Rose was a collector. She had a shelving unit in her bedroom filled with trinkets, knickknacks, and figurines. The collection was carefully arranged so that prized objects were in front, easily seen. Most of them, anyway. Her most precious – and breakable – pieces were kept on the shelf high above her bed, out of reach of nosy little brothers. Most of these were cat figurines either of fragile glass or rare breeds. One object, however, was not like the others.
A snow globe. Snow globes were not something normally collected, but this one was special. So special, in fact, that Rose spent several minute every night before bed playing with it.
It was the song. It was familiar somehow, even though Rose would swear she had never heard it before. The song was soothing, especially after a long day of juggling school, family, and patrols. It had become a habit for her to pull the snow globe down fro its shelf and crank it several times before falling asleep. Tonight was no different.
Rose stood on her bed and gingerly removed the snow globe. Settling down on her bed, she pet Rajah, who had deigned to join her on her bed. She turned the globe over and twisted the little knob, holding it as she listening to the quiet melody. At first she didn’t notice anything different, not until Rajah butt his head against the snow globe. She was about to flick his ear, but stopped, her ears picking up on something.
Lifting the snow globe, Rose pressed her ear to it. It was fading, fading, gone, but she could have sworn that she heard… something. Someone.
~*~
Rose collapsed on her bed, exhausted. She had just enough energy to kick her shoes off and pull the blanket up over her head. Fighting youma in the snow, in a miniskirt, was cold, exhausting work. She had considered getting a mug of hot chocolate, but it was too much effort; she just wanted to sleep.
Sleep she did, but briefly. She was rudely awakened by Rajah, who had jumped on her chest. Rose blinked groggily, trying to figure out what was going on in her cat’s brain that made him decide to jump on her at this ungodly hour. Said cat was just sitting there, purring away, staring at something above her head. With a groan Rose gave up, rolled over – dislodging a now disgruntled cat – and decided to leave cat psychology to the morning.
~*~
Second verse, same as the first; well, similar anyway. Another night of patrolling in the cold led to Rose collapsing one her bed yet again. The only difference was that this time she hadn’t actually had to fight a youma, so she wasn’t quite as tired. In fact, she had managed to change into her pajamas, an accomplishment she felt quite proud of. Just before she pulled her blanket over her head, she glared at Rajah, who was sitting innocently in his cat bed.
“ Don’t wake me up.”
And then she went to sleep.
Of course, Rajah was a cat, and cats are not known for following orders. In the middle of the night, Rose was once again awakened by her cat jumping on her chest. This time, however, she could tell why.
Scrambling to her feet – Rajah was getting annoyed at his human throwing him off like this – Rose hurriedly grabbed the snow globe from the shelf. Flopping down on her bed, she held onto the snowglobe tightly.
‘ Be here soon? Be here soon…’
Rose chanced a glance at Raja, who had resumed watching the snowglobe. Rose believed the voice. Why not? She was a magical girl that used peppers to combat the forces of evil, and who was also acquainted with a talking cat. Strange women in snowglobes coming to visit Destiny City was not that far a stretch in comparison.
Setting the globe on her nightstand, Rose mentally cleared her calendar, making sure she’d be available to patrol that night. If this was really that blue-eyed girl, the one she had dreamed of, Rose would be damned if she missed her arrival.
