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Olivia looked ridiculous. She was sure of it.
She didn't dare look in the mirror, but she was sure she looked absolutely, totally, ridiculous.
Today was the day she was going to accept her girlfriend's dare. Wear the yellow blouse and the yellow skirt she got for her birthday and go to the shopping arcade with her. It was Wednesday. It was supposed to be Saturday but Olivia couldn't muster the nerve. It was the first time in over 5 years that Olivia had worn anything fancier than that stupid-ass Future's Promise school uniform. And even that wasn't as bad as this.
Ridiculous.
As Olivia approached the arcade she ran her fingers through her hair under her stocking cap. It had finally grown back. Behind the ears, just long enough and thick enough to comb. Long enough to dye. That was tomorrow's project. Today was going to the store to get the dye. And to watch her girlfriend got her nose pierced.
Olivia's cheeks turned pink as she saw Candi wave to her. As she drew closer she could see the barely contained, giddy glee in Candi's eyes and the rose in her cheeks. And the yellow sun hat she was wearing.
"OLIVIA! YOU LOOK WONDERFUL!" Candi once again fought her urge to hug Olivia in a public place.
"Yeah yeah, do not get used to it. You better go through with the piercing."
"Of course of course, that's the deal." Candi practically giggled. Olivia could tell something else was up. Something sinister.
"Ok Candi what the fuck gives with the hat?"
"It's a sun hat silly. It keeps the sun out of your eyes."
"Why is this the first time I've seen you wear it?"
"Well we don't really go outside that much and..." Candi began to stammer..."and, and I thought..."
"Oh fuck no Candi, fuck no."
"Heck YES! That stocking cap you're wearing clashes terribly with the rest of your outfit."
"This wasn't part of the deal Candi!"
"Of course not. I'll still get my nose pierced regardless. You have been a very good sport and I commend for moving this far out of your comfort zone. I just thought...maybe...you'd want to complete the ensemble. That's it. That's my pitch. Say no again and you'll hear no more from me!" Candi mustered up her largest grin and projected it at Olivia, whose first instinct was to drop one more 'no' and hope Candi was good for her word. But her second impulse...
"Ok Candi. But you're upping the stakes here so I have a condition."
"Uh-oh." Candi sincerely did not think Olivia would come back with another condition. She knew for sure she wasn't ready to get a tattoo.
"So I have to go to the drug store to get hair dye."
"uh-huh."
"So what's to say I get two kits and after this we go to my place and you dye your hair black with me?"
Candi was relieved. "That's it? I can do that. You're on." Candi said as she offered the sun hat to Olivia.
"Not here. In the bathroom. In one of the stalls."
"I've seen your hair Olivia, you don't sleep with the stocking cap on."
"No...but" Olivia waved her arms around indicating their general area. Olivia didn't want anybody to see her hair, not even herself, so she had to change somewhere with no mirrors, like a bathroom stall.
"Oh right. Don't take too long."
Olivia didn't take too long. Luckily she didn't bump into anybody in the small span of time she had her eyes closed from the moment she left the stall to the moment her peripheral vision was protected from the mirror's reflection. Upon leaving the first thing she saw was Candi, who was positively vibrating with joy.
"Sooooo adorable! You have no idea how adorable you are right now."
"No I don't because I closed my eyes. Come on, let's get this over with. Drug Store, Tattoo Parlor, then we eat, then back to my place where we kiss your blondeness goodbye."
"Worth it!" Candi then got a silly idea in her head. "Ooh ooh Olivia can I see your stocking cap?"
"Why?" She said, handing it to Candi. The question was quickly answered as Candi put it on. Or at least put it on as well as her cluster of hair would allow.
"How do I look?"
"Like somebody who has to tie their hair back if they want to wear a stocking cap."
The trip to the drugstore was wholly unremarkable, as trips to the drugstore usually are. Olivia even briefly forgot how uncomfortable she was in the checkout counter because the appointed hour was nigh. The time was closing in.
"You nervous?"
"Nope!"
