Some time in the afternoon, someone confidently walks down the nature park towards her. She's pretty, honestly a bit too pretty. Big green eyes, sleek black hair, glossy black lipstick around a confident, sardonic grin, wearing loose khaki pants and a t-shirt and an unzipped hoodie.

She comes right up, hands in hoodie pockets and slouching slightly and watches the spear drill for a bit, or until looked at.

"...Heh. There's a lot to be mad about, ain't there?"

"...ain't that the truth.  A fucking Congressman 'supports' a 'cop' who shot a child.  That sort of shit just...I can't stand it.  Hardly like I have the power to change more than jack and shit, though.  Not as I am.  And honestly I don't get how that fucker isn't already being pilloried.  If there's a Goblin just vibing, y'shouldn't shoot it; Goblins that don't hurt people should be encouraged.  But it's not like most of the monsters ever talk, so they're acceptable scapegoats for the sort of shit that humans have been pulling on eachother since the tribal days."

"Well, the cops like him I bet. And whoever else he's in a back-scratchin' relationship with. He'll gerrymander the election and stay in power, so who cares? Though maybe a magical girl could teach him a lesson instead. See what it feels like."

"Ehh.  It'd be cathartic to punch his face in, don't get me wrong, but what you want to do, with status accorded to you by being a magical girl, is drag his name through the mud, rather than give him ammunition to claim he's being 'oppressed'.  The cop's, and then the rep's by proxy; 'If the stalwart defenders of law and order cannot tell a wretched misbegotten creature made entirely of intent to harm, from a fellow human, then they're not worth the money we're paying them', perhaps?  I dunno."

"I mean... Good luck with that? Not like it'll change anything, not for real. For every Chromadyne there's dozens of Vital Jades. Ever heard of her? Didn't think so. Chinese immigrant magic girl, did activism about green card holders. A troll got her, and her team was suspiciously busy at the time. You can look up the story."

"I'm sure she exists, but...Doesn't that seem a bit too conspiracy-theory to you?  Rolling enough dice gets you a critfail eventually, no matter how lucky you are.  It's a lot more parsimonious to assume that some combination of antimemes and sheer bad luck happened - and if I were the government trying to 'suppress' that, I'd coopt it for some absurdly tepid 'pre-program requirement: stand on your head while playing a pitch-perfect rendition of Beethoven's Symphony no. 9 on the saxophone' 'aid program'."

She spear-katas frustratedly, to punctuate her point.

"The government is, or billionaires are, just too incompetent to be the Illuminati.  Fuckin' wish they were; you can kick a conspiracy in the assets, but you can't just obliterate simple greed and motivated incompetence."

Soft giggle, covering her mouth with a hand. "Oh. Sorry to go all conspiracy, my bad. You get my point though. Greed and incompetence on every level. So goddamn frustrating."

"Yeah.  Yeah, there really is."

...Something is off about this conversation, even if she's really quite enjoying it.

Not to mention the way it started.

She needs to know more.

Now, how to go about that...?

"So what brings a girl like you out to have a conversation like this with, well, me, of all people?  I'm hardly special, am I?"

"I'm on the lookout for new friends. Anyone who'd leave a goblin that's not bothering anyone alone is pretty decent in my book."

"Yeah.  I mean, I haven't ever seen that, but - you do hear rumors, that there's smarter 'monsters' out there.  And I don't really know what they'd want, but I don't really believe in killing people that aren't trying to kill me first."

"Plus you seemed like you could use the chance to vent, and I love that stuff. The only time we really feel alive is in the heights of emotion. Joy and determination and justice and ambitiousness and longing..." Her smile turns almost lustful for a moment. Then she shrugs. "I was just wandering around, anyway."

[...].exe is rebooting...

"Yeah?"

She shakes off the stun field of a pretty girl, who may or may not be one of the forces of evil, making that expression in her direction, with some effort.

That earns another giggle!

"Welllll... I'll see you around some time, mysterious, angry stranger."

"Wait, uh, we should...exchange phone numbers or something?  Is that a thing that's appropriate to ask?  ...Help, I don't know how friends work."

All true, but with ulterior motives.

"Ooh, are we flirting now~?" She licks her lips and stands up straighter, lets her eyes wander, quite deliberately. "Doing spear kata alone in the park... Young and powerless but determined. Makes you wonder what the rest of the story is. A bit of mystery is more alluring, isn't it? We haven't even exchanged names."

oh heckque

"   ."

"Ah, um, yes, but surely a mystery you can't even find the next clue for is a bit, ffrustrating," she has to force the word out over the welter of emotions thrumming in her chest, "wouldn't you say?  Not like I have a name worth giving you, anyway..."

