2764/Trepadora

Trepadora
Date of Scene:	11 September 2025
Location:	Hotel Augusta
Synopsis:	Corona brings bees to the Met Gala is the essence of this scene
Cast of Characters:	Mai Elcamino, Rashmi Terios, Sugata Shindo, Catra, Amanda Faust, Ikiko Hisakata, Glimmer Brightmoon, Veronica Perenna

---

Mai Elcamino has posed:
SHE. Mai Elcamino. Corona, whose crown shines brighter than anyone else's. The woman who prefers to aura farm until she loses her temper, and yet--

--she asked for help. She asked for this. This is a thing she asked for from her superiors because she was getting repeatedly dogpiled by mahoujin, and she has to remind herself of this very hard when she ends up clinging to Glimmer with her briefcase flying open and immediately disgorging dark energy bees, which are now angry from being teleported and then flung into the light.

Clinging to Glimmer in all her magical finery, that is, IN THE MIDDLE OF the fanciest richest most exclusive media-friendly fund-raiser charity gala in Tokyo. Glimmer is a queen, she reminds herself over and over so she doesn't S C R E A M.

With her quad wings outstretched and crackling purple-and-white behind her, she hurriedly lets go of Glimmer and scrambles to recover at least SOME of the entrance she was hoping to impress upon the attendees. She hisses at Glimmer, "Act queenly or something!" and lifts off the floor, gleaming, making absolutely devastating eye contact with the people who refused her and smiling at them as they scream and run from the dark energy bees, and get stung and collapse.

Well, 'run', anyway. Some of the clothes that these people are wearing are absolutely off the wall impossible to run in. Or... even collapse in... there's one man who's being held up by a stiff mantle and a lot of peacock feathers and metal boots, now hanging out unconscious and upright. There's a woman in a mermaid dress who's trying to run the same way a T-Rex tries to grab literally anything. There's someone trailing five yards of tulle and lace connected to what looks like a layered plastic wrap bodysuit. Seriously, the things the attendees are wearing are patently absurd, mostly. Some of them are only in designer formalwear.

They're all screaming, anyway, except for the ones who're falling down. Corona hovers two feet above the floor, then higher, then higher, and she finally drops the briefcase and calls out, "Pablo, honey~! Come out and play!"

If the dark energy bees weren't enough to grab the attention of any nearby mahoujin, the creature growing climbing kudzu-like black tendrils out of the briefcase and continually unfolding until it's ten feet tall and vaguely humanoid, grabbing at runners with extending vine-hands and draining their energy.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi tries to make a point of spending time with her friends. And despite the occasional objection, Catra *is* a friend, and thus not immune to the very occasional text of 'Meet me at the subway, we're going for shioyaki and city-watching.'

Shioyaki, it turns out, is an entire fish jammed onto a stick and roasted over an open fire. And Rashmi sprung for three each, apparently *specifically because* it let her hold them between curled fingers, like a cat's paw.

Look Japanese people are sometimes weird! But there's crispy-sweet fish that Catra's not paying for, and Rashmi seems okay just letting Catra vibe to her headphones, walking down the street and offering the odd telepathically-delivered comment.

All in all, it's a pretty pleasant time!

Which is why Catra catches an annoyed look crawling across Rashmi's face, as Nicomachea alerts her to a Dark Energy signature a couple blocks over. An annoyed look that only *deepens* when Pelotillero's signature is also detected. *And Glimmer.*

<< Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, >> Rashmi thinks, the teenager-sigh coming across *perfectly* over telepathic link. << So Glimmer and someone new're starting some problems. Try to keep a lid on your temper; New Girl's an absolute mean snob, and she's *going* to make you mad enough to lose it. That'll be a win for her, don't let it happen. >>

Popping the last skewer in her mouth, she slips to one side to break eye contact with most of the world, henshins in a flash of gold, and emerges in full Barrier Jacket, hovering in place for Catra to catch up before they launch off toward the ruckus.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
This would have been, and could have been, an ordinary night of rich people nonsense, the sort of thing that even Sugata typically failed to indulge in, if only for lack of being raised to actually care about this sort of high society nonsense.
ut the family invitation had been delivered to him by sheer mistake, and as an act of indulgence he'd accepted solely because it would infuriate his parents and brother, who would be loathe to admit the full extent of just why the missent invitation was such a disaster.

But while Sugata had absolutely no objection to spending his family's frankly ridiculous quantities of money on any number of whims, he was not going to pay for a costume. Not when he could, through sheer magical radiance, utterly infuriate his magical patron.

This is why Sugata Shindo is standing in the ballroom of the Hotel Augusta in full regalia, the present height of his power, his Ginga Kingu henshin cloaked in menacing ghostly black armor with an aura of barely leashed hunger. He's handsome, tall, incredibly rich, and the people at the party have largely avoided him, all while lying to themselves about their fear that somehow, he'll eat them alive.

"It really is a shame that Takuto and Wako couldn't make it," Sugata laments to Samekh, the small robot in the blue-white bubble trapped alongside the wielder of his power.
Heamekh is grimly, furiously silent.

