25.1 (Awesomedude17)
"Musa, Darcy, we need to talk." Bloom said plainly.
"What's the big deal? We were just showing our love for each other." Darcy said, feigning innocence.
"You made out with each other everywhere. Alfea, Cloudtower, Red Fountain, coffeehouses, restrooms, even in the kitchen sink. You're clearly doing this get a rise from some people."
Musa smiled with embarrassment.
"Oh, you're kidding me."
"It's not our fault homophobes are so easy to rile up and hurt when they try to attack us." Darcy shrugged with a smirk.
"Unbelievable." Bloom closed her eyes as she rubbed her forehead with her fingers. She heard some moaning and opened her eyes.
"Seriously?"
Musa broke the kiss. "What? Her lips are so awesome to play with."
"And her tongue is so flexible." Darcy gave a suggestive hum.
"Ugh, gag me with a spoon." Bloom rolled her eyes.
25.2 (Awesomedude17)
"FLORA. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM PLEASED TO MEET YOU ONCE MORE."
"Thanks Papyrus. Where's Sans?"
"OH HIM... HE'S TALKING TO TECHNA."
"Techna..."
"No puns, Sans?" Techna asked.
"normally, no, but..."
"Man, the wifi here sucks." Jerry started.
"dang it jerry..." Sans moaned.
*BRRRING BRRRING*
"hey. papyrus we're near jerry and... papyrus?"
"SUPER ANNOYING SPAGHETTI EATER VERSION OF MARIO, THAT THING HAS STOLEN YOUR SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus shouted as he appeared out of nowhere with Flora and Mario in tow. Mario, in turn roared in fury as he tackled Jerry to the ground.
"yeesh... where'd you learn that, bro?"
"I HAVE FOUND THAT A FEW TREES AND THAT BOTTOMLESS SPAGHETTI BOWL FROM THE SCP FOUNDATION ALLOWS FOR THE EMERGENCY MEASURES TO BE KEPT UNTIL NEEDED. YOU'RE WELCOME SANS. NOW, ABOUT THAT SOCK..."
"still not moving it."
"DRAT!"
"Ah, brotherly love." Flora smirked.
"Shouldn't we stop that version of Mario from mauling Jerry?" Techna looked as the beatdown continued.
"It's Jerry. Who cares?"
25.3 (Awesomedude17)
"So let me get this straight... We're in a Safe-Mode Loop where disputes are settled by insulting your opponent into shameful sorrow..."
"Yep."
"And it's inspired by Monty Python."
"Also yes."
Flora rolled her eyes. "Could be worse."
Gordon made a double take. "Excuse me? Monty Python is awesome!"
"Perhaps, but living in something like Monty Python?"
"Well, Ma'am, let me reply by saying..."
SETTLE THIS!
"Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries!"
"You bother me and still use Windows Vista!"
25.4 (lord Martiya)
It had been a baseline. Just a nice and relaxing baseline, with only Bloom and Flora Awaken. And then, as Bloom and Musa were going shopping the day after the witches tried to lynch Musa...
"What did you just say?" Bloom asked.
"I asked Musa if she wants to help me rile out the new group of homophobes in town by making out right on their doorstep." Darcy replied, almost as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"But-but-but-"
"Why me?" asked Musa, who had not forgotten what had happened just the day before. "In fact, why don't you use your illusions?"
"Because I know one of them, he'd see right through it." the witch answered. "As for why you... Well, obviously I can't ask my sisters, and you are aestetically pleasant and have a tolerable personality and good taste in boys."
Musa thought about it for a moment, then gave her answer: "I'm in."
"WHAT!" Bloom shouted. Then she realized. "I get it. Irma Lair... You're pranking me. But I got you!"
And with that Bloom cast a few illusion breakers. Twenty times before she realized that no, it wasn't one of her pranks. Then she fainted.
25.5
"Why don't you ever visit, Flora?" Miele asked.
"I'm sorry, Miele," Flora said. "I just have a lot going on."
"You didn't come back for the Day of the Rose," Miele said. "You didn't come back over break. You never come back." The little girl pouted. "It's like you don't want to see us anymore."
Flora nearly choked. "That's not true Miele. I love you."
"Then why don't you ever come home?" Miele asked. "Mom and dad are worried about you."
"I'm fine, Miele," Flora said. "I just... can't. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Miele said, then hung up.
"What do I do?" Flora asked as she picked at her breakfast.
"Well what do you want?" Bloom asked.
