Mahou Madness!

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca would likely have slept in as well, possibly even all the way to the afternoon with how much she could sleep when comfortable... And right then was possibly the most comfortable she had ever been... Fortunately though she had drunk a lot of juice the previous night, and woke with an urge to pee, though she was reluctant to do so... Luca decided it would be a good idea to wake Namiko as she got up.

"Hey Nami..."
She whispered, shaking her slightly as she wasn't sure how light a sleeper she was, she hadn't even intended to shorten her name... But somehow it sounded better to whisper that than her full name.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko squirmed slightly at the touch as consciousness slowly returned. Wow, Luca was up early... She gauged the time, as she often did, by the light seeping through her eyelids. It was...was...

Her eyes shot open. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Geez..." she said. "How long did I sleep?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca shrugged in answer, not feeling quite awake enough to check her phone for the time... Instead crawling over Namiko to get out of bed, Luca lacked grace at the best of times but right then she seemed to barely be able to coordinate basic movements... It would seem she was most certainly not a morning person, it was almost amusing how different she was like this, her usual cheeriness barely present in her mess of fluffy hair.

Once out of bed she stumbled off towards the bathroom, and would return a few minutes later, looking a little less sleepy and with some water dripping down her face.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko watched Luca lumber off and smiled. She got out of bed herself, leaving the pajamas laid neatly out on the bed and dressing up in her school uniform.

It was then that she realized that Luca had never seen her in anything other than her school uniform and her magical girl outfit. Somehow this was disconcerting, though not very much. She did have other clothes, mostly skirts and long sleeves. She'd have to remember to wear something else sometime.

Anyhow, she was quick to get ready, and by the time Luca came back in with a face damp and slightly less drowsy she was already dressed and sitting patiently on the bed. "Hello, sleepyhead," she said. "You might wanna get ready. We have to leave soon." She cleared her throat. "You parents are gone, correct?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca nodded and started looking around her room for clothes, trying to figure out where she left her Orphan uniform, since it made sense that HQ might want her to wear it, since she was new and it would make her more easily identifiable... Also she just really liked it and didn't have any other skirts, just dresses from the drama club.

"Yeah, I checked while I was coming back from the bathroom... We are alone in the house".
Luca answered before letting out a slightly irritated huff.
"Did you see where I left my uniform? The dress I was wearing yesterday is missing too..."
She commented, it looked like several other pieces of laundry that had littered her room were missing as well...

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko blinked. Now that she mentioned it, the room did seem a bit...sparser. "No...are you sure you left them here?"

The thought suddenly occured to her that one of her parents might've taken it. Her dad, probably. But didn't she lock the door last night? Well, it made sense; they probably had a key...

"Hey, was the door still locked when you went outside?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"I... I know I did! I wouldn't have just left them somewhere my parents could see..."
She insisted, seeming to be becoming a little distressed now, though was mostly keeping her cool, and avoiding a panic attack.

"Umm... No... But my parents said i had the only key... Did... Did they lie to me?"
Luca asked, seemingly unable to comprehend that they might do such a thing as lie to their teenage 'son' and make an extra key.
"I know mama sometimes came in and grabbed my dirty clothes to wash... She probably took them..."

 

[twinkletide]

A frown made its way onto Namiko's face. This was concerning, to say the least. "Maybe. But this seems suspicious." She took a deep breath. "Anyways, if someone found them, we're going to have...some issues." It hurt Namiko to put it like that, but it was true. She was especially iffy about Luca's dad.

"Anyways." She sighed. "We can go look in the laundry, but we also need to go pretty soon here." Saddened at Luca's panic, she placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry. Even if they do find it, we can think of some excuse."

(Rationally she could think of few excuses for having dresses in a 'male''s room, but she kept silent.)

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Y..yeah... Oh I hope they aren't mad at me..."
Luca mumbled, she was scared of a lot of things, but her parents being mad or sad or, god forbid, disappointed, was certainly high up on the list, and this was sadly one of those things that a lot of families considered disappointing, well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, her parents did work in medical fields after all...

