A Hypothesis of Two Fates

[Villamvihar]

The bizzare hum in the building always bothered Eirlys. No matter how many times she had been here, she could not get used to that subtle sound just at the edge of her hearing that others would find reassuring. Of course, she was aware of the fact that the lack of the noise would have meant the catastrophic failure of the structure's wards, but she swore that she could hear the drone for hours afterwards. The only saving grace of that low noise was that she was stronger than it, thus she could pointedly ignore it until it went away. Thank goodness for the small mercies of life.

One din was replaced with another as Eirlys shifted her attention towards the various other noises that easily overcame the slightly annoying hum. Her mind drifted to the agenda of today; she was called in all of a sudden without too much explanation, then told to report to one of the side chambers and she would be damned if she could find a reason for it. As it had been expected of her, almost all of her assignments were stellar successes, not to mention that she considered herself capable of handling them. Were they going to give her more advanced challenges? She doubted that, because her last assignment ended up with her having to pound a factory-cathedral into submission.

Eirlys' steps joined the noise of the small crowd as she navigated the maze-like corridors of the ancient building. The stunningly beautiful, geometric patterns that showed up as decorations everywhere were said to be seven thousand years old, though no record could confirm their existence back then. Various dating methods failed too, as they encountered signs of preservation magic that kept the building fresh and the search for the building's origins have been abandoned. Probably for the better, or else the Society of Magic and Technology could not have asked for a better main office.

History was integrated into every little part of the building. From its mysterious origins that stretched before the start of surviving history to the signs of the old Majick-Skiens war, the halls all but oozed the past. One better informed about the various happenings in history could identify old magitech artillery units de-activated to serve as decorative pieces or the signs of many different cultures as the decorations changed along with the architecture. Truly, it was a marvel to behold for everyone whose name was not Eirlys Cartwright, because at the moment she was consulting a holographic map in an attempt to orient herself.

It took her a couple of minutes despite the intuitive interface, but the challenge was quickly beaten, then the route memorised so that she would not get lost amongt the incoherently constructed halls. Oh, the flaws of a building which grew with the aeons! It could not even hope to match her, never mind beat her and it was with this thought that she arrived in front of the door she was supposed to report to.

"Eirlys Cartwright," she said out loud as she put her hand onto the smooth, metallic surface of the barrier in her way, then she waited for the familiar feeling of the various scanners to run over her body. It was over all in a matter of seconds and the next thing she knew, she was inside a relatively small room with but a single, older-looking woman behind the sole desk.

"Véleményem szerint eltévedtünk, úrnőm," spoke Fémpillangó, who was currently in pendant form on Eirlys' neck. Indeed, this did not look like a place her owner would be invited to, but the woman just smiled at them, then she indicated a chair that had not been there a moment before. Apparently, they were waiting for someone else to show up.

 

[Mook-LandStrider]

It was beautiful, oh so beautiful but, how to describe how she saw it as beautiful. Walking down the central hallway Azalia looked back and forth but, as always couldn't really see what she was directly looking at. Around her walked, no, more or less danced and skipped along were three dark looking bunnies stitched together with a more grim theme to them compared to the cute one would expect. Directly ahead of her walked Azazel, a larger breed of the three with a comparable difference. Its height was half of Azalias and it had a large yellow X over its left eye but otherwise was a direct copy of the others.

Continuing on her way Azalia's attention was suddenly pulled to Jasper, the rabbit with the gold ear. The creature running forward towards a water dispenser suddenly stopped and turned to look at Azalia. Putting its arms forward it began to cackle and run towards her before wrapping its arms around her leg as she walked. Groaning Azalia tried peeling it off but found out through expended effort and public embarrassment that Jasper wasn't coming off. Eventually giving up she walked with the rabbit clinging to her leg for some time before coming to a stop as Azazel stared at the map. Not moving at all Azalia studied the map through the eyes of Azazel.

Wait, why was she even here? Was it because of her magic? It wasn't a problem before… kinda. Well, sure, not everything was exactly 'safe' but in the end it worked out. Shaking her head she tried knocking the thoughts out of her head but found herself sighing. Knocking its head against her leg at the mental connection the group all shared she redirected her attention to it. Realizing it distracted her she put her hand on its head instead of trying to push it off again. Arriving at her destination Azalia put a hand on the door "Azalia Ashburn" she said out loud and soon found herself in a room. The three rabbits appeared next all in a row behind Azalia. Looking around they soon scattered around the small room.

