For some reason, you can't stop yourself speculating about the Banach-Tarski paradox. It's just...
interesting, honestly. If it works, and you can duplicate Grief, then you have something truly
potent on your hands. And not only that - if you can duplicate Grief, then you can destroy it, too. And at that point, you have something that's a bargaining chip against the
Incubators. Carrot and stick.
... You have more important things to consider right now, though.
Mami shifts a little, squirming in the circle of your arms. She's half-lying on top of you, head on your chest and facing up.
"Say, Mami?" you murmur.
"Yes, Sabrina?" she asks.
"What do
you think about Oriko and Kirika?" you ask. "I'm... looking for
your personal opinion, because... I guess I never really asked. I should have."
"You've had a lot on your mind," Mami says.
"That doesn't excuse me not asking your opinion," you say, shaking your head. "I... I need to respect your opinion more.
Everyone's opinion, but... yours especially."
"Oh," Mami says, shifting so that she can curl that much closer to you. "Thank you, Sabrina."
You stroke her hair gently, soaking in the peace for a moment. "So what do you think?"
"I... I don't think Oriko's telling us everything," Mami says slowly. "I think I
do believe she lost her powers, and I
do believe she's staying under house arrest out of goodwill. I think... I think your initial assessment was right. Someone who wants to do the right thing, but was misled by her... attitudes and her powers."
"I see," you say, idly toying with Mami's hair. She leans into your hand, and you take the opportunity to capture one of her hair drills and begin twirling it around your finger. "What do you mean you don't think she's telling us everything?"
"I don't know," Mami admits. "It's... I don't think it's necessarily a
bad thing, but I think she's holding something in reserve? Maybe it's something she truly believes needs to wait in the wings? But, ah... this is speculation, Sabrina. I don't know for sure, it's just the impression I get."
"Yeah, but you're Tomoe Mami," you say, smiling even if she can't see it. "Your
impressions are what lesser mortals take hours of study and thinking to figure out. That's me, by the way."
You can
feel Mami's blush, warm against your hand. "I'm not- you're amazing too, Sabrina."
"Definitely!" you agree. Hm. You can sense someone coming down the stairs outside, a magical girl. "In some ways, anyway. I'm amazingly dorky, for example."
Mami giggles.
"No, but seriously," you say. That's Sayaka approaching the apartment door, you think, just judging from the way she walks. "You're
good at a
lot of things, Mami, and I respect your opinion. So... thank you."
The doorbell rings, and you make a grumbling noise. Mami shifts as if to get up, but you tighten your arms around her waist. "Nuh-uh. Comfy."
"But- the door?" Mami protests.
"Nah, I got it," you say. And indeed you do, Grief moulding around the door lock and handle. You click it open and pull the door open, forming a floating Grief hand that beckons with one finger.
"Stop being creepy, Sabrina!" Sayaka yells, stepping inside and toeing her shoes off.
You briefly consider forming up some Grief instruments to play some
properly creepy music. But that would be unprofessional, and much more importantly, that would be counter to Mami cuddle time. Instead, you swing the door shut behind Sayaka as she steps into the living room.
"Yo," you say, waving lazily. "How was the hospital visit?"
"Kye- Kyousuke's doing great," Sayaka says, plopping herself down on the far end of the sofa. She gives the shatter-crazed glass of the coffee table a slightly guilty look, before returning her attention to you. "Hi Mami, hi Sabrina. How's it going?"
"Hello, Sayaka," Mami says, giving Sayaka a warm smile. She sits up, just far enough to shuffle to your side so she isn't practically lying on
top of you. "Good, thank you."
"Got Airi shuffled away to Fukushima for confinement," you say. "Whatcha think of Miss Tsuruya, anyway?"
"She seems cool?" Sayaka says, shrugging. "Her power is... buildings, right?"
"Yeah, it's interesting," you say. "She can basically control the gross structure and everything inside a building, as well as some more exotic effects like teleporting, and extending that into some kind of intangibility. I don't think that's the limit of everything she can do, though, just what she was willing to show off."
