2571/Sugar Rushed in the Thick of It

Sugar Rushed in the Thick of It
Date of Scene:	29 May 2025
Location:	Four Clover Mall
Synopsis:	Wicked Lady deserves new things. New Moon wants to steal her some - Wicked Mask would rather Nephrite pay for it. Unfortunately for Nephrite and Amy, instead of snacks and a show, they get Harshmallow and Scare-amel Turtle. This one's gonna get messy.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Chibiusa Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, Amanda Faust, Nephrite
Tinyplot:	BMC: Wicked Ride
Tinyplot2:	Black Moon Clan

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The mall is a most wonderful place - just ask any teenager. There's shopping, there's eating, there's browsing and making lists of things to convince parents to buy, there's an arcade to wile away the hours... it's just perfect.

And today, it's to be New Moon, Wicked Lady, and Wicked Mask's personal playground.

"Anything that you see will be yours, Wicked Lady," New Moon promises, casually skipping about the mall, pointing out stores she thinks Wicked Lady will like - she might have been in this mall before, but she'd been a child, then. She had the body of a mature woman now, and that meant getting to shop at different stores, and explore different styles, or even just look at them, in ways that she hadn't as a little girl.

New Moon wasn't going to miss this opportunity for parent-daughter bonding! She's bubbling over with excitement - and every time she looks around a bit too quickly, her thick, Rapunzel-esque braid thwaps someone when she spins around, catching them in the legs, the back, the face on more than one occasion...

But it only takes a second of looking that blue eyed girl with the black crescent moon tattoo in the face before every indignant or frustrated victim walks off in the other direction without a word.

As it should be.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    "Oh how lovely~," coos Wicked Lady in response to New Moon's promise. Lady's 'faithful assistant' certainly is reliable and eager to please, but of course... why wouldn't she be? This is the game they are playing, and today they have a new playmate.

    Wicked Lady smiles brightly at Wicked Mask. She thinks his getup is funny. Endearing, in a way. The way that her mother's braid occasionally whacks someone is amusing also, though she tends to keep her reactions to a polite, if subtly cruel, smile.

    "Ah, how about we pick up some make up? The lipstick we found in the Spectre Sisters' bedrooms doesn't quite suit me."

    She glances towards Wicked Mask while fidgeting with her parasol and asks, "What about you, dear papa? Anything catch your fancy?"

    She's about to make a tease regarding her loyal assistant, but that may give away her game. Can't have that.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Following sedately and indulgently along with New Moon and Wicked Lady is ... Mamoru. He's in a black yukata with dark pink and red wine colored roses hand-painted over one shoulder and down his back, with pink frosted tips in his fluffy hair; his glasses are clean, and there is a noticeably smudged black crescent moon on his forehead.

"Just a bubble tea, sweetheart, I can get it-- oh, and probably new eyeliner? But not really, my henshin comes with perfect eyeliner and I don't wear it much otherwise. But really, I'm just happy to be with you two, I don't need anything."

He doesn't seem dismayed or distressed at all, and at the end, he brightens. "Oh, Wicked Lady! You're old enough I can take you both to a metal show if you want? Or some other kind of show but metal is so much fun."

He's not trying to stop them.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's not usually one to visit the mall with any regularity -- well, not in a long time, not since Electronics Boutique was the place to find used videogames cheap -- but today...

    After school she was feeling bluh about the whole... a friend is possessed, another friend is missing, and HER daughter went evil and poor Mamoru is suffering and there's nothing she can do. School never mattered and now it extra doesn't matter, but she still has to listen to teachers going on about 'her future', ugh.

    She's lying on her dorm bed daydreaming about scenarios where she has worth to the world -- or at least, maybe, to someone special -- not dependent on being a magical warrior, when in some stray thought the words 'retail therapy' crosses her mind, and normally she'd dismiss it, but in a moment when she has nothing better to do, she wonders: Is there something to it?

    As she approaches a women's clothing store, she remembers the feeling, not so long ago, of not belonging here, like there's a forcefield she dare not cross, but she doesn't feel it now and she smiles as she walks in.

    Some time later, 'I wonder if that would look good' has become 'oh gosh I can totally pull off this look' several times and she's got an armful of clothes she's wondering if she dare buy, forgetting she can just conjure them and steal the look for free. And she's come by a section in the front of the store, wondering why the jeans on display are overpriced and why the 'distressed' ones cost at least as much, when some people walking by in her peripheral vision catch her eye and she looks closer to consider analyzing their look and her jaw drops as she stares through the front window at Wicked Lady and her new friend and Mamoru. (Who could the new friend even be? ...Has anyone checked on Hotaru lately?)

    So much for shopping. If they don't see her, she's dropping the clothes and not-very-sneakilly following them. Because... like, at least they're not causing as much of a commotion as... any of the previous times a dark general or temporarily-evil friend came to the mall, actually?

Nephrite has posed:
It could be noted that Masato Sanjouin seems to be appearing frequently, wherever New Moon does. If he were ever asked about this-- using mystical means to keep track of certain people's movements in the city, or perhaps certain methods of locating certain energies-- he would feign ignorance.

The stars know many things, and see all, and today they've sent him to the mall.

