1132/Shadows and Witches

Shadows and Witches
Date of Scene:	01 March 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Central Harbor
Synopsis:	Hannah meets Shiniko and the two hunt a Witch together.
Cast of Characters:	Sora Hisakata, Hannah Sharpe

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Sora Hisakata has posed:
Through whatever means appropriate, an hour past dusk reports of a Witch and trouble reach WPS. The Central Harbor, not too far from Verone Aquarium. Reports lead to a poorly lit alley that leads to the back areas of a few of the stores in the region. A good place to do things that can't bear the light of day.

There, two thugs, Yakuza types by the looks of it, have their feet pinned by dark, shadowy hands with vicious looking claws. Their faces covered in shadows that obscure all their features, and not too far from them, there is a witch.

Not, however, the kind of witch that hides within a barrier, protected by familiars and created by the despair brought forth by a cursed witch. Nay, Shadow Witch Shiniko's curse leaves her capable of reason and mundanity, and driven not by endless appetite for destruction but a twisted desire to do good.

"You thought you could keep pressing these shopkeepers into paying your outrageous protection fees?" She asks them, and the very concept seems to amuse her, a high-pitched, unsettling giggle follows, "I will let you go then, if you promise never to return and pay mine."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
After tonight, given the severity of just how off the report Hannah's gotten from her low level magical team, someone is either getting fired or a promotion. Only time will tell.

Arriving as she's so wont to do, there's a gust of wind and the feeling of magic on the air as Miss White's business shoes tikt-tikt as she lands from the teleport at the end of the alleyway. Her wind senses reach, Raging Tempest already in her hand as emerald green lines of magic flow from her, a quick Area Search hunting out the source of the supposed Witch. Not that it takes long to realize that she's not about to be dealing with a Witch tonight. Or, at least, the kind she was thinking off. No, there's a girl with a lot of hair holding down a pair of Yakuza toughs with shadow claws. Miss White listens, leans against the alleyway wall, and just observes the proceedings. Meanwhile, she tries to get a good reading on just /how/ much magic this particular Actual Witch (tm) is putting off, provided her Device can even read her signature!

"Shaking down the local criminal element for protection fees? Now /that/ is what I call thinking. Save a few store owners, get some cash. Like some kind of super hero or something! I like it." Squint. She raises a finger, not particularly inclined to stop the other magical girl.

"Oh, uh, this might be an odd question, but: are you a Puella Magi by any chance? You don't seem like one, but hey, I've been wrong before. Right! I'm being rude! Name's Kasagami White, CEO of WitchHunter Professional Services! But you can call me Miss White! Nice to meet ya, Miss Stylish!" She laughs, grinning. Never let it be said Hannah isn't friendly.

Sora Hisakata has posed:
After the thugs agree in terror, Shiniko reaches out with thin tendrils of shadow, which land on the hands of those thugs in the shape of a rather unpleasant character. Readings include misfortune, calamity and other such ideas. Then, she starts to walk off on her shadow infused hair, "Your bonds will vanish soon enough." She promises them, and turns towards miss White.

"Nice to meet you, Miss White." One of her shadow-infused hair-hands reaches out to shake her hand, right as the girl herself bows, "I am Shadow Witch Shiniko, but you can call me awesome." There's that giggle again, there's something way off about it, "Let's talk somewhere these lowlifes aren't listening?"

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
"What, these idiots? They probably don't have enough brain cells to make anything out of it, but, you do have a point. Pleasure!" A nice firm shake! That does feel /weird/, what with it being a shadowy hair-hand. Huh.

"Witches first!" Snap! Her Device conjures up a portal, and Hannah waits for Shiniko to go first. When they step out on the other side? They're suddenly in what appears to be a lounge of some sort: Jazz, at that, given the low lights, slightly smokey atmosphere, and soft music playing. It's the kind of high-class place fitting for a CEO, and all the furniture looks new, polished, and expensive. The area the pair are in is something of a private area, the 'VIP' section judging by the door leading to the rest.

Hannah grins, and slides over a menu. "Get anything you want. I own the place. Plus you've got to be tired, right? That hair trick of yours is pretty neat. So you're a Witch. A /real/ one, huh?"

