> Have the girls continue eating.
<Well?> Sayaka telepathically questions, keeping her mouth shut and her eyes fixed on the witch in front of her. <Got anything yet?>
<I do.> you reply, albeit somewhat tentatively. <Try finishing the food.>
You feel identical expressions of confusion manifest on Sayaka and Tira's faces.
<...maybe I'm missing something here, but, how exactly is that supposed to help?>
<I too fail to see how that could possibly be expected to resolve anything.>
<Candeloro doesn't seem to want to hurt you, but she also doesn't want you to leave.> you explain. <She therefore must still want something from you. Based on what she's been doing so far, I think it's for you two to be her "party guests". If that's all she wants though, then if you play along, she might just let you leave once the party is over.>
<...your usage of "might" implies an uncomfortable lack of certainty in that assertion.>
<You're right, I'm not certain it'll work at all. But it's the best plan I can think of that I'm pretty sure won't potentially cause a fight in the process of attempting it.>
Honestly, you'd prefer to do something that involves you being at least slightly more proactive on your end of things, but you have no idea how Candeloro will react to your presence if you make it known. Even just realizing you're here might constitute reason enough for her to attack — Saar became hostile towards you on sight, after all. You'd still like to see if Candeloro can understand witch runes, but after everything that's gone on this morning, playing things relatively safe sounds like a better idea right now.
<I'm all for alternative suggestions if you've got any.> you continue. <I just figured this was the idea least likely to blow up in our collective faces.>
Your own now only partial lack of one notwithstanding.
Sayaka glances down at her half-eaten bowl of noodles and sighs.
"Fine..." she says, picking her chopsticks back up, "can't say I'm all that hungry anymore, but I guess it can't hurt, at least."
With that, Sayaka resumes eating, though her bites are noticeably more mechanical and forced than before. Meanwhile, Tira looks down warily at her own, still-untouched bowl of soba, seeming to have some internal debate with herself.
"...I suppose I do not have a better proposal." she says after a few moments, seemingly more to herself than to you or Sayaka.
Tira takes hold of her chopsticks for the first time and slowly lifts a mouthful of noodles to her lips. She freezes before letting it actually reach her mouth however, her hand simply holding the food in the air for several long, drawn out seconds.
<I don't see what you're still so worried about, Tira. Just eat.>
Seriously, from the way she's been acting about this, you'd think Candeloro was serving her and Sayaka visibly rotten food. Is she just a really picky eater or something?
At your urging, Tira finally presses the pasta past her lips. She gulps it down without actually chewing it, as though worried it's going to bite back, and notably tenses in her seat as soon as she's swallowed. Jeez, you get being cautious, but there is such a thing as overdoing it. You wonder if there's a story there...
Seeming to relax slightly when nothing happens to her, Tira leans forward and takes another bite. Seeing that both of her guests are eating now, Candeloro lifts off the table and does a delighted little mid-air twirl before extending a ribbon and winding it around the handle of her own teacup. Raising it to her midsection, the witch tips the cup backwards towards her apron, and you watch through Sayaka as the liquid within vanishes into the bright red "cloth" without a trace — yep, definitely her mouth.
...come to think of it, you really hope Candeloro doesn't try to eat the girls in turn or something once they've finished. Her cottage may not be made of candy, but the scenario of a seemingly kind witch inviting a pair of children into her home and letting them (nay, making them) eat her food is far too reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel for you to not at least make the comparison. You drift a little closer to the building at that thought, keeping your shatterwords at the ready in case Candeloro shows any signs of pulling a Charlotte.
After a few mostly silent minutes, Sayaka and Tira polish off their food and tea, as well as the plate of biscuits still set out between them. It takes less time than you would have expected, mostly due to Tira losing most of her remaining nervousness after the first minute or so, and thereafter proceeding to politely-yet-ravenously devour everything in front of her. Apparently she took Sayaka's earlier advice to heart.
"Well, that's everything." Sayaka notes, looking around at the various empty dishes.
Candeloro seems to have realized this before Sayaka even said anything, one of her ribbons already in the process of beckoning yet another pair of familiars over. The maids swiftly remove the dinnerware from the table, gathering it all up on their serving platters in two small piles, then pull the same lid trick that the one from before did, covering their trays with identical silver domes, then removing them a few moments later to reveal that the dirty crockery has completely vanished. You suppose that's basically the magic equivalent of a dishwasher around here.
"May we leave now?" Tira asks as the familiars step away, her eyes sliding back towards the door.
Candeloro doesn't react to Tira's question, instead lifting off the table again and flying over to the front-right corner of the room. She hovers there for a brief moment, before winding her ribbons around a seemingly random pair of presents from one of the many scattered piles thereof. Returning to the table with the gifts in tow, she extends the small wrapped boxes to Sayaka and Tira, sliding them across the table and setting them down directly in front of the girls.
"...now we're getting presents?" Sayaka questions, lifting the slightly heavy gift up to get a better look at it.
"Evidently, yes." Tira replies, staring at her own gift as one would a live bomb. "And I take it we are expected to open them."
