World Tree MUSH

    It's a nice Halloween party! Halloween means different things in different worlds, of course... and some places don't celebrate it, or are time offset. Doesn't matter! Right now, here in the Blue Sky world, it's that time of year! And an odd trio of fox-eared guys have set up on a floating island. Floating islands seem to be the major inhabited landmasses in this world, and there's a Vine on this one that they threw a bunch of invitations into. Not to mention, of course, that for some reason, Vines had been randomly spitting out some people here despite the lack of any sort of crisis.

    Into this place, it will be discovered that there's a large hall that's been rented out for the night, and a band playing. The band is an eclectic collection of strange creatures, who don't even look native to this world. A glittering globe in the ceiling puts out different lightings, like a less obnoxious disco ball, and already the party is in full swing with a number of people dancing and carrying on, and others sitting more quietly by and chatting, often with drinks in hand. The music and technology is all anachronistic, with modern speaker systems and the like mingling with a very fantasy-style bar in the back.

    One of the three lounging fox-eared men is hoist up by the two others, waving his arms. "HEEEY! It's a world-spanning Halloween PARTY! IS EVERYONE HAVING FUN?! Compliments of the LOWAIN BROTHERS!"

This quaint tradition called halloween is new to Bryllu, but to get into the spirit of things she's manufactured herself a new body. People might be forgiven for thinking she was multiple people, though, as at the bottom there's one pair of legs resting on a pair of one foot diameter wheels. This leads to a torso and two arms, each of which seem to hold one of the feet of the two 'people' atop them, who are in turn holding a fourth on their shoulders.

The leftmost of the middle two has a large left-facing wing that looks vaguely birdlike, the rightmost one has a right-facing wing that looks vaguely leathery. All four are roughly three feet tall and have heads contained within something shaped like a jack o' lantern. Clearly mechanical in nature, Bryllu lands on her wheels and rides around.

    Serrah isn't the biggest party animal; however, she's decided to take the opportunity to unwind, and stop worrying about poking her homeworld with a stick.

    "Fuckin' WorldTree temporal anomalies," she mutters wryly under her breath to Dante as the two of them arrive. "I was actually in a world where Halloween was two days ago. Still managed to get into some action, too, so that was kind of obnoxious."

    She's mostly wearing the same costume she had before: a black tuxedo with a bright red necktie, all of which looks like it's made of preposterously-expensive silks, but only when she's standing stock-still: when she moves, it's obviously just done up with careful coloring and shading. Her hair is straighter and the red streak is more prominent. She described this as "someone who has her life together" -- which would be scary if this actually happened with Serrah herself -- but then she decided this wasn't enough of her usual fashion-disaster sense of style, so she added a cat-ears headband.

    She looks around, rubbing the back of her head. "Anyway," she says, "what've they got to drink here?"

    "Now now," a voice speaks from behind Serrah. "Are you truly so dissatisfied to escort Us?"

    For once, Hyouka Kiyama is putting the fact that her body is a finely-sculpted replica of an elf to work. A touch of makeup, a lot of effort into her hairstyle, and an absolutely stunning dress styled after the highest of high society fashion of her world's supernaturals; the result is an absolutely, positively stunning elven queen look for the cyborg, and she's not above playing it up a little. Just a touch.

    Keen eyes would probably notice how fake her body language is, but to someone unfamiliar, it probably looks passably graceful!

    Dante looms over Serrah with a sigh. "Daylight Savings Time can suck eggs." He says. The Demon Slayer's currently wearing a medical labcoat and sunglasses, with some fake scars all over his face and his hair dyed to a somewhat muted gray compared to his usual snow-white mane. The labcoat, as well as the raggedy clothes underneath, are sewn together in a patchwork matter.

    "Did ya? How'd it go?" He asks Serrah with a chuckle as he pushes his sunglasses back onto the bridge of his nose. Hyouka's choice in outfit gets a laugh out of Dante, and he doubles over. "Hah! THe regal look suits ya!" He says with a huge grin at the cyber-elf-dragon...thing.

    He'll almost immediately make his way towards the booze, popping a cap off a beer bottle and chugging it.