"What I want is for Miele to start looping," Flora said. "But if she was going to start looping she probably would have done so by now, and even if she does start looping eventually, that doesn't fix the problem right now."
"Then how do you want to deal with the current problem?" Techna asked.
"I don't know," Flora said, poking at her oatmeal with her spoon. "I don't want to lose Miele again. I don't get to talk to her enough. But I also don't want to visit my home. You know what the loops do to my parents. I don't want... I just can't do it."
"So you want to spend time with your sister, but you don't want to spend time with your parents," Stella said. "Then why not ask Miele to come here?"
"She's ten," Flora said. "Remember? She can't come by herself. If I ask her to come, my parents will come too."
"And then we're right back where we started," Musa said. "Couldn't you talk with her on the phone more?"
"We're from Linphea," Flora said. "Only talking by phone... well, Miele doesn't like that. I don't like it."
"And we're stuck again," Aisha said.
Flora sighed. "Let's just meet up with the others. No point in letting my problems ruin a loop where we're all Awake."
"So, movie later?" Bloom asked.
"Sure," Icy said. "Are there any new ones?"
"I think so," Bloom said. "I think we've gotten a few bleeding over from the Hub, which is nice."
"And how long until we meet them?" Icy asked.
"Who knows," Bloom said. She glanced over at where Musa and Darcy were chatting about something. "I still don't get what Musa sees in her."
"Well I don't get what Darcy sees in her, so I guess we're even on that," Icy said.
"You dated Tritanus in baseline," Bloom said. "You don't get to criticize other people's choice of dates."
"You almost married Prince Loser. Twice!" Icy replied. "And you're still planning on hooking up with him when he's Awake, aren't you? At least I learn."
"Whatever," Bloom said. "I don't even know why I talk to you."
"Because I'm the only option at the moment," Icy said. "Stella's all over her boytoy, so they're out. Nerdlinger and Stormy are... what are they doing, actually?"
"She's your sister," Bloom said. "Why don't you know?"
"Because I don't keep tabs on everyone all the time," Icy said. "What are they doing?"
"I think Stormy's trying to expand her powers," Bloom said. "Timmy knows a lot about how weather works, so she's learning. I think."
"Great, whatever," Icy said. "Aisha is teaching the twerp something, probably about those Windriders or whatever."
"I think they're just comparing notes at this point," Bloom said. "Roxy's gotten pretty good at riding."
"And our fearless Anchor is busy moping, so, surprise, her wife is there to make her feel better," Icy said. She sniffed. "It doesn't seem to be working."
"Flora's having family issues right now," Bloom said. "Lay off her."
"Family issues," Icy said. "You mean with her parents who only sort of exist? No wait, there's the kid. Sister trouble?"
"Something like that," Bloom said.
"Ah," Icy said, the sharp facade softening a little. "What kind of problem?"
Bloom squinted at the ice witch. "Why do you care?"
"I have two sisters of my own, in case you'd forgotten," Icy said. "So, what's Flower Girl's issue?"
"She doesn't want to visit her parents," Bloom said. "She does want to visit her sister."
"And they're a package deal," Icy said. "Delightful."
"Pretty much," Bloom said.
"You know what?" Icy said, getting to her feet. "Fine. I'll go talk some sense into her."
"Icy, wait-" Bloom said, but the witch was already moving. "Oh this can't end well," Bloom muttered.
"You," Icy said.
Flora looked up. "What do you want?"
"For you to stop screwing up with your sister," Icy said.
Techna opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when Flora put a hand on her shoulder. "What do you suggest?" Flora asked.
"Just tell her," Icy said. "You fairies, always making everything so complicated! Go to your sister, tell her the truth, and then deal with it! Freaking fairies! Ugh!" She spun on her heel and stomped away.
"You know for Icy, that was almost subtle," Techna remarked. "Flora, I-."
"She's right," Flora said. "It really is that simple."
"You're just going to tell her," Techna said.
"...Yes," Flora said. "That's exactly what I'm going to do." The anchor took a deep breath, then let it out. "Techna, I'm going home."
"Do you want company?" Techna asked.
"If you want to come, I'd love to have you," Flora said. "But you don't have to."
"I'll come," Techna said.
Flora knocked on the door to the house. It varied from loop to loop, though a few variants showed up a bit more frequently than others. This was the version that had been grown out of a tree using magic. Techna stood next to her, her fingers entwined with Flora's.
"Who is it?" a voice asked.
"Open the door and find out," Flora said.
There was brief pause, and then the door opened to reveal a little girl. "Flora!"
