"So, everyone, shall we head up?" you suggest, now that the introductions are done.
There's general assent, and Mami leads the way up to her apartment, Nagisa holding her hand out for you to take, which you oblige her.
"Are you
sure you're not related?" Sayaka asks you with a grin, when she sees that. "The two of you..."
You roll your eyes as you remove your shoes to step into Mami's house. "It's the hair, isn't it? But really, do we
look anything alike apart from that?"
"Eh... I guess not," Sayaka admits.
"Pretty," Nagisa says, following you into Mami's apartment and staring around with wide eyes. She flits off to the side to look at some of the ornaments decorating the apartment.
Sayaka, following you in, continues. "So how'd you find a litt-"
"Hey, Mami," you say loudly, over Sayaka's voice. "What do you think we should have for dinner?" You glance at Nagisa, but luckily, she seems to be engrossed with looking at some of the decorative bottles Mami has on a shelf. Madoka, smiling, is following her around and making sure that nothing gets broken. You leave your bag alongside Mami's, on the shelf.
Telepathically, you say to Madoka, Sayaka, and Mami, "
I ran into her yesterday at the hospital. Her mother had just passed away, and there was no one to comfort her."
"
O-oh," Sayaka blinks at you. Madoka freezes for a moment as she smiles down at Nagisa, but she recovers quickly. Mami nods, unsurprised since you'd already told her.
"We should order in," Mami suggests. "We can have some cake to tide us over in the mean time?"
"Sounds great!" Sayaka answers eagerly.
"Hey Nagisa, what would you like?" you ask.
"Uh..." the white haired girl looks thoughtfully at you. "I had udon... yesterda..." her face crumples, and you hurry over to her and sweep her up in a hug, rubbing her back gently.
As you comfort Nagisa, who's now crying softly into your shirt, you glance significantly at Mami, who nods and murmurs quietly, "I'll order some teriyaki or something. Sayaka, could you get some wet cloths? You know where the washroom is..."
Eventually, Nagisa's crying peters out, and you gently clean her face with the wet cloth Sayaka hands you wordlessly. You smile gently at her, and get a rather wobbly one in return. But a smile nevertheless.
Mami has, with the help of Madoka, brought out slices of cake for everyone, and you direct Nagisa's attention to the cake. "Nagisa, try the cake. Mami makes them herself, and they're really good."
Mami beams at you for that compliment, and Sayaka and Madoka chime in with, "Yeah, they're amazing!" and "I wish I could cook that well..."
"
Sure you don't want to drop by for cake?" you think at Homura, while slicing off a small piece of cake for Nagisa. You can feel her presence on the rooftop of the apartment block opposite, where you suspect she can see Mami's window. "
I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"
That won't be necessary," Homura says. Nagisa nibbles at the slice of cake you're holding up on a fork for her, before her eyes widen and she engulfs the rest of the slice. Laughing, you push the rest of the slice to her, along with the knife and fork, before turning to your own slice.
"
Well. Do you have anything to eat, at least?" you ask.
Homura's reply is monosyllabic. "
Yes."
You sigh internally. "
In any case, I need to meet you later. Same way?"
"
Yes. I should show you where Madoka's house is," Homura replies. You return your attention to the impromptu party at Mami's place, and notice that Nagisa's virtually inhaled her slice of cake and is currently staring with greedy eyes at your untouched plate.
You chuckle, and push your plate over to her. "That's your last slice, OK? We still have dinner coming, you know."
"Aww," Nagisa says, but digs into the slice with gusto. You look up at the others, who are smothering grins. "Oh, ha ha," you roll your eyes at them.
"So anyway," you start. "Anything interesting happen today?"
"Miss Saotome got rejected again," Sayaka grins.
"I don't think Sabrina knows who Miss Saotome is," Madoka points out, and informs you, "Miss Saotome is one of our teachers."
"Is she still doing that?" Mami asks. "She taught me last year, and... uh... we
all know about her... problems."
"Oh, yes," Sayaka mock groans. "Every other day, I swear. Rejected, dumped, rejected again..."
The doorbell rings. "Food's here," you guess, and you and Mami walk over to the door. Your paranoia has you doing a thorough check with your Grief senses, but apart from yourself, Mami and Homura, you don't sense any magical girls in the vicinity. Behind you, Madoka and Sayaka busy themselves moving the plates over to the kitchen, while Nagisa hops to her feet and follows you to the door.
Thre three of you ferry the cartons of food to the table, and Mami pays the bill, thanking the deliveryman with a smile. "Well, let's eat up!" Mami says happily, when you're all seated around the table.
"Hey Sayaka," you say later, after swallowing a mouthful of rice. "How's the homework going?" you ask with a grin.
"Ugh," Sayaka grumbles, but she's smiling. "I'm on top of it. I usually do my homework, OK?"
You raise an eyebrow at her, then at Madoka. The pinkette nods her head. "She does."
"Hey, what do you take me for, some kinda delinquent?" Sayaka faux-growls at you.
"Well
lll," you draw the syllable out. "Nah."
"Hey!" Sayaka complains.
You look down at Nagisa, sitting beside you, to make sure she's alright, and are relieved to see that she's smiling at the banter between you. She's even eating the vegetable that came with the meal, the pickled radish and whatnot. "How's the food?" you ask her.
"It's good!" Nagisa says. "Mami's cakes are better, though!"
"Never in doubt, that," you observe.
"It's nothing special," Mami protests.
You glance at the others. "Yes it is, Mami. Yes, it really is," you reply, accompanied by vigorous nodding.
The rest of dinner passes quickly, and Nagisa seems to have gotten over her earlier sadness. A glance at the clock tells you that it's almost seven.
[] Arrange a hunt
-[] With Mami
-[] With Homura
-[] Both
-[] Any particular location?
[] It's late, just go talk with Homura
[] Write-in
=====
The next update will start with bringing Nagisa down to meet her uncle
[1], and then the next activity, whatever you choose. You may write in anything special you want to say etc., of course.
[1]Unless you guys, for some reason, vote against it, but yeah.
