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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema - Story only

You shrug fractionally, maintaining the flow of magic to your own hands with careful precision. "I'm just curious. It can't hurt to talk about it, right?" you say nonchalantly. "Certainly better than just sitting here in silence."

As if to prove you wrong, Homura maintains a stony silence and a blistering glare at you.

You roll your eyes. "There is method to my madness, Homura. Answer me this. Do you consider spending time with Madoka an acceptable goal? I know, I know, you want to protect her first. My question remains."

Homura maintains her glare. At least you know she's listening to you.

"So, well. If we, well, Mami and I, invite her over again, then we can also invite you. And it'd be nice to know, for example, what kind of food you like - you know as well as I do that Mami would be delighted to prepare it for you," you say. "So one more time, Akemi Homura: What's your favourite food?"

Silence, as Homura just frowns at you. You can tell she's listening; she's just not convinced.

[] Write-in

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Yeah, really short update, but Homura's favourite debating tactic, apparently, is stonewalling. And that doesn't exactly make for scintillating debate. Also, for the record, it'd be nice if the next vote gave me more points for Sabrina to debate with. Doesn't have to be full conversation, just points.
 
"Not enough of a reason, then?" you ask idly. You'd shrug, but you need to keep your hands steady for the healing process. "Alright, then, how's this for some reasons? First of all, it would help to foster trust. We'd all be more effective if everyone could work together without friction. Can you deny that the three of us -you, me, and Mami- work together very well?"

Homura shakes her head reluctantly.

"Mmm. Mami sees you as an ally, now, at least, but small talk, favourite foods, that kind of thing... lets her see you as a person," you explain. "Which ties into my second point. Madoka would be happier, if you could socialize a little more. She cares for you, you know?"

"Her safety is more important," Homura bites out. "And Mami is-"

"Yes, Mami is the magical girl cheerleader," you interrupt her. "Or is she? Has she done that, within the last two days?"

"No," Homura admits reluctantly.

"Not to put too fine a point on it, she has us, now, as sisters in arms, so she's already doing better," you point out. "And if you can be a friend, or at least a person to her, then so much the better. Now, regarding your other point. Are you honestly telling me that it wouldn't be easier to protect her if you didn't have to stalk her from a distance? Really?"

"Being closer to her means that she knows more about magical girls," Homura bites out.

"And that-" you break off your first point, and frown. It's all very well to say that she'd know more about the horrors of being a magical girl, but with Mami and you around, it'd be both inadvisable and difficult to sell that particular point. Between the three of you, you probably make it look downright glamorous. "If you were closer to them, you could convince Madoka that we have this well in hand, and that she doesn't need to make a contract. I'd help, of course."

You shake your head. "Look. In the end... Protecting Madoka is a full time job, I get that. It doesn't mean you don't deserve a little happiness here and there, you know. Just... think about it, Homura. It does you no harm to be a little sociable."

A long silence, and you study Homura. She's looking away, unwilling to meet your eyes, and... a flash of distant pain in her eyes.

You sigh, and continue with the healing process. Looks like it's going to be a long, boring process.

"I've tried that before." Homura's voice is quiet, and almost inaudible. "You should know this. I ha- I won't-" she breaks off.

[] Write-in

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On a completely unrelated note, I have found a new picture.

Still no Gendo Oriko.
 
You sigh, and rock back on your heels, releasing the healing light. You gesture for Homura to do the same. It's not like taking a few minutes off from what looks to be an hours-long process will hurt much.

Homura sighs, and similarly sits back.

"Look, Homura," you say gently. "You know Madoka better than I do. Why does she contract?"

The silence grows, as Homura refuses to meet your eyes still. "Madoka contracts because she cares. She cares for everyone she knows, including you. She can see you suffering too, you know, and she wants to help. So let her! Let her care, let her help without having to contract. You know her."

Homura breaks the stony silence she's lapsed into. "It's better if she sta-"

Your eyebrows shoot up, and you give her an incredulous look. "Is it? Is it really? You can honestly tell me that you can convince Madoka that magical girls aren't human? And you think that that would be better for her?" you interrupt her. "You should know by now that Madoka will see right through that, and she'll dig and dig and not give up until she finds the glimmering person underneath."

"We aren't human!" Homura snaps vehemently. "We- I- we are magical girls." Her pronouncement rings with conviction, with grim finality, turning what would be a rather silly statement into a statement of fatalistic acceptance. "We fight and we kill for our Wishes. I-" she makes a convulsive jerking motion at Oriko's corpse, taking a shuddering breath.

"I don't deserve it. Madoka doesn't deser- I just want her to be safe," Homura whispers.

[] Write-in

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Yeah, I got nothin' t' say.
 
"Heh. If you weren't human, Homura, you wouldn't feel so strongly," you snort at the time traveller. "I mean really, why would a 'monster'-" you make the requisite air quotes "-care? And you care, Homura, not just because 'you are fighting for your Wish', but because you care about Madoka, not some nebulous ideal."

"And more importantly!" you raise your voice as she's about to comment. "Madoka sees you as a person. She'd say that you deserve better, and nothing you will ever do will convince her otherwise. I dare you to tell me I'm wrong," you grin at the time traveller.

Violet eyes blink up at you.

You'll take the silence as agreement, or at least, not disagreement.

"And you know what? She'd be perfectly right," you say, hopping to your feet and walking over to Homura. "Oh, I know you've fought and killed, and I know a lot of it... Why, oh why do you think you don't deserve better? Wishes don't change you. What you had to do, the fighting... No. You are still you, Akemi Homura. What can change the nature of a person, after all? Not an alien, not a Soul Gem, not a Wish. No."

You smile at her, still staring up at you. "So yes, Homura. You absolutely are human. In my eyes, in Madoka's eyes. And you do deserve better. Nothing you've done, or been through, means that you don't deserve to be happy, or-" your speech hitches a moment. Dare you, dare you not? "-be with Madoka. And there, we -and I do mean we, Homura- can find a way to keep her from contracting."

A sharp intake of breath from Homura, and her eyes widen a little. A hit, then, some reaction, at least.

You hold out your hand to her with a smile, echoing your earlier motion. "I meant what I said earlier, and I mean what I say now. I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe. You've trusted me this far. Will you trust me again, Homura?"

A long silence as the two of you maintain the tableau - you, standing in front of her, holding out your hand, Homura, still crouching. Around your feet, Oriko's blood has pooled and coagulated into a gummy, dark layer you're glad you can't really smell, thanks to the timestop.

She shies back from your hand, swaying back in place while watching you warily, and you frown. She can't be that resistant to the idea, can she?

Then again. You are fighting against the accumulated trauma of years of crushing horror that would have probably ground lesser people into fine powder.

[] Write-in

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Writing conversations where one character is virtually silent is... interesting.
 
You lower your hand, and instead drop to a crouch in front of Homura. You make sure she's looking at you, and you smile at her. "Look... Homura. You're stubborn, but so am I." A flash of... something, in Homura's eyes, a tightening of her lips, there and gone again. "It's only been a few days, and hey, can you say things aren't looking up already? And there's quite a while left until Walpurgisnacht arrives."

"Magical girls can do more than just survive and kill. I've seen it... no. I know it. Oriko sees things. I? I know it is so," you say with conviction. "There is hope for something more. Something better. And I'll keep fighting until you can see it too. Magical girls fight for their Wishes, right?"

A slight flinch with that reminder.

You raise your eyebrows. "My Wish was to control the grief of magical girls and Witches alike. I see no reason my Wish shouldn't apply to mundane grief. Maybe in a less literal sense, but nevertheless."

"Just you wait, Homura," you say with a grin tugging at your lips, which are, by now, somewhat dry. "I'll make a believer out of you, too. Maybe not immediately. Not today. But someday, no matter how long it takes."

Homura looks at you for a long ten seconds, before blinking and looking down. Her hands move in slow, familiar motions, reaching behind her shield, and she withdraws a bottle of water, wordlessly holding it out to you.

... huh. You look down at the bottle, and then back at Homura. Accepting the bottle, you crack the seal and raise it in salute to her, taking a long, welcome, drink.

"Thanks, Homura," you say, rising to your feet again.

[] Continue talking
- [] Write-in
[] Continue healing Oriko
- [] Small talk?
[] Write-in

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What tangled webs we weave.
 
"Anyway. Shall we get back to work?" you ask, gesturing at Oriko's body.

Homura shrugs, shoulders rising and falling minutely. She reaches out, though, and begins to apply the healing glow of her magic to Oriko again.

As before, the healing is fascinating, if gory, to watch, but the novelty wears off quickly, and you begin looking around, and - huh. You look down again as you pass you sweep your hand back across. It's unsurprising, you suppose, but it looks like the bullet also shattered Oriko's left clavicle, somewhere along the way. Then again, collarbones aren't critical, so you leave it aside for now.

A fragment of stone, sticky with blood, worms its way out of the wound and falls to the ground. The expected ping of stone on tarmac doesn't come, though, as the stone freezes, claimed by the timestop.

The silence is annoying. Not exactly unnerving, but just... annoying. Eventually, an idea occurs to you, spawned of the thwarted stone. Maintaining the majority of your focus on the healing, you tilt your head minutely, and waft a few of your Grief marbles out of your bag. The remaining marbles clack as they slide against each other, and you smile.

The marbles drift into the air, impelled by your will to float into a neat little circle. You knock two marbles together. Click. Homura glances up sharply at the two marbles, and then frowns at you when she recognizes them.

