"If you're comfortable with bringing Sayaka in, then yeah,
absolutely," you say, beaming at Homura.
Madokami above, you're
proud of how much progress Homura's made, and humbled by how much
trust she's putting in you.
"I'll go get them, then," Homura says, starting to get up.
You tug lightly on her arm before she can release your wrist. "Hang on- two things first, Homura?" you say.
She looks at you, head tilted slightly in question.
"First, uh... A couple of Witch-related matters to discuss bringing them in?" you say. "Second, I could just come with you instead of you bringing Mami and Sayaka up here, and third of all because I'm terrible with these kinds of lists, can I give you a hug?"
"Yes," Homura says after a moment.
"To all of them?" you say, smiling.
"... yes," Homura says. She leans into the hug when you engulf her in your arms, exhaling quietly. Hesitantly, her arms go around you.
You keep the hug brief, half twisted around on the bench, and smile at her when you pull back.
"There. Much better," you say, shifting your grip to a gentle clasp around her wrist.
Homura nods silently. "What did you want to talk to about?" she asks.
"First things first - I visited Fukushima, so naturally, I checked in on Miss Anri and had a talk with her," you say. "I'm getting her on board with helping to try and reverse Yuuri's... current status as a Witch. So to that end, I gave her Yuuri's Clear Seed to work on."
"Is that wise?" Homura asks, frowning. "A Clear Seed..."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," you say. "I've got Miss Tsuruya keeping a very close eye on her - besides, Miss Anri's
entirely under Miss Tsuruya's power. I'm not going to tempt fate, but I
think I've stacked as many advantages as is reasonable against her breaking out."
"OK," Homura says, frowning. "What do you expect from her?"
"In terms of the experiments? The main thing she's helping me solve is that I don't have the
time to devote to what looks like a very slow process - channelling magic into a Clear Seed," you say, pulling out Aurora and showing her to Homura. "I'm not entirely sure, but it's
possible that we need to put an equivalent amount of magic to the Grief I draw out."
"That's a lot," Homura murmurs.
"Yeah, which is why I tasked Miss Anri with it -
and she has a personal connection, which might help," you say.
Homura frowns minutely, the tiniest crease of her brow, and nods. "I suppose so," she says at last. "And Miss Tsuruya will alert us if something goes wrong."
"Yeah," you say, and grin weakly. "And hey. You know I've got a thing for, ah,
talking at enemies until they stop fighting. I
think I got through to Miss Anri, at least enough that she's willing to try for now."
Homura nods.
"And the other thing... so this is part of what I'd like to bring up with Mami and Sayaka too in a moment, but from a slightly different take. I
think Kyuubey may be directing the Iowa group at us," you say, biting your lip. "And if it is, that's probably because of me."
"You think..." Homura's eyes narrow, and she nods. "Witches."
"Bingo," you say. "So... I'll be going over it in more detail with everyone, but I just wanted to... you know, bring it up so we're on the same page."
"It's fine," Homura murmurs, eyes distant for a second before she nods, expression hardening. "We'll take it on."
"Right," you say, over that breathless twist of -relief? pride? joy? all of the above?- that unspools on your chest. "We will."
You take a breath, and grin at Homura. Because... the implicit message you're getting from Homura, the set of her shoulders and the steel in her eyes, is simple. This isn't the inevitability of fate. This isn't the inexorable crush of destiny drawing Madoka in, and
that is something you're determined to fight anyway, alongside Homura.
And this... so
what if Kyuubey has pointed a group of murderous magical girls at you? You can fight that. You're not one to taunt Murphy, but put up beside your
other problems, it wasn't that much at all - and with Homura simply declaring her support for you, it feels downright simple.
"We'll take them on together," you say, and your smile is probably bright enough to eclipse the noon sun, hanging frozen in Homura's timestop because yeah, Homura's right. "I'm really glad to have you at my side, Homura. We make a good team."
Homura shrugs slightly.
"Alright," you say. "Let's go get Mami and Sayaka?"
"Alright," Homura echoes, getting to her feet.
You follow her down the stairs and down into Mitakihara Middle School proper. It's an eerie experience, weaving around students frozen midstep in a grey hued world. You take a moment to ogle the smart-glass walls of the classrooms, the kind that can shade to opacity in an instant, but with all the glass left transparent for the break, it's quite the view. Students as far as the eye can see, all making their way back to their classes.
"Hey, Homura?" you ask as you muse about the potential frequency of people running into perfectly clear glass. "Question?"
"Yes?" Homura says, looking back at you.