"Hey, speaking of, we're gonna watch that video they made, right?" Sayaka asks, grinning.
"If you want to, I guess?" you say, shrugging. Ah,
there's Homura, just entering your range of detection and striding down the stairs. "I've got it around somewhere."
"Cool," Sayaka says. "Also, where's Homura?"
"She should be arriving soon," Mami offers.
"In five, four, three, two, one..." you offer. The doorbell rings. "Zero. Perfect timing."
Sayaka rolls her eyes. "Cheater. How'd she get here after me, anyway?"
"... well I mean, yeah. And she had business to take care of. So fair's fair," you say, clicking the door open with Grief. And by business you mean stalking Madoka and-or Oriko, of course, but that's not something you say out loud. "C'mon in, Homura!"
"Yeah, yeah," Sayaka says, stretching as Homura walks into the living room. "Hey, Homura."
"Hello," Homura murmurs.
"It's good to see you, Homura," Mami says. "I hope your business went well?"
Homura nods, seating herself on the single sofa.
"So what've we got today?" Sayaka asks, grinning and slumping onto the sofa. "Now that we're all here?"
"For
you,
Sakura, you need to start working on getting your wand," you say. "Can't control your cards without it."
"My name's not-" Sayaka's eyes narrow as she cottons on. "No."
"Yeees?" you say, grinning. "Mami? Yes?"
"Yes," Mami says, giggling.
"Cardcaptor Sayaka," Homura murmurs, as if delivering judgement of great import after considerable deliberation.
"Traitors, all of you," Sayaka mutters.
"But seriously," you say. "I think
you should be figuring out more about your power cards. See if you can combine them, see if other people can use 'em, that kind of thing. And maybe practice with using them. Do you
have to touch them to use them, that kind of thing."
"Touch... them," Sayaka says, and smacks herself on the forehead. "I'm an idiot."
"... oh?" you say.
She holds up the keychain full of little faux-Gems. "Why do I even need this?" she says. "I should use get a bracelet or belt or something with all of them facing inside."
"I did consider suggesting that," Mami offers. "But I wasn't sure if you'd be able to choose between all of them, or crystallise your powers from somewhere that isn't your hands."
Sayaka frowns, scratching her head. "I'll find out," she says, nodding. "Thanks for the idea!"
"Hey, all yours," you say. "I was just talking. Like I usually do."
Sayaka just shrugs, looking very thoughtful as she starts fiddling with her chain of powers, running her fingers between them.
"I shall practice my enchantment," Homura says, and hesitates, eyes flicking over to yours for the barest split second before going to Mami. "May I ask for guidance?"
"Of course, Homura," Mami says with a warm smile. "How about you, Sabrina? What will you be doing?"
"I was hoping you'd have advice for me," you say. "Last time, I figured out what my... base enchantment was, I suppose. So how should I proceed from there? Do you think it would be worth it for me to try to learn how to analyse and copy enchantments? And I was thinking I could try to figure out a non-Witchy clone, or try an enchantment that can exert the, ah, basic elements of my power?"
"Ah... I think you should have more experience before trying to copy enchantments," Mami says, smiling at you. "You need to know what you're capable of before you can expect to copy someone else's enchantment, really."
"Alright," you say. "I... oh! Actually, before I forget, Homura - have you tried making protective enchantments before?"
"No," Homura says, blinking slowly at you. "Why?"
"You have a shield," you say, motioning at her left arm. "It's... possible that you have protection magic of some kind."
You hold her gaze, trying to impart
emphasis to what you're saying. Homura Wished to do over her meeting with Madoka. And for that, she got her time magic. But she also Wished to be strong enough to
protect Madoka. And maybe, just maybe, there's something there that Homura could use.
"I see," Homura says. "I will try."
"Excellent," you say, beaming at her. "Mami? Do you have any pointers for Homura?"
