AUDIO

[selfabsorbed]

[ Anybody around Isla Empieza will find a super-short blond girl casually floating above the fountain, leafing through the journal for a moment. After a few moments, wherein she quickly grows bored of it, she begins to dictate to it. ]

What's the point of giving us a book to talk to each other? Can we trade this in for a cell phone instead? The book smells like saltwater.

[ She quickly changes subjects, though, and her bored attitude makes way for exuberance. ] Hellooo everybody! My name is Regina! I'm looking for the Pretty Cures. If you've seen them, bring them to me. I'm at, uh, the big fountain. [ ....Pause.... oh, right. ] Please.

If they're not here, then I need to get back quick. So somebody take me on their ship so I can find that whatchamacallit stone and get back, okay? Please! [ Hey, she remembered please that time!

And now, Regina waits. Surely, everybody would flock to her with offers to take her aboard their ships, right? Or better yet, her friends would have arrived with her! Yeah, that'd be best. Hopefully they'd come to her, though, then she wouldn't have to fly around and look for them.

...Yeeeah. ]

Comments

1/?

[abundantlove]

... R... Regina...

2/?

[abundantlove]

... Regina...

3/3 - [I should probably mention this is voice]

[abundantlove]

It's you... it's really y-you...

4/5

[abundantlove]

REGIIIINAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[Mana may or may not be charging off to find her.

And by maybe we mean she totally is]

5/5 - [action]

[abundantlove]

[... or she would have, if she hadn't literally run into Alice just before leaving the ship]

perma-action;

[rosettawall]

[Okay, after HER conversation with Regina ending as it did, with a comment that was either very encouraging, or very CONCERNING, Alice is on her way off the ship with Lance riding her good arm's shoulder. Her left one is still in a sling, and obviously she's not anywhere near fighting shape, but...

Well, she doesn't really know what she's doing until she practically collides with Mana on the way off.

She cringes, grabbing her injured arm and just gives a long look at Mana.

Well, of course.

She wouldn't be surprised if Rikka would be behind them at some point.

Or Makoto from within the city.

Oh, this was going to be something, all right.]

Mana! Ah, I... I guess I can figure where you are heading...

1/2

[abundantlove]

... A-Ah, yeah...

[Mana rubs the back of her head, looking regretfully at Alice's arm]

... I know this is being headstrong, it's just... I've worried about whether or not she was safe for so long...

...

I'm glad I ran into you, though.

2/2

[abundantlove]

...

[oh. oh dammit Mana]

I don't mean that literally...!

[rosettawall]

[Alice forces a smile through the pain - literally, it's forced, and she instantly knows Mana will be able to see right through it - and nods.]

Of course, I figured that you would... I was going as well, though I realize it probably foolish for me to do so on my own...

...we must be cautious, however, you realize...

[Her eyes shift back and forth a bit, uncertainly.]

Is it okay if I come with you?

[abundantlove]

... Of course. That's why... that's why I'm glad I ran into you. Because if it were just me, I'd be sure to just rush in without thinking...

[she smiled wide, taking Alice's hand]

Let's go together...!

[rosettawall]

Ah, yes... Of course, just lead the way.

[She gratefully takes Mana's hand, and that alone ejects something from her mind and she feels a bit of relief rise in her, in spite of the ... thoroughly strange situation they're now about to face. She hoped Rikka would be behind them, but for the moment they needed to move this off the ship - if a commotion erupted, they wouldn't want it to be near there.

She grips Mana's hand back, and as they head off the ship possibly leans a little closer to her than necessary without really thinking about it. Because she needed to keep her balance with her injured arm, she didn't want to fall into the water. That was it. Of course.]

[selfabsorbed]

[ What's that in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's Regina! She's dressed like normal - that is, her dress is has red trim, bot purple - but she also had a spear... strapped to her back? It's on her back, anyway, work with me here.

Probably about the same time they'd be spotting her, though, she'd be spotting them. ]

Mana!! [ Yeah, well, if they hadn't noticed her, they certainly would now that she shouted that, and then swooped down to wrap Mana up in a huge hug. Assuming Mana's not injured, too. She wouldn't crush an injured Mana. ]

[abundantlove]

[... that's... that's definitely Regina! And not the form she took after being changed like she was! Her original outfit! ... Wait, is that a spear?

But before Mana can react, she's swept up into a hug. A hug that pulls her away from Alice. Mana is similarly swept up in a whirlwind of emotion... relief at Regina's apparent safety, followed by unbridled happiness, followed by her remembering that this could still be a trick, and then immediate concern for her and Alice's safety, as only one of them could fight right now.

So, despite the fact that she wanted nothing more than to hold Regina in her arms, she pulled herself away from Regina and instead of hugging her back, clasped both the girl's hands]

Regina...

... please speak honestly... I'll know if it's really your heart talking if I hear you say it... is what you told all of us true...? Are you really back to normal...?

