Okay, So I've been away for a few hours, but I have my own track on how the potentialbomb would hurt Homura.
Firn's just been quoted posting about how he likes to hide the solutions to problems in plain sight.
Well as far as things that are in plain sight for Homura goes, one thing that keeps coming up in PMAS, again and again and again, is how Homura feels
guilty for what she's done. For how she thinks she's
hurting Madoka.
As seen during the
rooftop scene in Surface Tension, it's mentioned when we talked to her about why she pulled away from Madoka.
She shivers, a whole body quiver. "It's early yet," she says, voice low and choked. "I don't know what's coming. Whether she- what I've done-"
Homura makes that little gesture you've seen just once, that half aborted grasp at something just out of her reach.
From
In the Mind of Akemi Homura, it's a
Massive part of why she trusts us.
She tells you that she knows. Knows about what you've been through, what you've done. She understands. And she looks you in the eye, and tells you that you are amazing for it. She tells you that Madoka would approve.
Nobody has ever told you that. Nobody could tell you that. Nobody should have the right to tell you that.
She did. She can, and she does.
And she cares about you. She cares about you. Not 'an ally', not 'a fellow magical girl', not 'an enemy of my enemy'. She cares about Akemi Homura, the person. She gives you advice, her trust, and her friendship, even when you don't entirely trust her.
There's just about one other person you can think of who's ever done that for you.
And...
You remember her Wish.
So you let yourself believe.
So when she tells you that she has an idea, tells you to trust her...
Perhaps you could try it, just this once.
Perhaps it'll go better this time.
It comes up in during both potentialbomb talks with Oriko.
Oriko takes a shuddering breath, closing her eyes before looking at you again. "She's making things worse," she says in a low voice. "Kyuubey already knows, and if he tells her that, she will despair. You have to stop that from happening."
"So... I wanted to ask you about revealing the link of Madoka's potential and the loops to Homura. I... no, no-" You hold up your hands to forestall Oriko's protests. "I'm not thinking about doing it anytime soon, but I need to know, because I'm sure the Incubator will try to use it as a weapon sometime. That's what it did... before."
"Ah," Oriko says, frowning. "I... I have something to raise, too, after we are done, but for now, what do you wish to know?"
"How does she learn about it?" you ask. "That's the most important. Where? How does she react, in as much detail as you recall? I know that losing your magic meant that a lot of the visions were lost too, but you remember some of it, right?"
Oriko nods, frowning in thought for a moment - though she doesn't get to answer before Kirika bounces back in, waving a metal chain with knuckle-sized links purloined from somewhere.
-snip cute couple-
"As I was about to say, Sabrina - the 'how' is simple," Oriko says. "She despairs in truth, because it means that for every gain she's made, the obstacles simply become more insurmountable. Walpurgisnacht alone is no longer her only foe to contend with, let alone the Incubator's increased machinations."
"Even with me here? Even with the changes I've made?" you say.
"If you are present, then certainly you can drag her back from the edge of oblivion," Oriko says, and sighs. "Tomoe Mami could not. Miki Sayaka could not... Kaname Madoka would make it worse if present. She would have lost everything."
"Yeah, I get that," you say with a grimace. "Which makes the when and how even more important?"
"The Incubator," Oriko says, scowling. "You yourself. I gather you want to do it under controlled circumstances, which I think unwise even then. Kaname Madoka, too, has the potential for it."
"Madoka," you say, sitting back. "Huh. Do you have any more detail, Oriko?"
She nods jerkily, frown deepening into worried furrows that Kirika reaches up to smooth away. Oriko sighs, slumping and pressing a kiss to Kirika's forehead.
"In the days before Walpurgisnacht," Oriko says finally. "As you assemble the magical girls to fight. That's when the Incubator strikes, to tear it all down. Kaname Madoka... she's a lot smarter than she looks. I suspect she figures it out soon after she finds about the loops."
"That fits," you say, scowling. "Striking for the greatest possible effect."
