The girl already there looks up from her book, startled a bit, then smiles. "Sure! Hold on a sec - " She slides over to the window a bit more, nudges her bag over so it's properly between her feet. "Hi, I'm Lianne - I don't think I've seen you around before, are you new?"

"Yep!" she says.  She sits down, puts her backpack in her lap, hugs it.  "My name's Kaylee.  My mom's a consultant, she travels a lot.  What are you reading?"

She tilts the book so Kaylee can see the cover. It's a Discworld novel, Men at Arms. 

"Traveling sounds like fun, though I'd hate to have to uproot in the middle of the school-year. I've lived here all my life, haven't had much opportunity to go anywhere."

She peers at the cover.  "I think I've heard of Terry Pratchett," she says.  "I haven't read any of his books, though.  Travelling's okay - you get to meet a lot of people, but you also have to say goodbye to all of them pretty soon.  Hard to make long term friends that way."

Then she laughs: " - Sorry, am I getting too heavy?"

"Pratchett's pretty funny, if you're familiar enough with the fantasy genre and into dry humor."

"And you're fine." Smile. "Trust me, I've gotten way more awkwardly heavy with new acquaintances before. Still, sounds lonely."

She giggles, then sighs.  "Yeah, kinda.  Plus I'm always really nervous my first day at a new school.  Everybody always knows everybody except me.  You seem pretty nice though!  One down!"  She laughs again.

"And I can introduce you to people, too. If you're into clubs and all, the anime club's really friendly to newcomers - we meet Tuesdays in the art room - and there's a couple of other decent clubs."

"Anime club sounds fun!  And I'd love to hear any other recommendations you have."

The bus hisses and squeals and makes other old-bus noises as it pulls into the school parking lot.

"Hmm, maybe later, though, looks like we're here.  Uh, do you know where room 302 is?"

"Yeah, it's on the way to my class, I can show you." (Technically most everything's on the way, she's out back.) "Did you get one of those silly student handbook things? There's a map on the back, and a bigger map in the front hall."

"I think so," she says.  "I'll check once we're off the bus."

It takes some doing; for some reason the aisle didn't expand in size during the bus ride.  Plus there's a bunch of other people trying to squeeze through at the same time.  But then:

"Yep," she says; she has extricated a student handbook and started comparing it to her schedule.  "Yes, I can decipher this.  Show me to room 302 anyway, just to make sure?"

"Sure!"

The hallways are pretty noisy - everything echoes, which adds up to a proper racket when they're full of people - so conversation will probably be sparse. Lianne also shows her where the 10th grade lockers are - they have just enough time to run by theirs before class; luckily people in the same year share a hallway, and it isn't much of a detour - before dropping her off and promising to see her later.

"See ya!"

*

Classes: straightforward.  Students: friendly.  Success!

Before lunch she has AP Bio, which she shares with Lianne.  She waves to her as she arrives in class, just under the wire, but they wind up on opposite ends of the classroom.

Kaylee catches up to her on the way to lunch.  "Hi Lianne!"

"Hey Kaylee! How's your day been so far?"

"Good!  How about yours?  Did you enjoy the bio lesson?"

"My day wasn't anything unusual - the lesson was pretty interesting, I'm glad we got those new microscopes..." She stops by her locker to grab her lunch as they pass, "Oh, and you're more than welcome to sit with me for lunch, if you'd like."

"Thank you!  I'd enjoy that."

Lunch ensues.

"So you like biology too, huh?  I thought I was the only one."

The table's one of the more crowded ones. Lianne makes introductions all around.

"It's really cool! Helps that the teacher's good, of course. Plus, I'm hoping to be a nurse or EMT or something like that, it'd be silly if I didn't like bio."

Kaylee greets her tablemates, cheerful and friendly as always.

"Really?  I'm aiming to be a doctor!  I want to go into medical research."

"Cool! I don't think I could put up with med school at all. I don't have an exact career path picked out yet, but I'll probably get a CNA or an EMT certification then work part time, do nursing school part time. Though who knows how things might change."

"Med school's supposed to be really tough, yeah, but I think I can handle it.  And there's just so many things we don't have cures or vaccines for - I feel kind of like the world needs me to fix it."  She blushes.  "I guess that sounds kinda silly."

"It doesn't sound silly at all! It's very wonderful of you, actually, most people I know who want to be doctors are in it for the prestige, or the money, or because of their parents. I'm more hands-on than that - I like seeing and talking to the people I'm helping - but grand ambitions will definitely help more."

"Aww, thank you!  And I don't mean to denigrate being an EMT at all - I don't think I could handle that many emergencies, I'd get all tense and panicky after a while of nothing but that."

"Yeah, which is why I'm thinking part-time while I work on an LPN or RN. I might also volunteer with the fire department a bit first, get a feel for being a first responder before looking into being a full-blown EMT - it's also easier to get certified for that. Might just do elder care or something, though, I'm really on the fence."

"That's a good idea - volunteering, I mean.  I have an uncle who's a doctor and we're trying to work out an opportunity for me to shadow him.  He's not a medical researcher, he sees patients, but I'll have to complete a residency anyway, and it'll look good to med schools either way."

"And you're right, there's lots of different places to do good.  Which is kind of sad, when you think about it."

"Yeah, definitely. I volunteer with a nursing home in the summers, talking with the residents, doing art programs, that kind of thing. There's just - so many gaps for people to fall through." Pause. "Anyways. Shadowing your uncle's a good idea. My mom's a doctor, too - infectious diseases, maybe you can shadow her to get a feel for it - and my sister's all lined up for pre-med - I'm kinda the low achiever of the family."

"I'd love to shadow your mom too if she wouldn't mind.  And - " she hesitates.  "You know you don't need to be an overachiever to be doing worthwhile things, right?"

Slight smile. "Yeah, I know." Intellectually, at least. "And I'm sure she'd be fine with it. So, anyways, what're you taking later after lunch? We might have more classes together... I've got Spanish four, then English, then world history, and then gym last period."

She produces a schedule.  "Hmm, I've got... English, math, orchestra, then, hey, gym too!"

"Cool! It's usually pretty easy to hang out there - we have to do stretches and a run first, but then the rest of the period's usually free time. Oh, hey, we talked about clubs earlier - what sort of ones are you interested in? I pretty much just do anime club Tuesdays, scifi-fantasy Thursdays, then track the other afternoons. I don't think clubs are still advertising this late in the year, but we can ask around a bit."

"Anime club sounds fun!  At my last school I was in yearbook and GSA - do you have a GSA here?  Do you think yearbook would let me join in halfway through the year?"

"Probably?" She turns to one of her tablemates and confirms that yep, they have a GSA. Meetings Fridays in such-and-such room, they'll be glad to have her. "And I'm sure yearbook would be fine with you joining, too. If they're not, there's also the creative writing club - they do a literary magazine every year." 

Someone else speaks up to point out that the school website has an incomplete list she can check out.

"Oooh, creative writing.  I might check them out even if yearbook does decide to have me.  Thank you!" she adds to the kid with the website recommendation.

Lunch starts to wrap up.  Folks begin disposing of their unfinished food, the murmur of the room alters in character.  "Looks like its time to go," Kaylee says.  "Thanks for the recommendations, Lianne!  I'll see you in gym!"

"See you!"

And off to class.

Classward!

