bravenewworld | [Video]

[The focus of the video looks like a small sculpture of a Honedge sitting on top of cloth. Looking closer shows that the sculpture is made of ice and…there's a slight tinge of frost around the picture as well.

The camera shifts as it's picked up and the sculpture too. Maka holds the Warp Band in one hand and sets down the miniature with another.]

Aria, I asked you not to put those on my projects.

[She's speaking to someone off-camera, but right after she does the camera is panned over to a Froslass that seems to be forming another sculpture with…her ice?

This time it's a Gengar, appearing to be leering right at the girl.]

She's been doing this since the solstice…I mean, I appreciate her trying to keep the house cool, but--[She doesn't like that Aria is set on creating creepy sculptures of Ghost types to tease her trainer.] It's freaking Hades out.

[To explain that, Maka pans the camera again over to a Houndoom that seems to be…freaking out just a little at all the ice and chill.]

…And it's getting my projects wet. [Not to mention the ice sculpture of the Gengar is creeping up on her as she's speaking. Once it's close enough, it begins to rub itself against her face.] --Ah! Cut it out, Aria!

[The feed ends there with a ghostly giggle.]

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[Well. Her father certainly isn't.

Or maybe he is, she can't tell between his blubbering and excuses.]

...Uh-huh. I think I understand now.

[A pause.]

Err, thanks Rei, sorry you had to come over when the house was all...like this.

[Rei reaches down and flicks one of Maka's ears with a fingernail.]

Don't apologize. Just accept that I'm going to be here for you because I care about you, and give me a hug.

[She huffs, reaching up to hug the older girl again.]

All right, all right, yeesh--so bossy, oneesan.

[Bossiness yields results, as usual, Maka has to admit and Stella crawls in between the girls to give equal affectionate headbutts.]

[Stella, why headbutts...you have arms.]

I'm used to getting my way.

[But she laughs and runs a hand along Maka's head.]

Cheeky thing.

[Because she is a cat, that's how they express affection.]

Hey, somehow you love me anyway, even if I am cheeky.

[She'd call it honesty, really, but ticking off the fiery priestess is not on her agenda. The thought of it sends a tingle of dread up her spine.

Or maybe that's the ice still lingering, who knows.]

[That spike of dread is enough to make Rei wonder just how damaged Maka really is. Her answer though, is another kiss on the top of the head.]

I do love you dear. You're practically family. Keep it up and I'll have to just adopt you.

[How damaged, really, is something she might never come to terms with. Early in life she saw her parents screaming at each other, she got the "not now, I'm busy" until it became expected, she knew exactly when her mother was crying and where her father was--who he was with at the time.

It's simple, it's not exactly the tragedy someone would write plays about, but it culminates into Maka--a young teen with a very damaged view of the world.

What is important, however, is her reaction to it. Maka does not like this damaged world that's been built up around her, and she wouldn't wish it on any other person. So while she's not looking to save the world, as said, she'd like to help people and hope they'll have a better life.

There are people like her out there, she knows, people who have had the world betray them and so felt they also had to be alone. But, as Rei said, though an individual can be considered "strong" no one is truly strong unless they are unified with people they care for with all of their heart and soul. That is the meaning of Union.]

Heh? I thought you already did, or was the volunteering at the Shrine and meeting your girlfriend for nothing.

[The tingling hasn't stopped. Actually, it intensifies at the press of Rei's lips into a burning sensation--Maka reaches up to rub at her shoulder as if that would help, but before either of them can assess that there's a sudden burst of energy from her.

It's not forward, or around, so it doesn't harm Rei or Stella, it's actually concentrated on her back at the shoulder blades...they're wings. Incandescent wings made of pure light have burst from Maka's back. The energy doesn't feel like it burns or that it's harmful, it's...calming, almost like the concentrated feeling of comfort. They spread out and fold around the three into a protective cocoon, then burst open back to their original position--all of the ice Aria had conjured up seems to have dispersed at that action.

Maka is, of course, in shock but...calmer somehow. She doesn't feel that this evolution was as untimely or painful as the first.]

...Nnn...oneesan? Are you okay?

Well, I mean more officially...

[She would go on, she would very much like to go on. But she's cut off by the sudden shift in Maka. The way she seems startled, the way her posture changes, and the sudden, sharp buildup of pressure that indicates something important is about to happen.

Rei steps clear, folding her arms around Stella protectively, letting the evolution take it's course. She cannot interfere, and wouldn't even if she felt it she could. Maka had seemed to take quite ill after the first time, and the second in Rei's case...and Ami's...had been a doozy. But when all is said and done, and those wings appear? She can feel the other girl's calm.

And that helps, a lot.]

I'm perfectly fine, dear. How are you?

Okay...

[That's all, simply "okay." She's not scared or surprised, though she is shifting her shoulders to give a critical eye to the "wings" that have grown.]

Oh, come on, don't show off like that.

[Maka seemed to be addressing the wings directly as their light fades and the form changes to a simpler, seemingly more frame-like one.]

That's better. [She stretches then, geez that was tiring--even if it wasn't as painful as the last one.] Sorry, I didn't plan for that to happen.

Show...off?

[Rei looks from the wings to Maka and shakes her head.]

I know you didn't, dear. But how do you feel? Evolution can be an exhausting experience. Are you feeling light-headed or anything?

[Video]

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