120/Do you believe in magic

Do you believe in magic
Date of Scene:	19 July 2023
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Amy and Cho have a talk about... MAGIC! Dun dun duuuuuun. Also, neither understands what they are doing or that they are both utterly clueless.
Cast of Characters:	Cho Konishi, Amanda Faust

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Cho Konishi has posed:
Cure Wukong had her arms folded behind herself, walking slowly, casually away from the chaos they'd created... well. Less created, more put a stop to. "Sooo. Right. Red, what do you need to know? About the whole... magic girl thing?" she asked. "Oh, right. Ummm. So like. Magic. It's silly, so none of it has to make sense sometimes. But that's half the fun! Figuring out what level of stupid random awesome you can do. So, feel free to ask me anything."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Red has poofed away her rocket launcher, following Cure Wukong to a hopefully secluded area. "uhhh.... basically everything? I know there's monsters, I know I can transform and have powers, the... the rocket launcher, but clearly I'm also stronger and tougher and faster like this, and there's probably other stuff I can do. I've promised to hunt a specific kind of monster called a Witch, but I haven't seen one yet and my... talking animal guide will teach me how to track them next time he detects one nearby."

    Beat. "...So really, I don't know anything? I became a Magical Girl on *Friday*. How long have you been doing this?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cure Wukong blinked and then nodded. "Uhhhhh... I've been doing this a few months. There are a whoooooole lot of us, though. I ended up moving here soon after I got my powers and then things have gotten insaaaaane. The prince back there was pretty good, but him and the charas tend to be... softer, as it were. Uhhhh, there's precures, like me. Pretty cures. We're pretty CUTE, if you ask me," she said with a wide grin.

"Uhhhhh. There's... the thing Cherry spear is. They gotta like... find... evil seeds or something? I don't know. They got it rough, apparently they have limited magic and they lose all their powers if they don't. So if you see them, try to help them out so they don't have to fight. Then there's the like... singing girl. I'm not sure what she does, but she's pretty cute too. Uhhhh... Oh! And Sailor V! I... I guess she's real. Then there's these mages that make a cool field of NOTHING gets broken. Let me tell you. THEY are the COOLEST! I can go absolutely WILD against them, you know? So, any questyions yet?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Red absorbs this. "Prince? What's he a prince of? Charas? Oh... different types of magical people? ...Singing girl? Was it Yellow Pearl Voice? I worked with her yesterday! And I saw Sailor V my first night! Although I don't know if she's really Sailor V like in the stories, or a magical girl who decided to cosplay... Wait, against them? Why are you fighting these mages, if they're not destroying stuff what are they after?"

    And then something said makes a connection in her mind. "Wait, 'evil seeds'? Do you mean grief seeds?!" She pulls off the alice band keeping her hair from getting in her face in a fight and looks at the red gem offset to one side. There's only a slight tinge of darkness around the edge at one side. She sighs in relief and puts it back on her head. "They really should put our magic meter on a HUD or something... but it looks like I have plenty left, yet. I guess if all I do is shoot a few times per fight, I don't need to get a grief seed for awhile..."

    She blinks. "So wait, you met another, uh, Puella Magi? And she's named Cherry Spear? Damn, I gotta come up with a name... I guess I see where Cure came from now, and Wukong..."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cure Wukong shook her head. "No, he's the 'prince' of the student council. Well, the guardians. It's just a silly nickname. Because he's so princly... at least until you know him. Damn sparkles..." she muttered. "Oh, and yes! Yellow Pearl Voice! She's cute. And probably. Like, so here's the thing about magic. Unless you HAVE magic, people tend to forget. Like, remember that gas explosion that took out a bus and a gas station about three months ago? That had miraculously no injuries or deaths? Yeah. That was me. Nobody knew it, though. Because nobody remembers the magic. So that Sailor V girl is probably just a fangirl with an amazing cosplay. Cause otherwise I'm not sure how anyone would remember to make the games."

She blinked and then groaned when she found out what Red was. "Ugggggggh. I'm sorry, man. Like, don't take this the wrong way. But you got gyped. Like, my power doesn't run out from 'using' it or any of that. Then again, I think you guys get like... a wish or something? I mean, I did too. But mine can disappear if I stop fighting. Right, so, rule one. As far as I know? Most magical girls don't... need batteries to use our powers. So like, learn to conserve it. Save it for when you need it. I'll give you my phone number, if you need help, just call. Anytime, okay?" she said before... dehenshioning.

