LNH20: Writer's Block Person #48: "The Witches' Ball"

[Drew Nilium]

Writer's Block Person is sitting behind a desk, wearing a purple vest with pink
question marks all over it, over a lavender blouse with a polka-dot bowtie.
They're smiling broadly at the camera and holding an envelope, which they tap
on the desk as they speak to us.

"That's right, it's time once again for the Writer's Block Mailbag, where we
respond to letters people have sent in!" They rip open the envelope and toss it
over their shoulder, unfolding the letter. "Today we have one from Mx. Jeanne
Morningstar of Real World Minus One. Cambot, put that up on still-store, would
you? ...oh, I don't have one of those. ...I'll just read it. Ahem!"

"Why is Writer's Block Person's costume purple when they're way more like the
pink magical girl in personality?"

Writer's Block Person gives the camera another cheesy smile. "Well, Jeanne,
there's a very good reason for that, and I believe it goes something like..."

====

A great clockwork system, made of enormous gears, turning unseen hands, telling
unknown time.

The pink magical girl stands on one of the gears. The purple magical girl
stands on another.

"Fate."

They begin with their backs to us.

"Destiny."

The gears turn.

"Unmei."

One turns forward, another turns back.

"That thing where something's gonna happen whether you like it or not."

Shot of the pink magical girl crouching on a gear, rotating towards the point
where the crushing teeth of two gears meet. Suddenly, the gears stop; the purple
magical girl has jammed her staff into them.

"Do I have the strength to leap off, to escape this inexorable destruction? This
safety is only a pause. If you stay and hold them back for me, you will be
crushed as well."

"You do not have to leap to escape. We can fall."

The pink one turns, and falls, tumbling thru the air.

She finds herself on a ballroom floor, the dancers turning in an intricate,
interlocking waltz, moving to some unheard beat, played by some unknown
orchestra. She is in the purple one's arms, and they join the dance.

"A genre is nothing but the patterns in narrative, and ourselves, watching as
they move and whirl."

They move and whirl, the same pattern as the other dancers, perfectly in sync.

"In this genre, purple is the color of destruction. Of change that destroys
patterns, destroys the world as we know it."

A dip where there was none before, then back to the dance.

"In this genre, pink is the color of creation. Of making a new pattern, a better
world than we had before."

The dip becomes part of the dance, re-synchronizing but for this alternative
step.

"Each of us could be either. But you've been trapped before, and again, in
patterns of your own making; you find it hard to escape from yourself."

The pink one steps to the beat of the music, but she tires, she is not sure she
can finish the waltz.

"I couldn't ask you to save me."

The band segues smoothly into a new movement, and the pace of the dance
quickens.

"I'm not here to save you."

Dancers sweat as they try to keep up with the pounding beat.

"I'm here to destroy you."

Around them, the grand waltz is coming apart, dancers stepping out of sync as
they try and fail to keep up with the beat.

"I'm here to break you to pieces. To give you something to create. Yourself."

Dancers collide with one another. The music becomes discordant. The air is hot
and the floor begins to break beneath their feet.

"uhhhhhhh oh boy"

The pink magical girl dances in desperation now, each step the step before the
abyss, avoiding it only through the arms around her, the hands holding hers...

The purple magical girl opens her hands, and the pink magical girl falls...

====

"...and beyond that, it's not my story to tell!"

Writer's Block Person waves at the camera. "Hope you enjoyed, and join us again
for the Writer's Block Mailbag, whenever we feel like it!"

====

Drew "Puella Magi Madoka Magica III: The Rebellion Story is a good movie and I
will fistfight people on this" Nilium