Puella Magi Adfligo Systema - Story only

[Firnagzen]

"Mmmm," you hum, leaning against Mami. You're tall enough that your cheek rests comfortably against the top of her head, soft golden strands curling against your skin.

"Mmm?" Mami asks.

"So there's an idea I've been thinking about, a bit," you say. "I dunno if it's practical, but it's an idea. Would you like to hear it?"

"Of course," Mami says, shifting a little closer.

"Well," you say. "I call it the Best Exotic Mamigold Hotel, in my head. Just... somewhere any meguca can go and have free lodging and food and stuff, you know? A place that can take in homeless meguca and just need a nice place to stay for meguca passing by, you know?"

You sit upright, smiling at Mami. "And of course, since it's named after you, you'd be in charge, while I run around and provide the, ah, resources. Though the idea's, um... a ways off, I suppose. We'd have to take over the Yakuza first."

Mami blinks at you, mouth working for a moment before finally settling into a fond smile. "Oh, Sabrina," she says, relaxing and tucking her head against your shoulder.

"Hey, I mean it," you say, using your arm around her waist to pull her a little closer into the hug. "It's an idea that, well, maybe we could pull off in the longer term. And I really do mean it about putting you in charge, if you want to be. I bet you'd do an amazing job, Mami, and we'd be able to help so many people."

"I know you mean it, Sabrina," she says, patting your hand and softening into the hug. "I think it's a wonderful idea. Do you really think I could be in charge of something like that?"

You pout at her, just a bit. She doesn't seem to have recognised the reference... Oh, wait, the movie comes out at the end of the year, doesn't it? You shake your head. "Of course you can, Mami," you say. "You're a natural leader. I'm not. I can be, but it doesn't come easy, you know?"

"I'd follow you anywhere," Mami says, firm and resolute.

"I-" your breath hitches. "I know. But that's different."

Mami smiles, patting your hand again. "Ah... We should start packing up for the picnic soon? Um, if that's alright?"

"Ah, time already?" you ask rhetorically as you lever yourself upright and offer Mami a hand. She accepts it with a smile, letting you pull her to her feet. The two of you head into the kitchen and start packing - Mami produces a big basket from the storeroom.

"By the way, Sabrina," Mami says. "'Take over the yakuza'?"

You shrug as you carefully stack the boxes of mochi so as to avoid disturbing them. "Weeeeellll it's an idea?"

"The yakuza?" Mami asks. "Ah, move the mochi? The liquids should go at the bottom, they're heavier."

"Right," you say, lifting the boxes to let Mami slide the sealed containers in. "And it's not like I haven't already cough stolen from them cough." You take care to pronounce the coughs.

Mami smiles at you. "So you want to steal the entire organisation now?" she asks, pursing her lips. "But wouldn't that mean you were stealing from yourself?"

"I'd give it back, of course," you say virtuously, helping Mami arrange the layers of plastic boxes. "But that's only if I take over the yakuza."

"Of course," Mami agrees with a lilting tone of amusement in her voice.

"By the way," you say. "Homura agreed to keep stuff in status if we needed it, but do we need it? It looks like everything will fit nicely, and it should keep fine?"

Mami hesitates. "Using her shield? I don't think we need it, but it would be nice to involve her, since she volunteered," she says, and brightens. "We could bring ice cream?"

You grin at her. "Right! I suppose we shouldn't give her the cream stew to keep, it'd be half gone by the time we get to the picnic."

Mami giggles. "We can give it to her as a show of trust!" she says, unearthing the container of stew from the basket. "Hm... Depending on how her shield works, it would be best to send the liquids with her. Then we wouldn't have to worry about spillage."

"Oh, that's an excellent point," you say. "I'll call her, then?"

At Mami's nod, you reach out mentally. "Hey, Homura! You ready for the picnic?"

"I... am, yes," Homura responds a few moments later.

"Good! So, um, is that offer to help carry things to the picnic still open, Homura?" you ask.

"Yes," Homura responds. "I shall come over."

"See-" your sentence is interrupted by a breeze and the sudden appearance of Homura in the middle of the kitchen. You flinch, reactions getting the better of you even as you process that.

"Good afternoon, Homura," Mami says, as imperturbably unruffled as ever. She gives Homura a polite smile. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Not a problem," Homura murmurs, meandering over to the table to look at all the goodies.

Mami smiles. "Homura, if I may ask - is there, ah, gravity inside your shield?" she asks. "That is to say, if we store something with liquids inside, will it spill?"

"No," Homura says. Her hair waves gently behind her with the shake of her head and how does she do it she's basically a walking shampoo commercial- "To both."

"Excellent," Mami says, nudging the freshly removed containers towards Homura. "Would you be amenable to helping us carry these, then? It would make things much easier. And the ice cream?"

Homura nods. "I can do that." She reaches over the table, the containers vanishing into her shield.

You smile at Mami, and head for the fridge. "Salted caramel, royal English tea... Vanilla?" you suggest, calling out flavours from the few pint tubs you'd bought.

The only reason you two had bought so much was because of you pointing out that as magical girls, you didn't have to gain weight if you didn't want to.

"Bring the strawberry as well?" Mami suggests, smiling warmly at you.

Homura cranes her neck, peering at the contents of the refrigerator. "I can bring it all, and return what's left over later?" she points out.

"... Well, that works too," you agree. "Let me pack these into a cooler before you put it in a shield, Homura, since we'll want to being these out before Nagisa arrives."

Amethyst eyes flicker over to you at the mention of Nagisa, but she nods moments later.

You stack the tubs of ice cream in the cooler, and Homura makes that vanish into her shield, too.

Mami fusses with the heavily laden picnic basket, even threading a few ribbons through the weave to make sure that it doesn't break. You personally don't think that that's likely, but still. Eventually, it's all tidied up to her satisfaction, and she gathers it up in her arm, beaming at you.

"All good?" you ask, mostly rhetorically. "All good. Let's go!"

You take a moment to close the window before you leave, giving Homura a pointed look. She could have just knocked at the door like a normal person.

Of course, she ignores that with magnificient equnamity, leading the way out of the door.

As the three of you descend by the elevator, you grin at Homura. "Hey, do me a favour and help me check in on Madoka?" you suggest. "I'll check in on Nagisa, and Mami, could you help me check on Sayaka and Hitomi? I'm sure Kyousuke will be with them."

Mami stops her cheerful humming to beam at you. "Of course, Sabrina," she says. Her expression develops the slightly distant, distracted look you've learned to associate with telepathy - when it's not being hidden, anyway. You hook your arm around hers, guiding her out of the elevator door as it opens.

Homura nods, following you out.

And since you've volunteered to check on Nagisa, you slip your free hand into your pocket to text Shin.

The three of you make your way to the park at a leisurely walk, a comfortable silence hanging between the three of you. Homura slides her phone out of her pocket as you approach the low rise of the hill the park is set on, dialing a number and raising it to her ear.

"Hello, Madoka?" Homura greets a few moments later, her voice utterly even and controlled.

You grin at Mami, who nods slightly. "Sayaka and Hitomi have picked up Kyousuke, they're on the way."

And Shin's just confirmed that Nagisa's on the way, too. Perfect.

You take a moment to survey the park.

... It's very green.

Very, very green.

The swell of the hill is traced out with little paved paths, true, and there're little shelters dotted here and there. But still aggressively green. A few excessively modern art sculptures lurk about, smooth lines and graceful curves terminating in sharp triangular points breaking like waves from the ground.

You eye the paths, curving lamp posts made in the same fashion as the art sculptures standing unlit - it is mid-afternoon, after all. The lamps come in pairs, bracketing the stone benches lining the paths.

"Over there?" Mami calls, pointing out an unoccupied shelter. It's...

Hm.

It's a shelter made of a curved piece of glass supported by two metal stands, but... what's the point of a shelter made of glass? Which is transparent and doesn't block the sun at all, though admittedly the sun is actually quite pleasant. Maybe that's the point.

You smile at Mami. "Looks good," you agree. "Do you want me to carry the basket a bit?" You reach for it.

"No, no," Mami says, smiling at you as she twitches the basket out of your grasp. "I've got it."

"Homura?" you ask, turning to the time traveller. She blinks slowly at you, and points down the road.

"Madoka's here," she notes quietly.

And indeed she is, accompanied by...

Hm.

You know, her father might be the tallest person you've met? Tall, if relatively slender, carrying a picnic basket that rivals the one you and Mami prepared. It's, ah, quite the contrast with his pink-haired daughter, even if they share a hair colour. All things considered, you have to tilt your head down to meet Madoka's eyes but you'd have to crane your head back to talk to him.

"Hello Mami! Hello Homura, Sabrina!" Madoka calls brightly as she runs over to join your little group.

"Hello, Madoka, hello Mr. Kaname!" you call, waving. You know his name is Kaname Tomohisa, but you aren't supposed to, yet. Taking your cue, or maybe making their own guesses, Mami and Homura greet them too.

"Ah, everyone, this is my papa, Kaname Tomohisa," Madoka says, waving at the giant of a man.

"Hello, everyone," Tomohisa says with a pleasant smile. His voice is a light tenor, which you find somehow quite fitting. "Don't worry, I won't be staying, I just wanted to help bring the picnic basket and meet my daughter's friends. I hope you don't mind that we prepared some food, too!"

"Ah, it's no problem, Mr. Kaname," Mami says, giving the basket an inquisitive look. "Thank you for taking the time!"

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Kaname!" you agree, holding out your hands for the basket. He hands it over, eyebrows shooting up when you take it without so much as a grunt of effort.

"It was no problem," Tomohisa agrees. "I'll leave you all to yourselves. Have fun, alright?"

"Bye, papa!" Madoka says, waving happily.

"The others will be here soon," Mami says, beaming around at everyone. "Shall we claim a place?"

"Yep," you say, smiling back. "C'mon, let's go!"

[] Write-in

=====​

Seriously, Tomohisa's like 185cm tall.

 

[Firnagzen]

"This way," Mami says, starting down the path towards one of the shelters.

You eye the stone path. It's sloped, given that this is a park on a hill, but it's not too bad. Kwyijibo's on a wheelchair, got to keep that in mind, after all.

You don't know what Sayaka sees in him, really, what with his fawning over his violin. He will have once made a terrible boyfriend to Hitomi, neglecting her in favour of, well, his violin. Apparently he much prefers said instrument's wooden curves.

... Eh, you're being unfair to him.

He is a teenager, after, one raised in Japan and probably weaned on the not entirely unmerited notion that he's amazing at music.

You might be biased, but really, your point stands. Terrible boyfriend.

Mami leads you to a shelter on the swell of the hill, stepping daintily over the little flower border. The park isn't too crowded for a weekend, and you have a fair amount of clear space to yourself.

You flop down on the nice, soft grass, only taking a moment to make sure the picnic basket is set down properly. Really, really well-manicured grass, all but perfectly even and somehow clean.

In any case, it's springy and comfortable and you really have to wonder about that public works budget that this city has. Like really.

You pat the ground next to you, looking at Mami, Madoka, and then Homura. Mami settles her basket next to yours, and then sits down next to you, primly sweeping her yellow sundress out before leaning against you with a pleased sigh. Madoka sits down at your other side, beaming at Homura.

Homura, on the other hand, takes a moment to remove the foodstuffs from her shield. One smooth motion, like she'd choreographed it: transform in a burst of light, half crouch and shield sweep in a semi-circle, depositing containers and cooler along the way, and then another burst of light as she transforms out of her costume. And then she sits on the grass.

It doesn't even seem to have caught the attention of any of the other park goers.

Naturally, you applaud, grinning at Homura. Mami giggles, joining in a moment later.

"That was so cool!" Madoka says, her applause louder than yours by far.

Homura snorts, waving it off.

"We should lay out the cloth," Mami notes, making no move to untuck herself from your side.

"Eh," you comment.

"Mmm," Mami hums in agreement.

The grass is ridiculously comfortable. You're not even sure there are ants in here.

"I'll get it!" Madoka says, scrambling to her feet and pulling the cloth from your basket. Homura heaves herself to her feet to lend a hand.

Between the two of them, they get both the mats laid out nicely - Tomohisa had packed one too. Naturally.

Your phone buzzes, and you jump, unearthing it from your pocket. A message from Shin - they're here. You turn to Mami, finding her smiling at you. "Nagisa's here?" she asks.

"Yep," you agree, hopping to your feet and patting your skirt down.

"I'll come with you," Mami decides, holding her hand out to you. You grab, and pull her up. "We'll be right back!"

North entrance, Shin's SMS said, so you head over there, Mami walking at your side with a pleased smile on her face. You beam at her, just as happy to see her in a good mood. She deserves to be, and you feel like it's something that's been in short supply for her. Not just recently, but over the years.

"Big sis!" A white-haired projectile crashes into your knees. Nagisa applies a ferocious hug to your legs, orange dress flying around her.

You laugh, bending down to pick the girl up. "Hey, Nagisa!" you say. "Good afternoon, Mr. Momoe."

"Good afternoon, Sabrina!" the businessman says, favouring you with a smile. He looks slight askance at the way you balance Nagisa easily on your hip, but doesn't bring it up.

"Ah, I don't think I've actually introduced you... Um, Mami, this is Mr. Momoe, Nagisa's uncle," you say, smiling at Mami. "Mr. Momoe, this is my friend, Tomoe Mami."

Mami bows demurely. "It's very nice to meet you," she says.

"Pleased to meet you too," Shin responds, bowing back. Not as deeply. "Thank you for inviting my niece to your picnic today."

"Ah, it was Sabrina's idea," Mami demurs.

"Nevertheless," Shin says, shifting his attention to you. "Thank you too, Sabrina. You know Mrs. Kaname's daughter, right? Please give her my best wishes."

"Oh, she's actually here," you say. "Do you want to say hi?"

Shin shakes his head. "Intrude on the domain of teenaged girls?" he says with a faint smile. "I wouldn't dare."

Nagisa makes a protesting noise. "I'm here too!"

Shin laughs, and ruffles her hair. "And I believe you mentioned one boy, Sabrina, who will undoubtedly be teased relentlessly," he adds with a twinkle in his eye. "I think I still remember what being young was like."

"You're not that old," you feel compelled to add.

The man snorts. "Take care of Nagisa! I'll be back in about an hour and a half, six o'clock."

"Bye, uncle Shin!" Nagisa says, waving enthusiastically.

Exchanging goodbyes, the man turns and walks off in the general direction of the car park. You beam at Mami, and the three of you start heading back. Mami tucks herself against your side, humming cheerfully.

"How've you been, Nagisa?" you ask. The younger girl stares around the park with eyes wide with wonder.

"Oh!" Nagisa says. "I've been good! Uncle Shin is really nice and I'm going to live with him for good now!"

You laugh, hefting her weight firmly. "Good."

By the time you get back, Sayaka, Hitomi, and a violin have arrived.

... OK, you're just being mean, now.

Kyuskikko -uh, Kyousuke- just got here, too - Sayaka managed to maneuver his wheelchair over the grass without much incident, it seems. They're all spread out on the grass, except for Kyousuke who seems content to stay on his wheelchair for now, violin on his lap.

Homura's moved to the far side of the shelter from him, warily keeping one of the support pillars of the shelter blocking direct line of sight.

Like, are you being mean when you can't help but notice that Kyuskiko doesn't even want to let go of the violin for a while? He's talking to Hitomi, yes, but he's still got a hand on it. It's probably a very good violin with some kind of pedigree to it, but still. It's a picnic. Put it in a case.

"Hey, Sabrina! Hey, Mami!" Sayaka yells, catching sight of you.

"Hey yourself!" you call back, ambling over the flower border to the shelter proper. You set Nagisa down, and she immediately throws herself at the grass with a squeal of joy. Madoka giggles, standing and moving over to fuss over the younger girl.

You give Mami a warm smile as you approach the group proper. "Hey, Hitomi, Kyousuke," you greet. "How're you doing today?"

"Doing quite well, thank you," Hitomi says, smiling. "It's a nice day to be out and not having extra lessons."

Sayaka makes a face. "Extra 'lessons'."

Hitomi shrugs. "It's a family thing," she says.

"How about you, Kyousuke?" you ask.

The grey haired boy laughs. "This is the first time I've seen plants other than what's on my plate or around the hospital in months, my fingers work, and the sun is shining," he says, evidently in an excellent mood. "Today is a good day. Thank you for inviting me to the picnic, Miss Sabrina."

"Wasn't my idea," you say, slanting a grin at Sayaka who colours and glances away.

Kyousuke shrugs. "Thank you anyway, it's your picnic," he says.

"And Mami's," you correct, earning you a smile from Mami. "Nobody minds if we eat later, right? I mean it's only about four forty-five right now."

Mami smiles and adds, "There are cupcakes and cookies in our basket. And drinks!"

Nagisa ducks behind you, squealing as she hides from Madoka, who makes a fake scary face. "Rawr! I'm going to bite your head off!"

... she doesn't do a very good job. She's about as scary as a wet noodle at the best of times.

You ruffle Nagisa's hair. "Having fun?"

"Yes!" Nagisa says, giggling as she ducks away from Madoka. They chase each other around you for a moment, until Sayaka pounces, grabbing Nagisa.

Sayaka swings Nagisa into the air with a grunt of effort. "Oof, what have you been eating?"

"Cheese!" Nagisa says, bright and utterly unrepentant.

"Oh yes, girls," you say, pulling everyone save Nagisa and Kyousuke into the mental communication. "We're going to tease the heck out of Kyuskiko, right?"

"Kyousuke," Sayaka corrects automatically. "OK, seriously, last time it was Kwijibooooooh that's not a bad idea."

"... Kwijibo?" Hitomi asks.

"Yeah, Sabrina here keeps messing his name up," Sayaka explains.

Hitomi glances at you, then Sayaka, making the connection. "I'm in," she says.

Mami's giggles echo through the conversation, clear and silvery. She manages to keep her face mostly straight, apart from the way her eyes crinkle.

"I'm in!" Madoka agrees, eyes lighting up with mischief. "Homura?"

Homura shrugs, rolling over on the grass.

A warm weight hits your back - Nagisa, who promptly does her level best to climb you like a jungle gym. You hoist her up to your shoulders. "Big siiiiis," she says, wiggling happily.

"Tired already?" you ask.

"Nope!" she says happily.

Mami giggles, propping herself up on one elbow far enough to ruffle the Nagisa's hair. "You know," she says, giving the younger girl a speculative look. "We could probably style your hair like mine..."

"No!" Nagisa's protests. "Don't wanna! I like my hair!" With the two...quarter ponytail tufts on the top of her head and wavy white hair all the way down her back, apparently. "Who's the boy?"

"He's Kwyuisko," Sayaka answers, eyes dancing.

"Oh," Nagisa says. "OK!"

You set Nagisa down for now. "Anyway, since Mami mentioned them, cookies, anyone?" You walk over to the basket and pull out the containers. "Oh, mochi, too. Want some, Kyouswike?"

"I'll have some mochi," he responds, blinking slowly as you offer him the box with a grin. He picks out a few, daintily grabbing a tissue and laying them out on his lap.

"Cookiiiies!" Nagisa squeals, bouncing behind you as you hand out sweets to everyone.

Hitomi sits up as you offer her the boxes to choose from. "Kwuysuke, why don't you play us something?"

The slight, confused frown on his face evaporates in an instant as he raises his violin. "Any requests?" he asks, mochi forgotten.

You cock your head. "Devil went down to Georgia?" you ask, catching a sharp look from Hitomi.

His brow wrinkles, lowering his violin. "Isn't that a country song?"

"Hey, fiddle, violin," you say, grinning and shrugging.

He produces his phone from his pocket, fingers flickering over the screen.

Sayaka sidles over to you. "What song is that?"

You snicker, lowering your voice. "He's right, it's a folk song," you say. "Fairly difficult to play one, at that."

"Bet he can play it," Sayaka says.

"Oh, I'm sure he can," you agree. "Just his pride~"

Kyousuke nods sharply, setting his phone down - you can see sheet music on the screen. And then he starts to play.

He skips the lyrics, and goes straight for the two fiddle -you mean violin- solos.

... Yeah, he's pretty good, you'll concede. He manages to play the fast, violently frenetic song without missing a beat, on what's presumably his first time.

Sayaka claps loudly the moment he finishes, joined by Hitomi and Nagisa. Madoka, too.

... Oh, fine. You applaud, Mami smiling at you and clapping politely too.

"That was amazing, K- Kyusuke!" Sayaka says, barely managing to swallow a giggle and turning it into a strangled snort.

Kwijibo doesn't lower the violin, frowning in absent concentration. "No, I think my fingering could be better," he says. "Fiddle music is slightly different from violin music."

And then he sets bow to string again, starting from the top.

You raise your eyebrows, exchanging a nonplussed look with Mami, and then Madoka. The pinkette shrugs, motioning at Sayaka and Hitomi, who both look utterly enthralled at the playing.

Homura remains sitting beside Madoka, with her back towards Kyousuke.

Mami giggles quietly, and you plop down on the grass beside her. Nagisa drapes herself over your shoulders a moment later. "Big siiiis," she complains. "Do you have any cheeeeese?"

You snicker. "Doesn't your Uncle Shin feed you enough?"

"Noooo," Nagisa says. "He hardly lets me have any."

"How about some cheesecake?" Mami asks, already bustling off to raid the basket.

Nagisa squeaks and abandons you instantly to follow Mami like a lost duckling.

"Papa made some cheese crepes, too!" Madoka volunteers. "Ah, actually, he said we should eat those before they get too cold."

And that prompts another round of food handed out to everyone but Kyukiko, who's lost in his music again.

Like yeah, you can understand that he hasn't been able to touch, for months, what's probably been built up as his life's work. And you can understand the kind of obsessive focus on his particular hobby.

But still.

The picnic rolls by. You play with Nagisa, roping Mami and Madoka into it, Sayaka and Hitomi joining in now and then when Kyousuke stops for a break or to consult the Internet for information or new sheet music to play.

He is appreciative of your cooking, at least. Even if he doesn't actually seem to notice the name fudging.

At some point, Madoka produces a pocketful of ribbons and starts braiding Nagisa's hair, again.

Even Homura seems to appreciate the relaxation - she actually falls asleep at some point, and you motion for everyone to let her sleep for a while. Of course, she wakes up barely ten minutes later with a start, eyes flaring wide until she catches sight of you and Madoka. She gives you a tiny nod, and the barely perceptible panic bleeds away.

Mami enjoys herself playing host, serving everyone a constant stream of goodies from the two baskets with a smile on her face. Tomohisa, as expected, turns out to be a fine cook.

It's funny, really, Mami is a ridiculously powerful magical girl, but perfectly happy to just... immerse herself in domesticity. It's a comfortable kind of grounding, you suppose. Heh. Suggesting that she run a hotel might have some... unfortunate implications that she thankfully hasn't picked up on, but you can't deny that she would probably enjoy every moment of it.

And finally, it's dinnertime. Well, you've all been sort of eating at a slow pace since you got here, but still, dinnertime.

Nagisa flops onto the grass beside you as you and Mami start laying out the dinner spread. You pop open the containers, filling the air with the savoury fragrance of still-warm food.

"Is this curry?" Sayaka asks, giving one of the containers a dubious look.

"Yup," you confirm, handing her a plate and plastic utensils. "Indian curry."

Madoka's eyes light up, and she helps herself to a spoonful. "It's good!" she says, filling a paper bowl with it. "Not very spicy, though."

"Yeah, I brought a bottle of chilli powder, since I wasn't sure how much would be-" You cut yourself off, staring as Madoka promptly dumps a full quarter of the bottle in.

"Mm!" she says happily as she scarfs down another mouthful. "You should swap recipes with my papa! Oh, Homura, would you like to try some?"

Homura eyes the bowl, and then Madoka, who's offering it to her with a bright smile. Not offering to feed Homura, unfortunately for your inner shipper. Homura dips a spoon in, scooping up just a little, and hesitantly pops it into her mouth.

You grin at Mami as Homura makes a strangled sound, but Mami's already offering a freshly scooped bowl of ice cream which the time traveller grabs.

And finally, the laughter bursts to the surface, and you practically howl with laughter as Homura shoots you a look that could flay the flesh from your bones and Madoka looks mortified.

"H-hey-" you manage to gasp out. "Sayaka- you should try some too-"

"Nooooo I'm good," the bleunette says, swaying away from Madoka.

To your surprise, Hitomi reaches past you, claiming a spoonful of the Madoka's, ah, exceedingly spicy curry for herself. She eats it without batting an eyelash.

"It's not that different from wasabi," she notes by way of explanation. "Hmm... I do like this style of curry. Did you cook it, Mami? Or Sabrina?"

"Ah, this was Sabrina's dish," Mami says, smiling warmly at you.