Then the bees appear, swarming from a briefcase, and Ginga Kingu Samekh - pauses. The bees aren't quite making it through his ghostly armor, and he watches them sting the screaming masses with growing incredulity and amusement. Finally, he deigns to speak:

"Pablo? The youma you've summoned to terrorize the party is Pablo? Should I expect him to clock out after the battle?"

Catra has posed:
Once it was explained to Catra what exactly a Shioyaki is, she was very noticably quite short on objections to the idea. An entire fish on a stick? And grilled up until it's crispy. And it's sweet. And it's fish. And it's delicious.

So, sure, she's vibing with her headphones -- almost a necessity in the busiest parts of Tokyo, given the absolute wall of auditory noise -- but since Rashmi can do that telepathy thing it's really not as much of a problem as it could be, and she's gone out of her way to choose music that isn't particularly obnoxious; it's not death metal or anything and there's no screaming or swearing in the lyrics. So that's a win. Right? Right. Sure.

The fish is in fact so delicious, that she almost -- almost -- misses the creeping vexation coming across Rashmi's face. And when the explaination is given, Catra freezes, just for a moment.

Well this isn't going to be awkward at all.

<< ...I think I've met the new girl already, >> she comments, choosing not to respond about Glimmer being there just yet. << She tried really hard to piss me off last time. She kinda succeeded. I may have set things on fire. >>

Catra gobbles up the last of her three fish, and tosses the three empty sticks towards the nearest trash bin but doesn't bother to watch to see if they went in. (Look, she's improving alright?) She doesn't break stride, and while Rashmi is seeing to her henshin she passes between a closed shopfront and a delivery van, and when she comes out the other side she's her feline self, headphones tucked away, and she's checking the cufflinks on her charcoal grey tuxedo with the orange trim.

<< So... now we go be heroic, right? That's how this works? >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is here... for some reason!

    Is Mai just that unlucky? Is it because the story of villain demands a hero and vice-versa? Did Amy just want to ride on top of a train again? We may never know.

    There's a distant explosion, and Magical Rocket Girl Red lands on a balcony and runs towards the origin of the screams, looking around in confusion at the party attendees. Yes, it's clearly an upper-class party, some of these folks are in formal wear, but what happened to the rest of them?! That woman can barely run and Amy briefly wonders if she was actually turned into a mermaid before she notices the clear outline of legs moving inside the 'tail.'

    "YOU again?!" Amy shouts, when she sees Corona at the center of it all. "What have you done to them?! Give them their clothes back and let them go!"

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
While the fancy types are having a party with ritzy food in the Hotel Augusta, Ikiko Hisakata is off in an alleyway in another part of Yumegahama, making sure that some of the local strays are getting a meal. The two contrasting meals technically aren't related; the young girl is much more interested in the lives of her canine friends than she is in celebrity goings-on, and the two events just happened to overlap today.

A whine from one of the dogs catches her attention. "Scary bug," another one barks, clearly disturbed by something. Looking over, Ikiko sees an oversized bee -- already pretty unusual, and the aura of Dark Energy definitely indicates what flavor of unusual. The fact that this Dark Bee seems dizzy, confused, and slightly lost makes it seem less of a threat, but it's still a large Dark Energy bee that is still very angry.

There's a silvery glow that might be seen from outside of the alley, then the sound of a kick followed by the Dark Bee getting turned into a kinetic smear on the lightpole across the street. "I'll be back soon enough," Cute Wolf Tsukiko smiles to the strays, then starts leaping across rooftops towards the faint hints of screaming her canine ears can pick up.

Along the way, the wolfgirl starts doing the mental equivalent of clearing her throat -- while she can't do telepathy on her own, she's at least used to mentally talking on Nicomachea's comms net, and she figures that tapping on an empty mic to see if comms are up wouldn't hurt.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon glanced at Corona. "... Act like a queen?" she asked. There was a *very* mischievous grin on her face when she was told that. And she came... so... so close to doing something that likely would have been the opposite of what Corona desired. She was wearing her dark energy outfit, except... she had no traces of dark energy, today.

She was wearing the orange necklace, however.

"... Okay, seriously, why would someone wear that?" she finally asked, motioning towards one of the outfits that she swore was more akin to an upside down tuba than a... outfit. She cocked her head to the side.

"But, if you want a queen, very well..." She held her hand up and her staff appeared in her hand. A moment later, pink wings, like those of an angel, seemed to grow from her back (though obviously magical and not physical in nature). She slammed the staff down and two of the chairs flew over to them for them to sit on...

Before wrapping in one of the table clothes and seeming to shift and dye, reshaping themselves into a... throne-shaped *mockery* of the very outfits that were parading and parodying themselves across the floor this evening. "Queenly enough?" she asked, cocking an eye.

Then she glanced towards Amy. "HEY! They did this to THEMSELVES!" pause. "Well, SOME OF THIS! The clothes part. We're not THAT evil." Pause. "I did the throne." She then sat on her new, ridiculous, throne.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Earlier this week, her parents had sent her an e-mail about a gala at Hotel Augusta, not unlike the thousand other times they did so. "It will be good for you", they said. "Many connections to make", they said. Just the usual white noise she had long since gotten into the habit to tune out.

