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[Chevaleresse]

"I. . . think so?" One line in particular stood out. Magic that looked like other magic. . . That meant that the thing in the park could have been more than just a weird fluke. A picture was starting to form, slowly but surely. "It's a little weird, but I think I get it." She was quiet for a moment, considering her next question. "Do witches come from somewhere other than magical girls? The first witches had to come from somewhere, right?"

[syvarris]

Pumsy goes very still at that question, sitting unmoving for a few seconds before he answers.  When he does, he sounds a little worried, almost scared.  "There's always been witches." he says, flicking one of his ears.

[Chevaleresse]

"But where did they come from?" Tooru tried to keep her voice innocent (and, given her age and general attitude, was fairly good at that,) but her suspicion continued to creep further into it. "You didn't answer me." She prepared to grab him once again if he decided to bolt, though it didn't seem like she had good odds if he could just appear wherever he wanted.

[syvarris]

"Umm..."

Pumsy looks away, to your side, shuffling his paws anxiously.  You realize that he's looking past you, at your bedroom's door, moments before he moves.  He tries to bolt past you, but you're ready, and you scoop him up with one hand.  His paws pedal frantically in the air for a moment as you lift him away from the floor.  Before he can struggle free, you grab him securely with both hands just under his front legs, and hold him in front of your face, staring him down.

"I don't knoooow!  That's a bad question, it does bad things!  Let goooo!" he cries, frantically wriggling around in a futile attempt at escape.

[Chevaleresse]

"What's going on, Pumsy!?" Her voice rose louder than she intended, so she took a slightly shuddering breath and continued more quietly as she continued to interrogate him. "I want to believe that you're just cute and cuddly and nice but you keep doing all this weird stuff! And then when I try to ask you anything about it you just run away! Tell me what's going on!" She squeezed the. . . whatever he actually was, tight, but tried not to crush him. "There's all this weird stuff like the time you looked like a witch, and that weird way your eyes went black when you stared at Sandra. I know there's something up!"

[syvarris]

"Agh!" he squeaks as you squeeze on his ribcage, though he doesn't pause his struggles for a moment. "I don't know, I don't knooow!   Let go!  Stop hurting meee!" he wails uselessly.

You pause, just watching him.  It's odd that he's not attacking you.  You're pretty sure Pumsy has claws, and he certainly has teeth.  If you held a cat like this, and it was trying to escape as much as Pumsy is, your arms would already be covered in scratches by now.  He's not even all that hard to keep ahold of, really, though you're not sure if that's because of you being a magical girl, and therefore stronger and faster...

"Let goooo!" Pumsy wails again, breaking you out of your thoughts.  This isn't going anywhere, though really there's no reason you can't just keep holding him as long as you like.  It'll just be annoying. 

[Chevaleresse]

Tooru loosens her grip. He wasn't going to actually tell her anything, was he? "Pumsy, I just. . . I just want to know. You seem so nice, but then there's all these bad things happening around you." Her voice quavered. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just don't want people to keep getting hurt." She sighed, and set him down, waiting to see if he bolted immediately.

[syvarris]

Pumsy does bolt when you put him down--directly away from you, towards the wall.  He seems to realize his path is blocked just before reaching the wall, and spins around, staring back at you with wide, golden eyes.  He slowly backs up until he hits the wall, and then he lays against it, curled up with his tail held close to his side.

"I don't know!" he shouts yet again, his voice panicky "You want hurting to stop, so stop asking questions that hurt people!"

[Chevaleresse]

Tooru spoke more quietly. "Why would it hurt people? Can you at least tell me that? Because I'm really afraid that you're hurting people." It was hard to stay as determined as she had been when he was acting so hurt and panicked. Tooru didn't move from her spot between Pumsy and the window, but didn't make an effort to keep him where he was already. "I'm getting hurt too, you know? Witches are scary and I died the first time I went after one. And I'm still better off than Mina."

[syvarris]

Pumsy cowers further away, pressing himself into the wall, then covers his face with his paws.  "I... I don't know...  Girls are always unhappy when they ask those questions, and then they become witches, they're bad questions, I don't want you to die, but you keep asking bad questions, so...  aaagh!  Just stop, please!"