"Right, so I guess I should just tell you. I'm Cho Konishi. I'm part of the student council, all that jazz. Don't tell anyone, okay?" she said with a wink. "But it's cool to share it with other magical girls. And yeah. I was given my powers by the spirit of Wukong to help protect history's heroes or something. It's kind of fun, kind of obnoxious."

"But seriously, be careful with that. Losing power at the wrong time could get you hurt, or worse. There's a lot of us out here and... I know sometimes it's hard to accept help, right? Heavens know I used to suck at it. But... there might be a time where someone really needs your help, and you can't help them if you've spent all your power trying to not ask other people for help."

"In the end, we're all part of a team. We gotta look out for each other. And... for some of us, it's hard. Girls like you, though? You... puella magi? You girls can be incredibly tough from what I've seen. But you really need to manage it well so we can turn to you when we need you."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The Forgetting is brought up. "That was--" Red holds a hand to her head, and tries to think back over recent events. How many incidents have there been that might have been monster attacks? "Yeah, Kyubey explained that a bit. But wait, if it's a fangirl, how would there be fans in the first place if no one can remember the *real* Sailor V? ....Oh. OHHHH there's not a real one, that makes sense."

    And then Cure Wukong changes to a... strangely familiar tone, as she explains the differences between Puella and others. Amy's not sure how to feel about that...

    As Cho reveals her civilian identity, Amy decides: It'd be good to have *someone*, so she detransforms too. "Uh..." She is, after all, still wearing the school uniform. "I'm Amy Faust, I just transferred in, this was my first day of classes..."

    She blinks. "Why would it be hard to accept help? I'm a *new superhero*. You folks have been on the job longer, you *know* stuff! It's not like you're being jerks about it. Tough, huh? She looks at the bandage on her arm. And back to Cho. "I guess I've still got a lot to learn... thank you so much for helping me!"

    She pulls out her phone from her bag to exchange numbers. Years old and with a plain black case prioritizing protection and ruggedness over looks.

    "Maybe I got... actually, I hear that's a slur against the Romani people, so I'm trying not to use it anymore... Maybe I got, 'ripped off', but... I dunno how you got your powers but this has been going on who knows how long and no *other* talking animal came knocking, you know? I'd just be a regular guh-girl, if Kyubey hadn't showed up."

    She looks away, ashamed of how petty her wish was. In the moment, it made sense, but... "I did get a wish, but... but the real benefit was getting to be a magical girl. To, to know about this world, and to not just not be helpless against it, but to be able to help others. So... Life is..." She smiles back at Cho, "Definitely more interesting now!"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi gasped and stared. "W-wait, the new really cute magical girl is the cute new transfer student?!" she asked. "In retrospect, I should have figured that out, but. Well. Magic. I--" And then her cheeks went red. "Oh. I said all of that out loud. Errr, sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Oh... and uhhh... that's good, then. That, ummm, you accept that. I mean, errr. A-accepting helpo is just... something I used to be... really bad at. Like, realllllly bad at. I still... suck at it sometimes, heh. Wuwu gets annoyed." She'd exchange numbers quickly enough, adding it to her phone.

She nodded to the comment on Kyubey. "Y-yeah... I can see that. I mean, if the choices are... none, or the magic, like. It's not a hard choice, right? Magic is awesome. And being able to help people? Even better. And... right. I... I guess. But... so long as you want to do this, then like. You'll never regret it, right?"

"... For what it's worth, my uhhhh... wish... wasn't really the... best. Kind of abused a loop hole, I think. But.... it's something I'll never regret. Also, like. I get to jump fifty feet in the air and knock over mountains and stuff. It's awesome. It opened a brand new world for me. So definitely worth."

"Also, magic is real. And I know it. How awesome is THAT? Sure, sometimes it's terrifying. But life is scary, having some awesomeness to go with the scary is fine. Hee hee. So, hmmm. The magic forgetting thing. Storing and conserving your batteries, uhhhhhh. Oh, your parents likely won't notice, but they will get suspicious if like. You start doing bad in school and stuff, since even if you told them you were a magical girl they'd likely forget."