Sora Hisakata has posed:
Shiniko does enter, looking around the place appraisingly. "Not bad, not bad at all." She takes a seat, her hair wrapping around her and shadows oozing out of her beyond what should be natural. "So, WitchHunter Professional Services, is what you called it? Do you want to weigh me to compare my weight to that of a feather, or is my testimony enough?" She sounds amused by the whole thing, "I'll take pocky if you have it." She doesn't loo at the menu at all.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
The Witch enters a high class jazz lounge, and asks for pocky. It's like the start of a bad joke, so much so that Miss White actually squints at the other girl. Between that odd laugh, her usage of hair as a weapon, and now /this/. She doesn't even need the readings to realize this one is off.

Trying to not look offended, she pulls out a box of pocky from her barrier jacket, and offers it over to Shiniko. "You're a weird one. And nah, no worries. I'm a CEO, not anubis. And don't worry, despite the name, we...well, we /do/ hunt Witches, but not your kind. Well, unless you actively try to destroy us, but that's self defense. I believe you. We hunt monsters called Witches that prey on humanity." A pause.

"But tell me about yourself. Not every day you meet a real-life witch!"

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"According to European legends, witches weigh less than a feather, it's why I asked." Shiniko answers, and takes the pocky snapping off a bite and leaving the remainder hang out of her mouth, she doesn't look offended at being called a weird one either. "Now there the trickery begins, knowledge is power and you ask me for it without even having the decency to offer a reasonable trade."

Shiniko giggles again, "But should you desire knowledge, you can have some nuggets I don't mind scattering. I am a Shadow Witch, thus I peddle in magics that manipulate shadow." Her hair-hands merge into a single bowl, in which shadows pool, and then a flame is born, black and cold. Not cold in the sense of harmless, if only it were so benign, cold enough that it seems to suck the warmth out of the room, it flickers out quickly, "Shadow, of course, is the absense of light and the warmth it brings."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
At the small rebuke, Hannah smirks. "I'm the head of a company, Shiniko! Greed and ambition is what I /do/! Of course I'm going to try to take every bit of knowledge I can wring out of you for free. You'd be surprised the things people are willing to tell you if you just ask."

Shiver. That /giggle/! Hannah observes, her Device analyzing the shadows created in that bowl as it turns to flame. "That's a pretty depressing power you have. I'd like to see what you're capable of with it. Though...you mentioned a trade, huh? Looking for a job? Now, I'd have to see what you're really capable of, but, I have to say I'm a little low on people able to manipulate shadow and darker energies. You might be useful. If you're interested, I can tell you a little about what I do, you can tell me what you want, and maybe we can come to some kind of agreement." Cue a winning smile.

"You won't get bored, trust me."

Sora Hisakata has posed:
The shadow flames above the bowl reached a stable temperature of one hundred kelvin prior to Shiniko dismissing them, and overall the magic, although powerful and shadowy, is distinct from dark energy. It is not remotely good, and whole unsuited to cleansing or purification, but it's just a tool.

"If you're offering a job, I'm listening." Shiniko says with a smirk, biting off another piece of that pocky, "Shadow Witch Shiniko, Professional Witchhunter." A very brief giggle from the crazy girl, "And you think the power is depressing? Think about what my name means." The giggle gets a little longer as she writes down her name in the air, with shadows. Apparently it's written with two characters. Death and child.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
The data is marked down, and Hannah smiles. How exotic! And more importantly, it seems flexible.

"Well, you see, I have a few jobs on my plate that are growing cold because things are so busy right now. All of my employees are pretty tied up for the most part. So, how about this: you help me hunt down a Witch that's been bothering one of my properties, along with some of my companions, and we'll call that a 'trial run'. If you do good enough, well? Then we can talk something more permanent. You get to see what I get up to, I get to see what you can do, and you get paid. No strings attached. How's that sound?"

A raised brow. ".../Definitely/ depressing. Yeesh. Amazing you're as chipper as you are with a name like that. You have my condolences." Food comes around, and Hannah has a big steak she starts tearing into.

"But yeah, the jist of my business is that we train, protect, and study Puella Magi. And we kill their enemies, monsters called Witches for their grief seeds that lets a Puella Magi keep living."

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"Don't feel sorry for me, my name is but a moniker." Shiniko giggles again, though that she knows what her name means either verifies or justifies her oddness, either she picked it or she's chosen to live with it. "Well, here's the deal then. You explain to me a little more about these Puella Magi and those monstrous witches, and I'll give it a shot." Her shadow hand forms a finger gun, "What do you say, miss White?" Pew pew motion.

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
The offer is made, and Hannah grins. "You've got yourself a deal! Alright!" She starts, then takes enough nom of steak. Ravenous, this magical girl!