    One minute, Morrigan Lor'osa was just driving along, puttering down some highway in her 2003 Ford Windstar, with her shinki perched on her shoulder.
    The next minute, a Sudden Vine dumps her and her car into...
    "Huh. Would you look at that." The Warlock muses.
    "It looks like a halloween party, Master." Mary Contrary, Morrigan's faithful shinki Familiar points out the obvious.
    "That it does! I... Actually have costumes just in case we ran into this kind of thing."
    "Oh huh, you actually prepared for once, Master?" This earns the shinki a very gentle tap on the forehead with the tip of a finger, before Morrigan snaps her fingers.
    The car goes dark. There's motion inside it, but impossible to see beyond 'something moving' as the pair change into their costumes.
    When the door opens...
    The wild-haired Warlock fixes her very pretty, very dark, black dress and adjusts the purple band in her hair. While her shinki-- er... Pokemon companion, adjusts her little full-body Sableye mascot style costume.
    "I already hate this." Mary says, only her face peeking out from the pokemon costume's neck area.
    "Oh come on, you look cute." Morrigan chirrups as she re-sets her faithful Familiar on her shoulder and goes to mingle.

  Oh, hey, that's... definitely... not Snowpeak Garrison.

  Through the nearest vine steps a young woman. She's dressed in commoner's clothing made for an equestrian, with a distinctly mediaeval styling to its design elements. That checks out with the expensive-looking ornate rapier at her hip, the expensive-looking ornate bow slung over her shoulder, and the expensive-looking ornate quiver at her hip. Only the arrows in the quiver and the knife at her belt are plain-looking. Over her shoulders is clasped a lined cloak. Long chestnut-sorrel hair is drawn into a loose and simple braid. She's astride a big coal-dark horse that is quite possibly part giant. Oh, and she has pointed ears.

  She freezes as soon as she arrives. The look of dawning annoyance on her face suggests this isn't the first time a Vine has dumped her somewhere unexpected. Those summer-blue eyes roll skyward. The young woman heaves a sigh of clear exasperation and shakes her head.

  "Oh, Nayru preserve me, not again."

  The horse snorts, complacent. Well, since she's obviously been led here for a reason... might as well party, right?

  It doesn't take long to get over there, or to leave her horse with someone who can both take care of him and also not get mauled by him. He's a bit tetchy and tempermental of an animal.

  Others are here. Zelda takes note of them, although right now, she's looking cold and exhausted: She's been patrolling around the wintry wastes of Snowpeak Mountain's trails. There's a bit of snow mantled on her cloak, and a twig or two stuck in her hair.

  Hyouka, Dante, and Bryllu are eyed, but it's Dante that Zelda's eyes dart back to, narrowing. Her eyes go distant for a moment as she wars with instinct and reflex. No. Stand down. Play nice. They're all guests in this place.

  She snorts, eyeing Hyouka instead. The costume is considered appraisingly. Impressive. Very impressive. There's no faking the craftsmanship or the attention to detail. Or the expense. It just oozes 'expensive.' That body language sure is fake, though, and a fleeting twist of her mouth is all the amusement Zelda lets show. "That is quite a lovely costume," she comments, with a polite nod.

    While there are some oddities here, Bryllu is unusual enough that the future-human gets quite a few looks and compliments, though a few look around wondering if she's a remote-controlled construct. Most of them seem to assume there's a person in that body though, and there are a wide variety of species here. Most of them are native to this world, which means that though there are humans, a number are fox-eared Erune, or stout Draph who have tall and broad-shouldered males and short females, or the halfling-like Harvin. Those make up the bulk of the guests.

    To Serrah's question, "We have local brews of ales and beer, along with club soda, fruit juices, a few cocktails..." One of the bartenders takes Dante's request, and his coworker, a dour-looking Erune woman, grabs the beer for him. The more exotic the look, the more attention it gets, and there are in fact a few elves here even if they aren't native, and even a curious girl peering at Hyouka who has elflike ears but strange crystalline growths of blue fringing her temples. Oddly Zelda, as the actual PRINCESS here, gets fewer looks... but perhaps that is what she wants? At least there are others with the trademark pointed ears here, so she can blend in even without a proper costume.

