Scene #2957:

Owner	Pose
Molly Skyline	Today was a... day. Yeah, that's about the size of it. It's not that anything was bad, per se. Nobody bothere Molly at school. Her grades are doing quite well, with all that extra studying she's been doing absolutely religiously. She's slowly getting used to her new prosthetic that she's now had for less than a week -- she'd scoffed earlier at people who've complained that prosthetic arms are too heavy, but now she and her sore shoulder understand -- but even with frustrations, it's a relief beyond words to have two arms again. Well, more or less. But she's been feeling melancholy and that's undeniable as much as she tries to hide it. So, after texting Rashmi to ask to meet up after school at a location of Rashmi's choosing, she's here at the Midoi-Ya Cafe, having arrived first. And even though she's only been here for two minutes, after checking in with the staff to let them know she's waiting for someone she's at a table with her backpack between her feet and her nose burried in a biology textbook. Mitochondria. Mitochondria make no fricken sense.
Rashmi Terios	To be fair, it's kind of a relief that Molly came to Rashmi to get together. After the insanity of the Nightmare, Rashmi would have worried if she needed to bug Molly too. Even better, Rashmi gets to pick the venue, which means she can treat her friend to something nice to keep the day at least a bit bouyant. Which is why when she steps into the cafe, the first thing she does is find Molly and give her a cheerful wave. "Heeeey, Molly-chan~!" she chirps, trotting to the table to plop down for the moment. "So d'we want to get our stuff now? My treat, by the way."
Molly Skyline	Molly's head snaps up from the book, and no amount of melancholy will stop her from flashing a smile as Rashmi enters, and she throws up her right hand to wave back, "Hey, Rashmi-chan!" she answers, before dipping her head to finish that sentence about mitochonwhatever so she can slam the book shut again. Seriously do not understand those things. Molly's foot rises to kick the chair opposite her backwards, just in time for it to be convenient for Rashmi. "Yeah, that'd be-- oh!! Well, thank you!" The purplenette bobs her head, "Yeah, I think getting it first would be good so we can, uhm... y'know. Eat it. Thought this through, I have." Molly glances upwards towards the service counter, and mmmms, "I'm not sure I have the right type of brainpower for deciding what to have though, I'd... Honestly I love deserts and I'm overwhelmed with things." She shrugs, "Mind if I ask for a surprise?"
Rashmi Terios	"Not at all," Rashmi chuckles, scooting out of the booth. "I'll be right back, then." A few minutes later, she's back at the table, a cup in each hand and a plate balanced on each arm, all set down with the unconscious ease of someone who learned the trick before leaving middle school. For herself, it's a slice of castella cake with whipped cream both between the layers and artfully decorating the top, and little cubes of melon jelly mixed throughout the cream and a dark, toasty-smelling green tea. For Molly, it's a wildly bright-green piece of tiramisu; apparently not only have the ladyfingers been soaked in matcha tea, rather than coffee, but matcha powder covers the top of the cheesy-creamy mascarpone. And, of course, a steaming cup of matcha tea, to go with. "I figured," Rashmi says, sliding back into her seat, "that we'd probably be talking about heavy stuff. So to balance that out, as much of your favorite tea as possible."
Molly Skyline	Molly's eyes go wide as not only is a cup of Matcha Tea set down before her, but a Matcha Tiramisu is provided to go with it. Which, if we're honest, is beyond amazing. "''Thank you''." She raises the tea for a sip, and mms, closing her eyes for a second. "Ordinarily one might say this is overdoing it, but today this is ''perfect'', so thank you very much Rashmi-chan." For the next moment, the purplenette enjoys a little of the tiramisu, followed by a little more. And, as Rashmi would well know, in spite of her normally voracious appetite she's the sort of dessert-eater to make it last as long as possible so she can enjoy the flavor. "So..." She purses her lips, speaking up after the second tasting. "The... the dream." The second time that Molly's been significantly trapped in a dream, actually. "I uhh... I mean... how do you feel, about it?"
Rashmi Terios	Molly's attention on her dessert is understood, agreed with, and well appreciated, as it allows her to spend a moment to appreciate her own subtly-sweet cloud of melon-enhanced fluffiness. But then she asks the question, and while it definitely doesn't kill the mood -- she was expecting it, after all -- it does cause her to immediately put her fork down, and wrap her hands around her mug. "I was never actually afraid to go to sleep before," she begins. "I am now... Sometimes Nicomachea has to help, because my tricks to get me sleepy aren't always working." With her admission out of the way first, the redhead shrugs one shoulder. "...I think what upsets me most is, how easy it was for me to get taken in, y'know? I thought..." Rashmi trails off, shaking her head. "...I thought I was better at noticing things than that," she finishes eventually. "But I was gonna ask... How are you doing?"
