Your expression goes flat. Moderation. Moderation, you urge yourself as you fight the instinct to throw the creature out of the cafe. You don't want to sour negotiations right now, especially if Nadia likes Kyuubey.
Nadia's expression smooths out, sharp green eyes darting from you, to Mami, to Homura, and back to Mami. She blows out a sharp breath. "I see."
"
See what?" Kyuubey asks, pawing at the air like a cat trying to get its head scratched. It
would be endearing if it wasn't, well, Kyuubey.
"You should probably leave," Nadia tells it, picking it up by the scruff of its neck.
"Wait, actually, here-" You point, Grief marbles that were orbiting your finger zipping towards Kyuubey. Apparently divining your intentions, Nadia turns Kyuubey so that its back is facing towards you, the opening already shading towards the abyssal darkness you associate with its opening.
You slam the Grief marbles home. "Now go, Kyuubey," you say. "I insist."
"
Very well," Kyuubey says, tail lashing slowly. It affects a sigh as Nadia sets it on the floor and stalks away, tail waving slowly. "
Perhaps another time."
Nadia sighs, sitting back in her chair. She makes a disgruntled little gesture with the Soul Gem still held in her other hand. "You found out."
"We did," you answer for everyone, shifting your grip on Mami's hand to interlace your fingers. And... that doesn't feel like enough, so you bring your other hand across to cover her hand.
Mami makes a little noise, golden eyes turning to meet yours. You smile softly at her, tracing words on her skin.
It's alright. It can't hurt you any more.
I'm here.
You don't know whether she
notices, but... she relaxes, face softening into a smile. She blows out a slow breath and brushes back her hair drills before turning to face Bennouna again.
"We found out," Mami echoes, seeming to draw strength from your support and wrapping her composure around her once more. "I am... unhappy."
Nadia sets her fork down with a clink - she'd taken the opportunity to put her Soul Gem away and continue eating.
"All of you?" she asks, gesturing at the group.
"Yeah," Sayaka says, jaw tight. "We all know about our Soul Gems."
Madoka nods, twisting her fingers against each other.
"Mmm," Nadia says, making a peculiar, slashing gesture with her fingers and palm flat. "I understand. Shall we continue?"
You blow out a breath, glancing at Homura. Ironically, she seems the most
settled out of all of you, eyes flickering over to you a second. She nods infinitesimally before returning her attention to watching Madoka and scanning the area.
"Yes," Mami says, voice steady. "Let's continue. Sabrina, you were saying something, befo- You were saying something?"
You smile at Mami, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Yeah. As you can see, Nadia, I
can cleanse Soul Gems," you say.
"And y' want to trade it for my information, yes?" Nadia says with a nod. She taps her ring with one finger. "Cleansing my Gem for the length of my stay, but I leave your Witches alone?"
"Uh," you say. You actually hadn't thought of it in those terms, exactly. You were kind of thinking of it in terms of helping people in general, as opposed to use it as payment. "Well- um."
"What Sabrina means is that she wants you to help spread the news of what she can do," Mami says, cutting in smoothly over Sayaka's muffled snort.
"Ooooh," Nadia says, looking thoughtful. "Yeah, that's... Mmmm." She gesticulates with both hands, waving them back and forth in a see-saw motion. "You are trying to recruit people? For...."
She almost seems to savour the next word, rolling it about her tongue. "For Walpurgisnacht?"
"Only in part," Mami says. "Right, Sabrina?"
You pick up the conversation from Mami's cue, speaking slowly and picking your words carefully. "I don't just want to... hire, or recruit people. I want to help people, in general. Though yes, I'd be more than happy to keep your Soul Gem clean while you're in range of Mitakihara."
Nadia leans back, drumming her fingers thoughtfully on the table. "So where do I come in?"
"The news of what I can do
is going to get out," you say. "And if that's the case, I'd rather ride the wave than be swept along with it. What's happened in previous cases? Has anyone ever had anything similar before?"
"Mmmnm, 'riding the wave'..." She mutters the phrase in Darija before nodding. "Yes, I see. And magical girls like you..." She scowls. "Yes, and no. There have been girls who can transfer Grief, but you- you can purify your own Gem, yes?"
"Yep," you confirm, raising an eyebrow. "Go on?"
"It is... very very very rare," Nadia says, pinching the air with two fingers to demonstrate. "But there are girls who knew enough before they make their Wish, you understand? They make their Wish, but it is... impossible to have it free. The Grief has to go somewhere else. Either it goes into a Grief Seed, or it goes into a Soul Gem."
You cringe, the motion echoed by your friends. Even Homura seems a little perturbed. "That's horrible!" Madoka says.