    However, the trio on stage is... still up to something.

    "Bro, let me down, Bro."
    "Oh wow, bro, are you gonna do it?"
    "Good luck, bro!"

    The middle fox-eared man - presumably the titular Lowain? - clears his throat and grabs the surprisingly modern microphone. "Heeeeey! So I have an important announcement to make! No doubt you're all familiar with me as the famous Macho-Hunter Lowain!" He holds up a hand, expecting some cheers and applause... and there are a scattered few, but it's ABUNDANDLY clear that the bulk of the room has no clue what the heck he's on about. "Tonight, I'm announcing my retirement! Machos are becoming much more rare, and lately I've had some deeply worrying encounters that make me believe that there is more to them than we know! My bros and I, we have to follow our heart and we feel it's not right to continue hunting these machos! It would take some kind of bizarre situation for us to take up our hunting gear once more!""

    From nearby someone can be heard to mutter, "The hell is a macho?"

    

    That's when the oddly strobing globe at the top glows a little brighter, and the overactive imagination of the Lowain Brothers really gets into high gear. Everything takes on a fuzzy, surreal and dreamlike quality as reality is tweaked in the local area. At first, nothing happens... and then the doors to the hall bust open!

    Two HUGELY MUSCLED bodybuilder-like men burst into the room, each looking exactly like the other. Behind them, more of the near-identical men trudge in, though they are of slightly smaller size, even if they look identical. Each one carries a massive sword on his back.

    And striding up behind them, securely in the middle. "AT LAST! The famed Macho Hunters, the final obstacle in my diabolically perfect plan to take control of the macho population and bend them to serve me! Lady Ravenscythe Ebony Tralalala of Swartzchilde(pending)! With the power of these machos and my own cunning as half-vampyre, half-shoggoth, the glory of Xel'Yaoth will be unstoppable!"

    There's utter silence for a moment, and someone murmors, "Did you all hear the 'y' in vampire? I thought I heard a y."

Bryllu wheels over to the bodybuilders and their unusual leader, "Excuse me ma'am." The voice comes from all four heads in unison, top head is in her usual voice. Angel head is higher pitched and more melodic. Devil head is lower pitched with bass-boost and echo, and bottom head is sounding very energetic. "You're kind of disrupting something, can this wait until the party is over?"

    Dante can feel it, he's gonna get stabbed in the back by Zelda, when he recognizes the Hylian princess. Allllll the way back when he first entered a vine and helped her, she shivved him in the gut. Not that it did much, but definitely does leave an impression. So he makes a mental note; Do NOT get close to her.

    THen again, Lady shot at him multiple times in the tower so this isn't exactly new to to him.

    He just...stares at the party crashers as Bryllu goes to try and ask them to leave. "Think one of 'em said half-shoggoth? How the hell does that work?" He calls out in confusion. "Seriously, what the hell are you guys doin'? This dinner theater or somethin 'cause it SUCKS!" Dante says.

    Serrah turns, and grins at Hyouka. "Oh, hey!" she says. "I ... didn't know you were coming!" ... She's blushing faintly as she regards Hyouka's outfit. She handles this in her usual way: "Y-your posture is, is all wrong, by the way," she stutters, with all the snap of a damp twig.

    ... There's an unpleasant feeling of light approaching -- the kind that would've felt inherently hostile to her entire existence. Serrah turns, sudden worry on her features.

    ... Oh, it's that woman from that fight against that Behemoth-thing. Now that they both have less to distract them, she's worried that her own darkness will get noticed --

    -- The Lowain Brothers arrive, and now Serrah has something distracting her again. "I don't fucking know," she answers the one who asked what a Macho is.

    And then Lady Ravenscythe appears.

    "What the happ is fuckening," Serrah says flatly. "Damn it, I forgot to bring my baseballs again. Next year I'm wearing a big dress." (Serrah is not good at planning ahead.)

    She furrows her brow at Bryllu, not sure what she is or what to make of her, but ... well, someone's taking the initiative to approach Lady Ravenscythe, at least.