Black unsweetened coffee sipped at in a takeaway cup, he's peering into a small pet shop window. There is a snake coiled lazily upon a branch there, under heat lamps. He wonders how loudly Zoisite would scream, what the exact pitch might be, if he purchased such a creature and left it on the couch for a while.

But a flash of pink catches his eye in the glass, and there they are. He turns his head, and there is Mamoru-- according to plan.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Wicked Lady sway-walks through the mall with her evil totally-not-mom and her totally-evil dad, left hand slowly swinging to her side while the right hold her parasol which is resting on her shoulder. Yes, she has her parasol open inside the mall. No, she does not care.

    She's also, so far, oblivious to the fact that her little coterie is being watched by two mahoujin. That said, considering just how things are in these four Wards, she wouldn't be surprised.

    On the way to the make up store, she passes by a confections shop. "Oh, how delightful!" She says, before prancing over to the window and looking through them. "Chocolate covered marshmallows. Should we? We should, shouldn't we?"

    Without further discussion, she walks into the store and starts ordering... a bit of everything from the shop. She might buy out the whole place, really.

    Considering how she's currently dressed, no one doubts for a second that Wicked Lady might be able to afford it.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yes, darling daughter~!" agrees Mamoru brightly, even if he's kind of meh on marshmallows, personally. The sacrifices he has to make. He trails behind Wicked Lady, takes his phone out of his obi, and texts Masato as he sidles along.

    Mamoru TXT: thats u here y/n
    Mamoru TXT: pls pay for whatever she orders

His phone, on silent, gets tucked back in his obi and he walks at a more normal pace. When Wicked Lady starts ordering some of everything he looks much more excited, and glances back out the window.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Make-up after treats sounds wonderful. You're pretty enough not to need any, but you deserve better than leftovers from those girls."

New Moon's voice dripped hostility at the thought of the Spectre Sisters, and she followed Wicked Lady through the mall happily, paying no mind to the two following them - there was no chance at all that she'd be noticing them.

"Still, the fact that we even have to ask for things is beneath you. They should be going out of their way to give their princess all their best!" It's what Wicked Lady deserves. When she heads into the candy store, New Moon follows right behind her, opening up a bag of chocolate covered marshmallows right in front of the annoyed clerk, and handing them to Wicked Lady.

"You have to pay for those," the clerk says, patient, "Before you eat them -"

"No, I really don't," New Moon says, examining her nails. "Do you have anything with caramel?"

"You - uh - yes, we have caramels, they're over there - you can't just take the candy, though?"

"Of course I can!" She walks over to some chocolate-caramel-nut cluster things, and opens up the box, popping one into her mouth. "Mmm, Wicked Lady, you should try these next -"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sets the armful of clothes down atop the jeans display, ducks out of view, and henshins while keeping civilian clothes on. Although they don't have to be the same civilian clothes she was just wearing. So Puella Magi Rocket Red is wearing a green cami* and tiered* skirt (it goes spinny!) that goes with her eyes and that look like they're part of the same garment unless you look closely.

    She does a little twirl and smiles to herself on the way to the door and then out she goes, down the... whatever you call the like, main mall area, following the trio and trying to keep just enough distance that she can blend into the crowd and not be the next closest person to them.

    (Not sticking out would probably work better if she weren't a foreigner.)

    She follows them into the sweet shop, and stays near the door, and...

    Their... their sinister plan is to take sweets without paying for them. She can't even be sure that's even evil, who knows how unethical the company running this place is?

    On the bright side: It's great that Wicked Lady and gang (and that's Mamoru, not even henshined, but Amy assumes he is like, tagging along to make sure his daughter's okay, relatively speaking) are not, like, draining everyone and setting loose monsters to smash up the place...

    ...But it also leaves her at a bit of a loss for what to actually do; Giving a (possibly not even merited) justice speech and starting a fight would make way more of a mess, for everyone involved and the bystanders. So she just kind of stands there awkwardly.

    Eventually she does think to pull out her phone and text Mamoru:

Text from Amy: You, uhh, doin' OK there?

*("What are all of these called?" She asked the store employee, a bit helplessly. "Like, are there words for the kind of... like that cut or style or whatever that looks like that, to tell it apart from, say, that one?" Getting increasingly nervous and self-conscious, she quickly adds, "My mom is a tomboy."**)

**(That's even true. She gets to talk to her mom at Christmas in return for helping save it, before the Veil steals her memory of Amanda away again, and they talk of many things, but fashion is not one of them.)

Nephrite has posed:
He watches Mamoru's subtle texting. A buzz in his pocket follows, as Masato takes out his phone. He's acting fairly casual, texting only a thumbs up emoji, as he turns from the window and crosses towards the shop Wicked Lady has disappeared into.

He, too, is dressed to an immaculate degree. Designer brands and expensive sunglasses atop his head, high end watch. Real leather shoes. He's taking his time, meandering handsomely with a self assured air, stopping to pay a compliment to a pretty girl on the way-- perfume samples, lovely, and so is she (oh, she's very flattered by that, and of course she is). What a fine distraction so that he can not seem so obvious, catching Mamoru's eyes through the window glass and gesturing pointedly at his forehead (the moon, Mamoru, the moon needs a retouch, please, for the love of the stars--).

It is when Amy slips into that store, that he must follow, leaving a slightly crestfallen sample-girl behind as he seems to follow the next pretty girl to go by. Masato cuts in front of the flustered clerk with his best smile.

