First things first, you think - get out of this particular, grungy little alleyway. You spread your wings, launching yourself up into the air to land on the roof, where you're out of sight of random passersby. You cross your wings over your head to form a simple shelter for your self, rain drumming off the impromptu roof, while you spin off a small plate of Grief to sit on.
You've got about half an hour before you can go to find Mami and the others, which is, really, an annoying amount of time. Not enough to really do anything, but long enough to be boring.
Still, you're not
completely bereft. You reach into left pocket and withdraw Hildegard's Grief Seed, carefully kept seperate from Aurora's and now Gwen's Grief Seeds in your
right pocket. You hold up the Grief Seed, now a ball of smoky dark gray crystal embraced in the same silvery filigree, balancing on your finger.
You
look at it. It's... quiescent, is really the best word for it, doing nothing very much in particular, the levels of Grief unchanging. You try poking a little Grief at it, just a
tiny amount. Nothing unusual happens - the Grief simply gets sucked in.
You still have no real idea how to channel
magic, as opposed to simply exerting your
will on Grief -
that comes naturally to you, like moving another arm. Still, maybe if you try to
tweak a little of the magic in your body...
You focus on your hand and
twist with your will... and you yelp as your hand goes
completely dead, all feeling leaving it. Your hand droops on the end of your arm as you flail it about wildly. You hastily let
go, and feeling returns to your hand in a rush of pins and needles.
... well, you suspect that if you should one day need to play dead, you can probably accomplish
that very easily.
You grimace. That was rather unpleasant, though. You raise Hildegarde's Seed to your eye level, inspecting it visually, as well as
both of your magical senses - nothing very much seems to have changed about it. Perhaps it's a little darker grey from the Grief you put into it, but that's hardly noticeable.
Ah, well. Maybe when you have a better idea?
You hop nimbly off your seat, landing with a small splash in the pooling rain on this particular rooftop. Time to stop messing around with Grief Seeds, and time to go and find Mami. You drop Hildegard back into your pocket and take wing into the rain again.
Ugh. This rain is starting to get
annoying. But sometimes it just rains, you suppose.
You spin a shield out of some Grief to ward off the rain as you soar in towards the school, dropping into a convenient alley and emerging, untransformed and with your collapsible umbrella deployed to keep you dry-ish. You merge into the crowds, umbrella bumping along with everyone else's.
"
Mami?" you call as your approach the grand edifice wrought of glass and steel that is Mitakihara Middle School. Looking up, you can see the absurdly ornate crenellations that adorn the roof - veiled by a curtain of rain, you could pretend that it were part of some castle of a bygone age.
"
Oh! Sabrina!" Mami replies. "
Wonderful timing, I was just about to call you."
"
Walking around near the school gates, actually," you tell her.
"
Ah? Give us a moment, we'll be right out," Mami says.
You can feel two magical presences slowly making their way out, and you glance in past the school gates - a blob of pink, black and gold. You smile, and raise your hand to wave at them. Madoka and Mami wave back.
"Hey," you call cheerfully when they're closer to you.
"Sabrina!" Mami smiles broadly.
"Hi, Sabrina!" Madoka says.
Homura nods at you. "Hello."
"How was your day?" you ask, as the four of you meander off down the path, surrounded by sodden greenery. "Or how
were your days?" you add with a smile.
Mami beams back at you. "Today was good! We have some homework for the weekend, but not too much... Of course, I need to study for my test, too," she hastily amends.
Madoka looks mournful. "Miss Saotome has a new boyfriend."
You raise a perplexed eyebrow at her, while Mami laughs, shaking her head. "She still does that?"
Madoka and, to your surprise,
Homura nod.
Mami catches sight of your puzzled look. "When Miss Saotome is happy, she tends to give a lot of homework."
"... oh," you say. "I... see?" A moment later, you ask, rather belatedly, "By the way, where are we going?"
Mami blinks. "I was following
you."
"... and
I was following
you," you say, halting in your tracks. The both of you stare sheepishly at each other, before looking at Madoka, who shakes her head sadly.
Homura just gives you a
look.
"Sayaka's out of the hospital," Madoka offers after a long moment filled with the patter of falling rain. "I think she's probably busy moving? I'll send her a message," she says, trapping her umbrella against her shoulder and reaching for her phone.
"Yeah," you nod. "Um, how about Hitomi?"
"Hmm," Madoka hums thoughtfully. "Wasn't she going to be discharged today, too?"
You shrug.
"I'll send her a message too," Madoka says. "Though... maybe I should go home and start on my homework?" she says, drooping in place.
Mami purses her lips. "Maybe that would be for the best," she says.
"A-ah," the pinkette says. Her phone pings, and she perks up, looking at it. "Yes, Sayaka's busy moving in..." another ping of an incoming message. "... and Hitomi says that she's at home now."
"Ah, well," you say. "That's that, then."
Mami shakes her head. "I would suggest shopping -Sabrina can't keep wearing my old things forever-, but you should do your homework. Maybe we can meet up tomorrow?" she finishes.
Madoka bobs her head with a smile. "That sounds fun!"
"Well, I suppose we're going home, then?" you say.
"Y-yeah," Madoka says.
"Alright," you say. "Bus?"
Madoka nods, and the four of you walk over to the bus stop.
"
By the way, Mami," you say telepathically.
"
Yes, Sabrina?" the blonde replies.
"
I ran into Masami and the Sendai girls earlier today," you tell her.
"
Oh," Mami says, voice suddenly pensive.
"
Everything turned out OK!" you say hastily. "
I kinda need to talk to you about that later, though."
"
Yes," Mami agrees. "
Yes, we do."
...
Uh oh.
"Ah, my bus!" Madoka says catching sight of the afore-mentioned vehicle. "Homura, let's go! Bye Mami, bye Sabrina!" She runs for the bus, splashing through the puddles.
"Bye, Madoka, Homura!" you call, echoed by Mami.
Mami smiles after them. "Let's go home, Sabrina," she says.
[] What will you say to Mami?
[] Write-in
=====
Someone's in trooo~
oouble!
