Scene #8980: Magical Girl Detective Club!

Owner	Pose
Kayoko Kirenai	The trip from the magical girl secret hideout to the ice rink isn't the most pleasant one, but it's one that the Magical Girl of Love is very familiar with by now. Sunny riverside streets nearby where the collapsed sewers open up to the city don't have the quiet hospitality of neighborhood roads or the urban density of downtown, so walking along them feels like trudging through a humid desert, but it's where the closest stop to the harborside bus route is. Being dropped off by the bus isn't much better. The bland, warehouse-like district that the ice rink resides in is meant for cars and trucks far more than pedestrians, so getting from the bus stop to the rink is an ankle-aching trek through parking lots and along row after row of nondescript squat buildings, all feeling bloatedly oversized for the numbingly mundane signs prescribing their use. No matter what fond or bittersweet memories she has about the ice rink itself, getting there is alienating even at the best of times. Imagining that any other indistinguishable grey facades might contain an interior world as emotionally radiant as the skate park does for her is a herculean task-- and probably wrong too, no matter how hopeful it sounds. So it's no surprise that Love would prefer to look down, than up. The journal is a distraction from the oppressive atmosphere of the rest of Kagoshima, and reflecting on the feelings written within it is why she's here anyways. Looking down means that the glint of light, caught in the corner of her vision, is even more of an eyecatching distinction from the scenery than it'd otherwise be. The brief iridescent sparkle is like a breath of fresh air, drawing Love closer to investigate. On the side of the street, pinned between a rusty metal fence pole and stained concrete, is a little gachapon kitty toy, with a chef's hat and a cauldron full of some sparkly soup. Down further away from the street, she spots another, sitting in the shadow of the rectangular tire shop, this one a keychain of the Kagoshima city mascot. As Love chases them down the alley, she finds that there's a whole chain of cute gachapon prizes, dropped in gutters and corners, each one just visible from the previous in a line that brings her closer and closer to the harbor. They're seemingly haphazardly tossed, like someone was running with their arms full of them and kept dropping one at a time without stopping to pick them back up for one reason or another, weaving through buildings rather than along the main roads.
Kayoko Kirenai	Love's collected over two dozen sparkly trinkets by the time she actually 'arrives' anywhere. Over time, the nondescript boxy buildings became even more nondescript in the only way they could, now lacking even distinguishing signs of businesses to explain what's inside, and instead just having roll-up metal doors embedded in their faces. One of them is reeled a couple feet up from the ground, with a round rubber hampster gnawing on a shiny strawberry face-down on the concrete floor within. If she shimmies on her belly and rolls under, she could reach it... and who knows how many more might be on the other side! Maybe this is a storage facility for thousands of adorable little toys! When she nabs it and pops to her feet, though, she's greeted by a large warehouse with all the lights shut off inside. The sliver of daylight coming under the door swiftly slams shut behind her, leaving her in total darkness. There's a second where the echoing clang drowns out some unseen fumbling noise and short metal scraping from deeper within the warehouse, before a singular harsh florescent light clicks on, aimed directly at Love. "I've finally got you right where I want you, Secret Agent! There's nowhere for you to run, so don't even think about trying to not answer my questions. It's time the people of this city blow this conspiracy wide open!" The speaker sounds like a young girl, but she's an indecipherable silhouette, positioned behind the glaring bulb. The air inside the warehouse is musty and humid, with only old scattered crates nestled behind metal structural beams to Love's either side. It seems like she must have been....... ambushed??
