Memory Moths

Memory Moths- These magical creatures are parasites of feeling and thought, and are attracted to intense emotions or gatherings of people. Strangely, and worryingly, they will preferentially target magical girls over normal humans when
feeding.

Outside of the Overcity, they can only survive when exposed to direct moonlight, and soon wither or die if they are cut off from them. They appear to be massive, hand-sized moths, as their name suggests, with silvery, furred, powdery bodies, and "eye" patters on their wings whose coloration can be any human eye color, depending on their original host.

They reproduce by stealing the thoughts and memories of their host. A single memory moth brushing someone's hair can lead to a moment of forgetfulness. If the victim lingers, more and more moths will flutter around her like true moths attracted to a street lamp, taking more and more memories, thoughts, and emotions. In extreme cases, the luckless magical girls have been known to no longer remember anything other than their current situation, not even their own name. In cases of just a few memory moths, simply killing the moth and letting the victim breathe in the powder it leaves behind is enough to restore the lost memory. If a girl's fallen victim to a swarm, bringing as many of the swarm's bodies as can be found to a healer for preparation into a magical tea is the only reliable way to restore her lost memories.

Unscrupulous magical girls have been known to use memory moths as a tool to aid in assassinations of rivals or as a means of brainwashing, as they can quickly render even the most magically powerful girls helpless if they are caught unawares. They are less effective against girls and monsters of a more inhuman nature, and are rare outside the Overcity's deepest depths. There are stories of memory moths swarming in great clouds into the outside world during the full moon and solstice in the distant past, but few girls pay these stories much mind.