Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

[Firnagzen]

"The Clear Seed is free," you say, shaking your head. "Replaceable, even. You just saw me make one, all it takes is a Grief Seed, and-" You tap a finger against the Soul Gem on your longcoat, drawing forth a wispy streamer of billowing, fractal purple which you banish to join the rest of the Grief. "-just a bit of time."

"I- I see," Rin says. "Then thank you, Sabrina. You have our gratitude."

"You're welcome," you say, shaking your head with a smile. "Can you tell... can you tell Akiko I'm sorry? If you think she's ready for it. And that... I'd like to talk to her sometime?"

You'd debated with yourself whether to tell them about what forming a Clear Seed does to the Witch within it. You have a guess that Akiko saw Setsuko Witch out, contributing to her obsession with Grief Seeds. And if she has Setsuko's Grief Seed... would she want it calmed down?

It's a bit of a long shot. And ultimately, there was no way to gracefully insert it into the conversation except as a rather odd tangent. Which you of all people could probably get away with, in retrospect, but you weren't sure.

"I will find a time to do so," Rin promises.

"Also... have you heard from the Fukushima group?" you ask.

"No," Rin says, shaking her head. "Not after they went home. Are you thinking of extending your aid to them, too?"

"I want to extend help to every single magical girl, eventually," you say. "Hm... Well, if you haven't heard from them, I guess I'll go drop by at some point, maybe. Not very sure about that."

"I understand," Rin says. "If you need our help to mediate a meeting, feel free to ask?"

"Thanks," you say, flashing her a smile. "Now, my turn to ask - is there anything left? Rin? Mami, Sayaka, Nadia?"

"If you're sure there's nothing else we can offer in return for the Clear Seed?" Rin says, and continues when you shake your head. "Then no."

Sayaka shakes her head, tucking away the power gems into her pockets. "Nope," she says. Nadia shakes her head, too.

"Then for now, farewell," you say, standing. Mami rises smoothly at your side, followed belatedly by Nadia and Sayaka. "I'm not entirely sure when I'll drop by again, but hopefully soon? And... honestly? I hope we can be friends, in the future. I know I've caused you all a lot of trouble, but... yeah."

"I'd like that too," Rin says with a smile as she stands and bows to you. "I think we all would."

Yumi rolls her eyes, pushing herself to her feet. "Better than having you as an enemy, I'd say."

Tamiko swats her on the arm, and bows to you, too.

"See you all!" you say, bowing in return. Exchanging your goodbyes, you head out, Mami taking your arm.

Nadia ambles over to your other side. "Can I ask for a ride?"

"Of course," you say, quirking an eyebrow at her. "I was going to offer you one, actually. Where do you need to go?"

"Northeast Sendai," Nadia says. "It is not too far out of the way, and I can make it to Shiogama easily."

"Ah," Sayaka says, grimacing. "The group that was... broken?"

"Yes," Nadia says, with a nod. "I will tell them to travel to Mitakihara."

"I could fly you all the way there?" you suggest, bobbing to the side to allow a passerby to walk between you and Nadia. "And then wait to pick them up?"

Nadia shakes her head. "Unless you are willing to wait for a few days, I do not think they can drop everything to move so quickly?"

"Well, I don't really know anything about them," you say, ambling down an alleyway. You bound up the rough brick wall, Mami, Nadia, and Sayaka following. "Watanabe Noriko and Saito Akemi, right? I presume they're good people, since you're sending them my way."

"That is true," Nadia says, ruminating for a moment. "They were both pleasant people. Their teammate's loss hit them hard, they are mourning, fimti? They do not live as peacefully, they have become harsher."

"Right, thanks," you say, guiding in Grief with a wave of your hands and starting to form your Grief platform.

"So be extra-nice to them?" Sayaka asks. You loop a ball of Grief around her head, and she gives you a scowl, to which you respond with an unrepentant grin.

"I do not know," Nadia says with a shrug. "They were prickly. But they will be glad for the help, I think."

"We'll give them a nice welcome," you say, finishing the flight platform. "And then figure out what they want. Now, all aboard!"

"Mm," Nadia agrees, stepping up.

Mami cuddles against your side as soon as you sit down. You smile at her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Are you alright?" you ask. "You've been a bit quiet."

She takes a shaky breath. "I'm alright," she says. "Just... I realise how much of your time I take up. You do so much good, Sabrina."

"And one of the best things I've done was helping you," you say, smiling at her as you lift off the platform. "So no, there aren't better things I could do with my time than spending it with you, Mami."

That earns you a smile. "Thank you, Sabrina," she says. "I- I'll try and keep it in mind."

You bank the platform, and head northeast as Nadia requested. Sayaka seems preoccupied, sorting through the pocketful of power gems she'd collected with a thoughtful frown. Nadia relaxes, taking full advantage of the back end of your mobile oppression fortress to sprawl out comfortably, looking up at the sky whizzing by.

You keep an eye on the city rolling past, the skyscrapers giving way to the many, many apartment buildings and smaller shopping centers. You glance back at Nadia. "You're sure I can't take you further?"

She cracks one eye open from her half-doze. "You can," she says amiably. "But I like to go alone. It is... relaxing to travel alone, fimti? I might drop by after!"

Nadia pauses, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I might bring the Shiogama girls over," she says, frowning as she stands and leans over the side of the platform. "Maybe. I will see. Here is fine."

"Alrighty, then. Don't be a stranger, alright? And yeah, feel free to come back any time, I think we'd all love to hang out," you say, standing. You eye her, trying to decide whether to give her a hug or not.

Hm, maybe not. You switch to Darija and telepathy. "Goodbye for now, Nadia. Good luck, and safe travels!" Into her mind, you breathe the words, "Do you know any good restaurants in Italy?"

"Goodbye, Sabrina. I'd wish you good luck, but I think you make your own," she responds in the same language before turning to Mami and Sayaka. "Farewell, Tomoe Mami, Miki Sayaka. I wish you all the best."

She responds to you as your friends exchange farewells with her. "I ate at Da Vittorio once," she says. "It would be perfect for a date."

... somehow, she manages to convey the impression of winking at you without so much as glancing in your direction.

She bows one last time to you, then Mami, then Sayaka before putting a hand on the edge of the platform and vaulting over and shifting to a smooth stride away. With absolutely nothing supporting her. Without looking back, Nadia lifts her hand in a careless wave as she marches away on thin air, faint shimmers around her feet.

Mami waves, an amused smile on her face at Sayaka's gobsmacked expression.

Said expression morphs into thoughtful interest a few seconds later. "I can do that," Sayaka says thoughtfully, thumbing through the gems in her pocket.

"Didn't you copy Chouko's powers too?" you ask. "She can fly, you know."

"Yeah, but that is cool," Sayaka says, pointing at Nadia's receding form.

"Yeah, fine, it is," you concede. "Well. Shall we go home?"

"Home," Mami says with a smile, sitting and tugging hopefully at your arm. Of course, you take that invitation to sit down and give her a side-long hug.

"Home!" Sayaka says, grinning. "Man, I've got ideas for these powers. Actually, Mami, Sabrina, lemme run them past you?"

"Of course," Mami says, nestling against your side, but tilting her head far enough to peer at Sayaka. You bank your flying fortress around, sparing a glance to check that you're headed in the right direction.

"So..." Sayaka holds up a few gems in her hand, each one supported between two fingers. "I want to make a kind of... I dunno, selector? Basically, a wheel with powers stacked on it. If Mami can teach me how to do that trick where she hides the teacup, I could have the exact power I want on demand."

"Good thinking, Sayaka" Mami says, frowning in thought. "Certainly, I can teach you that enchantment, but it may take time to learn. Have you been giving thought to which powers would make good combinations?"

"Yeah," Sayaka agrees. "I think I need to train in how many I can manage at once, too. I did alright with your ribbons and Miss Bennouna's magic, but I don't really know if I can handle three or four or five at once. I'll need to test it out."

"Good," Mami says, humming quietly. "If you can handle three, there are so many amazing combinations."

"Invisibility, lightning, and flight," you offer with a smirk. "Or the super-eyesight you mentioned? But if I recall correctly, Miss Sato's lightning had some serious power behind it. If you could do it invisibly..."

"Or invisibility and ribbons," Sayaka says with a grin. "I could sneak up on anyone and trap them."

"And if you could use, ah, Miss Koizumi's cloning with that..." Mami says, beaming. "You could tie down the entire battlefield."

"Like you can't do that already, Mami," you say, smiling at her.

"Well... true, but now Sayaka can, too," Mami says, blushing a little.

"Bet you'd do it more stylishly, though," you say. "No offense, Sayaka."

"None taken," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes.

"Also, hey," you say, squeezing Mami a little. "Maybe we could figure out how to stabilise your ribbon-clone, Mami? I bet that'd be a nasty surprise for anyone -or anything- you might fight."

"It depends on how Miss Koizumi's clones work," Mami says. "But maybe!"

You chat happily with Mami and Sayaka as you soar home. You track along the railway lines, overtaking the snaking trains as you zip past. All too soon, the countryside and farmer's fields give way once more to the suburban sprawl, the skyscrapers of Mitakihara spiking up into the sky ahead of you.

"Hey Homura, hey Madoka!" you call, hooking Mami and Sayaka into the loop. "We're back!"

"Ah! Hello, Sabrina!" Madoka says.

"Oi, we're here too!" Sayaka pipes up.

"Oh, Sayaka, Mami!" Madoka responds. "How was the trip?"

"Good, good," Sayaka says. "I copied a whole bunch of cool powers!"

"Ah, that's good!" Madoka says.

"Welcome back," Homura says, toneless as ever.

"Hey, Homura," you say as you zip over the apartment buildings of Mitakihara. "We're back, safe and sound as promised."

"Good," she says quietly.

"It's good to hear from you two," Mami says. "How have you been?"

"We're doing alright," Madoka says. "Homura's helping me with homework!"

"Uuuugh," Sayaka groans, putting a dramatically aggrieved hand to her forehead. "I've gotta do that too. Don't leave me out! Wait- what homework are you doing?"

"Oh!" Madoka says. "Um, Homura suggested that we could work on next week's classes as preparation? You can come over, if you like? She's really helpful!"

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Sayaka says. "Sabrina?"

"One drop off at Madoka's place, coming right up," you say. "Want me to just drop you off?"

Sayaka considers this for a moment. "Nah. Madoka's father might kill me if I damaged the tomato plants."

"Sayaka!" Madoka squeaks.

"What? I'm just saying!" Sayaka says.

Mami buries her face against your side, muffling her giggles. "They are very nice tomato plants," she whispers to you.

"True." You snicker as you guide your flying platform in for a low pass over a convenient copse of trees near the Kaname's. You offer her a high-five. "Sayaka? Here's your stop~"

"Oh?" Sayaka says, absently slapping her hand against yours and holding it up for Mami as she peers around. "Oh, yeah. Hard to recognise from up here. Yup, see you later!"

She vaults over the side, cape billowing like a white banner as she lets herself drop towards the patch of greenery. You pull up, reassured by the burst of cerulean blue light of Sayaka's detransformation a few minutes later - and you're not so far away that you can't see the bleunette emerge from the trees and wave to you.

Mami sighs happily, and nestles a little closer into your side. "You did good today," she murmurs to you.

"Thanks, Mami," you say. "Means a lot, coming from you."

Voting opens May 24, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Go with Mami to buy the things Kirika wanted.
[] Head home
- [] What to do at home?
[] Talk with Mami about Kyouko training Sayaka once you're alone.
- [] Specify topics
[] Visit the Mikunis
[] Broach the subject of Asunaro
[] Timeskip
- [] Where to?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

And here we are, back in familiar stomping grounds.

 

[Firnagzen]

"Does it?" Mami asks, smiling up at you.

"Yes, it does," you say, poking her on the nose. Her eyes cross to follow your finger. "Your opinion means a lot to me, Mami."

Mami gives you a soft, warm smile, ducking her head with a pleased blush on her face. She cuddles against your side, making a contented noise.

You look up at the sky, squeezing Mami gently. It's only four-thirty or so and bright out, a few tiny clouds scudding their way across the clear blue expanse. "So, Mami?"

"Hmmm?" she says without moving.

"There's three things I want to do before we head home, if that's alright?" you say. "One is - Miss Inoue gave me Kuroki's last known location, so I want to go and have a look at that, and uh, Homura wanted to talk to me, too. So I think we could go take a look, not too long, and then check in with Homura?"

"That sounds fine," Mami says, levering herself off your side and stretching luxuriously with her arms over her head. "Ahh. Though, um, you mentioned three things?"

You blink, recounting what you'd mentioned and what you mean to do. "Ah, right, slip of the tongue, the Mikunis need some things, so I was thinking we could go buy them, too."

"Ah, I see," Mami says, frowning thoughtfully. "Would we be able to buy what they need at a supermarket? We could pick up some groceries for ourselves, too."

"Oh, good idea," you agree as you bank the flying platform to head east. "Speaking of groceries, we need more bonito."

"Hm?" Mani blinks golden eyes at you. "Fish flakes? We still have some, right?"

"Yes, but I'm thinking of cooking something that will need quite a lot of it," you explain.

"I see," Mami says, nodding. She smiles at you, eyes alight with curiosity. "What are you planning?"

"It's a surprise!" you say, tapping her lightly on the nose again.

She laughs, and reaches up to tweak your ear. "Alright, then."

