Nova Prospekt pt. 27
You blink at Homura, and you can feel your own heart dropping. You... you've gone about this the wrong way, haven't you? Homura's trusting you. She trusts you, and she's trusting you on the basis of essentially nothing. And you're asking her to go out on a limb -to risk Madoka's safety- on little more than your word.
And she's-
She's willing to do it. Willing to give you the chance, just on your word. Just like that. Because you said so. But it hurts. It hurts her, and it hurts you to see her ball all that pain and fear up, and you don't want that.
This isn't right. So you should- you want, need to make it right.
"I..." you lick your lips. "Hey, Homura? I'm... going about this all wrong. Thank you for being willing to trust me. Thank you, so much. But... this is wrong. I shouldn't be just asking you believe me blindly. I shouldn't be just taking your trust for granted, and I've done that time and time again."
You shake your head decisively, and smile at Homura. "I need to stop doing that. And I should have done this ages ago - I should explain, like I did earlier with Sayaka. It... will you let me try to help you understand why I've come to the conclusions I did?"
Homura blinks at you and nods once, a quick, jerky motion.
"Alright," you say. A thought shapes some Grief into chairs and a small desk that you arrange right here in the corridor, waving Homura to the opposite one. She drops into the seat, thumping down, careful not to jostle the string around your wrists.
"... Y'know, you should keep some camp chairs or something in your shield," you note. "Just so that if I'm not there, you don't have to sit on the ground or something."
Homura shrugs, a fractional rise and fall of her shoulders. "I have some."
"Oh," you say. "Well, use them, then! I know I've seen you just sit down on the floor."
Your teasing grin withers after a few seconds, levity drained away by the smothering silence of Homura's timestop and the matter at hand.
"You've- you've explained before," Homura mutters, looking down at her left hand. At the Soul Gem, shining purple so similar in shape to yours.
"Not properly," you say, closing your eyes. "I just... I just forget. Some of these things seem so obvious to me that I never really even... I just internalized it and never thought about explaining it to people in general, you know? And I should have, so... here goes."
You take a breath, and go for it.
"I talked about Oriko's Wish changing, but I didn't explain it properly." You clasp your hands on the table, forming a loose bridge in front of you. "I... the key point there is our Wishes. The Incubator forms our contracts, but I don't think it really grants our Wishes. They're tied to... I don't know. Something deeper, something more fundamental, but they're also tied to us, as people. What we really want."
Homura looks down at her Soul Gem, and nods.
"And it... it isn't always direct or obvious," you say. "Mami, for example. I... do you know what her Wish was?"
"Car crash," Homura murmurs, eyes flickering from you to the open door of Mami's apartment.
"Yeah," you say. You can't help the sour twist of your lips at the thought of Mami not-quite-alone in the mangled wreck of a car. "But her Wish... and, uhm, just to be clear, this is one of those things I just... know. Her Wish was to connect to life. And she did, and does. Her magic manifest as ribbons, which she turned into muskets and everything, but her magic is in connecting things."
You gesture with your hands, clapping your palms together to demonstrate.
"And on the flip side, she feels the pain of each severed connection keenly," you continue. "Her parents, every friend that drifted away, every student that left her. It bites deep because... Wish, magic, and person. It's all tied together. It gave her what she wanted."
You can feel Homura's eyes boring into you as you speak. Your gaze flicks up to her, and you hope... you hope she's listening. You hope she gets it. And you force yourself to continue, rather than mire yourself dwelling on Mami's loneliness.
"And... Sayaka, of course," you say quietly. "She Wished to be useful. Because she felt like we were doing all this, and she was just leeching off it, and she didn't want that. And she got a power that's absolutely amazing for standing beside us as an equal, but utterly useless alone. Because that's what she wanted, this time round - to be part of the team. And her Wish gave her exactly that. Yeah?"
Homura nods slowly, her eyes not leaving yours. "She has been... helpful."
"Yeah. It... Do you know, she considers you a friend? She said as much earlier today," you say. "And, ah, that's not to do with her Wish, not directly, but I'm just... illustrating that her attitude is different, and she Wished for something else, and she got something else. Does that make sense?"
