Day 28 Chapter 24
- Location
- Around here
[X] Plan: Normal Nightly Excursion
"So, that's the plan. I was hoping you could put Scáthach on for a few moments so I could talk to her about something."
You aren't wandering. You're walking with purpose towards a destination you still haven't decided on. But while you're walking, you have Kazumi on the phone and are explaining your plan to her, in the hopes that she might have something useful in mind for you. Or rather, that her servant will, because you'd like to try again to make familiars of different shapes besides these birds. Of course, it's all on Kazumi and her servant if they'll even help you out.
They probably will. For all her hesitation at your experiments, Scáthach has been far and away the more helpful of the two sisters, and Kazumi seems to like you.
"I'll go talk to Lancer and see what she says." Speaking of Kazumi, you're getting somewhere now. "Just give me a second."
You hear a muffled shuffling as Kazumi steps away from the phone – she's likely put her hand over the mouthpiece so she doesn't disturb you – and you hear her talking to Scáthach, though you can't make out what they're saying to each other. But eventually, "Master of red Archer, good evening. My master tells me you wish to bother me again about familiar creation?"
"I'm sorry," you say. "I don't mean to be a bother to you. I know you're uncomfortable about the idea of me experimenting with my Grief. But you're the only person I know who knows enough about this to be able to help me."
"Actually, based on your previous success, I believe you already know what you need to know in order to accomplish your objective," Scáthach says. "Tell me, first of all; what is a witch, and how does a witch decide to create its familiars?"
The answer isn't one you even need to think about. "A witch is a puella magi who has succumbed to her Grief and been consumed by it," you reply. "As for how they create their familiars…" That one is a bit tougher to describe, but you think you have the answer. In every timeline where she makes a contract, Miki Sayaka becomes a witch. You've seen Tomoe-san and Kyouko become witches before. You've seen Oriko and Kirika become witches before. You've seen Madoka become a witch before. Too, far too many times to count. Thinking back on it, with a new understanding of how much your friends have come to mean to you in this timeline, their losses in any previous timeline sting your heart, but for Sayaka in particular, you were able to notice a consistent pattern, because Sayaka always turns; and that means valuable data on what it means to become a witch.
Sayaka's familiars always, always take on the form of Shizuki Hitomi and Kamijou Kyousuke; the two people who always occupy her thoughts the most when her soul finally blackens and her inner self is awoken. "A witch creates their familiars based on the strong memories they have of the people or things that are most important to them, or that were the reason they turned," you say.
"Good answer," Scáthach replies. "My own familiars once took on the shape of my sister, my daughter, and my prized pupil. Your birds; what memory inspired their shape, do you think, and what thoughts occupy your mind that could cause you to turn? Answer those questions, and you'll have the answer you need to create your other familiars."
"The bird was inspired by a stuffed bird I won for my girlfriend on our very first date," you say. You can't bring yourself to call her your ex. It still hurts too much. "Madoka is… Precious to me, and that memory is one I've cherished ever since."
"Then you have your answer. Would losing her cause you to become a witch?"
In the past, you could have confidently responded to Scáthach's question with a "No," because the option always existed to turn back the clock and try again. But you can't do that anymore. This is the last timeline. "Not just her," you say. "There are so many people I'm terrified of losing; my family, the rest of my team, my friends who aren't puella magi…" You've already lost your father once. You don't know if you'd be able to get him back again if you lost him a second time. "If I lost any of them, I think that would also be enough for me to turn."
"Then they are who you should focus on," Scáthach replies. "Focus on memories you have of your friends and family; the memories that would haunt you the most if you'd lost any of them. Those will be the memories that give your other familiars life."
"Thank you," you say. "That's… Well, I guess you were right; I did have the answer this whole time. But thank you for pointing it out to me." You feel stupid for saying this, but "I'm not sure I would have figured that out on my own."
"I'm sure you would have, eventually. You're a smart girl, Akemi. You just need to get better at applying yourself proactively." That has always been a problem for you, hasn't it? Before Archer came along, you'd all but given up trying to reach other people, so you eventually stopped being proactive about forming relationships with the people around you. Archer's presence forced you to change, but it feels like you've fallen right back to square one with everything that's happened this time around. "Anyway, if that's all you needed from me, I'm going to return to my master now. She needs me to help pry Niko away from work so they can do something relaxing together."
"That sounds nice," you say. "I'm glad you're all at least trying to help her, even if she's being stubborn about it."
"Less that she's actively stubborn, and more that she hates herself so much that she doesn't know how to help herself without someone else standing over her shoulder nagging her on what to do. But… She'll get there, eventually. Kazumi is convinced of that."
