Given the all the commotion going on, the Djinn Sisters had their work cut out for them. From experience big events had a way of generating lots of interesting wishes. The massive magical explosion drew the attention. This in particular meant they were headed toward the formerly standing Beacon HQ. All things said the twins never really interacted much with the organization or its members. So what exactly to expect was kind of in the air.
Approaching the scene they didn’t quite make it before they spotted Alicia and Suwako. Judging by the direction they were coming from they were with the Beacon. Going into a crowd of magical girls and granting wishes tended to cause trouble so just these two would probably be a more wise approach.
In their untransformed state, coming alongside the two Sakura waved to them sheepishly.
”Hello there.” Before there was a chance for either to see them as a threat Sakura raised her hands to show that they weren’t there to fight.
”Sorry if this isn’t a good time but we couldn’t help but notice what’s happened.” She motioned back to the Beacon HQ.
Suwako noticed the two newcomers. They didn’t seem to be Beaconers. But they came in their untransformed state so could this be some sort of diplomatic meeting?
“Yes, as you can see for yourselves, we’ve just been attacked. Well, perhaps ‘attacked’ isn’t necessarily the correct term. More like someone planted a trojan bomb and it exploded inside. So, mind explaining who you are and what you’re doing here?”
Upon being addressed Alicia came to a stop as well as she found herself and Suwako addressed by newcomers. She didn’t recall seeing them before and since they didn’t look like they were as panicked as basically everyone else here from the fires currently being put out in the former Beacon HQ, she swiftly reached the same conclusion that Suwako had.
Glancing back towards the building, Alicia nodded. “Yes, I imagine it must have been pretty hard to miss that,” she replied, letting Suwako take the lead for the moment as she eyed the duo. Her hands remained loose, fingers spread should she need to summon her weapon in a hurry. With how things were now, and how most regarded Beacon at this point, she would not leave the opportunity for any unpleasant surprises. At the same time her phone buzzed, but she ignored it for the moment. It probably wasn’t that important, and she couldn’t afford the distraction.
“Woah, relax,” Violet said as she too raised her hands in a show of peace
“We’re not here to cause more trouble, more the opposite in fact.” She took a small step in front of her sister, ready to defender her if needed as she talked
“Our magic is rather unique, and our Patron is something of an oddball but we aren't your enemies, and we are offering you two a chance at some help.” “Help?” Suwako questioned, her expression clearly saying that she still didn’t trust the two yet. “What kind of help can you offer exactly? Surely you’re not offering to help clean our HQ.”
“We could do that, if you wanted to be boring,” was the offered response from Violet.
“We lack the capability of our Patron when it comes to our magic but cleaning your HQ is certainly possible. We could likely repair everything as well, but only if you ask in the right way, it’s a quirk of our magic.” she explained as she tried to keep her normally sharp tongue to a minimum.
‘Think transforming would help our case with these two?’ she thought to Sakura.
’Probably.’ Speaking again Sakura bowed slightly.
“Our transformed state might make things more clear.” Having made their intent to transform known they both remained still as they took on their Demi-Djinn forms.
“If you may tell, we are in the business of wish granting.” A step back was Alicia’s automatic reaction as they transformed at last, revealing just what they were. She hadn’t heard of that sort of power set before but she supposed that it wasn’t completely impossible. Magic could let you do a lot of weird things, so why not this?
“I see,” she replied with a slow nod, arresting any backwards motion for now as the revelation fully settled in. “And what are you looking to gain in exchange for this unusual service of yours?” Somehow Alicia couldn’t help but doubt that they were here out of the goodness of their hearts, but she would try to keep from leaping to hasty conclusions about their intent as she waited for an answer.
Relaxing fairly sure that there would be no overreactions Sakura sighed under her breath.
”While any compensation would be appreciated we aren’t really after anything. We’re kind of bound to this duty due to some… poor choices. If I may offer some advice, never disrespect a Djinn. It doesn’t turn out well.” By the expression on her face it was clear that she was speaking from experience. But the solemnity didn’t last long and she brightened up again.
”So, yeah. That’s our curse if you will. Your wish is our command.””As I said earlier we are not as potent as our Patron when it comes to granting wishes, but that doesn’t mean that our magic is weak. So what shall you two wish for? Violet reiterated with a shrug.
.
Suwako looked at Alicia. She still hadn’t trusted the sisters, especially with such a vague description of their powers. She knew some stories about wishes to genies gone wrong, and she certainly wouldn’t want to join their ranks. And she doubted that their wish granting power had no limits.
