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[X] Keep talking about Witches and Magical Girls. Sarah's... well, Sarah. Pressing her on this will just end in Taylor and you being frustrated.
You can
feel Taylor's glare towards Sarah. Sarah, being Sarah, continues to talk with her friends as if nothing's wrong. Briefly, you consider needling your fellow
Puella Magi --maybe between Taylor and you, you can corner her into giving a straight answer on
why she bent the knee to The Bitches Three and completely ignored Taylor's misery.
However, you know Sarah. And that means you know that you could have her up against a wall, machinegun to her Soul Gem, and she
still wouldn't take anything coming out of your mouth seriously. Sighing, you casually reach out and put your left hand on Taylor's shoulder. She
jumps at the contact, looking at limb as if it were some sort of vaguely-threatening spider.
You give a squeeze. A very small squeeze.
<<Leave it,>> you tell her, <<Trust me when I say that, whatever you wanna get out of
that one, she's not gonna make it worth the effort.>>
<<I'm right here, you know,>> Sarah pipes up.
<I
know,>> you shoot back. Sarah
pouts over the link, and Taylor looks incredibly uncomfortable from that; you give her a sympathetic look, and-
Again!
Duck, block,
grab. One handed. Turn
slowly to look at the larger boy wearing ABB colours. He sneers at you, although his confidence plummets when he realizes that he can't pull out of your grip. And then it goes into a nose-dive when you pull
him down.
"What the fu-"
"After school," You
hiss at him. "Alley three blocks north. Bring
friends. Or whatever it takes for you to feel
man enough to face little old
me."
You push him away, letting the wannabe gangster stumble away from you, and then clasp your hands on your desk, looking as bored as you can. Taylor's look reminds you somewhat of an owl, with how wide her eyes are.
<<... Did you just-.>>
<<-Challenge the manhood of an ABB fanboy and dare him to fight me after school?>> You finish Taylor's question. <<Yes. I did.>>
<<Not to tell the
Übermädchen what to do, but
try not to machinegun Winslow's junior ABB to death,>> Sarah quips. She's giggling at something her little circle of friends are talking about, and you pretend not to be jealous, <<Last thing
either of us needs is the Protectorate sniffing around.>>
<<It's
Super-Mädchen,>> you reflexively correct. Taylor
stares at you, Sarah cackles like a
hyena, and you try not to blush. <<A-anyway! We were talking about Magical Girls so
why don't we keep talking about Magical girls, please?>>
Taylor has that look. The look someone has when they realize that the deep end is a lot deeper than they thought. It takes a while for her to open up again --during which the teacher arrives, and begins doing teacher things; your pen flies over your notebook from all the notes you're taking-- but she eventually does.
<<Are you two...
friends?>> she asks, tentatively. <<You obviously know each other, but...>>
... Oh dear. How to explain Magical Girl
politics.
<<We're not,>> You tell her, bluntly.
<<I
am her favorite neighbour, though!>> Sarah pipes up.
<<Anna and Andrea
try to kill me,>> you shoot back, <<If the bar was any
lower it would be
underground.>>
Taylor is
staring at you again. <<Um?>>
<<Right, sorry,>> You run your fingers through your hair. <<Magical Girls hunt Witches, which are monsters born of despair and madness and which feed off of... well,
people.>> You pause for a moment, speed-writing something on the whiteboard. <<Witches prey on negative emotions; despair, sadness, rage... that sort of thing, and they'll try to drive people further and further into that untill they, er, kill themselves. They do that by either trapping people inside their Barrier --which is this
freaky pocket universe the Witch lives in-- or by "Kissing" them and influencing their actions.>>
Taylor bites her lip, obviously taking that information in. <<Okay, but what's that got to do with two other Magical Girls trying to
murder you?>>
<<Because there's only so many Witches,>> you tell her, <<Even in Brockton Bay, you can't just stumble out of your apartment and expect to find one right there; you need a good chunk of territory to hunt in if you want to find them consistently.>> You pause. <<
Or, you can cheat a little and go for places that tend to attract Witches. Cementeries. Hospitals->>
<<Like I do!>> Sarah chirps.