"Hey, Miele," Flora said, bending down to hug her little sister.
"I thought you said you couldn't come home?" Miele asked.
"I changed my mind," Flora said.
"Miele, who- oh, Flora," a woman said. "It's good to see you've come home."
"Just for a visit," Flora said. "Mom, Miele, this is Techna."
"A pleasure to meet you both," Techna said.
"Likewise," Flora's mother said. "Please, call me Olivia." Flora nodded. She had the right set of memories. Probably. It wasn't the first time her mother had been named Olivia.
"Of course," Techna said.
"So, Flora, I assume you brought Techna here for a reason?" Olivia asked.
"Of course," Flora said.
"My job is to distract you and your husband while Flora catches up with her sister," Techna said in a perfect deadpan.
"Techna!" Flora said, resisting the urge to swat the taller fairy.
"And how are you going to do that?" Olivia asked.
"Mom," Flora said. "Techna's my girlfriend."
"Well, I gathered that," Olivia said.
"I'm from Zenith, if that increases the distraction factor," Techna said.
"Marginally," Olivia said. "Come in, both of you. Flora, I'm afraid your father's not in right now, but he should be home soon."
"That's okay," Flora said. "I wanted to talk to Miele about something first."
"Okay, but don't go too far," Olivia said. "So, Techna, tell me how you and my daughter started dating."
Techna sent a reassuring nod in Flora's direction, then followed Olivia into the kitchen.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Miele asked.
"Not here," Flora said. "Charmix." Her old wings appeared. "I'll give you a ride?" She held out her arms and her little sister jumped into them.
The two of them took to the air, buzzing up through the canopy. "You've gotten a lot better at flying," Miele said.
"Just a bit," Flora said, setting them down on one of the enormous leaves that stuck out from the tree's branches. The leaf bowed a bit, but held their weight just fine.
"So what did you want to tell me?" Miele asked, sitting down.
Flora sat down across from her. "Miele, what I'm about to tell you is going to be pretty hard to believe. But I need you to keep an open mind about it. Please."
"It can't be that bad, Flora," Miele said.
Flora sighed. "Some of it is. Some of it isn't. Please, just listen."
"Alright Flora, I'm listening," Miele said.
"Then imagine a tree," Flora said. "Every leaf a person and every branch a world..."
"I'm home!" a voice announced as the door to Flora's home opened.
"Welcome home, dear," Olivia said, stepping out of the kitchen. "You'll never guess who came to visit."
"Hmm," the man said. "The Oakenfells?"
"No," Olivia said. "Flora's home."
"Really?" he asked. "And what's the occasion?"
"She wanted to talk to Miele," Techna said, stepping into view. "And introduce me to you."
"This is Flora's girlfriend, Techna," Olivia said. "Techna, this is my husband, Rowan."
"A pleasure to meet you," Techna said.
"Well, I see my daughter found quite the catch," Rowan said. "Where is she?"
"She's out with Miele right now," Olivia said.
"They should be back soon," Techna said. She hoped.
"So that's why I don't come and visit much," Flora said. "I'm sorry."
"Flora..." Miele said.
"Yes, Miele?" Flora asked.
"Can you show me your Enchantix wings?"
Flora blinked. "Sure." She closed her eyes and her Charmix form vanished, leaving her in the clothes she'd arrived with. Her Enchantix wings formed behind her, fluttering gently in the breeze.
"They're really pretty," Miele said.
"I've gotten used to them," Flora said.
"Flora, I'm scared," Miele said.
"About what?" Flora asked.
"What happens when the loop ends?" Miele asked. "Do we die?"
"No," Flora said. "You just sort of... forget."
"But you said that mom and dad are never the same!" Miele said. "That's not just forgetting!"
"Miele, I don't know what to tell you," Flora said. "I don't really know what happens to your memories when the loop ends. The only people who might know are the Admins. I can ask Fand the next time I see her, but I don't know if even she knows."
"And I'll be gone by then!" Miele said, tears forming in her eyes. "It won't be me, it'll be a different Miele, with a different mom and dad!"
"I'm sorry, Miele," Flora said. "I keep hoping you'll start looping too, but..."
"But you don't think I will," the little girl sniffed.
"No," Flora said with a heavy sigh. "Come here." She pulled her sister into a hug.
"I don't want to go away," Miele said, burrowing into Flora's embrace.
"I know," Flora said.
"Take me with you," Miele said. "Please."
"Miele, I..."
"Can you?" Miele asked. Flora was silent. "You can't, can you?"
