Shadowm@ster: Cinderella Girls...? (Mission/Pyxis+Amane)

[Ayakura Alisa]

I'm putting everything I learned about this particular sector to the test. I don't like the premise of the mission too much but I can't really resist a chance to put a no-gooder like what was described in the mission brief to justice. If I need to wear a skimpy idol outfit or something then so be it! Regardless, it was explained that everything that we would need (I say we because apparently two others will be joining us in this mess) would be in the storage closet. I... kinda didn't want to get the maid uniform dirty so I wasn't going to be bringing that, so I guess I would go to that storage closet.

...Why does the blonde woman have a storage closet containing that kind of stuff again? Actually, scratch that, I don't really want to know. I had already raided the area as such and got myself dressed into neon pink kneehigh pumps accompanied with a flashy pink skirt that reached just above my knees, and for my top I chose a blouse with the top two buttons left undone and a pink neon vest to go with it. It was incredibly tacky for regular wear but I suppose for an occasion like this I might as well give this a go. Besides, I thought pink was a fairly cute color. It might work.

I was waiting by the extraction point - that is, the place where we were instructed to find the perverted shadow. It was certainly nearby the Gap, not very far at all. It didn't look like a particularly SHADY place either. But looks could be deceiving. In my dorky idol costume, I waited for the others.

[Amane Mana]

Amane might've gained the courage to face the horrors of the lockdown...she might've swallowed her pride to get herself into a maid outfit for a week...but nothing...nothing could've prepared her for the garbage she is being forced to wear. She glared at the mirror at her outfit. Amane was seething with frustration. It was at this twisted moment that she misses the maid outfit.

White bunny ears, a blue short sleeve dress with frills with the skirt's length only going a little before her knees, long white gloves, and blue knee length boots. Amane wondered why the blonde haired woman even had all this and what all this was for...then again this is coming from a woman who posts a mission about collecting the shrine maiden's private belongings. Suddenly she doesn't feel so safe anymore.

Amane arrived over at the location of where the shadow should be. She gazed upon Alisa and sighed. Of all the people to see her in this outfit. She simply walked over next to her, not saying a thing. They had a third person joining in their humiliation so Amane withheld any suggestions of a game plan.

[Pyxis]

Pyxis was prepared for a number of unusual missions. Though she hadn't taken them, she had certainly seen quite a number of unusual ones in the past. But this? This was a new one. This was a mission that, for reasons she could only associate with one of many as yet undiscovered oddities of shadows, required her to dress up. When she first saw it' she figured it was already as good as done. After all, she already had what was objectively the best maid uniform to ever exist. ...Unless there were more of that quality. But she doubted it.

After taking a peek into the storage closet mentioned in the mission description after accepting it, however, she realized that she was dealing with an entirely different metaphorical animal. This wasn't just 'cosplay', as Alisa called it. The outfits Pyxis found in said closet were very obviously geared towards standing out, and were either skimpier or more extravagant than Pyxis was comfortable with. Or both. Eventually, however, by a stroke of luck she had found one that wouldn't expose her shoulder or hip joints. It was a blue and white ensemble, colors that Pyxis already knew worked well for her. The main piece was a white dress that clung tightly to her body and came only a short way past her hip joints and had frilled 'sleeves' just barely long enough to cover her shoulders. Pyxis hadn't been too keen on it at first, but soon after picking it out had discovered that, among the extra pieces it came with, the blonde lady had set aside a few curved metal plates that restricted her movement slightly, but fit well to the shape of normal human hips.

...That woman was unnaturally prepared. Uncannily so, even.

The rest of the outfit consisted of a corset, a frilled ribbon running down her chest, armlets, and frilled half-skirt, all in blue. The ribbon and armlets were easy enough to understand. The armlets even matched up with her hands well enough that together they looked like blue and white gloves. The half-skirt was...senseless. It literally matched the label Pyxis had given it. It hung off the waist like a skirt, but didn't even reach all the way around her hips, much less to her front. As for the corset, Pyxis could only assume that it was either too small or intended to fit too tightly, as her unyielding frame made it very difficult to get on properly.

Perhaps it was because of how much trouble she had getting dressed, that she was the last to show up at the designated location. She immediately recognized one of the other two, and smiled and waved to her while giving a casual "Hi, Alisa," as though dressing up like this was normal for them. And, given the made outfits, there was at least something resembling truth in that. Nonetheless, Pyxis did look Alisa up and down and say "You know, you look pretty good in that," soon after.

She turned and nodded to the other person there as well, but noted that she looked extremely uncomfortable and opted not to throw too much attention her way. "So," she quickly said, hopefully drawing attention away from their current states of dress, "How do you all want to go about this?"

This was, admittedly, a situation she genuinely had no idea how to approach.

((Reference pic for the outfit))

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

As the humans gathered just outside of The Gap, their target was simply looming about not too far off from them. The shadow itself was a floating eye monster that seemed to drift about, blinking on occasion. It wasn't paying attention to anything in particular. As you recall, attacking it outright would do nothing to it and likely cause it to escape. This also happens to be the reason why the humans were dressed in less than usual attire this evening.

