Things went crazy earlier, in a vauge way. Reiko came to face a Shade--- potentially more, vaugely depending--- and Hoshi took up the mantle of Prism Keeper Yellow. Awkwardly, she invited Hoshi home and all that was there was grandpa- who was snoozing in his recliner in the main living room.
She quietly motioned Hoshi up to her room as she walked in and closed the door behind them and sighed. She walked over to her bed and sat down and patted the bed beside her, to let Hoshi know it was okay to sit down too...
"I--um." Reiko's been quiet, except for the odd sound and otherwise was quiet.
"I bet you have a lot of questions..." she muttered silently. Yeah, not much to start off--- but Yellow deserves to ask questions- rather than Reiko speiling on about things at her liesure. Hoshi deserves that much, and she knows it.
"I do, but I'm glad everyone is alright." Hoshi answers right away, sitting down and reaching out to wrap an arm around Reiko. A gentle, warm gesture. "I'll try to remember what we all did in the stories, is... uh..." A yellow star with a graduation hat decides to float in between the two girls, "Is Griselda real, too?"
Reiko Touyama nods. "I'll answer best I can...." and--- she blinks at the star and giggles and smiles. "You have stars..like.. my koi. You couldn't see them before... you'll see them around me too. Um-- other magical types... can see your 'things' too-- but-- sometimes not always Like..."
"Like my grandpa knows because he can see my koi." she nods matter of factly.
"So I bet he could see your stars too... um--- Sorry! Your questions?..."
She listens and she looks down. "Y-yes. The Shades... The Monochrome Duo... Griselda. They exist. She's dangerous. Very dangerous. I--I only defeated her one time with help from my friend, the Cute Wolf... and just plain dumb luck." she nods.
"I--don't expect you to know who that is. She's one of my friends. I'll introduce you, I promise." she says softly. "She's not from any of our stories. There's a lot of things that have nothing to do with the 'stories' or 'game' we played.. out there." she says softly.
"So did you know about this when we did our stories?" Hoshi asks softly, trying to figure out how long Reiko has been keeping this from her. Another star, this one looking bulky and holding an empty plate appears right next to Reiko, looking around with hunger clear in its little eyes.
"So there's other things, too? Like..." She seems to be trying to recall a name, "Riventon? Is he real?" She recalls the drawing Reiko made, talking about it. "I'm not sure I know what to ask, this is... a little weird, I'll admit."
Reiko Touyama shakes her head. "No. It was a game. It was a story. Maybe...." she tries to count on her fingers... "Six months ago...?" she says. ".... Mei woke up one day and all he stories and my drawings where shredded and burned-- and in the shredding was nesting um. The birds. You remember right? Roy.. Gigi.. Biv.. like I drew- but-- they didn't exist until then. Then... Mei became Prism Keeper Red and she kept it from me for a bit- until a Shade attacked the botanical gardens and Mei overdid it. That's when I got my Chroma Prism. Like you. That's like how you got yours..."
She sighs. "Mei... she feels bad. Like it's her fault--- and the day that happened her mom dissapeared. She's not.... in a finishing school. She went across country to try to figure out where her mom is." she says softly. "And left me in charge." she says softly.
"...We're pretty sure everyone who was in the game is thier... respective color at this point. I mean. Mei.. me.. Momo.. you...." she says softly. She peeks at the star.
"Are you hungry perchance?..." she asks. "...my koi do that when I'm hungry." she says.
She shakes her head and giggles.
She sighs. "I haven't been... hiding it. Persay. It's just that. The Chroma Prisms don't activate until you're ready. Until you feel... connected again. Everyone left the game a long time ago Hoshi..." she says a little sadly. "It would be really terrible of me to try to finagle you into something..." she says.
"Riventon...."
She nods. "He's real... and... the story I told you is real too. He's a jerk--- some sort of 'mad scientist', a real bad person that did something terrible to someone important to him that was also a friend of mine and... Cute Wolf's important person. Me and the Cute Wolf undid it, and now he's /really/ upset and angry at me. He uses energy that feels a lot like the Shades--- people call it... 'Dark Energy', it's unpleasent. But---"
"Color Energy fights it good. So do some other things that people wield. Like, the Cute Wolf can howl this melody that seems to work just aswell. A Sailor Moon has this 'Moon Healing Escalation' that cuts through that stuff too." she nods.
"Oh--lots of things are real and--- you're going to see some weird stuff now." she giggles.
Hoshi listens to Reiko talk, and talk, and talk. She doesn't stop the other girl, merely squeezing a little harder when Mei comes up. When hiding it is mentioned, she says. "I understand." There's no anger, no accusations, nothing. "You tried to protect me." The fat star makes a point of pointing at one of the koi decorations, then at the plate. Hoshi's eyes grow wide as she notices what it's doing. "I'm hungry, but I wouldn't eat your Koi!" She objects, staring at the star.
*pop!* There's a koi. It has a face. It looks like this. :I. It shakes it's head dissapprovingly and dissapears. Reiko shakes her head. "Hold on a moment..." she says as she walks downstairs. She comes back up with a box of crackers and big ol' tub of what appears to be cheese spread and a knife. "Here... um. I'd have Grandpa cook but-- he's sleeping." She smiles.
