September Catch-All

[peninhand]

🧙 WHO: Monika and YOU!
⚔️️ WHAT: Two open prompts: first one is about Monika trying the familiar symbiosis spell, going super sayan and then needing to be taken care of as soon as the spell end. Second is her dealing with her DDLC trauma by smashing a video game to pieces. There are also some closed prompts!
🕒 WHEN: September
🗺️ WHERE: Around Camelot
⚠️ WARNINGS: Trauma and all of the DDLC heavy theme for the second open prompt

All prompts are inside the post

Comments

This Isn't Even My Final Form [Open || Training Grounds]

[peninhand]

[ Monika had purchased the Familiar Symbiosis recipe and she was eager to try it. It would be her ace in the sleeve if she ever ran intro trouble. Of course, she'd read the fine print mentioning how exhausted the user would feel after using it, so she had made sure to have no other responsibilities on this day. The nine-tailed fox sitting next to her looked less than pleased at having to go through with that— But he'd accepted nonetheless. Better test the spell now than do it under stress and risk failing it.

And lo, she cast the spell. A beam of light engulfed both Monika and her familiar, though for someone with good eyes it was still possible to see what was happening. The familiar had disappeared and Monika was floating above the ground. Her attire turned white, with pink motifs drawn all over it. Her skirt grew longer and her ribbon broke, hair flowing as if there was an air current all around her. … Oh, and she grew a pair of fox ears along with nine tails.

As the light faded, Monika landed back on the floor. The air current didn't subside though, it was like there was a perpetual breeze to maintain the heroic appearance arpi,d jer. The most striking detail was probably her now yellow eyes. She looked at her hands with awe, then down at herself. ]

Oh my gosh...!

[ It worked! With that done, Monika proceeded to spend the next hour practicing her spells— All of which hit ten times harder than usual and were a lot easier to pull off, too! Unfortunately, no good things would last. The more time passed, the closer to the spell ending she got... ]

[scriptwriter]

[So far, Kotarou was getting more adjusted to his light magic. But now, he had recently discovered his blood magic! This practically felt like his original ability back home, but more stronger in a sense. He had to experiment around with this a bit more. Maybe it would've been safer to ask someone to come with him to monitor his body, but Kotarou figured that things couldn't get that bad out here. He had his flippant familiar who usually came whenever he called for her. And besides, it was just the training grounds. Nothing bad usually happened around here.

As he traveled deeper into the grounds, he saw a girl who seemed to be practicing! Fair long hair, nine tails and fox ears! This girl was an UMA in the flesh! She actually reminded him of a certain gacha game character! He couldn't put his finger on which one that the time, but he was very excited to see this foxy maiden. He lets out a big gasp before he runs over to her waving his hand excitedly.]

Heeeeeeey! Kitsune babe! Over hereeeeee!

[Looked like he never saw Monika transforming at all. This girl looked like one of those mystical beasts that you see in fairy tales!]

[peninhand]

[ Monika had been busy practicing when she heard someone scream excitedly and call her a... Kitsune babe? She blinked in quick succession. That was probably the first time anyone had called her "babe." If that wasn't embarrassing enough, she was pretty certain to know who had said those words. That voice, the tone, the obvious lack of manner and decency...

Kotarou. That could only be him. She turned around by the time he reached her and— ]

K-Kotarou!! [Up-closed, there would be no doubt about it. The color of her eyes was different and it was the first time he'd seen her with her hair down, but it was undoubtedly Monika. And if any further proof was needed, her voice gave it away.] I'm not a "kitsune babe," what the heck?

[ She was blushing so brightly, her face radiated heat. If only she had a spell to remove blushes... Still, what the heck with calling her a "kitsune babe?" ]

[scriptwriter]

Wait-- Monika-san?

[That completely killed his dream-like fantasy of meeting an UMA like this. He feels rather awkward for getting super excited, then getting those hopes dashed. His brief moment of disappointment becomes more confusion as he's checking her out from head to toe to tails. Just how in the world would something like this happen?!]

