[OPEN]

[loadme]

Who: Monika & You!
When: Daytime; After the Full Moon
Where: Around The City (TM)
What: Magic Practice and Deliveries!
Warnings: None (yet)

Monika hadn't really embraced her status as a witch since she'd arrived in town. A few displays of magic here and there, and pretty regular attendance in the classes that interested her. Yet aside from that, actually practicing her magic was more of a rarity than it was the norm. Well, she finally finally decided to change all that! The Divination and Illusion types of magic were that really interested her. Lessons were all nice and good, but the only way to really get better at something was to practice it over and over again!

[I]

She had bought decently sized mirror and propped it up against a wall. Monika wanted to try her hand at a bit of scrying, and for that, a nice reflective surface was needed. She knelt down in front of the mirror and began to close her eyes and focus. Honestly, she would consider this a success if anything even appeared. Her eyes opened a few moments later and an imagine began to appear and come into focus. It was... a blue screen, with a little frowny face and a message.

The mere sight of this was enough to cause Monika to quickly grab the mirror and throw it against the wall, causing it to loudly and audibly shatter.

By now, the mirror was broken into countless piece, but she was no less rattled. Her quick breaths and clenched fists were a dead give away.

[II]

If seeing the future was out of the question, then what about looking into someone else's past? She'd already found some success with that before, and felt more comfortable attempting it. The only thing that was needed?

A volunteer.

"Excuse me? Hi! I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me practice my magic for a little bit."

How could you possibly resist a request from this cute, upbeat teenage girl. Monika figured that getting them to stop and help her would be easy enough.

The challenge would come from having them agree to look into their past.

But hey, one step at a time, yeah?


[III]

She had been working at Precogstitchin' and helping them with their deliveries. It was easy work, kept her busy, and allowed her to walk around the city. And they paid her, so that was nice too! Whether it's inside the comfort and familiarity of the Inner City, or all the way out in the Harbor District, Monika stands outside the front door and knocks.

"Hello? I have a delivery for you. It's from the lovely employees at Precogstitchin'!"


[IV]

[Got an idea for something else not listed? Hit me up for that Wildcard option! Also I'll gladly match bracket format.]

Comments

[cspd]

"Okay, let's do it."

Best to keep it simple, he thought, so he focused on one of the daily rituals closest to his heart, and thus easy to picture in all of its detail. Opening the door, another day of work done. Stopping in the door and bracing himself for what inevitably comes next. A small girl, looking to be maybe nine, with long green hair flinging herself towards him at high speed with a joyful shout of "Llooooooyd!"

That might be the toughest thing about living here. He can't help but worry about KeA.

And KeA, he belatedly realized, may have not been the ideal subject for something that ought to have him focusing on a single moment, because his thoughts were all over the place, even if she was at the middle of all of them.

- opening a box while undercover at a mafia auction, and the shock he felt at finding that the contraband inside was a girl -

- waking up in bed and sitting up, finding that KeA snuck in with him again at some point during the night, probably after another bad dream -

- making the final ascent to the heart of a storm of magic, causality, and forces beyond human understanding, to find her. Memories and moments from all everywhere swirling around them. A vision of a fight gone wrong, all of them dead on the ground, and the confusion from his friends - "that's not how it happened" - even as Lloyd knew he'd seen that outcome before, in a dream he wrote off as meaningless -

- the final confrontation. KeA at the center of the sanctuary, hovering in the middle of what could only be called a pillar of pure power. A blonde woman in an outfit that fairly screamed "final boss" telling them that the past reality had already been changed by KeA - for their sake.

"The altered reality where you were all killed by Joachim."

His eyes snap open. "Sorry...that was a really awful job of focusing on one thing, I just went...all over the place."

Had she even managed to get anything from that? Had she gotten something far more disturbing and confusing than he'd meant to send? He was pretty sure that however that went, he must've screwed it up pretty badly.

[loadme]

It starts out innocently enough. A straightforward memory, easy to visualize and take note of. Then it all begins to escalate so quickly. She's not quite able to grab all of it, just bits and pieces here and there. At the center of it all, is a small girl. A child, rather. With green hair.

What sort of kid had natural green hair to begin with?

There's so much flowing into her, it's tough to retain it all. Most of it's already gone by the time they're interrupted.

"I-It's fine, really." Though she did feel out of breath, the sheer information overload causing her heart to race.

"This is just practice, you know? Can't expect it to go smoothly all the time! But if you don't mind me asking... Who was that girl?"

[cspd]

Well, if she got the girl out of it, that means it did work, even if he sent...a little too much her way.

"She was...part of a project by some unsavory people, to recreate a powerful magical artifact."

An oversimplification, maybe, but it cuts to the heart of it without getting bogged down in the details. And anyway, that's not the part he'd rather dwell on. "Her name is KeA. She's just living like a normal little girl now." His manner gets a lot warmer once he gets to KeA now, and not the awful place she came from. "She's friends with every kid on West Street and she loves to cook. She's so smart the sisters let her come to class with the older kids at Sunday School."

(He definitely sounds like a doting parent, now.)

[loadme]

Her hands go behind her back, taking notice of the way he talks about her. It definitely doesn't escape Monika. "She sounds pretty smart and capable already. And I'm positive she already has a bright future ahead."

There's a smile on her face at this point.

"Why, given the way you talk about her, I'm sure she must seem like a sister to you too!"

[cspd]

He laughs, a bit awkwardly. "Well, usually I get accused of being more like a doting parent, but she's certainly family, however you want to look at it."

[loadme]

A doting parent sounded more like it, she had to admit. "I'm glad you have someone like that. Family is important, after all!"

Was it? She couldn't really relate.

"You must miss really miss her."

[cspd]

"I do." He frowns. "The person who made her never...seemed to think of her as a person. Nobody should be trapped in that kind of a life. If they weren't going to give her the freedom to decide what she wants to do and what makes her happy...it's the least I can do for her. But then it's hard not to worry about what's happening if I'm not there."

[loadme]

Nobody should be trapped in that kind of a life.

The words kept echoing inside her mind. This girl and herself sounded pretty similar in some unpleasant ways. If they ever got the chance to meet, Monika would no doubt think they would have a lot to talk about!

She hoped that moment never came.

"I can understand why you would feel that way. She's obviously very important to you, and it must be driving you crazy being separate from her like this. But I'm sure she'll be just fine."

What's the worst that could happen?