You give Homura a hopeful look. The silence of the time stop draws out as she simply regards you, expression... thoughtful. Tired, scared, but... thoughtful.
"It does," she murmurs quietly. "You're saying that you think Mikuni's changed."
"Not at first," you say, folding your hands in front of you. "And not quite. But I'm getting there. I don't really need to give you more examples in detail, I guess, but... Anri and Hijiri. Nadia. Yuma, who got healing after her mother physically abused her. And, well, me. Or you. I've got... control issues I'm trying to be better about, but..."
You wave your hand through the air, blobs of Grief trailing the motion in a little comet tail of deep purple.
"Control. My Wish, my magic, my... everything," you say, grimacing. "My tendency to run roughshod over people, because of course I know better and why don't they just listen to me and do what I say. I'm doing my best to be better about it, but it's definitely, ah, part of me, you know?"
Homura nods, so you smile at her.
Madokami above, but sometimes it scares you a little that Homura trusts you so much. It's a responsibility, and you can't bear to even consider letting her down.
"And... then, there's Kyouko," you say. "She lost her magic, because... do you know what her Wish is?"
"No," Homura murmurs. "She's never been... We've worked together, but Wishes are too personal."
"Yeah, I get that. I mean, the only reason I know is, well..." you tap the side of your head. "Woke up with that knowledge in here. If I'd actually asked her, I'd probably have gotten a spear to the face or something. But... she Wished for her father's words to be heard. And he was. Up until her father found out about the Wish, and concluded that she'd made a deal with the devil."
Homura's mouth flattens out.
"I... guess you know that part of the story?" At Homura's nod, you continue. "Yeah. Well. And Kyouko rejected her Wish. Because the fundamental basis of it was completely gone, you know? So she lost her illusions, literally and metaphorically."
"And... Mikuni?" Homura asks, eyes narrowing.
"Yeah," you say. "I am saying that the fact that she lost her magic, and gained something else, means that something must have fundamentally changed. It... do you remember when it started to happen?"
"Last... Thursday," Homura says.
"Around there. After I apologised for my..." You swallow. "My threat. Against Kirika. And when she apologised for what she's done, what she was trying to do. It... she regretted it, and she regretted her Wish."
"She could be lying," Homura says.
"She could," you agree. "But... Kyuubey said she rejected her Wish, and I'm not sure it ever explicitly lies. And... even if we leave that aside, it's not the only reason I have for believing that Oriko has sincerely changed."
You watch as Homura's jaw tenses for a second, but she nods.
"It... Oriko started from wanting control of her life and of her death," you say. "After the shame her father brought, the grief of his suicide... and she Wished to know the meaning of her life, but deep down, the only meaning she could find was in martyrdom. And... that's something I know from my knowledge."
You lean forward, clasping your hands together as you meet Homura in the eyes. "And the fact that she'd accepted the confinement, that she was just willing to... let us work was already a rejection of her Wish. She wanted to take her fate in her own hands, you know? And-"
You wave before Homura can interject, giving her a gentle smile.
"I know. She could have been faking it, working some long con," you say. Your smile turns into a grimace. "I can't prove that she isn't - I can't prove a negative. But it..." You rub at your face. "Actually... Let's talk about the other half of the equation."
"Other half?" Homura asks, frown deepening a hair.
"Oriko's better half," you say. "Literally, in some ways. Kirika Kure. She's..." You drum your fingers against the table. "In many ways, it's... easy to dismiss her. Like, it's easy to see her as just Oriko's enabler, her servant to do everything she doesn't want to get her hands dirty for. But that's not true. Not this time."
You gesture vaguely in the direction of the Mikuni mansion. "It's true most of the time. Kirika Wishes to become someone Oriko could love, and she gets time-slowing powers to let her spend all the time she can with Oriko. Yeah?" you say, and arch your eyebrows at Homura. She nods, jaw tight, so you continue. "This time, she Wished to help Oriko, because she got to know Oriko a bit before she made her Wish - and she got the power to turn off powers."
