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# Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

- Thread starter Firnagzen
- Start date May 19, 2014
- Tags
    bad decisions dating mami tomoe diabolical laughter friendship is the best ship handholding identity crises microwaving tea gets you put in the bad place names are important puella magi adfligo systema puella magi madoka magica the body is the fursona of the soul this is not the baked goods thread we don't talk about rionna what could possibly go wrong? who in the world is azure sanfrancisco?

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Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 59
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 18, 2014

- #6,071

"Homura." You catch her attention. "Homura, I am going to give you a hug right now," you warn her.
With that, you put your arms around her, dragging her into a hug. Her breath escapes her with a startled whoosh, and she stiffens in the hug, hands hanging limp by her side. She slowly relaxes, though, and lets herself sag against you.
Her shoulders shake.
Here, in the middle of the time stop, surrounded by the failing remnants of Mitakihara's industrial boom, Homura lets herself cry.
Does she feel safe, here? The time stop is her refuge, the one place she can't be touched. She trusts you, too, enough to let herself show weakness in front of you. Because of Madoka's Wish last loop, perhaps? Certainly you can see how she'd reach that conclusion... and you can't help but wonder if she'd be wrong.
She cries, all that pent up worry and terror letting itself out in shuddering, silent sobs. You don't say anything, just stroking her back soothingly and letting her cry herself out as your shoulder grows damp.
... she's so thin. Heart surgery, long term hospital stay... you can't imagine she takes all that good care of herself, either. You remember how she looked, asleep on Mami's couch. Careworn, in perhaps the most literal sense of the word. A lot of her presence is just that - presence. Physically, she's just a frail, tired girl, kept going by will and determination and magic and very little else.
Finally, her crying peters out. You give her one last squeeze, and finally let go, sitting back. She similarly sits back, rubbing at her now reddened eyes with the sleeve of her right arm. Brown flakes of your own blood, now dried, cling to the pristine white of her costume.
You very deliberately look away, twiddling your thumbs and letting her regain her composure.
"W-what next?" Homura asks eventually, only the small hiccough and slightly roughened voice giving lie to the pretense that nothing had happened.
You turn back to her. "We need to figure out what to tell Mami. I... don't really want to lie to her, but there's things she can't know yet."
The time traveller nods, so you continue. "OK. I want to lie as little as possible... so... we tell her that Oriko's injuries were severe, so we patched her up a bit in the timestop, and she told us about her reasoning while we did that? And, well. She's just misguided, but was still trying to 'save Sayaka'."
"Do we tell her about Walpurgisnacht?" Homura asks. "And the... new threat?"
"I think so," you nod. "She deserves to know, anyway. Do you see any problems? Holes in the story?"
"Mami will want to know why we didn't bring her in to help," Homura points out.
You let a breath hiss out. "Yeah. And, come to think of it, why we didn't heal her too, while we're at it."
[] Write-in
=====​
Go, Homu!
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 60
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 19, 2014

- #6,177

You bring your hand to your chin, thinking furiously. You really don't want to lie to Mami too much... "OK. How's this? We tell her that it was... really bad, and we just managed to save Oriko, and then we cleaned up a bit, since no one should have to see that kind of thing if it can be helped."
"Clean up?" Homura asks.
You gesture at the congealed, gummy pool of Oriko's blood. "Yeah. We really should do some cleaning up, if we can, in all seriousness, nobody should be subjected to this if it can be helped." You're mildly surprised that nobody's thrown up so far, though the timestop helps - the muted colours and smell makes it less real, less present.
Glancing at Homura again, the sight of the brown flakes of dried blood reminds you of your own injuries. You peer down at yourself - four long, jagged cuts along your torso, and one of Kirika's claws stuck in your thigh. The torso injuries are mostly scabbed over in layers of crusty brown, but... every time you move, the scabs crack and start bleeding again.
The claw still embedded in your leg... you prod at it gingerly, and little trickles of blood well out, running down your thigh in little rivulets. Your formerly grey pant leg is stained a mixed, deep red and brown with your blood.
... you're glad you shut off your sense of pain.
You're also pretty sure that this isn't the proper way to do this, but magic makes up for a lot, you muse, wrapping your hand around the base of the spike and wrenching. The claw comes free with a spurt of bright red blood, and you immediately apply your other hand, already glowing with the brilliant white of your magic.
White is joined by purple a moment later, Homura shuffling over to help. You smile gratefully at her, and she nods back.
You frown, still letting your thoughts run. "And if Mami continues asking... we tell her the truth. We healed Oriko up from serious injuries, thanks to magic keeping her alive... And when she woke up, she refused to explain, so... I scared her into talking." You're not in the slightest proud of that.
Homura gives a measured nod.
It takes a while, and a few cleansings, to close up the wounds - they were fairly deep, particularly the one on your thigh. Your costume's still ripped, though. "You didn't get hurt, did you, Homura?" you inquire, looking over the other puella magi. Her costume's unblemished, as far as you can see, and she shakes her head, no. "Alright, then," You look around at the pools of blood. "Time to start cleaning up, I suppose."
There's a familiar clicking noise beside you, and you turn to see-
...
"No, OK, I have to ask," you say, putting a hand out to stop Homura. "Why a mop. Thread, rope, boiling water, instant noodles, weapons, yeah, sure. I can understand why you might carry those. Why a mop."
Homura looks down at the mop she's incongrously holding in her hands. "... I might need one?"
You stare at her, and she stares back, equally baffled.
You blink first. "... OK, then. But that won't be necessary. let me try something first."
Your Grief marbles, all four hundred and eight residing in your miraculously durable sling bag, explode into the air in a cascade, rising to drift aimlessly around you in a loose, hovering ring. You add to them the ones from your cleansing, and recall the ones scattered over the ground and the ones forming your musical instruments.
You frown, concentrating briefly, and their structure shifts to form loose flakes which you send scouring over the ground like a malevolent sandstorm hued in deep purple, scraping and scooping up the sticky remnants of blood.
Under your direction, the storm scatters the blood in inconspicuous places, and leaves behind a significantly cleaner pavement. You get up and walk around, surveying the area to make sure that you haven't left behind any major spots of blood. Finally, you turn to look at Homura, who's also wandering around, still holding the mop.
"There," you say in satisfaction, reforming the Grief marbles, which pour into your bag in a reverse torrent. "Looks about right?"
Homura nods, putting away the mop. "Yes."
"Alright, then," you say. "Time to bring in Oriko, and finish this. It's been a long..." you grumble for a moment. "I can't say it's been a long day, but it's been a long day. And don't forget, Homura, you're still sleeping over at Mami's apartment after we're done here, Oriko or not!" you finish with a grin.
Homura nods again. "Fine."
"Right." You walk over to where Oriko's sitting, and bend down to grab the thread.
Oriko continues to gulp the water down, before spluttering and nearly choking as she notices the discontinuous jump. She hastily puts the bottle down beside her, glancing around at the now clean-ish ground.
"You know, Oriko," you inform her, looking down at her. "It's not that I don't comprehend the idea of sacrifice 'for the greater good'." You draw the requisite air quotes. "But the thing about 'hard decisions' is that you damned well do your best to make it unecessary. It's well and truly worth it to spend the effort to a future without hurting people."
"But you know what? You're probably right," you say, frowning down at her. "Sending me a letter, or talking to Mami or similar without alienating Homura would have been hard to accomplish. But if your goal is for a good end for the world, where nobody needs to die or Witch or anything? That's how you do it. That's how I am going to do it," you say.
"Your powers can still do a lot of good," you say, looming over Oriko and simply staring down at her. "Good that doesn't have to come from treating people like tools and sacrificing them. We will find another way. And if you want any part of this... you are going to work with us."
Oriko can't meet your eyes, but nods reluctantly. "I. I accept. I will not live to see it, but I concede to your terms. Kirik-"
"Yes." You interrupt her. "We are going to keep the both of you under house arrest, as it were. I'm afraid we won't be healing you fully, because quite frankly, we don't trust you. I'll drop by every day or two to cleanse your Soul Gems."
Oriko bows her head. "Acceptable."
"Then we're bringing Kirika in, and you are going to calm her down. Then we're ending the timestop, and you surrender to Mami. No more plots, and I'm sure you know what will happen if you put a foot out of line again."
The seer swallows, and nods.
"Alright, then," you say, turning to look at Homura, now standing at your elbow. She nods at you, gaze steady.
[] Proceed with plan
[] Last minute modifications?
[] Write-in
=====​
Four hundred eighty three grief marbles, eight in your pocket.
PS. If no further modifications, this will please me greatly, because it'll let me end this chapter on a nice, neat sixty entries. OCD ho!
Last edited: Aug 19, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 61
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 20, 2014

