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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. 9
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jun 22, 2014

- #2,726

You scowl at the note. Would it be better to read it, or just leave it be? You're almost certain Oriko left that note- it's utterly pristine save for the traceries of beautifully done calligraphy. Your gaze shifts over to the other two again to make sure they aren't looking -Homura's pointing off into the distance, now-, before you stoop and pick up the note.
The note is short, and written in flowing, picture-perfect Hiragana penmanship of the sort someone who's taken lessons for half her life would have. It says, simply, 'This was, and remains, necessary.'
A tug on the corner of the note and it bends as though it caught on something.
Too late, you see the thread delicately glued to the corner.
Too late, you see the tiny black box the note had been sitting on top of.
Despite your enhanced reflexes, you're halfway through a panicked jump away when the box detonates, blossoming out in a spray of fire and shrapnel. White-hot agony shoots up your spine as metal shards tear their way through your right leg and hip. Some corner of your brain recognizes that the mine can't have been a military one- those have deadly radii in the tens of meters.
You crash down facefirst as a bleeding heap next to one of the vents on the roof. Your right leg, extended from the jump and caught in the brunt of the blast, is little more than a mangled mess of flesh, shredded tatters hanging from the bone.
It's probably a good thing you don't actually need all the blood that's pooling around your leg.
You clench your teeth, grinding them against each other hard enough to creak.
Mind over matter.
Pain is optional.
You don't need to feel the pain.
You can almost feel something click inside your brain, and the pain fades away to a dull ache.
"Sabrina!" Mami's instantly by your side, eyes wide and panicked. Homura's a step behind her.
[] Write-in
=====
​
Remember that I have, to date, fiated Oriko's actions once.
Last edited: Jun 22, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 10
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jun 23, 2014

- #2,858

You growl into the roof. It is, just about literally, just a flesh wound. You aren't going to die or even be seriously inconvenienced by something as minor as this. Grunting, you plant your right hand on the roof and force yourself to flip over, rolling on your left side to avoid grinding dirt from the roof into your mangled right hip. Your right leg flops, muscles unresponding to your mental commands.
Face up, you can see the glimmering cloud of shrapnel and fire of the explosion, frozen in the midair of Homura's timestop, like a deadly flower. There's a section simply missing from the explosive blossom, corresponding roughly to where you were.
"Sabrina- your leg," Mami whispers, face drawn into a rictus of horrified panic. She kneels beside you, hands already glowing with her trademark golden radiance, and she applies them to your mangled leg with alacrity. The bleeding is already slowing down. Luckily, it doesn't look like the bone was actually damaged, merely that your flesh was turned to minced meat.
"I-it'll be OK, Sabrina," Mami says urgently, reaching out one hand to grip yours tightly. Her hand is icy cold, and shaking violently. "Don't panic, I'll heal you, OK?"
Homura kneels opposite to Mami, the purple glow of her magic filling her hands. She lends her aid to the healing process, a scowl set hard on her face.
You blink slowly, and push yourself up to a half seated position. "No, don't move, Sabrina!" Mami says, trying to push you back down.
"Let me help," you protest, dredging up the instincts you have for healing. Magic rushes to your hand, and you draw forth a gentle white light that you know can knit together flesh and even mend broken bone, given time.
"N-n-n-" Mami stutters, staring at you with wide eyes. Her trembling grip on your hand, already bone-crushing, tightens further. "S-Sabrina, it's OK, there's no need to push yourself!"
You meet Homura's flat gaze, and then look back at Mami's terrified gaze, before subsiding back against the rooftop. "Let me help you cleanse your Gems, at least."
"Later, Sabrina," Mami says, turning her attention back to your leg.
You lie back in silence for a few minutes, mind churning. Even if you can't feel the pain, you can feel the odd squelching and movements in your leg as Homura and Mami carefully work over your leg with their magic. A while later, Homura grabs Mami's hand by the wrist and forces it up. "Mami. You need to cleanse, now."
"I-it's OK, I can just use a Grief Seed," Mami says, flustered.
"I can handle it, Mami," you insist, lifting your head slightly to look at her. The blonde frowns unhappily, but detaches her Soul Gem for you.
You gasp softly when you see it. You'd judge that it's almost half filled, and you hurriedly gesture at it, pulling all the corruption free to form a fairly substantial cloud. Mami, against her will, sighs in contentment as she is freed of the Grief. Homura holds up her own Soul Gem, and you cleanse that too- you'd judge that her Gem was maybe a fifth filled, at worst.
You grip Mami's hand firmly. "Mami, you don't need to push yourself so hard, either. You said it yourself, I'll be OK. Take your time, OK?" you smile at her.
"O-OK," Mami says shakily, putting on a smile and returning her Soul Gem to her hairpin.
As they return to healing your leg, you collapse the tremendous cloud of Grief down as far as it will go, forming a double handful of marbles. You have no idea what to do with these, so you just let them hover in a ring slowly orbiting around you.
"You know," you comment at the air as she returns to healing your leg. "I can't believe Oriko did that. She made a damned landmine and deployed it here, in a residential area. I mean, yes, she set Sayaka's house on fire, but... if she wanted Sayaka dead... She's been threatening, and dangerous, but..."
"Oriko is ruthless," Homura growls. Absently, you note that her healing seems to be significantly more effective than Mami's- where her purple coloured magic falls, the layers of flesh seem to weave themselves back together far more quickly than Mami's. It's still extraordinarily slow, though.
"Yeah, I guess she is," you admit. "Still... if she wanted us dead, any of us dead..."
"She is not infallible," Homura says.
"Good," Mami adds, a flash of fury crossing her face. Her healing hand remains steady, though, making its slow sweep across your leg. You shiver briefly at the unaccustomed expression on her face- and it's not like it's been in short supply ever since the fire. This is not the warm, kindly and gentle Mami you've become used to. This is the veteran magical girl, who has survived and defended her territory, solo, against all both Witches and magical girls alike for perhaps years.
As her hand tightens briefly against yours, and she turns to smile comfortingly at you, though, you're forced to amend your statement. No. That's the Mami that Oriko is seeing.
You sigh. "Where else should we search? From here to Oriko's house, and Kirika's? Maybe we should check our home, and Homura's as well?" you suggest. "I mean, areas of personal significance, right?"
"Yes," Homura agrees. "However, given that these are the obvious locations, Oriko may avoid them instead."
"Good point," you say. "Hm. School, perhaps? Mitakihara and Shirome? And, uh... one idea I had. If she's hiding from us, then my detection range is the largest, with my power... She could hide inside a Barrier, and I'd have trouble detecting her. With Kirika, she'd be basically safe inside a Barrier."
"Possible," Homura allows. "Cleanse, Mami," she adds sharply.
Mami sighs, and holds out her Soul Gem. It's not as bad as the previous time, only about a third, but it nevertheless forms a fairly substantial cloud, and combined with the Grief from your own and Homura's Gems, you have another handful of Grief marbles to add to your orbiting ring.
It takes past an hour and several more cleanses to heal your leg fully- that mine had made an utter mess of your leg. Homura did the majority, though not by much, of the work, her healing seemingly far more efficient than Mami's, who simply brute forced it. You speculate that perhaps Homura simply had more time to hone her skills.
The healing and one last cleanse finally done, you flex your leg, followed by your toes. Everything seems to be working fine, and you smile gratefully at Homura and Mami. "Good as new," you say. The pant leg is completely shredded, but your leg is whole and working perfectly again.
Mami stares at you, emotions mixing on her face, before giving in to her impulses and dragging you into a tight hug. "You were so brave, Sabrina. H-how do you do it? It's like you weren't even worried about your leg. T-the last time I broke my arm..." she trails off.
[] Write-in
=====​
There is quite a bit of dissonance with Sabrina's leg being utterly mulched, and her blithely talking about other things as if she doesn't care.
You now have a hundred seventeen Grief marbles, twelve of which are in your pocket.
Last edited: Jun 23, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 11
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jun 24, 2014

