Girls' Night!: A Girl's Story

[Myrdraxxis]

Vanya, having been swept up in the moment, had been in the process of grabbing a handful of clothing to aid in snuffing out the fire, when it disappeared completely. "Ah, problem solved!" she nodded. Then the words of her new companions sunk in.

An invisible fire, one of the worst kinds of conflagrations.

Vanya considered their options, quickly eliminating the 'quietly slip away and pretend nothing happened' option. Well okay, she didn't count it out completely, but it was at least plan D. An idea came to her suddenly, making her drop her armful of clothing and clap her hands in a burst of epiphany. "Oh! You, devil-witch!" she turned to Scarlet. "You can use magic, yes? We can't put out the fire if we cannot see it, but if you make all of the buildings fireproof then will not matter than they are on fire!"

[Razgat]

"What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch?”

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASP

Charlotte stood, completely appalled. “Th-that is SO MEANNNN!” It is very hard to argue while crying.

Just as she was about to say anything else (very inadvisable), she heard Scarlot apologize and ask her to find a phone. Right, the fire. Definitely more important.

She ran off in search of anyone around, which should be fairly easy considering all the bars around. She spotted a couple not too far down and made a beeline for them. Unfortunately, once Charlotte started crying, it was a little hard for her to stop, so asking for their phone might prove to be a bit of a problem.

“Ehmehgehd, PLEEEESE HEEELP! Ah *gasp* eeeneeedeeef-fooooone!”

“Wh....what?” The man stared at her confused, while his friend stood off to the side.

“A *gasp* a foooonnnnn”

“Um...”

“I think she needs a phone, bruh” His friend piped up.

“HOW could you possibly guess that?”

“I’ve got sisters.”

“Yeah, sure, here you go.” He handed his phone over, standing as far back as he could because, to be honest, she was freaking him out a little.

“Ahooomigawd, theeeeeenks *sniffle*” She started dialing as fast as she could while taking deep breaths.

“You’re...welcome?”

[Monika]

"For the love of Seraphina...Invisible fire?" Scarlet blew out her breath in an exasperated sigh, feeling partially (but not totally) responsible for this latest escalation of their disaster. "How the hell am I supposed to fight that?"

She turned to Vanya to address her suggestion. "Uh, as far as I know, my powers don't come from any kind of devil - and admittedly I don't know very far because I skipped Religion and Mathemagic in school - but I'll go ahead and say that I don't know any spells that can be used to make a building fireproof. All my magic involves math. Equations and numbers and stuff, you know? Like this."

By way of demonstration, Scarlet dropped the pile of clothes she was holding and extended her palms. "Random Number: Generate. 1 and 3 inclusive." At her command, a glowing number '2' appeared on either of her hands. "And then I can use the numbers to do stuff like this: Matrix Closet!" she said, indexing the centermost entry of her extradimensional storage device. An ethereal blue grid manifested in front of her and spat out...

"...a photo album?" she asked incredulously. "Did all of my stuff get replaced when I got locked up? Whatever." With another sigh, Scarlet picked up the book at her feet and, at a loss for how to solve their current problem, mindlessly flipped through the pages in hopes of finding a solution, immediately noticing something off about the contents.

"What the hell? You can't tell what any of this stuff is! All the pictures in this thing are just blotches of red and orange and yellow, like they were taken with..."

An infrared camera.

"Oh my Goddess that's it! Scarlet's genius strikes again!" With an enthusiastic nod to herself, Scarlet took one of the pictures out of the book and examined the back. In a well deserved stroke of luck, it listed exactly where the photo had been developed and printed. With even more luck, that might be the same place she could get the camera that took the picture.

"Karl's Hunting Klub," she read, "on the corner of Scholar's Street and Pretense Avenue. Hey, that's actually really close by! I'm running low on math energy right now, but I can't leave the team alone here. Multiply by 2: Scarlet!"

On cue, a duplicate Scarlet appeared, wearing just as little as the original one.

"You know what to do?" the original asked.