The floating eye turned at some point, spotting the group of "girls" off to the side. It had to do a double-take before its eye widened in excitement. It was completely focused on the girls. It simply watched and waited. What would happen next?

[ ] "Distract" the shadow. (Better get some music, kids.)

[Ayakura Alisa]

Amane and Pyxis, both people I knew, showed up. Amane was less than thrilled to be wearing what she was currently wearing, but unfortunately the mere fact she was sporting a pair of bunny ears kind of hinted otherwise. I greeted Amane with a solemn nod before Pyxis soon arrived in a getup that somehow managed to conceal the parts she didn't want showing up. Truth to be told, she didn't look too bad in it either. Scanning her person I smiled as Pyxis complimented me on my appearance, something I hadn't entirely expected but wasn't surprised to hear. After all, this was very tacky... I gave Pyxis a playful wink and responded to her with "Hey, Pyxis. You're looking smooth and nice yourself!"

Meanwhile, as Pyxis asked about how to approach the situation, I whirled around and saw what seemed to be a floating eye creature, a beholder of some sort, drifting about and blinking like a normal human eye. This must be the target. Well, it can only rely on its sense of sight, and it must have some expertise in sorcery to be able to protect itself when it is fully concentrated. Though, it spotted us and simply stared at us with its eyes widened and I swore the pupils dilated a bit.

"Okay, it's got its eyes... eye... on us! Quick, routine! Pull out a cute dance or something!" I said as I threw out a small contraption that looked like a radio or music player of some sort I found at the blonde woman's establishment.

The moment it hit the ground it immediately started playing some music and I broke out into song, singing what was currently being blared out from the radio. Truth to be told, my forays into la-la land with Ran kinda made me morbidly curious about some things, like idol culture, and well, I kinda liked some of the songs. Hey, don't judge me.

I tried my best to match the typical dance moves of your popular young idols, but I'd definitely need some help here.

Guys! A bit of playing around would really help the effect here! I whispered out to the other two.

[Amane Mana]

Alisa nodded over to Amane. She did the same. They both were stuck in this situation after all. Amane then looked over and shuddered at the outfit she was witnessing. She's a robot...she's a robot... Amane kept thinking to herself to justify the absurdity of the outfit that Pixis was donning...how in the world was she supposed to fight in that?! Amane looked down at her own outfit. Come to think of it...how was she supposed to fight in this?!?!

"Hi, Alisa," The robot said. "You know, you look pretty good in that," Amane was too deep in her embarrassment to agree with that statement. She was wondering how the others are the maid cafe were do-nooooooo Amane is not forming an attachment to that place now.

"Hey, Pyxis. You're looking smooth and nice yourself!" Alisa said. Amane placed her palms against her face.

"So," Pyxis said. "How do you all want to go about this?"

"Okay you two are going to..." Before Amane could answer she looked over, seeing the large floating eye like shadow. Amane shuddered. She was hoping that she can slink away from this and perform the sneak attack.

"Okay, it's got its eyes... eye... on us! Quick, routine! Pull out a cute dance or something!"

"W-wai-!" Alisa took out a small music playing device and started to play in full volume. Amane didn't even want to talk about the dance the one who provided the music is performing. She heard what Alisa whispered and sighed and started to dance...well...more like wailing around. She is more trying to slink away.

[Pyxis]

Well, Pyxis thought, it was nice to know that she'd gotten something right with her outfit. 'Smooth and nice' was several steps above the awkward state that she'd felt when trying to force herself into her current outfit. She grinned at Alisa's response, but didn't get any chance to say anything on it. Because almost immediately after, their target showed up.

It was...a giant floating eyeball. This was a new one.

And just like that, planning was out the window and all three of them were flying by the seat of their nonexistent pants. Alisa, fortunately, had come with a song prepared. It was a cheesy song. The kind of thing that in Pyxis's experience most people over the age of 16 would call a guilty pleasure at best. But, it was very fitting for what they were about to do.

She had her own dance routines in mind, of course. She'd picked them up by binging on a certain game about managing idols, and also (just for kicks) another game about getting close to hostesses in a club (there was some singing and dancing there, at least). But, she just used those as a reference, and tried to coordinate the moves she actually performed with Alisa's. Amane's? That was a bit more difficult. She seemed more like she was trying to get away.

The moves mostly involved the arms and hands. A few spins or jumps here and there, and a bit of moving around, but the 'style' of dance seemed to be primarily focused on the upper body. Being an 'idol' seemed to be more about image and presentation than actual ability to sing or dance.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

With the shadow's eye on the girls, the true battle had finally begun. If they messed up at any point, the result would be failure. Some music began to play, and the girls were wearing some sickeningly cute outfits. But other than that? Their performance was lacking. They needed to do better than that if they wanted to win against this shadow. Slowly, the shadow floated over towards the group of girls, slowly becoming inflamed as it did. But it still wasn't enough. They needed to go deeper.

