Mahou Shoujo Troper Magica - Yamanaka City -

One table in Kitakou High's cafeteria was unlike the others. Rather than having it's seats occupied by a crowd of idly bantering students, it was taken by a solitary girl surrounded by an innumerable expanse of volumes of literature. From all subjects, it didn't matter. Michi took a glance at the title, skimmed the insides, memorized them, then carefully set them aside for her next subject of study. Normally she retained the critical information- at least important relative to her- from each work and moved on. But the books occupied every space around her, kept others away. It was her metaphoric wall, so to speak. She read to herself, in perfect English, her lips moving as she scanned from an English anthology of poetry by a certain T.S Elliot.

For I have known them all already, known them all:-
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured our my life with coffee spoons;

Michi felt the irony abound as she drunk deeply from the thermos of coffee set to one side of a large treatise of Imperial Japan. She glanced around her, guiltily asking herself if she dared disturb the universe as she surveyed her peers, all looking so much less alone than she felt right now. She took the symbolic step of snapping the plastic spoon she had used to stir her coffee in half and tossing it toward a waste-bin nearby, and missing awfully. She silently berated herself and got up to retrieve the fragments of cutlery.

edited 3rd Apr '11 9:20:24 PM by Katsuun

"Ah, I think I see you" Akane said, hurrying to the table on which the Magical Girl sat. She wasn't exactly what she expected... somehow she pictured her with glasses. However she did take quite a liking to her clear blue eyes.

"Hello, Rei-san. A pleasure to meet you" Akane said, her face sporting a friendly grin as she sat down on the almost empty table.

"Okay. So that's it, huh? Hmm... I don't... feel any different."

She stared into the gem's depths. "Anything, huh? What if I wanted to know... about this?"

And at her bidding, the knowledge came, at first just a trickle, but gradually it grew and grew and grew until it roared through her like a flood.

The gem dropped from her fingers, landing softly on the grass as her whole body went limp.

"Gyahhh... what's... so much... can't understand... hurts... it hurts... it... KYAAAAAAH!"

Kiku clutched her head, rolling on the ground. Raw information whizzed through her brain, crushing it. Oh what did I get myself into I don't know anything I never did, so much, it hurts it hurts it hurts, I don't want to know —- and then it stops. The girl's ears ring. The knowledge gradually recedes, leaving her mind raw and dazed in its wake. With no way to parse the flood of information, she knew no more about the mysterious gem than she did when she first looked into it, but one thing she did know.

"It worked. It's real. I can know anything. Anything at all. This is real. For real."

Still a little dazed, Kiku sat up, looking over at Kyubey. "Thank you... thank you so much..."

"It's no trouble at all, Kiku," Kyubey said, closing his eyes to smile. "Just remember that you'll need to fight Witches to keep your Gem from darkening."

"...okay. How do I find them?"

"You can use your Soul Gem to trace their magic. It will brighten in a certain way when there's a Witch nearby," Kyubey explained.

"...oh, okay. Do I really have to carry this big thing with me everywhere? What a pain... it'll be so hard to hide..."

"Of course not," Kyubey said. "There's no sense in having to hold it in your hand."

edited 3rd Apr '11 9:59:35 PM by RedSavant

"So... I can... change its shape or someth-!"

As she began to speak, the gem began to shine, and transformed itself into... a silver ballpoint pen. Plain, but plain in a very expensive-looking way. It felt oddly heavy in her hand.

"This is... I... I understand now."

Kiku depressed the button on the pen's top.

Click.

The ink that glistened on the tip was silvery, and seemed to shine faintly.

Click.

"This... this is even better than I thought it would be..."

edited 3rd Apr '11 10:52:15 PM by Zudak

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Hanami-san," Rei responded, softly but politely, a small smile forming on her lips. "It must be refreshing to speak normally again, as opposed to thinking it out." She quietly took sip of coffee before continuing: "So, what are your thoughts on this Magical Girl business? You certainly seem interested enough."

"I am" Akane said as she opened the bag of her first bread "The only reason I haven't already is because I'm thinking of a wish... and..."

Akane blushed a little out of embarrassment at the second reason "... I think it would be a little childish of me to accept such a thing right away. No matter how excited I am about it. I'm seeing if I change my mind after giving it a little thought"

"Well now," Kyubey commented, looking with interest at the silver pen. "That's unusual..."

Kiku looks up at Kyubey.

Says, "So am I. Didn't anyone tell you?"

And then slips the pen into her shirt pocket and strolls off, whistling to herself.

Her remaining classes weren't as boring as the first ones had been.

"Ah, I see. That is a wise choice." Seeing Akane tear open the packaging around her bread, Rei resumed the consumption of her own lunch; at the same time, her eyes rapidly scanned the other girl one more time, analyzing whatever physical attributes she could. "You would certainly make a fine Magical Girl in terms of strength," said Rei after a brief pause, "but..." She trailed off, seemingly thinking of what to say next. Her eyelids drooped slightly, her smile faded away, and her voice grew quieter as she continued: "... I cannot stress this point enough: the only thing you will gain by becoming one of us is that one wish, a miracle that can alter reality, and nothing else."

