> Compromise by accepting Tira's suggestion to go to Kazamino.
So no backstory for Ashy. Oh well, another Tira is fine too.
Sayaka's face contorts, like she still wants to object, but after a moment she reluctantly nods.
She kind of shot herself in the foot with calling Madoka.
You set your barrier in motion towards Kazamino, easily located since you're basically just heading back towards Mitakihara. It does rather feel like you're tempting fate to even go near the latter city again, but with Mami is no longer a factor, and with presumably the entirety of Mitakihara to herself now, Homura should have no reason to start hunting in its neighboring city. Kind of hard to be certain with someone who can literally teleport, but most magical girls only go witch hunting out of necessity, not enjoyment. Or so you assume, at least.
Homura might look into what Oriko is up to, but I don't think she has any other reasons to be in Kazamino. At least until Sayaka calls her parents or Madoka.
You could theoretically just leave her be, but depending on what type of witch Mami has become, that could potentially end up being a really bad idea. She needs to be either determined to be non-hostile, or... taken care of, in a relatively permanent manner. And given Charlotte's recent actions, the bar for the former qualification should probably be raised a bit.
In Charlotte's defense, Tira was an enemy at the time and she did spit her out later without making too much of a fuss.
...that said, given that your only interactions with Mami up until now have consisted primarily of her attempting to kill you, you would honestly prefer that this particular witch not be like you. Or at least not remember her former self in any great capacity. Even if that means trying to figure out what factors into sanity and memory retention for other witches becomes a lot harder, it would be a lot less... potentially messy.
Well, a magical girls Wish is probably what decides if they stay sane/remember stuff or not. Mamis Wish was about surviving, being formulated as something like "binding/connecting her to live", so if she remembers something its probable things that she has a strong connection to. She probably won't remember Ashy but rather Sayaka, Tira, Kyoko or Madoka.
<Yes?> you answer, confused. <She's in my barrier, and is thus my problem, so of course I'm coming. Why wouldn't I?>
Sayaka shakes her head. "Nothing... I guess you'd still technically be there even if you didn't go in person, so nevermind."
Technically, she is already there, being the Barrier itself.
"Hey, wait!" Sayaka suddenly interrupts. "Could you keep your purse and phone out, just in case Madoka calls back?"
If Ashy puts Tira back into Tome without her purse and phone, would a re-summoned Tira come without them or get another copy of them?
Sayaka came completely healed out of Tome after the Homura fight, but that could have been a side effect of the time travel.
You honestly didn't. It feels perfectly natural, like there's no question you should be calling them by their first names, because that's... just who they are to you. But if you think about it, they weren't, or at least they weren't up until you subsumed them you guess? Maybe it's the same reason you naturally think of all of Saar and Charlotte's familiars by name now, instead of calling them... well, Saar and Charlotte's familiars.
Well, yeah. Why use a formal address to call something that is a part of you?
"It is not that I dislike the idea!" she stresses. "I am simply unused to speaking with others in such an informal manner..."
"...within a relatively friendly context, at least." she adds under her breath, too low for Sayaka to hear.
Sounds like Tiras social situation was rather problematic. But hey, we get to see that first hand, if she wants to get some stuff from "her" apartment.
Sayaka shrugs. "Well, feel free to stick with Miki-san until you feel comfortable with it then. I honestly don't really care what people call me... though, I do wish they'd at least ask first." she finishes, turning back to you.
We just got permission to give her a nickname. We now have to come up with something really, really weird. Blueberry is not enough!
<Um, sure.> you reply. <That's fine, I guess.>
I'm still going to call her Ashy.
On that note, the three of you start moving again, passing through the portal leading out of the Canvas. You emerge into your barrier's outer layer, which... to put it gently, has clearly seen better days. The giant patch of burned-away grass in the distance is immediately evident, and the various damaged and destroyed skyroads are just as glaringly noticeable. That's just the obvious damage too — you're sure there's more minor stuff scattered about as well, given just how much your battles with Mami, Tira, and Homura ranged around the area.
No mention of Saars' forest having vanished or Charlotte's part of the Barrier. So things don't need to get subsumed to get dragged along. Being part of the Barrier is enough.
Given that they haven't vanished, you suppose that means Homura's weapons weren't magical... though, you suppose that was already pretty apparent once she pulled out the rocket launcher.
Why? A magical rocket launcher wouldn't be the weirdest weapon for a magical girl.
"I hate how tall this stuff is." Sayaka mutters, trying and failing to look over grass nearly twice her height.
"It does seem rather inconvenient." Tira agrees. "Shall I make us some aerial transportation?"
Can't Sayaka just create platforms, to run above the grass? It's not like she has to worry about using too much magic. They really need to find some time for training.