- #2,921

You awkwardly hug Mami back, while out of the corner of your eye, you see Homura stalking off around a corner, dodging one of your Grief marbles as she goes. "I kinda cheated with magic to dull the pain," you admit. "And... you and Homura were right there, so it was OK..."
"Oh, Sabrina." You can feel her shaking her head against your shoulder. "You- you..." Mami breaks off, lost for words.
"I'm sorry for making you worry again," you offer weakly.
"You're sor- for making me worry. You weren't even- you're not even worried about your leg, are you?" Mami says with a choked laugh. "You, Sabrina... you are something amazing." She gives you one last squeeze before releasing you, and favouring you with a half-smile.
"I... uh," you say, slightly puzzled. "Thank you, Mami? And thank you for the healing, too," you half bow in her direction. Raising your voice, you add, "You too, Homura. Thank you for the healing."
Homura walks back around the corner of the silent air conditioning compressor. "You're welcome."
You take a step back, and look down at your shredded pant leg. You could retransform, and the costume would be fine again, or... you concentrate, twisting your magic just so, and a fine white glow suffuses you. The costume mends itself, weaving itself across your leg as though from some otherworldly bolt of cloth. Even the tiny rips and tears here and there mend themselves, threads snaking together.
Mami gives you an approving nod and smile, while Homura simply looks on impassively. You glance around, and look at the tremendous ring of tiny spheres of grief orbiting you slowly. "Oh wow..." you say, slightly shocked. You knew you'd cleansed off a lot of Grief, but actually seeing the sheer amount puts a different complexion on it.
"I... guess I need to do something about that," you say to no one in particular. "Bit unwieldy." You reshape the enormous ring, dividing up the marbles into seven groups of fifteen marbles each, and move each group to sit at the points of half an icosahedron, centered on you. Each of the small groups of marbles form a small ring of fourteen orbiting the remaining one of their number.
With the marbles spaced out like that, you reason, it should be relatively out of the way. Less chance of them running into things as you roof hop, though you resolve that you'll probably need to get that sling bag from Mami if you plan on keeping this many marbles around. It's fine in the timestop, with no one to see, but you'll look decidedly odd to non magical girls.
"It's sort of pretty," Mami observes, looking at the geometric patterns you formed from the Grief marbles, but the smile fades from her face.
You shrug. "It seemed like the thing to do. This will keep the Grief out of the way, at least?"
"It's a good thing you can remove corruption," Mami says quietly. "There's... probably more than I can afford, here." It seems that the sheer magnitude of what it had taken to heal you is beginning to sink in for her. She continues in a slightly more formal tone. "And thank you, Homura, for insisting that I cleanse my Soul Gem. Losing my magic at this juncture would have been unfortunate."
Homura nods. "Not a problem," she says, eyes flickering to yours for a moment. You can tell what she's probably thinking- about Mami, and her reaction to the unpleasant reveals on the nature of magical girls.
"Anyway," you say, catching Mami's attention. "Shall we continue on? Oriko's still out there, somewhere."
"I suppose so," the blonde replies. "Do you need a minute to rest first, Sabrina?"
"No, I'm fine," you demur. "How about you? And Homura?"
"Not necessary," Homura says.
Mami shakes her head, blonde curls flapping. "I'm fine, too. Where shall we go, first?"
"I suggest checking towards Oriko's house," Homura replies.
[] Agree
[] Disagree
-[] Write-in where else?
=====​
Geometry!
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 12
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jun 24, 2014