Angela	It's a good thing Love brought a bag. Love doesn't really walk places anymore. She skates places. She doesn't even skate in a singular direction. She jumps onto bars and grinds off them, leaps down stairways and escalators, she grabs onto moving vehicles and has them tug her along--these activitis aren't really magical girl in nature though they are occassionally a bit reckless for normal people to do. But it is a little lonely, going to the ice rink on her own. Justice can't really leave the hideout without a good reason because she's like twelve feet tall and is not going to pass as a person no matter how hard she tries. She skids to a stop suddenly as she a little glint of a key item catches her eye. She turns off her course and skats over and... "Oh my gosh...! It's so cute!" She looks around to see who might've left it there but... no dic! She si about to turn away when she sees---another! "Oh my gosh...! It's so cute!" Love repeats. , jogging that one down too. "I should...find who these belong to or they'll be sad they lost them...! Unless..." She sees a third. WISDOM ROLL: CRITICAL FAILURE [ansi(+pink,"Oh no, if someone is missing these... I best collect them all so I can return them...or find them a good home! Hm hm!")] Cheered by this decision of hers, she starts following from trinket to trinket Collecting one after the other whereupon she sees.... One last one. And it looks like a ham ham! Love lunges for it, mouth first and nearly chokes on it but she hacks it up into her hand and then notices... THE DOOR SLAMS SHUT. Love reaches for her MAGICAL STAFF but finds that it's in her bag and she can't see the zipper. "Is this finally it?! Has the Dark Kingdom revaled itself?!" She shouts, instad holding out the hampster gacha threateningly. ''It's time the people of this city blow this conspiracy wide open!'' "EEK!" Love squeals as the light shines harshly into her eyes. She raises her free hand to cover it for a moment and blinks rapidly unil her eyes adjust and she sees a silhouette before her. "Hm hm hm... You're very clever, whomever you are... You are the first to approach me from this city that realized something was up at all!" She affects a smug tone. "But I promised Magical Girls Vermilion and Cobalt I would be discrete, so good luck getting any secrets out of me! You'll have to do better than that!" Oh she failed her wisdom roll a second time.
Kayoko Kirenai	"Hm hm hm... You're very clever, whomever you are..." The harsh light gleams off of Love's face with an unflattering interrogative pallor. Her hairpin and ribbon flash when the angle of the bulb is slightly adjusted, with the silhouette behind it reaching up above her head to fiddle with the handle on the back of the rotating fixture. Looking more closely at the silhouette, she's a particularly odd shape-- as Love's eyes adjust, she can see that not only is the shape of the shadow a girl, but it's a girl with a torso as deep as it is wide, like she has a massive shell on her back. Like some sort of... semi-reptilian girl-creature...!! "Hm hm! I am clever in the pursuit of truth! My name is-- hey! I'm the one asking the questions here!" Love didn't even need to actually ask a question to nearly make the voice teeter off of the same failed wisdom check that she did. The light is firmly gripped and angled down to shine directly into Love's eyes, like a police questioning routine made more pathetic by the small grunt of exertion that manipulating the light forces out of the shadowed girl. "So tell me! What government do you work for? What are you investigating? Why'd you stay behind after all your fellow agents left?" "But I promised Magical Girls Vermilion and Cobalt I would be discrete, so good luck getting any secrets out of me!" "... Huh?" That pulls the voice up short, from interrogation that sounds more eager than threatening to a completely baffled stop. Audibly trying to figure out this shift in genre, she slowly sounds out her words. "Magical girls? Like from an anime?" "Come to think of it...." The girl behind the lamp leans forwards and squints at Love, catching herself in a sliver of the emitted light. She's a teenager, like she sounds, with distinctly non-Japanese red hair, with only a slice of the side of her head visible-- but that's enough to suddenly recognize her from pictures that Kayoko's taken: Polly Petunia, Kayoko's dormmate and until recently, somewhat frequent subject of Kayoko's hobby Polaroids. "You do dress like one?" "But then!" Polly draws back abruptly, invisible again. "Those might be code names! I know you're investigating occult phenomenae in the city, I've talked with your other government cronies! I am too! So how about we get to the bottom of this now, and you tell me what those 'magical girls' have to do with Kayoko and Meika?"