Hands out they all stopped their cackling as they ended up in front of Eirlys. Walking calmly in front of its master Azazel guided Azalia to a safe place in the room before sitting down indicating that they were infact at their destination. Turning its head suddenly its blue eyes stared at Eirlys. Looking the girl over Azalia studied the other girl before the head of large rabbit turned towards Azalia in a direct 180. Putting her head on it she patted it "Relax." She cooed out before its head turned back to its normal position.

"Hello." Azalia said to the girl turning her head to where she now knew the girl was. With their master now acknowledging the woman the three rabbits sat down in an arc around the two girls. Incoherent babbling began to rise up between the three. Although one would think they were talking to one another, Azalia knew differently. Being mentally connected to them she knew what they saw and felt… sorta felt what they felt. So, she knew that there was nothing going on in their heads and that was the cause for their chaotic nature… all impulse. Realizing that this may be annoying to the other girl Azalia sighed "Please disregard the… uh, Vistine rabbits, they aren't normal." Azalia tried to explain.

Azazel suddenly stood up and began to walk towards the smaller three rabbits. The three rabbits stopped the babbling immediately and all their heads rotated to stare at the oncoming enforcer. Sitting down near the three rabbits no noise now erupted from the congress. Silence filled the room and Azalia relaxed "Ah, that is better." she chirped out with a smile. "So… uhm… Where are we going and why am I here?" She asked. Emotions flaring slightly the mental link between them all could be seen as one of the rabbits mouths opened like it was about to say something before the head of Azazel snapped to it. Its mouth closed and the silence continued.

 

[Villamvihar]

The next couple of moments were spent in dreadful silence. Eirlys did not talk because she was not sure how to address the middle-aged woman who refused to identify herself in any manner. The older woman did not talk because she found the holographic projections in her eye to be far more interesting than the completely silent Eirlys. And Fémpillangó did not talk, for she rarely talked, not to mention that there was something at the edge of her senses that bothered her. She could not quite put her finger on it, but it was as if a source of dark energies was nearby. In fact, it was multiple sources. They did not seem hostile, nor all that powerful on a second glance, so it had to be a magician using some sort of strange construct.

Before she could inform Eirlys about the phenomenon, the door opened and then a woman stepped through. She was followed by a gang of black rabbits of various size, pattern, make and... goodness, why did one of them have an eyepatch over its left eye? The confusion was further compounded by the magical aura that Eirlys picked up on from the other girl, which likely meant that she was a Magical Girl, then it was taken up to eleven when the strange rabbits started to babble. She had no idea what sort of language it was, save for the fact that it was not even remotely coherent. On the plus side at least they seemed to listen to the woman.

"Nem bízom meg ezekben a lényekben, úrnőm," commented Fémpillangó. Eirlys had to agree. These things, whatever the abomination they were, they did not look trustworthy at all. Their adorable appearances contrasted sharply against their speech along with their demeanor that reminded the magical girl of a predator. Not trustworthy at all. At least the woman with them seemed like she would be a decent person who also had no idea why she was called here, which meant now there were two of them. Already there was something that Eirlys shared with this person, something that she intended to capitalise on if it were not for the older woman clearing her throat to get their attention.

"Right, you two," she said as she brought up a holographic interface from the desk's built-in computer, projecting both of their Argall Domain IDs into the air. It containted their picture, name, age and unique imprint. "Azalia Ashburn and Eirlys Cartwright. It pains me to say this, but your performance is questionable."

"What!" shouted Eirlys immediately, almost lunging at the woman in front of her just from that. Only good training along with a modicum of respect made her hold her reaction back a touch. "I haven't caused any casualties on my mission, nor did I do any unnecessary collateral damage! And I don't know what sort of missions she's been on, but I'm sure she did well too!" Her reaction only made the older woman give an 'I am a little disappointed' smile to the magical girl. In turn, Eirlys pursed her lips, then balled one of her hands into a fist in an attempt to restrain her anger.