You spend the rest of the flight out to the old industrial district in a comfortable silence, Mami cuddled against your side and your arm around her in a sidelong hug. By the time you arrive, Mami's dozing lightly, though her eyes flicker open as you coast to a stop among the mouldering old warehouses.

And it is a warehouse. Mami helps you navigate, checking the GPS coordinates Yuuki had given you with her phone - and as best as the two of you can tell with the resolution her phone offers, it's centered exactly on this particular building that you're standing in front of.

You release Mami's arm -her other one's holding her phone still- and crack your fingers. "Well, this is where she was last," you muse, giving the unassuming, dilapidated warehouse another look.

"Why do magical girls always try to hide out here?" Mami says with a sigh. "First Miss Mikuni, then your Warehouse-kun, and now Miss Kuroki."

"Hey, Warehouse-kun is not for hiding," you say, smiling at her. "Warehouse-kun is for science."

"I see, my mistake~" Mami laughs, tucking her phone away somewhere in her costume. "Shall we?"

"Yup," you say, taking her arm and walking forward. The wire mesh gate of the fence swings open at your touch - unlocked, and brittle with rust that coats your fingers brown. "Eurgh."

Still, that's hardly anything to deter you. With Mami at your side, you venture forward, nudging the warehouse door open and peering inside. Motes of dust dance in the sunlight filtering in, illuminating...

Well, it looks like someone had been binge-eating while hiding in the corner. There's an entire pile of sweet wrappers and various paper packets, stained with dried grease, and even a few sticks from ice pops. The bare concrete's stained with what seems to be food residue and-

There's her phone, resting beneath a dent in the cheap metal sheeting of the opposite wall. All but destroyed, as Yuuki predicted, screen completely shattered and plastic casing cracked to pieces. You walk over, gingerly collecting the wreckage.

"Is that a cross?" Mami muses, poking her finger at a sticker that's the only thing holding together two pieces of plastic.

"Yeah," you say. "She went to Catholic School, didn't she?"

"Mmm," Mami says. "Looks like she was a throwing a tantrum?"

"Or venting," you agree, humming as you pace about the warehouse, looking for anything that might be relevant. Mami separates from your side, searching around with sharp, careful attention.

"She was crying, I think," Mami says, pausing and nudging a pile of tissues with her shoe. She crouches to inspect it.

"Yeah," you agree, grimacing. "Any blood or anything? I hope she wasn't injured..."

"None that I can see- achoo!" Mami's sneezes are adorable, with the way her nose scrunches.

"Hm. Fairly thick dust in here, too," you muse, wandering over to Mami. "She hasn't been in here for a while."

"There's- nothing fresh here," Mami agrees, rubbing her nose and sniffing in annoyance. "All the food and the stains look... a few days old."

"Yeah," you grumble. "OK, speaking of Science, mind if I take a few minutes to try something?"

"Of course not," Mami says, giving you a warm smile. "I'll keep looking around, and see if I can find anything."

"I'll be right here, alright?" you say, rubbing your hands together and beaming at her. Grief sails in through the open door, plenty of it. You'll need quite a bit for what you have planned.

"Alright!" Mami says, beaming back.

You're already shaping the Grief with your mind. You want to try and find Kuroki. Unfortunately, it's fairly obvious that she hasn't been here for a while. However, it's a fairly stale environment, and there might not be visible footprints left behind, but that doesn't mean that there aren't footprints.

Apart from yours and Mami's, of course, but those should be easy to distinguish.

You push the extents of your Grief manipulation. Physicists would kill for the kind of fidelity you can achieve, absolute control moulding out millions of tiny, tiny structures on a nanoscale level. Millions of tiny levers, small enough to be deflected by individual photons of light, whirl into existence, arranged in a circular disc: a camera built on mechanical principles, with the kind of impossible precision only you can achieve.

A monochromatic light source is easy, one emitting a clear, coherent infrared light just as much. The lens array coalesces into existence, stinking of Witch. Neither of those are new to you, after all, you'd created both lasers and clear windscreens before.

You don't need esoteric magical effects to create a damned near to perfect spectroscope. You could create a gamma ray tomograph, but apart from the problem of irradiating everything around you with harsh radiation, it seems likely that Kuroki hasn't been here for a while. You'd rather look for traces of her presence, a trail to follow.

Sensitivity... just so. You hold your hand out, feeling the images as the lever array bounces with photons, like an image drawn on your skin with impossible fidelity. Of course, it's kind of nonsensical without a computer to crunch equations, but the right arrangement of lens and aperture performs effective integration over the frequency domain, boiling down to something recognisable, if not entirely legible.

All you need to do is, hunt for shapes in the image. You don't need absolute frequency resolution.

Mami walks over, giving you a curious look. You give her a quick, reassuring smile. You've got this. Directing the assemblage of Grief at her feet, you scan until you find the traces of rubber from her shoes, drawn in delicate traces of synthetic polymers. The footprints are bright and clear under spectral analysis, but you don't expect anything Kuroki's traces would be anything similar.

"I'm looking for her footprints or something," you murmur to Mami, sweeping the array around.

"Ah," Mami says, smiling at you. "Um... is it a bad time to tell you that she probably went out by the back?"

"Probably?" you say, pouting at her. "I put work into this, you know."

"Oh, alright," Mami says, nodding in grave understanding. "I'll tell you that I found her footprints in the dust later, then."

You sigh, swinging the array to point up at the ceiling. "Oh, fine," you say. "Show me?"

Mami giggles, linking her arm through yours and tugging you over to the loading bay of the warehouse. As promised, you find undisturbed tracks in the sandy dust of the warehouse, shielded from the wind by the walls of the little recess. Almost certainly a girl's shoes, too, just judging from the size, and leading only one way - out. Unfortunately, they peter out as they leave the sheltered area.

"Try your scanner?" Mami suggests.

"Mmm," you agree, starting to sweep the area carefully. "There."

You manage to follow the footprints outside, though they get fainter and fainter as you head into slightly more travelled areas - the industrial district's fading, not dead. You push your senses out, too. Kuroki has stealth powers, according to Homura, but she can't hide from your Grief sense.

But...

Her footprints vanish, between one step and the next. You frown, swinging your scanner around. You've wandered to the outskirts of an abandoned construction site. A forest of rusting iron girders claws for the sky, protected by a fence that rattles in the wind. Nowhere she could have vanished to. No particular scuff marks or anything that would indicate a fight, either.

"Sabrina?" Mami prompts.

"Her footprints end here," you explain. "Just... vanish."

"She could have jumped?" Mami suggests, looking about. "There, maybe. It's within reach."

"No, she..." It's hard to tell, from days old traces of footprint. "She... she fell. Sideways, and... The fence."

"She grabbed on here, maybe," Mami says, completing your thought. "It kind of sags."

"Yeah," you agree, frown deepening as you sweep the scanner about. You've been around this area before, haven't you? "I'm not seeing anything from here, though."

"I'll look around," Mami says, releasing your arm. She looks up for a second before bounding up to the girders in a fluid, easy jump.

You hunt around for a good ten minutes, weaving between the shadows cast by the I-beams. The smell of rust hangs heavy in the air, and the fiery orange hues of the evening are already starting to creep in by the time you call it quits. You have other things to do - but you're pretty sure she was here.

You sigh, raising your head to look for Mami. "Anything?"

"No," Mami calls back from way up high. She loops ribbons around a girder and lets herself down.

"Bleh," you say, ducking your head and grimacing. "I want to find her, but..."

"We don't have enough of a lead here," Mami says with a sigh. "There's no other trace of her around here?"

"No," you say, grimacing. "Not at all."

Voting opens May 29, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Continue searching
- [] Write-in how
[] Move on

Spoiler: Vote in abeyance

[] Talk to Mami about Sayaka's training with Kyouko.
-[] Touch on Kyouko coming to Mitakihara. Don't push.
--[] You were hoping that Mami would agree to speak with Kyouko when she feels ready. Kyouko still cares, she just hides it, because caring hurt her.
[] Go buy the things Kirika wanted, then visit the Mikunis.
-[] Ask about Asunaro. Include Mami in the discussion if you can.
--[] If appropriate, have Mami message Michiru about us arriving sometime soon.
[] Before heading home, let Mami know Homu wanted to talk. Ping Homura.

- [] Something else?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Sorry this one took so long; I wound up busier than expected last week.

Also, fun fact, what Sabrina did there is theoretically sound, in the spherical-cow-in-vacuum sense.

 

[Firnagzen]

There's a thought you don't particularly like to entertain, niggling at the back of your head.

She might have Witched out.

Mami pulls you into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around your waist. You hug her back, tucking your head on her shoulder. "We'll find her," Mami promises. "We won't stop looking, right?"

"We won't," you say, tightening your hug.

"We'll find her," Mami repeats, pulling back to smile at you with bright, solid confidence.

"Yeah," you agree. "Eventually. But... for now, I think we'll put a pause on this search. The evidence isn't going to get any fresher, but as it is right now, we're not doing anything here."

"Alright," Mami says, smiling at you. "What's next? Shopping, right?"

"Yeah," you say. "... well, I kind of want to see if I can DNA scan her, actually."

"Oh," Mami says. "You can do that?"

"I think so," you say with a smile as you tug her over to the fence. "See this? There must be some skin flakes or something where she grabbed it. And DNA is a very distinctive molecule, so I should be able to pick it out with Grief."

"Ah, that makes sense," she says, considering the distortions in the fence. She beams at you, closing her arms around your waist to give you a sidelong hug. "Go for it, Sabrina."

"Yeah," you say, raising a hand to summon Grief to yourself. "And it's better than my first idea of trying to use Grief to enhance my sense of smell, anyway."

Mami wrinkles her nose. "Wouldn't that smell awful?" she waves around at the construction site. Dusty, abandoned, congealed oil and the heavy tang of rust. The wind blows in scents from a dozen different factories, the bitter undertones of what you suspect is a bleach factory.

"Yeah, probably," you say. "That's why I'm glad I didn't go with that. Also, I can't stop imagining dog songs."

"Dog songs?" Mami asks, perplexity drawing her brows into a frown.

"Yeah, uh," you say, rubbing your nose. "I mean... smelling, bloodhound, dog?"

Mami giggles, and cuddles a little closer against your side. "Oh, Sabrina."

"That's me!" you say, directing the Grief carefully. You mould Grief to the indentations in the fence and skim the entire top layer off, paint, rust, and all. And hopefully enough skin flakes to matter.

"Besides," Mami mumbles. "You're not a dog."

"True," you agree, giving her a smile. You invert the Grief, folding the samples into the core of blob, and then you focus.

Not simple physics, this time. DNA molecules are distinct indeed, big enough that with a little chemical processing to purify them, you can pick them up using a toothpick. With Grief, you could even count the base pairs. You don't want that. You want to know every single point in this area her DNA might be. You can't do that with just physics, not without going over every single square millimetre of the construction site. But then...

Your will be done.

Grief coalesces, moulds, and rebuilds into a dangling windchime, if a windchime were built out of random junk. There's an egg hanging in there, some twigs that look like they were picked up off the ground, a hundred yen coin, a cartridge that looks like it might fit your obrez all bound in a cradle of twine and golden ribbon and dangling from your fingers.

It sings in your mind, in a way that's beyond the mere pulsing of Witch. And when you twitch your fingers -

There, and there, and there. It's like a heatmap, glowing in your mind's eye, of a trail of crumbs of... well, human skin. Kuroki's skin, to be precise.

Ew.

The trail leads in alongside, as expected. You twitch your fingers, and... yes, there are indeed some flakes of skin remaining on the fence, in about the right size for a palm. You didn't scrape it all up, just enough to sample it.

"Sabrina?" Mami asks, smiling up at you.

You grin back. "I'm fine," you say. "Just trying to check where she might have gone after falling against the fence."

"Check up?" Mami suggests, pointing at the forest of iron girders.

"Yeah," you say, pursing your lips. "I only see one track into here. She walks along here..." You gesture along the floor. "Stops here, and then grabs the fence."

"Mmm," Mami agrees.

"And then..." you twitch your fingers just so, coin jumping to tinkle against the bullet. "No, she didn't jump. Or at least, she hasn't left any skin flakes there. Hm. I don't think her stealth power's quite that effective as to hide her for that long."

"I wouldn't think so either," Mami agrees. "Wouldn't it fade after a while?"

"You tell me?" you say, smiling at Mami.

She hesitates, and nods firmly. "Unless she was wearing one of those, um, cleansuits? Like they use in, uh... cleanrooms? I think there would be some trace of her," she says. "I'm not an expert in this, but that's what I think."

You smile at her. "Good enough for me," you say. "So she definitely came in here, she definitely fell against the fence. Or was pushed against it. I didn't see any footprints or anything, so if someone or something kidnapped her, then... I don't know. Teleportation, or portals, or maybe flight. Caw caw and all that."

"'Caw caw'?" Mami asks, giving you a dubious look.

"Yeah, like..." You motion with your hands, miming a swooping motion. "Fly in and yoink!"

"It's... possible," Mami allows with a faint smile.

"Mm," you say, sighing. "That said... it doesn't seem like there's anything more here?"

"I guess not," Mami agrees.

"Hm..." you say. "Do you have a pen?"

You rummage through your bag - you know you have some scraps of paper in here. Mami hands you a pen, giving you a curious look.