"Do you use 2chan?" you say.
"Rarely," Homura says. "Magical girls posting there are infrequent."
"Huh," you say. Kirika
definitely posts on 2chan, you know that much, and you have vague notions of them shitposting at each other. "Fair enough."
"There," Homura murmurs. You follow her gaze to spot Mami, making her way towards what must be her classroom - alone, even though she's surrounded by other upper classmen.
Homura motions towards Mami. You grin at her, and reach out to take Mami's hand.
Colour bleeds back into Mami, warm pink suffusing her skin and brilliant, vibrant gold leaching into her hair as she sucks in a shocked breath.
"S-Sabrina? Homura?" She reorients in a heartbeat, tensing as if readying to transform. "What's wrong?"
"Easy, easy Mami," you say, soothing her gently. "Nothing's wrong, Mami."
"Then... what's happening?" Mami asks. She finds your free hand, interlacing your fingers. You squeeze back gently.
"Just a discussion that in retrospect I should have included you in," you say. "And Sayaka. I should've thought about it earlier, I guess?"
Mami leans into your side, head resting on your shoulder. "Ah," she says. "Alright."
You laugh sheepishly. "I suppose it's a little awkward, considering we already said our goodbyes and all?"
"A bit," Mami says, eyes sparkling as she looks up at you. "But that's alright. I will never turn down the opportunity to spend more time with you."
You blush, hugging Mami closer. "But, uh, speaking of time, we should probably not waste Homura's?" you say, catching Homura's eye. She shrugs.
"Ah, yes," Mami says, blinking and straightening sheepishly. "Apologies, Homura."
"It's not a problem," Homura mutters.
"Well... shall we find Sayaka, then?" Mami says, smiling. With her other hand, she unspools a twist of ribbon that whips through the air like a living thing, winding around your wrist, and then Homura's.
Despite having an excuse to do so, you don't let go of Mami's hand, sharing a conspiratorial smile with her as Homura once more takes the lead, threading through the frozen crowds of students. Mami gives the statue-like forms an uneasy look as she slides past them, her hand tightening on yours. You smile at her, squeezing back.
The rest of your friends are in a classroom one floor below, as it turns out. You find them in the midst of a small crowd, Madoka frozen mid-laugh, as is Sayaka - it looks like she was telling a joke. Hitomi, as mired in the timestop as anyone else, looks on with tolerant amusement.
"I'll get her," you say. "Or would you like to, Mami?"
"It would be easier for me," Mami says. With a raised hand comes another band of ribbon, spiralling through the air until it makes contact with Sayaka's wrist.
"-oose!" Sayaka says, and then blinks. She blinks again, looking around and then catching sight of the three of you. "Uh?"
"'allo," you say, essaying a little wave.
"...'sup?" Sayaka says.
"Discussion that in retrospect
all of us should be involved in," you say, and grin faintly. "Thank Homura for reminding me."
"Oh. OK," Sayaka says, looking around and shivering. "Man, Homs, your power is weird."
"... Don't call me that," Homura says, an expression of faintly confused horror flickering across her face.
"Right, so..." you say, looking around at the corridor. "Uh. Right, let's get clear of the crowd a bit so we don't bump into people by accident?"
All of you shuffle to a slightly less crowded spot, standing in a loose circle. Sayaka slouches against the wall, eyes bright with curiosity, while Mami stands right beside you, shoulder brushing yours. Homura stands shoulders braced and steady, silently waiting for you to speak.
"So, the Iowa group," you say. "I raised it with Miss Tsuruya, who's already putting out the word for more information, but she already had an interesting tidbit for us - apparently, their favoured tactic is to arrive at a location and take over or destroy some particular position of significance, or if they catch someone, hurt her to send a message."
"
Eurgh," Sayaka says, paling.
Mami's hand tightens on yours.
"Our school," Mami says quietly, gesturing around at the glass corridors. "Our homes."
"Exactly. Or Madoka's home, or Hitomis's. Maybe Kyousuke. Or even one of us," you say with a sigh, nodding at Sayaka. "But more than that, I... first of all, like
hell we're going to let that happen. Second of all, it suggests that they have a clairvoyant with them, or someone who can feed them information in advance."
Sayaka's scowl deepens. "Same tactics as
Mikuni," she says, tone even.
"That's... true," you admit, eyes flicking over to Homura. She stands still and stiff and statue-like as any of the people under the sway of her magic. "Still. Not going to happen, now that we know about it."
"What are we gonna do?" Sayaka asks. She folds her arms, fingers drumming against her forearm.