And a debit card. That's important. "Did nobody tell you the sensational Wicked Lady was coming by? She's the next big thing." He whispered, "Just go along with it. Celebrities, you know."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    "Oh my dear assistant, please. Don't worry!" Wicked Lady gives New Moon a half hug, resting her hand on her mother's opposite shoulder. "I know exactly how we're going to pay these... people... for the chocolate treats that the world owes us!"

    She is completely ignoring poor Masato. That guy has more than enough women noticing him already.

    Lady points the top of the parasol at a nearby display of confections and begins to slowly spin it, as waves of darkness pour out of it. A chocolate covered marshmallow glows with sickly purple energy, evil magic seeping out of it and turning nearby treats into piles of rot.

    How bad does dark energy have to get if it rots things that never rot?

    The infected confection grows, forming limbs of white goo covered in plates of chocolate exoskeleton. It bursts out of the glass, rolls onto the floor, and continues to grow until the once tiny treat, small enough to fit in the hand, now towers over the shopkeeps like a giant.

    Wicked Lady picks up her bags off the counter and begins to leave. "Terribly sorry about the mess, but we do have quotas to fill. Harshmallow, please do the needful."

    Harshmallow, the new youma, raises its chocolate-plated arms into the air and roars as waves of evil magic drain the energy of the clerks, fellow shoppers, and any other nearby normies.

    Seems like Wicked Lady has yet to notice Amy or Masato. Probably good for them.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Wicked Mask's phone buzzes and he takes it out, backing into a corner to be out of the way of the growing ruckus; he texts Amy back.

Mamoru TXT: <this is fine.jpg>

Masato comes in and starts sliding up to pay for half the store, aaaand... Wicked Lady makes a candy youma. Mamoru sticks his phone back in his belt and watches the thing grow, hand over his mouth. (He resolves to text Masato about the artfully smudged crescent later.)

He starts edging around the inside of the store until he catches up with Wicked Lady. "Do we stay and watch the fight? There's always a fight. I used to judge the combat moves. And one of your uncles is here! Can I have a caramel?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Harshmallow," New Moon whispers in delighted tones, then cheers. "Wicked Lady, you've made an excellent monster! Look at it, rotting away those other treats - they probably weren't good enough for you anyway!"

She digs a hand into her bag of pilfered caramel treats and throws one at Wicked Mask, then throws the other... onto the floor. Where it flickers with dark energy, spasming around like a living thing - and grows. The chocolate on its back splits into distinct plates, the caramel melting and dripping until the chocolate fragments take hold, becoming solid, as the pecans inside shift and warp, growing into squat limbs, another taking the shape of a head as caramel drips over it to form a ragged face, salt crystals making eyes.

"Rise, my Scare-amel Turtle! Rampage and harvest for our Lady!"

The Scare-amel Turtle roars (even though turtles do not, in fact, roar), and promptly through the glass doors of the candy shop, sending shards of glass and bits of metal everywhere.

"I wonder if it knows how to get to the make up shop," New Moon ponders.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks at the reply from Mamoru and sighs. She's not sure what to do, though, he's not asking for rescue... At least he's not evil too.

    How they're going to pay? Isn't Masato (Masato?!) already handling it?

    Oh dear.

    Oh no it has come to the big smashy monsters bit. Amy mouths the names 'Harshmallow' and 'Scaramel', and then there's the draining and the smashing and the screaming, and she conjures her recoilless rifle but thinks twice about it. There's no barrier here, and she'll quickly take the store from slightly smashed to completely smashed if she fights like that.

    So pink sparkles wash over her form and once again Sailor Chalcopyrite opposes the Black Moon Clan, with her trusty... .59-caliber gyrojet rifle it is, then. Maybe she should color it pink instead of white? Or at least match her color scheme. The decorative stripe turns red and the white brightens to match her sailor suit, and the magazine, grip, and some other parts become a darker black to match her bow. There.

    She fires a few of the (non-explosive!) projectiles into the marshmonster, but uh... do... rocket bullets even do anything to something made of marshmallow?

    (She has also changed the sound effect, so that it sounds like a big chonky machinegun or something. It does make it more satisfying to shoot, it turns out!)

    "Okay, Harshmallow and Scaramel are good names, but-- AAH!" Amy looks at Wicked Lady approaching the door next to her -- and she's not actually blocking the exit -- and then has to dive out of the way of the charging turtle. She straightens up and tries to look important when she is shorter than any of them (due to their heels) "...do you have to do this? I mean..." Oh right also she has to intro herself for the new girl. "I may be the Pretty Guardian of freedom to live as yourself, but is this really who you are? Who you want to be?!"

Nephrite has posed:
Masato saw the instant the clerk's expression changed, and the prickling of dark energy upon the air, and with a smile still holding-- forced-- he added through teeth, "... She's a street magician."

There was a youma, now. The draw began, everyone was getting hit with the pull. It was made of candy wasn't it? A glance over his shoulder-- yes. Yes, it was. There was virtually no chance of escaping this without feeling sticky, or with his ruined. His expression was grim. He was a human sigh, with a hand on his hip and a dullness in his eyes.

He tucked the debit card away, primly, inside his jacket. There's magical gunfire behind him. And a turtle. Scare-amel. That's a good pun. It broke the doors. He lifted an arm against a small rain of shards, and with a tug at jacket and a prismatic shimmer, Nephrite is all cape and sword.

