2848/You Can Join Me for Tea

You Can Join Me for Tea
Date of Scene:	24 November 2025
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Lana Miata is tired of having the demon Voselle in her head. So she puts the demon in a hedgehog's head instead! Cure Suzhen shows up to stop her from making too much of a mess of the place and defeats the Perfect Maid Bit, but not before Lana escapes with her prickly new prize. Will Voselle turn the hedgehog into a horrible monster and wreak havoc across the world, or will he just remain a cute little guy who says subtly offputting things? (It's the latter. Totally the latter.)
Cast of Characters:	Lana Voselle Miata, Yaling Yao

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Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    It's the late afternoon. School has let out. Lana is taking a walk down the streets of Juuban, scowling because she can't get Voselle out of her head and she would really, really like to. Especially when he's noisy. Especially on days like today.

    She's trying to keep her feelings in check as small groups of people pass by her. Trying hard to keep the darkness low, to stop it from spilling out. She's doing a good job, but it's so hard to maintain when the feelings that it feeds on are the feelings that define her very existence.

    She's having a bad day. She knows it. She's gonna snap at someone who might not deserve it. She knows it.

    Oh who is she kidding?

    They all deserve it.

    Lana passes by a petshop. Voselle's voice whispers into her mind's ear.< Want >

    Lana's face distorts with disgust. She mutters to herself. "I'm not letting you eat some poor gerbil."

    < No. Not eat. WANT. >

    Lana stops in her tracks. She turns her attention to the pet shop window. With a scowl on her face, she goes inside. Voselle's internal nagging, pushy voice drags her along, and she peruses the store for the sole intention of placating it. Eventually she pauses in front of a hedgehog as ideas flood her mind.

    She could finally get rid of him. The constant voice in her head, the demon that no one else could see... Sure, Voselle would still be around but he wouldn't be haunting her from inside her head.

    < Want! >

    A creepy smirk crawls across Lana's lips. You want a hedgehog? Let's get you a hedgehog.

    On a normal day, Lana would simply buy the small critter and take it home. She has the money. She totally could. Today is not a normal day, though.

    Lana's having a bad day, and she's about to make it everyone else's problem. Her hands hover over the pendant around her neck as she calls out,"Break the hands of time!"

    The pendant responds. < Beflecke die Erde >

    A translucent blue orb surrounds her. A red comet smashes into it, shattering the orb and turning into her staff. Her tan and gold Barrier Jacket forms around her as she extends the hand to the small critter whose glass habitat has just been smashed. Curiously, it sniffs her hand. "Cute little thing. Why don't you come with me?"

    From the outside, there is panic. Lana's henshin is so loud that it sounds like an explosion has just gone off.

Yaling Yao has posed:
"So, Yaling, remember not to visualize thunder too, got it? That is what keeps tripping you up", BaiBai whispers on the stroll back from a secluded garden the Pretty Cure liked to work at. "Yes, I promise I will keep trying, Shifu! Yaling bursts enthusiastically with a loudness that gets a hiss from the snake.

"At least try to be on the phone if you talk to me that loudly", BaiBai warns her. The green-haired girl laughs and taps small wireless headphones in her ears. "No worries, I have these! It's the same", she replies with a wide smile.

Shadows move at the corner of her eyes, and her gaze turns to a nearby window. "Whoah, these are so cuuuute", she comments, watching a parrot clean up under its wing. "Do you think I can pet one?"

BaiBai raises her head and stares forward at the fussy bird. "Why don't you ask? You can always see what the owner is like." The girl nods, and pushes the door open, taking a spot in the queue to the register.

But she not even halfway through when Lana transforms, and the comet gets Yaling to turn around to notice the transformed villainess. "Seriously? Why now?", she complains, ducking behind an aisle and taking out a notebook compact.

"Wellness, Warmth and Wisdom from White Snake's Gaze! Historic Legacy! Cure Suzhen!" An emerald pipa appears in her hands after she signs her name on it, and strumming the instrument lotus leaves surround her in a whirlwind, obscuring her to the sight until Cure Suzhen has taken her place.

"Uhm, hey now! That is no way to get a pet! Even if it is very cute!", she yells while running towards Starfall Omen.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    "E-excuse me? Miss? In the cosplay?" From the opposite side of Suzhen's approach, some blissfully ignorant store clerk is approaching the mighty Starfall Omen. Foolish. "Did... did you make this mess? You can't just take pets. That isn't right! Are you going to pay for all the things you broke?"