<<-... and apparently
this school,>> you finish off. You sigh. <<Anna and Andrea used to have Winslow as part of their territory; if they're not busy fighting
each other, they're trying to get it back from me. Or poaching.>>
<<For the record,>> Sarah butts in, <<The
correct way to mooch off of Rachel's hard-won Witch magnet is to ask
nicely.>>
Taylor looks like your answer has opened up even
more questions for her.
"Why can't..." she mumbles, stops, and then goes with telepahy again. <<Why can't they just... stop hunting Witches?>>
... Silence. You were... Actually, you're not entirely sure
what you were hoping. That
this wouldn't come up?
Oh,
well.
You glance right, towards Sarah. Your eyes shift to look at Emma, Madison and Shadow Stalker. Sarah's out of her grabbing range, and none of the bullies
should have an angle to see what you're about to do. Which makes the
really stupid thing you're about to do just this side of unthinkably dangerous.
You lay your right hand down on the table, cupping it so that it's like an upside-down bowl. Underneath, there's an almost-imperceptible flash of grey-ish blue light. You lift your hand, being careful to keep what's underneath hidden from everyone save Taylor.
Your Soul Gem glints in the fluorescent light of the classroom. It's a grey-blue colour, and the frame around it is a polished silver. At the top is a little square diamond-and-a-half, with a smaller gem inset and the incomplete half pointed down. You count your lucky stars that there's nothing immediately offensive about your Gem.
You're not sure if you could handle that.
<<This,>> you tell Taylor, <<Is my Soul Gem, the source of all my powers as a Magical Girl. The proof of my Wish.>> You wait a moment for her to get a good look at it.
At your
self.
<<And no, the name's not a play on words. It's
exactly what it sounds like.>>
Taylor makes a
noise. She was looking at your Gem with some discretion, but now you have to clear your throat before everyone notices her
gawking at it.
<<... That's your
soul.>> Her voice is
tiny.
<<Yes,>> you tell her.
Taylor's stuck
staring at... er,
you. Again, you clear your throat and lean in towards her. "You know, it's a
little rude to stare," you whisper at her, snapping her out of her daze. She still looks... horrified? Fascinated?
Deeply unsettled? Somewhere between all three.
You tilt yourself. You wobble on the desk, enough that the oily black layer on the bottom sloshes around enough to be visible.
<<See that gunk?>> you ask Taylor, who gives you a look as if to say "Yes I can see the
gunk on your
freaking Soul, thank you very much", <<If you ever wanted to know what negative emotions look like... well, they look like
that. Sadness, misery, loathing... Despair, basically. From what Kyuubey told me, a side-effect of having your soul outside your body is that you can't really get
rid of that on your own.>> You give your Gem a tap. <<Instead it just... accumulates. Using my powers also fills up my Gem.>>
<<... why?>>
<<They run off of positive emotions,>> You answer her, <<And yes, I know that "powered by hope and happiness" sounds sappy as
heck, but that's basically how it works.>> You hum. <<If you think of my Soul Gem like an engine->>
<<No!>> Taylor snaps. Her face flushes, and she speaks again, more subdued, although her pitch goes up towards the end, <<No, I meant... Why does being a Magical Girl involve your
Soul being put into a
rock!?>>
There's an awkward silence. Taylor blushes in embarassment at her outburst.
<<... Er, I didn't mean... uh... It's a really... pretty rock?>>
...You decide to have a little fun.
You flash her a cheeky smile, and in your most
teasing tone of mental voice, say, <<Why
thank you! I'm flattered that you think of me that way, but don't you think it's a little too soon?>>
Taylor
stares at you for what feels like a few minutes. You decide to give her a hint, and nudge the Gem, making it wobble. <<Hello, Taylor,>> you say, and her eyes widen
further when she realizes that your telepathic "voice" is coming from the
gem.
