005 ~*~ Of blood, sweat, and tears

[notsogreatwall]

[ Toast was in the toaster, so it was time to fetch the mail! Meiling skipped out, humming tunelessly as she opened the box and pulled out... oh, that's quite a few letters. This was exciting!

She enters the house again, deposits what isn't for herself or Patchy on the coffee table, and then ascends the stairs. ] Miss Patchouli, we have mail! And

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[wizardoftheweek]

-Patchy exits her room in a panic.- My books! All of them are gone! We've been robbed!

[notsogreatwall]

Robbed!? [ She stops her search and rushes out to go over and look into the other room. ] Oh my--

How could that happen? That'd take a dozen trips... [ Small exaggeration, but still; it had been a LOT of things. ]

[wizardoftheweek]

I'll just use my tracking spell. They can't be far.

-... A whole lot of nothing happens for a good second.-

M-meiling... my magic...

[notsogreatwall]

[ She watches as Patchouli works her magic (literally).

...and waits...

And... nothing? She blinks. ] What's wrong? Are they far? Are the robbers blocking you somehow? [ Meiling puts a fist in her palm. ] They're really going to be in for it, now...

[wizardoftheweek]

My magic... it's gone.

[notsogreatwall]

W-what? But you--

And there---

[ Meiling furrows her brow. ] Why would it just... disappear? And your books, and... my hat? [ Well, at least it wasn't like when her powers were stripped mid-flight. That was kind of painful. ] Do you think the letters have anything to do with it? [ Coincidences? Mayfield? Nah. ]

[wizardoftheweek]

-Patchy quickly snatches one of the letters, opening it without hesitation.-

[notsogreatwall]

[ She turns on a heel to go back to the nightstand and open hers. Meiling is more or less skimming it after noticing it doesn't have content like the one that came with her cap.

....when she gets to the photos, she moves to sit down on the bed, but missed and ends up plopping down roughly on the floor, her face as white as the sheets. ] How-- What is this?

[wizardoftheweek]

-Patchouli's reaction... comes in a shriek.-

[notsogreatwall]

[ Meiling burst back into the hall so fast you could swear she would have come through the wall had she the power to. ] What happened?! What-- [ Oh. She sees the letter, and the confusion vanishes. It's the same as the one she just crumbled up in her fist in her rush to get out of the room. ]

[wizardoftheweek]

They... they... I...

No... No no... not again...

-Without another word, she pushes past Meiling and heads downstairs.-

[notsogreatwall]

[ There isn't time to ask more questions, but she is stopped in mid-thought as she realizes that Patchy actually physically moved her aside.

That's... never happened before. She bounds down after, taking steps in multiples, and reaches for her shoulder, the letter discarded from that hand. ] Miss Patchouli!

[wizardoftheweek]

Find Lady Flandre and hide. -Her voice was direct and stern. Far more so than it ever had been before.-

[notsogreatwall]

Hide? [ She flinched away from the tone momentarily, but recovered. ] I'm-- I'm not a coward! [ Meiling other fist was clenched tight. No, she might have avoided fights by happenstance before, but she did not hold her position by running and hiding. ]

What... are you going to do?

[wizardoftheweek]

What must be done... -And with that, she kept on moving, right to the garage.-

[notsogreatwall]

[ Why do her priorities have to be so conflicted right now? Yes, she needs to go secure Flandre because she can't trust that other household in a crisis like this...

--but right now, Meiling is moving to stand in the wizard's path, barring the door, with her arms folded under her chest. ] We don't...

They can't make us do anything. We can stay here. We'll be safe here. [ Her confidence wavers for a moment in light of the fear the letter instilled in her, like the legs of a chair bowing under a heavy weight. ] I'll make sure of that.