Sayaka looks up at Candeloro, who is once again expectantly watching the pair.
"Probably a safe bet, yeah." she sighs. "Let's just get this 'party' over with..."
Without any real enthusiasm, Sayaka tears open the present's carefully-wrapped packaging and roughly slides out the item within. Glancing down, she takes a single brief look at the object she's now holding... and involuntarily sucks in a breath.
Gripped within Sayaka's hands is a small framed picture, its dimensions just slightly below that of a standard sheet of notebook paper. The frame itself is beautiful, made of a brilliantly golden metal with a great enough heft to make you wonder if it isn't actual, literal gold. Thin lines of silver filigree can be seen running throughout the material, forming swirling, abstract patterns that are almost invisible in the light. A long red ribbon has also been wrapped around two of the frame's corners, a tasteful addition to an already beautiful piece.
...the frame could be made of mud for all that Sayaka seems to notice it, however. The picture within it is what's instead captured her attention — though slightly surreal and blurry-looking, it's still clearly recognizable as an image of her and Madoka, standing together with simultaneously scared and awed looks on their faces. For some reason, there's also a bunch of little mustachioed puffball things with butterflies for legs being blasted away in the background, and Madoka seems to be clutching Kyubey in her arms like a stray cat... erm, what is this?
"This is from the mall..." Sayaka breathes, as if having read your mind. "Back when Mami-san... saved us..."
Her gaze snaps up towards Tira. "Quick, open yours!"
Tira startles at Sayaka's almost frantic-sounding demand, but does as requested, nervously peeling back the wrapping of her own present until another framed picture is uncovered. Though the casing is identical to Sayaka's, the image within is different — this one depicts Tira with an expression of clear panic, knocked to the ground and cringing away from something that looks vaguely like a miniature radio tower set atop two bulging, cocoon-like legs fixed in a permanent kneeling position. Despite Tira's terrified visage, the radio tower appears to be keening sideways, as though having just taken a heavy blow from the same direction as the picture's perspective.
As soon as Tira sees what she's been given, she reacts in much the same way Sayaka did, gasping aloud and immediately fixating on the image.
"Do you recognize it?" Sayaka asks.
Tira nods slowly, not looking away.
"Where from?" Sayaka presses, her tone growing increasingly urgent.
Tira is silent for a long moment. Just as you start to wonder if she even heard the question, she finally responds.
"I met Tomoe-san shortly after becoming a magical girl." Tira says quietly. "I was overconfident and foolish... I laughed at Kyubey's offer to find someone to mentor me, refusing to believe witches could truly be so dangerous as he espoused. As a result, I was nearly killed by the very first one I encountered... but just before it could finish me off, Tomoe-san appeared and saved me."
She closes her eyes. "This picture is... it is of that very moment."
Outside, you tilt your neck slightly to the side in confusion. Wait, these are pictures of the first times that Sayaka and Tira each met Mami? How does that make sense? She's not even in either of them... unless, you suppose, they're being viewed from her perspective?
...are these pictures of Mami's memories?
"Then, that means- no. I don't understand." Sayaka says as she glances up at the witch, apparently having come to the same conclusion as you. "You do remember us then?"
"And remember... yourself?" Tira hesitantly adds.
Candeloro doesn't respond, instead flying over to a different present pile and retrieving another pair of gifts from it. Like the first ones, these are promptly delivered to Sayaka and Tira, who open them without hesitation this time. A second set of framed pictures is soon uncovered, the images within again differing for their respective recipient.
Sayaka's picture shows her, once again side-by-side with Madoka. The two of them are sitting next to a snack-laden coffee table in what looks like a small living room, smiling in the light of the setting sun.
Tira's picture shows her standing at a kitchen counter, holding a knife just a few inches over a cutting board. A hand from someone out of frame is clasped over top of hers, helping to guide it as she clumsily attempts to cut a slice from a large strawberry.
"This is when Madoka and I visited Mami-san's apartment..." Sayaka almost whispers.
"...and when I attempted to assist Tomoe-san in making a shortcake." Tira says, just as softly.
...well, great. Now what are you supposed to think? Does Candeloro — or perhaps it's still Mami after all — remember anything or not? Surely the fact that she has framed pictures of her memories of Sayaka and Tira has to mean something; you can't imagine the witch would be showing these to them without having at least some idea who they are. But she's still not acting like she remembers being human...
Sayaka and Tira are just staring at Candeloro now, seemingly at a loss for words — evidently they're no more certain what to think about any of this than you are. The witch stares back at them, her gaze again flickering back and forth between the two as though unable to decide which of the pair to focus on. Meanwhile, you're now just trying to figure out if you should still try to talk to Candeloro, or even let her see you, since you're no longer sure how much of Mami is left in there... until you suddenly notice a slight movement out of the corner of Tira's eye.
Momentarily distracted, you focus in on the motion, spotting something slowly creeping out from behind one of the gift piles at the back of the room. What is- oh, just another maid familiar. Nothing worth letting yourself get sidetracked over... although, wait, this one looks slightly different from the others you've seen thus far. A third variant?