"Ahh! That's a good idea... And if they did just wash them then maybe they think they are club things... Or are okay..."
She suggested hopefully, running off and returning a while later, donning her freshly cleaned, though slightly wrinkled uniform.
"It was just sitting there! So umm... I still can't quite find the HQ by myself so..."
She gestured to Namiko as if saying she should lead the way.

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko waited patiently until Luca came back in, her uniform on. The sight of it was now slightly disconcerting. She wondered briefly what her parent(s) thought about it, if and when they found it.

Anyways. They'd be gone for a little bit, so there'd be time later to think about it. Namiko stood up with a nod. "Yes. Let's go." They promptly left the house, making sure to lock it up very securely behind them, closing the curtains and turning off the lights, and boarded the bus.

Some time and a change in vehicle later the decrepit city appeared over the horizon. They left the train in silence and began to walk towards the base, hands close to their sides. It was a chilly morning, sunny but frosted with breezes.

"This'll be your first mission," Namiko said as they walked. "How do you feel? I've been out of country a few times myself. It's always felt a bit strange, even though I'm no stranger to moving."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Huh? Oh, well umm... I feel like i should probably be nervous and scared and freaking out or something..."
She replied, though clearly she wasn't doing any of those, well maybe she was nervous, but then again Luca often seemed nervous about something or other.
"But umm... Actually I'm really excited! We are going some place new and exciting... And sure... We might need to fight, but we do that here too so I see it as a sort of short vacation".
Luca explained as they arrived at the HQ and stepped in, there was a man in a dark suit standing there, likely one of Orphan's 'discrete' drivers for when magical girls needed to get somewhere for a mission.

"Oh! I was wondering when you two might show up, I was starting to think I might need to call, or send someone to check up on you..."
Pharah greeted, cheery as usual, from the absence of other magical girls it looked like they were the only two being sent out on that particular mission, which was normal enough, even during the war some magical girls were kept at bases.

 

[twinkletide]

There was that enthusiasm again. It was always nice to see. Then again, Namiko wondered if he could keep that same attitude up for long. This was, after all, work, and would be treated as such. "That's good to hear," she said, keeping her misgivings to herself.

They soon arrived at the base, and were greeted by a buffed-up man in a suit - a stereotypical CIA sort of man, though he was actually an Orphan affiliate. Namiko greeted him with a nod, and Pharah - who came along soon after - with a smile. "Hello, Pharah." After formalities were exhanged, she got right down to business: "So, what are the details of this mission?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Ahh! I was hoping you would ask, it is no fun to just greet you with work details..."
The man in the suit stayed silent and emotionless, but there seemed to be a slight aura of dissatisfaction with Pharah's easygoing, friendly attitude, not that he would say anything, she was leagues above a mere transporter in the Orphan ranks, and could have him removed if she had a spiteful bone in her body, which was doubtful.
"So, for this mission you are going to... Brazil! She pulled out a small Pandeiro and played it for a moment, how long had she had that waiting? And... It seemed like she even practiced, that girl needed to get out more.

"Anyway, on to the actual details".
She was suddenly serious, putting the instrument away and putting her hands together as she faced them.
"We have reports that AAD is testing some sort of high power device linked with the mirror realm, they are keeping it VERY secret, and if not for a little inside assistance we wouldn't even know they had them, never mind that they were testing in Brazil of all places...
Command is being hush hush about what exactly it does but has put out a high priority request to have a team track the disturbances created by the device, eliminate any guards and retrieve at least one of the prototypes, preferably more but that is the minimum... You will meeting several other girls from other regions once you arrive in Brasilia, and will have mostly free reign once there, of course we will provide what support we can... But Brazil is not a friendly region, so don't expect any fire teams or air support..."

 

[twinkletide]

Namiko watched with a slight and somewhat stoic smile as Pharah pulled out her pandeiro and smacked it a bit. It was the smile of someone trying to be polite to a youngster.

