What Wishes are For [Game Thread]

[Pata Hikari]

"My name is Hitomi." The girl curtsied. "I'm a passerby who sees a problem and knows how to fix them." She looked around, a faint look of disgust forming on it's face. "Even now they grow fat from the sadness caused here." She took Cassie's hand in hers, and a faint glow appeared between them. When she let go... what appeared to be a golden bullet attached to a keychain was resting in Cassie's hands. "They let her die so they could enjoy your sadness." She closed her eyes for a second, before opening them resolutely.

"Cassie, do you want to help me? To help avenge your friend, to prevent others from ending up like her?"

[Ace]

Cassie Blake

"Hitomi...?" That sounded like an Asian name. Hitomi's answer was oh so very vague. Preoccupied with her own thoughts Cassie nearly jumped when Hitomi took her hand and there was light. It wasn't very bright but Cassie could see it quite clearly. When it disappeared, all that was left from it was a golden bullet keychain. What?! Where did it come from? She certainly didn't feel the keychain when Hitomi first took her hand. It appeared out of thin air when the light vanished....

"W-who are 'they'?" if she could, if it was possible then she wanted to bring them to justice. Whoever did this to her friend couldn't be allowed to walk freely looking for more innocent victims. She wouldn't want that so Cassie couldn't let them.

[Pata Hikari]

"They are called a lot of things. They've been called fairies, demons, ghosts, tsukumogami... they're beings that live to slightly out of sync with this world, but can influence it. They feed off human emotions. And nothing is sweeter to them than despair." She scowled, "They're bothersome creatures, really. It's my life's goal to destroy as many as possible. But I'm just one being!"

[Ace]

Cassie Blake

Monsters? This was unreal. But so was her death. She didn't know who this girl was but Cassie felt she could trust her. Anyone that wanted to destroy as many monsters as possible had to be a good person right? "You want my help right? That's why you're telling me all this. I-I want to help but I'm not very strong. There's no way I can fight monsters," Cassie said sadly. She felt so weak, so helpless.

[Pata Hikari]

Hitomi sighed, "Oh, you're not weak at all." She patted Cassie on the shoulder. "After all, I wouldn't have come to you if you didn't have the potential." She pointed at the charm, "You see, that thing there? It awakens the power that exists within you. If you agree to help me... you'll gain all the power you need."

"Cassie?" Her dad walked out of the crowd of mourners... He walked past Hitomi, if he saw her, he gave no sign. "How you doing sweetie?" He gave her a reassuring smile.

Hitomi giggled, "I'll wait until you talk to your dad."

[Yun]

Yuki Tomoko

For a brief moment a feeling of sorrow as if her body remembers something her mind cannot remember. Overcoming this feeling Yuki feigns being unperturbed by the girl latching onto her and continues her inquiry of Hitomi on the new Magical Girls while trying to prepare for her run.
“Do any of them have a medical conditions that I can heal?"

After waiting for Hitomi's answer Yuki continues with her inquiry.

"Also do you think any of them would be willing to work cooperate and cover for each other when someone makes a mistake?"

[Pata Hikari]

Yuki Tomoko

"One's blind, but I think it's a curse. So I think it's beyond what can be fixed though mundane or magical means." Hitomi shrugged, "Other than that they're healthy." Following that, Hitomi pulled herself up onto Yuki's shoulders. "As for the other question.. no idea!" She laughed, "They may be total flakes, all I know is that they have the potential."

[Yun]

Yuki Tomoko

Merely nodding in response to Hitomi's first answer Yuki continued her preparation while Hitomi continued her response and replied.
“All I can do is wait until we meet and see if it's possible then, is there anything else that I should know about before I finish getting ready?”

[Pata Hikari]

"Yeah!" Hitomi patted Yuki on the head, "Go rent Smash Brothers Brawl again."

[Yun]

Yuki Tomoko

Grinning playfully Yuki replied while reaching above her “I'll do that when....” Gripping Hitomi by both of her shoulders and pulling her out in front of her “....You finally mange to beat me....”Carefully lowering the girl to the floor and released her grip on Hitomi”....Super Smash Brother Melee!” and walked past her stopping for a moment to gently ruffling the little girl's hair than instructed her “Take care of yourself Hitomi.” and left to finish getting ready.

[Pata Hikari]

"Mou I'm no good at Melee!" Hitomi whined as Yuki left."