"Find the store. Piece of cake," the copy replied, and she immediately ran off in search of the facility.

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And the search didn't take long at all. The place was literally right around the corner with an obnoxiously flashy neon sign with gaudy arrows pointing it out in case it wasn't subtle enough. Even late in the evening as it was, the store was impossible to miss. The Scarlet copy hurriedly pushed open the front doors and entered the store, where she saw a grizzled, middle-aged man sitting behind a desk watching a small television that looked to be playing some kind of commercial.

"So if you think you've got a stellar business idea with great potential _{that will finally help me break into the Scholastic Land market because they've banned me from doing business here directly}, we would love for you to submit your application to be a contestant on our new show Veralice Visionaries, where we take forward-thinking entrepreneurs like you and help make your vision a reality! Sign up today at www.veravis.awsm!"

"Hmph," the man grunted, stroking a long, unkempt beard. "I wonder if he'd throw funding at this dump of a business." When the commercial ended, he finally broke his gaze away from the television and noticed Scarlet at the front door. "Oh, welcome to Karl's Hunting Klub, where we sell all the finest in hunting equipment. I'm Karl Schrader Jr. and...why the hell aren't you wearing clothes?"

The Scarlet clone looked down and saw that she was just in her bra and underwear, completely forgetting that she (or the original, anyway) had discarded her outerwear because it was on fire. "Uh...long story. Do you wanna hear it or do you wanna sell me something?"

Karl shrugged. "I lowered my standards for customers years ago. Whaddaya want?"

"I found an album full of infrared pictures that said they were printed here. Do you have the cameras that take them? Or better yet some infrared goggles?"

"Huh. I'll be damned. Never thought we'd actually get a customer like that. Dad thought printing our logo on the back of each photo was tacky and a waste of time, but it shows what he knew, that bastard. Rather spend all our cash on that stupid sign. Can't even maintain it..." After a few seconds, the man broke from his reverie and finally answered "Yeah, we got plenty of infrared sensing stuff. You hunting an Invisibeast?" the shopkeeper asked.

"A...what?"

"You know. Invisibeast. Hides in the shadows. Stalks prey at night. Can't be seen by the naked human eye unless you're a trained ninja. Why else would you want some infrared goggles?"

Scarlet raised an eyebrow and, not having anything better to say, answered simply "Some friends and I accidentally created a massive invisible fire that is threatening the entire city. We can't fight it until we can see it again."

"Massive...invisible...fire? You and your friends some kind of devil-witches? Because we don't take kindly-"

"Just tell me how much they cost, Karl. I'm on a bit of a time crunch here."

The shopkeeper grunted again. "For you, Miss, 700 Smarts. Cash only."

"Seven hundred - are you kidding me?!" Scarlet took a deep breath, closed her eyes and said through gritted teeth, "Perhaps you didn't hear me the first time, but the entire town is under threat of burning to ash by an invisible fire. And you're going to charge me a month's rent for a pair of goggles?!"

Karl shrugged. "You magic-types are all the same, using your powers and getting into trouble and looking down on us 'normies' but then calling us to bail you out the moment things get a little too hot to handle. Take responsibility and solve your own problems."

"I'm not asking you to go out there and help fight the fires with me!" Scarlet pleaded. "I just want some tools that'll help make it possible. The whole town, Karl. That includes your little shop here. Everything is going to be destroyed."

He shrugged again. "Eh. Not my problem."

"IT IS VERY LITERALLY YOUR - " Before Scarlet could finish the sentence, she had a sudden idea. "Wait. Call me crazy, Karl, but I get the feeling that you don't actually want to run this place. Like you would rather be doing literally anything else with your life and are hoping this fire would provide just that opportunity."

The man's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

"I'll tell you what. I've got a few girlfriends with a lot of destructive energy they need to get out of their system. You give me some infrared goggles - four pairs - and we'll make sure that your little shop here gets thoroughly destroyed. Arson. Larceny. Vandalism. You name it. We save the rest of the town, we wreck this place in particular, you file the insurance claim and take the money and run off to do whatever it is you actually want to do. Go be on TV with Leon and start a new business or whatever. Everyone walks away happy. Do we have a deal?" The mathemagician extended her hand.

