Puella Magi Adfligo Systema - Story only

[Firnagzen]

You turn your head a little, a soft smile coming to your face as you look at Mami, and seeming to sense your gaze on her, Mami turns to smile at you.

You smile back, dipping your wings so that you roll smoothly to Mami's other side, never letting your gaze drop from hers. She laughs, clear and loud enough for you to hear even over the wind snatching at you as you flare your wings and swoop upwards.

"No fair!" she calls into your mind. Without proper flight, Mami can't really gain height. She could try flapping the wings, but that didn't work out that well last time.

But then, you're solving a different problem. Mami copied your wings, and with a wingspan as massive as yours or Mami's, you can only fly so close together.

On the other hand...

You pull into a loop and dive at Mami, pulling short and closing your arms around her waist from behind. "Hi!" you breathe into her ear, and you tug her upwards. There's more than enough height to glide home, but why just do that when you can have fun?

Mami laughs, squirming in your grasp and sending fine golden strands streaming in your face.

You release her and angle ahead. With your Grief wings, you have the vast advantage, but what's the point in leaving Mami in the dust? You don't want to leave her behind.

You spin midair to grin at her. She beams back, glowing and happy as she angles her wings to chase you. Haloed by the sun and freed from its usual drills, her hair streams behind her in the wind, a golden banner blowing proudly in the wind. They match rather nicely with the gold-and-cream of her ribbon wings, held out straight to catch the wind.

"You look like an angel," you blurt, and promptly wince. "Because of, um. The wings."

Mami blushes, luminescent and bright. "Um."

"W-well, you do!" you say. "You have the elegance and the style and the, the grace for it."

"T-thanks, Sabrina," Mami says, beaming at you through her blush. "I- I'm really not, but thank you."

"The hell you aren't," you say with a warm smile. "Mami, you can't tell me you don't have those qualities. And frankly, you're inspiring."

Mami shakes her head, still blushing a brilliant red. She's smiling, though.

You huff. "Come on. Race you home?"

Her only answer is a wider smile, and a sweep of her wings backwards that angles her body downwards.

You chase her across the sky. Without using your Grief manipulation to go faster - but your wings are all you need to catch up and pull into a tight, controlled loop around her as you approach the roof of the apartment. You catch her in your arms, face to face and close enough to watch her surprise dissolve into a warm smile and absolute trust.

Her wings dissolve, golden ribbons fading into nothing as she throws her arms around you and clings tight.

And you're laughing as you back air and drift to a gentle halt on the rooftop, and so is Mami, bright and happy. You remember the uncertainty and the fear she had, and you know it'll never go away so easily, but you're here now, and so is she.

You smile at her. "You're the best, even if you don't think you are."

Hell with it.

Arms still around her waist, you lean forward and brush your lips against her cheek.

Her face lights up, a bright, bright blush.

Mami's mouth works soundlessly, hand coming up to touch her cheek.

You huff, despite the blush on your own face. "Come on, Mami, let's go home," you say, and grab her hand to tug her towards the stairs. She stumbles after you, and starts to laugh, giddy and delighted, and then she leaps at you to wrap you in a tight hug. You nearly overbalance, but a shift of your posture and you pick her right up off the ground and into a piggyback carry.

You head home, Mami clinging to your back. You're both giggling, Mami's head nestled firmly on your shoulder, and she's as happy as you can ever remember her being. You can only contrast her now to lost, miserable Mami. Uncertain.

There's no way in hell you can tell yourself you don't like her.

Heh.

You spill Mami onto the sofa, still giggling and giddy as she latches onto you and you cuddle her right back. This is perfect. There's things coming on the horizon, work to do and puellae magi to wrangle, but for now, this is peaceful and perfect.

Mami heads off to brush her teeth a few minutes later, returning with minty fresh breath and a bright smile for you and a hairbrush in hand. You give her a smile, and head off to wash your face, too. That only takes a bit, and you rejoin Mami on the sofa - she'd put her hairbrush down the moment she heard the door open to look for you. She curls into your side with a happy sigh. You can spend a few moments just... relaxing.

"Mami?" you murmur.

"Hmm?" she asks without stirring, her eyes closed as she rests against your shoulder.

"So I was thinking about fixing table-chan," you say.

"Ah..." Mami says. "Go on?"

"Well, I wanted to fix it as a joint effort," you say. "So that it's something that we've done together, you know?"

She finally stirs to give you a warm smile. "Do you think we can?"

"Between the two of us?" you say, arching an eyebrow. "Of course we can. It's just a matter of how. Table-chan's frame is fine, obviously, but I'm not sure how to fix the glass. I was thinking maybe we could melt the pieces down and reforge it? Where's the bag, anyway?"

"Over there," Mami says, pointing at the bag of woven ribbons. "Though... I have an idea."

"Oh?" you say.

Mami worries at her lip, clearly thinking. "You can feel your Grief without looking at it, right?"

"Yep," you confirm. You have, as far as you can tell, a perfect sense of it.

"So if you were to apply Grief to all the pieces, do you think you could reassemble table-chan?" Mami asks.

"I..." You frown, and rub your chin. "Huh. I- Maybe? Lemme try."

You gesture with your free hand and draw Grief in, streaming down from the roof and into the room through the window.

Grief delves into the ribbon bag, a few pinches and tugs all that's necessary to undo the ties. Under your command, Grief is malleable and just about infinitely controllable, and with a little thought, you can spread it microscopically thin. Enough to coat every shard of glass with a delicate layer.

Every single fragment.

You hold your palm out, Grief-coated glass rising from the bag. You're aware of all the pieces, all the jagged little edges. And-

It's like being able to close your hands against each other and fitting the fingers perfectly even without looking. You reassemble the glass like an interlocking puzzle, weaving the pieces in a glittering cloud.

And finally, you're holding the completed glass tabletop with Grief, every piece slotted into place. There are still holes in the structure, places where the broken glass was too small to discard.

"Well done, Sabrina!" Mami says, clapping happily. "That's amazing!"

You grin at Mami. "And you are brilliant. Think we can fix this?"

"I think we can," Mami says with a blushing smile. "Mending glass shouldn't be too hard."

"Well, we have a bit of time, right?" you say, glancing at the clock. About an hour. "Do you want to do that? Or shall we work on enchanting or... anything you want?"

"Hmm... we wanted to try enchanting with Sayaka to see if she could hold more than one power, or store it or something, right?" Mami says, considering. "It wouldn't make sense to do that without her."

"True, though I do need practice myself," you point out.

Mami smiles. "Well," she says, indicating the reassembled table-chan. "I was thinking we could try mending table-chan and then meet up with Sayaka in half an hour?"

"Works for me," you say. "I'll check with Sayaka? Well actually- Do we... do we want to meet up here, or...?"

You glance meaningfully at the table. Probably better not to rub it in Sayaka's face so soon.

Mami nods, following your gaze. "Um... mmm."

"Yeah..." you say. "We can't meet up at Madoka's place, we just left there, and if we met up at the junkyard we'd spend too much time travelling around. I... eh. I want to be selfish, and just stay here with you? And we can work on table-chan?"

Mami's smile is shy and warm. "I'd like that."

"Then it's settled," you say, smiling back. You hover the reassembled tabletop closer so that the both of you can look over it without getting up from the cuddlepuddle. Mami runs her finger along one of the cracks, faint traces of magic limning her hand and soaking into the glass.

"It's not too different from healing," she says, half to herself. And then she looks up at you. "We can do this? Together?"

"That's the idea," you say, flexing your hand and reaching out, fingers splayed as you wait for Mami to show you how it's done.

And she does, the golden glow of her magic following her fingers as she traces out the cracks. The magic sinks in, binding together as you withdraw the Grief. Mami's right - it's not that different from healing. Your finger glides along another of the fissures in the glass, shaping the magic, and you're delighted to find that it works just fine.

"Hey, don't repair it all the way through," you suggest. "I think we can reinforce the surface area, but leave the cracks in place? It might make a nice pattern!"

"Good idea!" Mami agrees, and the next crack that she repairs remains visibly cracked but strong as ever. You follow in her lead.

It's slow going, though, and by the time you finish, carefully setting table-chan back on the frame, it's nearly time to go. Mami cuddles into your side with a happy sigh, looking over your work - table-chan is once more intact, but what was once a clear, triangular piece of glass is now crazed with a distinctive, jagged pattern of broken glass.

"It looks nice," Mami says. "Unique."

"Our work," you say, giving Mami a smile.

"It is!" she says, and leans against your side.

[] Write-in

=====​

The next update will carry you through linking up with everybody else and meeting Bennouna. Please vote for how you'd like to present yourself and if there's any intial quesitons you want to ask.

 

[Firnagzen]

You exhale, smiling gently at Mami as you wrap your arm around her.

"Is it time to go?" she asks.

"Mm," you agree. Instead of getting up, though, you tighten your arm around her. "I want more snuggles."

"Sabrina?" Mami giggles.

"I need to be all professional for the meeting later," you say mournfully. "So I want more hugs right now to make up for it."

"Ah," Mami says, nodding solemnly. "That makes sense." She nuzzles her nose into the crook of your neck. "Better?"

"Much," you agree.

You spend a few minutes like that before sighing and stirring. "Alright. We really should go."

You leave the apartment by the roof, flying on a disc of Grief - you do need to pick up Sayaka on the way, of course. And you do just that, with a quick stop on the roof of her apartment before heading over to Madoka's house where Homura and Madoka are both already waiting.

"Over here!" you call from the little copse of trees where you'd landed the disc. It's just out of sight of the main road, or Madoka's house.

"Ah?" Madoka says, looking around in bafflement. Homura, of course, spots you immediately, pointing you out. They walk over.

You grin around at everyone as Madoka takes tentative steps up onto your disc of Grief. You'd widened it just for the occasion, raising the lip more for Madoka's benefit than anyone else's. "All aboard Mitakihara Meguca Airlines, flight SA-003," you say cheerfully.

"Dork," Sayaka snorts, rolling her eyes. "Hey, Madoka, Homura."

"Hi, Sayaka!" Madoka says happily, beaming at her friend as she gingerly sits down. She looks down at the Grief with a slightly worried look.

"Hello," Homura says as she seats herself at the back of the disc.

"Everyone seated and ready?" you call over your shoulder. "Mami, where are we going?"

"A cafe downtown," Mami says, smiling at you over the chorus of affirmatives.

"All right. Here we go!" you say, and lift the disc into the air. Madoka yelps in surprise, clinging to the raised side. She leans cautiously over the edge, Homura keeping a sharp eye on her as Madoka peers at the receding ground.

"We're so high up," Madoka breathes in awe.

... You've barely cleared the surrounding houses.

Mami giggles. "Have you ever flown before, Madoka?"

"Ah, yes, I went to London for a holiday once!" Madoka says. "Um... it was a holiday for papa and me, but it was mama's business trip. I was only seven!"

"Ooh, very nice," you opine. "Did you visit the palace?"

"I did!" Madoka says, beaming. "It was very nice."

Sayaka chimes in, and the conversation flows onwards after that. It's not a terribly long trip, but you have time to consider the notion of cross-continental flight. You could probably do it - you could probably do it at supersonic speeds, even. You could be in Italy for dinner with Mami if you wanted to.

Well, probably not today's dinner. You'll probably be busy then.

But perhaps tomorrow, or the day after... it might be nice to take Mami there. She'd love it, you're sure.

All too soon, you have to redirect the Grief disc in for a landing. Rather than land on a convenient roof, you spend a moment to search for a secluded alley. It's not like Madoka can jump down with the rest of you, after all. You do stash your Grief on the roof, though. You're not really sure where else to put it.

"So, Mami, are we on time?" you ask as you step off, beaming at her and detransforming. You're left wearing a nice, button-down shirt and slacks in white and green, and you check your phone for the time.

"We're early," Mami says, flashing you a smile.

"Ah, neat," you say, draping an arm around Mami. "Shall we find a table at the cafe first?"

"Sure," Mami responds, and all of you proceed to invade the cafe. It's a western style affair, with umbrella-covered tables outside. You claim a large round table and order drinks - a hot chocolate for yourself, and for Mami, to your mild surprise.

Mami wrinkles her nose in response to your questioning look. "They use teabags here," she murmurs quietly.

You laugh. "Fair enough."

"What's wrong with teabags?" Sayaka asks, rolling her eyes. She'd ordered a milkshake.

Mami purses her lips. "Sabrina, do you know this person?"

"Who?" you ask, tipping your nose up.

"... hey!" Sayaka protests.

Madoka starts to giggle, patting Sayaka on the shoulder, while Homura just looks faintly exasperated.

Someone enters your edge of detection. She's-

Woah.

She is loaded with magic.

"Sabrina?" Mami asks.

"Bennouna's here," you say, tilting your head. "Uh... she uses a lot of enchantments, doesn't she?"

"Oh? Um, I think so?" Mami says, considering that for a second before nodding decisively. "I believe so. It's been a while."

"She's here?" Sayaka asks, craning her head and peering around. "Where?"

"Not here here, but she's approaching," you say. You glance at Madoka, who seems rather excited. Bouncy, even. Homura, by contrast, is Homura, expression impassive and nearly impossible to read. You're pretty sure she's actually interested, though.

"She's here," Mami says, standing and raising her hand to wave.

You follow her gaze to... Well, that's Nadia Bennouna. She turns out to be an athletic, wiry-looking girl, not that much shorter than you are. Her skin's definitely shaded towards the olive, and tanned at that, the colour of someone who spends a lot of time out in the sun. Sharp cheekbones and sharp green eyes sweep the group. Her hair is black, falling just past her shoulders, and carefully hemmed back with a dark red hairband that compliments her bright red shirt and black, knee-length skirt.

She spots you, striding over with easy confidence, and stops short of the table. She bows to Mami, not too deep, not too shallow. "Ohayō gozaimasu, Mami-san."

Nadia's Japanese is passable. Accented, but passable. Mami bows back, echoing the greeting.

She then turns to Homura, sitting on Mami's far side, and repeats the bow and the greeting. And then Sayaka, and then Madoka. They all bow back, and when Nadia reaches you...

You don't bow back.

Instead, you grin, touching your hand to your heart. "As-salām alaykum."

Nadia's eyes go wide in surprise, and then she grins. "Wa alaykum s-salām!" she responds.

"Is everything going well?" you continue, still in darija.

"Yes, quite!" she responds, practically bouncing on her toes, contriving to include the world with a grand gesture. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good!" you respond, still grinning. You switch back to Japanese. "We should probably use Japanese, though."

She throws her head back and laughs. "You must be Sabrina."

"That's me," you say.

Mami touches your arm with a gentle hand. "Shall we sit?"

"I'll go order first," Nadia says, waving at the counter. "I'm starved, fimti?"

Without waiting for a response, she turns and heads for the counter. You sit, beaming at the awed looks from everyone.

"Look, I don't have any memories of a life," you say. "But I have all sorts of knowledge stuck in my head. It's useful."

Sayaka sighs, shaking her head. "Only you."

"Only you, Sabrina," Mami echoes fondly as she rests her hand on the crook of your elbow.

Nadia returns a few minutes later, carrying a number on a stand. She sets it down with a click, finding a space between Sayaka and Madoka. "You have, ah, new students, Mami?" she asks, including all of you with a little wave.

"Oh, no," Mami says. "Well... we're all friends."

"I see!" Nadia says. "Good to meet all of you. I'm Nadia Bennouna, you can just call me Nadia. I travel, and I carry the news, fimti?"

"I'm Miki Sayaka!" Sayaka introduces herself, half-twisted in her seat to face the other girl. "Uh, Sayaka Miki? Miki is my surname."

"Ah, I'm Kana- um, Madoka Kaname," Madoka says, blinking and fidgeting. "I'm not a magical girl."

"No shame in that, fimti? And I know the Japanese naming thing," Nadia says, grinning and leaning back far enough to prop the chair up on two feet. That only lasts a second before she realises what she's doing and lets the chair thump back down, transferring her gaze to Homura. "And you?"

"Akemi Homura," Homura responds. "My surname is Homura."

"Yes," Nadia says, pointing at Mami. "And Tomoe Mami, of course. And you are Sabrina."

"Mmmhm," you agree, giving Homura a baffled, surreptious look, one that you see mirrored on Madoka's and Sayaka's and- well, and Mami's faces. Her surname is Homura?

"Are y' from Switzerland by any chance?" she asks, giving you an evaluating look. She waves a hand off towards the sky, as if trying to indicate the country. "Only, I've a cousin from there, fimti? She reminds me of you, fimti?"

"... no, I don't think I am," you say. Mami's hand tightens on yours for a second, and you turn to give her a reassuring smile, covering her hand with yours.

Nadia eyes you for a second. "N'aam. Yes," she says. "Didn't really think so, anyway."

"In any case," Mami says, nodding. "We're all equals, here, and we're meeting as friends."

"I see," Nadia says with a shrug, conversation pausing for a second as Nadia's meal arrives - fish and chips. She digs in with gusto. Sayaka nudges Madoka, raising her eyebrows at the pink haired girl.

You take advantage of the lull to give Mami a warm smile, squeezing her hand gently. "I'm going nowhere, Mami," you murmur.

"I know," Mami says, smiling back at you.

Nadia sets her fork down with a clink, her plate half cleared. Sharp green eyes flick over to you and Mami, and she smirks at you. "Anyway. Shall we get down to business?"

"Ah, yes," Mami says, rooting around in her pocket to find a Grief Seed. She pulls one out - Suleika.

"Actually," you say, holding up a hand. "Nadia, I know you have a standard deal, but I have a proposition."

"Na'am, yes, I remember. But no," she says, waving her hands to ward you off. "Grief Seed first, fimti?"

Sayaka bristles a little, jaw setting mulishly. "Hey, Sabrina isn't some con artist."

"Maybe," Nadia says, pointing at Sayaka. "There are- there are many stories of girls who can cleanse our Soul Gems. Everyone wants to believe." She smiles thinly, beckoning for the Grief Seed from Mami. "They have all been false."

Mami smiles in gentle amusement as she hands the Grief Seed over. "Nevertheless," she says. "I haven't had to use a Grief Seed since meeting Sabrina."

That's... not quite true. You remember- you remember Mami crying on the floor.

It's not a good memory, but...

"Is that so?" Nadia asks. She holds her hand palm up and takes a quick glance around before materializing her Soul Gem. It's a dark, blood red, shimmering faintly in the sunlight, an unhealthy film of Grief churning beneath its surface. "Show me."

"Thought you'd never ask," you say, extending your hand towards her Soul Gem. "With your permission?"

She nods, watching closely.

Deciding to make a bit more of a show of it than you usually do, you curl your fingers, beckoning the Grief towards you. It comes free as a flowing banner, billowing and roiling as you tease it free of the Gem. You close your hand into a fist, crushing the Grief into little marbles - a small handful of them. You hold your finger up, the spheres orbiting your upraised finger as you meet her eyes.

Nadia holds the Soul Gem up to her eyes with hands that shake only a little. She turns it this way and that, inspecting the pristine crystal.

Mami leans against you, watching with what you might call smugness on anyone else. Sayaka's smirking a little, too.

"It's true, Nadia," an unfortunately familiar voice says, echoing in your head.

Kyuubey.

Your head snaps up, finding the creature as it hops up onto Nadia's lap.

Mami flinches, expression crumpling, and her hand grows tight on yours.

"Oh, hello Kyuubey," Nadia says, peering down at the creature. "So Sabrina truly can cleanse Soul Gems?"

"Indeed!" it responds, tail waving slowly.

Sayaka scowls at the creature, aggrieved, and Homura doesn't look happy, either.

[] Write-in

Spoiler: Vote in abeyance

[X] When meeting Bennouna, present yourself as someone who wants to help others. Sure, you're a bit of a dork and a ditz at times, but your drive to help people is who you are.
-[X] Be polite, be efficient, have a plan to befriend every magical girl you meet: At some point, offer to refresh any grief seeds Bennouna might be carrying, with a standing offer to do so whenever she comes through. Also offer to empty out a grief seed for her, and tell her about how long you think a single clear seed ought to last, if she accepts the offer.
[X] Ask Bennouna about any magical girls who could do similar things to what we can do, such as girls who can manipulate soul gems. Also ask about the largest magical girl group she's met in her travels -- we want to get an idea for just how organized people are so far.
[X] If/when the subject of Bennouna telling other magical girls about our ability comes up, ask her to make it clear to anyone who asks her about us, or anyone she tells about us, that we're more than willing to clean soul gems and grief seeds for free, and that the only string attached is that violence or coercion in Mitakihara will not be tolerated.
-[X] Ask Bennouna to only tell people about us who she thinks would be reasonable, but that if even unreasonable people ask about us, to make that clear. We know word is going to get out, but we really don't want there to be fights and conflict due to it.
-[X] Explain your reasoning to Bennouna. That you want to help people, but you know it's not that easy.
--[X] You've foreseen lots of problems with infinite cleansing - abuse, people rejecting it because it's "too good to be true", upsetting power structures, general making-things-worse - and you're necessarily leaving it up to her how best to proceed in any given situation.

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'Fimti' is something like the Italian 'capisce'? Excess usage is kind of the equivalent of a valley girl, like, going like, 'like' all the time.

 

[Firnagzen]

Your expression goes flat. Moderation. Moderation, you urge yourself as you fight the instinct to throw the creature out of the cafe. You don't want to sour negotiations right now, especially if Nadia likes Kyuubey.

Nadia's expression smooths out, sharp green eyes darting from you, to Mami, to Homura, and back to Mami. She blows out a sharp breath. "I see."

"See what?" Kyuubey asks, pawing at the air like a cat trying to get its head scratched. It would be endearing if it wasn't, well, Kyuubey.

"You should probably leave," Nadia tells it, picking it up by the scruff of its neck.

"Wait, actually, here-" You point, Grief marbles that were orbiting your finger zipping towards Kyuubey. Apparently divining your intentions, Nadia turns Kyuubey so that its back is facing towards you, the opening already shading towards the abyssal darkness you associate with its opening.

You slam the Grief marbles home. "Now go, Kyuubey," you say. "I insist."

"Very well," Kyuubey says, tail lashing slowly. It affects a sigh as Nadia sets it on the floor and stalks away, tail waving slowly. "Perhaps another time."

Nadia sighs, sitting back in her chair. She makes a disgruntled little gesture with the Soul Gem still held in her other hand. "You found out."

"We did," you answer for everyone, shifting your grip on Mami's hand to interlace your fingers. And... that doesn't feel like enough, so you bring your other hand across to cover her hand.

Mami makes a little noise, golden eyes turning to meet yours. You smile softly at her, tracing words on her skin.

It's alright. It can't hurt you any more.

I'm here.

You don't know whether she notices, but... she relaxes, face softening into a smile. She blows out a slow breath and brushes back her hair drills before turning to face Bennouna again.

"We found out," Mami echoes, seeming to draw strength from your support and wrapping her composure around her once more. "I am... unhappy."

Nadia sets her fork down with a clink - she'd taken the opportunity to put her Soul Gem away and continue eating.

"All of you?" she asks, gesturing at the group.

"Yeah," Sayaka says, jaw tight. "We all know about our Soul Gems."

Madoka nods, twisting her fingers against each other.

"Mmm," Nadia says, making a peculiar, slashing gesture with her fingers and palm flat. "I understand. Shall we continue?"

You blow out a breath, glancing at Homura. Ironically, she seems the most settled out of all of you, eyes flickering over to you a second. She nods infinitesimally before returning her attention to watching Madoka and scanning the area.

"Yes," Mami says, voice steady. "Let's continue. Sabrina, you were saying something, befo- You were saying something?"

You smile at Mami, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Yeah. As you can see, Nadia, I can cleanse Soul Gems," you say.

"And y' want to trade it for my information, yes?" Nadia says with a nod. She taps her ring with one finger. "Cleansing my Gem for the length of my stay, but I leave your Witches alone?"

"Uh," you say. You actually hadn't thought of it in those terms, exactly. You were kind of thinking of it in terms of helping people in general, as opposed to use it as payment. "Well- um."

"What Sabrina means is that she wants you to help spread the news of what she can do," Mami says, cutting in smoothly over Sayaka's muffled snort.

"Ooooh," Nadia says, looking thoughtful. "Yeah, that's... Mmmm." She gesticulates with both hands, waving them back and forth in a see-saw motion. "You are trying to recruit people? For...."

She almost seems to savour the next word, rolling it about her tongue. "For Walpurgisnacht?"

"Only in part," Mami says. "Right, Sabrina?"

You pick up the conversation from Mami's cue, speaking slowly and picking your words carefully. "I don't just want to... hire, or recruit people. I want to help people, in general. Though yes, I'd be more than happy to keep your Soul Gem clean while you're in range of Mitakihara."

Nadia leans back, drumming her fingers thoughtfully on the table. "So where do I come in?"

"The news of what I can do is going to get out," you say. "And if that's the case, I'd rather ride the wave than be swept along with it. What's happened in previous cases? Has anyone ever had anything similar before?"

"Mmmnm, 'riding the wave'..." She mutters the phrase in Darija before nodding. "Yes, I see. And magical girls like you..." She scowls. "Yes, and no. There have been girls who can transfer Grief, but you- you can purify your own Gem, yes?"

"Yep," you confirm, raising an eyebrow. "Go on?"

"It is... very very very rare," Nadia says, pinching the air with two fingers to demonstrate. "But there are girls who knew enough before they make their Wish, you understand? They make their Wish, but it is... impossible to have it free. The Grief has to go somewhere else. Either it goes into a Grief Seed, or it goes into a Soul Gem."

You cringe, the motion echoed by your friends. Even Homura seems a little perturbed. "That's horrible!" Madoka says.

"Isn't it?" Nadia says with a thin smile that has nothing like humour in it. "It is enough. The kind of rumour of a girl who can cleanse Soul Gems, it inspires people, ay? Once or twice, people use that to, mm, ensnare people. I see it before, always ends badly. Always."

"It better not," Sayaka growls, folding her arms. "How can people live with themselves like that?"

"They do not, mostly," Nadia says, gesturing open handed at Sayaka. "Some of them try to live peacefully. They hunt Witches and live, but it is the kind of rumour that goes around. The hope it inspires... ay, and then the disappointment and desperation that follows." She shrugs, closing her hand into a fist.

Sayaka grimaces unhappily. "But Sabrina isn't like that," she grumbles.

"Maybe, but it is hard to believe," Nadia says, tapping her chin. "I would not have come to Mitakihara if it were not Tomoe Mami telling me, fimti?"

That earns Mami a grin from you. Mami is kind of a big deal and all.

"Thank you for extending me your trust," Mami says with a nod.

Nadia laughs. "This trip is more than enough payment for that," she says, eyeing you.

"So there's one more thing I should say," you note, leaning forward a little. "I can empty out Grief Seeds to turn them into Clear Seeds... actually, Sayaka, do you still have yours?"

A bit of a rhetorical question, considering you can sense that she does in fact have the Clear Seed on her, but still. Sayaka blinks, and fumbles the Seed out of her pocket, balancing it on the tip of her finger. "Yeah, got it right here."

"May I?" Nadia asks, holding her hand out for the Seed. Sayaka hands it over.

"So these, um, I estimate that it might last a few hundred years on the low end?" you say.

Nadia nearly drops the Clear Seed. "What?"

"Yeah, a few hundred," you say. "Though, well, I've only figured these out recently, and I have no idea if these work on long term like that. They might degrade over time or something, I don't know."

The Morrocoan girl passes the Clear Seed back to Sayaka, handling it very gingerly. "I... see."

"I'm kind of interested in giving them out," you say. "And also in working out ways of doing this without having to use Grief Seeds at all-"

Nadia holds her hand up to stop you. "You want to give these away?" she asks. "For free?"

"Well... yeah," you say. "I want to actually try and help magical girls."

"Because she's Sabrina," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes.

"You're mad," Nadia says, folding her arms. "This city will be drowned in magical girls."

"I know," you say. You can't help but notice the way Homura's attention snaps to Bennouna. "And that's... mmm, that's acceptable, more or less. And I know there's going to be problems. Upsetting power structures, people abusing magic, that kind of thing. Actually, what's the biggest magical girl organisation you know of?"

"Tokyo Council," Nadia answers easily. "In Japan."

"No, I mean world wide," you say.

"There is no... big association," Nadia says, frowning. "It is... hard to hold an organisation together. It is hard to move from your territory. I am a messenger, fimti? I carry the news, and that is useful to magical girls. But I do not hold land, because if I do, I cannot move far from it."

"Hm," you say, thinking hard. No global organisation, because there isn't the ability for magical girls to do that. But that's not entirely true, because... with teleporters, a magical girl can be anywhere at any time - in some ways, Akiko kind of had the right idea. On that aspect, anyway. The problem is that magical girls wouldn't pull that kind of organisation together without impetus to do so.

"The biggest..." Nadia mumbles, obviously lost in thought. "The Regius Group, I think. They are based in Germany. They have... two hundred or so magical girls who would say they're part of it?"

"Huh," you say. "That's interesting. Anyway, mm... for my part, I'd like to ask you to spread the information to magical girls who you judge are reasonable. I mean, that's what you do, right?"

Nadia throws her head back and laughs. "Yes, it is," she says. "You're mad. Mami, is this what you want?"

"Sabrina has my full support," Mami says with a smile. You squeeze her hand in silent thanks.

"Also, to be clear..." you say. "I'm asking you to spread the news, yes, but even if someone, uh, unreasonable asks, please do tell them as well. I'd rather information about me be accurate than not."

Nadia nods thoughtfully, reaching into the backpack at her side and rummaging around. She produces a large, metal bound book that fairly glows with magic, flipping it open and scribbling in it. Sayaka tries to look over her shoulder, and is promptly pushed away with a finger on her nose. "No looking."

Sayaka makes a face, but settles back in her chair.

Bennouna finishes writing a few minutes later, flipping the tome -and it absolutely deserves the weight of the word- closed. "So. Do you want the news?"

[] Write-in

=====​

Yes, that's a yes/no answer, but do write-in on things you wanna know.

 

[Firnagzen]

So many questions.

So many questions.

You have so many questions. Where do you begin? Should you comment on your plans for not-world-domination? Homura's right, you'd make a terrible Empress, so you probably shouldn't be pushing too hard in that direction, but you don't want to give the wrong impression, either. You absolutely do want to change things. So should you-

"Yes, please," Mami answers, nodding.

... or that works too.

Nadia rubs her hands together, bright white teeth flashing in a broad grin. "Yes. To begin, I assume you are aware of the recent fight in Sendai."

"We were there, yes," Mami says with a thin smile.

"You know that Mori Rin has taken over leadership, yes?" Nadia asks. At your nod, she continues on.

"The Murasaki shrine maidens recruited two new members," Nadia says, frowning in thought, and holds her hand up with four fingers extended. "Another healer and a, mm, a conjurer. She makes things out of nothing, fimti? That brings their numbers up to four. They're still quite nice. Shichigahama group, ay... They lost a member, Maeda Chiko. Do you want to know how?"

"How?" Mami asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Eloped," Nadia says with a shake of her head. "Ran away with a tourist."

"... seriously?" you ask, making a face.

"Yes," Nadia says, throwing her hands up. She barely misses Sayaka, who flinches away with a yelp. "Some pretty boy from Portugal, from what I am told. I am not joking."

Mami giggles, shaking her head even as she tightens her hand slightly on yours. You squeeze back, thumb stroking lightly over the back of her hand. No way in hell you'd elope with someone else, anyway. Or run away, or anything stupid like that.

Sayaka gapes at Nadia, then Mami, then Homura. "This kind of thing happens?" she asks, sounding torn between horror and amusement.

Nadia looses a deep, belly laugh. "We are mostly teenaged girls, set out to fight horrible monsters, ay? We live how we can."

"... Yeah, OK," Sayaka says with a grimace. "That sucks."

You sigh, rubbing your face. "Yeah, well, there's a reason I want to help magical girls, right?" you say. "Oh. On that note, Nadia, and related to what you said - mostly teenaged girls, right?"

"Ya?" Nadia cocks her head.

"Who's the oldest magical girl you know?" you ask.

"Oldest, eh?" Nadia asks, drumming her fingers thoughtfully on the table. "I think... there is an American girl, name is Catherine... Catherine Hamilton? I think she is fifty-three years old."

"Huh," you say, blinking. "That's impressive."

"Fifty-three?" Homura asks, actually sounding taken aback. Just a bit.