[ ] Try harder.

[Ayakura Alisa]

Damn, the Shadow was coming closer, but it didn't seem like what we were doing was working as anticipated. Honestly, it's probably because we weren't entirely in to it. Just what kind of dance performance would this Shadow like? Hmm, forget it, I'll just have to hope that Pyxis and Amane play along and follow me along. Ekeing out the most convincing smile I could, I did a twirl as a transition and began to change my dance routine, I started to include more fluid movements, mostly lots of gyrating my hips amongst other things. If I recalled correctly, the Shadow was somewhat of a pervert, so I should go for a more subtly sultry routine to try and maintain some charm. I think the biggest issue was coordination.

Ah, crap. We have to be in sync, otherwise this isn't going to work out very well. It's got its eye on us so we gotta make this work!

[Amane Mana]

"Ah, crap. We have to be in sync, otherwise this isn't going to work out very well. It's got its eye on us so we gotta make this work!" Amane nearly lost all color. I-in sync? With that awkward dance that Alisa is doing?! Amane suddenly felt more at home braving against powerful shadows than doing this. She shuddered and took a deep breathe before then trying to mimic Alisa's movements...

...for a good ten seconds. Amane just decided she had enough of this and started to go back to her own...movements as she tries to slink away so that it would focus more on Alisa and Pyxis and allow Amane a perfect killing shot on the shadow or vice versa if it starts to target her. Either way she just wants this misery to end.

[Pyxis]

Hoping that the eyeball shadow would cave in after a little bit of silly dancing, it seemed, was too much to ask for. Pyxis wasn't surprised, although she was allowed to hope. Dressing up in strange outfits and putting on a show had its charms, odd as they were, but she was definitely more accustomed to shooting than dancing. And the sooner she could get back to that, the better things would be.

Which was why she couldn't help but be a little annoyed with Amane's attitude. No, she wasn't surprised that the girl was uncomfortable with what she was having to do. Nor could Pyxis really fault her for it. But if it bothered her that much, why was she even here? The mission parameters had been pretty clear on what they had to do. "Come on, you have to get into it more," Pyxis said in a hushed tone to Amane. She shifted her own routine to match with the slightly more provocative one that Alisa was doing. She wasn't sure how well it would work, just that trying to do her own thing most likely wouldn't work.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

As the shadow continued to watch, its entire body became more inflamed. Its eye began to water as it began to spin, lost in the sight before it. Its vision became blurry as it squirmed in the air. The sight in front of it. . . was simply too much.

As for the ones responsible, it was time for them to do what they had come to do. Exterminate the shadow. But the three of them were dancing, and they had to be discreet when they did strike it. Two of them would need to continue distracting while someone finishes it off. They would only have one chance of course.

[ ] Kill it.

[Ayakura Alisa]

Oh, I think it is starting to get lost in its own thoughts, whatever those were I simply thought as I continued to distract it with my dance, though I was starting to get disgruntled deep inside towards Amane for her unwillingness to cooperate, though it seemed that as the dance continued, the shadow began to clearly drown in its own passions, and I noticed its eye began to water and it started to spin. Methinks we were starting to get too much for it. And so, one of us had the opportunity to sneak up to it and finish it off. It was probably going to be Amane given how excited she was to jump up to it, but I've got things to say to her regarding the aftermath, no matter what happens.

I'm not in a position to strike it down myself. I'll continue my dancing. One of you need to do it.

[Pyxis]

The shadow...was having a very interesting reaction to the show Pyxis and Alisa were putting on. It was squirming, its body had become inflamed to the point that it looked like something might burst, and its eye looked like it had become unfocused. Was that sign enough that it had let its guard down? It had to be. And if they missed this chance...well, that precluded Pyxis from being the one to finish it off. If she interrupted her routine now, the shadow would probably come back to its senses. Alisa voiced the same issue.

"Likewise," Pyxis said. "With it so...focused on us, I think it'd see a sudden attack coming." She glanced towards Amane. She still had to wonder why she was here, or what she'd hoped to accomplish so halfheartedly, but for the moment, it may have been a blessing. "All yours, I guess," she said, continuing her dance.

[Amane Mana]

The dancing continued for awhile, though for Amane it was more like watching the movements of an awkward slinky. It's eyes began to water as it squirmed in the air. She...didn't want any details on what it could be thinking. The awkwardness continued for what she felt like eternity until she noticed Alisa and Pyxis making some input that she is very happy about.

"I'm not in a position to strike it down myself. I'll continue my dancing. One of you need to do it."

"Likewise," Pyxis said. "With it so...focused on us, I think it'd see a sudden attack coming." She then glanced over at Amane. "All yours, I guess," Amane nodded and then her eyes began to glow as a persona card appeared and then shattered. Vivane began to appear and move slowly over to the shadow as if in dance as well. Her sword was then summoned and the lady of the lake slashed down on the shadow.

Action: Fatal End.