She wasn't really interested in rubbing shoulders with rich people who only came there to show off and cheat on their expenses, and she was about to write back an excuse, when she was distracted by another ping, a newsletter from a run-of-the-mill tabloid about a jewerly maker claiming to have been cheated out of their life's work with a fake.

More gossip than sharing of injustice even for the tabloid itself, but that's something that bears looking into.

Some snooping around later, she was able to confirm the truth of the story and her target: a silver Venetian Mask encrusted with rubies and sapphires. Just an hour later, her calling card (https://ibb.co/1fMFg69r) finds itself at the Hotel Augusta, and she steps back and watches, waiting for the right time.

"Time to sign off on today's heist!" Veronica grins, clapping her hands above her head. A burst of silver-white sparkles streaks across the canvas of a night sky as her voice lifts into song: "Ready, set, go! I'll paint the sky and spread my colors through the moonlight". The moonlit princess leaps into the air, catching sparkles with outstretched hands, the melody awakening the night itself. Landing with a twirl, moonlight trails behind her, and her hands hold her calling card and miniature cane. Elegant strokes write "Princess of Sarek" across the paper, eyes shining with anticipation. Another clap fuses card and cane into a radiant staff, which she extends to full size with a flourish, her smile triumphant. "This heart of mine you'll see it glowing like a spotlight"

As her song continues, she forms a glowing heart with her hands, and silver light bursts skyward, taking the shape of a cat falling into her arms. Its touch transforms her, a golden shine dying her hair, which braids itself as feline ears twitch into place and a ribboned tail unfurls behind her. "I'm leaping through the shadows dancing with my silhouette", she spins with the rhythm, coating herself in a wave of silver light that explodes into her magical garments. Drawing her top hat in the air with threads of moonlight, the cat thief reaches out for it, crowning herself with a wink, concluding her performance with the last note of her song. "Tonight tonight, oh I'll, I'll paint the sky"

"I will be taking this!", the Princess of Sarek shouts, slipping past the rich entrepreneur's guards and leaping to a window with the mask held tightly in her grip.

"The bees! Who brought bees!?" a shout distracts her from the other end of the room, making a frown appear on her face. That wasn't her. Turning around, she notices the dark energy, and the clawed youma accompanying the smaller threats.

"Transient Lunar Flare!", she aims at Pablo, her eyes focused on Corona. "I don't think your way to liven up a party is very appreciated."

Mai Elcamino has posed:
That guy isn't screaming. Why isn't that guy wearing the swords-cape and the weird medieval helmet who looks like he belongs in HR screaming and running OR helping? >:O Corona turns from him to lay her eyes on Glimmer and what Glimmer is doing and-- and Glimmer is Helping she's being a Help and the self-righteous unwashed rabble who always show up to ruin her day is going to need SOMEONE dealing with them, and, and, Corona briefly looks like she might bluescreen at the idea of sitting in something so fantastically tacky as that throne. But-- they're clearly there to mock the partygoers-- her face does some bike tricks as she sorts through her emotions.

The roulette wheel spins and she lands on Pissed Off at Ginga Kingu Samekh. "I created him! BESPOKE YOUMA ONLY. He is my honey boy, my Pablo, and he shall--"

Amy yells at her, and she raises her voice to finish her sentence over Amy yelling, "--teach these pathetic social climbers a lesson they won't soon forget, Veil or not!" And then she turns to GLARE at Amy. "ME AGAIN. As if my Barrier Jacket weren't also Chanel. I would never even dream up costume choices this wretched! Point your blame elsewhere, you filthy demon child. In fact-- Pablo! Dales una leccion que no olvidaran facilmente!" Corona gestures widely, then sulkily plops into the chair next to Glimmer.

Pablo ROARS and a fresh swarm of dark energy bees flies out of his mouth-shape-thing in his head-shape-thing! And then his climbing vine hands start shooting out at Amy and Ginga Kingu, and Sarek flings an attack at Pablo. Mai is on her feet again in an instant, seething, her wings stretched out behind her and backlighting the hateful expression on her face.

"Pelotillero, Apex Round Shield!" she yells, and as a hexy-sigil-rune-lookin' glowy manifestation of Device Magic swirls into place in front of Pablo, Pelotillero cheerily echoes her.

<< ding~! >> << APEX ROUND SHIELD~ >>

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< That's how this works! >> Rashmi chirps cheerfully in response as she banks to keep herself next to Catra's chosen rooftop on the way there. << And oh good you've met her. So You knoOH GOD WHAT THE WHAT. >>

Because Page Mage and the Ember Princess -- *definitely* her next progressive math-punk band name -- swoop onto the scene just in time for a horrible plant youma to open its mouth and SHOOT BEES AT PEOPLE.

If there was ever a moment at which KILL IT WITH FIRE was applicable...