"Paranoid, cynical bitch," Nadia opines, making a face. "I made her show me her birth certificate, once. She is old. I hear older, old stories that the previous oldest magical girl was over sixty, but that was fifty years ago, fimti? Before my time."

"Wow. That's..." On the one hand it's impressive for magical girls, on the other hand it's a rather sad commentary on the lethality of being one. On the third, non-Euclidean-and-probably-made-out-of-Grief hand, that Catherine must be dangerous as hell. Beware an old woman in a job that kills young, to paraphrase that saying.

"Mmm," Nadia agrees, tapping her chin.

"Can you tell me about... I dunno, the world at large, actually? Anything interesting or dangerous happening, what are the big groups like in general?" you ask.

"Hmm. I assume you know Japan, Mami must have told you. Walpurgisnacht," Nadia says, frowning and placing her hand down on the table beside her plate. She snags a fry and stuffs it in her mouth before continuing, moving her hand over to the side. "Then... South Korea is peaceful, mostly. North Korea... hunting is plentiful. The magical girls surviving there do well."

She purses her lips in consideration. "China is big. There is much more variation in, mm, in society there, fimti? The biggest group is the... Zhū Què Xié Huì, uh. Red bird association? They have many teleporting people."

"Zhū Què... oh, Suzaku!" you say, snapping your fingers, and glance around at your friends. "They're the same thing, just a different name in Japan. They named themselves after a constellation."

"It's a nice name?" Sayaka offers with a shrug.

Madoka nods in agreement. "Ah... if I may ask, what do they do?"

Nadia wobbles her hand from left to right. "They organise? Most big magical girl groups do the same. They are loose groups, they cooperate to fight off outsiders trying to invade, ay?"

"Like a defense pact!" Madoka says, beaming. "We covered those in History!"

"Defense pact..." Nadia mutters to herself before nodding firmly. "Yes, a defense pact."

"Hmm... most magical groups are like that, you say?" you muse. "Are there any that actually try and help its members other than with territory claims? Redistribute Grief Seeds?"

Nadia hesitates before answering, looking thoughtful. "Only very small groups," she says, waving her hand around at the five of you. "It is not, mm, practical to go to other cities. Only in emergencies, and maybe if you have a teleporter, ay?"

"That sucks," Sayaka says, crossing her arms. "That... really, really sucks."

"It is life," Nadia says, sighing.

"Well, not to belabour the point, but that is exactly what I want to fix," you say, earning you a warm smile from Mami. "Go on, Nadia? About the world in general, I mean."

Nadia adjusts a strand of black hair that escaped her hairband, clearly thinking over it. "The world is big," she says. "I can go country by country and we will be here still tomorrow."

"Maybe just the highlights, Miss Bennouna?" Mami suggests, patting your hand with her other one.

"OK. Forget the minor skirmishes, ay? The conflict in Omsk was heating up," Nadia says. "I left town quickly. Arab Springs... I did not go there. It is a warzone, I know magical girls are running." She scowls, tapping her chin. "It is possible you might get refugees from there, if they can travel. The Americas... I have not been there in months, I do not know much recent news."

"And that's the major ones," you say with a frown. You'll come back to them later - questions and answers first. "Right, so, uh, I have a laundry list of magical girl powers I'd like to ask about, if you know any?"

"Ask away," Nadia says with a grin.

"Alright, uh," you take a deep breath before starting to rattle off your wish list. "Strategic level teleportation or portals, by which I mean a few hundred kilometers, danger sense that can find people before the danger happens, magic amplification, mind protection, uh... Very strong healers, exceptional enchanters?"

"Um," Nadia says, looking about as stunned as your friends do. Apart from Homura, of course, who looks more thoughtful than anything. "Uh. Locals will be better, I am assuming. You already know Tachibana Sakura in Sendai for teleporting, ay?" She continues at your nod. "Hiroto Nagi from Niigata. Uh, Yakumo Yukari from Tokyo has portals, but her range..." She shrugs.

"Wait wait wait," Sayaka interrupts. "Yakumo Yukari? Like from that anime, uh, Touhou?"

"Touhou?" Nadia asks blankly.

Your eye twitches as you fight not to correct Sayaka about Touhou not being an anime. "It's a game," you say mildly.

"She likes to pretend," Homura offers tonelessly. "Her real name is Taniguchi Emi."

Nadia raises her eyebrows. "Really?"

Homura shrugs with one shoulder, an ambivalent gesture that says 'take it or leave it'.

"Right," Nadia says, pursing her lips and giving Homura a curious look. "Next... danger sense, I can't think of any. It doesn't sound common. Magic amplification, I mentioned the Murasaki group, they have a girl, but they do not like to leave their shrine. Hm."

She hauls her book out, thumping it on the table once more and flipping through its pages. "Yes, here. Koyanagi Saki, magic amplifier, Kyoto. Mind magic... There are many who can read minds. It is a common desire, fimti? To protect is the other side of the same coin." She peers over the edge of her tome, rolling her hand from side to side to demonstrate. "All you need to do is to find one, I can tell you who. Healers, quite common."

She pauses, paging idly through the pages of her book. "You understand, most... all of these girls have lives, ay? They have their own groups. They might not wish to leave. But your last question, enchanter? You have two right here." She grins, pointing at Mami, and then herself. "I do not have much to do in between cities, and Tomoe Mami has managed to teach me tricks."

"Hah, fair enough," you say, beaming proudly at Mami, who flushes in embarrassed pleasure. You always knew she was awesome, but well, she has what frankly amounts to international fame and recognition. "Hey, one more for the list - do you know of any magical girls who can manipulate the Soul? I've heard that there was one on the way here."

Nadia arches an eyebrow. "Riona Mag Aoidh," she answers without missing a beat. "She is well known. And feared."

"... go on?" you say.

"She is known in much the same terms as Tomoe Mami," Nadia says with a wave of her hand. "She holds Edinburgh by herself."

"Hold on, I have to ask here," you say, raising your hand. "Riona Mag Aoidh is an... Irish name, yes, but Edinburgh is Scotland...?"

Nadia shrugs delicately. "I suppose?"

"... OK then," you say, scowling. "Go on?"

"She manipulates the Soul, as you say," Nadia notes. "She is very powerful against other magical girls and Witches. I have not heard she is travelling, but it would have been within the last week?"

"About there," you agree.

"How do you know that?" Nadia inquires, frowning.

[] Write-in

Spoiler: Remaining questions

[X] In no particular order:
-[X] Hey, does she have a cell number, or an email address you can reach her at? Heck, does she know about any magical girl forums, chats, or the like that she can tell you about?
-[X] Ask her about other groups doing things like what Sendai was doing, with grief seed extortion.
-[X] Ask about magical girls whose magic allows them to manipulate the soul. You have a source who indicated one would be coming here soon, and you want to know more about them, if possible.
-[X] Ask about magical girl groups that are particularly large, powerful, influential, or nasty. You know you're going to cause some waves with your offer of cleansing and clear seeds, so you want to know about groups that might cause issues.
-[X] Ask if she knows any magical girls who might be willing to travel to Mitakihara to fight a city-destroying witch.
-[X] Ask if she knows anything about the magical girls in Asunaro.
-[X] Ask if she knows anything else that might be useful to know for a girl who wants to help people.

=====​

Man there are a lot of questions to answer.

 

[Firnagzen]

"A precognitive told me before her Wish power faded," you explain, and grimace. You don't... really like talking about Oriko like this behind her back, former enemy or no. And really, that's the point. Former enemy. You certainly have no qualms about thinking of Ono or Hiroko as the pains they are.

Well, Hiroko, maybe.

Sayaka's expression is tight, but controlled, only the clenching of her fist giving lie to her emotions. Madoka shrinks a little, glancing past Nadia at her friend.

"A precognitive," Nadia says, scowling. "Someone who sees the future, yes?"

"Mm. She caused us... well, she caused us a lot of trouble at first," you say. And now she's under house arrest without a guard, and only her goodwill and the implicit threat of you and Homura coming down on her like a ton of bricks holding her there. "It's actually why I was hoping you might know someone with a danger sense."

Nadia smacks her palm against her face. "Of course, this makes sense. Future-seers are just as impossible as you are." She jabs an accusing finger at you, scowling. "Yes, this makes perfect sense."

"Sorry?" you say with a shrug.

Nadia groans, Mami patting your linked hand in amused consolation.

"Is it that impossible?" Sayaka asks.

"Yes," Nadia grumps, hand still firmly in place. "Sayaka, I have been a traveller for seven years, fimti? I have heard every story and I have seen every horrible fate. There are many con-artists and many girls who did... terrible things. There has not been someone who can actually do what your friend can do."

Sayaka shrugs, settling back in her chair. "Right. I'll take your word for it."

"Incidentally, Nadia, you should probably be careful of Turkey around October to September," you say. "There's a major earthquake due there, I think."

You're not technically sure that the earthquake's going to happen. The Fukushima meltdown didn't, but the tsunami did, and yet, the Syrian civil war seems to be ongoing. It's probably reasonable to conclude that some of the human events have been eliminated by the presence of magical girls.

Nadia's face does something complicated and borderline non-euclidean, and she sighs. "Of course."

Sayaka snickers, ducking her face behind her arm to muffle her laughter.

Mami shakes her head, smiling in amusement. "Sabrina, did you have more questions?" she prompts gently. "Or more warnings?"

You smile back at her, squeezing her hand in thanks. "Well... Are there any particularly nasty groups? Like... You know what Sendai was doing, right? Pressuring people using their services to extort for Grief Seeds, that kind of thing? I mean... I know I'm gonna make a lot of waves with free cleansing and Clear Seeds and so forth, are there any groups that might be problems?"

"Nasty groups?" Nadia asks, opening her hands. "If magical girls think I sent others to attack them, I am dead. I am only myself, fimti? I do not paint targets."

You open your mouth to argue, but Sayaka beats you to the punch. "What?" she snaps, straightening with a sharp jerk. "Why would you help them hide?"

Nadia tilts her head and leans forward. "Yes, Sayaka. I am helping the Iowa group by hiding the fact that they tend to raid cities, fimti?" Her eyes flicker over to Mami, intent and sharp. "I am helping the Saja by not telling you about their tribute system. Ay. I cannot speak about the San Shi Hui, with their protection racket."

She pauses, smiling faintly and soaking in the flabbergasted look from Sayaka. "The last two, Korea and Hong Kong."

"And Iowa?" you ask.

"They travel almost as much as I do. The last I heard, they were in India," Nadia says with a shrug.

Madoka looks horrified, instinctively clutching for the nearest person - Homura. She has a death grip on Homura's wrist, fingers tight, and Homura looks petrified. Frozen in place. It would be funny if it weren't depressing.

"I see," you say. Mami squeezes her fingers, and you give her a soft smile before assuming a regretful, fake voice. "I'm sorry we couldn't see eye to eye, but I certainly wouldn't want you to be troubled by other groups. Perhaps I'll have other questions in a bit - well actually, um, I have questions now."

Nadia smirks, making a little 'go on' gesture.

"Well, I was wondering - Riona Mag Aoidh... hang on, 'Mag Aoidh' is her surname, right?" You continue at her nod. "Riona. Is she feared because she's powerful, or because she's powerful and mean? There's a difference, after all."

"Powerful. She's..." Nadia mutters for a second in Darija, taking a moment to stuff her mouth with more fries, chewing and swallowing before continuing. "Reserved, yes. Does not become friends. If she offers cider, refuse politely, fimti? She brews it herself, but it is..." The Moroccan girl winces.

"Noted," you say with a snort. Friendly, then, for a given value of friendly. "What about Old Lady Catherine? I mean what are her powers, when did she contract, that kind of thing?"

"Don't call her that," Nadia says, brow wrinkling. "She is nasty. She does not pick fights, but she will not even try to save you unless it helps her somehow. She is jaded and cynical. No friends. No family. She is... I think she is a healer, but I am not sure."

"Huh," you say, scowling. That can't be the only way to live to be old as a magical girl. You refuse to let it be, because like hell your friends aren't going to live to see old age, and like hell you'll let them become that.

"Mm." Nadia says, feeding herself the rest of the fish and setting the fork down with a satisfied clink. "Next question?"

"Yeah - do you have a cellphone number, or an email address or something? And do you know of any magical girl forums, or chats, or such?" you ask.

"Cellphone, no," she says. "I do not have a stable income, fimti? I cannot have a plan. Email, yes. Chats, yes. Remind me to show you before I leave."

"Right," you say, nodding. "Next, uh... Last two questions from me! One, do you know of any magical girls who might be willing to travel to Mitakihara to help fight a giant, city-destroying Witch? And do you know anything about the group in Asunaro?"

"Giant, city-destroying Witch?" Madoka squeaks.

Homura stiffens, eyes snapping to you.

[] Write-in

=====​

Um...

 

[Firnagzen]

You mouth snaps shut. Madokami damn it, if you'd just said Walpurgisnacht rather than actually describing it- hell, you'd said Walpurgisnacht earlier in the conversation. Madoka didn't even notice or comment about that.

You and your big, stupid mouth, but- damn it. Not irrecoverable.

"Ugh," you grunt, waving your hand in the air. The other is captured in Mami's hand. "Sorry, sorry. OK, Madoka: I apologise for the way I phrased that." Your eyes flicker over to Homura, whose expression shades towards a tight scowl.

"Look, it-" isn't a big deal? But it is. Isn't a problem? Maybe. "Walpurgisnacht is a Witch that's coming to Mitakihara. It is a small natural disaster, but... it's also fucking dead, uh. Pardon my language."

"I think what Sabrina means to say is that we're handling the problem," Mami cuts in with a smile. "I'm confident that we can protect the city."

Nadia looks bemused, leaning back in her chair to observe. Madoka has her hands clutched in front of her, soft pink eyes darting from one person to the next.

"B-but if it destroys the city-" Madoka says, voice tremulous.

"Homura already took measures to prevent that," you say, smiling faintly at Madoka and giving Homura a nod. "She hacked the meteorological agency's computers, and they'll wind up predicting a freak supercell storm on the day of Walpurgisnacht. The people will be safe, and for the rest of us? We'll be right here to beat it."

"Yeah!" Sayaka says, grinning fiercely slamming her fist into her palm. "We're going to kick its ass."

You nod in firm agreement. "And well - that's part of what we're here for today," you say, and extend your hand to Nadia. "I was going to break this more diplomatically, but just to bring everyone to the same page, Nadia, Madoka, what I want to do is to bring in as many magical girls as is practical. And to be honest? Killing Walpy stone dead is going to be a side effect."

"O-oh," Madoka says, looking down. "S-sorry."

Nadia laughs, loud and boisterous. "Ah, I missed Japan," she snorts. "Sabrina, Mami, you want recruits? You will get more girls than you can count."

She leans back in her chair, smirk curling her lips and one arm propped easily on the backrest. "My word is good. If I carry the news, that there is a Grief cleanser here, they will come. Especially knowing that it is Tomoe Mami's city. Walpurgisnacht... It will not deter many."

"Do remember what I said, yeah?" you note, squeezing Mami's hand. You trace little patterns on the back of her hand, giving her a smile.

"Yes, the girls who are reasonable," Nadia says, nodding in agreement. "But if they ask, I do not hide it." She shakes her head. "I do not conceal the news, anyway."

"S-so it's going to be OK?" Madoka asks, ducking her head.

"It will," you say, spreading your hands and meeting Homura's eyes. "It's going to work. We'll bring Walpurgisnacht down, and whatever might come after."

You're tempted to give an inspiring speech or something, but now isn't really the time, not sitting here in a bright, sunlight dappled cafe. Now is the time to simply be steady. You're confident in beating Walpurgisnacht. There are so many things that could go wrong.

There are so many ways you can fight back, and you need Madoka to believe that.

You're sitting on a pile of secrets a meter thick, and you can't tell Madoka any of it here and now. You might, one day not too far off. She, of all people, needs to be brought in. Here and now, all you need is for Madoka to believe you. To believe in you and Mami and Homura and Sayaka, that this will happen.

"And that's almost a month away," Mami says with a faint smile. "I think by that time we'll be well prepared to face it. I..." She exhales slowly, almost a sigh. "I should hope you don't make a contract, Madoka. I don't mean to disrespect anyone here, but..."

Madoka wilts. "A-alright."

Sayaka pulls a face, jaw setting mulishly as she folds her arms. "Yeah, well," she mutters.

Homura's scowl tightens as she glances at Sayaka, but doesn't comment any further.

You sigh, rubbing at your eyes with your free hand. "Leaving that aside for now," you say. "Since it came up, what kind of girls do you think we'll get, Nadia?"

"The desperate," Nadia says, as blunt as your hammer. "The ones who come first, they will be desperate. Maybe they come in ones or twos. Next will come the ones who are single." She pauses, frowning. "No, not single, the... The loners?"

You can't quite help but notice the way Mami blushes. "The loners, yes," you say. "The ones who don't have any group or friends to hold them there, right?"

Nadia nods rapidly in agreement, walking two fingers through the air as if trying to demonstrate the travel. "It is easy to pack up and leave without friends, ay? The last ones to come will be groups. If you want, mm, teams, you will have to go out personally."

"G-groups? Like... Mami and Sayaka and Homura and Sabrina?" Madoka asks, still twisting her fingers.

"Uh huh," Nadia agrees. "There are usually small groups holding cities, or parts of cities or towns, fimti?"

Madoka nods, shrinking a little at the attention.

"Mm. Before I forget, yes," Nadia says, turning her attention to Mami. "The Shiogama group is, mm, broken two months ago. Tanaka Misato was killed by a Witch. Watanabe Noriko survives, along with Saito Akemi. Not you, begging your pardon." She nods at Homura, and then at you. "With your permission, if they want, I send them here?"

You smile at Mami, raising your eyebrows at her. Her decision, not yours - you might be the driving force behind this group, but she is the leader. You think.

Mami smiles softly back at you, fingers tightening. "I would be fine with it. Sabrina? Sayaka, Homura? Madoka?"

Homura, on the other hand, nods. "More people to help fight Walpurgisnacht is good," she murmurs, frown still in place. She looks somewhat mollified, though.

Sayaka's mouth falls open, jolted out of her momentary sulk. "Of course we're gonna take them. Right, Mami?" She gives Homura a disapproving look.

Said look simply washes off Homura, the time traveller blinking slowly at the other girl. Madoka, by contrast, simply looks horrified, her mouth open in a perfect little 'o' of horror.

"We can certainly afford to, with Sabrina here," Mami says with a faint smile. "Sabrina? What do you think?"

[] Write-in

=====​

Moving on...

 

[Firnagzen]

"Well. Helping magical girls so they don't have to fight for a living anymore?" you raise your eyebrows, managing to put on a confident smirk for Nadia despite the worm of dismay working its way into your guts at the look on Madoka's face. "I think that's exactly why I made my Wish. Please, Nadia."

Mami beams at you, the fingers of your interlaced hands squeezing gently.

"Then I shall do so," Nadia says with a nod. She smirks. "I will be late to my next destination."

You glance at Madoka, at the expression of worried horror on her face. You debate with yourself for a long moment. Would she care about losing face in front of Nadia? Perhaps, but you don't think so. Ultimately, you're not the kind of person who would let your friends stew in that.

"Um, Madoka, could I have a quick word?" you ask, smiling at her. You glance around the table, checking on everyone. Homura's expression is tight and controlled, and Sayaka is just scowling. You'll need to talk to Homura later.

"A-ah?" Madoka starts, eyes refocusing on you. "I- OK?"

You smile at Mami. "Take over for me? I- well, I guess I kind of took over, sorry. It's a bad habit," you say.

"It's alright," Mami says. She gives you a smile, her thumb stroking gently over the back of your hand for a second before she releases you. You give her another quick smile before standing and beckoning to Madoka, who follows you, wringing her hands.

"Hey, I'm coming too!" Sayaka says, hopping to her feet. "I need to stretch."

"Sure," you agree. "C'mon, then."

You lead the two of them off to the side. The cafe isn't terribly populated, so you manage to find a quiet spot out of earshot and screened from your table.

The moment you stop, Sayaka pulls Madoka into a hug. You close your arms around the both of them, as far as you can reach.

"It's horrible," Madoka whispers, voice shaking a little. "Magical girls shouldn't- shouldn't-"

"We shouldn't," you agree. "That's what we are fighting for, Madoka, I-"

"Oi, just... give us a minute," Sayaka says, raising her head a little to make eye contact. She continues by telepathy. "I know you're trying to help, but she's my best friend. We'll be fine."

"Ah, sure," you say. "I'll head back to the table, then?"

"Mm," Sayaka agrees, flapping her hand at you.

Well, that's... settled, then. You think. It doesn't quite sit well with you to just leave it be, but Sayaka's right. She is Madoka's friend. You wander back to the table, rejoining the conversation as Nadia shares a bit of gossip about some group off in Hokkaido.

You slide back into your seat beside Mami, hand finding hers once again. "Did I miss anything interesting?" you ask.

"Welcome back," Mami says with a smile, interlacing your fingers together. "Ah, I wasn't sure how long you'd be gone, so I asked about Asunaro for you, um..."

"Yes, one of Mami's old students is there. Kazusa Michiru. She has a group, the... Pleiades Saints," Nadia says with a snap of her fingers.

You bite your lip, trying to decide how to delicately ask about Michiru's vital status. You've misstepped enough for an entire day, and you don't particularly feel like asking if Mami's ex-student is dead in front of her face, after all.

"That's- that's good," Mami says, a hitch in her voice. She squeezes your hand tightly, seeming to draw strength from you as she straightens. "I... I didn't ask before, but how is she? Is she doing well?"

Nadia makes an amused face. "She has her students naming their attacks, fimti?" she says. "I think she enjoys her life."

You snicker, amused and relieved all in one. So that presumably means Michiru is still alive, then, which is great. You sneak a quick glance at Homura, whose expression is stony and unamused - not a hint of recognition on her face. And more to the point, you're pretty sure she's upset with you.

"That's good," Mami repeats, nodding. You pull her hand into your lap, so that you can cover it with both hands, tracing gentle patterns over the back.

"Mm," Nadia agrees, eyeing Mami for a second before transferring her gaze over to Homura. "How about you, Akemi? Do you have any questions?"

"No," Homura says, expression moving not one whit. "My concerns are with defeating Walpurgisnacht."

Nadia purses her lips in consideration. "You will have many recruits," she muses. "I do not know if you need more. Your friend's promises are attractive. But it is hard to attract a strong group. You will have to go."

Homura nods sharply.

"I have a few questions," Nadia continues. "You understand, I carry the news. Sabrina is big, new, news, but Tomoe Mami has always been news, fimti?"

You give Mami a broad, proud grin. It's not like you can take credit for it, but just knowing that Mami has fame? That's something you're more than glad to hear again. She flushes in embarrassed pleasure, leaning into your side. "Ask away?"

"Your new team," Nadia says, gesturing around. "Sabrina, Sayaka, Akemi. Sabrina is new, yes? And Sayaka."

"I heard my name," Sayaka calls, arriving back at the table with Madoka in tow. She plunks herself down back in her own seat, Madoka sitting between Homura and Nadia once more. Madoka looks more settled, the worry lines around her eyes softening, though still slightly strained.

"Yes," Nadia agrees, taking the opportunity to retrieve her book again. "Where did you contract, what are your powers?"

"Eh? In Mitakihara, of course," Sayaka says, puffing her chest out proudly. "I live here. Duh. I'm a power copier."

Nadia nods, pushing her fringe out of her eyes and scribbling in her book. "And you, Akemi?"

Homura's eyes narrow. "I'd rather not say," she grunts.

"I see," Nadia says, pursing her lips. "I understand."

The rest of the conversation passes with unimportant gossip, though you do take the opportunity to ask about older magical girls in Japan itself - apparently Tsubaki Mikoto is alive and well, but Nadia hasn't heard of Suzune. Which does hopefully mean that Kagari Hinata isn't a threat, but you're not entirely sure you can bank on that.

It's about one when Nadia stretches, hooking an arm over the back of her seat. "I should go. I will not be leaving Mitakihara until tonight. But I need to hunt," she says. "Mami, where is a place with more Witches?"

"Actually, about that-" you interrupt, raising a finger. "Do you want a Clear Seed? If nothing else, you can use it as proof of what I can do, right? Though, uh, you'd have to be careful with it. It's kind of like carrying a few million dollars around with you in cash."

"It is," Nadia says. She drums her fingers on her table, a deep frown wrinkling her brow. "You... you would just give me one? I cannot use it like you say. I can only use it for myself, fimti? I do not want to get into a fight because of it. But if you still want to give me one, I will take it gladly. Are there conditions?"

"Help people," you say, simply. "That's all I ask. I understand if you can't show the Clear Seed off, but if you have spare, normal Grief Seeds, you can help people with those. Do what you can to help spread the word, bring people in for Walpurgisnacht and beyond."

Nadia gives you a long, considering look, green eyes boring into yours. "Done."

"Excellent," you say with a smile. "Do you have a spare Grief Seed on you? It doesn't matter whether you've used it or not. I'll take just a few minutes to make the Clear Seed. Um, Homura, could I have a word while I'm at it?"

Homura glances at you, expressionless for a long moment before sighing and standing, striding out of the cafe. Nadia wordlessly hands you a Grief Seed, raising her eyebrows in Homura's direction. You shrug, and follow Homura out.

This time, you don't just head around the corner, you step out of the alleyway and bound up the wall to the roof where you'd stored the rest of your Grief - you need a bit more privacy for both talking to Homura and to make a Clear Seed. Homura follows you up.

You turn to face your friend. "I'm sorry about that slip, Homura," you say, meeting her eyes. "I really am."

Her jaw tightens, eyes squeezing shut. "I don't want Madoka to know," she grinds out between gritted teeth. "I don't want her anywhere near being a magical girl."

"I know, Homura," you whisper. "I know, I get it, and I'm right there with you. I'm sorry. I slipped up."

"You did," Homura says, clinical and harsh.

"And I'-" you whisper fervently. "I want to beat Walpurgisnacht too, and I want to keep Madoka -to keep everyone- safe. You know that."

Homura sighs, shoulders sagging. "Do better, Sabrina." She hesitates for a long second, before adding in a voice that's barely audible, "Please."

"I promise, Homura," you say. "I promise I'll fix things. That's what I'm here for, right?"

Homura sighs again, looking away and very, very tired. "Do better."

"I will," you say. "I- I don't think Madoka's that upset, just... shaken, a bit. Sayaka talked to her, and I think we're fine."

Homura grimaces, looking down at the Grief Seed dangling loosely in your hand. "Make the Clear Seed," she murmurs, gaze flicking away. "I'll keep watch."

"Alright," you say, giving her a weak smile and turning your focus to the Grief Seed. It's a few minutes' work to clear the Grief Seed - it wasn't fresh, either, but after removing all the Grief from it, it most definitely is. Transparent crystal embraced in intricate filigree gleams under the midday sun, almost sparkling as you hold it up to the light.

You cast a look at the Grief on the roof. It's manageable, insofar as you are managing it, but you have well and away enough to fill up two of those big shipping containers now. Probably enough to pack, say, the Kaname residence wall-to-wall with Grief, not that you'd do that.

Well, it's not exactly a problem. You head back to the cafe with Homura, presenting the Clear Seed to Nadia and sliding back into your seat beside Mami. "Uh, an important caveat?" you say. "Do not, do not put these together with regular Grief Seeds. The Grief Seed pulls the Grief out of the clear one, and might hatch."

Nadia nods seriously, her hands trembling slightly as she accepts the Seed. "I see," she says, giving you a thankful smile. "Thank you, Sabrina. Thank you."

"'s what I'm here for," you say.

"Feel free to hunt the usual two Witches," Mami offers, and gives you a quick smile as she leans against your side. "If nothing else, you can use their Grief Seeds to help other magical girls, right?"

Nadia nods, still inspecting the Clear Seed with disbelief clear on her face. "Yes," she says. "Would you like to hunt with me as usual?"

Voting is closed until: Apr 18, 2017 at 3:00 PM
[] Decline, you have to head to Ishinomaki and Sendai
- [] Head to Ishinomaki first
- [] Head to Sendai first
- [] Suggest someone else can go hunting with her
-- [] Mami
-- [] Sayaka
-- [] Homura
[] Agree, a quick hunt should be fine
[] Write-in (word count limit: 100 words)
-> Any specific conversation to have
-> Specific things to do in Ishinomaki/Sendai

=====​

For the record, I'm not completely braindead about the word count, or the timing. I'm willing to allow some flexibility within reasonable limits, but don't push it. Also, the time is already localised for you. It's a forum feature!

 

[Firnagzen]

You squeeze Mami's hand, giving her a smile. You'd be more than willing to do that. You might even show off, just a little. She glances back at you, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head fractionally towards the direction of the street.

A slight shake of your head, accompanied by an easy smile and a slight twitch of your gaze in Nadia's direction. No, you don't need to go just yet - and you'd be more than happy for a hunt.

Mami huffs, and turns her honey-gold eyes back to Nadia. "We'd be happy to hunt with you, Nadia," she says. "Homura, Sayaka? How about you?"

"Yeah, of course!" Sayaka says, slamming her fist into her open palm. "Always glad to kick some ass."

Madoka smiles, twisting her hands together. "Um... I'll go home, and finish up my homework."

Homura shakes her head, expressionless and controlled once more. "I have other things to do."

By which she means stalking Madoka, of course. Which is fine, you suppose. It's what she'd do. But...

You need to talk to her again. That talk earlier doesn't really sit right with you. You should have left it on a better note. And you've been doing better about not insistently pushing your point of view upon others, but she does deserve better.

You may also need to talk to her about the loops. Madoka, too.

"Alright!" Nadia declares with a clap of her hands as she stands and swings her backpack on. "Let's go!"

You leave the cafe as a happily chattering group with Nadia and Mami in the lead, departing into the pleasantly warm midday sun. You take a second to catch Madoka by the elbow, giving her a quick, reassuring smile. Sayaka gives you a sharp look, but doesn't say anything.

"Madoka, I'll catch up with you later, alright?" you murmur. "Need to talk to you about some things that we didn't have the time for earlier, alright?"

"Oh, of course!" Madoka says with a worried look. "Um... You'll all be safe, right?"

"Yeah, we will," you say with a firm, reassuring nod. "We are probably the strongest magical girl team in Japan at the very least."

"That's good," Madoka says, smiling weakly.

"We'll be fine," you say, and give her a wink. "I'll try and get Homura to walk you home too."

Madoka eeps quietly, looking down and wringing her hands.

You pat her on the shoulder, and then hurry to catch up with Homura, walking just two steps ahead. "Hey, Homura," you murmur, touching her shoulder gently.

"Yes?" she asks, glancing at you with tired, wary eyes.

"Hey, I..." you bite your lip, thinking about how to phrase what you want to say. "We're not done. I'm not done, and um, not just with that talk. I know I messed up, and I'm gonna make it up. Uh. But I got away from my original point, which was that I do need to talk to you again later."

"Fine," Homura says without breaking step. "You know how to find me."

"Speaaaaking of," you say. "You should walk Madoka home."

She gives you a flat, unamused look.

"I explained the logic earlier!" you say, and lower your voice. "Both Oriko and Kyuubey could strike at any time. The best way to protect Madoka is to be right there with her. And I know you don't want to bring Madoka into the magical girl business, but she'll have questions, and it's better she get answers from you than elsewhere, right?"

"Fine," Homura says with a scowl. She hesitates for a second, fixing amethyst eyes on you for a long, long moment before and dropping back two steps to walk beside Madoka. The pink haired girl brightens a little, smiling at Homura.

Well, that worked out. You take a few more quick steps forward to catch up with Mami, linking your arm with hers as you join the conversation. Madoka and Homura split off a few minutes later in the direction of Madoka's house, and the four of you take to the roofs.

Nadia looks askance at the spheres of Grief resting in heaps on the roof.

"Grief," you explain. "I have to keep it with me, and that's what it looks like when I compress it down."

"Ah," Nadia says, turning a slow circle and looking at the piles of basketball-sized spheres. Mami pats your shoulder, smiling at you.

You transform, surreptitiously inspecting Nadia as a glowing burst of crimson heralds her transformation. The light fades to leave her in a flowing costume of deep red, almost burgundy. Simple cloth hangs off her shoulders, hanging loose and baring her arms but cinched tight across her waist with a sash of gold. Under the cloth is what looks like a leather gambeson, form-fitting and protective. The costume flares wide into a floor-length skirt slit up both sides to reveal tights and knee-high boots, and her wiry arms are complimented by gleaming, metal bracers over leather.