- #6,231

"Let's go to Kirika, then," you say, looking at Homura, then back to Oriko. "Can you walk?"
Instead of answering, Oriko tries to struggle to her feet, getting one leg under her and carefully avoiding using her broken arm. You sigh, and walk over to her to slide an arm under her shoulder and bodily haul her to her feet, before stepping back again. You frown at the thread tied to her leg - that's not going to work, so you spool out more thread from the reel and press it into her hand.
"Hold on to the thread," you say, stepping back. Oriko nods, and her eyes slide over to her Soul Gem held in Homura's hand, and Kirika's, in yours. You raise an eyebrow at the seer, and she grimaces in response.
"I can walk," Oriko says uncomfortably.
"Right," you reply, and turn to go, Oriko following you obediently. Homura walks behind Oriko, presumably to keep an eye on her.
The walk to Kirika's body is practically a funeral procession, or maybe a prisoner escort. Which, technically, it is. There's a slight mishap with the rope tying you to Homura getting tangled over some rubble, and tripping, but the less said about it the better.
You're rubbing your elbow in annoyance when you round the corner on Kirika's body. Oriko gasps sharply when she sees Kirika and makes a half-aborted move to her, but reigns herself in, glancing at you. You sigh again.
"Go on," you mutter, and let the thread spool out from the reel as Oriko glides over to Kirika. A touch brings Kirika into the timestop, colour blossoming across the berserker's body, and Oriko gently turns her over. "Go ahead and wake her up, I'll cleanse as necessary," you add. You don't exactly trust Kirika not to eviscerate you as soon as she wakes up.
Oriko looks questioningly at you.
"It's something all magical girls can do," you sigh. "Just not very efficiently. Either way, search your feelings, you kno-" you break off, and start again. "Search your instincts; you should know how to do it."
The seer nods resolutely, and turns back to Kirika. A moment later, she holds her hand against the side of Kirika's head, glimmering light shining from between her fingers in fitful little stutters. You wince - at a guess, you gave Kirika a concussion.
You lean against a wall, while Homura stands, watching impassively like a statue, barely moving. After a while, you casually raise a hand, and siphon out the corruption filming both Oriko's and Kirika's Soul Gems, collapsing them down into marbles with practiced ease and little twitches of your fingers to guide the Grief. As an afterthought, you cleanse Homura's and your own Soul Gems, too.
It doesn't take too long before Kirika wakes, an explosive gasp escaping her and her eyes flying open, darting around wildly. You can feel Kirika rapidly powering up another of those accursed anti-magic blasts, and Homura tenses, her shield arm dropping protectively.
The pulse dies when Oriko throws her arm around Kirika with a loud cry, dragging her into a hug as best as she can.
You grimace, and take a chance, dissolving the manacles on Kirika. Considering that you and Homura are holding their Soul Gems, you're not too worried, and you let the Grief collapse back into a marble that you pack away with the others. Homura gives you a questioning look, to which you simply shrug in response.
Kirika wraps her arms around Oriko, claws melting away, and the couple simply stays like that for a moment, before Kirika notices the state Oriko's in.
"Oriko, your arm!" she exclaims, one hand touching the empty sleeve. "Your..." The black haired magical girl takes in the rest of Oriko's state - ruined, blood stained costume, angry red scars from your incomplete healing visible beneath rips in said costume, and one broken arm kept moving by magic and pain suppression.
"You-" Kirika catches sight of Homura, and her face contorts in fury, half rising.
"Kirika, no!" Oriko cries, clinging to her with one arm. "Don't! Don't..."
"But- sh- they," Kirika sputters, staring down at the seer.
"No, no, it's fine," Oriko says. "We're working with them now."
"What?" Kirika asks, stark disbelief written on her face. "Oriko, are you sure?"
"Yes, I am," Oriko replies. "But first we're going to surrender to them, OK?"
"Um..." the black haired girl scratches her head. "If you're sure..."
"Yes, I am," Oriko says, raising her hand to Kirika's face and stroking her cheek. Kirika quiets, nodding slowly, and Oriko in turn half turns to nod at you, keeping her arm slung around her girlfriend.
"Alright, then," you sigh, and look at Homura, eyebrows raised. The time traveller puts her hand to her shield, and cranks it.
With a humming of gears, the timestop ends, hopefully for good for this night, at least.
Sound and colour and smell flood back into the world, and you tilt your head back, smiling at the night sky. There's more than a hint of iron in the breeze ruffling your hair, but it's not the sickening tang of blood - it's just the rusting hulks of the industrial district. The sounds of traffic, cars and trucks flowing ceaselessly even at this time of the night, filter through to you.
"Mami?" you reach out telepathically.
"Sabrina?" Mami's voice, warm and pleasant, replies quickly. You sense her pausing, perhaps leaning against something to catch her breath.
"I had to enter the time stop with Homura," you tell her. "Oriko was... injured really badly. We just managed to heal her."
"Oh." Mami goes quiet.
"We... talked to her, while healing her," you say. "She... she was actually trying to help."
"She burned down Sayaka's house!" Mami exclaims incredulously.
"I know. She can see the future, and she sees something big coming," you say. You look at Homura, and gesture at Oriko and Kirika, now just holding each other, and you begin heading over to Mami's location, feeling secure in the knowledge that you still have Kirika's Soul Gem.
Mami's quiet for a moment. "Is it Walpurgisnacht? Even so, I don't see how Oriko was 'helping'."
"She... one moment," you say, breaking out into a trot. You round a corner, and spy Mami. She's cradling her left arm with her right, and moving slowly so as to avoid jolting it. "Hi, Mami," you call.
The blonde brightens a little. "Hello, Sabrina. A- are you OK?"
You glance down at yourself - even with your injuries healed, your costume's still ripped and blood stained. "It's OK, Homura help me to heal. Are you?" You move to the blonde's side, and immediately start applying magic to her arm to start healing the break.
"I'm glad to see you're OK," Mami says, face easing a little and deflecting the question.
"Hmm. Anyway, the way Oriko was talking about the new threat, Walpurgisnacht is barely a footnote to it," you explain, walking along and maintaining the healing as you move.
"She could be lying to save herself," Mami says gently.
"I don't think she is," you say. "We... I had to threaten her, before she would explain herself."
"I... oh, Sabrina. I'm so sorry," Mami says, regret colouring her voice. A long pause.
"It's OK, Mami. I... knew this kind of thing might happen," you say, trying to smile at her. Said smile is probably more than a little strained, but Mami nods.
"I'll trust your judgement, then."
"Thanks, Mami," you reply. "I... for what she's done, I think we should keep them under house arrest, sort of?"
"As punishment?" Mami sounds surprised.
"Yeah. They're... in bad shape, and no real state to move around freely," you say. "We... can't really just turn them loose."
"You've already healed them, haven't you?" Mami asks with a frown.
"Only the life threatening injuries," you say. "Oriko's missing an arm."
Mami blanches, but recovers a moment later. "She should have known what she was getting into," the blonde says. Her tone of voice is chilly, sending shivers down your spine. "I've... thrown other magical girls out for less."
You shake your head. "Mami, we might need her. I don't like it either, but if there's something bigger than Walpurgisnacht coming... We might need her precognizance."
She's quiet for a moment, ruminating over that. "What is this new threat?"
"She doesn't know, either," you say. "She can't see it directly... but part of the reason that she... did what she did... was that if Sayaka wasn't moved, the new thing would kill her."
Mami grimaces. "Too convenient."
"I know," you agree. "But I don't think she was lying. Lies need to be believable."
A pause.
"What guarantee do we have that they'll behave?" she asks, seemingly accepting your reasoning.
"They're in bad shape, and can't even hunt Witches," you say. "Oriko's abilities are expensive, and if I don't go over to cleanse them every now and then..."
Mami nods slowly. "They'll lose their magic. I... think that will work."
"Mmm," you say noncommitally.
"Alright, then," Mami says hesitantly. "I'm... reluctant to let her stay, but if she's in as bad a state as you say..."
You nod.
"It... should be OK," Mami says. "What does Homura think?"
"She's... OK with it," you reply.
"I... OK, then," Mami agrees.
You sigh in relief, and focus on healing Mami's injuries, carefully avoiding jolting her as the two of you slowly make your way over to Oriko and Kirika.
When you finally arrive, Oriko and Kirika are still sitting quietly, and Homura is watching them like a particularly grim-faced statue. She raises her eyes to look at you when she sees the two of you arriving, and you nod slightly in response.
"Mikuni Oriko. Kure Kirika," Mami says, voice icy.
"Tomoe Mami," Oriko says, bowing her head in what's almost a pose of supplication.
"I have decided that I will accept Sabrina and Homura's plan of house arrest for the two of you," Mami declares as regally as any queen, for all that you're still carefully healing one of her arms. "If you put a single toe out of line, we will hunt you down."
"I understand," Oriko says, quieting Kirika's protests with her single arm.
[] Write-in
=====​
Five hundred and twelve grief marbles, eight in your pocket.
Here ends Chapter Three: Direct Intervention. Chapter Four: Surface Tension begins in the next update.
Threadmarks Surface Tension pt. 1
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 20, 2014