I think "What the heck?" should be my line. Just why are you looking like that? Were you secretly a beast girl in disguise this whole time? Then again, kitsunes are well-known to be creatures who deceive people... So it wouldn't be out of character for one to do that.

[Not that he thinks Monika would deceive him since she's a sweet girl. As he's saying this, Kotarou is circling around Monika and pulls a hand out to touch one of Monika's fox tails.]

[reloves]

[ Minako arrives at the training grounds a little bit later. It means that she's missed the other girl's initial transformation, but by the time Minako shows up, carrying her cat-like familiar in her arms, she does notice the other girl going around while looking..

.. well, certainly different, for one. It's enough to momentarily keep Minako from diving into her own training just yet, instead calling out to the other girl from a distance. ]

Hey, Monika-chan..! You look so different today!

[peninhand]

[ Upon hearing the voice, Monika turned around and beamed, waving at her. ]

Aha! But I'm not Monika-chan today. [She snapped her fingers and took a small pen in hand.] I am Doki Dreamer, Guardian of Love and Literature!

[ After a dramatic pause, she laughed embarrassingly and lowered her pen. The more traumatized and on the verge of a breakdown she got, the more she leaned into her theatrics she'd been working on with Drake. It was a good way to escape reality. ]

Sorry, that's a bit silly ahaha. [Her friends from the Literature Club would be so surprised if they saw her right now.] I'm trying the familiar symbiosis spell. So I guess I took on some of my familiar's traits.

[reloves]

[ Maybe it's a bit silly..

But not for the reasons Monika is thinking. No, Minako isn't thinking it's silly for anyone to pull that act, it's instead more just weird to see someone acting.. well, the way she usually does. But considering Monika's own background that the other girl told her about, it's very unlikely that the other girl is actually a sailor soldier.

So.. what.. is going on here?

It leaves Minako to give a slightly belated answer, shaking her head as if to snap herself out of something. ]

Oh! Um.. And your familiar is like.. a superhero..?

Doki Doki Nightmares [Open/CW: Trauma]

[peninhand]

[ Ever since the thing last month when she'd been absorbed in a video game, Monika had been a lot more nervous and anxious than usual under her facade. Every night she had nightmares and it was getting worse every day. She couldn't shake that feeling that somehow, she was going to end up back in a video game and this time, no one would be there to save her.

Still, she'd managed to live more or less the same way than she had so far...

… Until she passed by a game cabinet someone had brought back from their trip last month. Her eyes widened upon seeing it, and she started shivering, shaking. It was going to draw her in again, wasn't it...? She felt the tears coming, the fear, the dread— No, no, no, no... ]

… No, no, no, no!

[ Before the game could start, Monika's fists slammed upon the controls with enough force to dislocate the buttons. And then her hands slammed on the cabinet, again, and again, and again. Soon even the screen broke and blood appeared on Monika's hands, a result from having broken the screen and attacked the machine relentlessly. ]

Leave me alone...! [She slammed her hands one last time on the now ruined machine, on the verge of crying, screaming.] I don't want to go back!!!

[ With those words said she burst into tears, eyes closing as she cried before the broken game. Why did it keep following her? Not that game in particular, but... The memories, the pain, the suffering. Her nightmare, her sins. Wouldn't it ever leave her alone? Hadn't she done enough to atone? ]

[fujimaru]

[ Sometimes, you're pretty confident that you've Seen It All, and you're comfortable with your ability to roll with the punches. Giant rampaging monsters? Sure. Tiny screeching things riding in UFOs? Why not. Careening to near-certain death? Must be a day ending in y.

That goes straight out the window when Ritsuka wanders in shortly after the machine carnage has ended. She has one of the fancy seasonal lattes, scrolling on her phone, because sometimes, even without a real Starbucks, you have to show up late with an equivalent drink.