    Starfall refuses to acknowledge either her or the historic PreCure. Instead, a blue swirling portal appears beside her, and a purple-skinned youma dressed like a French maid steps out. She's holding a platter with one hand, and on top of it is a tea set. Lana snaps her fingers, and the maid politely curtseys. "At your service!"

    The maid strides towards the shocked employee and holds the platter before her. Steaming hot tea rests within the cups. "Care for some tea?" offers the monster.

    Confused, but bound by rules of politeness, the clerk bows in thanks and accepts the tea. The moment she takes her first sip, she drops the cup and collapses where she stands. Her energy leaves her body, seeping out of her and into a glowing bright violet orb in the maid youma's hand. Starfall commends her minion as the first victim falls. "Good work, Perfect Maid Bit." The dark general turns her gaze to Cure Suzhen with a smile. "Take care of this one, too."

    "At your service!" calls out the maid, before turning to Yaoling with a polite, gentle yet sinister smile that stands in stark juxtaposition with Starfall Omen's arrogant rudeness. "Care for some tea?" offers the youma.

    More people are coming. Lana doesn't want to deal with it. Whatever her plans are for the world, she doesn't want to cause a huge mess today. So she exerts her privilege as a Device Mage and says, "Nightmare Chain. Barrier, please."

    < Ja, Mutter >

    Suddenly, all of the pets minus the chosen hedgehog vanish. The fallen store clerk vanishes. The voices and panic in the distance vanish. It's just Starfall, Suzhen, the Hedgehog, the Maid, and the tea.

    The highly suspicious tea that absolutely should not be tasted, no matter what.

Yaling Yao has posed:
"Tea?" Yaling murmurs, tilting her head when the Perfect Maid Bit moves forward. Is she being for real? Right after that comet? Her first instinct would be to smash the cup out of the maid's hands, but she doesn't want to cause a scene either.

The Pretty Cure can only watch nervously as the clerk drinks it. "Hey, Shifu, we are going to try one of your remedies after this, gotcha?", she whispers particularly quietly to BaiBai, who limits herself to a slight nod.

She sighs as the employee predictably falls to the ground. "No, thank you. I like making my own tea", she declines the maid's invitation, and looks at Omen. "But hey, you can join me for tea! Isn't it a lot more fun than smashing and stealing?"

Cure Suzhen plays the pipa a bit more, letting a gentle atmosphere fall in the shop, and keeps playing even after the civilians have disappeared. That's only a good thing, after all. No civilian is going to be harmed. "See? Aren't things much calmer like this?", the green-blue haired mahou remarks with a smile.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    The pipa is played, and things become calm, and even Lana's boiling rage is soothed for a moment. If slightly.

    In time, Cure Suzhen will be able to help that poor clerk. In that moment, she will discover that nothing is wrong with her other than having her energy drained, but the Perfect Maid Bit sure took a lot of it.

    The maid scowls. Her tea was refused, yet at the same time the Cure isn't attacking... unless the stringed instrument itself is an attack? The youma isn't sure how to respond, and her master isn't giving her any orders. Lana is too focused on her brand new pet, having a conversation with a person that no one but she can hear. "Oh? Oh dear heavens no. No, I'm not giving you a combat form. Not yet, in any case. Not until you learn to behave." Her smirk grows. "All the same... I think there's some magic I could work. Yes, I'll do just that."

    A dark orb surrounds the hedgehog, and it begins to levitate out of her hands. Its tiny legs dangle as its beady black eyes stare at the villainess. Lana's eyes glow with black and purple hues that match the sickly energy surrounding the small critter. As Starfall extends the tip of her staff to the Perfect Maid Bit, the youma offers up the stolen energy, which is then absorbed into the Armed Device.

    There is an inhuman, unearthly scream as Something leaves Starfall Omen's body, twirls around the hedgehog, and sinks within. The critters eyes glow, and it finally speaks in words that others can hear. "Hungry!" it says.

    The Perfect Maid Bit says, "At your service!" and offers the hedgehog a salted cracker. Do hedgehogs eat crackers? This one does now.

