698/Tea Time at Mami's Episode 698: Raspberry and Rooibos

Tea Time at Mami's Episode 698: Raspberry and Rooibos
Date of Scene:	03 November 2023
Location:	Mitakihara Ward
Synopsis:	Mami invites Adalinda and Madoka over for tea and macarons. They end up talking about Sayaka, and Mami gets a little more sympathy for the younger girl. Then Adalinda shows them Walpurgisnacht, and tells them she's coming to Tokyo. Dun DUN DUN!
Cast of Characters:	Mami Tomoe, Madoka Kaname, Adalinda Blumenkrantz

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Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami Tomoe has been floating through life all full of smiles lately, in no small part to the introduction of friends into her life. She may not have needed to attend many classes to get decent grades, but she really did need the social time. When she actually had the resolve to be social.

Today was one of those days. She extended invitations to some of her newfound friends to come over after school and hang out at her Mitakihara apartment with it's big windows and modern furniture. For a fifteen year old who lives alone, she lives fairly well.

There was promise of tea and cakes, and as soon as she arrives home, she sets to preparing stuff.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka was... surprised, pleasantly, when Mami invited her over. Considering how things went the last time they spoke, between the fighting over Kyubey and Madoka's sudden retreat from the party, she was hoping that things wouldn't get... too awkward between them. She arrives in a somewhat warmer outfit: a white jacket with a black blouse and skirt underneath. Hovering over her shoulder is, of course, her ever present Chara, Brai, and at her side is a cream-colored purse.

    As the pinkette approaches Mami's apartment, she knocks on the door and patiently waits to be let in. Brai seems to be writing something down in a tiny little Chara scale notepad. Gretchen is nowhere to be seen.

    Madoka fidgets with her hands for a moment. She hopes everything goes well this time.

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda Blumenkrantz is not usually invited anywhere that isn't a Witch hunt. When she is invited, it's either by her friends from Germany or fellow students whom she politely declines. She already has a reputation as a loner, and people are getting tired of trying to go out of their way to include her in things. For most magical girls, this is a natural consequence of having to rush off to fight evil, or not having friends because of the danger it could put others in.

    For Ada, it's a deliberate choice.

    She isn't staying here long term, so she doesn't want to form connections if she doesn't have to.

    Also, there's the fact that it's a distinct possibility that not everyone is going to be returning to Germany after they're done in Japan. Entanglements are just... Unnecessary. They're distractions, and she has a very keen focus on one specific thing.

    Ever since she made her Wish, it's always been there, in the back of her mind. This... Thing. A drive to kill Witches. And it's raging. She is sure her teachers have noticed the violent images she has doodled in their classes, or the way she has drawn black lines over and over in a tangled mess, pressing so hard that her pencils keep breaking.

    They're warning signs.

    Things she should be seeing a counselor about.

    But she politely declines, the same way she politely declines invitations to go to karaoke or see an idol concert or go have icecream or any number of other tasks.

    In her yellow eyes, there's something that doesn't belong in the eyes of a fourteen-year old girl. That is another factor in why people have just plain stopped asking her to do anything.

    So when an invitation came from Mami, Adalinda was perplexed but not very interested. However, curiosity won out. And, unlike most of the others around her, Mami knew what the world was really like. That puts Mami Tomoe in a different category of person, to Ada. So she is on her way to Mami's apartment, in her typical attire. A brown bomber jacket, a white blouse, blue skirt, and white socks plus brown shoes. She doesn't really alternate much. It's this, school uniform, or magical girl raiment. At least it makes her easy to identify.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami had devoted quite a bit of thought to what she should make. She'd said cakes, but when she walked into the kitchen and pulled open her pantry, she laid eyes on her bin of almond flour and was struck with an inspiration. She set to work gathering her ingredients and mixing them together, then mixed in pureed raspberries. This made for a thick batter which she piped out into small discs on a parchment-lined pan. She set the pan aside and went to making the filling. The best part about macarons is that there's time built right into the process. She never has idle hands.

There's a knock at the door just as the biscuits are looking dry. She calls out, "Just a minute!" She grabs the sheet pan and slides it into the oven. She punches thirteen minutes into the kitchen timer, and then goes to answer the door.

Mami smiles wide when she sees the pinkette. "Madoka-chan!" She beams, and then she turns and looks at the Chara, and says, "And if I recall correctly, you're Brai, yes?"

Some motion catches Mami's attention and she looks up past Madoka to see Adalinda approaching. She lifts up her hand and waves. "Adalinda-chan! Come in! I just put the biscuits in the oven. They'll be ready soon."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka glances off to the side to see Adalinda, and offers her a small wave. "Are you here to see Mami, too?" she asks, unaware of whatever storm is brewing within her mind. It's not as if Madoka doesn't have her own problems. Such things seem common among magical girls. Especially Puella Magi. Though not even Gretchen knows just how bad things are for Adalinda.