... Her backpack vanished somewhere along the way.

Not so much her enchanted gear, though - a dozen charms hanging from her belt, a bracelet, her earrings...

You smile at Mami, who's resplendent as always in her costume of gold and cream and dark leather. The afternoon sun catches her hair just so, almost glowing. "Lead on, Mami," you say.

She flashes you a smile, radiantly happy in a way that makes your heart soar. "Alright. This way, everyone!"

She turns and bounds for the next roof over - heading out to the suburbs. Nadia follows, costume flowing out behind her. Sayaka whoops as she leaps after her, white cloak fluttering in the breeze. You chew on your lip as you throw yourself after them, thinking.

No time to check on Homura's notebook - it's somewhere in the huge bulk of Grief darkening the sky behind you. Which is kind of conspicuous, really, you decide with a quick glance backwards. With a thought, you spread the spheres out, scattering them to flow through the sky as a drifting, distant spread of dark specks. Much less visible from below.

The hunt, though... Mami's leading you on a distant loop around the edge of the city proper. There's no notable Witches you can remember in the area at this time, and therefore hopefully nothing dangerous. Though you do remember a note, printed in perfectly neat handwriting, about a giant jellyfish Witch.

And exactly on cue, you sense it. A Barrier, glowing bright like a malevolent star on your Grief Senses.

"This way!" you call, putting a little more effort into the next leap to overtake Sayaka, who's leaving cracks in the roof behind her. You tuck into a roll, popping into a run close enough to Mami and tap her on the elbow. She flashes you a smile, and makes a little gesture as if to say 'go ahead'.

You take the lead, not missing Nadia's flash of startled surprise as you sprint forward and bound ahead off the building. Mami had the right course - but you have a much better fix on the exact location.

"There!" Nadia calls, pointing ahead of her as you direct the hunting pack towards a clearing between buildings. In the midst of the buildings is a quiet park, and right by a glittering pond in the pool stands the Barrier, glowing faintly.

The park is surprisingly empty for a Sunday afternoo- oh no.

Mami has the same realisation you do, feet striking the edge of the building in a coiled, powerful leap. You're right behind her, two steps ahead of Nadia and Sayaka.

You dive right into the Barrier without bothering to stop, braced for the nauseating transition. The world is wrong, twisted and grating on your senses as you pop from a roll to your feet right next to Mami, senses alert. You-

You're underwater. You suck in a shocked breath - and, panicking, you exhale a plume of bubbles. Witch, all around you. A gentle touch on the back of your hand calms you immediately, a familiar presence at your side. Mami, tinted blue and dappled with rippling sunlight from far above.

She smiles at you, bubbles leaking from her nose. "It's only the Barrier," she murmurs into your mind.

"This is trippy," Sayaka's voice says in your mind. You turn in surprise, finding her standing at your other side.

"Not the strangest Barrier I have seen," Nadia observes, stepping up.

And that's your cue to look around properly. You're standing on a pillar of rock jutting from a rocky sea floor. Perfectly clear water surrounds you, a sparse forest of kelp rising from the rock below.

"Can we tal-" The only thing that escapes your mouth is a plume of bubbles, and you're rewarded with a mouthful of saltwater. Saltwater which you can breathe and somehow doesn't sting your eyes, for some reason.

"We need to keep moving," Mami says. "The Witch must have Kissed people."

"Right," Sayaka says. Steel flashes in the light filtering from above as she draws a sword from below her cloak. "Mami, can I copy your powers?"

"Of course," Mami says, offering her hand. Sayaka takes it, and there's the spark of magic in the air you're quickly associating with Sayaka's power at work.

"Actually, um, real quick Nadia - if you don't mind my asking, what are your powers?" you ask.

"I'm the Juggernaut, bitch," Nadia says with a smirk.

"What, really?" you say.

Nadia shrugs. "A friend gifted me the comic once, fimti? I cannot be stopped when moving. Sayaka, if your power does not reduce mine, then you may copy."

Sayaka's eyes light up at the prospect, and she reaches for Nadia's proferred hand. She grips it for a second, frowning, and the air lights with a spark of magic. "Coooool," she breathes.

Mami nods sharply in approval. "Let's go."

"Right!" Sayaka says, clenching her fist and grinning fiercely. You check her Soul Gem on reflex - nice and clean. It'll last.

Mami swings a musket out from behind her, slowed by the water resistance. "This way!"

She leaps off the rock, diving in slow motion for the seabed below. Nadia closes her eyes for a heartbeat and steps forward. And then again, and again until she's sprinting after Mami - in a straight line through the water, as if running on an invisible pathway. Sayaka takes off after them.

You bound after them, Grief sweeping around you like a living, flowing cape. There's resistance to your fall as you plunge through the water, but a touch of Grief assists your motion. You don't call upon your wings there, but enough Grief swings around you to form shoals of hunting knives that dart through the water.

Ahead of you, Mami's speeding up. She doesn't have Nadia's power or your Grief - but she does have ribbons. Yellow streamers slash out through the water to plunge into the rocky seabed and haul her forward.

You pour on the speed, sweeping through the water and seaweed to catch up with Mami as you curve past the face of an undersea cliff. She throws you a grin, before her attention -and musket- snaps up with almost preternatural speed.

The shot booms out. A hissing trail of bubbles slashes through the water, drawing a line from Mami to her target.

A giant, torso-sized starfish. Familiar. The shot blasts through it and into the rocky cliff face, bursting the creature with a messy splat of flesh.

"The victims must be near!" Nadia calls. She claps one hand against her opposite bracer and throws it wide, a massive axe sprouting with the motion.

"Right!" Sayaka responds.

Mami hurls a ribbon up the cliff, face set in concentration. She yanks herself upwards - and then her eyes widen and she kicks off the cliff face in a backflip. There's a hail of Familiars raining from above, and you hurl yourself to meet them.

Mami twirls past you midair, fresh muskets thundering out shots. You have split-second impressions of five segment mouths gaping open and teeth reaching for you before your Grief boils forward in swarms to slash through the Familiars that survive the golden bolts raining from Mami.

Nadia sprints up past you, ninety degrees against the ground. Sayaka's hot on her heels, and both of them have their weapons swinging and smashing Familiars into pulp. Sayaka flicks her hand out, a white ribbon slicing out to strike a Familiar and drag it into a bisecting strike. You throw yourself away from the cliff face, swarms of Grief knives swirling in a wide berth around them.

"Above," Nadia murmurs.

"Sabrina, give me a lift?" Mami calls into your mind. You're already turning to catch her. You wrap your arms around her waist, leaving her hands clear. She needs her hands to fight. You don't.

Your wings bloom to drag you upwards. And you spot them, at the same time Mami does. People, slumped over and tangled in glowing blue strands dangling from above. Hordes of starfish Familiars, moving in sluggish herds across the rocky underwater plateau. They crawl over coarse stone and kelp, converging on the people.

Ribbons whip down Mami's sleeves to brace her arms. New muskets form, one for each hand. She starts firing, shots booming out through the water in explosions of steam and bubbles.

Mami's aim is unerring, blasting Familiars into meaty chunks.

"They reform!" Sayaka's panicked voice calls.

"What?" Your attention snaps to Sayaka and Nadia- they're nearly buried under a tide of Familiars, which- of course, starfish-

They're not in any danger, not with the way they're dicing the Familiars, but of course the things can reform from mere bisection-

"Mami! We need to smash them smaller!" you yell, Grief sweeping forward. Palm-sized Grief blades divide, and divide again, until what hits the plateau is a sandstorm of fingernail-sized shards that follow where Mami's shots land, blending the pieces until there's nothing but slurry left.

"Get to the people!" Mami responds - not to you, to Nadia and Sayaka. Sayaka leaps. Bubbles trail from her mouth in a soundless yell. White ribbons spring from beneath her cape, yanking her forward to crash down beside the comatose forms with sword at the ready. She hooks a starfish straight up with a flick of her sword. It's skewered a heartbeat later by Mami's shot, and then flayed apart by your Grief.

Nadia blazes a path through the Familiars, axe dancing in lightning fast movements something that large should not manage. She bisects, trisects and then grinds starfish into paste beneath her boots.

"The Witch!" Nadia yells.

The Witch? Those strands. Your eyes track upwards and- that's the Witch. A huge, wrinkled and glassy thing that breaches the surface of the water, tinged with brilliant pink and green. A face with squeezed-shut eyes and a gaping mouth distorts its bottom, the tentacles winding from the mouth.

Mami gives you an exhilarated, determined look. "We kill it," she breathes.

And you know what she wants. You release your arms from around her waist and you grab her hand, interlacing your fingers.

Ribbons explode out, wrapping around a core of Grief and melding into a seamless structure. For all that you've practiced this exactly once, the formation is swift and sure, a gleaming, massive cannon cradled in both your arms.

Mami aims for only a second.

"CANNONE-"

"-PICCHIO!"

The shattering crash of the cannon firing blasts the forest of kelp flat. That first shot blows away the Witch's tentacles in a spray of bubbling steam and translucent flesh.

The Witch twists, the eyes on the face opening as the mouth distorts in pain. The wrinkles bunch and coil as the mouth spits tentacles at you - but you're already dragging Mami away and steadying her aim with your Grief as she keeps firing.

Rolling thunder pounds the Witch, unerringly aimed cannonfire swatting aside the tentacles, a mad, frantic duel. You draw the Witch away, away from Nadia and Sayaka and the Witch's victims as Mami pummels the beast mercilessly with an unending hail. There.

A shot slams through the Witch. It rips apart delicate flesh and tears the face and bursts that glassy bag, and-

-that's it.

You feel the resistance break. The Witch dies with that single shot, and the Barrier starts to evaporate. You spare a look back for Sayaka and Nadia, but they've handled the Familiars perfectly fine.

The Barrier dissipates, pouring endlessly into the abyssal black hole of the forming Grief Seed. It's dizzying, almost, as the world shimmers around you and fades back into reality.

You find yourself standing on the roof of an apartment building, the people you'd saved lying in unconscious heaps. Mami immediately stoops to check on them, murmuring instruction to Sayaka who joins in the inspection. You kneel, and start to check the people for their vitals and any remaining Witch influence. Absently, you pull your Grief back into spheres for storage.

"Good grief," you say. "That Witch got a lot of peopl-"

You blink, and then you grin. Good Grief. That's perfect.

Nadia laughs, throwing her head back. "You got an upgrade, Mami?"

Mami blushes, looking up from checking the victims. "Yes, thanks to Sabrina."

You stand, bouncing lightly on your toes. "It's nothing," you demur. "I think everyone's alright. Sayaka, Nadia? You feeling good?"

"Mmmmhm!" Sayaka says, grinning. "That was fun! Hey, where's the Grief Seed?"

"Here," Mami says, grabbing the Seed. "As promised, Nadia."

"Thank you," she says, eyes gleaming as she accepts the Seed. "That was interesting."

"Rather!" you agree happily. You're about to continue when a new voice intrudes in your head, a clear, light contralto.

"Hello, Miss Sabrina?"

"Hello," you say. You recognise the voice - Chouko, from Sendai. The flyer. "Miss Tsubaki?"

"Yes," she responds. "Um, we were just wondering, Miss Sabrina, when you were coming today?"

Voting is closed until Apr 23, 2017 at 11:00 AM
[] Now
- [] Anything to say the Nadia before you leave?
- [] What do you want to do on the way there?
[] Soon
- [] When?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 100 words)

=====​

Portugese man o' wars are freaky things.

 

[Firnagzen]

You raise two fingers to your ear in the universally accepted gesture for hey, I'm taking a call without a visible phone. You're not really sure why it's the accepted gesture, but there it is. Probably something to do with actual headsets and the associated motion. Or maybe those wireless earpieces, which might need to be held in.

Mami beams at you, linking her arm with yours.

"Ah, yes, well - uhhh, is maybe two hour's time good?" you respond to Chouko first. "My friends and I were just finishing up something, and we need to hit Ishinomaki too."

You continue out loud as Chouko responds in the affirmative. "Hey guys, one of the girls from Sendai's calling," you say. "I did say we'd be along late morning or early afternoon today, so uh, is everyone OK for that trip right now?"

"Yeah, sounds fun!" Sayaka says, pumping her arm.

"I can handle a Witch hunt myself," Nadia offers, straightening out one last victim and standing. "I would have no problems. You are going to Sendai?"

"Yup," you confirm. "Ishinomaki first, then Sendai. Do you want to tag along?"

Nadia frowns, eyes sharp and clearly thinking.

"Miss Tsubaki, we're heading out right now," you tell Chouko. "We need to hit Ishinomaki, then we'll be swinging to Sendai, unless there's anything urgent?"

"No, that's just fine," Chouko says. "Thank you for your time, Miss Sabrina."

"See you in a bit, then!" You beam around at your friends as you end the call. "Everyone OK?"

"We are," Mami agrees, cuddling your arm with both hands. "Shall we?"

"Hey, can we grab a snack along the way?" Sayaka asks, rubbing sheepishly at the back of her neck. "I know I was complaining about all the eating earlier, but we haven't had lunch..."

Nadia laughs at that. "I was wondering, you did not eat earlier."

You scowl, pursing your lips. "Why didn't we?"

"We were talking, so it seemed rude to interrupt it to order?" Mami offers.

"Yeah, that," Sayaka says, pointing her thumb at Mami.

"We could either get lunch in Ishinomaki or here?" you say.

"Here's good," Sayaka says, waving you over to the edge of the roof. "There's a stall down there, I can grab us all something from there?"

You hum thoughtfully as you eye the store, a curry place. "What do you think, Mami?"

"I'm fine with it," she says, smiling at you. "Um... I'll have a katsu curry, Sayaka?"

"Sure," Sayaka says, bouncing on her toes. "Sabrina?"

"Omu rice?" you say. "Uh, Nadia?"

"I ate," she points out. "Hm... I will not be going to Ishinomaki. But you are passing through Mitakihara going to Sendai, yes? Can you pick me up?"

"Uh, no problem," you say, watching as Sayaka flashes you a thumbs up and hops down to the alley below. Her cape flutters gently behind her as she falls, the last thing to disappear out of sight over the edge of the roof.

Not out of mind, though. You can sense her Soul Gem as she transforms and trots across the street to the curry place - it's slowly trickling up. You keep a metaphorical eye on Sayaka's Soul Gem as Nadia waves goodbye, off to continue on her hunt.

"Oh- hey, Nadia!" you call after Nadia, who lands on the next roof and bounds back, eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Before I forget, about those websites? And IRCs?" you ask.

"Ah, yes," Nadia says, patting her costume. "Do you have paper- nevermind, yes."

She produces a scrap of paper from somewhere in her costume and scribbles on it, handing it over to you.

"Thanks," you say, tucking the paper away into your bag. "Good hunting!"

Nadia waves a careless goodbye in response to you and Mami's goodbyes, and hops back towards the next roof.

The formerly Witch-kissed people are still unconscious for now - you've laid them out as comfortably as you can on the hard roof, and you don't doubt that Kyuubey's aware of them. It'll come and wipe their memories later, you suppose. It's not something that sits entirely right with you, but they're alive and healthy.

You take a seat on a convenient piece of venting. Mami curls up against your side with a pleased noise, tucking her head against your shoulder.

... Hm.

You're not absolutely certain, but you don't think Sayaka's Soul Gem is filling any faster than it had when she'd had only Mami's ribbon powers. Perhaps the difference is so small you don't notice it, or perhaps you're remembering wrong, but you don't think so.

That's interesting and very, very usefu-

You twitch in surprise at the touch of Mami's warm finger on your earlobe. You glance at her, and she pokes curiously your earlobe again.

"Your ears," she says, as if that's all the explanation she needs to provide. She tugs on the shell of your ear curiously, apparently intrigued by how far it sticks out.

Well, if it makes her happy. Sayaka's still ordering, so you'll take the opportunity to let your other friends know. "Hey, Homura? Madoka?"

"Ah, Sabrina, hello!" Madoka says, sounding happy. "Is something going on?"

"No, no, not at all - just letting you and Homura know that Mami, Sayaka, and I will be heading out of Mitakihara right now," you explain. "We're going to Ishinomaki and Sendai for a cleansing trip."

"Ah, that's wonderful!" Madoka says. "Um... Homura and I will watch the city?"

"Yeah," you say. "Homura, are you there?" You're pretty sure she is - you can feel her presence like you can sense someone in the same room as you are without looking. You're a little worried about how quiet she is, though.

"I'm here," she murmurs.

"Alright, just checking," you say.

"Is Nadia still in Mitakihara?" she inquires.

"Yep, she is," you confirm. "She said she'd be leaving this evening."

"Understood," she says, and hesitates before responding. "Stay safe."

"We will, Homura," you say, suppressing giggles as Mami reaches around you to toy with your other ear. "You too."

"Um, stay safe!" Madoka says as the call ends.

You smile at Mami, pulling her a little closer with an arm around her waist, and she's perfectly content to cuddle against you. Sayaka's still waiting for the food, so you take the opportunity to call ahead to Ishinomaki - you get Inoue Yuuki, the tech-focused girl, and you let her know you're heading over.

Sayaka returns a few minutes later, carrying plastic bags laden with plastic trays. It only takes about ten minutes more for you to form your Grief platform -though fully enclosed and complete with a Witchy but transparent windshield- and be on your way.

You sit crosslegged with Mami on your left and Sayaka on your right, though rather unlike Mami, your blue-haired friend isn't leaning against your side. You all snack companionably on the curry rice, though Sayaka goes through hers rather quickly.

You pour on the speed, willing your Grief on faster as the suburbs zip by beneath you. You still don't know if you're breaking the sound barrier, but you must be at the very least close. You kinda wish you had something to measure airspeed - inside a sonic boom, you wouldn't hear it, even if you were.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna try experimenting with deleting Grief, alright?" you say. "I've got... rather a lot of it."

"Alright," Mami says, smiling at you. "We'll keep an eye out."

You pull a single marble of Grief from your ever-present bag, absently checking for your obrez and the notebook. And your oodles of yakuza money and gold, of course.

All present.

"Oh, and before I forget - Sayaka, you're still holding onto Nadia's and Mami's powers, right?" you ask, glancing up from the marble.

"Um? Yeah, I got 'em," Sayaka confirms.

"Right, hang on to them," you say.

Sayaka nods, looking thoughtful as she bends forward to inspect her own Soul Gem.

You return your attention to the Grief. Compressed, it's just a dull, dark purple that's nearly black, and mottled with different colours. And you... want to get rid of it. You're not unaware of the possible consequences, especially with regards to Kyuubey. But this is a small scale experiment, and to be frank, a magical girl dying is also lost energy to Kyuubey, as little as you like thinking about that prospect.

A slow breath out. You'll try simply willing it gone, first.

And so you try. You try vanishing the Grief with your will, but all that gets you is a blinding migraine that has Mami looking at you in concern. You try creating a device that can delete Grief, but that accomplishes nothing at all. In a fit of pique, you recreate your Infinity Gauntlet of Enchanting and try to enchant something, to no real success.

You do earn a look of fond exasperation from Mami, though, who's wrapped her arms firmly around your waist so that she can tuck her chin on your shoulder.

"Aha!" Sayaka says as you reach the outskirts of Ishinomaki, interrupting your enchanting.

Which is fine. Just fine. It wasn't working anyway.

You dissolve the gauntlet with a sigh, flicking the wisps of Grief off your hand. "What've you got, Sayaka?" you ask, dropping the speed a little on your platform as you coast in amongst the skyscrapers of Ishinomaki.

She holds up a little five-lobed charm made of blue crystal and trimmed with white. "Mami's ribbons," she says proudly.

"... eh?" you say. "... wait. Did you do what I think you just did?"

Mami holds her hand out for the charm, turning it over in her hands. "You managed to store your copy of my magic?"

"Yup and yup!" Sayaka says proudly. "Cool, eh?"

You're about to answer when a telepathic message intrudes. "Hello, Miss Sabrina!"

You blink, peering out of the windscreen. A flare of green and silver draws your attention- there, right there. Seven slight figures stand atop one of the taller buildings, one of them with her hand up and shooting what looks like pixels into the air as an impromptu landing signal.

Voting opens Apr 27, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Random note: Coco Ichibanya is very nearly Japan's equivalent to McDonald's. It's bloody everywhere.

Also, standing action: Sabrina will check her own and her friends' Soul Gems as long as they're around, and cleanse when necessary. Anyone outside her immediate group fo friends will be noted in text if relevant.

 

[Firnagzen]

You turn your attention back to more important matters. The Ishinomaki girls are there, all present but for one -probably the independent girl?- and they'll keep for the next half a minute.

Instead, you grin at Sayaka and offer her a fist bump. She thumps her gloved fist against yours, grinning back.

"Well done, Sayaka," you say. "Congratulations, you're officially super OP."

"You think so?" she says, bouncing a little. "I mean..."

"Sayaka..." you chide.

Mami leans over you to offer Sayaka a high-five, which is gladly returned. "You will likely be the most versatile magical girl on our team with time," she says.

"I mean, I guess you can't copy my power, and you can't copy how awesome Mami is, but everything else should be fair game, right?" you say. "By the way, how do those work?"

"They're just... instant powers, just add water?" Sayaka says, shrugging as she takes the little charm back from Mami. "Except I'm the water. I think I can turn any power into these... I dunno, what do I call these?"

"We'll have to think of a name," Mami says with a smile. You grin, and speak in sync with her. "Names are important!"

Sayaka stares, and then throws her hands up. "God, you two. I'll think of something. By the way, uh-"

She points out of the windscreen. And yes, you're approaching the rooftop - Yuuki's halted the flare. You glide your Mobile Oppression Fortress to a halt just short of the roof and dissolve the windscreen. You stand, putting a pleasant smile on your face, and step forward onto weathered flagstones with Mami moving in smooth, easy coordination with you. Sayaka's just a step behind.

The Ishinomaki girls stare back at you with mingled curiosity and just a touch of worry. Which is fair, you guess. You did kick their asses the last time you met them and you did just arrive in a vehicle that stank of Witch.

"Heya," you say, raising a hand in a wave. It's a little awkward, but so what?

"Um... Hi," Yuuki says, taking a step forward. She hasn't changed much since the last time you saw her, still in her bodysuit of green with light, carapaced armour plates of silver. She extends her gloved hand towards you, and you clasp it in a firm shake.

"Hello!" you say, giving her what you hope is a disarming grin as you look over her friends. "You remember Tomoe Mami, and this is Miki Sayaka," you say. "Uh, Sayaka, these are..." You proceed to introduce Sayaka to everyone.

Her sister, of course, Inoue Yuuna in her fluorescent blue and silver bodysuit. You remember her fighting Kirika in her concrete armour - and losing, granted, but Kirika's really good at that. She'd fought Yuuna and... Koizumi Aki, clone-girl to a standstill. Said girl regards you steadily, with her short brown eyes framing eyes just as tired as the last time you'd met her.

Then the last three of their group... Sato Kimiko brushes aside lavender hair and gives you a cheerful wave as you meet her eyes, irrepressible grin on her face as she rocks back and forth. Someone who's not wary of you, apparently, quite in contrast to Tsukada Hoshiko. The purple armoured girl has her arms folded across her chest, giving you a sour look.

Last are the two girls who hadn't fought you. Kagome Ayaka, apparently one of Mami's ex-students, and finally, Ueda Miyako, a bright splash of nearly obnoxiously orange and ribbons.

"... say," you say, returning your attention to Yuuki. "Don't you have an independent girl in the city? Nakano Mika?"

"Ah... yes," Yuuki says, nodding. "Why?"

"Uh, she should be here for this, right?" you ask, scratching your head.

"Ah, OK," Yuuki says. "Um, Ayaka? Could you let her know?"

Ayaka nods sharply, taking a step away from the group.

"So, um, you can really cleanse our Soul Gems?" Yuuki says with a frown. "Not that I don't believe you, but..."

You'd respond, but you sense a presence, fast approaching from above. You turn just in time to see another puella magi plummeting towards you. Wind buffets you, forcing you to raise a hand to cover your eyes as the girl drops on the roof for a none-too-gentle landing.

"Hi, hope I'm not too late!" the newcomer says, scrubbing messy brown hair out of her eyes.

Your first impression of the girl is that she's someone used to laughter. Nakano Mika -and it has to be her- looks older than you, perhaps about eighteen, and she's startlingly skinny. Her costume is a set of sleek, flowing robes the same emerald green as her eyes. Laugh lines crease her face as she looks around at everyone.

"No, not at all," Mami says, smiling and extending her hand to shake. You let her take the lead - she's better at this than you are. "I'm-"

"Tomoe Mami?" Mika interrupts, eyes widening. "You're famous!"

Mami blinks, blushing a little. "Um, thank you? This is Sabrina, and Miki Sayaka from Mitakihara. We're here to offer our services."

You take a smooth step forward, sliding your arm around Mami's waist and repeating your spiel.

"... and I was just about to demonstrate before you arrived," you say, checking your friends' Soul Gems quickly. "Um, Sayaka? Do you mind?"

"Nope," she says, detaching her Soul Gem from her navel and holding it up. There's a thin sheen of Grief swirling beneath the surface, bubbling and sullen.

"Now you see it," you say, gesturing grandly at the Soul Gem before curling your hand into a beckoning gesture. "And now you don't."

Grief coils out of the Gem in eddying wisps, and you clench your fist to implode the cloud. You grin proudly at the girls.

Mami smiles, touching your shoulder and taking a half step forward. "Sabrina can indeed cleanse Soul Gems," she says. "We're offering that service for free, though Sabrina does have a favour to ask."

"And Grief Seeds too," you add, spreading your hands as the wind starts to pick up, whipping at your hair and longcoat. "And to be clear, this is absolutely free. No strings attached, other than asking that you be reasonable. Treat other magical girls nicely, don't start fights, and so on."

Confusion and surprise ripples through the group. An expression you're fast becoming familiar with is mirrored across every face - suspicion, dawning hope, and wary hope.

"I'll take it!" Mika says, putting her hand up.

"Well, one more thing, actually," you say, hunting through your pockets for Hildegarde. "I can also do this to Grief Seeds."

You hold the Clear Seed up for everyone to see, letting it balance on the tip of your finger. "This is a Grief Seed completely emptied of Grief. Theoretically, it should be able to last decades, but, uh-"

You're drowned out by exclamations of shock and frantic questions. You wave your hands, trying to calm them down, but it isn't much help. To your surprise, Yuuna and Yuuki are trying to argue against accepting the Seed. Aki and Miyako want to take it, though, with the other girls trying to calm the argument. Sayaka watches, eyebrows arched high in bemusement.

"I'll take one!" Mika says, sidling over to you with a grin.

"Gladly," you say, but turn a worried look on the other Ishinomaki girls. They're engaging in... vigorous debate, pulling back into a loose circle. Voices are raised.

You tighten your arm around Mami's waist, and she's more than happy to lean against you. "It's a big deal," she says.

"Is it really?" Sayaka asks, scowling at the arguing girls.

"Yes, it is," Mika offers. "Imagine if you had a billion dollars, but you don't have a bank to store it in. Every magical girl in the area wants it."

"Hrrrrrm," Sayaka says, turning her scowl full force on the brown haired girl. "But you want one?"

"I can put it in a sock under my bed, especially if I can put my bed in a safe," Mika says, a mischievous, secretive grin lurking on her lips. "There's no reason for anyone to want to try and fight me for it."

"-we're not taking one of those Clear Seeds, and that's final," Yuuki yells, stomping her foot hard enough to crack the flagstones and silencing the argument. "Do you want someone like Hamasaki coming after us again? I don't!"

She ignores the sullen looks and turns to you. "Miss Sabrina, I apologise for the trouble. If it's possible, could you just cleanse our Soul Gems?"

You purse your lips. You kind of want to ask if she's sure, but that's probably a surefire way to ignite the argument again, pun intended. "Yes, absolutely. I can also refresh any Grief Seeds you might have, so that they're like new."

"That would be acceptable," Yuuki says. "You mentioned something about wanting my services?"

"Yes, rather, uh- OK, everyone hold out your Soul Gems for me?" you ask. You don't need to do that, but better you ask than you starkly remind them that you could target each and every single one of their Soul Gems. "And any Grief Seeds? I'll refresh them so that they're like new."

You're presented with an array of Soul Gems and Grief Seeds, some more openly than others - Mika and the Inoue sisters are willing enough, Soul Gems presented on their open palms, others gripped tight in the palms of their hands. Not from Hoshiko, though - the purple-armoured girl holds just her Grief Seeds. "No offense, Miss Sabrina," she says, eyes hooded and wary. "But can you... refresh my Grief Seeds, and let me cleanse my Soul Gem myself?"

Sayaka bristles, raising her chin. "Hey. Are you implying Sabrina might try and do something with your Soul Gem?"

"Our Soul Gems are important," Hoshiko says, hunching her shoulders defensively and practically disappearing behind her oversized pauldrons. You decide not to mention that you know where her Soul Gem is and could snatch it from the nape of her neck with a thought.

"It's fine," you assure both Sayaka and Hoshiko. "I understand. Alright - I'm going to cleanse all your Soul Gems."

You extend your hands with fingers spread, making sure your movements are slow, because these are their very Souls. A bit of theater to keep them calm won't go amiss here. You take a breath, considering their Soul Gems - none of them are quite clean in the same way you're used to your own Soul Gem being.

You pull your hands back slowly, drawing Grief from their Soul Gems and Grief Seeds with the gesture - and you take the time to cleanse your own Soul Gem, too, and Mami's. The worry and the trepidation melts away from their expressions in that familiar way that comes with the lifting of very tangible negative emotions from their shoulders, drifting through the air to fall under your control.

"Cooool," one of them breathes. Kimiko, the girl with light purple hair. "Can I keep one of those little balls?"

"Eh?" you say. "One of the- these?" You hold a finger up, Grief marbles following the movement.

"Yeah!" Kimiko says. "As a souvenir."

"... uh, sorry, you can't," you say, keeping an eye on Hoshiko as the armoured girl cleanses her Soul Gem with a refreshed Seed. "These turn into gas and disperse outside of my control."

"Aw. OK," she says, looking disappointed. Miyako gives her a consoling pat her on the shoulder.

"Alright," you say, beaming around at everyone. You quirk an eyebrow at Hoshiko, beckoning her for the just-used Grief Seed. "So like I said - no strings attached whatsoever. Just... be excellent to one another."

"I see," Yuuki says. "What was the favour you wanted to ask?"

"Uhh," you say. "Hold up a sec- OK, Mika, you wanted a Clear Seed, right? Do you have a Grief Seed- right." You catch the Grief Seed she tosses at you. "OK, so, two things, actually. My friend Sayaka is a power copier, would you mind if she copied your powers?"

"I don't take them away or even reduce them," Sayaka notes, raising her hand. "I just... copy. That's it. You'll have your powers still."

"I would mind," Yuuki says with a frown. "Um... just me, though. Girls?"

Yuuna shrugs. "I don't mind."

"OK, uh, Sayaka, you go ahead? Miss Inoue, I'll go to the side and empty this Grief Seed out for Miss Nakano, can we talk while I do that?" you say.

"That would be fine," Yuuki responds.

Mami gives you a smile, and follows as you head over to a corner of the roof.

"So what did you need?" Yuuki asks.

"Well," you say, holding the Grief Seed to the side. You don't really want to talk with your face literally hidden behind mists of malice, to coin a term. You take a breath, and start the process - the majority of focus is on emptying out the Seed, but you can spare enough to talk. "I... don't exactly have a legal identity in this country."

"And you need... a passport and an identification card," Yuuki says with an understanding nod. She smirks a little at the look on your face, obviously more comfortable with these dealings. "I've done this before. It'll take me a week or two for the actual documents to arrive, though. Local resident, or foreigner in residence?"

"Umm," you say, unsure, and still concentrating more on drawing Grief out from the Grief Seed. "Mami?"

"Local resident," she says, giving you a smile. "It's easier."

Yuuki shrugs, clapping her hands together and forming a silver box with an obvious lens on the front. "I'll need a picture," she says, holding the device up.

Mami smiles, backing off a little so that you can have your picture taken. You pause the siphoning of Grief and lower the half-empty Seed for a moment so that Yuuki can do so. "Address?"