Hitomi smiles. "Remind me to get the recipe from you sometime," she says. "I feel like my parents would enjoy it."

You grin. "Sure," you say. Mami hums, leaning against your side as she ladles some curry over rice for herself. From the container.

"Oh," Mami says, perking up. "Homura, there's cream stew, too!"

Homura nods, searching for the aforementioned dish - but Madoka gets there first, ripping the lid off with an excited noise as she ladles out a generous helping for herself. "Oh- Homura, here!" She fills a bowl for Homura, too. "You like this, too?"

The time traveller nods quietly, accepting the bowl.

"Oh!" Madoka says, turning a bright smile on her. "It's my favourite food!"

"I see," Homura says, tone careful and neutral.

Madoka settles down next to Homura to enjoy the stew.

You grin at Mami, who smiles back and tucks her head against your shoulder. "I like the curry. It's a bit spicy, though," she offers, before turning her attention to Kyousuke. "Hey, Kwyuski," she says. "Have you tried the curry?"

The boy, having deigned to finally set his violin aside for a while, nods. "I have," he says. "It's quite good."

"Thank you!" you say, catching Sayaka's eye. "Sayaka, Hitomi, has he... not noticed or does he just not care?"

"I'm... not sure he's noticed," Sayaka admits. "He's extremely passionate about his music."

"He hasn't noticed," Hitomi says with a decisive nod as she surveys the spread of food, finally deciding to sample the gyoza.

Beside you, Nagisa's happily gobbling down everything within reach, making happy little noises.

Dinner continues apace, laughter and an air of relaxed contentment surrounding all of you as the sun dips towards the horizon. Nagisa finally gives in, flopping over with a contented moan and patting her stomach.

You probably overfed her, but not too badly.

Mami leans against your shoulder as you wind down the eating. "I think we need to pass out leftovers," she admits ruefully, eyeing the amount of food left over.

"Yep," you agree. You could probably continue, but even as a puella magi, there's such a thing as restraint.

To be fair, just about everyone's lying around in various states of fullness. Madoka and Homura, in particular, between the two of them, you think they'd devoured about ninety percent of the... fairly sizeable container of cream stew.

Even Kyousuke's dozing in his wheelchair from the food coma.

"Ice cream, anyone?" you ask.

Sayaka waves a weak, floppy arm at you, making an inarticulate noise.

[] Write-in

=====​

Did you know that Madoka's favourite food is canonically cream stew?

 

[Firnagzen]

"Mmmnrg," you grumble. "You can't end a picnic without ice cream."

You could get up.

You could.

But the grass is comfy. Mami's a nice, warm presence at your side, curled up and hugging your arm.

You can get up anytime. Really you can.

...

This would be the perfect time for something horrible to happen, like a Witch attack or Feathers or something. You're not sure you'd be able to motivate yourself to do anything about it, except maybe offer whatever-it-is its choice of food.

"I'm too fat to get the ice cream," you announce to the world at large after a few minutes of careful contemplation.

"Mnnnm," Mami agrees, curling up and tightening her hug.

Nagisa's a happily full little ball with her head pillowed on your stomach. You'll probably have to roll her over to Shin later. Hopefully he won't be too upset. Homura and Madoka aren't too far behind, by your judgement - Madoka's just lying down and staring up at the sky with a blissful smile on her face. Homura's leaning against the shelter's support.

Sayaka, somehow, still has the energy to haul herself into a sitting position and gaze adoringly at Kwyuiiji, who's dozing on the grass - he'd finally deigned to be helped out of the wheelchair. Sayaka seems to notice you looking, turning and waving at you.

You grin back.

"I'll get it." You turn to see Hitomi regarding you with an amused look, rising with impeccable poise despite her cast.

Right, because someone actually paced themselves and, ah, ate within their means. You wave lazily at her, grinning amiably. You wish you could make chibi-Brina, but Nagisa's here, and you're not going to let her in on the magic thing, hopefully, until you can make sure Kyuubey stops sniffing around.

Hrrrrh.

A few minutes later, Hitomi plops a little plastic cup of ice cream on your chest, and another one in front of Mami's nose as she goes around serving everyone. She gave you vanilla, which is probably typecasting of some kind you'd complain about but it's ice cream. Also, Mami got the royal milk tea ice cream, which she digs into with gusto and manners no less impeccable for her state of advanced fullness.

"Thanks, 'tomi," you mumble around a mouthful of ice cream. "We should distribute the leftovers. Homura, you can have more of it, you live alone." You give her a sharp look to make sure she understand you.

She needs to eat more, and she deserves to eat healthier than just instant cup noodles.

Madoka waves a hand in the air. "May I have some of the curry? I'm sure papa would love to try it," she says.

"Sure," you agree. "Dunno how we're going to divvy up everything, though."

"Papa packed containers! And plastic bags!" Madoka volunteers.

"Oh, nice," you say. "That solves that, then." Heh. Considering that he must've known he was basically doubling the amount of food at the picnic, he probably anticipated this.

Your phone buzzes, and you groan, working your arm around Nagisa to retrieve the offending device from your pocket.

Ah, six o'clock on the dot and a message from Shin.

Mami tilts her head back, cracking one eye open to peek at you as you tap out a quick confirmation. "Oh," she says. " Time to go?"

"For Nagisa, yes," you agree, reaching up to tweak one of Nagisa's little hair tufts. "Nagisa, wakey wakey~"

"Dun wanna," she says, rolling over and burying her face in your stomach.

Mami giggles as you heave yourself up to a seated position and scoop Nagisa up into your arms. She pulls herself up too, helping herself to your shoulder to lurch to her feet.

You shoot her a quick smile. "Hey girls, I'm gonna go send Nagisa off, ok? Back in a few minutes."

Madoka pops to her feet. "Ah! We can split the leftovers up, are there any dishes you want, Sabrina? Mami? Oh... Nagisa?"

"Caaake," Nagisa says, perking up in your arms. Her odd red and yellow eyes fly open as she gives Madoka and then you a hopeful look.

You shake your head, grinning. "Pack her some pastries and what's left of the cake?" you suggest.

Madoka flashes you a thumbs up and hurries over to the picnic basket to do just that. She hands Mami a plastic bag with a few containers inside a few busy moments later, waving as you shift Nagisa to ride on your hip and head out.

Mami tucks herself against your other side as you stroll towards the park exit. It's a nice evening, cool and pleasant. Probably going to be a cold night, but for now, the sun's just about dipping towards the horizon to paint the sky in fiery oranges and pinks.

It's nearly time to tell Sayaka.

You can't put it off any more, can you?

You find Shin waiting for you by the gate, car engine idling. "Nagisa! Sabrina, Miss Tomoe."

You grin back at him, handing off the half-dozing ball of contented fullness. "We may have overfed her slightly," you say. Nagisa mumbles unintelligibly as her uncle takes her, snuggling into the man's arms.

"So I see," Shin says, sounding amused as he gives Nagisa a once over. "Did you have fun, Nagisa?"

"Mmmhm!" the girl responds, nodding sleepily.

Shin chuckles. "Well, thank you for looking after my niece for today," he says.

"Our pleasure," you assure him.

"It was!" Mami agrees. "Ah, Mr. Momoe-" She offers up the bag of food. "There's some pastries in here."

Shin blinks at her, then the bag. "Oh, I couldn't," he protests.

Mami shakes her head, smiling. "There was a bit of miscommunication, and Madoka brought food too," she says, offering the bag again. "So there is more than enough to go around."

"Hah, sounds like Junko's doing," Shin snorts. "'Miscommunication'." He takes the bag, this time, hefting it lightly. "Thank you very much."

Mami smiles politely, taking a step back to join you again.

"Well, once again, thank you," he says, with a shallow bow to you and Mami. "Say goodbye, Nagisa."

"Dun wanna," Nagisa mumbles, cracking her eyes open to look at you. "Bye, big sis, bye, Miss Tomoe."

You ruffle her hair. "Later, Nagisa!"

"Goodbye," Mami says with a warm smile.

Shin smiles fondly at Nagisa, and gives you and Mami a respectful nod before settling her in the back seat of his car and driving off.

You sigh as you watch them go, before shaking your head and offering your arm to Mami. She takes it with familiar ease, smiling up at you.

She doesn't say anything. And really, she doesn't need to.

You smile back. "C'mon," you murmur. "Let's go back to our friends."

She nods, and the two of you start back up the hill in an easy, comfortable silence.

You debate with yourself about bringing Hitomi in. She deserves to know, too. She had her wrist broken, after all. Do you want to just tell the both of them together like that, though?

"What's wrong, Sabrina?" Mami asks.

You grimace. "I... well, I want to tell Sayaka about... you know, Oriko. Hitomi, too," you say. "I just... I'm not completely sure of myself, I guess. I'm worried I'll mess it up, and I don't even know if I should tell them together or separately."

Mami smiles up at you, seemingly unworried. "I believe in you, Sabrina," she says. "You'll figure it out. But... I think you should tell them together."

You nod, relaxing a little. "I thought so too," you say. "I mean, if nothing else, Hitomi'll hopefully be a calming influence, right?"

Mami nods, giving you a reassuring smile. "You'll figure it out," she says, unwavering confidence in her voice.

... well. What can you do in the face of that? You smile back at her, hugging her close as you walk.

By the time you get back up the hill, you find that everyone's up and about, mostly, finishing the divvying up of food. Even Kyousjiko has a few containers balanced on his lap, violin carefully held out of the way.

Sayaka grins at you, presenting the basket back. "That's yours," she says. "Thanks for inviting me -well, us- today."

"Ah, yes, thank you!" Madoka says, looking up. She shoves two bulging plastic bags into Homura's arms, before picking one up for herself. "Today was fun!"

You wave off the thanks as Hitomi tries to join in. "I had fun too, and it wouldn't be a picnic without my friends," you say.

Mami nods, looking serious. "I- I'm glad you all came today," she says. "Thank you for coming."

Sayaka laughs it off, hanging her bag of food off one of the handles of Kyosahke's wheelchair. "And miss out on your cooking? No way!"

Hitomi smiles. "Indeed, I think we all had fun today," she says. "Right, Kyounske?"

The grey haired boy blinks. "Ah, yes," he says. "It was good to get out of the hospital. Sabrina, thank you for the suggestion of music, it was an excellent learning opportunity."

... Madokami above, but he's serious.

"You're very welcome," you say, exchanging a quizzical look with Mami. She shrugs back at you. "Anyway, uh, Sayaka, Hitomi, I assume you'll be headed over to the hospital to drop Kwyijibo off?"

"We will," Hitomi confirms with a nod, adjusting her cast and moving over to join Sayaka. The bleunette tugs the plastic bag from Hitomi's free hand and hangs it over the other handle of the wheelchair, earning her an exasperated look from Hitomi.

"Right... could you two... uh, could you two drop by our place afterwards?" you suggest.

Hitomi checks the time on her phone. "Ah... my parents aren't expecting me back yet, so I'll be fine. What's happening, Sabrina?"

Sayaka shoots you a thumbs up. "Something cool?"

"Eh... well, it's something you need to know," you say, shrugging.

"Hokay, we'll be there," Sayaka says, grinning.

Madoka smiles happily at everyone. Probably just pleased that we're all getting along. Homura's gaze rests on you, thoughtful and sharp - she's likely guessed already.

"Ah... I guess I'll start heading home," Madoka says, hefting her mostly empty basket.

"Yup, we'll make a move too," Sayaka says. "Later, Sabrina!"

Homura glances at Madoka. "I'm going your way," she murmurs.

"Ah! You should walk with me, then!" Madoka says, giving her a bright smile.

You catch the speculative look Hitomi gives Homura. Then again, it's not like Homura's being particularly subtle.

Heh. Inner shipper...s aside, you don't think Homura is in any kind of mindset to see Madoka as anything but 'someone to be protected'. Trauma does that to a person, after all.

"Oh, a quick word, Homura?" you call as Sayaka and Hitomi head off.

Homura raises her eyebrows at you as you gesture her over, out of earshot of Madoka. She trots over, leaving a curious-looking Madoka behind.

"I'm going to tell Sayaka and Hitomi about Oriko," you murmur, making sure your voice is low enough that Madoka can't hear you.

Homura's expression tightens.

You reach out to her, hesitating a moment before laying your hand on her shoulder. "I know, Homura," you say. "I know."

"I'll keep a watch on Mikuni tonight," Homura snaps, spinning away from you in a swirl of hair. She joins Madoka, face smoothing back out into her usual mask.

You wince.

"That could have gone better," you mutter to yourself. Madoka sends you a slightly worried, sympathetic look before turning her attention to Homura.

Mami bumps her hip against you, and you slide your arm around her in an almost instinctive hug. "I don't know why Homura dislikes Miss Mikuni so much, but..." she shakes her head. "You probably just brought it up at a bad time."

You sigh, shifting the basket to your free hand and squeezing her a little. "Yeah. Well... Shall we head home?"

"I'd like that," Mami agrees, smiling up at you.

"I figure we probably have time before Hitomi and Sayaka get over," you say. "Is there anything you need to do? Homework, or something? I doubt we have the time to go on patrol before they get here."

Mami considers this. "I could do some homework, but apart from that, not much."

"Mmm," you say. "Well, we can do that, then."

[] Write-in

Spoiler: Vote in abeyance

---[X] After that's done, telepathy O&K that we're about to talk to Sayaka. We'll tell them how it ends. Wish us luck.
[X] Find a private setting to talk to Sayaka and Hitomi.
-[X] Follow the vote below if there wasn't any major modifications to our plans, otherwise, do what Mami and Homura suggested.
[X] There's two magical girls Sayaka should meet. Mikuni Oriko is, was a precognitive; she was the one who warned us about Sayaka getting Witch Kissed; and Oriko's girlfriend, Kure Kirika.
-[X] Remember when we said some Magical Girls are misguided? They're like that.
-[X] Oriko's a fatalistic girl who was firm on the 'ends justify the means' mindset, and used her visions to try and achieve good things... and that sometimes meant hurting people.
-[X] We fought them, beat them, put them under house arrest, and have been working on convincing them they can do better, that they can do good and help people without going to the extreme lengths they did. We've made some progress, but, well, there's a reason why we haven't let them out.
-[X] The truth is, Oriko sent Kirika to push Hitomi down the stairs, and was the one who burned down Sayaka's home.

=====​

So it's been a busy few days for me, and this post was getting long enough, anyway. Thus, you get a short break and a chance to revise the vote if you want.

 

[Firnagzen]

You smile at Mami, releasing her from the hug and offering your arm instead. She takes it happily, laying her hand at your elbow and hugging your arm close as you start walking home.

The two of you arrive home in short order, a comfortable silence hanging between the two of you. Mami unlocks the door, giving you a soft smile as she tucks her shoes into the little rack and steps in.

Comfortable.

It's a good word to describe the two of you.

You help Mami unpack the basket, moving with easy, comfortable familiarity.

For all that you've had a... rocky start, the way you had to crush her world view... You've given your best shot. You don't want to hurt her. You never did.

Leftovers tucked away in the kitchen, the two of you move over to the living room, Mami retrieving her homework and pencil case from her school bag. You stretch out beside her, leaning against her so that you can peek over her shoulder as she works, offering quiet encouragement and advice.

Heh.

Integration still, in all its myriad forms. This time, integration by substitution.

It's comfortable. Mami's warm presence leaning back against you, just a bit of pressure to remind you she's there. She... She's still terrified of you leaving. Still more than a bit of a limpet, but... She's getting better. Slowly, but she's getting better.

What was it Kirika said?

Love her.

Well, you do.

It might not be romantic. You don't know. But hell, you do.

Heh.

It's a comfortable thought.

Though speaking of comfortable, Mami's been stuck on a question for a bit.

"Substitute v equals to sin x," you offer.

"Ohhh," Mami says. "I see!" She writes out the substitution, and then starts solving rapidly. Come to think of it, why did substitution come after integration by parts, anyway? The logic of integrating by parts makes more sense when viewed through the lens of substitution.

Eh.

Mitakihara Middle School. They presumably know what they're doing.

Mami finishes the question and gives you a warm smile. "Thank you, Sabrina," she says.

"Anytime, Mami," you say, sliding your arm around her waist in the familiar, comfortable hug. "Next question?"

The time flies by. You know why you're so introspective and touchy-feely, of course. You know what's coming.

There aren't many good outcomes out of telling Sayaka about Oriko.

A ring of the doorbell.

Mami sets her pencil down, raising her hand to cover yours and squeeze lightly. She meets your eyes, golden eyes steady and unwavering.

Showtime.

Except it's not really a show - but still. It's the thing to say.

You stand, rolling your neck and exhaling. Time to talk to Sayaka - you can sense her on the other side of the door already, and-

The doorbell rings again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" you complain, hurrying over to unlock the door.

Sayaka and Hitomi are standing outside, the bleunette still carrying bags of food. "Hey, Sabrina!" Sayaka says, grinning unrepentantly at you.

Well, if nothing else, she broke the tension. "Hey," you greet. "C'mon in."

By the time you usher Hitomi and Sayaka into the living room, Mami's packed away her homework for now.

"Let me get you some tea," she says, rising to her feet with a smile.

"Oh, I couldn't," Hitomi says, patting her stomach with a smile. "Not after the picnic."

"Just some tea?" Mami says.

Sayaka snickers, setting her bags down and plopping into a cross-legged position beside the little triangular table. "As long as it's just tea," she says. "I'll burst if I eat anything more."

Mami smiles, pleased, and bustles off to the kitchen.

"So what's this about, Sabrina?" Sayaka asks, glancing across the table at you.

"Indeed, I'm quite curious myself," Hitomi says, settling beside Sayaka with considerably more poise.

"Uh... it's a bit heavy," you say. "Shall we wait for the tea? Oh, and right - let me cleanse your Soul Gem for you? Since I didn't do that at the picnic." You can sense that there isn't really much in it, but you might as well be sure.

"Eh? Sure, though I haven't really used much," Sayaka says, holding her palm out. Her Soul gem shimmers into its cerulean blue crystal form moments later.

As Hitomi watches with sharp interest, you wipe away the tiny veneer of Grief. For good measure, you cleanse your own, too, banishing the Grief out of the window and up to the rooftops.

"Thanks!" Sayaka says, grinning at you.

Conversation lapses - you can see Sayaka's impatient to know, and so is Hitomi, but you'd already said you wanted to wait, so...

Mami returns a few minutes later to a slightly awkward silence. She pours out the tea, unruffled smile in place as she sits beside you.

A fortifying sip of tea, pleasantly strong and fragrant.

"Alright," you say, getting Sayaka and Hitomi's attention. "Sayaka... well... you remember when I said that a lot of magical girls are... misguided?"

Sayaka nods. "Yeah?"

"Well, there's one in particular that you should both know about," you say, watching Sayaka and Hitomi's faces. "Her name is Mikuni Oriko. Her power is precognition, and when she foresaw... bad things happening in the future, she tried to prevent them."

"That sounds awesome," Sayaka declares. "We recruiting her?"

... Good first impression accomplished. But Madokami dammit, that just makes the fall worse. Also, read the bloody mood, Sayaka.

Hitomi, on the other hand, frowns. "I get the impression that's not all of it," she says, slow and thoughtful as she scratches at the point where her arm disappears under her cast. "Or else I wouldn't be here. Or perhaps you need my family's status to recruit her?" She tilts her head. "She is in Mitakihara, is she not?"

"No, not that, but you're right that that's not all, and yes, she's in Mitakihara," you say. "It's..." You sigh, rubbing your forehead. "She wound up hurting people. She was convinced that she was the only one who knew what's best for everyone, and the only way she could think of to save someone's life also meant hurting them."

Sayaka's smile dims. "That's less awesome," she says.

"Yeah..." You rub your forehead wearily with your knuckles. Mami cuddles against your side, warm and steady. "One day, she went too far. She decided that the best way to prevent a vision of someone dying was to do something that hurt a lot of people."

Your expression sets flat. "I was furious. So the three of us -Mami, Homura, and myself- we hunted her down. Oriko and her girlfriend, Kirika. Kicked their asses and made her-"

"Wait, Kirika?" Sayaka interrupts, a sharp frown on her face. "Wasn't she-"

Hitomi's already nodding in response to Sayaka's question. Her dirty green eyes are sharp with suspicion, raking your face.

"... am I missing something?" you ask, frowning.

"She's been missing from school for a few days," Hitomi answers. "They made an announcement about it recently."

"... ah. Well," you say. "Yeah. Thaaaat would be my fault, kind of. I... look, her reasons don't excuse what she did. Misguided, and all - but she was trying to help in her own screwed up, suicidal way." Your jaw tightens. "I've put them under house arrest."

Hitomi's eyes meet yours, a telepathic connection snapping together. "She's the one who set Sayaka's house on fire, isn't she?"

"Yes," you confirm.

"They've been helping us, to atone for what they did," you say. "Kirika was invaluable in Ishinomaki and Sendai - we brought her along to help stop the fighting. Oriko's precognition..." You meet Sayaka's eyes. "Sayaka, that night a Witch tried to take you... we wouldn't have known if she hadn't warned us. She saved your life that night."

Your jaw tightens, and you hurry on. "But. But she- she's the one who had Hitomi's arm broken."

Hitomi sucks in a sharp breath, and-

"What?!" Sayaka slams her hands into the table. Tempered glass shatters, cascading over all your laps as the cups and teapot falls-

Yellow ribbons materialize, snatching up the chinaware.

"Miki Sayaka!" Mami thunders.

Sayaka flinches backwards. "S-sorry-"

And Hitomi finally reacts, squawking and scrambling back. Thankfully, the table was tempered glass - no sharp edges.

"But- she- what-" Sayaka launches herself to her feet, fists balled. "What the heck, Sabrina?"

Mami rises to her feet, brushing off the broken glass. "Are you alright, Hitomi?"

"I am," Hitomi says, a sharp frowning cutting across her face. "She's the one who had my arm broken?"

"Yes," you confirm, jaw tight. "Sayaka, are you OK?"

"I-" Sayaka scowls, furious. "How can you take it so calmly? She-"

"Sit down, Sayaka," Hitomi snaps, voice cracking like a whip. "Hear Sabrina out."

Sayaka stares at Hitomi. The verdette's backed away from the broken glass, arm rising across her chest like she's trying to fold her arms but forgot that one's in a cast. She settles for glaring back at Sayaka, and then you.

You're the last one still sitting. "No, that's alright," you say, standing. Broken glass cascades off your legs and skirt, falling to the floor with little tinkling noises. Something to clean up later.

You meet Sayaka's eyes. "She's also the one who burned your house down," you say. "That's wh-"

"What?!" Sayaka snarls. She storms forward, heedless of the glass, and grabs you by the front of your shirt. "She- she's the one- she nearly killed my parents and- you- you didn't tell me-"

She's all but shaking in anger.

[] Write-in

=====​

You know what's bizarre? You go on leave and then suddenly a dozen things pop up demanding your attention. *grump*

... Also, sleeping in eats most of my mornings. >_>

 

[Firnagzen]

Fear jolts through you.

Not fear for yourself, but for Sayaka - for your friends, for your future, as it all comes crashing into your mind in chains of crystal clear thought.

"She won't hurt me," you breathe into Mami's mind. You can already sense her moving, hand rising towards you.

Mami's sharp exhale is response enough.

Your mind races. Is Sayaka going to hit you? You're not absolutely sure.

No.

She might hit you, but she isn't going to hurt you.

Better she hit you and feel better than anything else.

You don't struggle, meeting Sayaka's gaze instead. Anger burns in those blue eyes.

You debate saying something pointed, something to jolt her from her anger. But you're not afraid of her hurting you, you're afraid of her... hurting you. Hurting herself, hurting your group of friends. You wouldn't even mind Sayaka taking it out on you, but Mami would object.

"I'm telling you now," you say, exhaling and drawing calm from some deep well. You bite back your worry and fear and keep your voice even. "I should have told you sooner, yes, and... I'm sorry for not doing so."

"I don't-" This close, you can see the way the muscles in Sayaka's jaw work. "I don't want excuses-"

"I'm not giving you excuses," you snap in return. "I- sorry, I- no. Things kept coming up, but I won't make excuses."

Sayaka's knuckles whiten on your shirt. "Sabrina- She- she burned down my house, she broke Hitomi's wrist and what else-"

"As far as I know, that's as much as she did before we caught her," you say. "I'm calm now, Sayaka. Homura's power is to stop time."

You feel safe saying that, considering that Kyuubey already knows - it was the one who told Kyouko, after all. And it's not like you haven't been rather cavalier about dropping that fact, haven't you?

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sayaka snarls.

You can feel Mami shuffling uneasily, hovering protectively at your shoulder.

"I'm fine, Mami," you breathe into her mind.