*

The rest of the day's classes proceed well.  Gym, as promised, is a stretch and a run and pretty much a free period after that.  They chat some more.  Kaylee likes Lianne; she has a good heart.

That afternoon she tells her mom she'll be home late next day - "This school has an anime club that meets on Tuesdays, I'm gonna stay after and check it out."

Another day of classes goes by, and at the end of gym, the pair sets off for anime club.

"You'll have to show me where it is, I still don't totally know my way around yet," Kaylee says.

"Sure thing! It's in the other building, with the physics classes." And she leads the way. "Luckily it's nice out, the walkway here gets horrible when it's windy." 

A couple of people have beaten them to the club and are helping the teacher clean up and put away supplies, while another person fiddles with the projector. (Everyone else trickles in over the next few minutes.) Kaylee will probably recognize some of them from lunch.

She waves and smiles when she does.

"So, what exactly do you do in an anime club?  My old school didn't have one."

They wave back, though no one comes over just yet.

"A lot of it's hanging out. We watch anime together, sometimes we do a little bookclub-type thing, the artists among us work on drawings together. Once we all collaborated on a short animation, did the voices and everything, which was a lot of fun. We've been talking about trying to get money together for a field trip, do a bake sale or something, but that always seems to fizzle out. There's a little satellite Japanese study group right after, too, when the weather's nice enough to sit outside and wait for the buses. I think we're planning on watching Sailor Moon today, we've been doing a string of anime classics lately - " She confirms with the person trying to get the projector to work that yep, they're watching the first episode of Sailor Moon.

"You did an animation together?  That's so cool!  I'd love to see it if there's a copy around somewhere."

When Lianne mentions Sailor Moon, Kaylee bounces a little.  "I love Sailor Moon!  And pretty much any magical girl show, honestly.  I always wanted to be a magical girl when I was a little kid."

"Yeah - probably not something we're going to do again, the person leading it graduated - but we definitely have a copy saved. I can borrow the computer once club's done to show it to you? And it's awesome you love Sailor Moon, too! I actually have a magical girl cosplay for cons and Halloween, though it's getting a bit small on me..."

She doesn't squeal, what, that's ridiculous, she made no sort of delightedly undignified noise.  "That's so awesome!  I'd love to see it sometime!  Is it a particular character or one you made up yourself?  I could never do cosplay, I'm no good at sewing or like, costume design, or anything like that."

"I used stuff scavenged from the thrift store as a base, so it's fairly generic. I'm not a pro at sewing or anything, I pretty much just added accents. Luckily I was able to make it a decent Sailor Uranus outfit, though I'm not super satisfied with the skirt..."

"I bet it looks awesome."

The projector seems to be set up by now; Kaylee settles into a seat.

And the episode plays! They have the time to chat about it afterwards (apparently several people hadn't ever seen it before), and most people who haven't met Kaylee yet come over to say hi. 

She meets!  She greets!  She squees!  She chats!  She talks about the animation they all did with a few more people, mentions she's looking forward to seeing it.  She makes more friends - she never lives in one place for too long so she figures she's gotta do it quickly.  She has a pretty good time!

There's a couple of ninth-graders and a few others who weren't here for that, so Lianne queues it up for the end of the hour. It's short, and clearly amateur-made, but it's a cute little animation about a magic fox with a paintbrush tail (the club's mascot, apparently). 

People are very willing to make fast friends! A small number of people give her usernames for various online sites (mostly microblogging and art) so they can stay in touch easier. People also recommend clubs - creative writing, Wednesdays, comes highly recommended, as does drama club (mostly making props for productions) - and recommend strategies for dealing with specific teachers. 

At the end of the hour most people go to be picked up by parents or walk or drive home, but some hang around to wait for the afterschool bus, including Lianne. A small group splits off to study on some of the outside benches.

Kaylee thinks the magic fox is absolutely precious, and says so!

She collects usernames and gives out her own - she doesn't have an account on any art sites, she's no good at drawing, but she has been known to microblog.  On several people's recommendations she decides she's definitely going to check out the creative writing club tomorrow.

As folks disperse, Kaylee tags along behind Lianne.  "That was fun!  I'm glad I came."  Once they're outside: "So how long a wait do we have for the afterschool bus?"

"I'm glad you had fun! Unfortunately it's a bit over an hour until the buses come - they're tied to the sports teams, which meet until four - but we can hang out on school grounds until then, or we can explore some of the area. Usually I find a bench and study or just read."

"Hmm, let's explore," Kaylee says.  "Anything interesting to see around here?"

"There's the old battlefields, one of the historic points is in walking distance - we went on a 'field trip' once in ninth grade history class - or if we walk fast enough there's a little shopping center."

"Let's check out the battlefields," Kaylee says.  "How long's the walk?"

"I think ten minutes? Though we're probably faster than a whole classroom full of ninth graders."

Kaylee laughs.  "Probably.  Lead the way!"

Without the need to herd recalcitrant teenagers, it's closer to a six or seven minute walk. The trail ends at a little gazebo-like structure next to a gravel road, overlooking a wheat field. There's a little placard explaining the site's history with a button you can push for a voice-over.

Kaylee reads the placard with some interest, and admires the view for a while.

When she turns away, she spots an odd sort of shimmering in the air near the trail back.

She frowns bemusedly.  "Lianne, do you see that?  What is it?"

"Yeah, that's - weird. Maybe it's heat? - It's the wrong place and season, though..."

"Yeah, I don't..."

She takes a few steps toward it, almost in a trance.  "It's not like heat haze, it's - in one place.  I can walk up to it."

"That's - really weird. Like, really, I think we should go - "

"It's pretty," Kaylee says.  Step.  Step.

She holds up one hand, and the shimmer concentrates into a glow where her hand enters it, and then her hand vanishes.

"It leads somewhere," she murmurs.  "You can go through it."

Ahhhhh

Lianne rushes up to her and grabs her other hand. "Okay, magical portals to another world are not on, we're not anime characters, let's at least tell someone where we are before we disappear - "

Kaylee's hand wriggles out of hers.  She steps through.

Okay freaky magical portal just ate her friend.

Lianne darts through after her.

It does lead somewhere.

It's dark and cramped and concrete, and it smells like dust and rats.  Like a crawlspace, or a basement - unfinished, unadorned, a room that exists as an implication of other rooms.  But what basement would have two intersecting hallways - long hallways, stretching into the darkness beyond the unshaded bulb that hangs from the ceiling.  There are pipes sprouting from the walls.  It's cold, and damp.  Ancient dusty cobwebs hang from the corners of the walls, and harvestman spiders move across them in their strange thrashing panic.

It doesn't feel like a real basement.  It feels like the idea of a basement, a fleeting image, magnified and caricatured.  The cold rough solidity of concrete, angularly twisting copper pipes, harsh-edged shadows, purposefulness but no purpose.  There is an aliveness in the air.

She catches a glimpse of Kaylee disappearing down one hallway.

She runs after her, calling her name.

No reply.  She disappears around a corner - was it there before?  The new passage seems larger but somehow no less claustrophobic.  There's something moving in the darkness that Lianne can't quite see; Kaylee's running straight for it.

She's in track she can sprint and keep Kaylee away from that thing.

Nope.

It comes barrelling out of the darkness toward Kaylee - an enormous rat the size of a dog.  At first it doesn't seem to have a mouth, but then its entire head splits apart into a three-part jaw with teeth like scythe blades, spraying strands of spittle as it lets out a raspy bellow.  It snaps at Kaylee's chest, and her arm as she falls over, leaving deep, bloody gashes.

