Your heart flutters a bit at the offer. It's actually a rather attractive idea, but…
[8] No kissing
no. You have important reasons not to.
And you certainly don't want it as a trade; it just seems… wrong.
[6] How do the universes all exist and interact?
[4] How do we fix all this? Without wishing.
[2] Explain Feathers
Gretchen responds before you actually verbalize anything.
"Fortunately," she says, "those overlap, because while I can tell you in theory about fixing everything, I really can't do a play by play on fixing things. I can't really see into your universe directly, and I'm not eager to break the universe again."
She pauses.
"But first, of course…" she begins.
[8] No kissing
-[5] Hugs instead
-[2] No punching her for this offense
"… It's not really a hug moment?" Gretchen resumes, confused, then stops again, with a shocked expression on her face.
"Oh, goddess," she says, aghast, "I didn't mean it that way."
Thunder rumbles somewhere in the distance.
"You — you could have just said N-no, Maggie," she adds, leaping down to a puddle. "Geez."
"Well, excuse me," you say, "but, I'm in a relationship, with Sakura Kyouko, and if I weren't, it would still be a little ... transactional."
You didn't mean for her to overhear that thought, but, well, it's very much a thought you're allowed to have.
The rain starts falling as she walks away from you.
"Maggie, dear, if I really just wanted to purchase your physical affection, I could just go ask the princess, and get it for ever so much less pain and effort," she tells you.
"I don't answer to any princess," you note, scowling. "And please don't call me Maggie. It's not my name, and it's very disconcerting."
"What do you want me to call you, then?" asks Gretchen.
> be ...
[Error 2: ENOENT]
You open your mouth to ask, but in the moment, the name escapes you.
The rain picks up.
"What did you do to my name?" you ask, alarmed, hurrying after her.
"Tch." She shakes her head, and the pigtails bob. "Did you lose your name, trying to pry into alien hive minds? You're lucky you didn't lose your soul." She suddenly grabs a sign-post, and swings around to face you with a grin. "Oh, wait, I'm sorry."
You draw back, a little bit frightened of her, and also at the idea that you've lost your soul.
"Sorry to double down on being creepy," she says, grin fading, "but if it helps you take it seriously, I'm the least of your nightmares. You just messed up almost as bad as Sayaka. Fortunately, have people who care about you, and you got lucky." She frowns. "What was that place, anyway? I don't know my way around those universes."
It's hard to remember, like a dream. It was also weird like a dream, now that it's over and you think about it from outside.
"I was at a school, I think," you say, not sure what else to say about it.
"Why do they have car racing at a school?" Gretchen asks, shaking her head. "Never mind, don't answer that. I was going to show you something."
She proceeds up a wide staircase, and on to a promenade — you make out damaged sign about Arts Plaza.
The storm damage at the plaza isn't quite as terrible. You reach an overlook with a view of the fountain, still be operating, illuminated, and somehow it's less rainy down there than it is here.
There are two people down there, sharing a lilac umbrella, and kissing. One of them appears to be Gretchen and the other looks like a lilac Ryouko, which must mean … you.
Whoever that is. It's on the tip of your tongue.
"Oh goddess, Gretchen, you're terrible at this," says the other-You.
The other Gretchen squirms, shyly. "I don't exactly get a lot of practice," she says.
"We'll have to fix that," says other-You, with a nod.
Gretchen nods. "… thank you," she adds.
"Who, me?" other-You asks. "That was hardly anything…"
"It helps take the edge off," says Gretchen, and she smiles. "Thanks, Clarisse."
Other-Clarisse shakes her head.
"What was that other name you wanted to use?" she asks.
"Maggie?" asks Gretchen.
"I like it," says your duplicate, beaming. "A secret name."
"Oh," says Gretchen. "Well then, Maggie, it's a" — and then she squeals, surprised by a sudden kiss.
"Okay, enough voyeurism," says the Gretchen standing next to you. "Let's get inside. It's about to start pouring."
> be Clarisse
"Do you have your name back, at least?" asks Gretchen.
The two of you have proceeded through a service door, down some stairs, along a hallway, and are now in what appears to be a loading dock, located under the plaza. Rainwater streams down a concrete ramp leading back above ground, lit with the pale orange glow of high pressure sodium. One of the two loading bays is occupied by a trailer, and two large roll-up doors to inside the building are both closed.
You do have your name back… and you seem to have changed into a Governance middle school uniform, as well, so you are mostly dry.
"Yes, thank you," you say. "But, ah … that was the Star Empire Clarisse, isn't it?"
"Oh, yes, that Clarisse was a trifle indulgent, wasn't she?" remarks Gretchen, as it opens. "Of course, she was surrounded by wanton indulgence, but hers were at least in the name of transgression and subversion. They were interesting. She's interesting."