    Starfall Omen reaches up to rub her temple and says, "Finally. Finally! You have no idea..." She turns to Cure Suzhen and continues, "... you have no idea how long that's bothered me. How hard it is to have someone living in your head. Even if they're a friend, the sheer fact that every single one of your thoughts can be heard... I feel... free. Finally, I'm free."

    Then she frowns at the PreCure and says, "Unfortunately, you're an enemy, and you'll likely get in my way sooner or later. Perfect Maid Bit, escort the fine young lady off this mortal coil."

    "At your service!" calls out the youma, and then throws the platter at Cure Suzhen with a spin as if it were a frisbee. Suddenly its edges cut as if they are razor sharp, despite the fact that it looks no different.

Yaling Yao has posed:
The melody of Cure Suzhen's pipa is completely non-magical, if one ignores her being able on call on one whenever and it being an accessory to some of her magic.

But it has all the benefits of nice music, and it's something BaiBai taught her, just like the snake's own mentor did to the fairy. It's a nice accompaniment to a tea party, Yaling would say.

"Careful now", BaiBai hisses at Cure Suzhen when the first signs of magic commence, and the Pretty Cure watches wide-eyed the process of the transfer. She doesn't really understand what's about, but it doesn't seem to be trying to hurt the little hedgehog, in spite of everything.

"I am happy you are free now", Cure Suzhen remarks, taking a pause to look at the now demonic hedgehog. "Will it be fine? It's not hurting, is it?", she asks with a slight quiver to her words.

But Starfall Omen's new words get her to take a step back, and she strums her pipa again. The same melody that resounded calmly in the shop now hovers close to the ground, and the gaps between tiles immediately shift, pushed aside by what's within istants by a small garden of plants.

"Here we go! Pretty Cure Verdant Harmony!" The plants all cross the gap between them and the plate. One after another, they all do one thing: trying to grab the plate and stop its advance.

"Will you stop this? Last warning." She tells sternly to the dark magical girl.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    "In pain? Oh, I certainly hope not," coos Starfall Omen, holding the hedgehog in one hand while her staff is held the other. "Are you in pain, my dear sweet Voselle?"

    "Prickly," is the hedgehog Voselle's response. "Small. Not hurt. Feels... warm."

    Starfall chuckles, speaking to Cure Suzhen without looking at her. "It's a fairly common practice on other worlds, as I understand. The creation of a Familiar. To elevate a creature's intelligence to that of a human being's. Of course, it now inhabits the dark spirit Voselle, but... that's the price it pays for this kind of life. It will be fine. In fact, I've little doubt that this adorable little creature will outlive all life on the planet. Honestly, you should worry more about your own fate."

    The plants growing out of the ground at first knock the plate off its trajectory, and then are able to grab it as it spins through the air. It's lost all momentum and therefore threat. The Perfect Maid Bit, on the other hand, is merely getting started. She summons a mop out of thin air and twirls it around her like a baton. A bucket appears at her feet, and she dips the mop's head in.

    "I think we're a bit far beyond 'last warnings', dear guest," threatens the maid, and as she stalks closer to Yaoling she pulls the mop out of the bucket. The droplets falling from the end hit the ground and burn like acid. "Cute snake, by the way."

    Shifting her grip to hold the mop with both hands like a spear, the Perfect Maid Bit lunges towards the PreCure, trying to catch her with that magical burning acid.

    Starfall Omen, on the other hand, is busy thumb petting her new pet. Voselle hovers out of her hand and lands on her shoulder, and Starfall opens a new swirling blue portal. "I have what I need already. I'll be going now."

    Then she starts to leave, and if she isn't interrupted she'll soon be gone.

Yaling Yao has posed:
"That is such a barbaric method to get a companion", BaiBai hisses out loud. "But I wouldn't have expected anything less from those used by dark energy", she stares at Starfall Omen first, then Cure Suzhen. "It Is probably true it's not suffering", she tells Yaling. She isn't actually aware of that much, but she figures it should in theory be deeply asleep. She thinks.

"Got it, Baibai", Cure Suzhen comments, giving her Shifu a pet, all while not taking away her eyes from both the retreating Starfall Omen and the Perfect Bit. Sadly, her plants wouldn't be strong enough to bind her.