        << *BONG!* >> << TIME-SPACE BARRIER >>

...The first thing you do is keep the Dark Bees and their creator from hurting any more people, of course. *Then* you kill it wit minds of theh fire.

        << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

There's the sound of a tap on a mic, in the assembled mahou. << Comms check, comms check, Page Mage here for all your coordination needs! >>

Her eyes find the pair of thrones... And there's a moment of just *deep disappointment* on her face as she catches Glimmer's eyes, that fades as her gaze moves to Corona. "...Let me guess! You weren't invited?"

Catra has posed:
Catra has no problem parkouring her way up to a rooftop, once she's dropped the $&#@ illusion disguise and can use her claws. And it really doesn't take long to get into range of the

"...Bees?"

The feline perks a brow upwards over her turquise eye, and sighs, letting her shoulders sag for just a moment. << Why bees, >> she complains telepathically.

oh and there's Glimmer. No, this isn't going to be awkward in the slightest. She considers, for just a moment, just... leaving, 'cause that would be considerably easier, except that Rashmi would find it deeply disappointing, but she doesn't care about that, right? She's not supposed to care about that. She doesn't care. Not about that.

She cares about that.

As the barrier goes up, she turns her thoughts to the Spirit Ember, and gathers the flames in her hands before hurling a wave of flame outwards, forwards towards Pablo and the swarms of bees; and it's not really much for intensity, it's unlikely to set anything much really on fire. Unless it's, y'know, small. Like a bee. Then it might be catastrophic.

"Hey, Glimmer," she greets, the same way as she might've greeted Adora this time a year ago. "How'd you -- actually you know what, no, I'm not gonna be like that. How on ETHERIA are we fighting again but I'm the good guy and you're not?!"

Sugata Shindo has posed:
Why isn't that guy screaming? Honestly, it just takes more than bees - even dark energy bees - to get a scream out of Sugata Shindo. He certainly isn't offering the satisfaction of making him scream to these two, particularly with Glimmer, a girl he last saw at a mad house of dancing, creating the most gaudy, ridiculous throne possible without invading a small country over it.

"I have to give you credit for imparting some measure of care for the creatures you send to die."

A beat, and a smirk in Corona's infuriated face.

"Ah, but I don't actually have to give you credit. I'm not actually giving you any." Bees come flying at him for his cheek, as does a shower of vines, and Ginga Kingu Samekh's fist goes to his chest, pulling forth a sword of pure blue-white energy, shining like a captured star, and he launches up into the air, energy bursting from his heels, very much like Shadow the Hedgehog airskating around.

"Star Swordo - Diamante!"

Diamante is put to deft work, slicing at the vines that have gone shooting towards them.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
The comms check gives Tsukiko a clearer point for triangulation, adjusting her route so that she arrives a smidge faster -- not quite fast enough to watch the belching of bees, but in time to launch a counterattack into the middle of the side of Pablo's lashing vines.

"Pretty sure those are an invasive species," the wolfgirl remarks, nodding towards the Dark Bees after leaping back from her flying kick. "The local honeybees have enough problems as it is, thankyouverymuch."

She then eyes Mai. "But then, given their source, I can't say I'm surprised that they don't know how to do 'sweet'," the wolfgirl grins mischevously.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Are you three bee fairies in a trenchcoat?", the Princess of Sarek asks with a small smirk at Corona having made 'her honey boy'. "That's some impressive human costume on your part, you really fit among these guys", she swings her cane in a wide motion, including the whole room. Well, she calls them wretched costume choices, the cat thief thinks to herself, leaping down from the mirror.

Glimmer's throne gets a curious glance from the moonlit princess. How comfortable could they be, really? That's not fabric made for sitting on. "Créeme, esto ya es inolvidable", she turns to Corona, replying to her much in the same way.

<< Hi, Page Mage! I was passing by for some Venetian Unmasking! >> Veronica explains via the comms, raising said mask before slipping it on her face. It actually is fine craftmanship, and what better place to keep it while she deals with this.

Dark energy bees swarm yet again, and at least it's a relief they only have to worry about defending themselves, more than usual. Even if these bees are bigger, they would still be way too easy to miss in the chaos of the room.

"Prismatic Wall!", she invokes, drawing a barrier of moonlight around her, rainbow hues dancing across its surface, and when the bees crash into it, she start using her shield as a ram, speeding up in Pablo's direction.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "...but it can't be, so doesn't that make the barrier jacket you made technically a knock-off?" And then Corona actually calls her a demon and she's all :o in surprise, but it's quickly parsed as a general insult. Less quickly parsed is the rapidfire Spanish. "...Hey! What did you-- did you just call me simple?!"

    what's olvidar, she thinks. Oh, teach them a lesson they won't easily forget?

    But before she can announce figuring this out, Corona calls upon the kudzu that has bees in its mouth and when it barks it shoots bees at you.

    "What the-- Why are there BEES?!" Amy hurls a grenade at the bees that explodes into a small, colorful fireball, and then frantically leaps away from the vines. "Why do people keep using grabby vine monsters?!" She conjures her rocket launcher, but wait, shit... "Rashmi! Someone! Barri--"

    Oh nice, she's already on it. Amy fires a high-explosive shell at one of the vines but... blowing up one vine isn't really helpful, here...

