6 ❧ the storm will suck the pretty girls into the skies

[headedforhope]

[A | Malt Shop; Early Afternoon

There seems to be something of a commotion at the Malt Shop today! What could it be? Hm, looks like there's quite a crowd of drone kids taking up space, fresh out of school and clustered around the counter. Rather, around a specific person....

.....Well now, here's a face that hasn't been seen much lately. Or at all, really, outside of school and briefly around the neighborhood. Yet here Mami is now, seated primly at the counter and eating pie as if this was just a normal day. And for a Popular Kid, it sort of is - those types tended to attract admirers among the drones. This bunch seems bent on buying Mami milkshakes, even though there's still a certain nip in the air despite the snow having vanished.]

Oh my, another one? Really, you're all far too generous....

[Mami deflects several more offers in this way, although it doesn't seem to discourage the drones. She seems....happier, somehow, despite the obnoxious and vapid attention being heaped on her. Oh, there's still that calm little smile, the polite gaze, the body language that speaks only of composed restraint. But the quiet, heavy melancholy of the last few months seems to have vanished, all the same.]

[B | John Doe Park; Late Afternoon and Evening

You know, it's hard being a magical girl.

Contracts and choices, hope and despair, wishes intertwined with suffering. Standing up to monsters like a hero....yet existing alone. Living in a world where idealism is ill-fitting and compassion proves a fatal flaw, a world that cares little whether you live or die - and if, when you die, well, that should be the end of it. There should at least be the mercy of oblivion. No more loneliness, an end to misery, the struggle against fear and disappointment now blissfully meaningless. But this is Mayfield, and Mayfield will have none of that.

Coming to terms with one's death.....well, Mami still hasn't quite managed it yet. But what she is, is tired. Tired of feeling no reason to live or hope again - aimless, helpless. So this morning was faced with the grim decision to use the Post Office to regain some power, any power. Yet what Mami ending up paying was not body parts or blood, but memories: she no longer remembers her death, or the Witch Charlotte, or why the last few months have been such an unhappy blur.

She can be found either taping carefully hand-drawn targets to trees (the town would never sell her any real ones, being both a girl and a child) or plugging away at the aforementioned targets with her muskets. Yes, she's transformed for the latter - and no, she no longer really cares about being seen. Mami has to keep her battle instincts sharp somehow, so for today, secrecy takes a backseat.

It's quite possible to notice how she's racking up bull's eyes.]

Comments

B

[tsunmuse]

[There's a tall figure standing near the tree-line, watching Mami quietly. Black Cure Muse was out and about, when she had heard the sound of gunfire and had come to investigate. For a moment she thought she was a Precure but there was no sign of a Cure Module, and Mami's hair was too short to be Kanade. Also, she really figured Kanade would be a horrible shot anyhow.]

[Stepping out into the open, Dodori floated up next to her and chimed once to get her attention.]

[headedforhope]

[Mami wasn't entirely unaware that she was being observed; she's been a magical girl long enough to have developed such heightened senses. She aims her musket at the ground and turns on her heel to face Dodori, the movement deceptively casual. The gold eyes are curious, yet flat, like the gaze of a cougar.

She has never been easy around strangers, especially when transformed, although not an ounce of that wariness shows in her calm, gentle voice.]

Yes?

[tsunmuse]

Muse was wondering what kind of legendary warrior you are, dodo.

[The question was a loaded one, but Muse's gaze was curious, if guarded. She rested a hand on her hip, the other limp next to her body. She showed no signs of hostility, only guarded curiosity.]

A

[drank_the_milk]

[Looks like it's the drone boys' lucky day, because another ~popular girl~ has just walked through the door and is headed for Mami's booth. Yuna raises an eyebrow and glances around at the crowd of drones, but doesn't make any particular moves to shoo them away. Maybe she can get some free food out of this too. She'll just be slidin' on into that booth as the crowd parts to allow her through.]

Hey! Somebody sure is popular today!

[headedforhope]

[Her brows raise just a little when Yuna joins her, but her expression of friendly politeness doesn't falter; there's no narrowing of eyes, no new tension in that smile. Subtle hints, yet significant all the same, that something is different.]

Aha, well, they're always like this. One gets used to it, though.

[drank_the_milk]

Yeah, I mostly just ignore them now.

[Of course, that's not going to stop her from turning to one of them and asking for a strawberry milkshake.]

So, how's it going?