"That may be the case, however, your magic... Well, how shall I put it. You rely too much on that ancient combat device of yours."
"Kötelességem az úrnőmet segíteni," interjected the machine, but it was ignored in favour of data graphs appearing over the surface of the desk, hovering on thin air.
"You have shown zero signs of improvement in four months. And while Azalia Ashburn's improvement is nothing to scoff at," at this point, the older woman's eyes focused on the other magical girl, "your combat results are abysmal. So the Argall Domain decided that we are going to enroll you two into a special program."

That statement was left to hang in the air as if it was he final sentence of a judge.

 

[Mook-LandStrider]

Yeah, she knew that her performance wasn't the best but, that was on the physical side. She didn't need to fight as her chaotic minions did it for her. Sighing inwardly one of the rabbits sighed out a female sigh making Azalia look up like that was the first time it ever happened. Surprised entirely Azalia seemed to miss the compliment from the other girl as she got up and walked over to the rabbit. Kicking it in the side of the head its head fell off and began to roll away. Not seeing anything unusual where its neck was Azalia went back to her seat.

The rabbit, now headless stood up and began to run straight towards its head. Stumbling it went up straight and landed making its head shootout and slam off the wall. Bouncing around for a few seconds the head finally landed on the far side of the room. Beginning to cackle the head began to make a lot of noise as Azalia's emotional distress began to show. She wasn't doing that bad was she? Like, she didn't kill people… things got destroyed but the mission was always finished.

Sighing Azalia let her head tilt down slightly. Was this disappointment, anger or was it depression? It was so hard to figure out what it all was now. Feeling a surge the hair on the back of her neck began to stand up as the rabbit chasing its head seemed to stop. The distress the creature was already facing combined with the emotional distress of Azalia caused it to begin to mutate. Generating dark energy faster than normal the corrupting nature of the energy caused it to change.

"I… Uhh…. What?" Azalia stammered out feeling the changing creature behind herself. Fear spread through her and she knew that it would only backfire…. she was afraid of what was going on behind her and of what was going to happen to her now. "Uh…" She stammered out again as she felt the head of the rabbit somehow clawing itself towards its other half. Azazel, the larger rabbit was gone from where it was sitting seconds earlier and by the time the three of them blinked it was back in its normal place.

Noticeable differences could be picked out with the rabbit now. Azalia didn't feel the mutation any longer and knew that Azazel had dealt with it. Sighing in relief inwardly she hoped none of them had noticed the horrible manifestation breaking itself into reality. Now that the catastrophe in the making was over Azalia stood up and clapped her hands together. "That sounds great." She said out loud trying to get out of here as soon as possible before another starts to dance the floppy chicken. "Okay, so do we have to report somewhere else for this? Because, I have to use the bathroom..." She lied through her teeth. She really needed to get out of here but it wasn't because of them but because she was still upset.

Squeezing her eyes shut Azalia couldn't understand why she let herself get as upset as she got. Normally, she could control her emotions like a zombie... feeling nothing. Exhaling she composed herself in a millisecond as the remaining two rabbits and Azazel stood and walked up behind her. "Also, do I still get to live where I do or do we have to be roommates." Azalia asked the important question. Well, it was important to her. She never had a roommate before and... she didn't know how that would go with all the rabbits running around. They were lovable but, they got into everything and they made their presence known when they wanted attention.

 

[Villamvihar]

Oh for the sake of everything that magic and science stood for, what were those things? Eirlys' reply was absolutely cut short as she witnessed the strange... atrocities against reality? Happenings? Event horizons? Unreasonable catastrophes? Goodness her if she knew what the right word was for the actions of those things, but it was simply not right. It reminded her of the way some of the malformed constructs acted. In particular, she recalled her fight with the factory-cathedral that she had just destroyed as the little cute rabbit things seemed to act in defiance of all reason in a very, very peculiar manner. She could not quite put her finger on it, however, it made her feel on edge around this Azalia person.

One of the things even started running around headlessly and then it changed before the larger one disappeared at the edge of her vision, only to reappear moments later at least two or three metres from where it had been to deal with the threat of the slowly changing little rabbit... thing. It was too much for Eirlys in one sitting and it most definitely did not help her case that Fémpillangó agreed with her completely. She could feel her eternal companion staring at the other magical girl's companions with an amount of distrust that she had not felt since she dealt with that strange infestation at the start of her career. The very same one that ended with her not being able to sleep for a couple of days.

