The flail smashes into the spot where Lianne was standing.  When she darts forward and attacks, her sword clangs off of the witch's leg, barely leaving a scratch.  Kaylee's knives don't do much more against it.

She focuses her magic on her sword, trying to make it significantly sharper and harder, then moves to attack the witch again.

It doesn't help much.

The witch takes a step back, raises its flail into the air, then brings the butt of the staff downward toward where Lianne's standing.

She throws herself backwards, gets some distance on the witch, then pushes even more magic in her sword and lengthens it, aiming to stab the witch in the chest.

It doesn't even bother to try blocking the stab.  The second hand on its face twitches back and forth erratically.

It lumbers forward, swinging the flail around its head, readying another strike.

Lianne dodges again, then - "The face! Kaylee, attack the face!" She summons her ribbons, trying to bind the witch's limbs and slow it down.

Kaylee jumps upward again and fires off another storm of daggers, this one aimed at the clock face.  It shatters, revealing intricate, delicate clockwork.  Some of Kaylee's daggers lodge inside it, and the sudden grinding shriek of metal against metal sounds like a scream.

Between this and the ribbons around its legs, it stumbles forward and lands on its hands and knees.  It swipes at Lianne with one hand, heavily, clumsily.

She moves out of the way, then stabs upwards, thrusting her sword into its gears.

She can feel the gears buzzing and clicking through it, resonating through the sword; its hands thrash for a moment, but then it falls still, slumps forward, and shimmers out of existence along with the rest of the barrier.

Can she see the grief seed?

It's easy to find, among the gravel.

"Good fight," she says, picking up the seed and clearing her gem, even though it's only slightly dingy. "Though I feel like it was harder than it should've been... I definitely need more experience with identifying witches and their weak points." She offers the gem to Kaylee.

"Thanks."  She takes the grief seed, and shrugs one shoulder.  "You noticed before I did."

"Yeah... We should probably go ahead and call our folks. It's getting pretty late."

"Oh wow, you're right, it is," she says.  "I didn't realize how long that took."

She transforms back, pulls out and flips open her phone, calls her dad.

Lianne drops her transformation and calls her mom, apologizing for the late hour.

"She'll be here in twenty minutes," Lianne says once she hangs up. "If your dad will take longer, I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind sitting with you until he gets here."

"He'll probably be here about then too, but thanks!"  She sits down on a nearby bench and pats the seat beside her.

Lianne smiles and sits with her.

"I had a good time today," Kaylee says. "I'm really glad we did this."

"Same. I'd like to do this again sometime - just hang out at the mall, catch a movie... Doesn't necessarily need to be about hunting."

"Yeah, me too.  One of the Fridays you don't go hunting?"

"I'm not really planning to hunt alone at all - having the backup is too valuable - unless it's an emergency. Or if I find just a familiar or something. When next will depend on my mom, though, and if I can get my grades up..."

Kaylee puts an arm around Lianne's shoulder.  "Well, we'll find a day somewhere."

"Definitely! And there's always clubs and our Saturday group for hanging out. Though it's not really the same."

"Yeah."

She gives a contented little sigh, and leans on Lianne a bit, unconsciously.