She screams.

The creature sees Lianne and starts advancing.  (How long is the hallway?  How close was she before, how close is she now?  Why doesn't this place make sense?)

Ahhhhh

She keeps sprinting, intending to kick the terrifying rat demon thing in the head or something.

Something else appears, alights on the ground in front of her.  This one's a mutant cat, but at least it's normal cat size and not hideously ugly.

It speaks.  "You should run."

She tries to go around it. "Like hell! That thing's got Kaylee!"

"You can save her, but not like this!  It's too much for you!  Get to safety and I can help you!"

"How."

"You'll have to make a contract with me to become a magical girl.  When you do, you can wish her healed!  But we have to put some distance between us and the familiar or it'll interrupt the contract!"

It is getting pretty close, now.

...The rat demon seems pretty focused on her. Maybe she can lead it away from Kaylee some. (Maybe this is a horrible dream and she should just try and wake up.)

She grabs the cat-thing, shouts some invective or another at the rat, turns, and runs, retracing her steps. 

Her steps aren't easily retraceable; the halls aren't quite how she remembers them.

"Once we're far enough away from the familiar, put me down and wish for Kaylee to be healed, and I'll grant your wish in exchange for turning you into a magical girl.  It takes a few seconds, so we should be sure we've lost the familiar before you make the contract."

"Just tell me when!"

If distance is the thing, she can do distance. She runs faster. (She can't keep this up for long, but she just needs to be far enough for long enough - )

And eventually she is.

"Now!"  The cat leaps out of her arms.  "Make the wish!"

"I wish for Kaylee to be fully healed to perfect health and safe from further harm." Lianne's terrified and angry and she's never wanted anything more in her entire life, this better work.

Whatever the cat has coming out of the sides of its head, it can move them like appendages: it plants them on the sides of Lianne's head, and it begins to glow, and she begins to glow, and suddenly there's light everywhere and - 

 - she's changed somehow, dressed differently, lighter on her feet; the maze of incoherent passages suddenly makes a kind of sense, not like she knows her way but like she could find her way; she suddenly knows exactly how to pull a weapon from thin air.  She can probably find the portal that took them here.

"She's healed and out of the Barrier - you're a magical girl now, you can fight the witch!"

She moves as if unsheathing something from her back, producing a massive sword that could easily double as a shield. Somehow it's light enough she can hold it with one hand, though she instinctively goes to wield it with both.

This is weird and increasingly likely to be a dream but she's in the mood to fight.

"How do I do that?"

"Right now you're inside the witch's Barrier.  The witch is somewhere inside the Barrier, probably near the center - magical girls all have a knack for navigating them, it shouldn't be too hard to find.  The rats are the witch's familiars, they should be easy for you to take down now."

...Well then.

She lifts the sword, and goes looking for this witch.

The maze does make more sense now.  The passages still aren't consistent, but now she has some kind of sense of direction about the place - this fork will take her nearer the center, that one toward the edge, a third toward the portal.

A pair of rats the size of great danes bar the next passage; their heads explode open into teeth and tongues.

She swings her sword at them once they're in range. 

One is slashed open and crashes to the ground; the second is neatly bisected.  Both explode into clouds of spidersilk.

Yeah this isn't getting any less bizarre, is it.

She continues down the passage they were guarding.

Nearer.  Nearer.

This is probably the place.

A vast room, storeys and storeys high, with an enormous water heater, of all things, dominating the center.  Clusters of lightbulbs hang from the ceiling or nestle in the corners of the room like egg sacs.  There are a handful of additional rats, smaller than the ones she's seen so far, surrounding the water heater, almost prostrating themselves before it.

There is something shaped like a human child, but much too large, bound in spidersilk, hanging upside down from the ceiling of the room.  It is laughing.  Spiders crawl over its face and body, all hair-thin coiling legs.

...She's guessing the laughing thing is the witch. Either that or the water heater.

She eyes the room, trying to plan out how this'll go, and gears up for a fight.

She's not a trained fighter (she'll have to fix that if this is real), but she's fast and her new senses must count for something.

The witch might be the whole setup, actually.

The laughing thing starts to rock back and forth, and then thrashes around deftly in such a way as to send itself pitching toward Lianne like a flail.

She dodges and swings her sword as it passes to try and kill it.

The sword leaves a deep cut in the laughing child, but then it spinslides across the edge of the blade and away from her, cackling all the while.  The water heater lets out a shuddering metallic groan when the blade makes contact.

A few of the rats have noticed her, and are barreling towards her.

The laughing child is coming around for another swing.

She moves away from the swinging path again, tries to time attacking the rats (she can just kick them in the head, right? If they're small enough? Or take them out with a swing if they group correctly) and the child-thing so she's not facing both at once. 

One of the rats explodes when she kicks it but the other two just tumble backwards.  She should still have a split second to get in another slash at the child if she can spin around fast enough.

She spins as fast as she can, sword held close-ish to her body until the last moment when she uses her momentum to add power to her swing.

This time the sword cuts clean through the child-thing, and the lower half faceplants into the ground while the top swings wildly away.

The outer layers of the child-thing's cocoon explode away, revealing a torso and arms mummified in silk.  It grabs at the ground and heaves itself toward her, sailing through the air - 

She raises her sword, plants her feet, and prepares to swing.

The blade sinks into the thing's flesh before it can reach her, and it screams.

Mid-swing, the rats reach her.  Teeth sink into her back.  It doesn't hurt as much as she would expect.

(It wouldn't be effortless, but she thinks she can heal herself.)

She moves the sword so it skims past her back, hoping to catch the rats, and spins around. If the wounds are major or about to interfere with fighting she'll heal herself, but otherwise she needs to pay attention to the fight.

They would be for a human, but she's managing okay.

She catches one of the rats.  The other one scampers backward in time and then goes for another lunge.

She tries to stab it.

Stab.

The child-thing seems to be on its last, uh, arms.  It's crawling towards her, breathing heavily.

She keeps half an eye on the rest of the rats and goes to stab that, too.

When the blade pierces it it screams and thrashes, and then explodes into wispy threads of spidersilk like the rats did.

The Barrier shimmers out of existence around her; the rats go with it.  She's back at the gazebo.

Kyubey is waiting for her there.  Kaylee is there too, sitting on the ground, curled up into a ball.

She sheathes the sword, vanishing it, and runs up to Kaylee. She hovers awkwardly next to her, unsure whether Kaylee wants a hug. (It's probably very obvious she needs a hug.) "Are you - are you okay? Kaylee?"

She's crying.  She shakes her head.

...She goes to hug her. She might be starting to shake, too, as the adrenaline fades.

Kaylee hugs her back.  She clings, a little.

After a while, she settles down - not crying, but still trembling a bit.

"I don't know why I..." she gestures weakly toward where the portal was.

The cat-creature approaches, slowly, and nuzzles Kaylee on the cheek, rather like an ordinary cat would.

"You were probably affected by a Witch's Kiss," it says softly.  "It can make you do things you wouldn't normally do, if you're not a magical girl."

"What was that thing?"

"It's called a witch.  They're the opposite of magical girls.  Magical girls are born from wishes and made of hope; witches are born from curses, and made of despair."