"Yes," Homura mutters, right hand twitching towards her shield. She follows your gesture, looking into the distance with hard eyes. "I remember."
"Yeah. It counters the two of us pretty well, but it also stops Oriko," you say. "It cuts both ways. And the thing is, Oriko isn't... Oriko isn't really in charge, between the two of them. You know Mami and me? I think the impression most people would have of the two of us is that I'm the more forceful one, the one who calls the shots, right?"
"You're not," Homura mutters. She gestures limply at the apartment door. "You... you're not."
"You know that, but that's because you know me well," you say with a faintly sheepish grin. "I make a lot of decisions, but if Mami ever said no, well, that's it. End of discussion. It's the same, with them. Kirika has the veto, between the two of them, and it's... even her magic is a reflection of that. She shuts Oriko down, because she loves her, and I've seen it happen."
"I mean, hell." You grin a bit at the memory. "It's a bit of a silly example, but you know how you use a spray bottle to discourage cats? I suggested it to Kirika, and she actually did. Does. I've seen it happen, Kirika using the bottle to discourage Oriko when she starts, starts thinking martyr thoughts."
Homura flinches a little, frown deepening. "But they, they're- Kure is..."
"A bit nuts?" you complete for Homura. "She is, a bit. But she's... in the other timeline, Oriko only ever truly goes crazed after Kirika dies. Because ultimately Kirika is always the one who's the, the final veto on Oriko, and this time - Kirika is the one who's been working to talk Oriko away from her suicidal thoughts."
You quirk a weak smile at Homura. "There's a reason I call them the Kures, not the Mikunis, and it's not just because I find it funny. Kirika is the one who wears the metaphorical pants in the relationship. It could be an act, of course, but it ties together too well with Kirika's Wish, with Oriko's magic changing."
Homura...
Homura sags. All the tension seems to drain from her body at once as she slumps in her seat, squeezing her eyes shut and pushing the heels of her palms into them.
"Homura?" You stiffen, alarmed, and round the table to kneel down beside her. "Homura? Are you OK?"
"I'm fine," Homura mutters, sounding very tired. She lowers her arms slowly, hands dangling loose at her side.
You rest a hand on her shoulder. Just a gentle touch, and one that Homura doesn't pull away from.
"I'm here, Homura," you murmur. "Talk to me?"
"I'm fine," she whispers. Soft, anguished. Tired, and... pleading, almost. "I believe you. I believe you, but I don't... I don't know what to do. How do I..."
"Easy, Homura," you murmur gently. You want to pull her into a hug, but you're not sure that that's what she wants or needs right now. "Easy. We'll talk through it, alright?"
"Yes," she murmurs.
"I haven't been just... leaving it on their word that Oriko's reformed, either," you murmur quietly. "I'm still all for making sure we have security on them. Just so that we have that peace of mind. But when I visit them, I talk to them both. I'm trying to change Oriko for the better, to make sure she's truly given up her old path. I believe that the change of her magic is progress, but I'm still insisting on security measures - and new ones, if we can think of them."
Homura nods wordlessly, and you smile up at her. You don't move from your spot, kneeling beside her.
"The GPS tracker should be arriving soon," you continue, low, soothing. "And we can work on the tracking enchantments later, among other things. It'll happen. And I want to discuss all this with Sayaka and Hitomi, too, and if they have any ideas, I'll bring it on board, too. And I..."
"I'm not asking you to be their friend, or for you to trust them. I think they've changed, yes, but you're not me. Your experiences aren't mine, and your opinions are equally as valid." You fidget with your hands, uncomfortable with Homura's silence, and uncomfortable with the cold concrete you're kneeling on. She's listening, yes, but she hasn't said much. "I... I've been talking a lot. I hope some of it makes sense."
"Yes," Homura whispers, nodding. "It does."
"OK," you say, giving her a smile. "I... if it helps? Clairvoyance is... less proactive, if that makes sense? It's less for planning ahead, and more for acting in the moment. It's even useful to help protect Madoka, and even if she did mean to attack, it's just less useful than precognition is. So I guess, to answer your question..."