You can kind of see why Homura never tried it before, too. The same reason
you're sometimes loathe to sink time into enchantment too, really - it doesn't have obvious or immediate dividends. It's something you invest in over
time, and while she might have time
stop, that takes Grief Seeds, and until she met you... well, Grief Seeds might have been easier to come by for her, but still a resource to be conserved and used as sparingly as possible.
"Ah, yes," Mami says, half-rising before shooting a glance back at you.
"I'm fine, Mami," you say, smiling and motioning towards Homura. "Help Homura get started? I'll be right here, and I've got an idea to try before going into enchantment first. Sayaka, sound off if you need help?"
"Yeah, yeah," Sayaka says, still distractedly focused on her chain of power crystals.
"Alright," Mami says, walking over to Homura.
You condense Grief out of the air, moulding it thoughtfully over your fingers. The Banach-Tarski paradox... not so much a paradox, mathematically speaking, just something which has no plausible physical mechanism to achieve, since it requires mathematically perfect objects. Of course, your Grief regularly achieves the impossible on a regular basis.
You press a ball of Grief between both hands, shooting Mami a smile when she glances up at you from her low, murmured suggestions to Homura. You can feel magic flickering in fits and starts from her, and from Sayaka too.
So...
The mathematical proof is... not that hard, relatively speaking. Set theory isn't the most obvious of things, but one thing follows from another. It's just completely nonsensical in physical intuition. But you can
focus and impress your
will upon your Grief.
Witch, pinging against your senses from the two blobs in your hands.
"Damn," you mutter, frowning at the Grief, and rear back when Sayaka tosses a cushion at you. "Hey!"
"Hey yourself!" Sayaka counters, grinning at you. "Ruined my concentration."
"Well, I didn't actually
mean to do this," you say, frowning at the Grief. There's
more of it, volumetrically, but it's
Witchy Grief. You collapse it back down into regular Grief, the sensation fading from your mind, and... yup. Back to the same amount.
"Were you attempting the idea you brought up earlier, Sabrina?" Mami asks, smiling at you. "With the Banach-Tarski paradox?"
"Oooh, that's the thing which you can turn a sphere into an infinite number of spheres, right?" Sayaka asks, brightening.
"Yep and yep," you say. "Didn't work. Or at least, I was hoping it'd work without going all... Witchy."
"Win some, lose some," Sayaka says, shrugging philosophically.
"Mm," you say. "How's it going?"
"Trying to figure out how quickly I can distinguish and activate powers if I have multiple available," Sayaka says, holding up the chain. "Not that well. Kinda confusing."
"Ah. Well, let me know if you need help?" you say. "Also, maybe try with a clone or two?"
"Yeah, maybe," Sayaka agrees, frowning in thought.
"How 'bout you, Mami, Homura?" you ask.
"It's going well," Mami says, giving you a warm smile. "Homura has experience with basic enchantments, which is a helpful bonus, so we're trying to express her innate magic."
You nod, beaming. "Hang in there!"
Homura nods slowly, focused on the smooth rock in her hand. In fact, there's a small pile of rocks on the table in front of her, and she's transformed, shield out, and you're
pretty sure Mami doesn't have a pile of rocks just lying around, not even hidden somewhere in the display shelves.
You give the rocks a long look before shrugging and turning back to the Grief in your hands. Somewhere along the line of speculating about the possibly mathematically perfect form of Grief, you'd had this notion about
dimensions, and Grief.
Carefully, you fold Grief into a cuboid, and then you...
rotate it.
The Grief vanishes without fuss.
To your eyes, anyway. It's still there, in your Grief sense.
Huh.
You start shuffling the Grief around. It seems to move just fine, and with another
twist, you pop it back out on the opposite end of the sofa, near Sayaka, who gives you a
look. You grin apologetically, and pull the Grief back to you.
Well, that's interesting.
Mami settles next to you, her warm weight familiar and comforting. "What are you doing, Sabrina?"