Karl looked from Scarlet to the television to Scarlet again. "Huh. It's not too often I get a person coming in here offering to commit actual crimes on my behalf. Hell, it's not too often I get people in here, period. I like you, kid." With a slight nod, he disappeared into a back room and returned with four pairs of infrared goggles, placing them in Scarlet's outstretched hand. "I'll be stepping out for an hour for my, uh, lunch break. I sure hope everything is intact when I get back." And with a very subtle wink and elbow nudge, Karl exited the building through the front doors.

"Wow. OK. I can't believe that worked. I guess we've got our game plan, then," Scarlet said, and she ran off to rejoin the rest of her group.

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The Scarlet duplicate was reunited with the girl squad and handed her original, Rachel, and Vanya a pair of goggles, keeping the last pair for herself until Charlotte came back.

"All right, girls!" Scarlet shouted, strapping the goggles to her face. "Looks like we'll be able to see the fire now. Let's get to smothering! Oh, and also we have to go destroy a shop after we finish doing this so yeah be ready for that. Move out!"

And she and the copy began tossing shirts and pants over the areas showing high heat signatures.

[Mizagium]

"Hmph," Anse pouted, maybe a little too childishly. Not that she let Scarlett or the others see. Everyone got infrared goggles except for her. If anyone should have gotten some, it was her, the girl who could walk on air and pinpoint exactly where the invisible fires were. But, alas. C'est la vie.

Anse hopped up a few feet and half-heartedly tossed her bundle of cloths at nothing. When they didn't catch fire, she sighed and scooped them up again.

What kind of life was this for a master thief? Not that Anse was a master thief, really. Perhaps an expert thief? Anse alighted on the swinging sign of a nearby shop (Wacky Jackie's Tacky Hat Racks and Knapsack Shack), where she pondered. She considered the various thievery ranks: novice, apprentice, adept, expert, elite, master, and overlord. She quickly eliminated two ranks on either side, considering the middle three.

No one had ever properly explained the difference between adept, expert, and elite. Perhaps that had more to do with the fact that Anse had never apprenticed herself to another thief, and was mostly self-taught. The various Thievery Organizations frowned on simply calling yourself a thief without going through the official channels. Of course, Anse liked to think of it as 'stealing' the rank for herself.

The Thieves in charge weren't amused by that. She knew because she'd said that to them when summoned to that tribunal last year. They hadn't laughed; Anse had. Then she fled. They were probably still after her.

Wait, what was she doing? Oh right the invisible fire.

In any case, Anse settled on 'adept' as her thief rank and decided to do something about it. She hopped off the sign and air-ran towards Scarlet, who was still holding the final pair of infrared goggles. "Allons-y," she declared.

Anse snatched the goggles from the Scarlet duplicate's hands and started gaining altitude with each step, angling back towards the fire. She struggled momentarily with fitting the device over her face without removing the domino mask, but eventually got there.

"Zut alors, she said, upon viewing the scope of the disaster the others had caused. Anse took her bundle of clothes and, like the two Scarlets, began tossing them over the worst areas, amazingly not making things worse (for now).

[Myrdraxxis]

Vanya wasted no time in equipping her new goggles (and made a note to finally update her ocular firmware cause she definitely should have already had that feature) and finally got a good look at the conflagration.

"Blyat."

The fire had grown. A lot. With no immediate way to contain it the flames had grown up around the building and the few ineffective clothing piles that had been used to try and snuff out hte flames before their goggles solution had only served to fuel it instead. Vanya looked down at the pile of clothing in her hands then back at the flames. After a couple of moments she decided that she had no ideas and fell back on her safety for figuring out tough situations that that rapidly get out of hand. She consulted the internet. She pulled out her cracked smartphone and quickly navigated to her Spacebook page.