- #6,308

"Alright, that's settled then," you say absently into the awkward silence that's fallen. You're focusing rather more on knitting Mami's broken bone together. To your surprise, Homura joins you, adding the purple glow of her magic to yours.
Between the two of you, it doesn't take too long to finish repairing Mami's arm, and she smiles gratefully at you and Homura.
You look over at Oriko and Kirika, now simply cuddling and talking quietly to each other. It would be kind of sweet if it wasn't for, well, circumstances. "Oriko."
The seer looks up at you. "Yes?"
"We'll escort you back to your house," you say. "You're to stay there. You don't have any food left, so... if you have any money, I'll buy it for you. Tomorrow."
A brief flash of confusion crosses Oriko's face, but she nods slowly. "I had a warehouse prepared as a hideout," she volunteers. "If... it's not too much trouble, I would prefer my belongings and food be moved from there."
You glance at Homura and Mami, but they don't say anything, content to defer to you. You turn back to Oriko, shrugging. "Fine. Tomorrow," you say, emphasizing that last word with a raised finger.
"Very well," she says. She pauses, struggling with a thought, before adding, "It's not trapped."
You raise an eyebrow.
The seer shrugs.
You look at Mami, who shrugs at you, and then at Homura, who doesn't visibly react, face set in an annoyed scowl.
"... right," you say finally. "Can you move?"
"You broke my knee!" Kirika complains, with a considerable amount of ire.
... you did, didn't you? You'd just about forgotten about that. That's going to be a problem.
Mami sighs, beside you, and raises her now healed hand. Golden ribbons spring forth, weaving into a stretcher beneath Kirika. The girl squeals in surprise, flailing a little at the sensations of the ribbons winding back and forth under her back. Oriko rises as the stretcher bears Kirika up, remaining by the side of the conjured stretcher.
"That works," you say, smiling at Mami. She returns a slightly strained smile. "Let's go, then."
The trip back to Oriko's house is made in tense silence, and you make the last leg of it on foot, just as you did before. Thankfully, this part of the city's relatively quiet, and you don't encounter anyone - though if you did, more trouble for Kyuubey, then.
You notice Oriko giving you an annoyed look, and she deliberately looks at the glass back doors. The open glass doors.
"Really? You're upset over that?" you say flatly in response. Oriko turns her nose up at that, snubbing you.
Mami unceremoniously deposits Kirika on the sofa, the berserker blinking orange eyes up at you, looking vaguely puzzled. You crook your hand, casually cleansing the Grief from everyone's Soul Gems, forming a fairly substantial cloud of Grief which you collapse into your marbles.
There's a quiet clinking noise as Homura drops a single Grief Seed on the table in their living room.
You look around the house. "Right, then. I'll be back tomorrow," you announce. "And Oriko, remember. One step out of line..." You leave it hanging.
"I understand," she repeats.
A thought strikes you. "Oh, and you, Kirika, should call home. Your parents have been staying up and waiting for you," you say reprovingly.
Kirika sits up on the sofa, awkwardly pulling herself up. "Oh. I didn't think about that," she says. "Um... I should, I suppose."
As the three of you leave, Oriko very pointedly closes the door and locks it behind you.
You let out an explosive sigh as the door closes behind you, and the three of you take to the roofs again. "Mami?" you call over the rushing wind.
"Yes, Sabrina?" Mami asks, dropping back to talk to you.
"Umm," you start. "I should apologize, Mami, for leaving your healing for so long. So, um. I'm sorry."
"It's OK, Sabrina. I understand."
You frown, bending your legs into a crouch as you land on a roof. "Mami..."
"No, I really do," Mami says, turning to smile at you as the two of you push off the roof. "Saving people's lives is important."
"... yeah," you say, smiling back. "You're OK with all this? Keeping Oriko under house arrest and all?"
"It's for the best, I think," Mami replies. "Are you OK? You... said you had to threaten Oriko."
You shudder, grimacing unhappily. "I did," you confirm. "It... she was..."
Mami puts her hand on your shoulder, holding you back as you land. When you pause, she drags you into a hug. "Oh, Sabrina," she mumbles into your shoulder. "I'd... hoped that you could be shielded from that kind of thing."
"It's... OK, Mami," you say, hugging her back and drawing comfort from her. "I knew what I was getting into."
She holds the hug for a little longer, before stepping back. You smile at her, and she answers hesitantly. Casting about for a way to change the subject, you gesture at Homura, who you can sense has stopped and is lurking on the next roof over, presumably to give you your privacy.
"By the way, you're OK with Homura staying over, right?"
"Of course," Mami says. "Um... I only have one guest room, though, and we're slee- using it, right now."
"I doubt she would mind sleeping on the sofa?" you suggest.
"No..." Mami disagrees. "That's hardly right. We could... move into my room?"
You shrug, even if it's not really noticeable with the two of you on the move. "I don't mind. But this time, I'm taking the matress. No arguments - it's your bed."
"OK," Mami agrees.
"Hey Homura!" you call out to the other member of your party, jumping across to her building.
"Yes?" she asks when you're abreast of her.
"Well, I suppose in the end it's up to you, but are you staying the night?" you ask, as Mami lands just behind you.
"... yes," Homura says.
"Good," Mami says, in sync with you saying, "Excellent." You blink, and grin at Mami, who smiles back.
Homura shakes her head, eyes darting between the two of you. "Let's go," she suggests, walking to the edge of the roof and jumping towards the next building.
Mami giggles, and follows.
The journey back to Mami's apartment goes by quickly, and the three of you untransform with some relief, dismissing the dirt and grime of the night's hunt with magic. Exhaustion sets in hard and fast, now that you're metaphorically off the clock and let yourself feel it.
"Anyway, Hom-" Mami yawns enormously, demurely covering her mouth. "Homura, you'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom. Just give us a moment to move the mattress out..."
As you and Mami manhandle the mattress to her room, you see Homura eyeing said mattress throughtfully, glancing between you and Mami as she does so. She doesn't say anything though.
"Uhhh." You rub at your eyes, now threatening to force themselves closed whether you like it or not. "So, that's the bedroom. G'night, Homura."
"Good night, Sabrina. Good night, Mami," Homura says. A shaky smile appears on her face, rough and unpolished, but a smile nevertheless. "... thank you both."
"Of course, Homura," Mami says sleepily, walking over to her room. "Good night."
"Yeah, no worries," you mumble, stumbling behind Mami.
You're asleep almost before your head touches the pillow.
[] Wake up at the usual time
[] Wake up late
[] Morning activities
- [] Write-in what
[] Write-in
=====​
Five hundred and twenty grief marbles, eight in your pocket. Coobie hasn't shown its ugly white face.
Last edited: Aug 21, 2014
Threadmarks Surface Tension pt. 2
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 22, 2014