"Four dimensions," you say, showing her the block of Grief and popping it out of existence.
"Aw," Mami pouts. "You figured it out."
"Hmm?" you ask, wrapping your arm around her waist and pulling her into a hug. "Figured what out?"
Rather than answer, she holds up her hand and twists it, an empty teacup twisting out of the air to rest on the palm of her hand. Now that you're
looking, you can see the twist of ribbon that flickers away quick as thought. Mami flicks her hand again, and the cup vanishes with another lash of golden ribbon.
"Oooh," you say, and grin at Mami. "Oooh- wait, isn't the tea cold?"
"I only fill it when I think I'll need it," Mami says, giving you a wink. "And it's not too hard to keep it covered and warm."
You laugh in delight. "Well, you
are the genius," you say, giving her a fond smile.
She blushes, ducking her head against your side.
"So how's it going, Homura?" you ask, glancing at your friend.
"Practice," Homura mutters, frowning at the rock. She hasn't
broken any yet, but you can feel the magic twisting in fitful little splutters as she tries to shape it.
"Homura just needs to keep practicing," Mami affirms. "Everyone's magic is different, and my guidance can only help so much."
"Hang in there, Homura," you say, giving Homura an encouraging grin.
"So what do you feel like trying, Sabrina?" Mami asks. "Trying to replicate your powers, or a non-Witchy clone, or...?"
"What do you think would be best?" you ask.
"I think it might be best to explore your basic enchantment magic," Mami suggests. "That's where I started. It's... the best foundation, in my opinion."
"Then so it shall be," you say, grinning. "Can I have a rock, Homura?"
"... certainly," Homura murmurs, gesturing at the pile. You grab one with a bit of Grief, bringing it over.
"You're gonna get fat doing that," Sayaka mutters, giving you an amused, sidelong look.
"Magical girl~" you lilt. "Don't have to get fat if I don't wanna!"
Sayaka harumphs disapprovingly.
"Just you wait, you're gonna have a clone doing all the work for you eventually," you say, grinning.
"Yeah, yeah," Sayaka grumbles, sliding off the sofa and standing. She transforms in a brilliant flash of blue, and flicks her cape out with a smooth sidestep. Somewhere in the flowing cloth, another Sayaka emerges, moving in easy tandem with the original.
"See?" you say, pointing a finger. "Clone!"
Sayaka sticks her tongue -tongues- out at you, but you can see her lips twitching into a smile.
"What are you doing, Sayaka?" Mami asks, curious.
"Oh, I'm trying to see if swapping powers between myself and a clone is easier," Sayaka says. "Is that... do you think that's a good idea, Mami?"
"It's an excellent idea," Mami says, nodding. "Your versatility is one of the key parts of your magic, Sayaka, so working on how quickly you can trade powers can only be helpful."
"Agreed," you say. "Maybe try and figure out how many powers you can effectively use at once, too?"
"I think I want some kind of thinking power," Sayaka says, frowning. "To organise them, somehow."
"Makes sense," you agree. "We'll keep an eye out?"
"Yeah," Sayaka says, smiling. "Appreciated."
You return the smile, and settle back on the sofa, frowning at the rock in your hand. You remember how to channel the magic into your own innate enchantment, of course, the rock melting into pliability at the touch of your magic. You frown, remembering what Mami taught you, and try to
twist your magic just so.
It takes on the fourth try, and you smile.
"Try this, Mami?" you ask, handing the rock over to Mami. She takes it with a smile, and the rock
squishes in her grip.
Mami giggles, drawing both Sayaka's attention from what's almost a game of patty-cake with power crystals. They look on curiously.
"I don't really get it," you confess. "Bit of a weird enchantment, isn't it?"
"I'm sure there must be something to it," Mami says. "It's similar to the way you control Grief, isn't it? You can just..." She smooshes the rock flat between her palms, suddenly all-too-liquid stone squeezing between her hands.