"We could leave a note," you say, scribbling on the paper. "Just in case Kuroki comes back here or something?"

"Ah, that's a good idea," Mami agrees.

'Hello,' you write. 'We are Sabrina and Tomoe Mami, local magical girls. If you need help, feel free to find us at...' You leave both your address and your phone number, backtracking to the warehouse to leave that there.

You blow out an explosive, frustrated breath, and detransform. "We found something," you mutter, taking Mami's hand and intertwining your fingers. "We found a trail, it led us out here, and it just vanished. Vanished magically, even by our standards as magical girls."

"We're missing something," Mami says thoughtfully as the two of you start to walk away. "I think? It feels like this was... I don't know, it is a lead."

"Maybe," you agree. "Actually, why are we walking? Shall we fly?"

"I'd love to," Mami says with a smile.

You grin at her. Without releasing her hand, you summon Grief to yourself, and pull her into a hug. She wraps her arms around your waist, eyes almost sparkling in excitement as your wings ripple into existence.

With a grunt of effort, you launch yourself skywards, Mami clinging tight to you with a delighted laugh. You beam at her as you soar onwards and upwards, spiralling up into the sky. "Ready?" you call.

"Ready!" she says, exhilarated grin on her face.

You loosen your grip around her waist, and she lets herself fall. Golden ribbons bloom, a bright banner splashing out vibrant and stark against the distant smudge of the ground as she weaves her own set of wings.

Her laughter carries to you, clear and ringing over the booming as her wings catch the wind and billow out to their full span. You swoop closer, and she turns her head far enough for you to see the look of flushed excitement on her face.

You don't race, this time. You just fly, enjoying the feeling of being here with Mami. She winds up needing a boost in height before you land, but pulling her into a hug and flying a little higher is hardly an onerous task. You fly to a shopping centre together, landing smoothly on the roof. She smiles at you as you both dismiss your wings, cheeks rosy with excitement and pure, simple joy.

You smile back at her, taking her hand once more. There's nothing you need to say.

Well, not to Mami, anyway. "Homura?"

"Yes?" she responds with the same lightning speed she usually does.

"Hey, um... I'd really like to talk to you sometime this evening, if it isn't too much trouble?" you say.

"That's fine," she says.

"Alright. See you in a bit then," you say. "Um, have fun, alright?"

"See you," she says.

You take a moment to retrieve money from one of your Grief spheres before making your way down to the shopping area proper via the stairs, hand in hand with Mami. The noise and sheer bustle of a shopping centre on a Sunday night washes over you. "Kirika wants candles and a recipebook, and something nice to cook," you muse. "And we need groceries, right? Well, so do they, I guess."

Mami nods in agreement. "We can save time by purchasing double of everything," she says.

"Good idea," you say, nodding as you snag a trolley. "Ooh, the tomatoes look good. Uh, speaking of..."

"Yes?" Mami asks as she collects plastic bag and joins you in selecting the tomatoes.

"So, um," you say. "Uh... I've been meaning to bring this up with you for a while, but about Kyouko training Sayaka...?"

Mami bites her lip, hands slowing and stopping. "Yes?"

You set the tomato down, noting it for later. "I just wanted to confirm you'd be alright with it?" you ask, gently sliding your arm around her waist and pulling her into a gentle hug.

"I- I am," she says, voice wavering.

"Mami?" you ask, and wait until she looks up at you before smiling gently. "I mean it. It'll only happen if you're absolutely OK with it. If you say no, then it's off."

Her golden eyes are very wide, and her breath comes in shallow heaves. But she meets your gaze steadily, and her voice doesn't waver. "It's fine," she says.

"OK," you say, smiling warmly at her. "For what it's worth? I'm proud of you, Mami."

She swallows, and looks down, resolve shattering. "I... there's nothing to be proud of," she says. "There- I- I tried to k-kill her."

"No," you say softly, taking a half step forward to close the distance and hug her properly. "You didn't. You fought with her, but you could never really bring yourself to try in earnest."

Mami melts into the hug with a quiet sigh, not responding to that.

"She knew... she knows it, too," you say. "She still cares, you know. I believe there's still a chance for reconciliation."

Her breath hitches.

You fall silent, letting her absorb that. She pushes away a little, just enough so that she can stare up at you. "Do- do you think so?" she asks, voice wavering.

"I think so," you say. "And I'm going to do everything I can to make it happen. If you want, Mami?"

She nods jerkily, burying her face in your chest once again. She takes a minute to recover her composure. You dig a wet tissue out of your bag, wiping her face gently, and she smiles at you. "There," you whisper.

"I'm alright," she whispers back, separating a little. "Shall we finish getting groceries?"

"Sure," you say, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "Are you sure you're alright?"

She exhales slowly. "If... if you say you can do it, I believe you, Sabrina," she says. "And even if you can't... h-having you is enough."

"You have me," you answer simply.

She smiles, stepping forward a little to close the hug once more. "Thank you," she whispers.

You hug her back. This time, when she pulls back, she simply smiles at you and steps back far enough so that you can both return to selecting the tomatoes. You snag that one you'd picked out earlier, passing it to her to bag up.

Mami looks askance at you when you pick up the set of white candles for Kirika, but you just wink at her and she nods, understanding. Between the two of you, you make quick work of the shopping, breezing through the crowds. You do argue over the payment, though.

... Well, is it really arguing when Mami pouted at you and you instantly caved?

You still feel like you should be the one paying, since you're the one who's picking up stuff for Oriko and Kirika, too. You can slip a few thousand yen notes into Mami's purse later, maybe.

You don't fly to the Mikuni's place, this time - or rather, you don't fly with wings. You have too many grocery bags for that to be easy. Mami could probably have done something with ribbons, and you could probably do something with Grief, but... eh.

Besides, the flight platform gives you plenty of room to cuddle Mami. She leans into your side with a happy sigh as you soar towards the blazing orange of the sunset.

Voting opens Jun 2, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Visit the Mikunis. Give Kirika her things.
- [] Talk about Asunaro
- [] Talk about Oriko's powers
-- [] Write-in what
- [] Update Kirika on Kuroki
- [] Further topics?
[] Dinner, head home
- [] Anything to talk about or cover?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Whoof. What's next?

 

[Firnagzen]

"We should probably eat before heading home today," Mami murmurs, curled up comfortably at your side. You have one arm around her, pulling her snugly against your side.

"Mmm," you agree. "We'll probably spend... half an hour talking to the Mikunis?"

"It's nice to eat out now and then," Mami offers, smiling at you. She shifts a little in your embrace, drawing your arm more firmly around her. "I know a place?"

"Absolutely," you say, smiling back. You pause, and glance at the bulging plastic bags at the back of your flying disc. "Hm. Would we need to drop off our part of the groceries before we went for dinner? Nothing frozen, but..."

Mami considers this. "No, even the udon should keep just fine," she says. "We can just leave it out with the rest of your... Grief while we eat?"

"Works for me," you say, nodding. You tilt the flying platform forward, already starting to descend towards the little hill the Mikuni residence is built on. It's... the building is in pretty decent shape, barring the remnants of the vandalism from the whole Mikuni Hisaomi scandal.

You have vague notions of helping them to clean it up, but you're in a rather odd position with regards to the Mikunis. You'd like to be their friends, and you're pretty sure you are Kirika's friend, but there's the fact that you're technically their jailer, if very loosely and tenuously so. Makes things a little awkward, to say the least.

Ah, well.

"What do you think about Kuroki?" Mami asks, reaching up to poke your earlobe.

"Heh, I was gonna ask you that," you say, slightly distracted by Mami's finger curiously exploring the shell of your ear. "I think... I don't know. Is it possible she was... right there or something? Hidden by her powers?"

"I wouldn't think so," Mami says. "Her trail was quite old, wasn't it? I suppose it's not out of the question for her powers to be able to disguise that."

You scowl thoughtfully to yourself, resolving to complain to Homura about not being specific about Kuroki's powers. It's the second time she did that, even. Of course, given what must be an ingrained habit over dozens of loops of enforced secrecy, you can't exactly expect her to ease up instantly, you guess. "Is it?"

"Not entirely?" Mami says, but she sounds doubtful. "Magic can be enormously varied."

"Fair enough," you say. "Hm. Or she could hide underground or something... No, I'd definitely have noticed that. We should go back and check that note later, see if it's still there."

"It didn't seem like she'd gone back, but it's worth a try," Mami agrees, retracting her hand. "She... could have encountered a Witch Barrier where she disappeared?"

"It's my best guess at the moment," you agree. "Or someone with portals or teleportation grabbed her for some reason, like I said earlier."

"That's a possibility," Mami agrees. "I can't see why that would happen, though."

"Yeah," you say, scowling at nothing in particular.

"She didn't go up, she didn't go down, and she didn't go, ah, sideways," Mami muses, half to herself. She quirks a grin at you. "Maybe she travelled in time?"

You giggle. "At this point, I wouldn't rule it out," you agree. "Dammit, why'd Oriko have to lose her powers. She'd probably have foreseen this."

"Or... A Wish?" Mami says, smile widening a little. "Maybe someone Wished Kuroki were there with her, and... poof?"

You blink in surprise. "Huh. Possible," you concede, rubbing your chin thoughtfully as you zip towards the skyscrapers of downtown Mitakihara, gaining altitude rapidly. "I hadn't considered that. Good thinking, Mami."

Mami's delighted smile lights up her entire face. "Thank you, Sabrina," she says.

You tap her on the nose. "Mami, you are awesome. And unlike me, you don't even need to cheat to do it," you say, smiling warmly at her. "You're you, and there's no just about it."

Some of your conviction must have gotten through, because her smile softens into something you can't quite identify, and she curls into your embrace with a pleased little noise. "I... still. Thank you, Sabrina."

"Anytime, Mami," you say, tightening your arm a little. It's an idea. It might not actually be the correct idea, but it's something, and damned if you aren't going to take the opportunity to compliment Mami for it.

Mami seems more than happy enough to settle into the comfortable silence. And speaking of Kuroki, you should probably update Masami and Hiroko. Which reminds you in turn that you should probably check in on the Mikunis before you actually arrive there. Wouldn't want to interrupt another game of Scrabble or something. "Hey Oriko, Kirika, you girls free?"

"Heya, Sabrina," Kirika chirps.

"Hello, Sabrina," Oriko says. "We are free, yes."

"I'm doing the dishes!" Kirika says.

"Oh, cool," you say. "Mind if I drop in? I have groceries and stuff for you, too."

"By all means," Oriko says.

"Alright, see you in a bit, then!" you say.

"See ya!" Kirika responds.

Excellent. With that done, you turn your attention to Masami. "Masami, Hiroko? Are you free?"

It takes a moment for them to reply. "Yep, hi Sabrina," Masami says. "Hiroko's a little busy right now, but what's up?"

"Ah, hey, hope I'm not interrupting anything," you say.

"Nah, we're good," Masami responds. "Hiroko's putting Ono through her paces again."

"Right, excellent," you say, feeling faintly relieved. You seem to have a track record of interrupting at... inopportune times. "How's that going? Also, speaking of interruptions and before I forget, could I get your phone number so I can just SMS you?"

"Uh, sure," Masami says, rattling off her phone number. You memorise it for now - you'd rather not disturb Mami. "Also, surprise training session. I got Hiroko to drop an illusion on her, we're seeing how well she's dealing with it. She hasn't noticed so far."

"Hi!" Hiroko chimes in, voice bright and amused despite the audible strain. "Sorry, focusing. Big illusion. Thanks for the introduction to Miss Inoue."

You allow your amusement to bubble into a mental chuckle. "Right, uh, I trust you girls know what you're doing," you say. "How're you doing, speaking of?"

"Doing pretty great," Masami responds. "You?"

"Not bad at all," you say. You've spent a fairly relaxing weekend, gotten plenty of productive things done today, and you have a Mami cuddled up against you. All in all, life is pretty good. "Had a fairly busy day, but I got lots done."

"Eurgh, busy Sundays," Masami opines. "I kept Sunday free even when... y'know."

"Hah, fair enough," you say, skimming a lazy spiral around the spire of the DBJ building to prompt a giggle from Mami. "Anyway, speaking of being busy, I went and did a check on Kuroki's last location since I had some free time. I actually found a trail out to an old construction site, but it went cold there."

"Hng," Masami says. "Hope you didn't walk around there too much."

"Uh... we did a bit? Why?" you say.

"Eh, Hiroko's got a trick with her illusions that makes tracks and stuff show up," Masami explains. "We mostly use it to find Witches, but since you asked us to look into it..."

"Dang, sorry. Didn't know," you say.

"'s fine, just kinda a bitch picking out footprints and stuff. What size do you wear?" Masami asks.

"Uh...twenty-three cm, twenty-five and a half," you say.

"Gotcha," Masami says. "We'll check it out."

"Alright. Good luck, and thanks for helping!" you say. "See you around?"

"Yep," Masami responds. "See ya."

"Bye!" Hiroko says.

You end the conversation. Mami seems to sense that, cuddling closer with a happy sigh. You're only a few minutes out from the Mikunis' place, anyway, cruising smoothly and rapidly descending.

It occurs to you that Oriko might actually take Kirika's surname when they marry. It's not like Oriko's particularly enamoured of her family, after all.

You land neatly in their back yard, parking your flight disc squarely on top of the hole you'd left by uprooting one of the departed senator's rosebushes. The flowers are still dying slowly to the side, leaves withering and flowers drooping to the ground.