"....." Hitomi waited for a moment until she was sure Yuki was gone.

"Now then." She floated up. "Commedia and Tragedia, they're weak." She smiled, licking her lips. "The other three should be ready soon." She giggled and vanished.

[Froggie]

Every movement was, oh, so elegant. Even the mundane and ordinary was elevated to an art form under the guidance of her deft and nimble fingers. Pouring syrup, lancing a waffle with a fork, daintily cutting pieces with a knife... everything done with a faint, reserved smile that made her whole expression shine, as gorgeous red locks framed her face in a manner that managed to be both graceful and rakish. Were it anybody else, Lily would no doubt be feeling an immense envious rage, but not for Anna. Anna was... different. The younger girl wondered if a faint blush was coloring her face even as she lowered her gaze and tried to concentrate on her food. She lanced a waffle with a fork and began to cut off various dainty pieces with her own knife.

"Mom, Dad, Lily." Anna said quite suddenly. Her face had a wide smile on it and Lily felt her heart begin to race. Anna's unreserved smiles were rare treasures. She was definitely blushing now.

The knife moved back and forth.

Lily ignored what Dad said.

The knife moved back and forth.

Lily ignored everything until she saw the ring shining on her sister's finger.

Then the world seemed to stop.

Lily stared in horrified fascination at the resplendent gem

Those gathered at the table spoke, but their words were barely audible to Lily over the deafening sound of her own heartbeat.

Anger, love, betrayal, adoration, disappointment, hate, love, jealousy, horror, love.

The knife moved back and forth with a terrible screeching sound as Lily scraped it against the dish with such force that her arm slipped and toppled her glass of juice, spilling its contents all over the table and making it bounce so hard on the table that it fell to the floor, shattering in the process.

Shattered.

Lily still did not take her eyes off her sister, staring with wide eyes at the baleful gem on her ring finger. She pointed at it with a trembling finger and tried to cover her readily apparent gawk with a small hand.

"Aah! Aaah!" the red haired girl tried to say something but found, much to her surprise, that her tongue was tied and she couldn't vocalize her jumbled thoughts.

Finally, she found what to say.

"Excuse me!" she practically spat out, roughly standing from the table, toppling the chair behind her and rushing out of the dining room and to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Tears stung at her eyes as she leaped into her bed and grabbed the pillow in a death grip.

"Ara... I bet this bothers you." A new voice spoke behind her and she whirled around to look at it, moving so fast that her elaborately curled hair whipped around her face. A young girl was there dressed in a black frilly dress with long white gloves, and black leggings and shoes. Her hair was blond, tied into two girlish pigtails, tied off by black ribbons. Her eyes were a pale silver...

"Who the hell are you?! How did you get into my room?!" Lily screeched at the top of her lungs.

[Pata Hikari]

Lilly Wright

"Oh dear, is that anyway to treat me?" if the girl was phased by Lilly screaming, she didn't show it. She suddenly vanished, only to reappear just a few inches away from Lilly. She poked Lilly on the forehead, "I know how to help you.. You want your dear sister all to yourself, no?"

[Froggie]

"Oh dear, is that anyway to treat me?" the blonde said in a completely unworried tone. Lily was about to throw the pillow at her in a rage and scream for help when the interloper suddenly vanished only to instantly reappear in front of her. Lily's scream, outrage and fear, caught in her throat as the other girl poked her in the forehead.

"I know how to help you... You want your dear sister all to yourself, no?"

For the second time in the morning, everything seemed to stop. Lily blinked, momentarily perplexed, as she ran the other girl's words through her mind one more time.

Help you.

Dear Sister.

All to yourself.

Lily gripped the pillow tighter against her as she warily regarded the blonde with no small amount of skepticism. How did she know that? How did she sneak into her room in the first place? No, more importantly, how did she do that freaky disappearing trick? Could she be...

"So, what? Are you like a ninja or something? Can you kill Ron for me? Is that how you're going to help me?" she snapped peevishly as tears stung at her eyes as she recalled the events of the dining room.

[Pata Hikari]

"Killing him?" The girl looked disappointed. "If killing him would help, you could do it yourself. There are tons of ways." The girl vanished and reappeared on her dresser, kicking her legs back and forth. "No. Killing him would make things worse. Right now she is at the height of her love for him. Do you know what would happen if he died now? He would become a perfect being in her eyes. Her mind would have him as her love for the rest of her life." The girl giggled, "If you killed him, it would be the same as handing her over to him forever." The next instant she appeared sitting next to Lilly. "No, what you need to do is make her love you, and only you." She leaned close, whispering into Lilly's ear. "I can make her see only you. I can make her love you as you love her. I can show her exactly why you're the only one for her."