Gloved hand lifts towards Harshmallow as a starlight glow swirls into a ball before his palm, the heat of it radiant, and he fires it at the abomination of confection. Will it explode into goo? Maybe. Maybe it will ruin Wicked Lady and New Moon's hair and outfits, and he can run, and they will chase him.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    While exiting the shop, Wicked Lady actually pays Amy little mind, even as the gyrojet bullets rip through the chocolate exoskeleton and spray white gooey sugariness all over the back wall of the candy shop. It's doing something, for sure. It's making a bigger mess.

    As Wicked Lady hears 'Wicked Mask' make a couple of requests, she raises her eyebrow and slowly turns around to face him. Closing her parasol, she begins to float into the air, sit-hovering as she lays the parasol in her lap.

    "Very well. We may watch."

    At the advent of the Scare-amel Turtle, Lady smiles brightly and claps. "Good job, New Moon! Scare-amel Turtle. Absolutely lovely."

    It's only when Amy challenges her philosophy that Wicked Lady actually responds to her. "I mean... what else could I want? I am loved, adored, and I get everything that I could possibly desire. I'm Wicked Lady. This is just who I am."

    If there's any inner child inside of her that feels differently, that part of her is keeping silent. This is the whole and unfettered truth, as far as Lady knows.

    As Harshmallow rampages through the store, walking through displays and over counters, it soon finds out that it's out of civilians to drain. So it wanders out of the store, following Scare-amel's path of destruction into the main walkway, draining window shoppers as passersby begin to notice the commotion and begin to panic.

    Nephrite's starlight ball has a similar effect on Harshmallow, and thanks to the angle some of the exploding marshmallow does spray all over Wicked Lady's dress. She frowns, looking down at the mess, nonplussed.

    "... Really now? Being my 'uncle' only gets you so much leeway. Perhaps you'd like to join us?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru does not henshin. He does, however, take a bite of the non-youma's ill-gotten caramel turtle goodness. "We know who you are," he says to Amy after he swallows.

Then a lot of mess-- woo, that's a lot of-- Mamoru flinches when some of the goo gets on them, and he's grimacing a second later. "That is not making Wicked Lady happy," he says, sighing through his teeth. "You could just ask to join, but... that wouldn't be fair to Red-chan, would it? Red, how's your rocket fuel?"

Mamoru switches how he's holding the turtle, and licks his thumb at New Moon. Then he laughs, and shakes his head. "I can't help you," he says frankly to Amy and Nephrite, "You should apologize. It's, you know, it's advice. I'm sorry, I'm evil now. You can call me Wicked Mask. I named myself after my daughter."

A beat.

"You do know how great she is, Neph," he says as if it's not in question, then looks at Wicked Lady, "and he has been helping me play the game without even knowing the rules. Also, he's Mako-chan's personal idiot romantic, I think she'd be sad if we abducted her best sous-chef for the wedding."

He calls to Nephrite again, "Can you tell her to make a Wicked Lady cake too?"

Sometimes he talks too much when he's socially nervous. This may be one of those times.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You don't know who she is?! Amy-chan! How can you not know who she is? She is the one named Wicked Lady! The world's most wonderful girl, the most beloved princess, the all-powerful, awe-inspiring, princess who rules the Black Moon Clan!" New Moon is not only the worlds bestest assistant, but also a certified stan, and she is hamming it up for her beloved daughter. She's also a little sweaty, under her straw hat. "And I am her assistant, favorite toy, and all around adorable dark general, New Moon! Beware her power! Rejoice, and join us!"

Is this a sales pitch? Of course not! It is a recruitment spiel.

Meanwhile, Scare-amel Turtle was not attacked, even though Harshmallow was. Scare-amel Turtle now feels both disrespected and underestimated - and like all youma, has decided to process its emotions with violence.

Ah, violence. It never changes.

In this case, violence means rearing up on it's hind legs and slamming itself down, causing enormous chocolate fragments to fly off its shell and slam into both Chalcopyrite and Nephrite. This is not quite retaliation for Harshmallow so much as it is an effort to stand up for its own value as a menace to society.

"...you dirtied Wicked Lady," New Moon says, slowly, staring at Nephrite. Mamoru is talking, rambling a touch, but she is staring. "You... dirtied... Wicked Lady's dress. Do you think being the favorite toy of a favorite toy gets you special privileges, Nephrite?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    'Favorite toy?' Amy mouths the words with a WTF expression. "Y'know, Hotaru or whoever you are, her mom had a thing about that too when she was--" She looks to Mamoru in confusion, "Is that genetic?!"

    But also Wicked Lady is going on about the perks of her new lifestyle, and Amy turns to face her. "You had that before!" Amy protests, and although she's waving the gun around a bit as she gesticulates, she's always keeping it pointed at the ceiling or floor and with her finger off the trigger. "You know, I assumed that was just part of how it works, you go all 'worship me, everyone's insects, all hail me or my new dark master'" --

     and as she 'does a voice' for the hypothetical ex-hero, pink sparkles briefly replace her outfit with something that coincidentially looks a lot like the Dark Pretty Cure outfits, but the shoes aren't pointy, and she's avoiding any association with headwing decorations, and she points rudely at Wicked Lady,

    "But when we came to rescue you, a-and..." Okay, she started this speech trying to tell Chibiusa off, but that was a really unpleasant memory actually and she can't really say that starting to think she knew better than everyone else isn't kind of adjacent to most of those things, looking back on it, even if it totally didn't seem that way at the time, "I... you... uh... but..."