    "I'm not too fussed about it," Hyouka replies to Serrah, dropping the act for a second and grinning. "I don't want to be mistaken for actual elven royalty, just... playing around for a night, I guess." Then she is paid complement by a half-demon 'doctor', and the character comes right back up! "We thank you quite deeply, Ser Sparda," she replies to Dante, dipping into a playful little bow. The mirth in her eyes is kept in check, at least, but she doesn't bother to conceal it entirely.

    Then she is greeted by... an actual elven woman. At least, as far as she knows. The conciliatory bow is instant and deep. "A-ah, erm, my sincerest apologies if the costume offends you, I can go find something to change into and come back-"

    Someone on stage starts talking about being a 'macho-hunter'.

    Hyouka straightens up and looks in that direction, with a soft, confused blink-blink. She turns to Serrah and mouths a silent, 'Macho?' just a half-second before someone else mutters the thought aloud. Somehow, she manages to miss the shift in the atmosphere...

    ...but definitely not the arrival of several great big slabs of beef.

    Blink.

    Blink blink blink.

    "...so the 'macho' part was really..." She trails off for a second. "...now I'm even more confused." And as if there weren't enough confusion in the mix, a... shoggpyre? Vampgoth? Vampgoth declares her intent to rule over all overly-muscled men.

    "DARGN?" the cyborg asks. "Hyouka, I believe the solution to this situation will likely be FISTEAU," the AI replies. "...don't think I could manage anything else right now," the cyborg responds, her tone one of utter bafflement.

    "Dante! How ARE you?" Oh man as soon as Morrigan sees Dante, she scoots over that way.
    "That is a fantastic costume. Some kind of Frankenstein doctor deal, right?" Morrigan chirrups.
    "Hello, Dante." Mary joins in, from her perch on her Master's shoulder.
    Then one of the Lowains says there is to be no more macho hunting.
    "Uhhh..."
    Then the door busts in!
    "UHHH..."
    Enter Lady Ravenscythe Ebony Tralalala of Swartzchilde.
    Morrigan had a drink her hand.
    She spits it all out in an instant the very second she hears the name 'Xel'Yaoth'.
    Quickly wiping her mouth and face the wild haired Warlock mouths a silent 'What the fu...'
    "Wait wait wait half shoggoth?" She blurts next. "That makes NO sense, where are all your eyes?! Where are all your mouths?!" She demands. And she's waving a hand wildly. "And how do you even know my boss' NAME?!"

  Fortunately, being really rather towards the background, Zelda is able to escape the notice of most average partygoers. That's probably for the best in this particular circumstance! This looks like a lot of weird and Zelda is not equipped to deal with it right this minute.

  Looks like the others can probably handle whatever's going on here today. Discretion is probably the better part of valour. With practise that would make the Sheikah proud, Zelda steps back into the crowd and does a fast fade towards the door. She can put her head down and be somewhat unobtrusive when she really wants to be.

  And thus does the Last Queen of Hyrule quietly nope out.

    "Oh no, Bro!"
    "Bro!"
    "Bro!"

    The Lowain brothers all panic for a moment, but Lowain rallies! "No way! Your wickedness knows no bounds! These machos may be the natural enemy of those of us who are raised from birth by a long line of macho hunters to cull the herd, but they are innocent of the evils you wish to commit! Surrender your control, foul vampgoth!" Looks like even though they didn't hear Hyouka's inner thoughts, they had the same idea!

    Lady Ravenscythe, however, has other plans. She scowls as Bryllu approaches, and the bizarreness of the reality shift makes it even more odd how she reacts. "SILENCE! How can you, a mere human, have the gall to approach one with such power as myself!" She huffs, and snaps her fingers! Immediately, all the beefy machos around her take on a complex Jojo-style pose. "Look at the power I control! The strength! The abs!"

    Over by Hyouka, the girl with the pointed ears smiles nervously. "Oh, I am not an elf either, I'm just often mistaken for one. And ah... I think in light of the situation we should worry more about them?" Though Hyouka hardly needs encouragement of that.