"I... I could," Flora said. "I just... I don't think it's a good idea."
"Why not?" Miele asked.
"You could... You could live in my Pocket," Flora said. "But you'd have to give up everything to do it. You'd never see mom and dad again, and even if you did, they wouldn't recognize you."
"I guessed," Miele said. "I still want to go."
"There's more problems," Flora said. "I can... There are ways to make you immortal, I guess-"
"I don't want to be immortal," Miele said. "I just want to grow up."
Flora stared at her sister, tears threatening to escape. "Miele... I can't... I can't watch you do that! I can't watch you die!"
"You don't have to," Miele said. "I'll get as old as I want to, and then I get to find out what happens when the loop ends."
"Miele..." Flora said.
"Please, Flora," Miele said. "I'm not ready to go away. Not yet. Please?"
"Miele, I..."
"Just, think about it, please?" Miele said.
"I'll... I'll think about it," Flora said.
"Thanks," Miele said.
"We should probably go back," Flora said. "We wouldn't want to keep mom and dad waiting."
"I guess not," Miele said.
25.6 (Awesomedude17)
Flora stared at the white rabbit and smiled.
"Aww..."
It was then that someone who knew the rabbit shouted...
"Flora, be careful."
"Unless it's the killer rabbit that requires a Holy Hand Grenade, I'll be fine, Twilight."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
"Than what-OUCH! He bit me!"
The rabbit stuck out his tongue and scurried off.
"Sorry, Angel doesn't like most other Loopers. He prefers Fluttershy."
"Oh, wow. I could not really have figured it out on my own." Flora said as she nursed her finger.
Twilight shook her head.
Perhaps she'd tell Angel the tale of how Flora took down DIO or maybe the one involving the Predator, just to make him realize who he just bit.
25.7 (Awesomedude17)
Flora had these Loops before. It's nothing new.
Still was annoying though.
The Unawake Trix, Darkar, Valtor and the Wizards of the Black Circle had teamed up to create a super team determined to lay waste to Magix, and the Winx Club were the only ones who could stop them.
"No more! We're taking you down!" Bloom shouted valiantly.
It sucked to be the only one Awake.
The two forces prepared to fight, and then...
"MUCKLE DAMRED CULTI 'AIR EH NAMBLIES BE KEEPIN' ME WEE MEN!?"
The two sides turned to see a old man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and shades and he also had a shotgun.
Oh shit... Flora thought.
Old Man Henderson was here to derail the plot.
25.8
"You did what with your sister?" Twilight Sparkle demanded.
"I put her in my pocket," Flora sighed. "She's over there if you want to talk to her." Flora gestured helplessly towards a woman a who looked like a slightly younger version of Flora.
"Flora," Twilight said, carefully keeping her voice level. "Please. Explain to me why you decided to put your non-looping sister in your pocket."
"Because she asked me to," Flora said. "Twilight, I... She was afraid of what would happen at the end of the loop. Even with everything that's happened since, I love her. I couldn't bring myself to say no."
Twilight sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. Fused loops, altering loopers' body forms since time immemorial. "Flora," Twilight said. "You should know why this is a bad idea."
"You don't have to tell me," Flora said. "I offered to try making her immortal. Do you want to know what she said?"
"Not really, but go ahead," Twilight said.
"She said 'Thanks, but I want to grow up,'" Flora said. She threw herself on the grass of Alphea's quad and let out an enormous sigh. "I like having my sister around. I really do. But I'm not looking forward to what's going to happen over the next few loops."
Twilight scowled at the fairy lying on the ground next to her. "This is why you should have told her no."
Flora looked up at the older looper. "You don't have a sister," she said. "You wouldn't get it."
"I have Spike," Twilight said.
"He's more like your kid," Flora said. "And Nyx actually is your kid. Telling them no is part of your job. I don't have that kind of practice."
"Great," Twilight said. "So because you've never been a parent you can't say no to your sister, and now you're doing something stupid to make up for it."
"Pretty much," Flora said, sitting up. "Look, Twilight, I know this was a mistake. But it's my fault, not Miele's. She's only got a few loops in her, and I want to make them good ones. This is her first repeat, and, aside from you and a few of your friends showing up, it's pretty much baseline. I want to show her what our home has to offer while I have the chance. Please, Twilight, I know I made a mistake telling her about the loops in the first place, but I'd like to make the most of it. So, will you help me?"
Twilight was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. Friends help each other, and you are my friend."
"Thanks Twilight," Flora said.
"Just don't do this again," Twilight said. "For your own sake if nothing else."