"Uh, I'm living with Mami," you say. "So, um..." You rattle off Mami's address.

"Place of birth, birthday?" she asks briskly, not even batting an eyelid.

"Um... might as well list it as Japan, and, uh..." don't say the first of May don't say first of May don't say first of May- "19th of May, 1995."

Good, well done, you. As good a random date as any, as long as it's not the first of May. You'd probably give Homura a heart attack.

"Oh, uh," you say. "Can we change this in the future if I need to?"

"That's not a problem," Yuuki says. "I just have to nudge the government computers, and they can't catch me. First name, last name?"

"... is it possible to not have a last name?" you ask. It's not like you don't have ideas for names, ranging from Vee to Velociraptor to Tomoe. "Just... Sabrina?"

Yuuki tilts her head in consideration. "It should be possible," she says, eyeing you curiously, but evidently decides not to ask.

You feel kind of beholden to answer, anyway. "I don't remember my last name," you admit. Mami tightens her hug around you a little. "So I'm not sure what I want there."

"It should be fine," Yuuki says, nodding again. "Normally I'd charge two Grief Seeds for this, but under the circumstances, I'll consider it partial payment for getting Hamasaki off our backs."

"Thank you," you say, sparing enough of your focus to give her a smile. The Grief Seed's almost emptied out, the torrent of billowing Grief dwindling to a trickle as you crush the last of it down into spheres.

"No problem," she says. "Was there anything else?"

You cast a glance over at Sayaka. Without your immediate presence, Sayaka's become the center of attention, apparently fielding questions about herself, Mami, and inevitably, you.

Voting opens May 1, 2017 at 7:00 PM
[] Head to Sendai, picking up Nadia
[] Stick around
- [] More questions to ask?
- [] Something to do?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

So as far as I remember, and as far as I can tell, you never actually explicitly told the Ishinomaki girls in much detail about your powers, just in passing.

Also, for the record, in my mind, this is Sabrina's theme. It's what I frequently write her to.

 

[Firnagzen]

You return your attention to Yuuki, thinking for a second. Is a surname important?

It... kind of is, you guess? It's not unheard of for people to not have surnames, and you can absolutely play up the 'strange foreigner' angle. But it might make things easy for you if you had a surname.

"Uh, one second, Miss Inoue. Uh, Mami?" you say. "What do you think of 'Vee' as a surname?"

"Hmm?" Mami says, soft golden eyes meeting yours. She thinks it over for a second, forehead scrunching adorably. "I think it's a fine nickname?"

You beam at her, and turn back to Yuuki. "'Vee' for a surname. Uh, 'V-E-E', not just the letter 'V'."

"Sure, that won't be a problem," Yuuki says. "Changed your mind?"

"I probably look less suspicious with a surname?" you offer, shrugging. "By the way, uh - did your sister pass on that message about tracking down a phone?"

"That was you," Yuuki says with a scowl tossed over her shoulder at her sister. Yuuna notices the expression, blinks, and then flushes in embarrassment. "I apologise, my sister forgot to mention that it was you. The Kuroki family, correct? That was the name on the phone records."

"Yeah, that'd be them," you agree. "I'm looking for Kuroki Matsuko, should be the daughter of the family?"

"Yes," Yuuki says, pulling a phone out from... somewhere on her costume. It's a high-end model, and very evidently modified with magic judging from the way she just pulled a holographic display out of the screen. You lean forward, fascinated by the way she slides through familiar apps rendered in the air.

"Here," Yuuki says decisively, pulling up a map of Mitakihara and zooming in on a location out to the east. You recognise it, even in glowing, translucent light - you've been there often enough. The old industrial district. "That's where she pulled the battery. Or broke her phone."

"Didn't just run flat by any chance?" you ask, tucking a stray lock of hair behind your ear.

"No, it isn't," Yuuki says with absolute certainty. "Ungraceful shutdown of her phone, terminated mid-push notification. Has to be a battery pull or damage or similar - it can't be her shutting the phone down normally or the battery running out."

"... ah, I see," you say, frowning. Something to follow up on that. "Do I owe you anything for that?"

"Normally, I'd charge a Grief Seed," Yuuki says, rolling her eyes. "Unusual circumstances, however..."

"Ah. Thanks, I appreciate it," you say, and wave back towards the main group, where it seems like conversation's dying down, anyway. "Shall we?"

Yuuki shrugs, and heads over to join the others, whereupon she smacks Yuuna on the shoulder.

"Hey, everyone, hey Sayaka," you say. "Oh, first - Miss Nakano, here." You proffer the Clear Seed to Mika. "I have to warn you - do not let this touch a normal Grief Seed. The Grief Seed will pull any Grief from the Clear Seed and possibly hatch it right there."

Mika snatches the Clear Seed from you, all but vibrating with excitement. "Cool."

"No, not cool," you say. "The Witch hatching part, anyway."

Mika shrugs, pressing the Grief Seed to her Soul Gem and pouting when there's no visible change - her Soul Gem's still essentially clean. You don't miss the way Ayaka and Miyako's eyes follow the movement with envious eyes.

"Anyway..." you say, turning back to the group and folding your arms. "I can understand not wanting a Clear Seed right now. But make no mistake, I plan on distributing them to every group I can reach - and yes, that does include Sendai. I think I can trust them, with Miss Mori in charge of the group now instead of Hamasaki. But maybe you might prefer to have a Clear Seed later, when there are more groups with Clear Seeds?"

Yuuki dips her head in agreement. "That would be... A lot more acceptable," she says, tilting her head slightly to catch Miyako's eyes. The orange haired girl frowns stubbornly, folding her arms.

Not your argument to step into.

"Anyway. Sayaka!" you say, grinning at your friend. "Pick up anything cool?"

"Eh heh heh, kind of?" she says, scrubbing at the back of her hair sheepishly. You can feel the odd twisting of her magic, little knots trailing off the main body like pendants dangling from a necklace.

"My powers are plenty cool," Kimiko says, arching an eyebrow high.

"Yeah, she's got lightning!" Sayaka says, holding her two hands out, palms facing each other.

There's a pop, and then there's suddenly two Sayakas. Both blink in unison, and then fall on their asses.

Aki taps her chin in consideration, propping herself insouciantly against a convenient vent. "Huh. Never had that problem," she muses.

"I think-" both Sayaka's eyes cross. "I think I need to practice. Can I get ri-" There's a sharp pop, and one of the Sayakas vanish. "Oh thank god. That was weird."

You laugh, and lean forward to offer her a hand up. "Got confused over your many, many powers?"

"I think so," Sayaka says, grinning sheepishly at you as she lets you pull her to her feet. "Uhh... Miss Koizumi, do you get double-vision from your clones?"

The girl scratches at her boyishly short hair. "Yes," she says. "But it's easy to deal with. Hit me up if you get better at it, always wondered what it'd be like to fight another cloner."

"Uhh... sure," Sayaka says, looking a little uncomfortable. "Right."

"Heh," you say, stepping forward a little to take the heat off Sayaka. "Speaking of, I don't suppose you guys would like to meet up sometime for non-business stuff? Just for fun?"

"You'll have to come to us," Miyako observes, an interested gleam in her eye as she folds her arms over her chest. The ribbons -cream, orange like her hair, yellow- festooning her dress rustle with the movement. "We can't exactly travel."

"I'm up for it!" Mika says, waving her hand and grinning.

"Yeah, 'course," you say. "Anyway... Mami, Sayaka? Anything else?"

"No," Mami says, taking your arm. Her eyes flicker over to Ayaka for a split second before looking away - Ayaka was her student, wasn't she? She'd warned you to take care of Mami, way back then.

You don't think you've done too badly. There are many, many things you could have done better, but... you haven't done too badly.

You catch Mami's eyes, raising your eyebrows slightly. Does she want to talk to Ayaka?

Mami's smile is a little melancholy, but she shakes her head.

"I'm good!" Sayaka says, mood undimmed despite her confusion with her new crop of powers.

"Then... see you all sometime," you say, nodding at the Ishinomaki girls. "I'm actually trying to work on something more permanent than me having to come by every week to do the cleansing, but I'm not sure when, if ever, I'll succeed. So for now, until next time."

You exchange goodbyes and pile back onto your mobile oppression fortress. You take a moment to form more comfortable seats before sealing up the front again and taking off. You have an enormous amount of Grief with you right now - and even with your vague notion to give it to Kyuubey, the creature hadn't shown up, anyway.

Regardless, controlling it isn't a problem for you, so for now - back to Mitakihara to pick up Nadia, and then onwards to Sendai.

Mami curls up against you with a happy sigh, wrapping her arms around your waist and resting her head on your shoulder.

"Nice girls," Sayaka opines as you zip higher, leaving Ishinomaki behind you. "They uh... seemed a bit scared of you, though."

"Right, I don't think I ever told you the full story, did I?" you say, grinning sheepishly, and start to recount the tale. You start with Sakura, Rin, and Akiko's trip through Mitakihara, and spare a bit of your attention to check in on Nadia - apparently she's finished her second hunt with no problem and is more than happy to wait for a pick up.

"... so naturally, Mami, Kirika, and I kicked their asses," you say, smirking proudly. You'd glossed over exactly what the Sendai trio were in Mitakihara for, of course, and moved on to their supposed ambush in Ishinomaki. "Right, Mami?"

"Mmm," she agrees. "We did."

"Yeah," you say, pursing your lips. "We never did find out the full story behind the whole Kato Setsuko thing. But... yeah."

"'xplains a lot," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes. She'd listened avidly, in between condensing her powers down into the little charms. "They were kind of afraid of you at first."

"Ouch," you say, wincing. "Anyway, what powers do you have there?"

"Uh..." Sayaka holds up the charms, each dangling from a string. "Mami's ribbons, Miss Bennouna's juggernaut power, the clone power, um, geokinesis? Is that a word? Lightning, um... some kind of super-eyesight? Miss Ueda wasn't absolutely clear about it. And hypnosis, I think."

Mami stirs at that last one, eyes darting up to you. Which would mean the hypnosis comes from Ayaka. You sigh quietly, taking her hand between both of yours and intertwining your fingers. You're not going to leave her.

Sayaka falls silent, smart enough to recognise when she'd touched a sore spot.

"Kagome Ayaka was one of Mami's ex-pupils, who left her," you murmur telepathically to your friend. "Touchy subject."

"So that's why she was asking after Mami and you," Sayaka says, a brief frown flickering over her face. "Why'd she leave?"

"I don't know for sure, but you know Mami's insistence on killing all Familiars during a hunt?" you say. "It's a very, very high standard to hold against magical girls who aren't us. Most can't afford it. I'm guessing they disagreed over it."

"Hrrrm." Sayaka scowls, sitting back in her chair and frowning.

The rest of the trip back to Mitakihara is spent in relative silence, suburban sprawl giving way to farmland and then rolling back into the suburbs and familiar skyline of Mitakihara. You pick up Nadia from the spire of the DBJ tower - an easy enough landmark.

The traveller takes a few steps straight up into the air and hops aboard, peering around the Grief structure with interest. She runs her hand over the walls. "This is Grief, yes?"

"Yup, hi Miss Bennouna," you say, tilting your head to follow her movement. Sayaka gives her a wave, and Mami's still nestled comfortably against you.

"Interesting," she says. "We are going now to Sendai?"

Voting opens May 5, 2017 at 4:00 PM
[] Head to Sendai
-[] No, something else
[] Who do you go to first?
-[] University group
-[] Sendai group
[] Enchantment along the way?
[] Anything specific to check on at Sendai?
[] Anything specific to talk about on the way?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

You may take it that cleansing and offering Clear Seeds will happen automatically.

 

[Firnagzen]

"Yup!" you confirm, forming a chair for Nadia. Nice and ergonomic and everything, much like the rest you'd already made. "Well- actually, anyone mind a side trip?"

Nadia cocks her head, almost birdlike in how sharp the movement is. "To where?"

"U-uh, just the old indistrial... distrcit," you say, tongue tangling for a second. You shake your head. "Gah. Industial district." You point your thumb over your shoulder. "I kind of want to have a look around for... OK, uh, story time?"

Nadia shakes her head, holding out index and thumb finger in front of her eye as if measuring something. "Decide first, will it take long? Is the trip important? I am on a schedule, fimti?"

"Ah," you say, frowning. "OK, I just want to do a quick search for a missing girl. It shouldn't be more than fifteen minutes," you say. You can hand it over to Masami if you don't find Kuroki - you kind of suspect you'll have to do that, anyway. Someone who's been lost for nearly a week isn't going to be found quite so easily.

Nadia sits back, sprawling in her chair. "Then that is fine," she says.

"Hold on, missing girl?" Sayaka asks, jerking upright. "A magical girl like us?"

"Yeah," you say, swerving the platform in a tight U-turn to head back east. "OK, so story time?" You glance at Nadia, checking. She nods, so you continue. "Right, uh... I found out about from a source of mine about a girl missing..."

You leave out the fact that you'd found out from Homura, of course. That would be difficult to explain, and you don't want to say it out loud where Kyuubey might hear, but you can explain the rest - how you'd been investigating via the Internet to no avail, and then asking both Kirika and Yuuki to help.

Which brings you to now, skimming past the towering scaffolds of rusting steel and pipes. You weave between the chimneys, some still belching forth plumes of steam or smoke. Not all the factories or plants are defunct and abandoned, but this definitely isn't a bustling hive of economic growth, either.

"Hey, Masami, Hiroko?" You reach out via telepathy for the other magical girl couple in the city, even as you focus mainly on searching the area with your senses. "You about?"

"Hello, Sabrina," Hiroko says. "How are you?"

"Hey, Sabrina! How's tricks?" Masami calls. "Having a good weekend?"

"The last time you sounded that cheerful, you were kicking Ono around," you observe mildly.

"That's probably true, but not this time!" Masami says, a clear vein of satisfaction filling her voice. "Right, Hiroko?"

"Right," Hiroko agrees, sounding equally pleased.

"... how is she doing?" you ask suspiciously as you swoop low to dive under a rather tall conveyer belt going into the top of some tower. Sayaka whoops, eyes bright with delight.

"Well, she's getting up to scratch," Masami says. "But I don't know if she really gets magical girl life."

"Hrm," you say. "Gotcha. I'd ask how you two are doing, but you sound in a good mood, so I assume good things?"

"Absolutely," Hiroko says, smirk audible in her mental voice.

"Right, then..." you say, pulling your phone out with your free hand - Mami's claimed ownership of your other arm for cuddling purposes. You'd told Nadia fifteen minutes. "Uh, remember I told you I might need a favour sometime?"

"Looking for some girl?" Masami says. "Uh... not today, but yeah?"

Hm. You had been hoping they could take it up today, but you can understand that, and you're out of time now. You swerve through a sharp loop, dodging an errant chimney. "Hey, Nadia, we're heading to Sendai now."

"Ah? No luck?" Nadia says, green eyes sharp. "You have... sensory power too?"

"Yes and yes - I can detect Grief and magic," you say, responding simultaneously to Masami. "Yeah, I've found confirmation of when and where she last turned her phone off. Or broke it, not sure. But I can't spend the time to physically check the area right now, any chance you could help?"

Nadia nods in understanding. "Useful."

"Sure," Masami says. "Shouldn't be a problem if it isn't too far? How'd you find out?"

"Industrial district," you say, and tell her the address. "Also, there's a girl in Ishinomaki who has tech powers."

"Oh!" Hiroko says. "How'd you contact her? Could you put me in touch?"

"Uh, sure?" you say. Mami stirs - she seems to have noticed your telepathic conversation. She peers up at your face, searching for something. You raise your eyebrows at her, and she smiles back before settling her head against your shoulder again. "Anytime you're free?"

Masami snickers in amusement. "Oh bo-"

"Yes, please!" Hiroko says, almost breathless with excitement. "Now?"

"... sure?" you say. "Uh, do remember about searching for Kuroki?"

"I got it, yeah," Masami agrees. "Maybe tonight, probably Monday."

"Right," you say, and extend your mind. "Miss Inoue?"

"Yes, Miss Sabrina?" Yuuki responds almost immediately.

"Uh, I've been asked to introduce you - this is Gaikotsu Masami and Wakahisa Hiroko," you say. "I think they have a commission for you?"

"Ah, I see," Yuuki says. "Good afternoon, Miss Gaikotsu, Miss Wakhisa."

You leave them to it, murmuring goodbyes and excusing yourself from the conversation. You admit to being curious about what project has Hiroko so excited, but it's probably not your place to ask. Besides, you can't imagine you won't find out inevitably.

... on the other hand, Hiroko might just want a less than legally licensed version of Photoshop or Maya or something. She does art, doesn't she?

Well, next call. You stretch your mind out, hunting for Chouko to let her know you're on the way over, and to check if she'd be OK with meeting you and the other Sendai group at the same time. She answers readily, as if she was waiting for your call - well, she might have been.

It turns out she'd rather meet you alone, so you guess you're doing that.

You shift, rolling your neck. "So we're going to meet the University group first, is that alright with everyone? And uh- does anyone mind if we get some enchanting practice done on the way there?"

Nadia laughs, rich and rolling. "I am not sure I will be able to teach you much, if that is what you want," she says. "I am not a teacher, fimti? I learned myself."

"Well, I was hoping for more eyes on," you admit. "Mami's awesome, and she's been helping me, of course, but um... you seem to be carrying a lot of enchanted gear. I thought a fresh perspective might be nice." You hug Mami, shooting her a quick smile to show that you don't think any less of her.

Nadia shrugs, the charms dangling from her belt tinkling with the motion.

Mami smiles back at you, sitting upright. "Actually, Miss Nadia, I was wondering... do you have a translation enchantment?"

"I do," Nadia says, raising a hand to touch her earrings. "They are not... translation exactly, they are like an automatic dictionary? They help me find the words, the grammar is hard."

"May I examine them?" Mami asks. You beam at her - she's definitely got something in mind.

You take a quick look out of the windshield. Despite the Witchy sensation, Nadia hasn't commented once about it, nor about the gigantic mass of Grief that trails behind you like a malignant swathe of spheres soaring through the sky. In any case, you're clear of anything you might run into, Mitakihara proper receding behind you.

"Hey, so I'm gonna take a few minutes to make something out of Grief, alright?" you say, glancing at both Sayaka and Nadia. They're the ones not quite in the know, after all.

Sayaka flashes you an absent thumbs up, clearly wrestling with a thought.

Nadia nods, already undoing her earrings for Mami to examine.

You claim a piece of Grief from the floor of the flying capsule, patching the whistling hole with more Grief drawn from your cloud. And so you reach deep into yourself for a familiar pattern, one you've already shaped before. Your will be done.

Grief moulds over your hand, fractal infinity giving way to burnished metal. The single gem gleams in its setting as the gauntlet takes form, and you clench your fist, grinning. "How long did that take, Mami?" you murmur.

"Um... five minutes?" she says. She's leaning comfortably against your shoulder, Nadia's earrings held in her hands. "Um... sorry, I wasn't watching the time."

"Ah, no problem," you say. "Sayaka, whatcha doing?"

The bleunette grins at you, holding up the crystallised powers she has. "Trying to see if I can store these better," she says. "I wanna see if I can make a... I dunno, a thing that gives me the exact gem I want when I want."

"Smart," you agree, and grin at Nadia. You can speak Darija, even if she doesn't have her translation earrings. "Are you doing alright, Nadia?"

She shrugs, looking amused. "I'm fine," she says, and points at the gauntlet on your hand. "What is that?"

"It's a tool that helps me with enchantment," you say, wiggling metal-clad fingers at her. "I'm not very good at enchanting, and this helps. The only problem is that it produces enchantments that unravel if they're taken out of my range."

"I see," Nadia says, blinking. "That's very useful. I assume the enchantments can be copied? Can other people use it?"

"Yes, and I would suppose so?" you say. "I've never considered that, actually. Would you like to try?"

Nadia purses her lips. "I'll pass, no offense."

"None taken," you say. "Then... I'm gonna try making some enchantments now."

Nadia waves, and returns to watching the landscape roll by beneath you.

You spend the rest of the time enchanting. The first thing you want is something that suppresses the feeling of active Grief. And that-

-fails, no matter how hard you force it. You're practicing with a random bit of wood Nadia dug out of a pocket for you, but no matter what, there's simply no pattern your magic can take, even with the help of your gauntlet.

Your frustration earns you amusement from Sayaka and Nadia, and a consoling hug from Mami.

You give up on that as you approach the outskirts of Sendai, and switch over to working on an enchantment to cleanse Soul Gems.

That gets you a blinding headache and a dangerous wobble in the flightpath. And also a smack on the head from Sayaka, and clear worry from Mami.

You sigh, giving it up on a bad job. You'd hoped to get more done before hitting Sendai, but at this point, you should probably concentrate on not crashing into things. You can multitask, but...

"I'm fine, Mami," you say, smiling reassuringly at her. "The headache's already fading. Just- just a bad interaction of my powers, I think. It happens when I try to shape something unusual."

"Maybe it's the gauntlet?" she says, slender fingers plucking gently at the edge of the metal gauntlet. "Some kind of feedback?"

"That's possible," you say. It would make sense, you suppose. Enchantments are one thing, but when you have your Grief-shaping in the loop, as it were, it might be a... well, a feedback loop of sorts. It would certainly explain the stabbing icepick of a migraine throbbing between your ears.

Sayaka's still working on her idea, though she's concluded that she wants some kind of cardboard or plastic to shape it out of. On the other hand, she's working with some contraption of sticks Nadia dug out from somewhere in her pockets, making it spin erratically with little sparks of magic.

Her annoyed pout is getting increasingly amusing.

At least Mami seemed to get something out of the examination of Nadia's earrings, handing them back after a while.

Eventually, you reach your destination - Tohoku University.

It's big.

It's bigger than Shirome.

And it's fencier than Mitakihara and Shirome Middle combined.

You can only describe it as postmodern Gothic architecture. Flying buttresses and spires, wrought not of stone but of glass and glittering chrome that almost swoops into the sky. The main building is a gigantic, airy affair that all but menaces with spikes and fences across its roof, overlooking a grassy field. The university green, probably, and that's where you were meeting the University girls.

Now that you think about that, they didn't look that much older than you. They can't all be university students, right?

You glide down for a landing on the nearest building. "Ladies and nonexistent gentlemen, welcome to Sendai airport. The local time is four PM, and temperature is a pleasant twenty degrees celsius. We hope you've had a pleasant flight, and thank you for flying Meguca Airlines."

"Oh, Sabrina," Mami says, giving you a fond smile as she stands, the Grief platform dissolving all around you. "Where are we meeting the University group?"

Nadia watches with interest as the Grief streams away.

"Yeah, where are we meeting them?" Sayaka asks.

"Uhh... Chouko said we'd meet at the main entrance to the University, then go to a nearby cafe," you say. "Shall we?"

Voting opens May 9, 2017 at 4:00 AM
[] What do you speak to the University girls about?
[] Anything to follow up on?
[] Do you ask about the Sendai Group?
[] Do you offer Clear Seeds?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

I will attempt to cover the entire meeting in the next update. Vote accordingly.

 

[Firnagzen]

"Sounds good to me!" Sayaka says, flashing you a V-for-victory sign.

And so you hop down to the alleyway below, leaving your Grief behind to brood on the roof. The blazes of light from your detransformation light up the brick walls, flickering bright one after another to leave you all in considerably more mundane wear.

Mami links elbows with you, sticking close as you head out of the alley. It's a bright, sunny day, pleasantly warm as you stroll up the main street leading to the grand wrought iron gates of the university. As you get nearer, you sense two meguca at the gates, standing together.

You spot them as you walk closer - Tsubaki Chouko and Suzuki Rei, leaning against the wall and conversing quietly. They look...

They look different, from when you'd last seen them. Chouko still has her pale blue hair in a braid settled over her shoulder, orange coloured eyes lighting up as she spots you. A broad smile splits her face, and she lifts one slender arm in a friendly wave. Rei looks up, following her friend's gaze. She smiles too, a little more reserved but no less pleased.

"You're popular," Sayaka murmurs.

"I guess I am!" you say.

They meet you halfway. They both look lighter, as if... well, there's nothing metaphorical about it. A load has been lifted from their shoulders, you suppose. They don't have the Sendai group breathing down their necks now. Rei's practically skipping.

"Hello!" Chouko says, beaming around at everyone. "Miss Sabrina, how are you? Miss- Miss Bennouna?"

"I'm doing fine, thank you," you say. You introduce everyone, walking and talking. Mami needs no introduction, of course, even beyond the fact that she was here with you the last time. To your lack of surprise, Nadia's been here before, too, though not recently. You let Nadia chat with them, catching up with recent events.

"And this way-" Rei's taken the lead, bringing you into a nearby apartment building. You can sense the other girls upstairs. "I live here with my sister," she explains as she unlocks the door. "Hey, everyone, they're here!"

The last two Tohoku University girls are lounging around the little apartment, relaxed and apparently content. That changes as soon as the door opens, though, and you're all but buried under the enthusiastic greetings - each and every one of the University girls are pretty pleased to see Mami and yourself.

It's almost festive in here, the Tohokus simply relaxing around the apartment, all content and pleased. It's a nice apartment, too, cheerful pastel colours painting the walls, with planters full of lush greenery set all over.

Sayaka seems quizzically amused, hanging back a little. But that won't do. You nudge her forward, introducing her to everyone: Umeko Yuko, the invisibility girl currently sitting on the end of the sofa, and Suzuki Haru, Rei's sister. Plants, if you recall, in sharp contrast to her bone-white hair and her sister's paper-and-green hair.

Come to think of it, the plants are probably Haru's doing. The platters of fresh grapes and strawberries and watermelon, too.

"So how's everyone been in the past week?" you ask nibbling on a slice of perfectly red and sweet watermelon.

"Good!" Chouko answers, a smirk tugging the side of her lips. "Miss Mori's ceded us back the territory they stole from us, and, well, life has been pretty good."

"Yeah," Haru chimes in, raising a laconic finger. She's hardly stirred from the sofa, draped over one armrest like a particularly fluid cat. She does grin at you, though. "Think you can get us visitation rights on Hamasaki? I'd love to laugh in her face."

"Haru..." Yuko chides, brushing back her plum-purple hair as she stands and waves you towards the sofa. "But really, thank you, Miss Sabrina."

"I couldn't stand by and not do anything," you say, moving over and sitting, Mami squeezing in beside you. Sayaka drags a chair over, but Nadia seems content to lean against a wall and observe in silence while munching on a handful of grapes. "So everything's good, then? Also, cleansing, everyone? Soul Gems and Grief Seeds?"

That does earn you a slightly wary look from Yuko. She probably remembers you grabbing Moe's Soul Gem, back in that Sendai fight.

It might be selfish, but some tiny, quiet part of you is glad to avoid the awkwardness of going to offer the Fukushima girls cleansing, too.

"Yeah," Chouko says, holding her palm out as her Soul Gem shimmers into its egg form. You're presented with a glittering array of Gems and Grief Seeds -they've been saving- that you cleanse, wiping free the Grief and sending it flowing out the window.

"Thank you, Miss Sabrina," Chouko says, beaming at you as she inspects her Soul Gem.

"No problem," you say, flashing a smile and reaching into your pockets. "Now, uh... I have a proposition for all of yo-" Sayaka nudges you in the side, grinning cheekily. "Aaaaand a favour to ask of all of you for Sayaka- actually, Sayaka, do you want to take this?"

Sayaka grins, and shoots to her feet. "Gladly," she says, essaying a little wave. "Hi everyone, my magic lets me copy other people's powers. May I copy your powers? I don't take them away from you or anything, I just get to play with your powers."

"And there's no downsides or anything?" Rei asks, perched on the armrest next to her sister.

"There aren't," Mami offers, sitting up straight. "We've tested it with my powers."

"I see," Chouko says. She's the first to step forward, and with the dam broken, Sayaka soon has another set of four powers: flight, plant control, paper control, and invisibility.

"You mentioned a proposition, Miss Sabrina?" Chouko asks, turning back to you.

You swallow your mouthful of watermelon. "Yeah," you say, holding up the Clear Seed.
You launch into your standard spiel about the Clear Seeds, caveats, likelihood of being targetted and all. "And, uh... just for the record, I do intend to meet with the Sendai group later. They've been quiet, right? With that in mind, I'm probably going to offer them one, too."

That sets off some discussion, worried looks exchanged between the girls.

"Can we... persuade you not to give one to them?" Chouko ventures.

"I would strongly prefer to be able to offer it to them. Whether they accept is their prerogative," you say, wincing.

"And if they start making trouble again, this time with unlimited magic?" Yuko asks, frowning heavily at you. "Miss Mori has been peaceable so far, but there's no guarantee that the others won't take over. Or Hamasaki waking up from her... whatever it is."

"Then you holler for us, we come back and knock their heads together," you say simply. "I understand your worries. I understand you might become targets, if other magical girls hear about you having a Clear Seed. But I don't want to leave magical girls in the lurch."

"And..." you hesitate for a split second. "Have you learned about the Marshall Plan? In history? It's better to not leave the people you defeated impoverished, because that might drive them to desperation. And I apologise if this is a touchy thing, but you girls know how bad scarcity of Grief Seeds can get, right?"

Chouko sighs, as does Yuko. The sisters look rather tired.

"We do. And I understand your position," Chouko admits. "We accept. Will you help, if we are attacked?"

"Of course," you say. "Well... to be honest, if someone comes after you for the Clear Seed, and you can't fight back, you might as well just give it to them. I can always make you a new one, and then I can go after them. Better that than you get hurt, right?"

Chouko nods slowly, looking thoughtful - as do the rest of the Tohokus. "Understood," she says. "Then... I presume you will need a Grief Seed to empty out?"

"Yeah," you say. "And a few minutes."

The blue haired girl hands one over to you, and you accept it with a smile. Mami gives you a little smile, wrapping her arm around your waist and nestling closer as you take a few breaths to center yourself.

"... by the way," you say, starting to reach into the Grief Seed with your will. "Look, you're the Tohoku University group, right?"

"Yes?" Chouko says, tilting her head curiously.

"Has anyone ever called you the Touhou girls?" you ask. "I ask because... Touhou, Tohoku?"

"... I don't thin-"

Nadia barks an amused laugh, popping off the wall. "I have heard that one!" she says.

Rei groans, burying her face in her hands. "There are people out there who know me as one of the Touhou girls," she mutters in mortified despair.

You snicker, turning the majority of your focus to the Grief Seed, fractal nightmare of Grief already bleeding into the air to drift out the open window. It's heavy lifting: not complicated, but something that takes some effort to accomplish. You listen with half an ear to the conversation - Sayaka and Mami start chatting with the Ishinomaki girls, Nadia still content to observe.

Observe you, specifically, her eyes boring into the back of your head. To be fair, it's not like she's alone - all of the University girls give the drifting Grief uneasy looks. The only person in the room who doesn't give you odd looks is Mami, and that's because she has her head pillowed comfortably against your shoulder.

"Oh, Chouko," you say, raising your eyes to give her a grin. "I wanna challenge you to a flying contest sometime. Or just hang out, really, one of two."

"What'll you give us when you lose?" Chouko says, grinning challengingly.

"Iunno. I'm already giving you a Clear Seed," you shrug, grinning back.

"Nah, race me!" Sayaka says with a wide smirk.

"Yes, that," you say, pointing a finger at Sayaka. "Anyway, I would like to hang out sometime, if you guys want."

"Sure," Chouko says. "We'd all be happy to, I think."

"Yeah," Haru says, waving a lazy arm in the air.

It doesn't take you too much longer to complete the Clear Seed, sending the last of the Grief sailing out through the window in billowing wisps. You collect it all into the titanic, brooding mass sitting on the window - at this point, you have enough to build a small apartment building in its entirety. Or a hotel.

"And here we are," you say, presenting the Clear Seed to Chouko. You repeat your warnings and requests to her. "Just... be excellent to other magical girls. Help them if you can, and send them to me if you can't."

"Of course," Chouko says, taking the Clear Seed with hands that shake just a bit. There's clear awe in her eyes, the other University girls crowding around to take a look. Even Haru deigns to lever herself off the sofa to have a closer inspection.

"Thank you, Miss Sabrina," Rei says, bowing to you. And that sets off the others, all four of the Tohoku girls bowing deeply to you.

