[X] Just send him on his merry way.
"Hrm." You cross your arms. "Well, not much else, then. Keep me posted as you head into Kasamino tonight."
"Right, right." He takes another deep breath. "Shit, Sayaka. I don't want a war."
"And I don't want my magi harmed. Rin's bad news and I don't want to see her do anything to them. If that means that she wants an all-out war, so fucking be it. I don't care what her goals are and I don't care what she wants. What I want to know is what she's capable of."
"Well, sometimes, the goal informs capability." He waves his hand. "Fuck, worst case scenario, she's a nut
and a TERF."
You snort at that. "So what you're saying is that we could be getting into a TERF war?"
"Eyyy-" He shoots a pair of fingerguns your way. "That was fucking bad."
"I'm a mom. Bad puns come with parenthood." You wave him off. "I'll regroup with you and the others in an hour."
"Right, right." He takes a step off the balcony. "Later, Saya."
"Later."
With that, he falls over the edge. A split-second later, a hook arches up from underneath your vision, and he swings his way off back towards the boardwalk. You think he's going to nab a few snacks before the meetup. You turn back down the bridge to Kasamino. The train rumbles in the distance on its way to work.
You can't help but feel like something terrible is coming. You don't know what it is, but you're damn well going to get ready for it.
[=]
Your name is Kyouko, and you made ramen tonight. Perfectly cooked, custom-made, with noodles that you cut yourself, meat you cooked yourself, and a broth that you stirred yourself. You should be enjoying your meal; Minako loves the food that you and your wife cook. You kind of suspect that your love of food rubbed off on Sayaka.
Except, well, you aren't eating much of it. You sat down at the table, and you already have the feeling that something's wrong.
Minako is eating but they're looking distant. They stir the bowl with their chopsticks, and every so often they pick up the kale that sits at the bottom of the bowl. Then they let it slip out of the grip. Grab...slip. Grab...well this time, they bite into it. They close their eyes, then they greedily slurp the rest of it up into their mouth.
Then they sit back down onto their hand. Grip. Slip. Grip. Slip.
Sayaka's sitting next to you with her own bowl. She's eating slowly; painfully slowly. You know it's painful because usually she fucking inhales her food.
You send a thought towards Sayaka.
'Hey, so Mina...'
You stop yourself mid-thought. That's right, Minako would
know. Though to be completely honest, they probably knew way, way before they became a magi. At the very least, they knew that you and Sayaka were hiding shit and trying to be coy.
So instead...
'You alright, Mina?'
They stir the soup around.
'Kinda? I think.' Their eyes flick up to you. "We can just talk, y'know."
Well, now you just feel sheepish. "I didn't want you to stop eatin' just to talk."
"I just...okay, so..." They take a breath. "Where do witches come from? Really. Truthfully. Be honest. Don't fucking lie to me. Because Takane and I have an...idea."
Both you and Sayaka freeze in place. Your wife stopped eating her food as soon as Mina started speaking, and now, well...
Well now you've completely lost your appetite.
Minako's eyes flicker between the two of you. Your emotionscape must be hellish now. You don't know what that looks like but Mina
does. Mina must be able to see it
vividly.
"So witches come from Magi," they murmur.
"It's a...major part of the Incubators' plans." Sayaka speaks for the first time in this conversation. "They consider being a magi to be a kind of larval state, with witches being the final metamorphosis. The endgoal is not to produce magi. A race of superpowered warriors that are fully capable of controlling their souls' energy and maybe even rebelling? That's not a system. To the Incubators, that's not even sustainable.
"So what they want instead is a magi to make a contract, and for that magi to...to grow to regret it. Magi make a wish on an impulse or a whim or a belief. What usually happens is that, well, a magi is a teenager. They make that wish, but they don't consider the consequences or the results of that witch. Or they realize that...maybe they're nowhere near as virtuous as they thought, or..."
Your wife trails off and turns towards you.
You take that as your cue to continue the thought.
"Or they get lucky. Very, very lucky. If a magi survives and doesn't witch out quickly, because usually it takes a month or two for a magi to witch, then they're usually killed by a witch or another, desperate magi. Grief seeds are scarce. Scarcity drives conflict and competition. Competition as a magi gets people killed or witches them out. New grief seeds. Grief seeds are still scarce. Etc etc etc rinse and fuckin' repeat."
Minako stares at the both of you. Their eyes close shut. "Shit."
"Yeah it is, kid."
Silence reigns at the dinner table. There's not a whole lot else that can be said right now. You tap your fingers against the table, the cushion underneath suddenly feeling way less comfy. You slowly put some more noodles in your mouth.
"No wonder you didn't want me to...uh...yeah..." They laugh a little, but they can't even look at the two of you right now.
"Yeah." Sayaka closes her eyes. "It's no wonder."
Another awkward, terrible silence. Minako is eating properly now; they're still not really enjoying their food, instead glancing between the two of you, trying to wait for something else to say or for you to say something.
You keep your eyes on your wife, who stares back.
You really were hoping to avoid this part. Nobody has a good reaction to that particular bomb. It's almost never a good idea. Practice tells you it's a bad idea; it demotivates magi, it makes them feel hopeless and destroys morale. Most of the magi in your city don't know, and for good reason. Anyone who's lasted as long as you have in this godforsaken system
knows how bad an idea it is to tell someone about the true nature of witches.
You take another scoop of noodles and put it in your mouth. You have a little more to talk about with Mina after dinner now. None of it
good, mind you, but important nonetheless.
[] Talk to Mina. (PICK ONE)
-[] About witches. There's more you can discuss. They know how magi and witches relate now so you can at least help them understand more of their nature.
-[] About their power. Maybe their power interacts with witches? God you hope not but considering how much they know now...
-[] About relationships. Embarrass Mina by asking questions about them and Takane and reminiscing of cute and funny moments you had with Sayaka.
-[] About something mundane. You want them to feel semi-normal again.
[] Just agree to go to sleep. You weren't that busy today but all of sudden you're just tired.
