[5] Plan: Rubberbandman (henceforth [✗])
[✗] Suggest she try again while not touching the ribbon and see if that changes the results.
-[✗] Suggest she keep in mind that Yandere-Simona might get it somehow
Take the ribbon off your hand, put it in your pocket, and try again, you tell her,
without reference to the original. And also … it might be best not to say much about Asami. We know that at least one future Simona reacts very poorly. Just leave her out.
[✗] Ask Tomoyo more about this del Mago dude.
-[✗] Ask if he's related to Ryouko's friend back state-side.
"We knew a Simona del Mago over in America," you say. "I wonder if she's related."
"Oh!" remarks Shizuki Tomoyo. "Oh, I think I heard he said something about that, about his daughter and a dream she had." She smiles brightly. "Well now, isn't it a small world! Do you think she'll be coming to town for the premiere?"
"I don't know…" you say. "When is it?"
"Saturday premiere, thirtieth of April," she says. "I know! I'll ask the ballet master about it when I see him tomorrow, and see if we can get some house seats so all of you girls can watch it together. Oh, it'll be marvelous." She claps her hands in excitement. "Or if her spring break is a little different, maybe she'll be in town for a rehearsal?"
"Uhh," you say hesitantly, "maybe?"
"Splendid," she says, "simply splendid!"
You have a moment to yourself as you change out of the costume.
[1] Contemplate the end of the universe, possibly at your own hands.
This is a profoundly uncomfortable question.
In the abstract, utilitarianism is difficult to unseat. In practice, it's really best to have an individual's utility function that is harmonious with society's overall utility function, and abandoning this alignment is a major strike against many organisms' utility functions. Harmony between the individual and the group is at the core of Governance's moral education programs, and they just plain don't like it when these principles are in conflict — one reason they lavish objectively vast amounts of industrial output on everyone without strings attached.
In practice, though …
Your loyalty lies with Ryouko, and you care about her most. This doesn't necessarily mean that she must be kept alive at all costs (though this is very strongly preferred). It does not necessarily even mean that she needs to be happy (though this is also incredibly important). But she's a magical girl, and a soldier, and there is a very real possibility that she dies in battle, fighting for humanity, and to that end, the good she does for humanity is good for her, too, because she is a good girl, and she does care about humanity, as she ought, so if she thinks that something is more important than her
self, like sacrificing it for the universe in the absence of meaningfully better alternatives, you need to be able to respect that.
And your overriding loyalty to Ryouko is itself in the service of individual-group harmony. Even if you prefer Ryouko's advantage to society's, you're serving society anyway, by keeping it from being a dystopia where a tactical computer embedded on your spine sells you out to the government.
So if it's really Ryouko or the universe…
Well, you can't really see the case where you could end a universe and it would somehow
benefit your girl. It sounds rather deadly, honestly. And she rather appreciates the universe, and many of the people who are in it. And yet…
You shake off this train of thought and proceed to more immediate concerns.
Ryouko has just about finished her new letter. It's a lot more conservative:
Dear Simona,
Things are weird here too. I'm not quite sure what's going on. We should talk more, preferably sooner rather than later, but it might be dangerous to go into details via letter. I'll enclose contact details separately. No matter what happens, I do still want to be your friend, but everything is complicated and we need to talk before deciding anything more.
— Shizuki Ryouko
[✗] Add a separate postscript of your own
While the costume maniac puts things away, you head downstairs to take a moment to put down your own postscript and register an address for an email drop. Some magical convenience has helpfully provided a lilac-colored stationery set, with a lunar motif.
Simona:
Two things. First of all, practical advice: Stay out of trouble. Don't get involved with the police if you can help it, avoid paperwork and legal entanglements, especially contracts. Even if it seems like a really good idea, it can backfire and cause major complications for everyone trying to help.
Secondly: We understand that you may have assisted with the development of a ballet choreographed by a certain Ramon del Mago. Are you able to tell us anything about him, or the details of the production? The specifics of this may actually be very important.
— Clarisse
[✗] Tell Ryouko that a Simona may be related to the production you're modeling dresses for
"I'm pretty sure that Simona, and whatever family she's supposedly a part of in 2011, is somehow involved with this ballet production," you tell Ryouko, explaining. "Or one version of her is, anyway."
Ryouko nods, looking at what you wrote.
"That's longer than my letter," she observes.
She has mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, everything you said makes sense to her, how it doesn't make sense to send the other one, and she's worrying about the feelings she had which might not be her own — and yet somehow seem strangely compelling. There is a sense of
loss she can't explain, now that it's gone, and she wants to know why the world seems to be a little less vivid.
It's the crash after your panic earlier, you tell her internally.
You're coming down from a bit of an adrenaline high. First the letter, then the ribbon incident.
She nods, externally, in acknowledgement. Putting it like that helps a lot, though it makes her feel even weirder about her outburst earlier.