You wave it off, a little uncomfortable with their gratitude, and with that done, banter with them a little more. It turns out Haru is the one growing the fruit served, demonstrated when she casually sprouts a handful of fresh, juicy plums off a vine for everyone.

... plums don't even grow on vines. And you're pretty sure that was a grape vine she grew the plums on, which is just all kinds of wrong, but then again, magic is such bullshit.

Eventually, it's time to go - all the University group girls see you off at the foyer of the building, waving.

You wave back as you leave, a bounce in your step.

Mami smiles at you, eyes warm. "You've done a good thing," she says softly.

Not softly enough, it turns out. Nadia belts out a loud laugh. "I said it earlier, but you are mad, Sabrina," she says.

"I must be. Or I wouldn't have come here," you agree, smirking. "Anything in particular?"

"You are giving away your Clear Seeds," Nadia says. "They are probably the most valuable things in the world right now, fimti?"

"Eh," you say. "I want to help people. And I told you as much, didn't I?"

"It is a different thing to see it," she says, and grins. "I will carry word of you, as far as I go. You will be famous."

Voting opens May 13, 2017 at 1:00 AM
[] Any particular reaction to Nadia?
[] Go to the Sendai Group
- [] Anything in particular to say?
- [] Cleansing, refreshing their Grief Seeds
- [] Offer a Clear Seed
- [] Look in on Akiko?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

The next vote will take you through to the Sendai Group (unless you vote otherwise, of course).

 

[Firnagzen]

You laugh.

"That's the idea," you say. You grin right back at her, fierce and pleased. "I want to be famous. Or- I want what comes with being famous. These aren't my Grief Seeds I'm giving out." You exhale, and hold your free hand out to her. "Thank you for believing and helping me, Nadia. I... I will fix this."

Instead of shaking your hand, she clasps it, palm to palm. "Hold on to that optimism, fimti? You will need it."

"She's not going to do it alone," Mami says, squeezing your free hand with her interlaced fingers.

"I see she is not," Nadia says, nodding.

Sayaka harumphs, folding her arms. "You know, I still don't get why this is such a big deal," she grumbles, the smirk ticking the side of her mouth giving lie to her faked discontent. "But it is a big deal, I know that. If we're doing all these dramatic declarations of support, I'm in too."

The street's not too crowded, so you unclasp your hand and wheel to face Sayaka, Mami moving in perfect synchronisation. "Sayaka, I'm not sure I've said it in these words before, but we four in Mitakihara? You, Homura, Mami, me? We are privileged. We are the one percent of the one percent. You've seen some of what it's like for everyone else. Nadia wasn't kidding when she said Clear Seeds might be the most valuable things in the world."

"I've been getting that impression, yeah," Sayaka says. "I... bah. Look, I don't need a speech, I'm in. Like I said."

You snort softly. "Sorry, it's a habit," you offer half-heartedly.

Sayaka rolls her eyes. "Right. Wasn't there one last group we're here to see?"

"Yeah, uh, about that," you say, rubbing your nose. "I should probably let them know we're here? And then we should probably find some way to occupy ourselves for a bit so that, uh, they don't know we're here without permission?"

Mami muffles a giggle against her hand. Nadia, of course, has no such reservations, throwing her head back and laughing. "Always something funny," she gasps, eyes dancing.

You sigh, rolling your eyes. Mami squeezes your hand, tugging you onwards as you reach out by telepathy. "Hello, Miss Mori?"

"Ah, Miss Sabrina," the healer responds a few seconds later. "I've been expecting your call."

"Oh, good," you say, willingly following as Mami strolls onwards aimlessly. You'd told her that you were coming, yes, but you haven't contacted her today. Which, really, brings you to your dilemma, and a bit of a white lie. "Hey, can I drop by for the cleansing soon? The rest of the group won't get upset?"

A heavy sigh flows over the telepathic link. "Feel free to drop by," she says. "For free cleansing, they... we will tolerate you. Akiko..."

You hear the shrug. "I see," you say. You don't, really, but you will, with your own two eyes. Akiko can't still be catatonic, can she? "I'll be along soon, then."

"See you," Rin says.

"See you," you echo. The white lie, pretending that you aren't technically already here without their knowledge... It smooths many feathers, you suppose. You can imagine the stream of invective, starting mostly with the letter 'f', coming from Sakura if you didn't. Then again, you might be getting that anyway, and it's not like you know the rest of Rin's crew all that well, right.

"Alrighty," you say, smiling at Mami. "We have... ah, twenty minutes to spend?"

"Hmm... I wonder if there are any music shops around?" Sayaka muses. "Or an arcade?"

"We passed a music shop," Mami says.

"Oh yeah, you're right!" Sayaka says, pivoting on her foot. "C'mon!"

"Getting more music for Kwasuke-kun, eh?" you say, waggling your eyebrows at Sayaka.

She flushes red. "It's not like that! I genuinely like the music!"

"Ah, but of course," Mami says, nodding wisely. "You also like sharing it~"

Sayaka blushes brighter, and sticks her nose in the air as she marches away. "I'm ignoring you two now."

"'Kwasuke-kun'," Nadia muses, pursing her lips. "'-kun' is for boys."

"Mmmmhm," you say. "And well, maybe, to answer your next question."

"Ah," Nadia says, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "I understand."

Mami giggles, hugging your arm closer.

"Anyway, shall we? Though-" you don't need to look to feel the masses of Grief you have. You know where each and every single piece is: the bag full of marbles bouncing at your side, outlining the deadly shape of the obrez, the monstrously large primary mass of Grief you direct over the rooftops in an endless waterfall of malevolently dark spheres...

"Though?" Mami says.

"I think I'll step out for a moment, when we reach the music store?" you say, coming to a decision. "I need to drop off the Grief, I have way too much, and it's getting impractical."

Mami's eyes flick up to yours, and you see comprehension fade into worry. "I-"

You stop, and pull her into a proper hug. You get looks from the passersby, but you don't care. Mami's the only thing that's important. She hugs back with crushing force, clinging tight to you. You stroke her back in slow, soothing circles. "It's OK, Mami."

She sniffs quietly. "I-I'm sorry. I s-shouldn't-"

"No," you whisper. "There isn't a shouldn't. You feel how you feel, alright? And I'm willing to give you all the time and attention you need for you to feel better."

"I-I know," she says, pulling back far enough to give you a smile that's only just a bit teary. "I know. It's just- hard."

"I know," you whisper, smiling back. "I'm still here, right?"

She indulges in the hug a few moments longer, before pulling back. You see the way her lips move, shaping the first syllable of 'sorry' before she dips her head and smiles hesitantly at you.

You take her hand, interlacing your fingers with hers, and look up to find Sayaka standing with her back to the two of you, glowering at the curious pedestrians. She must have noticed, and hurried back. You give her a grateful smile. Clear cerulean eyes meet yours, and she smirks.

"Um... shall we go to that music store?" Mami suggests in a rather small voice.

"Yeah," Sayaka says, grinning to smooth over the awkward silence. "Let's go!"

You squeeze Mami's hand, and follow. The music store's set in the front of a large, airy building. You don't head in, but you give Mami one more tight hug and a promise to return as fast as you can. You give Sayaka a sharp look, and she rolls her eyes before nodding. You turn away and down the nearest alleyway, scaling the side of the building in a few rapid bounds.

"Kyuubey," you call, shaking brick dust off your hand from where you'd trailed it up the wall. "I have Grief for you."

"The Grief is always appreciated, Sabrina," the Incubator's words flow into your mind promptly, the little white alien's body stalking out from behind the stairwell. "As will the reduced workload from having to modify memories of people who see your Grief."

It almost sounds like the Incubator's scolding you. And it's not like you're happy about those mindwipes, but... you just want this done quick and smoothly so you can make good on your promise and get back to the important things. Like Mami. So you're just going to ignore that.

Instead, you summon the Grief to yourself with a wave of your hand, a gigantic wave of spheres cascading down towards you. The Incubator watches with unblinkingly, fluffy tail lashing in slow, metronomic motions.

"Do you know how much trouble you're going to cause with the Clear Seeds?" Kyuubey asks.

"Lots, or so everyone tells me," you say, eyeing the Grief. You leave a decent chunk for everyday use, and you make damned sure you seperate out all the spheres containing your stuff. Homura's notebook, particularly. The rest you draw together into a titanic, ominous sphere that hovers over your heads.

Without being prompted, Kyuubey presents its back to you. You spin Grief off the main mass, ostensible solid flowing like liquid into a slender, pouring stream that you drive into the hole in the Incubator's back. You'd briefly considered compressing it, but it's not like you need to, and you don't really want to broadcast the sensation of Witch, anyway.

Grief under your control moves fast, all but blistering the air as you slam it through the hole. The deep purple sphere bleeds mass, waves crawling across its surface as you siphon away congealed despair. It dwindles smaller and smaller, the downdraft of air dragged along by the Grief enough to rustle the hem of your shirt until there's nothing, the last, slender spike of Grief driven into the Incubator.

"Thank you for the Grief," Kyuubey says, pawing at itself. It rolls over to fix you with glassy pink eyes.

"Thank you for taking it off my hands," you say, rolling your eyes. Seems to be the thing to do. Without another word, you turn on a heel and drop off the side of the roof, landing in a smooth crouch. You smooth your clothes down and wander out of the alleyway to find your friends.

Mami's eyes are already rising to meet yours through the glass front of the store before you round the corner. That preternatural sixth or seventh sense of hers, heh. She practically teleports to you, and you greet her with a hug that sweeps her off her feet.

"Hey," you say, smiling at her. "Are you OK?"

"Better now," she says, the anxiety melting off her face as she smiles back at you.

Sayaka waves at you through the window, pointing at her basket, and then the counter. You flash her a thumbs up - that gives you a bit of time to cuddle with Mami, anyway. You're not going to object about that.

Nadia and Sayaka rejoin you a few minutes later, Sayaka swinging a small plastic bag from her finger. Checking your phone, you decide that enough time has passed, which means it's time to go and meet the Sendai girls.

Neutral territory, a park, so you get airborne. Well, neutral for this meeting, anyway; a meeting with the University girls wouldn't be neutral in a park for Haru to bend to her will. The four of you get airborne, and along the way, you explain the situation to Sayaka and Nadia both.

You make particular note of the whole Kato Setsuko... anomaly that triggered off the whole mess, of course. You still haven't gotten to the root of that, the missing girl who might have started off Akiko's obsession with Grief Seeds. You think that she Witched out in Ishinomaki territory, whether because of the Ishinomaki Group's actions or not, and that set off everything.

But you're not sure.

Eventually, you're descending towards a building near the park, rather than try to land your Mobile Oppression Fortress in a crowded location. And it is crowded. Sunday in a fairly large city, of cour-

A surge of magic.

Vwwp.

Sayaka yelps, spinning on the spot. Shining steel flashes into existence, Sayaka brandishing a sword at the newcomer.

Sakura -who else would it be?- glares back, arms folded over her brown jacket and white undershirt. She doesn't even have a weapon but for a scowl directed at Sayaka. "Put that fucking toy away," she growls. "I'm not here to fight."

"Then don't- don't startle us like that!" Sayaka snaps back. She does lower her sword, though.

Mami's free hand eases from a clenched fist, and you feel the subtle, subtle magic of a ribbon dissolving. You didn't even see it.

Nadia seems completely unruffled by the altercation, tilting her head in that birdlike manner of hers. "Tachibana Sakura?" she asks.

"Yeah? Oh. You." It takes a moment for Sakura recognise the traveller, and she unwinds far enough to give her a short bow. "You're with the Witch Girl?"

"I am passing through, and she has been gracious enough to give me a lift and allow me to observe, fimti?" Nadia says with an amused smirk and a gesture at you.

Sakura folds her arms again, turning to you. "Anyway, Rin sent me to check whether that was you," she mutters. "As if there was any doubt, Witch girl. They're at the big pavilion."

Vwwp.

Sayaka blinks at the space where Sakura had been, expression twisted in disbelief. "She's... friendly."

"Yeah, I was hoping she'd have mellowed out over the week," you say with a sigh. "She seems to have, ah, simmered nicely in her dislike."

"Jeeze, she doesn't need to take an ass-kicking that personally," Sayaka mutters. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah, we probably should," you say with a sigh, choosing not to get into the matter of, well, Akiko. You'd covered it already, no point bringing it up again. Mami squeezes your hand, giving you an encouraging look.

Nadia laughs again, apparently amused. "It is just ruffled feathers," she says. "They will get over it, or they will not."

You sigh again, hopping off the edge of the roof. Mami doesn't let your hand go, following you down and landing in easy tandem with you. All four of you stroll out onto the street and over to the park, threading the crowds.

There are three of them at the pavillion, three out of five. Akiko and someone left as a caretaker, you'd assume.

Rin stands as you approach, giving you a small, but genuine smile that touches her green eyes. "Good to see you, Sabrina," she says. Sakura's not here. Instead, you see Minami Yumi, dressed in a close-cut green blouse that complements her iron grey hair. Gravity, if you recall correctly.

Well, you also recall snatching her Soul Gem from her and fighting a brief, one-sided tug of war with her gravity powers for it. Which would explain how strained her polite smile and murmured niceties are. On Rin's right is Tanaka Tamiko, the girl with the iridescent, orange-tinted force fields. She brushes back her long hair, giving you a sharp nod.

"Good to see you too, Rin," you say. "Um, so this is Mami, of course, she was here last time. This is Miki Sayaka, my friend, and Bennouna Nadia."

Nadia nods, taking a step forward to shake Rin's hand. There's a spark of recognition in Tamiko and Yumi's expression, but not to Rin - it seems like she actually hasn't met Nadia before. The Moroccan girl's in her element as she introduces herself and explains what she does, Rin nodding along.

The healer seems a tad surprised, but hides it well.

"Ah, but I do not mean to steal the spotlight," Nadia says. "Sabrina?"

"Right, thanks," you say. "Anyway, is everything going well, Rin?"

"They are, thank you," Rin says with a careful nod. She brushes back her black hair. "It's been a quiet week, really, and things have needed some... settling into."

"Yeah," you say, wincing. You don't want to undermine her authority - hell, you're not absolutely sure what the situation's like. Is she leading by dint of having seized power, or whether because they are willing to follow. "How's hunting been?"

"Hunting is... sustainable," Rin says. "We've given some territory back to Miss Chouko's group."

Tamiko tilts her head, giving Rin a look.

"Well, that's good," you say, a little at a loss for small talk. "So, uh... cleansing?"

"That would be appreciated," Rin says with a little smile. She offers her Soul Gem readily, emerald green Gem sparkling in the sun. Tamiko tenses as she produces hers, keeping it caged between her fingers, as does Yumi. You're presented with a generous array of Grief Seeds, too. More than you'd expect, for their group, but then...

Akiko had been stockpiling, hadn't she?

You take a breath, and wipe them all clean with a theatric wave of your hands. Fractal banners of Grief drift free, winding around you and collapsing into little marbles that you send streaming away.

Tamiko tucks her Soul Gem away with a little more alacrity than is strictly polite, but you don't grudge her that.

"So, uh... how's Akiko?" you ask carefully.

Rin's expression goes blank. "She's... coherent. Why?"

[] Offer a Clear Seed (conditions and warnings will be automatic)
[] Ask to allow Sayaka to copy powers
[] Ask after Akiko
- [] Ask to see Akiko
- [] Write-in how
[] Avoid the subject, leave
- [] Write-in what to do
[] Write-in

Voting opens May 16, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Apologies for cutting this one off a little early, but the update's starting to get a little too long. The key write-in in this vote is about Akiko; what, specifically, do you want to do?

 

[Firnagzen]

Your gaze drops to your lap for a second. Akiko... Akiko's probably your biggest failure. You don't really like to think about it, but you drove her to that, even if unintentionally.

Mami, seated beside you, covers your hand in both of hers and squeezes gently.

You sigh heavily, drawing strength from the contact. "That's good," you say, looking back up at Rin. "Is there anything I can do to help her recovery?"

"Supplying cleansing to ease our burdens helps a lot," Rin says slowly and carefully. "But probably not beyond that. Your concern is appreciated."

"Yeah, well," you say, rubbing at your face. "I'm sorry. I wish it hadn't happened. We had our... differences, but Akiko's as much a victim of this whole magical girl system as anyone else."

Rin inclines her head slightly. Tamiko and Yumi both look a touch mollified, and Sayaka... Well, Sayaka doesn't say anything, though it looks like she really wants to. You're thankful for her having that much tact, at any rate.

"I suppose that seeing her would be out of the question?" you venture. "I'd understand, of course."

"I think it would be best not to," Rin says.

"Yeah, I understand," you say with a nod, and sigh. "For what it's worth, I really am sorry."

"It would've been better if you hadn't done it- mmph!" Yumi's grumbling is cut off by a glittering, iridescent orange hexagon clamping her mouth shut. Tamiko has her finger raised, eyes narrowed at her teammate.

"Thanks, Tamiko," Rin says. "Yumi..."

You sigh again. "I'm sorry. I truly am," you say, meeting the other girl's eyes. "There was no way I could have ignored it, and I hate that it's come to this."

Yumi manages to scowl, folding her arms. Rin frowns at her, rebuking her telepathically if you're any judge.

Rin shakes her head. "And I apologise for Yumi, too," she says, grimacing. "Is there anything else?" Unspoken is the promise that Yumi will probably get a proper earful after this.

"Um, yes, actually," you say. "And I understand. But yes, there's one last thing." You reach inside your pocket and pull out Hildegard for the... Third? Fourth? Something-th time today.

"This is what I call a Clear Seed," you say. "It's... Well, I developed this recently. I control Grief, right? This is what I get when I empty a Grief Seed out all the way. It cleanses as normal... Sayaka? Do you mind?"

Sayaka rolls her eyes, but grins and flips her hand palm up for her Soul Gem to materialise. You lob Hildegarde at her, and she catches it easily, presenting her Soul Gem to the Sendai girls. The thin, filmy patina of Grief is clearly visible in the slanting afternoon sunlight, and soaked away by a simple touch of Hildegarde's Seed.

"Ta-dah!" Sayaka says, displaying her sparkling clean Soul Gem with a flourish.

"So it lasts longer?" Rin guesses.

"A few thousand times longer," you say, tilting your head and smiling. "Maybe a few tens of thousands? I don-"

"WHAT?!" The forcefield clamping Yumi's mouth shut shatters with the force of her cry as she explodes to her feet. "You- wh- I don't believe you-"

Tamiko frowns, gesturing with both palms flat. Forcefields form against Yumi's thighs and lever under her knees, forcibly folding her legs and sitting her back down on the bench.

"Yeah, I admit, I've never tested them to that extent," you admit, smiling placidly. You know that's not her objection, and you'll never admit to intentionally missing it, but you're allowed a little mischief now and then. "But the theory holds up, and they've behaved properly so far for most part."

"What's the catch?" Rin says, over Yumi's fuming complaints.

"I suppose... well, the catch, if you want to put it that way, is that I'm offering to make these free to every magical girl group I come across," you say. "The University Group has already accepted one, in anticipation of you accepting one."

"I... see," Rin says. "I- yes, Tamiko?" She glances at the orange haired girl, who gestures at her. "Yes, of course. We'll accept, Miss Sabrina. Is there any other catch?"

"Yes." You flatten both palms against your thighs, leaning forward and looking her dead in the eye. "My one condition for this is that you don't use these to harm other magical girls. In fact, I ask the opposite - I ask you to help other magical girls if it's at all tenable. And if we hear of any magical girl conflict over a Clear Seed, from either side, we're coming down on them. Hard."

Rin swallows, and nods. "That... that won't be a problem," she says, and sighs. She opens her mouth, as if to say something, but shuts it. After a moment, she settles for a simple, "Message received."

"Good," you say, leaning back and rubbing wearily at your eyes. You take a moment and force yourself to relax, listening to the hubbub of a weekend at the park filtering in from beyond the little pavilion. You can hear children playing, and adults enjoying their break. Mami claims your hand again, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry to have to put it in such strong terms, but..."

"I understand," Rin says, and frowns at Yumi. "Right, Yumi?"

Tamiko apparently gives Yumi permission to speak, removing the force field from the grey-haired girl's mouth. "I- c'mon, Rin, this isn't about that, this is big. How can you be so calm, we- we'd never have to fight for our lives again." She looks at you. "You're giving us one? This is..." She makes a bitter noise, expression twisting. "This is the ultimate security, isn't it?"

You catch Nadia's amused expression out of the corner of your eye. Seems she's familiar with that turn of phrase, too.

"I suppose so," Rin says, chuckling humourlessly. "Ah, well. Do we have to take care of these in a special way or anything, Miss Sabrina?"

"Yeah, actually," you say. "OK, so keep in mind I only developed these things recently. If there are any problems, you need to let me know. The only thing I've found out so far is that you can't put normal Grief Seeds and a Clear Seed together, because the Grief Seed will suck the, well, Grief out of the Clear one and spawn the Witch again."

"Don't put them together, understood," Rin says, blinking.

"Hey Sabrina," Sayaka's voice pulses inside your head. "I suppose it would be a bad idea to ask if I can copy their powers."

"Yeah," you say, to both of them, and continue telepathically to Sayaka. "I was hoping they hadn't, ah, simmered in their resentment over what I did. Unfortunately, well..."

"Then, once again, we accept," Rin says, nodding. "I assume you require a Grief Seed to make a clear one?"

"Yep," you say, ignoring Sayaka's sarcastic, "I wonder why." At least Sayaka's getting better at hiding when she's using telepathy.

"Then here," Rin says, extracting a Grief Seed from a pocket and passing it over to you. "How long will it take?"

"Uh... a couple of minutes? But I'll need a quieter spot," you say. "It's, uh, not the most inconspicuous process."

"Yumi? Your place?" Rin asks.

"No, no, I just need a rooftop or something," you say, standing. "You're welcome to come and watch, but it's not that interesting."

"No, no, it is very interesting!" Nadia offers, grinning.

"Um," Rin says. "We... don't have anything else scheduled for now?"

And that's how you gain a little cometary tail of magical girls following you out of the park, down a conveniently deserted alley, and up to the roof of an apartment building. You've already guided the primary mass of your Grief over - it's much more manageable, now that you've cut it down. Fewer UFO reports, or so you assume.

You plant your feet and hold the Grief Seed out on the point of one finger, feeling a little self-conscious about the way you're the focus of four curious pairs of eyes - Sayaka's sitting on a vent and popping out power gem after power gem. The University girl's powers, presumably. Mami's also watching you with a gentle smile on her face, but that you're fine with.

You take a breath, and you begin, drawing the Grief out of the Grief Seed in thick, viscous streams. Grief billows free in the air, dizzying fractal patterns enough to make Rin and Tamiko avert their eyes after a second, but you pay them no heed, guiding the Grief into a whirling accretion disc that you crush into sphere after sphere.

Finally, you're done. You gesture at the huge pile of Grief now lying all around you. "That's how much Grief the Seed can store," you say, and summon a single marble of Grief to orbit your upraised finger. "Two or three of these are an average cleansing."

The Sendai girls' eyes are very, very wide. You don't think you'll ever stop enjoying that look of awe and gratitude and disbelieving hope.

You relinquish the Clear Seed to Rin, who receives it with cupped, shaking hands.

"Thank you," Rin whispers. "Thank you, Miss Sabrina."

"Yeah," Yumi says, eyes still wide. "If this- if this works, Miss Sabrina, I- thank you."

Tamiko bows deeply to you, bending nearly ninety degrees at her waist.

"You're welcome," you say, smiling at them.

Rin shakes her head, eyes still wide and shocked. "I- no, you've been more than generous, Miss Sabrina. Is there anything we can do?"

Voting opens May 20, 2017 at 9:00 PM
[] Ask to let Sayaka copy powers
[] Ask about regional magical girl affairs
[] Ask to see Akiko
- [] Write-in specific phrasing
[] Take your leave
- [] What next?
[] Time-skip...
- [] When to?
- [] What to cover?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

So, what's next on the agenda? It's getting on in the afternoon, close to five.

 

[Firnagzen]

"The Clear Seed is free," you say, shaking your head. "Replaceable, even. You just saw me make one, all it takes is a Grief Seed, and-" You tap a finger against the Soul Gem on your longcoat, drawing forth a wispy streamer of billowing, fractal purple which you banish to join the rest of the Grief. "-just a bit of time."

"I- I see," Rin says. "Then thank you, Sabrina. You have our gratitude."

"You're welcome," you say, shaking your head with a smile. "Can you tell... can you tell Akiko I'm sorry? If you think she's ready for it. And that... I'd like to talk to her sometime?"

You'd debated with yourself whether to tell them about what forming a Clear Seed does to the Witch within it. You have a guess that Akiko saw Setsuko Witch out, contributing to her obsession with Grief Seeds. And if she has Setsuko's Grief Seed... would she want it calmed down?

It's a bit of a long shot. And ultimately, there was no way to gracefully insert it into the conversation except as a rather odd tangent. Which you of all people could probably get away with, in retrospect, but you weren't sure.

"I will find a time to do so," Rin promises.

"Also... have you heard from the Fukushima group?" you ask.

"No," Rin says, shaking her head. "Not after they went home. Are you thinking of extending your aid to them, too?"

"I want to extend help to every single magical girl, eventually," you say. "Hm... Well, if you haven't heard from them, I guess I'll go drop by at some point, maybe. Not very sure about that."

"I understand," Rin says. "If you need our help to mediate a meeting, feel free to ask?"

"Thanks," you say, flashing her a smile. "Now, my turn to ask - is there anything left? Rin? Mami, Sayaka, Nadia?"

"If you're sure there's nothing else we can offer in return for the Clear Seed?" Rin says, and continues when you shake your head. "Then no."

Sayaka shakes her head, tucking away the power gems into her pockets. "Nope," she says. Nadia shakes her head, too.

"Then for now, farewell," you say, standing. Mami rises smoothly at your side, followed belatedly by Nadia and Sayaka. "I'm not entirely sure when I'll drop by again, but hopefully soon? And... honestly? I hope we can be friends, in the future. I know I've caused you all a lot of trouble, but... yeah."

"I'd like that too," Rin says with a smile as she stands and bows to you. "I think we all would."

Yumi rolls her eyes, pushing herself to her feet. "Better than having you as an enemy, I'd say."

Tamiko swats her on the arm, and bows to you, too.

"See you all!" you say, bowing in return. Exchanging your goodbyes, you head out, Mami taking your arm.

Nadia ambles over to your other side. "Can I ask for a ride?"

"Of course," you say, quirking an eyebrow at her. "I was going to offer you one, actually. Where do you need to go?"

"Northeast Sendai," Nadia says. "It is not too far out of the way, and I can make it to Shiogama easily."

"Ah," Sayaka says, grimacing. "The group that was... broken?"

"Yes," Nadia says, with a nod. "I will tell them to travel to Mitakihara."

"I could fly you all the way there?" you suggest, bobbing to the side to allow a passerby to walk between you and Nadia. "And then wait to pick them up?"

Nadia shakes her head. "Unless you are willing to wait for a few days, I do not think they can drop everything to move so quickly?"

"Well, I don't really know anything about them," you say, ambling down an alleyway. You bound up the rough brick wall, Mami, Nadia, and Sayaka following. "Watanabe Noriko and Saito Akemi, right? I presume they're good people, since you're sending them my way."

"That is true," Nadia says, ruminating for a moment. "They were both pleasant people. Their teammate's loss hit them hard, they are mourning, fimti? They do not live as peacefully, they have become harsher."

"Right, thanks," you say, guiding in Grief with a wave of your hands and starting to form your Grief platform.

"So be extra-nice to them?" Sayaka asks. You loop a ball of Grief around her head, and she gives you a scowl, to which you respond with an unrepentant grin.

"I do not know," Nadia says with a shrug. "They were prickly. But they will be glad for the help, I think."

"We'll give them a nice welcome," you say, finishing the flight platform. "And then figure out what they want. Now, all aboard!"

"Mm," Nadia agrees, stepping up.

Mami cuddles against your side as soon as you sit down. You smile at her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Are you alright?" you ask. "You've been a bit quiet."

She takes a shaky breath. "I'm alright," she says. "Just... I realise how much of your time I take up. You do so much good, Sabrina."

"And one of the best things I've done was helping you," you say, smiling at her as you lift off the platform. "So no, there aren't better things I could do with my time than spending it with you, Mami."

That earns you a smile. "Thank you, Sabrina," she says. "I- I'll try and keep it in mind."

You bank the platform, and head northeast as Nadia requested. Sayaka seems preoccupied, sorting through the pocketful of power gems she'd collected with a thoughtful frown. Nadia relaxes, taking full advantage of the back end of your mobile oppression fortress to sprawl out comfortably, looking up at the sky whizzing by.

You keep an eye on the city rolling past, the skyscrapers giving way to the many, many apartment buildings and smaller shopping centers. You glance back at Nadia. "You're sure I can't take you further?"

She cracks one eye open from her half-doze. "You can," she says amiably. "But I like to go alone. It is... relaxing to travel alone, fimti? I might drop by after!"

Nadia pauses, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I might bring the Shiogama girls over," she says, frowning as she stands and leans over the side of the platform. "Maybe. I will see. Here is fine."

"Alrighty, then. Don't be a stranger, alright? And yeah, feel free to come back any time, I think we'd all love to hang out," you say, standing. You eye her, trying to decide whether to give her a hug or not.

Hm, maybe not. You switch to Darija and telepathy. "Goodbye for now, Nadia. Good luck, and safe travels!" Into her mind, you breathe the words, "Do you know any good restaurants in Italy?"

"Goodbye, Sabrina. I'd wish you good luck, but I think you make your own," she responds in the same language before turning to Mami and Sayaka. "Farewell, Tomoe Mami, Miki Sayaka. I wish you all the best."

She responds to you as your friends exchange farewells with her. "I ate at Da Vittorio once," she says. "It would be perfect for a date."

... somehow, she manages to convey the impression of winking at you without so much as glancing in your direction.

She bows one last time to you, then Mami, then Sayaka before putting a hand on the edge of the platform and vaulting over and shifting to a smooth stride away. With absolutely nothing supporting her. Without looking back, Nadia lifts her hand in a careless wave as she marches away on thin air, faint shimmers around her feet.

Mami waves, an amused smile on her face at Sayaka's gobsmacked expression.

Said expression morphs into thoughtful interest a few seconds later. "I can do that," Sayaka says thoughtfully, thumbing through the gems in her pocket.

"Didn't you copy Chouko's powers too?" you ask. "She can fly, you know."

"Yeah, but that is cool," Sayaka says, pointing at Nadia's receding form.

"Yeah, fine, it is," you concede. "Well. Shall we go home?"

"Home," Mami says with a smile, sitting and tugging hopefully at your arm. Of course, you take that invitation to sit down and give her a side-long hug.

"Home!" Sayaka says, grinning. "Man, I've got ideas for these powers. Actually, Mami, Sabrina, lemme run them past you?"

"Of course," Mami says, nestling against your side, but tilting her head far enough to peer at Sayaka. You bank your flying fortress around, sparing a glance to check that you're headed in the right direction.

"So..." Sayaka holds up a few gems in her hand, each one supported between two fingers. "I want to make a kind of... I dunno, selector? Basically, a wheel with powers stacked on it. If Mami can teach me how to do that trick where she hides the teacup, I could have the exact power I want on demand."

"Good thinking, Sayaka" Mami says, frowning in thought. "Certainly, I can teach you that enchantment, but it may take time to learn. Have you been giving thought to which powers would make good combinations?"

"Yeah," Sayaka agrees. "I think I need to train in how many I can manage at once, too. I did alright with your ribbons and Miss Bennouna's magic, but I don't really know if I can handle three or four or five at once. I'll need to test it out."

"Good," Mami says, humming quietly. "If you can handle three, there are so many amazing combinations."

"Invisibility, lightning, and flight," you offer with a smirk. "Or the super-eyesight you mentioned? But if I recall correctly, Miss Sato's lightning had some serious power behind it. If you could do it invisibly..."

"Or invisibility and ribbons," Sayaka says with a grin. "I could sneak up on anyone and trap them."

"And if you could use, ah, Miss Koizumi's cloning with that..." Mami says, beaming. "You could tie down the entire battlefield."

"Like you can't do that already, Mami," you say, smiling at her.

"Well... true, but now Sayaka can, too," Mami says, blushing a little.

"Bet you'd do it more stylishly, though," you say. "No offense, Sayaka."