- #2,970

"Sounds good to me," you affirm. "Which way, then, Homura?"
"There," the timetraveller replies, pointing off into the distance. You nod, and let her take point, hopping off in that direction. You and Mami follow at a distance, spreading out to form the points of a large V connected by golden ribbons.
Pushing your senses out as far as they can go, you scan thoroughly for magic as the three of you proceed slowly. You even descend to the streets a few times to ensure that Oriko isn't travelling along at ground level to hide from you, weaving in between the few frozen cars and eerily still pedestrians on the street.
Even with the three of you searching at a hundred meter spread, there's a considerable amount of area to cover, and it's a quiet two hour trip, with only the occasional murmur to break the monotony before you approach Oriko's house. It's located in one of the more well-off parts of the town, as you'd expect, and much like the Kaname residence, this area is surrounded, perplexingly, by swathes of open land and greenery. Oriko's house is an enormous two story building, virtually a mansion in and of itself.
Looking down at it from atop a nearby building, you decide to circle it before going in, and you hop down to the street while Homura prowls about on the rooftops, examining the area with a keen eye. Mami joins you down on the streets, trailing you as you hop over and around the sparse people and cars. Brief colour blooms as you swing around a lamppost with one arm, momentarily bringing it into the timestop with you.
"What's wrong, Mami?" you ask, after a few minutes of Mami trailing you silently. You come to a halt, and half turn to look at her.
Mami blinks unhappily, and opens her mouth, before slowly closing it again. Eventually, she begins, "Oriko... is not the first magical girl I've had to fight for territory."
You think you can hear a 'but', hanging in the air.
"She's the first to have gone after your friends like this?" you fill in the blanks for her.
"Yes, she is," Mami says, looking away. "I don't understand. Why would she do that? She- I- I want her to pay, Sabrina. But I- I- why would she do that? Set fire to Sayaka's house, and then set a trap for you like that?"
[] Write-in response
[] Specifics for checking Oriko's house
=====​
Do you want to comb the house room by room, just scan it from the outside, that kind of thing?
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 13
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jun 26, 2014