Poor Azalia.

This chain of thoughts unfortunately prevented Eirlys from speaking her mind before the older woman got around to answering Azalia's questions, however.
"Your cooperation will start the moment you leave this room," said the woman. "We have already made the arrangements and you two will be spending the time together to help you along. If-"

"What!" Honestly, Eirlys could not believe the nerve of these people! There was absolutely nothing wrong with her performance when it came to missions, so why was she being assigned to fight alongside someone else? As far as she knew, this was almost unprecedented throughout the history of the Argall Domain, at least when it came to people of great skill like her. Every single time something like this was tried, it died in its inception if she knew her history well enough, so why would they think that this was going to work? Honestly, this would only cause nightmares for Azalia as well as for her. She was sure that neither of them were in need of something like this, so she would make them know what she thought of the whole idea.

"This is ridiculous," she declared with the same breath. She did not let the older woman get a single word in edgewise and she did not care that this was technically showing disrespect for authority. "There is nothing wrong with my results or the way I use Fémpillangó, who does have a name by the way and she is one of the best damn companions I could ask for. I have no idea why you people would do this, but you do not have the right to, because I sure as hell do not want this. I do well on my own, she does well on her own, two magical girls working independently cover more area than if they worked together and we already have a shortage. This is nonsense!"

"Sit down," replied the older woman coldly, with a frigid stare that would perfectly fit in with a crowd of icicles. "Neither of you have a choice in this matter, because one of you is incapable of using her brain," here, she gestured at Eirlys, "and the other can not handle threats on her own." This time, the hand went to Azalia. "And if I hear as much as a single peep from you, Eirlys, your device will be confiscated and I will think up a suitable punishment for you. Now, if you have no more questions, then I will give you the necessary data for your cooperation."

Naturally, that shut Eirlys up. She did not like it at all, but she had no choice but to listen to the frankly bizzarre orders she had been given despite her reliable performance. Even worse, what the hell was this woman's deal when she said that Azalia could not fight? If the red-haired magical girl did not stand up herself despite her achievements, then Eirlys would do so in a heartbeat as this commissioner or the Argall Domain itself had no right to question their performance. Not when they had consistent successes. Of course, this was only pure conjecture on her part, but she was sure that they would not assign a hopeless rookie to fight alongside anyone, so she was all but visibly boiling in anger.

 

[Mook-LandStrider]

Hearing that they were going to be living together Azalia's heart dropped. Azazel walking up beside her put its head under her hand snapping her back to reality. Smiling Azalia nodded and a slight change in her posture could be observed. "Okay, I don't have much to go on about that… I guess." Azalia said lying through her teeth. At this point she couldn't go against it nor could she even think about running away… she would be rogue. Both of the smaller rabbits walked up behind Azalia and began to climbed up her back making her groan "Stop! Cease!" She cried before they got up. One sitting on her head and the other now on Azazel's head.

The news of the two of them needing to live together seemed to get the creatures excited. Their movements move erratic and their slight twitching while immobile could be seen ever so slightly. Shaking her head she could see everything going towards disaster even now. But, she couldn't bring herself to say anything… unlike this girl she didn't have the greatest self esteem. Tilting her head to the side the rabbit on top had to shift to stay in place but allowed Azalia to get a decent enough view of something in her hand.

Holding it very close she still couldn't read it. Handing it up to the rabbit on her head it held it up to its eyes allowing her to see it. But, the next thing that happened she couldn't have stopped even if she tried. The rabbit, taking the paper stuffed it in its mouth causing it to disappear from this reality. Feeling the surge through her body she squeezed her fists. Luckily, she remembered what the paper said and now had what she wanted for dinner in mind. Reaching up she pulled the rabbit off her head making her read hair flow everywhere.

Placing it on the ground she gave it a pat on its head before looking up at the two. She hadn't heard the last few minutes of the conversation… this was bad. "I apologize but… What?" Azalia asked as Azazel moved its head "Oh… Okay. No, I have no questions." The blind girl added now that Azazel explained what had occurred. Yeah, the girl was a fiery one for sure. But, wait, she could handle things on her own. Narrowing her eyes Azalia looked at the woman and smirked… in a slightly off putting way "You do not believe that I have been able to bring things down on my own… Well, okay…" Azalia said as the rabbit on Azazel's head fell over and began to do the floppy chicken.

