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

Take them along

After a moment of hesitation, Ai sighs. "Hey!" she calls to the retreating trio. Madoka and Hitomi perk up immediately. "You said you wanted to come? Sure, I'll take you."

Sayaka stops and turns her head to glare. "If you- whoa!" Except the momentary pause gives Hitomi the chance to reverse their positions and pull Sayaka instead. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Stopping you from being a jerk," the clearly stronger girl replies primly. She does not allow Sayaka to dig in her feet, effectively moving her and Madoka back to Ai's side. The pinkette follows without making a fuss, offering a shy smile. It grows when Ai nods at her. Meanwhile, Hitomi indicates for the Grief Seed. "It was you who requested this to begin with, Sayaka. The fact aside that Ai is a good person, backing out now is plain rude." The blunette pouts while Hitomi smiles at Ai. "Please, lead the way."

"Can do!"

This close to the Grief Seed, entering is simple. She considers tapping it a few times to announce her entry, but caution is advised with the girls following. Ai can not die, but the humans behind her certainly can. So she grasps the fracture in space and pulls it open, revealing a gleaming portal. Hitomi strides through, followed by a grumbling Sayaka and excited Madoka.

Once Ai enters, she finds herself in a long corridor of sponge cake. THe walls are lined with cookies and other pastries. A sweet scent hangs heavy in the air, making her lose focus for a moment. Hitomi glances this way and that, puzzled.

"This is... not quite what I expected. Not from a creature that allegedly eats people."

"The last one had a big garden or something," Madoka explains haltingly. Her gaze keeps flicking to a super-sized strawberry embedded in the wall. "But looking at them makes your stomach turn. They are that weird."

"Yeah, no kidding." Sayaka looks a little sickly as she says it. She makes to elaborate, but stops and stares. "Are you serious?"

Ai blinks up at her, mouth full of cake. With no familiars in sight, she knelt to take a bite out of the floor. It is spongey and sweet, at least twice as good as any of the treats she had since arriving here. Something in the goodness makes her glow, quite literally, if only for a moment. It tastes like hopes and dreams, going down. Ai swallows, rubs crumbs off her lips, and tilts her head. "How do you mean? It's cake." Then, seeing three sets of incredulous stares pointed at her, she reevaluates. "Then again, there is something magical about it, so you three probably shouldn't eat it."

It is oh so tempting to break a piece off that giant cookie, but Ai refrains. Shaking her head to dislodge her desire for sweets, she points forward. "Anyway, I don't think Witches are that weird. Izabel is a little funky looking, sure, but overall?" Thinking back to the amalgam of skinless human bodies that is Nothing There, or Laetitia's arachnid friends that reach two metres high and eat people from the inside, Izabel's appearance is tame.

"Who is Izabel?" Madoka asks as they emerge into a larger tunnel. The twilight surrounding them has all three human girls huddle together, but no danger presents itself. "Is she another Magical Girl?"

Ai foregoes an immediate answer in favour of changing back to her telltale magical girl attire. Her clothes wriggle and shift before she cheerfully points her staff forward. "Nope, Izabel is my Witch friend. She loves art."

"Hold on, what?" Sayaka stops walking and stares at Ai. "What do you mean you're friends with a Witch? They're the enemy! They eat people!!" Her voice grows in volume until it echoes off the walls. Hitomi levels a disapproving stare at her blue-haired friend; meanwhile, Madoka's gaze alternates between her and the nonplussed Ai.

"I talked to her about it," the magical girl reveals with only the slightest note of heat. "And wonder oh wonder, she agreed not to hurt good people anymore. It is as easy as asking, you know?" Her caustic response agitates Sayaka further, but Ai turns around again. "Izabel is a bit odd and vain, but really nice. She threw herself into danger for my sake without hesitation." And then Mami killed her. "In fact, if I can, I am going to befriend this one, too. Oh, and there they are!"

A crowd of sketch figures toddles toward them on stick legs. They are rotund, black with red polka dots. A singular eye with blue iris crowns each one's head, from which big, floppy ears emerge. Ai waves and they do not react, excitedly chattering with each other on the approach.

"Should you, um, do something?" Hitomi's question is justified, seeing that Ai allows the crowd to approach. They are all unarmed.

"Don't worry." So saying, Ai steps forward. The familiars stop in front of her, shaking excitedly. Or in fear, she can not quite tell. She smiles at them. "Hello!"

A smattering of "Hello"s answers her, one after another. One brave specimen moves forward to touch her. She grabs the tip of its stick arm and shakes it, prompting more excited chatter. The many voices overlap, making it difficult to parse what they say. The one in front taps her a few times, then looks past, at the wary girls behind her. "Cheese?" it asks, then looks at Ai again... and jumps? "Cheese!"

Cheers of "Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!" echo as more come forward and hoist her up on their shoulders. Ai squeaks in surprise, then laughs. "See, they're friendly!" she calls to her companions. None of them is happy about joining her in the air, but there are too many familiars to evade. Soon they are paraded across a vast valley of gingerbread; the inner side is adorned with spiked candy canes and only a bridge of edible paper connects the two. Candy cauldrons filled with steaming honey line the walls, each one guarded by another group of familiars.