    She changes her outfit back (and the two changes conveniently cleanse her of some of the stray candy goo, as long as it's not too much) and rallies, "Ch-- S-- Wicked Lady! How could you join the Black Moon Clan?! You've seen what they do! They went after kids. And they want a world with no one but them. Who's gonna worship you then, huh? Not them. They're using you!"

    Okay, the problem with improvising your banter on the spot is sometimes your speech gets away from you and you swerve directions twice mid-speech which doesn't come together very well.

    She looks at Mamoru, answering his question, "Uh, it's okay, but..." And then at the suggestion she's shocked and a bit put out, whirling on him and stamping her foot once. "Apologize for what?! How's that gonna stop the monster rampage?!" She says, as she's been so busy talking that now Harshmallow has also escaped the store and begun terrorizing people outside of it.

    Of course, looking at Mamoru, she's turned her back on the monsters, and so she's ignominiously bowled over by a chunk of chocolate shell. She starts to push herself up, not exactly looking triumphant and heroic in this moment.

Nephrite has posed:
Personal idiot romantic-- he almost forgets about the youma, for a moment, and a chunk catches him off his feet. Forced to blast his way through chocolate, melted confection slathering his side as he gathers himself up from mess. He has a look on his face like he may pick up and hurl some at Mamoru, just for good measure, but he has to face New Moon now. Time to roll the dice.

"That dress isn't glorious enough for Wicked Lady, anyway, New Moon," he chances, because this is the tact that has so far worked best, "She deserves something better, New Moon!"

This is madness. This is ridiculous, and he knows it, and he glances at Amy because it must sound absolutely cracked. Sapphire eyes apologise to Mamoru too. He's doing his best. He's walking a fine line. He's helping plan a wedding and traps. They're all stressed--

He whips a spell at the Scare-amel turtle, a small whirlwind of tornadic force aiming to catch and spin the thing on the spot, and prevent it from getting much further. Can a confectionary youma feel sick? He hopes so.

"Obviously, there will be a giant cake dedicated to Wicked Lady, and a large throne for her to sit in watch the proceedings of her parents' marriage. That's the most important part-- all of this is just to honour our Lady and her eventual birth-- but, yes, I'm afraid I can't join. Too many things to do!"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Wicked Lady is squinting at Nephrite and wondering if he'd really like another villain arc to continue his streak. She could, potentially, abduct him and induct him into the darkness, but...

    Wicked Mask is making a case for not kidnapping him by bringing up the wedding, and she says, "But I mean... you can worship me and also plan the wedding. There's no reason you can't do both. I'm not trying to stop the wedding. I mean... that would be a bit... ah... counterproductive to my personal interests, don't you think?"

    Lady then starts trying to pick bits of Harshmallow off of her dress. They get stuck to her hands instead. She tries to lick a fingertip clean and gets some on her lip. Oh dear.

    "I mean I wasn't planning on giving you a choice in the matter, uncle. Oh, Harshmallow, where are you running off to? Harshmallow!"

    With neither Amy nor Nephrite attacking it, the Stay Dark Marshmallow Man is rampaging down the pathway, getting further from the group and draining more people. It's not that hard to track it, as the various holes in its armor are leaving a path of sticky goo.

    "Harshmallow, that's enough! Get back here and fight the magicals! Don't stand them up after they went through all the effort of getting dressed!"

    Following the commands of its mistress, Harshmallow turns towards Amy, rips a chocolate-coated marshmallow chunk of itself off and throws it at the Puella, then roars as it pumps its fists into the air triumphantly!

    ... Which then creates a new wound that slowly 'bleeds' out more goo. Making a bigger mess.

    "I expect the cake to be immaculate. Don't assume you get a day off just because you had to fight our youma!" scolds Nephrite. Did she possibly forget about turning him to their side? It may be best not to remind her.

    She picks another bit of goo off her dress and mutters, "I like my dress just fine."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Hm. Red, for your safety, please concentrate on the fight you're having with the actual monster rampage," Mamoru suggests to Amy, "and I don't know how to communicate to you that now is the time for platitudes."

He nods to Nephrite; there's apology in his face too.

He's silent for a moment, then sort of shrugs helplessly when New Moon starts going off--

--and then looks SO relieved when Wicked Lady proves bribeable. "I like your dress a lot, the sort of gossamer-y parts are really lovely," he says admiringly. "Did you design it?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"HOTARU?!" Now New Moon looks offended. More than offended. "You think I'm - she came back with you from the past! As if Wicked Lady needs hand-me-down minions! She only gets the very best, and that's me!"

She brings a hand to her chest, looking sincere.

"My Wicked Lady gets to do whatever she wants. She gets to be the most beloved, the most wonderful, the most powerful. And if you think she joined the Black Moon Clan, when she went ahead and took over their pathetic little circus act... I guess you're not looking hard enough."

She looks disappointed in Amy.

She looks much more pleased about Nephrite being on board, with the wedding planning. "That's right. She needs her very own cake, and her own throne, because what is her parents' wedding except a celebration of her future birth?"