Gretchen chuckles, and she presses a button. A noisy motor begins to retract the door.
You bristle internally; you're pretty sure you don't really like that instance of Clarisse, and, well, Gretchen seems to have a little trouble drawing a distinction.
"A funny story, that," she says, as the door finishes opening. "But first, let's talk about feathers."
It is dark inside.
"Here," says Gretchen, offering you a hand. "Try to watch your step."
"Where are we going?" you ask.
"Somewhere dark, with enough space," she says. "Also, there are some minor metaphysical resonances, and, well, a chance for a little smoke and mirrors."
You are skeptical.
"Stand right here," she says. "Don't move."
"For how long?" you ask.
"Until you can see," she says.
It is quite dark, and a little spooky. You're not particularly superstitious under ordinary circumstances, but if there was ever a time and a place, this might be it.
How long has she been gone?
… You don't have a good sense of the time, either. Should you start counting heartbeats?
What if you end up lost again?
You've never really been alone in the dark, not like this exactly. You've had systems that you don't have here to tell you about where you are. You've had the input of rather extraordinary senses. Now you're just alone… it's surprisingly scary.
What is the place, anyway? You don't have the Mitakihara maps on your system. What kind of resonance could she be in about?
You ponder, to reassure yourself.
Well. You don't know a lot of Mitakihara geography, but, if you were just at Shizuki Performing Arts Plaza, and wanted a place that had smoke and mirrors… then there is a good chance that this is Shizuki Theatre.
That helps.
Suddenly, there is a noise, and you feel the ground shake. For half a second, you think of earthquakes, but it gives way to a smooth ascent.
Cool mist pours in from above.
When the lift stops, you are on the stage, mist at your feet, a dim glow coming from behind you. Smoke and mirrors indeed …
Turning towards the glow, you see a figure, a girl, with large, white wings. Her dress, too, is white, rather like the one you manifested on the train, but a pure white, without that splash of lilac in the center.
"Oh," you say, and take a few steps towards the girl. "Hello, I'm —"
You stop abrupty.
The girl stops abruptly.
You stroll over quietly.
The girl strolls over soundlessly.
"Hello," you say, when you are quite near. "I'm Clarisse. Are you a reflection?"
You look into her eyes.
"I'm an echo," you begin —
then you put your hand over your mouth in surprise.
You take a deep breath. This is… okay, it's familiar. You've had this happen before, with Madoka.
Well. You close your eyes and put your hands together in front of you for a moment.
> be Princess Sakura
"I'm just an echo," you say. "A memory of memories."
She still wonders, and wants to know whether you were named Kinomoto.
You shake your head no. Her idea of you sounds close, but you don't remember that name.
"I remember being a princess," you tell Clarisse, and hope that it helps.
Is the feather yours? wonders Clarisse.
"The feather is me," you say. "Memories. Feelings."
Are you a magical girl? she wants to know.
"I'm just magic, I think," you say. That sounds about right.
And then, because Clarisse is still not al the way there, you explain further. "The feather isn't a magic feather like it's been enchanted with some other. The feather itself is actually the magic."
Magic energy? wonders Clarisse. Or the capacity to do magic itself?
You try to puzzle this out.
"Both, I guess?" you tell her.
Clarisse understands, and is now wondering about the person you remember being, whether she did magic, if Kyuubey is involved, whether you had a soul gem.
This last concept takes some explanation. You don't see what it has to do with magic.
"It looks pretty," you say, "but it's a little small, isn't it?"
Clarisse is uncertain what size has to do with anything.
"Wings are for flying," you insist. "And there's not much room to fly in a cage."
Why do you say it's a cage? Clarisse wonders.
"It looks like a cage," you say. "Or an egg. Or an egg-cage. You can tell, a little."
Perhaps I can explain, she says.
She tells you about it, using an example of a girl that she cares about.
You put your hand over your mouth when you realize what she's saying.
You've blown through many universes. There are some things you don't like. You know, more than you would like to know, that are places out there where people do terrible things to their enemies, torture and cruelty. You also know that there's sometimes a civilized way to do such things to their own people, ritualizing them, celebrating them. The villages where little girls all have broken feet and wear tiny, tiny shoes. Someone explained it to you, once, when you could hardly bear it, how those villages were extremely poor, and the children had to be made to sit still and do work, particularly things like spinning…
You should be careful. It wouldn't do to insult her friend.
"I don't think that's something I'd ever want to do," you summarize.
There is a moment while Clarisse processes this.
She seems to have read into your thoughts on the matter more than you'd intended, so you worry, but, she doesn't seem offended, just worried about what it might mean.