It's the sort of dumb passing thought that flashes through her mind as she drops the drink, hurrying over to the other girl, trying to scan her for injuries. She can see the blood on the screen, up close. ]

Hey, hey--are you okay? C'mon, hey, let me see those hands. It's okay, here--

[ She's moving slowly and carefully, reaching to put a hand on Monika's shoulder. ]

[peninhand]

[ Had someone seen her...? Truth to be told, Monika wasn't all there. So when she heard the voice and felt the hand, she remained still, staring at the now broken video game machine without saying a word. She was still trembling and her gaze slowly changed, from blank to terrified. And soon she cried again, silently so. It was as if she could see some terrifying, nightmarish horror in the video game cabinet. Some lovecraftian entity that no one but her could see...

Gosh, she should put herself together and stop... She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, finally snapping out of her secondary state. Partly so, at any rate. She turned her head and looked at the young woman, as if she only noticed her presence. ]

... I'm fine.

[ She was very obviously not, but she couldn't burden a stranger with her issues. She probably should explain herself, huh? But what could she say? "I was afraid of being sucked into a video game?" Or maybe "I'm slowly breaking down?" As if she could say those things. ]

I-I'm sorry, I... [She paused, at a complete loss for what to say. Her eyes rested on the broken cabinet once again and she instinctively took a step back, speaking without thinking.] That thing is dangerous...

[fujimaru]

Hi Fine, I'm Ritsuka.

[ There we go, requisite Dad Joke out of the way. She holds up both hands in what she hopes is a recognizable look, I'm unarmed, I'm harmless kind of move, then gestures to Monika's hands again. ]

And I know hand injuries can bleed a lot and everything, I've definitely been there, but let me take a look, okay? Just for my own peace of mind. You don't want glass stuck in you. I've got a kit in my room if you need it.

[ This is less personal experience than some of the things she's been through, but she's been drilled enough about wound hygiene to make the correlation. No comment about the cabinet being dangerous; there's probably a joke that could be made, but this doesn't feel like the time. Not when this other girl looks genuinely traumatized by whatever set her off. That can be broached in a moment and more delicately--hopefully after she's got her hands cleaned up and bandaged if needed. ]

[icastsword]

[Either he's got some kind of sixth sense specifically for detecting distressed people, or he's just very good at hearing them. It could be that second thing, because the young woman currently in distress isn't particularly quiet. Whatever the case, he reacts to her cries without his usual caution re: his appearance, because his first instinct is always to protect and defend.

Griffin quickly locates Monika and hurries to her side, reaching out to put a gentle hand on her near elbow]

Woah, miss, hang on there, please stop! You're bleeding!

[His dark brows are knit with concern over bright red eyes with no visible pupil or iris. A pair of horns a shade darker than his dark grey skin but a shade lighter than his black hair jut upward from his forehead and sweep back in twin swooping twists toward his crown. His overall appearance is positively demonic, and likely not the first vision someone in distress would look to as a source of comfort, but hopefully the concern in his voice and the worry in his expression will be apparent despite his appearance, because if not then he's very likely to make everything so much worse.]

[peninhand]

[ Monika remained silent upon feeling the hand and hearing the voice. She was in something of a secondary state right now, but she should have figured her destroying this machine would be noisy and attract people. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she needed to pull herself together. ]

I won't... I won't go back...!

[ She slammed one more time on the machine, crying as she tried to clear her thoughts. Ere long she turned her head, looking at the man who'd come to her help. Thankfully, his appearance didn't trouble her much. One of her best friends was a talking duck and she'd been forced in horrible video games last month. Not to mention that one time when she'd been swallowed by a giant worm and fought alongside a giant robot on her way out.

Red eyes and horns, an overall demonic appearance? That nearly looked totally normal to her by now. She was startled upon turning her head and seeing him, but she didn't try to back away or anything. That was par for the course and she knew better than judge people on appearances. ]

I... I'm sorry...