"Protecting yeah. And it just isn't fair either... you know? This is really hard Hoshi. I---"
"---there's a boy I liked who was more enarmored with someone else magical-- and she's way more cooler than I am... I have a creepy cursed doll following me around because it's jealous because I decided I wanted to be friends with someone who's... posseed by the thing- and trying to help her deal with it. Then there was the bit with Cute Wolf's Girlfriend and--- and the Mei thing and-- and..." she sighs and just shakes her head.
"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to scare or worry you." she says.
"---also...."
"The storm this weekend. It.. it isn't really a storm. There's somethign really-- 'big and bad' coming here... called---um..."
She tries to pronounce the name. "Waplurgisnacht'". she says. "It's going to do a lot of damage...." she says.
She looks down and sighs, then out of the blue she just---straight up hugs Hoshi-- tight, sudden, hard.
"I'm glad you're taking this well... There's a lot of bad things out there. But..."
"There's a lot of good, too! There's lots of others like us! And-- I've made as many friends as I've had enemies." she blushes. "Like---I danced with a handsome magical stranger at a magical dance!--- and he was mysterious and cloaked like an anime, even! Like--he could had been a secret prince....!" she giggles with a blush.
And Hoshi takes it in, listening, and returns the hug, gently patting Reiko on the back. "I'm scared." She admits, not letting go, ast all. Maintaining the hug firmly, "But it's not your fault, and being scared doesn't mean I want to walk away." One star holding a sword and a shield stands on top of Hoshi's head, pointing the sword at some unseen foe. "I'll do my best to help where I can."
Reiko Touyama heees at this a little- at the tiny 'star knight'. "I'm scared all the time. I find it's easier if you parse things as it happens rather than think of everything at once..." she says softly. "-and-- it feels really good to help people Hoshi in ways that others can't. Like....! Um--I was able to use my color powers once to get a plushie juuuust the right color for someone before- they wanted it a lighter orange!" she beams.
"Right.. um. You have powers. Like. In the game. Like you can Infuse and Diffuse your color. You don't even need to be transformed to do it, you just need to have your Chroma Prism out and touching it as you do it. You can do a lot without transforming, actually like----"
"--um. I can control a limited amount of koi. Usually. One or two. Otherwise. I need to be transformed to control mass amounts of them." she says.
"Otherwise, they have minds of thier own. I think they just mirror my mood in a way...? Or my thoughts, but sometimes I dunno /what/ they're doing like--- um....."
"Here..."
Reiko gets up, she places her arms above her head and she twirls goofily like a ballerina might then does a gooft pose.
A little orange table shows up with three koi 'sitting' behind it. They raises signs. [8.2] [7.9] [5.2]
Then they dissapear. "See?"
"Like they just graded that silly little dance."
"Like it was the olmpyics..." she mutters.
Perhaps to make it worse... a little yellow table appears right next to the orange one, with three more stars that hold up signs. [7.7] [9.1] [8.6] And Hoshi facepalms at them. "I'm sorry, Reiko. I don't know why they did that..." She sounds a little embarassed about it.
Hoshi takes one of the crackers and takes a bite, ignoring the cheese spread while trying not to call attention to that. "Those sound like useful things to be able to do, I guess. Uhh... do you think I could help with that Walpurgisnacht thing? Or would I just get in the way."
Reiko Touyama looks at Hoshi. "Do you want my honest opinon...?" she asks softly.
"...I think you're too new. There's going to be /lots/ of veteran magical girls out there and I think they'll do thier job better if they don't need to protect a rookie like you OR me." she says softly. "I'm staying put with my grandpa and making sure nothing bad happens..." she says softly. "Parents are out of town..." no surprise there. "...and Grandpa's too old to evacuate properly." she says softly.
"Most 'magical' types know it's happening. Many are spreading out just in case. There's lots of non-magical things that'll need help too..." she says softly.
She looks at the stars and giggles. "You'll get used to that, I promise. I've just practically accepted the koi are going to be there as long as I'm Orange..." she says. "...but eventually people are going to be able to put two and two together if they see... Yellow using those Stars and then they see Hoshi with the same stars, do you understand?..." she asks. "My koi give me away like that. I /can/ tell you that they seem to know when it isn't a good time to show up, usually. So far I've had no 'villians' out me or come here to get me." she says softly. "Well..."
"Except for that creepy doll, but.."
"I told Misa who I was because she wanted to feel safe with me and I told her I could handle the doll by myself. So far. It's been...."
"Okay..." she says.
"I'm, a little leary to introduce you to Misa-chan, because the doll might come after you, too."
"I'll find some other way to help." Hoshi promises Reiko, believing that she's too new at face value, and moving on to a different topic, the tell. "I understand." She agrees, but can't help but add, "At least stars are a little less specific than Koi, Reikoi-chan. Maybe that'll help." Yes, she's teasing, but she's not being mean. It's meant to be a good-natured ribbing, and the followup is more serious again. "I'll trust you to figure out who you can introduce me to safely."