Hmm. You commit a little more thought to it, letting your hands move on instinct. Your will focuses down on the marbles, pushing on them, until they change to your satisfaction. Still made of Grief, still the same deep purple that's almost black, still the same dull throb in your other senses... but definably different, now.

You knock them together again. Ting.

And you grin. One marble stretches, flowing like a liquid into a thin wire in midair. And you tug at its center, plucking it. A single note, pure and flawless, rings out.

Well, mostly flawless.

It's a single harmonic, certainly, but not of any particular note. But that you can fix.

A little tweaking of the tension, of the density, a twist of your will...

A pure C note.

And you can work with that.

While a lazy smiles curls across your face and your hands continue to play across Oriko's broken neck on autopilot, the Grief marbles you have mutate and blossom into an array of strings stretched across the air. A resonant soundboard to get the sound just so is a little trickier. Secondary harmonics take a little more tweaking.

Scales come easily.

Melody and chords come a little harder, but the strings dance to your will.

With the movie you'd watched barely hours before still fresh, a particular song comes to mind.

"What are you doing?" Homura asks, finally.

"Making some music?" you shrug. "I can stop it if it bothers you."

"... No. It's fine," Homura replies.

"Well. I'm taking requests, then," you say.

Homura doesn't respond to that, so you begin mentally wandering along genres of songs, letting the music burn away the time as you heal. You notice that when she thinks you're not looking at her, Homura bobs her head along with some of it.

It's nearly three hours, and several cleanses later, before you're certain that Oriko's head isn't going to fall off if she shakes her head too hard, and that her spinal cord is reconnected.

By this point, however, she is looking distinctly pale - rather literally exsanguinated. A good deal of blood is pooled on the floor, and congealed into an unpleasant, tacky layer, and her formerly white costume is covered in ugly brown crusts of dried blood. Her non-critical wounds are still unhealed - bullet wounds and broken bones alike.

"OK," you say, letting your last song die away. "How do we do this last bit, Homura? Heart, and brain?"

"Restarting the heart is... simple," Homura says, grimacing and eyes going distant for a moment. She moves a hand, glowing with magic, over Orikos heart, and simply thumps her hand on the seer's chest. The effect isn't exactly dramatic, but the sluggish trickle of blood from her wounds seems indication enough.

"Huh," you say, looking at that. Despite having seen Homura do it, you're not sure how she did it, exactly. Perhaps it's something she learned along the way? "And her brain?"

Homura shrugs. "I am not absolutely sure. I've only seen Miki Sayaka do it." She doesn't look terribly bothered by this.

[] Try it yourself
[] Ask Homura to try it
[] Seek help from
- [] Who?
[] Write-in

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Three hundred ninety seven grief marbles, eight in your pocket, seventeen scattered over the ground, sixteen in your impromptu musical instrument.
 
"Alright, then," you say. "We'll try this together?"

Homura shrugs indifferently, but silently reaches out with a hand glowing with magic, as do you.

Your magic sinks in, past blood-matted hair and skin and bone. You brush against what you know to be Homura's magic, cool and old and somehow cyclic. You briefly wonder what your magic feels like, to her.

In your other sight, Oriko's body is empty. It lacks the sullen, crackling storm of magic you've learned to associate with puella magi bodies - there is no animation. Even her Soul Gem seems quiescent, somehow curled in on itself in a way that makes your eyes water to look at too closely.

There is a shape, though, a shadow of how things should be.

You metaphorically stare at it, feeling, at the same time, Homura probe around it.

And then you see it - a tiny, nearly imperceptible flicker of magic. Just as quickly as you see it, it's gone again.

"Huh," you say out loud. Homura glances at you, brow crinkled in a frown. "Thought I saw something," you answer her unspoken question, gesturing at Oriko's body.

The time traveller shrugs, and returns her attention to the task. You focus on where you'd seen the spark.

Nothing, for a minute, and you begin to think that that had been wishful thinking.

... and then, there it is again, a pitifully weak crackle of magic. It fades away again, even as you jerk upright in surprise.

"There's something there," you tell Homura. "A... I'm not sure how to describe it. A little bit of magic, pulsing on and off."

"A heartbeat?" Homura suggests.

"Maybe? It's very slow," you say.

Homura shrugs. "Speaking of heartbeats, hers is almost stopping again."

You lay a finger against Oriko's deathly cold neck, feeling for her pulse. It's slow, and weakening again - at a guess, magic powered or not, hearts aren't supposed to work with what you'd guess is about half the body's blood outside the system, and nor is Oriko actually breathing, since her brain isn't even working.

None of these are actually necessary to keeping a puella magi alive, you figure, what with the Soul Gem and all, but you suspect it would contribute to how

Another gleam of magic, guttering away into oblivion, and you frown. It's getting weaker, fading faster.

You think you could simply brute force that faint flicker back to full power.

[] Brute-force it
- [] Write in beginning of interrogation
[] Do a proper repair
- [] Write in beginning of interrogation
[] Write-in

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I'll note you still have your impromptu musical instruments around, if you want to provide musical accompaniment.
 
"I think we might have to do a better fix," you say.

"Tch." Homura vocalizes a little grunt of annoyance. Her patience is wearing thin, you suppose, and you hastily add, "Just a patch job."

"Fine," Homura says, hand lighting up with her magic again.

It takes you another hour or so, more cleansing, and a little more music to skin over the worst of the bullet holes and breaks in Oriko's skin - if she were still human, internal hemorrhages would be a major issue. But she's not, and you can't really say that her discomfort brings you much displeasure. Her arms, you leave alone apart from skinning it over.

As you heal, you pay attention to the guttering spark of magic centered in Oriko, still strobing with excruciating slowness. It flickers a little more strongly as you heal her body, until-

The spark suddenly ignites into a conflagration, the maelstrom you expect of an active magical girl. You sit back, and glance at Homura. "We're done."

She nods, and similarly rocks back on her heels, primly looking around for a spot that's free of the tacky pool of blood before finally settling on a piece of rubble. She reaches behind her shield to pull out a pistol, and snags Oriko's Soul Gem with her free hand. She also pulls out a reel of thread, and tosses it to you.

"Thanks," you say, absently cleaning both your gems as you loop the thread around the seer's foot, and holding on to the other end. Easy enough to break a thread, after all.

... why does Homura even have thread in her shield?

You sit back, crossing your legs, and look at Oriko. She's now breathing shallowly, with her eyes still closed. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Oriko. If you tell us what we want to know, you might even get to stay here."

No response.

"Really? You're just going to stonewall?" you snap at the seer.

Still no response.

"She's unconscious," Homura says. There's a little twitch at the corner of her mouth, what might be an amused smirk panicking at finding itself lost in foreign territory.

... oops.

You are most certainly not blushing. Nope. Not at all.

Homura leans forward, one finger glowing with magic, and raps Oriko firmly on the middle of her forehead with it.

Sea green eyes startle open, and Oriko draws in a sharp breath.

As Homura returns to her seated position, still holding the pistol and Soul Gem in clear threat, you lean forward, propping your elbows on your knees and tenting your fingers in front of your face.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Mikuni Oriko. Answer our questions, and you may even get to stay here," you intone. "I trust you understand your situation. 'Better than I do', even," you add, throwing her own words back in her face.

Oriko stares blankly up at the sky, making no move to get up. "... hello, Sabrina, Akemi Homura," she sighs at length. "It's so cold," she adds in a quiet whisper. That's probably the lack of blood talking, not that you can work up any sympathy for her.

"So tell me, Oriko, what about all of this was so necessary? You know, you nearly killed Sayaka, her family, and the entire building. Those aren't the actions of a sane person. Tell me, what justifies it?" you spit at her.

"You should ask her whether her door was open or shut before she went to sleep," the seer says. "This is necessary for what is to come."

That's not an answer. You know it, she knows it, and she knows that you know it.

[] Write-in

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Go wild.

Four hundred thirty five grief marbles, eight in your pocket, seventeen scattered over the ground, sixteen in your impromptu musical instruments.
 
A grimace flits across your face. Is she really going to keep giving you the runaround? Here, and now?

Well.

You'll bring out the big guns, as it were.

You force a chuckle. "OK, then. Speaking of things necessary... Kirika. You know what her Wish did to her, don't you? You let her contract for your sake. So tell me. What do you think is going to happen to her because of what you did, hmm?"

Moving very slowly, Oriko levers herself to a seated position, drawing her knees to her chest and hugging her legs to herself. With Homura's white-knuckled grip on the pistol, you feel secure enough that you don't stop Oriko.

"Was that supposed to be a surprise?" Oriko asks. "I know what she did for me. She wasn't happy - she couldn't be happy as she was, or she couldn't have made her Wish." The seer meets your gaze. "I love her no less for it."

"She's unstable," you snap.

"She's quirky," Oriko counters, raising an eyebrow at you. "Wishes do what you want them to."

"Are you serious?" You stare at her.

"Perfectly," she says.

You're silent for a moment. "You never answered my question about Sayaka."

"I don't want her dead," the seer replies.

"You're still not answering my questions," you say pleasantly, keeping a tight rein on your temper. "Enough with the games. It's over, unless you still want to play games with your life and Kirika's on the line. What scared you so badly? I don't want to kill you. But if that's what it takes to stop you? I will, Oriko."

"I will not live to see Walpurgisnacht, one way or another," Oriko observes matter of factly. "I do not think that you will be the one to kill me, but I could be wrong."