"Mami, Homura, and I were searching for her that night," you say, staring Sayaka down. "We made sure you were safe. We ran Homura's power for sixteen straight hours hunting for Oriko. We were angry, we were upset, we were scared, and we were not calm."

"And then you let them go scot free!" Sayaka snaps. Her fist tightens on your shirt, the cloth creaking under her grip.

"By the time we ended the night," you say, eyes narrowing to slits. "They were maimed, broken, and contained."

Maimed, and broken. An understatement if there ever was one. A machine gun doesn't maim. You'd all but decapitated Oriko, her shoulder practically erased. Chunky salsa.

Would telling Sayaka that help?

Sayaka sucks in a breath, grip tightening. "You fought?" she asks.

She's not a beeping robot. She doesn't just want some nebulous justice. She's outraged.

"What do you think?" you ask, not pulling away. "Oriko's still missing her arm. They're still under house arrest."

Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Hitomi shift, expression blank enough to rival Homura's. Your eye flickers over to her and her wrist cast, a look that Sayaka catches.

Sayaka's hand slackens on your shirt, cold anger burning in her eyes. "And we didn't deserve to know?"

A frown flickers across Hitomi's face. She marches forward, careful to pick her way around the shards of broken glass.

Moving deliberately, Hitomi slaps you.

Or she tries to.

She's not a puella magi, and your hand's already rising to block.

A cry from Mami, well before your hand gets there. Golden ribbons snap out, lashing around her arm to haul her back a step.

Hitomi stumbles with the force of it. All of you hang frozen in tableau for a long, long moment: Mami, edging in front of you with a fiercely protective scowl on her face, Sayaka, back on her heels with head lowered, ready to spring. Hitomi, standing but uncomfortably balanced with her good arm dragged behind her by ribbons.

And you, having taken a half step forward with hands raised in reflex.

"You did not have the right to pronounce judgement," Hitomi says, cold and clear.

[] Write-in

=====​

Apologies for the late and short update.

On the up side, I'm making good progress with the other stuff that's happening, and my update rate will hopefully return soon. >_>

 

[Firnagzen]

You blink at Hitomi in confusion. What does she-

She tried to slap you. Brief anger flares, ending out your bafflement. What would she have done? You fought. You put your life on the line hunting Oriko down, because everything wasn't all rosy and happy when you did.

They made earnest attempts to kill you. They did blow your arm off. Your leg, rather.

Biting words bob on the tip of your tongue. She doesn't get it. She can't, after all, and-

You bite it back.

You swallow the surging anger. It doesn't help. It... won't help.

"OK, can we all just... calm down?" you say, waving your hands. "Just... Everyone calm down, and we talk it out?"

"Please," Mami adds. There's a hint of veiled steel in her voice as her gaze sweeps from Sayaka to Hitomi.

Sayaka clenches her fist, but straightens slowly.

You shift a little, taking a step forward to stand beside Mami and grab her hand. You squeeze gently. "Mami?" you murmur. "Please let go of Hitomi? We should talk this out."

Mami glances at you, expression softening immediately. "Yes, of course," she says, letting out a breath. She turns her attention to Hitomi, dissolving the ribbon with a flick of her fingers. "I apologise for restraining you."

Hitomi nods and straightens, lips still pressed together into a thin line. She folds her arms - or tries to, at any rate, apparently forgetting about her cast for a moment. She settles for tucking her arms together when her hand scrapes over the cast.

Sayaka scowls, jaw setting hard. "How could you do this, Sabrina?" she asks.

You don't actually know what she's talking about. There's... too many things she could be talking about.

Hell, you're not sure what Hitomi meant, either. Does she think you took off Oriko's arm as some kind of vigilante justice? Is that something she thinks you would do - is that what she thinks of you? Anger, sharp and biting, flares again.

Gentle pressure on your hand brings you back - Mami squeezing your hand. You force the scowl that's worked its way onto your face off. Just as well you didn't let yourself be a punching bag. If... if nothing else, it'd be disrespectful to Mami. She cares about you, too.

"Hitomi, I'm certain that you've misunderstood something," you say, meeting her eyes and raising your hands placatingly. "But please, hold on a moment."

Her lips thin a little more.

You turn to Sayaka, taking a step forward and wincing at the feel of glass chunks under your feet. They're not sharp, thankfully.

Sayaka faces you, glowering still with her fists clenched tight in formless anger. You can read that much, at least. She isn't angry at you, per se. She doesn't have anywhere to direct the anger.

"Sayaka." You don't let your voice waver ad you address her. "You have a right to be angry about a lot of things-"

"You don't need to tell me that!" she roars, stomping forward. She thinks the better of it a split second and one step later, face twitching oddly as she hops back on one leg and an inarticulate yell.

It would be funny if everything weren't so tense.

Mami frowns. "For the sake of all of us, I'm going to clean up the the glass," she says, raising her free hand and pausing for a moment. When no one objects, she flicks her wrist at the mass of glass. A torrent of golden ribbons sweeps away every last piece before weaving themselves into an embroidered bag to the side.

Sayaka scowls as she hoists her foot up and flicks away the piece of glass stuck there. A golden ribbon snaps out from the bag to catch the piece. Still, everyone seems to have relaxed the tiniest hair with the impromptu disruption.

"Right," you say. Mami squeezes your hand lightly in silent support. You meet hard green eyes once more. "So... Hitomi. I... I admit, I don't understand what you mean. Please, bear with me: I swear I'm asking in good faith. What did you mean, when you said I didn't have the right?"

Outrages flashes in Hitomi's eyes. "You just... decided to punish her, and tore her arm off?"

"I think you've misunderstood quite badly, Hitomi," Mami says. "Being a magical girl sets us apart. We don't have any effective access to police services, or anyone capable of prosecuting. We can bend steel with our bare hands, if we need to. There's no jail that can hold us."

"Be that as it may-" Hitomi scowls.

"More than that," you say, cutting across Hitomi. You'd apologise for it, but you see no point in letting her build up a head of steam. Your turn to take a step forward, opening your hands to her. "Hitomi, is that what you think of me? That I'm that cruel? That vindictive?"

"No," she says, unafraid and unbowed. "I think you might do these things in anger."

"It was open combat," Mami says. "Sabrina was new, then, and Homura is experienced but doesn't have the ability to fight nonlethally. We were all wounded that day."

"We fought," you emphasize with a look at Sayaka. "Yes, that happened because she attacked you. We went after her -after them- because they hurt our friends. All of us got hurt, well, apart from Homura, but- fighting is a mess, Hitomi, and we don't have control over what we want to do. Mami had her arm broken, I got my leg blown up, Oriko lost her arm and half of her head. We healed her so that she could-"

You grimace at the memory.

It wasn't that long ago, and you're not proud of what you did.

"-so that she could surrender," you finish.

"There is no justice in the magical girl world," Mami admits. From the way her expression crumples, that admission cost her. You squeeze her hand in reassurance. "I..." she shakes her head. "I've kept the worst from spilling over into Mitakihara - this city is mine, but magical girls in other cities fight for territory and Witches."

"There's no alternative justice save what we impose on each other," you say, exhaling slowly. "Yet. But we weren't out for revenge, when we went after them before anyone else got hurt, or worse. We didn't heal Oriko's arm at the time as a concession. So that we'd have some reassurance that they'd stay under house arrest."

"You should have told me!" Sayaka snaps, jaw setting with eyes blazing. "I could have helped!"

Hitomi shoots Sayaka a look, then you, and Mami. "I want to meet them," she says, icy and firm. She still has her arms in that sort-of-crossed-arms, head tilted back just a hair.

[] Write-in

=====​

Life is clearing up a bit for now!

 

[Firnagzen]

Right.

"OK, in order," you say, nodding at Hitomi. You'll get to her in a moment. "Sayaka, if I'd told you there and then... what would you have done?"

You stare down Sayaka. She glares right back at you, cerulean gaze blazing with anger, but before she can even open her mouth, you continue. "No, don't answer that," you say, raising a hand. "It's clear enough - you would have contracted under duress. Right? Anything less wouldn't have been you."

"Duh I would have. Like you!" Sayaka declares. "So what?"

She has a point there, you suppose. You did. But then again, you had a lot more information than she did at the time, which is really the point. "Nobody should have to do that, Sayaka," you say, expression flat. "No one should have to make that choice without knowing all the... hidden caveats, as it were."

Mami's hand tightens on yours.

Well. Contracting under duress, and then finding about the caveats later...

You squeeze back.

"No one more," you say, holding Sayaka's gaze still. "Don't get me wrong. We want your help, Sayaka. You're brash, yo-"

"Stop it, stop it-" Sayaka cuts you off, fisting her hands in her hair. "Stop that, just get to the point."

Hitomi makes an agreeing noise.

You rock back, momentum broken for a moment. "Right," you say, folding your arms. "We're glad to have you helping us. But telling you at the time? You'd have made a contract there and then. I can't..." You shake your head. "It's immoral. That's all I can say."

"I-" Sayaka raises a clenched fist. "How is it immoral to get superpowers?"

Which reminds you that you need to talk to Sayaka about her strength as a puella magi. Superman put it best, you think, and you might not live in the same world of cardboard that he would have, but one careless flare of temper and you could break something, or someone. Sayaka demonstrated the former, and hopefully will never encounter the latter.

You'll have words with her later.

"Have you already forgotten what our Soul Gems are?" Mami asks softly.

Sayaka scowls. "As if," she says, grimacing sullenly. "Fine. But you didn't-"

Mami cuts her off. "Kyuubey approached me when I was- when I was dying in a car crash. I-" she grimaces. "I made my Wish then."

You squeeze her hand encouragingly. "You were there when I made my Wish," you say.

Sayaka groans, squeezing her eyes shut with a hand. "Fine. Fine. I get why you didn't tell me straight away," she growls, dragging her hand down her face. "I'd have done something... probably stupid. But you never told me after."

"I'm not defending that," you say. "I'm sorry for that, Sayaka."

Sayaka's jaw tightens, and she looks away. "I'm with Hitomi," she says. "I want to see them."

Hitomi nods sharply.

You exhale. "I... thought as much, yeah," you say. "We can go whenever - right now, if you want."

"I think that would be best," Hitomi says.

"OK," you agree. "Let's go, then." Exhaling again, you start off for the door, Mami's hand still warm and tight on yours.

You turn to give her a smile. "Don't throw the glass away," you murmur to her. "Bet we can put table-chan back together, between the two of us."

Mami smiles back, the worried edge hovering in the faint frown on her face.

"It'll be fine," you murmur in a low voice.

She takes a shaky breath and nods back, releasing your hand so that she can lock the door behind Hitomi and Sayaka.

Neither of them look happy. They look... Both of them look sullen, in a word. Hitomi catches your eye, expression blank, before looking away, and Sayaka... Sayaka is angry. Formless anger that's just barely tamped down.

You don't think she blames you, per se, but... She's understandably furious and lashing out with nowhere for it to really go.

"Not that way," you say as they head for the lift lobby. "We need to get to the- actually, I take that back, we're taking the lift up and then climbing the last flight up to the roof. I'll fly us there, it's quicker."

Heh. You'd nearly forgotten not everyone can take the stairs like you and Mami can. Sayaka could, but not Hitomi.

The verdette gives you a faint frown before thumbing the up button.

You hum quietly and reach out telepathically as you wait. "Oriko, Kirika?" you murmur.

"Sayaka wants to... meet us," Oriko responds instantly.

"And Hitomi," you confirm as the lift arrives with a cheerful ding and you step inside. "And no, they want to meet you, not euphemistic significant pause meet." You tactfully leave out the implied 'you drama queen'.

"Understood," Oriko responds. "See you soon, I presume."

"Yep, see you," you confirm. "Do you mind of I tell them about your lives and reasons for contracting? I... I won't if you don't want me to, but I want them to understand why you did the things you did."

"See ya," Kirika adds, tone somewhat subdued.

"That is fine," Oriko says.

"Right," you say, rocking back and forth on your heels as you wait for the elevator to reach the top. "We'll be there soon, then. Uh. If you're serving anything, might not want to use anything particularly precious. Sayaka's in a mood to break things."

"We will... prepare," Oriko says, and ends the call.

The elevator finally arrives after another moment's awkward silence, and you lead the way up the final flight of stairs to the roof. You bump the stairwell door open with one hand and gesture in a sharp, chopping motion with your other.

Grief sweeps in at your command, enough drawn from your reserve to build a solid disc, your Minimal Flying Oppression Fortress. You take care to add a raised lip around the edges for safety, of course, and some little steps just to be fancy. You step up, Mami following without hesitation, and sit.

Sayaka eyes the disc dubiously for a long moment before setting foot on it and turning to offer Hitomi a helping hand.

"It's perfectly safe," you say. "I've done this a lot."

Hitomi settles behind you, still frowning. "This feels unnatural," she complains.

"I kind of am bending the laws of physics," you say with a shrug. "All ready back there?"

"Yeah," Sayaka grunts.

"I am," Hitomi says.

"Then here we go," you say, lifting smoothly into the air and starting to zip forward. Mami cuddles into your side with a pleased sigh.

The moon's barely risen, the waxing crescent dying Mitakihara City silver. The ceaseless flow of cars and people resolve into glittering rivers of light as you ascend into the cloudless night. Sayaka leans over the edge, and out of the corner of your eye, you can see her frown reluctantly ease into a smile. She nudges Hitomi, but the green-haired girl stubbornly refuses to crack a smile.

She does look, at least.

"So," you say over telepathy to your friends. Don't really want to shout over the wind that's whipping your hair into a mess, after all. "About Oriko and Kirika. I want to tell you more about them, if you want to hear it."

"Tell me," Sayaka demands. Hitomi doesn't respond, but you get the impression she's listening.

"Mikuni Oriko's father was Mikuni Hisaomi. You might have heard of him," you start. Judging from the way Hitomi frowns sharply, she has. You'll elaborate for Sayaka's sake. "A senator found to be corrupted. After his suicide, Oriko Wished to find meaning in her life. And she got visions of a horrible future. I'm not going to excuse her actions, but it's why she did the things she has."

And also because she's a fatalistic drama queen, but that's beside the point for now.

"I see," Hitomi says, lips tight.

"Kirika... Kirika is simpler, kind of," you continue. "She hated herself, her personality. Quiet and weird and angry." You lift your shoulder in a half shrug. "Oriko was the first person to see her for anything at all. And she latched on hard, and made her Wish. She Wished to change herself. And to be frank, her Wish messed with her brain. She's a different person from who she was before, in many ways."

You turn and nail Sayaka with a sharp look over Mami's head. "One of the reasons I wasn't inclined to let you make a Wish willy nilly."

Sayaka scowls back at you.

Fine. Moving on.

"Oriko's having problems with her Wish," you say bluntly. Mami tightens her hug around your waist. "My suspicion is that she's rejecting her Wish, and the powers it grants her are... fading. Her visions tell her she is destined to die. And she's rejecting that."

"So she can't even see the future now?" Sayaka asks, eyes narrowing.

"There's a... specialist who'll be coming through town soon," you say. "But no, not for now. Mami, watch our flight path for a moment?" You turn around to face Sayaka and Hitomi properly. " I... Look, I'm not going to expect you to not be angry. You have every right to be. But no violence, OK?"

Sayaka's mulish look you can pass over, but Hitomi's calm calculation worries you. You glare at her.

"If you want to talk about justice, well, I accepted their surrender and put them under house arrest. I have a duty to provide care for them and not do them violence as long as they stay under arrest," you say, holding Hitomi's gaze. Sayaka glances past you - Mami, who's adding her own steely glare to the mix.

"... understood," Hitomi says, nodding a hair.

"Right," you say, turning to face forward again. Mami nestles back into your side, smiling up at you.

A few minutes of flight later, you start to descend toward the Mikuni mansion, the onrushing wind dipping to a low roar. There's a faint glint down below, something glassy catching the light, which kind of makes you think of a sniper's sco-

Before the thought even finishes, you're swerving sharply. Adrenaline thunders through your veins, heartbeat loud in your ears. Sniper. Behind you, Hitomi and Sayaka yelp - but you don't have any attention to spare as you pull into a sharp dive, aiming for the vegetation near the bottom of the hill. Mami's instantly alert, shooting to her feet with a musket forming in her hands.

"It's me." Homura's voice.

... oh.

... ohhhh.

Right.

You level out the flight, turning to check on Sayaka and Hitomi. "You OK?"

Hitomi looks ruffled. Sayaka has a stabilizing arm around her waist, the other hand clamped on the raised lip of your flight disc. Rather tightly. It's a good thing Grief doesn't actually feel pain, but you can certainly feel the pressure.

"Sorry," you apologise in response to the glares. "I saw some reflected light, and I thought it looked like a sniper's scope. Have you ever watched a war movie or something? Like that."

"... really, Sabrina?" Sayaka asks as she checks on Hitomi.

"Look, in my defense, it actually was a sniper's scope," you defend yourself, smiling sheepishly. "Homura's been watching over the Mikunis. I, uh, forgot to tell her we were coming."

Sayaka groans, covering her eyes. "Can we just... get on with it?"

[] Write-in

=====​

And a Happy New Year to all of you!

 

[Firnagzen]

"Yeah," you say. "Let's."

You coast in for a smooth landing, dissolving your flying platform as Hitomi steps off. Mami follows you over to the glass door as you knock.

Kirika appears there, untransformed and rumpled. "Hey, Sabrina, hey, Miss Tomoe," she says. Orange eyes flicker over to Hitomi, widening a hair before settling into a frown as she turns back into the house proper. "Come on in."

Idly, you comb your hair with a hand as you follow her in. The wind always leaves it a mess. Mami trails behind you, Sayaka and Hitomi both giving the house wary looks as you're led into the living room.

Oriko's waiting there, sitting on the sofa as regal as any queen. Straight-backed, head held high... and sleeve knotted where her arm ends, something that Hitomi notices instantly.

"Hitomi, Sayaka, this is Oriko, and Kirika," you say, gesturing between them. "Oriko and Kirika, Hitomi and Sayaka. I'm only going to be the middleman... middlemeguca here - I'm not going to interfere unless anyone goes over the line. Got that?"

You reach out by telepathy as everyone gives their grudging assent. "Kirika," you murmur.

The black haired girl glances at you, giving you a weak grin that's barely a shadow of its usual self.

"I... can I ask for some leniency with Sayaka and Hitomi? I'm not asking you to not protect your oujo. I can't expect you to not do that. But just... don't eviscerate them or something?" you ask. "I rather like having the two of them around, and Hitomi's not a magical girl."

"No eviscerations?" Kirika says, eyes crinkling a little into a more natural grin. "How about disarming?"

"Please, everyone, do take a seat," Oriko says.

"... No disarming please, and don't even joke about it, it's a sensitive topic," you say, hiding a wince as you sit down. Mami sits beside you, of course, anxiously shifting closer so that you're hip to hip.

"Right, right," Kirika says. "No promises. I'll try."

An awkward silence falls on the room. Sayaka glares at Oriko, while Hitomi just frowns thoughtfully. Oriko, on the other hand, seems completely unruffled, but then again, you know her at least well enough to say that it's an act. Kirika's plonked herself down beside her oujo.

"Oriko? Do you mind if I invite Homura in?" you ask. "I haven't asked her yet, but I thought I'd get your permission first."

"I would rather you not, for Kirika's sake," Oriko responds. Her expression doesn't change one iota.

"... right," you agree. Which leaves Homura out in the cold, then. You might drop by and check in on her later. You sigh, and relax back into the sofa. For all Senator Mikuni's sins, he apparently had an eye for comfortable furniture.

Sayaka's the one to break the silence. "Why?"

Oriko blinks slowly. "To save your life," she says. "I foresaw that if I hadn't forced you to move, you would be dead."

"Why?!" Sayaka's voice rises. "Couldn't you have just told me?"

"You wouldn't have believed me," Oriko says. "Additionally, Akemi Homura would likely have shot me."

"Of course I'd believe you!" Sayaka says. "What would even want to kill me, anyway?"

... she's got to be aware of the irony of saying she'd believe Oriko and then immediately turning skepticism on Oriko's claims, right?

You tune out Oriko's explanation for the most part, though you keep an ear out for anything over the line. Or if Oriko mentions anything new. Instead, you turn your attention to Mami, taking her hand in yours. She looks at you, a slightly worried frown on her face.

"Hey, Mami?" you murmur into Mami's mind.

"Yes, Sabrina?" she asks.

"Thank you. Thank you for..." you purse your lips, trying to find the words to convey what you mean. "Thank you for being you. I messed up, back there, more than once, and... you caught me, every time."

"You've done so much for me," Mami whispers, squeezing your hand right back. "I'd do anything for you."

You start to smile at her, but then Sayaka's raised voice interrupts you. "What stupid feathers?"

Oriko doesn't flinch. "They obscure my visions," she says.

"That's awfully convenient, isn't it?" Sayaka counters. "And I just... conveniently die?"

You sigh. You'll admit you've thought the same, sometimes. It is awfully convenient, and you'd... hm. You should probably interject, here, since you have somewhat conclusive proof - that feather that just popped up when you created your Barrier. You cast a slightly worried look at Hitomi, who's sitting there with a thoughtful frown on her face as she lets Sayaka do all the talking.

"If I may," you say, leaning forward a little. "I can verify the... feathers, at least. I've had one just... show up by itself, as a result of some experimentation I've done."

Sayaka scowls at you. "And you know it wasn't just planted there or something?"

"I know, yes," you say. "I can sense Grief, which means I can sense magical girls. Whatever caused that to happen, it wasn't a magical girl, and it wasn't an animal or anything. It's not like it fell out of the sky or something."

Sayaka considers that, and nods grudgingly. "Fine," she says, turning back to Oriko. "That still doesn't excuse yo- You nearly killed my parents! You nearly killed me!"

You can see why that would be a bit of a sticking point. You turn your attention back to Hitomi for a moment. She's... well, she's a sheltered, well brought up teenager. She... doesn't have the context to understand things, perhaps, and she made some impulsive judgements. You've got every right to be upset with her for wanting to slap you, but that doesn't mean you can't understand it.

Mami squeezes your hand. "Are you alright, Sabrina?"

"Yeah," you say. "I guess. I'm worried."

"Nothing's on fire yet?" she offers with a faint smile.

"True," you agree.

The conversation falls into a lull with a particularly loud, wordless yell from Sayaka. The bleunette flops back into the chair, head lolling back to stare up at the ceiling.

You wince.

"We'll talk to her later?" Mami suggests.

"I think we have to," you agree. You can guess at Sayaka's thoughts. Oriko is infuriating to talk to, and Sayaka isn't completely unreasonable. She listened to Oriko, at least, and... you suppose, you hope, she realises that the seer might be surprisingly dumb in her decision-making process, but that Oriko at least has good intentions.

At least, you hope so.

"You study at Mitakihara Middle school," Hitomi says, cutting across the silence. She's sitting upright, staring at Kirika.

"Yeah," Kirika agrees, not bothering to uncurl from Oriko - all but sitting in the other girl's lap, really.

"You're the one who broke my arm," Hitomi says.

"Yeah. I did," Kirika says. There's no shame, nor regret in her voice or posture.

Hitomi nods slowly. "Because... Miss Mikuni told you to," she hazards.

"Yep," Kirika confirms.

"Do either of you regret it?" Hitomi asks.

"I do not," Oriko says. "The alternative was unacceptable."

"Nope," Kirika says. "Oriko told me to."

"And what is that alternative?" Hitomi asks, eyes narrowing.

"The end of the world as we know it," Oriko says, folding her arm on her lap.

"Specifics, Miss Mikuni?" Hitomi asks, narrowing her eyes.

"In your specific case? You are generally a calming influence on your group of friends. And your group of friends are important," Oriko says. "You were exceedingly likely to have drifted apart from them, and even come into conflict with certain members, had events not unfolded as they did."

Hmm. Which, if Oriko's telling the truth there...

"She's setting herself up as the scapegoat," you murmur to Mami.

"She is," Mami says, shifting to nestle against you. Her hand's warm in yours. "I... don't know why."

"I see," Hitomi says cold and hard. "You're not as clever as you think you are. You could have done all this without bringing harm to my friends or myself, but you chose to do this."

Oriko blinks slowly, putting a calming hand on Kirika's arm.

Hitomi glances at Sayaka. "I'm done," she says, and then turns her attention to you. "I apologise, Sabrina."

"Rrrrrgh," Sayaka groans, slamming her fists into her thighs. "Fine, let's go. Hitomi, you mind if you go home yourself? I- I need to be alone and think."

[] Write-in

=====​

That was surprisingly non-violent.

 

[Firnagzen]

You're... you're relieved, you think. That went relatively well. You think.

"I am fine with that, Sayaka," Hitomi says with a nod. "I'll take a taxi from here."