You take a breath. "You don't have to do anything new," you say. "You don't have to be less vigilant, but I guess... you don't have to be more vigilant, either. We'll have measures put in to ensure Madoka's safe from Oriko, and I'm taking on the responsibility of making sure that Oriko is secure. Is that OK?"
"... yes," Homura murmurs. "The tracking enchantment. And GPS?"
"Yeah," you say, smiling warmly at her. "I'll try and figure out how to let you, and Sayaka and Hitomi if they want, be able to tap into it as well to make sure, but it's my responsibility."
"Alright," Homura says again.
And speaking of responsibility, there's an idea. Not something to bring up now, but you'd mentioned yourself how Kirika's antimagic was perfect to stop Oriko. The metaphorical spritz bottle to Oriko's magic, and to torture the expression some more, giving Homura -and Sayaka- spritz bottles of their own might help. Getting Kirika to enchant something as a gesture of goodwill and a non-lethal means of taking them down might just be perfect.
You push yourself to your feet, giving Homura a serious, sober look.
"Thank you, Homura," you murmur. "I know you're putting a lot of trust in me, and I know it can't be easy. I just want you to know that I appreciate it. I really, really do. I... would you like a hug?"
Homura hesitates for a second before nodding and letting you pull her into a warm embrace. And maybe you're imagining it, but she hugs back a little tighter this time.
"I'll do better," you promise. "I swear I will."
"This... this time. Things are going well." Homura's voice is so soft you can barely hear her words. "Thank you."
"I'm here to fix everything, and I will," you murmur, and huff a quiet laugh. "Hah. Turning a former enemy into an ally, and an additional layer of safety sure as hell sounds like a good place to start."
"I suppose," Homura says quietly. She eases back, and you let her go, returning to your own seat on the other side of the Grief table.
Homura seems to have recovered, more or less. Her emotionless facade has never been the strongest here in the grey stillness of her time stop, and she's always been a touch easier for you to read than other people. And now... she just looks contemplative, attention slanted off elsewhere with a ragged, unhappy twist of her lips.
You let her think, your own mind abuzz with thoughts. Something about explaining all that to Homura has you introspective about the past. The people you've met, their Wishes, their motivations. It all ties together, somehow, and you find your thoughts turning inevitably to yourself... and your own Witch.
Dedolere.
Somehow, the name alone still sends chills down your spine, the ghost of unhappy futures walking upon your grave. But you can't help but think, and make connections. The most overt act Feathers ever pulled... was to bend Sayaka to its will. To take control of the situation, of the world, just to right things, to make Sayaka a magical girl.
Perhaps not so inadvertently, something that helped Mami. And you remember- you remember that brush with Grief. The thoughts that weren't your own.
Feathers.
Dedolere.
It makes an uncomfortable amount of sense, and when your other candidate is Homura, who's sitting right across the table from you with a look of concentration on her face, and you've sometimes thought that you were your own worst enemy, well.
But if it's Dedolere, somewhere, somewhen running an atemporal house of horrors on you...
Your own refrain. It's always about the people.
Could you try talking to Dedolere?
... Hello?
You turn your thoughts inwards, focusing on your Soul Gem, and you try and think at it, pushing your thoughts at it.
Are you there?
Nothing.
If you are, you're not alone. I'm here to help everyone.
Still nothing.
Homura sighs, stirring, and you turn your attention to her.
"Alright," she murmurs, looking up at you. She meets your gaze properly, the lines around the faded amethyst of her eyes perhaps a little lighter, her shoulders a little straighter. "You, we can try this. With... with the Kures?"
You beam at Homura. "OK," you say. "I... again, thank you, Homura."
She closes her eyes and nods. "What's next?"
[] Talk about Sayaka
- [] About her insights
[] Talk about Homura
- [] You're friends and partners in this
- [] Ask about Grief Seeds being transferred between loops
[] Talk about Mami
- [x] Fail to not gush about how awesome she is
- [] Her Wish and her magic
[] Madoka, Hitomi, politics, and the Tokyo Council
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
Sorry about how long this took - Homura is difficult to write at the best of times.
