2937/An Unholy Alliance

An Unholy Alliance
Date of Scene:	09 February 2026
Location:	Obsidian Tower
Synopsis:	Hawkmoth has learned about Puella Magi, and wants something. Kyubey doesn't know it, but there are things he wants, that a mere human can offer him, too. The birth of an unholy alliance.
Cast of Characters:	Gabriel Agreste, Kyubey
Tinyplot:	Wish Factory

---

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
Mitakihara is a ward that rarely sleeps, tightly confined spires of skyscrapers pinned in by the other wards. Obsidian Tower is the tallest building in the area, of course, though the mundanes can't really notice. The tower reaches infinitely, into the Earth and into the sky, layered stacks of floors above and below.

Still, it wouldn't be a tower of evil if you couldn't find some patch of roofing to have ominous meetings. The heavy cloud cover blocks the moonlight, neon street signs diffused by the clouds as well. It's one in the morning, the weather more frigid than chill, and Hawkmoth stands patiently.

"My source informed me that it was likely you might be watching," he says, to seemingly nothing. His source is Obsidian's Assistant Director of Human Resources, but Kyubey doesn't need to know that. "And that you're the one I should speak with, to continue learning about your Puella Magi."

Amy Faust (107) has posed:
    Of course the Incubator has sent some bodies to get a look inside Obsidian. Riventon no doubt deals with many of them swiftly, but this one has snuck by nonmagical employees and people who didn't know who he was... or perhaps Someone figured it'd be good to have one that they know about to see what he does.

    Obsidian provides enemies for Puella Magi to fight and spend their magic against. So Kyubey has no reason to interfere.

    How does Hawkmoth know that he's here? People not involved with Puella Magi generally do not involve themselves with him. Hawkmoth's goal is unknown, but he creates enemies for Puella Magi to fight; Ignoring the direct request for contact of someone so immersed in dark energy might be reacted to with ire and expenditure of energy against him that would better be used to make Puella Magi complete their contracts faster.

    Thus, it is more efficient that the white-marshmallowy-mascot catfox creature with long ears and red rings steps out from behind some ductwork, or the walls around the stairs and elevator to higher floors, and looks at him.

    Kyubey cocks his head to one side, and a young boy's voice can be heard in Hawkmoth's head, with the cheerful tone that might be expected of a mascot fairy:

    << I am the one seeking out those with potential to become Puella Magi and form contracts with me, yes! >> He twitches his tail. << It is rare that anyone not involved with them talks to me, though. >> He turns his head the other way, ear flopping.

    'What do you want' or 'why are you talking to me' aren't sentences a mascot persona generally needs to utter... while considering how to phrase them if it comes up in the future, Kyubey leaves the question implied, for now.

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
"Not involved with them yet," Hawkmoth says simply, watching the 'cute' form of the Puella Magi's creator appear. So this is what it looked like - the creature which could lead wishes to being granted, though most often for teenaged girls.

He did not trust it - he had a 'cute' creature of his own, after all, and he knew that looks did not mean anything, when it came to ones true nature. Especially when he knew that this creature was nowhere near as cheerful as it seemed. It felt nothing, after all.

"I am Hawkmoth. I'll presume you know this, as I know of you. Your goal is to create Puella Magi, so that they will fight Witches, yes?" He hadn't bothered to look into Witches - they have not bothered him or sought the Miraculous, so these Witch women could go about their days, as far as he's concerned - but he had leafed through the information that Yuuhi provided about Kyubey, scant though it was. "Do their Wishes have to come from the heart?"

Amy Faust (107) has posed:
> Not involved with them yet.
    Kyubey cocks his head slightly more to the side. He doesn't have eyebrows to raise.

    Hawkmoth introduces himself, and asks about wishes. Kyubey listens, and sits, haunches down, forelegs extended. << I am Kyubey! I find those who can become Puella Magi, who must fight Witches in return for a Wish, that is correct! >>

    He closes his eyes and scratches at an ear with a hind leg, then looks at Hawkmoth again as he stands and pads closer, before circling Hawkmoth slowly like a curious cat.

    << Their Wish can be anything, as long as they have the potential to grant it! >> And here, he varies from the usual script a bit, given he's talking to a human adult with knowledge of magic. << Unfortunately, I do not know how to teach you to measure someone's potential as a Puella Magi. >>

    He's circled about 135°. << Do you know someone who desires to form a contract with me? I have to meet them and speak with them to form the contract. The magic does not work through intermediaries. >>

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
A flicker of emotion - curiosity, and Hawkmoth's attention focuses on it even as it dissipates. Kyubey is a vacuum of emotion, an emptiness in the emotional landscape of Tokyo.

It's almost soothing.

"I don't need you to teach me," Hawkmoth says, with a brief shake of his head. "I have my own means of turning troubled souls into weapons. What I need is a Wish... and you might be of use to me, in granting it."

He raises a hand.

"I know that I can't forge a contract with you. How many children can you inspect for potential in a given day?" This is how business is conducted - raising awareness of a gap in ability, and offering a solution. "Hundreds of them, gathered regularly, from all across Japan, for you to inspect their potential."

Amy Faust (107) has posed:
    The 'curiousity', pretending to examine Hawkmoth with interest, is feigned. The Incubator knows that humans are less guarded against cute animals, and has been presenting as such when interacting with them for millenia. Kyubey's emotions are...

    A lot of the time, they're not there, or very muted and dim. When they are there, it is like... the base of the emotion is something recognizable, but the mind experiencing and approaching it is alien.

> I have my own means of turning troubled souls into weapons.
    There's a flicker of... it wouldn't be quite right, to call it 'suspicion' or 'alarm-at-being-found-out': if Hawkmoth views the creation of Puella Magi in (what most humans consider) negative terms, then there is a possibility that he will want to interfere in Kyubey's plans. Kyubey had not previously considered Hawkmoth's potential interference and now must do so.

