You're torn.
You... well, you're not even sure whether you
did use excessive force. True enough, you were pretty new to your powers back then. You have a better idea of what you can do now, and a hypothetical do-over of Sendai now would probably be a lot closer to being bloodless.
Bloodless in all senses.
You're
not happy with the collateral from the fight. Collateral that
they caused. You took them down clean and as quick as you could have, back then, and... you think you did as best as you could have. You can do better
now, and in
hindsight it feels like it was overkill, but... you're don't think you could have done better, at the time.
You're not apologising for saving people. You'd thought that, at the time, and with the benefit of hindsight, you still think you were doing the right thing. You could, perhaps, apologise for hurting them, and there's no real clash there - you
did hurt them. Justified, perhaps, but you still caused pain to others. That could be
worth apologising for.
... but not now. The atmosphere is light, and they don't seem exactly...
bothered by the whole affair. If the topic rolls around to something more serious, or the opportunity presents itself.
And besides.
You have a freaking bird on your shoulder, with its claws pricking slightly at your skin as it surveys the room with a certain imperial majesty. This does rather impose a fundamental upper limit on how serious a conversation you can carry out. You have vague notions of pulling a leaf from Mami's book and being maximally formal over tea, but... nah. It doesn't fit you.
"I'm glad that you all seem none the worse for the wear," you say. "So... yeah. I'm Sabrina Vee, and I'm a Grief controller. I'm here to help." You grin. "That's my ethos. I'm here to
help people, and I'm glad we can work together on a more friendly basis now."
"We're glad for that too," Moe says with a cheerful smirk. "Better pissing in than out."
"Also, speaking of clearing the air," you say, and half-turn to Yuki. Your expression turns serious as you gesture at Shinobu. "Miss Nanami is
clearly a mountain incarnate, and you said she wasn't."
"Did I?" Yuki says, a tiny smirk flitting across her face. "Clearly, I must have been mistaken."
"You know, I think that must be the nicest thing anyone's said about me... all week or so," Shinbou muses. She catches your eye and flexes an arm, bicep swelling. "I
work for these babies."
"... eh?" you say. "But magic-"
"Up-bup-bup!" Atsuko slashes her hand through the air. "Don't tell her!"
"Don't tell me," Shinobu agrees amiably. "Besides, I
had these
before I made my Wish."
"... fair enough," you say. "Though... seriously, and I mean no offense by this - if I had to imagine an anthropomorphised mountain, you'd be it. You've even got, you know-" You gesture vaguely at her hair. "-uh, vegetation coloured hair?"
Shinobu snorts, slumping back against the sofa with enough force to make the frame creak. "It's not the first time I've been told that," she says, waving in the air. "But this is what I've always
wanted to do, and fuck anyone else who thinks this isn't
girly enough, nevermind that half the world's strongest bodybuilders are women."
Mugin caws, apparently in agreement, and flutters off your shoulder to land on the floor. No one raises a fuss about that, so you just watch as the bird hops off to explore the room, claws clattering over the floor.
"I still think that magic was responsible for that," Moe says. "The statistics on that are kind of ridiculous if you look at 'em."
"Yeah, and people being inspired is a kind of magic too," Shinobu says. "Not
everything is because of magical girls or Wishes."
"That's true, but Moe's right," Sasami says quietly. "In
this particular case, anyway."
Yuki coughs quietly, interrupting what you get the impression is a well-worn, long-running argument, judging from the way both Shinobu and Moe are already opening her mouth to fire back.
"As I mentioned before, Shinobu, Sasami, I'm intending to send the two of you to be part of Miss Vee's delegation to Tokyo," Yuki says. "Pending Miss Vee's confirmation of when that is, of course. However, Miss Vee - I think it best to propose a substitution, if you are amenable?"
"Ah... yeah, that should be fine by me?" you say. Yuki wasn't willing to go herself, you remember - her power is too tied down with Fukushima the location, and with the possibility of magical shenanigans, she didn't want to risk it. You give her a questioning look, then Shinobu, then Sasami. "Is something wrong?"
"After a fashion," Yuki says. "I mean no offense-"
"I can speak for myself," Sasami says, cutting across Yuki. She steels herself and looks directly at you. "I'm uncomfortable with working with you, Miss Vee, on a personal level. I'm grateful you've agreed to ally yourself with us, and I'm sure you're a perfectly lovely person, and I'm trying to put it behind me - but you
are the person who ripped my Soul Gem away from me."
"I... well, that's fair," you say with a grimace. "I can understand that."
Slowly, Atsuko raises her hand, peering at you from beneath her steel-grey fringe. "Can I add something?"