    A moment later, Mami answers the door. Madoka smiles brightly at her gracious host, and Brai waves a single small hand when greeted. "That's right. It's nice to meet you again, Mami-senpai," responds the Chara. She's not so shy today, since no one here is all that new to her. Or maybe it's just the fact that she can't really afford to be.

    When invited in, Madoka accepts and walks inside, looking behind her to see if Ada follows.

    The pinkette smiles at Mami and asks, "We don't really get a lot of chances to catch up, do we? How have you been lately?"

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda smiles when she is noticed, spotting the moment that Mami recognizes her. She raises a hand to wave to Madoka as well. "Yes, I was invited to visit. I wasn't expecting to see you here too, Madoka-san." She continues to advance along the L-shaped walkway from the elevator, bowing her head and removing her shoes before entering. "Thank you for having me."

    She takes a quick glance around, not prying, but just getting a general feel for the apartment. "Will Kyubey be joining us today as well?" Or not, since Madoka is here, and the pink-haired girl chose a different path. It might be awkward for Kyubey. Though, no, he was fine when they went into the Labyrinth with Madoka and Sayaka...

    It'll probably be fine.

    She waits patiently by the door, waiting to see where they will be going to. "Thank you again, Brai. You really saved me!" she makes sure to say. She was prepared to go all-out at risk of her Soul Gem. Even though she wound up not doing so, she needed the little fairy thing to cleanse her.

    Of course, as soon as Teresia showed up, everything was going to be fine. But if she hadn't...

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami Tomoe shuts the door after both of the girls step into the apartment, and then she walks directly back over to the kitchen. It's all a big open floorplan, so it's easy for her to converse as she goes about filling the kettle and getting tea ready. She's at home, so she can do everything just right.

"I've been really great, and keeping pretty busy," she says to Madoka with a smile, "But we didn't get to catch up at all over tea, so I'm glad you could come over." She's beaming. She has friends.

"I didn't tell him about our little gathering, but he tends to show up when he wants to," Mami says, and then proceeds to look around the apartment half expecting to be staring into his beady red eyes at any moment. She did ask if he was going to be here, and at least a third of the time that seems to summon him. But no, not this time. "He usually comes by my apartment to keep me company when I'm alone," she offers.

She gestures toward the couch and the low table near it. "Feel free to make yourselves comfortable, I'll be bringing the tea out in a moment."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Brai responds to Ada with a slight nod of her head. "I'm glad you came out of that alright. Teresia-san really played the hero for us, as expected." Though, the Chara doesn't really specify why she's so confident in that.

    At the mention of Kyubey, Madoka frowns slightly and looks away. "I don't think he's so much avoiding me so much as he doesn't really have much reason to talk to me. Any Grief Seed I see has gone to a Puella Magi so far, so there's not much we have to talk about."

    Brai fidgets with one of her pink braids and says, "It's not like we particularly want conflict with him. We just want to make sure that his potentials know what they're getting into."

    Madoka takes a seat as offered, settling down for a moment. She holds out her cupped hands and Brai lands in them, taking a seat as they wait.

    "Well, I'm sure today at least we can have a nice chat," says Madoka with a hopeful smile "I know Sayaka-chan can get pretty... heated sometimes, but she really does mean well. She just... jumps to conclusions sometimes."

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda moves to seat herself. "Yeah, I've noticed." she says with a small, fond smile, regarding Kyubey's disappearing and reappearing. "He shows up when he's needed. He's a really good friend like that." She does cast a glance Brai's way though. "No one who isn't prepared to trade their life for a miracle should even consider his offer. That's something all of the Puella Meisters are in agreement about. Kyubey may want there be more of us, but we want to make sure that the ones he does contract are joining the hunt with the intent of seeing it to its ultimate conclusion. 'In it for the long-haul' as the Americans say. We get stronger, smarter, and are able to teach other magical girls more effectively, if we take on the battles ourselves instead of relying solely on numbers. It's a smarter investment overall to have a small team of professionals with a few specialists here and there, instead of a bunch of amateurs."

    She brushes out her skirt as she puts down a laptop bag that she just pulled out of her ring. "Especially since they don't last long without someone experienced to guide them. To crush the curses of humanity, I really want to organize us. Get a regional union established, maybe a veterans' council... Some sort of magical communications network so we can reach each other anywhere in the world. If we can eliminate Witches before they claim victims, there will be less need for us over all, and we can send the girls with the right skill sets, magic, and combat effectiveness to deal with each given threat."