Angela	Love smirks triumphantly. "Eh heh heh! Almost got you that time!" She didn't do anything really to almost catch Polly's name but she'll act like she did! Believe it! Nevertheless, no matter how pathetic Polly is coming across, Love--as they say--is blind and she can't see it at all! "That's what you get for lowering your guard when you thought you had me...!" ''So tell me! What government do you work for?'' "...Huh?" Love is completely confused. ''Why'd you stay behind after all your fellow agents left?'' "Nani??" The 'Nani??' is preferred so the exact sound anime-like noise she's making can be clearly expressed. "Um..." Nobody told Love the Government Agent cover story so she thinks Polly just misunderstood something. "Well you're right that there's some kind of conspiracy going on, I'm sure about that... Though I'm not sure if ... it's a conspiracy anybody's behind?" She kicks at the ground a little bit, frustrated--but she's not frustrated at Polly so much as just... a situation. Her expression of someone playing along with a situation and now just kind of generally disgruntld is a quick shift-- --and it doesn't last too long either. She's right back into it, just kind of happy to... NOT keep a secret for once. Why not?? There's no LAW against it, right? And besides, she's clearly HOT on the trail! "Yeah yeah...!" Love says. "Like from an anime..." She trails off. "...I mean... A little bit like an anime. And some ways, maybe not like an anime at all...Maybe if it was a little more like an anime it wouldn't be so..." She stirs a little and then leans forward herself, squinting as well at Polly. "............" "Wait..." Love's eyes widen. "Polly?!" Her jaw drops open. "You're Cobalt's--I mean Kayoko's--I mean...SHOOT! Aghhh!!!" She brings her hands to her forehead in tears. "Whyyy.... Am I so...bad at keeping secrets all of a sudden....???" Her shoulder hunch up and she wipes at her eyes uselessly since the tears keep coming. She feels like such a dummy! But... ...She doesn't really know why they... DON'T just tell people?? Why don't they just tell people??? Sure, they MIGHT forget but if EVERYBODY knows wouldn't that be better? Well she supposes it's probably because of magical girl reasons and that makes sense to her. But at this point the magical companion is out of the magical bag so she figures she might as well just be open about it. "Yeah...we're totally investigating occult phenomenae. Kinda. I think it's occult? But I don't really know. I kind of of want to investigatte the occult phenomenae too but it seems like nothing we're doing is getting us anywhere! But you found me..." Her eyes widen. "OH MY GOSH ARE YOU AN ACE DETECTIVE??"
Kayoko Kirenai	"That's what you get for lowering your guard when you thought you had me...!" Polly's confident scoff seems like it should echo throughout the empty warehouse, seemingly endlessly black beyond the harsh light of the lamp. Instead, something about the angle she projects it, or maybe hidden boxes take up more room in the warehouse than it seems, but it ends up sounding muffled and a little pathetic. "Kheh! I'm more skilled in the art of the repartee than your dossier must've said! You'll have to do better than that to get one over on me, government goon." The standard that Love must beat in order to fool Polly is set: she has to do somewhat better than not even asking her a direct question, only implying one. Can Love succeed against these odds? Will she remain entangled in the rhetorical puppetstrings of this intellectual mastermind, who so deftly cut off all of her escape routes? Find out next time! "Well you're right that there's some kind of conspiracy going on, I'm sure about that... Though I'm not sure if ... it's a conspiracy anybody's behind?" Polly hums-- somehow it almost sounds sympathetic? That's not quite the hard-hitting no-nonsense interrogator persona she means to be presenting-- tapping her foot on the concrete behind the lamp. A little quieter, easing off of the pressure, Polly still tries to maintain the airs of being smugly unaffected and in control, but it's a bit audibly forced. "I see, I see... so you must be a lower ranking member, then. If the conspiracy is just... something that happens, and you're just sent here to keep an eye on it without really knowing who's doing it at all." Her energy intensifies again, declaring emphatically with the sense that she's definitely clenching her fists. "But you're still my best bet for slipping my foot in the door! And I've got to know more--!" "You're Cobalt's--I mean Kayoko's--I mean...SHOOT! Aghhh!!!" "OH MY GOSH ARE YOU AN ACE DETECTIVE??" The squeal of surprise that Polly makes after being called out is accompanied by a shadowed flurry of movement like she's frantically trying to hide her face all of a sudden, as if it isn't already invisible. After a bit of stammering, she works up the tried and true method of unconvincingly lowering her voice as much as she can, talking stiltedly. "Ah... er... I'm sure I don't know who you are talking about. Who is this... 