"That's - not an answer. Where do they come from, how did it control Kaylee like that - " She twitches and notices that she's probably still bleeding. She focuses on closing the wounds for a moment. This - is extremely freaky, and now that there's nothing to fight that's all she has to focus on. "And what are you, what am I - what are these powers?"

"Witches can control humans using something called a Witch's Kiss.  They usually make those humans try to hurt themselves or each other, since they're creatures of despair; sometimes they draw them into their Barriers to torment them instead.  It was sheer luck that the witch got Kaylee but not you.  Your wish healed her physically and magically, so she doesn't have the Witch's Kiss any more.  It would have been removed when you killed it even if your wish hadn't done the trick."

"My name is Kyubey; I'm a sort of magical creature whose job it is to create and guide new magical girls, and help you learn to fight witches.  You're a magical girl now.  You have the powers of any magical girl - you're stronger and faster than a human, you can conjure a weapon, and you have a few other talents."

She hugs Kaylee tighter. "What other talents? Like the healing?"

"Healing, yes.  Some magical girls can move objects with their minds.  You can create more than one weapon at once, and with practice and experience, modify them and control them even when you're not touching them.  Beyond that, it varies from person to person."

This is - too much. "How do I know if there's another witch around?"

"As a magical girl, you'll be able to sense them, and dowse for them.  If you're not sure, a sudden crime wave or increase in the suicide rate is a decent sign that there might be a witch nearby.  They aren't common, though.  There isn't too much risk you'll be attacked by another one very soon."

Kyubey turns to address Kaylee.  "You'll be safer if you're a magical girl, though."

"I will?"

Squeeze. "How's that? And - will you be sticking around to answer more questions later?" 

"Witches don't target magical girls, because Witch's Kisses don't work on them.  And you can contact me whenever you want.  I turned you into a magical girl, which means you're my responsibility.  You can talk to me telepathically as easily as you can heal yourself."

"Does - the magic cost anything?"

"It does.  Now that you're a magical girl, you have an object called a Soul Gem.  Using magic harms your Soul Gem, but you can heal it by displacing that harm into Grief Seeds, which you can obtain by destroying witches.  A Grief Seed that's used too much, or left alone for too long, will grow into a new witch, but Grief Seeds are the only way to heal Soul Gems, so you shouldn't destroy them right away.  I can warn you when a Grief Seed is near enough to used up that its safer to destroy it, and I can also destroy them for you."

"Did that - witch - drop a grief seed then?" She should probably get it if it did. "And what happens if I run out of magic?" (And she focuses, trying to sense her soul gem - it's on a necklace, resting at the base of her throat.)

"Yes, all witches drop Grief Seeds.  Using up magic harms your Soul Gem.  If your Soul Gem is destroyed, you die."

- Yikes.

She reluctantly unhugs Kaylee. "I need to go find that - Grief Seed thing." She'll start looking around. "Kyubey, what does it look like?"

"I think I'm okay.  Thanks, Lianne."

"It'll be a black bauble, spherical with a needle coming out of one end.  It isn't as sharp as it looks.  It's a good idea to collect Grief Seeds from every witch you fight, but right now you have plenty of magic left."

"I'm - going to get it anyways." She walks around some until she finds it. 

It's not hard to find, and it's as Kyubey described.  Small, black or dark grey, ornate.  It balances itself on its needle-point when she picks it up; it is, indeed, not anywhere as sharp as it looks like it should be.

"How do I use it to heal my soul gem? And what happens if I keep it with me rather than destroying it right away? How do I destroy it?"

"Make your Soul Gem take its bauble form - " she realizes as soon as Kyubey says it that yes, she can do that easily " - and touch it to the Grief Seed; from there, it will become obvious.  Nothing bad happens if you keep a Grief Seed on hand unless you leave it unattended for too long - weeks, at least, usually, and I can examine that particular Grief Seed to see how long will be safe.  It's actually usually a better idea to keep Grief Seeds for a while, so you can use them more than once, rather than destroying them right away."

"Whenever you do want to destroy a Grief Seed, let me know and I'll do so.  That's one of my jobs; magical girls can't do it on their own."

She transforms the little gem on her choker into a decorated sphere, similar to the grief seed but curved where it's sharp, golden where it's grey. She touches it to the seed, and what little dinginess it has fades.

"...Thank you. I - unless Kaylee has any questions, I think I'd like to head back now."

"Can I talk to you later too?"

"Yes."

"Then - I'm okay, for now," she says quietly.

Kyubey hops up on top of the gazebo, then turns around.  "One last thing - I'd appreciate it if you kept me a secret from anyone who doesn't already know.  It's probably better to keep the whole thing to yourselves, anway - I suspect witches try to go after people in the know, to keep themselves secret."

...That's. Concerning.

"I will."

She turns to Kaylee, then remembers that her outfit changed when she - transformed.

She looks down at herself. She's dressed all in shades of gold - dark golden shoulder-pads and boots, a pale gold tabard-like thing with what's either a golden eight-pointed star or stylized sun on the chest, over a golden skirt. Even the sword had had a sheen of gold, she remembers.

Um.

Is it at all intuitive how to change her clothes back?

It is!  It's the same process as transforming her Soul Gem: tell it to assume the form of an unobtrusive ring and it will change her costume back as well.

She does that, then, and the costume fades into her usual jeans and t-shirt. 

Kaylee stands, slowly, and walks over to where Lianne is standing, slowly.

"I... thank you."

"I - couldn't do anything else. I was so scared and I just - I'm so sorry I didn't get to you earlier - "

She can't bring herself to say out loud that she probably would have been too scared to go in at all.

"It's okay," she says instead.  "Did you get me out, with your - wish?  I was out here for a while before you."

Weak smile. "Yeah. I wished - that you'd be fully healed and safe from further harm. Guess there's a limit to the wishes, since it didn't make you invulnerable."

"I guess."

"We should probably head back, if we haven't missed the bus already."

Quick hug. (Mostly because Lianne needs one.)

Then: "Yeah. I don't think we have, but time was - weird in there."

Hug.  Subdued hug.

She checks the time on her phone.  "When did we leave, um, anime club?"

"Hm. Around three-fifteen? The buses are supposed to leave around four-fifteen, but they usually leave around four-thirty-ish."

"We've got time."  She doesn't start walking until Lianne does.

Lianne will lead the way, though while keeping Kaylee in her peripheral vision (and paying attention to her weird new senses. She knows Kyubey said they won't run into another witch, but - . Well. Doesn't hurt to be cautious. She already misses the sword.)

No new witches are in evidence.

Kaylee puts in headphones; no one but her will be able to tell that they aren't playing any music, and they'll dissuade anyone else from talking to her.  She puts on a smile for anyone who looks in her direction.  She doesn't say much.

Eventually the bus arrives.

Lianne's subdued on the way back. She doesn't bother trying to smile, instead just finding a bench and burying her face in a textbook. (She doesn't turn any pages. She can't focus.)

She'll do the same thing on the bus, if it doesn't look like Kaylee wants to talk.

Kaylee doesn't look like she wants to talk, no.

The bus takes them home.

Lianne bids her a quiet goodbye when it's her stop (the bus drops them off in the same order they were picked up), then walks home. 

She says hi to her sister, goes to her room, studies. Takes a break to eat dinner once her mom gets home (neither her mom nor her sister apparently notice that Lianne's life just changed entirely). Does her homework for the day. Then. Stops. And stares at the ceiling. 