[Froggie]

"Killing him? If killing him would help, you could do it yourself. There are tons of ways."

Lily growled at the disappointed look and tone that the strange girl was giving her. First, she sneaks into her room and now she dares to judge her? Lily finally threw the pillow at the blonde but it missed once again due to the others disappearing trick, sailing through the air lazily to fall flat against the floor with a soft and pathetic thud. Lily growled once again and was about to launch herself from her position at the bed and at the irritating blonde's neck, now perched on the dresser, when her following words froze her blood.

"No. Killing him would make things worse."

Her eyes widened with dread and horror.

What?

She was gawking again as the blonde pressed on with her argument and Lily could feel her dread growing with dizzying speed at every word. Each word was like a dagger at her heart, a needle in her eyes, a hammer to her stomach. Pain, practically physical, raced through her body, and her heart was beating like mad drums in her ears, so loud that it should almost drowned the blonde's words. Still, each terrible word was perfectly audible and inescapable. She wanted to scream and deny those horrible words, but she knew she could not.

Because the blonde girl was right.

The dead can do no harm.

Simply killing Ron off at this point would leave Anna out of her reach forever. A life were Anna would forever mourn the boy she was supposed to marry but never could? No! NO! Unacceptable! But, but... how to avoid it? If she did nothing they would end up together and she didn't want that! She didn't want that at all! Anna was hers, not his! HERS! Lily did not even notice when the blonde was next to her and giggling and whispering, soft words tickling at her ears.

"I can make her see only you. I can make her love you as you love her. I can show her exactly why you're the only one for her."

And the blonde looked at her expectantly and Lily only had one thing to say to the offer

"How?" she asked, her voice tremulous with both anxiety and excitement. "If this is how you said you could 'help' me, then how do you mean to manage it?"

[Pata Hikari]

"I'm glad you asked." The girl's face broke into a broad smile. "Of the three, you have the greatest potential. So... I'll show you something special. A sneak peek, if you will." The girl snapped her fingers.

In an instant, everything changed. It was as if reality shattered around them. No longer were Lilly and the girl in her room.

It was a vast plain, seemingly made of clear crystal. Infinite stars danced beneath them, contained in the crystal world. Above them, trillions of images flashed all around them. The wind howled, caring infinite sounds upon them.

"The world you live in is but a mere fragment of the greater universe." The girl said. Many worlds and things beyond being called a mere 'world' exist." As she spoke, an image of her family appeared in front of Lilly. They were happily talking about the wedding. "From this higher realm, I can touch the spirit and mind of others. However, it takes a great ritual to draw out forbidden taboos, to bring things that she herself rejected before she even knew they existed." The image vanished. "It would be draining on me. I will not do such a thing for free, you will have to earn it. With that, they were both back in Lilly's room.

"Now then, Lilly-chan."A glowing crystal rose appeared in front of Lilly, "Take this, it is the mark of our contract. you do not have to accept it completely yet... come to the park at the intersection of 5th and Main, tonight at Ten O'Clock. You and the other two will learn exactly what I need."

[Froggie]

The broad smile that graced the blonde’s face unnerved Lily greatly but her words were far too appealing to dismiss or ignore. There was something off about the girl, showing up out of nowhere in her room, her creepy disappearing trick, and the way she seemed to know of her circumstances, but Lily still couldn’t bring herself to scream or bolt out of the room. The red-haired girl was focused on each word with rapt attention, eager to hear more about how this stranger could help her make Anna realize that only Lily would ever truly understand and love her without reservations.

“Of the three, you have the greatest potential. So... I'll show you something special. A sneak peek, if you will.”

‘Potential? Sneak peek? What is she talking about?’

Lily opened her mouth to speak but before she could vocalize these thoughts, however, the world around her shattered once again, literally this time. Fragments of what had been the walls of her room, her bed, her dresser, her stuffed toys, her study table and all the other pieces of furniture of her room danced through the air like shards of glass before crashing against the ‘floor’ of the endless crystal plain and smashing into a myriad, tiny, multicolored stars like the ones that surrounded her. Likely gaped once again, both in amazement and no small amount of fear as her eyes took in the bizarre crystal formations and the distorted images that danced beneath their surfaces.

