Black Date

Black has always been good on me. Not sure why everyone thinks that, but it's what I was given constantly since nobody else would wear it. It's just something that I've gotten used to, and if it fits me then it works fine. The problem is being in southern California during...
No, it doesn't even need to be spring or summer. It's hot year round, which is partly why I'm second-thinking this "date". It's not even as much of a date as it is walking around downtown with somebody else; the only problem is that this peculiar "somebody else" has been quite fond of me ever since I got into this magical girl thing.
But I'd best not start getting on the track on not keeping my word. I know where that leads people.
No long hair to brush, no fancy shoes or clothing to wear, no makeup to spend fruitless hours upon and I've got all my belongings in my bag. Much quicker than the stereotype we're usually given, though I think I'm breaking a lot of them already. One last look at the empty, barren room to confirm that everything is put away and fine, and I'm out the door.
Out into the streets where Izzy waits for me.

I heard from her of the incident last night; Gina found a witch barrier in the slums and asked her for help. They got it down together but Gina was noticeably... shaken from the whole ordeal. I'm worried about her as much as she is, but I've also been with Gina enough to know she can get through this on her own. I can tell she's stronger than she thinks she is; she constantly shrugs off big accomplishments as foolish endeavors and dangerous risks she took, but never acknowledges her own power.
Maybe that's one thing the cat freak is trying to-
"Ah, Sami~! You're here!" I'm immediately flanked from starboard by a large woman and her chest, and there's nothing I can do to resist it.
"I did say i would come..." She giggles and ruffles my hair, hate it when she does that, Gina does it at least with some dignity.
"But it's always so tense until I see you keeping to your word! I was almost expecting you to stay home and be like 'oh, i forgot about today' or 'sorry, i'm feeling a bit sick today'." She's grabbing my shoulders tightly at this point, probably imagining me pulling something along those lines right now and trying to get away.
"If I did that you would probably just raid my house." Any resistance I put up to push myself away from her leads to nothing, so I just change the subject. "So, where are we going first?"
"So eager to start are you~?" Now she begins acting like a child; nearly hopping on her feet as she takes my hands and begins walking. "Then we're going this way!"

"Is Gina doing alright?" I wanted to contact her myself in the morning but I remembered that she's usually one to sleep in. Usually wakes up at around one in the afternoon, strange girl.
"She's been better, but this isn't her worst either. She'll be fine so don't worry about her." The head patting is completely unnecessary. "It's so nice that she has a friend like you around~."
Hmm? "I thought -we- were her friends."
"Oh? I saw myself more like a tutor and mentor for Gina than anything else. If she sees me as a friend then that's fine, so long as I get a few gifts every now and then~." She gleefully chimes this while getting uncomfortably close to me.
"Hey, the closer you get to me, the more people are going to stare." Doesn't even help that people are looking at us in the first place, and not just -her-.
"Oh, they can stare all they want, so long as nobody lays a hair on my Sami~."
Brilliant.
"Ah, we're here!"

"Didn't have any better ideas I assume?" I question Izzy after we sit down at a table at this... lunch place. They don't even serve full-on meals, just some sandwiches, soup and tea. They don't even offer grilled cheese sandwiches or anything unhealthy.  I don't think this would be too great of a place to bring someone for a date.
"I personally think you're starting to run a bit dry on your offensive remarks..." Ah, a bit of her more serious side showed itself. But just as quickly she's back to her happy state. "But~, I decided on this because I didn't want to show off for my first date. That can come later~."
First... date?
"So you plan on dragging me out more often in the future?"
"Whenever possible!" Izzy chimes happily as she squeezes... me a bit to... closely...
God damn it this is just like the classic anime thing where-
"Ah- hey!" I finally manage to wriggle free after lightly jabbing her sides, though her reaction was more, laughter? May be ticklish...
"Ah, haha! Don't, save this for later!" Watching this full-grown woman lose herself over my actions...
Maybe I should stop.