Ceasing its movement a second later the massive emotional surge made Azalia exhale. She knew it was coming… and released it justly. The rabbit stood up and looked unchanged completely. Going back up to where it was sitting Azalia leaned against Azazel. The rabbit on the ground walked up to Eirlys's feet and poked her in the leg. "Bahhh!" It screamed before poking her again. Hearing this Azalia bit her lip in an attempt to keep from laughing. If this was going to happen it was best if the girl got used to it early… it was only going to get worse before it got better. It was like a bunch of cats with a new toy in the house… they can't help themselves.

 

[Villamvihar]

The antics of Azalia and the black rabbits went by unnoticed as Eirlys was all too focused on her rage. How dare... what... stupid... Goodness she wanted to destroy something right now! With the liberal use of Fémpillangó, too! Fortunately, she could understand the underlying threats in how the woman spoke, not to mention that she was not stupid. Even as a magical girl, going against the Argall Domain was absolutely literal suicide. She was not stubborn enough to do that, so instead, she decided that she would show them all. If she was going to be assigned to another magical girl, then they would make the best magical girl team there ever was. She would not settle for anything but making their jaws drop in awe.

But fate was not kind enough to Eirlys to let her have this small moment of victory.

Right as she finally felt like she was strong enough to take on the challenge set out before her, something latched onto her and made a rather loud noise. This in turn sent the other magical girl into gigglefits while Eirlys herself gazed down her leg to see one of the black rabbits poking her leg. What the... Did they not respect her personal space at least? That could present a huge problem, but he solved the issue for the time being by stepping to the side so that the rabbit could no longer reach her. Hopefully, the message reached its... did it even have a brain? No, something surely had to control it. It did not seem like Azalia had complete command over what it did based on what Eirlys saw so far.

"I have one question before we move in together," said Eirlys as she fixed her eyes on the gang of black rabbits around Azalia. "What are these and how can I tell them to leave us alone?" she asked, obviously addressing Azalia with her question.

 

[Mook-LandStrider]

Turning her head Azalia stared blindly in the direction of the vistine rabbit attempting to poke the girl by ripping its left arm off and using that to extend its right arm's length. The rabbit with the stick actually managed to poke the girl making its mouth open and cackle out loudly. All the others stopped their screaming and suddenly began to clap. Smirking Azalia obviously felt the groups... thoughts? They didn't really think. It was more like impulses. But, it was obvious... the others were impressed. The now one armed rabbit bowed to the others began another arm began to materialize from out of the shadow the rabbit created. Screaming it began to run away from its shadow in an attempt to preserve its individuality but, you can't run from your own shadow.

"Nope, they are all... free spirited entities. I can kinda... rally them? I guess or herd them in directions. Its odd really." Azalia said leaning backwards abit. "But, Azazel, the larger one is different. Think of him as a political commissar and me being the premier. What I say he enacts for me. The rabbits go by a larger is greater method. So, Azazel is different and they fear that and are inspired by it." Azalia said half answering the girls question. Now, with its arm back the rabbit flopped onto the floor. Silent for nearly two minutes exactly it suddenly stood up and disappeared. Azazel, standing up walked over to Azalia and extended a hand. Taking it Azalia stood up. "I dont have to many answers honestly. You will learn that things just happen while I am around. My life is a living hell and I have a horrible time seeing the positive things in life when I use my magic. Thats about all I know about what I have to offer. Otherwise, I make things." The girl finished.

 

[Villamvihar]

The first thought that entered Eirlys' mind is that this was surely some sort of an elaborate prank. Frankly, the rabbit tearing its own arm off and then running away from its own shadow reminded her all too much of corrupted machines. As if they were little creations the protective wards of which failed miserably against the unknowable forces that lurked out there. What sort of a magical girl, or magical boy had servants like these? Furthermore, if Azalia was telling her the truth and could not actually control them directly, then they were practically tiny minions of chaos! It was no wonder that the other woman told her something like that if she had to spend every living day of her life accompanied by the rabbit-like constructs. Or beings. Or whatever the heck they were. Regardless, they were sure to give her countless headaches.