'Polly'? I have never heard of... I don't even know what a 'detective' is...." The lamp gets jostled by some nervous shuffling of the girl beside it, turning around to look for some way she could escape herself, from the situation she set up, or some gadget she can pull out of her backpack-- oh, when she turns around like that, her overstuffed backpack flashes into view at the edge of the light-- in order to solve this. A smoke bomb, perhaps...? At least this time, there's not a dozen ~~Elites~~ government agents here threatening her. There's no gunfire this time. Can you believe that, Polly?! Last time there was gunfire! You can do anything! The last part of that gets unconsciously muttered aloud, even though the ace detective means to keep it locked inside her noggin. She slips into English for a moment to whisper a bracing 'dang it,' before turning back to face Love, leaning just her face into view with a smug but acquiescent expression as if Love's little trick was clever, but certainly accounted for within Polly's master plan. "Right, right. Of course you'd know who I am, after my last run in with you guys. And you've been sneaking around Kayoko, too, haven't you? Probably looking up data on her friends... and I'll have you know, I'm the best friend she's got! That's why I have to peel away these layers of mystery, and...."
Kayoko Kirenai	Her expression gradually sinks as she goes on, tinted more and more with sounding frustrated and forlorn and lost. "Even though she's been acting super duper weird lately... and maybe even spending more time with you than me...." She squints at Love's face, looking at her properly finally even though the light's been shining on her this whole time, and she's evidently been following her around for weeks. It's different up close. "Come to think of it... you're just my age, aren't you? Are you... just a spy?" "... Maybe more proper introductions are in order. If we're to do business properly, to uncover this secret." Polly clears her throat, stepping into the light fully so that her familiar red hair, bulky backpack, and collection of gizmos comes into view. Unlike usual, though, rather than wearing the monochrome Our Lady the Second Eve school uniform... she's wearing a fully black tracksuit?? And is that a ski mask stuffed into a side pocket of her backpack? And there, on the other side, a mesh bag full of more gachapon prizes? "My name's Polly Petunia. Club leader, ace detective, treasurer, secretary, supervisor, data analyst, super spy, and... sole member, of Polly's Occult Investigation Gang. Who... actually are you?"
Angela	''I'm more skilled in the art of the repartee than your dossier must've said!'' Love's eyes blink but slightly off from one another. Oh she thinks she understands. Polly probably thinks she's a goverment goon because Chevaliers are also what they call government agents. It's all coming together! "I'm not from the government really," Love says. "I just use Chevalier in my Magical Girl name because it was in Vermilion and Cobalt's names and they saved me--''they'' were with the government." ACtually isn't Kayoko still technically with the government? "Actually isn't Bikki with a government too? ... And..." She trails off. "Oh but...!" She moves to stand up on top of her Interrogation Chair and swings her fingers in front of her eyes in a v-shape and dabs to the side with her other hand. "I am the Magical Girl of Love and Justice! I fight evil and triumph on behalf of love!" She tries to do a magical twirl and nearly falls over only saving herself by grabbing the base of her interrogation chair, tears spilling out from her eyes--not heavily just a little bit. "But I probably am part of a conspiracy," Love admits with a sigh. "Heck if I know what it is though! NObody tells me nothin'!" Shehe stealthily resumes magical girl pose. Polly really encourages her to go full magical girl in ways that feel a bit nostalgic now. ''And I've got to know more--!'' Love blinks twice, realizing that Polly's goals...and her own wishes and dreams aren't really...opposed at all? ''Who is this... 'Polly'?'' "Oh I... didn't say your name." Love says. "...But that's okay!! That means there doesn't have to be secrets between us...!" She hops off the chair. "You're such an incredible detective to find this all out on your own DESPITE the conspiracy, you must be able to find out what I can't find out...You're so cool, Polly! ... Hm... Polly..." She cups her chin, thinking of magical girl names for Polly. The fact Polly doesn't have magic as far as she knows doesn't seem relevant to her thought processes. ''I'm the best friend she's got!'' "Oh you must be." Love agrees. "She was always telling me about you. She must love you very much to be so happy talking about you to people who didn't even know you. You're so lucky... Cobalt works so hard