"Here, aaaaaahn~."
"It's soup, I don't think you can do it like that. Plus it's really hot, I can't stand anything liquidity and scaldingly hot like coffee and hot tea."
Of course, she doesn't listen to me and continues on her attempt to feed me -her- food. She got a regular broccoli soup while I opted for a sandwich, and it's led to a situation with her holding out a spoon to me across the table while I'm already biting down on a sandwich. She should get the point right now, if she was any normal person. But of course, this is -her-.
"Come on Sami, don't leave me hanging~." At this point I'm finding it impressive that she can hold her arm out steady for so long without spilling a drop. Vindicare training? I don't even know anymore.
"I'm not taking one drop of your soup until you taste it yourself. It's a waste of food." I can hear her groan in disappointment as I continue to eat my sandwich, but I eventually hear her beginning to drink her soup. Or is it eating her soup? It's technically food, right?
"Okay, I took a sip! Aaaaaaahhn~"
Help me. Please.

"You're just too cute to pass up with that! You should realize this by now how I'm gonna be with you~."
A long time ago I came to the conclusion that I was, indeed cute and decided to expand upon it. Now, I'm beginning to regret ever doing that, being held in her arms on a bench.
"That doesn't help, especially when you specifically take me to an empty park in the middle of the city. I'm this close to leaving you, and I'm sure most people my age with a brain would have ran away when they connected the dots."
"Oh, then why haven't you ran away yet, hmm~?"
You can answer that yourself with your arms and chest locking my head in place like a child.
I can't fault Izzy to a point, though. She did contract herself after one of her closest friends died. She couldn't protect her or something like that. I didn't care for specifics when I heard about it, but I know that she has me now as that special thing. As much as I don't really-
"This is cute and all but your playtime is over. Now."

I could feel Izzy immediately tense up, then let me go from her grasp. We both rise from the bench quickly to face another girl with a gang of men behind her. Nothing really flashy about her, though the clothes she wore had this "bad girl" feel about her. Not good situation right now.
"I don't think it would be wise for you to approach any further." Izzy speaks calmly, but I can tell she's not only irritated by the interruption but also doing her best to be threatening.
"Oh, please. Two flirty sparkies like you ain't my time. I can go back where I was for all that shit." Her tone shows she's up to something, and with everything the guys behind her have, I can feel my senses itching to lunge out and fight. But, as I've been taught by Gina, going second has its advantages. "Just came here to make a little point to ya. And ya." She states by pointing to us both.
"And that'd be?" I speak before Izzy can. I'm far less intimidating than her, but the two of us together should send a stronger message.
"You can't win what you and your little group of friends are getting into. The UAA is always gonna come out of top, no matter how hard you sparkies fight back. Hope ya took your history class to learn that!"
"I don't know what conflict you're talking about." Izzy hisses at them. She's switched now; I can see it in her face. "But I will do whatever it takes to defend my friends!"
"Oh, so words aren't enough? Okay then." She turns around and walks away, the mob parting itself for her. "Show them what I mean. I'm done here."

They ran. Once the order was given they ran blindly to us, holding swords, bats, knives, batons and all sorts of weapons. The lucky ones were immediately killed with the first round of Izzy's projectiles.
"Go Sami!"
Then it was my turn. It took less than a second to transform, and the next moment my ribbons flew out to the closest targets. Razor sharp edges parry away any threatening advances and cur through their skin. Blood flies and stains my dress but I manage to see though the crowd, and there's a lot more coming.
"There's more coming!" I warn Izzy as she readies more knives and builds up her power. Her... projectiles, as I can't tell if they're even knives anymore, pierce right through the clothes and flesh of everyone that comes in its path, then bends its direction once nobody was left in its path.
It clicks again within me, that instinct trained into Eversors. Or maybe it's just me, but as my vision fades into combat, my legs, arms and ribbons knowing where to move, I know this battle has been won.

We're both nearly out of breath as the dust settles. In the end more came than we were expecting. But considering how they fought us, they weren't trained to be fighting magical girls. I have a few nicks and scratches as does Izzy but in the end it turned out a lot better than it could have been.
"Call Gina, she should be at HQ." I keep a lookout of the surrounding area. There's no telling if this was her true assault or just a fluke to hit us harder later."If this 'conflict' is coming, the officio would be talking about it." I hear Izzy working with the phone and beginning to call her.
"Gina, this is Izzy. You alright? We were just attacked by some people from the UAA and-" Izzys expression freezes as she listens on the other side.
"What is it?" They're well gone by now so I let my guard down.  Izzy nods and replies with a "Take care then" before ending the call. "I think I know now why this is happening." She turns to me with the news.
"Wendy Cooldown is dead."