First things first, then, you need something disposable you can afford to break. Multiple somethings. Hmmm...
"Oriko? Can I grab some of the pebbles?" you indicate the polished rocks lining the rosebeds. "I'm... well,
we're quite likely to break a fair number of them."
The silver haired girl indicates the rocks with a regal, 'go ahead' gesture, and a flick of attention and sliver of Grief scoops up a round dozen, dropping with a clatter to the table.
You grab one. It's cool and smooth to the touch, and you balance it on the flat of your palm, displaying it to Oriko and Kirika. "Alright," you say. "So enchantment. It's as... simple... as channeling magic into an object with the intent to do something. There's a... way of
twisting the magic that Japanese isn't really adequate for explaining, or even any human language, and I haven't really mastered it yet."
"If it's simple, then how come you haven't mastered it yet?" Kirika asks. There's no malice in her tone. Just curiosity in the birdlike tilt of her head.
"Simple isn't the same as easy," you say with a shrug. "Lifting a car engine is simple. But it's not easy.' You pause for a moment. "For a non magical girl, I mean."
"OK, that makes sense," Kirika says, nodding rapidly and swiping a rock from the table to bounce in her hand. "So how do we do it?"
"Well... I was thinking that I'd show you how it works, first. And then we can all practice and try and get it?" you say, glancing at Oriko. "Just a general idea first, to see roughly which way to go?"
The seer looks dubious, but nods slowly.
"Alright, so... I'm going to try and put a barrier shield on the rock," you say.
You take a breath and reach for that
feeling, that wellspring of power, and the memory of how Mami did it. You've practiced this. Not to any great success, but you have. Magic trickles up your fingers, the sensation almost like a warm blush rising underneath your skin, before it bubbles into the rock at your focus.
You try to shape the magic. You try to bring to mind how Mami did it, and you try to imitate it. The magic
twists like this and then curls this wa-
Crack.
You scowl at the shattered rock in annoyance, and drop the shards to the table. "... well, yeah," you say. "That's what happens when you do it wrong. Haven't gotten it
right yet, though." You dust your hands off, and pick up one of the three fragments instead.
"Cool! Lemme try," Kirika says, assuming an expression of great concentration as she stares down at the rock. "Hnnnnnngh."
Oriko's eyes widen a hair, and she smacks Kirika's hand lightly. "No."
Kirika makes a confused face. "No?"
"No," Oriko repeats.
"Oh," Kirika says sadly.
"Too much," the seer says tartly.
"Ohh," Kirika says, nodding. "What if-"
Oriko shakes her head.
Another pout.
You tilt your head, eyeing the pair. "Yeaaah," you say. "Control's the tricky part of this. Which is sadly my worst part."
Oriko nods, pushing through the pile of rocks and selecting one for herself. "Control," she murmurs to herself, frowning at the rock. She continues to frown at it for a minute, without actually
doing anything - but you can feel her Soul Gem, now in Kirika's pocket, start to fill with Grief.
You take a moment to consider her Soul Gem - still the same, defitionally non-Euclidean inversion on itself. It's not...
grinding on itself, per se, merely
twisting itself into a tighter and tighter wound knot.
"Oriko?" you ask.
"I'm trying to determine the best way to do this," she says.
"Right," you say. "I'm just going to try, OK?"
Oriko shrugs. "Go ahead, Kirika."
The black haired girl, mouth half open to ask, blinks and grins, holding up her rock.
Magic flares, and the rock crumbles.
"... Oh," Kirika says, shoulders drooping and voice sounding utterly woebegone as she looks down at the sand sifting through her fingers. "Oh."
Oriko replaces her rock on the table with a quiet plunk and pats Kirika on the shoulder reassuringly.
"
Sabrina?" Mami's voice intrudes on your head.
"
Hey, Mami," you say as you refocus your attention on the shard of rock in your hand. "
How are you?"
"
Ah... I'm doing OK," Mami says. "
I was wondering about you..."
You find yourself smiling, some of the pent up stress and tension relaxing from you. It's not a
hug, but it's nice to hear Mami's voice. "
I'm OK, Mami. I'm sorry for worrying you."
"
Don't be silly," Mami says. You can
hear the warm smile lighting up her face.
"
Mmm," you say, not really agreeing or disagreeing.
"
What are you doing?" she asks. "
Um... If you're not too busy to tell me."
"
No, I always have time for you," you say, smiling. You let magic seep gently into the stone fragment on your palm, trying to keep it slow and controlled. "
I'm practising enchantment right now, trying to see if I can replicate the anti-pain ring."
"
Ah, sorry," Mami says. "
We never did find the time to practice it."
Crack. That would be your rock shattering. You grimace, and drop the fragments to the table.
"
If anything, it's my
fault," you say, poking the broken shards around. "
I keep tripping over... well, everything."
"
You wouldn't be you if you didn't, Sabrina," Mami says softly.
"
That doesn't make it good," you counter, choosing the largest remaining shard and trying to channel magic into it again.
"
I... Sabrina?" Mami says, voice worried. "
I... don't want to argue with you."
You sigh. "
OK." Magic ripples from your fingers, seeping slowly into the rock, and-
crack. "Ugh," you grunt under your breath, dropping the splinters to the table.
You sift through the remains in annoyance for a moment. "
Mami? I'm not mad at you or anything."
"
A-alright," Mami says. "
Um... How's the enchantment going?"
"
Not terribly well," you admit, absently checking on Kirika and Oriko. The black haired girl has reduced another two stones to fragments, whereas... Oriko's still staring at her rock. You take a moment to cleanse all of your Soul Gems. "
I do wish I could have gotten your help."
