In the Name of Love and Hatred! [PMMM / LoR]

Search for evil to fight

Ai's face lights up in realisation: she is indeed free to go where she wants and do as she pleases. Meaning, it is time to do what she was born for. Evil never sleeps, after all! But first, she needs to find the evil. It usually crawls in the Backstreets, though in this case there are none. No buffer-area between the Nests, this may not even be a Nest at all. Perhaps the literal backstreets will do, too?

Focussing on one of the highest buildings in sight, Ai channels magic again. A pink circle appears beneath her feet and bright lights shine from where she stands. Before anyone can do more than notice however, it fades again. Ai is gone, now standing atop the gleaming skyscraper. She takes a dainty step toward the edge and leans forward, peering down while almost diagonal. A pale hand comes up to shield her eyes from the glaring sunlight. "Hmmm."

The back alleys are partly hidden from above, but Ai's field of vision is grand nonetheless. This unfamiliar city's magnificent spread distracts her momentarily. It is mostly clean, bright, and filled with people everywhere. But where the City life surges in its Backstreets, the dilapidated areas she spies are all but abandoned. How odd.

But Ai perseveres on her perch up high. Scanning the area for minute after minute, watching the throngs of people for any sign of trouble. It is remarkably peaceful, all in all. A few more Fixers are about, at least those she recognises by their Police uniforms. Many citizens wear suits of some kind, similar to the attire all the librarians had when she last saw them. Splotches of colour signify others among them, though. Their sight lifts Ai's mood, driving away the momentary nostalgia.

Her smile reemerges at the sight of a purse-snatcher. Finally, an evil to face.

Just as her staff appears in hand however, called with but a stray thought, she hesitates. She could destroy that woman from her perch. She could go in and confront her directly. But stealing someone's belongings does not demand being harried to death, does it? Which means it is not evil, is it? On the other hand, neither is it good.

The alien realisation makes Ai recoil. She stumbles back from the edge and falls onto her butt, staring vacantly. Where did that thought come from? How can something be neither good nor evil?

Shaking it off, the magical girl climbs back to her feet and continues her vigil. As the sun wanders across the sky however, she keeps being confronted with it; petty crime is all she finds. Theft, littering, jaywalking. These things are wrong, but not evil. Not in the way she needs. Is there, perhaps, no evil to be found? Her eye twitches at the mere idea. No, no, there must be something.

Yet she keeps thinking, what does she call something wrong that is not evil? Bad? Just 'wrong'? Ai does not know, and that worries her. The thought keeps creeping around her mind, dragging with it the memory of Judgement Bird; the guardian who weighted his just scale in fear of a being that tipped it in neither direction.

Then, just as her eyes pass an abandoned construction site connecting two busy areas, she finds them. Two men, dragging a struggling lady further from the crowds. She kicks and fights, but two on one gives her little chance. Ai's smile returns at the sight and she takes aim, only to pause again. Another memory resurfaces, of the handful of battles she joined in Lobotomy Corporation. Shooting into the melee would hurt the victim. That would not do. She refused to hurt those under her care again.

Gauging the distance between her perch and the target, Ai crouches. One leg extends backward, the other tenses. Power runs through her being. One hand on the ground to steady herself, she pushes off; steel cracks under her feet, but it holds. Small tremors runs through the building as Ai shoots away. A pastel blur darts across the skyline, entering the construction site at breakneck speed.

The first man never even sees her coming. Ai's staff comes down on his head, the star shape large enough to cover it entirely. Blood, flesh, bone, and chips of concrete fly, showering her most of all; she blinks away the crimson from her eyes and straightens up, staff held at her side. The splattered victim and remaining attacker gape at her while she strikes a pose, red dripping from her raised fist. "Magical Girl of Love, here to punish the evil!"

For some reason, her display makes the woman faint. The man stumbles backward in justified fear. Ai follows him leisurely, an absent flick freeing her staff of some gore. Her eyes actually gleam in eagerness while he whimpers at her. Two more steps and he stumbles, crawling away until his back hits a wall. Whatever he tries to say, it is too unintelligible to be understood. Ai simply smiles, making him huddle and hide his face with both arms.

The staff rises, then comes down like a guillotine. Blood splashes once again, pooling around bone fragments and chunks of flesh.

Taking a step back to study her handiwork, Ai beams. She did it! That lady is safe and the evildoers were punished! A few quick pats make her magical clothes wobble, repelling the blood staining it. Some more magic scrapes the cooling crimson off her skin. It flows down and rolls off her feet in two tiny waves, forming almost perfect circles. Pristine once more, Ai hops over it and to the victim. She quickly treats the bruises on her waist and thigh, then mends her torn clothes. Cleaning the blood takes a minute longer, but Ai does that, too. Leaving her soaked in it would just be rude.

Then, looking back at the carnage, she carries her charge a few streets away and places her on a bench. There, much better.

Which is when she becomes aware of her empty stomach.

Rubbing her belly, Ai stands in indecision. She should not need to eat, being an Abnormality, but food does sound nice. Maybe they have HamHamPangPang around these parts? Although, how does she pay for even a sandwich?

Staring down at the unconcious woman, she momentarily considers to charge for her efforts. But no, that is ridiculous. Magical Girls fight because it is right, not to get paid. Then again, that does not cover looting evildoers.