Kirika's already shoving the glass door open, a welcoming grin on her face. "Yo."

"Yo!" you greet in kind, raising an eyebrow at her attire as Mami uncurls herself from your embrace to stand. "Nice apron."

Kirika looks down at the frilly apron. "It's Oriko's, actually," she says, brushing unruly bangs out of her face and grinning at you. "Like I said, I was doing the dishes."

Oriko herself emerges a few moments behind Kirika, smiling faintly as she straightens her blouse with her single hand. She seems to be in good spirits, all things considered. "Hello, Sabrina," she says. "Miss Tomoe."

"Miss Mikuni, Miss Kure," Mami says, nodding regally in response. "I hope you're well?"

"Well enough," Oriko agrees. "Please, come in."

You hook the plastic bags holding their share of the groceries up with Grief and follow her into the house. The rest you leave with the platform - you'll be leaving the same way, anyway. You cast a surreptitious eye around as you walk. Weird relationship or not, you do kind of want to offer your help cleaning up and such if they need it, but... It's surprisingly clean in here. Not too much dust, at least. You can only assume that Kirika does some cleanup.

"Here's the groceries," you say, letting the bags drift forward on Grief as you enter the living room. "Uh, Kirika, show me where to put these?"

"Sure~" Kirika says, bending down to give Oriko a kiss on the cheek before darting off to the kitchen.

You follow her, smiling. "You're in a good mood."

"Mmmhm~" Kirika says, and motions at the counter, still slightly wet. Dishes sit in the drying rack, still dripping slowly. "Here will do."

"Alright," you say, setting the groceries down. All but one bag, that is. "And these are your date supplies. Hope I got everything in here."

Kirika blushes, just a little. "Gimme that," she says, snatching the bag from you and hurrying off to tuck it high up in a cabinet. She pushes a box of cereal in front of the bag, hiding it from easy view.

You grin at her. "Enjoy."

"I've got Oriko," she says, fang protruding with her sly grin. "You bet I will."

"Attagirl," you say. "Oh, on that note, could I get your phone number? So I can SMS you instead of... interrupting you?"

Kirika scowls at you, folding her arms. "What's with the pause."

"Nothing?" you say, raising your eyebrows.

"Oriko's a sore loser sometimes," Kirika says, cracking a smirk. "Don't tell her I said that. Yeah, you can have my phone number."

She rattles the number off, and you take both her and Masami's numbers down on your phone before heading back out to the living room. You find Mami and Oriko making somewhat uncomfortable smalltalk, and Mami's gaze turns to you almost before you emerge through the doorway, face lighting up with a warm smile. You head over to join her on the sofa, nodding your thanks as Oriko pours you a steaming cup of green tea.

Voting opens Jun 7, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Small talk
- [] Offer to help clean
[] Talk about Asunaro
- [] Ask Oriko what she remembers
- [] Who's going?
- [] Ask Mami about Kazusa
[] Ask Mami to put you in contact with Kazusa
- [] What do you say?
[] Look for Scrabble box
[] Head home
- [] Talk to Homura
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

OK I'll be honest, I'm not sure about the shoe sizes of teenaged girls. I'll edit if someone can tell me that they're wrong.

Also, cut the vote off here because it was frankly getting rather long.

 

[Firnagzen]

It's very good green tea. You sip at it slowly, savouring the fragrance. "How've you been, Oriko?" you ask.

"I am doing better," she allows. "The pain has faded away, but my visions... haven't returned."

"Yet. I hope?" you say. You're not sure if you should be hoping for that, really.

Oriko smiles, thin and razor-sharp. "As you noted last time, Sabrina, it may be that I don't need them," she says. "I have some magic, and I have Kirika."

Kirika makes a pleased, cat-like noise, and presses closer to Oriko.

"Granted, but not needing it isn't the same as being denied it," you say, leaning back and bumping shoulders against Mami. She smiles at you.

Oriko inclines her head towards you, acknowledging the point.

You smile, setting the cup of tea down so that you can take Mami's hand and interlacing your fingers. "Is there anything in particular you need, by the way? I got some general groceries for you, but anything specific?"

"Baking supplies would be welcome," Oriko murmurs.

"Hm... I know I bought flour and eggs and such," you muse. "Do you have sugar and shortening and such?"

"We do, yes," Oriko agrees, raising her eyebrows in mild, aristocratically understated surprise. "That's perfect, thank you."

"I aim to please." You grin at her, receiving a faint, amused smile in response. "How 'bout you, Kirika? Anything you need?"

"Nah, I've got everything I need," Kirika says, winking at you.

"Oh, right-" you say, pointing your finger at her. "Remember I asked you about Kuroki Matsuko, right?"

"Hm?" Kirika says, cocking her head. "Oh, her. The girl you asked me to doxx."

"Yeah, her," you say. "Just thought you'd appreciate an update - I went and looked for her, based on a lead. She went out to the old industrial district, and, uh, had a tantrum, by the looks of it. And then she upped and vanished into thin air."

"Huh," Kirika says, blinking. "Witch?"

"Maybe. Witch, or maybe a Wish," you agree, and give Mami a warm smile. "That was Mami's idea, though. Maybe she had someone who really cared about her - friend, sister, or whatever was worried about her and made a Wish for her?"

Kirika clasps her hands, eyes almost sparkling. "That's so romantic!" she squeals, before wrinkling her nose. "Well, not if it's her sister. That would be ew if it was romantic. But still a very sweet thing to do."

"Does she have a sister?" you ask, raising your eyebrows. "I didn't see that in the print out."

"Nah, but not everyone uses Facebook, y'know," Kirika says, smirking. "Oriko doesn't. Maybe she has a girlfriend?"

"Well..." you say. "She did go to a Catholic school. Where she was bullied."

Kirika shrugs. "Maybe?"

"Perhaps whatever entity is responsible for..." Oriko glances at you.

You blow out a quiet sigh. "Alright, I suppose the small talk's over," you say, stretching your hand out to the side as you make a tiny effort of will. "Give me a moment to create a privacy device, if you don't mind?"

"By all means," Oriko agrees.

You catch the blob of Grief that sails in through the open window, giving Mami a warm smile. She looks at you with wide, trusting eyes, and nods before ducking her head and tucking herself against your side. You bring the Grief in front of you, and you focus.

It's a familiar pattern at this point, a twist of your mind just so. You impress your will on the Grief, moulding it along practiced lines as the dark purple mass runs like hot wax, flowing into a different shape entirely. A green circlet set with a single golden jewel, mounted on a pedestal.

Mami shifts and smiles at you as you lean forward to set the privacy construct on the table. "Seven minutes," she says, showing you the screen of her phone.

"Hm, a bit of variance, then," you say thoughtfully. Oriko eyes the construct - it can be a bit distracting, you suppose, but you're well used to the constant press of Witch. Mami's right - you can tell.

Then again, Mami often is right.

"Are we free to speak?" Oriko asks.

"Yep," you say, motioning at the little circle, and then gesturing at the hazy view outside your little bubble of privacy. "A little cloistered space, free of any kind of eavesdropping."

Oriko nods. "Then... might it have been whatever force caused the Witch to attack Miki Sayaka early."

Mami frowns at Oriko. "Please explain, Miss Mikuni?"

"Has Miss Sabrina told you about the... feathers that interfered with my visions?" Oriko asks. Both you and Mami nod in near unison. "I foresaw that Miki Sayaka could have been attacked by a Witch. It did not happen as my vision dictated. It was simply too early, and she was in the wrong place."

"The... the black and white Witch?" Mami asks, glancing to you for confirmation.

"Yeah," you say.

"There are- two entities that can defy my visions," Oriko says. "The first is Miss Sabrina. The second is whatever this thing is that shrouded my visions. And it having demonstrated the ability to simply move Miss Miki, I... suggest it might be related to the disappearance of Miss Kuroki?"

"That's... possible," you say, nodding slowly. "I... yeah. I can see that. It's a lot more, uh, concrete than my idea, which is that someone might have snatched her with portal or teleportation or flight or something - problem with that is that there's no motive."

"It's not that bad," Mami disagrees. "It's possible."

"Possible but not plausible," you say, smiling at her and squeezing her hand. "I like your idea much better. And Oriko's suggestion is quite possible, too."

"'course it is," Kirika says loyally, grinning at Oriko and cuddling against her.

"Though, uh, speaking of flight and kidnapping people..." you squeeze Mami's hand with your interlaced fingers. "Actually, hang on a sec. Would it be alright if I invited Homura here? I think she should be involved in this discussion. Uh. To clarify, she's not related to the flight and kidnapping people, I just remembered that I should call her."

"You want to call her here?" Kirika scowls at you, but immediately subsides when Oriko puts a hand on her elbow.

"Do you think it would be helpful?" Oriko asks, eyes narrowing.

"I think that it'll create more trouble if she isn't in this conversation with us," you say slowly. "Communication is important."

"And you can't update her afterwards?" Oriko asks, eyes sharp.

"No," you say. "It's a discussion."

Oriko grimaces. "Then call her."

"Alright. Thanks, Oriko," you say, rising to your feet. Mami smiles at you, warm and adoring.

To your faint surprise, Oriko follows you beyond the hazy boundary of the private space. "I will prepare tea for her, too," she murmurs, brushing down silvery-grey hair with her one hand.

"Do you think she'd drink it?" you ask, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I don't," Oriko says, shrugging and padding over the rug floor to the kitchen. "But I will make the offer, nevertheless. It behooves a host to do so."

"Alright," you say, giving her a skeptical look. You put that aside, and turn your attention to calling your friend. "Homura?"

"Yes?" She responds near instantly, somehow giving the impression of coming fully alert in an instant.

"Mami and I are at Oriko's house - and before you worry, nothing bad's happening," you say. "But. I want to discuss going to Asunaro. Would you like to be in the conversation with us? If you have the time? I'd value your opinion on this, because I'll be out of the city for a while. And..."

Homura's silent for a long moment. "I will be there in a few minutes."

"Alright," you say. "Thanks, Homura. See you soon. Uh, just a heads up, I put up a privacy field, so be aware of the Witchy sensation. But, um, grab me for a quick conversation when you arrive?"

"Noted," she says, and cuts the connection.

You wait outside the bubble, rocking back and forth on the balls of your feet and waving happily at the void black bubble that is your privacy field. You can't see in, but the way you made it, you know Mami can see out, and you're sure she's looking your way. Oriko raises an aristocratically amused eyebrow at you as she passes you on the way back with another fine porcelain cup in her hand. You stick your tongue out at her.

Homura's as good as her word - it's only a few minutes later when you feel the world stutter to the lifeless, monochrome colours of timestop. Warm fingers against your wrist would be Homura's hand.

You smile at her. "Hey, Homura. Thanks for coming," you say.

She nods shortly, amethyst eyes glancing past you to the boundary of your privacy field. "They're in there?" she asks, clipped and sharp.

"Yeah," you say. "I- OK, Homura, I'm going to put this simply. I don't know whether you would have come across it during your time travel, but I have reason to believe that the girls from Asunaro, managed to create a partial method of de-Witching. It wasn't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot closer than anything I know of."

"I... see," Homura says. She seems taken aback for once, eyes slightly widened and lips parted just a hair. "That is... that would be..."

"Yeah," you say. "And, um, the other thing I want to learn from them if it's at all possible is that they created an anti-Kyuubey field. They managed to make it so that nobody in their entire city could see or even remember Kyuubey's existence."

Homura sucks in a sharp breath, and this time, you can all but see the gears turning in her head. "I-"

"Yeah," you say, nodding. "Um, just to bring you up to speed, since I'm guessing you never went over there, Mami's ex-student, Michiru Kazusa, is the leader of the girls over there, the Pleiades Saints. She's due to Witch out, which sets off a whole chain of events that results in the developments of, um, the two pieces of magic I mentioned."

Homura nods again, wordless but attention locked on to you. You can see her making the connections in her head, the pieces slotting together. "You are sure?"

You wobble your hand from side to side. "Yeeeees, but there are, uh, complications I want to bring everyone up to speed on. Shall we?"

"Yes," she says, purple eyes intent. You feel her fingers loosening around yours as she steps back, and the world-

-shudders back into vibrant colour and noise. You suck in a breath, and wave at Homura as if she'd just appeared in front of you. "Hey, Homura. Shall we?"

She nods once more, and follows you into the bubble. You settle down on the sofa beside Mami, who takes the opportunity to cuddle up against you. Homura sits on your other side, shifting uneasily away from the other couple.

Oriko inclines her head regally. "Miss Akemi," she says, and pushes a freshly poured cup of green tea towards her.

Homura ignores her, of course. Or perhaps not exactly ignore. The muscles of her shoulder and neck are corded tight as steel cable, her attention zeroed in on Oriko with the intense focus of a sniper rifle's scope. Said attention lingers for a fraction longer on the smooth, rounded stump of Oriko's injured arm.

You sigh as Mami takes your hand, twining your fingers together. You smile at her, squeezing gently. "So, um... now that we're all here, I..." you lick your lips, suddenly a little nervous about telling Mami. "I plan on going to Asunaro sometime soon."

You watch Oriko's placidly blank expression twitch with surprise, and then slide into confusion, and then confused annoyance.