- #2,995

You shake your head, turning to face her fully. "She believes that this had to happen, I think."
Mami looks at you quizzically. "That doesn't make sense!"
"She's a precog," you say. "And before the explosion... there was a note. 'This was, and remains, necessary.' She... believes that this was necessary. If she can see the future, or maybe a future, then I'm guessing she's trying to shape it."
Mami's lips firm into a thin line. "That's no excuse."
"It's not," you agree. "Whatever that future she wants is... its present requires Sayaka's house burned down, or letting everyone else in there suffer... or me out of the way, or something. I have a few problems with all of that," you finish, sharp gaze meeting Mami's.
She nods slowly, eyes hard. "She needs to answer for what she's done."
"Yes, she does," you say firmly. You can see Mami's inner turmoil, though... despite her simmering rage, despite the territorial conflicts she must have been in, you don't think she's ever come up against someone quite so outright murderous. Teenaged girls don't usually go around setting fires, jaded and hostile or no.
"C'mon," you say, bumping her lightly on the shoulder. "We need to find her first, or all this is moot."
"I suppose so," Mami says.
"Coming, Homura?" you call, raising your voice. Your shout is shocking loud in the eerie silence of the frozen world. The black haired magical girl looks down at you from her perch on the building, and you can see her nodding before hopping down with her hair trailing behind her.
The three of you prowl towards the Mikuni residence carefully, walking up the main path to the front door while you stretch your senses as far as they will go to examine for any traces of magic. The three of you reach the house without incident, and without sensing anything magical, either.
Wordlessly, the three of you decide to circle around the house, simply observing it from the outside and peering into the windows. From what you can see, it looks like a perfectly normal house. Perhaps a little messy, but considering that Oriko has, presumably, been living largely on her own for a while, it's only to be expected.
Behind the house is an enormous backyard planted full of rosebushes. There's a table and chairs set up back here, too, for the occasional afternoon tea or some such, you guess.
After circling the house once, you glance at the others. "Shall we check inside? Maybe there's some clue as to where she is?"
"I don't see the point, if you do not sense her inside," Homura offers. "I know where Kirika lives."
"I... agree with Sabrina," Mami says. "We should check to see if there's anything inside."
"Fine," Homura grunts. "There's an open window on the second floor, around the back."
You nod, and the three of you proceed over to find the window. It is, indeed, open, but just a crack. Mindful of how the note had been trapped, you glance over at Mami, but she's already speaking.
"I'll use my ribbons on the window, OK?" she says.
You nod in agreement. "Yeah, I was just about to suggest that."
More golden ribbon spools out in Mami's hands, and twists upwards like a snake doing a particularly neat trick. The ribbon reaches the window, and the three of you tense in anticipation as contact is made and colour blooms along the window frame.
A heartbeat.
And another.
And... nothing happens.
The ribbon, moving hesitantly under Mami's control, pulls the window fully open. Once again, nothing happens. "I'll... go check it out, OK?" you suggest.
Mami frowns unhappily. "One of us needs to, I guess, and it shouldn't be Homura, since she's holding the timestop. I... I'll... Um. Be careful."
The blonde gestures, and the ribbon at the window blossoms out into a full webwork ladder, branching off interweaving ribbons that anchor themselves against the walls. You nimbly climb up the ribbons, and, very carefully, poke your head through the window to look inside.
You take a few careful minutes to look around, senses hyperalert and ready to spring back at any moment, but as far as you can see, it's just a bedroom. One that's done up nicely in a pastel lavender. The canopied bed is... alarmingly frilly, with veils drifting downwards. On a hint of paranoia, you carefully bring a single Grief marble forward to nudge the veils aside, and you find that the bed's unoccupied. You even check the wall just under and above the window for more mines.
No traps or anything that you can see.
"It's clear, I think," you call back, before clambering fully into the room, still ready to call the Grief marbles to shield you at a moment's notice.
You take a cautious step further in, watching carefully for any trip wires that might connect you to a trap, and a sharp eye on where the ribbon connecting you back to Homura drapes.
Rustling of the ribbon ladder heralds Homura climbing into the room, followed by Mami.
"Well, we're in," you murmur. "Room by room?"
Homura nods silently, while Mami answers, "I suppose so."
The three of you spread out, roaming through the rooms of the house. It's almost melancholic, somehow, with the house oddly still and empty. Every closed door is treated with suspicion, and opened at a distance with Mami's ribbons, while the three of you stay vigilant, avoiding touching anything if at all possible.
One of the rooms turns out to be a study, richly furnished with what you think is a mahogany desk and shelves filled with books. On the desk is a photograph of a younger, laughing Oriko and a distinguished looking man hoisting her on his shoulders. You glance at Mami, and move to block the photograph from her view.
Moving on, you find another room, this one furnished, at a guess, for Oriko to study in. There's a few school textbooks lying around, but more interesting are the glass jars. One is half filled with some black powder and what looks like glass marbles, while another has some traces of yellow powder. There are also various tools on the desk, along with some wires and bits of electronics lying around.
Homura peers down at the desk. "Gunpowder," she observes quietly. "Charcoal grinder," she adds, pointing at the glass jar, and a little motorized assembly you hadn't noticed before.
You nod in agreement. A simple mill grinder. "Here's where she made the bomb, then."
Mami just shakes her head, looking at the paraphernalia of destruction on the desk, her hands twitching.
Eventually, the three of you move on, after examining the room in detail. It looks like Oriko doesn't have the materials to produce more bombs, but that means little. They could be hidden elsewhere, or already deployed, for all you know.
"Mami, could you check the fridge?" you suggest, when you reach the kitchen.
"The fridge would make an excellent place to hide a bomb," Homura points out, glancing at you.
"Yeah... We should probably get out of the house or something," yoy acknowledge.
"Well... I could," Mami answers. "Why do you ask, Sabrina?"
"To see if there's fresh food in there," you reply. "If Oriko's abandoned the house..."
"That makes sense," Homura nods, walking out of the kitchen, presumably to look for a way out.
The tremendous glass doors opening out to the rose garden slide open without any issue, and the three of you retreat to a safe distance, with Mami leaving a ribbon snaking behind, ready to open the fridge.
"Do it," Homura says, when the three of your are squatting behind a tree. Mami nods, and frowns, presumably feeling out the fridge with her ribbons, before prying it open. All three of you tense in anticipation of an explosion, but nothing happens, and you relax slowly.
You creep back into the kitchen, now with the refrigerator door hanging wide open. As it turns out, it's almost empty of food, with one lonely head of cabbage and a carton of milk sitting in the corner.
"Well," you say. "This isn't conclusive, but it's suggestive."
Mami shakes her head. "If she isn't even living here any more, then what next?"
[] Continue searching the house
[] Search elsewhere
- [] Where?
[] Write-in
=====​
Hmhm. Another phone-typed update.
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 14
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jun 26, 2014