    And at Rashmi's identification Amy looks :o at her friend, now. "Ohmigosh, is that really it? Who'd even want to come to whatever this is, though?!"

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon blinked a few times as... huh. Everything was gone now. Welp... That was... interesting. She glanced towards the little duo and... "You all know me, but... allow me to re-introduce myself. Queen Glimmer. Wings of Tenacity and Stubborness." What? She liked the way Michel's team did things. They had a nice naming convention. She then snorted.

"Oh, come on."

"Why would she want to come somewhere like this place? Have you *seen* how these people dress? You couldn't even dance. Give my colleague more credit than that. *She* at least knows how to wear an outfit."

She glanced towards Catra and... "Hey, Catra. Ehhhhhh, you know. Reasons," Glimmer said with a shrug. "I just look really good in dark red, what can I say?"

She then hummed... Tapping her staff on the ground before... "Ah ah ah ahhhhhh~" she hummed, and an orange and pink glow would envelop the monster, before it would have a momentary burst of power. Nothing massive, but enough to allow its next blast to be quite powerful.

Mai Elcamino has posed:
Corona feels extremely uncomfortably Seen and it sends her directly into a rage. "APEX MANICURE!" she yells, her right hand lifted and fingers bent like claws, and then growing energy claws out of them in their gem-backed opera gloves--

<< ding~! >> << APEX MANICURE~ >>

--and she's about to lunge for Rashmi's face when she realizes her bees and Pablo aren't getting any more energy gathered with the barrier up. And that's literally all she's supposed to get tonight, the satisfaction of watching morons who excluded HER of all people run screaming while looking stupid is technically just a major bonus.

She shoots up higher into the air again, sneering at Rashmi. "Marginal!" mar-hee-NAL, "estos idiotas sin clase-- I would rather die than be demoted to their peer. What are they WEARING?" she asks despairingly.

Meanwhile, bees are dying in droves, in spades, in hives, of fire and grenades and trying to sting Samekh, but the hand with the Apex Manicure is still held out palm up, claws extended and fingers bent, and a ball of beautiful glowing human energy is forming from the wisps of energy that come out of the bees that had managed to sting people and drain energy. "Queen Glimmer," she says, "let's... let's leave poor Pablo to his fate..." She looks so tragic. SO TRAGIC. And then she looks abruptly annoyed and simply makes an obscene gesture at Sugata. "It is funny to me that one of you would attend a function like this," she says, rolling her eyes even as Pablo's vines keep getting cut off. He keeps shooting out new ones, and more bees, and honestly there are so many bees you guys, Pablo is like BLEEEAUGHRRGHBL and bees shoot out again.

Mai's free hand's wrist's back comes up to cover her mouth as she literally ojo-laughs.

Veronica slams into Pablo-- or rather, her shield slams into the shield that Mai threw in front of Pablo-- and the shields clank against each other with magic sparks of silver-and-rainbow versus purple-and-white. The bees can't get in, and the vines can't get in either, but the vines can, and do, wrap around Sarek's shield and yank her in front of Star Swordo Diamante.

Mai goes from ohohohohoho to >:O in a heartbeat in Ikiko's direction, though. "Dirty dog child, eurgh!" she cringes back. And then Amy's yelling again and Corona turns on a dime again, snarling at the red-haired American. "Of course you're simple! You think bees can be solved with grenades!"

With Glimmer's extra burst of power, Pablo grows like Jack's beanstalk, getting wider and thicker and taller until he's the size of an oak and walking like an Ent, wading through the floor and leaving massive destruction in his wake as he slams tendril vine hands around. One at Catra. One at Rashmi.

Pablo is definitely moving slower the bigger he gets, though.

She's honestly less mad than she could be because mermaid dress lady got energy drained and had a bad time, but Glimmer and Amy and Rashmi are not goddamn making that easy.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Well I mean, yeah?" Rashmi cannot *help* but answer, because she's a rotten liar anyway and there's just no point in lying to your friends. She opens her mouth to say more--

<< APEX MANICURE >>

--and closes her mouth with an audible click, for a beat having the :I face of pure, untrammelled innocence. Because after all, being honest doesn't mean you have to be *mean* about it.

Oh good the bee-vomiting kudzu is getting even bigger, and vomit-bee-ier! The perfect distraction!

    << SOLAR BARRET -- BLAZE SHIFT >>

A dozen Barrets materialize around Rashmi, then *light on fire* and dart down, juking and dodging away from oncoming bees, to target Pablo's horrible, bee-filled maw.

"Don't listen to her, Red-chan!" she calls out. "Clearly she's never heard of bug bombs!"

<< Hey so I've heard you can't get rid of weeds without destroying the roots! Anyone want to put that into practice while the rest of us play bug-zapper? >>

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
"Would a flamethrower be better?" Tsukiko asks Mai sweetly, grinning at Amy. The wolfgirl knows the Puella has ample area attack options, and while magic does make it easier for detonators to go off on otherwise hard-to-contact targets... well, why not go for the straightforward approach?