Oriko nods, sighing.
"I apologise," she says. "I... don't remember clearly."
Whatever Feathers is, if Homura reacts to it like that, I imagine it means it will signify how much Homura has
hurt Madoka. How things are
her fault. And this time in ways that can't ever be taken back.
Most explicitly, it's in our timestop conversation with Homura during
To the White Forest.
"Do... do you feel that you don't deserve happiness because of your actions in the loops?" you murmur gently.
"I-" Homura jerks under your arm, eyes twitching up to stare at you. "You- you know what I've done."
"I know," you say, bowing your head and closing your eyes. "I know, Homura. But I... I had to be sure. I... trust me? I'm going somewhere with this."
Homura's mouth opens, but her voice seems to fail her. She shuts it, and slumps.
"OK," you murmur. "And... do you think what you've done in the loops has hurt Madoka?"
She doesn't even raise her head this time, curling up smaller in your hug. "Yes," she whispers.
"She's wrong," Homura whispers, the words agonized and raw. "She- she shouldn't, I- I failed-"
"No, Homura," you say. "No, she's right to trust you. Without you, none of this would be possible. Without you, Mami, Sayaka, Mitakihara itself, Madoka... it'd all be gone for good. The only reason we have the chance to fight for a better future is because you never gave up. The only reason I exist is because you never gave up. I owe everything to you, Homura."
"I-" Homura chokes on the word, shaking her head wordlessly. "I failed. I- I only hurt Madoka."
I think this all ties into the potentialbomb. I think Kyuubey's going to raise it in a way so as to highlight to Homura that this is her fault. What's most apparent in PMAS itself is Homura's guilt of what she's done, and so I think that's what Kyuubey is going to prey upon in delivering the potentialbomb.
Right now, I think one of Homura's balms for her guilt is that everything shes' done has been undone by going back in time, which is part of why the Madoka's dreams conversation hit her so hard. So perhaps part of what the potentialbomb and parallel universes might do is show her that, no, she is not unmaking events. The all the pasts timelines where she hurt Madoka are
still there.
Regardless of that bit however, I think that if problem involves Homura blaming herself for what she's done, then I think what we need is to ensure she realizes that it is
not her fault, or at least not hers alone.
Beyond that, I also think we need to raise to her that if she wants to avoid hurting Madoka, then she needs to talk with her, and plan with her.
Hell, we could compare it to being the same as we do with Mami: We worry constantly about hurting Mami and we have regrets of having done so at times, but we work to prevent and fix that by talking to her. By asking her preferences. By explaining ourselves to her. By planning things out with her. By listening to her.
This particular bit is not just for potentialbomb reasons either: This is a
deep pain for Homura, she needs to solve it, and I think our own relationship and communication with Mami is a better way forward. Maybe not perfect, but better than what she has now.
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On another Bomb-y note. I'm considering explicitly asking Mami if she wants one of Niko's perception filters keyed for her own personal use.
I
think?.. I've talked about the possibility of the witchbomb spreading as more girls come into the city and it becomes more and more likely to spread, and using Niko's perception filters as emergency stopgap solutions to girls learning things they're not prepared for, at least until each girl can be helped through it all more thoroughly and permanently than mind magic can provide. (The ideal being that each device would be accepted voluntarily and affect only the wearer)
Talking about it may be a bit hairy, but I think something like this would help Mami and give her and us time to figure out how to work through it all in the event of the worst case scenario, and given her attitude towards infobombs I think Mami is not unlikely to accept such a thing.
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Ugh, I've been writing this up for hours and I feel like there's something I should be making a longer post with more to tie it all together but... well, this is what I've got.
But yeah, Firn prides himself on leaving textual evidence and foreshadowing and I think this here can be taken as that.
) and that off-screening these matters to "[insert girl] had a session with [insert therapist]" might feel hand-wavy or Deus Ex Machina-ish, but it's a simple fact that in-universe Sabrina simply doesn't have the qualifications for the job.