"None taken," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes.

"Also, hey," you say, squeezing Mami a little. "Maybe we could figure out how to stabilise your ribbon-clone, Mami? I bet that'd be a nasty surprise for anyone -or anything- you might fight."

"It depends on how Miss Koizumi's clones work," Mami says. "But maybe!"

You chat happily with Mami and Sayaka as you soar home. You track along the railway lines, overtaking the snaking trains as you zip past. All too soon, the countryside and farmer's fields give way once more to the suburban sprawl, the skyscrapers of Mitakihara spiking up into the sky ahead of you.

"Hey Homura, hey Madoka!" you call, hooking Mami and Sayaka into the loop. "We're back!"

"Ah! Hello, Sabrina!" Madoka says.

"Oi, we're here too!" Sayaka pipes up.

"Oh, Sayaka, Mami!" Madoka responds. "How was the trip?"

"Good, good," Sayaka says. "I copied a whole bunch of cool powers!"

"Ah, that's good!" Madoka says.

"Welcome back," Homura says, toneless as ever.

"Hey, Homura," you say as you zip over the apartment buildings of Mitakihara. "We're back, safe and sound as promised."

"Good," she says quietly.

"It's good to hear from you two," Mami says. "How have you been?"

"We're doing alright," Madoka says. "Homura's helping me with homework!"

"Uuuugh," Sayaka groans, putting a dramatically aggrieved hand to her forehead. "I've gotta do that too. Don't leave me out! Wait- what homework are you doing?"

"Oh!" Madoka says. "Um, Homura suggested that we could work on next week's classes as preparation? You can come over, if you like? She's really helpful!"

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Sayaka says. "Sabrina?"

"One drop off at Madoka's place, coming right up," you say. "Want me to just drop you off?"

Sayaka considers this for a moment. "Nah. Madoka's father might kill me if I damaged the tomato plants."

"Sayaka!" Madoka squeaks.

"What? I'm just saying!" Sayaka says.

Mami buries her face against your side, muffling her giggles. "They are very nice tomato plants," she whispers to you.

"True." You snicker as you guide your flying platform in for a low pass over a convenient copse of trees near the Kaname's. You offer her a high-five. "Sayaka? Here's your stop~"

"Oh?" Sayaka says, absently slapping her hand against yours and holding it up for Mami as she peers around. "Oh, yeah. Hard to recognise from up here. Yup, see you later!"

She vaults over the side, cape billowing like a white banner as she lets herself drop towards the patch of greenery. You pull up, reassured by the burst of cerulean blue light of Sayaka's detransformation a few minutes later - and you're not so far away that you can't see the bleunette emerge from the trees and wave to you.

Mami sighs happily, and nestles a little closer into your side. "You did good today," she murmurs to you.

"Thanks, Mami," you say. "Means a lot, coming from you."

Voting opens May 24, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Go with Mami to buy the things Kirika wanted.
[] Head home
- [] What to do at home?
[] Talk with Mami about Kyouko training Sayaka once you're alone.
- [] Specify topics
[] Visit the Mikunis
[] Broach the subject of Asunaro
[] Timeskip
- [] Where to?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

And here we are, back in familiar stomping grounds.

 

[Firnagzen]

"Does it?" Mami asks, smiling up at you.

"Yes, it does," you say, poking her on the nose. Her eyes cross to follow your finger. "Your opinion means a lot to me, Mami."

Mami gives you a soft, warm smile, ducking her head with a pleased blush on her face. She cuddles against your side, making a contented noise.

You look up at the sky, squeezing Mami gently. It's only four-thirty or so and bright out, a few tiny clouds scudding their way across the clear blue expanse. "So, Mami?"

"Hmmm?" she says without moving.

"There's three things I want to do before we head home, if that's alright?" you say. "One is - Miss Inoue gave me Kuroki's last known location, so I want to go and have a look at that, and uh, Homura wanted to talk to me, too. So I think we could go take a look, not too long, and then check in with Homura?"

"That sounds fine," Mami says, levering herself off your side and stretching luxuriously with her arms over her head. "Ahh. Though, um, you mentioned three things?"

You blink, recounting what you'd mentioned and what you mean to do. "Ah, right, slip of the tongue, the Mikunis need some things, so I was thinking we could go buy them, too."

"Ah, I see," Mami says, frowning thoughtfully. "Would we be able to buy what they need at a supermarket? We could pick up some groceries for ourselves, too."

"Oh, good idea," you agree as you bank the flying platform to head east. "Speaking of groceries, we need more bonito."

"Hm?" Mani blinks golden eyes at you. "Fish flakes? We still have some, right?"

"Yes, but I'm thinking of cooking something that will need quite a lot of it," you explain.

"I see," Mami says, nodding. She smiles at you, eyes alight with curiosity. "What are you planning?"

"It's a surprise!" you say, tapping her lightly on the nose again.

She laughs, and reaches up to tweak your ear. "Alright, then."

You spend the rest of the flight out to the old industrial district in a comfortable silence, Mami cuddled against your side and your arm around her in a sidelong hug. By the time you arrive, Mami's dozing lightly, though her eyes flicker open as you coast to a stop among the mouldering old warehouses.

And it is a warehouse. Mami helps you navigate, checking the GPS coordinates Yuuki had given you with her phone - and as best as the two of you can tell with the resolution her phone offers, it's centered exactly on this particular building that you're standing in front of.

You release Mami's arm -her other one's holding her phone still- and crack your fingers. "Well, this is where she was last," you muse, giving the unassuming, dilapidated warehouse another look.

"Why do magical girls always try to hide out here?" Mami says with a sigh. "First Miss Mikuni, then your Warehouse-kun, and now Miss Kuroki."

"Hey, Warehouse-kun is not for hiding," you say, smiling at her. "Warehouse-kun is for science."

"I see, my mistake~" Mami laughs, tucking her phone away somewhere in her costume. "Shall we?"

"Yup," you say, taking her arm and walking forward. The wire mesh gate of the fence swings open at your touch - unlocked, and brittle with rust that coats your fingers brown. "Eurgh."

Still, that's hardly anything to deter you. With Mami at your side, you venture forward, nudging the warehouse door open and peering inside. Motes of dust dance in the sunlight filtering in, illuminating...

Well, it looks like someone had been binge-eating while hiding in the corner. There's an entire pile of sweet wrappers and various paper packets, stained with dried grease, and even a few sticks from ice pops. The bare concrete's stained with what seems to be food residue and-

There's her phone, resting beneath a dent in the cheap metal sheeting of the opposite wall. All but destroyed, as Yuuki predicted, screen completely shattered and plastic casing cracked to pieces. You walk over, gingerly collecting the wreckage.

"Is that a cross?" Mami muses, poking her finger at a sticker that's the only thing holding together two pieces of plastic.

"Yeah," you say. "She went to Catholic School, didn't she?"

"Mmm," Mami says. "Looks like she was a throwing a tantrum?"

"Or venting," you agree, humming as you pace about the warehouse, looking for anything that might be relevant. Mami separates from your side, searching around with sharp, careful attention.

"She was crying, I think," Mami says, pausing and nudging a pile of tissues with her shoe. She crouches to inspect it.

"Yeah," you agree, grimacing. "Any blood or anything? I hope she wasn't injured..."

"None that I can see- achoo!" Mami's sneezes are adorable, with the way her nose scrunches.

"Hm. Fairly thick dust in here, too," you muse, wandering over to Mami. "She hasn't been in here for a while."

"There's- nothing fresh here," Mami agrees, rubbing her nose and sniffing in annoyance. "All the food and the stains look... a few days old."

"Yeah," you grumble. "OK, speaking of Science, mind if I take a few minutes to try something?"

"Of course not," Mami says, giving you a warm smile. "I'll keep looking around, and see if I can find anything."

"I'll be right here, alright?" you say, rubbing your hands together and beaming at her. Grief sails in through the open door, plenty of it. You'll need quite a bit for what you have planned.

"Alright!" Mami says, beaming back.

You're already shaping the Grief with your mind. You want to try and find Kuroki. Unfortunately, it's fairly obvious that she hasn't been here for a while. However, it's a fairly stale environment, and there might not be visible footprints left behind, but that doesn't mean that there aren't footprints.

Apart from yours and Mami's, of course, but those should be easy to distinguish.

You push the extents of your Grief manipulation. Physicists would kill for the kind of fidelity you can achieve, absolute control moulding out millions of tiny, tiny structures on a nanoscale level. Millions of tiny levers, small enough to be deflected by individual photons of light, whirl into existence, arranged in a circular disc: a camera built on mechanical principles, with the kind of impossible precision only you can achieve.

A monochromatic light source is easy, one emitting a clear, coherent infrared light just as much. The lens array coalesces into existence, stinking of Witch. Neither of those are new to you, after all, you'd created both lasers and clear windscreens before.

You don't need esoteric magical effects to create a damned near to perfect spectroscope. You could create a gamma ray tomograph, but apart from the problem of irradiating everything around you with harsh radiation, it seems likely that Kuroki hasn't been here for a while. You'd rather look for traces of her presence, a trail to follow.

Sensitivity... just so. You hold your hand out, feeling the images as the lever array bounces with photons, like an image drawn on your skin with impossible fidelity. Of course, it's kind of nonsensical without a computer to crunch equations, but the right arrangement of lens and aperture performs effective integration over the frequency domain, boiling down to something recognisable, if not entirely legible.

All you need to do is, hunt for shapes in the image. You don't need absolute frequency resolution.

Mami walks over, giving you a curious look. You give her a quick, reassuring smile. You've got this. Directing the assemblage of Grief at her feet, you scan until you find the traces of rubber from her shoes, drawn in delicate traces of synthetic polymers. The footprints are bright and clear under spectral analysis, but you don't expect anything Kuroki's traces would be anything similar.

"I'm looking for her footprints or something," you murmur to Mami, sweeping the array around.

"Ah," Mami says, smiling at you. "Um... is it a bad time to tell you that she probably went out by the back?"

"Probably?" you say, pouting at her. "I put work into this, you know."

"Oh, alright," Mami says, nodding in grave understanding. "I'll tell you that I found her footprints in the dust later, then."

You sigh, swinging the array to point up at the ceiling. "Oh, fine," you say. "Show me?"

Mami giggles, linking her arm through yours and tugging you over to the loading bay of the warehouse. As promised, you find undisturbed tracks in the sandy dust of the warehouse, shielded from the wind by the walls of the little recess. Almost certainly a girl's shoes, too, just judging from the size, and leading only one way - out. Unfortunately, they peter out as they leave the sheltered area.

"Try your scanner?" Mami suggests.

"Mmm," you agree, starting to sweep the area carefully. "There."

You manage to follow the footprints outside, though they get fainter and fainter as you head into slightly more travelled areas - the industrial district's fading, not dead. You push your senses out, too. Kuroki has stealth powers, according to Homura, but she can't hide from your Grief sense.

But...

Her footprints vanish, between one step and the next. You frown, swinging your scanner around. You've wandered to the outskirts of an abandoned construction site. A forest of rusting iron girders claws for the sky, protected by a fence that rattles in the wind. Nowhere she could have vanished to. No particular scuff marks or anything that would indicate a fight, either.

"Sabrina?" Mami prompts.

"Her footprints end here," you explain. "Just... vanish."

"She could have jumped?" Mami suggests, looking about. "There, maybe. It's within reach."

"No, she..." It's hard to tell, from days old traces of footprint. "She... she fell. Sideways, and... The fence."

"She grabbed on here, maybe," Mami says, completing your thought. "It kind of sags."

"Yeah," you agree, frown deepening as you sweep the scanner about. You've been around this area before, haven't you? "I'm not seeing anything from here, though."

"I'll look around," Mami says, releasing your arm. She looks up for a second before bounding up to the girders in a fluid, easy jump.

You hunt around for a good ten minutes, weaving between the shadows cast by the I-beams. The smell of rust hangs heavy in the air, and the fiery orange hues of the evening are already starting to creep in by the time you call it quits. You have other things to do - but you're pretty sure she was here.

You sigh, raising your head to look for Mami. "Anything?"

"No," Mami calls back from way up high. She loops ribbons around a girder and lets herself down.

"Bleh," you say, ducking your head and grimacing. "I want to find her, but..."

"We don't have enough of a lead here," Mami says with a sigh. "There's no other trace of her around here?"

"No," you say, grimacing. "Not at all."

Voting opens May 29, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Continue searching
- [] Write-in how
[] Move on

Spoiler: Vote in abeyance

[] Talk to Mami about Sayaka's training with Kyouko.
-[] Touch on Kyouko coming to Mitakihara. Don't push.
--[] You were hoping that Mami would agree to speak with Kyouko when she feels ready. Kyouko still cares, she just hides it, because caring hurt her.
[] Go buy the things Kirika wanted, then visit the Mikunis.
-[] Ask about Asunaro. Include Mami in the discussion if you can.
--[] If appropriate, have Mami message Michiru about us arriving sometime soon.
[] Before heading home, let Mami know Homu wanted to talk. Ping Homura.

- [] Something else?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Sorry this one took so long; I wound up busier than expected last week.

Also, fun fact, what Sabrina did there is theoretically sound, in the spherical-cow-in-vacuum sense.

 

[Firnagzen]

There's a thought you don't particularly like to entertain, niggling at the back of your head.

She might have Witched out.

Mami pulls you into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around your waist. You hug her back, tucking your head on her shoulder. "We'll find her," Mami promises. "We won't stop looking, right?"

"We won't," you say, tightening your hug.

"We'll find her," Mami repeats, pulling back to smile at you with bright, solid confidence.

"Yeah," you agree. "Eventually. But... for now, I think we'll put a pause on this search. The evidence isn't going to get any fresher, but as it is right now, we're not doing anything here."

"Alright," Mami says, smiling at you. "What's next? Shopping, right?"

"Yeah," you say. "... well, I kind of want to see if I can DNA scan her, actually."

"Oh," Mami says. "You can do that?"

"I think so," you say with a smile as you tug her over to the fence. "See this? There must be some skin flakes or something where she grabbed it. And DNA is a very distinctive molecule, so I should be able to pick it out with Grief."

"Ah, that makes sense," she says, considering the distortions in the fence. She beams at you, closing her arms around your waist to give you a sidelong hug. "Go for it, Sabrina."

"Yeah," you say, raising a hand to summon Grief to yourself. "And it's better than my first idea of trying to use Grief to enhance my sense of smell, anyway."

Mami wrinkles her nose. "Wouldn't that smell awful?" she waves around at the construction site. Dusty, abandoned, congealed oil and the heavy tang of rust. The wind blows in scents from a dozen different factories, the bitter undertones of what you suspect is a bleach factory.

"Yeah, probably," you say. "That's why I'm glad I didn't go with that. Also, I can't stop imagining dog songs."

"Dog songs?" Mami asks, perplexity drawing her brows into a frown.

"Yeah, uh," you say, rubbing your nose. "I mean... smelling, bloodhound, dog?"

Mami giggles, and cuddles a little closer against your side. "Oh, Sabrina."

"That's me!" you say, directing the Grief carefully. You mould Grief to the indentations in the fence and skim the entire top layer off, paint, rust, and all. And hopefully enough skin flakes to matter.

"Besides," Mami mumbles. "You're not a dog."

"True," you agree, giving her a smile. You invert the Grief, folding the samples into the core of blob, and then you focus.

Not simple physics, this time. DNA molecules are distinct indeed, big enough that with a little chemical processing to purify them, you can pick them up using a toothpick. With Grief, you could even count the base pairs. You don't want that. You want to know every single point in this area her DNA might be. You can't do that with just physics, not without going over every single square millimetre of the construction site. But then...

Your will be done.

Grief coalesces, moulds, and rebuilds into a dangling windchime, if a windchime were built out of random junk. There's an egg hanging in there, some twigs that look like they were picked up off the ground, a hundred yen coin, a cartridge that looks like it might fit your obrez all bound in a cradle of twine and golden ribbon and dangling from your fingers.

It sings in your mind, in a way that's beyond the mere pulsing of Witch. And when you twitch your fingers -

There, and there, and there. It's like a heatmap, glowing in your mind's eye, of a trail of crumbs of... well, human skin. Kuroki's skin, to be precise.

Ew.

The trail leads in alongside, as expected. You twitch your fingers, and... yes, there are indeed some flakes of skin remaining on the fence, in about the right size for a palm. You didn't scrape it all up, just enough to sample it.

"Sabrina?" Mami asks, smiling up at you.

You grin back. "I'm fine," you say. "Just trying to check where she might have gone after falling against the fence."

"Check up?" Mami suggests, pointing at the forest of iron girders.

"Yeah," you say, pursing your lips. "I only see one track into here. She walks along here..." You gesture along the floor. "Stops here, and then grabs the fence."

"Mmm," Mami agrees.

"And then..." you twitch your fingers just so, coin jumping to tinkle against the bullet. "No, she didn't jump. Or at least, she hasn't left any skin flakes there. Hm. I don't think her stealth power's quite that effective as to hide her for that long."

"I wouldn't think so either," Mami agrees. "Wouldn't it fade after a while?"

"You tell me?" you say, smiling at Mami.

She hesitates, and nods firmly. "Unless she was wearing one of those, um, cleansuits? Like they use in, uh... cleanrooms? I think there would be some trace of her," she says. "I'm not an expert in this, but that's what I think."

You smile at her. "Good enough for me," you say. "So she definitely came in here, she definitely fell against the fence. Or was pushed against it. I didn't see any footprints or anything, so if someone or something kidnapped her, then... I don't know. Teleportation, or portals, or maybe flight. Caw caw and all that."

"'Caw caw'?" Mami asks, giving you a dubious look.

"Yeah, like..." You motion with your hands, miming a swooping motion. "Fly in and yoink!"

"It's... possible," Mami allows with a faint smile.

"Mm," you say, sighing. "That said... it doesn't seem like there's anything more here?"

"I guess not," Mami agrees.

"Hm..." you say. "Do you have a pen?"

You rummage through your bag - you know you have some scraps of paper in here. Mami hands you a pen, giving you a curious look.

"We could leave a note," you say, scribbling on the paper. "Just in case Kuroki comes back here or something?"

"Ah, that's a good idea," Mami agrees.

'Hello,' you write. 'We are Sabrina and Tomoe Mami, local magical girls. If you need help, feel free to find us at...' You leave both your address and your phone number, backtracking to the warehouse to leave that there.

You blow out an explosive, frustrated breath, and detransform. "We found something," you mutter, taking Mami's hand and intertwining your fingers. "We found a trail, it led us out here, and it just vanished. Vanished magically, even by our standards as magical girls."

"We're missing something," Mami says thoughtfully as the two of you start to walk away. "I think? It feels like this was... I don't know, it is a lead."

"Maybe," you agree. "Actually, why are we walking? Shall we fly?"

"I'd love to," Mami says with a smile.

You grin at her. Without releasing her hand, you summon Grief to yourself, and pull her into a hug. She wraps her arms around your waist, eyes almost sparkling in excitement as your wings ripple into existence.

With a grunt of effort, you launch yourself skywards, Mami clinging tight to you with a delighted laugh. You beam at her as you soar onwards and upwards, spiralling up into the sky. "Ready?" you call.

"Ready!" she says, exhilarated grin on her face.

You loosen your grip around her waist, and she lets herself fall. Golden ribbons bloom, a bright banner splashing out vibrant and stark against the distant smudge of the ground as she weaves her own set of wings.

Her laughter carries to you, clear and ringing over the booming as her wings catch the wind and billow out to their full span. You swoop closer, and she turns her head far enough for you to see the look of flushed excitement on her face.

You don't race, this time. You just fly, enjoying the feeling of being here with Mami. She winds up needing a boost in height before you land, but pulling her into a hug and flying a little higher is hardly an onerous task. You fly to a shopping centre together, landing smoothly on the roof. She smiles at you as you both dismiss your wings, cheeks rosy with excitement and pure, simple joy.

You smile back at her, taking her hand once more. There's nothing you need to say.

Well, not to Mami, anyway. "Homura?"

"Yes?" she responds with the same lightning speed she usually does.

"Hey, um... I'd really like to talk to you sometime this evening, if it isn't too much trouble?" you say.

"That's fine," she says.

"Alright. See you in a bit then," you say. "Um, have fun, alright?"

"See you," she says.

You take a moment to retrieve money from one of your Grief spheres before making your way down to the shopping area proper via the stairs, hand in hand with Mami. The noise and sheer bustle of a shopping centre on a Sunday night washes over you. "Kirika wants candles and a recipebook, and something nice to cook," you muse. "And we need groceries, right? Well, so do they, I guess."

Mami nods in agreement. "We can save time by purchasing double of everything," she says.

"Good idea," you say, nodding as you snag a trolley. "Ooh, the tomatoes look good. Uh, speaking of..."

"Yes?" Mami asks as she collects plastic bag and joins you in selecting the tomatoes.

"So, um," you say. "Uh... I've been meaning to bring this up with you for a while, but about Kyouko training Sayaka...?"

Mami bites her lip, hands slowing and stopping. "Yes?"

You set the tomato down, noting it for later. "I just wanted to confirm you'd be alright with it?" you ask, gently sliding your arm around her waist and pulling her into a gentle hug.

"I- I am," she says, voice wavering.

"Mami?" you ask, and wait until she looks up at you before smiling gently. "I mean it. It'll only happen if you're absolutely OK with it. If you say no, then it's off."

Her golden eyes are very wide, and her breath comes in shallow heaves. But she meets your gaze steadily, and her voice doesn't waver. "It's fine," she says.

"OK," you say, smiling warmly at her. "For what it's worth? I'm proud of you, Mami."

She swallows, and looks down, resolve shattering. "I... there's nothing to be proud of," she says. "There- I- I tried to k-kill her."

"No," you say softly, taking a half step forward to close the distance and hug her properly. "You didn't. You fought with her, but you could never really bring yourself to try in earnest."

Mami melts into the hug with a quiet sigh, not responding to that.

"She knew... she knows it, too," you say. "She still cares, you know. I believe there's still a chance for reconciliation."

Her breath hitches.

You fall silent, letting her absorb that. She pushes away a little, just enough so that she can stare up at you. "Do- do you think so?" she asks, voice wavering.

"I think so," you say. "And I'm going to do everything I can to make it happen. If you want, Mami?"

She nods jerkily, burying her face in your chest once again. She takes a minute to recover her composure. You dig a wet tissue out of your bag, wiping her face gently, and she smiles at you. "There," you whisper.

"I'm alright," she whispers back, separating a little. "Shall we finish getting groceries?"

"Sure," you say, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "Are you sure you're alright?"

She exhales slowly. "If... if you say you can do it, I believe you, Sabrina," she says. "And even if you can't... h-having you is enough."

"You have me," you answer simply.

She smiles, stepping forward a little to close the hug once more. "Thank you," she whispers.

You hug her back. This time, when she pulls back, she simply smiles at you and steps back far enough so that you can both return to selecting the tomatoes. You snag that one you'd picked out earlier, passing it to her to bag up.

Mami looks askance at you when you pick up the set of white candles for Kirika, but you just wink at her and she nods, understanding. Between the two of you, you make quick work of the shopping, breezing through the crowds. You do argue over the payment, though.

... Well, is it really arguing when Mami pouted at you and you instantly caved?

You still feel like you should be the one paying, since you're the one who's picking up stuff for Oriko and Kirika, too. You can slip a few thousand yen notes into Mami's purse later, maybe.

You don't fly to the Mikuni's place, this time - or rather, you don't fly with wings. You have too many grocery bags for that to be easy. Mami could probably have done something with ribbons, and you could probably do something with Grief, but... eh.

Besides, the flight platform gives you plenty of room to cuddle Mami. She leans into your side with a happy sigh as you soar towards the blazing orange of the sunset.

Voting opens Jun 2, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Visit the Mikunis. Give Kirika her things.
- [] Talk about Asunaro
- [] Talk about Oriko's powers
-- [] Write-in what
- [] Update Kirika on Kuroki
- [] Further topics?
[] Dinner, head home
- [] Anything to talk about or cover?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Whoof. What's next?

 

[Firnagzen]

"We should probably eat before heading home today," Mami murmurs, curled up comfortably at your side. You have one arm around her, pulling her snugly against your side.

"Mmm," you agree. "We'll probably spend... half an hour talking to the Mikunis?"

"It's nice to eat out now and then," Mami offers, smiling at you. She shifts a little in your embrace, drawing your arm more firmly around her. "I know a place?"

"Absolutely," you say, smiling back. You pause, and glance at the bulging plastic bags at the back of your flying disc. "Hm. Would we need to drop off our part of the groceries before we went for dinner? Nothing frozen, but..."

Mami considers this. "No, even the udon should keep just fine," she says. "We can just leave it out with the rest of your... Grief while we eat?"

"Works for me," you say, nodding. You tilt the flying platform forward, already starting to descend towards the little hill the Mikuni residence is built on. It's... the building is in pretty decent shape, barring the remnants of the vandalism from the whole Mikuni Hisaomi scandal.

You have vague notions of helping them to clean it up, but you're in a rather odd position with regards to the Mikunis. You'd like to be their friends, and you're pretty sure you are Kirika's friend, but there's the fact that you're technically their jailer, if very loosely and tenuously so. Makes things a little awkward, to say the least.

Ah, well.

"What do you think about Kuroki?" Mami asks, reaching up to poke your earlobe.

"Heh, I was gonna ask you that," you say, slightly distracted by Mami's finger curiously exploring the shell of your ear. "I think... I don't know. Is it possible she was... right there or something? Hidden by her powers?"

"I wouldn't think so," Mami says. "Her trail was quite old, wasn't it? I suppose it's not out of the question for her powers to be able to disguise that."

You scowl thoughtfully to yourself, resolving to complain to Homura about not being specific about Kuroki's powers. It's the second time she did that, even. Of course, given what must be an ingrained habit over dozens of loops of enforced secrecy, you can't exactly expect her to ease up instantly, you guess. "Is it?"

"Not entirely?" Mami says, but she sounds doubtful. "Magic can be enormously varied."

"Fair enough," you say. "Hm. Or she could hide underground or something... No, I'd definitely have noticed that. We should go back and check that note later, see if it's still there."

"It didn't seem like she'd gone back, but it's worth a try," Mami agrees, retracting her hand. "She... could have encountered a Witch Barrier where she disappeared?"

"It's my best guess at the moment," you agree. "Or someone with portals or teleportation grabbed her for some reason, like I said earlier."

"That's a possibility," Mami agrees. "I can't see why that would happen, though."

"Yeah," you say, scowling at nothing in particular.

"She didn't go up, she didn't go down, and she didn't go, ah, sideways," Mami muses, half to herself. She quirks a grin at you. "Maybe she travelled in time?"

You giggle. "At this point, I wouldn't rule it out," you agree. "Dammit, why'd Oriko have to lose her powers. She'd probably have foreseen this."

"Or... A Wish?" Mami says, smile widening a little. "Maybe someone Wished Kuroki were there with her, and... poof?"

You blink in surprise. "Huh. Possible," you concede, rubbing your chin thoughtfully as you zip towards the skyscrapers of downtown Mitakihara, gaining altitude rapidly. "I hadn't considered that. Good thinking, Mami."

Mami's delighted smile lights up her entire face. "Thank you, Sabrina," she says.

You tap her on the nose. "Mami, you are awesome. And unlike me, you don't even need to cheat to do it," you say, smiling warmly at her. "You're you, and there's no just about it."

Some of your conviction must have gotten through, because her smile softens into something you can't quite identify, and she curls into your embrace with a pleased little noise. "I... still. Thank you, Sabrina."

"Anytime, Mami," you say, tightening your arm a little. It's an idea. It might not actually be the correct idea, but it's something, and damned if you aren't going to take the opportunity to compliment Mami for it.

Mami seems more than happy enough to settle into the comfortable silence. And speaking of Kuroki, you should probably update Masami and Hiroko. Which reminds you in turn that you should probably check in on the Mikunis before you actually arrive there. Wouldn't want to interrupt another game of Scrabble or something. "Hey Oriko, Kirika, you girls free?"

"Heya, Sabrina," Kirika chirps.

"Hello, Sabrina," Oriko says. "We are free, yes."

"I'm doing the dishes!" Kirika says.

"Oh, cool," you say. "Mind if I drop in? I have groceries and stuff for you, too."

"By all means," Oriko says.

"Alright, see you in a bit, then!" you say.

"See ya!" Kirika responds.

Excellent. With that done, you turn your attention to Masami. "Masami, Hiroko? Are you free?"

It takes a moment for them to reply. "Yep, hi Sabrina," Masami says. "Hiroko's a little busy right now, but what's up?"

"Ah, hey, hope I'm not interrupting anything," you say.

"Nah, we're good," Masami responds. "Hiroko's putting Ono through her paces again."

"Right, excellent," you say, feeling faintly relieved. You seem to have a track record of interrupting at... inopportune times. "How's that going? Also, speaking of interruptions and before I forget, could I get your phone number so I can just SMS you?"

"Uh, sure," Masami says, rattling off her phone number. You memorise it for now - you'd rather not disturb Mami. "Also, surprise training session. I got Hiroko to drop an illusion on her, we're seeing how well she's dealing with it. She hasn't noticed so far."

"Hi!" Hiroko chimes in, voice bright and amused despite the audible strain. "Sorry, focusing. Big illusion. Thanks for the introduction to Miss Inoue."

You allow your amusement to bubble into a mental chuckle. "Right, uh, I trust you girls know what you're doing," you say. "How're you doing, speaking of?"

"Doing pretty great," Masami responds. "You?"

"Not bad at all," you say. You've spent a fairly relaxing weekend, gotten plenty of productive things done today, and you have a Mami cuddled up against you. All in all, life is pretty good. "Had a fairly busy day, but I got lots done."

"Eurgh, busy Sundays," Masami opines. "I kept Sunday free even when... y'know."

"Hah, fair enough," you say, skimming a lazy spiral around the spire of the DBJ building to prompt a giggle from Mami. "Anyway, speaking of being busy, I went and did a check on Kuroki's last location since I had some free time. I actually found a trail out to an old construction site, but it went cold there."

"Hng," Masami says. "Hope you didn't walk around there too much."

"Uh... we did a bit? Why?" you say.

"Eh, Hiroko's got a trick with her illusions that makes tracks and stuff show up," Masami explains. "We mostly use it to find Witches, but since you asked us to look into it..."

"Dang, sorry. Didn't know," you say.

"'s fine, just kinda a bitch picking out footprints and stuff. What size do you wear?" Masami asks.

"Uh...twenty-three cm, twenty-five and a half," you say.

"Gotcha," Masami says. "We'll check it out."

"Alright. Good luck, and thanks for helping!" you say. "See you around?"

"Yep," Masami responds. "See ya."

"Bye!" Hiroko says.

You end the conversation. Mami seems to sense that, cuddling closer with a happy sigh. You're only a few minutes out from the Mikunis' place, anyway, cruising smoothly and rapidly descending.

It occurs to you that Oriko might actually take Kirika's surname when they marry. It's not like Oriko's particularly enamoured of her family, after all.

You land neatly in their back yard, parking your flight disc squarely on top of the hole you'd left by uprooting one of the departed senator's rosebushes. The flowers are still dying slowly to the side, leaves withering and flowers drooping to the ground.

Kirika's already shoving the glass door open, a welcoming grin on her face. "Yo."

"Yo!" you greet in kind, raising an eyebrow at her attire as Mami uncurls herself from your embrace to stand. "Nice apron."

Kirika looks down at the frilly apron. "It's Oriko's, actually," she says, brushing unruly bangs out of her face and grinning at you. "Like I said, I was doing the dishes."

Oriko herself emerges a few moments behind Kirika, smiling faintly as she straightens her blouse with her single hand. She seems to be in good spirits, all things considered. "Hello, Sabrina," she says. "Miss Tomoe."

"Miss Mikuni, Miss Kure," Mami says, nodding regally in response. "I hope you're well?"

"Well enough," Oriko agrees. "Please, come in."

You hook the plastic bags holding their share of the groceries up with Grief and follow her into the house. The rest you leave with the platform - you'll be leaving the same way, anyway. You cast a surreptitious eye around as you walk. Weird relationship or not, you do kind of want to offer your help cleaning up and such if they need it, but... It's surprisingly clean in here. Not too much dust, at least. You can only assume that Kirika does some cleanup.

