Accepting that I wasn’t going to be left alone, I awkwardly waited for the person coming over to get close enough for it to be socially correct to start talking. They were taller than me by a few inches which might have come from the raised heels on their knee high boots. To go along with those, they wore a plaid skirt and a black shirt with what was presumably a band logo on it- although I had no clue what it might have said as it was completely illegible. How that was enough layers for the middle of October, I also had no idea.

When they were only a couple feet away, she said, “While you’re waiting for it to process you, want to come hang out with us?”

Internally sighing at the prospect of a delayed nap, I said, “sure. I don’t really know anyone; just got here yesterday- wait it was actually today.”

Apparently satisfied, she led me back over to where her group was sitting around in the lounge and started, “Let me introduce everyone. My name is Rebecca, or Necroferrum if you want to use my cover name. Going clockwise we have Chris-” pointing at the guy who had first noticed me. As I was thinking that he looked a lot like one of the MGs who brought me here, Rebecca continued, “who is one of the Paladins.

“Next is Carlos whose cover name is Technobabble.” He was a lot less built than Chris was- being taller and lankier than everyone else- and wore nice jeans, with a suit vest over a sweatshirt.

“And finally this is Kay, also known as Double Tap.” The last person was about as short as me with long hair and a traditional looking dress.

Taking my cue, I briefly introduced myself and was quickly shot a question by Carlos. “So we were wondering, do you have a weird ‘please ignore me’ perk? Chris here seems to think so.”

Disabling [Act Like You Belong] I said, “Yeah… I don’t really know how it works exactly, but it’s supposed to make people think my presence is normal and uninteresting.” Since I had also included [Unremarkable] in my perk write up, I mentioned, “I also have another similar perk for making me look more normal- whatever that means.”

Snapping loudly, Chris chimed in, “I got a feeling there was something else going on with you. [Mental Stability] has been telling me something's up since you got close. Didn’t think much of it since [Truesight] hasn’t been showing me things.”

Quietly, Kay asked, “So it is not an illusion that you are using?”

Feeling drawn in by the friendly atmosphere, I replied, “I don’t think so. It’s more like perception alteration? Is there even a difference between those?”

Ignoring my question, Chris said, “well, you fine with showing us what you look like? No pressure though.”

Not really knowing what else to do, I disabled [Unremarkable]. To my suprise, the group’s reactions were a lot more tame than I expected. None of them did more than blink a few times, but there was a brief pause as they all took a moment to process everything. Feeling a bit awkward again, I found my tail flicking back and forth low to the ground- which I quickly put a stop to.

Breaking the stillness with a shrug, Chris turned to Carlos and said, “She got more metal on her than you, and she’s only been here for less than a day.”

Cutting back, Carlos replied, “my thing’s drones, not augments. You have more metal on than me in costume.”

Ignoring them, Rebecca spoke to me in a kinder voice, “What happened to you? Normally only long time and very unlucky MGs have such visible scars or extensive augments. Did an MG make these for after a Breach or something?”

“Not quite. I- or I guess my familiar- made them pretty soon after I got here. I needed to replace my eyes and found this design the most interesting. I’m still kinda getting used to it, but overall it feels like a sidegrade to my original eyes. Not noticeably better or worse, just different.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“As for why I need them, let's just say that IEDs are not the safest things in general- even more so when the person making them has no clue what they're doing. But that would have just left me with some light acid burns. In a flash of genius, I also decided to walk through ground zero without PPE.”

Chuckling a little, Carlos stopped bantering with Chris to ask, “were you part of a terrorist organization or something?”

“Nah, I just had to deal with a lot of demons quickly and didn’t have any perks to help with that sort of thing.”

At that another brief silence filled the space, broken by Kay venturing, “how long have you been a Magical Girl?”

“Maybe around eighteen hours? What time is it right now?”

Still being the only one to talk, she followed up with, “So you made your contract very close to when a Breach opened?”

“Yeah? I’m a little surprised, you’d think with how rare MGs are in the first place, they wouldn’t throw them into the fire right away. Maybe having a high chance to pull through is why they’re chosen in the first place.”

“It is actually very rare for an MG to contract anywhere close to a Breach. The reason is precisely what you identified: if that was common, there would be much fewer of us. Most MGs are given as long as they want to make the decision, and are told to talk with a professional to ensure they make the right choice. Being an MG is very dangerous, but can be equally gratifying.”

As if to save me from the impending pity and awkwardness, the kiosk lit up again and displayed a room number for me to use. Before anyone else could start talking, I quickly said, “Looks like the system’s figured out where to put me. See you around!” Before walking to one of the nearby elevators. Note to self- keep [Unremarkable] active at all times if only so I don’t have to keep explaining that I kinda blew myself up over and over.

The room I had been given- 417- opened when I waved my ID over the reader. I quickly checked and confirmed that there was a normal, backup lock- so I started my shopping list with a removable lock jammer. The door opened into a small living room and kitchen. It had the basic appliances and furniture: fridge, oven, stove, rice maker, a couch, moderately sized tv, and a few chairs around an island. The space itself was about twelve feet wide and twenty long, with a door to a bathroom on one side mirrored by one to a bedroom. Both of the adjoining rooms were similarly furnished to a comfortable but not cramped extent. There wasn’t any food in the cabinets, but I could just go to the dining hall for now.

While I was doing a closer sweep with my perception from the comfort of the bed, I noticed there wasn’t a chain latch or similar on the door- that quickly got added to the list. Along with physical security concerns, I was under no illusions that my internet traffic wouldn’t be monitored to some degree, so I’d want countermeasures for that. Yet more was added as I realized I needed something to replace the knife I had lost fighting demons, and that I only had the set of clothes I was wearing.

Instead of getting on any of that, I opened the documents I had been given during my interview. The brochure and other marketing materials weren’t important, so I skipped over to the one on MGs legal rights and the facility’s requests. After a solid twenty minutes of reading, it boiled down to a few things:

1) MGs were basically completely legally protected from everything except violent crime. However, they would need to be able to prove their actions were either necessary or didn’t endanger anyone else.

2) Doxxing an MG would get you super arrested with the charge being anywhere from a large fine to prison time with little hope of early release.

3) An MG’s ID basically works as a license for anything the government regulates with one.

4) Within SEYA, they add the following:

1. a) Please don’t open carry weapons.

2. b) Please don’t openly do drugs.

3. c) Please don’t do anything scandalous.

4. d) Please pay attention to the requests of the Oversight Council.

Thinly veiled appeasement with the expectation you’ll be reasonable and a good citizen were rules I was fine with working within. Maybe with a bit of poking at the first point. Having a bunch of military facilities around made me giddy at the thoughts of all the stuff they might have and not miss. And all the stuff they might miss, but will blame someone else for losing. Maybe next time I had to kill demons I wouldn’t need to improvise something as dangerous to me as anyone else.

For now, this bed was too comfy to not take a nap on and all I had left to do was hurry up and wait.

Removed unfinished sentence. It was probably important at one point in time... Oh well, can't remember now.