She could've been killed. The witch could've gotten more people. It could've gotten Kaylee, she was only teleported out, not made invulnerable.

Lianne needs to know what she's doing. She needs to practice.

'Kyubey?' she mentally calls after focusing a bit.

'I hear you, Lianne.  Is everything all right?'

'Yeah. Just. I have more questions. About the witches, my powers. I think I need to practice some, too - does turning into a magical girl and using my sword use up magic?'

'Both of those things use up magic, yes.  If you want practice, the best thing to do is hunt down freshly-born, weak witches.  Many of them are weaker and less frightening than the one you fought today.  I can help you seek out good targets, if you want.'

'- I'd rather practice just. Swinging my sword. At first. I don't think my reaction time was optimal. Are there a lot of witches near the school or my house? Because I'm going to have trouble getting most places. I suppose I could take the city bus, but that's. Slow. Also, will ordinary practice stuff like lifting weights help make me stronger as a magical girl?'

'Lifting weights won't help.  A magical girl's strength comes from her magic, and you can only improve your magic by using magic, not with mundane exercise.  It's easier for you to travel than you think - remember, you can fly now, and it doesn't tire you out the way walking or running would tire out a human, it just uses some magic.'

'Not tonight, then. Thank you. How does flying work?'

Kyubey has an. Interesting. Pattern of not answering some questions. 

'I know your first fight was scary, but you're going to have to start hunting witches eventually, you know.  Most of them aren't as frightening as the one by the gazebo, if it helps.'

'Learning to fly is like learning to move a muscle you didn't have yesterday - it's hard to explain, but it shouldn't be much harder to figure out on your own than figuring out how to change form.  You can only fly in magical girl form, though.'

'Yeah. I know that I'll need to hunt them at some point. I just need to keep a more normal routine tonight.' 

And plan what to do with - everything. 

'From how far away does the dowsing work?'

'I understand.'

'With practice, and if you concentrate, you can potentially sense the presence and rough distance of a witch from several miles away.  At your level, while concentrating on a dowse, I suspect you could sense a witch that came within a mile of you.  By getting closer, you could determine its direction, and make an estimate of its strength.  But false positives are possible, especially at the edge of your range, because what you're really sensing is emotion, and sometimes ordinary human emotions can interfere.'

'Okay. Thanks. That's - all the questions I have for now.'

'Okay.  Get in touch with me if you do decide to go hunting - I'm here to look after you'

' - or if you just need someone to talk to whose in on the secret, for that matter.'

'Thanks. I'm going on my evening run, and I'll be practicing dowsing while I go. You can tag along if you'd like.'

'I'd like that!  If you wouldn't mind, that is.'

'Wouldn't have invited you if I did! - Oh, can most people see you? My mom and sister would freak out if they knew about you.'

She changes into running gear, heads downstairs, shouts that she's going out, and heads out the front door. She puts on something cheery and energetic and instrumental on her music player, then looks around for Kyubey.

Kyubey is nearby!

'Ordinary humans - who aren't magical girls, I mean - can't see me, no.  But they can still hear you if you talk out loud to me.'

She smiles at - it? Him? 'Quick question? What pronouns should I use when talking about you?'  - and sets out at a light jog. 

'Anything that you'd use for a person is fine with me!'

Kyubey follows, keeping pace easily.

'He it is, then.'

She'll stop every half mile or so to take a sip of water and concentrate briefly on dowsing. She doesn't expect to find any witches, but doesn't hurt to be careful with her range. Her total loop's about two and a half miles, so she isn't covering a lot of ground, but she can at least check the neighborhood pretty thoroughly.

She is correct in that expectation: no witches are found.

Kyubey will make conversation if she does, but is also just as happy to lope along beside her in companionable silence.

Yeah, she's mostly absorbed with thinking.

Lianne eventually finishes her run, bids Kyubey a good night, and then goes to look up videos on sword-fighting techniques (hey, it might help some) until bedtime.

The next morning she gets on the bus as usual and then waits anxiously for Kaylee's stop.

She's more subdued than she was on her first day, but she doesn't seem quite as wrecked as she did right after the witch attacked her either.

"Hi."

Yeah Lianne's a bit subdued, too.

"Hey. How're you doing?"

 "I think I'm okay.  For real this time."  She smiles for a moment.

"It was hard not talking about it though."

"Yeah. I - process internally - but I get that. Sorry I wasn't more help. Maybe you can come by my house after clubs today, or I can come by yours? So we can talk some."

"Lianne, you saved my life, you don't need to apologize.  ...But I'd like that, yeah."

Slight smile. "So, you were thinking of doing creative writing club today?"

"Yeah.  You've got track, right?"

"Mmhm. Runs right until just before the after-school buses arrive. Once club's over you can come watch if you want." 

"I think I will.  Thanks.  Where's track practice held?"

She gives directions. 

"Thanks.  I'll see you there.  - well, I guess I'll see you in bio first."

"Yeah! I'll try to save a seat if I get there first, so we can sit together?"

"Thanks!"

The bus arrives, and people start disembarking.

To class, then. 

Lianne successfully saves a seat in biology.

Kaylee arrives a bit less under-the-wire this time.  "Hey," she whispers.

"Hi!"

Today's a lecture day, which means no chance for even hushed talking. Lianne mostly pays attention. (Luckily the teacher doesn't notice that she's distracted.)

Subdued and studious look similar on Kaylee; she doesn't have problems either.  Then, lunch.

Lunch!

Some of the people at their table notice that Lianne's distracted; she just says something vague about her mom, and people awkwardly drop the subject. She perks up some as she gets a chance to chatter about inconsequential things. 

Kaylee is definitely noticeably more withdrawn than she usually is, and inconsequential chatter doesn't seem to help her as much; but she does manage to wave away folks' concern.

Lunch ends what feels like much too soon to Lianne. 

(They're watching a movie in English. Lianne spends class fidgeting with her soul gem in bauble form and concentrating on dowsing for witches. She didn't sense any more yesterday, but - )

Then: gym.

Once they're at the 'walking in circles around the field and chatting' phase of class, Lianne falls into step beside Kaylee, then waits until they're away from anyone else to say, "Can you talk to Kyubey telepathically? I was thinking we could use him as a relay for stuff we don't mind him knowing, to talk quietly in class and all."

"Maybe?  I think he said I could, but I don't really know how."

Lianne explains how it worked for her, and that he's probably lurking nearby, so they can test it if Kaylee wants. 

'Kyubey?'

'Hello, Kaylee!'

'Hi!  I don't think I ever thanked you properly for helping Lianne save me, so - thank you.'

'Don't mention it!'

'You're sweet.  Would you mind relaying messages between Lianne and me if we want to talk in secret, or when we're not together?'

'Not at all!  In fact, since I'm telepathically connected to both of you, you can already talk to each other telepathically!'

'Oh, thank you!'

'Kyubey says that we can just talk to each other like this directly, since he's connected to both of us.'

'I'm still not positive he isn't listening in, but that's great.'

'Yeah.'

She walks in silence for a few moments.

'Lianne?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you think I should become a magical girl?'

She looks around (for both other humans and Kyubey), then, quietly but out loud: "It's - not without a lot of thought maybe? If it was me, I'd try and find an older magical girl to talk to, and try and get more straightforward answers out of Kyubey - he's weirdly evasive sometimes, and some of the way he behaves is - I don't know... And there's some worrying things. Like, I really don't like the sound of 'if you run out of magic you die.' And a couple of things I'm having trouble articulating, even to myself." 