- #6,449

Waking up is hard.
You've only got two mornings to compare today's waking up to, but you never had this much trouble yesterday. Or the day before.
You moan into the pillow.
But you're awake, you suppose.
You roll over to stare blankly at the ceiling for a bit.
Then you slowly, laboriously lever yourself upright, and look around, blinking muzzily at the unfamiliar room. Oh, right. You moved to Mami's room, last night. You turn to look at the blonde.
Mami's still sleeping soundly on her bed, gentle smile fixed on her face, and you take a moment to smile at that, before reluctantly kicking the blanket off and rising to your feet. You yawn with jaw-cracking force as you glance at the clock, barely visible by the light from streetlamps shining in through the window.
Hmm...
If you rush, you can probably still finish breakfast and lunch in time for Mami and Homura to make it to school. Or if Homura uses her timestop to let Mami and herself eat. You grin at the thought as you wander into the bathroom to clean yourself up, absently turning on the corridor lights as you bump down the corridor.
After freshening up for the morning, and feeling considerably better, you carefully toe the guest room door open, and poke your head in. You peer at Homura's blanket covered form, and nod in approval. Still sleeping, which is good.
You then cautiously pull the door shut, and walk into the kitchen. You can't imagine that your cooking compares to Mami's, but you can cook. You find that you do know how to cook in a rush, too, darting away from the chopping board to tend to the stove for a moment, and then to the mixing bowl to pour out another helping of batter.
Pancakes are quick and easy to make, since Mami doesn't seem to have any bread in the house. Differences of culture, you suppose - the typical Japanese breakfast tends to be rice with side dishes. Your two breakfasts with Mami so far have been atypical in that regard, really.
Finishing the stack of pancakes, you turn down the stove for the time being and hurry over to Mami's bedroom. The bedroom strikes you as pleasantly warm, after the relative chill outside. "Mami?" you call, putting a hand on Mami's shoulder.
"Mmmm," the blonde mumbles, rolling away, before blinking awake. "Sabrina?" she peers at you. Realization dawns a moment later, and her eyes widen. "I'm late!" she exclaims, bolting straight up.
Laughing, you raise your hands to calm her down. "Not too late," you say. "But... you're sure you want to go to school today?"
Mami gives you an odd look, before promptly being forced to smother a yawn. "Of course I am."
You nod. "Breakfast is ready. I'll go wake Homura up," you say, standing.
"Oh... you shouldn't have," Mami says.
"We've been over this before. And it's not like I have to go to school," you tease as you walk out of the room, and over to the guest room. Behind you, you can hear Mami let out a fond 'hmph!', followed by the sound of the wardrobe doors opening.
You quickly move over to the guest room, and push the door open. Gently setting a hand on Homura's shoulder, you shake her a little. "Homura." In response, she bats aimlessly at your hand, clearly not awake yet. You grin unashamedly in the darkness, but shake her a little more firmly - she does need to wake up. "Homura, time to wake up," you say, a little more loudly.
Violet eyes blink open slowly, confusion swimming across her face for a moment before it's subsumed beneath her usual mask. "'morning, Homura," you say, wiping your grin off your face. "Breakfast's ready."
Homura slowly sits up, stretching a little like a cat. "... thanks," she says quietly.
"No problem," you say.
When you wander back into the kitchen, Mami's at the stove, and frying the salmon. "No! Bad Mami!" you bark, hurrying over and bumping her out of the way with your hip. "Eat your breakfast, I'll handle this!"
Mami pouts at you, and you grin back, pointing at the table, with pancakes stacked high. She rolls her eyes and sits down, beginning to eat. Your pancakes probably aren't up to her standard, but they're good enough, you think.
Homura comes in a few minutes later, having washed herself up, and slumps over in a chair. You glance back at her, and then at Mami, who's already loading up a plate with pancakes, which she then pushes over to the time traveller.
Homura accepts the plate, and begins eating without fuss.
"So I take it you're both going to school today," you ask rhethorically as you begin scooping rice into a lunchbox. Mami has, unfortunately, only two lunchboxes, and you think you'll use one for Homura.
Homura nods, and Mami replies, "Yes, Sabrina."
"Mmmm, OK," you say in response. Finishing up, you seat yourself, pushing the packed lunchboxes across to Mami and Homura. The time traveller stares at the lunchbox in front of her, fork pausing on its way to her mouth. Her eyes flick to you, and you quirk an eyebrow at her.
"Just take it," you say with a touch of asperity. Mami giggles to herself, covering her mouth demurely.
Homura seems to think about it, before finally accepting. "... thank you." The fork resumes its journey towards her mouth.
Mami smiles approvingly at you, sliding another plate loaded with pancakes over to you, which you promptly begin digging into. You eat in silence, enjoying the pleasant domesticity of the scene - just a nice breakfast between friends, and about as far away from the life-and-death fighting and negotiations of last night as you can get.
Speaking of which, however... you telepathically reach out to Madoka and Sayaka.
"Madoka? Sayaka?" you call.
Madoka responds first, sounding worried. "Sabrina! What happened?"
"Mmmrph? Sabrina? Madoka?" Sayaka responds, a moment later.
"Oh, Sayaka! Are you OK? Sabrina said you're in the hospital!"
"Uhhh yeah. Woke me up. Sleepy," Sayaka mutters back.
"Oh. Sorry, Sayaka," you respond, reddening a little. "Didn't think about that. Uh, anyway, just want to let you know that we have good news for you, I'll be dropping by later today, OK?"
"Mmm good news. That's good... Sleep now. Bye," Sayaka mumbles back, and you get the distinct sense of her disconnecting.
"Ah... Well. Anyway, Madoka, Sayaka and her family are fine, they're at the hospital," you say. "You're going to school today?"
"I am," Madoka says.
"Alright, so will Mami and Homura. See you later," you reply.
"Bye, Sabrina!" Madoka says. She sounds more cheerful now, certainly a lot more than she was at the beginning of the call.
Mami's giving you a questioning look. In response, you say, "Uh... I was just checking in on Sayaka. Turns out I woke her up... She's fine, by the way."
The blonde nods, golden ringlets bouncing. "Can't have been an easy night for her. For any of us, really," she says, with a depreciative little smile. She turns to Homura, the smile becoming more genuine.
Homura smiles back hesitantly, and you break out in a wide grin. Progress!
Mami glances at the clock. "We should be moving, now... it's getting late. Unless we use Homura's time stop to walk to school!" she finishes with a chuckle.
"That won't..." Homura trails off, and looks at you. Mami similarly turns to look at you.
"... it's not that late yet," Mami decides. "We'll just have to walk a little faster."
"... agreed," Homura says.
You see them both off at the door, and return to finishing up your breakfast. When you're done, you sling on the bag with your stash of Grief marbles, and step out of the house, carefully locking it up behind you, before wandering into an alley and hopping up to the roofs.
You decide to head over to the hospital, and luxuriating in the cool, clean air rushing past your face, coat flapping behind you as you soar through the air. The sun's barely up, yet, and the sounds of the early morning rush filter up to you, masses of people travelling the streets in tremendous thundering herds.
As you bounce over the rooftops, you let your brain meander. A memory drifts forth before your mind's eye as you land shoulder first in a roll that smoothly transits into a forward run - that of Mami enchanting the bat Sayaka brought into the Barrier.
Hmm...
Might be worth further experimentation, later, you muse as you approach the hospital.
You wander along the rooftops, hunting for that one Barrier you'd sensed yeste- this morning. It feels far longer ago, really, that healing session and talk with Oriko had really dragged out.
You find the Witch a few minutes later, now nestled on a rooftop near the alley you'd found it in yesterday.
[] Go in
- [] Maxim 27: Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence. (Mulch everything!)
- [] Maxim 28: If the price of collateral damage is high enough, you might be able to get paid for bringing ammunition home with you. (Mulch less of everything.)
[] Go elsewhere
[] Write-in
=====​
Japan's school culture is funny, and can basically be summarized as 'if you aren't hospitalized or dead, you're going'.
Last edited: Aug 22, 2014
Threadmarks Surface Tension pt. 3
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 23, 2014