    Dante's snark and Morrigan's statements make her even angrier though! "Do not mock me!" She straightens up to her full five foot, one inches of height... then her hair-tails suddenly rise, twining intricately in the air and the ends parting to reveal sharp-toothed mouths, gnashing teeth! Seems she really is part shoggoth? "I have delved deep into the lore of the ancient beings, and I am certain that I am the greater choice for Lord Xel'Yaoth, who will certainly notice me for my deeds!" She points to Dante. "YOU! You should join me and my machos! I can sense that deep inside you, you are yearning to release yourself from the stifling bondage of your shirt! IT IS YOUR NATURE!"

Bryllu opens up compartments in her angelic and demonic parts, and out come two more limbs which hand short blades to her upper self, and in response to being told to be silent she begins to sing. Singing is relative, of course, in her case it's more like she becomes a one person orchestra. The song she sings is, perhaps, less epic than may be desired by people who treat this entire scenario seriously. It is also a clear challenge to the command to be silent.

>> SUMMARY[Bryllu Zibhu MLDVII] >> https://youtu.be/2Z4m4lnjxkY

    They're posing. They're posing, and her hair is bitey, and she's trying to recruit Dante to the beef side-

    A childhood of anime and manga has prepared Hyouka for this moment.

    "FISTO, ON!!"

    Hyouka slams her fists together, and her arms begin to come apart. Panels slide aside, revealing a sky-blue glowing energy within - from which larger sections begin to unfold, spread, lock into place. In the space of a few seconds, her forearms are enveloped by a pair of tremendous gauntlets, each the size of her own torso.

    And as their assembly completes, lines along each of them light up with purple, crackling faintly with tiny arcs of lightning for a moment. A breeze flutters the cyborg's dress, and she slides her right arm and leg back, bringing up her left arm as if to clutch the air, and leaning just slightly. Crackle.

    "I don't know what you're hoping to pull off by flashing all those abs around, but I'm not in the mood for someone naive enough to think showing some skin is what gives grownups power. You and your boys are in for a brutal lesson in the world of adults~."

>> SUMMARY[Hyouka Kiyama] >> I have the power of sci-fantasy and anime on my side.

    "Oh."
    Oh, there are her extra mouths. Morrigan sort fo stares for a good long moment, just... Kind of... Completely flabbergasted.
    But then this upstart says that she's the better choice to be pacted to the being that is, literally, Morrigan's boss.
    The wild-haired Warlock draws a slow, deep, nerve-steeling breath.
    Morrigan holds up one hand, one finger pointing right for Lady Ravenscythe Ebony Tralalala of Swartzchilde...
    "I'll never allow it! Xel'Yaoth would never choose you as their emissary! You don't even have a Familiar!"
    Mary blinks from where she sits on Morrigan's shoulder. "Oh. I should get ready shouldn't I?" The shinki considers.
    "Through the power of my bond with my Familiar, Friendship, and this cantrip I found along the way we'll surely defeat your evil machinations!" Morrigan exclaims as she reaches for her shoulder and grips her pokemon-dressed little robot helper in one hand, adjusting her non-existent baseball cap with the other.
    "MARY CONTRARY! I CHOOSE YOU! DO THE THING!" Morrigan declares as she pitches her shinki right at the vampgoth's face.
    Morrigan's eyes crackle with eldritch energy as she proceeds to cast a spell-- through Mary. Who flies squealing right at Lady Ravenscythe Ebony Tralalala of Swartzchilde... And unleashes a blast of green lightning through her tiny little hands as though she were... You know. An attacking pokemon in a pokemon battle.

>> SUMMARY[Morrigan] >> https://youtu.be/Jm8Vus-VQwE

    Serrah nods to Hyouka. "DARGN seems to have the right idea," she says. "Which element do you have set today? -- Ah, lightning."

    Then she blinks. Did Ravenscythe just call Bryllu a human? Well, okay, that thing seems to be some sort of remote-control ... wait no, that doesn't make as much sense with the compartments and the way she's moving. But anyway ...