"A Puella Magi is a magical girl that makes a wish with a creature known as Kyubey. In exchange for their wish, they must fight monsters known as Witches to obtain their Grief Seeds. These seeds, when used by a Puella Magi, cleanses their soul gem, the source of their powers. If they fail to do so after using up too much magic, they die."

A quick stop to drink, and she continues. "Witches are youma that cause depression and anguish in normal humans, and prey on them. They hide themselves in extra-dimensional spaces called labyrinths, and use smaller youma known as 'Familiars' as their minions. These familiars, if they eat enough people, turn into Witches themselves. No two Witches are alike."

A shrug. "That's about all we know thus far. I've been doing experiments to find out more, but Puella and Witches are mysterious, that's for sure."

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"Got it, that sounds pretty rough." Shiniko says after the explanation on Witches and Puellae Magi that's being offered, "And I take it that in fighting these so-called Witches they must use magic, which leads to this endless cycle of risk for an all too meagre reward."

"Which, I suppose, is where we come in? Hunt witches, sell grief seed to a Puella Magi who is willing to offer good payment for it?" She giggles, again, "And in doing so rid the world of a horror that shouldn't be there, I like that idea. If it's not what you're doing I may have to start doing it myself."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Hannah's smile is definitely bitter, but also happy as Shiniko so quickly voices her own thoughts on the whole matter. "You understand completely. Good. /Good/! That's exactly how I run things. I get money and power and money to throw into research to solve the problem, Puella Magi get resources, battle partners, training, and that much more of a shot at not dieing. Every now and then, too, some of them sign on to the company. So it's a recruitment agency too."

A nod. "Anything that gets these kids out of this.../slavery/. This creature, Kyubey, is more of a monster than any Witch." She growls as she speaks his name. SHe cuts her steak a little harder.

"So what do you think? Want to give it a shot?"

Sora Hisakata has posed:
Shiniko idly pages through the book in her hands, or pretends so anyway, flipping to a very familiar page, and reading what it has to say today. 'This sounds like a good way to build your strengths, but be wary, some things sound far better than they are.' She eyerolls at the book's advice, and pens down, 'You'd know, wouldn't you?'

The Witch looks up from her book and back at Hannah, "I think I might want to sniff out that curse if I can." It's unclear what she refers to as that curse, "And having some backup could help, not everything out there is as weak as some thugs running a protection racket."

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
Hannah lets out a pleased sigh. "Curse, huh? Yeah. Yeah, it is a curse. Great. Great!" She reaches out, and tries to slap the girl on the back with full American warmth and bravado.

Then she raises a finger. "But just a warning. I'm not a good person. We don't always do good things to pursue what we do. Some of my employees even have a contract that says they can object. Physically. When we do something they don't like. So, be prepared for that. This is a business, not the girl scouts. Understood?"

Sora Hisakata has posed:
"Good people are just asking to be taken advantage of." Shiniko responds to that crystal clear, her position on that long cemented. "You can't expect people to be grateful just because you did the right thing, and at the end of the day, someone has to look out for number one."

She finishes her pocky stick and sticks the next one in her mouth, "And besides, if I thought you were being good people I wouldn't have expected you to charge the poor girls for the privilige of having us spare them the risk. You'd be doing it free of charge because it's 'the right thing to do.'" She giggles, like the very concept amuses her, "Even in antiquity they knew, 'the strong do as they will, and the weak do as they must.'"

Hannah Sharpe has posed:
"Yeah. I've seen plenty examples of /that/." A shake of the head. It's almost sad.

"Heh. You have a point. Not charge? Yeesh! What would be the point of that? I'm not here to make miracles, I'm here to make products, goods, and services! A bit of money and power is easily worth being able to live your life normally, right? The fact that we're solving an atrocity? That's icing on the cake. We make the world a little less rotten, and we get the good life on top."

She downs the last of her steak in record time. "Never heard that one. But I like it. I'm stealing that quote, by the way. Being weak, there's no point to that. All that happens is you get stepped on. I'm long done getting stepped on."

Then, she leans back. "Shiniko, I'm looking forward to working with you. It's pretty rare that I find a woman with her head on straight like you. You've made my night. Best witch ever! Now come on, I'll get you a drink or something! Let's celebrate, huh?" Then? Miss White is pulling her towards the rest of the lounge. It's going to be an interesting night for Shiniko!