Overture

[knight_of_discord]

[Action; morning; 836 Hastings]

[Sayaka wakes up on Monday morning with her usual difficulty, tossing and turning in bed as the sunlight peeks through the window of her room.  Yawning, she rubs her eyes and wanders around the bedroom bleary-eyed and half asleep for a minute or so before finding the doorknob.  She manages to get all the way to the bathroom and is in the middle of brushing her teeth before she finally realizes that this place is unfamiliar and her pajamas aren't the ones she went to bed with.]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?  What the heck?

[And now she's immediately kicked into high gear, running back into 'her' bedroom and tearing the room apart.  There's got to be something familiar here, or at least something to tell her where she is.  She starts panicking even more when she notices she's not wearing a ring and her Soul Gem is nowhere to be found.]

No way!  No way, no way, no way!  Where is it?

[Action; afternoon; around town]

[Once Sayaka's done tearing the house apart looking for a Soul Gem she isn't going to find, she wastes no time in taking to the streets of Mayfield.  She's managed to find a baseball bat owned by one of the drones, and she holds it protectively at her side as she jogs up and down unfamiliar roads.  It's clear that she has no idea where she's going, evidenced by all the time she spends looking around warily.  She also seems off-put by the backwards-walking drones and other weird things going on.]

This is the weirdest labyrinth I've ever seen...

[Phone; evening; unfiltered]

[At this point, Sayaka figures that if she isn't in a witch's labyrinth, she can probably at least still contact her friends.  So now she's on the phone after having dialed Madoka's number.  Unfortunately, she has no idea that the call is going to go out to the entire town.]

Madoka?  Madoka, are you there?

Comments

Phone

[guiding_starlight]

[ The girl sounds urgent, and it is a little that the drone was changed out for a "generic" one when she woke up this morning, but Nanoha has yet to put together that the blue-haired girl might have returned without memories... ] Sayaka, what's the matter? Where are you right now?

Phone

[knight_of_discord]

[Well, it's a little weird that this woman she's never talked to before knows her name, but she's going to overlook that for the time being.]

Huh? Did I get the wrong number? I'm sorry... I'm trying to reach the Kaname household.

Morning.

[theboytwin]

[Johan was reading the paper this morning when he hears the commotion. Shaking his head he'll walk over to the bedroom.]

Hello? Are you alright?

[knight_of_discord]

Who are you?

[Well, the only reasonable assumption here is that she's been kidnapped, so Sayaka backs up into the corner of her room and grabs whatever's nearby to defend herself with. Which happens to be a hairbrush. Damn 1950s girls' rooms, totally devoid of sporting equipment. So she doesn't look all that menacing at all. More like a cornered animal.]

You'd better let me go...!

[guiding_starlight]

[ There is a lengthy pause. The lack of recognition is a little painful, but it isn't like they were close. Now she's mostly worried about Kyouko... ] It's no fault of yours. The phone systems here take a little getting used to.

I know Madoka Kaname, but I can't tell you her assigned address. [ A lapse on her part. ]

[theboytwin]

[He holds up his hands palms up.]

I'm afraid I had nothing to do with why you're here.

My name is Johan Liebert. I'm sorry for startling you. I just wanted to see if you were alright.

You're in a town called Mayfield. Everyone here just woke up in a strange house one day. We're all stuck here.

Around town

[elevatoravatar]

[From behind Sayaka there is musing]

Labyrinth... Hrm, to think I had not considered this place to be such a thing, yet... In many ways it does share the traits. A fascinating way at looking at this world.

[knight_of_discord]

Huh? You know about that stuff too?

[knight_of_discord]

What? You mean she's here too?

[knight_of_discord]

[It takes her a few moments, but she eventually lowers the brush. She still seems awfully suspicious, though.]

What do you mean, 'everyone?' How many people did this happen to, anyway?

[begintheoperation]

No, this is Fran Madaraki speaking~ How can I help you?

[guiding_starlight]

She has been here for quite some time. [ . . . ] Kyouko is here, too. She is staying with me for the time being. My name is Nanoha Takamachi.

[knight_of_discord]

Sorry, I kind of messed up the call. My name's Sayaka. I just got into town today, and I'm trying to find a friend of mine.

[elevatoravatar]

Indeed. To travel the realms where ideas themselves can be an ordeal one must know of such things. However, this place seems to be less of one of those and more a feeding ground for the darker emotions.

[knight_of_discord]

Kyouko?

[Okay, yeah, not too happy about that. There's a definite edge to Sayaka's voice now.]

What is she doing here?

[knight_of_discord]

This is bad. I need to get out of here.

[elevatoravatar]

Ah... But none of us have found an exit, and those who did, either are gone, or do not remember where it was when they return.

[guiding_starlight]

[ ...that was unexpected. ] She is trapped here, the same as you and I.

It is going to sound unbelievable, but I was here once a long time ago. Over a year. I was what they call a "drone" for that long time and then only recently returned without any memories of being here. [ Letting that sink in a moment. ] It seems the same has happened for you, Sayaka, though you haven't been gone that long at all.

[knight_of_discord]

How long have people been trapped here?

[knight_of_discord]

What? That doesn't make any sense. How could I have been here before?

[elevatoravatar]

Some many years... Others not so long.

Action

[nozomisitter]

[Sayaka might come across a surprising sight, what appears to be a magical girl of all things doing practice in the late afternoon when no one is around. She's basically working through a kata that was once taught to her, and her strikes were precise as each of her strikes in the air left a slight whiffing noise, a sign of speed and power behind it.

From outset, the uniform looks great, but in a flash, she spun what appeared to be a cell phone into her hand and in a muted flash of red butterflies, her outfit changed as she leaped into the air and generated three balls of flames.]

Precure Fire Strike!

[Firing the balls of flame into the air, Rin landed and sighed and went over to grab her water bottle, not really noticing Sayaka at first when she got close, but her outfit screamed magical girl.]

Around town

[enpatsushakugannouchite]

Labrynth? Well... maybe it is. Pretty lame one, though.

[knight_of_discord]

Yeah... the witch that created this one must be pretty weak.

Action

[knight_of_discord]

[Oh, thank goodness, another puella magi. Sayaka smiles and runs over, waving.]

Hey! Heeeeeeeey!