    She peers at Morrigan, then at Lady Ravenscythe. "What the fuck are you two talking about," she calls out flatly. And then Lady Ravenscythe makes that 'offer' to Dante. "Yeah, no, y'know what?" says Serrah. She crosses her arms, leaning backward slightly in a gravity-defying way. "This was supposed to be a party! STOP the WORLD!"

    And then she's suddenly right next to Lady Ravenscythe. One second, she was standing by Hyouka in a Jojo pose; the next, as abruptly as a video skipping ahead, she's all up in the vamp-shoggoth's face, fist in mid-swing to sucker-punch her!

    ... And her cat-ears headband has been replaced by actual cat-ears and a tail ... somehow. Huh.

>> SUMMARY[Serrah Delany] >> NYA WARUDO!

    Dante blinks, staring blankly at the 'machos' with confusion as he motions to himself, 'Me?' he's too confused to really respond properly. "I mean, I'm in shape and all but I spent a LOT of time on this shirt so I can't exactly waste it-"

    And then Hyouka summons up her cyber-magic powers and Bryllu draws blades. He sighs and pulls out Nevan, the electric guitar-succubus flashing to life as Dante strums off a few notes, summoning a horde of bats to surround him. "I just wanted to get drunk and rock out, but if you're here fixin' for a fight then I can still accommodate you!" He calls out.

    And Bryllu bursts into song! Of some kind. Rather than get yelled at for ruining the mood, the existing band look at one another, and... follow that lead, joining in to make this entire backdrop of music sound more like a wild bar brawl than an epic showdown.

    Which, to be fair, is probably fine given how most of the people are pretty confused more than threatened right now.

    Meanwhile, Lady Ravenscythe blinks as Morrigan seems to ACTUALLY have some kind of power? "Wh... I-I have a Familiar!" She gestures and flings her hand forward. "HOUND OF TENDOLLARS, COME FORTH!" And from her back, a thousand pennies stream forward, forming into a small whirlwind shaped like a dog, which... immediately is blasted to pieces by Mary's ACTUAL magic! It does serve to at least block her own damage, though!

    While doing this, she screams at Hyouka, "WHat would YOU know? If you've got it, flaunt it!" The machos form up and start to advance on the cyborg, going 'HUP HUP HUP' in formation.

    Lowain suddenly leaps from the stage, landing on the bar behind Dante to back him and Hyouka's points up! "NO WAY! These bros understand! Machos show off their abs because that's their natural state, but a true bro understands that they don't need to show abs to show off they're awesome! Go for it, bro!"

    And then... Serrah suddenly is there. With the machos going after Hyouka, and Ravenscythe throwing a fit over Morrigan being better than her, there's really nobody to even try to stop Serrah, so the punch connects and Ravenscythe tumbles into a table, crashing into the floor! She whips her hair around, snapping at Serrah with the teeth to try to keep her at bay instinctively.

    "UGH!" the vampgoth snarls, rubbing her cheek. "That hurt! What kind of dark power are you using to... ah. I see." She glowers. "I won't be beaten by some upstart newb who thinks she has a bit of power because she read a bit of the Nekonomicon!" She lifts a hand, bright light starting to collect above it, with a dissonant chord that sounds REALLY AWFUL with the upbeat music playing!

Bryllu stares at the continuing shenanigans, with all eight eyes, and decides that... rather than engage with any of it any further, she'll just keep singing the song and stand off the side.

    "Y-yeah. It's cold out too, like seriously nipple-hardeningly cold." Dante points out. "You know what, I'd just rather kick your asses. Let's throw down."

    Instead of rushing in to attack, Dante just begins to strum the opening riff of AC/DC's BIG GUN, DUNDUN, DUNNNN DUN DUNDUN DUN DUNDUN. His guitar summons more and more bats, and the electric flying rodents hurl towards the machos! "Hyouka, if you're vulnerable at all to shocks, you might wanna back up a little bit!" He advises.

    "I know things that would crush your soul, young lady," Hyouka replies. Her massive left hand comes up to point at Ravenscythe... and keeps pointing, even after Serrah knocks her on her backside, tracking the vampgoth's brief flight. "The world of adults is a scary place."