[answerer_sword]

[Bazett looks at the girl shooting at the targets. What surprises her is not the girl's accuracy, but the large amount of parna she feels leaking off of her and the fact that are being summoned from thin air.]

Projection...?

[This girl is obviously a magical girl, but from the looks of it, a stronger and more experienced one than Einzbern.]

[headedforhope]

[Another shot is fired, a sharp crack! followed an instant later by a piece of bark exploding off a tree trunk - another dead shot. Mami discards the spent musket and summons another from the impossible confines of her hat, twirling it deftly until it's nestled securely in the crook of her arms.

She takes careful aim, pausing only to glance at Bazett in brief acknowledgement before pulling the trigger. Crack! Bull's eye.]

[answerer_sword]

[Bazett continues watching the magical girl. From the second that she draws the musket to the second that she fires into the target, there are no wasted movements. If Einzbern was an overpowered rookie, then this girl is a professional soldier. She wonders if this girl is an Enforcer of some sort.]

[Still, this girl seems to have chosen an odd weapon. This is only the second time she has seen a magus use human firearms professionally.]

A

[imoutos]

[ Nadeko manages to pass by the shop, and she isn't exactly intending to go in, really - it's just that when she turns her head and peeks through the window, she recognizes a vague glimp of a person seeing inside, surrounded by drones, and that's exactly what makes her go in, a dim hope that it really is what it looked like.

But.. even if she can see it's Mami for sure now she's gotten into the store, she's much too afraid to approach the girl with all the drones around. Drones are pretty scary, after all, and the kid ones tend to bully her, so.. she lingers near the entrance, staring from a distance and attempting to hide underneath her hat. ]

[headedforhope]

[Unfortunately for Nadeko, the drones notice her despite Mami's pull on their attention; a titter runs through the crowd and not a few vapid stares turn to regard the girl. What was someone so shy and uncool doing here?

Oh well! They knew what to do about those sorts of kids.]

Hey, Mami! See if you can teach this square a thing or do, huh?

[imoutos]

[ ... Oh no. She's been spotted by the drones and immediately made into a target, just as she feared.. And now they even pointed her out to the girl, she must look so weird now, right? She bites down on her lip, at least trying to keep in her problems as usual and the way she's feeling, and she tugs on her hat just a little more, as if that's enough to disappear.

Enough so that hopefully nobody will notice her anymore. ]

B

[its_decided]

[It took Nozomi awhile to realize she had a regain, but when she did, she decided to find out how far it reached. Quickly transforming into Cure Dream, she made her way to the park and was ready to start when she notices Mami and what she was doing.

Curiosity was going to get the better of her - she's never seen anything like it!]

[headedforhope]

[Mami senses that she's gained an audience, although she doesn't move to face Nozomi just yet. It can wait, she's sure, until these next few targets have had a hole blown through their dead center. Her gold eyes flicker to the other girl and linger briefly, as if sizing her up, before returning to focus on the tree of her choice.

She fires with a tight, confident squeeze of the trigger. Crack!]

[its_decided]

[Nozomi, either certain of herself or not worried at all, started approaching the other girl. The odd outfit Mami was wear was a sure sign this wasn't a normal girl. That, and her amazing shots...]

...you're good. Are you a Pretty Cure?

[Odd outfit on a girl in this place, and remarkable aiming skills? If not a Pretty Cure, then obviously some sort of magical girl!]

B

[thunderace]

[Fate had been making her way home, taking the long way through the park, when she stopped and noticed Mami practicing. She noticed the outfit, the way she summoned guns out of thin air, how they disappeared when they were spent...

So, another magical girl, huh? Fate approaches, waits for Mami to stop for a moment, and speaks up.]

That's impressive, Mami.

[headedforhope]

[She doesn't answer immediately, not with a target in her sights and her body poised to fire. Acknowledging Fate's presence can wait until a crack! pierces the air, until a neat, round hole appears in the center of the paper target.

She nods in the older woman's direction, just once. Polite, refined.]

Ah, thank you. But really, I'm afraid that I've let myself get rusty.

[A modest shrug.]

B

[adropofjupiter]

[Marisa is hovering on her broom, legs crossed in agura style and her chin propped up on her hands, watching Mami do her thing. At least she knows what a rifle is, though the ones Mami's using look different than the one she owns and the one Rudolph taught her how to fire.

But it's interesting to watch. And she sort of needed to talk to Mami anyways. But she decides not to interrupt the girl at the moment.]