[Chevaleresse]

"I'm grounded because of this, of course I'm not happy," Tooru pouts, before returning to seriousness once more. "Pumsy, I'm not going to turn into a witch." I already don't believe in how nice you say you are. "I'm not gonna hurt you or something, so just. . . Run away, or something, if you really aren't going to tell me anything." She sighs. This had been unproductive. She still didn't know anything except for vague ideas and suspicions, hints about the true nature of Pumsy and the witches they fought. There was no way he was as benign as he seemed; the reality of what she'd signed up for, what she'd given up, had started to set in, and with it an awareness of how little she'd gotten in return. There has to be more to it. . .

[syvarris]

Pumsy shivers a little, staying in place.  After a few seconds, he lowers one of his paws to look at you.  You stare back at him, unamused, and he looks away.  His gaze flickers around randomly for a few moments, before coming to rest on your bed--and then he's off like a rocket, charging right underneath the mattress.  You sigh, irritated with how useless Pumsy has been, and then you kneel down to look under your bed.  You don't want him just hiding under there.

...But there's nothing under your bed.  Of course.  He can teleport, or something, you guess he just didn't want to teleport in front of you.


((I'm doing that thing where I keep telling myself that I'll update the next day, for several days in a row, so I'm posting this mostly so I can say that I'll definitely make a proper update tomorrow.))

[syvarris]

SOUL DRAINS.

Alida has all in all had a pretty good time over the last week and a half.  She's mostly just not thought about what happened in the labyrinth, instead enjoying her new wolf powers.  Her soul is only slightly darker, the change barely noticable.
Tooru, as well, has been enjoying life overall.  Despite the poor conversation with Pumsy, the fact that she hasn't been able to find Asha since the labyrinth, and her grounding... life is good.  Her brother, Taro, has been a lot nicer to her lately, too.  She's spent quite a few evenings beating him up in various video games.  Her soul is no darker, and in fact would actually be brighter, if she weren't already capped.
Aleksandra, in contrast, has had a terrible time.  Asha left her shortly after healing her grandfather and taking the ribbon away from her--and she hasn't seen either of the other magical girls since, either.  Even Pumsy seems to have abandoned her.  She's left to search for her new friends a few days, but hasn't been able to find any of them.  Her soulgem now glows with a gloriously blazing light.


>Tooru

Your life continues as normal for the rest of the week, and over the weekend, Violet and a couple other friends visit you.  Everyone seems to want to know why you were grounded, but it's a simple enough question to deflect, and nobody pries, leaving you free to enjoy their visits.  It's weird, but the grounding has kinda had the opposite effect your mother intended.  Sure, you can't go out anywhere, but that hasn't damaged your social life at all, and people are acting even nicer to you than normal.  It helps that your father often seems to forget that you're supposed to be being punished, so when your mother is asleep--which is most of the day--you don't even have to be careful.

Monday morning, your school preparations are interrupted by Taro excitedly yammering about an upcoming sports tournament.  You're a bit confused about your nerdy brother being excited about sports, right up until you finally catch which sport he's talking about: Jousting.  Jousting was suddenly revived as a serious competitive sport about half a decade ago, and unlike the theatrical shows that apparently went on before, actually has opposed teams and seasons and such things.  You've never been interested, but Taro, having been obsessed with anything medieval for about as long as you can recall, loves the sport.  Pretty much everything you've heard has been from him, during one of his annoying rants about some important match or another.  According to him, jousting has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity since its revival, somehow becoming the second most popular sport within the country.  You've always doubted that statistic, considering you know literally nobody else who talks about it.

Apparently, the tournament he's so excited about is notable because it's the... "Kingship Boat"?  Something like that.  It's the big final tournament that closes the season, and determines the best "knight" in the country.  And it's happening here, later this week, apparently.  Taro continues to go on about how it's so big that it's apparently not using the normal jousting stadium _{(the city has a jousting stadium...?)} it's using the biggest stadium in the city.  That means tens of thousands of spectators, according to Taro, which admittedly does surprise you; you'd think you would have heard about such a big event.  Taro agrees, and says that you must be blind, deaf, and dumb.