"You don't trust him?" she murmurs.  "It seemed like... I don't know everything that happened but he seems like he was - on our side, with the witch."

"...He could've shown up earlier. Like - I think he was watching us, and he's said he can sense witches and tell their power level - he could've warned us when we were close. Even if he was restricted by some kind of statute of secrecy to not warn us, he probably could've given me the wish before you got injured. Like - I think I'd mostly trust him if not for that, his apparent evasiveness and - pushiness - could just be that he's fairly alien. I'm not saying absolutely don't become a magical girl - I probably would anyways unless there was something really horrible, I'm too scared to not fight - but... Verify. I don't think there's anything horrible going on, but I think - I don't know."

She pauses. "I - might also calm down some and be less - suspicious - once I'm no longer so scared. He's - tangled up in all this, so it's easy to consider him involved, if that makes any sense."

"That's - kind of suspicious, I guess, but - I think - "

She takes a breath.

"I don't know.  I guess - trying to talk to another magical girl makes sense.  But - how would we even find another magical girl?  Did Kyubey say anything about that?  Do you think it would be suspicious if I just asked him now?"

"I don't think so. I mean, it's a normal thing to ask about."

"Okay."

'Kyubey?'

'Yes?'

'Do you know of any other magical girls who are nearby?  Or any way to find them?'

'Most magical girls aren't friendly with each other unless they knew each other beforehand; you have to compete for resources, after all.  Why do you ask?'

'I want to hear about what its like to be a magical girl from somebody with firsthand experience before I make my decision.'

'Hmm.  I think there might be one operating near here who's known to be unusually friendly.  She may have a few allied magical girls, actually.  I can see about putting you in touch.'

'Thanks.'

Then, to Lianne, murmured out loud: "He says magical girls mostly fight each other, but he can put us in touch with one who's friendlier than usual."

"That sounds good to me."

'We'd like that,' Kaylee says to Kyubey.

Gym proceeds, and eventually the school day ends.

Then: track and club. 

Kaylee manages to appear cheerful, if not as relentlessly upbeat as she usually is, while meeting people in creative writing club.

(Whoever Kyubey's introducing them to will be able to help her figure out whether to become a magical girl.  It'll be all right.)

After creative writing club, Kaylee wanders around school grounds for a while, letting her mind wander, and then makes her way towards track practice.

Where Lianne is currently stretching on the sidelines. She waves to Kaylee when she sees her.

Once practice finishes, she heads over, says hi and asks how club went, and then telepaths: 'I thought I might be imagining it at first, but I'm almost certain I've gotten more athletic. I'm not as tired as usual, I was having to hold back on sprinting and jumping. So, that's one advantage to this whole business.'

Kaylee waves back.

"Writing club was fun!  How was track?" 'That sounds really nice.'

"That's good! Track was nice; I really like running." 'It's great, though I'm a bit worried someone will notice and think I'm doping or something. I might want to drop track, because of that and the time thing.'

She nods.  'What are you gonna tell your parents?'

'Just my mom. And that I need to focus more on schoolwork, probably. Which is even kinda true.'

'Oh, I'm sorry.'

'Do you want to look for Kyubey and see about meeting that other magical girl?'

'Eh, they divorced a while ago. I'm over my dad not being around.

'And sure, though we'll have to get on the bus soon. If we're heading to your house, I need to call my sister and let her know.'

'I think I'd prefer to hang out at your house, actually, if that's okay with you.'

'Sure. We'll have to come up with a lie for my sister, though - I was planning on claiming I was going to your house to study together - we can use that for sitting in my room talking, but not so much for wandering off. Of course this'll depend on where the other magical girl is, and when it's convenient to meet her. I suppose I can say I'm showing you around or something.'

'That'd work I think.  I'll call my dad.'

She retrieves her phone and makes a call, saying that she's going to spend some time at her new friend's house, "studying, hanging out a bit, we don't have the whole afternoon planned out - yeah, okay - love you too - bye."

'That's taken care of,' she says.  'Shall we head for the bus now?'

She texts her sister to warn of Impending Friend while Kaylee's on the phone with her dad.

'Yeah, let's. Do you want to contact Kyubey now?'

'Sure.  You want to talk to him or shall I?'

'I can, unless you want to.'

'No, that's fine.'

'Kyubey?'

'Hello!  What is it?'

'Do you know where the other magical girl is? And can you pass on a message, that we'd like to meet her?'

'I don't know where she is at this moment, but I can get in touch with her!'

'Mal?'

'Yes?'

'A prospective magical girl wants to meet with somebody who knows what it's like.  Are you free sometime soon?'

'I can free myself up. Should I come to her, or does she want to drop by the community center?'

'I'll check.'

'She wants to know if you can meet her at the community center or if she should come find you.'

'I can meet her there. I'll try and grab room 1c, it's one of the presentation spaces, almost never taken.'

'That will do just fine.  Thank you!'

To Lianne and Kaylee: 'She'll meet you in room 1c.'

'Cool. The community center's on the city bus line, which has a stop right outside my neighborhood, so we can drop off our school things, let my sister know where we're going, then head out?'

'Sounds good to me!'

When they get to her house, Lianne tells her sister that she's showing Kaylee to the community center, for Reasons, drops off her bookbag, and then leads the way to the bus-stop. It's about a five minute walk, then a fifteen minute bus ride, to right outside the center's door.

The meeting room in question has windows facing the main area so you can see inside easily; there's a dark-haired woman perhaps in her mid-twenties on a laptop. 

"Think that's her?" Kaylee asks, out loud, twisting her hands together.

"Looks like it? I mean, this is the room... We can just go in and say we're there to meet with - did Kyubey ever tell us her name - if it's not her at worst we'll be mildly embarrassed."

"Mallory, I think.  That's true."

She takes a deep breath and a step forward, and knocks.

The woman looks up from her laptop, smiles, and gets up to open the door.

"Are you Kaylee and Lianne? I'm Mallory Delvin - feel free to come on in and take a seat - "

"Yes, that's me - ah, I'm Kaylee, this is Lianne.  Hi."  She comes in, she sits down.

Lianne says hi and sits down, too. When the door closes behind them, the outside sound largely cuts off. 

Mallory sits down across from them. "Kaylee - you're the prospective magical girl, right? Are there any questions you have right away?"

She takes a steadying breath.  "Kyubey said I'd be safer from witches as a magical girl.  Is that true?"

"It's complicated. If you're attacked by one, you'll be able to actually defend yourself. Being affected by witches is rare for the general population, more common for potential magical girls and those who've run into a witch before. But magical girls have to actively seek out witches fairly frequently, and some die fighting. Many also die from mismanaging their magic."

She nods.  "Mismanaging like how?"

"Usually misjudging how much they have left, typically while upset or fighting. Sometimes by things like running against the edge, counting on a witch to drop a grief seed and then being too low to fight another when it doesn't. Your emotional state can also impact how quickly your gem dims. Emotions like grief or despair quicken the process, while joy slows it down. - Did Kyubey tell you, if you run out of magic you die. Very unpleasantly. And just being a magical girl uses a small amount of magic."

"He mentioned dying when you run out of magic, but not that you're always using it up.  So you can't be a magical girl just to stay safe from witches, you have to commit to being a witch hunter.  But it doesn't seem like it's taken over your entire life - do you work here at the community center?"