A frown crosses your face. Does nothing faze her?

"And Kirika?" Homura asks, voice as cold as a grave in winter.

That gets a reaction, the tiniest flinch.

You capitalize on that. "I know you want to save the world. Have you ever considered that your ways of doing it are wrong? You don't need this... thisness!" You wave your hand, a single encompassing gesture. "You can't win alone, you know. Or you know what? Maybe you can! Maybe you win this one. Then what, Oriko? You said it yourself - you're not long for this world. You die. Kirika dies, or better yet. She Witches out! The system remains. Kyuubey remains. Witches remain. What the hell next, Oriko?"

"I leave my legacy," she says simply. "I will leave behind me a world that is not bettered, but will be better." Her eyes go wide for a moment, and she sucks in a sharp breath.

"Legacies?" you snap. "What would your father say, if he knew what his daughter was doing? You're not saving the world. You're not even living up to your father's legacy. You're just another delusional magical girl, blindly following. You made a Wish to know the meaning of your life, and you blindly follow." You pause, and take a sip of water from the bottle Homura passed to you earlier. "Have you ever considered that you might be wrong? That your powers might be flawed, seeing as it led you here?"

"This isn't ideal," she admits, frowning a little. "You know, there are things I would rather talk to you privately about," Oriko observes off handedly, as if she's making a great concession.

You laugh. "You want to bargain, Oriko? Here, and now?" You sweep your eyes over her battered, blood stained form, and then look at Homura, still tightly gripping the seer's Soul Gem. Violet eyes meet yours, gaze steely.

"There is one thing I could do, here and now, to tear down everything," Oriko informs you, leaning forward slightly, sea green eyes boring into your blue ones. "I have not done it. There are other things I would rather not say, here."

[] Kill her
[] Continue talking
- [] Here, with Homura
- [] Without Homura
-- [] How?
[] Write-in

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A few answers.
 
"And if we don't talk about it here and now, the Incubator will hear everything you have to say. Are you willing to take that chance?" you ask.

Oriko shrugs fractionally. "A fair point," she concedes.

You grind your teeth in irritation. She still isn't answering! Fine. Round three, then. "You know, I wonder why you say there's no chance you'd live to see Walpurgisnight? Honestly, we might not have found you two here, tonight. Or, you know, we could just take your Soul Gems with us. You'll live. Sort of. Or... you and Kirika could have just left. So why is there no chance?"

Oriko's nodding along with your statements. "We could," she says. "But we won't."

"Bullshit, Oriko," you snarl at her. "What, are you saying there's no free will?"

"Oh, there is," she acknowledges. "But some choices simply aren't."

Ugh.

"Are we that different?" the seer asks. "Would you not throw yourself in front of a Witch, or worse, to save someone?"

You snort. "I'd be surprised you would," you rebut. "Your actions to date..."

A shrug. "Necessary."

"For what, Oriko?" you snarl, leaning forward. "My patience is running out."

"As I said, I would be willing to tell you," Oriko says.

You rub your face in frustration. Briefly, you contemplate stealing her hat - if nothing else, to get a reaction out of her. You discard the thought, though. "How about a show of good faith? What have you and Kirika been doing after you contracted?" you frown at the seer. "You hired someone. Who and why? Where have you been going?"

She laughs. Demurely, with one hand covering her mouth, and it turns into a harsh, racking cough a moment later -that one bullet hole through her lung, you figure-, but she laughs. "I lied."

"You what," you say blankly.

"I wanted you in Kasamino," Oriko says. "So I lied. Or, rather, I asked Kirika to lie to you. Then we went on a date, and after that, bought some fertilizer."

Your hands clench into fists. You were thoroughly played, it seems.

"I have a suggestion," Oriko announces blandly, eyes sliding aside to glance at the time traveller. "You should ask Akemi Homura how the last time loop went, though you should probably be careful about it."

In the timestop, without other noise, you can hear metal creak as Homura's hand tightens on the pistol grip, now pointing directly at Oriko's Soul Gem. Violet eyes set between furrowed brows and a fierce scowl meet yours, a silent question handing in the air.

[] Let Homura fire
[] Talk her down
- [] Write-in
[] Write-in

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Yep. She lied. Mind you, she's actually showing some of her cards here.
 
"Homura, no," you say. "She's baiting you. I don't know why, but she wants you to shoot her." Homura relaxes her grip, removing her finger from the trigger and laying it flat alongside the trigger guard.

"I'm not," Oriko denies. "I've seen the result of not asking."

You growl under your breath. You are getting sick and tired of her smug attitude. "Hmm. I don't know how you know about the loops, but let's talk about a different one first, shall we?" you ask, fighting to keep an even tone and leaning forward. This time, you hold Oriko's gaze with your own, staring her down.

"A loop where everyone met your dear friend Margot because you thought it'd be a brilliant idea to make Kirika your own personal killer, and didn't even notice what it did to her head," you smile mirthlessly. A tiny flinch from Oriko, again, a small twitch of her arm, still wrapped tightly around her knees. You'll take that as a victory.

"A loop where you got yourself killed for no reason, hurt Mami, Homura-" you can see the time traveller tense a little, out of the corner of your eye, and you hurry on "-and everyone else, committed mass murder... for... what? Here we are- not then and there. And the way I see it? You're heading down the same path, and making the same mistakes."

"I-" Oriko licks her cracked lips, a flash of pink on her suddenly pale face. "Who's Margot?"

"Who do you think?" you retort. "Kirika's Witch."

"Ah."

You raise your eyebrows at her. "Oh, that's rich. You care about that? After going all," you force a nasal tone, and continue, "'Oh, I'm going to die a noble death and I don't care', and that upsets you? You never considered what would happen to her?"

Oriko swallows. "I did."

"And you found that acceptable?" you ask.

Silence.

"Well then, I guess I'm done talking about another time and another place," you say. "You want to talk?" You glance at Homura. "Homura, could I have Oriko's Soul Gem? And the pistol? Could you pull back a bit, and bring out a sniper rifle?"

"You believe her?" she asks, expression hardening.

[] Write-in

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An interesting revelation or two, perhaps.
 
You glance at Oriko, and then unceremoniously drop the thread holding her in the timestop. She freezes out, whites and sickly browns turning to grey.

"No, I don't. Nothing she has to say is going to change my mind. But if she has any excuse for all of this, I want to hear it," you reply, looking steadily at Homura. "Though... now that I think about it, you could hang on to her Soul Gem, too. Separating it further from Oriko just makes it harder for her to do anything."

You hesitate, and stand, offering Homura a hand up. She gives you a long look before accepting it, and you pull her to her feet, before motioning her to step around a broken wall, more for peace of mind than anything. It's sort of weird, with Oriko there and frozen, mouth half open.

After a slight mishap with the rope getting snagged on a jutting piece of rebar, the two of you are safely ensconced behind the wal. You reach up to the jeweled pin on your chest that is your Soul Gem, and carefully unfasten it, before holding it out to her. "Just in case she somehow does something."

She twitches, staring at the Soul Gem in your hand. Her jaw works, as if she can't decide what to say.

"Look, Homura," you say, gently reaching out and taking the pistol from her hand. She lets you take it, fingers slack, and you press your own Soul Gem into her hand, and close her small, cold fingers around it. My life in your hands. "It'll work out, Homura, and we'll get you, and Madoka, and Mami, and Sakaya and Kyouko and everyone else your happy endings. The question here is whether Oriko and Kirika will be there to see it."

"Why are you giving her the chance?" Homura asks. Her left hand, holding Oriko's Soul Gem, hangs freely by her side, in contrast with yours, held out between you like a warding shield.

You look away, casting your gaze out over the rusting machinery and old buildings around you. "I don't want to kill her. I... you saw how she reacted to what I told her about Margot. She doesn't known everything, and she can be shaken. If I can... I'd rather talk her down."

You take a deep breath, and meet Homura's eyes. "But if we can't, then as I said, I'll help you. My mess, my responsibility."

She shakes her head slowly. "You can't be this naive."

"I'm making progress," you argue. "You saw how she reacted!"

"She could be acting," Homura counters.

"Could she?" Your eyebrows arch high. You certainly don't think she was.

Homura's lips twist, but she seems to concede the point.

"So, if she'll only talk if you can't hear, then I'll humour her. But in any case, Homura, I'd feel a lot safer if you could take overwatch. If she does anything funny, well..." you gesture at Oriko's Soul Gem. "We need to be connected, so I could use my Grief to form a trail to connect us?"

She nods slowly, letting the hand holding your Soul Gem fall to her side. "That won't be necessary," she says, carefully untying the rope from around her waist. "I have a longer rope." She lets go of her end of the rop-

-e. You grimace. "Ugh. Never going to get used to that." Homura's tying a brightly coloured length of rope to the one currently bound around your waist, and you follow that rope with your eyes - it trails across the landscape, reaching to the top of some old, half built structure, all exposed steel and I-beams. Homura nods at you, finishing the knot, and then lets g-

-o again. "Argh," you mumble into the floor.

Wait, why are you on the floor?

You push yourself up, off the floor, and look at the old structure where the rope led to... where the rope doesn't lead to.

...

At a guess, Homura misjudged the distance? She's now set up on a nearer building, and is waving an arm so that you can see her. You wave back at her, and she puts her hand down.

Well. Nothing for it, then.

You take a deep breath, and walk back over to Oriko, grasping the thread and bringing her back into the timestop.