Anyways, they soon got on to the details. It seemed they would be going to Brazil! Namiko had never been before, so perhaps she should've been excited; but this was work, and she treated it as such. It was like cherry flavored medicine. And a high power device sounded quite dangerous. Frankly all the more arcane stuff could be left to the magical scientists for her purposes. But, she supposed, the danger was exactly why they needed them. Namiko nodded. "That's alright. Hopefully we won't need them. Are they all being held in one place?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca actually clapped at Pharah's brief display, she seemed to enjoy it at least, enough so that Pharah pretended not to notice that Namiko was just being polite, she likely knew though, the woman was incredibly perceptive, part of the reason she had been given her position was because she accidentally caught a traitor in what she assumed was some sort of test of her awareness.

"Even if you don't, it's better to send too many girls in and overwhelm the enemy than send too few in and lose precious girl power".
Pharah replied, before shaking her head.
"We are not sure, judging from the spread of the disturbances they could have multiple testing grounds, at the same time that doesn't eliminate the chance of a central storage facility or even just testing in different areas, we don't know what this thing even does so it's possible it needs specific conditions...".

 

[twinkletide]

"I see." Namiko nodded, then paused. "I see." She was still disconcerted about the device, which wasn't new; a healthy measure of suspicion towards unknown variables was a rather essential part of the magical girl formula. "So, steal the protoypes? Sounds straightforward." The word 'straightforward' was spoken with a kind of flippancy, common among magical girls, which said that it probably wouldn't be. "Okay, I think we get the gist. Right, Luca?" she asked her companion, smiling. "Are you excited?

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca nodded, looking slightly like a child who had gotten into a bit too much sugar, she was raring to go on her first mission, stealing some dangerous device from what she was assuming were the bad guys, AND getting a short trip to the Brazil? She just hoped there was time to take pictures, she had her phone, which had a really good camera, and her friends would be so jealous! Well, they would be if she HAD any other than Namiko, though maybe the other club members counted? They sometimes comforted her after being bullied, and talked a little.
"Yeah! I can't wait!"
Luca declared.

"Good... The transport is ready at the airport, the cover is the typical rich tourists on a vacation, the story WAS going to be a couple on a trip, but I was told to expect a boy AND a girl..."
The driver declared.
"Anyway... Car is waiting outside, I'll be waiting".
He headed to get in the front.

 

[twinkletide]

"Well, we could theoretically keep that narrative...er, nevermind," she said, flushing slightly.

They each hurried outside, and were led into the backseat of a black car, almost law-enforcement esque with its tinted windows and such. They drove off to the airport. Normally Namiko would sleep on a ride like this, but she'd gotten more sleep than usual, and so was a bit more attentive. She smiled at Luca. "So," she said, "have you heard anything about Brazil in particular? I don't know much about the place myself."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Luca couldn't help but flush red at the thought of keeping the narrative, and was both glad and confusingly sad at her changing her mind... Fortunately, (or unfortunately, Luca was a very confused girl right then) Pharah caught on and wrote something down.
"Ahh! That makes things easier... No backing out now, the other cover story is terrible anyway".
Pharah declared.

"Ahh! A little... Mostly about the Amazon Rainforest... And Cristo Redentor! It's weird how the American continent has two random giant statues in the north and south..."
She declared, apparently finding coincidences like that odd?
I do know it's supposed to be pretty warm though! And anyway, it's somewhere new so it's gotta be fun right?"
She asked as if she already knew the answer, which in her mind was yes.
They didn't take long to reach the airport, their driver apparently knowing every shortcut, awaiting them was a vaguely militaristic private jet! Namiko would know from her experience with them that Orphan was proud of their air force, as small as it was, this jet could easily break the sound barrier, while keeping the occupants relatively comfortable.

 

[twinkletide]

"A rainforest, huh...well, I suppose you would be excited about that, considering you're from Australia," she said. "Though it will be nice to be somewhere consistently warm for a change." Again, she found Luca's enthusiasm adorable, even if she couldn't share it, and rubbed her head as they were swept along.

Before long they reached the airport, and caught their first sight of their vehicle: a private jet, painted a strange almost matte-looking black but somehow still managing to look sleek and modern. Namiko had ridden these puppies a few times before, and they were fast as hell but felt mostly like a regular airliner, only with a little bit more of that strange and weightless feeling. They were, in other words, really nice pieces of hardware. "This'll bring us there really quickly," she said. "Hope you don't get motion sick. It's not that bad, though, so don't worry." They both stepped onto the jet.