Ai enjoys the entire proceedings, but makes sure she stays near the others. Hitomi is still bemused, but Madoka slowly starts to smile. "This is kind of fun," she shouts over the continuous chanting. "I had no idea!"

"They've got to be planning something!" Sayaka calls back angrily, then swats one particular arm away. "Hey, watch where you touch!"

"What are they saying?" Hitomi is heard next, carried on Madoka's other side. "I do not understand a word!"

"There's too many talking at once!" Ai tells her, but her good mood remains. This is going much better than anticipated.

They pass the bridge and two more corridors before a giant gate looms ahead. It is made of a singular chocolate bar that melts into the ground on their approach, opening into a cavernous room adorned with all kinds of sweets in various colours. To a final chorus of "Cheese!", the four are set down. The entire mob retreats and the gate reforms behind them. In the sudden silence, Ai beams at her companions. "See! This went really well!"

All of them are still befuddled by what happened, looking between each other. That is, until Sayaka shakes herself. "What do you have there?" she asks Madoka, who is holding a slip of paper. The pinkette shrugs.

"It was in my hand at some point. I didn't even notice how it got there."

"Be careful," Kyubey comments, making themselves known for the first time in a while. "This paper emits traces similar to those of a Witch. In fact, Ai? Would you happen to know what it is?" Beady, pink eyes direct their unblinking gaze to the magical girl.

She receives the paper from a suddenly worried Madoka and runs her thumb over it. "Hm." It glitters faintly golden. Warm to the touch, it carries a set of symbols Ai knows. The City's script is easily recognisable. "It's a train ticket. How did that get here?" Is Madoka's shadow winking at her? It gives no other indication, so Ai focusses back on the ticket. There is no time or date of departure listed. The W-Corp stamp is missing, too. Running her thumb over it again, Ai wonders of its consistency. It feels more like leather. She hands it back with a shrug. "I don't think this is dangerous, so hold onto it for now."

"Okay."

"Cheese?"

A new, high-pitched voice chimes into their conversation. The four girls turn to the high table set in the room's center; there sits a pink and mauve doll. She peers down at them with empty, blue eyes. A black coat with red polka dots hugs her tiny body, reminiscent of the familiars. The chair sways dangerously and falls from the Witch leaning over its backrest. She squeals on the way down. The chair's metres-long legs snap along the way and she bounces along the cake floor, coming to lie in front of them. Ai crouches and picks her up, wiping frosting off her face. "No cheese, sorry. What's your name?"

"I'm Char!" she chirps, then the cloth of her face scrunches. "But Pyotr said cheese! And there's a nice smell!" She sniffs the air, looking this way and that. Her gaze quickly settles on Madoka. "There! Is that cheese? That must be cheese! Cheese!" She wiggles and waves her stubby arms, but Ai holds her tight.

"Now hold on a second, she's no cheese." The continued insistence gives her a bad feeling. "We can-"

"What the hell is going on here?" Sayaka interrupts, pointing at either Ai or Char. "I can't understand a word that thing says! Stop hugging her and fight her already! Mami would've been done already!"

The continuous reminder sours Ai's mood. She turns to argue, but Char is fed up with being held back. She squeals and moans, then somehow constricts herself. And out of her tiny mouth bursts a caterpillar, several times the size of a human. Her leathery skin is pitch black, sporting an array of red polka dots. All four stare at the humongous worm as it approaches gracefully, almost leisurely. Madoka stands frozen in place as its jaws open, revealing a row of razor sharp teeth. Each one is the size of her forearm.

Ai and Hitomi act as one; the human girl tackles Madoka out of the way while the magical girl summons a pink shield between Char and her target. It cracks when the caterpillar bites, but holds for several seconds. Char shakes herself until it breaks with a sound not unlike glass. The energy disperses between her teeth. Hitomi is dragging Madoka away while a shrieking Sayaka runs the other way.

Char groans a loud "Cheeseeeeee!" and makes to follow her chosen meal, only to receive an array of pink orbs to her flank. She flinches and turns her chalk white face Ai's way, rainbow-coloured eyes narrowed. The magical girl's expression is just as severe. Sore pink circles appear around her. "Stop that," she commands, "or face retribution for your evil acts."

"Char. Is. HUNGRYYYYY! CHEEEESEE!"

Her roar shakes the barrier and Ai understands talking will not work. She could have laughed off loosing an arm or a leg, but not one of the other girls. Not to mention, with Sayaka's constant commentary and reminders of Mami, her mood is pretty much shot. Some good old violence sounds just about right.

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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGKl5KLJAq8

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Pick a basic strategy. More elaborate plans are welcome.

[] Just blast her at full power.
weight: x1

[] Play keep-away with teleportation and platforms.
weight: x1

[] Char is not the only one who can transform. Show her the Queen's might!
weight: x0.75

[] Something else? (Write-in)

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Charlotte, the Sweets Witch
-Threat Assessment: WAW
-Threat Description: She is huge, big enough to swallow a human in a single bite. The first salvo barely pierced her thick, resilient skin. Being the master of her barrier also makes her nimble.