“What should we wish for then?” Suwako said to Alicia, crossing her arms. “Cleaning up the HQ would be nice but I imagine we probably have better uses for it. Like finding her for example. Or perhaps they could even bring her here right away, though I doubt that.”
Alicia frowned in thought, rubbing her chin as she considered what they should wish for along with Suwako. Cleaning up the HQ didn’t seem like a worthwhile wish anyway since the damage was repairable, so they should definitely use it for something else if at all. She idly considered wishing for additional power but that seemed overly selfish of her, and the Beckoners would likely frown upon gaining additional magic that she had not earned.
For the moment she held off on actually wishing for anything, preferring to discuss with Suwako first. “Bringing Justine here would be nice, though she probably has safeguards against that. I’d also like some way to not have everyone about to fight us at the moment, or to counter whatever it was that they did to Janet. I’m not sure if ordinary Purification will work on that.”
She paused for a moment before shooting the sisters and apologetic smile. “Sorry to make you wait, we’re just making sure it’s for something worthwhile.”
Nodding slowly she waved off the concern. This was not at all surprising that they wanted to be careful about the wish.
”Take your time. The offer isn’t going to vanish on you. But just so you know there is a max of three wishes each. In case that eases some of the pressure.” She wasn’t going to spill too much about what they could and could not do, but that was a pretty standard hard rule that they had to abide by.
“Finding people isn’t very hard to do, easier than cleaning at any rate,” Violet started figuring she could at least explain how easy some of the ideas they had tossed out would be.
“Bringing people to you would depend on a lot of things,” she said tapping her chin in thought,
“such as where they are and how willing they are to follow along with us. Any wishes that involve someone else we will likely need to have that person near us for it to stick as well so you might want to wait for those. You could also wish for an artifact, though the more powerful ones would be single use.” “Okay then, good to know,” Alicia replied with a thoughtful nod. So teleporting to Justine was probably out then, or at least teleporting her to them and skipping the middleman. She hadn’t really figured that would work, so she was not too disappointed. The other idea was very interesting though, and after a few moments of further thought she made up her mind. Perhaps it was a rash decision, but she didn’t seem them having any better options. And they had to be prepared for the worst.
Besides, if they had three wishes max then it definitely did take some of the pressure off, leaving her more confident to go ahead. “In that case, I wish that I had an artifact capable of purifying a monster girl and returning her to normal, no matter how heavy their corruption is.”
As Alicia was voicing her wish there was a tingle that ran down the sisters spine, and after hearing the proposed wish in its entirety it was easy to understand why the omen was received for this one. Such an artifact would be immensely potent, but it would only work once. It would need to be protected as well, for if it were to be tainted it would be able to corrupt anyone regardless of their purity.
‘Seems that Penrose is full of impactful wishes’ Violet mused
‘You want this one Sis or should I take it?’ she asked turning to look at her sister as she did.
‘You can take it.’ Sakura responded back.
“At your command” Violet said her voice echoing oddly as her eyes turned white. She reached out and plucked from thin air a large crystal vial. Turning it around in her hand she gave an approving nod before she gently reached towards the sky with it and the sky rippled in response as she seemed to dip the vial into the air itself. A moment later she pulled the vial back from the ripple it had made and examined it once again before she bent down and repeated the process with the ground, it too rippled as the vial passed through it effortlessly.
Standing Violet turned the vial around in her hands one last time before she retrieved a stopper in the same fashion that she did the vial. Afterwards she offered it up to Alicia speaking as she did
“Your desire is made manifest” The vial was filled with what looked to be a snapshot of deep space, as colored clouds of dust intermingled with a vast array starry lights against a backdrop of the purest black. Yet it still behaved as one would expect a liquid too either churning or flowing as one tilted or shook the vial.
Alicia waited with bated breath, not sure what she should expect from this whole process. Would it be done in the blink of an eye or was there something else involved in the granting of wishes? She was certainly curious to find out, and would not have to simmer in her anticipation for long before she had the answer to her question.
The creation of the vial and its contents was interesting to watch, though it gave her only a little insight into how it actually worked. But that was how it went with magic, so she was not going to stress over it too much so long as it actually got done in the manner that she was hoping for.
“Thank you,” she replied with a grateful nod as she took the vial, swirling it a bit as she examined the substance inside. That was….weird. Intriguing, but weird. After a few moments she slid it away into a pocket for safekeeping before nodding to the trio. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to go see what that text was about,” she explained as she stepped away, pulling out her phone. It was Suwako’s turn now, so hopefully that would occupy their time until she was done.
