[X] Elder Haman
"Now, what did you need to speak with me about?"
"Well... It's about Sayaka-san, actually." Somehow, you should have seen that one coming. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that she's interested in learning this, but I... Well, I don't feel that she's taking things seriously, and I'm afraid that she'll get hurt, or get into trouble, if she's allowed to actually act on her desires."
If only Hitomi knew... "You aren't wrong," you say; but how can you approach this without tipping your hand to Hitomi that you've seen Sayaka walk down this path countless times before? "Sayaka... She's the type of person who will jump into something without fully thinking it through, isn't she?" Hitomi nods. "With a personality like that, I'm afraid that, if she isn't given some kind of outlet, she'll almost certain strike up a contract with the Incubator and become like me."
Your hands fidget against one another; after how far you've been able to push this timeline, having Sayaka contract would just about throw all your efforts into the trash. You don't want to think like that. You don't want to lose all of the progress you've made so far. "Worse, because of how her personality is, I'm afraid that, when she inevitably runs up against something she isn't prepared to deal with-" Like a crisis of faith, someone who opposes her heroic ideal every step of the way, or the inexorable truth about the system she's sold her soul to; you've seen them all unfold countless times. "-that she'll take it very poorly. That kind of thing can be a death sentence in my line of work, and I've had the misfortune of seeing girls just like Sayaka fail and die countless times because of it."
You've seen Sayaka fail and die countless times because of it.
Hitomi's face, though colour still remains in it, is noticeably a shade paler than it had been before. "Then, what can we do?" she asks. "I'm glad Sayaka-san is excited about learning something, anything, for a change, and I don't want to squash her hopes so soon, but... Well, is it actually safe to let her study this sort of thing, then?"
You shake your head, and reply with "Probably not. But the alternative is worse. I've known many girls with Sayaka's personality, and almost all of them inevitably end up making a contract once they discover the existence of magic. That's why I'm focusing on teaching her defensive and protective applications." You shake your head again, but the memories of all the times you've seen Sayaka walk down this path refuse to fade. "To be honest, I don't like this plan. I wish there was a better way to handle this, but we can't take back the past and remove Sayaka's knowledge of magic. What we can do is temper her, so that when she inevitably runs up against something she can't overcome it isn't life threatening to her."
"However," you hate to cut Hitomi off when she looks like she has something to say, but you have one more thing you need to add before you can let her. "While I've seen this happen many times before, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best when it comes to dealing with people on a personal level. You've known Sayaka for a lot longer than I have, so if you have a better idea as to how to handle this, I'm all ears."
You wait a few moments while Hitomi chews on your words. "No, I believe you have the right idea, Akemi-san," she says, shaking her head. "From the sound of things, you have a surprising amount of insight into Sayaka-san's state of mind-" If she only knew. "-and are far, far more knowledgeable of magic and its consequences than I am. I too know that it's too late to take away Sayaka-san's enthusiasm, now that she has her claws in something exciting, so I'd rather go along with your plan of tempering her in preparation for when she meets something she can't handle."
You nod; it looks like things have been resolved, for the moment. "Then, shall we head back?"
"Yes. I imagine Sayaka-san is getting impatient waiting for us."
"Hey Homura- I think your ring is broken."
You and Hitomi return to the kitchen only to be greeted by words from Sayaka you weren't expecting to hear from her. "Come again?" you ask.
"Yeah, your ring- I think it's broken." Your Mystic Code is still on th etable, but it's been moved from where it had been when you and Hitomi stepped out into the hall, and Sayaka has a new glass of water she hadn't had before. "Heh, sorry," Sayaka says, rubbing the back of her head. "It was just sitting there, all tempting, so I thought I'd give it a try and see how it worked, but I couldn't make it do anything."
"That's because you need to send a bit of magical energy into it to make it work," you say, snatching the ring from the table. "You don't have any magic circuits, remember? That's why Archer has you working on Formalcraft first, so you'll have a way to use Mystic Codes without needing your own supply of mana."
Ignoring Sayaka's mumbled "You don't have to rub it in, you know?" you turn to Hitomi, and present her with the ring. "You wanted to get a feel for the practicals of Mystic Codes, correct?" you ask her; Hitomi nods. "Then give this a try." Hitomi takes the ring from you, admiring the chiseled rune design you spent so much time and effort on. "When you send magical energy into the ring, the ice runes I've inscribed activate and lower the temperature of whatever it's in contact with. The intensity of the cooling effect is dependent on the amount of magical energy put into it." For someone like Hitomi, who has a low number of magic circuits compared to even a low-ranking mage, if Archer is to be believed, the amount of magical energy she's able to put through your Mystic Code shouldn't be enough to harm her if it were to backfire. Can Mystic Codes backfire? "You can give it a try, if you'd like."
Fitting the ring to her finger, Hitomi says "Thank you, Akemi-san. I think I shall," as she reaches for the glass of water Sayaka had set out for just this occasion. Her fingers wrap around the half-full glass, and you can just make out the shimmering pale blue as the Isa runes react to Hitomi's magic circuits. After a few seconds, the top centimeter of water has cooled enough that you can see small chunks of ice floating in the glass. "Ah!" Hitomi says, pulling her hand back with a wide smile on her face. "That's so interesting!"
Sayaka reaches for the glass, poking at the chunks of ice, before dipping her whole finger into the water. "Whoa! It's really cold!" she says. "That's super cool, Homura!"
You don't allow puns in your apartment.
"Perhaps once you've gotten a bit more experience with Mystic Codes under your belt, I-" Or Lancer, or possibly McRemitz-san if she's ever in Mitakihara again. "-could teach you about runes. If you're interested, they could help you with creating specific functions of Mystic Code crafting, or achieve certain effects that would normally require a greater amount of magical energy than your magic circuits could supply you with."
And, you think, in addition to helping Hitomi solve the problem faced by her of low available magical energy, once you've gotten further with your knowledge of Inguz, you could probably come up with a way to solve that and take care of the mana requirement for both Hitomi and Sayaka; a sort of mana battery component, if you will.
"Now," you say, taking back your ring from Hitomi and returning it to its proper fingers. "I didn't just invite the two of you over so I could show off my cool new toy, so let's get down to business." You'll keep your mind and your ears open to Sayaka, should she come up with a more concrete idea of where she wants to start that isn't just "Magic Batman", and turn your attentions to Hitomi in the mean time. "Earlier today, you said you had an idea you wanted to start with. What can you tell me about that?"
"Well, as I said before, since my Element is Wind, I thought it would make sense to start with something that involved the air. The idea I had is for a Mystic Code which I can use, in conjunction with my Element, to alter the density of oxygen in the air. With the addition of a spark, this can be used to create fire, but I'm sure there are many other uses for such an ability as well, if I put my mind to it."
You nod, and say "That's a good start. Do you know what you'd need in order to accomplish that?"
"I would need whatever base object I intended to use as the Mystic Code's base; in the anime Sayaka-san showed me where I got the idea, the character in question uses a glove. In the anime it's able to create sparks through the use of friction, but I figure a lighter should work similarly enough, and would be less conspicuous... But then, I suppose a 'good girl' like myself doesn't really have a use for a lighter, do I?"
"What you have a use for is entirely up to you," you say. If Hitomi wants to make her Mystic Code a lighter, who are you to say no? "However, if you're looking for something inconspicuous, a ring or another piece of jewellery is always an option; though I'm not sure how easily you could create a spark."
"Perhaps if I used two rings with a piece of flint?"
[Homura] Wat do?
[Archer] Wat do?