Truth be told, you kind of enjoy seeing Oriko like that. It's kind of amusing. The majority of your attention, though is on Mami. You're already pulling her into a hug as her smile fades. She's not stupid, and she can make the connection to her old student.

"I-" her voice shakes a little, even muffled by your shirt. "I'm- I'm alright, Sabrina." She pulls away with just the tiniest bit of force, and you let her retreat to face everyone, expression troubled, but resolute. You keep your arm around her, keeping her close by your side.

"Asunaro is the home of Kazusa Michiru," Mami says in a voice the only trembles slightly. "A... a past student of mine."

You nod, and squeeze her hand in silent support.

"We... we parted on good terms," she says. "But she- she couldn't leave her home, and she had her own team to look after. I- we haven't kept in contact."

Because it was too painful to stay in touch for her. You can read between the lines well enough.

You smile proudly at her, brushing her hair back from where you'd disturbed it. "Yeah," you say with a quiet sigh. "That's... what I thought. Thank you, Mami."

"Why do you wish to go?" Oriko asks. Kirika seems interested, attention darting between you and Mami, and Homura might as well be a statue for all she's moving.

"I also know of the Asunaro girls," you say. "Or rather, I know of them. I am fairly certain that they will develop techniques that are very useful to us, and... I know that they're going to be in trouble soon."

You can feel the frission of shock that jolts through Mami's body, her attention turning to you.

"That's why I want to go," you say, giving Mami a reassuring smile. "I don't want anything to happen to them, either. But there is one catch - my knowledge so far has been quite accurate. Not necessarily complete, but accurate."

Oriko frowns sharply. "Not in this case?" she asks, leaning forward to top up your cup of green tea.

"Not quite," you say. "What I know is that Miss Kazusa was someone who met Mami in passing. Not her student."

"B-but that's not right," Mami says, shaking her head.

"Yeah," you say, slumping. You have to be careful here. You can't let Mami know about Michiru's Witching out, even though that's a key part of why you're going. Thankfully, you've got both Homura and Oriko to help guide the conversation. "To be honest... my knowledge of them is slightly suspect. I'm certain of the broad strokes of things, but specifics are questionable."

"I see," Oriko says, placing her palm flat on her lap. "And you choose to go despite my... warning?"

That gets Homura's attention. You'd guessed it would.

"Oriko, no offense, but you know my opinion on relying on your visions," you point out. Your lips quirk in amusement. "And besides, as you said: I defy them."

"None taken, and a fair point," Oriko allows.

"What was this warning?" Homura asks, voice tight.

"Just that, Miss Akemi," Oriko says. "I recommended that Miss Sabrina not go to Asunaro, due to the fact that based on what I saw, it is very messy."

"About that," you say, leaning forward. "I would like to know what happens there."

"Truth be told, it is hard to make sense of it, with my powers faded," Oriko says. "Your biggest foes there are Kanna Hijiri, Airi Anri and Jyuubey, should it come into existence. Do you know of them?"

"I do," you agree. "But wait, Jyuubey?"

"Jyuubey is a fake Incubator the Pleiades create as an attempt to replace Kyuubey," Oriko says, frowning.

Mami's sharp intake of breath doesn't slip past you. You smile at her, hugging her tightly. She quails, shrinking a little and pressing closer to you. "I'm- fine," she whispers, voice husky. "I'm fine."

"Alright," you whisper, but don't loosen your hug. "No, I know that, Oriko. Why would Jyuubey be my enemy? Though hopefully events don't even get to that point. And I need to know what you saw, because I need to try and compare."

"I am uncertain," Oriko says, frowning and rubbing at her temple. "It is emotional, and you are at odds with it." She sighs. "I apologise. I cannot see any clearer than that."

"Alright," you say. "The others?"

"Kanna Hijiri is a... mentally unstable girl," Oriko says. "I... I think she was created by a Wish? She is violent and resentful, and ruthlessly against the Pleiades Saints. She's able to flawlessly connect and synthesize other magical girl's abilities, and manipulates Airi into doing her bidding."

You nod, turning that over in your head. "That matches what I know," you agree. Unspoken is the caveat that what you know of them are their actions after Kazusa Witches out. "What are Airi's powers?"

"She summons ranged weapons," Oriko says. "Or creates them, I am uncertain."

Voting opens Jun 12, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Continue seeking advice
- [] Write-in specifics
[] Ask Mami to contact Kazusa
- [] What to say (to Mami or to Kazusa)
[] Who do you decide to go with?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Hey guys, @Redshirt Army has compiled a very nice summary and day planner of PMAS. It even has a potential Science list and character listings. Take a look here, and throw him likes for the hard work.

 

[Firnagzen]

You suck in a breath, turning that over. You're all but certain that that's not the be-all or end-all of Airi's powers. Frankly, you know she has more capabilities than that.

Though it does seem like Oriko saw a future where you don't intervene until much later and things have... degenerated considerably. Which is unfortunate, but hopefully means you have a chance of stepping in now to prevent things from ballooning.

Thoughts and plans start crystallising in your head, but before you can do anything, you need information.

"OK, OK," you say, rubbing your face. "Uh, right. First. Thank you very much, Oriko. Second, did you see Hijiri 'connecting' with the powers of any magical girls not from the Pleiades?"

Oriko frowns in perplexity. "I'm not sure I understand the question."

"Right," you say. "Sorry. Hijiri Kanna's powers, to my knowledge, are to 'connect' to magical girls, effectively copying their powers in such a way that she can synthesize them together. It's an utterly broken power with what she has available to her. It'd be worse if she can copy other people's powers."

Homura's expression goes utterly flat as she soaks in that tidbit.

"I see," Oriko says. "I'm afraid that I cannot give you a definitive answer, but no, not as far as I remember."

"Right," you say, thinking hard. "Uhh. Hm. OK, uh - Mami?" You turn to her, smiling warmly. "Would you be willing to help me contact Kazusa? I completely understand if you don't want to, and... it's alright to say no."

Mami swallows, meeting your eyes. She visibly steels herself, and nods. "I would," she says, managing a weak smile.

"Thank you, Mami," you say, giving her a smile and pulling her into a proper hug. You hold her for a few moments before separating to find that Kirika had apparently taken opportunity of the lull to migrate onto Oriko's lap.

The black haired girl winks at you.

"... right," you say. "Uh, Oriko, Kirika, while we do that, can I ask you to help me look up recent news of bomb threats in Asunaro?"

Kirika's face twists into an almost comical mask of confusion. "Uh, sure?"

"As far as I know, bomb threats are... kind of how the events really, ah, kick off in Asunaro," you explain.

"Ahhhh," Kirika says, bobbing her head with a look of wise comprehension. She looks to Oriko.

"Please," she says with a smile.

Homura relaxes a tiny fraction as Kirika hops to her feet, bouncing out of your little privacy field and disappearing upstairs. Her hand doesn't stray far from the rim of her shield, however. It hasn't moved from there throughout the entire conversation.

... small steps. It's not open hostility.

"Righty," you say, pushing yourself to your feet. Mami's arm slides limply off your waist, and she makes a tiny, protesting noise. You smile at her, grabbing your little Grief construct by the pedestal. "I'm going nowhere - just moving this."

You move the construct off to the side of the room, so that the sofa's out of range of the bubble, and then you retreat to the sofa to draw Mami into a hug. She clings to you, tucking herself under your arm and nestling close.

"Nope!" Kirika's voice yells from somewhere upstairs, preceding the black haired girl wandering downstairs with one arm cradling a laptop. "Got nothing on bomb threats."

"Kirika," Oriko chides gently. Kirika flushes, ducking her head as she hurries back to Oriko's side, plopping the laptop down on the table.

"Alright, excellent," you say. "Mami? Could you contact Kazusa? And include everyone?"

She swallows, visibly steeling herself.

"Hello? Miss Kazusa?" You can feel the connection going out, Homura, Oriko, and Kirika all listening in.

The response comes after a minute. "... Miss Tomoe?!" a bright, disbelievingly happy voice responds.

"Yes," she says, voice steady despite the tremor you can feel in her body. "I have- a friend who wants to talk to you."

"Never mind that, how are you?" Kazusa says. "I haven't heard from you in forever!"

Mami makes a quiet, broken noise and looks up at you. There's elation on her face, mingled with simple, open loss. She opens her mouth, as if to say something, but words fail her, and she shrinks against your side.

Voting is not closed.
[] Comfort Mami (default action)
[] Take over the conversation
- [] Write-in how
- [] What do you want to ask Kazusa?
[] Continued planning?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Short, mid-point update.

 

[Firnagzen]

"Talk to her," you murmur to Mami, smiling. You hesitate for a second, and boot Homura, Oriko, and Kirika from the mental conversation, mouthing 'sorry' to them.

Homura blinks very slowly at you, managing to look faintly nonplussed without actually changing her expression one iota. Kirika, on the other hand, just rolls her eyes and flashes you a thumbs up, while Oriko nods.

Kazusa seems to notice the booting, though. "Hey, who was that? Mami?"

"A-ah, some friends," Mami manages.

"Oh, that's great!" Kazusa says. She's bubbly. "All worried about you, I guess? Hm, is someone still there? Hi!"

"Hi!" you say. "I'm Sabrina, it's nice to meet you. Sorry, I hope you don't mind?"

"No, no, it's fine!" Kazusa says. Well, Michiru, to use her first name. "Miss Tomoe? Are you OK?"

Mami takes a deep, shuddering breath, and smiles. At you, not conveyed in that odd, barely-there impression over telepathy. "I think so," she says. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"It has!" Michiru agrees. "Oh! I have a proper team now, Miss Tomoe! We call ourselves the Pleiades Saints. I've taught them everything I learned from you."

"I've heard," Mami says, nodding. You clasp her hand between both of yours, giving her an encouraging smile. She's got this.

"Do you remember Kaoru and Umika?" Michiru enthuses. "They became magical girls, too! Umika is hoping to get her book published soon, she found an editor, and she says she wants to buy us a bigger house! Though... the three of us already live together, anyway, more or less."

"That's good," Mami says. "Was that the book you showed me a part of... last time?" Her expression falls a little.

"Ah, a different one," Michiru says, sounding proud. "Um, kind of? You know how she is about writing, she rewrote so much of it!"

"That's cool!" you say, trying to suppress the worry in your voice. As far as you know, Michiru Witches out on the day Umika's first book debuts, so that's your timeline. Then again, Michiru doesn't seem to show any strain of carrying too much Grief. "What's the book title? Maybe we could pick up a copy here."

"Oh, it isn't out yet!" Michiru says. "It will be soon, though, it's called The Sky of Seven Stars."

"Like the Pleiades constellation?" you ask, quirking an eyebrow.

"That's the idea!" Michiru replies. "Write what you know, Umika said."

"Sounds about right," you agree, smiling faintly. You check on Mami. She's listening avidly, soaking it all in despite the biting, tired grief on her face.

"Oh, Pleiades, like your group?" Mami asks.

"Yep! We have seven magical girls, Miss Tomoe, just like the constellation!" Michiru continues, picking up her thought from earlier. "They're all wonderful people, and I'm very lucky to know them."

You can hear the bright, cheerful smile accompanying the statement, for all that it sends your mind into overdrive. Four people. Asami Saki, Wakaba Mirai, Kanna Niko, Usagi Satomi, in addition to Kazusa Michiru herself, Misaki Umika, and Maki Kaoru. All present and accounted for, though is Nikon being on the team means that Hijiri Kanna is around, too.

Mami wilts, expression shattering. Of course, Michiru having a team is indirectly Mami's fault. And talking about a team wasn't ever going to be not a touchy subject, with how lonely Mami was, but... more magical girls that are her doing, more magical girls consigned to having their Souls ripped out to fight an endless war for their survivals.

Fuck that.

"That's an impressive group, Miss Kazusa." You pick up the slack, slowly stroking Mami's back in soothing circles. Her grip on your hand is almost crushing, knuckles bone white around yours. "How's hunting?"

"Eh? Oh, Miss Sabrina!" Michiru says, sounding bright and curious. If she's puzzled by you having effectively taken over the conversation, it doesn't show in her voice. "Ah, yes, are you Mami's new student?"

"I'm Mami's student, Mami's friend..." you say. But that's not enough, is it? It doesn't encapsulate your relationship. You blush. "Uh... Well. I'm Mami's."

"Ooh, like me and Umika and Kaoru," Michiru says. "I see! I'm glad."

"Yeah," you say, smiling at Mami's startled look. "I'm actually pretty new as a magical girl, even though I know a lot about the magical girl world."

Kirika flashes you a discreet thumbs up, which you ignore.

"Lucky!" Kazusa says. "And you have Miss Tomoe teaching you to help with the bits you don't know, too!"

"Yeah," you agree. "I really am pretty lucky." More than Kazusa knows, but there's no need to cram your spiel down her throat just yet.

And hey, it wasn't all luck, either.

"Hey, if you're Mami's student, and so am I, then you can call me sempai!" Kazusa says cheerfully.

"I- I have a team too, now," Mami says, her hand clamping down on yours, just a little more. You smile at her, gently brushing hair out of her face.

"Oh, that's great!" Kazusa says. "Oh, was that them listening in earlier? And Miss Sabrina?"

You smile encouragingly at Mami. She swallows hard, jaws working, before she shakes her head. You squeeze her hand back, gentle, but firm.

"Yeah, I'm part of the team," you say, nodding. "We only have four members proper, though."