Hey everyone Today has been a blast so far! explored a city, got wasted and picked a fight with some sort of math demon! It's pretty lit. The town I mean. it's very very lit. On fire. It's been lit on fire. Anyone happen to know a good way to quickly put out a large out of control fire??

It only took a moment for the replies to start flooding in.

'What...'
'Call the damn firefighters!'
'How did you already set the city on fire?
'Already on my way Shest. Thanks for providing a big ol' heat signature- that bounty is mine!'
'Water'
'What time is you rnext stream Vanya?'

Vanya sighed and set her phone aside. Well, it least one of it was BAD advice, but she was pretty sure the firefighters had already been called, if the sirens were anything to go by. She sure hoped they had thermal goggles of their own. A tickle in the back of her mind made Vanya frown. Wait...what had that one reply said?

A cosmic response to her query came in the form of a T75 Hammerhead Series V shuttle that screamed out of the sky like a furious banshee and slammed into the pavement several feet away. The ground shook and several civilians without the good sense to flee from invisible fire screamed in terror as the vessel skidded through the road and came to a halt with a hiss of superheated air. Vanya stared at it bemused for a moment until the hatch underneath its bulbous cockpit opened and deposited a cowboy.

"I finally caught up to you Vanya Shest!" The man was garbed in some sort of cross between a pilot suit and a trench coat with a wide-rimmed hat framing his face. A manic scowl and handlebar mustache completed the look. "Thought you slipped away on Dessen but oho no, nobody escapes from Space Mike the best bounty hunter this side of the empire!" The bounty hunter declared, punctuating the point with a hand pointed towards the sky. A hiss of depressurized steam accompanied that like a wet fart and sent his hat flying, leaving luscious blond locks flowing in the wind.

Vanya looked at the ship, back at the man then behind her at the fire. She nodded and slowly started walking towards Mike.

"I've finally succeeded where dozens have failed! I'll get a small fortune for bringin you back in one piece and finally be able to retire from this damn business. That ranch on Marsus is finally mine-ughhfb"

As Space Mike talked Vanya walked up, calmly stepped around his side and gently wrapped him into a choke hold. The man went out like a light. "When life give you lemons and all that..." Vanya said, let the man's body drop with a painful 'thwak' and walked into his ship. She found the cockpit and hummed thoughtfully for a moment. The system was locked down. Simple enough.

Vanya reached around, grabbed her braid and plugged it into a nearby port.

The ship hummed and after a moment Vanya had hacked her way in. She quickly rerouted the ship's plumbing into the the weaponry, and after taking aim with the ship cannons, fired the converted water cannons at the burning building.

[Calefrun]

Rachel accepted the pair of goggles that had been offered to her, and put them on.

"Oh, that's... wow, that's bad." As Vanya had observed, the fire was spreading rapidly. If something wasn't done quickly, it wouldn't be long before the entire city was engulfed in invisible fire. Unfortunately, even with Vanya doing the fire department's job for them, the amount of clothing that Scarlet had provided wouldn't be enough to smother the remaining flames.

An idea popped into Rachel's head. With any luck, it would turn out better than her last one. "Technically this technique is intended for the creation of quick disguises, but if modified it might be of some use here..." She placed her hands together, with her index and middle fingers extended. "Shadow Clothes Jutsu!"

The pile of clothing began to grow, as another thousand magically conjured outfits appeared out of thin air. Rachel turned towards the others.

"Does anyone have a way to spread these around quickly? Between the water pumps and the sheer amount of clothing here, we might be able to take care of the problem all at once!"

[Razgat]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"FIRE DEPARTMENT'S COMING!!" *sniffle*

Charlotte had managed to mostly contain her feelings after the call. Running really helped with that. "Oh.." She looked between the ninja making clothes appear, two Scarlet's, the girl walking IN THE AIR carrying clothes, and the.....dead cowboy(?) with a water canon. "I guess uh....you already got it. Maybe I can just uh..." She kicked at some dirt near the sidewalk in the general direction of the heat "help? Maybe?"

Oh my god, what am I doing? Does this even work? It works in the movies...