This was much more than just a creepy disappearing trick!

The blonde spoke, explaining about the crystal world and alternate universes and stuff, and some small part of Lily’s mind noted her words and nodded listlessly as she heard them, but most of her thoughts were occupied with the images flashing below her and the strange place to which she had been transported rather than the mechanics of the world.

‘This… this is surreal! Is this magic? She can do magic?! Then, then… she can actually help me! This freak is for real!’

And then the world unshattered and they were back in her room.

Lily felt a slight chill despite the early morning warmth and could not help hugging herself to try and ward it off. The young girl’s mind was racing, her thoughts too fast, too varied, for her psyche to make sense of what had just transpired in the space of a few frantic minutes. Looking up with haunted eyes, arms still wrapped around herself, she walked haltingly to one of her room’s walls and tentatively touched it with one hand, amazed to find it solid and real once again. Then, as if the act of ascertaining her situation had become a foundation, in the end, one thought won out above all others from the jumble of her mind.

‘She can do magic! She can help me! She can make Anna love me like I love her!’

Lily turned around to face the blonde, an ecstatic look on her face, to find that the other girl held something strange in her hand and was offering it up to her.

A rose made from pale red crystal.

It was glowing.

"Now then, Lilly-chan," the blonde said in that same sing-song tone which set Lily’s teeth on edge, "Take this, it is the mark of our contract. You do not have to accept it completely yet... come to the park at the intersection of 5th and Main, tonight at Ten O'Clock. You and the other two will learn exactly what I need."

So she took it.

It was… strangely warm to the touch.

She held it close to her chest and looked up at the smiling blonde who had an expectant look on her pale silver eyes. It might be a meaningless action at this point, but the girl, which had previously been loud and rude, shifted the mask on and changed her attitude. After all, it wouldn’t do at all to be rude to someone who’s helping you, right?

“You, er… you haven’t told me your name yet, but you seem to know everything about me… and, uh… you said something about potential?” Her voice was polite and deferential, her eyes no longer angry. “And… and… you said that if I help you, you’ll help me, right? That’s what you mean by ‘our contract’, correct? So… what do I have to do? Just meet with you and these other people later today? That sounds rather simplistic for what you’re offering in return…”

Still, she hugged the crystal rose bloom tightly to her chest, pleased by its intricately carved petals.

It was beautiful and elegant.

Just like Anna and herself.

[Pata Hikari]

"My name is Hitomi." The girl curtsied, and smiled. "Now now Lilly-chan... to answer those questions." A pair of glasses appeared on her, "First question. Your potential is in many ways, one of those is the ability to use magic. Few humans can do it, however even with that potential you need somebody to unlock it. Second, to put it in terms you can understand, what I'm doing now is a job interview. Tonight will be your first day at work, ne? Our contract hasn't been fully established yet, once it is your potential will awaken." The girl began to fade, "So just think about it, and show up tonight! I promise it'll be cool!"

And she was gone, leaving Lilly alone in her room.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Lilly?" It was Anna at the door.

[Froggie]

'Magic... I'll be able to use magic too? And a job interview? So, I'll have to do a job for her to get her to help me? And something done late at night, far from home? I don't like the sound of this at all, but... but what she promises is too appealing to pass up.'

But before Lily could ask anything else, Hitomi disappeared leaving her alone with her thoughts and the strange glowing gem in the shape of a rose. The young girl could not help the small smile that graced her features as she heard those words. She looked at the resplendent rose gem held in her hands, its soft pulsing glow illuminating her features, and felt ecstatic at the new future full of promise that had just opened up before her when just a few minutes ago her whole world had seemed to be consumed by darkness. This gem, this contract, this 'job'... they were the keys by which her pure love would be realized!

Aaaah, she could see it already!

KNOCK KNOCK

"Lily?"

Crap.

"AAaaah! Anna? Give me a minute!"

Rushing, she picked up the pillow she had thrown off the floor, tossing it back on the bed among the pile of stuffed animals. Frantically, she rushed to smooth out the covers even as she tossed the glowing gem in her nightstand's drawer before leaping into bed herself. She hugged the pillow to herself, let it go, smoothed out the covers, and once again hugged the pillow, every action fueled by frenzied desperation.

"It's open!" Lily called pleasently.