<< On it! >> Tsukiko replies to Rashmi, darting forward to take full advantage of Pablo's diminishing mobility to unleash a skirmisher's barrage of kicks and strikes, always staying a step or two ahead of his massive vine slams. << Just don't expect me to chew on him if I don't have to... >> she adds.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Samekh is AIR-SKATING. "THAT'S SO COOL!" Amy calls out.

    Glimmer looks good in dark red. "It is a good color..."

    Corona gets out the claws, and Amy does sort of... lean away from her warily.

    What are they WEARING? "That's fair." Amy has to admit.

    Now that the barrier is up, she can use her weapons more freely! She fires a couple of incendiary shells at Pablo when it's not attacking her, "A lot' of things can be solved with grenades, actuaAGH WHY?!"

    There are so many bees

    She has a cloak, at least, and starts frantically swinging it around and hunching over trying not to get stung. She might even keep most of them off her! "GAH! OW!"

Catra has posed:
"Well whatever your reasons are they are BAD REASONS!" Catra throws her arms up in the air as she snaps, and inwardly, takes note of how weird this feels. Since when was she the one lecturing Glimmer about what was good and bad? Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Not that she ever listened, but then why would she, she was the BAD GU--

oh so this is what that feels like.

"Also your throne is kinda tacky, you can do better," she points out. "Like, I'm not saying that to be rude, but as a friend, y'know? If your friends won't tell you your throne is overdoing it then who will, right?"

Catra splits off her illusory doubles, and sends them to take up positions where they can charge up twin beams of flame -- one blue and one bright yellow -- and fire them into the spot where Pablo is sitting.

<< Actually I think I can do both, and-- AUGH >>

Catra leaps out of the way of a giant vine hand, managing to make her escape just in time. And she could absolutely sever that hand; Powersend is hanging off her belt. Right there. Right within reach.

No. She's trying to prove to herself she doesn't need it. She beat Shadow Weaver without it, afterall, right? Right then.

"Hey, Ugly Skirt Girl who talks like a wannabe artist who can't draw! You brought a potted plant to a fire fight? Y'know that in rock-paper-scissors, FIRE BEATS PLANT, right?!"

Catra acks! and dodges again, as the fist shakes the ground where she was standing a half-second previously; and again, she resists drawing Powersend.

But she does focus her thoughts into the flames, conjuring them in her hands and solidifying them into a brilliant blade of pure flame.

(Or, maybe it's more like a club, she needs more practice at this.)

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Ugh!", Veronica laments, when she is grabbed and dragged by Pablo's vines right in front of Star Sword Diamond. Her eyes widen when she sees the blade coming at her, and with the vines grasping her, she really only has one way out of this predicament. <<Don't stop!>> she urges the Driver of Samekh, and for a brief moment her whole body shimmers like ripples of water breaking up the moonlight, and then she is gone from everyone's sight, immaterial and allowing his attack to go through her.

"Thank you for your assistance, I hope you enjoyed the magic trick", she smiles once she reappears again, having walked a few steps to the left of Samekh, giving a small bow to Pablo. "But the party can't go on too long, now, can it?", she expresses clearly, and the ruby ring on her finger starts glowing red.

"Seven-Hued Flames!", she shouts and a white-silver beam comes out of the pointy end of her cane, crimson sparkles brightening across its length. Before it reaches the youma, the beam splits slightly, and turns into flames coloured like the rainbow, roaring towards the plant youma.

Amy asking who would attend events like this brings back to Veronica's mind a recalling of her parents' mail. "Be glad you have never met my parents", she tells the redhead. "They would be at events like these, like bears on honey. And their fashion choices make a lot of the people here seem sensible." Good thing she didn't inherit it from them, despite all the sewing lessons they made her take. Or perhaps it's exactly because she had living examples in her home that she formed her own sense of style.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Glimmer Brightmoon blinked a few times before getting to her feet once more and then taking Mai's hand. "Do you know what Queen's do?" she asked. She pulled the other girl in, her staff disappearing. "We don't wear stupid dresses like that, because on Etheria? We dance," she said, a hand moving to her shoulder, giving the other girl a little spin, before teleporting to the other side, to catch her hand, dip her and... "And trust me. You look *way* better than any of them. Next time? I'll bring you to a real party. It'll be fun. And oh, Catra, I know. It was supposed to be terrible. Byyyye Catra. See you all later," Glimmer said with a wink. "Oh, one last thing." Her wings enveloped them... And they'd disappear...

But when they were gone, one last little bye bye bye. Pink spikes would launch at ALL of them...

All except Catra. If they hit? They wouldn't leave physical wounds. But they'd pierce, and it would feel like... something... just ripped through their very soul for a moment... and their voices would be gone. Just for a second.

Not enough to truly wound or maim them. But definitely something new and vicious... that she definitely had NOT done before... On the upside... at least the pair would be gone... Just... a big youma... oh boy.