"Here's the groceries," you say, letting the bags drift forward on Grief as you enter the living room. "Uh, Kirika, show me where to put these?"

"Sure~" Kirika says, bending down to give Oriko a kiss on the cheek before darting off to the kitchen.

You follow her, smiling. "You're in a good mood."

"Mmmhm~" Kirika says, and motions at the counter, still slightly wet. Dishes sit in the drying rack, still dripping slowly. "Here will do."

"Alright," you say, setting the groceries down. All but one bag, that is. "And these are your date supplies. Hope I got everything in here."

Kirika blushes, just a little. "Gimme that," she says, snatching the bag from you and hurrying off to tuck it high up in a cabinet. She pushes a box of cereal in front of the bag, hiding it from easy view.

You grin at her. "Enjoy."

"I've got Oriko," she says, fang protruding with her sly grin. "You bet I will."

"Attagirl," you say. "Oh, on that note, could I get your phone number? So I can SMS you instead of... interrupting you?"

Kirika scowls at you, folding her arms. "What's with the pause."

"Nothing?" you say, raising your eyebrows.

"Oriko's a sore loser sometimes," Kirika says, cracking a smirk. "Don't tell her I said that. Yeah, you can have my phone number."

She rattles the number off, and you take both her and Masami's numbers down on your phone before heading back out to the living room. You find Mami and Oriko making somewhat uncomfortable smalltalk, and Mami's gaze turns to you almost before you emerge through the doorway, face lighting up with a warm smile. You head over to join her on the sofa, nodding your thanks as Oriko pours you a steaming cup of green tea.

Voting opens Jun 7, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Small talk
- [] Offer to help clean
[] Talk about Asunaro
- [] Ask Oriko what she remembers
- [] Who's going?
- [] Ask Mami about Kazusa
[] Ask Mami to put you in contact with Kazusa
- [] What do you say?
[] Look for Scrabble box
[] Head home
- [] Talk to Homura
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

OK I'll be honest, I'm not sure about the shoe sizes of teenaged girls. I'll edit if someone can tell me that they're wrong.

Also, cut the vote off here because it was frankly getting rather long.

 

[Firnagzen]

It's very good green tea. You sip at it slowly, savouring the fragrance. "How've you been, Oriko?" you ask.

"I am doing better," she allows. "The pain has faded away, but my visions... haven't returned."

"Yet. I hope?" you say. You're not sure if you should be hoping for that, really.

Oriko smiles, thin and razor-sharp. "As you noted last time, Sabrina, it may be that I don't need them," she says. "I have some magic, and I have Kirika."

Kirika makes a pleased, cat-like noise, and presses closer to Oriko.

"Granted, but not needing it isn't the same as being denied it," you say, leaning back and bumping shoulders against Mami. She smiles at you.

Oriko inclines her head towards you, acknowledging the point.

You smile, setting the cup of tea down so that you can take Mami's hand and interlacing your fingers. "Is there anything in particular you need, by the way? I got some general groceries for you, but anything specific?"

"Baking supplies would be welcome," Oriko murmurs.

"Hm... I know I bought flour and eggs and such," you muse. "Do you have sugar and shortening and such?"

"We do, yes," Oriko agrees, raising her eyebrows in mild, aristocratically understated surprise. "That's perfect, thank you."

"I aim to please." You grin at her, receiving a faint, amused smile in response. "How 'bout you, Kirika? Anything you need?"

"Nah, I've got everything I need," Kirika says, winking at you.

"Oh, right-" you say, pointing your finger at her. "Remember I asked you about Kuroki Matsuko, right?"

"Hm?" Kirika says, cocking her head. "Oh, her. The girl you asked me to doxx."

"Yeah, her," you say. "Just thought you'd appreciate an update - I went and looked for her, based on a lead. She went out to the old industrial district, and, uh, had a tantrum, by the looks of it. And then she upped and vanished into thin air."

"Huh," Kirika says, blinking. "Witch?"

"Maybe. Witch, or maybe a Wish," you agree, and give Mami a warm smile. "That was Mami's idea, though. Maybe she had someone who really cared about her - friend, sister, or whatever was worried about her and made a Wish for her?"

Kirika clasps her hands, eyes almost sparkling. "That's so romantic!" she squeals, before wrinkling her nose. "Well, not if it's her sister. That would be ew if it was romantic. But still a very sweet thing to do."

"Does she have a sister?" you ask, raising your eyebrows. "I didn't see that in the print out."

"Nah, but not everyone uses Facebook, y'know," Kirika says, smirking. "Oriko doesn't. Maybe she has a girlfriend?"

"Well..." you say. "She did go to a Catholic school. Where she was bullied."

Kirika shrugs. "Maybe?"

"Perhaps whatever entity is responsible for..." Oriko glances at you.

You blow out a quiet sigh. "Alright, I suppose the small talk's over," you say, stretching your hand out to the side as you make a tiny effort of will. "Give me a moment to create a privacy device, if you don't mind?"

"By all means," Oriko agrees.

You catch the blob of Grief that sails in through the open window, giving Mami a warm smile. She looks at you with wide, trusting eyes, and nods before ducking her head and tucking herself against your side. You bring the Grief in front of you, and you focus.

It's a familiar pattern at this point, a twist of your mind just so. You impress your will on the Grief, moulding it along practiced lines as the dark purple mass runs like hot wax, flowing into a different shape entirely. A green circlet set with a single golden jewel, mounted on a pedestal.

Mami shifts and smiles at you as you lean forward to set the privacy construct on the table. "Seven minutes," she says, showing you the screen of her phone.

"Hm, a bit of variance, then," you say thoughtfully. Oriko eyes the construct - it can be a bit distracting, you suppose, but you're well used to the constant press of Witch. Mami's right - you can tell.

Then again, Mami often is right.

"Are we free to speak?" Oriko asks.

"Yep," you say, motioning at the little circle, and then gesturing at the hazy view outside your little bubble of privacy. "A little cloistered space, free of any kind of eavesdropping."

Oriko nods. "Then... might it have been whatever force caused the Witch to attack Miki Sayaka early."

Mami frowns at Oriko. "Please explain, Miss Mikuni?"

"Has Miss Sabrina told you about the... feathers that interfered with my visions?" Oriko asks. Both you and Mami nod in near unison. "I foresaw that Miki Sayaka could have been attacked by a Witch. It did not happen as my vision dictated. It was simply too early, and she was in the wrong place."

"The... the black and white Witch?" Mami asks, glancing to you for confirmation.

"Yeah," you say.

"There are- two entities that can defy my visions," Oriko says. "The first is Miss Sabrina. The second is whatever this thing is that shrouded my visions. And it having demonstrated the ability to simply move Miss Miki, I... suggest it might be related to the disappearance of Miss Kuroki?"

"That's... possible," you say, nodding slowly. "I... yeah. I can see that. It's a lot more, uh, concrete than my idea, which is that someone might have snatched her with portal or teleportation or flight or something - problem with that is that there's no motive."

"It's not that bad," Mami disagrees. "It's possible."

"Possible but not plausible," you say, smiling at her and squeezing her hand. "I like your idea much better. And Oriko's suggestion is quite possible, too."

"'course it is," Kirika says loyally, grinning at Oriko and cuddling against her.

"Though, uh, speaking of flight and kidnapping people..." you squeeze Mami's hand with your interlaced fingers. "Actually, hang on a sec. Would it be alright if I invited Homura here? I think she should be involved in this discussion. Uh. To clarify, she's not related to the flight and kidnapping people, I just remembered that I should call her."

"You want to call her here?" Kirika scowls at you, but immediately subsides when Oriko puts a hand on her elbow.

"Do you think it would be helpful?" Oriko asks, eyes narrowing.

"I think that it'll create more trouble if she isn't in this conversation with us," you say slowly. "Communication is important."

"And you can't update her afterwards?" Oriko asks, eyes sharp.

"No," you say. "It's a discussion."

Oriko grimaces. "Then call her."

"Alright. Thanks, Oriko," you say, rising to your feet. Mami smiles at you, warm and adoring.

To your faint surprise, Oriko follows you beyond the hazy boundary of the private space. "I will prepare tea for her, too," she murmurs, brushing down silvery-grey hair with her one hand.

"Do you think she'd drink it?" you ask, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I don't," Oriko says, shrugging and padding over the rug floor to the kitchen. "But I will make the offer, nevertheless. It behooves a host to do so."

"Alright," you say, giving her a skeptical look. You put that aside, and turn your attention to calling your friend. "Homura?"

"Yes?" She responds near instantly, somehow giving the impression of coming fully alert in an instant.

"Mami and I are at Oriko's house - and before you worry, nothing bad's happening," you say. "But. I want to discuss going to Asunaro. Would you like to be in the conversation with us? If you have the time? I'd value your opinion on this, because I'll be out of the city for a while. And..."

Homura's silent for a long moment. "I will be there in a few minutes."

"Alright," you say. "Thanks, Homura. See you soon. Uh, just a heads up, I put up a privacy field, so be aware of the Witchy sensation. But, um, grab me for a quick conversation when you arrive?"

"Noted," she says, and cuts the connection.

You wait outside the bubble, rocking back and forth on the balls of your feet and waving happily at the void black bubble that is your privacy field. You can't see in, but the way you made it, you know Mami can see out, and you're sure she's looking your way. Oriko raises an aristocratically amused eyebrow at you as she passes you on the way back with another fine porcelain cup in her hand. You stick your tongue out at her.

Homura's as good as her word - it's only a few minutes later when you feel the world stutter to the lifeless, monochrome colours of timestop. Warm fingers against your wrist would be Homura's hand.

You smile at her. "Hey, Homura. Thanks for coming," you say.

She nods shortly, amethyst eyes glancing past you to the boundary of your privacy field. "They're in there?" she asks, clipped and sharp.

"Yeah," you say. "I- OK, Homura, I'm going to put this simply. I don't know whether you would have come across it during your time travel, but I have reason to believe that the girls from Asunaro, managed to create a partial method of de-Witching. It wasn't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot closer than anything I know of."

"I... see," Homura says. She seems taken aback for once, eyes slightly widened and lips parted just a hair. "That is... that would be..."

"Yeah," you say. "And, um, the other thing I want to learn from them if it's at all possible is that they created an anti-Kyuubey field. They managed to make it so that nobody in their entire city could see or even remember Kyuubey's existence."

Homura sucks in a sharp breath, and this time, you can all but see the gears turning in her head. "I-"

"Yeah," you say, nodding. "Um, just to bring you up to speed, since I'm guessing you never went over there, Mami's ex-student, Michiru Kazusa, is the leader of the girls over there, the Pleiades Saints. She's due to Witch out, which sets off a whole chain of events that results in the developments of, um, the two pieces of magic I mentioned."

Homura nods again, wordless but attention locked on to you. You can see her making the connections in her head, the pieces slotting together. "You are sure?"

You wobble your hand from side to side. "Yeeeees, but there are, uh, complications I want to bring everyone up to speed on. Shall we?"

"Yes," she says, purple eyes intent. You feel her fingers loosening around yours as she steps back, and the world-

-shudders back into vibrant colour and noise. You suck in a breath, and wave at Homura as if she'd just appeared in front of you. "Hey, Homura. Shall we?"

She nods once more, and follows you into the bubble. You settle down on the sofa beside Mami, who takes the opportunity to cuddle up against you. Homura sits on your other side, shifting uneasily away from the other couple.

Oriko inclines her head regally. "Miss Akemi," she says, and pushes a freshly poured cup of green tea towards her.

Homura ignores her, of course. Or perhaps not exactly ignore. The muscles of her shoulder and neck are corded tight as steel cable, her attention zeroed in on Oriko with the intense focus of a sniper rifle's scope. Said attention lingers for a fraction longer on the smooth, rounded stump of Oriko's injured arm.

You sigh as Mami takes your hand, twining your fingers together. You smile at her, squeezing gently. "So, um... now that we're all here, I..." you lick your lips, suddenly a little nervous about telling Mami. "I plan on going to Asunaro sometime soon."

You watch Oriko's placidly blank expression twitch with surprise, and then slide into confusion, and then confused annoyance.

Truth be told, you kind of enjoy seeing Oriko like that. It's kind of amusing. The majority of your attention, though is on Mami. You're already pulling her into a hug as her smile fades. She's not stupid, and she can make the connection to her old student.

"I-" her voice shakes a little, even muffled by your shirt. "I'm- I'm alright, Sabrina." She pulls away with just the tiniest bit of force, and you let her retreat to face everyone, expression troubled, but resolute. You keep your arm around her, keeping her close by your side.

"Asunaro is the home of Kazusa Michiru," Mami says in a voice the only trembles slightly. "A... a past student of mine."

You nod, and squeeze her hand in silent support.

"We... we parted on good terms," she says. "But she- she couldn't leave her home, and she had her own team to look after. I- we haven't kept in contact."

Because it was too painful to stay in touch for her. You can read between the lines well enough.

You smile proudly at her, brushing her hair back from where you'd disturbed it. "Yeah," you say with a quiet sigh. "That's... what I thought. Thank you, Mami."

"Why do you wish to go?" Oriko asks. Kirika seems interested, attention darting between you and Mami, and Homura might as well be a statue for all she's moving.

"I also know of the Asunaro girls," you say. "Or rather, I know of them. I am fairly certain that they will develop techniques that are very useful to us, and... I know that they're going to be in trouble soon."

You can feel the frission of shock that jolts through Mami's body, her attention turning to you.

"That's why I want to go," you say, giving Mami a reassuring smile. "I don't want anything to happen to them, either. But there is one catch - my knowledge so far has been quite accurate. Not necessarily complete, but accurate."

Oriko frowns sharply. "Not in this case?" she asks, leaning forward to top up your cup of green tea.

"Not quite," you say. "What I know is that Miss Kazusa was someone who met Mami in passing. Not her student."

"B-but that's not right," Mami says, shaking her head.

"Yeah," you say, slumping. You have to be careful here. You can't let Mami know about Michiru's Witching out, even though that's a key part of why you're going. Thankfully, you've got both Homura and Oriko to help guide the conversation. "To be honest... my knowledge of them is slightly suspect. I'm certain of the broad strokes of things, but specifics are questionable."

"I see," Oriko says, placing her palm flat on her lap. "And you choose to go despite my... warning?"

That gets Homura's attention. You'd guessed it would.

"Oriko, no offense, but you know my opinion on relying on your visions," you point out. Your lips quirk in amusement. "And besides, as you said: I defy them."

"None taken, and a fair point," Oriko allows.

"What was this warning?" Homura asks, voice tight.

"Just that, Miss Akemi," Oriko says. "I recommended that Miss Sabrina not go to Asunaro, due to the fact that based on what I saw, it is very messy."

"About that," you say, leaning forward. "I would like to know what happens there."

"Truth be told, it is hard to make sense of it, with my powers faded," Oriko says. "Your biggest foes there are Kanna Hijiri, Airi Anri and Jyuubey, should it come into existence. Do you know of them?"

"I do," you agree. "But wait, Jyuubey?"

"Jyuubey is a fake Incubator the Pleiades create as an attempt to replace Kyuubey," Oriko says, frowning.

Mami's sharp intake of breath doesn't slip past you. You smile at her, hugging her tightly. She quails, shrinking a little and pressing closer to you. "I'm- fine," she whispers, voice husky. "I'm fine."

"Alright," you whisper, but don't loosen your hug. "No, I know that, Oriko. Why would Jyuubey be my enemy? Though hopefully events don't even get to that point. And I need to know what you saw, because I need to try and compare."

"I am uncertain," Oriko says, frowning and rubbing at her temple. "It is emotional, and you are at odds with it." She sighs. "I apologise. I cannot see any clearer than that."

"Alright," you say. "The others?"

"Kanna Hijiri is a... mentally unstable girl," Oriko says. "I... I think she was created by a Wish? She is violent and resentful, and ruthlessly against the Pleiades Saints. She's able to flawlessly connect and synthesize other magical girl's abilities, and manipulates Airi into doing her bidding."

You nod, turning that over in your head. "That matches what I know," you agree. Unspoken is the caveat that what you know of them are their actions after Kazusa Witches out. "What are Airi's powers?"

"She summons ranged weapons," Oriko says. "Or creates them, I am uncertain."

Voting opens Jun 12, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Continue seeking advice
- [] Write-in specifics
[] Ask Mami to contact Kazusa
- [] What to say (to Mami or to Kazusa)
[] Who do you decide to go with?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Hey guys, @Redshirt Army has compiled a very nice summary and day planner of PMAS. It even has a potential Science list and character listings. Take a look here, and throw him likes for the hard work.

 

[Firnagzen]

You suck in a breath, turning that over. You're all but certain that that's not the be-all or end-all of Airi's powers. Frankly, you know she has more capabilities than that.

Though it does seem like Oriko saw a future where you don't intervene until much later and things have... degenerated considerably. Which is unfortunate, but hopefully means you have a chance of stepping in now to prevent things from ballooning.

Thoughts and plans start crystallising in your head, but before you can do anything, you need information.

"OK, OK," you say, rubbing your face. "Uh, right. First. Thank you very much, Oriko. Second, did you see Hijiri 'connecting' with the powers of any magical girls not from the Pleiades?"

Oriko frowns in perplexity. "I'm not sure I understand the question."

"Right," you say. "Sorry. Hijiri Kanna's powers, to my knowledge, are to 'connect' to magical girls, effectively copying their powers in such a way that she can synthesize them together. It's an utterly broken power with what she has available to her. It'd be worse if she can copy other people's powers."

Homura's expression goes utterly flat as she soaks in that tidbit.

"I see," Oriko says. "I'm afraid that I cannot give you a definitive answer, but no, not as far as I remember."

"Right," you say, thinking hard. "Uhh. Hm. OK, uh - Mami?" You turn to her, smiling warmly. "Would you be willing to help me contact Kazusa? I completely understand if you don't want to, and... it's alright to say no."

Mami swallows, meeting your eyes. She visibly steels herself, and nods. "I would," she says, managing a weak smile.

"Thank you, Mami," you say, giving her a smile and pulling her into a proper hug. You hold her for a few moments before separating to find that Kirika had apparently taken opportunity of the lull to migrate onto Oriko's lap.

The black haired girl winks at you.

"... right," you say. "Uh, Oriko, Kirika, while we do that, can I ask you to help me look up recent news of bomb threats in Asunaro?"

Kirika's face twists into an almost comical mask of confusion. "Uh, sure?"

"As far as I know, bomb threats are... kind of how the events really, ah, kick off in Asunaro," you explain.

"Ahhhh," Kirika says, bobbing her head with a look of wise comprehension. She looks to Oriko.

"Please," she says with a smile.

Homura relaxes a tiny fraction as Kirika hops to her feet, bouncing out of your little privacy field and disappearing upstairs. Her hand doesn't stray far from the rim of her shield, however. It hasn't moved from there throughout the entire conversation.

... small steps. It's not open hostility.

"Righty," you say, pushing yourself to your feet. Mami's arm slides limply off your waist, and she makes a tiny, protesting noise. You smile at her, grabbing your little Grief construct by the pedestal. "I'm going nowhere - just moving this."

You move the construct off to the side of the room, so that the sofa's out of range of the bubble, and then you retreat to the sofa to draw Mami into a hug. She clings to you, tucking herself under your arm and nestling close.

"Nope!" Kirika's voice yells from somewhere upstairs, preceding the black haired girl wandering downstairs with one arm cradling a laptop. "Got nothing on bomb threats."

"Kirika," Oriko chides gently. Kirika flushes, ducking her head as she hurries back to Oriko's side, plopping the laptop down on the table.

"Alright, excellent," you say. "Mami? Could you contact Kazusa? And include everyone?"

She swallows, visibly steeling herself.

"Hello? Miss Kazusa?" You can feel the connection going out, Homura, Oriko, and Kirika all listening in.

The response comes after a minute. "... Miss Tomoe?!" a bright, disbelievingly happy voice responds.

"Yes," she says, voice steady despite the tremor you can feel in her body. "I have- a friend who wants to talk to you."

"Never mind that, how are you?" Kazusa says. "I haven't heard from you in forever!"

Mami makes a quiet, broken noise and looks up at you. There's elation on her face, mingled with simple, open loss. She opens her mouth, as if to say something, but words fail her, and she shrinks against your side.

Voting is not closed.
[] Comfort Mami (default action)
[] Take over the conversation
- [] Write-in how
- [] What do you want to ask Kazusa?
[] Continued planning?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Short, mid-point update.

 

[Firnagzen]

"Talk to her," you murmur to Mami, smiling. You hesitate for a second, and boot Homura, Oriko, and Kirika from the mental conversation, mouthing 'sorry' to them.

Homura blinks very slowly at you, managing to look faintly nonplussed without actually changing her expression one iota. Kirika, on the other hand, just rolls her eyes and flashes you a thumbs up, while Oriko nods.

Kazusa seems to notice the booting, though. "Hey, who was that? Mami?"

"A-ah, some friends," Mami manages.

"Oh, that's great!" Kazusa says. She's bubbly. "All worried about you, I guess? Hm, is someone still there? Hi!"

"Hi!" you say. "I'm Sabrina, it's nice to meet you. Sorry, I hope you don't mind?"

"No, no, it's fine!" Kazusa says. Well, Michiru, to use her first name. "Miss Tomoe? Are you OK?"

Mami takes a deep, shuddering breath, and smiles. At you, not conveyed in that odd, barely-there impression over telepathy. "I think so," she says. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"It has!" Michiru agrees. "Oh! I have a proper team now, Miss Tomoe! We call ourselves the Pleiades Saints. I've taught them everything I learned from you."

"I've heard," Mami says, nodding. You clasp her hand between both of yours, giving her an encouraging smile. She's got this.

"Do you remember Kaoru and Umika?" Michiru enthuses. "They became magical girls, too! Umika is hoping to get her book published soon, she found an editor, and she says she wants to buy us a bigger house! Though... the three of us already live together, anyway, more or less."

"That's good," Mami says. "Was that the book you showed me a part of... last time?" Her expression falls a little.

"Ah, a different one," Michiru says, sounding proud. "Um, kind of? You know how she is about writing, she rewrote so much of it!"

"That's cool!" you say, trying to suppress the worry in your voice. As far as you know, Michiru Witches out on the day Umika's first book debuts, so that's your timeline. Then again, Michiru doesn't seem to show any strain of carrying too much Grief. "What's the book title? Maybe we could pick up a copy here."

"Oh, it isn't out yet!" Michiru says. "It will be soon, though, it's called The Sky of Seven Stars."

"Like the Pleiades constellation?" you ask, quirking an eyebrow.

"That's the idea!" Michiru replies. "Write what you know, Umika said."

"Sounds about right," you agree, smiling faintly. You check on Mami. She's listening avidly, soaking it all in despite the biting, tired grief on her face.

"Oh, Pleiades, like your group?" Mami asks.

"Yep! We have seven magical girls, Miss Tomoe, just like the constellation!" Michiru continues, picking up her thought from earlier. "They're all wonderful people, and I'm very lucky to know them."

You can hear the bright, cheerful smile accompanying the statement, for all that it sends your mind into overdrive. Four people. Asami Saki, Wakaba Mirai, Kanna Niko, Usagi Satomi, in addition to Kazusa Michiru herself, Misaki Umika, and Maki Kaoru. All present and accounted for, though is Nikon being on the team means that Hijiri Kanna is around, too.

Mami wilts, expression shattering. Of course, Michiru having a team is indirectly Mami's fault. And talking about a team wasn't ever going to be not a touchy subject, with how lonely Mami was, but... more magical girls that are her doing, more magical girls consigned to having their Souls ripped out to fight an endless war for their survivals.

Fuck that.

"That's an impressive group, Miss Kazusa." You pick up the slack, slowly stroking Mami's back in soothing circles. Her grip on your hand is almost crushing, knuckles bone white around yours. "How's hunting?"

"Eh? Oh, Miss Sabrina!" Michiru says, sounding bright and curious. If she's puzzled by you having effectively taken over the conversation, it doesn't show in her voice. "Ah, yes, are you Mami's new student?"

"I'm Mami's student, Mami's friend..." you say. But that's not enough, is it? It doesn't encapsulate your relationship. You blush. "Uh... Well. I'm Mami's."

"Ooh, like me and Umika and Kaoru," Michiru says. "I see! I'm glad."

"Yeah," you say, smiling at Mami's startled look. "I'm actually pretty new as a magical girl, even though I know a lot about the magical girl world."

Kirika flashes you a discreet thumbs up, which you ignore.

"Lucky!" Kazusa says. "And you have Miss Tomoe teaching you to help with the bits you don't know, too!"

"Yeah," you agree. "I really am pretty lucky." More than Kazusa knows, but there's no need to cram your spiel down her throat just yet.

And hey, it wasn't all luck, either.

"Hey, if you're Mami's student, and so am I, then you can call me sempai!" Kazusa says cheerfully.

"I- I have a team too, now," Mami says, her hand clamping down on yours, just a little more. You smile at her, gently brushing hair out of her face.

"Oh, that's great!" Kazusa says. "Oh, was that them listening in earlier? And Miss Sabrina?"

You smile encouragingly at Mami. She swallows hard, jaws working, before she shakes her head. You squeeze her hand back, gentle, but firm.

"Yeah, I'm part of the team," you say, nodding. "We only have four members proper, though."

"Oh, that sounds great!" Michiru says. "Four of you with the whole city to yourselves?"

That would be your cue to jump in, but... You eye Mami. She looks conflicted, a mix of simple elation and guilt and crushing regret. You exhale, and you release her hand so that you can hug her properly. It only takes a tiny effort to cleanse her Soul Gem, too, twists of Grief rippling free.

"Hello? Miss Tomoe? Are you OK?" Michiru says, sounding a little concerned.

Mami takes a deep, shuddering breath, looking up at you again. "I'm fine," she says. "J-just- it's been a while, Miss Kazusa."

"It has," Michiru says, voice softening. "It really would be nice to see you again, Miss Tomoe."

"Um... Sabrina?" Mami asks.

You squeeze her hand, watching as Oriko murmurs something to Kirika. The black haired girl bounces to her feet and off to the kitchen, irrepressibly energetic. Homura's eyes follow her. "Yeah, we're actually planning a trip sometime, if that works for you?"

"Oh, that would be wonderful," Michiru says. "I now know how hard it is to leave your city behind, though! Maybe I could come over instead? I'll bring Umika and Kaoru with me!"

You blink. That could actually solve a fair number of problems - like sidestepping Oriko's rather dire warnings. And with Michiru explicitly bringing Umika on a friendly visit, that would mean presumably that you don't need to test your possible resistance against mind control or anything.

Are there downsides? Maybe if there's something specific to Asunaro city that you need, like the anti-Kyuubey barrier or Jyuubey. But without Michiru Witching out, and hopefully she won't, they wouldn't exist yet, maybe. And Oriko and Kirika wouldn't get to go out.

Mami gives you a look you can best describe as conflicted - longing and terror at the same time.

"Oh, can Mitakihara support another three magical girls, though?" Michiru continues, blithely ignorant of your churning thoughts.

... On the other hand, she's practically handing you the perfect opening.

You smile at Mami, still stroking her back slowly, and you nod a little. If it's at all possible. "Actually, Miss Kazusa, if I may divert the topic a little to answer your question?"

"Sure?" Michiru says.

"I control Grief," you say. "I can cleanse Soul Gems."

"Really? That's amazing!" Michiru says, voice brimming with excitement.

"She is," Mami murmurs. "W-would you like to come and visit?"

"Or would it be easier for us to go over and visit you?" you offer. "I can actually move a few people very fast. I think I might be supersonic, but I'm not sure."

Angel of Grief, that's you. Heh. Then again, Sayaka probably makes the better angel. Mikiel or some such, perhaps.

"Wow," Michiru breathes, sounding awed. "Um, I'm not sure? It sounds like it would be easier for you to come over, but I'd love to see Mitakihara..."

"Mami?" you prompt gently, smiling at her. Kirika returns from the kitchen with a plate of cookies, plonking it down on the middle of the coffee table before collecting a handful which she proceeds to stuff her face with, offering some to Oriko.

"Maybe... maybe you could come over first? And then we travel to Asunaro after that?" Mami suggests hesitantly, looking to you worriedly.

You smile at Mami and shift to hug her a little tighter, over Michiru's excited agreement. It would solve some issues. Not all, like school, but-

Speaking of school, you should ask.

"Actually, before we plan more, I should ask - Miss Kazusa, do you go to school?" you say, considering getting some of the cookies. But then, that would mean leaving Mami's side, and... not now. Besides, you have an odd craving for chips right now. "Uh, well, I don't."

"Oh, a delinquent!" Michiru says. "How exciting!"

"Sabrina is not a delinquent!" Mami says sharply.

"Eh? Oh no no no! I didn't mean it that way!" Kazusa says, shaking her head. "I mean- I'm a delinquent too. I don't go to school, being a magical girl takes up too much time!"

Mami's shoulders sag a little.

Voting opens Jun 19, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] When do you want to visit?
-[] Let Michiru come over first
-[] Let Michiru know it might be more than just Mami and Sabrina visiting.
-[] Leave decision to the group
[] Discuss who's going to Asunaro
-[] Explain Hijiri's memory/mind magics
-[] Push for...
--[] Kirika and Oriko, as counters to mind magic
--[] Homura, because she should know
--[] Mami, because Mami
--[] Sayaka
--[] Masami and Hiroko
--[] Megane Ono
-[] Leave decision to the group
[] Ask Kirika for anti-magic enchantments
[] Say goodbye to the Kures
-[] Ask Homura to chat
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

For the record, Kazusa uses "Mami-san" to address Mami, and "Sabrina-san" for you. 'Translation' convention.

Also, I feel like I should point out that while the Pleiades cluster is known as the Seven Sisters, there are nine readily visible stars - the Seven Sisters and two parents.

 

[Firnagzen]

Your paranoia jumps a notch. You can't help it, knowing what you know: Michiru Witches out on the day Umika's book debuts. To great acclaim, even, considering that you know Umika was in fact able to buy that house she promised Michiru and Kaoru.

There's a kind of awful, poignant tragedy to that, isn't there?

Well. You reject that.

Some part of you wants to go there now, now, now. You have impressions of Michiru Wishing her grandmother would be able to spend a day with her before she died, and you have memories of Michiru seeming perfectly fine up until she Witched out. Your memories might not be entirely accurate, but it's worrying enough to make you fret.

"Hello? Miss Sabrina? Miss Tomoe?" Michiru asks, sounding slightly concerned.

"Uh," you say, squeezing Mami's hand and making a quick, snap decision. "Give us a moment, Miss Kazusa?"

"Ah, of course?" Michiru says.

"Thanks," you say. You leave the connection, but speak out loud. "Mami?"

"Y-yes?" she says, licking her lips. "S-sorry I'm so..."

"No. You've done nothing wrong, Mami, don't apologise," you say, brushing her hair back and smiling at her. You reach out via telepathy at the same time, hooking in Homura, Oriko, and Kirika. "It's going alright, just need to discuss a bit. I'll fill you in in a bit?"

"I understand," Oriko says, sipping at her tea with unruffled calm. Homura eyes Oriko for a second before biting out a curt, "Understood."

"A-alright," Mami whispers. You hold her gaze with yours for a minute, smiling gently until the knot of worry written in the frown and her downturned mouth eases a little.

"Better?" you say.

She nods, managing a little smile. "It's just- hard."

"I..." you trail off. You want to say you understand, but truthfully, you don't. You don't understand how Mami feels, even if, perhaps, you can speculate and you can guess. Michiru would have been an amazing friend to Mami, but they'd met purely by chance. Michiru couldn't leave Asunaro, and Mami couldn't leave Mitakihara.

And so Mami must have pasted on the best smile she could, and... left. Because she couldn't settle for 'so close and yet so far'. It'd only have been a bitter reminder.

And here you are. Talking once more to Michiru, who's bright and eager and cheerful and more than willing to rekindle their friendship. What-could-have-beens abound, and regret isn't the best of flavours to mix with anything.

You exhale slowly, gathering your thoughts. Honesty is the best policy, right? "I don't understand how you feel," you say quietly. "I can't, because I'm not in your position. But I'm here, Mami, and you have my unconditional support. And not just me. You're not alone any more. Alright?"

Mami takes a shuddering breath, and smiles at you. "I- I know," she whispers. "I can- I can do this. A-and... Thank you, Sabrina." Her lips move silently for a second, but she shakes her head, still smiling at you.

