"That's not as dumb an idea as you might think," you say, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, yeah, it's not ideal, but there's potential there, Sayaka. That said... you know, you have Miss Usagi's animal communication power, don't you? Do you think you could convince animals to watch them for you?"
"Hey, that might actually work," Sayaka says, brightening. "I dunno if they can actually report on... I dunno, human speech. I can check that."
"Bonus points for using birds with enhanced eyesight," you advise, and snicker as a thought occurs to you. "Crows or ravens or something with black feathers, if you want to make Oriko paranoid. Don't actually do that."
"... what?" Sayaka says, giving you a slow, baffled look.
"Homura knows what I'm talking about, but hold that thought, we'll get back to it later?" you say. "I wanna keep up the momentum about figuring out tracking first."
Sayaka shrugs.
"I'll remind you," Mami says, smiling at you.
"Alright," you say, returning the smile. You cover her hand with yours, interlacing your fingers and squeezing gently. You're fine.
And you
are, the relief bringing a sweet, heady feeling of victory. Everyone seems to be broadly on board with you, even Homura. And isn't
that a shock? Even
Homura. Though you're pretty sure she's more on board with the notion of increased security rather than the attendant additional freedom, and would in fact probably prefer the former without the latter.
... hm.
"Pity I never got the magic hacking from that Ishinomaki girl," Sayaka muses. "Inoue? Was that her name? Could hack the city cameras."
You snicker, giving her a thumbs up. "I mean, if we're going along those lines, it's a pity you can't just grab Miss Tsuruya's power and claim the entire city," you say. "Also, if you need advice, you can always talk to Miss Usagi, since she knows her power the best."
"Yeah," Sayaka agrees, nodding.
"I... well, would you be happy with that as a means of security, Sayaka, Homura?" you ask, dividing your attention between the both of them. "That you'd think it would be sufficient to let Oriko and Kirika wander freely a bit?"
Homura's jaw tightens, the muscles on her neck tensing - for anyone else, that would be an outright scowl. She looks at Sayaka for a long, long moment, before returning her attention back to you. "What other ideas do you have?"
"... should I be insulted?" Sayaka mutters. "I think I should be insulted."
"Sayaka," you say reprovingly.
"I don't trust them," Homura repeats.
And
that's your cue to interpret.
"By which Homura means, it's not that she distrusts your abilities-" though there's probably some of that too, just not the overriding problem "-it's just that, well, precog makes for a
terrifying opponent, you know? It's possible and worrisome that if she were hostile, Oriko would still remember enough of her visions to effectively manipulate events. Is that about right, Homura?"
She hesitates for a second before nodding.
"Ah, I see," Sayaka says, nodding wisely. "I guess. Also,
how do you unpack that from four words?"
You shrug.
"Anyway... returning to ideas, we could always get Miss Tsuruya to claim whichever building Oriko and Kirika move to," you say. "I'm not sure she's completely aware of the building at all times, but it's worth a thought?"
"I don't think she maintains complete awareness," Mami says, a thoughtful frown on her face. "She mentioned having to focus, correct?"
Homura nods wordlessly.
"Ah. Right," you say, rubbing your chin. "Hiring someone, maybe? You mentioned a Taniguchi with sort-of portal powers, right, Homura?"
"Yes," Homura says, and frowns. "I doubt she will be agreeable."
"I could... try to keep ribbons on her," Mami suggests hesitantly. "I could track them, but it would require that I maintain partial focus on them."
"Not particularly ideal, then," you decide. "Damn. So we're left with... bodycams, GPS trackers, tracking enchantments, and Sayaka's animal friends?"
"All of it," Homura says.
"Seems a bit overkill," Sayaka says. "But I guess that makes sense. Who... hey, we don't need to watch
all the footage. Uh, if I can work with the animals. I get them to tell me if something interesting's happening, and then we check the footage around that time?"