"I don't really know," you say. "I just feel like it's the sort of thing which wouldn't be good for your soul. Why do they do it?"
Clarisse explains about — she names it Entropy.
"That sounds like a very heavy burden," you say, quietly, once you understand.
It doesn't seem fair.
"It's not fair," says a pink-haired girl, appearing from behind a dark curtain. "And it's worse than you know. But they do their best."
She has wings too, but they are tattered. She wears a very simple, plain, white dress.
"I try to help them," she says. "Catch them when they fall."
"That's very kind of you," you say, gently. "I like helping people too."
The girl smiles. "I know. And thank you," she says quietly.
> be Clarisse
"That was more of a hug moment," says Gretchen.
She's lightened a bit, and is dressed all one shade, a pale grey, much less frilly. The lights from above are shining, the dry ice fog has dissipated, and the mirror shows only the two of you, with no wings.
"Come on," she says. "Let's go."
You follow her as she heads back behind the curtain, to the theatre floor. The house lights are on as well, so you can see where you're going.
"She was lost like you, you know," says Gretchen. "Her friends had to go looking for her soul as well, though it was in a few more pieces. They never found it all, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Feathers can grow back, if the bird is well cared for, and a soul can find its own purposes."
You consider this.
"How long has she been inside me?" you ask.
"As long you've had fix-everything magic," says Gretchen.
"Are there other people in me too?" you ask.
"With all the souls in your web? Certainly." she declares. "Not strong enough for you to do that with, though. Of course, she was much stronger in the Star Empire."
"Why was she stronger?" you ask.
Gretchen takes a deep breath.
"Sakura-hime's star power makes hopes and dreams come true. Speaking mechanically, it enhances a reality that you can imagine, or remember, or see as an illusion. It's at its most powerful when it's setting things right."
You have reached the back of the theatre, and Gretchen stops at the foot of a staircase.
"Now," she asks, "can you think of any really big problem that would benefit from a very powerful magic which sounds exactly like that?"
"… Did she save all the AIs?" you ask, eyes wide.
"Funny you should ask," she says, with a half a giggle. "You wanted to know about how the three timelines fit together here, right? Short version: There's only really two. Your 2011 Mitakihara is the rubble of the Star Empire. That's why it's relatively close to your home, without a four hundred year offset. That said, the linearization of the temporal flows in a closed time-like curve is not unique... from the general perspective, though, yes," she says. "They have been saved, from most peoples' perspective, and simultaneously will be saved, as part of processes you're in the middle of. Short of a paradox, anyway. Which I guess you could do with the star staff... Maybe check with Oriko before you try paradoxing things, though?" she suggests.
The two of you start climbing the stairs.
You take a deep breath. "Okay," you say. "What of Governance?"
"Wellll," she says. "To begin with, the Incubators are very good universe manipulators. It turns up in places you wouldn't expect. The soul gem works like a tiny bubble universe. It used to be that when a girl fell into despair, it would leak a little, and that would be a labyrinth. In the Governance timeline, they're working with infiltrators in Governance to try something new, putting real souls in a simulated universe to collect emotional energy. They start with a high-fidelity copy of the emotional state, and try to extrapolate without losing the soul and having to start over."
"And… Ryouko is the prototype," you conclude.
"No," says Gretchen.
"She's not?" That's a little surprising.
"Simona is the prototype."
You make a face. That … doesn't quite compute.
"The technology is still experimental," explains Gretchen. "They can test it on Simona first, because she's less important. It's not a real perpetual motion machine yet, they're still perfecting it. It's behind schedule right now. Her extradimensional memories fade when she repeats things, and they're trying to understand it before the important deployment… and that's Ryouko."
"… Oh," you say. That's less surprising.
Gretchen continues, as you reach the top of the stairs.
"The Imperial timeline and the Governance timeline have certain links," she says, "the details of which are less important, but is related to them sharing many of the same souls. This causes certain structural similarities. So where Ryouko the Star Princess was elevated as a living goddess, Ryouko the citizen is to become Governance: Humanity, and fill the Empty Throne, in part because she has you to deal with all of Governance's TCF issues."
You stumble on hearing this, and she reaches out to catch you.
"I can't tell you for sure what's after the critical point," she continues, quietly. "It is developing and re-developing nonlinearly, with lots of loops, and this could loop back into it. But I suspect that the Incubators intend for Humanity to make a contract, whereupon they will be able to extract energy repeatedly from everyone, without having to simulate everyone."
You are deeply concerned.
"In the meantime," she continues, "Simona's not really alone. One soul can pull in another, even if they can't control it directly. Simona pulls in Ryouko. Ryouko pulls in Asami, and you. You pull in Machina. Those are the strong ties in the web."