You eye Sayaka for a moment, worry bubbling up like an uneasy knot in your chest. This... Well, it isn't a good situation for her, mentally. She's angry and frustrated and... blah.

Seeming to sense your inner turmoil, Mami squeezes your hand.

You don't want to say Sayaka's unlucky, but as far as you know?

The universe just likes to pick on her.

Ugh.

You can't stop her.

Or, well, you could, but that wouldn't end well, either.

You'll let her go and... hope for the best.

"Sayaka?" you say. "Lemme cleanse your Soul Gem before you head out?"

"Mmmrm," Sayaka grumbles, making a frustrated face and producing her Soul Gem. You cleanse that with a flick of your fingers, setting the churning Grief flowing out to the backyard with another gesture.

"Hey," you reach out telepathically. "I know it's a lot to take in. I'm free to talk if and when you want to, though so just... keep that in mind?"

"Nnnrgh," Sayaka responds. "Thanks, but no thanks."

You bite back a heavy sigh. "Just... Keep it in mind, OK? I'm your friend, and I care," you say. "But... Good evening, and safe travels."

"Mmnrg," Sayaka says, pushing herself to her feet in one explosive motion. "Later."

Oriko considers the blue haired girl for a moment. "I take it you can see yourself out?"

Sayaka gives her a baleful glare and storms out of the room. You hear the glass door slamming shut a few moments later.

"I, too, shall be going," Hitomi notes. She rises with considerably more poise than Sayaka, and bows slightly to you. "Sabrina? Again, I apologise."

This time, you do sigh. Stalling for a moment to sort your thoughts out. Are you... Do you forgive her?

She tried to slap you.

Which...

Damn it.

That's no great act of violence. You could shrug off worse in your sleep and that metaphor took a sharp turn for the weird. But... A slap, from a non-meguca. You could take that, but...

You're hurt, even if the slap didn't land. And you're offended. She does think that badly of you, apparently, or at least when you're angry. You're...

Fine. She's a teenager, and you're well familiar with the vagaries of teenaged hormones and such. You can forgive, and... In fairness, you're not close friends.

"It's fine," you say. "You were working on incomplete information, and just... Yeah." You grimace. "Still, in any case - I'm open to talk about it, if you want to."

Hitomi nods slowly. "Thank you, to both," she says, and hesitates for a moment. "To the latter... Not now, but maybe tomorrow? I need some time to think."

"Alright," you say. "It's a short walk out of the grounds-" you glance at Oriko for confirmation, and continue at her job, "-before you hit the road. You should be able to grab a taxi, no problem."

"I appreciate it," Hitomi says with a ghost of a smile. "By your leave, Miss Mikuni."

Oriko inclines her head, relaxing infinitesimally as Hitomi leaves the room. Sea green eyes lock onto yours, assessing and... curious.

You blow out a hard, sharp breath. "Oriko, I need to talk to you," you say. "Might be a while, so... Well, do you have any tea?"

"Of course," Oriko says, rising smoothly. Kirika bounces to her feet, tossing you a wink as she follows Oriko to the kitchen.

... You were going to suggest that Kirika go help Oriko, wink wink, to get them both out of the way for a while so that you could talk to Mami alone for a few minutes, but uh. Some things don't need prompting, you guess.

You very carefully stop 'looking' at the kitchen with your other senses, and instead, you turn to Mami. You squeeze her hand, soft and comforting in yours.

"What's on your mind, Sabrina?" she asks, honey gold eyes inquisitive and warm.

"You already put your finger on it earlier," you murmur in a low voice, pitched not to carry. "Oriko's scapegoating herself. And I don't... I don't... Well, that's what I want to talk to her about." You bite your lip. "What do you think? Not about her, or not just about her, I- Sayaka broke your table and... Yeah."

To your surprise, Mami smiles, expression softening. "It's fine," she says. "I'm not too upset, it's... only a table. I... I imagine I would have been, before. But..." she exhales, frowning a little. "I'm worried about Sayaka."

"Yeah," you agree. "Me too. I... I worry that she might do something drastic. I mean, if she broke a table because of her anger..."

Mami nods. "She's strong enough to take care of herself," she says. "Just... I suppose we give her time, and hope for the best?"

"Yeah. I offered to let her talk if she wanted to, but she declined," you say.

Mami nods again, more thoughtfully. "Are you alright with Hitomi?" she asks delicately.

"I don't know," you admit. "I'm kind of hurt, but... I guess it's true. She doesn't really know me."

"Well," Mami whispers fiercely, hand tightening on yours. "I know you. And I know you're not that kind of person."

You can't help but smile. "Thank you, Mami," you whispers back.

There's a flash of motion in the corner of your eye - silvery hair, disappearing around the corner with a squeak as if a certain black-haired girl had yanked her girlfriend back behind said corner.

You roll your eyes, amused, and settle back against the sofa. You'd wanted to talk about Oriko's martyr complex more, but you're out of time, it seems. Mami noticed too, because of course she did. Her eyes dancing, she leans against your side, settling her head comfortably against your shoulder as Kirika decides that it's clear and finally emerges.

Kirika's carrying a dainty tea tray, the porcelain that they didn't bring out around Sayaka and her somewhat violent impulses. There's a broad, pleased smirk on her face as she tosses you a wink, practically sashaying over.

Oriko follows, taking ownership of the tea once Kirika sets it down, fussing over it with perfect elegance despite her impaired state. She pours out cups for all of you, before sitting primly on the couch. Kirika immediately burrows into her side, practically on her lap.

You take a sip of the tea, humming appreciatively. It is wonderful tea, fragrant and savoury with a sweet aftertaste. Not even a little bit bitter, the sign of well brewed green tea. Mami straightens from your side so that she can claim a cup too, sipping daintily.

"What did you want to talk to me about, Sabrina?" Oriko asks.

"Well, I want to talk about your... handling of the meeting," you say. "Why are you trying to make yourself a scapegoat?"

The seer shrugs with one shoulder. "Am I not to blame? I set all these things in motion."

"I-" you close your eyes for a moment, swallowing your first, exasperated retort. "OK, first, Kirika, thanks for not disembowelling anyone."

"Do I look like the kinda person who'd disembowel people for no reason?" Kirika says, giving you an angelic smile.

"Yes," you say flatly. "If Oriko asked you to."

"Hey, that's a reason," Kirika protests. "That's a good reason, too!"

You flap your hand at her. "Now, Oriko... Yes, you were the one to put things in motion, and I'm guessing that you show no remorse because you feel it was worth it for the greater good, or something similar."

"It is worth it," Oriko insists.

"Well, you know how I feel about that philosophy half the time," you say, scowling. Mami squeezes your hand in reassurance. "Fine. Are you trying to draw all their anger to you, so they're not as angry at me? That's kind of you, but... You should know that if I have a difference of opinion with a friend, I'm not using another friend to take the blame. So no thanks."

Oriko shrugs again. "It's already done," she says.

You make an inarticulate noise. "I know," you say. "I'm expressing my displeasure at you in hopes that you'll maybe not do it next time."

[] Write-in

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So, @Godwinson created a Discord server for us to chat. For those of us who don't know what Discord is, it's a chat program, much like Skype but a lot more lightweight and not infested with ads.

Actual vote discussion will happen in the thread. It's for the sake of people who aren't able to hang out 24/7 in Discord, and it's reflective of Sabrina's mind - the Discord server is just for people to shitpost and whatnot.

 

[Firnagzen]

Oriko blinks very slowly at you, in a way that says she's listening, but doesn't agree with you in the slightest.

Talking to her is an exercise in frustration.

So you'll do something else instead. You take a sip of tea as a kind of conversational full stop, leaning against Mami. You draw strength from that comforting bit of contact, and reach out mentally for Homura. You include Mami, too.

"Homura?" you call. Mami relaxes against your side, so that you're supporting each other.

"I'm here. I saw Miki Sayaka leaving," she responds nearly instantly. There's a live wire of tension in her voice, corded tight and alert.

"Yeah, uh... The meeting went, ah, as well as could be expected, and Sayaka's cooled down a bit," you say. "She's got a clean Gem, and she just needs room to think."

You sigh, relaxing into the sofa and sipping slowly at your tea. You try to look thoughtful - well, you are thoughtful. Your mind's going a million kilometers a minute as you sort and discard responses to Oriko, to Homura.

"I need to watch Oriko," Homura says. "Are you going after Miki?"

Damn. You were kind of hoping she might volunteer. A Sayaka, alone and upset, is just the kind of Sayaka that might get in trouble. A guardian angel -hell, a guardian devil- would go a long way towards alleviating your worries. But you won't press. And she's not a devil, anyway.

Hell, you kind of wish you could give her a vacation somehow. Pack her some food, shove her into timestop to just sleep and relax.

Ugh.

"No. I think Sayaka needs room to cool off. Also, um, I'm sorry about not calling ahead while I was on the way here," you say. "Um... Could I get you anything? As an apology?"

"It's fine," Homura says. "... I still have the picnic leftovers."

"Alright. If you're sure," you say. You should probably do something nice for her, anyway. "Also, I'll be making a privacy construct while speaking with Oriko's in a bit, so Mami and I will be out of touch. Uh, unless you want to come in?"

A pause, long enough for you to imagine Homura's expression, expressionless, but... pinched. "I'll keep watch outside."

"If you're sure," you say. "We'll let you know when we're done."

"Noted," Homura says, and pauses for a second. You wait expectantly. "Stay safe."

You- you very nearly blink in surprise, and judging from the way Mami twitches, she's not any less startled. "Thanks, Homura," you say. Testament enough to how worried Homura is, you guess.

"Right," you say, exhaling and setting the teacup down with a sharp click. "Oriko, Kirika, I'm going to make another privacy construct to cover us, alright?"

Oriko nods magnanimously. "By all means, Sabrina."

You shoot Mami a quick smile, taking her hand in yours and squeezing it again before extending your senses and summoning a sphere of Grief. You can feel the Soul Gems around you, the magical girls - Homura outside, perched on a tree with what's presumably a rifle cradled in her hands. Mami, a warm and comforting presence at your side. Aurora. The Grief Seed sits in Oriko's pocket, not even close to filling. Kirika's still carrying both their Soul Gems, and Oriko's Soul Gem is a tightly wound spindle of fire.

... Hm.

Oriko's Soul Gem almost seems to be relaxing. Not returning to normal, but... if you had to use an analogy, it seems beaten. Defeated, and slowly settling back into its old shape.

The Grief sails in through an open window, settling with practiced ease into your hand.

This is one construct you're more than familiar with, paranoid as you are against a certain white rat of an alien.

Privacy. You want interdiction against all forms of eavesdropping, covert or not, visual, audio, thermal, and whatever esoteric form of remote detection might exist. A cloistered little space of your own.

Your will be done.

The Grief morphs in your hands, melting into a simple, white band set with a golden jewel and mounted on a little pedestal. You exhale, blinking away the disorientation, and put it on the table.

"Alright," you say. "Oriko. You're right. It is too late to change it now, but I... I'm asking you to not do anything like that in future."

"I am under house arrest, am I not?" Oriko asks.

"Yeah, I guess. But you and I both know that if you really wanted to, you could slip the net," you say with a shrug. "But you... look."

You fix Oriko with a glare. "Let me get this clear. You... you just wanted Mami and Homura to cooperate, for Walpurgisnacht, and beyond, so... you made yourself the common enemy. And then... you wanted Sayaka and Hitomi to stay together as friends, so you... hurt them both in ways that would force them to rely on each other. And then you took the blame for that, too."

"An apt summary," Oriko agrees with a dip of her head. "Though a minor correction is that I want Miss Shizuki to stay with your group, not merely Sayaka. Their shared crush on Kamijou is certainly a sticking issue."

You sigh. You'd honestly laid it out more for Kirika and Mami's sake than Oriko's, but of course she wants to nitpick on your apt summary of her grand plan. And Kirika doesn't seem disturbed in the slightest, still sitting happy as a clam next to Oriko.

"Bullshit," you say, sitting up straight.

Oriko doesn't react, apart from her jaw tightening.

"Frankly, Oriko, your... fixation on what's almost cartoonish villainy has blinded you to... less evil ways of accomplishing the same goals," you say. "I mean, if you absolutely had to set fire to Sayaka's apartment, you could have at least done it during the day. When there was no one at home. Goodness knows how many people were in the building at the time."

"Four hundred and eighty three," Oriko says tonelessly. "Of whom twenty seven, not including the Mikis, had to be sent for medical treatment. Do not presume to lecture me on the cost of my actions, Sabrina."

"Fine," you snap back. "You want to talk about cost? The cost isn't only to yourself. Leaving aside the cost to your victims, you-" a sharp jab of your finger for punctuation "-are not the only one who gets the short end of the stick."

You gesture at Kirika. "She gave herself to you. Completely, wholeheartedly. And Kirika?" Your eyes go to her, meeting startled, orange ones. "I respect you for it. You're awesome, for having the strength of character to do that."

"I-" Kirika opens her mouth to say something.

"I'm sure," you say, cutting her off. "But Oriko? That level of trust requires reciprocity. Are you doing right by her? Offering her up as part of your grand martyrdom?"

"I would do anything for Oriko," Kirika snarls, uncoiling upright.

"I know you will," you snap back. "And I'm asking Oriko if she's fine with killing you."

"It's for the good of the world," Oriko counters. "It's worth it."

"Yeah, no," you say. "First? You haven't convinced me. And it's causing me problems with Homura because she buys your schtick and I don't. So you've traded a short term problem for a long term problem because hell if I'm letting you kill yourself without a fight."

You'd gotten up on your feet at some point, hands clenched into fists. Mami has a hand on your wrist, and Oriko has one on Kirika's. Doesn't matter. "And second, Oriko, I call bull-fucking-shit. You chose this route because it lets you sacrifice yourself. I know your father's story, Oriko. He failed in the same philosophy and it is not your responsibility to atone for him."

"But it is my right to, if I wanted to," Oriko says, eyes glinting. "It is my right to die in a way that betters the world. This is what my powers showed me, Sabrina. This is what has to be."

[] Write-in

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Dammit, Oriko.

 

[Firnagzen]

You close your eyes, surprised in some ways at your own anger. It's sharp and hot and biting at the back of your mind, the sheer bullheaded stubbornness of Oriko's... fatalism drawing your ire. It's... unproductive.

You blow out a hard breath, and force yourself to sit back down. Kirika gives you a sharp look as she settles back on the sofa, too, the wire-taut tension never leaving her frame. You flash Mami a quick smile - you're alright. She smiles back a little, and takes your hand between both of hers.

"Fine," you say. Gentle, but firm. You don't need to snarl or rage like a cut-rate stage villain to get your point across - especially not now. You know Oriko's listening. That admission was more than you'd ever gotten out of her.

She wants to die. She's admitted as much, implicitly.

That's progress.

You work your jaw for a moment before continuing. "Fine. I agree, you do have that right," you say without any particular emphasis. "That doesn't mean you need to do it as soon as possible. And I do understand wanting your death -and your life- to have meaning."

"Do you?" Oriko asks, folding her hands on her lap. Kirika pouts and adds her hand to the pile, nudging insistently until Oriko turns her hand over to interlace their fingers. "Do you really, Sabrina? You have a grand destiny laid out before you, do you not? You know what you wish to do in life, if you'll pardon the turn of phrase."

"Do you not?" you counter. "I chose to care about my friends, to care about Mami, to fight against whatever may come. I mean, hell, I wanna save the world too, eventually. To help all the magical girls out there."

"I chose my goals," you say, and purse your lips. "But I have to wonder, Oriko, what goals did you choose? No, don't answer that, that's rhetorical, but this isn't." You meet her gaze square on, and let your voice drop an octave for that little bit of emphasis. "Oriko, is this about saving the world, or ending your life?"

"It's-" her voice goes sharp with outrage, anger cracking the smooth blankness of her expression. "I'm saving the world!"

"I believe you," you say, gesturing with one hand. "And yes, we're gonna succeed. But..." You chew on a lip for a second. "I'm not going to ask you why you have to die. We've been down that rabbit hole before. But Oriko, look. You can do a lot more alive than dead, and you have a... fixation on your own demise."

"It's what my visions show me," Oriko snaps.

You cock your head. "And you want to make sure your death has meaning, that you worked to the fullest extent of your capability to leave your impression on a better world, right?"

"If you want to put it in such tawdry terms, then yes," Oriko says. "I do."

"Alright," you say. "What would it take for you and Kirika to live a long, meaningful life together and eventually die as heroes? What needs to change for you to not die as villains?"

Oriko shrugs. "I cannot see the future anymore, but for what I remember," she says. "However, I imagine that would involve convincing Akemi Homura."

She has a point there, you suppose. "That much is true, but that's my problem to deal with," you say. "And I might have brought this up to you before, but I think it's worth reiterating. We are magical girls, Oriko, and we fight fate. We literally make the impossible possible, so visions or not, why are you just... submitting?"

"It's the best future I can find," Oriko hisses. "My first vision was of the end of the world, how it all falls apart. This is the best path."

"Why?" you challenge, squeezing Mami's hand. She squeezes back. "What makes it the best?"

"Everyone lives, ultimately," Oriko says.

"Except you? And Kirika?" you challenge, folding your arms.

Oriko shrugs eloquently. "Other futures are less..." her expression tightens. "Less optimal."

"Less optimal because you don't die?" you ask.

"I die regardless. That much is certain from my visions," Oriko says. "This is the way my death helps to prevent others from dying."

You blow out a hard breath, cocking your head to the side. Because that niggles at something you've been turning over in your head. "Just so we're clear, Oriko, your Wish gave you a vision, there and then. That was the... immediate effect of your Wish, and you additionally got precognitive visions as your power. Correct?"

Oriko frowns at you. "That is correct."

"Then... Well. Your visions show you what you want," you say. "A way to die meaningfully. But that's not what you Wished for, is it?"

"I am going to die," Oriko snaps, earning her a worried look from Kirika. "And I've told you. I've accepted that."

You open your mouth to report, but the words die as you hear the glass door slide open. You'd made the privacy field one way, after all - you can still observe the outside perfectly well, and if you carefully do not think about a localised Olber's paradox, it's like it's not even there.

Well, that, and the ever present sensation of Witch singing in the back of your mind.

Your eyebrows jerk up in surprise as Homura strides into the room, a wooden stocked submachine gun cradled at the ready. Her eyes scan warily, finally settling in your general direction - she can't see into your interdiction field, obviously.

Kirika makes a quiet noise in the back of her throat, eyes narrowing. She subsides only when Oriko puts a calming hand on her wrist.

"Ah... I'll go see what she wants?" Mami suggests, watching as Homura transfers the submachine gun - PM-9?- to her other hand, freeing the other. She flattens her fingers into a C-shape against her stomach, just beneath her navel.

"Sayaka," Mami says, words mirroring your realisation. She jolts bodily off the sofa, glancing back at you.

You flash her a smile and a nod, though you're tempted to bolt from the sofa yourself. Sayaka should be fine, it hasn't even been that long since you started talking to Oriko.

You watch as Mami pushes through the boundary of your privacy field and talks to Homura.

You watch as Homura shifts uncomfortably. Mami says something, and Homura nods before speaking.

You watch as Mami's expression freezes.

Homura beckons at you, but you're already on your feet, arms windmilling as you fight for balance. You plunge out of the privacy field and nearly crash facefirst to the floor, but Mami's hands catch you.

"Miki Sayaka ran into Sakura Kyouko," Homura says.

"Are they-" you start. Homura cuts you off.

"They're not fighting. Just talking," Homura says. "You've told Sakura about her already? Miki went east. Apparently, Sakura Kyouko was hunting and spotted her roofhopping from across the river."

You glance backwards, at the sphere of absolute, abyssal darkness that is your privacy field.

[] Write-in

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... oh.

 

[Firnagzen]

"Oy vey," you mutter under your breath. You pinch the bridge of your nose, squeezing your eyes shut. Somewhere out there, someone is laughing at you.

"Never rains, but it pours," you grumble, exhaling as you open your eyes. "Homura, could you timestop us? The three of us; I need planning time."

Homura's already reaching for her shield, cranking it sharpl-

-y. You blow out a hard breath, straightening and tightening your hold on Mami's hand. Homura's holding your other hand, and Mami's already spooling golden ribbon from her sleeve to lash the three of you together.

"Alright, alright," you say, giving Mami a smile as she winds a ribbon around Homura's wrist, and then yours. "Homura, was it just the two of them? Were either of them angry or starting to get angry?"

Homura shakes her head. "No," she says. "They seemed to be just talking, and Chitose Yuma was there, too."

"OK, good," you say, relaxing a bit. Just as well, though, because you'd been struggling with yourself about whether to ask her to join the conversation. That would probably earn you a spear to the gut. Rightfully so, if you're honest with yourself.

So really, it is a good thing Yuma's there. She's a good counterbalance to Kyouko's abrasiveness. And now that you think about it, there's no real good place to stash Yuma while she goes out hunting, in any case.

"Give us a moment, Homura?" you ask, smiling at your friend.

She regards you, expressionless, and eventually nods. "I'll be outside," she says, giving one last glance at the absolute blackness of your privacy field before striding out of the room and leaving you and Mami in the dead silence of her timestop.

You turn to face Mami fully, taking her hand in both of yours. You meet her eyes, giving her a gentle, reassuring smile.

She's scared.

You squeeze Mami's hand. "I-" you shake your head. "I guess I jumped the gun a little. I didn't mean to conceal anything from you - it's just that after I brought the idea of having Kyouko train Sayaka up with you, I went ahead and mentioned it to her. I'm sorry I didn't tell you yet - I didn't think it was urgent, and stuff kept coming up."

Mami swallows, eyes wide. "I-" she bites her lip. "A-alright. I- I suppose I shouldn't be upset."

"No," you say, squeezing Mami's hand tightly. "No, Mami. Are you upset? I- there's no such thing as 'shouldn't be upset'. If you are, you are."

Mami looks down, her eyes finding your joined hands. "I- I am. I-" she shakes her head. "I'm not upset at you. I- I know you're b-busy. Just, I- you know my history with her, and... it's for the good of Sayaka, but- it's hard."

"Thank you for understanding," you say softly. "I- first of all, I'm trying to be better about all this. Mami, you matter to me, and I'm trying to keep you in the loop. Just... I genuinely didn't think this one would come up so soon."

She gives you a wan smile. "How could you?"

"Yeah, well... I want to be more open with you," you say. "And... well. Second, I... Sayaka's my friend, but she's your student, and Mitakihara is your territory."

"It's our territory," Mami says, closing her free hand on top of yours.

Well. You suppose it is. You swallow the lump forming in your throat, and smile at her as you continue. "Alright, but- I... I want to give you this decision, Mami," you say. "I... I would prefer to settle the discussion with Oriko tonight, since it... doesn't seem like the situation with Sayaka is particularly urgent. But that is my preference, and it really is your decision."

"Ah. I-," Mami says. Her jaw works as she swallows, eyes not meeting yours. But... she's thinking. You can tell as much, just watching the expressions flicker across her face, and the little twitches of her fingers.

"I..." Mami says, fingers tightening on yours to almost crushing strength. "I'm not- I'm not strong enough. I- w-we can stay? And talk to Miss Mikuni? If that's alright?"

"That's perfectly fine, Mami," you say. "As I said, I... that's my preference, anyway. I suppose we'll tell Homura?"

She nods weakly, not letting go of your hands.

"Hey, Homura?" you call in her general direction. "We're done."

The time traveller appears a few minutes later, raising her eyebrows at you as she steps neatly around a rather nice vase.

"We're... going to continue talking to Oriko," you say. "I... are you sure we can't persuade you to come in? You don't have to talk to Oriko, but you could at least sit on a chair inside the house instead of outside in the cold."

Homura shakes her head. "No. Inform me when you're done," she says. "I... appreciate it."

"Alright," you say. "Thanks for keeping an eye out for Sayaka, by the way."

She shrugs, expression neutral.

"Right... I guess you can end the timestop, now. Stay safe, and stay warm, OK?" you say. "It's probably gonna be a cold night."

Homura nods. "Stay safe," she echoes, reaching for her shield. She twists it, and with tha-

-t familiar sense of dislocation, you're back in the real world. Homura's already striding out in a swish of lustrous black hair, Mami's hands still clasped around yours.

You smile at Mami, and then turn back to your privacy field, pushing through.

You're met by the smuggest look from Kirika, who seems to have migrated to sit across Oriko's lap in the relatively short non-timestopped period you've been outside the field. "Hi, Sabrina!" she chirps.

[] Write-in

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Apologies for the delay in the update!

 

[Firnagzen]

You huff an amused breath as you wave at Kirika, who shows no inclination to move. Oriko seems rather pleased to have Kirika on her lap, too, despite the breach of propriety.