    She sighs as she unzips the laptop bag and pulls out her computer along with a school notebook, school books, and assorted other paraphernalia. There's a pause to look up at Madoka at the mention of Sayaka. "Did Sayaka-san contract after all? I haven't gotten to meet her again since our last hunt... She was still on the fence it seemed."

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami prepares a teapot with a pumpkin spice rooibos blend. It's not actually tea, but the sweet herbal infusion is full of rich flavors that will compliment the raspberry macarons with their chocolate filling. She grabs the kettle as soon as the water is done boiling and pours the hot water over the dried leaves, then puts the lid on for it to steep, glancing at the timer on the stove.

"Yes," she says, looking over toward Adalinda. "Sayaka did contract, and all I've heard her do since I've met her is complain about it," she says. She looks over toward Madoka, and says, "Have you talked to her at all since the tea party? A few days later I was going to help her with a witch hunt, and instead she attacked me." She clearly can still barely believe that Sayaka would choose to do that. It's right there in her voice.

"I'm worried about her, honestly," Mami says. "But I'm also not really looking for a fight. Not with her, at least." She shrugs. "I figure she'll come around eventually. She just seems confused. She was barely making sense when she was fighting me."

And then the oven timer dings. "Are you girls ready for fresh macarons?"

Just kidding. The biscuits need to cool, or they'll melt the buttercream. Mami sets the pan down and carefully shifts all twenty little red poofy disks to a cooling rack. "Adalinda-chan, that all sounds amazing. I just...I've had enough trouble just trying to get one or two other Puella Magi to work with for any length of time. I'm really blown away by the organization your team has."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka worriedly glances off to the side at the mention of 'a bunch of amateurs'. She keeps her lips tightly shut for a moment as she considers what exactly to say. Eventually she settles on, "I think we're in agreement on that. I wouldn't want to throw anyone's life away carelessly. Especially since it's a good chance the people fighting beside us will be..."

    Her words trail off, and she looks down at the table with wide eyes as she stops to consider what she was about to say.

    Close friends. The people dying beside them will be close friends. Madoka doesn't have the distance from others that Ada has. She can't be the kind of person who keeps others at arms length. To her, the pain of losing someone might actually be preferable to being alone.

    Reality is harsh.

    Madoka is quiet for a moment as the subject of Sayaka's contracting comes up. She frowns at Mami's mention of the attack. "So... that's what she meant," she mumbles. Crossing her arms, she leans back into the couch and looks up at the ceiling.

    "Sayaka-chan... before contracting, I had a talk with her. I had misgivings about Kyubey and I still do. I don't think he's evil..." Or at least, Madoka trusts Gretchen who said that Kyubey wasn't that bad. "... but when I told Sayaka to be careful she... well, she was probably surprised that I would be distrustful of anyone. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt. I think she had already decided that she wasn't going to contract, but then she and a friend got caught in a Labyrinth all by themselves, and she had no choice but to become a magical girl despite not trusting Kyubey at all. I think that's why she's so resentful. I'm sorry to hear that she got into a fight with you, but to her it probably sounded like you're defending someone who... shouldn't really be defended."

    Madoka gets quiet for a moment, and Brai pipes in. "Hopefully we can clear up this misunderstanding. It's better if we can all get along."

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    "Well, it's my plan, not the team's... The others don't really have a head for organization or numbers. Other than Teresia, of course. She can do anything. But I infused magic into my laptop while compiling a translation program I wrote, and a bunch of 'learn to speak Japanese' lessons, and that allowed us all to speak Japanese in a matter of a week or two. There may be context or customs missing, but now that our brains have become acclimated that should fill itself in naturally through exposure." She sighs. "Teresia didn't need it of course, because... Yeah. I asked her how many languages she can speak, and she just smiled at me mysteriously. So, I assume that means 'as many as she needs'."

    It may be poor form to be bringing out a laptop during a tea party, but there's something she wants to show the other two, to get feedback on. She listens to the story about Sayaka, and frowns slightly. "Has her Soul Gem been cleansed recently? When it's corrupted it can have psychological effects. Magic usage creates corruption. It's a bit like entropy. The difference is we can generate magic pretty much perpetually, so long as we have something to stuff the corruption in. There's no such thing as free power, but magic is the closest thing to it that I've heard of so far." She bites her thumbnail idly while getting everything set up on the computer. Then, finally, she puts the laptop down on the nearest empty part of the table, and turns it around so Madoka and Mami can see the screen. "Hai. I would love some macarons."

    On the screen is a computer recreation of what looks like an upside-down woman in a huge, flowing dress, or maybe an upside-down circus tent, or something? There are views from other angles that reveal a giant gear-like object.