[icastsword]

Hey, don't be sorry for being upset!

[He keeps his voice low but warm, which is easy given how important it is to reassure her. He's not a great judge of age, but he thinks she looks fairly young, maybe not even totally finished with school. He can't see anything that he could reasonably suspect caused so much terror, except maybe the busted arcade cabinet. It's probably better to help her move away from that, if that is the cause of her fear.]

My name's Griffin. I won't let anyone take you anywhere you don't want to go, okay?

[pricklybloom]

[ The sounds of panic and distress are, unfortunately, nothing new for Amy. With a concerned frown, she quickly follows it to see Monika beating on the machine.

With a concerned frown, she hurries to the other girl's side and places a hand on her arm. ]

H-Hey...

[peninhand]

[ She recognized the voice. Not only had someone had heard her, but it was someone she knew. The worst possible combination. Monika wasn't quite out of her secondary state, but her priority was making sure nobody she knew and valued would see her like that. Not when she was at her lowest, a pathetic mess who couldn't even help herself. ]

I... I don't feel too well right now...

[ She tried forcing herself to stop crying, and purposefully avoiding looking at Amy. ]

D-Don't worry about me, okay?

A Cult Classic Date [Locked to Kadoc]

[peninhand]

[ It had been a long time coming. For having won the Mario Party game, Kadoc had promised her a drink. A lot had happened and it had been postponed times and times again, understandably so given the safety risk last month. Unfortunately, Monika never forgot. Thus why she had made sure to remind him that he owed her a drink. Not that she was desperate for a free drink (especially seeing how she'd end up going for a soda), but it was always nice to spend time with friends! Even if said friends barely knew each other... Details, right?

Monika was standing by the spot where they'd agreed to meet. She had come early, she preferred being too early over risking to be late. She had a book in hand and was absorbed in reading it. It was a romance of some sort. Something probably very cheesy with a happy ending, judging by the picture on the cover.

She glanced around every now and then to see if a wild Kadoc was arriving. He had seemed pretty embarrassed at the idea... She probably should reassure him once he arrives. ]

[impostorsyndrome]

[Kadoc is also early, but only a very little bit—a couple of minutes. Such is the life of warring anxieties between being an asshole and arriving late versus looking weird and arriving super early! . . . Of course, those standards apply only to himself; he doesn't actually think anything of it when he arrives and Monika's already there. Certainly not that she's weird. (But, you know, if it were him, he would be, etc., etc.)

The meeting place is a little park with some benches a couple of blocks away from a cocktail bar. Not a pub, which he'd considered and discarded pretty easily. He's not a pub kind of guy, and she doesn't strike him as a pub kind of girl. Talk about noisy. But the place they're headed definitely serves alcohol, and it lives on a block of similar bars, so Kadoc can only hope nothing gets too rowdy while they're out together; he's seen what the people of Camelot can get like in the evenings when they've had a few.

For now, though, so far, so good. He spots her on the bench and heads up to her, hands in his coat pockets, though he lifts one in a little wave as he approaches.]

. . . Hey. There you are. Sorry it took so long to get around to this. It's nothing against you.

[peninhand]

Hi Kadoc!

[ Monika closed her book and got up when he greeted her, beaming at him. Honestly she could relate to having unreasonable standards for yourself. She was always so harsh on herself, but whenever it came to her friends? She didn't mind at all things she would berate herself for. Perhaps that was why they got along! Well, their issues were radically different, but the results weren't too dissimilar. ]

It's all good. I wouldn't have wanted one of those animal mages to give me fox ears, ahaha!

[ Or whatever that crisis last month had been all about. She'd managed to avoid it altogether so she wasn't too sure of the details, but that would have most definitely been embarrassing. She put the book in her handbag. ]

Should we get going? [She raised a finger.] Night's falling soon and I heard there's some Batman-loving fanatic trying to play out his fantasies.