- #6,539

A morbid thought strikes you, before you enter the Witch Barrier. You detach your own Soul Gem, holding it up so that it catches the light. Silvery filigree, just visible thanks to the early morning sun catching the gem just so, winds across the surface of the white gem to form an odd logo: a line striking through a crescent shape with rays emerging from the point of impact.
Huh.
But you're delaying. You steel yourself, examining your own Soul Gem.
Dedolere.
That's... latin... you think? You're not sure what it means, precisely.
Still... that's your morbid curiosity settled. And that particular name had better never see the light of day, you think as you repin your Soul Gem in its location. You take a deep breath before stepping into the Barrier: your first solo Witch hunt.
Reality tears away.
You suppress your instinctive revulsion at the greasy, nauseating feel of the Witch's Barrier as your feet touch down on the floor. Which is, apparently, rubber, or something rubbery, you muse, tapping your feet against said floor thoughtfully. Done in a rather boring shade of light grey, stretching out into the distance. Walls in a horrid beige colour rise around you, and bright, white light shines down from above.
An enormously deep, bass sound echoes throughout the Barrier, startling you into a jump into the air. You land in a low, ready crouch with a warhammer in your left hand and a few marbles of Grief orbiting around your right, looking around warily - you don't have Mami or Homura to watch your back, this time.
Another heavy bass beat follows it.
Even with your eyes scanning around, head moving in quick jerks to cover a larger area, you don't see anything coming.
...
Huh.
At any rate, you decide that the best defense is a good offense, and without anyone around to worry, you feel that you can afford to cut a little loose this time. And really. There's no real reason not to attack - in all your experience and what you remember, puella magi aren't afraid in the slightest to be the first to resort to violence.
You roll your neck, feeling a few vertebra pop, before flexing your fingers. The motion is punctuated by another two of those tremendous bass noises, but you put that out of mind for now.
You wave your right hand in a grand gesture, and rip a swathe of Grief out of the nearest wall. The wall melts and flows like water, colour and cohesion alike torn away, swirling into the wings of corruption you instinctively feel comfortable with.
Instead of the howling shriek you'd expected in response from the Witch, though, the noise comes again. And again, and again, and again, now in a staccato double beat-
Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.
... Oh.
Instincts and your other senses has you spinning, wings flicking up to cross in front of you. They barely shudder as a tremendous bladed mass slams against you, and you shove back powerfully, taking a step back and unfurling the wings with a snap, edges biting deep into the attacker.
Shards of bright, silvery steel fly as your wings slam back against your foe, and now that it's pushed back a step, you see that it's a scorpion, if scorpions were waist-high and made of a churning mass of scapels and scissors and a bright, glaring lamp for a tail. Behind it, scuttling down the brightly lit corridor toward you are dozens more, a clattering, clinking tide of glinting metal and sharp edges.
You grin. You can take 'em.
You gesture with both your hand and your hammer like a conductor at a particularly frantic orchestra.
... come to think of it, you could provide background music for this fight. It hadn't really taken much, or really any attention to keep the music going back when you were healing Oriko.
... nah.
You meet the oncoming wave of surgical scorpions and break it, advancing at a fast stride, footsteps keeping tempo with the thundering heartbeat echoing throughout the Barrier. You leave in your wake not even the corpses of the Familiars, but ashen flakes drifting forlornly instead. The amount of Grief under your control balloons rapidly, your wings brushing against and carving trails into the walls as you wander deeper into the Barrier.
You take a left turn -through a wall, which warps and flows away from your advance- and step into the Witch's sanctum.
It's... well, you should have expected it, what with the heartbeat. The Witch, the abyssal wellspring of Grief, is a heart. A titanic, fleshy, pulsing human heart, dangling from the ceiling on equally enormous blood vessels. The entire chamber is a fleshy, organic mess, and... those are ribs, forming arches across the cathedral roof.
You just came in through one of the fleshy walls - and it's beginning to drip blood on you, which you dive away from, wings of corruption flaring wide to loft you to the side. They're not quite big enough to outright carry you into the air yet, though you wonder about that...
The heart's beating hummingbird fast despite the size. A freely dangling blood vessel the size of your head lifts itself and points at you, crimson blood gouting out like a firehose. You probably don't want to get hit by that.
This time, you plant your feet, glaring up at it. The spray of blood vanishes mid-air, rippling into the deep purple of Grief under your control. Under your feet, the ground squirms, and a crust of skin begins creeping up your feet in an immobilizing attempt - you casually dissolve that, too.
You look up at the Witch contemplatively, and a thought severs it from the ceiling. The enormous fleshy mass falls to the floor of the chamber with an enormous thud, and promptly begins sinking in, fleshy tendrils worming up from the floor and weaving into a translucent sac over the heart.
You're having none of that, and start ripping into the heart, flaying layers off of it.
The heart thrashes in place, rocking and trying to get away from you. You almost feel sorry for it... but you're pretty sure it's not actually sapient any more.
You hope.
... the heart's anatomically accurate, you note as you dissolve the tricuspid valve, right down to the heartstrings. And...
You pause. Is that...
There's the barest echo of a Name. Hildegard. It comes from what you recognize would be the pacemaker cells of a normal heart, the cells which tell the heart to keep beating. You redouble your efforts, shredding the heart into drifting particles of fine ash, and leaving the pacemaker neurons to twitch spasmodically on the floor.
... you're not sure what you've done. Well. This is it, the barest core around which a Witch forms.
You look around cautiously, but all the fight seems to have gone out of everything. No Familiars, and the entire chamber is quiet save for the slow dripping of blood.
...
You could just crush it, you guess? Or maybe something else?
[] Write-in
=====​
So, yeah. What do? If you decide to put the Witch out of its suffering, by the way, write-in your next activity, too.
Last edited: Aug 23, 2014
Threadmarks Surface Tension pt. 4
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 23, 2014

- #6,639

You stalk around the bundle of neurons, the core of the Witch, examining it with both your eyes and your magical senses. To your eyes, it's just a quivering lace of yellowish-green nerves, twitching spasmodically despite the fact that it has no muscle. To your other senses...
It's Hildegard. It is fundamentally the Witch, the tiniest mass of coherent Grief, slowly, constantly everting more Grief, stripped bare of the trappings of its form. Insofar as you can tell, this is the nexus around which a Grief Seed forms, the tiny wellspring of Grief you find in a Soul Gem. You can feel it stuggling to draw in more Grief from the Barrier, presumably to reform and fight back.
You nudge it with your Grief manipulation, trying to elicit a reaction from it. Sudden, it twitc-
Despair lances through your mind, a powerful, sledgehammer blow that rips right through you. Useless. Why did you ever imagine you could help? Now Mami and Homura are looking to you, and you're going to fail an-
You scream, and break it off, staggering back a step and dropping to a knee with a wet squelching noise, supporting yourself on your hammer. Harsh breaths whoosh out of you in fast gasps, your mouth dry and heart thundering in a way that it hasn't since the beginning of this fight.
That... was... something.
With trembling fingers, you cleanse your own Soul Gem, siphoning the Grief off in thick, ropy streamers that you add to your wings. You don't have to look to tell that there's far more corruption in there than there's ever been to date.
You shakily rise to your feet, leaning heavily on your warhammer, the head of which sinks into the floor with a fleshy squelch as you put your weight on it. You stare at the Witch.
It... it makes sense, you suppose. A Witch is formed of a puella magi in the deepest, darkest pits of despair, and there'd be little to move it from there.
You... probably don't want to actually try prodding that further, you decide, and you steel yourself to try something else.
Maybe if you tried removing the Grief from it and replace it with magic? If a Witch is powered by Grief and a puella magi of, well, magic... Well, it's worth a shot, you figure, reaching out with shaky fingers-
No. No, you're going to rest a few more minutes first. Echoes of that yawning abyss that you were teetering over still reverberate through you.
For a while, you simply breathe, ignoring the heavy, coppery tang of blood hanging in the air and the horrid, wet squelching noises underfoot as you let your hammer support your weight again.
[] Proceed
[] Put Hildegard out of its misery
[] Write-in
=====​
Yeah, I got nothin' to say.
Threadmarks Surface Tension pt. 5
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 24, 2014