"I work as a freelance journalist, so I'm able to drop things in the middle of the day like this, but I also do a lot of community work. I also run a scouting group - admittedly mostly to help magical girls coordinate, and give them an excuse to go haring off to do things - and I work a lot on things related to that.

"I think that the background magic use is actually from passive abilities you're using subconsciously - magical girls heal faster and don't get sick, so avoiding injury and disease would probably eliminate almost all of that.

"Some girls do get away with hunting only every few months, especially once they've developed a sense for which witches will drop a seed. I hunt about twice a week, and usually have a spare grief seed on hand in case of emergencies. Many girls, especially those interested in establishing a territory, hunt more often than that. If you just want to be safe, I can provide you with grief seeds when needed."

"I'd really appreciate that, but - "

"I wanted to become a doctor before I knew about magical girls, in order to research cures and vaccines for diseases we can't cure right now, because I wanted to do as much good as I could.  But this has been going on for - how long? - and nobody knows about it, and witches are just going to keep killing innocent people if no one stops them.  Do you think I should - shift my focus?"

" - That's your call to make. Keeping the witch population down is important, but so are vaccines. I'm not sure what the difference in impact would be. It's probably entirely possible to do both, though not being a doctor I'm unsure about the time commitment involved. Most magical girls keep up their educations, though, especially if they only hunt on weekends. Usually it's only social life getting sacrificed."

She nods.  "Well, my understanding is that being a doctor takes up a lot of your life, but if you only have to hunt once every couple of weeks..."

"Okay, let's say for the sake of argument that I am going to become a magical girl.  What would you want me to know about - how it works?  What I'll need to do, and need to learn to do?"

"You'll need to learn how to manage your magic efficiently - having a good idea of what it's doing helps, so becoming a doctor could make healing easier, for instance. All magical girls technically have the same categories of powers, with differences only in magical weapon and costume, but your wish impacts which powers are easier to use. There's - a lot of powers. Healing yourself, healing others, flight, minor telekinesis, and improved speed, strength, and endurance are the ones I see most often. You'll need to learn how to fight, and the only real way to do that is challenging witches - sparring isn't entirely effective, though it can work some if you're against another magical girl.

"Most magical girls are antagonistic towards each other, and will fight if they end up in conflict over a territory. I'm trying to discourage that, and build a proper network so we can coordinate by sending in teams against more powerful witches, training new girls, matching hunters to a witch's strength, even sharing grief seeds - that sort of thing.

"As far as wishes go, you can wish for just about anything, within limits determined by your potential. A wish you feel strongly about is more powerful, and being specific in your wish gets better results. Many girls come to regret their wishes, so choose carefully, and give it a lot of thought.

"Witches are most common in areas with higher population densities. They hatch from grief seeds, or grow from familiars created by other witches, and I'm fairly sure they sometimes spontaneously form. They can wander around, and they grow larger and more dangerous over time, though they also have varying baseline strengths."

She nods along.

"Can you give me any advice about fighting witches?  Like - what are the mistakes everybody makes on their first hunt?  And - if it's not too personal, can I ask what you wished for?"

"Hm. Witches are made up of a labyrinth, which you'll get a sense for navigating, familiars, and the - core - of the witch, at the labyrinth's center. You need to kill the core to defeat the witch. I'm not sure about what sort of mistakes are commonly made; I haven't talked to that many magical girls. In general, though: watch your back, don't drop your guard, and don't underestimate your opponent. I suspect that thinking the witch is dead when it isn't kills a good number of girls. The witch will sometimes try to distract or mislead you, too.

"I wished for perfect recall and improved working memory. It... Helped me maintain my school life while hunting, but probably wasn't a wise call."

"That's helpful.  Thank you."

"...Can I ask why you don't think your wish was a good call?  Feel free to let me know if I'm prying too much, I just - want to figure out as much as I can about this."

"There's things I don't want to remember, and I could've used my wish for - just about anything else. I optimized poorly."

"That makes sense."

"Um, on kind of another subject - are you in touch with Kyubey regularly?"

"He contacts me when he needs something, and he does keep an eye on me, but I don't talk to him very often. Why?"

She fails to resist the urge to glance over at Lianne for a moment.

"Just - I'm kind of not clear on what exactly he does?  And like - he didn't go over very much of this stuff with us."

"...He's an alien, so I think a lot's getting lost in translation. I'm not sure he understands the concept of volunteering information, or answering open-ended questions. I'm almost entirely positive his job mainly revolves around monitoring magical girls and witches, and trying to grow the magical girl population. If a magical girl's killed, he'll usually alert nearby ones that her territory's uncovered. He's also - a bit overly focused on fighting witches."

" - only almost?"

"He's really bad at answering questions in a useful manner. Asking him what he does will just return the 'I help magical girls fight witches' thing. And it's impossible to be entirely certain of most things."

"But you think it's just that he - doesn't understand humans.  Is why he's so cagey."

Small hesitation, then: "In all honesty, I think his extreme focus on opposing witches leads to questionable ethics. Like not being forthright with girls about the risks, and recruiting girls who're under sixteen, and then encouraging them to dedicate themselves to fighting. It's entirely possible he's decided to hide things so you'll be more likely to make a contract. You need to decide whether becoming a magical girl is worth it to you anyways."

She looks taken aback for a moment, but then nods.  "That - makes sense.  Okay."

"I think I need some time to think about all this," she says.  "Thank you for your help.  Would you mind giving me some way to get back in touch with you, if I think of more questions?  Or if I decide to become a magical girl and I want to work with you?"

She gives her phone number, and says to call her any time, seriously, especially if there's an emergency. She turns to Lianne, offers her the same, and asks if she has any questions, too.

Lianne nods. "Yeah. Um, how many witches are there, how common are they, how many people do they kill - "

She sighs. "I - don't know. I've tried to run the numbers, and there's - essentially several possibilities that boil down to either the witch and magical girl populations are in equilibrium, or they're not, and if they're not, the witch population is likely to overtake the magical girl population. I'm trying to influence the variables so we drive down the amount of witches, and don't end up with an apocalypse scenario. I think that roughly twenty percent of homicides, suicides, and assaults in the U.S. are due to witches, but that has a ludicrously wide error margin."

"...Is there anything we can do about witches other than sending magical girls to fight them?  Corral them away from cities, or, I don't know - let the military know?  Kyubey said witches go after people who know about them, but..."

"Regular weapons don't do much against the familiars, witches can't even be seen by ordinary humans, and those who go too close to them tend to get caught. It might be possible to somehow disrupt their reproduction - I've tried talking Kyubey into encouraging girls to try and wish to get rid of witches, or make witches incapable of producing familiars, but he says that no one's ever had that kind of potential. I think getting girls to coordinate better and have better survival rates should be enough to tip the balance, though."

She nods.  "You'd - you'd know better than me, probably.  I'll probably be in touch.  Thank you again."

"You're welcome. I'm - sorry I couldn't give you more hopeful news. If you want, the scouting group meets here Saturdays at five, room 2a. You're both welcome to come."

"I think I'll come. Thank you for - being honest, and for trying."

"I'll - if I've become a magical girl by then, I'll be there too."  She stands up.

"Potentials are allowed as well, but it's your call. I - hope you make whichever decision will make you happiest. Thank you for listening." She stands up and goes to open the door.