Molly Skyline	Molly eats a little more tiramisu while she listens to Rashmi's answer, and gives her a pained if sympathetic look. "Yeah, I understand that," she agrees. "I... I mean it wasn't all that long ago I was trapped in a dream by Seriss, about my own future on a repeat loop, and I don't really remember it much but, I kinda remember enough to know that things weren't expected to go... entirely well. But hey, if we fix the Fade, maybe... who knows. Maybe that'll change." The purplenette shrugs her shoulders, shifting her hands to cup her tea like Rashmi is -- not like she can feel the warmth through her prosthetic hand, but it's good to have two hands again anyway. "I'm glad you have Nicomachea to help. I love Starcrash but he doesn't really do subtle, he tried to help me get to sleep once by playing the Titan AE soundtrack at full volume, which... I love that movie and that soundtrack but you can't ''sleep'' to it. But! If you ever wanna talk I do not mind being woken up with a phonecall." Of course, Molly can only stall for so long, and she fidgets visibly as she forms the words in her brain to answer that question. How ''are'' you doing, Molly? "So being trapped in a dream was nothing new, it's just... I mean... everyone else's dream was supposed to be a happy version of their life with no magic, right? So how come mine was so... so ''hard''? Like, everything got worse instead of better, and everything, and I mean ''everything'', was some kinda struggle. So I guess I'm just wondering, like," she trails off for a moment, fumbling for words. "So what does that say about ''me''?"
Rashmi Terios	That's a really, really good question, and Rashmi sips her tea slowly, thinking about it. Even if Rashmi were inclined toward shallow, facile answers, this is extra not the time. "I mean... I can only really guess," she begins slowly. "Because I don't know Bliss-chan, and... if I'm being honest I'm pretty happy to keep it that way. But I guess... if we were supposed to never have even known about the concept of magic, then... there's a lot that had to be, like... edited, to make that even possible for 'English girl missing an arm going to school in Japan,' if that makes sense? It... really seemed like she was leaning on that other guy to keep us from thinking too hard."
Molly Skyline	Molly mulls over the answer, and while she's mulling it she sips her tea, and has a little more tiramisu. It ''is'' delicious, afterall. Matcha is one of the greatest boons that the gods ever gave to teenage girls, truely, and now is a fitting moment for lots and lots of it. Matcha from heaven. "I was thinking about that," she begins, speaking with an air of trepidition. "And, I'm not sure... if I'm entirely satisfied with that, y'know? Does that make sense? It's like, I feel like sure, English girl missing an arm going t oschool in Japan is a tough set of plot points to reconcile but here I am and it really happened, but like, did I ''need'' magic to meet my Moms? Do I ''need'' magic to dream about being a world-class racecar driver? Do I ''need'' magic to hope for better prosthetics someday? Or like..." She waves her right hand in the air. "I dunno, it just... am I only ''really'' happy when I'm fighting some kind of uphill battle that I may or may not be able to win?"
Rashmi Terios	"Okay but Molly-chan," Rashmi points out, "this isn't about you, specifically, it's about what Bliss-chan thought was you. And I mean... She really seems to be so shallow that all that mattered was you smiling through the pain. So... I don't think it says anything about you. Seriss wanted to torture you, Bliss-chan wanted to sucker you, and none of them really cared what you wanted. So of course they didn't give it to you, y'know?" Tapping the back end of her fork on the table, she looks up, tilting her head. "So what do you want, Molly-chan? Start from there."
Molly Skyline	Molly leans back in her seat, twiddling with her fork while letting tiramisu flavor rest on her tongue. And she eventually swallows, of course, and... Yeah that really is the question isn't it? "I dunno," she replies, shrugging her shoulders. "I could spit out the obvious answer, y'know, I want to ''race'', and that'd be true, but that's not like... an entire life, right? Just like if someone decides to be a used car salesman or a dental hygenist or like, I dunno, collect stamps or something, that's not their whole ''lfie''. It's just a thing that they do. I ''want'' racing to be a thing that I do, but like... it's not everything." Molly looks down at her mismatched hands. "I'd... really like to do some work to help other people get prosthetics," she murmurs. "The way they do things now, it's... I can't understand ''why'' it is the way that it is, like you have to demonstrate you need a prosthetic and like, WHY? I need it because a year ago I had two hands and I'd like to still have two for the rest of my life, why isn't that justification enough? And... I want to go to university to learn engineering. And..." She sucks in a breath, and lets it out in a long sigh. "Somehow or other in the middle of all that I want to be ''happy''."