Well, if she's not complaining, you see no reason you should. It does make it slightly harder to hold a serious conversation, though not significantly.

You flop back onto the couch, tugging Mami down beside you. You wrap an arm around her waist - it's not a competition with Kirika, of course, and it's hard to decide to do something unconsciously, but you don't need a reason to hug Mami.

"Sorry about that, apparently Sayaka ran into Kyouko," you say. "Anyway, Oriko..."

You press your lips together, and meet her eyes. "I'm sorry for my tone earlier. I was rude and unfair to you, and I apologise," you say.

"Apology accepted," Oriko says, shifting Kirika a little on her lap. "You were understandably frustrated."

You give her a flat, unamused look. "Understandably?"

Oriko shrugs, her mouth ticking up in the corner. "Just so. I know what it's like to speak to someone obstinately and uncompromisingly opposed to your worldview, after all," she says.

"... OK, fine, I walked right into that one," you concede, relaxing against Mami. She leans her head against your shoulder.

"It is in my nature to set traps for people," she offers.

"No, you stop that," you say, pointing your finger at her. "You're supposed to be aggravating and argumentative, not cracking self-aware jokes at me."

Oriko shrugs, smiling faintly. "I'm in a good mood," she says, indicating the Kirika on her lap. "And I am nothing if not self-aware. It's just that I've accepted who I am."

Which sobers you right up. You straighten, keeping your arm around Mami's waist. "About that," you say slowly. "I... I have to apologise in advance for what I'm about to say, because I have to question that."

Oriko's expression smooths out into something unreadable. "Do go on," she says.

"Well, keeping in mind that this kind of is armchair psychology," you say slowly, frowning as you try to find the correct words. "Well... No. Let me ask you a question first. You can guide your precognition, right? I mean, you've mentioned this being the best path you can find, and all that."

"Of course. Nothing very precise, admittedly, but a general direction," she says. She frowns at you, silver eyebrows drawing together over sea green eyes. "Are you about to suggest that I have been looking for ways to die?"

Not in so many words, but yes. That is in fact exactly what you think. Of course telling her that to her face isn't going to work, you don't think. But... Oriko isn't the only one you want to convince, here. You want to at least take a stab at convincing Kirika- because she might have made her Wish to change herself for Oriko's sake, but she made her Wish to change herself for Oriko's sake.

If you can get Kirika on your side -and she's already partway there- then your battle is all but won.

"Unconsciously," you say, meeting those eyes. You're not afraid to own your opinion. "I think that you're at least slightly depressed, which feeds into your precognition, which gives you visions of your death, which feeds into your depression. Or at the very least, even if you're not depressed, then your fatalism."

"I find that hard to believe," Oriko says, tilting her nose up a bit.

"I-" you blow out a hard breath. "I know. I know, but just... hear me out, Oriko? Please?"

She waves her hand at you, as if to say 'carry on'.

"OK, OK, I... I'm not a trained psychologist, though I do have a good bit of knowledge," you say. "And OK, calling it depression might be a bit strong. But Oriko, I... I'm not going to say you want to die, but am I right in saying that you feel a need to atone for your father's sins?"

Oriko nods slowly. Reluctantly, because she's stubborn and annoying, but she's not stupid. She can see where you're going, and she doesn't like it. Kirika's attention is on you too, orange eyes fixed and unblinking and thoughtful.

"And atoning..." you nod at her. "I... Oriko, this is just my hypothesis, but I don't think it's completely outlandish. I don't-" You shake your head, hair flying. "I don't want to throw accusations around. I'm here, trying to help. Just... You said it was your right to die. I... I think your visions are feeding you what you want to see."

"It is my right," Oriko insists.

"I'm not denying that." Because it'd be worse than useless to, and it's more than irrelevant right now. You sigh, leaning back on the sofa and closing your eyes for a moment. You toy idly with Mami's hair, curling a drill around one finger.

"I... would you consider it?" you ask. "Oriko, is it possible that despite you trying to search for an outcome where you live, you only found the ones where you died well?"

She opens her mouth to speak, but you hold up your hand, stopping her. "No, let me add one more point, please?" you ask. "Oriko, you Wished to know the meaning of your life. But you've... you've rejected it. You've been seeking a meaningful death. And that's why you lost it."

Oriko laughs bitterly. "Useless to the end, then?"

"That's not remotely what I meant," you say, your tone and eyes sharpening. "Feh. It's not even what I said. And you know it. Think, Oriko. Please."

She grimaces. "All I see is death, Sabrina," she says. "Even if your hypothesis is correct, what do you expect me to do? Decide to be happy?"

Oriko's clearly thinking about it. And she hasn't refuted you yet. She might be ignoring you, but... she seems troubled, if nothing else.

[] Write-in

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Progress?

 

[Firnagzen]

She's thinking about it. You've gotten through to her, even if just the slightest bit, and that's enough to kindle a spark of hope in your chest.

"That's true," you agree. "You can't just... change yourself by thinking it. But... Hm."

You release Mami's hair, allowing it to uncoil back into its usual drill shape. Instead, you find her hand. Interlacing your fingers with hers, you give her a quick squeeze. She smiles back at you, a little strained, but happy for you nevertheless.

It's nice.

"Do you have something in mind?" Oriko asks expression returning to its usual polite blankness.

"I..." you chew your lip. "Kind of. I know for a fact that it's possible for powers from a rejected Wish to come back. It's not easy, but it's possible, and generally it doe-"

The realisation strikes you like a bolt from the blue, a thought crystallising in your mind.

"Sabrina?" Mami asks, peering at you.

You shut your mouth with a click. "I... I think I've just had a very important realisation," you say, turning the thought over in your mind and examining it. "Kirika, your... your Wish. What was it?"

"Hm?" The black haired girl blinks at you. "I wished to be someone useful to my Oriko." The seer in question puts her hand on the small of Kirika's back, wrapping her in a gentle hug.

"Yeah... yeah, you did," you say slowly as you think it over. "And it gave you antimagic. Which... yes, is useful to fight other magical girls. Like Homura, or myself. But... antimagic."

"Yes, so?" Kirika says, sounding confused.

"No... well- Oriko, you don't need your powers to be able to help or find the meaning of your life," you say, suddenly sure of your conclusion. "Kirika wanted to help you, and her Wish gave her antimagic."

"I don't see your point," Oriko says.

"No, I-" you wave your hand. "Wishes grant you what you want. They grant you what you want. Kirika wanted to help you, and correct me if I'm wrong, Kirika, but you didn't just want to be Oriko's soldier and fight for her, you wanted to be with her and help her, right?"

"Um, yes," Kirika says. "Duh."

That earns her the slightest hint of a blush from Oriko, which is adorable but besides the point right now.

"Yeah, and... your power will reflect that," you say. Mami squeezes your hand encouragingly. "And I mean - you did help Oriko with your powers, and it's, uh, how do I put this-"

"You're saying that I got antimagic powers when I Wished to help Oriko because it's like, my Wish is trying to tell Oriko she doesn't need her powers to live," Kirika says.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to say," you agree. "It's, agh, magic is subtle like that? Does that make sense?"

"But antimagic is the perfect counter in combat," Oriko points out. "Why wouldn't Kirika have gotten it?"

"As opposed to, say, mind control," you counter. "And besides, Kirika Wished for you. And she got... basically magic's great hint to you."

"I... see," Oriko says. Her eyes are wide. Genuinely surprised for perhaps the first time since you'd met her. "I don't know. My vision..."

"Oriko..." you chide. Mami closes her other hand on top of yours, lacing her fingers through.

"I know," she says, a hint of exasperation creeping into her voice. "Your confidence in our Wishes cuts both ways. Why would I be granted my visions if not to see?"

"Well, yes, you are, but as I've established, I think you're seeing -or rather looking at- the wrong thing," you counter. "Which segues nicely into what I want to say, anyway. Oriko, please? Just... please. Try to find happiness for yourself. I know. It's hard. But... hey. Try?"

"I suppose I must," Oriko says, with a wry smirk.

You break out into a grin. That's more progress than you've ever gotten. "Good," you say emphatically. "That's all I can ask for. Is there anything we can get you? Books, movies, games?"

"We have the internet," Kirika pipes up, squirming around to face you properly. "Yaarrrr~" She wiggles her fingers at you.

"Oh, sure, but it's not the same, and I'm sure there are things you want," you say.

"Some fresh groceries would be nice," Oriko says, settling back into the sofa. She seems mildly distracted, attention darting between you and Kirika.

"Chocolate!" Kirika chirps, grinning at you. "Uh, cooking chocolate, too, right, Oriko?"

"Uh, yes. Cooking chocolate, thank you for the reminder, dear," Oriko says.

"Right. Sure you don't want any games or anything?" you ask, starting to get to your feet.

"No, we have enough entertainment," Oriko says.

"Yup!" Kirika says, hopping to her feet.

"Right, then," you say, turning to give Mami a hand up. "I... well. Do try, Oriko? Please?"

The seer shrugs with one shoulder. "I can't make any promises."

"Trying is enough," you say.

She dips her head in acquiescence. "Dear, would you see them out?"

"Sure," Kirika says with a bright grin as she hops lightly to her feet.

"Right," you say. You dissolve the privacy field with a thought, relaxing as the ever-present pressure fades from your senses. Then again, you'd managed to not think about it for the entire time, really.

Mami gives you a smile, bumping her shoulder against yours, and with a laugh, you sling your arm around her waist. You say your goodbyes to Oriko, and head out.

"Hey, Sabrina?" Kirika pauses at the glass door.

"Mm?" you ask, turning to face her.

"'m not stupid," Kirika says, twiddling her fingers together. "You think that Oriko's purpose in life is me?"

"Well..." you say. "Pretty much, yeah."

Kirika blushes, hard. "Right. Right. Gotcha," she says.

"You remember what I said, right?" you ask. "She can be wrong. She is wrong about wanting to die, and... I think your magic is proof that she is. Her magic says one thing, and your magic says that you shouldn't listen to it."

"Get her to be happy, to live, to love," Kirika says, a luminescent, distant smile on her face. "Yeah, I remember. It's... hard. I forget how to say no to her."

"Mm," you agree. "Still... I'll ask from you the same thing I asked from Oriko. Try? Please?"

Kirika grins fiercely, little fang protruding. "Yeah, I can do that. I mean, I know I said that last time too, but like, you know what I mean," she says. "Thanks, 'brina. Though, uh..."

You raise an eyebrow at her fidgeting. "Yeah?"

"About letting us out, sometime?" Kirika asks, rubbing her lip.

[] Write-in

Spoiler: Vote in abeyance

[X] Ask Oriko and Kirika if there's anything you can get them to help them pass the time (books, games, movies?), then depart and ask Homura for a timestop.

=====​

I'll be honest - I've been sitting on and giggling about the anti-magic thing for literally years at this point. Granted, the schedule got brought up a fair bit, but still!

 

[Firnagzen]

"I'm gonna try," you say. "I said I would right?"

"Just a reminder!" Kirika says with a shrug and a sheepish little grin.

"Yeah, well." You don't glance up at the trees. You don't sense Homura anywhere nearby, but that means very little with her timestop. In all likelihood, she's probably burning Grief right now checking between Oriko, Madoka, and Sayaka. "Probably not for a couple of days yet, unfortunately, with the way thing with Sayaka went."

Kirika nods, smile dimming a little. "Thought so. I get it." She leans forward to stage-whisper to you. "Who's her oujo?"

Mami makes a strangled noise that's most definitely not a laugh. Because if that was a laugh, then the noise you made was a laugh and you're not laughing at Kirika, certainly not. Because that would be rude. So Mami wasn't laughing. Definitely.

"Welllll... you see, Kirika," you manage. "It's possible for two girls that are not an oujo and a... not-an-oujo to like each other."

"Scandalous!" Kirika says, straight-faced.

"Yeah, well," you say, shrugging. "Anyway, I had a thought - since I'd be doing shopping, do you want me to get you stuff for a date? You can do a candlelit dinner and stuff, if nothing else."

Kirika's grin returns full force. "I'd like that. Though, uh, get me a recipebook as well?"

"Yeah, I can do that," you say.

"Cool. Later, then!" Kirika says. "Later, Miss Tomoe!"

"Goodbye, Miss Kure," Mami says, nodding politely at Kirika.

"Later, Kirika," you say, waving with your free hand as the black haired girl turns and heads back into the house. You turn to Mami, meeting her eyes and smiling warmly. "Are you OK?"

Mami bites her lip, and nods.

You maintain your smile, gently pulling her over to the table that Oriko has in the garden. You eye the rosebushes, particularly the one you'd uprooted - apparently neither Kirika nor Oriko care enough to move it anywhere else, so there it remains to rot. You briefly consider covering the hole back up, at least.

Eh, maybe later.

You nudge two chairs side by side, sitting so that you can slide an arm around Mami's waist and pull her into a hug. "Alright. Give me a few minutes to check in on Hitomi and Sayaka, and we'll talk properly?"

She nestles against you, half turning so she can tuck her head against your shoulder. "Alright."

"Hitomi, are you alright? Get home safe?" you reach out with your mind. Telepathy is one thing Kyuubey's good for, you suppose. Though you have vague notions of figuring out your own telepathic relays so that you don't have the specter of the alien listening in on your private communication.

"Ah, yes, thank you, Sabrina," Hitomi responds. "I took a taxi, and I've reached home."

"That's good," you say. "Sorry, just checking in."

"I appreciate it," Hitomi responds, and pauses for a second. "Again, Sabrina, I apologise. I... overreacted."

You bite back a sigh. Some part of you isn't happy at all with her, still. You're not sure if you should have just... knuckled down. You do doormat a bit. But you can be the bigger person and forgive her, and you already have, anyway.

"It's fine," you say. "Anyway, talk to you later. I just wanted to do a quick check in."

"Mm. Goodnight, Sabrina," Hitomi says, ending the call.

You smile at Mami. "Hitomi's fine," you say. "And now for Sayaka..."

You could have called them both at once -even talking to them individually, it's not like you can't manage parallel conversations- but that feels disrespectful when you're doing this out of concern. "Hey, Sayaka?"

"Hmmm? Oh, Sabrina," Sayaka says. "Hey, uh, I ran into this red-haired magical girl, name of Sakura Kyouko. Says she knows you."

"Yeah, I know her, she's from Kasamino," you say, debating with yourself whether to tell her that you've asked Kyouko to train her.

"Right... she says you've asked her to train me?" Sayaka asks. There's an audible wince in her voice. "Uh, actually, she said she's been asked to train someone in Mitakihara and it's gotta be me?"

Which resolves your dilemma nicely.

"Yep. That's her," you agree. You turn to lean your cheek against the top of Mami's head. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Kyouko probably insulted Sayaka's skill. And then turned it around, into something like 'yeah, I see why you need training'. A wonder that didn't turn into a fight, really.

"... are you sur- one moment-" Sayaka says, breaking off midway. "Are you sure about this? She's kind of..."

"Rough?" you suggest. "She is. But she's also really good at the melee thing." The fact that she survived this long running on pure skill says a lot, you feel. Of course, you can't tell Sayaka that in so many words.

"Right," Sayaka says, sounding rather dubious. "Also hey, uh, about Yuma..."

"Not my story to tell, but take it from me - she's better off with Kyouko," you say.

"Uh... OK then," Sayaka says. "She called Sakura tsundere."

"Her new favourite word, I'm given to understand," you say gravely, tamping down hard on the giggles threatening to burst from your chest.

"I... see?" Sayaka says. "Uh, she's giving me funny looks. Later."

"Bye!" you say, and end the call. Looks like Sayaka's cooled off a bit - or at the very least, had her train of thought so thoroughly derailed she can't be angry any more. Which is good enough for you, and something of a surprise.

Mami makes a little noise, looking up at you.

"Sayaka's fine, too," you say with a warm smile. "Now, talk to me, Mami?"

Mami bites her lip, looking down. "I'm sorry," she whispers.

"Don't be. It's OK, Mami," you say, squeezing her around the waist. "Talk to me?"

"I-" she shakes her head, mask cracking. "Sabrina, I- you're just... putting so much effort-"

"Breathe," you encourage, smiling at her. "Breathe, slow down. You don't have to get it all out at once."

"It's- it's hard," Mami whispers. "I just- Kyouko is just- I fought with her and I, I- I might have killed her but I couldn't do it."

"That's a good thing," you whisper fiercely. You fumble for her free hand, lacing your fingers together and squeezing, trying to convey comfort and reassurance.

"I- I know," Mami says.

You pull her into a tight hug. Her head finds the crook of your neck, buried there like she's trying to hide from the world.

She doesn't need a speech right now.

You stay there. You let her shake, let her breathe. Let her regain her balance. It's an old pain and not one that you need to reopen right now. You want to reconcile her and Kyouko, but... not now. This is not the time.

It takes a few minutes before Mami pulls back a little. "I'm sorry," she whispers.

"Don't be," you say, tightening your hug.

"I..." Mami smiles at you, wobbly but sincere. "What's next?"

[] Write-in

=====​

What is next?

 

[Firnagzen]

"Well, I was going to ask you that," you say with a smile. You lean your head against Mami's. The soft fragrance of the rosebushes mingles with the scent of Mami's shampoo. Technically you use the same shampoo, but it's different, somehow. "Don't tell me you're happy to do whatever I want, Mami, I'd like to do something you want to do."

"I am happy to do whatever you want to do," Mami says, shifting away to look up at you.

"I know," you say, giving her a gentle smile. "Mami, I... I care about you. I don't just want you to... turn yourself into a doormat for me, you know?"

"I- I know," Mami says, her breath hitching. "I... truthfully, I... didn't have many hobbies... before. I'd spend my weekends hunting for Witches, or cooking or shopping, or playing video games. Mostly hunting. I..." She looks away, eyes distant.

She didn't have anyone to spend time with.

You tighten your hug around her, pulling her snug against yourself. "I... do recall you had homework to do?" you ask. Change the topic.

Mami blinks at you in surprise, eyes refocusing. And then she smiles brilliantly at you, the expression lighting her face up. "Yes, but... We do have time tomorrow. And... as long as you're here with me, I'm sure it won't take long to do, either."

You pat her on the shoulder. "Of course I'll help you with your homework, Mami," you say with a grin.

She flushes, still smiling at you. "That's not what I meant!"

"I know," you say, sticking your tongue out at her. In the corner of your mind, you sense motion -presence- in your Grief senses.

Mami laughs. You can't help but smile at her, happy that her mood seems to have brightened a little.

"So... what do you have in mind?" Mami asks, leaning her head against your shoulder once more.

"What makes you think I do?" you tease, tugging lightly on her hair drill with the arm you have around her.

"You always do," Mami answers.

"Weeeelllll, I was considering seeing if Madoka would like to hang out, but I don't know if you want to," you admit. "And I want to see if I can persuade Homura to come along, too."

"I would like that," Mami says with a smile. "Very much. But, um, it is a bit late, isn't it?"

"Well, it's only about seven. And we'll check in first," you say with a smile. "Though I do want to see if Homura wants to come along."

Mami's smile widens, and she nods.

"Homura?" You raise your voice, calling towards the rather large tree overlooking the Mikuni mansion - the presence you'd sensed a few minutes earlier.

It's far away enough that you can't hear the presumed sigh, but Homura drops out of the tree with a faint rustle of leaves and stalks over. Mami doesn't seem any more surprised than you are, greeting Homura with a nod and a quiet, "Homura."

She blinks slowly at you. "How did it go?"

You smile. "Just fine, really," you say. "Um... could you use your power? I wanna talk privately a bit - nothing serious, I just want to chat!"

Mami's already unspooling ribbon between her fingers, giving Homura an inquisitive look. The time traveller offers her left hand wordlessly, golden ribbon looping gently around her wrist. Time judders to a halt once again with a familiar ratcheting of gears.

Lifeless grey consumes the world, leaching away the distant sounds of the city.

Homura hooks a chair with her foot, pulling it over to face you. She sits, crossing her legs primly, and raises her eyebrows at you.

"Alright... to answer your question more fully," you say. "I think I may have helped Oriko a bit? And that's a good thing, because the sooner she gets over herself, the sooner she stops being so- so her."

Homura's stare intensifies, somehow, flickering over to Mami for a second.

Mami leans forward a little. "I know you don't trust Oriko," she says. "I..." She glances at you, a touch of worry in her eyes. "I- I'm sorry, Sabrina, but I don't trust her either. Not... not fully."

You squeeze her lightly with the arm around her waist. "That's fine, Mami. Go on?"

Mami nods, the tension easing out of her. "But... Homura, I think... I think Sabrina is getting through to her," she says.

Homura's expression remains completely blank, gaze unchanging.

You sigh, loud in the lifeless silence of the time stop. It... might be a little rude, but this is something you do disagree with Homura on. Oriko is worth saving - or at the very least, she's worth you trying. "Anyway, Homura..." you say. "How are you?"

She grimaces. "I'm fine."

"Right," you say. It's... very hard to hold a conversation with Homura without some kind of plan. You let out a quiet breath, stretching your senses out - it's not like you can turn them off, but it's not like you're paying complete attention all the time, either. You can feel the half-filled Grief... Seed somewhere in her costume. Singular.

Which is, you suppose, a mildly interesting point. You only feel one other Grief Seed beyond that one. You check their names.

Gertrud, and... Ann.

Hm.

You... you sort of expect her to have more Grief Seeds than that. You'd kinda wondered about it before, but now that you're actually looking...

Something to mull over later, because Homura's still staring at you.

"Alright," you say again. "Uh... two things, first, cleansing? And second, I don't know if you heard, but Mami and I are thinking of asking if Madoka was free to hang out a bit. Would you like to come along?"

Homura's mouth flattens into a grimace. "Oriko needs to be watched," she says as she withdraws the Grief Seed from her pocket.

You'd expected that, of course. "Yeah," you say, refreshing the Grief Seed with a thought and a wave of your hand. You briefly debate making her a Clear Seed there and then, but it'd take time. It's definitely an offer to make to her sometime, though. "But hey-"

You freeze. Your best argument had been to appeal to the fact that if you're all guarding Madoka, then Oriko couldn't harm her. But you can't say that around Mami without explaining why Madoka specifically needed guarding.

"How-" you say, picking your words very carefully even as the necessity of talking around Mami burns in the pit of your stomach. "-much trouble can Oriko really get up to while we're at Madoka's?"

Homura frowns, opening her mouth to counter - but then her attention snaps up fully to you.

Come on, Homura, listen to what's not being said-

"Certainly not more than what she could have already done most of the day," Mami offers with a slightly amused smile. "Come on, Homura, you don't have to sit in a tree all night, surely."

Homura blinks very slowly, stiffening almost imperceptibly. And then she nods at Mami. "Very well," she says. "Let's go."

Huh. Well, you're not complaining. Mami breaks out into a smile, which she turns on you. "Though... You're sure Madoka won't think it a bit odd? At this time of the night?"

"Hey, I'm the weird foreigner who doesn't know better, right?" you say, winking at her.

Mami huffs. "Well, if you're so sure..."

"Worth a try," you say, and grin at Homura. "I think we're good, then."

Homura sighs and reaches for her shield, cranking it across with a thoughtless, practiced motion.

The sound of the city comes rushing back in. The low rumble of cars on the road, the distant horns... even the few insects still buzzing among the rose bushes.

You inhale, and stand, one hand slipping into a pocket to withdraw your phone. "Gimme a minute," you say, smiling at Mami, then Homura.

You dial Madoka's number, wandering between the bushes. They're startlingly well-manicured still, but then, there hasn't been much time since Senator Mikuni's passing. Oriko probably cancelled the gardener's contract almost immediately, if there was even one. Probably was.

Madoka picks up a few moments later. "Hello?"

"Hey, Madoka!" you say. "Hey, I was just wondering - would you like to hang out? You, Homura, Mami, myself?"

"Eh?" Madoka says. "Right now? It's... kind of late, is something wrong?"

[] Write-in

Spoiler: Vote in abeyance

[x] On the way there, telepathy Yuma and ask for the play-by-play of Sayaka training with Kyouko.
-[x] Confirm that bigsis is indeed being tsundere.

=====​

Be convincing.

 

[Firnagzen]

"Nah, there's nothing wrong," you say, fighting back the jolt of panic as you glance up at the moon. It's not that late, is it? It isn't, not really. Are you being weird? You're not, right? "I mean it!"

"Oh," Madoka says. You can practically hear the confused blinking. "Alright."

"Well, honestly, I'm just not tired yet, and time is best wasted with friends," you say. "So I was wondering if you were free, though, uh, I didn't realise it was this late. Or, well, I was thinking it wasn't too late. It's OK if you don't want to, though!"

"Oh..." Madoka says. "Um... I see?"

