[X] Cut in with Sayaka: It ties into some different, deeply personal things for Homura. I'm not saying not to ask her, or that she should or shouldn't answer, because that's not my place. I'm just saying it's connected to a lot of other, really heavy things for Homura, so that you know just how big of a question you're asking her. So that if she doesn't want to answer, you'll know why. Then pull back a moment so Homura can decide whether she wants to get into that, knowing that Sayaka shouldn't be offended if she declines to answer. (If she does, break vote here, because that'd be huge!)
-[X] Subtext: I have just been talking about really deep personal history knowledge for Oriko of all people, so my being protective of Homura on this subject ought to be quickly tied to that, to help reinforce that Sayaka's question is bigger than she thinks it is.
I have to confess, I'm not quite sure that this part of the vote is the best idea. Sabrina can probably get away with letting Homura deflect on her own, or giving a quick "that's not my secret to tell", but making a big deal of it feels kind of like putting up a giant neon sign. That may actually be your intent here, though, going by the parentheses, but that feels like dodging the issue again. Homura wants answers / explanations, not a detour to explain her issues or power.
Also, it may cross the line from well-intentioned nudging to actively rejecting Homura's own preferences regarding information control. I'm pretty sure Sabrina has discussed with Homura about telling the others more regarding her power, and had the idea firmly rejected (3/31? pretty sure there was a second instance later). There may be room for a discussion later, on how much Sabrina should respect Homura's wishes there and how hard she should push to convince her, but I'd argue the time for that is very definitely not in the middle of another heavy conversation that's busy hammering on her trauma buttons.
A quick review of what Sayaka knows / could potentially think (with a preference for recent knowledge):
- Homura's magic involves stopping time.
- Sabrina also implied that Homura's base enchantment involves protection, which is borne out by her forcefield rock.
- A magical girl's Wish can be quite heavily tied to their powers (see: Sayaka, Sabrina, Oriko)
- Sabrina's been
hammering pushing nudging Homura in Madoka's direction, in between scandalous amounts of handholding with Mami.
- Homura's really, really twitchy about Oriko and Kirika, despite the fact that Homura's not mentioning anything they actually did to her.
- Sayaka
doesn't know the exact timeframe (Oriko contracted on the 28th), but there's not a lot of room on it. Homura transfers in on the 25th, and giant hat hunting happened on the 31st, immediately after her apartment got burned down. So when did the Kures have the chance to hurt Homura as badly as they did her?
- Yuki implied that Homura basically appeared out of thin air, as far as the magical girl gossip rings are concerned. Which is apparently very unusual, since magical girls in the same weight class as Mami or Sabrina tend to be notorious.
- Sabrina's made it very clear that she has detailed knowledge regarding the history of other magical girls.
- She's also implied that this includes might have beens, or things that haven't happened yet (Asunaro, I think).
This is about the time when Sherlock Holmes would make his grand reveal, in a detective story. Fortunately, Sherlock Holmes is a cheating cheater who cheats, and Sabrina
probably doesn't have to worry about Sayaka putting it all together yet. (Though this brings up another ugly topic: what exactly happens when Sayaka finds a magical girl with the enhanced learning / mind powers she's looking for on one of Sabrina's
befriending goodwill trips?)
Anyway, the point I'm trying to get at is that Sayaka already has a lot of the information she'd need to figure out that Homura's wish was time travel, and not just time stop. If Sayaka figures it out on her own, that's fine. It might even be healthy for Homura to have someone else in on that secret. But I feel like going and heavily implying that the answer to Sayaka's question is a big deal that's heavily tied into Homura's other problems would be breaking the trust that Homura has in Sabrina to keep her secrets.