"Really? You're not just putting on a brave face?" Olivia had to admit that Candi's gung-ho spirit was sapping a little of the fun out of this. But only a little.
"Nope! Let's get me a nose ring!"
"You do have the ring with you right?" Olivia said, having just realized that at no point had she actually seen the ring at any point in this outing.
"The ring? Oh...oh...um..." As Candi patted her pockets blood rushed to Olivia's eyes. "Oh you mean this ring?" Candi said puckishly as she plucked Olivia's birthday gift to her out of her front pocket.
"You are a such a fucking brat sometimes." Olivia playfully jabbed. Candi only reacted with her innocent smile.
Olivia was nowhere near sick of seeing it yet.
The tattoo parlor wasn't busy so Candi was able to be fit right in. Unfortunately in her haste Olivia didn't stop to consider one very important thing.
"Holy shit Power Weapon is that you?"
Olivia's heart stopped. Why the fuck did I choose to do this here? This is where I got all my piercings and tattoos. They fucking know me here. They can see me. in this silly dress.
"What's with the getup girl?" The artist was a woman in her early 30s with full sleeve tattoos on both arms and a red pixie cut. She looked at Olivia with bemusement. Olivia could not bring herself to respond.
"It's dare night!" Candi swooped in to save the day. "I dared her to wear the dress, she dared me to do this."
Olivia regained some semblance of composure. "Yup! That's what this is all about! Wouldn't wear this nonsense otherwise."
Candi bit her lip in sarcastic indignation "Oliva I got you those clothes for your birthday..."
The tattoo artist's eyes lit up in surprise. "You're letting people call you by your civvie name now?"
"Uhhhh...yeah. After I lost my powers going by my magical girl title felt more and more wrong as time moved on."
"And who's this girl getting the piercings anyway? Your girlfriend."
Olivia was taken aback; despite knowing that the tattoo artist was just taking the piss she had no idea how to reply. A simple yes might have sufficed; it was obviously the truth and all. But Olivia still grappled with the idea of Candi being her girlfriend, given that it had barely been a week and a half since the phrase was first used in their relationship. Plus, this was in sense where Power Weapon was born. The tattoos, the piercings, so much of what made Omnipotence Smith Power Weapon happened here. Power Weapon wouldn't respond to such a bit of snark by just answering 'yes', she'd get in her face about it, show her whose boss. It wouldn't be the first time. But she wasn't Power Weapon anymore. She was trying so hard to make her peace with the fact that she wasn't Power Weapon anymore. Power Weapon was dead. But in this place she stirred in her grave.
Seeing Olivia blank out once more, Candi again took the reigns.
"Yup! I'm Candice. I used to be a magical girl too. Used to be her partner in fact."
Olivia really wished Candi hadn't tacked on that last part.
"Holy shit you were Power Pop! Power Weapon and Power Pop are dating? No shit. I always got the impression you hated each other."
Olivia's face was turning beet red out of embarrassment. Candi looked indignant.
"Wait, why would you think I hated her?"
"Well....um...given what a hellion she was I just assumed you...looked down on that. Or something. Shit I don't know. Sorry."
Olivia's patience was wearing thing and she could feel a bit of Power Weapon in her.
"For fuck's sake Julie can we just get my girlfriend her fucking piercing so I can get out of here and stop looking like I'm auditioning to be Outrageous Banana!"
"Pffft, even in that dress you're still too cool for those poseurs Power."
"Hey hey Julia, they still fight the fucking fight out there."
"Ok yeah true. Fair enough. So let's get Little Miss Power Pop set up to be one of us bad girls shall we?" Julie said as Olivia desperately tried to cover up her excitement. "Ok Candi, we doing right, left or septum?"
"Septum?"
"That's the middle of your nose." Julie took obvious amusement at Candi not knowing what a septum piercing was.
"People do that?"
"Oh yeah. Surprised your girlfriend never got one."
"I didn't wanna look like a fucking cow."
"I don't really want to look like a cow either so I think I'll go...right."
"Ok, right it is. You got a ring picked out?"