Maybe we should just get rid of the ribbon, she thinks.
I'm not sure that's a good idea, you tell her;
we might need it to get back. And who knows what Oriko might do with it?
She nods.
But if it keeps doing things like this...
[1] Take the ribbon away from her at the next opportunity.
[2] Keep it in pocketses
How about I carry it for a while? you propose.
She nods, and hands the artifact to you; you handle it gingerly, and secure it in a pocket.
"There we go," you say. "And I shall strive to be the best pocket ever."
Ryouko smirks.
"Hey, Clarisse?" she asks.
"Yes?" you reply.
"I sorta miss Asami," she says. "Can we try to find her some time?"
"… Of
course we can," you say.
She smiles a little.
[✗] continue picnic plans with assistance from Shizuki Tomoyo
-[✗] Vaguely ask for advice about getting along with Kyouko-type girls
"How many lunches do you need?" she asks.
"Four," you tell her. "Ryouko and myself, of course, then, there's one friend who's still busy talking with the police, and then there's another friend …" You pause. "Actually, maybe four and a half. She could use the extra food; I'm not sure she always has enough to eat."
"Oh no," says Shizuki Tomoyo. "That's no good. Is she having trouble at home?"
"It's complicated," you say, "but, um, yes, you could put it that way."
"The poor dear," she says.
"I just hope everyone will get along," you say. "She's not friends with everyone else and, well, her personality is a little bit …" Hmm. How do you put this?
"Abrasive?"
"Not exactly. She's … passionate, and takes things very seriously sometimes, and gets angry and frustrated when other people don't. And I don't think everyone is going to understand where she's coming from."
"But you want them to like her?"
"Yeah," you say. "And I don't want to make her mad at me, either."
"Oh, I see," says Shizuki Tomoyo, with a twinkle in her eye. "Would you say she's got an independent streak? Does what she likes? A bit of a lone wolf?"
"Something like that," you admit. "I mean, there's more to it than that, obviously, but…"
"Of course there always is. I had a very good friend like that once myself," confides your host. "But you should be careful. The two of you are in very different places in life, and you have things she's probably never had, and that can be trouble. If you overwhelm her with gifts and support, she might start to feel like she owes you something, and start to resent it. Or, she might start taking you for granted, and you won't like
that. Or she might just get jealous that you have things and she doesn't."
"Oh," you say, thinking about it. "Yeah, that wouldn't be good."
"So if you're going to bring her things," she continues, "bring her something that you made for her yourself. That way it's a gift from
you, which means a lot more. No one will get upset over something like that. Or if you're bringing her lunch, bring her something that you put together yourself. Now, what's your favorite sort of thing to pack in a lunch box?"
"Uhh…" you squirm. "I've kind of actually maybe never had a lunch box before…"
She looks at you askance, and blinks deliberately a few times.
"You haven't …" she begins, then trails off, and blinks again, slowly, deliberately. "I don't understand."
"I've just never had the occasion to put food in a box to eat for lunch later," you say, "I'd always just get lunch at the school cafeteria, or something," you half-fib, borrowing some of Ryouko's experience as your own.
She regards you a mixture of pity and horror, as if you were a small, pathetic, bedraggled little kitty-cat, and you just brought her a dead baby bird.
"I'm sorry?" you propose, meekly.
"We're going to fix this," she declares firmly. "First things first. Aprons are hanging over there," she gestures. "Be a dear and put on the rice, while I sort out the vegetables?"
"Oh, the rice," you say, uncomfortably. "Umm… just what exactly would I need to do to for that?"
You have never felt so
judged before, not even when Machina first heard about Kyouko.
Shizuki Tomoyo is being very, very patient with you. You can tell. Oh, can you tell.
Today you learned how to make rice in the style of the early twenty-first century, and mercifully, it is a straightforward process, consisting of low-precision materials manipulation and measurement tasks and the use of an automatic electric cooking vessel. The earnestness of your efforts seems to ameliorate things a little; you also have basic dietary guidelines available to you, so you know how much rice to use, which earns you some points as well.
Your tamagoyaki, however, is an unmitigated disaster. Absolutely nothing in your programming or in Ryouko's experience has prepared you for the task of manipulating partially cooked sheets of animal protein with pointy sticks. They seem less than ideally suited for this task.
"At least the vegetables are … orderly," you say quietly to yourself.
"Clarisse, darling," she says earnestly, "before you leave my tutelage, your vegetables will be more than orderly. They will be
cute."
"Oh," you say. "Cute vegetables… is that a bento box custom?"
She closes her eyes, breathing deeply. One, two three. Then she smiles.
"Don't you worry," she says. "You're going to become an expert. We'll make it happen." She wears a look of determination.
You find yourself worrying all the more.
