Interlude: Rot und Gold.
Dalek Ix
Verified Dalek
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Interlude: Rot und Gold
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Interlude: Rot und Gold
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"I wasn't expecting to see you here."
It felt strange to speak her father's tongue again, the syllables feeling odd coming from her throat.
The other girl chuckles, kneeling, her hands clasped. The church was empty of even the pastor, but she knew the prayers by heart.
"Not that many churches left in Brockton Bay, Senpai," she quips. Her elder winces at the reminder.
"I mean... here," the blond corrects. She's wringing her hands. "In this city. Or... At all, if I'm honest."
The younger's smile slips off.
"... Yeah. Me neither." An admission, and then another. "I thought you were dead for a time, but..." A snort. "Well, then I remembered who I was thinkin' of. 'The Invincible'. ."
A pause.
"... I never liked that... title." Softly, almost hiding the resentment. "As if I never knew what defeat felt like. Or loss."
"You're still alive," the younger points out.
A smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
"I survived," she corrects, "Between survival and life lies a chasm deeper and wider than most people think."
"Darker, too," she adds, softly.
The redhead suppresses a shudder.
"Did I ever tell you that you're fucking terrifying?" she snarks. Her elder giggles.
"Only occasionally," she shoots back, the tone mildly teasing.
The redhead scoffs. The two fall silent, basking in the familiar companionship. Briefly, they remember the last time the two of them were like this; half a world a way, and what feels like an age ago.
Golden eyes glance away.
"I missed you."
The admission makes the redhead blink. She gets up to her feet, and there's a moment where the elder thinks she's gone too far.
"... I missed you too." The redhead sits down next to her. Neither dares to look at the other. "I was a..." She stops. A snort. Dark amusement. "Wasn't planning on going to confession today, but here goes: I was a bitch to you last time we met, and I was an extra salty bitch not to swallow my own stupid pride and come when you made the call."
"And I was a selfish, lonely fool not to understand that you needed to grieve," the blonde answers, rubbing the ring around her middle finger, "I knew exactly what you were going through, and all I could think about was that I didn't want you to leave me."
"Looks like we both fucked up, big time," the redhead quips, her voice dripping with levity that is only mostly false. More softly, she adds, "But it's... It's good to see you again." A pause. A very gently worded question. "What brought you all the way here, though?"
There's silence from the blonde. A silence with a certain weight to it. The redhead blinks, and turns her head just enough to look at the other girl.
"... Mami-san?"
"As much as I'd like to say that I just happened to end up here, Kyouko..." She closes her eyes. "I'm in Brockton Bay for... business, so to speak."
The redhead stares at her elder for a moment more, and then looks away, leaning back on the pew. The blonde wrings her hands again, not daring to look at her junior in the eye.
"Never thought I'd see you go mercenary, Mami-san," Kyouko says. Her voice is so soft it barely carries over to the other Puella Magi.
"Me neither," Mami Tomoe admits. She sighs. "Although I've made my limits quite clear to my... employer," she adds, her tone darkening.
Softly, she adds, "One of those being you."
Red eyes blink. "... Me?"
"... Well, anyone I consider a friend," Mami tells her, "Which includes you. It's... not a very long list." She wrings her hands. "I-"
Kyouko puts a hand on her shoulder, cutting off whatever Mami was about to say.
"Mami, did I ever give you the impression that I'd be the sort to give two shits about that?" she tells the older girl. A hand capable of crushing windpipes give Mami's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Because, let me tell ya, I don't give two shits about what you had to do." She shakes her head. Sighs. "Honestly, you worry way too much about what people think of you..."
It's Mami's turn to stare at Kyouko. A snort from the redhead. A familiar smirk. "Look at me, being all mature and shit... Bet ya thought you'd never see that, huh?"
Mami giggles, her mood buoyed considerably. "Ah, you say that, but... Hm. What was the wording you used back in the clinic? 'Next time I see that fucking bird, I'll shove it up your fucking ass'?"
"And that was a perfectly mature response to a lunatic who keeps an evil Bird Familiar as a pet," the redhead says dismissively.
The elder raises an eyebrow. "Aren't you being employed by said lunatic?"
The other girl shrugs. "Alice knows she's crazy," she drawls, "Not sure if being that self-aware makes the situation better or worse for her, but she doesn't mind us calling her out, even if she only really listens to Susan." She shrugs. "Plus, she pays well, and the room's not half bad... although the less you say about the view, the better." Her hands reach for the paper bag beside her, out of habit, but she manages to stop herself. She has some standards. "Brockton Bay's shit, but still better than Mitakihara."
"That's not saying much," Mami says, mildly, "A smoking crater would be an improvement over Mitakihara."
"Ain't that the truth..." Kyouko stands up, and Mami follows a moment later. "Walk with me?"
They leave the church together, and Kyouko waits until the instant her sneakers hit the pavement before digging an apple out of the paper bag she's carrying. She offers Mami another, and the blonde wordlessly accepts it; she's not feeling hungry, but she knows better than to refuse.
They pass a patch of graffiti, and Kyouko catches sight of Mami pursing her lips. A quick glance, and the redhead's not surprised to see that the subject of her former mentor's disgust is an ABB tag.
"Thinking of doing some cleanup on the side?" she asks, only half-joking. Mami's fingers twitch, and one can imagine the familiar muzzleloading rifles sliding out of her sleeves.
"I'm tempted," Mami admits. Something occurs to her. "Speaking of gangs... What do you know about that girl who was at the clinic today? The one who brought a potential with her?"
"The one with the evil as hell costume?" Kyouko further clarifies. "Yeah, that's Rachel; Brockton Bay's own friendly neighbourhood Fake Nazi."
Mami raises an eyebrow. "... 'Fake Nazi'?"
Kyouko chuckles. "Yeah; she kinda looks like one, but she isn't." She bites into her second apple, chewing thoroughly before swallowing. "Really, really isn't, or else Susan wouldn't be letting her into the trainyard. Not that it stops people from going with the first impression." She shrugs. "According to Missy, her costume used to be a thousand times worse when she started out."
Mami pauses, taking in this new information.
"I see," she says, "A case of costume regret?"
"The worst," Kyouko agrees.
"Where does she hunt?"
"Winslow," Kyouko answers at once, "She's got two neighbors besides Sarah, and both of them bitch about how they lost Winslow to her." She pauses. "Why do you ask?"
Mami smiles.
"I'd like to give her a visit."
[X] INTERLUDE END.