It's
Sarah's turn to make an uncomfortable-sounding
noise. <<Oooh, I wish you didn't do that,>> she mutters, and you can
feel her try not to shudder over the link. <<I
really wish you didn't do that.>>
<<Don't you
know this already?>> You ask Sarah.
<<Yes, but the way your
remind people is the most
uncomfy way concievable. Brrr!>
You mentally roll your eyes at Sarah. Glancing at Taylor, you get the distinct impression that your attempt at a joke was, er, less that successful. You're not sure it was even possible to look
that uncomfortable.
<<Anyway!>> you say, covering the Gem with your hand. A mental nudge, and it's gone, back into its ring form, the flash of magic safely obscured. Taylor blinks owlishly, and visibly shakes herself.
<<Anyway,>> you repeat yourself, <<In order: Witches drop things called "Grief Seeds" when killed; using those, a Magical Girl can clean her Gem. Since Grief Seeds are the
only way to keep your Gem clean, and Witches are the only source of Grief Seeds... well, they're
really valuable for a Magical Girl.>>
An understatement if there ever was one.
<<And the reason our souls are outside out bodies is because...>> You frown, thinking back to when you were asking Kyuubey questions just like this one. <<From what I understand, half of it is because it's necessary for us to use magic --the "Magical" part of "Magical Girl"-- and half of it is because it makes us just this side of unkillable, since I don't need my body to be alive to be
alive.>> A pause. <<And, before you ask; no, I don't know what happens when my Gem fills up. I don't
want to know. I don't want to find out. Ever.>>
You let Taylor...
process everything you've told her so far. She stares at you for a good,
long while, and then her gaze just sort of... drifts forward. She takes a deep, shuddering breath, and raises her hands to hold up her head; palms pressing against the sides of her skull, fingers digging into her hair, and elbows on the desk. She takes another long, deep breath, and looks like she just found out
exactly how deep the deep end of the pool is.
You don't exactly blame her. You busy yourself taking notes; between a slightly better teacher and actual
interest from you, your History class notes are shaping up much better than your Math ones. You might have to share them with Taylor later, so even more reason to write everything down.
Eventually, Taylor finishes sorting everything you dumped on her inside her head. Or, you guess, she's shoved it into a corner so she can freak out
later. <<Putting...
all of that aside... Why haven't I
heard about any of this before?>> she asks you.
You frown at your notes. You cross something out and write down a correction in the margin. <<Odds are, you
did, actually. For example, that mass suicide that was getting 24/7 news coverage three weeks ago?>>
It takes Taylor a moment to realize what you're talking about. <<The one in Ohio? Yeah, it was all over the PHO forums. The news had people saying it must be some sort of unidentified Master cape, but some of the people online said that there was something... I dunno,
off about it?>> She halts. <<Er. I have an account there.>>
<<Same. Handle's "FullyAutomaticMachineWand".>> You try not to grin. <<Sarah's is "Big_Sords_Dont_Lie", so you can block her.>>
<<Hey!>>
<<Anyway.>> You ruthlessly ignore Sarah's protests. It's a useful skill. <<Something not a lot of news outlets showed --and which
did get passed around on PHO-- was that everyone involved had a little mark on their neck.>> You tap the appropiate place, pretending to be scratching an itch. <<Right
here, shaped like some sort of glyph. That's what a Witch's Kiss looks like, and
that is what a Witch attack looks like.>>
<<... And what about Magical Girls?>>
Ah. The
other part you're not looking forward to talking about.
[-] You know, you've got some questions of your own. Time for some tit for tat, although you might want to be a polite about it.
-[-] What's up with Emma, Madison and Shadow Stalker?
-[-] ... Oh. Right. Sophia's Shadow Stalker. Might want to, uh, lead with that.
[-] Tell Taylor about the Magical Capes. Or: Why the First Rule of Magical Girl Shit is "Don't tell anyone about Magical Girl Shit".