Problem solved, Ai leaves the lady to her own devices and skips back to rifle through her enemies' pockets. Or, at least what is left of them. She finds pieces of electronics her assault broke, some miscellaneous stuff, a bloodstained package of gum... and two wallets. Neither has much on them and all the plastic cards are immediately disregarded. Most are IDs anyway. Ai stuffs coins and notes into her magical pocket after cleaning them, then puts the wallets back. The gum she keeps, too.

After another quick pat of magic to clean hands and shoes again, she pops a piece of gum in her mouth and starts to chew. Another spell teleports her onto the nearest roof, from where she skips away. The rooftops are much easier to maneuver than the crowded streets!

Humming a little tune whose origin Ai forgot, she traverses several areas. If anyone did see her, the speed at which she vanished would make them think they imagined it. She soon notices that younger people are out and about now; most boys wear a different kind of black suit, the girls cream-coloured sweaters and checkered skirts. Uniforms seem big in these parts. Then again, some of each are dressed more casually.

She stops to consider them momentarily, watching a few step up to a stall for... crepes?

Ai stops and studies the stall, then the small group of teens crowding it. Her stomach is still empty and a peek at the prices tells her she can afford one. So, eager for her first meal in a new place, Ai hops down and lands in a crouch. From there she strolls out of an alleyway and joins the back of the line. Gazes wander her way and some human girls giggle while pointing her way; Ai smiles and waves, but no one approaches her. Soon enough it is her turn; the man behind the stall wears a polite smile, says hello, and thanks her for her patronage after she paid. Ai waves and scampers off to a nearby bench, her purchase in hand.

Sweet food tastes even better after a job well done.

After taking a few minutes to obliterate her treat with gusto, she strolls back into that empty alley. With nobody else taking the rooftops, she can guess people will get weird if she climbs back up in their sight. A few walljumps later, she carries on. The birds-eye view from that tower is tempting, but now she wants a closer look at various places. It is just different to be there in person, not to mention she could not spy into some of these alleys from high up.

On a quick hustle through the center of town, Ai fails to notice a head snap her way just as she lands and darts out of their sight. She traverses this far smaller city in minutes and comes to a stop atop one of the large bridges. The afternoon sun is reflected beautifully in the channel beneath, giving Ai pause. Mesmerised, she leans onto the railing and gazes outward. So peaceful.

"Go away."

Ai blinks, looking around. No one but her is here. Who spoke, then?

"Go away," the voice repeats. Ai frowns, leaning over the railing to peer down. Then she flips over the edge with fluttering skirts, catching herself in the latticework below. The voice becomes louder. "Go away, leave my art alone!"

Although she still does not see anything, Ai can feel a faint sense of something nearby. She would have missed it without the voice. Some climbing brings her to a concentration of energy; the voice almost echoes here. Ai runs a hand over the portal and nudges it open before swinging herself through. A moment of disorientation follows, the magical girl lost in the void. She can hear a distorted giggle, unlike the voice she just heard. A familiar shadow looms over her, making Ai's eyes widen.

"Jester?"

He is gone as soon as he appeared. Colours return and she lands on a solid, monochrome surface. Black and white hunt each other in various complex patterns as much as simple specks. A dark red sky dominates the horizon, not quite right to her eyes. There is no sun, no clouds. Only this alien red and streaks of orange. It illuminates distant, blocky shapes that may be trees.

Then there are Abnormalities, just like Ai. Figures of ink and pale or brown flesh, drawn reminiscent of humans yet obviously not. Two of them lumber her way, each two metres tall. The female voice from before sounds again, stronger this time: "I told you to go away! Make her go away!"

"It's okay!" Ai calls back into the area. "I was just curious what your art looks like. Are you okay? And where are you?"

The two figures stop dead in their tracks. Silence lies heavy, the entire area shuddering. "Y-You mean it?" the voice asks hesitantly. "You want to see my art? Really?"

"Yes! Please show me! Oh, I'm Ai!"

"Yes! Yes! Michaela, in position!"

The hulking figures immediately begin to pose as, behind them, a magnificent stone arc appears piece by piece. On each side of the passageway is a relief of a magical girl, and on top rests an inky spectre peering down at Ai. The spectre bows, more like bobs her inky tentacles. "I am Izabel, be welcome!" she crows in a strong alto. "I should have know that one like me would appreciate my art where all the flesh does not!"

She may sound haughty, but Ai easily hears the undercurrent of true joy. She is happy, too: who would have thought a fellow Abnormality lived in this city? And by the sound of it, there are more!

Then the last bit of her statement registers. Ai hesitates, reminded how easily Abnormalities can hurt humans. She glances at the underlings again, Michaela they had been called. "What do you mean, 'all the flesh'?"

Another half dozen Michaelas joined the first duo, posing in various ways to show off their deformed bodies. Each one is unique, some with small hands and wide hips, others with broad shoulders. She even spots a single breast among them, carefully sculpted in the center of that particular creature's abdomen.

Izabel fails to notice, pushing out her bubbling chest. The entire arc clicks and clacks. "The flesh, of course. Sacks of flesh with barely a spark of life. I invite them at times, but none can appreciate my work until they are part of it."

Ai's smile dies.

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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM96WWORDdY

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[] You found Evil. Now destroy her with impunity!
weight: x2

[] She can talk and wants to. Maybe you can convince her not to hurt people?
weight: x1

[] Something else? (Write-in)

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Izabel, the Artist Witch
-Threat Assessment: TETH
-Threat Description: Her subordinates are slow and she seems stationary. She is clearly uninterested in actual combat, making her an easy opponent. Not to mention she does not expect an attack.