She paused as something else she heard made her pause. "Wait, rip off is a slur? I thought it was like, a play on someone 'ripping off' the price tag to charge you more than it was worth?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amanda's eyes widen and her cheeks redden immediately. "C-cu... I... wh... you really think I'm cute?!" She backs away and hunches a little. At the apology, she just looks away and stammers, "I, um, er..."

    Another subject! Yes please! She nods, "Yeah! Even if I die in battle or something... at least I *helped* people, ya know? Better than just... a boring life of nothing."

    She blinks. "Wait, you got a wish too? But yeah, being a magical girl is the real wish, isn't it?"

    She throws up her arms, grinning earnestly. "YEAH! Magic is REAL! How cool is THAT?! Just what I've been dreaming and fantasizing about for years, and now it's REAL!"

    Parents, yeah. Amy is silent on the matter.

    And on the next thing, she lets out an amused sigh and giggles. "No, 'ripped off' is fine, silly! 'Gypped'. Comes from a racist stereotype of gypsies conning people."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded. "I mean... yeah? Obviously? I'd have to be blind not to. Err, sorry if that sounds... silly. Eh... heh heh. Errr, sometimes I jsut... speak without thinking. R-right," she said sheepishly.

She cringed at the 'die in battle' thing, though. "Try... not to die in battle, okay? Cause like. As far as I know? I'm the only magical girl who comes back once she 'dies'. And even for me there's a limit and what counts as 'dying' is fairly vague. Cause, you know. Wukong is immortal like... a few dozen times. So like. Don't try to get yourself hurt protecting me from an attack or something. I, at least, will be fine."

She nodded quickly. "Yeah! Being a magical girl is AWESOME! You can do all kinds of things! And you have a rocket launcher! How cool is that? I've never even SEEN anyone with a rocket launcher! And the magic is amazing! I used to lay awake at night, wishing things like this could happen. Then it did! Best! Thing! Ever!" she said happily.

Her face went a little red whe nshe realized the origin of the word gypped. "Oh. Oh wow. I... had never even thought about that. Wow. That... makes so, so much sense. I can't believe that never occured to me."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Have to be blind not to... Amy blushes again. ...OH SHIT THE WISH. It really did... she wished for this... so she really is cute... and it's her fault... a tangle of feelings surges up inside her, brought back down by more serious topics. "Of course I'll try not to! Living is awesome and I intend to keep doing it! But like, we fight monsters." She looks over Cho. Right, Monkey King. "Noted, about you, though. Just as long as it's not, like, 'you don't come back as long as your death was heroic or just' thing, 'cuz like, heroic comes with the territory."

    She smiles, "Yeah, I DO have a rocket launcher! It's a bit inconvenient for some situations, but honestly it's been more useful than I was expecting! And there's still all the other magic..."

> I used to lay awake at night, wishing things like this could happen. Then it did!
    "YEAH! *MOOD*, sister!" Amy grins and can't help giving Cho a hug.

> TIL: etymology
    Amy shrugs. "Now you know how old people feel when they learn they can't say some things they used to. Thing is, there's no difference: Whatever age you are, you have the choice to go 'oh, okay' and stop using it, or to go (she attempts a deep voice, which for her is still pretty feminine-sounding) 'ugh, the politically correct 'woke' are tryin' ta control me, nobody tells me what to do, damn kids, I'll say whatever I want because I don't think about how it makes people feel' and then you become an asshole. Err. Jerk.

    Right, she should probably watch her mouth a little more. If a teacher overhears her swearing she'll get yelled at. Ugh, some parts of being a kid are a little humiliating...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    As an afterthought, Amy looks Cho over. She could NEVER have said this as an adult man, that would be creepy, but... from another girl it's an earnest compliment, right? "You know... you're pretty cute too. The hoodie just kinda... makes your face and hair stand out, emphasizing it even." Another thought occurs to her. "Is that what you were going for?" Huh, thinking in terms of other people, she can kinda see why someone would pick specific clothes rather than just favorite color, comfort, or to cover their body.

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi shook her head. "Nahhhh. All my deaths are heroic." Pause. "Okay, most of them are dumb but I'm sure SOME of them are heroic. Getting hit by that bus probably wasn't," she said with a chuckle. "Oh, and it only works when I'm in henshin. Cause like... normal me? Not immortal. OH! Be careful not to transform in front of other people. I think the magic like, protects your identity otherwise? Which is pretty cool. But if they see you transform, that protection goes bye bye."