"It might be a bit hubristic, but that's half the fun so call me... Lilith."

Oh fuck.  She knows that reference: Lilith, Mother of Monsters.

aaaaaaah she needs a distraction from the 'aw fuck this is totally a demon' alarm bells because this girl is probably an empath if not a telepath and if she's a telepath then shit's fucked, but she's not dead yet so move, act, think -

"I - well, haven't, picked, mine.  Yet.  Y'know.  And it doesn't help that - the best local school is religious and they probably wouldn't like it if I did go changing my name on them even if it's co-ed, and I need to get into a good university, so...yeah..."

She takes a deep breath.  "I...hope you're not going to take offense at that?  It would, uh.  Suck.  To have that happen."

The grin expands just a bit at the onset of panic.

"Oooops. I gave away the game. Or maybe I'm just fucking with you, 'cause it's fun. But I'd be just as bad as killer cop supporter guy if I fucked with you over your name. I'm better than that. It's your name. Individuality's the most precious, irreplaceable thing you've got. Certainly more important than something stupid like virginity, like your teachers and priests are no doubt stupidly obsessed over."

"Good grief, yeah, I really don't get why 'holy matrimony' is supposed to be so special when half of the people who swear it the way it's intended hate eachother, judging by the tropes.  Like, why do that?  Who comes up with that shit?  It's poison in the mind, self-harm for no real good.

"...I legitimately don't have a name picked out, though.

"Maybe I'll borrow one from a poet, for now; I couldn't tell you why if I tried, but Annabel seems not wrong.  Even if it's a bit morbid.  And P.S., if you're trying to not give away the game, don't let on that you're playing it, hm?  Leaning into the hubris so much was what really made me jump to that conclusion.

"Not that I should be giving you advice, probably, but...you haven't really gone and tried to hurt me any, disregarding the encouraging-punching-a-cop thing.  Which has a time and place, don't get me wrong, but my marching over there to do it now would be profoundly ineffective at actually breaking the idea that cops are good by default, which is what actually needs to change.  (Thus, the 'from my position of expertise as magical girl, that's stupid' idea.)  But anyway, monster or not...I don't see why we can't be friends.  ...hell, with benefits, if that takes your fancy, because you're right, I don't give a damn about church doctrine at this point - might've used to, when I had such a wrong idea of what it was, but I sure don't now."

She plops down on a nearby rock.

"So I'm honestly really curious what you think the 'monsters' want.  As, perhaps, contrasted with you, miss probably a demon or particularly extra goth.  Because I've just...never been able to understand it, I suppose?  Like...goblins just...bumrush people, attempting to murder on sight.  Apparently.  They don't even care who.  And...what could they possibly gain, from behaving like that?"

"What if implying I'm playing a game I'm not playing is part of the real game? Though now we're just getting confusing." She crosses her arms and taps her foot thoughtfully, in a way that incidentally and apparently unintentionally emphasizes what's under her T-shirt.

"What could mosquitos possibly gain from running into bug zappers? What could mice possibly gain from chewing on walls and nibbling in pantries? What could water possibly gain from flowing downhill? What could fanatics possibly gain from hating their target of choice? Which of those do you think is most analogous?"

...Yeah, that's totally intentional, but she's nonetheless dutifully trying to not stare, because staring's hardly polite when you don't have permission, and Lilith hasn't actually given it.

"That's certainly a thought.  ...Except that mice don't actually...like, there's reasons that aren't facile about why they do what they do those two things in particular.  But...hrmh..."

"But what supports the hypothetical ecosystem, how are new mice coming into being?  Do goblins fuck, or something?  Do I even want to know?  ...Probably; knowledge is power, but at the same time...what the heck is responsible for goblins?

"What's responsible for monsters?  Is that old canard about humanity's repressed desires..." ahh, whoops, well, moving on, "actually correct?  It just feels backwards, though, like...if that was true, something would be different about the world that just...isn't.  You'd have so many more vandals and parkour enthusiasts than goblins.  There aren't a lot of people who really want to do a murder!

"Unless it's counting the wannabe-genocidaires, pardon my gratuitous French word-mangling, but even then.  That's not - enough."

"Something people and not just humans have been wondering for millennia. Monsters are useless and dangerous, right, you wouldn't even want to try and pen them and harvest their skin and meat like you do for pigs and cows. Kill on sight, or report to the hotline so someone with fire for hair or vines growing from her back or eyes like storms can come and do it for you, 'cause everyone 'knows' defeating monsters makes you stronger." Eye-roll. "Would you even know if goblins weren't all bad? Not to mention countless other varieties. Goblins are the cockroaches of monsters. Simple to the point of hilarity."