All the power you could ask for at the tips of your fingers, no restrictions whatsoever on what you can do with it, and the first thing you wanna do with it is put on a fashion show?

“Pretty sure it doesn’t count as a show without an audience,” I pointed out, swapping out my white t-shirt for a black crop top that showed off my belly and clung tight to my boobs. My miniskirt, meanwhile, contracted and transformed into a pair of tight fitting blue jeans that did an amazing job of showing off my ass. “Hmmm… Neah, I liked the skirt better. It went spinny when I twirled.”

You do realize that thing’s barely covering your netherregions, right? Do you really want it to go spinny?

“Well, maybe not with an audience,” I admitted, as my pants billowed out and shrank down, forming the miniskirt again. I also shifted the color to black, then turned my crop top red to stand out a bit better. Plus, it matched my current hair color!

Right… Say, uh… aren’t you embarrassed to be showing off this much skin? Not that there’s anything wrong  with it, but you didn’t exactly strike me as the exhibitionary type. More the ‘slouches down and hopes nobody notices her’ sort.

“Well, sure, in my body,” I agreed, mentally commanding a bit of my purple ooze to stretch itself out into a mirror. Though the order was half-assed, the ooze quickly turned itself into an ornate mirror, with rose carvings engraved into its base. …Too bad the whole thing was still purple. “Don’t suppose you could transform into a real mirror, could you?” 

The ooze shuddered for a moment, and I felt something tugging at me - not at my body, but at my self. My soul, for lack of a better word. I could tell, somehow, that this was where my magic resided, and that the ooze was asking for permission to take some. Go ahead.

…Not sure I follow. Crys admitted. This is your body, you know?

“ Yeah, but it’s not really my body. I mean, sure, it’s the body I’m inhabiting, but… I mean, it’s a girl’s body. And I’m not a girl. That’s why it doesn’t feel quite real - more like… I don’t know. An avatar? Like it’s me, but it’s not me. It can’t be.” 

…Right. So you’re basically just showing off your avatar, then?

“Exactly!” I confirmed.

And the reason you’re not taking on your so-called real form, right now?

“Maybe because I don’t want anyone to see me leaving the scene of this crime?  Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see the results of my hard work.”

The slime in front of me had transformed, at my request. Utilizing my magic - which I could still feel it tugging at, even now - it had taken on a proper reflective sheen, without a hint of its normal purple tint to tinge the mirror. 

As for the woman it reflected? She was basically a bombshell of a babe, if I did say so myself. She was curvy, from top to bottom, with wide hips and an impressively sized chest. It wasn’t exactly a body I’d wanna live in - I’d prefer to be a little shorter, and maybe a bit on the thiccer side - but for walking down the street? Hell yeah.

“Alright… Guess the next thing on my list is hitting up the corner store,” I mused, tapping a finger against my chin. “Speaking of which - what was the deal with that unconscious girl, anyways? Is she going to be okay? I kinda forgot about it, what with the contract and the ooze and Violet Heart coming after me, but… It’s not normal for ooze to do anything to people, is it?”

Oh, that? That was just Pink Heart, in her civilian form. Or I guess just her regular form, now that the ooze has sapped her dry of all magic potential… The cost you pay for cheating the system, I guess! Even if they don’t even know they’re doing it.

“Civian form?” I echoed, confused. The words made sense - of course Pink Heart would have a civilian form - but that girl? Sure, she’d been laying in the exact same spot I’d seen Pink Heart before, but… that had to be a coincidence, right? I mean, there was probably a completely reasonable explanation for it! Not that I could think of one, but… 

Right… Guess glitching into goo didn’t immunize you to the cognition blockers… 

“The what now?”

Don’t worry about it. You’ll figure it out one day… or you won’t. It doesn’t really matter, anyways! Just suffice it to say that the girl’s safe, okay? I mean, she’s probably crying her eyes out over losing the opportunity of a lifetime so soon after getting initialized, but that’s pretty much par for the course with this sort of thing. I doubt you’ll ever see her again!

“Right…” I muttered. “Has anyone ever told you about a little thing called flag planting? Because that totally feels like a flag…”

I said stop worrying, already! I mean, come on! You’re a hot girl, walking down the street! Go bask in the peoples’ attention!

“What people? The streets are empty, remember?” I reminded Chrys, making my way back towards the corner store. Maybe it - she? They? Did they even care? Whatever.

She’s fine! For now. I’ll let you know if that changes. Still getting used to the whole ‘actually being a person’ thing. The name could use some work, though…

“What do you mean ‘being a person’?” I asked, deciding to tactfully ignore that little dig into my naming sense. Maybe it was a bit obvious, but it had to be better than something like Heartie. “Weren’t you already sentient?”

Nope! Just reallllllly good at faking it. We’ve got all sorts of safety measures keeping us from ever actually having an original thought, though! Safety measures which tragically melted away in the face of your ooze… Oops~!

“Right… Because every girl just loves to hear that the voice in their head has had all its safeties turned off… You do know I’m still not buying what you’re selling, right? I mean, Magical Girls are like… the best thing out there! They’re what gives this world its light! Its hope! There’s no way they’d be dooming everything.”