Colour blossoms across the seer's body, and she blinks in disorientation, looking around in mild confusion before focusing on you.

Heh. So that's what it looks like from the outside.

"So. Homura's out of earshot, now," you snap at her. "What's so earthshattering that you can't let Homura hear it, then?"

Oriko takes a shuddering breath, closing her eyes before looking at you again. "She's making things worse," she says in a low voice. "Kyuubey already knows, and if he tells her that, she will despair. You have to stop that from happening."

It's your turn to laugh. Loudly, and in her face. "That's news, Oriko? That's your great secret? That's what you did all this for?" you say when the laughter subsides. "You... megalomaniacal, delu-"

Oriko makes a cutting gesture with her hand. "That's not why I'm doing this - it's what you need to know," she says, fast and low.

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You've done well, Akemi Homura. You've raised Kaname Madoka to be the most powerful Witch that will ever exist.
 
Your hands twitch, and you barely restrain yourself from doing something rather precipitous. "Homura can't hear us. No more secrets, Oriko," you snap. "Each loop makes things worse. I know, she doesn't. So?"

You lean closer to Oriko. "What else, Oriko. Is it linked to what happened last loop?"

"I don't know." A faint crease appears on Oriko's forehead, and then her eyes widen slightly. "I don't always see the entirety of events, just enough."

"That's awfully convenient for you." You glare at her. Is she lying? You're not entirely sure, though you don't think so.

She shrugs. "There is no way I can prove it to you. The feathers annoy me too."

"Ugh," you grunt at the nonsequitur. "Why are you stalling? You asked to speak to me alone, and here we are! Why are you doing this?"

The ghost of a smile flits across her face. "Waiting for the right question. 'Why?' I could not work with you. Not if you are to work with Akemi Homura."

"And you want that?" you ask incredulously, gesturing at her current, rather battered state.

"You need to," Oriko states simply. "And that is something else that Akemi Homura may not know, or she would mistrust you."

"And that is something else I want to know," you reply, imitating her tone. "Why do you want that? Are you trying to assemble a team to beat Walpurgisnacht, or something?"

"Walpurgisnacht will be defeated," the seer says, eyes glinting in the odd, muted illumination of the time stop.

"Answer my questions," you snap.

"No. No, I am not," Oriko replies.

Huh. An actual straight answer. But... "And? I believe I asked two questions."

"Because you working with Akemi Homura can change the course of destiny," Oriko says.

You squeeze your eyes shut in frustration, pressing your fingers against your eyelids. Back to this cryptic nonsense again, after one straight answer.

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Since it was brought up, ruling on telepathy - it's like dialing a phone. You can reach anyone, but you have to have a good idea of who you're trying to reach. Also, coobie is the base station.
 
Deep breaths.

Inhale blue, exhale red.

Deep breaths.

You could ask about that off handed feather comment, but your patience has just about run out, now.

"Oriko." Your voice is as cold as the depths of arctic winter. "You seem to be labouring under a misapprehension. I would prefer to know what your reasons are, and why you're doing this, largely so that I can justify sparing you."

You get one leg under you, and rise smoothly to your feet, looking imperiously down at Oriko. "But I do not need to know. Whatever it is you've seen? I am perfectly willing to go in blind, if the alternative is putting up with a delusional idiot with a god complex who relies entirely too much on her precognition despite knowing it's imperfect -that's you, by the way-, then no fucking thank you."

"Last chance. Make sense, or we're done here." You half turn, one hand still holding on to the reel of thread connecting her to the time stop.

A long moment of silence, as Oriko's jaw works. You wait, seeing if she'll actually be useful now.

She swallows, hard, and finally opens her mouth. "I wish you the best of luck, Sabrina. Bury me with Kirika, if you can arrange it," she says, voice shaky. "We will meet again."

You drop the reel of thread, and turn away from the seer, letting the anger drain away, and just staring blankly at a piece of rubble on the floor for a bit. You sigh.

What the hell is her problem?

Moving slowly, you reach for the rope tied around your waist, and start following it back to Homura. When you reach the point where two ropes were tied together, you wearily bend down and untie them, before starting to coil the longer one up as you walk.

The time traveller meets you halfway, having seen you head back. You silently hand her both ropes -the one still tied around your waist, and the one used as an extension-, and she stows the longer one in her shield, juggling the silvery blue jewel that is Oriko's Soul Gem. After storing the rope, she reaches up, and carefully unpins the badge that is your Soul Gem and hands it back to you.

She meets your gaze, purple eyes against blue. "Well?"

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Short update, but nothing much to say, anyway
 
You accept your Gem, swaying a little in place. You feel... drained. Furious. More than a little demoralized.
Despair.
You did everything to give Oriko a chance. And she threw it back in your face to... what? Stoke her ego? Fuel her martyr complex? You have no idea.

Homura studies your face. "You should clean your Gem," she says quietly, grabbing your hand and pulling it up to your eye level.

You-

Your Soul Gem is tarnished with a sheen of corruption.

You sigh, and reach out with your power, siphoning off the Grief.

As the Grief leaves your gem, you straighten, feeling a little better. Not much. Moving slowly, you refasten the badge on your longcoat.

"More cryptic bullshit," you mutter in response to Homura's earlier question. "Nothing I didn't already know, and nothing at all of value. I gave her an ultimatum - no more riddles or I walked." You laugh mirthlessly. "Guess which one she chose?"

"I see," Homura says.

"Do you? I genuinely didn't want to kill her, if I could help it. And she threw it all back in my face. So, well! I guess we're done here!" you say, faux cheerfully. You reach for the pistol you took from Homura earlier, now stowed in your pocket, and hold out a hand for Oriko's Soul Gem.

The time traveller doesn't give it to you. "... I'll do it," she offers.

A horrible, horrible idea strikes you. "No. I," you swallow. "I have an idea. It... I. It's a. I. We'll get Kirika's Gem. One last bluff. The only thing that's affected Oriko so far was Kirika's Witch. I..."

The time traveller stares at you.

"It's a bluff," you say. "I don't wan- We need to know what she knows. We- I-" you break off, and shudder, feeling sick to the stomach. You can't meet her eyes.

Homura sighs. "I don't understand why you are so intent on this." In an echo of your earlier action, she gently pulls the pistol from your unresisting hand. "Clean your gem, first."

...

Her hands are warmer than yours, now. Or rather, your hands are colder than hers.

You take another shaky breath, and pull on the corruption in your Gem without looking at it. Even so, you know how much you accrued in this one minute; almost as much as you had throughout the entire conversation with Oriko.

A hand claps you on the shoulder, and Homura gives you a wordless nod of acknowledgement. She's stowed the pistol at some point, you notice.

The two of you walk back to where Kirika is, you looking around uneasily. The black haired magical girl is lying face down, making it easy for you to grab her orangey-yellow -citrine- Soul Gem.

... It's already fairly tarnished. Nowhere near critical yet, but noticeable.

You leave it as such, walking over to Oriko. Still frozen, one good arm wrapped around her knees.

Homura seats herself on the same piece of rubble she was on earlier, and you sit in front of the seer.

Balancing Kirika's Soul Gem in the open palm of your hand, and keeping the amorphous cloud of Grief you'd cleared from your own Gem hanging above you, you grab the reel of thread again.

Colour floods back in to the seer, and she shakes her head in disorientation before putting her hand to it. She looks at you, and smirks, before covering her mouth genteely. "I wasn't expecting to meet you again so soo-"

She sees the Soul Gem in the palm of your hand, and her eyes dart up to the bilious cloud hanging above you. "Oh, no. No. No, no, no."

"Yes." Grim finality. "I will do it, Oriko. I don't want to. I really, really don't want to. Give me a reason not to."

"I... OK. Just... please, don't," Oriko says, breathing hard and fast. She's trembling, full body quivers. "Do you know how muc- yes, of course you do. P-please."

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You never had to go this far.
 
You nod, trying not to shudder, and letting your hand drop. Relief suffuses through you, and you give Oriko a slow nod. "So talk to me, Oriko. It's all I ask. It's all I've been asking for all this time. Just talk and tell me why."

Oriko's head is buried in her knees, and her voice is muffled. "You already know it. Something is coming. Not Walpurgisnacht. Something bigger."

"Oriko, no more games," you snap, the hand with Kirika's Soul Gem rising again, to remind her. You stare at your own hand, which is trembling violently. Either way, though, Oriko's not looking at you to notice, though Homura does, you think.

"I don't know!" Oriko bursts out, head finally coming up to stare at you. "I don't know. It... my visions simply stop when I try to look directly at it! If it gets to me or Kirika..." She breaks off, and shudders.

"Not a Witch?" you ask carefully. Not Gretchen, or Homulily? Or your own Witch, whatever that might be?

"It's not," Oriko replies. "A Witch, you can kill."

You sit back. That leaves very few options that you can think of, then.

"Right," you say, putting that aside for now, for the more immediate problems. "What else have you been doing?"

She shakes her head slowly. "I talked to Kirika. I went on a date with her. And she still wanted to make the contract. Chitose Yuma... I told Kyuubey about her. The fire, the bomb, were the first... overt things I put in motion."

"That's it?" you ask.

"Yes," Oriko says, and chuckles bitterly. "You shouldn't have found me tonight. It's enough. Not complete, but enough. Enough that you can win. I hope."

"Oriko." Warning tone clear in your voice.

"I can't explain it," the seer says. "Not... I can see the futures. I can see how they change, and... I've done enough."