And she's-
She's willing to do it. Willing to give you the chance, just on your word. Just like that. Because you said so. But it hurts. It hurts her, and it hurts you to see her ball all that pain and fear up, and you don't want that.
This isn't right. So you should- you want, need to make it right.
"I..." you lick your lips. "Hey, Homura? I'm... going about this all wrong. Thank you for being willing to trust me. Thank you, so much. But... this is wrong. I shouldn't be just asking you believe me blindly. I shouldn't be just taking your trust for granted, and I've done that time and time again."
You shake your head decisively, and smile at Homura. "I need to stop doing that. And I should have done this ages ago - I should explain, like I did earlier with Sayaka. It... will you let me try to help you understand why I've come to the conclusions I did?"
Homura blinks at you and nods once, a quick, jerky motion.
"Alright," you say. A thought shapes some Grief into chairs and a small desk that you arrange right here in the corridor, waving Homura to the opposite one. She drops into the seat, thumping down, careful not to jostle the string around your wrists.
"... Y'know, you should keep some camp chairs or something in your shield," you note. "Just so that if I'm not there, you don't have to sit on the ground or something."
Homura shrugs, a fractional rise and fall of her shoulders. "I have some."
"Oh," you say. "Well, use them, then! I know I've seen you just sit down on the floor."
Your teasing grin withers after a few seconds, levity drained away by the smothering silence of Homura's timestop and the matter at hand.
"You've- you've explained before," Homura mutters, looking down at her left hand. At the Soul Gem, shining purple so similar in shape to yours.
"Not properly," you say, closing your eyes. "I just... I just forget. Some of these things seem so obvious to me that I never really even... I just internalized it and never thought about explaining it to people in general, you know? And I should have, so... here goes."
You take a breath, and go for it.
"I talked about Oriko's Wish changing, but I didn't explain it properly." You clasp your hands on the table, forming a loose bridge in front of you. "I... the key point there is our Wishes. The Incubator forms our contracts, but I don't think it really grants our Wishes. They're tied to... I don't know. Something deeper, something more fundamental, but they're also tied to us, as people. What we really want."
Homura looks down at her Soul Gem, and nods.
"And it... it isn't always direct or obvious," you say. "Mami, for example. I... do you know what her Wish was?"
"Car crash," Homura murmurs, eyes flickering from you to the open door of Mami's apartment.
"Yeah," you say. You can't help the sour twist of your lips at the thought of Mami not-quite-alone in the mangled wreck of a car. "But her Wish... and, uhm, just to be clear, this is one of those things I just... know. Her Wish was to connect to life. And she did, and does. Her magic manifest as ribbons, which she turned into muskets and everything, but her magic is in connecting things."
You gesture with your hands, clapping your palms together to demonstrate.
"And on the flip side, she feels the pain of each severed connection keenly," you continue. "Her parents, every friend that drifted away, every student that left her. It bites deep because... Wish, magic, and person. It's all tied together. It gave her what she wanted."
You can feel Homura's eyes boring into you as you speak. Your gaze flicks up to her, and you hope... you hope she's listening. You hope she gets it. And you force yourself to continue, rather than mire yourself dwelling on Mami's loneliness.
"And... Sayaka, of course," you say quietly. "She Wished to be useful. Because she felt like we were doing all this, and she was just leeching off it, and she didn't want that. And she got a power that's absolutely amazing for standing beside us as an equal, but utterly useless alone. Because that's what she wanted, this time round - to be part of the team. And her Wish gave her exactly that. Yeah?"
Homura nods slowly, her eyes not leaving yours. "She has been... helpful."
"Yeah. It... Do you know, she considers you a friend? She said as much earlier today," you say. "And, ah, that's not to do with her Wish, not directly, but I'm just... illustrating that her attitude is different, and she Wished for something else, and she got something else. Does that make sense?"