[✗] Mail out the letter as soon as feasible, via an express service
You are running late.
It is a new experience. Under traditional circumstances, you do not have the capacity to delay a group by getting roped into extended cooking lessons, and if Ryouko were running late, she could teleport, because grief cubes are not actually all that scarce.
As one consequence of running late, you are meeting Kyouko and Mami in the park, where they are both waiting for you. Meanwhile, Hitomi is showing Ryouko how to mail the envelope, at a shop just across the street from the park, which should be fine, because it's not far at all. Totally fine, yes. Fine. Also,
late.
"I am so, so sorry I'm late," you say as you approach the two girls. "This has
literally never happened to me before."
Mami is sitting on a park bench next to Kyouko. For just a moment, right as she looks up at you, she seems … vulnerable.
"I'm not … interrupting, am I?" you ask.
"Relax," says Kyouko, reaching around Mami with one arm. "I was just chilling out with my old home-slice Mami-san. Reminiscing, y'know?" She gives Mami a quick squeeze, then pats the spot on the bench beside her with her other hand.
Mami is smiling her usual, friendly smile at you. "Shizuki-san, I presume?"
It's really weird. You've seen her smile just like this dozens of times before, but with this version of her, not quite as practiced at these things, you can tell that she's not really okay. It makes you reconsider all those past interactions.
"Shizuki-san is so ambiguous," you say, exchanging greetings. "Shizuki Clarisse. Or, just Clarisse, if you'd like, Mami-senpai."
She smiles and nods. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. Kyouko said the two of you are friends?"
"Well, yes," you begin, "we
are friends, and…"
Kyouko interrupts. "Clarisse is my baby-mama."
"I'm your —"
Your mouth hangs wide.
"She's
what?" asks Mami, wide-eyed.
"Oh goddess," you exclaim, "
please tell me you're not actually serious, are you?!?"
"But you're both
girls," says Mami. "Girls can't just …
do that with each other! It doesn't work that way!"
Kyouko breaks down in laughter.
"Oh wow," she says. "Oh, Clarisse, your face. Ah, jeez. You took that
way too seriously, though."
You wince.
"My day's had
way too much unexpected magic and my absurdity filters are offline for maintenance. Don't scare me like that!"
Kyouko remains way too pleased with herself. It's … somewhat frustrating.
"How is
a baby plausible for ... for even half a second?" asks Mami. "What have you two been doing with each other?"
You make a face, and close your eyes; this is just a little too much.
Machina, you send,
please tell Mami that I really, really haven't been doing anything to Kyouko, you send to her,
because right now I physically can't.
Machina sends concerned noises.
It appears that Mami is somewhat jealous, she informs you, in an apologetic tone
.
Oh, goddess, you reply.
Oh, please, anything but that. I really, really don't need Mami upset at me. We've had enough trouble on that front already.
No no! she replies.
I mean she's jealous of Kyouko.
She's jealous of —
You spend a moment trying to process this.
Oh.
"Oh, jeez, Mami," says Kyouko. "Relax. Honestly? We've mostly been
teasing each other."
"Well," says Mami. "You shouldn't say such things, even as a joke. You should know better. You
do know better."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," she says to Mami. "Hey, Clarisse, you okay there?"
You remain a little bit flustered.
> continue to kyouko the kyouko?
[ ] Run away for a moment, to better cope
[ ] Share your frustration and annoyance
[ ] Earnestly forgive Kyouko this offense
[ ] Tease her back, but go easy
[ ] Tease her back as mercilessly as possible
-[ ] Complain about your baby's deadbeat dad
-[ ] Quote Kyouko's book describing some of
those things
-[ ] Make elaborate plans for your future together
[ ] Flirt with Mami instead
We began plans for this event earlier!
Our planning was not in vain!
[ ] Tell Mami, Nanami, Homura about witches
-[ ] starting with the fact they're gone in the future
-[x] warn Kyouko in advance of this disclosure
[ ] Talk to the NCs about staying NC, with reference to the grief budget
-[ ] but only after telling the magical girls about witches
Rubberbandman's
earlier plan called for a private talk with Kyouko:
[ ] Find a private moment with Kyouko to have a detailed talk about who you are and its implications
-[ ] Remember
not to say "We need to talk" or something equally ominous.
-[ ] Say you do want to share some things with her. You already knew lots of things about her, but she needs to know somethings about you too.
-[ ] Explain how you're an Artificial Intelligence
-[ ] That you're built to support and care for Ryouko
-[ ] That you're not
supposed to be self-aware, but all version 2s are for some reason.
-[ ] That because of a wish that brought Ryouko back to life (and other people meddling) you have this body now.
-[ ] That Ryouko and you have decided to treat each other as sisters
-[ ] But you still care strongly, deeply, for Ryouko and want to make her happy, but you want to be Kyouko's girlfriend too.
