Mahou Shoujo Troper Magica * Fujiwara City *

"What the hell?!"

Hiroko got to her feet and then stumbled back, falling on her rear. She stared at the strange, alien enviroment surrounding her. I have to be dreaming now, right? This isn't real, there is no way it's real...

She trembled slightly as she looked around. Her boredom was gone, but it was replaced by confusion and no small amount of fear.

Hikari notices the religious symbols, and tries to recall which she's seen before and why there are so many bunched together.

Chiyo didn't move from spot the other girls had wrestled her to. The sudden change in scenery had… well, it hadn't weakened the strange sort of film that had been around her mind all day, but it had made her truly aware of it.

Something strange- something she didn't understand- was happening all around her, but she still couldn't bring herself to take interest in it. But some small part of her, buried under who knows how many layers of boredom and curiosity about the afterlife, now knew that her disinterest was something quite strange in itself.

That small part of her made the struggles and protests stop. She stood perfectly still, eyes unfocused, now trying to figure out what was going on within her. But only for something to keep herself busy until the end, she rationalized as she scratched her neck once more.

She could already feel her curiosity in the subject waning, though. Her thoughts were quickly turning back to the afterlife. But now, that frightened her.

edited 28th Feb '11 12:14:45 PM by Gilphon

Andrea didn't respond. Old habits died hard, and secrecy was her experienced subject. Rather than responding to Hiroko, the blond cautiously approached the tree, carefully sensing out the inevitable Witch with her honed abilities.

Hikari wasn't particularly religious, but the confusing religious iconography made her feel like praying, although she wasn't sure to who or what. She wasn't going insane, she saw Hiroko having the same delusions, or whatever they were. None of it looked real, as if this world had been replaced with a medieval painting.

Hiroko watched Andrea for a moment, utter confusion overtaking her. She shook her had and tried to focus on something normal, something commonplace in all this madness. Something that in regular circumstances would've bored her.

"Ch-Chiyo! Umm... I... what's with your neck? Why did you scratch it?" she asked, her voice sounding almost frantic. It was deperation to cling to something that seemed sane in all this.

Chiyo blinked, turning to face Hiroko. Gone was the certainty in her face she had when announced her own demise with only minutes before. "Um… " Chiyo's hand dropped from her neck, revealing a glowing mark on the spot she had been scratching. She didn't seem to notice it, though.

"You- you were-" She seemed to be almost physically struggling to get the words out. "You were right, Hiroko…"

Her eyes held the unfocused boredom they had all day, but now it seemed like there was a hint of fear in them as well.

I'm unclear on the exact canon here. People can't see witch kisses normally, but it's possible that the girls, having entered witchspace, are now special enough to see the other effects that this particular witch has. I'm taking cues from the other thread and deciding that this is the case, here.

"R-right?" Hiroko asked, most of the previous discussions of the day having temporary fled from her memory in the face of this insanity. "What do you mean... and... There's something on your neck... It's this... glowing thing. What is it?"

"Found n-new world wi-without-" Chiyo paused, trying to force the words out. She was finding it increasingly difficult to think straight. "Without dying."

And that was it, really. She now knew that there was more to the world than what she understood. The thoughts that had occupied her all day were demonstrably, absolutely, wrong. So then - so then, why couldn't she stop thinking them?

She scratched at her neck again, harder, almost clawing now. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. "H-Help m-me."

Hiroko reached down, concern and fear clearly displaying on her face as she grabbed Chiyo's hand. She was trying to keep he friend from scratching to hard, which is certainly what it looked like. "But I don't know what to do..."

Trembling, she looked up at Andrea. The blond girl seemed to have some idea what was going on. "Andrea, what do we do? What's wrong with her? Where are we?!"

—Tsubasa Suoh—

Suoh felt a pain in his stomach and chest. He knew it wasn't the cafeteria food he had been eating before, this was a new pain, a strange pain. What the hell was it?

Cross-thread post! Gilphon, the rules I worked up for Akira were that A)Normal people can't see Witchkisses and B)Anyone contacted by Kyubey is no longer normal. It needs permission to turn people into Puella Magi, but it can apparently warp perception on its own initiative.

"You girls are trapped in a witch a barrier" A cutesy voice said inside their heads.

Andrea could feel that the witch wasn't in the spiral, but rather, somewhere far on top of them. running up the spiral would definitely bring them closer to the witch.

—Natsuko Hikari—

Hikari heard the voice, but immediately distrusted it. She had no idea where it came from, and was left to assume that it was likely responsible for the insanity around her.

Hiroko freaked out a little at the voice. Great, first all this insane stuff, now I'm hearing voices?

