Haru wasn't really sure how to describe the newcomer, but to be quite frank it was best that she didn't attempt to rationalize it for fear of losing her mind over the most trivial of things again. In a way, she was perfectly and mentally fit for the purposes that required her to do the things that she needed to do at the time, but disregarding that she was just... stressed, really. Describing it in even more greater detail would have been pointless, since it seemed as if she had gone through fits like this over and over again. Like a naive, disobedient child.
Though prepared to bury the hatchet with her own insecurities or not, nothing, and I mean nothing, would prepare herself to deal with another neurotic and eccentric magical girl wannabe. Well, considering that she was knocked out cold by her own hubris, the question now of what to do from here on was the primary focus on her mind. Now that she's knocked out cold, the question of what to do with her came to her mind. Surely, she understood the necessity of waking her up and doing her own little introduction, making sure that both sides understood the situation, you know the deal. But if she woke her up now, there was no telling how she would respond at all, and worse yet, she had nothing in mind to make sure that at least this introduction didn't get botched by her lack of knowledge in regards to Devil values or whatever. Creating an international incident was not something she wanted to do at all.
At least, the most she could do now was to at least clothe her in something, since she was pretty sure that that frilly dress of hers would be pretty darn chilly. A miniskirt wasn't suited for the early morning weather, especially not in an uncharacteristically chilly spring, though she didn't actually know all that much about devil physiology. For all she knew, devils were warmer by comparison, by mere virtue of mostly living in the underworld. Regardless, however, she would be kind. As a courtesy, she takes off her red cloak and drapes it over the unconscious girl as a blanket.
Her eye twitched as she eyed the cheap wand on the ground, and she moved to pick it up. It was a cheap Chinese quality rip-off that was slightly modified to actually accept magical energies. Feeling rather vexed, she takes it from the unconscious girl, and crouches down next to her face. Her vision blurred and for a moment it was as if she wasn't in control of herself once again. When it cleared, she was left in a fairly uncompromising position, but at least nobody else could see her doing the pokey poke.
Actually, hold on. She was poking her with a magic stick now. Apparently, the situation has progressed to such an extent that she was actually using the ridiculous to balance out the ridiculous. She didn't know why, but by the time she was pressured into doing what she was doing right now, the mundane pokey poke appeared to seem like the rudimentary solution that she needed. She stoically processed the information as it came into her mind, and almost immediately decided to continue poking her with it. Honestly speaking, she should stop, and figure out something that would work in her favor.
But again, what really could she do? She found it necessary to repeat herself again as she was caught completely off guard by the new situation that had brought itself to her attention. It wasn't as if she was ready to meet a totally new friend out of nowhere just like that, but that was mostly because she clearly didn't intend to do something else at that point. Should she make it cordial and simple? Or bombastic, so that she could finally get some payback for the absurdity of the circumstance that she had found herself in.
An eye for an eye, so they say, except in this case it was closer to trading one clown for another clown, then trading that clown with a jester who worked with the Italian Mafia to prepare for their princess's birthday party. Or something along those lines at least, since she didn't really want to work on a world that lost its marbles oh so long ago. She actually wanted life as it was back then, before she had to go full on Angst Lord the Second, succeeding Shadow the Hedgehog and Sasuke Uchiha as lord-regent of the realm of dark backstories, but they had to live with their whole entire world view being shattered, and she, on the other hand, still had the opportunity to live a new life that her two previously mentioned edgelords have completely ignored for the most part.
At the very least, she still had her own life and that of her parents retained completely, no matter how close it was to collapsing because of the whole turning into a girl thing. She was thankful that Nobunaga managed to take control so easily, now that she thought about it. Her life, here and now, shall be defined entirely by the presence within herself, and that on its own brought large implications for the life she could have by then. She could certainly try to adhere to the model that Nobunaga had set out for her, but not right now. Not until she was ready to take the next big step.
Heh, she thought to herself. I don't think I want to see that just happen just yet. I can wait a little bit longer, just let me handle things as it is. By then I could make a final decision. I won't let you down any more, Oda Nobunaga. I can promise you that much. The loud voice that would normally speak up in her mind stayed silent, but she knew within her heart that she would have agreed.
She stood up, satisfied, and contemplating life. As long as her mind didn't regress into a bipolar state once again, she should be fine. She kind of got used to the mental breakdowns, even considering that she reconciled with them on multiple occasions. But what was she so caught up with? This was like the second time already, and if it were up to her, this would be the final time she would ever need to be this introspective about her life! She smiled; satisfied that she finally had something of a conclusion.