He apologizes after you throw a shoe at him, then starts talking about how he actually needs your help because of all this.  He's been bugging Dad to buy tickets for awhile, but has been more or less stonewalled.  Dad doesn't refuse, really, he just always diverts the conversation and shuts Taro down without actually giving a real answer.  Taro figures that it's because it's only him that's interested in the tournament, and so if you were to also ask about it, maybe then Dad would cave.  Then Taro folds his hands together and tries to make a cute puppy-like expression, but it just ends up looking stupid on his acne-ridden face.

You point out that you don't actually follow jousting, unlike him.  He blows that off, saying that you're enough of a tomboy for Dad to believe you.  Glaring at him, you then point out that you're grounded, and therefore unlikely to get special treatment from your parents.  Taro shrugs and says that Dad seems to forget that you're grounded half the time, which is pretty true.  Finally, you point out that you're getting nothing from this--and Taro immediately interrupts you to say that he'll do anything you want, he'll really owe you one.  Or five.  Or ten, he says, sounding increasingly desperate.

Do you agree?  You'll have to go to a jousting tournament if you do manage to convince your father.


>Alida

After the excitement at the end of your week, your weekend ends up being utterly boring and mundane.  You end up having to take care of your younger siblings for most of both days, and they get into an unusual amount of trouble.  Both days, you wake up early, and fall asleep late, too exhausted to do much of anything else.  It's a blessing when Monday finally rolls around, simply because school allows you to get away from your family for a few hours, and let Eva take over the role of child-wrangler.

Most of your free time ends up being spent away from home, either chatting with your friends, or experimenting more with your wolf form.  There's forest on the outskirts of the city, and you spend several hours one day just running around and exploring the woods, trying--and failing--to track down animals with your massively-improved sense of smell. 

After chatting with your friends a bunch about wolves, Finn suggests that you get some books about them, and even recommends a title that he read last summer.  You follow his advice, picking up a few books about wolves (and werewolves) from the library, which you end up spending most of your time at home reading.  Aside from the one book Finn recommended, none of them really seem all that interesting or helpful; the books about werewolves conflict as much as they agree, and the books about normal wolves are mostly about boring stuff that you don't even think applies to your wolf form.  Finally, you spend almost every single night sleeping as a wolf, getting more and more comfortable with your alternate shape.  You're starting to consider running to school as a wolf--it'd be so much faster, and since people seem to think you're just some stray dog, it wouldn't be that much of an issue, right?

The week passes quickly like this, all of your thoughts put more towards wolves than magical girls.  None of the others contact you, and you don't run into any of them, so you don't pay them any mind either.  Being honest with yourself, you really don't want to think about the other magical girls much.  There's too much sadness that you just don't want to let into your mind.  Wolves?  Wolves make for happy thoughts.

It isn't until Thursday that you're broken out of this pleasant pattern.  The other kids are all well-behaved for a change, and both Eva and your mother are free--a rare occurrence, all three of you having nothing to do.  You take the opportunity to relax with them, the three of you sitting around the dining table and just chatting about life.  It's nice, and you find yourself wishing that you could talk like this more often, and that you could talk to them about your new powers, and being able to turn into a wolf, and the other cool stuff that's been happening.  But... you can't, and you just have to be quiet when asked about what you've been up.

Then you're surprised when your mother loudly says that she knows precisely what you've been up to.  She immediately continues, talking about meeting a man at work yesterday, who recognized her and talked about you visiting his daughter to help her with schoolwork.  You're utterly baffled by what she's talking about, since you aren't exactly a top student, and certainly haven't tutored any other student.  Your mother continues on with her story, unaware of your confusion, and continues talking about the man and what he said, all of which is completely untrue.  Still, alarm bells don't go off in your head until she mentions the man's name: "Mikhail Knocka".  She then distracts herself trying to remember what his daughter's name was, but you can barely pay attention.  All of a sudden, hearing that name cleared up all your confusion, and left a cold feeling of fear and calm anger inside you.  Mikhail is a Russian name, and "Knocka"--that man you ambushed, and interrogated, he had said he was called "Knocker".  It's the same guy, and he found your mom, and befriended her.  To ask her about you.