"Yeah... so, I've got about three different threads of conversation to chase up on, here," you say. "To answer your question, Sayaka - preemptive strike. I don't really...
like the idea of combat being a first resort, but they're raiders. Remorseless ones, to boot, and..."
You trail off with a sigh. Mami wraps her arm around your waist, squeezing gently, and you lean gratefully into the hug.
"I asked Miss Tsuruya for a quote to bring them in on the attack," you say after a moment. "Her price is... honestly very reasonable - so we're going to have more fighting power on our side."
"Right." And here Sayaka flashes a fierce grin, pushing off the wall to raise a clenched fist. "Sounds good to me. I mean, like you said, right? They're raiders. They hurt people, they
kill people? I think that's as fair game as it gets."
"Shouldn't be hard," Homura murmurs.
"Don't jinx it, Homura," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes.
Mami squeezes you again. "I'll be with you, Sabrina," she promises.
"Thank you, Mami," you say, smiling warmly at her. "I couldn't ask for anything more. And..." You look around at your friends. "I'd really, really rather see if I can talk to them, but at the end of the day, if I let them continue what they do, then it's on my conscience."
"On
our consciences," Sayaka says. "We all know about it, we've
all got a responsibility to
do something."
Mami chuckles, smiling at Sayaka. "She's right, Sabrina. We're all part of this."
"I would have raised it later," Homura murmurs quietly. "They're dangerous. We need to take them out."
"I... well, thanks, guys," you say, with a smile. "Just... thanks."
"It's like we know you or something," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, you said you had three things?"
"I did," you agree. "Second - speaking of Oriko... well, having a clairvoyant to help feed us information is a pretty good counter to them having one."
"If we can even trust her," Sayaka grumbles.
"It's easier to verify if she isn't, anyway," you point out. "And Homura, well... I'd really prefer to talk it out, but if it comes to a fight, your help will be invaluable."
Homura nods once, violet eyes hard.
"They're a threat," she says simply.
"And speaking of threats..." You trail off, settling your hand over Mami's and squeezing gently. "There's a
very slim possibility that their clairvoyant is Kyuubey feeding them information."
"Oh," Mami says quietly, sagging against your side. You hug her, pulling her close.
"Rat bastard," Sayaka mutters. "Figures."
"It... doesn't really matter much in the grander scheme of things, whether they have an actual clairvoyant or Kyuubey in the pocket," you say. "But I'm just raising the possibility so that we all know to be careful about talking about this outside of privacy constructs or Homura's timestop or similar."
"Yeah... doesn't make much of a diff," Sayaka says, scowling. "I mean, clairvoyant, right? Seeing or hearing stuff at a distance."
Mami takes a deep breath and straightens, though she doesn't separate from your side. "Sayaka's right. Regardless of what their source of information might be, we need to be wary of what we say at all times."
"True enough," you admit, smiling proudly at Mami. "Anyway, third poin..."
You trail off, and count off on your fingers.
"
Fourth point, I can totally count I swear," you say. "I think we need to let Madoka and Hitomi know. They deserve to know, and they're potentially
targets, as awful as that sounds. We don't want them caught off guard."
"Why?" Homura asks.
"I mean... they're vulnerable," you say, blinking. "So they should be warned."
"We'll take care of it," Homura says, a slight frown furrowing her brow as she looks at you. "It's not their problem."
"Homura kind of has a point there," Sayaka says. "Madoka's the kind who'll worry and worry and worry about this sort of thing if she knows. And it's not like the Iowa group is
near us yet, right? Maybe we should tell her
after we take care of the threat?"
[] Write-in response
[] What next?
- [] SCIENCE!
- [] Check in on IRCs
- [] Your identification papers should have come in by mail, go grab them
- [] Check in on...
-- [] The Shiogama girls
-- [] The Animators plus one
- [] Something else?
=====
Agh. I'd meant to update yesterday, but couldn't focus on writing. But here, have a decidedly non-canon outtake:
"Say, Mami?" you murmur as you follow Homura, hand-in-hand with Mami. "Uh..."
"Yes, Sabrina?" Mami asks.
"So, uh... am I remembering wrong, or did you say 'owo' instead of 'two' earlier?" you say slowly. Up ahead, Homura's stride stutters, your friend twisting to give both you and Mami a vaguely concerned look.
"... no?" Mami asks, blinking at you. "Are you alright, Sabrina?"
"... yeah, I'm probably just remembering that wrong," you mutter, mostly to yourself. "Forget I said anything."
