Yeeeessss.

1. Ask Hitomi whether since it's true that since "girls can't love girls" that "boys can't love boys" either.
2. Introduce Hitomi to slash fiction.
3. Suggest to Sayaka that she'll get less homework from Kazuko if the latter is deeply concerned about her favourite student coming out of the closet.
4. Note casually in the presence of both that despite all the girls coming to visit him, Kwjibo hasn't shown much interest in romance. But isn't he standing awfully close to Nakazawa-kun?
4a. Enlist Homura's timestop if necessary to move them closer.
5. Watch, with popcorn.
* looks at @SystemicHatter *

Uh huh. Okay, that's enough of wearing you around as a hat -- clearly the brain damage is contagious.
 
Yeeeessss.

1. Ask Hitomi whether since it's true that since "girls can't love girls" that "boys can't love boys" either.
2. Introduce Hitomi to slash fiction.
3. Suggest to Sayaka that she'll get less homework from Kazuko if the latter is deeply concerned about her favourite student coming out of the closet.
4. Note casually in the presence of both that despite all the girls coming to visit him, Kwjibo hasn't shown much interest in romance. But isn't he standing awfully close to Nakazawa-kun?
4a. Enlist Homura's timestop if necessary to move them closer.
5. Watch, with popcorn.

Where's that newspaper roll when you need it?
 
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Did you know that it is possible to make a working chocolate teapot? The resulting tea will have a hint of chocolate, though.
Well, yeah? That's the point. I mean, if it didn't, what use would it be?

Hey, is it microwave safe? I'm asking for, uh, a friend! Yeah, totally. For, uh, heating the... chocolate?
 
This mortal coil pt. 27
You tilt your head slightly, contemplating what you'd learned. You're still not really sure what to make of it, though you do have a vague, if unrelated idea. Hm.

Enchantment... well, what you do with Grief is you impose your will, you impose order. And that simply doesn't seem to work with magic. What if it's more like Wishing? Ask and ye shall receive and all. Maybe it's to be guided, and not grabbed by the stranglehold of your will and forced into a rigid structure.

It would kind of make sense, given how there's no perceptible rhyme nor reason to the enchantment laid by Mami. It's worth a shot. You turn your attention back to the rock, pursing your lips and let magic simply seep into it. You don't control it, you don't try to force it into any structure.

Reinforcement. You try and push the impression at the magic diffusing from your hands. If you had to use an analogy, it's... a cloud of gas, sort of, moving kind of aimlessly. You try and... prod it towards the rock, but to no real avail - bereft of direction, it acts exactly like said cloud of gass and diffuses.

It doesn't even try to clump together like Grief that leaves your range, it just thins out into the environment.

No luck there, then. Hm. At least the rock isn't shattered into little chunks. With perfect comedic timing, a sharp crack fills the room - Oriko's first rock, splintered into tiny shards. The seer winces, but dusts her hands off and picks up a new one.

You know what, you'll take a quick break and check on Masami and Hiroko. Hopefully they haven't murdered Ono in the, uh, six or seven hours since you'd last seen them.

Hmm. Only six hours. It feels longer.

"Hello? Masami, Hiroko?" you reach out telepathically, leaning back in the sofa for a moment. Mami spares a moment to look up from the rock you'd enchanted and smile at you, giving you a pat on the shoulder. You smile back at her.

"You weren't kidding about her attitude," Masami grumbles right back.

... promising.

"Hello, Sabrina," Hiroko chimes in.

"Sooooo how many Christmas baskets do I owe you?" you ask cautiously, rolling the river stone around your palm.

"All the Christmas baskets," Masami grunts. "Hold on."

"She's making her do laps," Hiroko confides in you, mental voice conspiratorial.

"... laps?" you ask.

"Ah, yes. Running laps?" Hiroko says.

That doesn't actually clarify much. "Go on?"

"Well," Hiroko says. "It's what Masami did for me? It helps to train discipline and, ah, an appreciation for physical stuff."

"But we're meguca," you say blankly.

"Meguca?" Hiroko asks.

"Uh, slang word for magical girls. From English, 'magical girl', meguca," you explain. "But anyway, we're magical girls? A bit of running shouldn't do much?"

"Ah!" Hiroko says, apparently understanding. "Yes, you're right, we know it shouldn't, but Miss Ono doesn't."

"Oh," you say. "Ohhhhh."

"Exactly," Masami says, rejoining the conversation. And if there's a certain amount of vindictive glee in her voice, well, who are you to comment. "It's what I did for Hiroko!"

"... try not to drive her too hard?" you offer. "I mean, she was sort of upset when I first met her."

"Ah," Masami says. "Yes, we know."

"I suggested that we could keep an eye on her for a day or two," Hiroko says. "We do have the time."