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword [Locked to Darin]

[peninhand]

[ Monika had made a request to Darin the month prior, for a very specific and one of a kind weapon. The sort you wouldn't find in a store. Why, she doubted most blacksmiths would have accepted her commission seeing how strange it was. Thankfully enough, he had and she'd just received the message telling her the weapon was ready.

Monika had been in the middle of recording a video for her social media channel when she'd received the message, so a bit of time passed by the time she finally reached Forge Ahead. Still, she smiled brightly. ]

Hi Darin~! Sorry, I came as soon as I could...!

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Monika! Hey! No worries, I was just polishing it up! Can't let a commission go without making sure it's as perfect as I can make it!

[As a craftsman, Darin loves a challenge. Sure he can make practically any type of weapon on the market, but it's the unique requests that really get his mind and his mojo going. There's nothing more satisfying that forging something one-of-a-kind...something that no one else has even considered making. When Monika described the staff that she wanted, he couldn't have been more excited to take the job.]

Come on over! It's right here on the table!

[He steps aside to show her a gleaming staff, built to her exact specifications. It's lightweight, perfectly balanced, and even though it doesn't seem like it, it's surprisingly durable. And just as requested, there's a dock built in where Monika would likely be gripping the staff that allows her phone to plug in and slide into place where it wouldn't protrude from the housing. There's a sizeable pink, heart shaped gem at the top which, if you look closely, a lens is housed inside with button controls for the aperture placed within thumb's reach on the handle of the staff itself.]

Well?

[peninhand]

Oh my gosh...! [ She very slowly and delicately picked up the pen-shaped staff. It was even prettier than what she'd imagined. ] It's perfect!

[ After swirling it around for a bit, she let go of the staff but it was still floating. She'd picked up Telekinesis instead of cognitive magic recently, which was absolutely perfect for that. Next she picked her phone up, and made it float too. The idea was to use telekinesis to bring them together.

It was rather slow— She was barely getting started learning telekinesis and she'd never done that maneuver before, but sure enough the phone slide and clicked into place with no difficulty. She could have done it manually, but she needed to get used to using her powers. With that done, she picked the staff back up and beamed at Darin ]

Isn't that so cool? [She giggled.] Thank you so much!

The Ultimate Magical Costume [Locked to Mukuro]

[peninhand]

[ Monika's plan to become some sort of magical girl whenever she had to use her powers was coming along swimmingly. But there was something else aside from the weapon that she couldn't do on her own: the clothes. She had no talent whatsoever when it came to sewing and making attires, let alone designing them. Thankfully, she knew someone who was specialized in doing just that.

Monika had sent a message asking if she could pass by to ask her a few questions, and Mukuro had said yes. She hadn't told her why she needed her help, but she figured that was just a formality. She was the ultimate fashionista, right?

Thus a couple hours later, Monika swung by the place where her friend stayed and knocked on the door. ]

Hey there~! Thanks for having answered on such a short notice.

[corpsewarblade]

Monika, heyyy~ It's good to see you! Sorry, sorry, I just moved in a couple of days back so it's a bit of a mess-

[Mukuro had just moved out the inn into a little studio flat in town- nothing fancy, but for however much she hated her Influencer work, she was grateful in finally being able to scrape together enough to find somewhere. A little rundown and a little small, but it was her's.

There was still a large cardboard box stashed away near the bed and she hadn't taken much time to decorate yet, but Mukuro still seemed happy as she beckoned Monika in.]

Want tea or anything?

[peninhand]

It's alright, I'm still living in the inn ahaha...!

[ Finding the right place to live in was something of a trial... Not to speak of that little issue called "money." Unlike Mukuro, Monika loved her job as an influencer, but it still wasn't making her any crazy amount of cash. And her priorities were elsewhere so far. ]

Hmm, I prefer coffee if you have some, but tea works too~ [She gave a look around, it was messy but that was understandable.] Looks like you'll have a cozy little place set up in no time.