- #6,716

You take a deeper breath, and straighten. You're not going to chicken out, not when there's perhaps a chance here to save the girl here, however slim.
Maybe you need to give it a container. Soul Gem, Grief Seed... this thing should be inside, you reason, remember the selcuphral voice whispering Dedolere with a shudder. It's like someone walking over your grave...
You're delaying.
You know what you want to do, but you have no idea how to do it. Something like what the Incubators did to Homura, another time and another place... an isolation field. A seal which you can slap onto Hildegard... you discard your warhammer, letting it fade away as it leaves your hand, breaking down into its constituent magic.
And there's the key, perhaps. You reach out with one hand, drawing a circle in the air with a finger, and you... let magic follow the motion, forming a loop in the air.
It dissipates, much like the hammer did.
You cock your head, looking thoughtfully at the spot where the circle hung. That didn't work. Maybe if you started with your native powers? A cloud of Grief billows forth from your wings, hanging obediently in the air in front of you. A twist of your will shapes it into a thin, spherical shell, but still one of Grief. You frown at the shell. It's Grief instead of magic, however nebulous a concept that is, and you can change its properties...
Then again, a Grief Seed is formed of Grief too, you think, and you have no idea how to achieve what the Incubators did. Maybe if you had more time to experiment in peace.
You look down at the remains of Hildegard, absently siphoning the small amount of Grief it's generated in the meantime while you were expecting. At your behest, your sphere of Grief splits in half at the equator, and swoops to scoop up the stringy mass of the Witch. Your right thumb twitches, instinctively feeling like you should be mashing a button to ensure the proper containment of the Witch.
... well, it's not like it's actually struggling. You have some stringy stuff that is the Witch Hildegard contained in a sphere of Grief.
Nothing's happening. Maybe if you tried to feed it some magic? You spin out a bit of magic, very carefully poking it at the Witch. To your other senses, the Witch goes berserk, tiny spikes of Grief bubbling off the squirming bundle.
You flinch. No. Not again.
Your hands clench into a fist, and the sphere implodes, smashing the physical form of Hildegard into a pulp.
And-
With your sense focused as they are, you can feel Hildegard go quiescent, and a protective shall - the Grief Seed forming around it. The Barrier wavers, dissolving with the defeat of its Witch into its constituent Grief, rushing inwards in a torrent that pours endlessly into the Grief Seed. You release the Grief that forms your wings to go with it.
You're everted back into reality without ceremony, standing on the roof, with the Grief Seed near you, still encased in the sphere of Grief.
With a gesture, you move the sphere closer to you and let it crumble back into marbles, the Grief Seed falling into your outstretched hand. You hold it up to the light, squinting at it. It's... Grief. Very compressed Grief, into a tiny, inky black sphere embraced in filigree, and at the very center...
Hildegard.
You sigh.
"What were you trying to do, Sabrina?" a familiar telepathic voice asks you. You turn, to see the white form of Kyuubey sitting on the edge of the roof.
[] Drop kick the Incubator
- [] Into the street
- [] Over a building
- [] Over a skyscraper
- [] Over the river
[] Eat the Marshmallow
- [] Toasted over a fire
- [] S'mores!
- [] With red wine
- [] With white wine, you barbarian
- [] With a soft drink, you doubleplusungood barbarian
[] FLESH OF FALLEN ANGELS
[] Long throw the Incubator
- [] Against the wall
- [] See how many richochets you can get
- [] Skipping stone across the river
[] Light the Incubator on fire
- [] Tail first
- [] Ear first
- [] Head first
- [] Feet first
- [] "Hey Oriko, what accelerant did you use?"
[] Pet the Incubator
- [] Make it do tricks
- [] Feed it treats
[] Punt the Incubator
- [] Into a garbage truck
- [] Off a building
- [] Off a skycraper
- [] Into the river
[] Shred the Incubator
- [] Tail first
- [] Ear first
- [] Head first
- [] Feet first
[] Sit on the Incubator
[] Talk to the Incubator
- [] Write-in topic
=====​
[Q] Winged Knight
Last edited: Aug 24, 2014
Threadmarks Surface Tension pt. 6
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 25, 2014

- #6,808

Ugh. This is not the time for the Incubator to be nosing around... You frown at Kyuubey in annoyance, even as it gets up and stalks over to you like the cat it imitates. You drop the Grief Seed in to your pocket to clink against the one Mami had given earlier.
"I was killing a Witch," you reply, deadpan. "That's what we magical girls do, isn't it?"
"Ah, I see," Kyuubey replies, winding between your ankles. "I detected some unusual readings from this location, would you know anything about them?"
"Hmm... Well, I was using my powers to kill the Witch," you say, trying to figure out whether it knows, or whether it's probing. Unfortunately, the Incubator's poker face... Well, you're not playing poker with it. "Anyway, where have you been? We missed you so very much, Kyuubey."
The Incubator tilts its head, looking up at you. "We talked just yesterday afternoon, Sabrina," it says. "I'm sorry, but I can't spend all my time with any one person, even as unique as you are."