Oh there is the tiniest part of her that is screaming about that, but the vast majority is here, and happy.

Scare-amel is not happy. Scare-amel has been spun about by cosmic wind, twisting around and thrown about so that he's ended up on his chocolate and caramel back, the caramel starting to stick and cool.

No! A turtle on it's back! This is such a cliche!!

Scare-amel writhes and kicks and bits of pecan break off fly about, exploding in nutty bursts.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Not Hotaru, or the kid's a good actress. "What the... well who the fuck are you then?!" She blinks. "Oh. Like. A friend she had in the future?!" That... makes sense... The name, too. 'New Moon', a reference to the immortal ruler deposed and replaced.

    But her eyes widen at the claim following that. "She... took it over? How..."

    She can only give Mamoru a brief helpless look. Empty words are so against her nature she doesn't know how.

    Also, Harshmallow is being called over to fight her. She jukes to the side out of the way of the marshmallow chunk, and glances over Wicked Lady. "...It is a nice dress." She says, a bit lamely, but earnestly. It is, at least, a genuine compliment.

    She turns back to Harshmallow. "Hey, ya missed me, you staypuft marshmallow man wannabe! Why don't you try again?!" She noticed that it was willing to injure itself as an attack, so she tries to provoke it, but also, she resumes shooting at it, finally.

    "You know, I do get that the wedding has to be about you," in your mind, she doesn't say, "...but don't you think it'd be good to not interfere too much? Like you said, if you change things, isn't that counterproductive? ...Wait, if you're in charge now, that means you know where they're holding your mom, right?! Is she okay?!"

Nephrite has posed:
"Yes, Wicked Lady, of course!" There's a dodging of nut clusters, and a sword singing free to slice through a turtle leg with a silvery flash. Neprite's moving fast while the turtle is up-ended, trying to cut through sweet limbs in swift succession, and minimise the flailing.

"Only-- the best--" Between a throne and cake, there's more opportunity for traps and sabotages and interferences, anyway.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    "Well I mean..." Wicked Lady starts, trying to explain how she, actually, is in charge of the Black Moon Clan now. "Well you killed the dragon lady. Rubeus is dead. The Spectre Sisters are dead. There's basically no one left of the old guard except... what... the creeper prince and his mad scientist brother? Neither of whom I have to listen to."

    She props up her elbow on Literally Nothing and leans against it while lounge-hovering in the air. "I mean technically Wiseman is in charge but like... Basically I can do whatever I want as long as I find my timeline's Silver Crystal. Which is around here somewhere I'm sure."

    She actually has no idea where it is after handing it off to Luna-P, and as inconvenient as that is for her right now, it was intended at the time.

    Where is she holding Usagi? "Oh, who knows~? Somewhere... safe. I assure you she's quite happy where she is."

    Harshmallow is being shot by magic bullets, and chewable chocolate exoskeleton just isn't designed to withstand that kind of directed firepower. This is, of course, making an increasingly bigger mess as more and more of the confectionary monster is sprayed all over the floor and walls of the mall. It's getting all over the passed out normies, too.

    It roars at Amy again, charging at her with cracked-chocolate-coated arms flailing, but then as it gets close it stops, sputters, coughs a couple times, wheezes, and then vomits marshmallow goo all over the floor... and possibly all over the cutest Puella Magi if she doesn't move fast enough.

    Harshmallow's hands are on its knees. It kinda needs a moment. A plate of chocolate shell falls off.

    Wicked Lady brightens up as her dress is praised. "I know, right? It's so lovely. I... hm. Does it count as making it yourself when it's a part of your henshin? Do you design your henshin subconsciously or is it just like... handed down to you by some cosmic Henshin Council?"

    Pondering these mysteries, Wicked Lady pops another chocolate treat between her lips.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I think..." says Mamoru, helpless-shrugging back at Amy and then licking his fingers again, and then he looks to Wicked Lady. "I think it counts as your subconscious designing it. I don't think anything else could explain Hematite or Casual Friday. Or Tuxedo Kamen. How did you design your outfit when you were Masquerade Lapine?"

He takes this moment to finish the caramel turtle that's been melting in his hand.

He leans forward and murmurs something otherwise inaudible to New Moon that can probably be summarized as 'and you have more talent than Hotaru'.

"Neph, remember my youmas?" he calls cheerily. "I am such a proud Wicked Dad right now! Bird youma and food youma! The messes, ah, be still my fluttering heart~"

A beat. "Oh my god, Neph, yes please keep fighting like that-- wait--" No. NO! Mamoru is scrabbling to get his phone out.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yes," New Moon says, "I am a friend that was made in the future. And Wicked Lady can do anything. Not just anything she wants - anything. Including take over the Black Moon Clan, because, really, she's way more competent than they ever were. All they wanted to do was destroy!"

And Wicked Lady at the very least wants to enjoy everything that the world has to offer her. She wants to have it all. She wants to make it all hers.

That's so much better than what anyone else on Dark Energy wants to do. Really, they should just let Lady do whatever she wants.

Unlike poor Scare-amel, who has just had a leg removed.

It screams, sounding like the pop of boiling caramel, and Nephrite's sword is able to remove three of those pecan-caramel legs, before the edge is gummed up with candy and will need to be cleaned. The poor youma wriggles, and caramel bursts forth, creating new legs of caramel that it slowly and gummily uses to push itself up.