You give Homura a hopeful look. The silence of the time stop draws out as she simply regards you, expression... thoughtful. Tired, scared, but... thoughtful.
"It does," she murmurs quietly. "You're saying that you think Mikuni's changed."
"Not at first," you say, folding your hands in front of you. "And not quite. But I'm getting there. I don't really need to give you more examples in detail, I guess, but... Anri and Hijiri. Nadia. Yuma, who got healing after her mother physically abused her. And, well, me. Or you. I've got... control issues I'm trying to be better about, but..."
You wave your hand through the air, blobs of Grief trailing the motion in a little comet tail of deep purple.
"Control. My Wish, my magic, my... everything," you say, grimacing. "My tendency to run roughshod over people, because of course I know better and why don't they just listen to me and do what I say. I'm doing my best to be better about it, but it's definitely, ah, part of me, you know?"
Homura nods, so you smile at her.
Madokami above, but sometimes it scares you a little that Homura trusts you so much. It's a responsibility, and you can't bear to even consider letting her down.
"And... then, there's Kyouko," you say. "She lost her magic, because... do you know what her Wish is?"
"No," Homura murmurs. "She's never been... We've worked together, but Wishes are too personal."
"Yeah, I get that. I mean, the only reason I know is, well..." you tap the side of your head. "Woke up with that knowledge in here. If I'd actually asked her, I'd probably have gotten a spear to the face or something. But... she Wished for her father's words to be heard. And he was. Up until her father found out about the Wish, and concluded that she'd made a deal with the devil."
Homura's mouth flattens out.
"I... guess you know that part of the story?" At Homura's nod, you continue. "Yeah. Well. And Kyouko rejected her Wish. Because the fundamental basis of it was completely gone, you know? So she lost her illusions, literally and metaphorically."
"And... Mikuni?" Homura asks, eyes narrowing.
"Yeah," you say. "I am saying that the fact that she lost her magic, and gained something else, means that something must have fundamentally changed. It... do you remember when it started to happen?"
"Last... Thursday," Homura says.
"Around there. After I apologised for my..." You swallow. "My threat. Against Kirika. And when she apologised for what she's done, what she was trying to do. It... she regretted it, and she regretted her Wish."
"She could be lying," Homura says.
"She could," you agree. "But... Kyuubey said she rejected her Wish, and I'm not sure it ever explicitly lies. And... even if we leave that aside, it's not the only reason I have for believing that Oriko has sincerely changed."
You watch as Homura's jaw tenses for a second, but she nods.
"It... Oriko started from wanting control of her life and of her death," you say. "After the shame her father brought, the grief of his suicide... and she Wished to know the meaning of her life, but deep down, the only meaning she could find was in martyrdom. And... that's something I know from my knowledge."
You lean forward, clasping your hands together as you meet Homura in the eyes. "And the fact that she'd accepted the confinement, that she was just willing to... let us work was already a rejection of her Wish. She wanted to take her fate in her own hands, you know? And-"
You wave before Homura can interject, giving her a gentle smile.
"I know. She could have been faking it, working some long con," you say. Your smile turns into a grimace. "I can't prove that she isn't - I can't prove a negative. But it..." You rub at your face. "Actually... Let's talk about the other half of the equation."
"Other half?" Homura asks, frown deepening a hair.
"Oriko's better half," you say. "Literally, in some ways. Kirika Kure. She's..." You drum your fingers against the table. "In many ways, it's... easy to dismiss her. Like, it's easy to see her as just Oriko's enabler, her servant to do everything she doesn't want to get her hands dirty for. But that's not true. Not this time."
You gesture vaguely in the direction of the Mikuni mansion. "It's true most of the time. Kirika Wishes to become someone Oriko could love, and she gets time-slowing powers to let her spend all the time she can with Oriko. Yeah?" you say, and arch your eyebrows at Homura. She nods, jaw tight, so you continue. "This time, she Wished to help Oriko, because she got to know Oriko a bit before she made her Wish - and she got the power to turn off powers."