Huh. It feels much longer than that. "Aw, you do care," you say, mock cheerfully. "Still. Lots of other girls to bother?"
"I do not bother girls," Kyuubey replies, sitting up and begging to be picked up. You ignore that.
"Eh," you shrug. "Anyway. I've got something for you... four hundred or so somethings, really." You spread both arms dramatically, and Grief marbles explode out of your sling bag in a dark purple, clacking cascade that spreads out to form the vertices of a geodesic sphere that nearly covers the roof. For that touch of flair, you have them orbiting slowly, some marbles drifting in their own little orbits around other marbles to form an enormous, ever shifting pattern.
Kyuubey goes still, even its lashing tail halting completely. "Did this come from your conflict with Oriko?"
You shrug. "Eh. Here and there... it kinda accumulates," you say, waving your hand airily.
"I see," the Incubator says. It turns, and presents its back to you. "Not too fast, please."
You nod, and begin letting the marbles file into the opening in Kyuubey's back. Curious, you pay attention to what happens to the marbles... they fall a few centimeters into the Incubator's body, and then simply vanish from your senses completely. A portal, then?
As you feed the marbles to Kyuubey, another thought occurs to you. "So I'm sure you know about that fire last night? At Sayaka's house?"
"Yes, I do," Kyuubey replies.
"How many casualties were there? Injured, or dead?" you ask.
"I do not know, apart from the Miki family," Kyuubey informs you, wiggling in place a little. "You could check the news. On a related note, Tomoe Mami and your actions created considerable additional work for me."
You shrug, amusing yourself by having a few marbles do a loop around Kyuubey's face before plunging into the hole in its back. "Eh. She's my friend. And as I said the last time, it's your concern, the way I see it," you say with a satisfied grin at the Incubator's back.
"This is true," Kyuubey says, seemingly with a mental shrug. "Nevertheless, measures were taken to prevent magic from being revealed."
"Your problem, and, I suppose, your perogative," you reply. "Hmm... any new magical girls because of that fire?"
"No," Kyuubey says. "This has been a busy few days."
It has, hasn't it? You narrow your eyes at the Incubator's back, but... it's telling you the truth, you suspect. It really has been busy, these few days, what with yours and Oriko's antics.
The last few marbles file neatly into Kyuubey's back, and the cover slides back up. The Incubator stretches luxuriantly, tail lashing in a frenzy, before climbing up a nearby ventilation duct to perch at eye level to you. "Was there anything else, Sabrina?" it asks.
"No, I suppose not," you say.
"Then I will be seeing you," Kyuubey says, turning to leave. You watch it scamper to the side of the roof and disappear over the edge - you suppose it'd be too much to hope that it would splatter on the floor below.
You shake your head. You're really not sure what's with it - it showed up, asking you what you were doing, and then seemingly gave up when you deflected the question. Weird.
In any case, next in your list is to visit Sayaka and Hitomi, you suppose, since the hospital is right there, visible over the opposite edge of the building.
You take a step off the side of the building. As you fall, you drag a hand, glowing with magic, down the side of said building to slow your descent. This can't be how Mami does it, but you never did get around to asking her how she avoids shattering concrete everytime she lands. You're vaguely disappointed to not see the splattered mess of a Kyuubey body down here, even if you completely didn't expect to.
Hmm... falling. With style, or perhaps the lack thereof - you can't help but think of Akemi Homura using an angelically glowing pair of wings to break her fall, and of her wings of corruption, so similar to your own. And... wings. You instinctively form wings - would your Witch? What if those are Dedolere's wings obscuring Oriko's visions?
Ugh. You shudder, cold fingers running down your spine at the thought. It's an unpleasant reminder, and somewhat annoying that your thoughts keep returning to it. You won't ever fall, you tell yourself firmly.
Shaking aside the thought, you detransform in a flash of light, leaving yourself in another borrowed blouse and knee length skirt, with your ever faithful bag hanging by your side, considerably emptier now. You really should consider enchanting that bag, if you can figure out how to.
You stroll out of the alley, one hand casually resting in your pocket, and merge seamlessly into the crowd. As expected, you draw a few odd looks, bright white hair and distinctly non-Asian features standing out in the morning crowd. Still, no one comments as you make your way to the hospital amidst the great herds of humanity.
Paranoia has you checking that they all do indeed have faces, which, yes, they do.
You soon reach the hospital, glancing at the clock. It's 8:34AM, now, and you wonder if Sayaka's awake yet. Or maybe you should go and see Hitomi first?
[] Sayaka first
[] Hitomi first
[] Write-in conversational topics to both
[] Write-in
=====​
You kept fifty marbles, because fifty is a nice, round number.
Threadmarks Surface Tension pt. 7
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Aug 26, 2014