Still, something compelled her to speak. "A... witch's barrier? What's that supposed to mean?"

The white messenger walked from behind one of the metallic trees to show itself "It's what it sounds like. It's a magical barrier in the which a witch hides and builds it's own world"

"Most probably, this witch made her barrier materialize here because you stopped Chiyo from acting on the curse the witch placed on her"

Hikari stared at the little thing. "What do you mean by 'witch'? Witches don't exist..."

"Wait... wait... A witch put a curse on Chiyo to make her try and commit suicide," Hiroko's voice was flat and deadpan. She could hardly believe that even began to pose as an explanation. "And now I'm talking to a cat... thing. I'm... I'm dreaming, right? Or I've gone crazy. Or..."

Or this is all real, Hiroko thought to herself. Inwardly, she was torn. If this was real, she'd finally gotten to see what she'd craved. Something new, something that wasn't her boring old life. But on the other hand...

"So... this witch... What's it trying to do? What did it do to Chiyo?" the abusrdity of talking to what looked like a ridiculous cat-weasel thing nearly caught up to her at this point. It looked like something out of a magical girl anime. "And... who are you?"

Chiyo felt herself grabbing on to the white creature's words like a mental lifeboat. She didn't understand what it was talking about, but there were now thoughts in her head that weren't affected by whatever was going on inside her.

Better yet, they gave her something to think about; something to focus on. A curse placed on me? The idea gave her a foothold; gave some rudimentary kind of form to what she was feeling. Somewhere she might begin to fight back from.

But did she want to fight back?

Wait- was that last thought her own, or had it come from the curse? Chiyo couldn't tell. The mere concept of her thoughts not coming from her was still new to her. But the white creature had made her realize the distinction existed, and that might be enough, for now.

"I am Kyubey. And I'm afraid that you are not dreaming Hiroko"

"As for what the witch is trying to do... well witches exist to spread curses and despair in the world. Most unresolved murders, unexplained suicides and other such tragedies are caused by the actions of witches"

"If you look at Chiyo's neck you should be able to see a mark... that is the Witch Kiss. At some point the witch of this barrier must have placed it on Chiyo, and ever since it has been feeding her the witch's negative energy"

"There is only one way to break the curse... The witch of this space must be defeated... otherwise you will all be unable to leave the barrier... and at some moment her familiars will come for you"

" However, do not be afraid! There is a way for you to defend yourselves from this menace"

Hiroko stared for a moment. That was a lot to take in. Her friend was cursed by an evil monster that lived to spread despair. And they were stuck in another world. She felt guilty about the small amount of excitment she was feeling about something new like this.

"So the witch has to be defeated, and then Chiyo will be free, and we'll be free, too?" asked Hiroko. "Well... what's this way to defend ourselves?"

It was almost too much for Andrea. She couldn't respond to Hiroko's demands. The careful facade that she had constructed for herself was in imminent danger of shattering to pieces; the mask trembling beneath the weight of the last few moments. Her secret had been blown, lives were in danger, and... Kyubey. Andrea had resolved to personally throttle the weasel if they ever met again, and now here the damn beast was in the flesh.

It spoke to them mentally. Andrea recognized that tone, that accursed, insipid adorable tone that had sealed her fate some time ago. And now he was making that same offer, that same nonchalant offer, to three innocents who had been completely dragged into this mess with no warning, no chance to make the right choice. Andrea realized that their fates were already sealed. But her mouth opened in furious protest anyways, her bubbly tone tossed aside in favor of a harder, borderline sinister grumble that did not befit her at all:

"Kyubey! You'd better not be planning to offer them what I think you're planning to offer them!"

"It's exactly what you think I'm going to offer them" Kyubey transmitted to all of them, in his usual cheery voice as it looked back at Andrea.

The white messenger then looked at the other girls as he continued "The way to defend yourselves is to make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl!"

edited 28th Feb '11 8:54:03 PM by daltar

Hiroko, who had been about to ask what it was Kyubey was going to offer them, was taken aback by what the catlike creature had said. A magical girl? They actually exist?!

Well, it made just as much sense as witches and telepathic plush cat creatures...

"So... I'll be able to fight the witch, then?" Hiroko asked, ever so slightly hesitantly. "If I accept this offer, I mean? There's no strings attached, I just get to be a magical girl?"

Despite her mind screaming at her to to say yes, natural caution told her to ask just a little bit before she accepted the offer.

edited 28th Feb '11 9:04:32 PM by AnnoR

Andrea rudely interjected.

"There are many repercussions. Many."

She hesitated slightly, then figured that some ethos might help throw the argument in her favor.

"... I should know, after all..."