"Atsuko..." Moe says in a reproving voice.
"Look, Yuki told us to be ourselves," Atsuko says, setting her jaw stubbornly. "I'm being myself. Right, Yuki?"
"Miss Vee?" Yuki asks, eyes flickering over to you.
"No, I mean, yes - honesty is good," you say. "I want to help, and I'd rather have it all out in the open."
"'All out in the open' isn't that easy," Atsuko says. "Emotions are
complicated! I mean, look, we're all trying to get along. I'm trying, and I appreciate you're trying. Hell, I even like that you're on our side now, same as Sasami. But it's
hard, OK? My best friend here-" A choppy gesture at Moe "-got bisected, and that's
hard to disentangle, but I'm trying."
"You beat us fair and square," Moe says, speaking to you, but giving Atsuko a severe glare. "
We are in the business of being hired muscle. I mean, we try to be better than
thugs, but we didn't exactly do great back in Sendai. Fair's fair."
"Yeah, yeah, we had the talk," Atsuko says. "All I'm trying to say is, this takes work, yeah?" She looks at you, defiant. "I'm not even asking you to try and fix it."
"I..." you hold your hands up. "Look, I get it. Emotions
are complicated, and I appreciate that you're trying to work with me despite that. I really, truly do. And, um... I wasn't going to say anything about the substitution. Like, shit happens, changes need to be made."
Atsuko deflates a little and slumps back into the sofa.
Yeah, and you don't... you don't
really want to rip into them for what they did. You went into this defense pact with both eyes open, wrangling an agreement from Yuki that they'd
do better in the future. Rehashing the past isn't going to be the most useful thing you can do.
Yuki clears her throat into the silence.
"As I was saying," she continues mildly, as if that interlude had never happened. "I think it might be best to substitute Moe into the delegation to Tokyo, if that's alright with you, Miss Vee?"
"Yup," you confirm. She's making no apologies about the outburst -none of them are- which you can respect, too. "That's perfectly fine with me."
"Excellent," Yuki says. "While we're on the subject, was there any business you wanted to raise, Miss Vee?"
"Actually, yes," you say, blinking as you recall. "Two... no, three things. First - I checked with Homura earlier, and she's working on getting a property for you to claim. Even expedited, though, she can't get it done earlier than early next week, in all likelihood."
"That's still sooner than I expected," Yuki says with a nod. "Excellent. I'll look forward to that, then."
"Other business... yes, about Tokyo, I'm planning for something like early next week, too?" you say. "Not
quite confirmed yet, but I'm sounding out you guys, and Asunaro too. So... if that suits everyone?"
"Fine with me," Moe says.
"Same," Shinobu adds, offering a thumbsup.
"Keep us informed," Yuki says, nodding.
"I will," you say. "And last bit of business, uh... do you know anything about the Murasaki Shrine Maidens? I've heard good things about them from Nadia."
"Murasaki, Murasaki..." Yuki muses. "Ah, they're down in Kyoto, are they not?"
"Yeah, that's what Miss Bennouna said," you agree. "I know it's a long shot, but I was just wondering?"
"I'm given to understand they're quite benevolent in general," Yuki says. "But no, we haven't had contact with them, and I've only heard of them in passing. They're not particularly known to be troublemakers, if that's what you were asking. I would actually be interested in meeting them -on a personal level- if you should choose to involve them in any way?"
"Ah, I gotcha," you say. "Thanks, anyway."
"So, ah..." Sasami ventures, with a vague gesture in the general direction of Mugin, currently strutting along the arm of the sofa beside her. "Not really business related, but is this... your friend's pet, or something?"
"Kind of sort of?" you say, taking the peace offering for what it is. "Animal communication power, and apparently this one likes her,
and she named it, so... probably?"
"Ah," Sasami says, eyeing the bird. Carefully, she rubs the back of its head, Mugin making pleased little
brees in response. "He's a handsome one."
"And annoyingly smart, too," you grumble. "I'm ninety-nine percent certain he can't actually understand human speech but
still. Crows are intelligent. Also, I'm not sure whether he's a he or a she, I gotta admit."
"Doesn't your friend know?" Shinobu asks, planting one hand on the seat for support and leaning over to peer at Mugin. "Miss Miki, right?"
"That's her, yeah," you agree. "And I didn't think to ask."
"Ah," Shinobu says. The conversation lapses for a moment, the awkward silence billowing and filling the room.
[] Strike up a conversation
- [] About...?
[] You've done as much as you can here, time to leave
- [] Where to?
=====
Shorter update today, but it feels fitting to end off here.