[headedforhope]

[Mami's body feels as heavy as always when she goes through the motions: summoning a gun, firing, tossing it aside, over and over in a comfortless rhythm. The memory of once feeling as though she was light as air, untouchable and invincible, was part of what she lost at the Post Office. Happiness and grief, hope and despair - they had hit her mere minutes apart, so it was only fitting that she would lose all recollection of both.

She fires again, hitting the last of the targets she had pinned up. Mami pauses to assess her accuracy with a critical eye.]

B

[ex_seventh238]

[Well now, this is surprising. In the end, Mami's hurdle was one that she has to overcome herself. She may have all the help the world can offer at her disposal, but it won't do any good if she can't get up and take the steps to follow that guidance by herself. So in the end, all she could do was give the blond girl time. She became far more reclusive, but Mami lived, and Ciel did what she could to fill the base necessities.

Hence the surprise, when she immediately notices Mami now suddenly devoid of that subtle but downing aura around her - even more so, when she's not hiding herself anymore to train fully as a Magical Girl. Stepping forth, Ciel'll still stand aside and watch for a bit; no need to interrupt her just yet, plus now she can witness Mami performing when she's in a better state of mind.

Still, the question lingers. Just what has prompted this sudden change in demeanor...?]

[headedforhope]

[There's a subtle, yet significant difference in the way Mami fights now than when she had returned to Mayfield, an utter mess in the shape of a girl clashing with Ciel behind the church. Her movements are smoother, powerful as ever yet without that particular intensity born of grief and anger and inconsolable despair. Mami is composed, yet it's a composure that's not ragged at the edges and teetering on the brink of unraveling - ripping at the seams, crumbling, slipping through her fingers by inches.

Ciel's presence doesn't surprise her, not that she would allow any outward sign of such an emotion to show even if it had. For now Mami just gives a polite nod in the older woman's direction and fires again.]

B

[outlandished]

[ The sounds of gunfire is quite a familiar one to Ambrosia, and while she was going to use the park to continue refining her swordsmanship, she couldn't help but stand back and admire Mami's skills from afar. For now, she'll decide to lean against a tree and observe to see if there's anything she can help out with. ]

[headedforhope]

[If there's any help to be had, Mami gives no outward sign of needing it. She seems absurdly at home in the fluid repetition of shooting and summoning; a cold and focused world of gunfire. The muskets are handled with the ease of a professional, her expression of detached serenity at odds with her childish face. Her movements grow more elaborate and flashy as time passes and she pushes herself a little farther - twirling her muskets, firing with one in each hand, and so on until the last of the targets have been hit. Then Mami pauses and gives a thoughtful hum.]

Ah...I guess that's all of them. Perhaps I should have made more, hm.

[She doesn't acknowledge Ambrosia just yet, although it was difficult for her to fully ignore the woman's presence. Her sense are too keen for that, even when deep in the hypnotic rhythm of routine.]

Action ☆ Malt Shop

[fatedmagica]

[ Madoka has been lingering between her list of reasons to be troubled and her list of reasons to be happy. Most days she tries to walk home with a friend and distract herself, but today she decided to head home alone. Carrying a notebook full of doodles and planning to think through her problems over a milkshake. She'd intended to be alone and not let any of her friends catch on to how down she is still getting, but perks when she notices a familiar blonde girl.

She hesitates at first. Madoka is still unsure of what to do for Mami. Relieved Mami's alive, but ashamed to have made all of those promises and been too scared to keep them. Wanting to be Mami's friend, but feeling like she's already proven herself a failure in that department.

She clenches her fist and takes a deep breath.

Then approaches. ]

Mami-san! Good afternoon! I wasn't expecting to see you here, um- Are you very busy?

[headedforhope]

[While Madoka agonizes over whether to approach or continue on her way, Mami continues to calmly nibble at her pie. She's in the middle of attempting to persuade a drone to get her some hot tea rather than a milkshake when the smaller girl draws near. Mami's quick to smile at her - although it still lacks a certain warmth, it's for different reasons than before.

Mami doesn't remember Madoka's promises. The memory of them, along with that of her death, made up the price she paid at the Post Office.]

Good afternoon to you as well, Kaname-san. Mm, no, I'm not busy.

[She makes a dismissive gesture at the drones, who retreat (for the moment) to nearby booths.]

Would you like to join me? Unless, of course, you have someplace to be...