybe fifteen minutes. She's discreet and she knows all about the weird world, so you don't have to worry about secrets."

Amu Hinamori shakes her head. "N-no! I'm fine. Really! I can even--" She tried to stand up and fell over. She groaned a little. "Just... how discreet?" she asked weakly. Giving a nervous smile. "So no one will know, right?"

Fortunately, Hokuto is there to catch her. And probably so are a couple of Charas, trying valiantly, at least. "One of the benefits of being born into an Onmyou clan. We do this sort of thing for a living."

She grins a little and gives the pinkette another little squeeze. "Who do you think takes care of the little ones people like the Senshi miss, or cleans up after they beat the big ones, takes care of all those civilians who get energy-drained and all that?"

Amu Hinamori looked around at the destruction. "O-oh. Oh. Right. I-I can fix this. Hold on, I can repair everything. My heart, unlock." Nothing happened. "My heart... unlock." "No," su said. "What? Su! We need to fix everything and--" "You're hurt. I am not character transforming with you." "But--" "No."

"Don't. Worry." Hokuto reaches in and taps Amu's nose. "I said, there are people who do this for a living. Let them handle it for once. You have to concentrate on getting well."

Amu Hinamori shook her head. "B-but I can do it! It'll just take me a second if I character transform. If I hadn't messed up, then--" "It's not your fault1" Ran yelled. "You tried to stop it! You almost got crushed trying to stop it! You DID get crushed trying to stop it! I'm pretty sure you have like, a dozen broken bones! Let! Her! Help! You!"

Hokuto is, briefly, tempted to pull out an ofuda and put a binding on the girl. Unfortunately it'd be about as bad for her as falling asleep would. So she doesn't.

"Just hang in there, kiddo. Doc'll be here in a few more minutes, she'll take good care of you. Now, what's your home phone number? We should tell your parents that you're studying late with a friend..."

Amu Hinamori shook her head. "N-no. It'll be fine, I--" Ran already had Amu's cell phone out and was dialing the number, dropping it inhokuto's hand. "Her mom will answer. She's a push over, don't worry." "Traitor!"

"Thanks," Hokuto murmurs to the Chara. She takes the phone and lifts it to speak.

"Hi," she says when Hinamori-okaa-san answers. "Is this the mother of a cute pink-haired girl who is far too serious about studying for her own good? ... oh, good. I have the right number, then. No, no, she's fine. We're just putting together a little sleepover to get her to relax a bit. Movies, homework, snacks, you know."

There was a long silence from the other end. "Is this one of those guardian things again? Well, as long as she stays safe and gets to school tomorrow, it's okay with me. Just let me talk to her for a moment." Amu groaned, but when offered. "Yeah mom, I'm fine. Just really having some trouble with a math assignment and we're going to be working on it all night." She paused and rolled her eyes. "No, there aren't any boys here. Ugh, I'm not even interested in that stuff." Now THAT was a lie.

"You have my word, ma'am. No boys." She didn't mention men. But that's not important now.

"We just didn't want you to worry." Hokuto spends a couple more minutes placating the worried mother before the call ends.

The timing couldn't be better, as a car sweeps up just at that moment.

Amu Hinamori smiled once she had her phone back. "I feel better already." She fell over when she tried to get up. Hokuto had to help her in the car, with her chara's help. They tried so hard. couldn't do much, though.

The car is a large and comfortable sedan, with a wide back seat. Amu ends up sandwhiched between Hokuto and the promised Makie, a tall and slender lavender-haired woman in a lab coat over white jeans and blouse.

She makes a few preliminary checks before the car moves from the spot, the sort of things you might expect - checking eye dilation, temperature, and so forth. "Right, we're going to have to keep you awake a while longer, young lady. Stubbornness and valiance is all well and good when you're in a fight, but afterwards... well, we have doctors for a reason."

Amu Hinamori nodded, obeying the doctor as needed.. "O-okay. Whatever you say." She at least tried to stay away, but she kept trying to nod off. She definitely had a concussion. And likely a few fractures. Maybe some internal bleeding.

Gee, almostl ike something the size of a few trucks rolls overe her. Multiple times. However, between Hokuto and the charas, they could keep her awake. "I'm fine. Really, I'm fine." Her legs were fine. Her right arm had quite a few fractures through it. Her left... well, her left was sprained. Honestly, she'd been lucky. Or magical.

Magic can indeed be such a useful thing. But this isn't the best of places for it. "Right, then," Makie says. "We'll want to get some x-rays, and a blood test."

She pauses, then adds, "You have my word as a doctor to patient, miss, that any samples or test results will be returned to you, or destroyed in your presence, as you prefer. We're well aware of what unscrupulous persons can do with access to such things, and we prefer not to have to worry about it."

Amu Hinamori nods. "O-oh, don't worry. I'm not innately magical or anything. Really. It all comes from the lock. Everyone can have guardians like mine. You just need to find out what you want to be." She was i a looooot of pain or she wouldn't be giving that information out. "So, ummm, I'll be okay, then? No need to let my parents know?"

Makie would be glad to give her a painkiller - as soon as they're sure they can handle the danger of concussion. "I think we can get you taken care of just fine, young lady."

Hokuto reaches over to squeeze Amu's hand. "Trust Makie-chan, kiddo. She's patched me up after more scraps than I can count."

Amu Hinamori nods, smiling. "That's.... good. Heh. Maybe I should get your number on retainer." Ohhhh, that drug would be working faaaast. She gave a light little smile and nodded. "T-thanks. Sorry about all this. I don't know what I was thinking." "I'm sorry," su said. "It's not your fault. I thought it was more... dog than that."

An hour later, having been poked, prodded, scanned, and analyzed, finds Amu sitting on a couch in Hokuto's rooms at the Minase estate. Both arms are bound up in bandages and plastered with ofuda - the left rather more heavily so - giving off a soft green glow from the characters inked on them. And appropriate painkillers have been applied. A bottle of juice (with a long straw) is nestled nearby, and a handful of 'special recipe' cookies (stupidly nutritious, and even more stupidly tasty) provided. The movie is designed to keep her awake long enough to be sure everything is working properly. "We'll check you over really quickly once it's done, then put you to bed. With a little luck you'll be much better by morning. Hokuto-chan told me you're something of a healer yourself, but you can't just now, yes?"

Amu Hinamori nodded, sipping her juice. She usually had milk before bed, but this was good too. She shook her head. "No. I don't... well, I can't heal people. I can just repair property damage and the like. I can purify, too. But actually healing wounds and stuff like that just doesn't work for me, sorry."

She gave a nervous smile. "Are you sure this isn't too much, it--" "You fought a three story dog, it's okay to be pampered a little," su said while closing amu's mouth. Ran and miki nodded. "She means she's very thankful for helping her out."

"Well we're very happy to assist another of our city's fine young defenders," Makie tells the little Chara. "Now, you make sure she rests, okay? And we're going to have to wake her every couple of hours while she sleeps tonight, just to check." The onmyou-doctor smiles warmly and offers a cookie to each of the little charas, then heads for the next room to give the girls some privacy.

"Don't worry, kiddo," Hokuto says as the movie starts. "You'll be fine. And we'll smooth things over with your mum, too. We've been doing this for centuries now."

And it is a quite good movie.