"Uh... huh," you say. "Well, OK then. Good luck, and see you around?"

"See you," Hiroko agrees.

"Yeah, bye-bye," Masami says.

You exhale. That's going well. You think.

You hope.

You return your attention to the rock, humming quietly under your breath. That idea you had wasn't it. Then again, such is science. You create a hypothesis and you test it, and discard it if necessary. "... We do what we must because we can~"

"For the good of all of us~" Your head snaps up. Mami beams at you.

"Except the ones who are dead~" You grin right back at her.

"But there's no sense crying over every mistake-" Her English is really quite good, only a bit of rounding on some syllables.

"You just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake-"

"And the science gets done and you make a neat gun-"

"For the people who are still alive~" The both of you finish together, grinning at each other.

Oriko and Kirika are both giving you looks of polite incomprehension.

You giggle. And that sets Mami off, covering her mouth to muffle her giggling. You quirk your eyebrows at her, and she nods, wiping the smirk off her face and returning to work. You, too, return your attention to the rock in your hands, flipping it slowly from side to side.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Oriko and Kirika exchange a very confused look before returning to their own tasks.

Hmm. You still think that there might be something to be made of that odd... sensation you get from magic. You try to mould a little magic, letting a gentle silver glow build up on your fingertips and trying to roll it around.

Controlling Grief comes naturally to you. It's like an extension of yourself, really, hands and arms and legs as needed. You will it, and it is done. And yet magic isn't like that. Control, proper control, feels like it's out of your reach, and all you can do is a few rote actions that you instinctively know how to - healing, summoning your hammer, and so on.

Hm.

You watch as Mami sets aside the rock you'd enchanted with pain removal, a distant, thoughtful expression on her face. Instead, she reaches for the antimagic rock, hefting it in her hand. The thoughtful look instantly dissolves into confusion, and she blinks down at the rock.

"Is something wrong, Mami?" you ask.

"... no," she says. "Not... exactly. Miss Kure, this is... antimagic, correct?"

Kirika looks up. "Hm? Yep, it is!" Oriko's head snaps up, too, eyes unfocusing as she frowns in the general direction of the wall.

"I... can't do anything with this," Mami admits, looking sheepish. "It nullifies my magic."

"Oh," Kirika says, giving Oriko a concerned look. "Uh... that makes sense? Um... Oriko?"

"Mm," you agree. "That's annoying. Oriko?"

"What is, Sabrina?"

You spot the red eyes first, almost glowing against the soft white fur. Kyuubey perches at the window of the living room, lit by the lamps against the encroaching blackness of light outside. At your side, Mami makes a faintly distressed sound, and you wrap an arm around her waist, squeezing lightly.

[] Write-in

=====​

Did you forget about it?
 
[x] Throw Kyubey out of the house. Do not give him a chance to say anything.
[x] Hug Mami. Make sure that she is all right.
[x] Make those Grief privacy rings. Give them to everyone.
[x] Make an anti-Kyubey field generator, made out of Grief.
[x] Assist Mami and Kirika wherever possible.
[x] Diagnose Oriko's sickness using a magic boosted Grief book.
[x] More enchantment practice and experimentation.
 
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Tempted to punt QB out. Is he really just here to mess with us? Gather information perhaps? I can't remember if we've talked about the specifics of Oriko's condition via telepathy.

Actually, QB is the MG expert, perhaps he knows something about Oriko's condition that can help? Then again, talking to the Bunnycat's usually a bad idea, but maybe we can turn this to our advantage?
 
Aaaand this is why we don't ignore the Incubator. It's not feasible for us to remain on guard all the time - while technically possible for Sabrina it'll do bad things to the psyches of our friends.

If we engage him on ground of our choosing we may be able to avoid him showing up when we really don't want him to. Maybe.

[X] "You. What do you even do when not stalking girls, anyway?"
- [X] "You know, for an ages old alien who has been studying us for ages, you don't have a really good grasp of politeness. You don't just enter people's homes without an invitation."
- "Why are you here, Kyubey?"

Might as well lay some groundwork for future conversations, ask some questions. Though I agree with Rei that we might have to move Oriko now that Kyubey knows she's vulnerable.

Edit: It's more about her condition. Kyubey already knew where her house was.
 
...I still want to punch him out, just because he's annoying... :V
 
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[x]Right now? You.
[x]You're not welcome here. Goodbye and don't eavesdrop.
[x]Get rid of him. See if he can fly when propelled by a grief scooping hand.
[x]Make an anti-Kyubey grief machine if need be.
[x]Hug Mami and get back to work.

There is no way we want to give this thing any sort of opening, now or ever. Tell it to get out and stay gone.
 
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