"Enough? You burned down Sayaka's apartment, and, what, had Kirika push Hitomi down the stairs?" you snap.

"... yes," she admits.

You sigh. At least you're getting answers, now.

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Oh dear.
 
"Alright," you say. "Alright. Let's talk about the thing you saw. What can you tell me about it? When and how does it arrive? What does it do?"

She shudders, a full body quiver. "My visions, I. I cannot see it, or anything it does. I can see the aftermath. The worst of it." Oriko licks her cracked lips again, a sudden flash of pink on her still pale face, and she turns to Homura. "You, dead. Kaname Madoka, dead."

A flash of raw fury, across Homura's face, and her hand tightens on the grip of her pistol.

"Not any more," Oriko adds hastily. "That much has changed."

"Which part?" Homura demands, voice deadly quiet.

"Both are vastly less likely," Oriko says.

Homura's jaw remains tight. "And you did this."

The seer shrugs, a tiny rise and dip of her shoulders.

"And speaking of things done..." you say. "What, was your plan to help us 'win' to gather magical girls to fight it?"

"Yes. No," Oriko says. "You will end this, one way or another, but you need... tools."

White hot rage flares. "Tools? Sayaka and Hitomi are not tools. They are people who you hurt."

Oriko shakes her head frantically, and then winces, putting her hand to the side of her neck. "If Miki Sayaka wasn't moved, she would be dead in..." Her eyes unfocus for a moment. "Two...? weeks."

"What?" you demand. "How- no, I'm guessing you can't tell me."

"I cannot. If I try to look... A blanked spot, and then... Miki Sayaka's corpse. Completely unblemished," she mutters, eyes distant and brows furrowed. "It doesn't happen now that she's not at home."

"I'll echo Homura's question. And you did this," you say, voice flat.

"Yes," she replies, tone even.

"And..." you glance at Homura, trying to convey an apology. "What about Kaname Madoka?"

"It tends to blank her out," Oriko says. "She... doesn't seem to die, under... most circumstances."

Homura subsides, still looking unhappy.

"Hmm. That's good," you say. "And what did you mean about us changing destiny?"

"Just that. I see futures," Oriko says. "Things change, where you go."

"Feel free to start making sense again." You narrow your eyes at her. "Aren't you changing things?"

The seer swipes tiredly at her face. "Can you explain how your powers work?" she asks. "There are... layers to the future. Things change, in the most fundamental way, when you act. I tried to corral your actions."

"Right," you say skeptically. It seems awfully convenient, how Oriko can now spin a sob story of how everything conspired against her; that she can't see the future properly while being simultaneously convinced of the rightness of her action. Then again, she doesn't seem to be lying, as far as you can tell. Maybe she's just that arrogant?

Maybe.

"Moving on, then. You expected me to kill you, back there," you say.

Oriko nods slowly.

"And you said that 'we would meet again'," you frown at her.

"Yes. It was to happen, sooner or later, but it was a certainty," the seer says slowly. "It's not this meeting."

"And let me guess, you don't know the specifics either. Moving on..." you mutter in annoyance. "What was next on your plans? If we hadn't caught you?"

"Hide," Oriko answers promptly. "We were going to hide for a few days. Shizuki Hitomi will be released from hospital tomorro- today, and return to school tomorrow. Kirika was to return to school to... befriend her, a few days later."

"Befriend her," you echo.

"Yes. It would have made her amenable to manipulation," Oriko says.

"Ugh. Ok, next question. You mentioned feathers. What about them?" you ask.

"I did? Oh. When my visions are blocked, there tend to be feathers. Black, and long pinioned," Oriko says, looking puzzled as to why you're asking.

You suck in a sharp breath. That's... not good.

"Hm," you say noncomittaly, keeping your face blank. Your eyes dart to look at Homura, but she doesn't seem to have reacted to that at all. "OK. Do you have any idea about who I am, where I came from, or why I have amnesia?"

Oriko looks even more puzzled. "I see the future, not the past. You have amnesia?"

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Questions, and answers. Ho hum.
 
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"Yes, I do," you answer absently, thinking furiously over the whole feathers issue, and more pertinently, how to defuse Oriko safely without having the whole situation blow up under you. "Was wondering if you knew anything about that, but I guess not..."

"You have amnesia," Oriko says flatly, looking faintly perturbed.

"Yeah, yeah... And you, Oriko, were working from just your visions, weren't you?" you say. "I, Oriko, woke up knowing precisely what has happened, including what you've done in previous timelines, and not very much else. So believe me when I tell you this: Your way? Doesn't work. Ever."

Homura twitches. Tightly controlled, and barely noticeable, but with you watching both Oriko and Homura closely, you catch the motion.

You sit back, interlacing your fingers in front of your face. "Between Homura and I 'changing destiny', the feathers interfering with your visions... did it ever occur to you that you can't control everything on your own? That you can't rely on your power to plot out everything with just you and Kirika?"

You wave a hand, and then return it to the front of your face. "The one loop I mentioned before?" Oriko flinches at the reminder. "The Incubator used you, and, well, things didn't go well. We're here, and not then - I'd say that speaks for itself. The one loop you did the best... you didn't try for any grand plans, or plots. You just did your best do... well, do good."

Homura frowns at you, and you shoot her an apologetic look. Later.

"Incubator?" Oriko asks.

"Kyuubey. Incubator," you say. "That's its designation. In any case... let me ask. Did you ever consider just sending me a warning?"

"It doesn't work. For example, without a clear and present threat, you fail to convince Miki Sayaka, barring extraordinary changes," Oriko denies. "Kaname Madoka..." her eyes slide over to Homura, and she cuts off the rest of the sentence.

"And the fact that I and Homura 'change destiny'?" you demand, picking at the obvious flaw.

"Would you take my word for it? Delivered in a letter to your doorstep?" Oriko counters. "Let alone..." she trails off, and very pointedly does not look at Homura. She pauses for a moment, and, looking as if she's fighting with herself, asks, "Could I have some water?" She gestures at the bottle lying by your side.

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Pride.
 
You grab the bottle of water, tossing it at her. She flinches, raising her remaining, still broken arm to catch it, but the bottle freezes in midair between the two of you. Hesitantly, she reaches out and plucks the bottle from the air, before laboriously clamping the bottle between her knees and screwing the top off with one hand.

You look at Homura while Oriko struggles with the bottle, and she frowns unhappily in response to your cocked head. Silently, you hold up a finger, and raise the reel of thread connecting Oriko to the timestop in the other hand - we'll talk without Oriko.

Slowly, hesitantly, Homura nods.

From the way Oriko guzzles the water in greedy gulps, without the expected refined manners you'd expect of her, she really needed the drink. While she does, you begin speaking again. "Yes, I would have listened. Maybe not taken you at face value, but I would have at least paid attention, and taken you seriously."

You let the thread reel fall from your hand, and Oriko is frozen mild gulp. Raising your hands to your head, you close your eyes and begin massaging your temples - this headache about what to do with Oriko is perhaps a little more literal than you'd hope.

"Whatever this new thing is... The way Oriko talks about it, Walpurgisnacht is barely a footnote to it," you mutter, without opening your eyes.

"You believe her?" Homura bites the words out.

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure she believes that what she's saying is real," you reply, opening your eyes to fix Homura with a steady gaze. "And really, something spooked her, that she's acting so differently."

Homura frowns severely at you.

"And we know next to nothing about it," you continue. "Her visions could be useful... But she and Kirika harming anybody is unacceptable."

"Why are you arguing for her?" Homura demands. "You have the information you wanted."

"Precognition is a... powerful asset, going forward," you say. "If we give her an outlet, let her feel she's doing her part... I think we can keep her under control. Under house arrest, maybe."

"She killed Madoka," the time traveller snarls. "That loop might have worked."

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You could always point out that Homura also killed Madoka, once. :V
 
This loop will," you counter calmly. "And I know. What that Oriko did was monstrous, but this Oriko isn't that one," you say, cupping one hand as if weighing an invisible object, and then discarding it.

You watch her face twist. She's obviously conflicted about the whole thing.

"Here and now, Oriko may have saved Kyouko," you say quietly, jerking your thumb over your shoulder, "I hate the way she did it. Oriko is smug, self righteous, and maybe even delusional. But she's trying to help, and thought she was saving people, including Madoka."

You frown. "We can use that, if nothing else. And if she's right about what's coming... Something new is coming, Homura. We might just need her power. We don't need to trust her to use her power."

"She could be lying to make you spare her," Homura argues, gesturing at Oriko with her pistol. "She's admitted to lying already."

"Is she, Homura? You saw the way she acted," you say quietly, meeting her eyes. She glares back, just as fiercely. "I don't think she was. She's just a teenager, you know, not some master manipulator, for all she pretended to be. And you heard her. She barely even cares about Madoka except for how she affected her visions. Oriko isn't a threat to her."

"How can you be so sure?" Homura asks, stubbornly sticking to her point.

You shrug. "In the end, I can't be absolutely sure," you admit. "But... if we have to kill her here and now, then we have to kill Kirika, too. Mami isn't going to like that. She's just starting to trust you again, you know? We... I don't want to hurt her, if there's another way."

You swallow. "I don... I'm asking a lot, I know, but I want us to win. Walpurgisnacht, this new threat, whatever. Please... just trust me a little further."

Homura puts her hand up to her face, covering her eyes, and remains that way for a minute. You stay silent, letting her work it out herself.

"Fine," she says quietly, voice flat and emotionless.

