"Uh..." you glance at Mami. "Four or five hours?"
Mami shakes her head, equally unsure. "It depends, really? I'm afraid I don't know them."
"Probably four or five hours, then," you say with a shrug. You raise your eyebrows at Sayaka. "We can always drop you back home if we do head to Tokyo?"
Sayaka scrunches up her face in thought. "Sounds good to me," she says. "Is- Homura, are you coming?" She turns to address Homura properly.
Homura shakes her head.
"Hng," Sayaka grunts. "Yeah, I'm good for it. Oughta be interesting."
"Probably," you agree. "Anyway, I've got one last thing to show you guys before I head off; I've got a new attack that, uh, has some potential for collateral."
"... Collateral?" Sayaka asks, raising her eyebrows.
Homura leans away from you, just the tiniest bit.
"I see that, Homura, and I'm insulted!" you say, waving a playful finger at her. "Though, uh, that said, if I'm showing you guys, we should probably get under cover."
Mami pats your shoulder. In retaliation, you tug on one of her hair drills.
"So... We gonna do this?" Sayaka asks.
You make a vague grumbling noise. "Yeah, yeah, I'll show you all how awesome it is. You better be grateful," you say, and stick your tongue out at her before hopping off the bench.
Guiding everyone behind a sturdy looking pile of junk, you set up the blast shields again to block reflections. "See that old car over there?" you say, pointing. "I'm gonna do a magic trick and make it vanish."
"Uh huh," Sayaka says, hunkering down beside Homura, who's giving the blast shields a dubious look.
Mami cuddles against you as you crouch.
"So... I call this Prima Luce," you say. A touch of will draws in Grief marbles, and you
twist with your mind like
so.
Light blooms, pure and elemental. Invisible light that barely dips into the infrared spectrum, but you can feel the way the Grief shapes light from nothing.
The air heats, moisture sucked out of it. Sayaka takes a shocked gasp as if the breath were driven out of her lungs, but she has the good sense to stay down.
And then heartbeats later, it's over. The scorching heat is gone from the air, and you dissolve the blast shields.
Levering yourself to your feet, you eye the molten puddle, red-hot and shimmering with residual heat. It clinks faintly as the extremities start to cool.
"So... yeah," you say, gesturing lamely at the former car. "That's Prima Luce. First Light."
Sayaka winces, rubbing her nose. "Holy
crap, Sabrina," she says.
You huff an amused sigh. "The reason I wanted to show you is that, well, those Grief shields and stuff I used weren't just there for show," you say. "It's not a
magic laser, it's a real one. Atmospheric diffraction and specular reflections are actually issues, and it
can blind. If I ever have to use this in combat, well, yeah. I just wanted you guys to know just in case that happens, you know?"
"Holy
crap, Sabrina," Sayaka repeats, shaking her head. "What are you planning on
using this on, a tank?"
"Or maybe a Witch," you say. "Which... One moment, Sayaka?" You raise a finger, and reach out by telepathy. "
Mami, Homura, I want to tell Sayaka about Walpurgisnacht right now, if you're both OK with that?"
"
That's a good idea, Sabrina," Mami agrees.
Homura falls silent, her jaw tightening for a bit.
Sayaka glances between the three of you, fidgeting uncomfortably. "... Something up, guys?"
"Yeah, just hold up a minute, Sayaka?" you ask, giving her a smile. "Just a quick discussion." You return your attention to Homura.
She nods sharply. Reluctant, from the way her jaw tightens, but... It's permission.
You exhale. "Right," you say. "Let's all... Take a seat?" You reform the little benches again, calling a blob of Grief to your hand. "And... I'm going to make a privacy field. It's gonna be a bit Witchy."
With affirmations from everyone and a faintly worried look from Sayaka, you build the exclusion field. It takes the form, once more, of a green circlet with a golden jewel set in the middle, sitting on a little pedestal.
Sayaka winces as the sensation pulses out. "So what's with all the hush-hush stuff?"
"Walpurgisnacht," you say. "Homura, Mami? Do you want to take the lead on this one?"
Mami gives you an uncertain look before straightening from your side and launching into her explanation. "Walpurgisnacht is the Queen of Witches," she says. "It... It's a gigantic, very powerful Witch."
Sayaka puts it together all but immediately. "And it's coming to Mitakihara," she guesses.