“Hmm…” Suwako crossed her arms in front of her chest, deep in thought. She wasn’t sure what she should use the wish for. Like she said before, just using it to clean up the HQ would feel like a huge waste. But she didn’t have any good idea in mind.
“How about this?” Suwako finally spoke up after a minute or two of thinking. “Since there’s a really high chance we’re going into a huge battle soon, how about a healing item that could heal any wounds in an instant, no matter how severe it is? That includes regrowing missing limbs or legs. I would wish for it to be able to bring back people from the dead but I think that might be too much even for you.”
Since her sister got the last one Sakura would take this one. Only there was a slight problem.
”Mmm, doable. I can't really give you it until you wish for it properly though.” Suggestions didn't fly for their magic to work. It had to be a wish.
“Yup, can’t forget the magic words” Violet said in a singsong tone as she resisted the urge to begin cartwheeling around, she was riding the endorphin rush that came from powerful wishes and was able to enjoy it as making an artifact was never as draining as performing the same act that the artifact was made to do.
Suwako sighed. “Fine. I wish for a healing item that could restore your body’s condition to its prime in an instant.” The stoic girl wasn’t too fond on how Violet was acting.
Off to the side, Alicia flipped open her phone and checked the text message to find an attached picture of a wooden sailing ship that looked like it had definitely seen better days. Unusual, but the message that went with it was much more confusing. She felt like there was something Penny had forgot to mention to her, something worth knowing sooner rather than later in all likelihood.
‘What ride?’ she texted back, glancing between her phone and the ongoing scene as Suwako made her wish
‘Another girl was going to let us use her ship in the assault on Justine's Castle, the pic I sent is her ship’ came Penny’s reply no long after.
Huh, well then. That was unfortunate. Though for Alicia’s considerations it didn’t change much. She hadn’t been expecting a ship in the first place so it did not change the calculus for her assault.
‘Too bad,’ she texted back before turning to the group she was with. Maybe she should use a wish on this, but for the moment she refrained. She wanted to see what ended up happening first.
One of the beacon girls stepping away wasn’t a problem for Sakura, she didn’t need anything else but the wish anyhow. Her sister had kind of stolen the show as far as granting a wish. There wasn’t really a need to do anything fancy, she could make a rock heal like the wish stated. But where was the fun in that? After a brief pause she nodded as she had an idea as she responded.
”As you wish…” Putting a hand out palm open and placing the other over it she moved them apart. As she did a small rod of onyx materialized, about four inches tall. Holding it carefully in one hand she swirled a finger around it and a golden snake formed, wrapping itself around the rod. Both were pretty standard symbols of healing so it seemed fitting. Due to the amount of magic being held within it had a soft yellow glow to it. Presenting it to Suwako she bowed slightly.
”...so it shall be.”Suwako gingerly took the rod. She could immediately feel the power swirling inside it the moment her hand touched its surface. She examined it for a short while, somewhat fascinated by the soft yellow glow it possessed, before she stored the rod in her skirt’s pocket.
“Yep, I believe this should do,” Suwako said to the genie sisters.
Suddenly A barrage of texts hit Alicia phone, all from Penny.
’Get here now!’ Said the first, it was followed by
’Laat just showed up’ then a picture of the mentioned God towering over the previously pictured ship.
Her phone suddenly lit up, drawing Alicia away from the outcome of Suwako’s wish. Two texts and then a picture, leaving Alicia a bit more worried than she had been before. If Laat had shown up to lend a hand then this might be more important than she had initially anticipated.
‘Be there soon,’ she replied with a restrained sigh.
Slipping the phone away, she looked to her ally. “I guess Penny found us a new potential ally for the big fight. She wants to meet us back at the train station.” It would be a bit of a trip, but no worse than the trip to get here.
Thanks to her Third Eye, Sakura didn’t need to be told that something was up. A god showing up in an area was a pretty dead giveaway for the magical girl. Of course at the moment it didn’t mean much to her.
“Alright, let’s go there right away then,” Suwako replied.
Alicia nodded before turning to the Djinn Sisters. “I think I’ll hold to my other wishes for now. You never know when that of thing might come in handy. Thank you for the artifact though. I’ll make sure to use it well.”
“Of course, haven't met anyone who wanted to use all three wishes right at the get go yet, so don’t worry about it.” Violet said waving away Alicia thanks.
Alicia gave the duo a grateful smile before moving to depart with Suwako. “Alright. I look forward to meeting you two again.” With that she took her leave as she headed back for the train station. That had gone well. She was just left to wonder what else the day had in store.