"Isn't it?" Nadia says with a thin smile that has
nothing like humour in it. "It is enough. The kind of rumour of a girl who can cleanse Soul Gems, it inspires people, ay? Once or twice, people use that to, mm, ensnare people. I see it before, always ends badly. Always."
"It better not," Sayaka growls, folding her arms. "How can people
live with themselves like that?"
"They do not, mostly," Nadia says, gesturing open handed at Sayaka. "Some of them try to live peacefully. They hunt Witches and live, but it is the kind of rumour that goes around. The hope it inspires... ay, and then the disappointment and desperation that follows." She shrugs, closing her hand into a fist.
Sayaka grimaces unhappily. "But Sabrina isn't like that," she grumbles.
"Maybe, but it is hard to believe," Nadia says, tapping her chin. "I would not have come to Mitakihara if it were not Tomoe Mami telling me,
fimti?"
That earns Mami a grin from you. Mami is kind of a big deal and all.
"Thank you for extending me your trust," Mami says with a nod.
Nadia laughs. "This trip is more than enough payment for that," she says, eyeing you.
"So there's one more thing I should say," you note, leaning forward a little. "I can empty out Grief Seeds to turn them into Clear Seeds... actually, Sayaka, do you still have yours?"
A bit of a rhetorical question, considering you can sense that she
does in fact have the Clear Seed on her, but still. Sayaka blinks, and fumbles the Seed out of her pocket, balancing it on the tip of her finger. "Yeah, got it right here."
"May I?" Nadia asks, holding her hand out for the Seed. Sayaka hands it over.
"So these, um, I estimate that it might last a few hundred years on the
low end?" you say.
Nadia nearly drops the Clear Seed. "What?"
"Yeah, a few hundred," you say. "Though, well, I've only figured these out recently, and I have no idea if these work on long term like that. They might degrade over time or something, I don't know."
The Moroccan girl passes the Clear Seed back to Sayaka, handling it very gingerly. "I... see."
"I'm kind of interested in giving them out," you say. "And also in working out ways of doing this without having to use Grief Seeds at all-"
Nadia holds her hand up to stop you. "You want to
give these away?" she asks. "For free?"
"Well... yeah," you say. "I want to actually try and help magical girls."
"Because she's Sabrina," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes.
"You're mad," Nadia says, folding her arms. "This city will be drowned in magical girls."
"I know," you say. You can't help but notice the way Homura's attention snaps to Bennouna. "And that's... mmm, that's acceptable, more or less. And I know there's going to be problems. Upsetting power structures, people abusing magic, that kind of thing. Actually, what's the biggest magical girl organisation you know of?"
"Tokyo Council," Nadia answers easily. "In Japan."
"No, I mean world wide," you say.
"There is no... big association," Nadia says, frowning. "It is... hard to hold an organisation together. It is hard to move from your territory. I am a messenger,
fimti? I carry the news, and that is useful to magical girls. But I do not hold land, because if I do, I cannot move far from it."
"Hm," you say, thinking hard. No global organisation, because there isn't the
ability for magical girls to do that. But that's not entirely
true, because... with teleporters, a magical girl can be anywhere at any time - in some ways, Akiko kind of had the right idea. On that aspect, anyway. The problem is that magical girls wouldn't pull that kind of organisation together without impetus to do so.
"The biggest..." Nadia mumbles, obviously lost in thought. "The
Regius Group, I think. They are based in Germany. They have... two hundred or so magical girls who would say they're part of it?"
"Huh," you say. "That's interesting. Anyway, mm... for my part, I'd like to ask you to spread the information to magical girls who
you judge are reasonable. I mean, that's what you do, right?"
Nadia throws her head back and laughs. "Yes, it is," she says. "You're mad. Mami, is this what you want?"
"Sabrina has my full support," Mami says with a smile. You squeeze her hand in silent thanks.
"Also, to be clear..." you say. "I'm asking you to spread the news, yes, but even if someone, uh, unreasonable asks, please do tell them as well. I'd rather information about me be
accurate than not."
Nadia nods thoughtfully, reaching into the backpack at her side and rummaging around. She produces a large,
metal bound book that fairly
glows with magic, flipping it open and scribbling in it. Sayaka tries to look over her shoulder, and is promptly pushed away with a finger on her nose. "No looking."
Sayaka makes a face, but settles back in her chair.
Bennouna finishes writing a few minutes later, flipping the tome -and it absolutely deserves the
weight of the word- closed. "So. Do you want the news?"
[] Write-in
=====
Yes, that's a yes/no answer, but do write-in on things you wanna know.