She was so caught up in her own personal introspection that she didn't sense the creeping arm coming closer to her foot, and the pained groaning that accompanied it. When it grasped her, Haru also heard the low growl from the magical girl wannabe who was already regaining consciousness. The cold grip brought her out of her stupor, and her eyes slowly creeped downwards to see the tired eyes of the groggy girl. She muttered something slowly and at a low volume, almost gibberish and incomprehensible to normal ears, but heard perfectly by Haru's enhanced ears.
As it happened, Sona said, and I quote: "Sis…? Is it morning already…?" From her perspective at least, it was as if the older Sitri was standing before her, even considering the oriental features that were present in Haru's face. "Huh…? Who… are you again…?" She adjusted her lenses, as if to examine her more in detail, rubbing on Haru's metal boots all the while.
Just as Sona was about to continue her spiel, Haru smacked her unconscious with the magic stick, right on her face, leaving behind a very big, and red, bruise. She had a face of unrestrained panic, the violent response a direct result from the ultimately unexpected surprise that brought her from her stupor. Even considering that Sona didn't do anything truly bad at the end of the day, her out of nowhere wake-up call still brought some violent urges within Haru that she didn't know she had. Evidently, they were practically inherited from Nobunaga, who for the sake of this story had one incident in the past involving her friend Mori, a bed, and hours of lost sleep.
Suddenly realizing what she had done, she backtracks, horror setting on her face. She looks straight at the girl who flew a few meters away from her, then at the stick on her hand, broken slightly and dented. She throws it down, damaging it further and runs towards the girl to examine any potential wounds. The most she got was a goose egg on her forehead thankfully. She didn't have to worry about accidentally injuring a close family member of Serafall. She didn't activate Nobunaga's anti-divine skills, and what little there was didn't hurt her all that much, so there was no existential threat that risked bloody murder. At the very least, she could try and make amends. Humor her. Make her seem friendlier than someone who attacked an unknown and or neutral force unwarranted.
But how exactly was the question in her mind? She didn't have anything to entertain her with, nothing to break the ice, fix their problems, you get the picture. Unless she wanted to break a leg and dance that stupid dance she did, and believe me she didn't because by then...
Wait. She took a moment to look at the discarded magic stick sticking out on the dirt floor like some kind of cursed magical girl equivalent of the sword on the stone, and realized she might have the answer to the problem she was facing. Although ideally speaking, this wouldn't really fix any of the problems she was currently facing, personally speaking that is—and really, worst-case scenario it might actually make her situation much worse—, entertaining her with something she was familiar with might just do the trick. But the execution could be problematic but if she wasn't mistaken... She shivered, the uncomfortable memories of a day long lost to history still fresh on her mind.
An image of a younger male Haru Hyoudou stuck out in her mind, 7 years of age and wearing the girliest outfit he had ever thought that he would have worn at that age. A 1000 Yen(...?) Halloween costume that they'd bought in the thrift store. A pink beret, and a frilly pink dress that emphasized a girlish youthfulness. Then, a pair of knee high socks and red loafers that rounded out the innocent, if extravagant fashion sense that she had. Her mother dressed him up that day, somehow looking both proud and strained at the end result, though she herself was straining to remember the exact image herself. That was mostly because it may have been traumatic. If it was really as traumatizing as she remembered, then yeah she would have a real problem on her hands. Then again, if anything bad came out of it, it would ultimately come down to her being a stubborn little kid and sticking her hand through the electric fan frame despite being told by her parents not to.
But if she was remembering it quite correctly, it was everyone else that was dressing Sakura up, her best friend knitting and sewing every single one of her costumes, and somehow making a new one for every monster of the week they fought against. The dress made somewhat out of rubber was her favorite, honestly. Though, in a reversal of fortunes, she was making the executive decision here, not someone else, so if there was anyone to blame for the fluff she was potentially going to subject herself with, it would come down to her and her alone.
Haru… Are you really sure about this? I get that it's all cute and stuff, but… Nobunaga asked, surprised that Haru had a history of adorable crossdressing long before she had arrived already. The distinction between regular crossdressing and "adorable" crossdressing went through deaf ears, but Haru got the gist of it. And she also chose not to answer, so as to retain the sanity and brief respite of calm that she had obtained just an hour earlier, even if it was kept and held together by sheer force of anger alone.
She gazed at the stick once more, and steeled her resolve. Walking back to the unconscious body, she left behind a bag of candies and a note telling the girl explaining and apologizing for the events earlier, and essentially bribing her with sweets so as to shut her up and avoid any potential problems in the future. Hopefully, it would be most of them. She picked the stick up and mindlessly tossed it straight onto the other girl's forehead again with a loud THONK. She walked methodically out of the forest to the direction of her home, making sure to avoid direct contact with any people who might recognize her in the attire.