A couple of moments of silence that Eirlys used to try and come to terms with these little things infesting her life, the older woman spoke.
"If you have no further questions, the data has been uploaded into these two devices," she said as she placed them onto the table before her. Eirlys wasted no time and as soon as the older woman's hand withdrew from them, she had snatched it up. Whether or not her room-mate was awesome or even a little depressed by the sounds of it, Eirlys would make sure that both of them perform to the best of their abilities! After all, they were magical girls, good ones who always completed their assignments right? They would form an unstoppable force together and then the Argall Domain would kneel before them as if they were gods!

Or at least that was her dream.

"So, Azalia!" chirped Eirlys as she tried to get back into the swing of things with a positive start. "What sort of things do you make? I bet your magic must be amazing at that!" Of course it had to be. She was a member of the same organisation as Eirlys and what was more, they were assigned to each other. She just wished that Azalia stood up for herself instead of just submitting, because then they could have repelled this stupid decision.

 

[Mook-LandStrider]

Taking the datapad off the table Azalia handed it to Azazel which, opened its mouth before dropping it inside. She didn't and well, she couldn't read it. Wait, why were they giving her a data pad? She was blind! Blinking at this revelation she stopped her movements entirely but, against her nearly insatiable will to bring it up... she didn't. Looking at the girl Azalia let out a sharp high pitched whistle well above what the two girls could hear... well, Azalia could hear it but there was a reason for that. Azazel turned its head before walking over and standing in front of Azalia. The gaggle of rabbits all around her stopped everything as their heads turned unnaturally to look at her. Standing up they all flooded the door at once knocking it open as they spilled out onto the street.

People walked backwards at the sudden appearance of all the black unnatural looking... rabbits? if one could truly call them that. Looking over at Eirlys as they walked out Azalia shrugged "I can make a lot of things. Things you may not be able to wrap your mind around. Trust me its fun and also taxing." The girl said without much emotion. There were flares of emotion in her voice but it almost sounded like it was coming from someone far more distant than they appeared. Reaching the outside herself she could see the rabbits all gathered around a sign post. One of them was trying to scale it but, they didn't have the energy source around them to change their forms.

With Azalia coming outside she turned her head and stared at the group. All of them shifted again at the appearance of not Azalia but, Azazel. The larger rabbit didn't seem to move at all but, the rabbits flocked around it as if it was some sort of beacon. Looking around at the rabbits now around the two of them she couldn't help but smirk. The connection they all shared flared and she focused her sight at a rabbit staring at the back of Eirlys's leg. The rabbit poked her before suddenly disappearing and appearing infront of Azazel. The sudden shift was unprepared... and the gamble paid off horribly. By the time Eirlys could look back, another rabbit from the group will have disappeared.

 

[Villamvihar]

Blissfully unaware of the girl's blindness for the moment because she did not care to read all that much about her assigned partner, the only thing Eirlys was focused on were the rabbits. She had no idea why they captured her attention to this degree and yet the little things... Gah, stop thinking about it, Eirlys! Azalia was the more important one here. She needed to ask more questions about her, preferably ones that did not involve those half-pet, half-whatever things. Eirlys was sure she would get used to their presence with time, not to mention that they would undoubtedly be useful. As long as she could set up a ward against them around her room to protect herself, it was going to be all right.

"That's not much of an explanation, you know," said Eirlys as she tried her best to quell her reactions to the frankly disturbing imagery around her. The rabbits were shifting about, teleporting in and out of her sight. "I don't have to understand how your creations work, I just have to know what they do. It's for being partners, you see! We can't work together if we don't know what our partner can do, can we? Or would you rather talk about your hobbies and interests first? Maybe lay down some ground rules?" Those were also good places to start as far as she was concerned. Of particular interest was the point where her partner-to-be said that things 'just happened' around her, which could be taken as either beneficial or sinister.

Ildly, she wondered if it was something like her dreams which involved the Metal Sea. Except that it only entered this reality when she wished it to do so. As soon as she thought of that, the comparison between the two died a quick, painless death. Never mind, whatever it was, it could not be really bad and even if it was, they would crush it as if it was a bug!

