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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Anomalous Materials pt. 25
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    • You tap your chin, eyeing the notebook. The Witch sounds familiar to you.

    Not exactly relevant at the moment, though. Unless perhaps it is.

    "So... Homura," you say, tucking the notebook away again into its little sphere of Grief. "If we find this Kuriki, do you think we can keep her alive?"

    "Kuroki," Homura corrects. "Kuroki Matsuko. I..." she glances away. "I think you can. But I don't think she's worth the effort. Even less than Miki Sayaka."

    "Ah," you say, pressing your lips together. There's more than a bit of that going around, huh. Not so much killing her as unwilling to save her, but still.

    You exhale. "Well, thank you for the information, and your opinion," you say, smiling at Homura. "It's always appreciated."

    The time traveller nods, still staring out over the frozen city as conversation lapses again.

    You guide the Minimal Oppression Fortress along in the direction Homura had indicated, letting your mind drift. You find yourself musing about the compass -you did manage to extend your sensing range last time, didn't you?- and starting to cover old ground, returning to thinking about Mami.

    Speaking of whom, you do need to check with Homura about that.

    About telling Mami about yourself, you mean.

    Just as you're about to break the silence, Homura beats you to the punch. "You're... your help is appreciated, too," she says, voice soft and quiet. "Always appreciated."

    You grin at her. "I'm here to help, Homura," you say. "And I'm glad to."

    She shakes her head, looking down.

    "I am, Homura," you insist.

    "I know," she murmurs, glancing up at you, eyes sharp.

    "Good," you say, relaxing back onto the floor of your Minimal Oppression Fortress. It's actually quite comfortable, since you can give the material a bit of yield so that it supports you like memory foam. Which reminds you of something else.

    "Say, Homura?" you ask, gently banking the Minimal Oppression Fortress -you're just going to shorten that to MOF- to the left.

    "Yes?"

    "There's something I want to try," you say. She tilts her head slightly, which you take as an indication of interest, so you continue. "So... you know you have to keep in contact with me to keep me in timestop, right? I was wondering if Grief would work. I mean, remember when I cleansed Megane? I didn't touch her, but she was pulled in."

    Homura blinks slowly, her mouth twisting a little, before she settles back on a neutral expression. "I see," she says.

    "Yeah," you say. "With your permission, I was thinking we could try it when we land? Oh, and by the same token, I wanted to see if I can Grief rend a Witch from timestop. I... figured this was a safer first test."

    "Grief rend?" Homura asks, seeming to perk up a little in interest.

    "Uh, you know," you say, tucking aside a stray lock of hair. "Dissoluzione bianca? I don't really need to shout the name to do it, I just..." You break a bit of Grief off the side of your MOF, and hold it out to let Homura see before dissolving it into raw Grief.

    Homura makes an interested grunt. "Do you think you can do that to Walpurgisnacht?"

    "I'm not sure," you admit. "Like... there's two things I want to know - can I rend something from timestop without pulling it in? I don't know for sure, but I want to find out. And the other thing I wanted to ask you is... what do you think? Setting aside whether I can do it from timestop, do you think Walpurgisnacht is overwhelmingly powerful to the degree where I might get... I dunno, feedback from it?"

    Homura purses her lips, considering. "I don't know. Walpurgisnacht is... nothing like other Witches," she admits, frowning.

    You rub at your chin. "Yeah, I guess so," you say. "Anyway. Can I pass you a Grief ring first? We can try disconnecting me later when we're on the ground?"

    She shrugs microscopically. You take that as your cue to make a small Grief ring, passing it over to Homura. She considers it for a moment, before tucking it away somewhere in her costume.

    You smile at her. "Anyway. That's Shirome over there, right?"

    Homura glances where you're pointing. "It is."

    The familiar architecture of the Shirome Academy looms, built imposing and massive. The same steel and glittering glass of Mitakihara Middle school, which, well, you had this thought the last time you were here, but you're increasingly sure it was deliberate one-upmanship.

    You tilt your MOF into a gentle dive, the still air whipping past you to muss your hair into what's going to be a tangled mess later. You close your eyes, pushing your senses as wide as you can, searching for any signs of puella magi. You circle the school building in a looping spiral, dipping low enough to buzz the girls, frozen in the middle of their lunch period.

    Two of those ephemeral shades of Grief you associate with potentials. But... Sasa's not a Shirome student, is she? Which makes it unlikely that those are her.

    "Two potential magical girls," you murmur to Homura. "I think. But no Sasa."

    She nods, unsurprised. "The park nearby," she says, pointing.

    Which, considering her personality, makes sense. She probably lurks nearby to Shirome, the ultimate in snobby, holier-than-thou schoolgirls, to stoke her hatred more.

    "Doesn't she have school?" you ask idly, directing your MOF in that direction.