"Plus the trackers," you say. You comb your fingers through your hair, thinking. "I... wonder if we can get a bodycam with integrated tracker. I mean, it seems like the kind of thing that goes together? And something not too conspicuous."
"Sounds expensive," Sayaka says, shrugging.
"Eh, shouldn't be a problem," you say, and look at Homura. "And... this will be sufficient to move them to a new location, and give them a bit of freedom to wander? We can lay down stipulations as to
where they're allowed to go. And if they leave it, or use antimagic in any way, we'd know, and we can hunt them down."
Homura exhales, very slowly and manages a tense, infinitesimal nod.
Sayaka glances at Homura, fiddling with her hair clip. "I'll make sure that the animals can track them first," she says. "Then we'll figure this out?"
"Probably a good idea," you say. "Also, here's a thought - you picked up some kind of hypnosis power, right? Maybe you can use it in conjunction to the animal power to teach them what to listen for? Or outright control them, I guess."
You study Homura as you speak. She's... unhappy with the decision, you can tell that much, but she's willing to accept it.
Madokami above, you owe her so much for extending you the trust she does.
"Yeah..." Sayaka frowns. "Maybe."
You sigh, sitting back and leaning into Mami's arms. "Alright. I guess... Well, the next thing to settle is
where we're moving them, and what we do with the Mikuni mansion."
"Is... is that a question?" Sayaka asks, both eyebrows shooting up. "I guess she's our prisoner, yeah, but that's not
our mansion. We haven't..." She screws up her face. "We haven't established their asset forfeiture."
"I... must concur, Sabrina," Mami says. She bites her lip. "I'm sorry."
"... Uh. That's a good point," you say, and squeeze Mami's hand. "Don't be sorry for telling me when I'm wrong, Mami. But yeah, I guess we can leave that to her...?"
"Did you have something in mind?" Mami asks, giving you a gentle smile.
"Well, I was thinking that Oriko probably doesn't want the place any more, so if she were interested in selling it the proceeds could be donated to everyone who was affected in the fire."
"Yeaaaaah, that runs into the same problem of 'why'," Sayaka says. "It'd be great! But, like, I don't see what, er, justification could be used."
"Anonymous charitable donation?" you say. "But yeah, I see your point. It's not our call to make, so... thanks Mami, thanks Sayaka for pointing it out."
"Anytime," Sayaka says with a smirk. "Now, where do we move them..."
"The warehouse that Oriko prepared?" Mami says, sounding doubtful.
"No," Homura says, nearly instantly. "She could have planned that."
Mami nods, pursing her lips.
"I... had an idea," you say. "Uh, well. Kirika's parents are in the city."
"... eh?" Sayaka says.
"I know, I know," you say. "Yeah. It's an idea?"
"That won't be awkward at
all," Sayaka says, and grins. "I love it."
"Ah... I'm not sure her parents would let her out of their sight after that," Mami offers. "It might mean we won't be able to bring them out after that. Even visiting might be difficult, depending on Miss Kure's parents."
"Random apartment of our choice," Homura says, voice even.
"Yeah, that's an option too," you agree, rubbing your nose. "Anyone got strong opinions about this? Or other ideas?"
Mami shakes her head. "I'm not sure we have many options for this," she says.
"Yeah... which really goes back to the initial problem of there not being a magical girl judiciary," you say, and make a face. "We'll... think about this and come back to it?"
"Yep, yep, sounds good to me," Sayaka agrees.
Homura nods.
"Alright, good..." you say. "Moving on... well, actually. Speaking of the older Kures, uh. Sayaka? How do you feel about bringing your parents in? And then having Oriko confess her crime to them?"
"Er." Sayaka blinks, confusion washing across her face. "
Erm."
Mami giggles, leaning into your side.
"Uh, sorry?" you offer. "It's just a thought."
"No, no, I just... never thought about it," Sayaka admits. "Um. I... guess? I don't really know, though..."