Reiko Touyama gives Hoshi another hug with a grin! "Your stars are really cool, Hoshi!" she beams. "I bet people are going to find them super cute." she thinks a bit as she walks up and pulls out one of her sketchbooks...She walks back.
"This is..." she points to a boy dressed like a frilly prince. He has a tinier prince hovering near his head. "This is Platnium Royale... He's a 'Chara Bearer' this..." he points to the tinier figure. "Is Kiskei. He's his 'Guardian Chara' which is kind of like the self he wants to be. He can transform with Kiskei to become that person in a way." she flips the page.
"This is Amulet Heart. She's a chara bearer too." she motions to the cheerleader like henshined Amu Hinamori.
She flips the page, there's a wolfgirl with a collar and a locket and a tail. "This is the Cute Wolf. She's a werewolf--but she's a /good/ werewolf. She's a good friend...!"
She turns the page to a girl with fox ears. "This is Ayana... she's.. she was the friend we saved from Riventon. She's currently 'just a fox' now. We're trying to put her back to being a girl again, but dunno how..." she says.
She flips another page. Sailor V! "This is Sailor V and she is /totally real/ too and she is /really awesome!/." she says with starry eyes...
She flips the page again, it's a man in a tuxedo, cape, ballroom mask, hat... dramatic pose! "This is, Tuxedo Kamen. He's like--- a prince in a tuxedo who saves magical girls and it's /really/ romantic!" she beams. "He was looking for his princess! But...I haven't seen him for a while. I hope he's okay..." she says softly. Poor Reiko isn't clued in on that thread yet! Whoops!
She flips another page and----there's Prism Keeper Orange! "Me..." she blushes. "Cuz..." just 'cuz'.
"I draw lots of people I meet as gifts. I draw the badguys too because...."
"Maybe someday I'll be able to give it to them too.. you know?" she asks.
Hoshi listens to Reiko tell about all the people she met, and smiles, asking no questions but allowing Reiko to ramble. Master plan: stop Reiko from being so quiet appears to be working as intended. Eventually, she does ask a question. "So your friend is a Kitsune? Have you tried going to an Inari Shrine and see if that'll help any?"
Reiko Touyama blinks. "She's a fox but... kitsune?..." she taps her chin. "She was... something called a familiar. It's a thing that-- a 'mage' makes to be thier concscience. But... Riventon made one to pretend to be a magical girl and be sneaky. But she ended up making friends instead and Riventon didn't like that--- so--- he did something terrible to her-- filled her with dark energy and took away most of her emotions. We freed her and-- well he's upset because 'we took something of his'." she mutters.
"But--kitsune..." she muttrs.
"I'll mention that to the Cute Wolf--Like I said Ayana was... well... her important person." she says again.
"Her girlfriend." she nods matter of factly. "/that/ didn't make Riventon happy either."
"It was-- thier story was really romantic." she blushes. She uses this word a lot. "--- Ayana cared a lot for Cute Wolf so she tried to steal her transformation item? But--something happened and they formed a really deep emotional bond and-- they fell in love and---" she blushes. "I'm sorry. I drew them a really silly picture for Christmas and they both loved it." she giggles.
"Sometimes I wonder if something like that will happen to me..." she blushes. "Now I feel sad I didn't write a hero character for Orange to fall in love with in yhe story." she giggles a little softly.
Hoshi remains happy to let Reiko ramble on about whatever comes to mind, not at all minding to be the quiet one this time around. "Would you really want to have a romance exactly like what you made up? Grandma says half the fun is in the discovery."
Reiko Touyama thinks about this... "Well..maybe not exactly but..." she blushes. "I guess you have a point." she says. She sighs and just leans against Hoshi as she says. "..I'm glad I'm not alone now..." she says softly. "I was really worried when Mei left." she admits softly.
"I'm... I'm glad you helped me that night. I wasn't ready for that thing to blast me like it did..." she admits. "I thought I could play it safe by keeping my distance..."
Hoshi wraps an arm around Reiko's waist, holding and smiling. "It was scary, but the idea of that Shade hurting my friends was even scarier. I couldn't let that happen." She insists, clearly taking responsibility for her actions and not blaming Reiko at all. There's one star who decides to spoil the serious mood, wearing a ballroom mask, cape and hat. Star Kamen bows towards Reiko.
Reiko Touyama giggles insanely. "My koi dressed up like that once- and it had a rose in it's mouth and everything." she grins. She shakes her head.
She nods. "Well there's two of us now." she smiles. "Um..." she yawns. A koi appears. It has a nightcap on and is snoring on a pillow. "I'm tired---Hoshi.. um.. let me get you my spare PJs and a sleeping bag." she says as she walks to her closet and open it.
She digs these things out and smiles wide. "It's been a while since we've slept over.. hasn't it?"
"Should we try looking for the others? I know they might not want to be involved, but we should at least try to keep an eye on them, right?" Hoshi suggests, sounding just a little concerned. "That Shade got mad when I didn't get drained as I should have." And then she puts on the spare PJs and slips inside the sleeping bag, two stars, one with a big mustache and another with old lady hair pulling back the top and covering Hoshi. "It has, night Rei-chan."