Lianne nods quietly, and heads out. 

Kaylee follows.

Once they're outside, waiting for the bus: "So. That was. Not what I was expecting. It's... Nice that she didn't try to convince us that everything's roses and - and - that it's like an anime or something. But. I think. I don't know." Pause. "I think I'd still want to be a magical girl, anyways. It sounds - important. Like being a firefighter."

Kaylee nods.

"If... we were switched around, if I had saved you and you still had your wish, what would you wish for?"

"I don't know. It's probably not easy to just like eliminate world hunger or malaria or something or someone would've done it already - though I guess I could do something roundabout with that - maybe I'd try wishing directly for a power."

"That's a good idea.  - maybe it's possible to wish for one sample of a vaccine we don't have yet, or a more effective version, and give it to somebody to reverse-engineer... I should talk to Kyubey."

"Oh, yeah, that'd work. Or maybe the wishes can do information, and you could wish for vaccine formulas directly?"

"Oooh, that's clever too!  Thanks, Lianne!"

After a time, the bus arrives.  They embark.

"Um, by the way - how are you doing?  With the magical girl thing?  I feel like I've been kind of - wrapped up in my own stuff lately.  Sorry about that."

'It's cool. I'm - mostly fine. I was a bit freaked out at first, really worried about a witch coming near my house. And I've been dowsing every so often, I'm still kinda nervous, but I've had a chance to calm down now. Talking to Mallory helped a lot.'

' - oops.  Yeah, she helped me too.  ...I want to say 'I'm sure everything will be fine' but...'

'I mean, as long as I'm careful I should be fine - I wonder why they recruit young when it's important to be careful actually, teenagers aren't exactly a group that'd typically be all that frugal with magic.'

' - hmm, you're right, that's weird.  'Nother thing to ask Kyubey about, maybe.'

'Yeah. Teenagers sound like a bad idea all around for optimal witch hunters, we also don't tend to have a lot of freedom of movement. I wonder if Kyubey's still nearby so we can ask?'

'I'm not sure... Kyubey?'

'Yes?'

'Why do you only give magic to teenagers?'

'It's complicated, and it has to do with the way magic works.  I'm not completely qualified to explain it, honestly!  But basically, a magical girl's strength comes from her emotions, and teenagers' emotions make them really good magical girls.'

'Huh. Yeah, teenagers are pretty emotional. So after puberty most people calm down too much? And is it just girls, then?'

'Basically, yeah.  Boys can't become magical girls.'

'That's. Weird. But I guess no one ever said magic has to make sense.'

'They didn't!'

'You know, I never realized how utterly bizarre so many anime tropes are until I was living them! ...I wonder if magical girl stories are actually inspired by people who know about the real deal? Or at least the ones that established the genre.'

'That could be!  It would be weird that magical girls were such a trope and there were also be the real thing running around, if they weren't related.  ...Hey, Kyubey, do you know how long witches and magical girls have been around?'

'I don't know exactly.  It's all been going on since long before I was born.'

'How old are you?'

'I'm only a few years old!  But we mature quickly.'

'Oh wow. I guess aliens would mature differently, huh. What's the oldest magical girl you know about, then?'

'I think that's Mallory.  But I don't know very many magical girls other than you.'

'So aliens don't really have history lessons on historic magical girls, huh. Still, cool. If you're only a few years old, who contracted Mallory?'

'Another creature like me did it.'

'Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you for answering my questions. I think Kaylee had a few, also?'

'Go ahead, Kaylee!'

'If I were to become a magical girl - I'm not sure I am yet, but if I did, could I wish to know how to make a vaccine that humans can't make?  Or for an example of something that humans don't know how to make, but that doesn't work by magic?'

'Hypothetically, you could.  But wishes are granted using magical power derived partially from the strength of your feelings about them, and it can be hard to feel passionately about something like that in the right way.  I'd have to check your potential properly to be sure whether you could do it or not, and I'm not near enough to do that right now.'

'We should meet in person soon.  Maybe not tonight, though, I may need the rest of the day off from magical girl stuff.'

Their stop comes up, and Lianne leads the way back to her house. "My sister can drive you home if you'd like, or we can hang out at my house for a bit longer."

"I think I'll stick around."  'Hang out for real, without worrying about magic stuff.'

"Cool! I have games and all, or we can watch something, or study, or just chat."

"What kindsa games?"

"Hm... For two people, we have a bunch of the standard board games, plus, like, ten variations of video games that let you fight the other player... Um, some 'beat a level together' games like Gauntlet. Racing games. I think we have one of those guitar games somewhere, and the DDR mat's probably still in the linen closet."

"Gauntlet sounds fun!  And DDR if you wanna dig the mat up."

"Let's start with Gauntlet, if you don't have a strong opinion either way."

She's got one of the older ones, which her sister somehow got to play on the newer machine. It's a fun game, despite (and maybe because of) the old graphics and goofy narrator's voice. 

Kaylee giggles at and occasionally mimics the goofiness of the narrator's voice.  Great fun is had defeating small low-resolution dungeon beasts!

If they play long enough they'll get to fight a dragon!

...Eventually it's roughly dinner time, though. Lianne's mom arrives, and asks if Kaylee wants to stay or if she'd rather go on and head home. 

"Mmm, I should head home.  Thank you for offering, though!  I'd love to have dinner here sometime."

They'll be glad to have her!

Lianne's mom is only mildly curious on the drive to Kaylee's house, asking fairly standard questions like when did she and Lianne meet, if Kaylee's enjoying the town, etcetera. 

Kaylee is happy to oblige mild curiosity: they met on her first bus ride to school which was only a few days ago, the town has been enjoyable and pretty, &c &c.

Eventually she arrives at home, and says goodbye for the night.

She returns the goodbye, then heads back home.

That night, Lianne calls out, 'Hey, Kyubey? How long will this grief seed last me, do you think? Should I try going hunting before the weekend?'

'It's never a bad idea to have another grief seed on hand, but the one you have should probably still be usable for a week or two.  To be more specific than that I'd have to look at it in person.  Want me to come over?'

'Sure.'

After a few moments, Kyubey appears, pawing at her window.

She lets him in, then goes to retrieve the grief seed so he can look at it.

He lands lightly, and peers at the seed.

'If you heal your soul gem regularly with this grief seed, you'll be safe for a week.  It won't regrow immediately after that time, but it'll be unsafe to have it around or use it to heal your soul gem.  It's safer to collect new grief seeds before the old ones are completely used up, though, in case you have to run the next time you go hunting and don't wind up finding a seed.'

'Okay, thanks. I'll just go hunting Saturday, then, that's only a few days.'

'I can meet you on Saturday, if you'd like advice or company.'

'Sure. I could especially use help with identifying weaker witches.'

'Glad to be of help.  See you then!'

'See you!'

Then: bed, and the next day.

Next day.  Bus.  Kaylee embarks and sits down next to Lianne.  "Morning!"

"Morning!"

'Any new developments in the magical-girl world?'

'Not much. I'm planning on going witch-hunting Saturday while I'm in the city, though.'

'While you're in the city?'

'For the 'scouts' meeting thing. Afterwards I'll head where there's more people and - go looking, I guess.'

'Right.  Hopefully it'll be - less scary, than last time.  Good luck.'

'Thanks! Yeah, I hope so too. I might be able to tag along with another girl, even. Fighting in groups seems like it'd be safer.'