"It is a bit," you say, reaching out to grab another rock from Homura's pile.
"May I have one too?" Mami asks.
Homura's eyes flick up, and she motions wordlessly at the heap, so you grab one for Mami, too. The four of you fall into a comfortable silence, each one working on your own techniques. Mami's fingers trace magic over the rock she took, wordless concentration on her face as delicate fire follows her motions. You watch, interested, but she only winks at you when she catches you looking.
For your part, you poke at what seems to be a malleability enchantment. You can see how it follows from your Wish - it's
control. But you're hoping there's
some way to parley
control into control over
Grief. That's the
second part of your Wish, after all.
You haven't really gotten anywhere by the time Homura makes a faintly startled little noise.
You glance up, and find Homura staring at a rock floating, suspended in a translucent little bubble. A glowing lavender shield surrounds it, ripples shimmering out from where her hand touches the sphere.
"Oh, well done, Homura!" Mami says, clapping.
"Ooh. Cool!" Sayaka says, both of her looking up from the wordless interplay and swap of power gems. "What's it do?"
"Congratulations, Homura," you say. You give her a bright, beaming smile.
"It's a shield," Homura murmurs, poking at it.
"We'll need to test that!" Mami declares. "Not indoors, however. Maybe tomorrow?"
Homura nods, taking the shield between both hands and attempting to crush it. It flickers brighter, but holds firm.
You laugh, bright and clear. "Well
done, Homura," you say. She catches your gaze and holds it, nodding slowly.
"Thank you," she murmurs, gaze shifting from you to Mami.
"Gimme?" Sayaka asks, beckoning with bright-eyed interest.
Homura hands the shielded rock over wordlessly, and one Sayaka takes it while the other pulls out one of the power gems, pressing it to the first Sayaka's hand. Sayaka grins, eyes lighting up as she activates the power.
"Not indoors, Sayaka," Mami reproves.
"Oh, right," Sayaka says, pouting. "Was just gonna try Miss Bennouna's power."
"I suspect you'd end up with rock powder," you say drily. "And a hole in the wall."
"Oh, I've realised that my clones can have powers activated at the same time I do!" Sayaka says, grinning. "So I can be both the hammer and anvil."
"Sure, but what happens when an unstoppable Sayaka meets an immovable Miki?" you say, waving your hand in the air.
Sayaka snickers. "I have
no idea."
"Outdoors," Mami says firmly.
"Fiiiine," Sayaka says, still grinning.
You laugh, delighted as you relax into the sofa. You can't help but glance at the time, though - you
need to start the discussion soon. On the other hand, you don't really feel like ruining the mood, but... you've got to.
"Hey, Homura? Sayaka?" you say slowly. "There's something I've been meaning to bring up, and now is as good a time as any."
"Yo?" Sayaka asks. Homura's eyes flick over to you.
[] Discuss O&K with Sayaka and Homura:
-[] Respect their feelings; err on the side of caution. Stay positive.
-[] Ask what they want.
-[] Discuss long term viability of house arrest:
--[] Restitution: Financial reimbursement? Continued community service? Oriko enjoyed doing good today.
--[] Complications: Ongoing psychological harm from confinement; Mikuni mansion; Kirika's family.
--[] Alternatives: Relocation, surveillance, restricted freedom with chaperones/tracking devices? Sayaklones?
---[] If Sayaklones, can Sayaka handle it? You'd worry about them keeping their cool around each other.
--[] Justice?: Magical girls don't have laws, police, or courts. Should that change? How? When? You don't like making decrees.
-[] Tentatively propose involving more adults with the Shizukis' help. Legal experts, therapists, the Mikis...
[] Never mind.
[] Write-in (word count limit: 200 words)
=====
So, I know this is a weird spot to end the update, but it's already enormous at it is. I'm aiming to update again on (my) Wednesday, writing to the existing vote, but if there's any last changes to make, now's the time. Feel free to add specific phrasing if you feel it's necessary.
