"Homura. What do you know about Oriko?" Mami prompts, fixing the time traveller with an unyielding, steady gaze.
You raise a hand, forestalling any further comment. "Wait. Homura, I think we should speak under cover of your power, just to be sure?"
Mami glances at you quizzically, with a slight hint of impatience, but defers to you and looks back at Homura, waiting for an answer.
Telepathically, you inform Homura, "
Kyuubey knows about the timestop somehow, and has told Kyouko, at least. Not much point hiding it from Mami."
Homura's violet eyes shift to look at you, and a long moment passes before finally she bends down to pick up a twig from the ground, and holds it out to you. You grasp the twig, and hold your hand out to Mami. "Grab on, Mami."
"What's this fo-" Mami begins, grabbing your hand.
Homura turns her shield, and time stops. What little noise there is, here in the suburbs at 3AM in the morning, is completely snuffed out, leaving the three of you with nothing but the sounds of your breathing to accompany you. The world falls into hues of lifeless grey, the subtle motion of plants swaying in the wind dying.
Mami doesn't gape, precisely, but she stares at the deadened surroundings, eyes widened from her usual half-lidded expression.
"I can stop time," Homura says simply.
Mami swallows, recovering. "I see. That is a... powerful ability indeed, Homura."
Homura nods slightly. "To answer your question, Mikuni Oriko is a powerful,
very powerful precognizant. She works with a time slower, Kure Kirika."
"Uh, that's not true," you inject. "Kirika, I mean. According to Kyuubey, her power is to cancel active magic." Under Homura's questioning glare, you shrug, and add, "I asked. Since he was so free with telling other magical girls about your power..."
A grimace. "Magic cancelling, then. Oriko is...
was the daughter of the former senator, Mikuni Hisaomi."
Mami raises her eyebrows. "
That Mikuni. I see."
"Oriko goes to school at Shriome," you add. "Kirika... at Mitakihara. I'd say be careful in school, but I don't think that's necessary. Kirika seems... quite unstable to me, when I met her- she's... uh, maybe '
yandere' for Oriko comes close? She's very, very protective of Oriko, but otherwise acts more or less normally. I
think her Wish might have messed with her head a little."
Mami nods grimly. Even in her quietly simmering anger, the thought of the Wish intefering with a person like that seems to mildly disturb her.
"Am I to assume Oriko was behind the fire?" Homura asks. You doubt she's really questioning the idea, just confirming.
"Yes, she was," you say. "Or... she was there, when we arrived, watching from a rooftop. Then she just walked away."
"Whether she was responsible or not," Mami snaps, "she is at least responsible for walking away."
You nod. "What else do we know she's done? She gave me that threat to our house, she sent Kirika to talk to me... she...
might have been responsible for having Kirika push Hitomi down the stairs? And apparently she was hiring? Homura, have you seen her?"
The time traveller shakes her head. "No."
"Ugh," you grunt, feeling the urge to rub your temples, but both of your hands are occupied. "What the hell is her game? She's a precog, she can't simply be doing this for fun or something. If she wanted us dead, we'd probably be dead already."
"Irrelevant."
"That doesn't matter-"
Mami and Homura both reply at the same time, before looking at each other in surprise. Homura inclines her head for Mami to continue.
"It doesn't matter, Sabrina. Whatever her game, this was completely unacceptable, and she
will answer for it," Mami says.
"Yes, she
will!" you agree. "But if we don't do this carefully, we're probably playing right into her hands! We need to come up with some kind of plan, here- we need to stop this from happening again."
Mami grimaces. "I agree, Sabrina." She looks off into the distance, considering for the moment.
All three of you are quiet.
It's eerie, here in the time stop, with nothing to accompany you apart from the thundering of your heart and the slow breathing of the three of you. There exist, apparently, acoustic chambers soundproofed so perfectly that the silence drives people mad, and the longest anyone has ever lasted in one of those is about twenty minutes. You imagine much the same applies here.
You
should be thinking of a way to beat Oriko, but here and now, you're coming up blank.
At length, Mami asks, "Homura. Your timestop. Could we use it to find Oriko and... deal with her?"
Homura's eyes widen fractionally, but she nods. "I am intending to try. The biggest issue will be finding her."
"Good. Can you bring us with you?" Mami asks.
[] Attempt to head off this plan
- [] With what reasoning?
[] Let them hash it out
[] Suggest improvements
[] Write-in
=====
Phone typing again. Oh well.
