Kei Wentz
Something flapped past in a red silhouette, blinking through the gap of the street in the side of Kei's vision. She skidded to her feet. Sudden movements like that caught her eye much more than they had a year ago.
Red coat, black sleeves, I've seen that before. And a day-seizing, bristlingly confident run. Kei swung herself back onto the road, but the girl had gone.
So has the witch she was after. Speak of the devil, hey? Stretch; There might be a need to run along, to try and smooth over any unwanted attention. Mary seemed to know what she was doing witchwise. It was people that still gave her the occasional problem, although she could stride through an impolite gaze without missing a beat.
Somehow. Still, when Kei set off on the trail, she kept her eyes open and her jog brisk; Even the most loosely acquainted company was better than nothing, and maybe-
Psht, yeah right, maybe, she could be persuaded to share the Seed. Maybe sometimes, even God felt generous.
She hadn't had a chance to see the pursuer's face, but she felt comfortable assuming that Mary was the only Girl in the city with a costume like that, and the gall to sprint after a witch in the open in full gear. The seed of doubt only started to root in her head when someone else, a second body, flicked into the sun and passed on ahead of her, hurrying on the same trail. For a moment, a forward-facing ray of light caught her eye.
"Hej!" It was Kei's most comfortable Polish word, given that it was homophonous with the English one and meant pretty much the same thing, too. A bit too casual, maybe, but damned if she was about to reveal how jittery the rest of her Polish was just to hail someone on a street, even an unfamiliar Magical Girl.
Besides, the second girl was most likely another bilingual immigrant. No one else would wear school uniform and bag on a festival.
Is she trying to keep Mary out of trouble? I'll try and get her digits if I catch up. Or, well, not. Maybe the student didn't even own a phone. Well, she certainly wouldn't pick up when she was running like that.
Realisation dawned that there really wasn't any need for her to keep following, several seconds after she had actually stopped. A double hunt. There would be no room to share anyway. Mary- It was her, right?- already had a tagalong, and both of them had a long head start. Kei spun on her ankle on the paved old street, churning with indecision. She wanted to follow.
Really. She wanted to see the new girl's face and watch whatever relationship she had with the familiar-looking girl in red, but hadn't she already committed to letting this run go?
"Uuunh. Fuck." Kei kicked the ground and stamped angrily, deliberately away from the witchcall. The tension she'd relieved seconds earlier wound itself back up in her ankles, drove her forward, back up along the mainstreet, head down. Fine, then! She'd find someone else to play with. And... Maybe practice a little retail therapy first. Something sweet and selfish.
Joining the queue of a stand alongside a row of others, she tasted hot sugar on the air. Misgivings rose imperceptibly when she saw the familiar shape of the caramel someone was nibbling at, then grew conscious as the swell of people thinned out and she heard a voice, a real, recognisable laugh in a tone she'd only seldom heard but would never mistake.
Oh. No. Uh oh. Whoops. Confusion bubbled, and when she finally looked Mary in the face, the real Mary Beth, it swelled into a crescendo and popped into uncertainty.
The wrong girl. There was another Magical Girl in a bright red coat in Danzig, and she'd chased the wrong girl.
"Dzień dobry," she pronounced carefully, trying her utmost to make the more formal greeting sound fluent and friendly,
"I need to consult you for something." Kei's eyes flicked to see if anyone else was listening. She didn't want to be too loud, to be heard too much, to sound like just another mundane part of the crowd. Maybe Mary would understand her need to sound good. Or, well, maybe not. She was a puzzle.
Sheepishly, Kei also pushed two eagle-stamped coins over the counter and tapped a jar.
Vec
Timemaster