Her cheeks went red when she got a hug. Oh, that... that was nice. She still wasn't entirely used to getting hugs. Sure, giving them was something she was a little better at. Getting them? That... that she was not. She liked it, though...

She snorted at the comment on 'woke'ness. "Please. I'm a girl who runs around in a black and pink skirt and punches out godzilla sized monsters. I am everything those kinds of people are most terrified of. A girl smaller than them, braver than them and a lot tougher than them."

However, she stumbled when she was called cute, her face going scarlet. "I-it does? I... I ummm... Of course, I mean, I uhhh... I... okay... no. Not... not really. I mean, I like it... but... I kind of just... got it on sale, you know? I don't really... know... anything about fashion or that kind of stuff. I'm uhhh..." She nervously rubbed her hair. "I used to be... really... lonely and depressed, I guess? Kind of... trying... to fix that. But uhhh, appearance just never seemed to matter to me before and so I only... recently... started to fix that. T-thanks..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    > I'm everything those people fear.
    "Yeah!" Amy cheers with a fist in the air.

> Gosh I was dysphoric all my life and never cared about clothes
    Amy blinks. That... Well, she was lonely and depressed too, but that's just life when you're a socially awkward, nerdy, ugly guy, right? If there are young girls feeling that way too, though, maybe she can bring more of reality into the cover story. "That uhh..." She rubs the back of her head. "Damn, really? 'cuz that's... that's kinda me too. I ran into Mio right before the dance and she insisted on lending me that dress but I've never worn anything... fashionable before that... I never really did... girly stuff, you know? I mean, I never got into it. My Mom's a tomboy and I'm, I guess, a gamer girl, you know? I wasn't good at making friends and..." She sort of trails off for a moment. If she weren't lost in these thoughts, she might consider that she should never be *improvising* her cover.

    "...It doesn't matter, right? I mean, y'don't wanna become *vain*. Appearance doesn't *really* matter, just, like, don't eat too much and get exercise, but..." she slumps a bit. "...I guess being naturally cute might make school life a bit easier for us, huh. ...Okay yeah I'd rather be good-looking than not, actually. It's a good thing we're this lucky... Is that why you care about appearance now? Realized you had the looks to make shallow people be less shitty to you?" Oh wait shit maybe she should care about her looks too. She doesn't need to get bullied as the weird nerd girl...

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked a few times and stared at the other girl. "Yeah. I uhhh... got my dress from a bargain bin. Heh. Eh... I just... didn't know where to start, you know? And... kind of. I guess. I uhhh... yeah. Games are fun, though I don't play many of them. I was always so busy with my studies and all that. I was..."

She cringed when she was... well... kind of called shallow. Even though amy likely hadn't meant it that way, Cho couldn't help feeling a bit guilty. "No. I mean... no. I just... used to be... I thought it was just the way things were, you know? I just... didn't think about it. I did well in school, studied a lot. Let people... tell me when they needed things. Took care of it. Tried not to worry about myself. As long as everyone else was happy, it didn't matter if I was miserable, right? But... yeah. Eventually I kind of realized... it just... wasn't... working right for me. I wasn't... happy. I wanted to fix things. To... restart, in a way? Started... doing better. Tried to. I mean, I cook now! I make peach snacks! It's... not much. But it's a start! And... I'm... trying to be more forward. To meet people! To be outgoing! It's... it's exhausting. Trying to be social. But... I want to be that. Even if it's hard. And... and I'd like to be... cute. I'd like to be... p-pretty. To be that... kind of girl. I don't want to be... the cutest or anything. Or like, have everyone gawk at me. But... I guess... it... feels good to be... seen... and noticed... you know? It's... like that. I know we have a lot of girls in our school who are like... breath taking. I'll never be like that. But... I'd like... to be... like... at least a six out of ten? And like... actually... have friends this time. Though... I... I have a few now. That's pretty cool. Finding out some people actually like me and don't... just... tolerate me."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's face falls a bit and looks more somber as Cho describes... an awful lot of familiar feelings. Except for not caring about herself. Well, himself. As long as he had a job, steady income, and a good computer with an internet connection, what more did he really need?