Marginally more interested now, you look a little closer, though the image you're getting from the side of a single eye isn't perfect. Judging by the shoulder-length auburn hair you can see fanning out around the familiar's neck, this one is based on Tira, which you suppose you really should have expected after seeing the Sayaka ones — the redheads are probably based on someone Mami knew as well. For some reason however, the Tira-maid appears to be unique, or at least is the only one of its kind currently present in the room. It's unlike the other familiars in more than just hairstyle as well, not only lacking the silver serving platter that otherwise seems standard, but also any ribbons wrapped around its limbs, leaving both its hands and arms completely free. On a subtler note, you can just barely tell that instead of the wide, plastic smile all the other familiars are sporting, this one is actually frowning, the unique expression making it look oddly... tense?
<Hey, girls? Not to interrupt your staring contest, but have you noticed the->
The Tira-maid abruptly sprints out of the corner and leaps forwards like an Olympian, soaring over almost half the room in a single bound before coming down directly in the center of the dining table. Sayaka and Tira both yelp in surprise, and Candeloro squeaks in much the same manner, but before anyone can react beyond that, the familiar jumps again, this time landing almost directly in front of the cottage door. Hang on, what-?
The Tira-maid begins to run the remaining few yards to the entrance. At the same time, Candeloro hastily gestures to the pair of maids standing guard in front of it, presumably directing them to intercept. The red and blue duo however make no attempt whatsoever to stop their auburn-haired counterpart, instead stepping away from the door and motioning towards it, as if to spur their comrade on.
In a flash, the rogue familiar throws the door open and bursts outside, running over the nearby rainbow bridge at a speed that none of the other familiars have shown thus far. Being that you're hovering over the platter on the other side of said bridge, you quickly begin to back away, wanting no part of what's going on right now until you have a better idea of what that actually is.
Back inside, Candeloro screeches with what you assume to be rage, and the ends of the ribbons wrapped around the two "guarding" familiars' limbs abruptly extend outwards and tie themselves in knots, locking the maids' hands and feet together and sending them both crashing to the floor. With the pair of familiars now indisposed, Candeloro follows up by immediately giving chase to the escaping one, her golden aura reigniting as she darts out of the still-open cottage door. Despite your relative sizes and the distance between you, the other witch is easy to spot as she emerges into your personal field of view, the light pouring off of her shining and flaring like an angry firefly. Not wanting to be anywhere near that, you back away even further.
"Wha- what just happened?!" Sayaka sputters. "Ash, did you do something?!"
<Wasn't me, but here's your chance to leave, I guess!>
Realizing at your prompting that they've suddenly been left alone, Sayaka and Tira share a momentary look with each other before bolting out of their seats and sprinting for the exit. None of the remaining familiars within the cottage do anything to stop them, seeming far more concerned with their tied-up comrades than preventing their "guests" from escaping.
At the same time that the pair of magical girls practically throw themselves out the door, the Tira-maid reaches another platter, continuing its mad dash away from its master's home. Spotting her fleeing servant in the distance, Candeloro takes off after it, ribbons lengthening to the size of telephone poles and streaming out behind her like wings as she goes.
"Is that... me?" Tira gasps, her gaze locked on the increasingly distant familiar as it hurdles one of the massive teacups to land on the rainbow bridge beyond it.
<It certainly looks like you at least, yes.> you reply, now hovering over the blood lake, roughly halfway between the network of platters and the rows of apple trees. <No idea what all this is about though...>
Based on the familiar's extreme haste, combined with Candeloro's relentless pursuit of it, you get the impression this is some sort of jailbreak? Perhaps the other witch's reluctance to let people leave her house extends to her familiars as well... though, those other two were let out earlier, so that doesn't seem quite right. Either way, seeing as how Candeloro has still somehow yet to notice the towering monochrome monument that is you floating over her lake, chasing the Tira-maid is apparently giving her a serious case of tunnel vision. Should you be doing something about this...?
[-] Help Candeloro retrieve her familiar. You still want to try and talk to her yourself, and it's best to make a good first impression, right? Or a good second impression, at least?
[-] Help the familiar escape Candeloro. It is the attacked party here, and if it's this desperate to get away from its master, you can't help but wonder if that might just be justified.
[-] Sit tight and wait until this is finished. Whatever is going on right now doesn't actually have anything to do with you, so you probably shouldn't interfere. You can conduct your business with the other witch after she's finished with her own.
[-] Just leave. Not permanently or anything, but this doesn't seem like the best time to be doing anything with Candeloro, period. As long as she doesn't notice you going, a tactical retreat doesn't seem unreasonable right now.
[-] Write in.
[-] Have Sayaka and Tira get out of sight. You don't want them getting force back into the cottage the second Candeloro notices they left it.
[-] Have Sayaka and Tira stick around. If Candeloro does remember them, for real, they should hopefully be a calming influence on her... which you will likely need, if she also remembers you.
[-] Write in.
] Help the familiar escape Candeloro. It is the attacked party here, and if it's this desperate to get away from its master, you can't help but wonder if that might just be justified.