- #3,019

"Maybe... Kirika's house?" you suggest, a little hesitantly after debating whether to bring up Shirome Academy. "She could have moved there."
Homura nods in agreement. "Possible," she allows.
Mami's frowning in thought. "Ah... Can I check something else before we go?" she asks, pressing her hands together and separating them with a length of ribbons spooling out as if from some unseen reel. She looks inquisitively at you and Homura.
You shrug. "Sure. What is it?"
"Oriko's wardrobe," Mami says, walking towards the stairs to the second floor. "If Oriko's not staying here any more, then her clothes..."
"Will presumably be gone," you finish, understanding dawning. "Good idea, Mami."
She beams back at you as she ascends the stairs. While you wait for her to return, you glance at Homura. She meets your gaze, and tilts her head infinitesimally to the side, eyes deliberately sliding to the side to indicate the stairwell, then back to you. An eyebrow raises fractionally.
... Is she asking about Mami and you?
You raise one eyebrow quizzically, and shrug.
Homura frowns slightly, and with small, minimal movements, taps her Soul Gem with her other hand, before tapping herself on the chest over her heart, before raising that eyebrow again.
You shrug helplessly, face drawn into an uncomprehending grimace.
The timetraveller makes a small 'tch' sound of irritation, but rocks her hand left and right. Later.
You nod, and at this point, Mami comes down the stairs. "Shall we move outside before I try the wardrobe?" she suggests.
"Yeah, probably a good idea," you agree.
"A wardrobe is just as viable a place to hide a bomb," Homura adds.
Mami gives the time traveller an odd look, but lets it pass without comment. The three of you troop outside and hunker down again, while Mami uses the ribbon she left behind to open the wardrobe again. After a good deal of nothing happening, you return to the house to examine the wardrobe.
It's pretty empty. Again, not wholly conclusive, but it certainly suggests that Oriko has moved elsewhere, and you say as much to the others.
You sigh. "Well. I think that's everything that might be of interest here," you say. "Shall we move on? Kirika's house?"
"Yes, let's go," Mami agrees. "Homura, do you know the way?"
The time traveller nods. "Not that far," she says, leading the way out.
It doesn't take you long to reach Kirika's place. As it turns out, she lives in an apartment block, much like Sayaka does. Did. A first floor apartment, which you scan from a distance with your senses, and find nothing. Since it's a first floor apartment, the three of you take a little extra time to peer in through the windows.
Again, nothing seems out of the ordinary, just an apartment for a family of three, of whom two are not currently in bed. The room you're guessing is Kirika's, with a single bed and a few plush toys arrayed on a writing desk, is empty. The bed doesn't look slept in, either. Of Kirika's parents, or so you presume, her father is sleeping, but her mother is... it appears that she had been pacing, in the living room, when the timestop caught her. Her eyes are turned anxiously towards the clock, frozen at 2:47AM.
Mami looks uneasily at you, and you shrug back, looking just as unhappy. Or so you imagine, anyway. Homura remains impassive.
"I... guess Kirika's not here either?" Mami says. Her voice is hushed, even if there's no need for it.
"And hasn't been home for at least the night, either," you add, jabbing a thumb at the pacing Mrs. Kure. You sigh.
"Where should we go to next?" Mami asks.
Surprisingly, Homura answers before you do. "The hospital."
Your eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and you incline your head at her. "I was just about to suggest that, too. I mean, if Oriko sent Sayaka and Hitomi there... Well, I assume Sayaka's being sent there. That was a Mitakihara General ambulance, wasn't it?"
Mami nods. "It was. Good thinking, Homura." The blonde turns to leap off towards the roof top, but Homura speaking stops her.
"Wait," the time traveller says, before adding, belatedly, "Please."
"What is it, Homura?" you say with a trace of anxiety. Is her time stop malfunctioning or something? About to summon squamous horrors from beyond the veil of reality to punish us for daring to intrude on their domain?
"... I need a cleanse," she says, holding up her hand, palm facing you.
"Oh, is that all," you reply, relieved. The corruption is easy to draw off, perhaps about a fifth. You've been in the timestop for a subjective total of maybe four hours, at a guess- while travelling ordinarily doesn't take so long, travelling while going over the path with a fine toothed comb certainly does, and so does searching a house.
You crush the cloud of grief down into the small spheres that's become your tradition, and frown at the number- seven of them. After a moment's thought, you make another group of fifteen to form another vertex on your icosahedron by adding eight more marbles from your pocket.
"There," you say, smiling at Homura.
"Thank you," she allows.
Well, you'll take it. Without much else to do, you walk over to an alley before crouching and leaping, ricocheting up the alley walls to reach the rooftops. Mami and Homura are right behind you, and after a moment to reorient, the three of you are headed to the hospital, Mami in the lead.
It doesn't take long before you're looking down on the hospital grounds.
"Where shall we search now?" Mami wonders out loud.
[] Look in A&E, see if Sayaka's there
[] Look for ambulances
[] Check in on Hitomi
[] Check in on Kyousuke
[] Check the rest of the hospital
[] Scan from a distance
[] Write-in
=====​
One hundred and twenty four Grief marbles, four of which are in your pocket.
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 15
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jun 28, 2014