Sugata Shindo has posed:
The bees are trying to sting Sugata, but the truth is, in his Ginga Kingu armor he really did show up to this party in full power just to make fun of Samekh and now he's not being stung.

He is, however, not immune to have an ally thrown into his path, and with the Princess of Sarek in his path -

Don't stop!

Ginga Kingu Samekh's eyes widen behind his armored helm, but who is he to question his ally? He drives the shining sword of Diamante through her and into the enemy monster, which had so deftly grabbed Sarek.

She shimmers into light, ephemereal, vanishing, and Ginga Kingu Samekh is beset upon by bees, which, seriously, and he glances around and decides that actually King's Pillar is really inappropriate here. See that? Growth.

<<Thanks,>> he uses telepathy to communicate to Amy, before hurtling his sword up and down to spear Pablo.

"Star Crash!"

Mai Elcamino has posed:
Yeah Rashmi is SO LUCKY Mai got distracted out of her rage by practicality-- the claws retract as Corona's hand closes around the ball of glowing energy, which vanishes. Her sneer at Rashmi is a cold thing that promises payback later, and her shoulders are locked up under their shoulderpads, but then the warm weight of Glimmer's hand is making physical contact with Mai and it's okay she's a queen Mai relaxes slightly, a little confused, but only paying attention to Glimmer anymore.

Everyone can hear as Corona asks Glimmer uncertainly, "Are you asking me out...?"

Then they're gone, and one would THINK--

But no, Pablo's still around. There are a lot fewer bees now, though, and he finally stops belching them out when he eats flaming solar barrets and they take off the top of his head.

Now he's mostly headless, but it doesn't seem to bother him that much; he really is just turning into an extremely violent half-mobile tree growing out of the floor of the Hotel Augusta's ballroom. And then there's a SWORD through him after Veronica's cut free, and a groaning sound like an endlessly echoing creak of a large old tree in a hurricane emits from him and he stops in his tracks, reaching up his viney kudzu arms to try and tug the sword out of its 'chest', which leaves him even more subject to Tsukiko's kicks and hits, slowing him down further.

Poor Amy, without the energy draining aspect the bees are just insulting.

Also, the dark energy kudzu tree monster is, in fact, slowly growing more and more on fire as Catra fires flame beams at him and manifests a fire club, and as the flames from the solar barrets continue to burn, and then Veronica flame-throwers also, and--

--honestly they could just let Pablo die, or they could put him out of his misery faster.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
...Rashmi has dealt with a lot of Dark Energy folks. Some of them targeted her specifically, whether out of fury at being thwarted -- ruining the ugly car owned by one of the Witches 5 was a nice memory -- or simple tactics. Some hated the *entire world,* and wanted her to die just because she happened to stand against them. But not until now, has Rashmi ever felt hatred *this cold* and *this specific,* even out of Seriss.

*Just as troubling,* however, are the pink spikes heading her way... And Rashmi, still being under the illusion that not only is Glimmer less suited to villainy than Catra, but would probably be fake-attacking as some kind of cover... really doesn't pay *enough* attention to the spikes, and when *three* of them hit...

...Rashmi blanks for a second, as *nerve-pain coming from the soul* is a wonderful way to just shut the world off for a few seconds.

When she comes back to herself, the pair are leaving, and Rashmi absently rubs at her side, still feeling the memory of those silver splinters. << ...I think she does not like me, >> she muses distractedly into the link, then squares her shoulders. World has been altered, but that can be unpacked later. Right now there's a job to finish. << Ho-kay, let's bring it on home! >>

        << *BONG!* >> << PENTA BLAZE -- BOOST UP >>

One after another, brightly burning wisps of golden foxfire appear around her, streaking out to her friends and allies, setting their mana ablaze.

Catra has posed:
Oh. So that's what that feels like.

Not the boost to her fire-damage, Catra's felt that from Rashmi before, but the whole bit about being on the right side of a fight and winning it. That's kinda neat. And, really, not that she hasn't felt that before either, but it's the first time that... Glimmer was on the other side and that's...

It's nice but it's weird in a sort of not-nice way.

Could this planet please make sense at some point? Once again, not for the first time, Catra misses Etheria and the Horde -- not that she particularly wants to go back, but everything was so much simpler. And that was nice.

Stop thinking and fight. Catra shakes herself out of her reverie as flame crackle across her form; the sword-club in her hands ignites like it's something molten, as she leaps into the thick of the thicket named Pablo, hacking with a fierce scream at everything that gets in her way. There's nothing particularly refined about it, it's just a cat and her fire-weapon-of-sorts going absolutely overboard and slashing and burning everything that comes in front of her.

By the time she's finished, she stands there panting, and looks up at everyone else.

<< I wouldn't worry too hard on it Rashmi. Last time she spent the whole fight telling me how much of a traitor I am, this time I expected the same but she forgot all about it. Probably has the attention span of a small goldfish. She'll probably be on to something else in like ten minutes. >>

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
Tsukiko yelps at the spike surprise, ducking behind Pablo for a bit of two-for-one cover -- hard for a spike to reach her without having to hit Pablo first! Her eyebrows perk up when Mai asks about Glimmer's meaning, but the lack of answer that could be heard here is met with a shrug (and a mental note to be careful about attacking either of the two when the other is around, in case they are a couple now).