at being the best magical girl she can be." ''ARe you... just a spy?'' "I'm an Abnormality..." Love realizes she forgot to refer to herself as the Queen of Hatred too but she remembers Vermilion kind of hated that name so she decides not to bring it up. Revealing your secret SECRET magical girl name is a second meeting sort of thing probably and more importantly it feels awkward to mention it right this moment. Oh but... Polly is... introducing herself properly! That's wonderful! She's got a chance to really make this work! "I'm Chevalier Love, magical girl of love and justice, queen of hatred," WHEW. "And the name I'v been using while pretending to be a human is Ai which I think was pretty clever, hm hm hm...!" She slams both of her hands on the table. "But Magical Detective Polly...! I need your help!! Vermilion and Kayoko--maybe even their other sisters--they're in trouble!! And I could really use an ace detective. You'll help right?" Her eyes sparkle. "I tried so hard on my own and Vermilion--Meika--she still got hurt. I don't want the same thing to happen to Kayoko..."She brings her knees up on top of the table, lifting herself up by her hands and crawls across it towards Polly so she can place HER hands on Polly's shoulders, staring into her eyes. "You might be their only hope...!"
Kayoko Kirenai	"Oh I... didn't say your name." Polly hesitates, immediately confused. Surely... she remembers Love exclaiming her name just a minute ago, doesn't she? But then, in between, there was an entire commercial break, and... and Love seems sure that she didn't identify Polly by name. So it must not have happened. "... Drat." You're so lucky... Cobalt works so hard at being the best magical girl she can be." With her defenses lowered at this point, circumvented by the decisive social manuevering of the Magical Girl of Love, Polly's nasally-embarrassed "ahhhah, really, that much?" gets aborted before really properly starting. Instead, after a moment of quiet, she uneasily draws out a single word. "... 'Cobalt'...?" "You might be their only hope...!" As enthused as Polly is about making progress-- unprecedented progress-- in her investigation, her excitement is blown out of the water by Love's sheer demeanor. She backs up away from the table when Love clambers onto it, lips split in an awkward barely-voiced 'eheh....', only confusedly trailing out fragments of responses as Love's enthusiasm and confidence in her grows and grows. "Woah... you're for real a magical girl? A proper... 'pretending' to be human, ah...?" "-- 'Magical'? Um, I'm m-more of an 'occult' detective, than..." "S-so they do need help? My help? Kayoko and--...??" Polly is helplessly ensnared, helpless to escape from Love's clutches. As intimidating (not) as she seemed behind the lamp when Love had the pressure of the interrogation beamed directly on her, now Polly seems to be freaking out a little, eyes darting one way then another, clamped down and shrinking a bit when Love grabs her shoulders. It's a lot of information to take in at once, especially when it's a whole entire genre shift! "You might be their only hope...!" As overwhelming as this all is for Polly, Love's final exclamation is zeroed in on the most sincerely pure parts of Polly's mind; the part that, if she really admitted it, had been waiting to hear those words from the moment that she first learned of the conspiracy. She pulls herself together, straightening back up to reveal that she'd gradually shrunk multiple inches over the course of Love's monologue, and clenches her fist, determinedly meeting Love's hopeful stare. "Then there ain't another choice! If my friends depend on me... if the world depends on me...." Polly has no indication that's the case. But there's magical girls involved now, so it must be! "Then I'll never back down!" "You and I... Miss Magical Girl of Love! Queen of Hatred!" Now she presses forwards towards Love instead, slamming her hand on the table and extending her arm to point dramatically at Love, so that the shadow from the lamp is cast over her. "We'll crack this case together! No matter what it takes, or whatever monsters or secret government agents might stand in our way!" "From now on, you'll be the second member of POIG!" That time, Polly's voice successfully echoes. Maybe it's just because she raised it enough, or maybe the warehouse acknowledges the shift in the narrative and architecturally lends itself to granting the moment more weight. After the echo dies down, Polly's hand slowly sinks, and she stares intently at Love with her voice hushed. "... So, Kayoko. She's... 'Cobalt'? A magical girl, too? And Meika is Magical Girl Vermillion? So... both of them are just 'pretending' to be human, too?" Polly leans forwards, hands both pressed into the table. "... I get it. Magical girl or secret agent, human or not... it doesn't make a difference. They're my friends, no matter what. And if they need saving, I'll save them."