Scáthach hangs up after that, and that's where you're left to your own devices. Your wanderings have found you atop the roof of a tall building overlooking the northernmost edge of Mitakihara. It's not a perfect location since it's too far north of where Sidonia usually operates, but your birds can migrate to places closer to her usual range, and a few static familiars placed here, where the view over the city is quite generous, should be enough to warn you if Sidonia is sending any of her familiars to assail Oriko's mansion.
You hope she doesn't know where Oriko's mansion is. You hope, but you're still going to make sure that mom gets sent away somewhere safe. You can't take that risk.
You bleed your Grief slowly, letting it take the familiar shape of a stuffed bird. It flaps its tiny wings, perching itself atop your shoulder as it stares out at the city alongside you. "Now then," you say, as much to the bird as to yourself. "What should I try next?"
The answer is an obvious one. If your first familiar represents your deep-seated feelings of affection for Madoka, then it only makes sense that your next familiar should be representative of your feelings for Archer. Madoka comes first; she's the person who introduced you to the world of magic, who inspired you, who set you on the path you spent so long walking; but Archer should come second. After Madoka, his presence has inarguably made the biggest impact in your life. He forced you to become who you are now, who gave you a family you'd been so long without, who helped you grow in so many ways even when neither you nor he fully trusted one another.
So you concentrate on those feelings, on how the time you've spent with your father makes you feel. You focus your thoughts on some of your earliest memories with Archer, his lessons on magecraft that helped you overcome your weaknesses when the witches of this timeline proved to be too strong. On how he forced you to open up to Sayaka, Hitomi, and Tomoe-san. How he was there for you whenever you felt broken and in need of a hand to guide you.
On how safe his presence makes you feel.
A popping sound rings in your ears, and you look down when you feel something poking you in the leg. It's you. Or rather, it's a miniature version of yourself that isn't quite; it's made of some thin metallic-looking material that's been painted to make it look like you, only this you is also wearing Archer's red shroud over the white and purple-grey of your tunic. It's unnerving, seeing its thin, spindly limbs moving with all the grace of a spider, and you aren't sure what to think of the miniature toy weapon in its hand. Is that a sword? Spear? A really badly malformed bow?
Regardless, the familiar you've made in the image of your feelings for Archer stands at attention, staring up at you with beady black eyes hidden behind red-framed glasses. A mocking nod to how weak you are on the inside? Or just another way to tie your own colours together with Archer's?
"Now, you just sit tight here, okay?" you say to the second familiar. It nods its head; the motion makes no sound, despite the metallic creaking you would have expected to hear from the tiny thing's construction. Maybe it's not actually made out of metal after all? Turning to the bird on your shoulder, you say "All right, I'm going to send you out to look for stuff. Do you know where I live?"
The bird responds by nodding its head. At least, you hope it knows where you live, because where you live and where you're currently staying are two different places. But it's your familiar; it's made from your memories, and can understand and obey you when you speak to it, so you'll trust that it actually knows where it's going. "All right," you say. "In that case, I want you to head towards my apartment building, and make a few loops around that area. I'll be watching from my phone, so once you think you're in a position to see a good chunk of Downtown Mitakihara, just find a perch somewhere and keep watch. Got it?"
The bird nods its head, and flies off with the flap of its tiny wings. As soon as it's out of sight, you take your phone out of your pocket, and pull up the app Kanna Niko programmed for you. Immediately, you're treated to a bird's-eye view of the Mitakihara-Shirome border, which quickly turns into northern Mitakihara, which quickly turns into Midtown Mitakihara as it passes over the northern residential slums. From up above, you can even spot the dingy, four-storey apartment building where the Kures used to live, before Kirika and Minako moved in with you and Archer permanently. Your bird passes over that building in a blur, and you spare it no good thoughts.
That building was no place for a family to live.
Soon, your bird familiar has a decent view of Downtown Mitakihara, and you settle in, taking a seat beside your other familiar as you keep watch on your phone for anything unusual. This is so relaxing, you think to yourself. It's like being out on patrol, except you only have to put yourself in danger if and when you actually see something dangerous. You don't have to go wandering blind into anything anymore.
Maybe that's a benefit you could take back home to convince your mother to lighten your punishment with…
After a few minutes of watching, you're about to give up, when you see something; there's movement. You can't identity what it is, but-
[ ] You'll leave it be, and keep that spot in mind to be investigated tomorrow
[ ] You'll call in some reinforcements and go and investigate it right now
[ ] Other (write-in)
"So, that's the plan. I was hoping you could put Scáthach on for a few moments so I could talk to her about something."