Two slow nods, you and Mami all but moving in synchronisation. Homura remains impassive, though you can't help but notice the way her knuckles whiten on the edge of the bench.
"Thirtieth of April," you say. "The night of Walpurgis. It's a German festival."
"Well,
shit," Sayaka hisses between her teeth. "So... what, it's going to... pull everyone into its Barrier?"
"It doesn't have a Barrier," Homura says. She isn't looking at you, nor at Sayaka. Not at anyone, really. "It manifests in the real world. When it does... it will destroy Mitakihara."
Sayaka pales. "I... I see," she says. "And we're..." Something seems to click inside her mind, cerulean blue eyes snapping to Homura. "That's why you're here, aren't you? You're here to fight it."
You can feel the pressure Homura puts on the bench as her hands tighten.
"In a manner of speaking," you answer for Homura.
Sayaka squeezes her eyes shut, rubbing at them with her gloved knuckles. "You should have said so," she mutters. "We're going to fight it?"
Mami nods firmly. "Walpurgisnacht is a threat to everyone in this city," she says. "Of course we're going to fight it."
"Alright," Sayaka says, opening her eyes. "What do we have to do?" She manages a grin at Homura. "Orders, Captain Ahab?"
...
She's not
completely wrong. She has the good sense to not ask Homura what she lost, in any case.
"Be nice, Sayaka," Mami chides. "We train. We need to gather resources, Grief Seeds... Sabrina's working on getting us allies, too."
"And Homura hacked the local meteorological service," you add. "She tweaked their models a little bit so that they're going to wind up predicting a freak supercell storm on the day and evacuate the city."
Homura nods jerkily. "Walpurgisnacht is..." She grimaces, violet eyes cutting into you. "Kyuubey can't hear us, right?"
"Nothing at all," you confirm, gesturing at your Grief construct. "This is absolute."
She lets out a quiet breath, regarding Mami, then Sayaka. "Walpurgisnacht is overwhelmingly powerful. It's been hit with... battleship weapons before. It didn't die."
"Then we've got to hit it harder than that," Sayaka says, clenching a fist.
Homura doesn't say anything more, jaw tightening.
"Right, right," Sayaka says, gaze flickering over to you. "A giant Witch that wants to destroy the city... perfect for a magical girl show, eh?"
You snort, and straighten. "Well. Yeah. That's what I wanted to tell you," you glance at Homura, slightly worried, but she visibly pulls herself together, expression smoothing back into unruffled imperturbability. Mami tucks herself into your side.
"Oh, and one more thing," you say, patting your bag and pulling out the carefully preserved tupperware. "Here, I made you an apology muffin for waking you up this morning."
Sayaka raises her eyebrows, seizing the box eagerly. "Thanks! You know I wasn't really
that upset, right?"
You shrug. "You're not complaining," you counter with a smirk.
"No, I'm not," Sayaka says, grinning as she holds the box up to the light. "Mami helped, right?"
"Yup," you confirm, nudging Mami in the side. She smiles at you.
A wave of your hand dissolves the privacy construct. You grin around at everyone as the tension ebbs from the air. "Anyway... Anyone want a lift anywhere?"
"Eh?" Sayaka asks, blinking. She cottons on a moment later. "Oh, you're offering to fly us? Nah, I'm good."
"That won't be necessary," Homura murmurs. You throw her an amused look. She gives you a flat stare in response and appears to choose to ignore you, raising her nose into the air. Just a bit.
Sayaka hops to her feet. "Well, I'm headed home for now!" she says, exaggeratedly casual. "Probably to the hospital after that!"
Mami giggles, leaning comfortably into your side. "I suppose we should head home, too?" she asks.
"Yeah," you agree. "See you two at the picnic later?"
"See you later," Homura agrees. She rises to her feet, expression calm and placid once more.
"Oh, Sayaka!" you call after the bleunette as she bounces out of the junkyard. "Hey, is Kwyjibo -uh, Kyousuke- bringing his violin?"
"Err... probably, why?" Sayaka responds.
"Ah, nothing, just a thought," you say. "I mean, he's good!"
"Yup!" Sayaka says. "Later!"
You smile at Mami, starting to head out of the junkyard, Homura trailing behind you.
[] Write-in
=====
Lunch, food preparation to go!
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