This isn't over! This isn't o-

The weight of the chocolate and pecan body is too much for these new caramel legs. Scare-amel flops over onto his back once more and roars in frustration.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    A slight chill runs down Amy's spine at the memory of Saphir, but she supposes Wicked Lady has a point. (Also who the fuck is Wiseman?! Amy just pictures the guy with the floating hands from NiGHTS) Also, she's looking for her time's silver crystal? "What? But I thought you had it?"

    "...And I think it depends on the henshin source? I doubt your mom and her friends all picked sailor suits, but dark energy didn't like, put me in anything weird and I'm pretty okay with my normal outfit." Right, she's supposed to be platituding. "That doesn't look like someone else picked it so, uh, good taste?"

    Anyway, speaking of taste, the messiest fight Amy's had in awhile (and one of the top three ever) is going on. Looking around at the confectionary carnage, she's struck by the feeling that... in a slightly different situation, all this candy could be bringing people joy, but it's ruined for a number of reasons. It's an annoying feeling, like thinking of a missed opportunity or a could-have-been.

    ...But it's made Wicked Dad proud, and Amy gives him a raised eyebrow that is part surprise part knowing look as she gets ready to dodge the charging Harshmallow,

    But it doesn't charge, it BLEUAAAARRRRGGGHHHG

    The way red eyes blink in all the fluff is almost cartoonish. She looks down, and looks over at the reflection of the scene in an amazingly unbroken shop window, and oh gosh it's made her sailor suit all sticky that feels icky ick ick--

    "O-okay..." She holds out her right arm towards Harshmallow, holding no weapon but a clenched fist, "this is uh... ugh it's sticky... Okay uh, pool's closed, we should end this before... well anyway," and then she braces her right arm with her left hand as the large launch tube appears braced to it and

                                     AURA                                    
                                                                              
                                    PILLAR!                                  

    Her tone jarringly shifts from awkward talk to intoning a special attack name that carries its own gravitas and echo as it fires, and at this range, against a marshmallow energy, the primary missile might just run right through it and explode inside, some of the dozen minimissiles it breaks into exploding lances of light out of Harshmallow and some of them continuing on through to home in on Scaramel Turtle before airbursting to add piercing lights alongside whatever Nephrite does, it'll look really cool.

    Amy looks at what's left of the monster like she's sort of dreading that it will drop something, before she turns to Wicked Lady. "Oh, gosh, you did it, I am tired out from this long battle and spent my magic on defeating your mighty monster, how ever will I stand against you again" the launch tube dismissed, she raises the back of her hand to her forehead to sell the drama and then mutters, 'oh ick it's in my hair...'

Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite takes a moment-- harried, his sword govered in caramel, him slathered in chocolate and peppared with nutty shrapnel-- as the turtle topples again. Pitiful. He sees Mamoru going for his phone, apparently nostalgic, and he tenses.

"Do not even *think* of taking a picture of me while I look like a choc-dipped Madeleine--!" He knows what they are now because of Makoto, who has occassionally been sneaking him new sweets to try and see if he likes them. He makes a mental note, too, to tell her he's not a fan marshmallow.

At the rate this is going, he isn't sure he'll stomach caramel much longer, either, and he's bruised from being pelted by pecans. All he can taste is aggressively wicked sweetness.

He plunges sticky sword into Scare-amel's side, exposed from where shell has come away, and into the core of the sticky beast, he pours a swell of powerful heat. Star-bright glow from the metal channeled like a cooking rod to boil and melt down. He intends to reduce turtle into bubbling puddle of burnt sugar, unleashing an outwards burst like a--

Amy does an Amy thing. He doesn't know what it is. Knocked back even, as her mini-missiles combine with his starburst, and there is light and heat and *caramel* blasting everywhere in a grand POP and splatter.

Nephrite, the shape of him, is there. Unrecgonisable. Covered, near head to toe, in hot caramel and chocolate. His sword crooked, upended in stickiness. A muffled pitch escapes. It is very uncomfortable.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Wicked Lady isn't even watching the youma fight. She doesn't even see how the fight with her monster ends.

    What happened to Harshmallow? Amy did.

    The chocolate shell armor gets punctured by the main missile, and Harshmallow looks down at the gooey hole in its chest for a brief panicked moment as it tries to figure out 'is this what it feels like to have a missile lodged into you?'

    (Yes it is.)

    Then many micromissiles launch from the main missile, and that alone would be enough to tear the marshmallow youma apart, with each tiny missile causing a new crack in its shell and ejecting gooey white mess all over the mall. It barely has any time to flail before the micromissiles detonate, blasting it into tiny messy bits that make an even bigger mess...

    Wicked Lady might not be watching Harshmallow's end, but she's most certainly noticing the marshmallow mess that is spraying all over her and covering her from head to toe. Lady looks down, briefly annoyed, and then somewhat resigned as she realizes, honestly, this part is kindof her own fault here. She made a messy youma, and she got a youma mess. A youmess.

    "Okay! Okay. Well... good job!" Her goo covered hands come together for a half hearted clap, which leads to her spraying more marshmallow remains all over the place and... oh dear me that was an unwise decision. "Good... good job. I'm keeping the sweets, though. New Moon? Wicked Mask? I'm leaving! Do the n..."

