[color=7bcdc8][h3]Kei[/h3][/color]
A pedestrian was making inquiries in German somewhere within earshot, but the girl in the jacket was wrapped too tightly by anticipation to do anything more than pick it up as belonging to the language she'd borrowed bits of from a student in Art class, and log it as part of the street din. The seconds she spent waiting tensed Kei up like a bowstring. By the time Mary yelled, she was nearly leaning in, and snapped back unsteadily as she started, head spinning, ankles shuddering, angled away from the noise and into the face of the expectantly waiting girl with the book. She was close, [i]conversation[/i]-close, and the girl with the bad Deutsch caught the girl with the bad Polski straight in the eye. Kei stiffened, her eyeliner chasing her eyebrows into the stratosphere, and promptly died.

[color=7bcdc8][i]FUCK! Shit fucking damn it, dumbcunt-[/i][/color] She had heard all that, no question. Kei's knuckles jammed themselves between her own teeth before she could say another word, or perhaps just whisper 'holy shit whoops' with all the regret of a small country electing a dictator. Mary was rummaging like blazes somewhere off to the side as she continued to speak, but Kei didn't notice. She shook her head very slowly and whispered around her fist, [color=7bcdc8][sub]"...Nein,"[/sub][/color] wide-eyed but meek. That was a bad, bad, really shitty first impression to send, and Kei was lost on how to justify herself without collapsing into something even worse.

The bag hit her side. She caught it loosely, thanking her reflexes only to have it bulge downwards and slip out of her clumsily wrapped arms, landing with a concerning 'flump'. It was big enough for her to pick up without stooping over, at least, and she did so quickly, slung it over her shoulders, avoided reconnecting with the blonde girl's gaze.

She knew she couldn't stay. Whoever actually owned this stall could come back, for one thing, but she had looped herself up with Miss Beth's quest and had no intention of breaking that role. Mary was making brisk headway, and the only thing to stay for was a bad memory in the making. Kei hated bad memories.

Mustering whatever fragments of wit she had left, Kei gave Ludmilla the finger guns and backpedalled the way Mary had run. [color=7bcdc8]"Day in the life, mate,"[/color] she sighed in English, turned, and bolted as fast as the bag would let her, trying to override the wet pressure in the back of her eyes. That was [i]awful[/i]. Maybe next time she'd bring pilot shades to hide her face.

Kei knew exactly where Mary was headed, even when she transformed on the street and left the candy-laden girl far behind. She legged it as hard as she could to try and compensate, but the cobbles of the shady side lanes were unkind to the unsteady weight of the confectionery. To her credit, Kei landed quite well when her heel slammed into a protruding stone and sent her flying. She twisted her arms and face out of the way and rolled the impact into her shoulder, letting the backpack take on the skid. Her head bounced on the ground and she lay there, blurred. The world hurt vividly and didn't make much sense otherwise.

[i][color=7bcdc8]Mary... Ain't gonna be happy about this.[/color][/i] The bag hadn't unzipped, but Kei didn't let herself hold on to false hope. The pressuring blanket of pain along her right side was resolving itself into set points in her foot, skull, hip, and shoulder; She numbered them and compartmentalised them, separating them just enough turn a throb into a warm sting. Hell if she was going to try and fight that witch at this point anyway.

[i][color=7bcdc8]Too many damn Magical Girls in this city, that's the problem,[/color][/i] and she coughed a tired laugh, though moisture had already reddened her eyes and meddled with her make-up. [i][color=7bcdc8]And here I am, just digging myself deeper,[/color][/i] sitting up, feeling her earring. Still in place, still unharmed. Her hand searched a little higher on her skull, where the warmth remained densest, and came away with one dye-tipped black hair and a few fingertips worth of blood. [i][color=7bcdc8]Eh, it's fine.[/color][/i] She stood and took up the slow walk. Mary had probably covered the whole way to the witch by now, after all.