"And, um," you say, rubbing at your nose. You pause, fumbling for both words and thoughts as you try and sort out what needs to be done. Thoughts whirl through your head as you think. You're almost tempted to tell her about...

"Um-" I found your Homura stuck in a tree, do you want me to bring her over or can you come get her, except that's ridiculous and not something you'd say to Madoka. Not now, anyway. You have to tell her about-

About Gretchen, the world ending Witch she would become if she contracted. But Homura's there, and... so is Mami. She doesn't even know where Witches come from yet. And if you can't tell Madoka about Gretchen without telling her about the loops, which isn't your story to tell.

"Sabrina?" Madoka prompts.

Oops. You've been silent for a minute or so, haven't you?

"Ah..." you say. "There are actually a few things I wanted to talk to you about, actually, though they aren't serious? And-"

"Sabrina?" Madoka interrupts you, to your surprise. "Are you alright?"

You blink. "I... I'm not sure," you admit. "I'm..."

"I'll check with mama and papa, if they're alright with you coming over," Madoka says decisively. "You said Homura and Mami are coming over, right? Hold on."

"Uh, OK?" you say, but there's no response - you can hear rustling, and then a click as the door opens and shuts.

... What just happened?

You push your hand through your hair, combing it back a little with your fingers as you listen to the low murmur of voices from the phone, muffled by the door. And then you hear the door crack open again, more rustling footsteps.

"Sabrina?" she asks.

"Still here," you say. "Do I sound that tired?"

"Ah... not really!" Madoka says. "Papa says it's OK, so you can come over any time! Ah! You've never been over, my address is-" She rattles off the address.

"Right, OK," you say, pulling experimentally at your eyelid. And you have been to her house before, in timestop - but Madoka doesn't know that, does she. "Um... I'll see you in a bit?"

"See you!" Madoka says.

Scratching your head, you wander back to Mami and Homura, finding them chatting quietly. "Do I look very tired to you girls?"

"Of course not, Sabrina," Mami says loyally, giving you a warm smile.

Homura blinks slowly at you.

"Good," you say, walking over to Mami and linking your arm through hers. "Anyway, Madoka says it's fine, so shall we head on over?"

Homura dips her head slightly. "No movement from Mikuni."

"Wouldn't expect there to be any," you say, very carefully neither looking nor looking in the general direction of the Mikuni mansion. You don't want to know what they're up to right now. "Not at the moment."

Mami smiles at you. "Shall we go?"

"Yep!" you confirm. "Do you want to fly, or roofhop? Mami, Homura?"

"Both are fine with me," Mami says. "Though... maybe we could practice flying on our way home, later?"

"I'd be up for that," you agree. "Homura? Your choice, roofhopping or flying?"

"Flying is faster," Homura says, pressing her lips together.

"Then flying it is," you say with a cheerful grin. Grief spheres leap to your call, basketball-sized spheres rising out of the foliage where you'd concealed them. You dissolve just enough with a flick of your hand, midnight purple of the Grief nearly invisible in the night as it sweeps to do your bidding in pouring sheets.

It only takes you a moment to build a flight disc, the shape coming to you with the ease of practice. You mount up, turning to offer a hand to Mami, who steps on without hesitation. Homura hops on lightly, settling behind you and Mami as you lift into the sky.

You leave the Mikuni mansion behind, with its perpetual, faint scent of roses, and soar into the night.

As you ascend, you eye the moon. Thinking about it, should the moon actually be up? You're reasonably certain that it shouldn't, given the latitude you're at but then again, you remember the moon from your memories that are not, in any case. It's a rather dumb question, anyway, since the moon is rather demonstrably hanging in the sky.

"So Homura!" You switch to telepathy, rather than shout over the wind that's rushing past you and incidentally messing up your hair. "Homura, Mami? I was thinking - you both know about the Clear Seeds, right?"

"Mmm?" Mami asks, tucking her head against your shoulder.

"Yeah. They... seem stable," you say. "For now, maybe? I don't know, I worry that there's some hidden cost or something, but there doesn't seem to be one. Uh. The point is, though, that I'm... thinking about providing them to everyone. You guys, Sayaka... the girls over in Sendai and Ishinomaki and so on."

"You should use them as leverage," Homura murmurs. "Bring them in for Walpurgisnacht."

"Yeah, there's that," you agree. "Still, I'm worried... I mean, I'm giving out what are pretty much priceless artifacts. I'm worried that if I don't distribute them properly, it's just going to cause more fighting."

Mami sighs. "It likely will," she agrees. "Maybe if you were to take away Seeds from troublemakers... No, you can't be everywhere."

"A police force," Homura says.

"And that is gonna be an organisational nightmare," you say with a wince.

Mami giggles, laughter tinkling in your mind. "Put Sayaka in charge of it," she suggests. "I think she'd enjoy that."

"Nah, nah, I'll put you in charge of it," you say, grinning at her. "Sayaka will be the bright-eyed newbie, while Homura is the cynical veteran." You slant a grin back at Homura, who rolls her eyes.

"And what about you?" Homura asks.

"I'll be the mysterious hero who drops in every now and then to bail people out," you say, nodding.

Mami's giggles fill your mind, silvery and light.

"A police force," you muse as you skim past downtown Mitakihara, reflected in the glass of the buildings. "One step from there to Empress Sabrina?"

"You'd make a terrible Empress," Homura says, voice flat.

"Hey!" you complain. "Well fine, let's give the job to Mami or someone. Madoka, maybe."

Mami pats your shoulder, giving you a smile.

"Do either of you want a Clear Seed? Homura, Mami?" you ask.

"I would like one," Homura responds.

"Cool, I'll make you one, then," you say. "Sooner rather than later. Maybe tomorrow? Uh, hm. Mami, did Benouna say when exactly she's coming?"

"Um... probably around morning?" Mami offers. "She'll probably spend the night travelling here."

"Hm, maybe around lunchtime?" you say. "I probably need to make that cleaning trip in the afternoon."

"That would be fine," Homura says.

"Cool. How about you, Mami?" you ask.

"I don't need one," Mami says, nestling her head against your shoulder with a content hum you can feel. "You're here."

"... Ah. Right, OK," you say, blushing a little. Because what can you do in the face of that kind of absolute faith?

You fly on in both physical and mental silence for a bit, conversation having exhausted itself. Though you do need to check in on Kyouko and possibly tease her a bit. "Kyouko?"

"Knew I'd be gettin' a call from you," she drawls back after a moment. "Yeah, yeah, hope y' don't mind me intruding."

"Nah, you're fine on that count," you respond, banking around a small hill dotted with apartments. "What's up?"

"Your girl there isn't exactly stealthy, is she?" Kyouko asks. "Bright blue light and everything. Saw her from all the way cross the river, decided to take a closer look."

"Ah, yeah, her flight," you say. "So whatcha think?"

"I know why you want me to train her now," Kyouko says with a snort. "Kicked her around a bit tonight, because she looked like she needed to blow off some steam, but that's it. Payment first, 'brina, gotta look out for myself."

"Is that all that happened?" you ask, feeling faintly disappointed.

"Yep, 'sall. In and out, didn't poach your Witches or anything," Kyouko says.

You consider teasing her about being tsundere again, but that would likely result in Yuma not getting her cookies tomorrow or something. And you certainly can't have that. "Right," you say. "I'll get back to you about the payment and scheduling sometime soon, then."

"You do that," Kyouko drawls.

[] Write-in

=====​

Anything more to say to Kyouko, and what do you do upon reaching the Kaname's?

 

[Firnagzen]

"Yep," you respond after a quick moment's thought. "Talk to you soon. Thanks for helping Sayaka decompress. Goodnight to you and Yuma!"

"Mmmgrn," Kyouko grumbles. "'night."

She closes the connection as you glide past some apartment blocks, skimming low over the rooftops. Mami shifts, seeming to sense that your attention is less preoccupied now, and takes the opportunity to nestle closer against you. You give her a smile, and turn your head slightly to check on Homura.

Violet eyes meet yours, framed by the flowing black perfection that is Homura's hair, streaming in the wind. You give her hair a considering look, but it just isn't the same like this. It's still Homura's ridiculously perfect hair, but somehow, it's just not the same as a proper hairflip. Homura raises a single eyebrow at you.

You give her a grin and a shrug. There's nothing going on, you just feel behooved to check on her.

She tilts her head slightly, settling back.

As you reach the Kaname residence and slow down, you glance back one last time at Homura. Her hair remains frustratingly perfect, when you know that yours is a wind-tousled mess.

... come to that, Mami's hair seems ruffled but essentially unaffected by the wind, too. Her hair drills still hold their shape, even. And Kyouko... well, you don't think you've really seen a knot or anything in that giant ponytail of hers. She probably washes her hair in hotel rooms and such fairly often, but how much proper maintenance can she really put into it when living more-or-less on the streets?

You're beginning to suspect that you just didn't get the 'nice hair' part of the puella magi package. You'd say you got gypped, but it was probably a trade-in for the 'phenomenal cosmic power' package.

Hm. You really should try Grief hair extensions at some point.

You coast in for a landing. Can't set down too close to the Kaname's, not when there's no good place to conceal your approach. Which you kind of do out of reflex. Breaking the masquerade is one thing, but causing UFO sightings is another.

You beam at Mami, and then Homura. "Shall we?" you ask, taking Mami's offered hand to step off the disc. You'd landed in the clearest spot you could find, out of sight from the apartments thanks to some trees.

"Let's," Mami agrees. Homura nods, and starts up the street. You fall in behind her, letting her lead.

Mami freezes midstep, eyes going wide. "We forgot to get a gift!" she exclaims.

Homura frowns. "I have something," she says, and makes a sharp turn back out of sight. You sense her transformation and detransformation before she reappears, holding a boxed set of eight plastic tubes in her hands.

"Spices?" you ask, squinting at said box.

"Fresh herbs," Homura says, tonelessly. "Mr. Kaname enjoys cooking."

"It's not wrapped," Mami says, reaching for the box. "Give them to me, Homura?"

Homura hands them over, and Mami concentrates for a second. Ribbons wrap around the box, golden light flaring before it settles into tasteful, cream-coloured wrapping paper decorated with flower-like patterns in black and gold.

You rub your forehead. "Man, I completely forgot about that," you say. "Nice save, Homura, Mami."

Mami pats you on the shoulder, turning the wrapped box over in her hands before nodding in approval. "We all forget things," she says, and gives you a warm smile. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, let's," you agree, starting up the street. It's not far now, the house coming into view as you walk onwards.

You've been here once, of course, during the grand timestop hunt for Oriko, but the Kaname residence is still ridiculous. It's not on the same scale as the Mikuni mansion, but that was built with embezzled public funds. Not so much the Kanames', and this is modern, land-starved Japan. You still don't know how that works.

Lush greenery surrounds a very modern house, all glass and white painted walls. They have two second floor balconies and a garden out front with a running fountain and enough space that you can't even see the neighbours as you walk up the path, and you can't help but gawk around as Homura leads you up to the front door. She hesitates there, halting in front of the door.

You clasp her on the shoulder reassuringly, before reaching past her to push the doorbell. The chime echoes from inside the house, long and tinkling. And then-

"Coming, just a moment!" Madoka calls. Homura straightens infinitesimally, the tension bleeding out of her shoulders at the same time.

When the door opens, though, it's not Madoka. Instead, on the other side of the door is a wall of olive green wool.

"Good evening!" Tomohisa says.

You... well, you knew he was tall, and you'd met him for a few minutes earlier today. But you were preoccupied at the time, and you're right in front him now. You have to tilt your head back to give him a smile. "Good evening, Mr. Kaname!"

"Good evening," he says, cupping his chin as his bespectacled gaze sweeps the group. "You must be... Sabrina-chan, Akemi-chan, and... Tomoe-chan?"

Mami startles, and then bows to Tomohisa. Homura follows suit. "Yes, I'm very pleased to meet you!" Mami says.

Tomohisa nods, smiling. "Madoka told me abo-"

"I'm coming!" Footsteps pelt down the stairs, followed by Madoka herself with twintails bouncing. "Ah, papa!"

Tomohisa turns to beam at Madoka. "Don't worry, I haven't brought out the baby pictures yet," he says.

"Papa!" Madoka complains, hurrying over to the door.

"That will wait for Junko to come home," he says with a firm nod. "Junko's my wife," Tomohisa adds in an aside to the three of you standing at the door.

Madoka giggles nervously. "Papa..."

"Relax, I'm just teasing," Tomohisa says.

"Oh," Madoka says, tugging on a twintail. "Ah, papa, this is Homura, Mami, and Sabrina. Everyone, this is my papa, Kaname Tomohisa."

Tomohisa nods. "We've already introduced ourselves," he says, mussing Madoka's hair gently.

You know, you kind of have to wonder where all the tallness went, considering Tomohisa. Yes, that's not how genetics work, and it's probably more that Madoka inherited Junko's height instead, but it's also more amusing to imagine that Madoka has a massive growth spurt lying in wait to ambush her next year or so.

"Ah, why don't you all come in?" Tomohisa says, guiding Madoka out of the way of the door.

"Thank you, Mr. Kaname!" Mami says, stepping forward and shucking her shoes. She bows and offers the wrapped box.

"Ah, thank you," Tomohisa says, receiving the box with both hands. "You didn't have to!"

Mami smiles, bowing again and leading the way in, stepping around a nice, wooden chair you choose to believe is for people to sit down and put their shoes on. You follow suit with a bow, trusting Mami to know what she's doing. Homura does too.

The interior of their house is much like the outside: ridiculously expansive and very modern in aesthetic. Except, well, it would be modern apart from... the sofas. They... don't match. Any of them. There are far too many of them sitting around the rectangular coffee table, and... none of them match. One is high backed, deep blue, and evidently spins. There's one upholstered in beige leather, and another in brown. And-

And there's also a baby staring up at you with huge, curious eyes.

"Erm," you say, by way of noting his presence to the room at large. He's dressed in an adorable little yellow hoodie, chubby face topped with a mop of messy purplish-pink hair a middle shade between Madoka's and Tomohisa's faded pink.

Tomohisa glances over, and he laughs. "Tatsuya! Come to papa," he calls, kneeling and opening his arms.

"Nuh!" Tatsuya says, still staring up at you. He puts one pudgy little finger to his mouth, and turns to Madoka.

You laugh, and squat down. You glance at Tomohisa for permission before reaching to ruffle Tatsuya's hair. "Hi, baby! Well done, baby, you're doing a fantastic job being a baby. If you keep doing such a good job, I hear you're up for promotion to toddler soon. Congratulations!"

... even Homura's giving you a puzzled look now.

At least Tatsuya seems to appreciate the headpat, gurgling happily and butting his head against your hand.

You cough, standing. Tatsuya coos in disappointment, toddling over to Tomohisa to be picked up instead. "Er. Sorry? I... it seemed like the right thing to say," you say, fighting the embarrassed blush. "He's cute?"

Mami shakes her head, patting you on the shoulder. "Oh, Sabrina," she says, giving you a fondly amused smile. "He is, yes."

"He is," Madoka agrees.

Tomohisa laughs easily, and leads you past the living room with baby balanced on his hip. You spot their kitchen through an open doorway. Equally well kept, glass-fronted cabinets showcasing all their tableware, with a spacious kitchen counter and enough room for a dining table. And there's a floor-to-ceiling glass enclosure in the middle of said kitchen, open to the sky, that houses a miniature palm tree.

Because of course.

You're kind of jealous of their kitchen, but on the other hand, having a cozier kitchen has its benefits too.

You spot the picnic basket on the kitchen counter, evidently not packed away yet. "Ah, Mr. Kaname, thank you for the picnic basket. It was delicious!" you say, and blink. "Um, the food, not the basket. You wouldn't eat the basket, it's all wooden and... cane-y."

Tomohisa gives you an odd look, but waves it off with a dismissive air. "Oh, it was nothing. By the by, who prepared the curry Madoka brought back? And the pastries?"

"Ah, Mami baked," you say. "And I did the curry. Uh... Madoka mentioned that we should swap curry recipes?"

You notice Madoka hovering anxiously at the periphery of your vision, eyes dancing from you, to Homura, to Mami. But mainly she darts worried little glances at you.

"Indeed!" Tomohisa says. "I've been looking for a good Indian curry recipe for a while, really." He shakes his head mournfully. "It's rarer than you might think. Let me get you some drinks..."

"Ah, I'll help!" Madoka says, hurrying after her father into the kitchen.

You meander over to the sofas, giving Mami and Homura a smile. You settle down on the brown one, and Mami immediately claims the spot next to you. Homura sits primly on the blue-coloured, revolving sofa, almost dwarfed by the sheer size of the thing.

Madoka bustles out with a tray of pastries a few minutes later, Tomohisa following with a tea tray and Tatsuya toddling after. Does that technically mean he's already earned his promotion already, you wonder.

You relax into the sofa, taking a cup of tea and a senbei -rice cracker- which is delightfully crisp and sweet in your mouth. "This is great!" you say.

"Ah, that's good," Tomohisa says, taking one for himself. "I was worried these might have gone soft; I made them a few days ago."

"No, these are still wonderful," Mami says, nibbling daintily on her own.

Homura nods silently, watchful gaze never quite still.

You spend a while just relaxing and swapping recipes with Tomohisa. It turns out that getting good foreign recipes in Japanese is actually surprising hard, something Mami's more than happy to commiserate with. Madoka offers commentary, mostly in terms of what sounds delicious, and Tatsuya adds his gurgled two cents.

Homura Homuras, making a quiet remark every now and then.

At some point you excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. All that picnic food and the tea has to go somewhere, of course.

"Down the corridor, second door on the left," Madoka instructs.

"Gotcha!" you say, padding down said corridor and pulling it open. You purse your lips, close the door, and walk back to the living room. "So, uh, all the glass-"

"That's just the washing area, Junko loved the idea," Tomohisa says, with an air of having explained this before. "The toilet is on the right, behind the screens."

"Right," you say, and head back in. You give the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling glass windows a long, uncomfortable look. There's even screens mounted on the wall, inactive for now.

After relieving yourself, you head back to the living room, finding Tomohisa getting to his feet with Tatsuya balanced on his hip. "I'll leave you to enjoy yourselves, alright? Tatsuya needs his bath," he says with a smile, and heads up the stairs.

Madoka smiles at her father as he leaves, before turning her attention to you. "Are you alright, Sabrina? You seem a bit out of it."

[] Write-in

Spoiler: Vote in abeyance

-[x] When appropriate - destress first, no need to cut hanging out short or anything, no emergencies here - talk to Madoka.
--[x] Ask her how she's doing. Anything she's thinking about or worrying about, that kind of thing.
--[x] Ask Madoka for advice on Sayaka. She's Sayaka's friend and knows her better than any of us do.
---[x] Give her an overview of the situation. We found the girls that burned down Sayaka's house but were kind of stressed out and afraid of how everybody would react, so we procrastinated on telling everybody for way too long. We told Sayaka and Hitomi today and now they're mad at us and probably don't trust us and we feel really guilty about it, so...
---[x] And, yeah, we probably should've told Madoka about it too. :/

=====​

So, a guided tour! The exterior of their house. Note the fountain and non-euphemistic huge tracts of land. We then move on to Tomohisa's garden. I'd like to point out that there are stairs going down and railings behind. Also for comparison: their garden in Rebellion. And then their kitchen. And of course, their bathroom.

Also, swivel sofa. My friend has one of these (upholstered in leather) and it is sinfully comfortable.

 

[Firnagzen]

You sigh, sinking back into the sofa and giving Mami a squeeze. You're not quite sure when it happened, but it became kind of habit to just automatically pull her into a hug whenever she sits next to you. Which is always. It's just... comfortable.

Somewhere in the house, you can hear running water start up - Tatsuya getting his bath, you suppose. And that makes it a safe-ish time for you to talk.

"I am, I suppose," you say, rubbing your nose. "I... Truthfully, Madoka, I didn't want to drag this in. I wanted to just hang out, but... Yeah, I guess I am a bit out of it, for more than one reason."

You chew your lip a bit, drawing a concerned look from Mami. Madoka, too.

"Talk to me?" Mami urges quietly. "Talk to us."

You chuckle weakly. "I didn't want to turn this into something all big and serious and stuff," you note. "I really did just want to hang out. But... It concerns you too, Madoka."

"Ah?" Madoka says.

"Yeah. I... You know about Sayaka's house, and Hitomi's arm, of course," you say. "I... I knew who caused both, right from the start. A pair of magical girls; Oriko and Kirika. We went after them, that night." You gesture at Mami, Homura, and yourself.

Madoka nods, eyes wide. But for all the horror on her face, she looks... resolute. Determined to hear you through.

"We caught them, of course," you say with a little grin. "Homura is incredibly overpowered, and Mami is just plain awesome, and I can get rid of the, ah, resource costs."

Homura snorts softly, to which Mami makes a little noise of agreement. "Don't give yourself so little credit, Sabrina," Mami says with a chiding, warm smile.

You shrug, grinning weakly. "It's called being modest," you say. "Anyway... I... I guess that's where I messed up. I put them under house arrest. It was my decision, and... They're not bad people, just misguided. And... I didn't tell Sayaka or Hitomi about them. I didn't tell you either, and that's my fault, too."

"If anything, it's all our faults," Mami offers quietly. "Both Homura and I had every opportunity to say something, too."

"But I was the one behind the whole thing, more or less," you say, attention shifting back to Madoka. "It was my fault. I... to elaborate, I told them earlier today, after the picnic. I've... I sat on it for too long. I had what I think are good reasons, but the fact is that I concealed things from my friends, and I made them angry."

Madoka seems to wilt a little as you speak. "Why did you hide it?" she asks.

"I had... what I think are good reasons," you say. "I... Homura? Can I ask you for a timestop, for all of us? I don't... I want to talk about this more privately."

Homura blinks slowly, eyes flickering over to Madoka before she nods, and stands, sweeping her hair back. You sigh, turning away to hug Mami tighter, who's more than willing to cuddle back against you even as she spools ribbon with her free hand. "Madoka? You'll need this ribbon, may I put it around your wrist?"

Madoka looks at Homura, eyes wide, and then Mami. "A-ah- alright!"

It only takes a few moments for Mami to wrap the ribbons appropriately and Homura to ready her shield. She cranks it across.

Stillness floods the world, the silence almost a tangible weight blanketing and smothering the life. Colours bleed away, leaving empty grey hues and the bright splashes of colour that are yourselves the only things that feel real.

Madoka sucks in a breath, looking around with an awed, slightly fearful expression. "This... this is your power, Homura?" she breathes. where are you

Homura nods. "My shield lets me stop time." She grabs a cracker and drops it, letting the frozen monochrome of the timestop take it mid-fall.

"That's amazing," Madoka says. "It's so... it's so quiet."

You pipe up, since Homura doesn't seem to be inclined to say anything more. "There's no noise because everything's stopped. There's no cars, no machines, the fridge isn't making any noise, the insects are frozen..."

That draws Madoka's attention back to you, though, her gaze snapping to yours.

She somehow has a really guilt-inducing stare, sad and disappointed and yet hopeful that you can make it all up at the same time.

"I knew them before I met them," you admit. You fumble for Mami's hand, interlacing your fingers and squeezing tight in reassurance. "I knew all of you. Mami, and Homura, Sayaka, Hitomi... and yes, you, Madoka. I knew Oriko and Kirika and a handful of others as well."

Madoka makes a squeaking little noise, eyes going absolute huge and twisting her fingers together nervously.

You hold up one hand - the other one's in a vise grip around Mami's. "Not... not so in depth, just... I knew who everyone was, when I woke up in that alley. I-" you swallow. "I knew you. Sayaka... everyone. It was a... shock, I'll say that much. I knew of all of you, but I didn't remember anything behind me."

You bite your lip. You're... you're not quite worried about that. And that's something that's rather odd, isn't it? You're vaguely aware that anyone who had amnesia of their past would probably be panicking, trying to find out anything they could about it, but you... didn't. It's a thought you harbour at the back of your mind and wonder about every now and then, but it's nothing you dwell on.

You're worried that you're not worried, you guess. You're worried that you don't feel lost for not having a past or anything. And that's rather odd, if interestingly recursive.

"Y-yeah," you say. You choose not to voice those thoughts. Not now, maybe. "I- I know Oriko and Kirika too, and... I know they can be better. And I-" You swallow thickly. "I know that Sayaka, at least, might do something that, that she can't take back, so I chose not to tell her at the time. But..."

You blow out a breath, lowering your head. "I chose wrongly, I suppose. I made her angry, and I'm... just bothered by it."

Mami's half turned, by this point, giving up any pretense of doing anything but hugging you tight, face buried against your shoulder. And on Homura's face are faint traces of worry, set in the lines around her mouth and the downturn of her lips. Worry directed at you, sharp attention directed at Madoka.