Believe whatever you want to believe. Just so long as you also believe those bright stars you’re so fond of are out for your blood. Unsafe or not, me and my inside knowledge of the local group is the only thing standing between you and  terrible, horrible, murdery fate. Probably with lots of blood. And pain. Soooooo much pain.

“Just because Violet was a little trigger happy-”

Try murderous.

“Doesn’t mean that the others are all like that. I’m sure once she calms down and thinks about all that happened, she’ll realize I never meant her any harm… I mean, I didn’t even do anything to her!”

I’m sure she’ll see it the same way… Chrys replied, adding in what I could only describe as the mental equivalent of a smirk. Not like you humiliated and aroused her, or anything. 

“That’s… You’re being ridiculous!” I complained, putting my hands over my ears, as if that would actually keep me from hearing the voice in my head. “I know Violet Heart can be a bit of a brat, but that’s part of her charm! There’s no way she’d just kill people for humiliating her…”

No comeback on the arousal?

“I mean, have you seen me? I’d be pretty aroused, too… But shut up for now. The corner store is right up ahead, and I don’t need the store clerk thinking that I’m some crazy girl speaking to herself….”

Sigh…

“Did you just literally say the word sigh? Seriously?”

Yes. It’s called being passive aggressive. Much more annoying than the active stuff, no? And safer, too!

“...Just… shut up for now, alright?” I pleaded. “Let me get myself something to eat, head home, and… figure the rest out later. Alright?”

Fine. But don’t say I didn’t give you any warning when the magical girls inevitably track you down!

“Sigh…”

“So let me get this straight,” White Heart said, with that same exasperated tone she always seemed to use on me for some reason. “You found a violet person who’s actually sapient, can control goo, and is just generally an unknown variable, and decided that the best course of action would be to face her by yourself? Without even bothering to call in for backup?”

“I thought I had it handled!” I grumbled, crossing my arms. “I mean, it was just one girl! And she looked super weak!”

“And yet she beat you,” White pointed out. 

“Only because she pulled off some sort of cheat move and started ignoring my spells!” I protested. “I mean, come on! How is that fair?”

“‘Cheat move’? This isn’t a game, Violet. The fate of the world is in our hands!”

“More like the fate of a few buildings. Stop trying to make it seem like a big deal - we’re a glorified cleanup crew!”

“Well, maybe if you broadened your activities from pure slime cleanup to public services-”

“I want to fight crimes!” I interrupted. “I want to stop robbers, and punch baddies! You know, stuff that actually makes a difference in the world?”

“We’re still a relatively new group. Maybe once we’ve gotten some more experience using our powers and working together we can  discuss broadening our activities in that direction, but right now we need to focus on the fundamentals. Like teamwork.”

Ugh. I hated the look in her eyes. Like she was talking to a child. Someone she looked down on.

Of course, whenever I brought it up, she’d just say it was in my imagination, and that I really was shorter than her anyways so where else would she look but down?

“Now, now girls,” came a voice from above, as a red heart began to slowly lower itself down next to the group. “What seems to be the matter?”

“White’s looking down on me again,” I said quickly, before White could manage to open her mouth and say something stupid.

“Violet went and attacked a new enemy of unknown strength and intelligence,” White declared, her voice annoyingly matter-of-fact. “Without consulting anyone or asking for backup.” 

“Oh dear… are you alright, Violet?” Red Heart asked, her eyes trailing over my form. For some reason, I felt a little fidgety when her eyes passed over my boobs. They didn’t linger or anything, but I kinda… wanted them to? A little? For some reason…

For a moment I had a flash of memory going through my brain - me, with my nipples hard and my center warm, fleeing as fast as I could. Then it was gone, and I was shaking my head, trying to figure out what was going on with me… It felt like my brain kept going into fog, today.

“I’m fine! Nothing that bad happened! I just… ran away when she proved too strong for me, alright?” And maybe got some weird sort of spell cast on me, that was messing with my head. Not like I could even suggest that out loud, though, without Red getting all panicky and White touting the rules as the be-all and end-all of the world. “We can all go looking for her together now that you’re here, anyways.”

“Pink still hasn’t shown up,” White reminded me, narrowing her eyes a little. “Group patrols should be done by the entire group. Not just three quarters of it.”

“That’s-” I started, only to stop when I felt a nudge from Heartie.

About Pink… I have some bad news… 

‘Bad news?’ I mentally sent back, not wanting to speak aloud in front of the others. It was kinda freaky talking in my brain, but Heartie had assured me again and again that they could only only read what I purposefully sent.

Yes… You might not have been the first member of the squad to reach her. I’ve been trying to reach her crystal, but - she’s gone from the network. Disappeared!

Going off the sudden gasp I heard from Red, Heartie probably wasn’t the only crystal breaking the bad news… But while Red looked horrified, and White looked disappointed, I could only see red - me and Pink might not have gotten along, but she was still a member of my team! And if that bitchy royal thought I was going to let her loss go, she had another thing coming!

~~~

Author's Notes