"Courage, if left unchecked, leads to imprudence; and dedication has no reward. You will not become an invincible 'hero of justice' no matter how hard you try, Hanami-san: death lurks around every corner, every nook and cranny; and if you do not analyze the situation first and blindly charge into combat, you will eventually die without fail. And no one will ever know or recognize the work you have done to save them: the only satisfaction you will get is from yourself. All that is left, then, is the wish. If you cannot accept those two points, and if you do not believe that the wish you will make is worth anything else in the world, that it is worth the massive sacrifice you will make..." Rei hesitated to say the final line. Her words might hurt Akane, but... this girl had to know what she was going into; she would definitely regret it otherwise. Closing her eyes, she finished:

"... then you are not fit to be a Magical Girl. So think your wish through carefully."

edited 4th Apr '11 1:29:11 AM by Midreus

“Wow…you’re a real downer aren’t you?” said a voice behind Rei as the new comer slid into the seating. Ysanne tossed her hair over her shoulder. She looked around at the new magical girls and realized something,

“Wow…I thought at least some of you would be my age…”

She had honestly been expecting fellows she could look in the eye, not folks she’d have to bend her neck down to look at. Oh well.

She propped herself up on the table with one hand,

“So, to put what downer girl here said into a language most humans can understand, it’s not easy. It might not nearly be as fun as you might think. And aside from us, you won’t really get much thanks or anything. However, we do get awesome powers, kick the living daylights out of things that want to hurt us, and save lives in the process. I figure it’s a fair tradeoff.”

"It seems that at the very least you were able to understand my language, though, Taihou-senpai," replied Rei, looking up at the unnaturally tall girl with another small smile; her tone of voice reverted from her earlier wistfulness to the breezy-yet-polite one she always used. "Here, have a seat," she continued, gesturing to the empty one next to herself (Akane having taken the seat opposite Rei), "or would you like to go buy some lunch first? The queue's almost empty, so it should take you less than a minute."

A short pause.

"... and please, 'Rei' will be fine."

edited 4th Apr '11 11:51:44 AM by Midreus

Ysanne sat down and stretched.

“Whew, and no Rei, wait, I need a better nickname for you, eh I’ll think of one later.” She said, constantly interrupting herself as she bent down and put a lunchbox on the table. She constantly brought one herself as she didn’t like buying food at the school. Too expensive.

She opened the container and pulled out, in no particular order, a sandwich, a bottle of something to drink, a bag of cookies, a bag of chips, an apple, a can of soda pop, a chocolate bar, a tiny bag of candy, and a container of cheese with crackers. With everything in front of her, Ysanne sighed happily and dug in.

"Ah, I see now." Rei's expression remained unchanged as Ysanne brought out the rather large lunchbox, but mentally the blue-eyed girl was rather amused at the wide variety of foods said lunchbox contained. She said nothing about it, though.

Huh. How did I miss a lunchbox that big?

Perhaps it was the all the red Ysanne had on her. Or her unusual height.

edited 4th Apr '11 11:51:27 AM by Midreus

"Ah, in that case feel free to call me Akane" The teenager says once Rei told them to refer to her by her given name.

"Also... once again, thank you very much for your advice" Akane said as she bowed her head "I'll make sure to take it to heart"

As she bowed the Magical Girl candidate noticed Ysanne's rather unusual bentou "Ah... Ysanne-senpai you have quite a large appetite, don't you?"

"Large, perhaps, but not that surprising," Rei interjected. "Taihou-senpai seems to be the active sort and is also a fair bit taller than we are, after all." Polishing off the last grains of her fried rice, Rei took another sip of her coffee. The ice had melted a bit, and so the beverage was diluted somewhat, but the overall taste was still there: sweet and creamy, with the coffee's natural bitterness following right after. Just the way she liked it.

sip

“Yep, buy everything in bulk. It’s cheaper than buying food here. Plus, I bake a lot, so that cuts down on costs too.” Ysanne replied, polishing off the last of her sandwich. Holding her soda, Ysanne glanced at Rei,

“So how many witches have you taken care of? I’ve been able to handle this area for quite a while now but having help never hurts. I think I’ve handled about thirty or so.”

"Hmm... if my memory serves me right, thirty-two," replied Rei after a moment of thought. "My thirtieth Grief Seed is still in my possession and has one more use, and I have two fresh Seeds on top of that," the blue-eyed girl added for clarification.

sip

Finishing the last of her coffee, Rei rose from her seat. Checking her wristwatch, she helpfully informed Ysanne: "... Taihou-senpai, you have about five minutes to finish your lunch before the bell rings. I have some unfinished last-minute homework to do, so I'll be heading back to class now; we can meet up again after school, perhaps." And with that, Rei turned around and walked back to her class in a decidedly unhurried manner.

It was amazing how much food Ysanne could put away if she had to. In less than 3 minutes everything was consumed and the remains thrown into the lunch box and Ysanne rocketed from the seat, around the corner, up the stairs, and into her next class so fast it was like she was leaving a trail of after images behind her.

“Whew, okay. Hmm…park next to the grocery store on 2nd? That work for both of you? No one goes there so we can have a more private meeting and not be surrounded by prying ears.”

you're reading my mind aren't you D:

"The park next to the grocery store...?" Taihou's stampede echoed through the area, clearly reaching Rei's ears even despite all the students gathering in the classrooms muffling the sound. Rei made a mental note on her new comrade: Taihou is a very fitting name indeed.

"Alright then. I was planning to go to that grocery store anyways, had I not met the two of you."

I'll wait for daltar to initiate the timeskip before continuing.

edited 5th Apr '11 9:43:47 AM by Midreus

／人◕‿‿◕人＼ 100 GET ／人◕‿‿◕人＼

With one Magical Girl already contracted for the day and with another well on the way, the day's accounts were already quite satisfactory. However, it would be a waste to stop at two when there were so many candidates in the area. As Kiku ran back into the school building, clutching tightly to her Soul Gem, Kyubey sauntered back to the road and hopped onto the running board of a passing pickup truck that was heading for Kitakou. There was still plenty of time left in the day, after all.

EDIT: Oh wow, that really makes them creepy, doesn't it.

edited 5th Apr '11 11:11:43 AM by RedSavant