Still, there's a few things left to deal with: a big, burning tree-ish youma that needs to be put out of its misery, a sizable amount of velocity built up, an incendiary boost at her disposal...

    ...and some stray dogs back in an alleyway that are waiting for the rest of their dinner for the night.

The wolfgirl does a few juking moves, getting a feel for the nature of the boost and gauging direction and distance. With a heading locked in, Tsukiko does one final pivot, pumping the Penta Blaze into her Silver Wolf Tackle as a speed enchancer -- albeit one with a more spectacular visual!

There's a silvery bolt visible in the ballroom, looking not unlike a fuse as flames chase along the length of it. << Okay, made it safely back to the strays I was tending to! >> the rocket-propelled werewolf comments on the comms net after a moment, skidmarks on the pavement where she had decelerated with her feet like a cartoon character. << Thanks for the boost! >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    They would be at events like these, like bears on honey. "Why?!" Amy shouts, but that might be about the bees.

    She's a bit too distracted to concept on the villains possibly asking eachother out, and so busy flailing at bees she doesn't see the spike until too late, a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye and then she's screaming, silently.

    She can only liken it to one prior experience in her life--

    Your wish has prevailed against entropy. So, go now... unleash your new power!

    --and she tries to call for help and there's nothing, and she clutches at her throat and tries again and nothing, and she cries out:

    "HELP I CAN'T SPEAK! ...oh it's gone. What the..."

    Well, there's still a job to do, and Rashmi's magic is flowing through her -- so she conjures a liquid fuel canister with a hole in it and tosses it at the base of the tree, and lets magic physics and Rashmi's burning magic proceed naturally.

    Once that's dealt with, she pats herself down, looking for a wound from the pink spike among the beestings and finding nothing. "What was that...? It felt like it was tearing at my soul... " She rubs a hand over her throat.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Throwing rainbow flames at Pablo, she doesn't notice the pink spike coming at her, and there is a startled gasp when she is pierced- or there would be, but no sound is heard, despite her breath escaping and her recoiling. She puts a hand to her throat, intonating a few notes, and is both startled and relieved when she hears the improvised melody hang in the air.

That was weird.

Rashmi's foxfire boost brings her attention back to Pablo, who really does look pitiful consumed by all those flames. 'Let's end this', she tells herself, and taps the ground with her cane, illusionary waters hiding away the floor from everyone's sight.

Her hat fades away, and but a moment later, there is a rumble, piercing through the air, heralding a gigantic version of her hat sweeping through Pablo, glowing brighter and brighter with Rashmi's foxfire, and parts of the plant youma would disappear, taken away by the hat, and purification would strike the youma, rendered much more effective by Page Mage's spell. "Moonlight Masquerade!", the cat thief declares with a swish of her tail and a flourish of her arm, putting her hat back where it should be, now normal again.

Mai Elcamino has posed:
    Pablo dies amazingly as everyone's finishers hit! Pose tbd bc GM z

Rashmi Terios has posed:
As the oversized youma crumbles to nothingness, Rashmi hovers in place, staring down at the spot that Pablo once occupied. << I don't know, >> she says faintly in answer to Amy. << I wouldn't've thought Glimmer-san *capable* of something... like that. >>

Shaking her head, she makes an effort to put the smile back in her 'voice' as Ikiko reports in. << Good to hear! >> she replies. << And good work everyone! Wish we could've gotten here sooner, but we do what we can. So if anyone's hungry after all that, who's up for post-fite snacks? >>

Look Devicers literally fly on their stomachs. It's a known thing.

Ikiko Hisakata has posed:
<< I could use a bite to eat, >> Ikiko admits as she drops out of henshin to pet the strays, who were glad to see her return. "Told you I'd be back," she smiles to them before returning her attention to the comms. << I'm over at... >>

Catra has posed:
<< Rashmi, we literally just ate, >> Catra points out.

But, yeah, Devicers do fly on their stomachs; Catra knows that much about them, so they're basically like teenagers dialed up to eleven.

So not that much different from a cat, really.

<< Actually, count me in for snacks. As long as we go someplace with fish. >>

On the subject of Glimmer, the feline just looks... dour. She thrusts her hands in her pockets (her Henshin Tuxedo has those, real ones even), and purses her lips. Glimmer didn't target her, which was nice. But that was where the 'nice' part ends.

Honestly, Catra didn't know she was capable of that either.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"It's because all this ostentatious fare and mingling with their shared connection is a very enticing prospect to them", Veronica explained to Amy. "They urged me to go too, but as far as they know, I was unable to."

<< If Glimmer and her are going to be happy with each other, all the better for them, >> the Princess of Sarek comments, looking away from the disappearing youma. A bit curious that Corona seems to give them proper names... What are they to her exactly?

<< I think that sounds great >>, the moonlit princess joins in, taking off her jeweled mask. << I do have to give this back to the real owner, but besides that, I am free. >>