    The cyborg doesn't even skip a beat as the first Macho comes in range; her leaned posture allows her to simply drop her balance slightly and evade the first attack to come her way - and then spins herself around and swings her right fist straight at the center of mass, bringing not only enough force and mass to smash a small car, but a hefty discharge of lightning-aspected mana besides. "Monthly bills that never stop!"

    She steps back, drops low, and launches a brutal uppercut at the next Macho. "Company drinking parties with coworkers you can't stand!"

    A step forward, a forceful lunge, and Hyouka puts herself right in amidst the Macho Horde, swinging her fists with reckless abandon. "Watching a sleazeball manager take credit for all your hard work!"

    There's even a headbutt thrown in, with a skull harder than steel. "Smiling and nodding while your idiot boss talks about how amazing he is for the hundredth time!"

    The elven cyborg reaches out to grab one of the Machos, heft him up, and slam one of them into the ground with a crackle of lightning. "And the bitter truth that soul-crushing mundanity like that is going to mark every step of the bland path that is your life until you finally retire to twiddle your thumbs and wait for death, while there's a whole amazing world out there that's always going to be beyond your reach!"

    DARGN cautiously asks, "Hyouka, are... are you alright?" Hyouka grunts. "I'm working through some things, shush."

    The cyborg drops into another pose, almost threatening the Machos around her - and then points at Ravenscythe again. "A-anyway! You want real strength, just you find someone who can march through a life that banal and come out of it with their soul intact. I bet you wouldn't last a month!"

    She's so lost in her rant that she seems to have missed Dante's warning entirely. But her arms are crackling with lightning mana! It'll be fine, right?

    "Hound of... Tendollars? That's not right." Morrigan mumbles as... "Oh." That's a thousand pennies. "Ohhhhhh that makes sense." The Warlock muses as Mary strikes it with Eldritch Blast.
    "BUT THIS POKEMON BATTLE ISN'T FINISHED!" The Hex Maniac declares.
    "I want it to beeee!" Mary whines.
    Once more Morrigan points at the felled vampgoth and Mary floats that way.
    "Mary Contrary used MEAN LOOK! It's SUPER EFFECTIVE!" Morrigan declares, casting Eyebite under her breath... And Mary's eyes become black inky voids, devoid of light, with the pinpricks of thousands of stars, a spell that makes just looking into the tiny shinki's eyes frightening as her gaze would instill a supernatural, magical fear to come over anyone that so much as meets her gaze.

    Serrah finds herself wincing at the auditory war between Bryllu's song, Dante, and the other music, her cat-ears briefly flattening against her head. "Nya? What're you talking about?" She carefully dodges out of the way of Lady Ravenscythe's hair-mouths; one thing she's grateful about from her vampiric past is superhuman speed. But then she blinks. "Wait, what did I just say?"

    However, there's one part of herself which Serrah isn't properly taking into account for the purposes of dodging.

    Her tail gets bitten, and she lets out a loud yowl, kicking at the chomping hair-tail and leaping back. "What?" She puts her hand on her head, and finds her ears. "WHAT!?" she exclaims, her voice slightly more androgynous as she raises it. "WHAT THE SHIT!?"

    She pauses. "Uh ... Hyouka, you okay there?" she says hesitantly.

    She glances over at Morrigan and Mary Contrary when she sends out her declaration. And then, meeting Mary's gaze, she lets out a high-pitched squawk and does a backflip away, crashing into a food table in the process.

    The machos make manly grunts as they are pummeled and tossed back by Hyouka. While very strong, they appear to be very simple-minded, either naturally or due to the control they are under, as everything seems very stiff. Several rush Dante, but then they end up scattering in confusion at the dissonance of hard rock to the more lighthearted song, all clashing with the growing dissonant tone from Ravenscythe. It's utter chaos, and tables are smashing, chairs flipping, and the patrons are tossing spells or engaging in wrestling with the machos all over! A true bar brawl!

    But...

    "No... NO!" Ravenscythe screeches, her glowing orb growing larger at first, then starting to sputter as Hyouka just lists off the Horrifying Realities of true, banal life. This comes at the worst time, too! While Serrah fleeing has the hair-tendrils chasing her, they snap at the table she's flipped over, smashing and splintering wood... and then they suddenly stop as the fear settles fully into Ravenscythe, jabbed in and making it harder to resist under the litany of horrifying Normal Life happening.