[rosettawall]

[Alice is taken completely off guard by Regina's action, and gives an abrupt gasp as Mana's pulled away from her, and her hand leaves Alice's grasp. She just sort of stands there, staring a bit blankly at the both of them for several moments, empty hand not really moving from its position.

For just a moment, she feels something again in her heart that she really doesn't care to find in herself then, and can feel herself visibly start to bristle before she moves her hand to her injured arm.]

Ah, R- Regina-san... [She eyes the spear, uh. Warily. That was new, too. And kind of ... not encouraging, though the way she was acting was both... A relief, and... Wow. For her experience with Rikka when Makoto joined the team, she was not expecting herself to suddenly be caught up in that feeling quite this strongly.]

1/3

[selfabsorbed]

[ Regina might have wanted to hold onto Mana for longer, but holding hands was all right, too. And Mana was being serious, too, so this was important.

Still, Regina couldn't quite muster a completely serious tone - she was too happy to see Mana in this weird place. ] Of course! I wouldn't lie to you, Mana!

[ She can't help but smile, seeing Mana, and Alice, too-... ]

2/3

[selfabsorbed]

[ WAIT NO WAIT A SECOND HERE HOLD UP HOLD ON NOPE WHAT'S GOING ON HERE Alice Alice wait what ]

[selfabsorbed]

[ She pulls from Mana's grip then, taking a step toward Alice instead. ] Alice! What happened...? [ She almost reaches for Alice's injured arm, but pulls back. Why was it in a sling? She was hurt! She didn't mention being hurt! ]

[abundantlove]

[what.

Mana just stares. Even... even before she'd been taken back by her father, Regina wasn't exactly the most empathic of individuals. So, Regina's focus being taken from her, and her showing concern for Alice...

...

Well, let's just say it left Mana feeling dumbfounded, with her expression left looking thus and her hands just holding the open air where Regina's hands had been]

[rosettawall]

[Okay, that was... also new. Alice balks at Regina in a brief, unladylike fashion, and averts her gaze.]

I- I was hurt recently. [She bites her lip.] So was Rikka. A lot of terrible things have happened of late...

[All the while she's still trying to fight down that feeling from seeing Regina and Mana hug. She hadn't felt like that in the past, but now... Things were different, now. But she can't express that here, can she?]

[selfabsorbed]

[ If Regina notices their shock, she doesn't show it. Instead, she scowls. ]

Rikka, too? Who did that!? Did you guys already beat them? [ ....Regina, they didn't even say it was a person. Maybe they just fell down some stairs, sheesh! Humans are fragile, you know.

Either way, she's obviously upset for their sake. ]

[abundantlove]

[at that, Mana felt like she'd been punched in the gut. In fact, she visibly stumbled back, clutching a hand to her heart]

... I... Regina, we...

...

[she took breath and swallowed]

That's a long story...

[rosettawall]

[Alice casts a worried glance at Mana, and sighs. Seeing her reaction, she momentarily swallows her pride and her own feelings she's fighting. That... she didn't have to deal with that there, right?]

We weren't able to beat anyone, Regina-san... There was- [She frowns, she just had to go through this with Makoto. She hopes she can keep her composure this time.] -a witch. She was able to poison and cloud the hearts of anyone she so chose...

[She looks away.] She took control of Mana and I. She made us fight our ship mates.

[She closes her eyes, but that just brings back certain memories, so she opens them just as fast.] Rikka included. She made us... made us try to kill her... Then she locked us away for a week, before Rikka and the others came to rescue us...

[selfabsorbed]

...Then you beat the witch, right? Or somebody beat the witch?

She's the one who did that to you. [ She glances at Mana. THE WITCH DID IT, MANA. THE WITCH.

But she knows Mana. So she quickly hops over to give her another hug. But... more of a reassuring one. ]

[abundantlove]

...

[Mana slowly hugged Regina back, her eyes still wide with shock. Her senses... the same senses that told her to trust Regina when they first met, despite all evidence to the contrary... they told her that Regina was telling the truth...

... it wasn't just that, though. This Regina was acting nicer than even the Regina she'd known. She had been focused mostly on herself, and not on the other girls... and yet, here she'd shown concern for Alice, and even pulled herself away from Mana...]

Regina... it's really you, isn't it...?

[there was just one thing Mana needed to be sure]

... I-I think Alice needs... needs a hug too?

[and she gives Alice a desperate-looking, "please trust me" expression]

[rosettawall]

[Ah, there's that feeling again as Regina goes back to hugging Mana. It was probably a good thing she was already looking a little upset from having to explain all of that again. As she found herself doing with herself far too often lately, she found herself repeating words she'd spoken to Rikka in the past in her head. This time, it was from much, much further back, all while playing with the bracelet on her wrist.

Her eyelashes flutter as she looks back up with what Mana says, and she catches the look on her face. She doesn't say anything, but she doesn't argue with it. There's not much she can say, as she won't exactly defy what Mana's asking in that moment.]