- #3,057

"Hmm... we could see if Sayaka's reached the hospital yet?" you suggest. "And if Oriko's going after our friends... then we should check on Hitomi and, um, Kyousuke, maybe?"
"The ambulance may not have arrived before I started the timestop," Homura notes.
"Homura's right. It will be... close, either way," Mami says. "But I agree, we should check, just in case."
You shrug. "OK, then. A&E first, Hitomi, Kyousuke, then the rest of the hospital, just in case?"
"Sounds like a plan," Mami says with a smile. "Shall we?" She motions with her hand toward the hospital, in a little 'you first' gesture. You smile back at her and take a long leap off the edge of the building and letting your instincts and a touch of magic guide your fall towards the building with Mami's golden ribbon whipping out behind you like a kite's tail.
Halfway through your descent, though, you realize something.
Your landing is a controlled roll, landing on your shoulder and ending with you in a crouch, ready to spring to your feet again. You refrain from doing so, and simply rise to your feet while waiting for the other two to arrive. When they do, you give them a sheepish look. "Uh. I don't actually know where A&E is...?"
Mami giggles. "Oh, Sabrina. And you were doing so well." Then a similarly sheepish look dawns on her face, and she adds, "Though I don't know, either."
"This way," Homura says. She doesn't roll her eyes, exactly, but you can practically hear said eye roll in the tone of her voice. You grin at Mami behind Homura's back, and she returns the grin. The shared moment of mirth fades quickly, though, lost in the pressing silence and grim search ahead of you.
You push your senses out as you pass through the hospital grounds, scanning the area, however, you don't detect anything apart from the three of you.
The A&E section of the hospital is unsurprisingly populated. The receiving bay is bustling with activity, nurses rushing to and fro carrying various items. One is mid-slip, small tubes of what are, on closer inspection, burn cream flying out of his arms. A harried looking woman is hurrying out of one of the side doors, pushing ahead of her a trolley filled with various items- bandages, scissors, medication, and so forth.
All of them frozen in time, in an utterly surreal tableau.
... The man who's slipping and dropping the burn cream has a particularly silly looking expression on his face, eyelids drooping and teeth bared. The whole freeze-frame expression issue.
"It's kind of creepy," you note as the three of you weave past the human statues, careful not to get the ribbon caught on anything.
"It is," Mami agrees from behind you.
A few minutes of poking your head through all the triage areas turns out to be rather unfruitful. No Sayaka, or even any one who looks to be in for burn treatment or even smoke inhalation. Then again, Sayaka would be the among the first, if not the first, of the people from the fire to arrive, since you'd gotten her out of the fire with alacrity.
"Maybe we should check on the others?" Mami suggests tentatively, rubbing at her nose. The air in here has that slightly antiseptic smell you associate with hospitals, and you wonder for a brief moment how that works - do you have to keep moving, or all the oxygen near you will be used up? But how about those conversations with Homura, where you didn't move around?
You put the thought aside, and agree with Mami.
The three of you make your way through the hospital to the long term care wards, and wind your way up to the seventh floor on the stairs, since the elevators obviously aren't working. The three of you cautiously look in on Kyousuke, and find that he's sleeping soundly, with nothing out of the place in his ward room.
The same is true of Hitomi, sleeping peacefully on the tenth floor. There's a little journal beside her bed, you note, but you don't dare to read it.
You sigh. "Nothing wrong here, either."
"If Oriko doesn't want to be found, we'll have a hard time finding her," Homura points out.
"Let's just check the rest of the hospital," you comment. "Just in case."
Mami nods in agreement. "It can't hurt. If she's hiding from us, then the less obvious places would be worth a look."
Exiting the building through the roof, the three of you comb the hospital grounds rapidly, leveraging your massive detection radius to its fullest. You don't find Oriko nearby, however, you do find a Witch's Barrier nearby, and call it out to the others, before heading over to it.
It's the same geometrical slit in reality as any other entrance to a Barrier you've seen, and cast in the same iron-grey as anything else in the time-stop.
Mami looks worriedly at it. "We'll need to come back to this later, when we have the..." she pauses, and frowns, before finishing, "when we have the time."
You groan, while Homura's eyes flick upwards to the sky for a moment, and her hands twitch. Unintentional or not, that was just terrible. A thought occurs to you, though, and you voice it out. "If Oriko wanted to hide from me in particular, a Witch's Barrier would be perfect," you say, indicating the Barrier.
"Because the Barrier drowns out a magical girl's presence?" Mami says, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
"Right, all I can sense is that there's a Barrier, not anything inside it," you comment.
"A Witch's Barrier is a dangerous place to hide, though," Mami comments.
"If Kirika has anti magic, then it might not be as dangerous," Homura offers.
You nod at the time traveler. "Yeah, I was thinking that. I doubt she's in this one in particular, but in general..."
Mami purses her lips. "Something to keep in mind if we don't find her?"
"Yeah," you confirm. "Hey, Homura, what happens with your timestop and Witch Barriers?"
"I'm not entirely sure," the time traveler admits. Her shield bearing arm moves slightly, coming uncertainly to the front of her body. "I've never tried bringing people with me while crossing a Barrier before."
"Hmm." Might pose a problem, and then again, it might not. Either way, it's something for later, you reason. You sigh, and rub at your eyes. "Anyway, let's finish our search of the hospital."
The three of you resume the search. As you approach the starting point, you see a few ambulances moving along the road. You point them out, and veer over to take a look.
... Ambulances, inconsiderate of curious people trying to ogle, don't have convenient back windows for you to peer into. You're forced to try looking in from the front of the ambulances, peering around the drivers, while very carefully avoiding touching the ambulances and bringing them into the timestop.
Magical girl or not, you really don't want to get hit by a moving ambulance, even if it is suitably ironic.
Despite the fact that you're taller than Homura and Mami both, this still proves to be a mildly tricky task, resulting in you hopping up and down to try and get the right angle to look in.
Nevertheless, you eventually spy a familiar shock of blue hair in one of the ambulances, accompanied by her father. Sayaka's mother, with the same shade of blue hair she has, is lying on the gurney strapped down in the back of the ambulance.
They look, if not fine, then in acceptable condition.
"She's in good hands, then," Mami says. At the same time, though, she looks mildly pensive.
Someone's stomach grumbling interrupts her. Your head snaps up, staring first at Mami, and then Homura. "That wasn't me," Mami says.
The two of you stare at Homura.
"What?" the time traveler asks, defensively.
You shake your head, a smirk tugging at your lips. "Nothing."
[] Suggest eating
[] Continue searching
- [] Where?
[] Write-in
=====​
Was out and busy most of the day.
Oh, and GM's honour - Oriko is in a fixed and pre-determined location, and one that's not some random alley somewhere. If you find her, you find her. It's just... well, you haven't.
Last edited: Jun 28, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 16
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jun 29, 2014