    The strange dreamlike air suddenly *snaps* and fades, and the machos all scramble, loudly swarming... the bar and demanding a drink. The fight completely forgotten by them.

    Lady Ravenscythe's hair is just a messy tumble, and she's sprawled on her ass, wearing a cheap goth costume with torn fishnets. She's blinking dumbly, "Huh? Where am I?"

    One of the Lowain Brothers is right there, offering her a hand up as, as suddenly as it began, the whole mess is over. He tsks, "I warned you about stars, bro. I told you."

With it over, Bryllu walks over to the people who challenged lady Ravenscythe alongside her and offers hands, she has for available, so whichever is most convenient. "A pleasure meeting you, I am Bryllu Zibhu MLDVII. Human." She offers, "Hope you're all having a nice evening?"

    "... Perhaps a little too effective." Morrigan muses as Serrah backflips away. "Mary! Try toning back the effectiveness!"
    "It was your spell!" The shinki blurts in reply, while Morrigan's attention shifts... To Hyouka.
    "Oh. ... Oh... Yeah... That's why I never went into the office life sector..." She mumbles, grimacing at the cyborg's rant.
    And then it all just ends. Off go the Machos, the vampgoth is just some girl in a costume, and Morrigan has Bryllu approaching her for a handshake.
    "Uhhhh... Hi. Morrigan Lor'osa. Adventurer." She says, completley clueless that she had totally been a pokemon flinging feature of the Lowain Bros' hyperactive imaginations just moments before.

    Hyouka is all prepared for round two with the Macho Horde... but Ravenscythe has apparently listened all too well to the former office lady's tirade. Whether it be dream, illusion, or something else, it's shattered, and the soldiers of swole all march off to find themself something else to drink.

    Which leaves Hyouka standing there in the open, awkwardly posed.

    "F... Fisto, off."

    With a snap-crackle-clunk, the cyborg's massive gauntlets fold themselves back into the otherspace inside her arms, leaving her in a formerly very-expensive dress that now looks a bit tattered after her encounter with a number of heavy metal bats. There is a very, very embarrassed look sent Serrah's way.

    "Aheh... I'm fine, really. Let's... let's maybe forget tonight happened."

    Blink. Blink blink. That is... some costume. "Ah, he... hello, that's some costume. Hyouka Kiyama, I'm also human...?" She spares a glance in Morrigan's direction, and offers a simple, "You dodged a bullet, then."

    Serrah pokes her head back out. She's back to having a cat-ears headband, which is now crooked. "Serrah Delany," she says weakly. "Well, uh ... that worked ... I guess?" She's still clearly somewhat rattled from the effects of Morrigan's spell.

    She sighs softly. If she still had cat-ears, they'd probably be drooping. "Yeah, definitely a good idea," she answers Hyouka.

    There's a POP as the fight seems to wind down. "Wait, what the hell just happened?" Dante says, confused as he stows Nevan. ~Awww, baby. I was getting all warmed up and everything.~ The demon-guitar pouts, as Dante shushes her. "Can you not make this weird for like, five minutes? Please?" He chides, eyeing the goth girl. "Uhhh...yeah, hi. You okay?"

    The Lowain Brothers seem totally unsurprised by all that happened. The various patrons all seem confused... many don't seem to remember what happened, and the ones who do quickly stop pursuing any questions because it's just not the night for that. Lowain hops off the bar, "It's Halloween! Even machos can enjoy the party! First round's on me, bros!"

    One of the brothers offers Serrah a hand up, and the other claps Hyouka on the shoulder. "Hey forget about work for a night! C'mon, I think Metera left one of her dresses in the back, you can borrow that one!"

    'Lady Ravenscythe' straightens her dress and blinks, "Huh? Yeah I'm fine, that was pretty weird. I'm really tired but I just got here." She looks Dante up and down. "Cool guitar. I'm Becky, this seat taken?" And thus goes the awkward night of a teenage girl trying to fit in.