"Right here. Olivia got it for my birthday." Candi said as she dug back through her pockets.
"Ooooh, fancy. So is calling Power Weapon 'Olivia' just something you can do or can anybody do it?"
Olivia was the one to speak up.
"It's a long story Julie. You can call me either or, I don't really give a shit"
"Good to know Power, thanks."
"Were you talking to her or me?" Olivia could see Candi's grin appear once more.
"Good to know....Weapon." After getting that out of her system Julie ran Candi through the process and grabbed her tools. A few seconds later and it was done.
'Was that it?"
"Yup, probably nothing for somebody who spent their teen years getting knocked around by monsters." Julia said handing Candi a mirror.
"Ooooh, it looks so pretty." Candi handed the mirror back to Julie as she stood up. What do you think Olivia?"
Fireworks erupted in Olivia's heart as she got a closer look. "Candi that looks so..." Olivia couldn't help herself. The only other person here was Julie and she already knew what was up so she did what her heart bade her to do; she kissed her newly adorned girlfriend. It was warmth and light, but mingled with fire and hunger.
"Holy fucking shit, I'm watching Power Weapon and Power Pop kiss in my fucking store."
"Yeah yeah you got the big fucking scoop Julie, keep it under your lid. I'm not anybody anymore and nobody else gives a shit anyway."
"Hey, Power Weapon weren't no flavor of the month. There are magical girls and there are fucking legends. The kinda people you spoke to, we arn't the kind of people to forget easily."
Olivia could feel Power Weapon trying to break free of her mausoleum. She never did the magical girl for the recognition of others. In fact given a rule she would have rather avoided people's gaze. But she couldn't help but enjoy being called a 'legend'.
"So anyway were you two hooked up the whole time or..."
Candi replied before Olivia could shut the topic down. "It's a recent thing."
"Yup, a recent thing that sure is our business. So we're gonna square up and get out so I can put on some real clothes."
Julie got in one more question before Olivia was able to usher Candi out.
"So, we ever gonna see you at the 201 again?"
"...Uh...maybe. Not if Pink..." Olivia looked over and saw Candi and knew she'd pitch a fit if she used the band's street name. She didn't like that word. "Posse is there."
"Still pissed at them?"
"Sorta. More I lost all respect for them. Well, Sheri in particular" Olivia said, referring to the wild front woman of the band.
"You knew what she was like. What pissed you off that night?"
"She made a song mocking the Team Alchemical deaths before the bodies were cold. She saw three dead girls and decided to use it to push the envelope. Maybe when I was younger I would have gone along with it, but I grew up and she should too."
"Fat chance of that. She gives a fuck about exactly nothing. Anyway, you should go a night when they arn't on. You can bring your girlfriend."
Olivia couldn't help but feel Julie's smile burn the back of her head as they left.
"So Olivia do you want to do something in the food court?" Candi said as her usual effervescent self.
"Let's do Diney's. But I want a booth. The court is too open for me right now." Olivia said, desiring as little human interaction as possible after dealing with Julie.
"Oooooh is the legend bristling from too much attention?"
"Can we not?"
"Ok ok, I'll stow it for now." Candi gave that grin again. She was having way too much fun with this. "Diney's it is!"
Luckily Diney's was able to accommodate Olivia's need for a measure of privacy and found them a booth with nobody around. Which wasn't terribly difficult since they weren't very busy.
"Have you given any thought to what you're going to eat, Olivia?"
"Maybe a burger."
"But the burgers here are so big. You never finish half of one."
"Then you can finish it for me as usual."
"I am not your garbage disposal missy!" Olivia couldn't help but grin at Candi's playful indignity.
Just then, as if by kismet a most heavenly aroma wafted by their table.
"Pancakes" Stars lit in Candi's eyes.
"Damn those do smell good. Maybe I'll skip the burger and get me one of those."
"PANCAKE DATE!" Candi raised her arms exuberantly.
Soon enough a waitress would appear, a lady of some 40 years who looked like she had been doing this sort of thing for a long time.