- #3,087

You let the smirk fade from your face, and glance at Mami. "So, on a completely unrelated note," you begin in a perfectly level voice, "maybe it's time go and find something to eat?"
Mami nods, one hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Yes, I agree."
"How about it, Homura? I'm sure we can spare the time," you address the black haired girl.
She glares at you, but relents quickly. "Fine." She raises her shield, and with a clicking of the gears, produces an instant ramen cup, which she tosses to you, and a second one to Mami.
You reflexively catch the cup of instant noodles, as does Mami. She looks down at the plastic cup with an unhappy frown, turning it over in her hands. Homura sits at the edge of the roof, facing in, and puts down her cup beside her, before reaching behind her shield again. This time, she produces a... what the hell, Homura?
Your thoughts grind to a halt as the time traveller pulls a kettle, with steam still wafting from the spout, from behind her shield. "Open the cup noodles," Homura instructs with a hint of irritation and a slight gesture with the kettle. Neither you nor Mami have moved to open your cup noodles, and she looks dismayed to have to eat instant food.
"No, Homura," Mami says firmly, looking up at her.
"It's the middle of the night, it's cold, we're h- hunting a dangerous magical girl..." she reels off. "We'd all feel better if we had something that isn't instant food, Homura."
Homura sighs, closing her eyes for a moment, but eventually seems to come to the decision that it's not worth the effort to try and dissuade Mami. When she reopens her violet eyes, she grits out, "Fine. What do you suggest, then?" The kettle is returned to her shield, and she reclaims the instant noodles.
"My apartment," Mami says firmly. "We should check it, in any case, and perhaps yours too, after we eat. I believe I should be able to cook something even with the timestop."
Homura raises one shoulder in a minute shrug, and makes a little 'go ahead' gesture with her hand. There's a tiny, tiny quirk of what might be a nostalgic smile on her face as she watches Mami turn to lead the way back to her apartment, though, that you might've missed had you not been watching her closely.
The three of you arrive at Mami's apartment without incident, or stumbling across errant magical girls along the way. The door is opened with some trepidation by Mami, but everything turns out to be normal and undisturbed.
Mami peers down at the boots of her magical girl outfit, before dismissing them in a flash of golden light and walking into the apartment. You raise an eyebrow at her, and frown down at your own boots. You've just seen a practical demonstration, so... ah.
Your own boots disappear, too, and you walk into the apartment, past Mami, who's holding the door open. "Come in, Homura," she invites.
The black haired time traveller hesitates for a moment, but dismisses her high heeled shoes and walks in.
"OK!" Mami says, closing the door behind Homura. "I'll just prepare something simple, then," she says, moving to the kitchen with ribbons blossoming out ahead of her.
[] Go help Mami
- [] Conversation?
[] Talk to Homura
- [] What about?
[] Write-in
=====​
Why wouldn't Homura carry a kettle of boiling water?
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 17
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 1, 2014

- #3,117

As you walk into the apartment, you're careful to alter the ever-shifting icosahedron of Grief marbles so as to accommodate all the obstacles in the apartment. You probably need to find some easier way of bringing them with you, you figure.
Homura walks over to the sofa, and sits down primly, tucking her hands into her lap. She looks around the room curiously, as if she's never been here before. Paying close attention, though, you can see the deep echoes of old pain written in the way the lines around her eyes tighten.
"Hey, Mami?" you call as you search.
"Yes?" the reply echoes from the kitchen. How that works, you don't know; since sound by rights needs air as a medium of passage, but, well. Magic is as magic does.
"Mind if I grab that sling bag? I kinda have too many marbles of Grief right now," you comment. Where was that bag?
"Of course!" Mami replies. "Should be on the shelf, next to mine."
So it is. You grab the bag, and hold it open, amusing yourself by having the marbles file inside one by one and packing themselves neatly within. For now, you leave the bag here in the living room, before entering the kitchen to help Mami with the cooking. Mami is frowning at the tap; despite her having one hand on it, no water's coming out.
"Whatcha cooking, Mami?" you ask, peering around. There's some uncooked spaghetti in a packet on the table, along with various other ingredients- tomatos, mushrooms and so forth neatly set out.
"Pasta pomodoro," she says distractedly, pronouncing the syllables correctly to your mild surprise. "Do you think Homura has any non-boiling water in her shield?"
"I'll ask," you say, and stick your head out of the kitchen to look at Homura. "Hey, Homura, do you have any water? That's not boiling?"
"Yes," Homura replies, rising to her feet. She walks into the kitchen, and pulls several large bottles of distilled water out from her shield which she places on the kitchen countertop.
"Ah, thank you, Homura," Mami flashes her a grateful smile. "Can't cook without water..." She grabs one of the large bottles and empties it into a pot, which she leaves on a stove. Golden ribbons wind around the pot handle and the stove itself, vibrant blotches of colour in the iron-grey world.
You grab the chopping board and a knife, before starting to chop the ingredients. You're familiar with the general recipe, if perhaps not Mami's specific version of it, so you know what to do. Mami tries to nudge you away, but you just roll your eyes at her, and she smiles exasperatedly at you. Instead, she reaches for a skillet which, she begins to heat up, humming slightly. Seeing that, you put aside the tomatoes which you'd been chopping up and reach instead for the onions.
"How'd you learn to cook this, anyway?" you ask curiously as you push the onions over to Mami, who's currently pouring oil into the heated skillet.
She flushes slightly. "I like Italian food," she answers as she expertly drops the onions in with a hiss of oil.
You nod. "Ah, I see," you reply. "Are we adding some chicken or something?"
"Oh, yes," she says as sliced garlic joins the onions. "I should still have some chicken breast in the refrigerator."
You reach over, and pull open the fridge to hunt for the chicken, and then busy yourself to shredding it. Mami's smile dims slightly when she thinks you're not looking, you notice.
The meal -technically, breakfast?- doesn't take long to prepare with the two of you working in perfect tandem, even with the complication of having to manuveur around the golden ribbons linking things to the time stop. As you cook, however, you can't help but notice that whenever you're ostensibly busy with something else, Mami looks slightly unhappy.
"Food's done," you call as you divvy up the spaghetti, Mami finishing up the sauce. There's no response from Homura.
There's no response from Homura.
Stay calm, Sabrina.
Caaaaaalm.
Your walk to the kitchen door is perhaps a little more hurried than usual, and your heart is certainly not beating out a thundering tatoo in your chest.
...
She's asleep.
The time traveller has fallen asleep on Mami's sofa, half-slumping over sideways. Even asleep, her mouth is downturned into a frown, but her features are more relaxed, more unguarded, than you've ever seen.
Asleep, Akemi Homura seems much smaller than even her petite 156 centimeters. Her slumbering form lacks the usual fiery anger, the weary but implacable energy she usually moves with.
Asleep, Akemi Homura is just a Japanese school girl dressed in an unusual costume. Just a slightly malnourished, tired girl - even if the cut of her costume disguises it, you can see that she's rather skinnier than she should be, and her skin is perhaps on the unhealthier side of translucent. Relics of her time spent in hospital, you suppose.
You glance at Mami, who's walked up to peer over your shoulder. She raises her eyebrows at you, and inclines her head to you. Your move.
[] Wait for Homura to wake up
- [] Talk to Mami while waiting?
- [] Write-in conversation topic
[] Wake up Homura
[] Write-in
=====​
Been busy.
Last edited: Jul 1, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 18
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 3, 2014

