I just wish that it wasn't so...strange now.
A lot of the fun I had, reading this thread, besises Sabrina, was the funny stuff that everyone posted.
Definitely helped when I was feeling down.
Now, PMAS feels like a completely different creature...
Sorry if this is derp, I'm not much of an omake person. Hope this piece of brain damage helps though.
Thanks for the suggestions
@Gadjo btw.
"Um, how about bowling? Do you guys want to go bowling?" Sabrina suggested, arms folded and her usual smile on her face as she glanced to first Mami then her other friends. Other students were walking down either side as the path forked, streaming around the group like a chattering river rushing past a boulder. The air was alive with chatter and laughter as schoolchildren headed home after the day's studies.
"That... that sounds nice." Mami replied after a moment's thought.
"Sure, sounds fun!" Sayaka chipped in, all smiles.
"I suppose that it would be nice." Hitomi nodded thoughtfully, her mind seemingly elsewhere.
Instead of replying, Homura silently looked to Madoka, standing to her left like a watchful statue.
"Ah..." Madoka wavered. "I'm...I'm not that good..."
"Eh, don't be like that, Madoka!" Sayaka declared cheerfully, nudging her friend in the side. "You did okay on that class trip, didn't you?"
"Well...Yeah, I suppose so." Madoka bobbed her head once, then smiled slightly as well. "Yes. I'll do it."
"Alright, then!" Sabrina beamed, all smiles as her friends agreed. Her gaze lingered on Hitomi, but only for a moment. "To the bowling alley!"
She started walking in long, confident strides down the gravel path. Several meters away, she skidded to a sudden halt, and turned around to face the others.
"Um...actually, does anyone know where the alley is?" She asked the others sheepishly. "I...ah...never actually looked it up."
"Oh,
Sabrina." Mami gave an amused shake of her head, smiling gently. "The bowling alley is the other way."
===
At the alley...
"Come on! Strike, strike, strike..." Sayaka chanted, fingers wrapped around the ball and her blue-eyed gaze fixated on the row of pins on the other end of the alley. The screen overhead played a cutsey animation of a tropical island (for reasons no one could ever adequately explain) as the automated pin replacer rose up and the screen flashed "Go!".
"Chance!" Sayaka yelled and let the lime green ball fly- literally- from her fingers. It landed halfway down the lane with a loud thump, bounced once, then skittered unsteadily down the lane and into the pins before vanishing into the back. Two pins were swept away, followed by a third after a moment's teetering. The bluenette shook her head in disgust. "Gah...Missed most of them..." She grumbled.
There were cheerful virtual fireworks on the screen two lanes over. Homura had scored a perfect strike. Again.
"Ah...Sayaka...I think you're throwing it too hard..." Madoka interjected hesitantly, looking at her best friend. Sayaka nodded wordlessly. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she tugged the next ball from the belt. She took aim, and rolled...sending the rest of the pins flying.
"Ha! Gotcha!" Sayaka crowed. Just for a moment, if anyone had been looking, Homura might have looked as though she was about to roll her eyes.
"...I don't usually go bowling much." Mami commented to Sabrina in between sets, further down the lanes. "It isn't really much fun on your own, and before I only had the time to try it once or twice. Not that I think this was a bad idea..." She's quick to add.
Sabrina shook her head. "Mami, it's okay. You shouldn't play if you don't want to..." The white haired girl replied anxiously.
"No, no...I mean...It's fine." Mami reassured her.
There was a loud yell from several lanes over. Apparently, Sayaka was finding it hard to believe Homura'd reached her current score. Mami half-turned her head to look, a smile crinkling her features.
"It
is a lot nicer with friends though."
"Mmm."
====
"She's cheating, she has to be!" Sayaka grumbled with a huff. "No one's
that good. She's using her magic to blow over the pins or something..."
"Ah, Homura wouldn't do that..." Madoka defended, looking to the bored looking transfer student. "Right, Homura?"
The other girl nodded once, black hair flowing with the gesture. "It comes from practice, Miki." She added a moment later.
Unnoticed, Sabrina (relatively) quietly made her way over, listening in.
"...Gah!" Sayaka tugged at her hair in frustration. "What, are you some kind of bowling champion or something?"
"No. Just practice." Homura replied, her voice as deadpan as ever.
...Sabrina was pretty sure she was enjoying this.
"What's up?" She asked, making herself. Madoka and Sayaka looked around in surprise. Homura simply blinked.
"Huh? Sabrina? Ah, Homura's gotten a high score..." Madoka explained.
Sure enough, the time traveller's board was filled with strike after strike. Sayaka's board had plenty of strikes too- but a lot of spares and a few partial sets as well. Madoka's were much more mixed- mostly in the single digits.
"I'm getting a drink." Sayaka declared with a huff, throwing her hands up and grumbling to herself as she stormed off. Madoka looked after her, then simply shook her head.
"Hmm..." Sabrina said thoughtfully, tapping her chin with one finger. She glanced to Homura, looking meaningfully from her to Madoka. The dark haired girl frowned and shook her head. Sabrina looked slightly disappointed, but recovered an instant later.
"Ah, Madoka, want to see something?" She asked, quickly making her way down to the nearest lane, eyes on the pins as she calculated velocities and angles with inhuman speed and precision. "You have to hold your hand straight, swing the ball out and back, then start to rotate your wrist, hand, and fingers on your bowling arm toward the opposite side of your body as you bring it back..." She recited rapidfire. Madoka nodded along, looking slightly overwhelmed by the unending font of bowling information that'd replaced Sabrina...and like she very much wanted to say something.
"Right..."
"Then...
swing!" Sabrina finished, putting action to words.
A clatter of falling pins.
"And a strike!" She whooped. "Score one for team white ribbon!"
Madoka nodded again.
"Ah, Sabrina?" She said quietly.
"Yes, Madoka?"
There was a squawk of outrage from behind them.
"I think that was...um...
Sayaka's lane..."
Sabrina blinked, turning around to face a very unhappy blueberry.
"Ah. Um...Oops?"