"OK," you say, giving her a warm, affectionate grin. That's your Mami. It's slow, but she is recovering. "Then... I need advice, Mami?"

"What about?" Mami asks.

"I'm a little concerned about Miss Kazusa," you say very carefully. "I- I have reason to believe she's running low on Grief Seeds, but she's hiding it. Seven magical girls is a lot for one city, isn't it?"

The lines around Mami's eyes tighten. "Y-yeah," she says. "Asunaro isn't that big, either. Not like Mitakihara. And- I- I did get that impression, too."

"Kazusa Michiru is running out of Grief Seeds?" Oriko asks sharply, a frown on her face. You have Homura's full attention, too, violet eyes boring into the side of your head.

Kirika just seems slightly bored.

"And- actually, I'm uncertain. Mami, do you know what her powers are?" you ask.

"Um... Her powers are, um, real illusions?" Mami says, brows knitting. "She uses her abilities to imitate things, but they aren't really... real copies. It's not like Sayaka's magic."

You frown, nodding as you turn that thought over a few times. That seems to fit what you know. "Then... Is it possible that she's hiding how low she's running on Grief Seeds?"

"It's- it's possible," Mami says, looking increasingly worried.

"Then I suppose it's a good thing we checked in on her now..." You say, heaving a sigh. "Right. I want to bring it up with her, but I'm afraid of making her defensive, or clamming up. Mami, what would you recommend?"

"Maybe..." Mami bites her lip. "She's a terrible liar, if you ask her directly. Maybe that could work?"

"Would she be upset?" you ask.

Mami shakes her head. "I don't think so."

"I'll ask her, then," you say. "Or- hm, I could come at it obliquely. Offer her a Clear Seed, and ask if she has one to spare that I could use?"

"That would work," Mami says, brightening a little.

"You worry too much," Kirika opines, sitting up and snagging another cookie from the plate. "You're worried, right? Just ask her."

"I don't want to call her out just like that," you say, shrugging. "Anyway, back to it... Um. Again, sorry to leave you guys out, I'll hook you in in a few?"

"That would be acceptable," Oriko agrees.

Homura nods, jaw tight.

You smile at them, and return to the telepathic call - still just you, Mami, and Michiru. "Sorry about that, Miss Kazusa, just had to discuss a few things."

"Oh no, not at all," Michiru responds brightly. "Is everything alright?"

You squeeze Mami's hand, giving her a smile and giving her the opportunity to respond.

"Yes, everything is alright," Mami agrees, voice steady even as her hand tightens on yours. "I'm sorry to hear that you had to leave your- your normal life behind."

"It's not a big deal," Michiru dismisses it. "Protecting innocent people is more important, anyway!"

"It is," Mami agrees, swallowing. You hug her a little tighter.

"Yeah, I can agree with that," you add. "And... well. I can agree with the pressure of having a magical girl career, if you could call it that."

Michiru giggles abruptly. "'Career', I like that."

"Hah, glad you like it," you say. "I mean, I'm not in school and I feel like I don't have enough time in a day."

"I know," Michiru groans. "I don't know how you do it, Miss Tomoe."

"Sabrina helps," Mami says, giving you a warm, adoring smile.

"I'll bet," Michiru agrees with a laugh. "Being able to cleanse Soul Gems must be amazing."

"It's great, yeah," you agree. "And that works as a segue for me - Miss Kazusa, so, uh, to drag the topic back a bit, yeah, Mitakihara can easily support as many of your group as you'd like to bring over. And actually, I wanna make an offer... two offers. First, um - I definitely know how hard magical girl life is. I have a sort of solution to it, though."

"Oh?" Michiru says.

"Yeah," you say. "One of the things I've discovered about my powers is that I can control grief, including what's inside a Grief Seed - I can simply drain out all the Grief. I wind up with what I call a Clear Seed - and you can cleanse with it for years, at an estimate."

"Wow," Michiru breathes. "That's amazing."

"Like you said, I got lucky with my powers, right?" you say. "But, um, the offer I want to make is: I'm handing these out. They're prototypes, and I don't know if there are any issues down the road with them, but- do you want one? It's free."

"Yes!" Michiru squeaks. "Um- yes, please, if it isn't too much trouble?"

"Alright, then... are you up for visiting tomorrow?" you say. Mami swallows, shrinking a little, but she doesn't pull away. "Hm... bring a spare Grief Seed, if you have one?"

"Oh, tomorrow?" Michiru says, sounding startled. "Um, um, it's a bit short notice?"

"Well, I can ferry you over," you say. "I can move really fast."

"Um... Let me check with Umika and Kaoru!" Michiru says.

"Alright, I'll check with my friends, too, and hey, you know it doesn't have to be just three of you, right? You're all welcome to come over," you say.

"I know, but we can't all leave the city defenceless, silly!" Michiru says brightly. "Besides, you can come over afterwards and meet us all."

"Oh, that makes sense. Right. Let me know when you're done," you say. "Oh, hey- do you have a Grief Seed you can spare? I'll return it as a Clear Seed, of course, or I can go and hunt one down over here," you say.

"Oh, ah- sorry Kaor- uwa, I'm getting mixed up-" Michiru trails off into incoherence for a second before audibly wrenching herself back on topic. "Um, we can bring a Grief Seed, sorry, just one second-"

"She seems a bit scattered," you observe to Mami, swallowing a giggle.

"She always was," Mami says, shaking her head.

"Anyway," you say, smiling at your other friends. "Alright, so here's what's happened- actually, lemme grab Sayaka, too, since she should know. Um, Oriko, Kirika, try not to provoke her?"

"Naturally," Oriko says, tone utterly dry.

You nod, and reach out by telepathy to grab Sayaka. You let her know what's happening, and then start a second mental conversation to include everyone. "Alright, everyone here?"

You get confirmations from everyone - Mami, Homura, Oriko, Kirika, and Sayaka. "Alright, so, to summarize, we're in touch with Kazusa Michiru, from Asunaro. She's one of Mami's old students." You pause, squeezing Mami a little with the arm around her waist to make sure she's alright. "Mami and I think she's running low on Grief Seeds, and my original plan was to visit her tomorrow. I wasn't actually sure who should go, but she had her own idea, to come visit Mitakihara."

"Hunh, cool," Sayaka says. "Why doesn't that happen more often?"

"What, visiting?" you say. "Mostly because meguca are territorial. But does anyone have any objections to Mitakihara hosting a few more meguca for... actually, I'm not sure if it's just a day visit or not."

"Where're they gonna stay?" Sayaka asks.

"I'm not sure," you say. They could stay at the Kure's, or at home with you and Mami.

"Our guest room would be a bit cramped with three people," Mami notes.

"It would be possible for them to stay here," Oriko says. "There is plenty of room."

The telepathic conversation goes silent for a second, and you can practically feel the dislike radiating off both Homura and Sayaka.

Heh. Homura and Sayaka, united for once by dislike of a mutual foe.

"We'll... sort that out," you say. Oriko's warehouse is also a possibility, though that one mattress might be a problem.

"Eh, good enough for me," Sayaka says. "Anything else?"

"One thing, actually, rain-check on a conversation... uh... tomorrow, probably? Maybe tonight. I'm juggling too many things," you say.

Homura meets your eyes, and you nod. You haven't forgotten the conversation with her, either.

"Sure?" Sayaka says. You can feel the shrug. "You know you can just chat with me without having to schedule an appointment, right?"

You snort, amused. "A good point, well made," you say. "Anyway, later!"

"Later!" Sayaka says.

To be honest, you didn't really expect objections on that. None of your friends would object to friendly visitors from out of town, you don't think, but it's still good to check with them. You are trying not to run roughshod over them, after all.

Mami seems to have cheered up a little, cuddling into your side with a happy sigh. Not to be outdone, Kirika's also wrapped around Oriko, the silver-haired girl pulling her close with her good arm. Barring the wire-taut wariness cording through her body, Homura just looks faintly annoyed.

"Um, it should be fine!" Michiru responds at last.

"Alright!" you say. "When is good? As I said, I'll come over and pick you up. Um... Mami, would you like to come along?"

"I- I have school," she says, looking torn.

"... how about I go over there at, say, eleven, pick you up, and be back in time to meet up for lunchtime?" you hazard. "Would that work?"

"That works for me!" Michiru says.

"That-" Mami swallows. "That would work."

You stroke your thumb slowly across the back of Mami's hand, shifting so that she can nestle a little closer. "Then tomorrow it is," you say. "Just three of you? We'll need to figure out where you can stay."

"Kaoru, Umika, and me!" Michiru chirps. "Uhm, we're happy to stay anywhere as long as it isn't too much trouble."

"Alright, noted," you agree. "Hm... how long do you plan to stay?"

"Um... maybe a day or two?" Michiru says, sounding uncertain. "How long is alright?"

You fight the urge to shrug. You'd look rather silly to Homura, Oriko, and Kirika, who aren't privy to the conversation. "Mami?"

She swallows hard. You can feel the faint tremor in her hand, and you hold her tight. You're not letting go. "A-as long as you want?"

"Oh! A day or two, then?" Michiru says.

"We're flexible, so... yeah?" you say, smiling at Mami.

"OK! Then tomorrow!" Michiru says. "Um... I need to go and tell my friends! Is there anything else?"

"Hm... if you're coming over for lunch, would you like us to prepare something?" you ask.

"Lunch swap!" Michiru says decisively. "I'll cook something, and you cook something."

"Sounds good," you say.

Mami smiles, a little. "I'd like that," she says.

"Then it's decided," you say.

"Alright~" Michiru agrees. "Anyway, I have to go now. Bye! It was great talking to you again, Miss Tomoe."

"It was," Mami agrees, making a quiet, inarticulate noise and burrowing into your side again.

"Bye!" you say, and close the connection. You sigh, and sit back, closing your eyes for a second. That was a rollercoaster of a chat.

Voting opens Jun 23, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Restore privacy field
[] Discuss...
- [] Tomorrow's visit
- [] Metaknowledge about Kazumi Magica1​
[] Look for Scrabble set
[] Talk to Homura
- [] Specify?
[] Head home
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

1​Keep in mind that a good deal of the plot revolves around Michiru having Witched out.

 

[Firnagzen]

Your eyes spring open a moment later as you turn to what's important: Mami. You smile at her, giving her a warm, reassuring hug as she curls up on herself, pulling her legs up to her chest in a tight, worried little ball.

Regret is a bitter, bitter dish.

"Mami, it'll be fine," you murmur, wrapping both arms around her and hugging her tight.

She sighs, pressing against you. "I... I know," she whispers, taking a shuddering breath. "I don't... Did I do alright, Sabrina?"

You swallow hard, gratitude welling up. "More than," you say. "I- I'm sorry I made you do that."

"N-no," Mami says, shaking her head. "You didn't force me, I just- it's hard. I haven't seen her in a year, and I told myself she was just like the others, but she wasn't, that just made it easier but it wasn't true and I could have done more, but-"

"It's in the past," you whisper, stroking her back slowly. "And you'll see her again soon enough, right?"

"Y-yeah," Mami says. She huddles closer to you, curled up small and tight. "Thank you, Sabrina, I-I- you've done s-so much for me."

"Anything," you say.

You catch a faint sigh, just barely on the cusp of audibility. Not a sigh of frustration, no, but you somehow recognise Kirika's voice in that sigh.

... she probably thinks it's romantic.

Which you suppose it is, but it's simple truth. You care about the girl you're holding in your arms. You care about Mami.

It takes a minute for Mami to pull herself together. She doesn't move away from you, but she does uncurl to set her feet on the ground, nestling closer into your side. She opens her mouth, lips shaping the first syllables of an apology to you, before she shakes her head, smiling weakly at you.

Instead, she turns her attention to the others. "I apologise, Homura, Miss Mikuni, Miss Kure," she says. "I didn't mean for my emotions to get the better of me like that."

"Quite understandable," Oriko says, motioning as if to brush away a fly.

Kirika's eyes all but sparkle as she grins at you. Homura just shrugs, murmuring a quiet, "It's fine."

You beam at Mami, proud and happy. She's learning to pull herself together.

"OK. Shall we continue?" you say, already pulling at the privacy construct with your mind. You bring it back properly with the assent of your friends, floating the little circlet over and setting it down on the table with a bare thought.

"What happened?" Homura asks, violet eyes sharp the moment you're all enclosed by the hazy boundary of your privacy field.

"Yeah, uh," you say, freeing one hand from the hug to rub at your nose. "Sorry about booting everyone from the conversation like that. That was... it was an entirely different situation from what I'd expected, to be honest. So I had to, uh, reprioritise."

"That's fine," Homura says, nodding sharply. "Did you..." She trails off with a lightning fast glance at Mami, then back at you. "How are they?"

You free a few marbles of Grief from your bag with a thought, collecting Mami's teacup from the table and floating it over to her. She takes it with a grateful smile.

"As I said, I think they're strapped for Grief Seeds," you say. "At least, that's the impression I get."

"And possibly hiding it," Oriko notes.

"Yeah," you say. "From what I... know, she's the kind of person who would give Grief Seeds to her friends over herself."

"I think so," Mami says, nodding slowly. "I never... I never knew her that well."

You hug Mami a little tighter. You wish you could show her how much you appreciate her offering her advice, her opinion, even though you know it must be painful for her.

"I see," Oriko says, a speculative, thoughtful look in her eyes. She's putting the pieces together, you think, and judging from the way Homura's eyes narrow in thought, she's not far behind, either.

"Yeah," you say. "From what I know, a few... let's call them villains... move in pretty soon. Again, this should be considered somewhat speculative, because my knowledge about them seems to be a little disparate. But it's something to go on."

"Much like my visions when you are involved," Oriko says with an amused smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

Of course, that draws Homura's attention back to her, the wire-taut coil of the muscles in her neck tightening. Poor girl probably needs a massage for the stress, preferably from Madoka.

"Villains?" Kirika prompts, pulling her legs up to sit crosslegged on the sofa.

"Eh," you say, wobbling your hands. "Maybe that was a bad word for it. Antagonists, maybe. But yes: Yuuri, or Anri Airi, and Hijiri Kanna. And the Soujus, I suppose. Yuuri is... complicated. There was a girl, Asuka Yuuri, who made a Wish to cure her dying friend, Anri Airi. Yuuri later-" Witches out "-dies, and blaming the Pleiades Saints, Anri makes a Wish to become Yuuri."

"And uses her powers to attacks the Pleiades," Oriko asks, less a question and more a confirmation.

"For revenge, yes," you agree. Mami sips her tea, eyes wide as she listens.

"What are her powers?" Homura asks.

You fidget with your hair, tucking that perpetually messy lock behind your ear. "I'm not entirely certain," you admit. "From what I know, she can summon a giant bull, some magic guns, a magic barrier thing, and an explosion which might have been a mine of some kind? And perfectly imitating the appearance of another person."

"That does not tally with what I saw," Oriko says, frowning. "The imitation, yes. The bull... yes. She did not so much summon it as grow them? She did not use the barrier, or the explosion. She did use guns, yes, though I hazard that those are her weapons."

"Right," you say, scowling. "She grew the bull, you said?"

"Like some kind of... biological matter manipulation, perhaps," Oriko says, shrugging with one shoulder. "I am uncertain."

"Would kind of tally, I suppose," you agree. "Yuuri -the original one- had -has?- healing powers. So if Anri Wishes to be like her..."

Oriko shakes her head, looking uncertain.

"When does this happen?" Homura asks, grimacing. "Can we prevent it?"

"Unfortunately... I don't really know exactly when she makes that Wish," you admit. "It may already have happened."

Homura nods sharply, folding her arms. "And the other magical girls?"

"Kanna Hijiri... Truth be told, she is behind much of the insanity that I hope to derail. Among other things, she can create these things she calls Evil Nuts, which can turn normal humans into fake Witches," you say, grimacing unhappily. It's a little closer to the fact that Witches come from magical girls than you'd like, but you want everyone, even Mami, informed.

"That's horrible," Mami whispers, clutching at your arm.

"I know, right?" you say, trying to inject some humour into your voice. "'Evil Nuts'. It sounds awful in English. I propose we call them 'Asunaro Almonds' instead."

Kirika laughs, clapping her hands. "I like it! Seconded, motion passes."

The laughter falls rather flat, though. It is a horrific specter of a power to have looming over you.

Oriko nods, deep frown knotting her eyebrows. "Then you will need to be careful."

"I intend to," you agree. "Her powers are connection. She can 'connect' to other magical girls and combine their powers... I think she may only be able to do that to the Pleiades, because that was her Wish. Uh. Her story is rather weird, and unfortunately it's already started, I think."

You blow out a hard breath, hugging Mami tight as you gather your thoughts. "Hijiri Kanna is a clone of Kanna Niko, created by her Wish. For some reason, Kanna Niko Wished for a clone of herself who was innocent and knew nothing of the fighting and suffering. When Hijiri finds out, she, uh, kind of snaps and swears revenge."

"That's stupid," Kirika notes.

"I know," you groan. "I just- good grief, it's just so dumb. She doesn't feel human, and wants to wipe out humans and replace them with artificial ones or something like that. I hope this is a part that my knowledge gets wrong, because this is literally a video game enemy motivation."

"I think I've played that before," Kirika agrees.

"Nnnnrgh," you grumble, rubbing your face. "I just- ugh. Asunaro is a mess, your warnings aside, Oriko."

"I... admit, your knowledge there seems more complete than my visions," Oriko admits. "I was rather focused on local events. You mentioned the Soujus too?"

"Yeah," you agree, eyeing Homura. "You predicted them arriving in Mitakihara sometime this week, as I recall, but... bleh. I don't really know much about them. They're twins, I think, or maybe a split personality or something. Two Soul Gems, one body, fire and ice powers. And they collect Soul Gems."

"They collect Soul Gems?" Homura asks, a trace of incredulity in her voice.

"Yep," you confirm. "They steal girls' Soul Gems."

"That matches what I saw," Oriko agrees, frowning. "They come by Mitakihara targeting you, barring your intended interference. They seemed to be able to combine their powers into a channelled attack?"

Mami's grip tightens on your arm, and you smile at her. "Forewarned is forearmed," you tell her, reassuring and warm. "She won't get me."

Mami swallows, looking up at you. "Beat her into the ground," she whispers. "That- they sound like monstrous people. If they come here, we'll crush them."

"Yeah!" Kirika agrees, pumping her fist. "Kick their asses... Hm. Kick their ass? They only have one, after all."

"I like to think the best of people, but they do it knowing what Soul Gems are. It's not exactly excusable," you say.

Mami nods firmly in agreement. Her hand finds yours, interlacing your fingers.

"Three threats to watch out for," Homura says, expression grim. "In addition to Kazusa running out of Grief Seeds."

"The latter of which I hope to resolve tomorrow, yeah," you say, smiling faintly. "It's one thing I'm uniquely suited to doing."

"Understood," Homura says. "Is there anything else important due to happen at Asunaro?"

"Not as far as I saw," Oriko says, shaking her head. Homura stiffens, muscle jumping along her jaw. "But the memories of the vision have... slipped, with the loss of my powers."

"Damn," you sigh. "Was hoping you might have more insight, really. I appreciate what you were able to tell me, though."

"Do these events happen because the Pleiades Saints are weakened?" Homura asks, frown deepening.

"Yeah, essentially," you say. "That's not going to happen, but basically, Hijiri manipulates both Yuuri and the Soujus into fighting them, and then takes advantage to have her revenge. Not completely successfully, mind you, but..."

Homura nods, processing that. You all fall silent for a while, wrapped up in your own thoughts. You stroke Mami's hair absently as you consider the utter mess you're about to embroil yourself in. Your mind drifts to another snippet of knowledge - of the magical girl named Tart, better known to the world as Joan of Arc. And perhaps Walpurgisnacht.

On the other hand, for some reason that makes you think of Homura hairflipping at Walpurgisnacht and confusing her so much that the giant Witch leaves in a huff. It's a nice image, but you doubt things will be that easy.

You sigh. It's getting later, and you should be going. "I apologise for the doom and gloom," you say. "If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave?"

"You're welcome to stay longer, but no, I don't have anything," Oriko answers. Kirika shrugs, flashing you a grin as she wraps herself around the seer.

"Then... I guess we'll be going now," you say, levering yourself to your feet. Mami clings to you as you stand, rising alongside you and refusing to let go of your hand - not that you really would, anyway.

Oriko and Kirika see you off at the back door, Kirika waving brightly at you as she pulls the glass shut. Finally, the three of you are left standing in the garden as you feel Oriko and Kirika retreating further into the mansion.

You smile at Mami, pulling her into a tight, tight hug. "You did great," you whisper into her ear. "And I promise I'll do my best."

"Alright," Mami whispers, all but collapsing into the hug.

You hold her tight for a minute, before stepping back. You meet her soft, golden eyes. "Better?"

She nods, smiling at you.

"Good," you say, sliding one arm around her waist and turning to Homura, who's standing stock still, facing away. You can't help but feel grateful for her giving you your privacy. "Thanks for being patient, Homura."

"It was no problem," Homura murmurs. "I should go."

"Wait- Homura, I can offer you a lift, and, um, could I talk to you?" you ask.

Homura nods, reaching for her shield with a questioning look.

You nod, and turn once more to Mami. "I'll be just a second, alright?" you whisper, smiling.

Mami swallows, and nods. "Alright."

You hug her again, smiling at her. "I'll always come back to you."

You separate, and hold your hand out to Homura. She reaches for the edge of her shield and cra-

-nks it across. Her hand's warm on your wrist, and the stress lines around her eyes are considerably lighter, here in the safety of the frozen world.

Voting opens Jun 28, 2017 at 1:00 PM
[] Talk to Homura
- [] Making up for your mistakes
- [] Sensitive topics about Asunaro
- [] Write-in specifics
[] Go for dinner with Mami
[] Head home
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Here we are.

 

[Firnagzen]

Homura stares at you, waiting for you to explain.

Mami's important. But that doesn't mean Homura isn't, too. It doesn't mean any of your friends, anybody else, isn't. What was it you'd thought all that time ago? Save the world, save one girl - what's the difference? In some ways, you think that might be your purpose, if you have one. If Madoka's Wish caused you to spring into existence.

Here and now, you focus on Homura, and you smile at her.

"Homura, thank you. Just... thank you so much, Homura," you say, tugging lightly on her wrist. "For putting up with me, for your patience with me and Oriko and the whole Asunaro thing."

Homura's eyes slant away from you, glancing down. "It's not a problem."

"No, I mean it, Homura," you say. "I mean every word of it, from the depths of my heart: thank you. I know how much you hate them. I can only imagine how much you have to put up with me and my demands. So thank you, Homura."

"You're welcome," she murmurs, eyes flicking back up to you.

"Can I give you a hug?" you ask, raising your free arm a little.

She doesn't answer verbally, but she does raise her free arm, just a little, just far enough for you to step in and hug her tight. You can feel how tense she is, tension humming in her still-too-thin frame.

It takes a moment for her to relax, even the slightest bit. Corded, wire-taut muscle eases just a little, and her head sags forward against your shoulder.

"It'll be alright," you whisper.

She sighs, arms hanging limply at your side as you hug her, and you release her after a moment, keeping your hand on her wrist.

"How has your day been?" you ask. "You spent a good chunk of it with Madoka and Sayaka, how was it?"

"It was- good," Homura allows. Her lips compress for a second, eyes distant. "Miki Sayaka has been... less annoying than she usually is."

"She Wished good," you say, grinning at the faint consternation in her voice. "And she has a good impression of you, now."

"That's good," Homura says, quiet and toneless. "Useful, if she makes it."

You bite back a sigh. You can understand why she thinks that way, how that mindset carved itself into her mind over the years she looped, but even so. "She'll make it," you say. "I'm not perfect, I admit. I'm sorry... I'm sorry for the mistake I made."

"It's done," Homura says, looking down. Her expression is very, very tired all of a sudden. "I understand the mistake."

"No, I- Homura, look at me?" you ask. She does, reluctantly, lifting worn amethyst eyes to meet your gaze. "I promise to do better. It was a slip up, but Homura, I'm with you. I want to beat Walpurgisnacht, I want to help you, and Madoka, and Mami, and everyone else. I promise."

"I know," Homura says, eyes sliding away from yours again. "I- I believe you."

"Alright," you say, and pull her into another brief hug, patting her gently on the back. Releasing her, you give her another smile. "How was your day, otherwise?"

"Madoka is- safe. Happy," Homura says. "She- she settled down, after the... revelation. Miki Sayaka talked to her, and they- they asked me for reassurance. I told them it would be fine."

"Good," you say, squeezing her wrist. Hope. Hope. Maybe the most valuable thing you can supply.

If someone tells me it's wrong to hope, I'll tell them they're wrong every time.

It's a rush of relief, because despite everything, Homura still has that spark, however tiny it might be.

"You weren't lying to her," you whisper. And perhaps there's a touch of urgency in your voice, because you want her to believe, too. "We're gonna do this, come what may."

She sighs, looking away once more.

"Did anything else happen?" you prompt.

The only answer is a slight shrug. "Nothing much."

"OK. I hope you had a nice afternoon, at least," you say, smiling at her.

She nods once, short and sharp. Her jaw works silently for a second, so you let her think and wrestle with whatever thought she might have. Finally, she speaks.

"Do you... do you really think the Asunaro girls can reverse Witching?" Homura asks.

"I... Hm," you say, frowning. "I'm not absolutely sure. Truthfully, all the madness stems from Kazusa Witching out. They take her Grief Seed, and with it, they grow a clone that has her memories. It... doesn't work, until they create a clone that doesn't have her memories. The same personality, but..."

You trail off. You'd glossed over the fact that according to your memories-that-never-were, the first few clones inevitably went berserk.

"Then..." Homura's voice is questioning.

"That isn't the whole story, this time," you say. "True, they don't have the same, ah, motivation. But this time, we have Rionna Mag Aoidh, and her magic is about the Soul. And we've got me - I can fuel their experiments indefinitely. So I'm confident we can at least equal that success."

Homura nods slowly. "Then they don't know that magical girls turn into Witches yet?"

"Eh," you say. "I'm not sure. Probably not? That... isn't the biggest worry, I suppose."

What is a worry is telling Mami. You haven't told her, and you're worried about her reaction, but... you don't like not telling her, either. It's a sword hanging over your head, one that could be brought down with crushing force by Kyuubey or even simple misfortune.

"I see." Homura nods again.

"I'm optimistic about it. It's something utterly new, and I think we've got good chances," you say, beaming at her. You might be repeating yourself, but you want to hammer it in as much for your own sake as hers. You've got something new. "But... enough about that. How are you?"

"I am- I am fine," Homura sighs, hesitating for a second. "Worried."

"Oh?" you prompt gently.

She grimaces, but doesn't say anything more.

"We'll be fine, Homura," you say. "I promise. I can't promise not to make mistakes - I'm not perfect, as much as I wish I were. And hey, I already blew my Wish, so I can't Wish for that, right?"

You grin at her, trying to get her to smile, even just a bit. You let it fade a few moments later, though. "I'm with you, Homura. Every step of the way. I can only imagine what it's like, but... I think we can."

"I know," she sighs. "It's just hard."

"I know," you say. "Even so."

She shrugs, the barest rise and fall of her shoulders.

"Hm... Speaking of supporting you, hey- when are you going to do that supply run again?" you ask. You're probably not going to get much more out of her on that particular topic.

"This week," Homura says. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking we could go anytime, really," you say. "Now, if you want to."

She blinks very slowly at you, looking faintly nonplussed. It's a talent, the way she can convey emotions without actually changing her expression from that perennially blank poker face.

"... I suppose that won't be necessary?" you venture.

A nearly imperceptible narrowing of her eyes sharpens her gaze to an unamused glare.

You snicker, grinning at her. "Fine, fine," you say. "But really, feel free to pick me up any time for the trip, yeah? If you want, anyway."

"I will," Homura agrees.

"Alright, I- hm, do you want to sit down? I feel a bit silly just standing here," you say, waving your free hand at the bench.

Homura shrugs, and obligingly starts in the direction of said bench. You follow, and the both of you sit down - the wrought iron frame is cold to your back. You can just see Mami, frozen in grey hues with that gentle, patient smile on her face and hands clasped in front of her.

It's a little uncomfortable, seeing her like that. Just stuck. It won't be for long, though.

"How are you?" Homura broaches the silence after a moment, stirring you from your thoughts.

Your eyebrows arch high in surprise, and you grin at her. "I'm... mmm, I'm a little stressed, I guess," you say. "Just lots to do, you know? But I'm coping just fine. Thank you for asking."

Homura nods, following silent again. She relaxes a little, leaning back against the bench.

"Well... here's a thought that's been bouncing about my head for a while," you say slowly. "Let me preface it by saying that I'm... mmm, I'm even less sure about this than I am about the whole mess in Asunaro."

Homura glances at you, a questioning tilt to her head.

"I think I might..." you say, and trail off. You want to tell Homura about Tart, better known to the world at large as Jeanne d'Arc. Joan of Arc, and maybe, just maybe, known to Homura as Walpurgisnacht.

Tart, whose huge potential fuels overwhelmingly powerful defensive magic, flying a panoply of gear motifs. Whose costume flares wide, trimmed with frills that resemble Walpurgisnacht's upside-down skirt. Whose dear friend Riz Hawkwood is Homura to Tart's Madoka, who has shadow teleportation, and who isn't there when Tart is burned at stake. Who might Witch out in helpless despair, her Witch joining with Tart's to form the budding super-Witch.

You want to tell Homura. It might be useful, because if you can confirm it, then perhaps you know why Walpurgisnacht comes to Mitakihara. Homura to Tart's Madoka. If you're right, maybe you should be saying "Riz to Madoka's Tart" instead.

But...

You're not sure you should do that. It might be useful, yes, but...

If you're right, then Walpurgisnacht arrives at Mitakihara seeking Madoka and Homura. Because their story resonates. What better tragedy for the stage-constructing Witch with helpless nature than to watch a pair so similar to themselves be torn apart?

It isn't something you want Homura to hear, off-handed, like this.

"Sabrina?" Homura asks, glancing at you.

You blow out a breath, and force a smile onto your face. "It's a passing thought," you say. "But it's... mm, it's something I think I'll put off for now. And besides, it was just a hypothesis, anyway."

"Alright," Homura says, frowning but letting it go.

You blow out a breath, puffing your cheeks out as you exhale. "Well... moving on, do you have any plans for Walpurgisnacht? Recruiting and, mmm, power interaction testing?"

"Bennouna will be useful," Homura murmurs. "I've tried recruiting personally. I told you of those magical girls before. They were hard to persuade."

"Did you try to bring them in early?" you ask.

"It was hard to convince them to travel for Walpurgisnacht itself," she murmurs, shaking her head. "They would not want to leave their cities undefended."

"Hm," you say, grimacing. "Yeah, I see that. I kind of want to see if we can arrange for them to arrive early, and then we can test how our powers might synergise, you know?"

"Bennouna will send us some magical girls," Homura says. "We can work with them."

"Hm... yeah," you agree. "We have a core group, the four of us. We can train pretty effectively, and integrate tactics with the newcomers, and then you know their powers. We can plan tactics for integrating the likes of Taniguchi and Utsugi, yes?"

Homura nods, a shallow dip of her head. "That's what I mean," she says.

"Hm," you say, rubbing your chin. "We probably still need to travel out to recruit them, don't we?"

"I don't know," Homura says. "I've never... never asked Bennouna to recruit for me before."

"Right," you agree. "Hrm. So, check with her when she gets back with the two from Shiogama."

"Yes," Homura agrees.

"That's settled, then," you say. "Speaking of Taniguchi, any recommendations for meeting Tokyo's Council?"

"It would be easier to shoot them," Homura says, grimacing.

Your eyebrows shoot up.

"The Council is led by the girls who enjoy arguing," Homura mutters. "Nobody else wants to be there."

"Ugh," you say. "I see. And it probably self-selects for the most argumentative ones, because anyone else just gets driven off."

"Correct." Homura nods in confirmation.

"Ew," you say, sighing.

Voting opens Jul 1, 2017 at 4:00 PM
[] Continue talking to Homura
- [] What about?
[] Dinner time with Mami
- [] Drop Homura off somewhere
- [X] Be sappy and affectionate
[] Continue through rest of night
- [] Anything specific to do?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Do remember that the Tokyo Council is mostly made of teenaged girls.