It takes you about a minute to reach the partially-blackened clearing, which you discover is a lot more active than you'd really been expecting. Faas are swarming over the space like a hive of frenzied bees, at least a dozen of them hovering near the clearing's edges and using their propellers like miniature weed whackers to trim away burned sections of foliage. Others are scooping up handfuls of the nearby puddle of grass goop — which is pretty much just normal grass pulp now, Tira's acidic paint having evidently faded from the semi-liquid mass — and flying off with it towards Saar's section of the barrier. What they plan on doing with that, you have no idea.
Probably fertilizer. They are mainly gardeners.
There are also a few Polina standing around, which appear to be collecting the discarded pieces of cut grass and... weaving them? You're not actually sure what they're doing either.
I guess they weave them into bandages? Gathering supplies, basically.
More importantly than any of that, Mami's body is indeed still present, though perhaps not for very much longer, as a group of Faas are winding vines around the cadaver's limbs even as you watch. They slowly begin to lift into the air-
Yup, fertilizer. If they aren't secretly working as undertakers.
A cutlass forms in her hands and slices the vines apart, dropping Mami's body back to the ground. The Faas turn to Sayaka, clench themselves into fists, and give her a collective thumbs down.
Oh no, Sayaka was down voted!
Despite her words, she doesn't turn back around, clearly not wanting to watch. Respecting that, you lean over and gently scoop Mami's body up from the ground, lifting it up and laying it across Novella's surface before calling forth your subsumption vortex. The pattern quickly spirals into being and swallows the cadaver splayed out atop it, drawing it down into the pages' depths. You gently shut Novella, feeling it only appropriate to do so, and wait to feel the effects. Empty...?
...and wait. Useless.
...and wait some more. A corpse is not a character.
Huh, so it doesn't matter if something is magical or not. It's also not about potential but instead about... agency?, or rather how much Narrative someone has. That would fit with what we saw until now.
Ashy didn't have the urge to subsume Madoka, because she is currently only a normal schoolgirl. If she became a magical girl that would change because Madoka would inevitably become a Witch, affecting many lives/Narratives around her.
Homura, on the other hand, caused a strong direct urge because her Narrative is, right now, tangled up with Walpurgisnacht and a "hidden" urge because of her influence on the fate of every world she traveled through her time-travel. A form of meta-Narrative, I guess.
I wonder how the equipment on subsumed characters, like Tiras' phone, factor into this. Maybe as props?
Despite the otherwise rather somber mood, you can't help but sulk a little at this discovery. How disappointing. Even that pair of Pyotr you subsumed yesterday gave you a partial profile for their witch and a tiny bit of grief, and they were rather pathetic as familiars go.
Right, Familiars don't get their own entries, they are part of their Witches entries. That fits with how they can turn into copies of their creator Witch.
You were hoping to at least preserve Mami's body if nothing else, but without a profile page for her, you don't think you can even get it back out of you.
Maybe if she subsumes this timelines Mami...
Your first thought is that the area actually seems a little small in comparison to Saar's, the massive trees of which you can still see looming not too far in the distance. Then again, Charlotte's section also seems "small" from a purely surface view. With the geometry of witch barriers being what it is, you shouldn't make any assumptions just yet. Frankly, it's probably best if it truly is small anyways, because if your barrier keeps gaining additional sections like this, you're going to end up needing a map just to get around.
Upside of that would be that the same goes for any invading magical girl.
I'm curious if Ashy could learn how to manipulate the geometry of her barrier, or at least how the Outer Barrier interacts with the Canvas.
Or maybe just force any portal to the outside of the Barrier, to appear in another Witches area instead of her own.
From your vantage point on high, you can also see that each of the massive teacups placed atop the floating platters is filled with a strange, shimmering liquid, continually swirling around the cup's interior and releasing wisps of multicolored steam into the air above.
Is that actually tea? Maybe they can try a cup later.
Unfortunately, you can already tell that there is absolutely no way you're going to fit through the door, even if you shove yourself as deep into Tome as you can possibly get — you'll have to send Tira and Sayaka in on their own. Being as large as you are now is becoming increasingly inconvenient...
Maybe Shemesh is going to show up if they get into trouble. Or Ashy could try re-summon some of the Familiars she subsumed. If she can control them like she can Sayaka...
There are other interesting things about the roughly humanoid beings, such as the childish crayon drawings tacked to their foreheads like spell tags, or the witch runes written across their torsos and aprons, which are too small for you to make out from this distance. Their most notable feature however is definitely their hairstyles: one of them has long crimson hair tied back in a high ponytail, while the other has short blue hair, trimmed into an almost pixie-like cut and held back with a hairclip on one side.
Huh, I expected the Familiars to look like Tira and Sayaka, because of Mami's feelings of guilt about getting Tira killed and being unable to save Sayaka. I guess Tira is not as important to Mami as Kyoko.