"So what are we having tonight?"
"PANCAKES, PAN-CAKES!" Candi said, apparently taking great joy in acting like an 8 year old.
"Okay then what do you want on your pancakes?" the waitress said, somewhat amused by the display.
"Peanut butter, chocolate chips and whipped cream."
"You got it. And for you."
"Also pancakes. Plain."
"Anything else?"
"I want a vanilla milkshake." Candi's childishness continued, just at a lower volume.
"Ooooh I kinda do too but I never finish them."
"Can we get two straws?"
"I can do that. It'll be out soon." The waitress said, walking away.
"You seem happy. I mean happier than usual." Candi's behavior had not gone unnoticed by Olivia.
"I have every reason to be happy. Pancakes, nose piercings and a date with a legend."
"Stop."
"I did stop, for 15 minutes. Now tell me; how does it feel to be a legend?"
"Never mind what Julie said. She's a ballbuster and just wanted to stir trouble." Olivia said, hoping to end the conversation sooner rather than later.
"Does this '201' have anything to do with being a legend."
"The 201 is a thing of the past, so isn't me being a legend."
"She still seemed to think you're a legend." Candi latched on to this weird new thing she never knew about Olivia and wasn't about to let go. "So what is the 201?"
"It's a concert venue."
"You went to concerts? Without me?" Candi didn't really seem hurt but she was obviously having a fun time pantomiming it.
"Even if I brought you places back then the 201 is not somewhere I would have brought you. It's a hole. Rowdy crowds, hardcore music. Not somewhere Team Forte would play if you get my drift. Stuff like Bad Foundation, Pink Posse, Monster in the Wall, Dead Black Eyes, you get the drift."
"Oh, it's your music." Candi looked slightly deflated. One thing Olivia and Candi didn't seem to have any sort of accord on was their taste in music. Candi thought Olivia's music was 'mean and gross'. She was objectively right. "Wait a minute I just remembered something. That interview we did. Like the last one we did as Team Power. For that little magazine 10PM. You accused the interviewer of doing a naughty thing at the 201."
Olivia could only smirk. "Yeah...yeah."
"It's a good thing she didn't get offended!"
"I knew she wouldn't Candi. This wasn't another Daylight Spotlight thing. I knew of her from the 201. She was part of the scene. We weren't friends or anything but I knew she was the sort to roll with it...especially since she actually did it."
Candi audibly gasped. "How do you know that?"
"I found myself backstage a lot. I saw things."
Candi had another question on her mind. She decided she didn't want to know the answer to. Instead she opted to continue her original line of questioning.
"So wait, were you a legend at the 201?"
"I mean...sorta. Like, it ain't the kind of place that draws Magical Girls. And it ain't the kind of place that draws fans of magical girls. Unless that magical girl is the type to go apeshit on Daylight Spotlight if you get my drift. So when I went there I was kind of a...local celebrity. The bands dedicated songs to me, got my drinks for free..."
Candi was aghast "DRINKS?"
"...soda." Olivia meekly replied "And once or twice, a fight started there."
"Olivia, please tell me you didn't fight people while transformed. That is super serious."
"Didn't have to. Once I transformed things settled down. They might not have thought much of magical girls but they all knew better than to fuck with one."
"Did that happen with this 'Sheri' lady?"
Olivia looked embarrassed. "No I um...I started that one. See Pink Posse, their whole thing is like a gross satire of magical girls. They wear outfits that make them look like they could be magical girls but they're all cut-up and dirty. They sing...some pretty nasty stuff about magical girls and society. Sometimes it lands, like when they shit on companies for exploiting teenagers..."
"Sounds like my dad." Candi's expression became neutral.
"And sometimes they shit on magical girls themselves. By name. The last time I was at the 201 was the um...same night the Alchemical tragedy was on the news. They sang about it. The song was basically about..."
"I don't need to know the details." Candi looked blue, almost like she was going to start crying.
"Jumped on the table and called them out in the middle of the set. Anybody else would have just been bounced. But I was me. Sheri Bomb, the lead singer, bailed from the set and came at me."