"Oh, that sounds great!" Michiru says. "Four of you with the whole city to yourselves?"

That would be your cue to jump in, but... You eye Mami. She looks conflicted, a mix of simple elation and guilt and crushing regret. You exhale, and you release her hand so that you can hug her properly. It only takes a tiny effort to cleanse her Soul Gem, too, twists of Grief rippling free.

"Hello? Miss Tomoe? Are you OK?" Michiru says, sounding a little concerned.

Mami takes a deep, shuddering breath, looking up at you again. "I'm fine," she says. "J-just- it's been a while, Miss Kazusa."

"It has," Michiru says, voice softening. "It really would be nice to see you again, Miss Tomoe."

"Um... Sabrina?" Mami asks.

You squeeze her hand, watching as Oriko murmurs something to Kirika. The black haired girl bounces to her feet and off to the kitchen, irrepressibly energetic. Homura's eyes follow her. "Yeah, we're actually planning a trip sometime, if that works for you?"

"Oh, that would be wonderful," Michiru says. "I now know how hard it is to leave your city behind, though! Maybe I could come over instead? I'll bring Umika and Kaoru with me!"

You blink. That could actually solve a fair number of problems - like sidestepping Oriko's rather dire warnings. And with Michiru explicitly bringing Umika on a friendly visit, that would mean presumably that you don't need to test your possible resistance against mind control or anything.

Are there downsides? Maybe if there's something specific to Asunaro city that you need, like the anti-Kyuubey barrier or Jyuubey. But without Michiru Witching out, and hopefully she won't, they wouldn't exist yet, maybe. And Oriko and Kirika wouldn't get to go out.

Mami gives you a look you can best describe as conflicted - longing and terror at the same time.

"Oh, can Mitakihara support another three magical girls, though?" Michiru continues, blithely ignorant of your churning thoughts.

... On the other hand, she's practically handing you the perfect opening.

You smile at Mami, still stroking her back slowly, and you nod a little. If it's at all possible. "Actually, Miss Kazusa, if I may divert the topic a little to answer your question?"

"Sure?" Michiru says.

"I control Grief," you say. "I can cleanse Soul Gems."

"Really? That's amazing!" Michiru says, voice brimming with excitement.

"She is," Mami murmurs. "W-would you like to come and visit?"

"Or would it be easier for us to go over and visit you?" you offer. "I can actually move a few people very fast. I think I might be supersonic, but I'm not sure."

Angel of Grief, that's you. Heh. Then again, Sayaka probably makes the better angel. Mikiel or some such, perhaps.

"Wow," Michiru breathes, sounding awed. "Um, I'm not sure? It sounds like it would be easier for you to come over, but I'd love to see Mitakihara..."

"Mami?" you prompt gently, smiling at her. Kirika returns from the kitchen with a plate of cookies, plonking it down on the middle of the coffee table before collecting a handful which she proceeds to stuff her face with, offering some to Oriko.

"Maybe... maybe you could come over first? And then we travel to Asunaro after that?" Mami suggests hesitantly, looking to you worriedly.

You smile at Mami and shift to hug her a little tighter, over Michiru's excited agreement. It would solve some issues. Not all, like school, but-

Speaking of school, you should ask.

"Actually, before we plan more, I should ask - Miss Kazusa, do you go to school?" you say, considering getting some of the cookies. But then, that would mean leaving Mami's side, and... not now. Besides, you have an odd craving for chips right now. "Uh, well, I don't."

"Oh, a delinquent!" Michiru says. "How exciting!"

"Sabrina is not a delinquent!" Mami says sharply.

"Eh? Oh no no no! I didn't mean it that way!" Kazusa says, shaking her head. "I mean- I'm a delinquent too. I don't go to school, being a magical girl takes up too much time!"

Mami's shoulders sag a little.

Voting opens Jun 19, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] When do you want to visit?
-[] Let Michiru come over first
-[] Let Michiru know it might be more than just Mami and Sabrina visiting.
-[] Leave decision to the group
[] Discuss who's going to Asunaro
-[] Explain Hijiri's memory/mind magics
-[] Push for...
--[] Kirika and Oriko, as counters to mind magic
--[] Homura, because she should know
--[] Mami, because Mami
--[] Sayaka
--[] Masami and Hiroko
--[] Megane Ono
-[] Leave decision to the group
[] Ask Kirika for anti-magic enchantments
[] Say goodbye to the Kures
-[] Ask Homura to chat
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

For the record, Kazusa uses "Mami-san" to address Mami, and "Sabrina-san" for you. 'Translation' convention.

Also, I feel like I should point out that while the Pleiades cluster is known as the Seven Sisters, there are nine readily visible stars - the Seven Sisters and two parents.

 

[Firnagzen]

Your paranoia jumps a notch. You can't help it, knowing what you know: Michiru Witches out on the day Umika's book debuts. To great acclaim, even, considering that you know Umika was in fact able to buy that house she promised Michiru and Kaoru.

There's a kind of awful, poignant tragedy to that, isn't there?

Well. You reject that.

Some part of you wants to go there now, now, now. You have impressions of Michiru Wishing her grandmother would be able to spend a day with her before she died, and you have memories of Michiru seeming perfectly fine up until she Witched out. Your memories might not be entirely accurate, but it's worrying enough to make you fret.

"Hello? Miss Sabrina? Miss Tomoe?" Michiru asks, sounding slightly concerned.

"Uh," you say, squeezing Mami's hand and making a quick, snap decision. "Give us a moment, Miss Kazusa?"

"Ah, of course?" Michiru says.

"Thanks," you say. You leave the connection, but speak out loud. "Mami?"

"Y-yes?" she says, licking her lips. "S-sorry I'm so..."

"No. You've done nothing wrong, Mami, don't apologise," you say, brushing her hair back and smiling at her. You reach out via telepathy at the same time, hooking in Homura, Oriko, and Kirika. "It's going alright, just need to discuss a bit. I'll fill you in in a bit?"

"I understand," Oriko says, sipping at her tea with unruffled calm. Homura eyes Oriko for a second before biting out a curt, "Understood."

"A-alright," Mami whispers. You hold her gaze with yours for a minute, smiling gently until the knot of worry written in the frown and her downturned mouth eases a little.

"Better?" you say.

She nods, managing a little smile. "It's just- hard."

"I..." you trail off. You want to say you understand, but truthfully, you don't. You don't understand how Mami feels, even if, perhaps, you can speculate and you can guess. Michiru would have been an amazing friend to Mami, but they'd met purely by chance. Michiru couldn't leave Asunaro, and Mami couldn't leave Mitakihara.

And so Mami must have pasted on the best smile she could, and... left. Because she couldn't settle for 'so close and yet so far'. It'd only have been a bitter reminder.

And here you are. Talking once more to Michiru, who's bright and eager and cheerful and more than willing to rekindle their friendship. What-could-have-beens abound, and regret isn't the best of flavours to mix with anything.

You exhale slowly, gathering your thoughts. Honesty is the best policy, right? "I don't understand how you feel," you say quietly. "I can't, because I'm not in your position. But I'm here, Mami, and you have my unconditional support. And not just me. You're not alone any more. Alright?"

Mami takes a shuddering breath, and smiles at you. "I- I know," she whispers. "I can- I can do this. A-and... Thank you, Sabrina." Her lips move silently for a second, but she shakes her head, still smiling at you.

"OK," you say, giving her a warm, affectionate grin. That's your Mami. It's slow, but she is recovering. "Then... I need advice, Mami?"

"What about?" Mami asks.

"I'm a little concerned about Miss Kazusa," you say very carefully. "I- I have reason to believe she's running low on Grief Seeds, but she's hiding it. Seven magical girls is a lot for one city, isn't it?"

The lines around Mami's eyes tighten. "Y-yeah," she says. "Asunaro isn't that big, either. Not like Mitakihara. And- I- I did get that impression, too."

"Kazusa Michiru is running out of Grief Seeds?" Oriko asks sharply, a frown on her face. You have Homura's full attention, too, violet eyes boring into the side of your head.

Kirika just seems slightly bored.

"And- actually, I'm uncertain. Mami, do you know what her powers are?" you ask.

"Um... Her powers are, um, real illusions?" Mami says, brows knitting. "She uses her abilities to imitate things, but they aren't really... real copies. It's not like Sayaka's magic."

You frown, nodding as you turn that thought over a few times. That seems to fit what you know. "Then... Is it possible that she's hiding how low she's running on Grief Seeds?"

"It's- it's possible," Mami says, looking increasingly worried.

"Then I suppose it's a good thing we checked in on her now..." You say, heaving a sigh. "Right. I want to bring it up with her, but I'm afraid of making her defensive, or clamming up. Mami, what would you recommend?"

"Maybe..." Mami bites her lip. "She's a terrible liar, if you ask her directly. Maybe that could work?"

"Would she be upset?" you ask.

Mami shakes her head. "I don't think so."

"I'll ask her, then," you say. "Or- hm, I could come at it obliquely. Offer her a Clear Seed, and ask if she has one to spare that I could use?"

"That would work," Mami says, brightening a little.

"You worry too much," Kirika opines, sitting up and snagging another cookie from the plate. "You're worried, right? Just ask her."

"I don't want to call her out just like that," you say, shrugging. "Anyway, back to it... Um. Again, sorry to leave you guys out, I'll hook you in in a few?"

"That would be acceptable," Oriko agrees.

Homura nods, jaw tight.

You smile at them, and return to the telepathic call - still just you, Mami, and Michiru. "Sorry about that, Miss Kazusa, just had to discuss a few things."

"Oh no, not at all," Michiru responds brightly. "Is everything alright?"

You squeeze Mami's hand, giving her a smile and giving her the opportunity to respond.

"Yes, everything is alright," Mami agrees, voice steady even as her hand tightens on yours. "I'm sorry to hear that you had to leave your- your normal life behind."

"It's not a big deal," Michiru dismisses it. "Protecting innocent people is more important, anyway!"

"It is," Mami agrees, swallowing. You hug her a little tighter.

"Yeah, I can agree with that," you add. "And... well. I can agree with the pressure of having a magical girl career, if you could call it that."

Michiru giggles abruptly. "'Career', I like that."

"Hah, glad you like it," you say. "I mean, I'm not in school and I feel like I don't have enough time in a day."

"I know," Michiru groans. "I don't know how you do it, Miss Tomoe."

"Sabrina helps," Mami says, giving you a warm, adoring smile.

"I'll bet," Michiru agrees with a laugh. "Being able to cleanse Soul Gems must be amazing."

"It's great, yeah," you agree. "And that works as a segue for me - Miss Kazusa, so, uh, to drag the topic back a bit, yeah, Mitakihara can easily support as many of your group as you'd like to bring over. And actually, I wanna make an offer... two offers. First, um - I definitely know how hard magical girl life is. I have a sort of solution to it, though."

"Oh?" Michiru says.

"Yeah," you say. "One of the things I've discovered about my powers is that I can control grief, including what's inside a Grief Seed - I can simply drain out all the Grief. I wind up with what I call a Clear Seed - and you can cleanse with it for years, at an estimate."

"Wow," Michiru breathes. "That's amazing."

"Like you said, I got lucky with my powers, right?" you say. "But, um, the offer I want to make is: I'm handing these out. They're prototypes, and I don't know if there are any issues down the road with them, but- do you want one? It's free."

"Yes!" Michiru squeaks. "Um- yes, please, if it isn't too much trouble?"

"Alright, then... are you up for visiting tomorrow?" you say. Mami swallows, shrinking a little, but she doesn't pull away. "Hm... bring a spare Grief Seed, if you have one?"

"Oh, tomorrow?" Michiru says, sounding startled. "Um, um, it's a bit short notice?"

"Well, I can ferry you over," you say. "I can move really fast."

"Um... Let me check with Umika and Kaoru!" Michiru says.

"Alright, I'll check with my friends, too, and hey, you know it doesn't have to be just three of you, right? You're all welcome to come over," you say.

"I know, but we can't all leave the city defenceless, silly!" Michiru says brightly. "Besides, you can come over afterwards and meet us all."

"Oh, that makes sense. Right. Let me know when you're done," you say. "Oh, hey- do you have a Grief Seed you can spare? I'll return it as a Clear Seed, of course, or I can go and hunt one down over here," you say.

"Oh, ah- sorry Kaor- uwa, I'm getting mixed up-" Michiru trails off into incoherence for a second before audibly wrenching herself back on topic. "Um, we can bring a Grief Seed, sorry, just one second-"

"She seems a bit scattered," you observe to Mami, swallowing a giggle.

"She always was," Mami says, shaking her head.

"Anyway," you say, smiling at your other friends. "Alright, so here's what's happened- actually, lemme grab Sayaka, too, since she should know. Um, Oriko, Kirika, try not to provoke her?"

"Naturally," Oriko says, tone utterly dry.

You nod, and reach out by telepathy to grab Sayaka. You let her know what's happening, and then start a second mental conversation to include everyone. "Alright, everyone here?"

You get confirmations from everyone - Mami, Homura, Oriko, Kirika, and Sayaka. "Alright, so, to summarize, we're in touch with Kazusa Michiru, from Asunaro. She's one of Mami's old students." You pause, squeezing Mami a little with the arm around her waist to make sure she's alright. "Mami and I think she's running low on Grief Seeds, and my original plan was to visit her tomorrow. I wasn't actually sure who should go, but she had her own idea, to come visit Mitakihara."