    The Incubator's reactions to new information feel like... the closest human equivalent would be an impossibly calm schemer who is trying to account for as much as possible and has good reason to believe he can do so.

> What I need is a wish
    flicker-dulled-confusion-curiousity

> How many children can you inspect in a day?
    << Not enough. Not enough to find all-->>

> Hundreds of them, gathered regularly, from all across Japan, for you to inspect their potential.
    A human is offering to bring him candidates until their own wish can be granted -- and in the meantime, he will have added every Puella Magi who contracts during the operation to his quota, and know of candidates he might not have encountered otherwise. Kyubey's speech actually cuts off mid-sentence.

    This is unprecedented.

    This is quite possibly the most intense emotion Hawkmoth will ever feel from Kyubey, and it's still less than he sees in so many humans every day.

    It is not quite excitement as humans feel it, and it is certainly not glee or jubilation; but there is a basic positive attribute to it, and something like when a human learns something that makes a world of possibility open up, though the joy is muted and alien.

    But if Hawkmoth is thinking in terms of conducting business with a fellow schemer, however alien, that may help contextualize what he's sensing. He's certainly offered something unexpected that will further the Incubator's plans, possibly significantly.

    << You

    There's a stutter in the telepathy, as the alien must decide how to present himself and communicate in human terms. Kyubey falls back on Mascot while thinking--

           would do this for me? That is wonderful! While I still cannot grant you a wish, perhaps you will find someone who can change the world so that it is possible! >>

    Kyubey then remembers to sit up and wag his tail like the cute mascot he's pretending to be.

    ...How is 'change the world so that he can grant Hawkmoth a wish' what comes to this entity's mind rather than asking someone else to make the wish for him? Kyubey is almost salivating over the thought of finding someone powerful enough to change the laws of physics, though. It is... a sticky thought. Most of Kyubey's mind is not distracted from planning, by an imaginary thing he would like to have, but... for such circumstance to come about would be highly desirable.

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
The curiosity is largely feigned, weak, but it is still present. There is something of interest, of curiosity, to the mind behind the creature before him, though it's cheer and good nature are largely false.

Hawkmoth does not often focus on solely the emotions of those he speaks with - rarely is it worth the effort of even temporarily halting his search for useful akuma, targets to keep an eye on, emotions to tease into shape. This Kyubey, though, is different - it is singularly unlike even Kwami, far reduced in capacity for emotion compared to such creatures as Nooroo and Duusu, not so much obscuring emotion as simply manifesting very, very little of it.

It is trying to predict him, in as much as he is trying to predict it, to circumvent any caution and lead it into an alliance, knowing all the while that he requires Kyubey's aid far more than this being could ever require his own.

And yet.

It too, has ambitions. Desires.

He smiles, satisfaction, anticipation, the predator who has hooked the prey. He has something that this creature wants, and he's made it clear he'll offer it.

But find someone who can change the world to make it so he could be granted a wish? An interesting thought, and yet -

"I find that money can be very effective for changing the world," he replies, and his smile widens a tad. "And with an offer of fifty million euros, I imagine you'll find a great many willing to make a contract with you. We'll both benefit, in the end. You'll have your Puella Magi... and I will have my partner freed from the pursuit of death."

Amy Faust (107) has posed:
    The alien has no particular reaction to money -- 'money can change the world' is meaningless noise. Kyubey doesn't immediately recognize that comment as sequitur to the words he just thought at Hawkmoth.

    He cocks his head to one side again. << Do humans need the encouragement of payment to make a wish? Isn't a wish payment enough? >>

    And then Hawkmoth lays out his goal and something clicks into place. The hostile optimization process believes it has been given a key piece of information about the entity it is talking with -- that is, the schemer is rapidly getting more certain it can reasonably predict him -- if not Hawkmoth's goal (probability still calculating, highly likely that Hawkmoth truly does need a wish) then at least a goal Hawkmoth pretends to have... actually this falls neatly into a pattern, it's not uncommon for Puella Magi to use their wish to heal someone who is dying or change someone or something dead to alive again. Probability that Hawkmoth is lying can never be zero, but it is not worth extensive effort to investigate and guard against.

    << I see! >> Kyubey cocks his head the other way, flicks his ear and tail slightly. << You will pay someone to wish your partner cured,>> humans wanting money for things is familiar to Kyubey, people wishing for money is not uncommon either, << and in the process find many to contract with me! >> Kyubey's tail flicks again, and he sits up straighter. << This is an excellent idea! >>

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
A wish is, indeed, an excellent payment for the life of a soldier. It's far, far more than the majority of mundane soldiers will ever receive from the governments which recruit, train, and dispense of them.

But Hawkmoth does not want the Puella Magi Kyubey will gain from this to have their own Wish, not when he would much, much, rather it be his.

So rather than speak, he hums noncommittally before explaining his goal, and waits for the concept to register, for the appeal to be seen.

It does not take long at all.

Good.

"Correct. I only need one of them, after all, but fortune is rarely on one's side. I'd rather hedge my bets by finding many - and showing them the truth of your position. Even if they won't believe your word that magic is real, they'll believe what I can demonstrate. A life of magic and riches beyond their imagination will be more than enough for at least one to make my wish - and you will have all the others. Puella Magi have counted themselves among the number of Obsidian's enemies, but they have also been recruited as allies; there is no reason that can't continue."

And he's got him.

"I'm glad to hear that. With your assistance, I can have the first large scale event prepared later this week. Obsidian offers many connections to a wide array of industries and entertainment sectors. We won't even have to repeat ourselves often." He'd already begun plans for the first event. He knew just want to say, and what to prepare to gain the attentions of the masses.