"Yes," Homura mutters, right hand twitching towards her shield. She follows your gesture, looking into the distance with hard eyes. "I remember."
"Yeah. It counters the two of us pretty well, but it also stops Oriko," you say. "It cuts both ways. And the thing is, Oriko isn't... Oriko isn't really in charge, between the two of them. You know Mami and me? I think the impression most people would have of the two of us is that I'm the more forceful one, the one who calls the shots, right?"
"You're not," Homura mutters. She gestures limply at the apartment door. "You... you're not."
"You know that, but that's because you know me well," you say with a faintly sheepish grin. "I make a lot of decisions, but if Mami ever said no, well, that's it. End of discussion. It's the same, with them. Kirika has the veto, between the two of them, and it's... even her magic is a reflection of that. She shuts Oriko down, because she loves her, and I've seen it happen."
"I mean, hell." You grin a bit at the memory. "It's a bit of a silly example, but you know how you use a spray bottle to discourage cats? I suggested it to Kirika, and she actually did. Does. I've seen it happen, Kirika using the bottle to discourage Oriko when she starts, starts thinking martyr thoughts."
Homura flinches a little, frown deepening. "But they, they're- Kure is..."
"A bit nuts?" you complete for Homura. "She is, a bit. But she's... in the other timeline, Oriko only ever truly goes crazed after Kirika dies. Because ultimately Kirika is always the one who's the, the final veto on Oriko, and this time - Kirika is the one who's been working to talk Oriko away from her suicidal thoughts."
You quirk a weak smile at Homura. "There's a reason I call them the Kures, not the Mikunis, and it's not just because I find it funny. Kirika is the one who wears the metaphorical pants in the relationship. It could be an act, of course, but it ties together too well with Kirika's Wish, with Oriko's magic changing."
Homura...
Homura sags. All the tension seems to drain from her body at once as she slumps in her seat, squeezing her eyes shut and pushing the heels of her palms into them.
"Homura?" You stiffen, alarmed, and round the table to kneel down beside her. "Homura? Are you OK?"
"I'm fine," Homura mutters, sounding very tired. She lowers her arms slowly, hands dangling loose at her side.
You rest a hand on her shoulder. Just a gentle touch, and one that Homura doesn't pull away from.
"I'm here, Homura," you murmur. "Talk to me?"
"I'm fine," she whispers. Soft, anguished. Tired, and... pleading, almost. "I believe you. I believe you, but I don't... I don't know what to do. How do I..."
"Easy, Homura," you murmur gently. You want to pull her into a hug, but you're not sure that that's what she wants or needs right now. "Easy. We'll talk through it, alright?"
"Yes," she murmurs.
"I haven't been just... leaving it on their word that Oriko's reformed, either," you murmur quietly. "I'm still all for making sure we have security on them. Just so that we have that peace of mind. But when I visit them, I talk to them both. I'm trying to change Oriko for the better, to make sure she's truly given up her old path. I believe that the change of her magic is progress, but I'm still insisting on security measures - and new ones, if we can think of them."
Homura nods wordlessly, and you smile up at her. You don't move from your spot, kneeling beside her.
"The GPS tracker should be arriving soon," you continue, low, soothing. "And we can work on the tracking enchantments later, among other things. It'll happen. And I want to discuss all this with Sayaka and Hitomi, too, and if they have any ideas, I'll bring it on board, too. And I..."
"I'm not asking you to be their friend, or for you to trust them. I think they've changed, yes, but you're not me. Your experiences aren't mine, and your opinions are equally as valid." You fidget with your hands, uncomfortable with Homura's silence, and uncomfortable with the cold concrete you're kneeling on. She's listening, yes, but she hasn't said much. "I... I've been talking a lot. I hope some of it makes sense."
"Yes," Homura whispers, nodding. "It does."
"OK," you say, giving her a smile. "I... if it helps? Clairvoyance is... less proactive, if that makes sense? It's less for planning ahead, and more for acting in the moment. It's even useful to help protect Madoka, and even if she did mean to attack, it's just less useful than precognition is. So I guess, to answer your question..."