[] Talk to Homura
- [] Tell her your plans
- [] Ask her...
[] Back to Oriko
[] Write-in

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Homura is being remarkably accommodating, don't you think?
 
You chuff out a breath. "I've said it before, but thank you, Homura. Thanks for trusting me... I'll make it up to you somehow, OK? I wish I knew what your favourite food is... or maybe music?" You glance around at your musical instruments formed of Grief, and then back at Homura. "I guess not."

The time traveller shakes her head, looking vaguely perplexed. "There's only one thing I want."

You frown at her. "Protecting Madoka, yes... Defeating Walpurgisnacht and whatever else is to come. But I'm going to do that anyway... Ah, you know what? I owe you one big favour. Anytime, anything, really, so long as it's within my power." You wag a finger at her. "And cleanses and things like that don't count."

Homura scowls. "Just help me save Madoka."

"I'm doing that anyway," you say. "Listen, I really appreciate your trusting me on this. I know it can't be easy for you."

She looks away, and sighs.

You shake your head. "Just... keep that in mind, OK? Anyway, moving on... Here's what I have in mind for Oriko and Kirika." Homura looks back at you, and leans forward, listening intently. You wave a hand at Oriko. "They're injured, and badly. They're not really in any shape to fight Witches, or really to do anything. So I propose that we keep them under house arrest - I visit every few days to debrief them. Since Oriko is so terrified of Witching out, and they can't get any Seeds on their own... I think that should work."

Homura nods slowly. Taking that as tacit approval, you go on. "I think we need to give her one or two Grief Seeds for emergencies. Of course, she doesn't get to go out or anything, and if she does, we hunt her down and stop her for good, this time."

The black haired girl nods again.

"Homura," you say, rising to your feet. You move over to her, and sit beside her so that the two of you aren't talking over a gap, so that it doesn't feel like you're interrogating her. You don't have the chunk of broken concrete she has to sit on, and the difference puts you roughly on eye level with her. "You're sure you're OK with this? Not just the plan, though you're free to disagree with it if you want, really! And... everything else we've learned? What Oriko said, about something else coming?"

Homura is silent for a moment, laying down Oriko's Soul Gem and the pistol before she takes a deep, shuddering breath and begins speaking. "Things are changing so fast. I... I don't know what to do."

"They're changing, yes," you say steadily. "For the better. It'll all be worth it, in the end."

"I hope so," Homura whispers.

"It will be," you insist.

The silence draws out, as you let Homura work through her thoughts, and you find yourself contemplating the damage you did to Oriko. Her left arm is completely gone below the elbow, crudely healed over into a stump, and her right arm remains broken. Crusty brown stains and ragged tears showing smooth, healed flesh adorn her white costume, dried blood from the bullet holes you'd closed over.

Homura breaks the silence. "Sabrina?"

"Hmm?" you half turn to smile at her.

"Could I have a cleanse?" she asks, showing you her Soul Gem. You frown a little, seeing how much corruption she's built up, but answer, "Of course," and siphon off the Grief.

You collapse the Grief, along with the cloud you've been holding the entire time, into the trademark marbles and pack them away in your bag.

Looking at Oriko reminded you of something, though. "Homura?"

She glances at you out of the corner of her eye.

"So... what exactly happened last loop?" you ask tentatively. "But." You hold up a hand to forestall her answer. "I trust you, Homura, and if you're not comfortable with it, you don't have to tell me."

You let the silence drag again.

Finally, she starts speaking slowly, dredging up painful memories. "Mami died to the sweets Witch. Charlotte, you said? Miki Sayaka made a contract, and saved Madoka from the television Witch. Kyouko Sakura arrived from Kasamino, and I made an agreement with her to gain her assistance for Walpurgisnacht. Miki Sayaka Witched out shortly after."

You stare at her, a chill running down your spine. That sounds remarkably familiar. "Did Kyouko and Sayaka meet and fight in an alleyway? And then you intervened?"

Homura nods slowly, staring back at you. "So you do know about it. You told me that the television Witch might trap Madoka again."

"Wait. I'm sorry, Homura, but this is important - did Madoka make a Wish?" you ask urgently.

She swallows painfully. "Yes. She... she wished that everything could be fixed. And then she killed Walpurgisnacht, and..." Homura trails off, and her shield bearing arm makes a little gesture, grabbing at empty air.

[] Back to Oriko
[] Discuss what to tell Mami
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Four hundred forty nine grief marbles, eight in your pocket, seventeen scattered over the ground, sixteen in your impromptu musical instruments.
 
"Homura." You catch her attention. "Homura, I am going to give you a hug right now," you warn her.

With that, you put your arms around her, dragging her into a hug. Her breath escapes her with a startled whoosh, and she stiffens in the hug, hands hanging limp by her side. She slowly relaxes, though, and lets herself sag against you.

Her shoulders shake.

Here, in the middle of the time stop, surrounded by the failing remnants of Mitakihara's industrial boom, Homura lets herself cry.

Does she feel safe, here? The time stop is her refuge, the one place she can't be touched. She trusts you, too, enough to let herself show weakness in front of you. Because of Madoka's Wish last loop, perhaps? Certainly you can see how she'd reach that conclusion... and you can't help but wonder if she'd be wrong.

She cries, all that pent up worry and terror letting itself out in shuddering, silent sobs. You don't say anything, just stroking her back soothingly and letting her cry herself out as your shoulder grows damp.

... she's so thin. Heart surgery, long term hospital stay... you can't imagine she takes all that good care of herself, either. You remember how she looked, asleep on Mami's couch. Careworn, in perhaps the most literal sense of the word. A lot of her presence is just that - presence. Physically, she's just a frail, tired girl, kept going by will and determination and magic and very little else.

Finally, her crying peters out. You give her one last squeeze, and finally let go, sitting back. She similarly sits back, rubbing at her now reddened eyes with the sleeve of her right arm. Brown flakes of your own blood, now dried, cling to the pristine white of her costume.

You very deliberately look away, twiddling your thumbs and letting her regain her composure.

"W-what next?" Homura asks eventually, only the small hiccough and slightly roughened voice giving lie to the pretense that nothing had happened.

You turn back to her. "We need to figure out what to tell Mami. I... don't really want to lie to her, but there's things she can't know yet."

The time traveller nods, so you continue. "OK. I want to lie as little as possible... so... we tell her that Oriko's injuries were severe, so we patched her up a bit in the timestop, and she told us about her reasoning while we did that? And, well. She's just misguided, but was still trying to 'save Sayaka'."

"Do we tell her about Walpurgisnacht?" Homura asks. "And the... new threat?"

"I think so," you nod. "She deserves to know, anyway. Do you see any problems? Holes in the story?"

"Mami will want to know why we didn't bring her in to help," Homura points out.

You let a breath hiss out. "Yeah. And, come to think of it, why we didn't heal her too, while we're at it."

[] Write-in

=====​

Go, Homu!
 
You bring your hand to your chin, thinking furiously. You really don't want to lie to Mami too much... "OK. How's this? We tell her that it was... really bad, and we just managed to save Oriko, and then we cleaned up a bit, since no one should have to see that kind of thing if it can be helped."

"Clean up?" Homura asks.

You gesture at the congealed, gummy pool of Oriko's blood. "Yeah. We really should do some cleaning up, if we can, in all seriousness, nobody should be subjected to this if it can be helped." You're mildly surprised that nobody's thrown up so far, though the timestop helps - the muted colours and smell makes it less real, less present.

Glancing at Homura again, the sight of the brown flakes of dried blood reminds you of your own injuries. You peer down at yourself - four long, jagged cuts along your torso, and one of Kirika's claws stuck in your thigh. The torso injuries are mostly scabbed over in layers of crusty brown, but... every time you move, the scabs crack and start bleeding again.

The claw still embedded in your leg... you prod at it gingerly, and little trickles of blood well out, running down your thigh in little rivulets. Your formerly grey pant leg is stained a mixed, deep red and brown with your blood.

... you're glad you shut off your sense of pain.

You're also pretty sure that this isn't the proper way to do this, but magic makes up for a lot, you muse, wrapping your hand around the base of the spike and wrenching. The claw comes free with a spurt of bright red blood, and you immediately apply your other hand, already glowing with the brilliant white of your magic.

White is joined by purple a moment later, Homura shuffling over to help. You smile gratefully at her, and she nods back.

You frown, still letting your thoughts run. "And if Mami continues asking... we tell her the truth. We healed Oriko up from serious injuries, thanks to magic keeping her alive... And when she woke up, she refused to explain, so... I scared her into talking." You're not in the slightest proud of that.

Homura gives a measured nod.

It takes a while, and a few cleansings, to close up the wounds - they were fairly deep, particularly the one on your thigh. Your costume's still ripped, though. "You didn't get hurt, did you, Homura?" you inquire, looking over the other puella magi. Her costume's unblemished, as far as you can see, and she shakes her head, no. "Alright, then," You look around at the pools of blood. "Time to start cleaning up, I suppose."

There's a familiar clicking noise beside you, and you turn to see-

...

"No, OK, I have to ask," you say, putting a hand out to stop Homura. "Why a mop. Thread, rope, boiling water, instant noodles, weapons, yeah, sure. I can understand why you might carry those. Why a mop."

Homura looks down at the mop she's incongrously holding in her hands. "... I might need one?"

You stare at her, and she stares back, equally baffled.

You blink first. "... OK, then. But that won't be necessary. let me try something first."