 

[Mook-LandStrider]

Glancing over her clouded eyes landed on the other girl. Smileing Azalia shrugged, she was right it wasn't an explanation and to be honest she couldn't really give one about the smaller rabbits. They just came with... well, they've always been around. "Uhh... I don't know if you will like my answer. They just do whatever they do. When things get tough they kinda... well, they have a purpose." Azalia quipped. She couldn't come up with anything cohesive on what they were let alone how they could prove useful. They were very useful but... uniquely so. "Hmm... I love to cook food. But, being blind you can guess that it would be really hard. But, Azazel makes it possible. Uhhm... I like running?" She said questioningly. Crosing her arms her red hair flowed to one side before flowing back to the other. "I also love dyeing my hair depending on how I am feeling. This is my natural color, oh and the dyes only last for like a few hours sadly. My hair loves being red."

Rounding a corner she looked at the door to her rather large house. Half of it looked cobbled together and... big beaty eyes could be seen staring out of the front window. Waving she felt the creature staring at her. The creature blinked before a noise that sounded like gibberish could be heard. Skittering beyond the door suddenly picked up before ceasing as she paused "Right, soo.... Ill need to setup some wards in your room in an attempt to keep the... vistine rabbits out. No promises as the rabbits will get in eventually. If that happens let me know and I will scramble the wards so it takes them awhile to figure out how to get back in. Oh and that is why they are useful... eventually they will get where ever they wish and when they do.. well....." Azalia trailed off smirking "Its best if we dont get into that. As long as you dont threaten them you should be peachy." Azalia said with a large grin.

Opening the door the main room of the house seemed aboslutely normal. Actually, it carried a very old feeling to it with no technological inventions or creations in sight. "Well, they know someone new is here." Azalia said looking at how everything was absolutely clean. "I've checked in and let me tell you, they destroy this house every day.. but, its back to normal every time I get home. Its really amazing." She said giving another little insight into the things she had lurking in the house. 'You probably wont see them. I call them Uzbecks... I kinda forget where they came from. I think they just came with me when I moved into this house. Or, they came through during one of my activation processes. You never know whats going to come through." Azalia said walking in all the way and turning around. Azazel and the rabbits spilled into the house befroe scattering around and disappearing. Walking up to its master Azazel put its hand out for Azalia to take. Without all the rabbits her sight was limited significantly "Oh, I am also blind.. so.. I use them to see." Azalia finally said.

 

[Villamvihar]

The more Azalia talked, the stranger the girl became in Eirlys' eyes. Why in the name of magic would the red-haired girl let the rabbits do as they pleased all the time? Why did she not get her eyes fixed? Why did her hair stay red despite her wanting to dye it? What did it mean that her hair loved being red? As much as Eirlys wanted to believe in how proficient her team-mate to be was, these strange things built up on top of each other as if they were trying to construct a mountain of unknown phenomena. And just as she thought that, realisation hit the magical girl. The flash of inspiration struck her out of nowhere, but now she was almost completely sure why they were suddenly assigned to each other despite their considerable performance. At the same time, endless vistas of liquid metal opened up before her mental eyes with a slight shiver which ran down her back.

Both Azalia and her were unusual, realised Eirlys. Maybe the Argall Domain genuinely thought that because of their qualities, they would make a good team unlike the other magical girls and boys who have attempted before. It was a strange, but most definitely valid thought that in turm, made her mellow out a little. She was still angry at them, of course, but she could understand it a little bit more. The only missing piece of the puzzle was to discover why they would not tell them the true reason, which could wait until later. This line of thought in turn caused Eirlys' confidence to swell to even greater heights, as if that was even possible. She would not have to worry about their performance anymore, she could just focus on Azalia herself. The red-haired girl certainly seemed like an interesting person.

At least until they arrived in front of her house.

"Hold on, Azalia," said Eirlys as she cautiously entered through the front door. "What is this? I thought that we were going to get a room together within the Argall Domain's headquarters. Isn't that standard procedure?" Of course, had she actually read or listened to the data chip she had been given, she would have known that no, Eirlys was supposed to temporarily move in with Azalia. There were no reasons cited as to why that should be the case, however, the orders were written down firmly. Just as she could not weasel her way out of the partnership, there was no way for the magical girl to flee this place unless she wanted to face the music.