- #6,941

You walk over to the help desk of Mitakihara General, glancing around the lobby. Cool, clean decor, some potted plants... No Nagisa hiding behing a potted plant...
The receptionist, a mild looking young man, smiles cheerily at you. "Good morning, and welcome to Mitakihara General Hospital! How may I help you?"
You nod politely. "Good morning. I'm looking for the Miki family, they should have come into ER last night?"
He nods, and turns to tap away at his computer, before replying. "Miki... Block 14, fifth floor, ward 54. Do you need that written down?"
"No, I've got it, thanks," you say.
"Have a nice day, then," the receptionist acknowledges. "Block 14 is over to my left," he adds, pointing you in the right direction. "It's currently towards the end of breakfast time, though, so they may be busy."
"Thanks," you say again, turning to go.
You meander over in the direction indicated, following the signs displayed prominently on the ceilings, slipping between the rushing medical personnel and various visitors and patients walking along the corridor.
As you walk, you telepath Mami. "Mami? Do you have a moment?"
"Hm? Oh, Sabrina! Of course I have a moment." Mami's voice sounds sleepy, but immediately brightens.
"Well, I'm going to visit Sayaka right now," you tell her.
"Ah, that's a good idea," Mami says. "Madoka and I will be visiting after school, too."
"Oh, I should have realized," you suggest. "But anyway... Mami, do you think it's OK to bring up healing Sayaka's friend... friends to her? Hitomi, and Kyousuke?"
Mami's quiet for a moment, thinking it over. "It should be OK, though we should ask Kyuubey before we do it..."
"I'll tell Sayaka that we can't confirm it yet?" you say, inwardly annoyed at the idea that you'd have to check with Kyuubey for permission. Still, Mami.
"That should be fine," Mami says. "It's a good idea, though!"
"Thanks," you reply. "Anyway, sorry to disturb you."
"Oh, it's not a problem," Mami replies. "See you later!"
"See you," you echo.
You soon arrive at block 14, and head up to the fourth floor, walking down the corridor looking for the ward.
Ward 41... 42... 43... wait. You backtrack to the lift lobby and check the signs there, which state that wards 40-49 are on this floor.
... oh.
Thankfully, no one you know's around to see your mistake as you sheepishly press the button to summon the elevator again.
A short, glass-walled elevator ride later, you're on the correct floor -you double checked-, and headed for the, yes definitely correct, ward.
Miki Sayaka, Miki Miho, Miki Kenji, and an empty fourth slot, the sign by the door reads. The door is open when you get there, a trolley sitting outside and a nurse busily walking out of the room, two trays bearing emptied plates in hand. You nod politely at her, and ask, "May I go in?"
"Of course, Miss," the nurse replies, slotting the tray onto the trolley and pushing it away.
Still, you hesitate, and knock at the open door.
"Come in," a male voice -Sayaka's father, Kenji, or so you presume- calls, and you walk in.
The room is a simple four-bed hospital ward room, with two beds a side, and curtains to separate the beds. The curtains are currently drawn, though, and peering at you with interest is Sayaka's father, a middle aged-man with light blue, nearly grey hair. He's sitting up on his hospital bed, an open magazine on his lap, and a tube strung around his face to run under his nose - an oxygen feed, you recognize. Other than that, he seems fine.
Sayaka's similarly sitting up, though it seems that she was watching the television instead, and like her father, she has an oxygen feed strung under her nose.
Like the rest of her family, Miki Miho is on an oxygen feed, but she's sound asleep still.
"Good morning," you say, nodding at Kenji and Sayaka.
"Good morning, Sabrina!" Sayaka calls, somewhat hoarsely.
"Good morning," Kenji says cautiously, voice similarly hoarse and looking curiously at you with no recognition on his face. You're vaguely puzzled, and then annoyed by that - did Kyuubey wipe his memory?
"Oh! Dad, this is my friend Sabrina," Sayaka says to her father, looking oddly at him.
"I'm pleased to meet you," the older man says formally.
"Pleased to meet you too," you say, moving over to his bed and offering him a hand. He shakes it firmly, though he looks slightly puzzled.
"I don't mean to be rude, but should you be in school?" he asks.
"Oh, um, I just arrived in Mitakihara a few days ago," you say. It's technically true.
"I see," he says. "Well, I won't keep you then," he adds, gesturing at Sayaka.
You nod, and walk over to Sayaka's bed, sitting on the chair beside it. "So how are you?"
"Sleepy," she says tartly. Telepathically, she adds, "Dad... doesn't remember you?"
"Seems not," you reply. You suspect you know why, but... Sayaka doesn't seem to. Out loud, you say, "Ah. Anyway, uh... how are you doing?"
"I'm perfectly fine," she says drily. "Apart from being in a fire which, by the way, was my house-!"
"Sayaka!" Kenji says. "Apologize to your friend!"
"No, it's alright, Mr.[1]​ Miki," you say quickly. "I should apologize for not being more considerate. My apologies, Sayaka, Mr. Miki."
"It's OK," Sayaka says. "I'm sorry, too."
"No apologies are necessary, Sabrina," Kenji says.
Still, this does highlight a problem, you muse. You can't have a private conversation here.
[] Write-in
=====​
And a special thanks to Dirtnap for helping me factcheck some stuff about smoke inhalation!
Also, *ahem* borrowing the name Miho from Moid.
[1]​Mr. Miki sounds weird, but ehhhhh Japanese honorifics.
Last edited: Aug 26, 2014
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