    What exactly counts as 'the needful' here?

    "Do... whatever. I'll be waiting in the car."

    Still hover-sitting in the air, Wicked Lady just starts floating towards the exit of the mall, dripping a trail of goo behind her.

    Yuck.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru has also gotten spattered, and is laughing too hard to care, even if this is a hand-painted yukata goddammit. "Noooo, got you! It'll give Mako-chan ideas!"

Spoilers it's blurry, boo.

Wicked Lady has the most wonderfully comedic reaction to the ordeal and it's a good thing he's already laughing. Once his beautiful, corrupted, still-protecting-her-parents daughter says she's leaving, he calls, "Yes, Wicked Lady!"

Then Mamoru works on steadying his breathing, glancing toward New Moon a little warily before addressing Amy and Neph. "Haaah-- you guys hurt? Or just..." He looks down at where he's extremely slowly dripping cooling caramel and marshmallow fluff, and shrugs. "Rip. Just messy?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Scare-amel Turtle dies with the knowledge that he has mortally wounded (the ego of) his killer. It is almost enough.

...New Moon gets covered in marshmallow fluff and sighs, deeply, down to her bones. This... this is not funny. Well, it's a little funny, but, it would be funnier if it was happening to someone else.

"If this doesn't come out of my hair, you'll pay for it," she pouts, and grabs the bags of candy that Wicked Lady had ordered, and marches on towards the car -

Only to stop in front of Amy, squinting at her.

"I'm glad it's in your hair too, at least. And good! You should know your place! It took everything you had to defeat our monster, and now you're too weak to fight our Lady." So saying, she pats Amy on the head, which... results in her hand sticking to Amy's hair... which... well. "Ah."

There's only one thing to do! Turn, real fast, and speed walk away! New Moon preceeds to do just that, turning with such swiftness that her braid THWAPS Amy as she goes, marching past Nephrite's caramel and nut covered form.

"Don't forget to tell Mako-chan about that cake!"

She's out.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Even Amy's terrible acting was enough to mollify Wicked Lady, it seems! Good thing, too, since she got spattered too and could have gotten so mad over that. They will both soon know what a pain marshmallow must be to get out of long hair. At least last time it was ice cream or chocolate syrup or something not quite so sticky.

    She sees Nephrite also exploded his monster -- which did look very cool what with the sword stabsplosion and all -- and is in the same boat. "Aren't you his boyfriend?" She doesn't think she'd have been worried about Hannah seeing her like this. Well... okay actually this would be kind of inconvenient for the 'touch your face to feel what it looks like' thing.

    Anyway, the fight is over and the day is saved. Everyone's energy and trait power and whatever else they may have is safe. Although, this wasn't in a barrier so uh... lot of civilians are going to be in the same boat.

    Well, at least it'll be less weird if she has to go back to the dorms like this if lots of people got caught in the candy store explosion or whatever the hell the veil will make people remember this as.

    Mamoru comes over to talk to her. "Not actually hurt, no." she replies dryly, holding out a hand to regard it. "Just cursed with stuff becoming my real life. Don't get this stuff on your shirt while-- well, it's the grossest feeling."

    She puts a finger in her mouth to get the marshmallow off it and looks at the approaching New Moon, raising her eyebrows at the way Wicked Lady's favorite minion also plays along.

    The headpat is kind of ruined by it being from an enemy and also the general stickiness, which is no fun for New Moon either. Seeing New Moon's face as she realizes this, Amy can't help breaking into a grin and failing to completely stifle a wheeze. WHAP. Well now it's just on more of New Moon's hair and Amy desperately holds in the laughter.

    She takes a breath and straightens up and looks back to Mamoru, concerned. "At least, if she really is in charge now... then Usagi's probably relatively OK, right?" She tries to give an encouraging smile but it's more of a concerned grimace.

Nephrite has posed:
Oh, he'll tell Mako-chan about the cake. And Ami, and perhaps even Riventon-- the cake, *and* the throne for Wicked Lady, replete with opportunity between them. More angles to interfere with and subdue Wicked Lady and New Moon, and recover Usagi.

His hands scrape as much confection free of his face as they can, and he shakes them to send sticky globs towards the floor. No. He's certainly not a sweet-tooth.

You guys hurt? Mamoru says, and Nephrite gives him an exceedingly flat look. "Just my pride. And skin. What with the burning caramel--"

Amy, too, get a quelling look, but Nephrite just sighs.

Babysitting Chibiusa was never quite this hard.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Okay," says Mamoru when he's sure Amy is all right. His smudged crescent is even worse now. He shrugs at the 'if she's in charge' -- she's in charge enough. And I get to be with them. I'll make an argument for healing," he's saying swiftly, "if anyone's hurt badly, or I'll just fix it and see what happens, I dunno."

He jams his sticky phone in his sticky obi again, and reaches out to poke Neph gingerly on the side of the head.

At this point the caramel is just overwarm, but the burns have already happened--

or did they, hello, good job!!!, still here, no dark energy, Some Regerts, mostly rueful though, relatively calm, and the golden wash of Earth's healing is like a soothing balm that's not sticky like aloe.

Or caramel.

"Anyway, bye," Mamoru says, and jogs out after New Moon and Wicked Lady.