    "I don't know," Homura says, running her fingers through her hair and flicking it out to the side. It flows straight out in a glistening, raven black banner, just glossy enough to catch the muted light of the timestop, an-

    You tear your eyes away. Sweet Madokami on high, Homura's hair is a memetic hazard.

    "... right," you manage, shaking your head and casting for a different topic. Which... Aha. "So, um - the obrez you gave me, right?"

    "Yes?" Homura asks.

    "Can you tell me more about the magical girl you got it from? If it's not too much trouble?" you ask. You still have that oversized pistol -well, a Mosin-Nagant rifle cut down to size- tucked away in the sling bag at your side. "I'm just curious."

    Homura blinks, once, then twice. "It's from Nadia Bennouna," she informs you.

    "Huh," you say. "How'd she get it?"

    She shrugs. "From her travels through Russia, I assume," she says.

    "Oh," you say. That makes sense. "No idea who the original owner was? We're here, by the way."

    Homura shrugs again, standing to peer over at the side as you slant the MOF down towards the park, skimming the trees. "Mami might know more," she says. "She talks more to Bennouna."

    ... Which reminds you, Homura interrupted your train of thought earlier. You were going to ask her about Mami. You glance over at your friend. "And um, say. I... Homura, a while ago, I asked you about telling others about myself, right?"

    She nods, a question in her eyes.

    "I... well. You thought I shouldn't, back then, and I respect that," you say, meeting her gaze. "But I can't keep everything secret. I'm going to tell Mami about my weird... knowledge, that I knew about her -about everyone- before I even met you."

    Homura doesn't say anything, her frown deepening a little.

    "I know," you sigh, squirming under her glare. "I know. But I don't feel right keeping her in the dark, Homura. It's not fair to her, and this has kind of been eating at me for a while. She deserves to know. And- and I won't tell her any secrets that aren't mine to tell. I promise."

    Homura's jaw works silently for a moment. "I can't stop you," she says, in a tone that says she disagrees with you. The furrow in her brow speaks volumes about her worry.

    "I won't tell her anything that isn't mine to tell," you repeat. "And I- I think it'll go much better than the thing about Soul Gems and Kyuubey."

    "Fine," Homura says. "I... wish you the best."


    -[X] And about recruiting... you want to recruit meguca who'll have a decent chance at living through the fight. Any experienced meguca she can name, we can look into. We'll take care of the rest.

    [X] Other than that... would she help you with something? You've noticed Grief tends to try andcoalesce when it exits your range; the more Grief, the further it gets before dissipating. You want to try and find out what'll happen when you release a large enough amount of Grief; you'd really appreciate if she could spot for you, and maybe save your hide in case something explodes, or something?

    =====​

    Sorry I've been dragging my feet about the updates. I've just been quite tired lately, plus meatspace stuff.
     
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    • Firnagzen said:
    You tap your chin, eyeing the notebook. The Witch sounds familiar to you.
    Click to expand...
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    ... Albertine?
    Albertine - Puella Magi Wiki

    "If we find this Kuriki, do you think we can keep her alive?"

    "Kuroki," Homura corrects.
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    I... didn't even notice. :rofl:

    Just as you're about to break the silence, Homura beats you to the punch. "You're... your help is appreciated, too," she says, voice soft and quiet. "Always appreciated."
    Click to expand...
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    Aw, Homu... trying to break through her shell to keep Sabrina close.

    Minimal Oppression Fortress. It's actually quite comfortable, since you can give the material a bit of yield so that it supports you like memory foam.
    Click to expand...
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    You know this means we need to make a bed out of Grief and sleep on it, now.

    "Can you tell me more about the magical girl you got it from? If it's not too much trouble?" you ask. You still have that oversized pistol -well, a Mosin-Nagant rifle cut down to size- tucked away in the sling bag at your side. "I'm just curious."

    Homura blinks, once, then twice. "It's from Nadia Bennouna," she informs you.
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    Mmm... mighty coincidence! ... Or maybe not. :V

    Homura's jaw works silently for a moment. "I can't stop you," she says, in a tone that says she disagrees with you. The furrow in her brow speaks volumes about her worry.
    Click to expand...
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    Here we go again~
    It's always such a pleasure.
    Remember when you tried,
    To fuck up the loop twice?

    Oh, how we laughed and laughed,
    Except I wasn't la- FROOOOOOOOOOOWN

    "Fine," Homura says. "I... wish you the best."
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    [] Danke.
     
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    Yay. Homura is coming out of her shell some more.

    Well, that she would disagree with us telling Mami about the font of knowledge in our head was expected, but her wishing us luck is pretty great.
     
    Actually,

    [ ] Take Homura's hands.
    -[ ] "Danke!"
    -[ ] "... I mean thank you! Thank you, that's what I meant."

    :V? :V?
     
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