    Adalinda grabs up her notebook and a pencil and flips it open while covertly watching over the edge of it to see the reactions of the other two girls.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami Tomoe turns off the oven, but then sets another kitchen timer. That way she won't forget the biscuits are cooling even if they get into conversation. Then she puts the teapot on a tray with three saucers and cups, and carries it all over to the table. She sets it down, and then sits down herself along one side of the table. She pours, and passes cups of tea to each of them, and then herself before setting the pot back down on the tray.

"I wish she would have told me that, instead of just being all 'I do not regret my wish' about it. No wonder she's mad," Mami says, quietly, her eyes turned down as she shakes her head.

She picks her tea up, then, and takes a small sip. It's a rich, earthy, spicy flavor. "Mmm," she sighs happily. "Can't be unhappy when you're drinking this. Have either of you had rooibos before? It's from South Africa."

"Madoka-chan, she's your best friend, so you probably know better than I do how she's fared fighting witches. Is she getting enough Grief Seeds?" Mami turns from Madoka to Adalinda then, and says, "She was complaining a lot about the limits of our magic and how we can't fight until we're physically exhausted like some of the other magical girls. So, I wonder just how dark her soul gem is, yeah."

She takes another sip of her tea, and then sets it down, leaning in to look at the picture. That is a look. There's only two kinds of things she's ever seen that look wacky like that: familiars and witches. That one looked like big trouble. "Is that the witch you're all here hunting?"

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka considers the notion of team work. Especially on a global scale. It's ambitious, but it's also been tried before. "You're not the first person to try and do that kind of networking. You should talk to Naru Osaka. I understand that she's trying to help network a bunch of magicals together, but... when I spoke to her last, we weren't sure how to solve the problem of our enemies finding out about our hiding places. I mentioned something about using something like a Labyrinth as a mobile meeting spot, but... everyone else seemed to think that was a terrible idea." After a pause, she adds, "Though... that was before Gretchen hatched. Maybe I should ask her about it. Putting up with a grumpy Chara doesn't worry me nearly as much as trying to contain a Witch somehow."

    Brai chimes in again, "You'd have one problem. Gretchen's Labyrinths aren't big enough. Someone of your size could only barely squeeze into it. Let alone anyone taller."

    Madoka winces. "Thanks for reminding me that I'm short, Brai."

    Whatever retort her Chara might come up with is forgotten when Adalinda shows them the Witch. Madoka... Her reaction is... easy to read.

    She immediately turns pale. Madoka reaches out for her teacup, and the rattle of it makes it clear that her hand is shaking. She crosses her arms over her stomach and looks away.

    "You're hunting that thing...? Really?" she blurts out, almost without thinking.

    Brai watches her Bearer's freakout for a moment, before explaining a version of the truth to the other two. "Madoka-chan... has seen that Witch before. In dreams."

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda listens to the explanation about Sayaka. Sounds like a real mess of a girl. Not that Ada is in any position to talk about that. She knows that she's... Not the same as she was before she contracted. But that same difference means she doesn't really care. Or rather, tells herself she doesn't. "I'm sure if she could just be sat down and talked to in order to hear her out on why she thinks the things she does, she could be negotiated back to reality. But maybe not, since the reality is she absolutely had a choice in that scenario."

    She notices the difference in reactions between Mami and Madoka (and Brai), and a small, triumphant smerk is on her lips for a moment. A focal point, as if a camera had cut away just to show them. Her yellow eyes don't immediately lock onto Madoka, instead closing her notebook and carefully setting it down, while twirling her pencil on her fingers periodically. "After all, we can always choose to die." Not very fair, but neither is life. The very existence of Witches is unfair. All those innocent people forced to do awful things because some genius had the idea to curse something. Because someone couldn't contain their own spite and hate, everyone else has to suffer. Thankfully, Adalinda doesn't spite or hate anyone.

    Except for Witches, that is.

    "Yes. It's the worst Witch of all. A Super Witch, that doesn't need a Labyrinth. It just appears where it wants, and causes thousands of deaths. It has an army of Familiars that march out in the open. It destroyed our home town. So, I suppose you could say that... She and I have a history." She picks up the teacup she was given. "Thank you, Mami-san. I don't really drink tea, so I'm not familiar with the various kinds... But never a bad time to try something new, is there?" She smiles as there's that focus again. Her eyes this time, as they narrow at Madoka and Brai.

    "In a dream, huh?" she asks after sipping her tea. "Are you sure about that? Absolutely sure?"

    She sets down the tea and saucer and tap-taps on the screen. "Look closely. There is no other Witch like this one. Her name is Walpurgisnacht." Adalinda brushes her hair out of her eyes just for the black strands to fall right back into place. "And she is coming right here." she finishes, while raising her hand and pointing straight down. Not necessarily here in Mami's apartment, but... Here.