You aren't wandering. You're walking with purpose towards a destination you still haven't decided on. But while you're walking, you have Kazumi on the phone and are explaining your plan to her, in the hopes that she might have something useful in mind for you. Or rather, that her servant will, because you'd like to try again to make familiars of different shapes besides these birds. Of course, it's all on Kazumi and her servant if they'll even help you out.
They probably will. For all her hesitation at your experiments, Scáthach has been far and away the more helpful of the two sisters, and Kazumi seems to like you.
"I'll go talk to Lancer and see what she says." Speaking of Kazumi, you're getting somewhere now. "Just give me a second."
You hear a muffled shuffling as Kazumi steps away from the phone – she's likely put her hand over the mouthpiece so she doesn't disturb you – and you hear her talking to Scáthach, though you can't make out what they're saying to each other. But eventually, "Master of red Archer, good evening. My master tells me you wish to bother me again about familiar creation?"
"I'm sorry," you say. "I don't mean to be a bother to you. I know you're uncomfortable about the idea of me experimenting with my Grief. But you're the only person I know who knows enough about this to be able to help me."
"Actually, based on your previous success, I believe you already know what you need to know in order to accomplish your objective," Scáthach says. "Tell me, first of all; what is a witch, and how does a witch decide to create its familiars?"
The answer isn't one you even need to think about. "A witch is a puella magi who has succumbed to her Grief and been consumed by it," you reply. "As for how they create their familiars…" That one is a bit tougher to describe, but you think you have the answer. In every timeline where she makes a contract, Miki Sayaka becomes a witch. You've seen Tomoe-san and Kyouko become witches before. You've seen Oriko and Kirika become witches before. You've seen Madoka become a witch before. Too, far too many times to count. Thinking back on it, with a new understanding of how much your friends have come to mean to you in this timeline, their losses in any previous timeline sting your heart, but for Sayaka in particular, you were able to notice a consistent pattern, because Sayaka always turns; and that means valuable data on what it means to become a witch.
Sayaka's familiars always, always take on the form of Shizuki Hitomi and Kamijou Kyousuke; the two people who always occupy her thoughts the most when her soul finally blackens and her inner self is awoken. "A witch creates their familiars based on the strong memories they have of the people or things that are most important to them, or that were the reason they turned," you say.
"Good answer," Scáthach replies. "My own familiars once took on the shape of my sister, my daughter, and my prized pupil. Your birds; what memory inspired their shape, do you think, and what thoughts occupy your mind that could cause you to turn? Answer those questions, and you'll have the answer you need to create your other familiars."
"The bird was inspired by a stuffed bird I won for my girlfriend on our very first date," you say. You can't bring yourself to call her your ex. It still hurts too much. "Madoka is… Precious to me, and that memory is one I've cherished ever since."
"Then you have your answer. Would losing her cause you to become a witch?"
In the past, you could have confidently responded to Scáthach's question with a "No," because the option always existed to turn back the clock and try again. But you can't do that anymore. This is the last timeline. "Not just her," you say. "There are so many people I'm terrified of losing; my family, the rest of my team, my friends who aren't puella magi…" You've already lost your father once. You don't know if you'd be able to get him back again if you lost him a second time. "If I lost any of them, I think that would also be enough for me to turn."
"Then they are who you should focus on," Scáthach replies. "Focus on memories you have of your friends and family; the memories that would haunt you the most if you'd lost any of them. Those will be the memories that give your other familiars life."
"Thank you," you say. "That's… Well, I guess you were right; I did have the answer this whole time. But thank you for pointing it out to me." You feel stupid for saying this, but "I'm not sure I would have figured that out on my own."
"I'm sure you would have, eventually. You're a smart girl, Akemi. You just need to get better at applying yourself proactively." That has always been a problem for you, hasn't it? Before Archer came along, you'd all but given up trying to reach other people, so you eventually stopped being proactive about forming relationships with the people around you. Archer's presence forced you to change, but it feels like you've fallen right back to square one with everything that's happened this time around. "Anyway, if that's all you needed from me, I'm going to return to my master now. She needs me to help pry Niko away from work so they can do something relaxing together."
"That sounds nice," you say. "I'm glad you're all at least trying to help her, even if she's being stubborn about it."
"Less that she's actively stubborn, and more that she hates herself so much that she doesn't know how to help herself without someone else standing over her shoulder nagging her on what to do. But… She'll get there, eventually. Kazumi is convinced of that."