- #3,177

Your face curls into a smirk, and you turn to look at Mami, still peering over your shoulder. "Don't tell her she's this adorable when she's asleep," you whisper to her. "She'll probably never go to sleep again."
Mami giggles quietly, one hand over her mouth. "We should let her sleep, I think," she whispers back when her laughter subsides.
You nod. "Yeah, I agree. But first..." you raise your left hand and reach out with your magic, gently drawing a bilious cloud of corruption out from Homura's Soul Gem. In her sleep, her face eases slightly, and she slumps over further on the couch, murmuring quietly into the cushion.
Mami's hand comes up to cover her mouth again, and her eyes crinkle in laughter. You can practically hear the delighted squeal she's too refined to express.
"Caffiene, maybe?" you mutter quietly to Mami, stepping back and lightly tugging her back into the kitchen. Absently, you call the large mass of Grief marbles you'd left in the sling bag to you, and the bag silently floats itself into your waiting arms. "The food'll keep, just let the timestop hold it."
"That's probably a good idea," Mami says. "I'll put some tea on."
"Do you have something stronger? Coffee?" you ask, as you collapse the malevolent cloud of Grief you have into the usual spheres and adding them to the pile already inside bag.
The blonde shakes her head, nose wrinkled in disgust. "I don't like coffee." She busies herself setting a kettle of water to boil. You locate the tea leaves, and dump several spoonfuls into a teapot. You then take a long, measuring look at it, and dump a few more spoonfuls in.
Mami ignites the stove, and leaves the kettle to boil, before leaning against the counter, arms clasped tightly around herself in a hug. When she catches you looking at her, she smiles at you, but it's more than a little strained.
"Are you OK, Mami?" you ask.
"Hm? Yes, of course I am..." she replies, a tad unconvincingly.
No, she's not. But you'll hold your peace for now, because you want to talk to her seriously, and the kettle's about to boil. As if on cue, it begins to whistle just as you think that, and Mami busies herself pouring water into the teapot. "I think that's a bit too much tea leaves," she comments on seeing just how much you'd added. A golden ribbon loops itself around the handle of the tea pot, and she steps back from it.
You shrug. "We need the caffiene, I think," you say. "Anyway, c'mon, Mami."
You tug lightly on her sleeve, and lead her over to your bedroom, carefully tiptoeing past the slumbering Homura, who's by now fully tipped over on the sofa and is burrowed up against the backrest. The evidence of your rushed departure is still present in the form of the blankets strewn roughly about and the crumpled sheets.
You seat yourself, and pat the bed beside you while giving Mami an inviting look. She reluctantly seats herself, looking away out of the window to avoid looking you in the eyes, but she scoots over close enough that you can feel the warmth from her body.
"How are you holding up, Mami?" you ask.
She sighs, but doesn't answer.
You let the silence stretch out.
"I," Mami starts, before trailing off.
You bump your shoulder lightly against hers, giving her silent encouragement.
"I'm... not comfortable with this, Sabrina," she says quietly. "I- she hurt you so badly. You might have died! And Sayaka, too! I- but..." She sighs again. "I was -am- so angry, and she needs to pay, but this... skulking around- I-"
She's uncomfortable with this cold, premediated hunt and murder, you gather.
"I, I- I want Oriko gone," she whispers, still looking away from you. "But this..."
[] Write-in
=====​
There's more than one layer at play here.
Mami is a veteran magical girl.
One hundred thirty nine Grief marbles, four of which are in your pocket.
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