[@TheWindel] [@KoL] Ladies and gentlemen, for my next trick, I will conjure up a Dark Magical Girl!

[hider=Ayumu Harasawa][b][color=darkmagenta]• Appearance:[/color][/b] 
[hider=Regular appearance][IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/vxozm8.jpg[/IMG][/hider]
[hider=Magical girl appearance][IMG]http://i64.tinypic.com/2j0zibb.jpg[/IMG][/hider]
As a corrupted magical girl, the cape around her shoulders and the tails of her jacket have a ragged look, and seem to be made of trailing shadows rather than cloth.

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Name:[/color][/b] Ayumu Harasawa

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Title:[/color][/b] Trick of the Light (before corruption), Phantasmagoria (after corruption)

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Age:[/color][/b] 16

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Emblem:[/color][/b] A tattoo of the four card symbols - a heart, a spade, a diamond and a club - on her left shoulder.

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Devil Arm:[/color][/b] A pack of playing cards that, when thrown, become cloaked in a magical aura and can slice through enemies. They then disappear and reappear in the pack. Since Ayumu's corruption, the cards have become ragged around the edges, and all of the hearts on them appear to be dripping blood.

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Magic:[/color][/b] Ayumu's magic is based around illusion and summoning. 
- [b]Sleight of Hand:[/b] She can create illusionary images and sounds to trick enemies in battle. Post corruption, her illusions are warped and horrific. While they cannot physically injure someone, they can inflict the sensation of pain.
- [b]Vanishing Act:[/b] For a few seconds at a time, she can become invisible.
- [b]Conjuration:[/b] Ayumu takes off her hat or lifts her cape, summoning from it a creature made of magical energy. Once, these creatures were a white rabbit that could significantly heal an ally before disappearing, or a flock of doves that could slightly heal several allies at once. Now, they're a black jackalope (deer horned rabbit) that can deal major damage by goring an enemy, or a flock of crows that peck and claw, inflicting lighter wounds but hitting a wider range of targets.

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Background:[/color][/b] Ayumu was never a stranger to magic. She grew up witnessing awe-inspiring feats, longing to do the same. Yet at the same time, she grew up detached from the wonders most children believed in, for she knew this particular kind of magic to be trickery and illusion.

Her older brother, who performed stage magic, taught her how to do a few tricks herself and impressed her with ones she didn't know the secrets of. It was a way to distract her from what lay behind the illusion of their home life. Their parents put up a cheerful, polite facade to the world, which hid the messy divorce they were going through. The next man her mother married was charming on the outside, cruel and manipulative on the inside. 

This, combined with bullying and high pressure at school, made Ayumu long for real magic. A fairytale world to escape into. While in her room, practicing the tricks that were no longer enough while trying not to listen to the argument between her mother and stepfather downstairs, she caught sight of a creature at the window. A cat with a TV for a head, offering her the chance to become a magical girl. Once she'd gotten over the shock, naturally she accepted without hesitation.

To say the least, it wasn't what she expected. Under its glamourous surface, her life slowly became a living hell. Her long absences risking death to fight monsters made the home situation worse. She clung to the belief that she was making the world a better place by ridding it of Nightmares, but when she and her group defeated one, another would inevitably crop up before long. What little free time she had, she spent watching shows put on by the brother who stayed around to protect her from the toxic home environment. She yearned for her childhood days, back before she'd known about this darkness too great to dispel.

The events of one night caused such darkness to take over her as it had everything else. Nightmares were particularly active, and she'd been chasing down one when several more closed in on her. She defeated the onslaught of monsters, but only barely, emerging battered and exhausted. Nonetheless, catching sight of her original target, she mustered all her strength to run after it as it closed in on a figure. In the streetlights, she caught a glimpse of the young man's face - her brother, gripping the railings of a bridge, all positive emotion seeping out of him in glowing streams. He didn't even notice her, didn't hear her calling, as he climbed over before her eyes and fell...

In desperation, she rushed to the street where he lay and tried to heal him, but it was too late. Overcome with rage and grief, she lashed out at the Nightmare, tearing it to pieces and absorbing its essence.

Just as her brother was there one moment, gone the next, the righteous magical girl Trick of the Light had also vanished. In her place was Phantasmagoria. She couldn't live in a fantasy land any more, where goodness and kindness prevailed, not when she'd seen for herself how the world really worked. And what point was there in saving others, when she couldn't save a loved one?

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Inventory:[/color][/b] A simple magic trick kit, which she sometimes uses in street acts. No matter how corrupt she becomes, she finds there's something heartwarming about brightening up people's day, especially that of children.

[b][color=darkmagenta]• Sample Post:[/color][/b]
[hider=Dark Dreamer]As she always did to escape the house's atmosphere, Ayumu dreamed.

Said atmosphere had changed completely. Silence replaced shouts and the smashing of plates. It had done ever since her mom had left that bastard of a second husband, the accusation that she'd been the cause of Daichi's mental state and the void in their lives having been beyond the pale. That void was the other reason for the quiet in the air, the lack of TV sounds or music from the other room. Ayumu felt his absence like a raw wound, worse than any she'd ever sustained in battle.

Letting her power thrum through her, she filled the emptiness with swirling images. A fairytale woodland surrounded her, the very air shimmering with lights, paths to faraway lands stretching out and tiny pixies flitting in and out of the foliage. Sitting on a log instead of her bed, Ayumu took in the storybook paradise. Oh, how her younger self would have loved this... But for her, every good dream had a tendency to turn bad.

The sky darkened. Trees twisted before her, branches reaching out like clawed, gnarled hands. The pixies buzzed like a swarm of vile insects, baring needle-sharp teeth that dripped with the blood of fresh prey. Ayumu showed no fear. Instead, she rose, the corners of her mouth curving into a smile. [color=darkmagenta]"I could use a good hunting trip too,"[/color] she whispered. Nightmares, in both senses of the word, were something she had to face.

She let the illusions fade and crept down the hallway. Mom wouldn't notice her sneaking out, she always went to bed early these days. Ayumu gave a wistful glance towards the room where the one person she wanted to help slept, then looked away. Trying to reach out ended with her efforts being rejected. She wasn't the firstborn, after all, just the one who'd been left behind that night. The one who'd turned out the bad apple. If only the ordinary humans around her knew just how bad.

Smirking, she slipped out, streams of shadow trailing from her clothes. It was time to put on a show.[/hider][/hider]