Rashmi Terios	"So go for it," Rashmi says gently. "All of it. As much of it as you can manage. Because if you're doing the things you want to do, even when things are awful, it's still a better life than if you don't." Settling back, she sips her tea again, taking the time to weigh her words. "And I think... maybe that's why you're having such trouble fighting, Molly-chan. Because... I mean it's me, be honest; when there's a youma or a Corona or something... you're not there because you want to stop it, are you? Maybe more like... you feel like you have to?"
Molly Skyline	Molly can't help it; she plops the fork down, plants her elbow, and rests her head against her right hand. That one needs a moment or two of thinking time. "I don't... think that's it," she murmurs. "Or, I don't know, maybe it is. Maybe it is and that's just a hard pill to swallow, or else an observation I just can't make on myself. But I mean, I don't want to ''stop'' being a Mahou, there's... I mean yeah sure it's full of danger and it can be pretty stressful and like, protecting the ''world'' is a big weight to carry around, but there's really cool stuff too, right? Like we can fly. And we can bump dimensions sideways so it's okay when we accidentally blow a hole in a building." Molly adopts one of those 'I be thinking' expressions, and shrugs her shoulders. "But... I'm afraid," she murmurs. "When we fight, like... I never used to be. I knew I was gonna get hurt and I pretty much accpted that getting smashed through concrete walls and waking up the next morning feeling like I got into a heated argument with a steamroller were just part of it and that was okay but like, then there was that day on the beach, and... and..." She sighs, "And Seriss for ten months and now I get into fights and I'm just... ''scared''." The purplenette sits up, and has a bite from her cake. "Maybe that's why I picked a fight with those bullies. I knew I'd lose. I knew they'd beat me up. But that'd be it and maybe I just wanted a fight where I didn't feel like dieing -- again -- was going to be on the table."
Rashmi Terios	Rashmi can't help it; when Molly just out and ut says what is on its face a fairly bleak explanation, the wince that crosses her face is of the sort reserved for slow-motion car wrecks. The problem is, even if it's not completely true -- and Rashmi has no way of knowing if it is -- it's definitely Molly's perceived truth. And it's a painful one. "So... I get that," she says, peeling off a sliver of cake and letting it melt in her mouth. "Like... I've felt that way too. So... I can't really tell you the fear goes away, just..." Sighing, she sets her fork aside and leans over the table. "If you're anything like me," she says quietly, "then here's how it's going to happen. You're gonna keep being afraid. You're gonna second-guess everything because you don't know if it's the right thing to do. You're gonna get so scared you freeze. That's when fear's just a wall, keeping you from doing anything. But then... something's gonna happen. You're gonna find something else that scares you even more than dying. That's when you break through the wall, because that new thing? That's something you can fight." Not... generally encouraging words, this... but something in Rashmi's eyes says that she's not spouting advice, or platitudes, but obliquely hinting at a very real event for her.
Molly Skyline	"I could just... pack it in." Molly shrugs her shoulders. "Give up. Return to the ordinary life. Which would be easier, except I think Starcrash picked me at least partly 'cause he knows I'd never do that. I ''can't.'' Giving up or backing down just isn't in my nature, even when I obviously ''should'', so... Up to the jury if that's a strength or a major character flaw." The purplenette shovels in the biggest single piece of tiramisu that she's eaten yet. This is the moment that deserves it. "I think 'fear' isn't quite the right word so much as 'terror'," she admits at last. "And like, the first fight I was in after you all got Seriss outta me was... on the same beach, and that wasn't super fantastic but that was how it was. And like... I don't think it's just my own fear of getting hurt, but that's a big part of it, but like... what if something awful happens to ''you''? Or one of my other friends? And I didn't stop it?" Molly pokes at her face a couple of times with her prosthetic, and it takes her three tries to pluck her glasses off her nose so she can rub her eyes with her right hand, one after the other. "Am I worrying too much?"
Rashmi Terios	"I mean, you could," Rashmi answers, echoing the shrug. "I wouldn't be upset by that... I can't, since I spent kind of a lot of time telling Usa-chan she could retire. But you're right... It's not in you, either." Listening to Molly clarify what it is that really terrifies her, she rests her elbows ont he table, tilting her head. "So... here's a question. You get shaky cos you're worried about something bad happening to us? Well... You know how it works; we all do our best, and we all cover each other's backs. Maybe it doesn't completely work every time, we still get a little beat up, but... You trust me, right? To not go too far, to look out for myself too? You trust me to do that, right? So then... do you trust me more than you fear for me?"