"Hunh, cool," Sayaka says. "Why doesn't that happen more often?"

"What, visiting?" you say. "Mostly because meguca are territorial. But does anyone have any objections to Mitakihara hosting a few more meguca for... actually, I'm not sure if it's just a day visit or not."

"Where're they gonna stay?" Sayaka asks.

"I'm not sure," you say. They could stay at the Kure's, or at home with you and Mami.

"Our guest room would be a bit cramped with three people," Mami notes.

"It would be possible for them to stay here," Oriko says. "There is plenty of room."

The telepathic conversation goes silent for a second, and you can practically feel the dislike radiating off both Homura and Sayaka.

Heh. Homura and Sayaka, united for once by dislike of a mutual foe.

"We'll... sort that out," you say. Oriko's warehouse is also a possibility, though that one mattress might be a problem.

"Eh, good enough for me," Sayaka says. "Anything else?"

"One thing, actually, rain-check on a conversation... uh... tomorrow, probably? Maybe tonight. I'm juggling too many things," you say.

Homura meets your eyes, and you nod. You haven't forgotten the conversation with her, either.

"Sure?" Sayaka says. You can feel the shrug. "You know you can just chat with me without having to schedule an appointment, right?"

You snort, amused. "A good point, well made," you say. "Anyway, later!"

"Later!" Sayaka says.

To be honest, you didn't really expect objections on that. None of your friends would object to friendly visitors from out of town, you don't think, but it's still good to check with them. You are trying not to run roughshod over them, after all.

Mami seems to have cheered up a little, cuddling into your side with a happy sigh. Not to be outdone, Kirika's also wrapped around Oriko, the silver-haired girl pulling her close with her good arm. Barring the wire-taut wariness cording through her body, Homura just looks faintly annoyed.

"Um, it should be fine!" Michiru responds at last.

"Alright!" you say. "When is good? As I said, I'll come over and pick you up. Um... Mami, would you like to come along?"

"I- I have school," she says, looking torn.

"... how about I go over there at, say, eleven, pick you up, and be back in time to meet up for lunchtime?" you hazard. "Would that work?"

"That works for me!" Michiru says.

"That-" Mami swallows. "That would work."

You stroke your thumb slowly across the back of Mami's hand, shifting so that she can nestle a little closer. "Then tomorrow it is," you say. "Just three of you? We'll need to figure out where you can stay."

"Kaoru, Umika, and me!" Michiru chirps. "Uhm, we're happy to stay anywhere as long as it isn't too much trouble."

"Alright, noted," you agree. "Hm... how long do you plan to stay?"

"Um... maybe a day or two?" Michiru says, sounding uncertain. "How long is alright?"

You fight the urge to shrug. You'd look rather silly to Homura, Oriko, and Kirika, who aren't privy to the conversation. "Mami?"

She swallows hard. You can feel the faint tremor in her hand, and you hold her tight. You're not letting go. "A-as long as you want?"

"Oh! A day or two, then?" Michiru says.

"We're flexible, so... yeah?" you say, smiling at Mami.

"OK! Then tomorrow!" Michiru says. "Um... I need to go and tell my friends! Is there anything else?"

"Hm... if you're coming over for lunch, would you like us to prepare something?" you ask.

"Lunch swap!" Michiru says decisively. "I'll cook something, and you cook something."

"Sounds good," you say.

Mami smiles, a little. "I'd like that," she says.

"Then it's decided," you say.

"Alright~" Michiru agrees. "Anyway, I have to go now. Bye! It was great talking to you again, Miss Tomoe."

"It was," Mami agrees, making a quiet, inarticulate noise and burrowing into your side again.

"Bye!" you say, and close the connection. You sigh, and sit back, closing your eyes for a second. That was a rollercoaster of a chat.

Voting opens Jun 23, 2017 at 10:00 PM
[] Restore privacy field
[] Discuss...
- [] Tomorrow's visit
- [] Metaknowledge about Kazumi Magica1​
[] Look for Scrabble set
[] Talk to Homura
- [] Specify?
[] Have dinner
- [] Head home
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

1​Keep in mind that a good deal of the plot revolves around Michiru having Witched out.

 

[Firnagzen]

Your eyes spring open a moment later as you turn to what's important: Mami. You smile at her, giving her a warm, reassuring hug as she curls up on herself, pulling her legs up to her chest in a tight, worried little ball.

Regret is a bitter, bitter dish.

"Mami, it'll be fine," you murmur, wrapping both arms around her and hugging her tight.

She sighs, pressing against you. "I... I know," she whispers, taking a shuddering breath. "I don't... Did I do alright, Sabrina?"

You swallow hard, gratitude welling up. "More than," you say. "I- I'm sorry I made you do that."

"N-no," Mami says, shaking her head. "You didn't force me, I just- it's hard. I haven't seen her in a year, and I told myself she was just like the others, but she wasn't, that just made it easier but it wasn't true and I could have done more, but-"

"It's in the past," you whisper, stroking her back slowly. "And you'll see her again soon enough, right?"

"Y-yeah," Mami says. She huddles closer to you, curled up small and tight. "Thank you, Sabrina, I-I- you've done s-so much for me."

"Anything," you say.

You catch a faint sigh, just barely on the cusp of audibility. Not a sigh of frustration, no, but you somehow recognise Kirika's voice in that sigh.

... she probably thinks it's romantic.

Which you suppose it is, but it's simple truth. You care about the girl you're holding in your arms. You care about Mami.

It takes a minute for Mami to pull herself together. She doesn't move away from you, but she does uncurl to set her feet on the ground, nestling closer into your side. She opens her mouth, lips shaping the first syllables of an apology to you, before she shakes her head, smiling weakly at you.

Instead, she turns her attention to the others. "I apologise, Homura, Miss Mikuni, Miss Kure," she says. "I didn't mean for my emotions to get the better of me like that."

"Quite understandable," Oriko says, motioning as if to brush away a fly.

Kirika's eyes all but sparkle as she grins at you. Homura just shrugs, murmuring a quiet, "It's fine."

You beam at Mami, proud and happy. She's learning to pull herself together.

"OK. Shall we continue?" you say, already pulling at the privacy construct with your mind. You bring it back properly with the assent of your friends, floating the little circlet over and setting it down on the table with a bare thought.

"What happened?" Homura asks, violet eyes sharp the moment you're all enclosed by the hazy boundary of your privacy field.

"Yeah, uh," you say, freeing one hand from the hug to rub at your nose. "Sorry about booting everyone from the conversation like that. That was... it was an entirely different situation from what I'd expected, to be honest. So I had to, uh, reprioritise."

"That's fine," Homura says, nodding sharply. "Did you..." She trails off with a lightning fast glance at Mami, then back at you. "How are they?"

You free a few marbles of Grief from your bag with a thought, collecting Mami's teacup from the table and floating it over to her. She takes it with a grateful smile.

"As I said, I think they're strapped for Grief Seeds," you say. "At least, that's the impression I get."

"And possibly hiding it," Oriko notes.

"Yeah," you say. "From what I... know, she's the kind of person who would give Grief Seeds to her friends over herself."

"I think so," Mami says, nodding slowly. "I never... I never knew her that well."

You hug Mami a little tighter. You wish you could show her how much you appreciate her offering her advice, her opinion, even though you know it must be painful for her.

"I see," Oriko says, a speculative, thoughtful look in her eyes. She's putting the pieces together, you think, and judging from the way Homura's eyes narrow in thought, she's not far behind, either.

"Yeah," you say. "From what I know, a few... let's call them villains... move in pretty soon. Again, this should be considered somewhat speculative, because my knowledge about them seems to be a little disparate. But it's something to go on."

"Much like my visions when you are involved," Oriko says with an amused smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

Of course, that draws Homura's attention back to her, the wire-taut coil of the muscles in her neck tightening. Poor girl probably needs a massage for the stress, preferably from Madoka.

"Villains?" Kirika prompts, pulling her legs up to sit crosslegged on the sofa.

"Eh," you say, wobbling your hands. "Maybe that was a bad word for it. Antagonists, maybe. But yes: Yuuri, or Anri Airi, and Hijiri Kanna. And the Soujus, I suppose. Yuuri is... complicated. There was a girl, Asuka Yuuri, who made a Wish to cure her dying friend, Anri Airi. Yuuri later-" Witches out "-dies, and blaming the Pleiades Saints, Anri makes a Wish to become Yuuri."

"And uses her powers to attacks the Pleiades," Oriko asks, less a question and more a confirmation.

"For revenge, yes," you agree. Mami sips her tea, eyes wide as she listens.

"What are her powers?" Homura asks.

You fidget with your hair, tucking that perpetually messy lock behind your ear. "I'm not entirely certain," you admit. "From what I know, she can summon a giant bull, some magic guns, a magic barrier thing, and an explosion which might have been a mine of some kind? And perfectly imitating the appearance of another person."

"That does not tally with what I saw," Oriko says, frowning. "The imitation, yes. The bull... yes. She did not so much summon it as grow them? She did not use the barrier, or the explosion. She did use guns, yes, though I hazard that those are her weapons."

"Right," you say, scowling. "She grew the bull, you said?"

"Like some kind of... biological matter manipulation, perhaps," Oriko says, shrugging with one shoulder. "I am uncertain."

"Would kind of tally, I suppose," you agree. "Yuuri -the original one- had -has?- healing powers. So if Anri Wishes to be like her..."

Oriko shakes her head, looking uncertain.

"When does this happen?" Homura asks, grimacing. "Can we prevent it?"

"Unfortunately... I don't really know exactly when she makes that Wish," you admit. "It may already have happened."

Homura nods sharply, folding her arms. "And the other magical girls?"

"Kanna Hijiri... Truth be told, she is behind much of the insanity that I hope to derail. Among other things, she can create these things she calls Evil Nuts, which can turn normal humans into fake Witches," you say, grimacing unhappily. It's a little closer to the fact that Witches come from magical girls than you'd like, but you want everyone, even Mami, informed.

"That's horrible," Mami whispers, clutching at your arm.

"I know, right?" you say, trying to inject some humour into your voice. "'Evil Nuts'. It sounds awful in English. I propose we call them 'Asunaro Almonds' instead."

Kirika laughs, clapping her hands. "I like it! Seconded, motion passes."

The laughter falls rather flat, though. It is a horrific specter of a power to have looming over you.

Oriko nods, deep frown knotting her eyebrows. "Then you will need to be careful."

"I intend to," you agree. "Her powers are connection. She can 'connect' to other magical girls and combine their powers... I think she may only be able to do that to the Pleiades, because that was her Wish. Uh. Her story is rather weird, and unfortunately it's already started, I think."

You blow out a hard breath, hugging Mami tight as you gather your thoughts. "Hijiri Kanna is a clone of Kanna Niko, created by her Wish. For some reason, Kanna Niko Wished for a clone of herself who was innocent and knew nothing of the fighting and suffering. When Hijiri finds out, she, uh, kind of snaps and swears revenge."

"That's stupid," Kirika notes.

"I know," you groan. "I just- good grief, it's just so dumb. She doesn't feel human, and wants to wipe out humans and replace them with artificial ones or something like that. I hope this is a part that my knowledge gets wrong, because this is literally a video game enemy motivation."

"I think I've played that before," Kirika agrees.

"Nnnnrgh," you grumble, rubbing your face. "I just- ugh. Asunaro is a mess, your warnings aside, Oriko."

"I... admit, your knowledge there seems more complete than my visions," Oriko admits. "I was rather focused on local events. You mentioned the Soujus too?"

"Yeah," you agree, eyeing Homura. "You predicted them arriving in Mitakihara sometime this week, as I recall, but... bleh. I don't really know much about them. They're twins, I think, or maybe a split personality or something. Two Soul Gems, one body, fire and ice powers. And they collect Soul Gems."

"They collect Soul Gems?" Homura asks, a trace of incredulity in her voice.

"Yep," you confirm. "They steal girls' Soul Gems."

"That matches what I saw," Oriko agrees, frowning. "They come by Mitakihara targeting you, barring your intended interference. They seemed to be able to combine their powers into a channelled attack?"

Mami's grip tightens on your arm, and you smile at her. "Forewarned is forearmed," you tell her, reassuring and warm. "She won't get me."

Mami swallows, looking up at you. "Beat her into the ground," she whispers. "That- they sound like monstrous people. If they come here, we'll crush them."

"Yeah!" Kirika agrees, pumping her fist. "Kick their asses... Hm. Kick their ass? They only have one, after all."

"I like to think the best of people, but they do it knowing what Soul Gems are. It's not exactly excusable," you say.

Mami nods firmly in agreement. Her hand finds yours, interlacing your fingers.

"Three threats to watch out for," Homura says, expression grim. "In addition to Kazusa running out of Grief Seeds."

"The latter of which I hope to resolve tomorrow, yeah," you say, smiling faintly. "It's one thing I'm uniquely suited to doing."

"Understood," Homura says. "Is there anything else important due to happen at Asunaro?"

"Not as far as I saw," Oriko says, shaking her head. Homura stiffens, muscle jumping along her jaw. "But the memories of the vision have... slipped, with the loss of my powers."

"Damn," you sigh. "Was hoping you might have more insight, really. I appreciate what you were able to tell me, though."

"Do these events happen because the Pleiades Saints are weakened?" Homura asks, frown deepening.