You take a breath. "You don't have to do anything new," you say. "You don't have to be less vigilant, but I guess... you don't have to be more vigilant, either. We'll have measures put in to ensure Madoka's safe from Oriko, and I'm taking on the responsibility of making sure that Oriko is secure. Is that OK?"
"... yes," Homura murmurs. "The tracking enchantment. And GPS?"
"Yeah," you say, smiling warmly at her. "I'll try and figure out how to let you, and Sayaka and Hitomi if they want, be able to tap into it as well to make sure, but it's my responsibility."
"Alright," Homura says again.
And speaking of responsibility, there's an idea. Not something to bring up now, but you'd mentioned yourself how Kirika's antimagic was perfect to stop Oriko. The metaphorical spritz bottle to Oriko's magic, and to torture the expression some more, giving Homura -and Sayaka- spritz bottles of their own might help. Getting Kirika to enchant something as a gesture of goodwill and a non-lethal means of taking them down might just be perfect.
You push yourself to your feet, giving Homura a serious, sober look.
"Thank you, Homura," you murmur. "I know you're putting a lot of trust in me, and I know it can't be easy. I just want you to know that I appreciate it. I really, really do. I... would you like a hug?"
Homura hesitates for a second before nodding and letting you pull her into a warm embrace. And maybe you're imagining it, but she hugs back a little tighter this time.
"I'll do better," you promise. "I swear I will."
"This... this time. Things are going well." Homura's voice is so soft you can barely hear her words. "Thank you."
"I'm here to fix everything, and I will," you murmur, and huff a quiet laugh. "Hah. Turning a former enemy into an ally, and an additional layer of safety sure as hell sounds like a good place to start."
"I suppose," Homura says quietly. She eases back, and you let her go, returning to your own seat on the other side of the Grief table.
Homura seems to have recovered, more or less. Her emotionless facade has never been the strongest here in the grey stillness of her time stop, and she's always been a touch easier for you to read than other people. And now... she just looks contemplative, attention slanted off elsewhere with a ragged, unhappy twist of her lips.
You let her think, your own mind abuzz with thoughts. Something about explaining all that to Homura has you introspective about the past. The people you've met, their Wishes, their motivations. It all ties together, somehow, and you find your thoughts turning inevitably to yourself... and your own Witch.
Dedolere.
Somehow, the name alone still sends chills down your spine, the ghost of unhappy futures walking upon your grave. But you can't help but think, and make connections. The most overt act Feathers ever pulled... was to bend Sayaka to its will. To take control of the situation, of the world, just to right things, to make Sayaka a magical girl.
Perhaps not so inadvertently, something that helped Mami. And you remember- you remember that brush with Grief. The thoughts that weren't your own.
Feathers.
Dedolere.
It makes an uncomfortable amount of sense, and when your other candidate is Homura, who's sitting right across the table from you with a look of concentration on her face, and you've sometimes thought that you were your own worst enemy, well.
But if it's Dedolere, somewhere, somewhen running an atemporal house of horrors on you...
Your own refrain. It's always about the people.
Could you try talking to Dedolere?
... Hello?
You turn your thoughts inwards, focusing on your Soul Gem, and you try and think at it, pushing your thoughts at it.
Are you there?
Nothing.
If you are, you're not alone. I'm here to help everyone.
Still nothing.
Homura sighs, stirring, and you turn your attention to her.
"Alright," she murmurs, looking up at you. She meets your gaze properly, the lines around the faded amethyst of her eyes perhaps a little lighter, her shoulders a little straighter. "You, we can try this. With... with the Kures?"
You beam at Homura. "OK," you say. "I... again, thank you, Homura."
She closes her eyes and nods. "What's next?"
[] Talk about Sayaka
- [] About her insights
[] Talk about Homura
- [] You're friends and partners in this
- [] Ask about Grief Seeds being transferred between loops
[] Talk about Mami
- [] Her Wish and her magic
[] Madoka, Hitomi, politics, and the Tokyo Council
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
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Sorry about how long this took - Homura is difficult to write at the best of times.
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