"So did she back down when you transformed?"
"No um because...that was the first time I went there after losing my powers. The bouncers and the other members of the band kept us apart. Good thing in hindsight. Sheri Bomb is legit crazy. She would have fought me even if I transformed. And well, I didn't realize it at the time but without my powers, she would have wrecked me."
"Oh no. Is that why you haven't been back?"
"No, not really. I mean even if I did I wouldn't see them but that isn't it. I don't really want to go back there Candi. I don't feel right there anymore. I'm not the legend anymore and I don't want that kind of attention. It's the past"
Candi thought for a moment before responding.
"Alright then. No more of that! Never mind days gone! Time for DAYS HERE! Pancake days! Piercings days! Being IN LOVE days!" Candi bent over in the booth, grabbed Olivia's sun hat and pulled her head over for a kiss. A nice kiss. The warmth of gentle sunlight and the smell of ionized air once the rain had stopped.
"I think I like In Love days."
Candi just smiled. Not the puckish grin that implied she was doing something mischievous. The sunny, genuine display of joy that warmed Olivia's skin and made her acutely aware of her heartbeat. Not soon after the pancakes arrived.
It did not take long for Olivia to hit her limit.
"Oh shit, I made a mistake. These things are way too rich for me." Olivia blanched as she pushed what was left of her pancake away from her.
"Olivia there's still like 2/3rds of a pancake here. You eat like a bird I swear to goodness."
"Oh man even the smell of your pancake is gross right now. How are you actually eating that?"
"Oh you know me, nothing is too rich for me."
"So do you want the rest of my pancake?"
"No...I think this one will be enough. Milkshake? We can both drink from it at the same time like couples do in those old-timey photos" Candi asked as she pushed a cup with 2 straws in it towards Olivia.
"Damn, nope."
"Aw foo." Candi said as she drank from the cup using both straws.
Chatter about food and music filled the void as they waited for the check and soon they were on their way out of the arcade.
".... The Umbra are classic old school. I have their albums but they broke up years ago. Wish I could have seen them in person..." As Olivia tried to explain her love of underground punk and metal music to Candi she didn't realize that they were walking towards the front of the mall. And in their distraction they both forgot about an important part of the arcade's design. Unlike the east entrance they came in through the columns holding up the arcade near the main entrance had an aesthetic addition the ones to the east did not have.
They were mirrored.
By the time Olivia once again became aware of her surroundings it was too late. Her graze met that of a young woman in the mirror, adorned in yellow. It would have been an easy thing to close her eyes and move on, at least hypothetically but there was something hypnotic about gazing into her eyes.
She's beautiful. Who is she. That's not me who is she? She is such a girl that one. Coming home from the debutante ball that one. That would look good on me but I don't dress like that. That's how good girls dress. That's how the good little girls who love The Founder and love their parents dress. That's not how I dress. I would look silly dressed li...
"NICE HAT DORK!"
A sensation hit the back of Olivia's head as her view was momentarily blocked. Teenagers. Boys with nothing better to do than knock a lady's hat off as they were passing by.
Nobody would dare do that to Power Weapon. Remind them who the fuck you are.
Olivia turned around and screamed so loud the entire food court could hear
"FUCK OFF YOU SHITTY LITTLE ASSHOLES!"
The shitty little assholes gave a double-fingered salute as they blended into the crowd.
They did you a favor. You are free of her gaze. The thought crossed Olivia's mind as she gazed into a new crowd of gawkers. But a stronger thought emerged. A song without words, stirring her soul, compelling her to turn around...and look. A siren's song sending her to the rocks. The call of the void weaving its words into weapons to shatter her ego. She wasn't strong enough, the compulsion was too great. She couldn't not look.