You mentally run over what your mother has been saying, grimacing as you realize how much she's implied that she shared.  This man, a dangerous criminal, probably knows where you live.  Who your family is.  He knows where your mom works!  She could be in danger, your whole family could be in danger, and you can't be around all the time to protect them if he tries something!


((Honestly, I'm unhappy with this, but... well, I've procrastinated long enough.  Something unsatisfying is better than another month-long hiatus.  Next update... Wednesday the 18th.))

Spoiler: Alida Larsen (Devastator) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Radiant light!
   ^{Form and location: Medallion, pinned to her left breast.}

Age: 14
Hair Color: Salt-stained blonde.
Health: Fine!
Inventory: Clothes, Club.

Totem: A fishing club.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Talented~
   Joy:  Skilled!
   Innocence:  Amateur...
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Skilled!
   Creativity:  Cursed ;-;
   Love:  Cursed ;-;

Abilities:
   Mobility Lvl3
   Close Combat Lvl3+1
   Totem Manipulation Lvl2
   Regeneration Lvl2

   Berzerker Lvl3
   Painless Lvl2
   Effigy Lvl2

   Duet with Reality Lvl1

Spoiler: Tamazaki Tooru (KingMurdoc) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Radiant light!
   ^{Form and location: Necklace, worn around her... neck...}

Age: 13
Hair Color:  Bright scarlet.
Health: Fine!
Inventory: Nothing useful.

Totem: Ofuda talismans, primarily thrown as manabolts.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Cursed ;-;
   Joy:  Talented~
   Innocence:  Skilled!
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Amateur...
   Love:  Skilled!
   
Abilities:
   Mobility III
   Mana Bolt III (+I)
   Regeneration II
   Totem Manipulation III

   Invigorating Passion II
   Outburst III
   Duet with Reality II

Spoiler: Aleksandra "Sasha" Chernov (RandomGenericUsername) (click to show/hide)

Soul Gem: Glowing with a Gloriously Blazing light!
   ^{Form and location: A simple bracelet made from crude steel, worn on her right wrist.}

Age: 12
Hair Color: Black.
Health: Fine!
Inventory: Still has Alida's coat.

Totem: An AK-47, virtually identical to her grandfather's.

Stats:
   Bravery:  Skilled!
   Joy:  Skilled!
   Innocence:  Talented~
   Purity:  Amateur...
   Mercy:  Cursed ;-;
   Creativity:  Cursed ;-;
   Love:  Amateur...
   
Abilities:
   Mobility: Level 3
   Telekinesis: Level 1
   Manabolts: Level 2 (+1)
   Close Combat: Level 1
   Totem Manipulation: Level 2
   Regeneration: Level 1

   Determination: Level 3
   Stasis: Level 1
   Teleportation: Level 1

[Devastator]

Well.. I could be.. if I had two bodies all the time..

Or if I skipped school..

...

It might be just.. retaliation for what I did, scaring him, so now he's scaring me in return.

I'll just deal with the engineer, call him, and keep out of sight.  If they do anything, any damn thing to my family, they all die.  But if I keep poking them, it will turn into something bloody and I can't protect all of them.  Lets deal with that engineer and hope it ends there.

Maybe some of the other MGs can help.  In the meantime, I should make sure the kids know to call me if there's any problems.

I should also think of something good to say to that knocker guy so he knows it's done.

[Chevaleresse]

Tooru puffed her cheeks out as she thought. Taro hadn't exactly opened up with anything to endear her to his proposal, what with calling her deaf and blind, and she was a bit confused by his logic as well; part of the reason she used to be bullied so badly was her near-psychotic obsession with anything that the adjectives "pink, cute, cuddly, or sparkly" applied to. Then again, she did also like blowing the heads off of aliens in video games, so maybe he had a point about the tomboy thing. . . His proposal was also a way to get out of the house, and while watching jousting didn't sound *that* fun, there might be something else entertaining to do there.

"Fine. But you owe me, like, fifty!" She didn't really know what they were actually measuring, but it was a lot, and thus she was satisfied. Tooru then went to go find her dad and attempt to express a genuine interest in jousting.