    'I wanted to fix things. To restart.'

    'And... and I'd like to be... cute.'

    Okay, now she feels guilty about not revealing the wish, but also... This is too familiar. Amy stares at Cho in realization. "You... you were older too, weren't you? And I didn't tell you the wish because I was ashamed... I figured as long as I get to be a magical girl anyway, it'd be nice to... improve my appearance..." She looks away, ashamed, almost squeaking out the words: "I wished I could be cute."

    Amy turns back to Cho, nervous and awkward grin on her face, running her hands through her hair nervously. "I-it... heh heh... sure came true, huh...?"

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked a few times and stared at her. "You... did? Well, ummm. Wow. Job succeeded. Older?" she asked before shaking her head. "Oh. No. I wasn't older. Though I guess I could have like... wished to... have been born later. Might have been interesting. But no. My age didn't change. I just..."

"You only get one chance, right?" she said with a chuckle. "So I guess wishing to be cute made you a few years younger? That's pretty cool. Bet it makes things pretty awkward back home. Eh. Actually, probably not. I imagine your parents just kind of remember you being like this all along, huh? Heh... my parents... did. Which was weird, since I... don't? But... I'm happy this way, I think. Way happier. And it's a lot easier to be... happy... and care... when I'm more able to be who I want to be. I'd have probably made a wish like that if I'd thought about it, heh."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh. This young, and already been through so much, and able to recognize it and do something about it this young... "Damn... you figured so much out about yourself already... If this is your real age, then you're pretty mature for it." She pats Cho's shoulder.

    Parents.... ah. Cho didn't get what she was saying. She's not sure she should clarify now...

    "...I wouldn't've. If I'd thought about it... shouldn't I have wished for world peace or ending hunger or poverty or something? But... a battle was happening right in front of me and the last magical girl standing was in real trouble if I didn't give her backup, so... I was kinda rushed. I coulda done better, but all-in-all, I guess I did okay, at least."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi nodded. "Yeah. I uhhh... have been called mature before. Quiet. Calm. Mostly, I was just sad. It's... just... you get used to hiding it, you know?" she said sheepishly. "It was a real... sink or swim situation, I think. It felt like, at least."

She snorted at the 'world peace' or all those other wishes. "I mean... I guess? But like... let's be honest. Nobody can really wish for that. Even if you did, it'd probably start as soon as the wish was done. Like... peace doesn't not exist because it has to happen, neither does the hunger. It happens... because of things that happen. There are those who have the resources to stop it... but they don't. And... I'm not sure that can ever be fixed, even with magic. It takes people trying to help each other and fix things to do that. So... we just got to kind of... try, I guess? I mean, at that point you would have like. Had to wish 'I had enough money to fix every problem that wealth could fix' and even then it probably wouldn't have worked the way you hoped. Life... life is complex. Things affect things in ways you never, ever imagine until they happen... better to make a wish that makes you something you can be happy with, then work up from there, I think. Maybe? I don't know. I'm still just a kid so maybe I don't have any idea what I'm talking about, I'm mostly just repeating stuff I've been told."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy listens... a bit amazed. She's never considered how the wish might *fail*. Only how she should have done better... she steps forward and hugs Cho again. "Well thanks! Now I feel a lot better about... not trying to do such a thing with my wish."

Cho Konishi has posed:
Cho Konishi blinked and then went a little redder at that, smiling none the less. "It's fine. Like... don't worry about it. I'm sure there are people who have wished for those kinds of things before... but it doesn't fix the root cause. I guess you could like. Wish for all evil people to die or something, but I doubt that'd work very well either. Magic isn't for that kind of stuff, I think."

She shrugged. "Or maybe I'm just... greedy, I guess? Cause I'd have never thought of that. There's enough food in the world to feed everyone, anyway. There's just a lot of reasons those problems still exist. I'm happy I could help, though!"

She frowned when she glanced at the school. "I should probably get back to the school, though. Finish up all my paperwork and stuff. You have my number, feel free to text me if you need any more help, okay? And call me if you need help with a fight. We're a team, after all. All in this together."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Greedy?? You decided to do dangerous work, risking your life to help others. If you're greedy, then most people are way greedier." A team? She smiles at the thought. "Yeah! Feel free to call me too! Keep in touch, alright?"