Angela	Love did say Polly's name and totally forgot that she did and now thinks she's being real clever. Of course Polly seems to not remember Love saying Polly's name as far as Love can tell which means she is not more certain she never said Polly's name. "Oh erk--sorry, I'm trying to use the right names--I know Meika preferred Chevalier Vermilion so I assumed Kayoko was the same way with Chevalier Cobalt--" Love is completely genuine in believing Plly is a very smart detective who really knows her stuff--to be fair to Love!! This is the first person who has seemed like she knew ANYTHING was up at all, really! And truth is, she's feeling a little lonesome herself. Oh she mets with Meika still, but it doesn't quite feel the same when she has to pretend to not know things and Kayoko ... She's really worried about Kayoko!! ''If my friends depend on me... if the world depens on me...'' Love is pretty sure she didn't say anything about the world but she admires the courage too much to comment. She knows 100 percent that sometimes the greatest heroes comes from unexpected places. ''Both of them are just 'pretending' to be human, too?'' Love opens her mouth-- ''You weren't just pretending before. You can't have been. Don't... lie like that.'' ''That's-- that's not an okay way to think about it. You're not human shaped. You're just human. It takes work for magical girls.'' ''Quietly, Meika pulls out the notebook from her sports bag, and turns to the page Love put in, drew in, with that horrible, awful moment of resignation- or something else, when her story-bound curse first got severed. Meika tears at it, to pass to Love, press it into her free hand, as if she can give her back that packaged moment and its emotions-'' Love stalls for a moment. "They're really sweet girls." Love says. "And they're always doing their best--so I hope you can be there for them, no matter what they turn out to be. I'm a lot--I'm not as good at it as they are but they taught me so much and accepted me even though I've messed up a lot in my life. I wouldn't even be able to have this conversation with you if not for them. I love them so much, Polly... But ''something'' out there wants to hurt them. I thought it was just part of their powers at first, sort of like how I used to forget everything--but it's more than that. Someone or something is actually trying to hurt them--They even stole one of their sisters away and removed all trace of her existence and made them and everyone forget. If it wasn't for those people you met before, probably--I wouldn't even know about her." She looks like she desperately wants to hug Polly and is just barely holding herself back. "I know that sounds crazy. Maybe even like you really really can't keep that idea in your head--that's part of the attack. I don't know where it's from or anything--but it got Meika, and now she doesn't remember being Chevalier Vermilion at all." She frowns. "...That's probably why Kayoko is being weird lately too. She is such a brave knight, but she really counted on Vermilion even if they had their ups and downs and now..." She scootches back along the table. "Can you...promise me you won't tell anyone? Not until the mystery is totally cracked open? I don't want them to go after you too. I... I really like you, Polly, and ..." She thinks it's a shame that Meika can't be part of POIG too. Kayoko too. It would have been so much easier for them, right?
Angela	She wipes at her eyes. "...I'd love to be a member of POIG... I still have to go out and do 'magical girl' stuff--and um. I don't go to school. But we can POIG after school! The... Polly Occultt Investiagation Gang! Right?" She beams, her wings popping out behind her for a moment until she acks and spins around and falls off the table before they retract once more. Laying on the floor there she adds, "Thanks for listening Polly. And for trying to help them! You're a great friend...!" Still laying there she adds, "So what do occult detectives do, if they aren't magical...?"