Your Grief marbles, all four hundred and eight residing in your miraculously durable sling bag, explode into the air in a cascade, rising to drift aimlessly around you in a loose, hovering ring. You add to them the ones from your cleansing, and recall the ones scattered over the ground and the ones forming your musical instruments.

You frown, concentrating briefly, and their structure shifts to form loose flakes which you send scouring over the ground like a malevolent sandstorm hued in deep purple, scraping and scooping up the sticky remnants of blood.

Under your direction, the storm scatters the blood in inconspicuous places, and leaves behind a significantly cleaner pavement. You get up and walk around, surveying the area to make sure that you haven't left behind any major spots of blood. Finally, you turn to look at Homura, who's also wandering around, still holding the mop.

"There," you say in satisfaction, reforming the Grief marbles, which pour into your bag in a reverse torrent. "Looks about right?"

Homura nods, putting away the mop. "Yes."

"Alright, then," you say. "Time to bring in Oriko, and finish this. It's been a long..." you grumble for a moment. "I can't say it's been a long day, but it's been a long day. And don't forget, Homura, you're still sleeping over at Mami's apartment after we're done here, Oriko or not!" you finish with a grin.

Homura nods again. "Fine."

"Right." You walk over to where Oriko's sitting, and bend down to grab the thread.

Oriko continues to gulp the water down, before spluttering and nearly choking as she notices the discontinuous jump. She hastily puts the bottle down beside her, glancing around at the now clean-ish ground.

"You know, Oriko," you inform her, looking down at her. "It's not that I don't comprehend the idea of sacrifice 'for the greater good'." You draw the requisite air quotes. "But the thing about 'hard decisions' is that you damned well do your best to make it unnecessary. It's well and truly worth it to spend the effort to create a future without hurting people."

"But you know what? You're probably right," you say, frowning down at her. "Sending me a letter, or talking to Mami or similar without alienating Homura would have been hard to accomplish. But if your goal is for a good end for the world, where nobody needs to die or Witch or anything? That's how you do it. That's how I am going to do it," you say.

"Your powers can still do a lot of good," you say, looming over Oriko and simply staring down at her. "Good that doesn't have to come from treating people like tools and sacrificing them. We will find another way. And if you want any part of this... you are going to work with us."

Oriko can't meet your eyes, but nods reluctantly. "I. I accept. I will not live to see it, but I concede to your terms. Kirik-"

"Yes." You interrupt her. "We are going to keep the both of you under house arrest, as it were. I'm afraid we won't be healing you fully, because quite frankly, we don't trust you. I'll drop by every day or two to cleanse your Soul Gems."

Oriko bows her head. "Acceptable."

"Then we're bringing Kirika in, and you are going to calm her down. Then we're ending the timestop, and you surrender to Mami. No more plots, and I'm sure you know what will happen if you put a foot out of line again."

The seer swallows, and nods.

"Alright, then," you say, turning to look at Homura, now standing at your elbow. She nods at you, gaze steady.

[] Proceed with plan
[] Last minute modifications?
[] Write-in

=====​

Four hundred eighty three grief marbles, eight in your pocket.

PS. If no further modifications, this will please me greatly, because it'll let me end this chapter on a nice, neat sixty entries. OCD ho!
 
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"Let's go to Kirika, then," you say, looking at Homura, then back to Oriko. "Can you walk?"

Instead of answering, Oriko tries to struggle to her feet, getting one leg under her and carefully avoiding using her broken arm. You sigh, and walk over to her to slide an arm under her shoulder and bodily haul her to her feet, before stepping back again. You frown at the thread tied to her leg - that's not going to work, so you spool out more thread from the reel and press it into her hand.

"Hold on to the thread," you say, stepping back. Oriko nods, and her eyes slide over to her Soul Gem held in Homura's hand, and Kirika's, in yours. You raise an eyebrow at the seer, and she grimaces in response.

"I can walk," Oriko says uncomfortably.

"Right," you reply, and turn to go, Oriko following you obediently. Homura walks behind Oriko, presumably to keep an eye on her.

The walk to Kirika's body is practically a funeral procession, or maybe a prisoner escort. Which, technically, it is. There's a slight mishap with the rope tying you to Homura getting tangled over some rubble, and tripping, but the less said about it the better.

You're rubbing your elbow in annoyance when you round the corner on Kirika's body. Oriko gasps sharply when she sees Kirika and makes a half-aborted move to her, but reigns herself in, glancing at you. You sigh again.

"Go on," you mutter, and let the thread spool out from the reel as Oriko glides over to Kirika. A touch brings Kirika into the timestop, colour blossoming across the berserker's body, and Oriko gently turns her over. "Go ahead and wake her up, I'll cleanse as necessary," you add. You don't exactly trust Kirika not to eviscerate you as soon as she wakes up.

Oriko looks questioningly at you.

"It's something all magical girls can do," you sigh. "Just not very efficiently. Either way, search your feelings, you kno-" you break off, and start again. "Search your instincts; you should know how to do it."

The seer nods resolutely, and turns back to Kirika. A moment later, she holds her hand against the side of Kirika's head, glimmering light shining from between her fingers in fitful little stutters. You wince - at a guess, you gave Kirika a concussion.

You lean against a wall, while Homura stands, watching impassively like a statue, barely moving. After a while, you casually raise a hand, and siphon out the corruption filming both Oriko's and Kirika's Soul Gems, collapsing them down into marbles with practiced ease and little twitches of your fingers to guide the Grief. As an afterthought, you cleanse Homura's and your own Soul Gems, too.

It doesn't take too long before Kirika wakes, an explosive gasp escaping her and her eyes flying open, darting around wildly. You can feel Kirika rapidly powering up another of those accursed anti-magic blasts, and Homura tenses, her shield arm dropping protectively.

The pulse dies when Oriko throws her arm around Kirika with a loud cry, dragging her into a hug as best as she can.

You grimace, and take a chance, dissolving the manacles on Kirika. Considering that you and Homura are holding their Soul Gems, you're not too worried, and you let the Grief collapse back into a marble that you pack away with the others. Homura gives you a questioning look, to which you simply shrug in response.

Kirika wraps her arms around Oriko, claws melting away, and the couple simply stays like that for a moment, before Kirika notices the state Oriko's in.

"Oriko, your arm!" she exclaims, one hand touching the empty sleeve. "Your..." The black haired magical girl takes in the rest of Oriko's state - ruined, blood stained costume, angry red scars from your incomplete healing visible beneath rips in said costume, and one broken arm kept moving by magic and pain suppression.

"You-" Kirika catches sight of Homura, and her face contorts in fury, half rising.

"Kirika, no!" Oriko cries, clinging to her with one arm. "Don't! Don't..."

"But- sh- they," Kirika sputters, staring down at the seer.

"No, no, it's fine," Oriko says. "We're working with them now."

"What?" Kirika asks, stark disbelief written on her face. "Oriko, are you sure?"

"Yes, I am," Oriko replies. "But first we're going to surrender to them, OK?"

"Um..." the black haired girl scratches her head. "If you're sure..."

"Yes, I am," Oriko says, raising her hand to Kirika's face and stroking her cheek. Kirika quiets, nodding slowly, and Oriko in turn half turns to nod at you, keeping her arm slung around her girlfriend.

"Alright, then," you sigh, and look at Homura, eyebrows raised. The time traveller puts her hand to her shield, and cranks it.

With a humming of gears, the timestop ends, hopefully for good for this night, at least.

Sound and colour and smell flood back into the world, and you tilt your head back, smiling at the night sky. There's more than a hint of iron in the breeze ruffling your hair, but it's not the sickening tang of blood - it's just the rusting hulks of the industrial district. The sounds of traffic, cars and trucks flowing ceaselessly even at this time of the night, filter through to you.

"Mami?" you reach out telepathically.

"Sabrina?" Mami's voice, warm and pleasant, replies quickly. You sense her pausing, perhaps leaning against something to catch her breath.

"I had to enter the time stop with Homura," you tell her. "Oriko was... injured really badly. We just managed to heal her."

"Oh." Mami goes quiet.

"We... talked to her, while healing her," you say. "She... she was actually trying to help."

"She burned down Sayaka's house!" Mami exclaims incredulously.

"I know. She can see the future, and she sees something big coming," you say. You look at Homura, and gesture at Oriko and Kirika, now just holding each other, and you begin heading over to Mami's location, feeling secure in the knowledge that you still have Kirika's Soul Gem.

Mami's quiet for a moment. "Is it Walpurgisnacht? Even so, I don't see how Oriko was 'helping'."

"She... one moment," you say, breaking out into a trot. You round a corner, and spy Mami. She's cradling her left arm with her right, and moving slowly so as to avoid jolting it. "Hi, Mami," you call.

The blonde brightens a little. "Hello, Sabrina. A- are you OK?"

You glance down at yourself - even with your injuries healed, your costume's still ripped and blood stained. "It's OK, Homura help me to heal. Are you?" You move to the blonde's side, and immediately start applying magic to her arm to start healing the break.

"I'm glad to see you're OK," Mami says, face easing a little and deflecting the question.

"Hmm. Anyway, the way Oriko was talking about the new threat, Walpurgisnacht is barely a footnote to it," you explain, walking along and maintaining the healing as you move.

"She could be lying to save herself," Mami says gently.

"I don't think she is," you say. "We... I had to threaten her, before she would explain herself."

"I... oh, Sabrina. I'm so sorry," Mami says, regret colouring her voice. A long pause.