Scáthach hangs up after that, and that's where you're left to your own devices. Your wanderings have found you atop the roof of a tall building overlooking the northernmost edge of Mitakihara. It's not a perfect location since it's too far north of where Sidonia usually operates, but your birds can migrate to places closer to her usual range, and a few static familiars placed here, where the view over the city is quite generous, should be enough to warn you if Sidonia is sending any of her familiars to assail Oriko's mansion.
You hope she doesn't know where Oriko's mansion is. You hope, but you're still going to make sure that mom gets sent away somewhere safe. You can't take that risk.
You bleed your Grief slowly, letting it take the familiar shape of a stuffed bird. It flaps its tiny wings, perching itself atop your shoulder as it stares out at the city alongside you. "Now then," you say, as much to the bird as to yourself. "What should I try next?"
The answer is an obvious one. If your first familiar represents your deep-seated feelings of affection for Madoka, then it only makes sense that your next familiar should be representative of your feelings for Archer. Madoka comes first; she's the person who introduced you to the world of magic, who inspired you, who set you on the path you spent so long walking; but Archer should come second. After Madoka, his presence has inarguably made the biggest impact in your life. He forced you to become who you are now, who gave you a family you'd been so long without, who helped you grow in so many ways even when neither you nor he fully trusted one another.
So you concentrate on those feelings, on how the time you've spent with your father makes you feel. You focus your thoughts on some of your earliest memories with Archer, his lessons on magecraft that helped you overcome your weaknesses when the witches of this timeline proved to be too strong. On how he forced you to open up to Sayaka, Hitomi, and Tomoe-san. How he was there for you whenever you felt broken and in need of a hand to guide you.
On how safe his presence makes you feel.
A popping sound rings in your ears, and you look down when you feel something poking you in the leg. It's you. Or rather, it's a miniature version of yourself that isn't quite; it's made of some thin metallic-looking material that's been painted to make it look like you, only this you is also wearing Archer's red shroud over the white and purple-grey of your tunic. It's unnerving, seeing its thin, spindly limbs moving with all the grace of a spider, and you aren't sure what to think of the miniature toy weapon in its hand. Is that a sword? Spear? A really badly malformed bow?
Regardless, the familiar you've made in the image of your feelings for Archer stands at attention, staring up at you with beady black eyes hidden behind red-framed glasses. A mocking nod to how weak you are on the inside? Or just another way to tie your own colours together with Archer's?
"Now, you just sit tight here, okay?" you say to the second familiar. It nods its head; the motion makes no sound, despite the metallic creaking you would have expected to hear from the tiny thing's construction. Maybe it's not actually made out of metal after all? Turning to the bird on your shoulder, you say "All right, I'm going to send you out to look for stuff. Do you know where I live?"
The bird responds by nodding its head. At least, you hope it knows where you live, because where you live and where you're currently staying are two different places. But it's your familiar; it's made from your memories, and can understand and obey you when you speak to it, so you'll trust that it actually knows where it's going. "All right," you say. "In that case, I want you to head towards my apartment building, and make a few loops around that area. I'll be watching from my phone, so once you think you're in a position to see a good chunk of Downtown Mitakihara, just find a perch somewhere and keep watch. Got it?"
The bird nods its head, and flies off with the flap of its tiny wings. As soon as it's out of sight, you take your phone out of your pocket, and pull up the app Kanna Niko programmed for you. Immediately, you're treated to a bird's-eye view of the Mitakihara-Shirome border, which quickly turns into northern Mitakihara, which quickly turns into Midtown Mitakihara as it passes over the northern residential slums. From up above, you can even spot the dingy, four-storey apartment building where the Kures used to live, before Kirika and Minako moved in with you and Archer permanently. Your bird passes over that building in a blur, and you spare it no good thoughts.
That building was no place for a family to live.
Soon, your bird familiar has a decent view of Downtown Mitakihara, and you settle in, taking a seat beside your other familiar as you keep watch on your phone for anything unusual. This is so relaxing, you think to yourself. It's like being out on patrol, except you only have to put yourself in danger if and when you actually see something dangerous. You don't have to go wandering blind into anything anymore.
Maybe that's a benefit you could take back home to convince your mother to lighten your punishment with…
After a few minutes of watching, you're about to give up, when you see something; there's movement. You can't identity what it is, but-
[ ] You'll leave it be, and keep that spot in mind to be investigated tomorrow
[ ] You'll call in some reinforcements and go and investigate it right now
[ ] Other (write-in)