Congratulations Olivia, you're the girl your makers always wanted you to be. So pretty, so elegant. The perfect representation of girlhood. You failed. Your every attempt to be everything your makers didn't want you to be failed. In the end they got their way. No wait that's wrong that's completely wrong they didn't want a perfect girl they wanted a goddess. My hair is too short and I still have my piercings and my tattoos and a yellow dress and yellow hair doesn't make me their doll! All I have to do is tear this rag off and never look at it again and dye my hair and go back to the way it was and go back to being 'me' and I'm so pretty and even if I did that I'm still letting them define me and telling me what I can and can not look like just in reverse. They define me no matter what I do or how I look they define me. They define me and they rule me and there's no es...
Olivia's hyperfixation was interrupted by her view of the mirror being cut off, this time by a wool blindfold and the sensation of something being put on her head.
"You ok Olivia?" Candi said as she put Olivia's stocking cap back on, pulling it down hard past her eyes. "No more mirrors for you tonight." She draped her arm around Olivia's shoulders and guided her past the display and out of the arcade. Olivia didn't answer until they were outside.
"Uh...I don't know. I don't know what happened. I think this was too much Candi. The dress, the hat. Too much. I'm not her. I'm not this. This is too far. I shouldn't look like this."
"You look beautiful."
"I know but I'm not supposed to..." Olivia paused. She couldn't figure out the words. She couldn't figure out the world. She felt vulnerable. She felt like the world was staring at her. She wanted to turn invisible. They couldn't see her like this. It wasn't allowed. There was no legend in that mirror. "Candi...you should go home. I think I need a little time alone tonight. I need to feel like me again. I think that's it."
"But what about the hair dye? It wouldn't be right not to honor our arrangement."
"I can't do dye right now. I can't. I can't even do my own. I need to do it I'm not supposed to be like this. Forget that dare Candi. It was a stupid dare. Your hair is gorgeous just the way it is and dying it black would be dumb. It was just some stupid thing I came up with on the spot. So please just go home. I'll be ok just please go home. I love you but please go home. I'll see you in a day or two."
"Are you sure?"
Olivia nodded.
"At least call me tonight. Or at least pick up the phone."
"Ok. Please don't think it's you. It's not you I love you and it's not you ok."
"I pushed you too hard."
"No no you didn't. You pushed and I pushed and we made a day of it and it's nobody fault. And up until now it was a fun day. I love you ok." Olivia went to move in to kiss her goodbye but then realized there are people watching so she wandered off to the southbound train station, eager to go somewhere without the eyes of the world gazing upon her.
But the thing is...sometimes when a legend screams at the top of their lungs in a crowded area it attracts attention.
"Did you hear that?"
"I think everybody heard it."
"No no...that sounded like Power Weapon. The Power Weapon."
"Really?" To Elizabeth Greene, or the magical girl Stitch Witch as she is known, the presence of Power Weapon did not constitute a reason to get up from what was left of her pizza.
"Yes!" The same did not apply to her sister and huge Power Weapon fan Maria aka Shadow Witch.
"Ok, neat." Elizabeth tried to downplay the situation, hoping Maria would get bored or give up. It was in vain.
"I don't see her anywhere." Maria said, moving towards the source of the disruption.
"And you're going to ask her for an autograph after that?"
"Yes! This is my chance! If I can find her." Maria scanned around looking for somebody who might look like her hero in street regalia.
Elizabeth didn't really want to get involved but she also knew she didn't want her sister wandering off looking for her idol.
"Damn it I don't see her anywhere." Maria quickly looked around, her hope giving into despair quickly until she got a quick glimpse at somebody's reflection in that mirror. "...holy shit."
"What?"
"That girl in the yellow dress. I think she has a bunch of face piercings. Elizabeth...I think that's her." Before Maria could get another look the companion of the girl in the dress covered her head in a stocking cap and started to gingerly lead her out of the mall. "That girl she's with. Her hair style looks exactly like Power Pops'"
"Maria, I'm not exactly the Power Weapon fan you are but you shoved enough of her stuff at me over the years to know that she's not the type to wear yellow dresses or hang out with her partner in public, they're nothing alike."
"Yeah I don't get it but that has to be her. Get your pizza to go Elizabeth and catch up because I'm following her."