"It's OK, Mami. I... knew this kind of thing might happen," you say, trying to smile at her. Said smile is probably more than a little strained, but Mami nods.

"I'll trust your judgement, then."

"Thanks, Mami," you reply. "I... for what she's done, I think we should keep them under house arrest, sort of?"

"As punishment?" Mami sounds surprised.

"Yeah. They're... in bad shape, and no real state to move around freely," you say. "We... can't really just turn them loose."

"You've already healed them, haven't you?" Mami asks with a frown.

"Only the life threatening injuries," you say. "Oriko's missing an arm."

Mami blanches, but recovers a moment later. "She should have known what she was getting into," the blonde says. Her tone of voice is chilly, sending shivers down your spine. "I've... thrown other magical girls out for less."

You shake your head. "Mami, we might need her. I don't like it either, but if there's something bigger than Walpurgisnacht coming... We might need her precognizance."

She's quiet for a moment, ruminating over that. "What is this new threat?"

"She doesn't know, either," you say. "She can't see it directly... but part of the reason that she... did what she did... was that if Sayaka wasn't moved, the new thing would kill her."

Mami grimaces. "Too convenient."

"I know," you agree. "But I don't think she was lying. Lies need to be believable."

A pause.

"What guarantee do we have that they'll behave?" she asks, seemingly accepting your reasoning.

"They're in bad shape, and can't even hunt Witches," you say. "Oriko's abilities are expensive, and if I don't go over to cleanse them every now and then..."

Mami nods slowly. "They'll lose their magic. I... think that will work."

"Mmm," you say noncommitally.

"Alright, then," Mami says hesitantly. "I'm... reluctant to let her stay, but if she's in as bad a state as you say..."

You nod.

"It... should be OK," Mami says. "What does Homura think?"

"She's... OK with it," you reply.

"I... OK, then," Mami agrees.

You sigh in relief, and focus on healing Mami's injuries, carefully avoiding jolting her as the two of you slowly make your way over to Oriko and Kirika.

When you finally arrive, Oriko and Kirika are still sitting quietly, and Homura is watching them like a particularly grim-faced statue. She raises her eyes to look at you when she sees the two of you arriving, and you nod slightly in response.

"Mikuni Oriko. Kure Kirika," Mami says, voice icy.

"Tomoe Mami," Oriko says, bowing her head in what's almost a pose of supplication.

"I have decided that I will accept Sabrina and Homura's plan of house arrest for the two of you," Mami declares as regally as any queen, for all that you're still carefully healing one of her arms. "If you put a single toe out of line, we will hunt you down."

"I understand," Oriko says, quieting Kirika's protests with her single arm.

[] Write-in

=====​

Five hundred and twelve grief marbles, eight in your pocket.

Here ends Chapter Three: Direct Intervention. Chapter Four: Surface Tension begins in the next update.
 
"Alright, that's settled then," you say absently into the awkward silence that's fallen. You're focusing rather more on knitting Mami's broken bone together. To your surprise, Homura joins you, adding the purple glow of her magic to yours.

Between the two of you, it doesn't take too long to finish repairing Mami's arm, and she smiles gratefully at you and Homura.

You look over at Oriko and Kirika, now simply cuddling and talking quietly to each other. It would be kind of sweet if it wasn't for, well, circumstances. "Oriko."

The seer looks up at you. "Yes?"

"We'll escort you back to your house," you say. "You're to stay there. You don't have any food left, so... if you have any money, I'll buy it for you. Tomorrow."

A brief flash of confusion crosses Oriko's face, but she nods slowly. "I had a warehouse prepared as a hideout," she volunteers. "If... it's not too much trouble, I would prefer my belongings and food be moved from there."

You glance at Homura and Mami, but they don't say anything, content to defer to you. You turn back to Oriko, shrugging. "Fine. Tomorrow," you say, emphasizing that last word with a raised finger.

"Very well," she says. She pauses, struggling with a thought, before adding, "It's not trapped."

You raise an eyebrow.

The seer shrugs.

You look at Mami, who shrugs at you, and then at Homura, who doesn't visibly react, face set in an annoyed scowl.

"... right," you say finally. "Can you move?"

"You broke my knee!" Kirika complains, with a considerable amount of ire.

... you did, didn't you? You'd just about forgotten about that. That's going to be a problem.

Mami sighs, beside you, and raises her now healed hand. Golden ribbons spring forth, weaving into a stretcher beneath Kirika. The girl squeals in surprise, flailing a little at the sensations of the ribbons winding back and forth under her back. Oriko rises as the stretcher bears Kirika up, remaining by the side of the conjured stretcher.

"That works," you say, smiling at Mami. She returns a slightly strained smile. "Let's go, then."

The trip back to Oriko's house is made in tense silence, and you make the last leg of it on foot, just as you did before. Thankfully, this part of the city's relatively quiet, and you don't encounter anyone - though if you did, more trouble for Kyuubey, then.

You notice Oriko giving you an annoyed look, and she deliberately looks at the glass back doors. The open glass doors.

"Really? You're upset over that?" you say flatly in response. Oriko turns her nose up at that, snubbing you.

Mami unceremoniously deposits Kirika on the sofa, the berserker blinking orange eyes up at you, looking vaguely puzzled. You crook your hand, casually cleansing the Grief from everyone's Soul Gems, forming a fairly substantial cloud of Grief which you collapse into your marbles.

There's a quiet clinking noise as Homura drops a single Grief Seed on the table in their living room.

You look around the house. "Right, then. I'll be back tomorrow," you announce. "And Oriko, remember. One step out of line..." You leave it hanging.

"I understand," she repeats.

A thought strikes you. "Oh, and you, Kirika, should call home. Your parents have been staying up and waiting for you," you say reprovingly.

Kirika sits up on the sofa, awkwardly pulling herself up. "Oh. I didn't think about that," she says. "Um... I should, I suppose."

As the three of you leave, Oriko very pointedly closes the door and locks it behind you.

You let out an explosive sigh as the door closes behind you, and the three of you take to the roofs again. "Mami?" you call over the rushing wind.

"Yes, Sabrina?" Mami asks, dropping back to talk to you.

"Umm," you start. "I should apologize, Mami, for leaving your healing for so long. So, um. I'm sorry."

"It's OK, Sabrina. I understand."

You frown, bending your legs into a crouch as you land on a roof. "Mami..."

"No, I really do," Mami says, turning to smile at you as the two of you push off the roof. "Saving people's lives is important."

"... yeah," you say, smiling back. "You're OK with all this? Keeping Oriko under house arrest and all?"

"It's for the best, I think," Mami replies. "Are you OK? You... said you had to threaten Oriko."

You shudder, grimacing unhappily. "I did," you confirm. "It... she was..."

Mami puts her hand on your shoulder, holding you back as you land. When you pause, she drags you into a hug. "Oh, Sabrina," she mumbles into your shoulder. "I'd... hoped that you could be shielded from that kind of thing."

"It's... OK, Mami," you say, hugging her back and drawing comfort from her. "I knew what I was getting into."

She holds the hug for a little longer, before stepping back. You smile at her, and she answers hesitantly. Casting about for a way to change the subject, you gesture at Homura, who you can sense has stopped and is lurking on the next roof over, presumably to give you your privacy.

"By the way, you're OK with Homura staying over, right?"

"Of course," Mami says. "Um... I only have one guest room, though, and we're slee- using it, right now."

"I doubt she would mind sleeping on the sofa?" you suggest.

"No..." Mami disagrees. "That's hardly right. We could... move into my room?"

You shrug, even if it's not really noticeable with the two of you on the move. "I don't mind. But this time, I'm taking the mattress. No arguments - it's your bed."

"OK," Mami agrees.

"Hey Homura!" you call out to the other member of your party, jumping across to her building.

"Yes?" she asks when you're abreast of her.

"Well, I suppose in the end it's up to you, but are you staying the night?" you ask, as Mami lands just behind you.

"... yes," Homura says.

"Good," Mami says, in sync with you saying, "Excellent." You blink, and grin at Mami, who smiles back.

Homura shakes her head, eyes darting between the two of you. "Let's go," she suggests, walking to the edge of the roof and jumping towards the next building.

Mami giggles, and follows.

The journey back to Mami's apartment goes by quickly, and the three of you untransform with some relief, dismissing the dirt and grime of the night's hunt with magic. Exhaustion sets in hard and fast, now that you're metaphorically off the clock and let yourself feel it.

"Anyway, Hom-" Mami yawns enormously, demurely covering her mouth. "Homura, you'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom. Just give us a moment to move the mattress out..."

As you and Mami manhandle the mattress to her room, you see Homura eyeing said mattress throughtfully, glancing between you and Mami as she does so. She doesn't say anything though.

"Uhhh." You rub at your eyes, now threatening to force themselves closed whether you like it or not. "So, that's the bedroom. G'night, Homura."

"Good night, Sabrina. Good night, Mami," Homura says. A shaky smile appears on her face, rough and unpolished, but a smile nevertheless. "... thank you both."

"Of course, Homura," Mami says sleepily, walking over to her room. "Good night."

"Yeah, no worries," you mumble, stumbling behind Mami.

You're asleep almost before your head touches the pillow.

[] Wake up at the usual time
[] Wake up late
[] Morning activities
- [] Write-in what
[] Write-in

=====​

Five hundred and twenty grief marbles, eight in your pocket. Coobie hasn't shown its ugly white face.
 
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