"Yeah, essentially," you say. "That's not going to happen, but basically, Hijiri manipulates both Yuuri and the Soujus into fighting them, and then takes advantage to have her revenge. Not completely successfully, mind you, but..."

Homura nods, processing that. You all fall silent for a while, wrapped up in your own thoughts. You stroke Mami's hair absently as you consider the utter mess you're about to embroil yourself in. Your mind drifts to another snippet of knowledge - of the magical girl named Tart, better known to the world as Joan of Arc. And perhaps Walpurgisnacht.

On the other hand, for some reason that makes you think of Homura hairflipping at Walpurgisnacht and confusing her so much that the giant Witch leaves in a huff. It's a nice image, but you doubt things will be that easy.

You sigh. It's getting later, and you should be going. "I apologise for the doom and gloom," you say. "If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave?"

"You're welcome to stay longer, but no, I don't have anything," Oriko answers. Kirika shrugs, flashing you a grin as she wraps herself around the seer.

"Then... I guess we'll be going now," you say, levering yourself to your feet. Mami clings to you as you stand, rising alongside you and refusing to let go of your hand - not that you really would, anyway.

Oriko and Kirika see you off at the back door, Kirika waving brightly at you as she pulls the glass shut. Finally, the three of you are left standing in the garden as you feel Oriko and Kirika retreating further into the mansion.

You smile at Mami, pulling her into a tight, tight hug. "You did great," you whisper into her ear. "And I promise I'll do my best."

"Alright," Mami whispers, all but collapsing into the hug.

You hold her tight for a minute, before stepping back. You meet her soft, golden eyes. "Better?"

She nods, smiling at you.

"Good," you say, sliding one arm around her waist and turning to Homura, who's standing stock still, facing away. You can't help but feel grateful for her giving you your privacy. "Thanks for being patient, Homura."

"It was no problem," Homura murmurs. "I should go."

"Wait- Homura, I can offer you a lift, and, um, could I talk to you?" you ask.

Homura nods, reaching for her shield with a questioning look.

You nod, and turn once more to Mami. "I'll be just a second, alright?" you whisper, smiling.

Mami swallows, and nods. "Alright."

You hug her again, smiling at her. "I'll always come back to you."

You separate, and hold your hand out to Homura. She reaches for the edge of her shield and cra-

-nks it across. Her hand's warm on your wrist, and the stress lines around her eyes are considerably lighter, here in the safety of the frozen world.

Voting opens Jun 28, 2017 at 1:00 PM
[] Talk to Homura
- [] Making up for your mistakes
- [] Sensitive topics about Asunaro
- [] Write-in specifics
[] Go for dinner with Mami
[] Head home
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Here we are.

 

[Firnagzen]

Homura stares at you, waiting for you to explain.

Mami's important. But that doesn't mean Homura isn't, too. It doesn't mean any of your friends, anybody else, isn't. What was it you'd thought all that time ago? Save the world, save one girl - what's the difference? In some ways, you think that might be your purpose, if you have one. If Madoka's Wish caused you to spring into existence.

Here and now, you focus on Homura, and you smile at her.

"Homura, thank you. Just... thank you so much, Homura," you say, tugging lightly on her wrist. "For putting up with me, for your patience with me and Oriko and the whole Asunaro thing."

Homura's eyes slant away from you, glancing down. "It's not a problem."

"No, I mean it, Homura," you say. "I mean every word of it, from the depths of my heart: thank you. I know how much you hate them. I can only imagine how much you have to put up with me and my demands. So thank you, Homura."

"You're welcome," she murmurs, eyes flicking back up to you.

"Can I give you a hug?" you ask, raising your free arm a little.

She doesn't answer verbally, but she does raise her free arm, just a little, just far enough for you to step in and hug her tight. You can feel how tense she is, tension humming in her still-too-thin frame.

It takes a moment for her to relax, even the slightest bit. Corded, wire-taut muscle eases just a little, and her head sags forward against your shoulder.

"It'll be alright," you whisper.

She sighs, arms hanging limply at your side as you hug her, and you release her after a moment, keeping your hand on her wrist.

"How has your day been?" you ask. "You spent a good chunk of it with Madoka and Sayaka, how was it?"

"It was- good," Homura allows. Her lips compress for a second, eyes distant. "Miki Sayaka has been... less annoying than she usually is."

"She Wished good," you say, grinning at the faint consternation in her voice. "And she has a good impression of you, now."

"That's good," Homura says, quiet and toneless. "Useful, if she makes it."

You bite back a sigh. You can understand why she thinks that way, how that mindset carved itself into her mind over the years she looped, but even so. "She'll make it," you say. "I'm not perfect, I admit. I'm sorry... I'm sorry for the mistake I made."

"It's done," Homura says, looking down. Her expression is very, very tired all of a sudden. "I understand the mistake."

"No, I- Homura, look at me?" you ask. She does, reluctantly, lifting worn amethyst eyes to meet your gaze. "I promise to do better. It was a slip up, but Homura, I'm with you. I want to beat Walpurgisnacht, I want to help you, and Madoka, and Mami, and everyone else. I promise."

"I know," Homura says, eyes sliding away from yours again. "I- I believe you."

"Alright," you say, and pull her into another brief hug, patting her gently on the back. Releasing her, you give her another smile. "How was your day, otherwise?"

"Madoka is- safe. Happy," Homura says. "She- she settled down, after the... revelation. Miki Sayaka talked to her, and they- they asked me for reassurance. I told them it would be fine."

"Good," you say, squeezing her wrist. Hope. Hope. Maybe the most valuable thing you can supply.

If someone tells me it's wrong to hope, I'll tell them they're wrong every time.

It's a rush of relief, because despite everything, Homura still has that spark, however tiny it might be.

"You weren't lying to her," you whisper. And perhaps there's a touch of urgency in your voice, because you want her to believe, too. "We're gonna do this, come what may."

She sighs, looking away once more.

"Did anything else happen?" you prompt.

The only answer is a slight shrug. "Nothing much."

"OK. I hope you had a nice afternoon, at least," you say, smiling at her.

She nods once, short and sharp. Her jaw works silently for a second, so you let her think and wrestle with whatever thought she might have. Finally, she speaks.

"Do you... do you really think the Asunaro girls can reverse Witching?" Homura asks.

"I... Hm," you say, frowning. "I'm not absolutely sure. Truthfully, all the madness stems from Kazusa Witching out. They take her Grief Seed, and with it, they grow a clone that has her memories. It... doesn't work, until they create a clone that doesn't have her memories. The same personality, but..."

You trail off. You'd glossed over the fact that according to your memories-that-never-were, the first few clones inevitably went berserk.

"Then..." Homura's voice is questioning.

"That isn't the whole story, this time," you say. "True, they don't have the same, ah, motivation. But this time, we have Rionna Mag Aoidh, and her magic is about the Soul. And we've got me - I can fuel their experiments indefinitely. So I'm confident we can at least equal that success."

Homura nods slowly. "Then they don't know that magical girls turn into Witches yet?"

"Eh," you say. "I'm not sure. Probably not? That... isn't the biggest worry, I suppose."

What is a worry is telling Mami. You haven't told her, and you're worried about her reaction, but... you don't like not telling her, either. It's a sword hanging over your head, one that could be brought down with crushing force by Kyuubey or even simple misfortune.

"I see." Homura nods again.

"I'm optimistic about it. It's something utterly new, and I think we've got good chances," you say, beaming at her. You might be repeating yourself, but you want to hammer it in as much for your own sake as hers. You've got something new. "But... enough about that. How are you?"

"I am- I am fine," Homura sighs, hesitating for a second. "Worried."

"Oh?" you prompt gently.

She grimaces, but doesn't say anything more.

"We'll be fine, Homura," you say. "I promise. I can't promise not to make mistakes - I'm not perfect, as much as I wish I were. And hey, I already blew my Wish, so I can't Wish for that, right?"

You grin at her, trying to get her to smile, even just a bit. You let it fade a few moments later, though. "I'm with you, Homura. Every step of the way. I can only imagine what it's like, but... I think we can."

"I know," she sighs. "It's just hard."

"I know," you say. "Even so."

She shrugs, the barest rise and fall of her shoulders.

"Hm... Speaking of supporting you, hey- when are you going to do that supply run again?" you ask. You're probably not going to get much more out of her on that particular topic.

"This week," Homura says. "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking we could go anytime, really," you say. "Now, if you want to."

She blinks very slowly at you, looking faintly nonplussed. It's a talent, the way she can convey emotions without actually changing her expression from that perennially blank poker face.

"... I suppose that won't be necessary?" you venture.

A nearly imperceptible narrowing of her eyes sharpens her gaze to an unamused glare.

You snicker, grinning at her. "Fine, fine," you say. "But really, feel free to pick me up any time for the trip, yeah? If you want, anyway."

"I will," Homura agrees.

"Alright, I- hm, do you want to sit down? I feel a bit silly just standing here," you say, waving your free hand at the bench.

Homura shrugs, and obligingly starts in the direction of said bench. You follow, and the both of you sit down - the wrought iron frame is cold to your back. You can just see Mami, frozen in grey hues with that gentle, patient smile on her face and hands clasped in front of her.

It's a little uncomfortable, seeing her like that. Just stuck. It won't be for long, though.

"How are you?" Homura broaches the silence after a moment, stirring you from your thoughts.

Your eyebrows arch high in surprise, and you grin at her. "I'm... mmm, I'm a little stressed, I guess," you say. "Just lots to do, you know? But I'm coping just fine. Thank you for asking."

Homura nods, following silent again. She relaxes a little, leaning back against the bench.

"Well... here's a thought that's been bouncing about my head for a while," you say slowly. "Let me preface it by saying that I'm... mmm, I'm even less sure about this than I am about the whole mess in Asunaro."

Homura glances at you, a questioning tilt to her head.

"I think I might..." you say, and trail off. You want to tell Homura about Tart, better known to the world at large as Jeanne d'Arc. Joan of Arc, and maybe, just maybe, known to Homura as Walpurgisnacht.

Tart, whose huge potential fuels overwhelmingly powerful defensive magic, flying a panoply of gear motifs. Whose costume flares wide, trimmed with frills that resemble Walpurgisnacht's upside-down skirt. Whose dear friend Riz Hawkwood is Homura to Tart's Madoka, who has shadow teleportation, and who isn't there when Tart is burned at stake. Who might Witch out in helpless despair, her Witch joining with Tart's to form the budding super-Witch.

You want to tell Homura. It might be useful, because if you can confirm it, then perhaps you know why Walpurgisnacht comes to Mitakihara. Homura to Tart's Madoka. If you're right, maybe you should be saying "Riz to Madoka's Tart" instead.

But...

You're not sure you should do that. It might be useful, yes, but...

If you're right, then Walpurgisnacht arrives at Mitakihara seeking Madoka and Homura. Because their story resonates. What better tragedy for the stage-constructing Witch with helpless nature than to watch a pair so similar to themselves be torn apart?

It isn't something you want Homura to hear, off-handed, like this.

"Sabrina?" Homura asks, glancing at you.

You blow out a breath, and force a smile onto your face. "It's a passing thought," you say. "But it's... mm, it's something I think I'll put off for now. And besides, it was just a hypothesis, anyway."

"Alright," Homura says, frowning but letting it go.

You blow out a breath, puffing your cheeks out as you exhale. "Well... moving on, do you have any plans for Walpurgisnacht? Recruiting and, mmm, power interaction testing?"

"Bennouna will be useful," Homura murmurs. "I've tried recruiting personally. I told you of those magical girls before. They were hard to persuade."

"Did you try to bring them in early?" you ask.

"It was hard to convince them to travel for Walpurgisnacht itself," she murmurs, shaking her head. "They would not want to leave their cities undefended."

"Hm," you say, grimacing. "Yeah, I see that. I kind of want to see if we can arrange for them to arrive early, and then we can test how our powers might synergise, you know?"

"Bennouna will send us some magical girls," Homura says. "We can work with them."

"Hm... yeah," you agree. "We have a core group, the four of us. We can train pretty effectively, and integrate tactics with the newcomers, and then you know their powers. We can plan tactics for integrating the likes of Taniguchi and Utsugi, yes?"

Homura nods, a shallow dip of her head. "That's what I mean," she says.

"Hm," you say, rubbing your chin. "We probably still need to travel out to recruit them, don't we?"

"I don't know," Homura says. "I've never... never asked Bennouna to recruit for me before."

"Right," you agree. "Hrm. So, check with her when she gets back with the two from Shiogama."

"Yes," Homura agrees.

"That's settled, then," you say. "Speaking of Taniguchi, any recommendations for meeting Tokyo's Council?"

"It would be easier to shoot them," Homura says, grimacing.

Your eyebrows shoot up.

"The Council is led by the girls who enjoy arguing," Homura mutters. "Nobody else wants to be there."

"Ugh," you say. "I see. And it probably self-selects for the most argumentative ones, because anyone else just gets driven off."

"Correct." Homura nods in confirmation.

"Ew," you say, sighing.

Voting opens Jul 1, 2017 at 4:00 PM
[] Continue talking to Homura
- [] What about?
[] Dinner time with Mami
- [] Drop Homura off somewhere
- [X] Be sappy and affectionate
[] Continue through rest of night
- [] Anything specific to do?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

=====​

Do remember that the Tokyo Council is mostly made of teenaged girls.