"
I'd be glad to," Mami says. "
When we can?"
"
Yeah," you agree, smiling as you pick up yet another shard.
"
Alright... I'll see you at lunch?" Mami asks. You can hear faint relief and warmth in her voice.
"
Yeah. Of course, Mami," you say. "
See you soon."
"
See you," Mami says, and ends the connection.
You exhale slowly, finding yourself still smiling. Kirika looks up to catch your eye and
grin, the smirk threatening to split her face in two.
You raise your eyebrow at her, but the grin doesn't abate. If anything, it
widens.
You shake your head, though the smile remains on your face. "Anyway... I'm going to try and make something else, OK?" you inform Oriko and Kirika. "Gonna be Witchy again."
Then again, the two of them are dealing with the rather Witchy pain blocking ring just fine, aren't they? Still best to warn them, you figure, reaching out and pulling with your mind.
Oriko nods, whereas Kirika gives you a thumbs up, dusting off the remains of try number... you're not even sure. You lost count somewhere. "Cool," she says. "Whatcha making?"
"An enhancer for control. I hope," you say, holding out your hand just in time for a Grief sphere to smack into it.
"Oooh," Kirika says brightly. "That sounds like a good idea."
"Well yes, I thought so too," you say, focusing on the Grief. Enhancement of enchantment control... Heh. Alliterative. Hm. You bear down on the Grief with your will, twisting and prodding and mouldin-
-and it's done. A gleaming steel bracelet sits innnocuously in your palm, humming faintly in your senses.
"Shiny," Kirika observes.
"Yep," you agree. It always feels so
easy, you muse as you slip the bracelet on. "How long did that take me?"
"A few minutes," Oriko says.
"Hmm," you say, filing that thought away for later and flexing your fingers. It doesn't
feel any different, so... Testing time! You snag a fresh rock from the table, holding it flat on your palm, and start to pour magic into it again.
Right away, you notice the
Grief, tiny slivers of it wicking away and intermingling with the silvery fire of your magic. Nearly imperceptible, but... They're
there. Your lips curl in annoyance, but you force yourself to stay the course.
"It doesn't hold," Oriko notes quietly, eyeing the rock in your hand.
"Hrrrm," you say, magic still seeping into the rock. Finally, you... stop. It
feels like the right place to stop, as if you're tying off a knot in the magic.
You blink at the rock. It
looks normal to your senses, but it...
resonates in your senses, a miniature, crackling silver storm. Not
too different from how it felt when Mami did it.
"Cooooool," Kirika says, ogling the rock. She reaches across the table and snags the rock, tossing it from hand to hand.
"... Huh," you say. "Smack it with a rock or something? It's supposed to be a defensive barrier."
"Sure," Kirika says cheerfully, grabbing another rock and bringing it down on the glowing barrier. It bounces off with a resounding chime and flash of light. "Cooooool."
"It doesn't hold, though," Oriko murmurs, watching as Kirika smacks the enchanted stone again with another rock - the black haired girl seems to take an extraordinary amount of delight in the chiming noise. "When you leave the area."
"Well, damn," you mutter. Just to confirm, you reach for the faint specks of Grief drifting within the enchantment, and extract those with a thought.
The magic collapses, and Kirika's next blow with the rock ends with a dismal, clacking noise of stone on stone. "Awww," she pouts.
"Hrrrm," you grumble. You'd... sort of expected this, to be honest. It's not like Science! isn't useful, but... it seems like effects touched by Grief
remains touched by Grief. With one exception that you've found so far - moving that rosebush. Which is
still uprooted. It's right over there, leaves slowly withering. "No shortcuts, it seems."
Oriko shrugs, looking faintly annoyed.
"Alright, then," you say with a sigh. "We do it the hard way, then."
The seer nods, starting to turn that rock over and over slowly in her hand, still eyeing it slowly. Tentatively, she channels a little magic into it, but pulls back quickly, shaking her head.
You sigh, returning your focus to a new rock. Your mind wanders as you work, vaguely wondering about setting up a website for meguca. You could
probably make a server out of Grief, though goodness knows how that would work. And a magic wifi connection.
Hah. You could get Megane to be a moderator.
Then again, maybe you could make moderators of your own out of Grief. But that'd require intelligence, probably maybe. Which... suggests that you'd need Familiars of some kind. Which is an old,
old topic. You're not a Witch. Totally. You're pretty sure. You swear.
Which does rather lead you to the whole Grief problem, doesn't it? You kind of want to find a way to dispose of Grief without Kyuubey being involved. Cut it out of the loop entirely. On the other hand, it
is harmless-ish, at least on that aspect - it wants Grief, pure and simple. And there are more important things to handle before you can get to it, like hopefully working out enchantment and de-Witching and spending time with your friends.
Time passes slowly, with another call from Mami but without much success - by the time it's eleven thirty, none of you have made much success at all.
Kirika's looking increasingly disappointed and bored, sorting through a large pile of rock flakes, whereas Oriko's still spending most of her time just staring at her own rock. She's still on her first one.
You've gone through a fair number yourself.
Tsk.
You tilt your head back, staring at a lone cloud drifting through the clear blue sky, musing. It's about time to go for lunch now, which means... you glance sidelong at Oriko.
"Yes?" the seer asks quietly.
[] Write-in
=====
Midterms are still ongoing, but have an update. Written
entirely during my daily commutes.
Here ends Book 2, chapter 4: Residue Processing. The next update will be chapter 5: This Mortal Coil.