Molly Skyline	"I..." Molly starts to answer, and stalls out after the first word -- the first letter. "I ''do'' trust you," she says at last, with her fork hovering near the tiramisu like it has suddenly become forbidden fruit, something she doesn't quite deserve in this moment. "I do. I ''do''. Actually, I admire you in battle, you always have a strategy and you're the best I know of at looking after everyone around you. I, but, maybe, I'm not sure I trust myself? Does that... make sense?" She sighs softly, and glances down. "I remember you telling me, before that day on the beach, to take better care of myself in fights. And I ''am'' reckless sometimes, I don't always respect my own weaknesses, I'm in such a hurry to put myself between danger and other people that I forget that I'm supposed to be an ''artillery mage'', right? And like, I was trying. I ''honestly'' was trying. I still am trying to do my best in fights to think about my own safety, too, but..." Molly puts the fork down on the side of the plate, "But on the beach, we all went into the portal because we had to, there were people to save. And then you were getting someone out, and Chrono was hurt, and I was trying to buy you all time and I got stuck, and I didn't... I thought that... I was afraid that you were all going to ''die'' if the horde got out and I was hurt so badly I was crippled and I didn't want you all getting killed coming in to save me and..." Molly lets her breath out and looks down at the edge of the table. "And I feel like what I did was a betrayal of ''your'' trust."
Rashmi Terios	"Oh, Molly-chan," Rashmi whispers, and reaches across the table to put her hands on the purplenette's. "No, it wasn't. Not at all. Yeah losing you was the worst day of my life and it broke me for longer than I'd really like to admit, but... No one thought that what you did, that day? Was anything other than making the kind of choice that proves why you're a magical girl. When the choice was you, or people who couldn't protect themselves... You chose them. You made that call, Molly-chan, and the only reason I ever harp about your safety is, I just don't want you to have to make it again, y'know?" Squeezing Molly's hands, she dips her head to try and meet her friend's eyes, chin wibbling just a bit. "I've never been anything but proud to have you as a friend, Molly-chan. Trust that."
Molly Skyline	"Believe me," Molly mumbles, "I don't want to have to make it again, either." She sighs, "But, maybe what scares me the most is, I think... I think I ''would'', if I had to. I don't remember much from the dreams Seriss trapped me in, but I do remember... I remember crashing. I dreamt that before Seriss happened, too. And I'm fairly sure I was swerving to avoid someone. So I'm scared of that. And," she drops her voice to a whisper, finally looking up to meet Rashmi's eyes, "I guess I'm really scared of losing ''my other arm.'' But, slowly, the rest of Rashmi's words sink in; the tiramisu is no longer forbidden fruit, and she eats a little more of what's left. The simple joy of a sweet dessert helps to melt all of the difficult feelings. "Thanks," she murmurs. "I know I'm not always the easiest person to be friends with. Thank ''you'' for being the best friend I could hope for."
Rashmi Terios	"It's easy," Rashmi says quietly. "You're my best friend too, remember. And that's just what friends do, y'know?" With a final pat, she leans back in her chair, applying herself to finishing her own cake. "And yeah... I'm scared of all that too. I'm just glad that I know what to do with that scared, for myself. And that's, just... look out for you, as best I can, and hope that's enough." But is it, really? Could she do more? Maybe... but a lot of that 'more' butts up against her Number One Rule fo Problem-Solving: If it sounds like an idea Riventon would have, it's a bad idea.
Molly Skyline	"That means a lot to me," Molly replies. The last of the tiramisu is eaten. The tea, sipped. The amount of matcha that has been eaten has really helped, too. "Anyway, it's not all bad, right? I mean, I have my new arm now, and it's not... It'll never replace my real arm, but it's a damn fine improvement over not having one, I just gotta learn how to do things different. And Starcrash can help too, when I'm in my barrier jacket. So there's that." The purplenette looks up again, and her eyes are big and serious. "Thank you for looking out for me," she adds. "I'll always be looking out for you, too. I know you feel responsible for all of us, but it doesn't all have to be on your shoulders."
Rashmi Terios	Rashmi nods along with the litany of small favors, glad that even if they can't overpower the fears and issues that creep up in Molly's mind... at least she sees them for what they are. "Oh," she chuckles, sipping the last of her tea. "That I know. Because I don't think I'm responsible for everyone, I just... Want to help my friends be the best they can. And I trust you, all of you, to have my back." And that's really what she means, isn't it? She trusts her friends more than she fears for herself, and that's a source of strength.