Madoka...

Madoka looks thoughtful. Her fingers have stilled entirely, gaze fixed on you.

"You didn't choose wrongly, Sabrina," Madoka says, voice strong and clear. "I think you did the best thing you could have, and..." She looks down at her lap for a second. "Sayaka's my friend, but I don't think you're wrong."

[] Write-in

=====​

Hmm.

 

[Firnagzen]

Relief hits you, almost a sledgehammer blow. Or, well, maybe a soft, comforting pillow. It's... well, it is a relief, somehow, to have Madoka absolve your actions.

Your mind being what it is, you can't help doubting. Not... not Madoka, of course, you trust her. You absolutely do, but... She doesn't have that much context. Is she really able to absolve you, like that? And she's Madoka, of course she'd forgive you, but-

That's not completely true, is it? She's just as human as you are, and... that can't have been easy to say about her best friend, to you, a relative stranger.

You let out a shuddering breath. "Thanks, Madoka, just... thanks," you say. "I..."

Sharp on the heels of relief comes unease, a frission of fear streaking down your spine like febrile fingers carressing your spine. There's... there was something, like the feeling when you bite into ice and it squeaks on your teeth. It happened in the past, but you only noticed it now.

You bite back on the rising edge of panic, schooling your face into immobility. No. It's just a voice, nothing that can harm you. Instead, you shake your head, raising a hand to draw attention away from your expression. "Cleansing, everyone?"

You've... not-heard the not-voice before. When you were fighting Elsa Maria, for one, and that was the point where Sayaka was shifted into a Witch's Barrier after you messed with making your own Barrier. You don't even know who -or what- did that. Dedolere? Feathers? One and the same?

You'll need to check on your friends once the timestop talk is over. But not here, and not now.

You manage to smile at your friends as you cleanse everyone's Soul Gems. You don't think anyone noticed your brief panic. A generous handful all around, from Homura's, from Mami's, from your own. You send the Grief billowing out of the open window to join the main mass you hid on the roof - not like you're going to disturb Tomohisa's perfect garden with grief, after all.

"Hope that feels better?" Madoka says, watching your Soul Gem with anxious eyes as you revert it to a ring.

"Yeah," you say, smiling and rolling your shoulders. This dislodges Mami, so you pull her back into your hug, leaning your head against hers.

Affection comes easily to you. You're a very... touchy-feely person, yeah, but... Mostly with Mami. Sure, you give out hugs to all your friends, but mostly Mami, closely followed by Homura. And you kind of want to give Madoka a hug too, just to even things up. But...

Mami.

Yes, it's comfortable. It's comforting, just being with her. It's nice to hug her, to have someone close to you, to have someone supporting you. Certainly she's your best friend, and perhaps even closer, but... Her emotional dependence on you.

"Sabrina?" Madoka prompts. "Are you alright?"

Of course, you can't talk about it here. Not in front of Mami, at any rate, Madoka as your de facto counsellor or not.

"Yeah, just thinking," you deflect. "I... can I tell you more about the situation? With Oriko and Kirika, and Hitomi and Sayaka?"

Madoka nods, wringing her fingers together. "I... I don't really know about all this magic and stuff, but I can listen?"

Ah, Madoka. Spine of steel, self-worth of a cooked, floppy noodle.

Well, that's a bit mean.

"Well... The thing I was most afraid of was that Sayaka might have made a Wish on the spot to go after Oriko, when she found out," you say, swallowing a little. "I... well, I know that she might do this kind of thing impulsively. And depending on the kind of Wish she made, she might have twisted her own mindset irrevocably."

"That's terrible!" Madoka says, flinching back. "I- are you sure, Sabrina?"

"Yeah," you say. "It's unfortunately true. A Wish can twist your mind, if you make the wrong Wish. I know at least one magical girl who did that. Maybe two." If you count Akiko, that is. Jury's still out on that one, really, but you'll get to check on her tomorrow.

Madoka bites her lip, looking down for a second. "How- how do you know? All this? You... you said you knew all of us?"

"Yeah," you admit with a heavy sigh. "I don't know. I woke up in that alleyway - you were there, and I have nothing beyond that. I don't remember anything of a past life, if I even had one. Magic being what it is..."

You shrug again. You know that magic can outright create people from nothing. Of course, the one example you know of is from Asunaro, and also questionably sane. Though she did, in fact, Wish Good.

"It doesn't matter," Mami says, shifting so that she can look up at you. "It doesn't matter, Sabrina, you're here now." And then her expression crumples, certainty disappearing. "Right?"

"Yeah!" Madoka agrees. "We're glad you're here, Sabrina!"

"Right," you say, smiling warmly at Mami and hugging her tighter. You can't help but feel a pang at the fear on her face. "I'm not leaving you, Mami, for anything."

Mami makes a low, worried noise, and buries herself in the curve of your hug, pressing close. You hold her close, stroking her hair gently.

"I don't... my past isn't something that worries me," you admit. "I do have friends and things to accomplish here and now. My past... I can look it up sometime, I guess, and I do worry a little that I don't worry about it. I mean, most people would just freak out about not having a past, right?" You shake your head. "But... I have friends, and all of you are important."

Madoka nods enthusiastically. You spare a glance for Homura, who's been quiet this entire time - but all she does is nod at you, gaze steady.

Heh. She doesn't care about where you came from. She wouldn't, really.

"Then what is bothering you?" Madoka asks.

"Heh," you say. "It's no one thing. It's more like... there are so many secrets, like this one, the fact that I feel like I'm, I'm, responsible, I guess, for every messed up situation I come across. I want to fix everything, and it's... a lot to handle. Then there's future plans that I have. I don't just want magical girls around here to live well. I mean, I do want to make sure Mami- make sure everyone's happy, but that's the point. Everyone."

You take a breath, shifting your hug around Mami. "I don't- well, then, the problem becomes Grief socioeconomics. Or Grief sociopolitics. Which is kind of a huge mess. And I... I guess I'm making inroads on all that so far, but, uh. It's a lot to handle, and it's kind of stressful."

"Have you ever thought about delegating?" Homura asks, a ghost of a smirk flickering across her mouth.

"Do you have any room to talk there?" you ask, and promptly stick your tongue out at Homura.

Madoka giggles. "It does sound like you need help, Sabrina," she says. "Um."

"Heh, sorry," you say. "I didn't mean to unload it all on you. And I suppose it's nothing new, just... Bah. Thanks for listening, all of you." You smile around at everyone, particularly at Mami.

She cuddles against your side, arms locked tight around your waist.

"I didn't do much," Madoka protests.

"You listened," you counter. "That's plenty. I don't... I don't expect to find any easy solutions for all of this, you know? I kind of know what needs to be done, and it's all very much one step at a time. It's just that there's a lot of it, and having it all together is a burden."

Mami stirs, and peers up at you. "I'll help," she says firmly.

"I know," you say with a warm smile. "I- well, it helps. It helps, just having you around."

You sigh, and relax as Mami shifts closer so that you're hip to hip.

"Well, um..." Madoka says. "What did you mean by Grief socio-economics?"

"Basically, Grief Seed distribution," you say. "Magical girls fight over them, because we need them to live. I'm the exception to the rule, because of my powers, and I've been able to create these Clear Seeds. Um. They're basically Grief Seeds that will last years, as opposed to normal ones that last maybe a week or two."

Madoka cocks her head. "And you want to distribute them?" she asks.

"Or something like them," you agree. "Ideally, something that isn't dependent on me, and not dependent on Witches. I want magical girls to be freed from having to rely on Witches. And, uh, I'm not absolutely sure Clear Seeds are safe, yet."

"I see," Madoka says. "So you're worried about magical girls fighting over them, and, um, nobody would hunt Witches any more, right?"

"Yeah. And of course, I need time to do all this, which... heh," you say with a nod at Homura. Walpurgisnacht. "Well, I'm not going to impose on Homura's powers too much, right? And there are more immediate things to handle, too."

"Ah..." Madoka says. "W-well, I believe in you, Sabrina. You can do it!"

"I will," you say, flashing her a smile. "Thanks, Madoka. And-" You raise a hand and poke Mami's cheek, smiling. "I know, Mami. Thank you, too."

She blushes, and closes her mouth with a nod.

You relax with a sigh. Dear Madokami, but it's nice to actually vent.

There's a... topic you've been skating around. More than a few, you suppose, considering how you'd just skated right over Walpurgisnacht, but Feathers, in particular. You haven't brought it up at all, and you're sort of reluctant to do so with that voice so freshly present.

[] Write-in

=====​

What next?

 

[Firnagzen]

You blow out a hard breath, and smile at Homura. "I... think I'm done," you say. "Thank you so much for... letting me impose on you, Homura. You didn't have to let me, but I really appreciate it."

Homura gives you a shallow, careful nod. "No problem," she says, expression neutral as she reaches for her shield and cranks it sharply.

Colour and noise return with a sharp gasp of time turning once more on its axis. The brilliant hues of the Kanames' living room flood back in, painting the chairs and rug and walls and decorations with vivid light, the rushing sound of flowing water mingling with the distant hum of the city.

Madoka makes a startled noise, glancing around her living room. "So cool..."

Mami gestures, and the golden ribbon dissolves. A nova of purple light fills the room, signalling Homura's detransformation, and you avert your eyes just as she reaches up and starts to sweep her hand through her hair.

Instead, you turn your attention to Mami, giving her a warm smile. "I'm alright," you say. "Really, I am."

"Alright," she says, returning the smile and leaning against you.

"Ah!" Madoka says, perking up and turning her attention to Homura. "Homura, how are you?"

"I'm fine," Homura says, doing that slow, nonplussed blink she has. It's amazing how much emotion she can convey with that look. Of course, knowing her, you can see the slight tension humming in her body, strung tight. Trying not to lose control.

Of course, Madoka being Madoka, the look completely fails to deter her. She beams at Homura. "That's great! Did you put the leftovers away at home?"

Homura hesitates for a second before responding. "No. I keep them in my shield."

"Eh?" Madoka blinks in surprise.

You grin, and tune out a little as Homura reluctantly explains that her shield will keep the food fresh, with a little prodding from Madoka. You beam at Mami, nestled comfortably against your side.

That's one thing. You need to check on your friends - that voice is worrying, and the last time it happened, Sayaka got dumped into a Witch Barrier, defenseless and Witch Kissed. "Sayaka?" you murmur, reaching out across the aether.

"Gah, what?" Sayaka responds. "God I hate you. I hurt everywhere now." A light tone belies her harsh words, so you don't read too much into it.

"First, you can heal those aches away," you point out, relief flooding you. She's fine, then. "Second, how was the training?"

"I haaaate you and that red-headed demon," Sayaka moans. "She said that wasn't even training and that was just venting."

"So it went pretty well, then?" you guess. Madoka starts talking to Homura about... iPods, of all things. Huh.

"Mnnnarghrgh," Sayaka complains. "Was good to blow off steam, I guess. She said she wanted you to pay her first, though."

"Yeah, she's been on the streets for a while," you say. "And she's looking out for herself and Yuma. I can understand her being wary."

Sayaka snorts. "Of you? I mean, I have to agree with her. You're the nicest goody-two-shoes there is."

"Meh," you say. It sounds hopeful, though. They'd talked, and... Sayaka seems to have forgiven you. "Anyway, I'll settle that. Hope you're looking forward to actually training with her?"

"Mnnngh," Sayaka grumbles. "I can see why you want me to."

"Alright, good," you say, suppressing a grin.

Mami notices, even if you're trying to hide your amusement. She peers up at you, blinking curiously. You grin back. "I'm talking to Sayaka," you murmur to her. "And I'm going to tease her about Kqyuriko~"

A flash of a smile appears on her face, and before she can even ask, you're already extending the mental call to include Mami. "Anyway, I just wanted to check in on you," you say without missing a beat. "Also, hey, check in on your cru~ush~?"

"Eeh?" Sayaka squeaks, her mental voice going up an octave. "Why?"

"Oh, I'm just making sure to check in on everyone I know before I head home," you say innocently. Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth.

Mami is much better at holding her amusement in than you are, only the crinkling around her eyes giving her away. And you only notice because you're privileged enough to be sitting right by her, her head tucked against your shoulder like it belongs there.

"Uh, um," Sayaka says. "Right, uh, yeah. I can do that. It's a good time to do that, right? Making sure he's alright after all that food."

"Yup!" you agree. "You have an excuse to talk to him~"

Sayaka makes an inarticulate noise and closes the connection. You break into a fit of giggles, prompting Mami to start giggling too, drawing stares from Madoka and Homura.

"We're teasing Sayaka about Kywuskiko," you manage by way of explanation. "Trying to get her to check on them."

"Ah!" Madoka says, beaming.

"He would make a terrible boyfriend," Homura says, voice utterly dry. This earns her an exceptionally startled look from Madoka.

"Um..." Madoka starts twiddling her fingers against her fingers. "He's a bit... enthusiastic about his music?"

"That's putting it mildly," you admit, swallowing a snicker. Understatement of the year right there, Madoka. Even in your memories-that-aren't, you recall him neglecting his girlfriend entirely, until Hitomi... pulled the equivalent of a non-puella magi Witching out and spawned a Nightmare.

Or something. That particular segment happened in Homura's Witch Barrier -which is never going to come about on your watch- and was about as strange as you'd expect.

Speaking of Hitomi, you should check in on her, too. You tug your phone out from your pocket and fire off a simple message, making sure that she's fine.

Madoka pouts. "Maybe he'll be better if he gets a girlfriend?"

"He doesn't seem the type?" Mami says with a nod at Homura. "More worried about his art than anything."

Your phone buzzes with a response from Hitomi. She's fine, and mildly puzzled by your sudden solicitude. But that's good. She hasn't been attacked by Feathers or something. Which, heh, when you put it that way, sounds rather silly.

You kind of wish that Feathers were just a puella magi or just a Witch or something. A Witch you can fight, even uncommonly powerful ones. A fellow magical girl, you can also fight. You're exceptionally good at that, even. You could just fill their Soul Gem up with Grief and what are you thinking-

You clamp down on that thought. Think about something else- think about something calming. Mami. Mami, whose elegance and pure, bold élan manages to take your breath away. Mami, who is living proof that you can change things. For the better, mostly, even as you stumble and trip and struggle and try, but Mami is alive and well.

You blow out a breath, just... soaking that in. Mami's warm and comfortable and alive, tucked into your side, and you're here just chatting with your friends. Even Homura's here, talking to Madoka. Intrusive, unpleasant thoughts aside... You're fine.

"... I think they would make a cute couple!" Madoka says.

"That shouldn't be the only reason, Madoka," Mami chides with a smile to take the sting off her words. "Right, Sabrina?"

You smile at Mami, taking her hand between both of yours. She closes her fingers around yours and squeezes lightly.

You're alright.

"Yeah," you agree. "To be fair, they probably would, just... I have to admit I worry about his, ah, commitment."

Footsteps come down the stairs, preceding the arrival of the tallest man you've ever met. Not that that's... hah. Not that that's a high bar to clear. "Whose commitment?" Tomohisa calls, peering around as he enters the living room. His hair's still a damp, dark pink, presumably from having bathed Tatsuya and put him to bed. "Ah, girl talk. Never mind, then! I'll be making supper now, would you girls like to stay?"

Supper? Your surprise must show on your face - and you see it on Mami's too. Tomohisa laughs. "Junko will be home soon, and hungry. Corporate dinners aren't fun. I think... hm, miso soup with tuna teriyaki?"

Mami squeezes your hand lightly, turning her gaze to you in a wordless question.

[] Write-in

=====​

Homeward bound, or sticking around a little longer?

 

[Firnagzen]

You grin at Mami and mirror her expression - eyes wide and questioning, lips pouting just so.

Mami pouts a little harder, indicating Tomohisa with a little flick of her chin.

Yes, you know that she wants you to choose, and you're asking her to choose. So you poke her lightly in her side instead.

She huffs, looking put out.

You glare playfully at her, the tiny hint of a smile curling your lips taking the sting out of it.

Mami huffs again, and turns to smile at Tomohisa. "That would be lovely, Mr. Kaname, but only if it isn't too much trouble."

You dip your head in agreement. "Yes, that would be wonderful."

Tomohisa laughs it off. "Oh, not at all," he says. "Ah... Homura, will you be staying too?"

"I will, if it's OK," Homura says quietly.

"Great!" Tomohisa says. "I'm sure Junko will be thrilled to finally meet all of you."

"Ah, papa!" Madoka says, scrambling off the sofa and beckoning Tomohisa down. The man has to bend nearly in half to bring his ear down to appropriate whispering distance for Madoka. He nods with a smile, and straightens.

Madoka looks pleased as she scampers back to her sofa, beaming at her father, who nods and retreats to the kitchen. She rebuffs your curious look with a happy smile and a wink.

Well then.

You've apparently been invited for an early supper, which is just fine with you as you settle in to chat with your friends. Tomohisa vanishes into the kitchen to start cooking. Admittedly, you have to repeat your earlier mantra: You're glad you're a magical girl and thus don't actually have to gain weight if you don't want to.

You beam at Mami. "To be honest, I love the idea of cooking dinner at home with you too," you say by way of explanation. "But, well, we have plenty of time for that. Like tomorrow."

"Oh, were we going to eat again?" Mami asks, sticking her tongue out at you.

You tug gently on Mami's hair drill, letting it stretch out and then snap back against her face. She pouts and blows the hair out of her face. "Well, maybe supper," you concede. "We did eat a lot at the picnic."

"I'm still so fuuuullll," Madoka adds, patting her stomach. "I should probably exercise." She makes a face. "I don't like exercise."

You should probably not extol the virtues of being a puella magi. Even waxing lyrical about the convenience is... probably not the best idea.

... Speaking of bad ideas, that reminds you that you need to check in on Oriko, too. It's probably unfair to associate Oriko with bad ideas, but there you go.

You hug Mami as she commiserates with Madoka, and reach out mentally. "Oriko? Kirika?"

"Mmmwhat?" Kirika's mental voice sharpens from a satisfied purr to annoyance.

"Hey, Kirika," you say. "Oriko OK? You?"

"Oh, we're just fine," Kirika says. "Just fine. Later!"

Right. They're fine too, then.

"Maybe intervals?" you suggest, re-entering the conversation. "They're not exactly fun, either, but you don't have to run as long."

Madoka pulls another face. "Intervals are..." she makes an inarticulate noise, flailing with her hands to express her general discontentment with the concept. That gets her a wordless nod from Homura.

You're about to continue when you're interrupted by the sound of the door unlocking. Madoka bounces off the sofa. "Mama!"

A tired-looking woman pushes the door open, already smiling. She doesn't have to bend down much to give Madoka a hug. She's dressed in a formal suit with a skirt, purplish-pink hair cut short and held neatly in place with a simple hairclip. She separates from the hug, faded pink eyes looking around with surprise.

Tomohisa emerges from the kitchen, shedding his apron and folding it over his arm as he strides over to give his wife a kiss. "Junko," he says warmly. "How was dinner?"

Junko rolls her eyes. "My 'promotion' dinner, but it was boring and stuffy," she complains, and smiles at Tomohisa. "I preferred our celebration a lot better."

Tomohisa smiles back.

"Who are these?" Junko asks, looking around at all of you. "Ah... wait, you're Madoka's classmates?"

"Ah, yes!" Madoka says. "Uh, Mama, this is Homura, Mami, and Sabrina. Homura's my classmate, and Mami's our sempai. Um, Sabrina's our friend." She indicates all of you in turn.

"Oho!" Junko says. "I see!" She pauses for a second, frowning as she looks at you. "Wait. You... Shin mentioned you, I think?"

"Oh, yeah," you say, tucking away a stray strand of hair. "I met... well, I ran into his niece at the hospital."

Junko puts it together in seconds, and nods. "I see," she says. "Well, nice to meet you! Are you all staying for the night?"

Madoka blinks, and clasps her hands together pleadingly. "Can they?"

Junko exchanges a look with Tomohisa. "I don't see why not?" he offers.

Madoka beams, clapping and practically bouncing on her feet. "Homura? Mami, Sabrina?"

"I can stay," Homura murmurs. There's corded tension in her neck, tightly leashed emotion lining her eyes you're not sure anyone else notices. "If it isn't too troublesome."

Junko snorts in amusement. "Not at all," she says. "But you must tell me how you take care of your hair!"

Homura blinks at Junko. "I just use shampoo?"

You snort in amusement, raising an eyebrow at Mami. She beams at you, and answers. "We'd love to," she answers.

"Then it's settled!" Junko says. "Now, I'm starving. Husband mine, feed me!"

Tomohisa chuckles. "Tuna teriyaki," he answers. "It's just about ready, actually!" He disappears back into the kitchen. You stand, offering Mami a hand, and hurry after Tomohisa to offer your help. Junko goes upstairs to shower, leaving Homura and Madoka alone to chat in the living room.

You sniff surreptiously as you pass Junko, out of some half-formed idea to see if Junko has been drinking. You have a vague impression of her drinking a lot, though to be fair, you can't actually smell any alcohol at all. Then again, you really only remember her drinking with Saotome, you think.

Supper is tuna steaks, marinated and lightly grilled with deliciously savoury teriyaki sauce. Each of you gets a plate, though Madoka seizes the smallest portion, and Mami takes the next smallest. You huff in amusement as Junko claims the largest piece.

"Here," Tomohisa says, taking the next largest serving and putting it down in front of Homura. "Do you live alone, Homura?"

"I do," Homura says, looking down at her plate.

"You should eat more, then," Tomohisa says. "Just say if you want seconds, alright?"

... You didn't even have to do anything. Tomohisa's dad instincts just... locked on and got there before you did.

Oh well.

You all dig in enthusiastically. Tomohisa's a great cook. Not as good as Mami, though you're probably biased there. Junko holds court over the meal, declaiming and bemoaning her work. Apparently she works at some financial company -you miss what, exactly- and Shin isn't her direct boss, but somewhere even further up the food chain.

Eventually, supper's finished. Tomohisa gently but firmly ushers you out of the kitchen despite you wanting to help with the dishes, and shoos you upstairs. Junko volunteers old shirts of hers for Mami and Homura to sleep in, and you get one of Tomohisa's.

... it's loose, but not by that much.

Madoka shows you where the spare mattresses are kept, and the four of you drag them over to her room, pushing aside the chairs to make room. You give said chairs a long, long look, but decide not to ask. It's probably better for everyone; you have enough brain damage already.

You flop happily on the mattress. You haven't changed yet, but that can come later. For now, you get to relax, and maybe get a few things done before sleeping. The mattress depresses next to you with Mami's weight, who lies down beside you with a happy sigh.

Homura, on the other hand, sits primly on one of the chairs, eyeing the shelf of soft toys over Madoka's bed with a slightly suspicious look.

[] Write-in

=====​

They're playing Scrabble, and Oriko's frustrated that Kirika's winning because she got a better draw.

The next update will run you guys through to morning, so please specify what you want to do!

 

[Firnagzen]

There is a penguin on the shelf. Or there was a penguin on the shelf. Now the irritated-looking bunny has been knocked askew, and you have a penguin plush to cuddle in addition to Mami.

"Penguin," you offer by way of explanation. Madoka nods in understanding.

Mami giggles faintly, leaning into you.

You flop over into one of the many chairs scattered about the room, this one a cheerful, sunshine yellow affair of wood. There's room enough to kick your feet out comfortably, a scrape of wood signalling Mami moving a chair up beside you.

"We have great friends, don't we," you murmur to her.

"We do," Mami breathes back, watching as Homura is provisioned a white seal plushy. Despite her look at the shelf earlier, she's more than ready to accept the soft toy and clutch it to her chest with a little more force than is strictly necessary. Mami, on the other hand, declines a plushy.

Madoka sits on her bed, bouncing a little as she beams at everyone. "Sabrina, ah..." she twists her face into a grimace that's more adorable than it is upset. "Do you think Sayaka would like to join us? It's a bit late, but she's going to be disappointed about missing out."

You purse your lips in consideration. "... Why not ask her?" you suggest, mindful of Homura's not-a-scowl. "I... She seemed to be cooling off earlier."

"Ah, of course!" Madoka says, grabbing her phone off the bedside table. She taps out a rapid-fire message, kicking her legs against the side of the bed.

Mami looks around the room curiously, visibly deciding not to ask about the chairs, either. You sort of want to ask, but at the same time, you sort of don't, either. It's good to be interested in your friend's hobby, and you can't deny that you aren't interested, but... chairs.

Madoka's phone buzzes, once, then twice. She checks through the messages, and brightens. "Sayaka's coming!" she declares. "Hitomi can't, though."

"Oh, that's great!" you say, smiling.