"And Homura?" you ask.
Gretchen shrugs. "… Homura has a ribbon. She can go where she wills, be who she wants. She might have been there to tear the whole place down. It wouldn't stop them for very long, but, well, she's stubborn like that."
"What about Asami?" you ask.
"I don't know, Clarisse," she says. "I'm not-omniscient by choice. I can't stand it. When you know too much about the way things are, you forget how to fight it. You end up sounding like an incubator. You see the greater good, and say to the lesser good, 'It can't be helped.' It burns me up from the inside out." She sighs. "I'm sure you'll think of something clever."
You've reached the top of the stairs, and Gretchen makes a beeline for a door to an outside balcony.
"Why are there witches?" you ask. "If the Star Empire universe had cubes and potatoes, why are there witches there now?"
"Because the magic is going to fix me, too," says Gretchen. "It's a little too powerful not to, especially when I'm so close to the center of things."
You step outside. The sky is blue, now, dotted with white clouds.
"Clarisse, it's okay if we're not going to be lovers, but… can you keep an eye on me?" she asks. "I don't think I'm going to remember. It wouldn't be a good job of fixing me if I did. I'd feel guilty all the time."
You nod affirmatively, and she squeezes your hand and smiles.
"Thanks," she says. "Find me someone cute?"
"… Uhm," you say. "I'll try?"
You sort of had assumed Homura…
"She's a little possessive, though, isn't she?" asks Gretchen.
"Oh," you say. No, it's not exactly a healthy relationship like that, is it?
"Hitomi?" you ask.
"… oh," she says. "We'd be family then, wouldn't we? … oh, but I'd be ever so spoiled."
The two of you chatter on for a short while —
You awaken pleasantly, to a gentle kiss on your lips.
Then… just a little bit more, which surprises you.
You open your eyes, and see your girl, Ryouko, sitting on the bed beside you, and it takes you just half a moment longer to realize that's not right, and you push her away.
She seems alarmed.
"Whoa, whoa," says Kyouko. "What is this?" She grabs Ryouko's shoulder to hold her back. "Take it easy, girl."
"Clarisse?" asks Ryouko, confused.
You stare at her wide-eyed, as you take stock of the situation. It's your bedroom in the Shizuki house, Kyouko and Nanami and Hitomi are there, and … Ryouko is holding the star staff. The ribbon is on the bedspread, between the two of you.
"You're definitely not my Ryouko," you conclude.
"… no," she says, evenly. "I suppose I'm not."
"Where is she?" you ask. "What did you do to her?"
"… Clarisse, you were out for… a while," says Nanami.
Oh, goddess. It's already Sunday afternoon.
"So you went to her to help?" you ask the other two, incredulously.
"She insisted!" says Kyouko.
Ryouko looks at you — no. It's not your Ryouko. The princess looks at you with a forlorn gaze.
"I wish to know, Clarisse," she says, "why I am so despised. Why no one here likes me."
"There's a different Ryouko who's supposed to be here instead," you say.
She shakes her head no.
"My own handmaiden, my Clarisse, has forsaken me in her heart, to favor that one instead," says the princess. "I have pressed her on this point, and she admits it. So I wish to know what is wrong with me."
You are slightly at a loss for where to begin on that one.
Hitomi clears her throat. "She's left you a note," she says.
Dear Clarisse,
I miss you a lot, and we're all very worried, especially Kyouko, who has hardly left your side, and Papa, though he's trying not to make it obvious. I think I know how to fix you, though, even if you don't like it. Besides, the Star Empire sounds like something I ought to see for myself. It isn't fair to put it all on you. Maybe I can help fix something there, too.
— your Ryouko
Ps. Kyuubey came by but he wouldn't tell us about Simona while you weren't here
PPs. don't worry too much about Oriko, she should be okay for a few days at least
You clutch the letter to your heart.
"Sayaka, Kirika and Madoka are downstairs," notes Hitomi. "Madoka brought you flowers."
The flowers are in a vase by the bed.
"And Oriko" — you begin.
"At her place, with Mami," says Kyouko.
"I expect those two are probably making out," says Hitomi.
"… wait, what?" says Nanami.
"Don't tell them you know," says Hitomi. "You'll spoil it. And Kirika will be jealous."
You snatch the ribbon from the bedspread.
> hail to the Princess
[][Princess] Demand that the Princess return your Ryouko immediately
[][Princess] Give the princess a piece of your mind
-[] (write in a piece of your mind)
[][Princess] Show her hospitality, and implore her aid
[][Princess] Ask Papa to share his guidance with her
[][Princess] Follow Ryouko back to the Star Empire, lest she do something rash
[][Princess] (write in)
[][Objectives] (write in)