25.9
One of these centuries I'm going to give up the whole wizard for hire thing. I'm going to stop taking cases, I'm going to stop poking my nose where it doesn't belong, and I'm going to stop almost dying. Really. I am.
At the very least, it would cut down on the number of times trouble walked in through my office door.
Today's case in point, one vampire-faerie-conceptual entity hybrid with a grudge against me because of my tendency to fry her wife whenever I get close to her. I've killed all of the above at least once. In baseline. All three is a bit more than I'm interested in dealing with though, especially given that killing this person would be neither effective nor a good idea. So instead I said hello.
"Mrs. Victoria," I said. "Welcome to my loop."
"Harry Dresden," she said. "I need a favor."
Professional tip, when a faerie needs your help, it's never good news.
"That is a nasty piece of work," I said as I inspected the wooden stake she'd placed on my desk. She'd had it in an isolation unit and she'd only been willing to handle the isolation unit with tongs. She clearly didn't like being in the same room as the thing, and she wasn't willing to touch it with a ten foot pole.
"Dresden, I need to know how to deal with this," Flora said. "I already know it's a nasty piece of work."
"Well let's start with the obvious then," I said. "This was designed and created specifically to kill you. The combination of elements is, well, it would be borderline useless against an ordinary fae, or a vampire, or even a chaos deity, but all three at once..."
"And it burns me when I touch it," Flora said, exasperated. "I know what it does. I need to know how it does it and how to stop it."
"Well that's simple," I said. "I does what it does by being complete anathema to what you are. The easiest way to stop it would be to change what you are."
"Fine," Flora said. "Why is it so harmful to me?"
"It's a wooden stake," I said. "That's a direct attack against your vampiric side."
"Okay..."
"It's made from hawthorn," I said. "The Faerie tree. That by itself wouldn't do much. It might even make you stronger. But," I pointed at the thin network of grey that wove through the stake. "it's been tainted with cold iron. That'll hurt your faerie side all by itself, and when it's mixed with hawthorn wood the contradiction makes it much worse."
"And the magic on it?"
"Old black magic," I said. "Meant for killing Angels and Demons alike. It's not a perfect match for your Chaos Goddess aspect, but it's close enough to make it work."
"So what do I do to stop it?" Flora asked.
"That's a good question," I said. "It's targeting the three strongest aspects of what you are."
"So I need something it can't hurt," Flora reasoned.
"That might reduce its effectiveness," I agreed. "It's like adding a piece to your Name."
"But it wouldn't stop it," she sighed.
"Not unless you stop being those things," I said.
There was a long moment of silence in the room before she spoke again.
"I can't do that," she said at last.
"Sorry I couldn't be more help," I said.
"You did your best," Flora said. "Before I go, Techna asked me to give this to you." She pulled out a disturbingly intricate series of circles in the form of a bracelet. The number of metals involved and symbols etched into the metal went straight past ridiculous and into the realm of the utterly absurd.
"What is it?" I asked, cautious. Neither of the people involved in this thing had reason to like me.
"Techna took your anti-tech aura as a challenge," Flora said. "This is her solution. Well, the prototype at least."
"This thing can stop me from wrecking machines?" I asked.
"It should stop you from doing so by accident at least," Flora said. "Or at least, it will until it burns out. Techna estimated a service lifespan of about five years of constant use. Less if you deliberately break technology while wearing it."
I stared at the bracelet. Five years wouldn't get me through a full loop, but if it worked... I could have light bulbs in my house for a change. I could have an actual stove. My car wouldn't break down every other week.
It was being offered by a Faerie. Even if she was from another loop, deals with the fae always come with a catch. "What do you want in return?" I asked.
"Techna wants notes on the thing's performance," Flora said. "Monthly reports, if you can manage it."
"So you want me to do homework," I said.
"My wife does, yes," Flora said.
I've made worse deals before. "Done," I said.
"Good," Flora said, putting the sigil on my desk. "Have a good day, Mister Dresden."
She turned and walked out of my office.
I really need to get out of this business.
25.1: You've... been... trolled, you've been trolled, yes you've probably been told...
25.2: Not sure what's going on here, but hey, bottomless spaghetti.
25.3: Is it wrong to wish that the real world worked this way?
25.4: I think you've made your point. No? Okay then.
25.5: This can only end in tears.
25.6: Bad rabbit!
25.7: Old Man Henderson. Farewell, plot.
25.8: Oh dear.
25.9: And no progress on that front. Sorry Flo'.