"I'll go and let my parents know," Madoka says with a firm nod. "Ah... Um, does someone want to come with me to help grab some games?"

"I'll go," Homura murmurs, rising with a quiet swish of hair.

"OK!" Madoka says, and heads out with Homura in tow.

You giggle. "I don't even have to do anything," you say, and slide bonelessly from the chair onto the mattress, keeping a hold of both Mami and the penguin.

Mami huffs, amused and more than willing to flop onto the mattress too.

"Matchmaking our friends?" she asks.

"As if you don't think they're cute together," you counter.

"They are!" Mami agrees, and sobers a little. "But..."

"Homura," you agree. "She's... broken. Mami? Trust me?"

"Always," Mami says without hesitation.

"I know about Homura's circumstances, but... It's her story to tell, if she chooses to," you say. "But... yeah. Not now. Absolutely not now. It's going to be a long, long road before Homura's mindset is... anything like stable enough."

Mami nods, absorbing that as she curls up on your arm. "I see," she says at last. "So..."

"Continue as planned," you say, flashing Mami a bright grin. "Gently and subtly. Also, they're coming."

Your Grief sense is so convenient.

And precisely on cue, you hear Madoka's voice echoing through the open door. "-maybe Sayaka will bring her figurines for that game?"

If there's any response from Homura, you don't hear it, but the two of them arrive seconds later, Homura carrying a box in her arms.

"Would everyone like to play String Railway?" Madoka asks. "Um... I also have, um, Uno?"

You blink. "Hm... I don't think I've played it before," you say. "But that sounds fun!"

"OK!" Madoka says, taking the box from Homura and opening it to show you the contents: various little pieces of board and multicoloured tangles of string.

"Huh, how does this work?" you ask, curiosity piqued. Mami pokes her head over your shoulder, equally interested.

"Ah... We set up a game area with the big string loop," Madoka says. "Um..."

You each grab one corner, and between with four of you, stretch the loop out into a square area. A ring of grey string in the middle makes Mount Fuji, and Madoka adds a little station card in each corner, explaining. The game is apparently about using the strings and more station cards drawn from a deck to make subway networks.

You settle crossed legged at one corner of the square, Mami settling on the one adjacent. Homura and Madoka sit across you. You get the white set of strings, Mami gets the yellow ones, and... Well, it's pretty predictable who gets what colours, Madoka grinning unrepentantly at you when you give her a look.

You're tempted to switch Madoka and Homura's sets of strings so that they have each other's colours, but that wouldn't be subtle.

The game starts with happy chatter, Mami laying the first station in your direction. You grin at her, and when your turn rolls around, you extend yours in her direction, too. Homura, on the other hand, makes for the center of the play area. Madoka, too.

It's relaxing. Something silly and fun to enjoy and not... think too much. You don't win - that honour goes to Madoka. You'd gimped yourself a little in the beginning, heading for Mami, but not so badly that you wouldn't have done quite so badly. Homura's interference, on the other hand, certainly didn't help at all. Also, she managed to build a hub ring.

You're just about to start the second round when you feel a magical girl entering the edge of your detection range. The doorbell goes off minutes later - Sayaka. Madoka springs to her feet and heads out, Homura ghosting after her like an overprotective shadow. You could have pointed out that you knew who it was, but then again, eh.

Who are you to speak when Homura's actually spending more time with Madoka?

You hear Sayaka's voice, boisterous and cheerful, for a brief second before she's shushed by Madoka. They head upstairs.

The wide smile on Sayaka's face falters for a second when she spots you, but returns full force. She blows out a harsh breath, and plops down next to you, looking a little awkward as she fusses with the toolbox and backpack she's carrying at her side.

"Hey, Sabrina," she mumbles. "Hey, Mami."

"Hey, Sayaka," you respond, smiling at her.

Mami shifts a little, squeezing up to your side.

Madoka claps happily, glancing from you to Sayaka. "Shall we make it five player?" she asks, indicating the String Railway setup.

Sayaka hesitates for a second. "Ah, heck, why not," she says. "Card me in."

A little knot of tension undoes itself in your chest. There's still an air of awkwardness between the two of you, but... you're fine. You knew that, but you didn't... know that.

The rest of the night flies by quickly, and before long, you're all yawning and taking quick showers and preparing to turn in for the night. You pull Homura aside, down the corridor a ways.

"Hey, Homura?" you murmur. "I... can I ask you to get some actual sleep tonight? I know you're wary of being attacked, I know and I understand."

Her hair's damp from the shower, and she's dressed in a shirt a touch too large for her that leaves her looking like a kid playing dressup despite the hard lines on her face. "I want to keep watch."

"Would it help if I were to make an enchantment that detects danger?" you offer. "Or... could I make you a Clear Seed, and you can sleep in timestop?"

Homura hesitates for a second. "I- I'd appreciate the Clear Seed."

"Alright," you say, with a smile. You clasp her shoulder. "Homura, I know I've said this a lot, but I care about you. OK?"

She nods, and hands you a Grief Seed from her pocket. Just as well, really, you're down to Hildegarde, that one oil derrick Witch, and Elsa Maria, yourself. You should probably take a look at that one Seed to check her name at some point. Later. You step to the end of the corridor where there's an open window. You're pretty sure Tomohisa and Junko have retired to their room, but you keep a sharp ear out. Mami joins you a minute later, just as you start extracting Grief from the Seed.

You spare her attention and a smile as Grief starts billowing forth in great, swirling clouds. You crush it down as fast as you can, sending Grief spheres soaring away to join your main mass - it's starting to become unwieldly now, more than enough to fill up one of those big shipping containers. Probably two.

"I'm making a Clear Seed for Homura," you tell Mami. "So that she can actually spare the, ahem, time to sleep."

Mami nods in understanding, wrapping her arms around your waist and watching as the seed empties. You take a while longer to finish the Seed, and then hand it back to Homura. She accepts it with a grateful, "Thank you." Her tone almost wavers, but... she is sincerely grateful. You can tell.

And then it's time to sleep. You opt for the mattress next to Mami's, of course, and after the lights go out and people start to fall asleep, you wiggle over to Mami's.

She isn't asleep either, judging from her expression and the way her eyes flicker open instantly to blink at you. Her troubled frown melts into a soft smile, and she rolls over to cuddle into your side.

Yeah. You're not really sure you could have slept, either. This, on the other hand... this is fine.

== I can't find you===​

Morning rolls around at some point, you suppose. There's someone trying to shake you awake. Sayaka, boisterously cheerful and far too loud. You mumble in sleepy annoyance and cling tighter to the warm, soft form in front of you, which clings right back. Which was going to happen anyway. You don't need to be up early.

There's some giggling that you register sleepily.

"GOOD MORNING, SABRINA!"

That has you nearly levitating out of the mattress, blanket going flying as you flail upright. Sayaka howls with laughter and topples over, clutching her stomach. Beside you, Mami stirs with golden eyes wide and startled and hair jutting at odd angles. Madoka and Homura are nowhere to be seen.

[] Write-in

=====​

Apropos nothing, Warhammer is oddly popular in Japan. Oh, and I forgot to note the end of the chapter. So, here ends On a Rail, and here begins Book 2, Chapter 7: A Red Letter Day.

 

[Firnagzen]

You stab an accusing finger at Sayaka. "You realise, of course," you drawl. "This means war."

Sayaka's grin widens, giggles still bubbling. "Nah, it already was," she answers.

You flop back and sit on the mattress. Mami makes a sleepy, grumbly noise, and shifts so that she can wrap her arms around your waist without getting up.

"What time is it anyway, Sayaka?" you ask, scrubbing at your eyes with the heel of your palm.

Sayaka shrugs. "Nine?" she squints at the wall. "Eight forty-five."

You snort. "Well, I win anyway," you riposte. "You had to get up early, of your own volition, on a Sunday for this, Miki 'I don't do mornings' Sayaka."

Sayaka makes a face. "I didn't even get up myself. Madoka woke up first. Er. Homura woke up first first and Madoka was worried because she was missing. Then she stepped on me."

"Gah," you say, mouth twisting. "I told her to get some proper sleep. Hope... Well, I hope they're both doing OK."

"Nah," Sayaka says, flapping her hand at you and propping the other on her hip. "They're fine. We found Homura doing her vampire thing outside. 'Keeping watch', apparently."

"That's what I was afraid of," you grumble. "She better have gotten some sleep."

Sayaka shrugs. "Mr. Kaname's making breakfast, by the way," she offers.

"Aw, I wanted to help," you say. "Mmm... Ah, well."

"You can still help if you hurry, but I don't think you can get up," Sayaka says with an amused smirk.

"Mmmnm," Mami agrees, tightening her arms around your waist.

You huff in fond amusement. "Probably," you agree.

Sayaka rolls her eyes, already turning away. "Figured. I'll go see what Madoka's up to."

Mami clings tighter with a pleased noise as Sayaka leaves the room.

"You're not asleep," you observe to Mami.

"... No," Mami admits. Her voice is kind of muffled by the way she nuzzles her face against your side. "Sayaka woke me up."

"Mmm," you agree, walking your fingers through Mami's hair. It's so soft, and neither you nor Mami have any intention of getting up for a bit. So you luxuriate in having slept in, just a bit, and you luxuriate in Mami's presence.

You're interrupted a few minutes later by measured footsteps coming up the stairs. Homura, who pulls the door open and blinks slowly at you. "Breakfast will be ready soon," she says.

"'morning, Homura," you say, narrowing your eyes at her. "Did you sleep well?"

Her lips twitch a little. "Eight hours?" she affirms.

"Really?" you ask.

"Yes," she says. "Eight hours."

"Right," you say. You should probably take her at her word.

You should also probably get up, but there's a Mami wrapped around your waist. You nudge her gently. "Mami, breakfast? Mr. Kaname cooked."

"Dunwanna," Mami responds eloquently.

You poke her in the cheek. "Maaaami," you say. "Wakey wakey~"

Mami sighs, blowing a puff of air at your finger as her eyes flicker open. She smiles warmly at you.

"'morning, Mami," you say, smiling back. "Awake now, are we?"

"Can I say no?" she asks.

You shrug.

She sighs again, and pushes herself up to a seated position before slowly levering herself upright. Her hair isn't quite a mess, far from it, but it's certainly a touch unkempt and definitely not curled into her traditional drills. It falls down her back in soft, golden waves that invite you to run your fingers through them - and so you do, combing it as best as you can with your fingers, drawing a pleased noise from Mami.

A quiet snort draws your breath to the door - Homura standing there with her perfect hair.

You meet her eyes, quirking an eyebrow. "You know, I think I asked you before, but what do you do with your hair?" you ask. "I know, just shampoo and water, but... man, you did sleep last night, right?"

Homura nods.

"And you didn't have to do anything for your hair?" you ask. Your hair is perpetually a bit messy, locks eternally straying. Especially if you've just gone flying.

"I took a shower?" Homura says. "And I combed my hair."

"That's so unfair," Mami complains, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. "I need to brush and take care of my hair properly."

"Right?" you agree, shaking your head. "Your hair is bullshit pretty, Homura. I refuse to believe magic isn't involved someho..." You trail off, frowning.

Homura did Wish to become someone who could protect Madoka. Maybe looking cool came as part of her personal Wish package.

... Nah.

"Sabrina?" Mami prompts, giving you a curious look.

"No, just a stray thought," you say. "Anyway, shall we?"

"Let's," Mami agrees, hopping to her feet. You accept her offered hand with a smile, letting her pull you up.

Homura leads the way down the stairs. Halfway down the stairs, you hear a door slamming open, followed by very loud squawking. Junko stumbles out of her bedroom to join the raucous breakfast table a few minutes later. A normal morning at the Kanames', probably.

Well, mostly normal. Sayaka's right at home here - she chats with Madoka and Junko. Tomohisa, too. You spend a few minutes to coo over Tatsuya, who is adorable and seems to delight more in smearing syrup all over his face rather than in eating.

"Oh, that reminds me, Sayaka," you say in between bites of deliciously fluffy pancakes. "What was in that toolbox you brought over?"

"Eh? Oh, it's, uh, Dark Heresy," Sayaka says, using the English words. "Plus Space Hulk. Uh... have you heard of that?"

"Huh, really?" you say, brightening. "Wouldn't have pegged you for the type."

"They're pretty cool," Sayaka says with a shrug that tries for casual.

You purse your lips. "Hmm..." you say. "Lemme guess. Space Marines? Please don't say Ultramarines."

"They were cool before uh, what's his name, got his hands on them!" Sayaka says with a scowl.

"Matt Ward," you say. "And eh... They were kind of... vanilla?"

"Yeah, but they were the good guys!" Sayaka says.

"Excuse you, what about the Salamanders?" you ask, quirking an eyebrow.

"Ehhh," Sayaka say, flapping a hand at you. "I guess. They all look cool, anyway."

You snort, slicing up some pancake. "Yeah, they do, at that."

Madoka pouts. "I don't like the game much," she says. "I- um, the game is fun! But the world is awful!"

"It is," Sayaka says with a frown. "But they're so cool."

"Make your own version of the story," you say, smiling and waving a pancake-laden fork at them. Mami smiles at you. "There's no reason you can't tell a different story with the same pieces, right?"

"Mmmhm!" Sayaka agrees.

And that's that. With breakfast out of the way, you all laze around Madoka's room for a little longer - it's not like you'd expected this and brought your toothbrushes over. You'll have to go home for that.

Even Homura seems content to lounge around, relaxing in one of the many, many chairs Madoka has sitting around.

"So," you say, rolling belly down on the mattress so you can prop your chin up on your hands. "Today I'm going to be meeting Bennouna and doing a cleansing trip."

Mami shifts, bumping up beside you, and you give her a smile. She still has her hair down, which is actually a pretty good look on her. Not her trademark appearance, but she looks good. Then again, she looks good anyway.

"Um?" Madoka says, blinking at you.

"Out of town magical girl," you explain. "She travels between cities, carrying news from place to place."

"Oh!" Madoka brightens. "That sounds wonderful!"

"It is a rather important service, yeah," you agree. "But yeah. Sayaka, do you want to come along for that? I'm kind of wondering if you can hold more than one power at a time, or maybe store them - and actually that's something I'm kind of wondering, if you could enchant a power into something reusable or something like that."

A slowly growing grin splits Sayaka's face. "That sounds amazing."

"Right?" you say. "The thing is, thanks to Mami, we know that magical girls tend to be able to create enchantment that ties closer to their own powers easier. So I'm thinking you might be able to do that." That earns you a warm smile from Mami.

Sayaka nods eagerly. "Yeah, I wanna come," she says.

"Right," you say, snapping your fingers. "And also? We're meeting a teleporter. That means you get to be a tactical genius too!"

"But-" Sayaka's eyes narrow, and then widen in faked surprise as she throws her hands up. "CREEEEED!"

You laugh at the blank looks on everyone's faces. "It's a joke from Sayaka's game," you note by way of explanation.

"Mmhm," Sayaka agrees.

"We should go home first," Mami notes. "We... do need to change."

You look down at yourself, still dressed in one of Tomohisa's old shirts. "Yeah, true," you say. "Sayaka? When's good for you?"

"When's good for you?" Sayaka counters.

You shrug, glancing to Mami. "Maybe... in an hour?" Mami suggests. "Ah, Madoka, Homura, what about you?"

Madoka scratches her head. "Ah... I can come along?" she says. "If you want?"

"It might be dangerous," Homura says, voice sharp.

Madoka quails.

[] Write-in

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And a good day to you, too.

 

[Firnagzen]

You sit up and wave your hands, almost on instinct. The motion draws Homura's glare from Mami to you, and you hold your hands up, meeting her eyes with what you hope is an open appeal on your face.

"It would be great to have both of you along to meet Bennouna, if you want to come," you say, still holding Homura's gaze. You're not quite staring her down - but you're trying to convey your reassurance. It'll be OK. "It should be safe. But."

You turn to Madoka. "Maybe when peace has settled in?" you say. "When the trips become... mmm, routine. Right now, we don't know for sure what these girls are like, or how it'll go."

Madoka nods tremulously. "O-ok," she says. "Um... will you be alright?"

"Yeah," you say, giving her an encouraging smile. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but Mami, Homura, and I are probably some of the most powerful puella magi around. Though speaking of which..."

You turn back to Homura. She seems to have relaxed a tiny hair, though she's still glaring at you. "Madoka, Homura? Could I ask you to hold the fort, here in Mitakihara? While the rest of the team is away? Bennouna seems peaceable and... more than that, she's neutral. But the other cities..."

"A-ah! Of course!" Madoka says, before looking down. "I don't know how much help I'll be, though..."

Homura's jaw tightens. You can see the wheels turning in her head as she processes what you said.

"Fine," she says at last, tone flat and expressionless.

"Alright," you say, smiling at her. "Thanks for understanding, Homura."

Her lips compress into a flat line. She's clearly not happy about it, but willing to accept it.

Madoka nods in determination. "We won't let you down!" she says. "Ah... Am I part of the team?"

"'course you are!" Sayaka declares with a grin. "Jeeze, Homura, lighten up a little. You too, Sabrina. Madoka can't kick ass as hard, so she doesn't go where we might need to kick ass, right?"

"Right, Sayaka," Mami says with a smile. She rolls over and tugs your arm over to her so that she can hug it. "It doesn't have to be complicated."

"Well, yeah," you say with a shrug. "Anyway... Well, we'll meet back up in an hour?"

"Where?" Sayaka wants to know, pushing blue hair out of her eyes. "Your place?"

"Uh... I'm fine with that. Mami?" you give your friend a smile.

Mami taps her lips in consideration. "Maybe we should check with Miss Bennouna?" she says. "I'm not sure when she arrives, it might be faster for us to meet back here to pick Madoka up?"

"That works," you say, giving Mami a warm smile. "Can you help me check that? Sayaka, Homura, can I offer you two a lift home?"

Mami gives you a warm smile, sitting up. "I'll be just a moment."

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Sayaka says.

"That won't be necessary," Homura responds, tilting her head slightly.

Which you take to mean she isn't actually going anywhere.

Ah, well. Baby steps.

You hum quietly, slipping an arm around Mami's waist as you wait for her to finish the call. She really has the most beautifully soft hair. You can't resist the urge to run your fingers through it, soft strands curling around your fingers. Bunched up, they sort of remind you of noodles, for some reason.

You do resist the urge to start chewing on her hair, no matter how adorably confused her reaction would probably be.

"She says she'll arrive at eleven or so, and wants to know if an early lunch is alright?" Mami says.

"Food, food, food," Sayaka groans. "Is this a magical girl thing, or are you trying to fatten me up for slaughter."

"No, I'm trying to fatten up Homura," you say with a perfectly straight face. "She's too thin."

Sayaka raises a finger, and pauses before giving Homura a considering look. Homura glares back. Sayaka lowers the finger.

"Ok, fine, I can't argue with that," Sayaka concedes.

Homura gives you a supremely unimpressed look.

Mami giggles, wrapping her arms around one of yours again. "Shall we?"

"Yeah," you say, giving Madoka a grin as you stand. "Thanks for having us over, Madoka... actually, could I have a moment?"

"Ah? Sure!" Madoka blinks at you, surprised.

You give Mami a smile. "I'll be right along, alright?"

She nods, smiling back warmly, and detaches herself from your arm. "Alright~" she says, and heads out the door along with Sayaka and Homura.

You turn a bright, beaming smile on Madoka as the door closes. "Thank you," you say fervently, meeting her soft, pink eyes.

"E-eh?" Madoka startles on her chair, fiddling with her hands. She jumps to her feet, standing in front of you uncertainly. "It was nothing."

"No, not the sleepover," you say. "Well, that too. I had a lot of fun, Madoka. I don't..." You shake your head. "Heh. You know my story - this is my first sleepover, I guess. It's wonderful to be able to just hang out with my friends, you know?"

Madoka smiles a little. "It was good having you here, Sabrina."

"But more than that," you say. "It's just... normal is nice. Normal, away from magical politics and Witches and fighting and all that. And you even invited Sayaka, too. That was great, and... you're a Good Friend." You take care to pronounce the capital letters.

"Eh?" Madoka says. "I just didn't want Sayaka to be left out, or be jealous that she was left out when she was upset."

"And that does make you a good friend, Madoka," you say with a smile. "I didn't think of that."

You hesitate for a second before taking a step forward and pulling her into a quick hug. "You're a good person. That's what makes you special."

"I'm not," Madoka protests. She does hug you back, though.

"You are," you insist, pulling back a little. "Trust me. I manipulate one of the very essences of human emotion, and I know Good People when I see one." You wink at her.

Madoka pouts. "If you say so."

"Speaking of friends," you say, stepping back properly. "Do me a favour. Point the friendship cannons at Homura? It'd be good for her, I think."

Madoka looks almost affronted, her eyebrows drawing together. "You don't need to tell me that, Sabrina. Homura's my friend, too."

"Sorry," you say. "I- yeah, fair enough. Sorry, Madoka."

Madoka smiles at you, patting your shoulder. She has to reach up to do so. "It's alright. Thank you for coming today."

"Good to be here," you say, smiling back at her. That done, you head out with Madoka, finding Mami chatting with Sayaka downstairs, while Homura engages in a staring match with Takkun. The toddler seems absolutely fascinated with Homura's hair.

For good reason, you suppose.

You say your goodbyes, thanking the elder Kanames for hosting your impromptu little sleepover. It's waved off, of course. Homura walks with you out of the house, even essaying a little wave to Madoka before she leaves, and turns in the opposite direction Sayaka, Mami, and yourself are going.

Which is a shame, because... you did want to talk to her. Ah, well.

A few minutes later, you're airborne, flying on a small disc of Grief with Mami claiming one of your arms for a hug and Sayaka sitting behind you. Following behind you is a dark, rippling cloud of Grief in hundreds of spheres, probably enough to be visible from the ground even this high up.

"So you know," you call over the wind. "I had a thought."

"Oh?" Mami asks, cuddling your arm closer.

You switch to telepathy, including Sayaka. You'd felt rather than heard Mami's curiosity, mumbled against your arm. "So... I'm pretty sure magic is at least somewhat conceptual in nature," you say. "Things hurt Witches because they are Things That Hurt Witches. So, for example, Sayaka wouldn't do as much damage to a Witch if she just picked up a regular sword and started swinging it."

"Hm..." Mami says, considering that. "I suppose? I've never had occasion to test it."

"We might ask Homura," you note as you bank the flight disc in a lazy curve around a particularly tall antenna. "She does use the most mundane weaponry out of all of us."

"That's true," Mami agrees.

"So..." Sayaka says, sounding confused.

"Well. If the effect is conceptual; a weapon hurts Witches because it's something that hurts Witches, then it would kind of follow that naming an attack actually makes it better," you say. "Because... if it has a name, then it's something..." You wave the hand not being cuddled by Mami. "It's something specific. Am I making any sense?"

Mami blinks, and straightens up to stare at you. "Do you think so?"

"Maybe? It's... it's not even a theory, it's just a hypothesis," you say.

"But hypotheses need testing," Mami says, a slow grin spreading across her face. The both of you twist about to look at Sayaka, who buries her face in her hands.

"Really?" she grumbles.

"Hey, I name my attacks," you say. "With Mami's help! Besides, c'mon, it's cool to have a name you can yell out!"

"... maybe just a little," Sayaka admits. "When I have a move worth naming, anyway."

"With all luck, you'll pick up a few neat skills today," you say, facing forward again and directing the disc to rise over a building. "You've got a fantastic powerset, Sayaka. It just needs a bit of buildup."

Mami nods in agreement.

Sayaka grumbles. "... Do you think 'Tactical Genius' would be too on the nose if I work out something with teleporting?"

"Nope, not at all," you snicker.

The three of you chat quietly until it's time to drop Sayaka off, and then it's just you and Mami, coasting in a comfortable silence. "Mami?"

"Mm, Sabrina?" she asks.

"Do you want to fly home?" you ask, giving her a soft smile.

"I'd love to," Mami says.

You beam at her, and stand, offering her your hand as you bring the flight disc to a halt. You should have more than enough height here for Mami to glide home. She lets you pull her to her feet, facing you with a smile on her face.

"Ready?" you breathe.

"Ready," Mami responds.

And you dissolve the platform.

Mami's hand leaves yours as you both fall - you both need the distance for your wingspans. But you can turn your head just far enough to catch Mami's eye and smile at her as golden ribbon ripples out behind her, the bright counterpart to the tears in reality of your forming wings.

Golden wings billow out to full, and she catches the wind with a smooth stroke. You swoop up to her on dark wings, a huge grin splitting your face.

She grins back, and angles her wings to match speeds with you, wingtips just brushing yours.

[] Write-in

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The next update will carry you through to meeting up again. There will be about an hour free before Bennouna arrives and expects to meet.