... Stocking up for Walpurgisnacht. Which means going...
shopping.
"
... Can I join you for that?" you ask, mental voice breathlessly eager.
An air of faint surprise permeates the telepathic link.
"
You... may?" Homura replies, sounding puzzled. "
That would
make it more convenient...?"
"
Great!" you say, grinning to yourself as you bound across another gap between buildings. "
Let me know when!"
"
OK?" Homura says.
"
Look, I'm looking forward to it, OK?" you say.
"
... OK?" Homura repeats.
You snort. "
Ah, whatever. See you soon, Homura," you say.
"
See you," Homura echoes.
You land smoothly, with a small pulse of magic and legs bending slightly under your weight. To your delight, the concrete flagstones don't shatter under your weight. "
I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, Mami!" you say happily as you sprint across the rooftop, hard on Kirika's heels. "
Roofhopping, I mean."
"
That's great, Sabrina!" Mami turns to give you a warm smile.
Your
next leap slips slightly, the timing off by the barest sliver of a second, and your flight through the air is accompanied by the crunch of breaking concrete flagstones. "
Whoops," you chuckle.
"
Ah, well... you're still picking it up quite quickly!" Mami says, warm approval in her voice as she turns her head slightly to meet your eyes. "
I... still have a few tricks I could show you some time? We were in a bit of a hurry last time..."
"
That sounds great, Mami," you say, giving her a broad smile. "
Sometime soon?"
"
Whenever you have the time," Mami agrees.
"
Oh, that reminds me!" you say as you swerve around a protruding vent, shifting back to run next to Mami again as soon as you clear it, "
Enchantment."
"
Hmm, Sabrina?" Mami asks.
"
Well, I never really made much progess with it, but I'm curious," you say. "
What kind
of things can we make with enchantment? Any limits or anything?"
"
Eh?" Mami says. "
I've... never really found any limits, no. It's just... each effect needs to be figured out on its own, so it takes time and Grief Seeds."
That piques your interest. "
Oh? What've you managed to figure out?" you ask, turning to grin at Mami.
"
Um," Mami says, thinking. "
Durability, magic shields, space expansion, colour, um. Transforming normal objects into similar ones, though that's sort of tricky, keeping my tea warm, uhh, my hair. A few little animated toys, but they don't do much." Towards the end of the sentence, her mental voice shades towards melancholy.
"
Oh, that's neat," you say, injecting cheer to your voice, giving her a worried look. She feels her eyes on you, turning midjump to give you a little smile, one tinged with old pain. "
Mami, I'm here."
A pause. "
Thank you, Sabrina," she says, smiling becoming more natural, more content.
"Almost there," Kirika calls happily, disappearing over the edge of the roof. You follow her down into the alley, where the black haired girl's already detransformed and is bouncing impatiently on her feet, eager to return to Oriko. You shake your head, rolling your eyes at her, and she gives you an unrepentant smirk.
Mami watches the byplay neutrally.
"
She's kinda grown on me," you tell Mami as you detransform. You'd been meaning to try and... rehabilitate Oriko and Kirika anyway, so... "
And really, she's not that bad."
"
I'll take your word for it, Sabrina," she says, glancing sidelong at Kirika as she detransforms you. Kirika's already bounced to the mouth of the alley, peering in the direction of Oriko's mansion.
The three of you head out, merging into the sparse mid afternoon crowds, Kirika ranging ahead of you like an eager puppy.
"
Hey Oriko, we're returning Kirika to you now," you inform the seer telepathically.
"
I know," Oriko replies.
Seers.
"
Yeah, yeah," you say.
Oriko's waiting at the front door when you round the dense hedges surrounding the Mikuni residence. Kirika bounces up and sweeps the seer up in a hug. "Orikooo
oooooooo."
You glance at Mami. "Anything you need to do here?"
Mami shakes her head. "No, I just wanted to go with you, Sabrina," she says, giving you a warm smile.
"Ah, fair enough," you say, then turn to Oriko and Kirika. "Anyway, see you, and thanks for the help!" you call, raising your voice and a hand to wave them good bye.
"Bye Sabrina!" Kirika chirps.
"Goodbye," Oriko says.
Mami gives them a nod, the barest incline of her head, before turning back to you.
Your smile's a touch rueful. Baby steps, you suppose. "Shall we head back to the others?"
"Yes, let's," she says.
A few minutes later, you're bounding over the rooftops again, wincing at the faint cracks underfoot when you miss the timing. "So Mami," you call over the rushing wind.
"Yes, Sabrina?" she calls back, drills streaming out in the wind rushing by.
"Do you think it's possible to enchant an item with something like, 'cleanses Soul Gems'?" you ask, neatly avoiding an antenna with a bob and weave.
"I... wouldn't think so," Mami says, herself avoiding the same antenna. "I've... never tried, though," she admits. "I... wouldn't have thought powers like yours were possible, either. Maybe you could do it?"
"Well, it's worth a shot, right?" you say. "It's not like it costs much but time."
"Right," Mami agrees with a smile.
"Say, how do you think magic works anyway?" you ask as you crest the next building.
Mami chuckles warmly. "You never go for the easy questions, do you?" she says fondly.
"
Sometimes I do," you protest. "Like, um, what should we have for dinner?"
"Hmm," Mami says, giving you a quick smile without breaking stride. "That's not an easy question, either! We need to cook, quickly, for six people, you know."
You waggle your hand at her, snatching it back to avoid clipping an air conditioning compressor. "Ehhhhhh." A stray thought strikes you just then. "By the way, do you know where Homura and the others
are right now?"
"Somewhere on the way to the hospital?" she says.
"... Right, I'm checking with Homura," you say with some asperity. Hmmm, hospitals.
Mami giggles.
"
Homura?" you ask. "
We're on our way, but where are
you right now?" You know, now that you think about it, healing Kyousuke... Well, while him crushing on Homura would be -was, is, time travel messes with the tenses something fierce- absolutely
hilarious, you'd rather not get tangled up in that mess.
"
Block 379-12," the time traveller answers promptly.
"
Right, thanks," you say to her. Out loud, you repeat, "Block 379-12."
"Ah, I know where that is," Mami says, "This way." She changes direction slightly, swinging to the left a hair.
"Buuuuuut back on topic," you say, continuing to muse internally on Kyousuke. Maybe charge him for the healing? That's what doctors do, right? "Magic?"
Mami frowns in consideration, looking back at you. "I think... it works on what you
want. There's some limits, like how much time and how much corruption we can afford to spend, but..."
"Hm," you say. You
do have better ways of getting money, admittedly, and it feels rather...
mercenary to charge Kyousuke for healing. It doesn't really sit right with you, for most part. "I've found my range seems to be restricted to a hundred meters out."
Mami gives you a surprised look, avoiding a protruding duct without even looking. "That's... unusual."
"It is?" you ask in surprise, shelving the thoughts of what you'll call the Kyousuke problem for now.
"Um... there
are magical girls with a hundred meter range," she says. "Not too many, though."
"Huh," you say. "Oh hey, we're almost there." You can sense Homura and Madoka and Sayaka, on the far edges of your senses.
[] Write-in
=====
Do suggest something for dinner too, by the by. I
could think of something, but indulge me this, yeah?