"Think about it, and get back to me?" you say, smiling. "I mean... in the long term, I want adults in general to
know about magic. Meguca isolation isn't really
good for us, and hey. I want shrinks."
Sayaka makes a disgusted face. "Psychologists? Really?"
"They would be very welcome for magical girls in general," Mami says, her finger rubbing against her Soul Gem. "Especially considering... you know."
"Yeah..." you say, hugging her.
Mami takes a shaky breath, and smiles at you. "What about the feathers, Sabrina?"
You smile back at her. "Well, I've told you about it before, but... well, OK. So, Oriko's power gives her visions. According to her, some of her visions are blanked out by a flurry of black feathers. And... they scare the living daylights out of her."
"That's it?" Sayaka says, snorting. "Just... feathers?"
"Well, according to her, it's something that's
not a Witch," you say, eyeing Homura. She's quiet, purple eyes fixed on you. "But she can't elaborate on what it might be."
Homura's jaw tightens, and she looks away.
"Sounds way too convenient," Sayaka says, wrinkling her nose.
"I... have reason to believe her on this subject," you say slowly. "At least partially. Not from my foreknowledge, but... I
found one of those Feathers she mentioned once. It appeared when I tried making a Barrier."
"... not really buyin' it," Sayaka says. "Couldn't that have been just a bird flying past or something? Or hell, if you reckon Oriko's some kinda master manipulator, she could've planted it to scare you."
"It does sound a bit flimsy when you put it that way," you admit. "But I've got the Feather around, and..." You blow out a breath. "Look. The thing is, something that I'm pretty
sure is Feathers has... spoken to me, before, and no, I'm not imagining it. Sayaka, that time you were Witch-kissed was
verifiably something strange happening. You were teleported across half the city to the Witch. Other times, there's been, as I said, I... think it tried to speak to me."
"It spoke to you?" Mami says, sounding concerned.
Even Homura looks faintly perturbed.
"Yeah... kind of," you say. "No actual voice, just... fleeting impressions."
"I... dunno," Sayaka says. "It still sounds kind of sketchy to me. If it's true, then it's freaky as hell, but..." Sayaka shrugs, ambivalent. "I'm kind of skeptical on it? It could be Mikuni messing with your head or something."
"I... I need to get my thoughts together on this," you admit with a sigh. "But in the interests of moving on for now, and in the interests of making sure we're all on the same page, she prophesized her own death. At our hands, when we first met her, or after tomorrow, at the hands of someone who I suspect is Rionna Mag Aoidh or... well, Feathers. Then again, she also capped that off by saying we would meet again."
"Meh," Sayaka says, waving it off. "Good to know, I guess. Can... can we get out of this time stop now? No offense, Homura, but it kind of creeps me out."
Homura shrugs, raising her hand to her shield.
"Ah... actually, Homura? Could I have a private word?" you ask.
She nods slowly.
You smile warmly at Mami. "It'll be just a moment," you murmur, squeezing her hand with your interlaced fingers. "And I'll be back, OK? I promise."
"Alright," Mami whispers, tucking her head against you for a tight hug.
"And Sayaka?" you say, giving your friend a warm smile with as much sincerity as you can pack into it. "
Thank you. Thank you for being willing to hear me out. And you too, Homura."
"Yeah, yeah," Sayaka says, grinning. "Like I said. You're
our weirdo."
"Heh. Thanks," you say. You carefully disentangle yourself from Mami, and with a deep breath, she dispels the ribbo-
-n. You blink, taking a breath. There's a warm hand on your shoulder. Homura.
[] Homura
- [] Hug teh homu
- [] What do you want to talk to her about?
[] Oriko and Kirika's imprisonment
- [] Move them to...
-- [] Random apartment
-- [] Kure's place
[] Back to enchantment practice?
[] Put in an order for the tracking devices
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
=====
Apologies, I'd meant to update yesterday. Sayaka will automatically do her animal whispering thing.