"Pretty Cure Li Shan Shock!" Cure Suzhen yells in haste, watching a single cloud forming inside the building. Thunder falls down and painlessly lingers onto her hand, even as the Pretty Cure closes it into a fist.

"I am not done with you yet! Let's talk! There is a lot still!", Cure Suzhen tells Starfall Omen, striking at the Perfect Maid Bit with her thunder fists. She is aware she cannot actually get to her in time, and can only watch her go from behind the youma.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    There is a lot still? "There's always so much to regret. So much left undone. So many missed opportunities," says Starfall Omen, in a mock dramatic tone. "Yet, time mercilessly moves on, heedless to our desires."

    She says this as if she is blowing Cure Suzhen off, but the truth is that she doesn't want to be alone with a mahoujin brave enough to face her without backup. Misplaced confidence is more what she expects from her co-workers, not her enemies. Starfall is a coward at heart, and she knows it, but that's what the youma are for.

    As the villainess steps through the portal, she turns back with a smile. "Until we meet again, PreCure." Then the portal closes behind her.

    The Perfect Maid Bit remains behind, covering her master's retreat. She deflects the first fist with her mop, but the second lands square on her arm, sending electricity through her and causing her to yowl. She drops the mop as she falls to her knees, cradling her singed wound as smoke rises from her form. "Such an ill-mannered guest!"

    Picking up her mop with one hand, she uses it to strike the acid-filled bucket like a bat, launching it at Suzhen. She's still fighting, but the Perfect Bit herself is pretty vulnerable.

Yaling Yao has posed:
Starfall Omen listening to Yaling and choosing to stay behind would have been the most surprising outcome. Yet, the emerald Pretty Cure can't help but be disappointed, and is left face to face with the Perfect Maid Bit.

The bucket is thrown fast enough that Yaling can only avoid it hitting her head-on, but it still completely spills on her arm, causing a yell of pain from the Pretty Cure.

The acid starts burning its way through the clothes, and leaving red burns where it manages to get to the skin. "Cure Suzhen! Look at you! Try not to move that arm!", BaiBai hisses worries, turning her head downwards. "Sorry, BaiBai. I will heal myself later", she looks down apologetically.

"You are not a very good maid", she comments with a wince, fixing her gaze on the youma. "Just wait for it! I have just the thing to help you clean up!", she tells her with a tentative smile, clumsily playing her pipa.

Clouds gather numerous just under the ceiling, and small drops of water start falling with a pitter-patter. 1, 2, 10, 100: eventually a gentle rain has formed, falling down on them and purifying everything they fall on. "Pretty Cure Li Shan Drizzle!"

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Perfect Maid Bit is a perfect maid! It's right there in the name! She doesn't really know what a maid does aside from serve tea and hit people with mops, but she's sure she's perfect! Starfall Omen said so!

    She even smiles at Cure Suzhen's wound. Score one hit! Surely this will please the master! Only... It wasn't a defeat, and now the PreCure is using magic rain on her. It's purifying, which means it hits the dark energy youma much like how the acid treated Suzhen.

    Unable to really walk or get up or avoid the attack, Perfect Maid Bit can only sit still and look up. "Ah, well. Turnabout is fair play I suppose..."

    Quickly the purification overwhelms her, and the youma calls out, "At your service!" one last time before turning into dust.

    Starfall Omen, the demon Voselle, and the now-possessed hedgehog are gone. Without the youma to maintain it, the barrier fades away as well, depositing the PreCure and her snake mascot back into the real world...

    Where there is admittedly a bit of a mess. Well, at least it's not too bad?

    The poor clerk is still knocked out from the energy drain.

Yaling Yao has posed:
Ok, and how does she deal with this mess now? The civilians are all unconscious still, but she doesn't know how longer she has to make it presentable, and that's with her burnt arm. Good thing was, at least she controlled where the rain fell this time. "Well then, let's get to it!", Yaling says with a smile, and her music spreads in the shop again, calling on her healing magic and making the plants grow even more vigorously.

Soon enough her arm is back to a presentable condition, though she will need to put bandages on it soon, and she now has her plants assisting her in moving things around. "Don't worry Shifu, this won't take too long!" Yaling smiles down at the snake.

Her thoughts go back to Starfall Omen and the little poor hedgehog. She can only hope it was going to be fine now that it became smart. Maybe she can ask that herself next time they see each other.