846/There's Something About Kyubey

There's Something About Kyubey
Date of Scene:	04 December 2023
Location:	Sports Pavilion
Synopsis:	A peptalk from a zealot to a fatalist goes... Well, somehow?
Cast of Characters:	Adalinda Blumenkrantz, Sayaka Miki

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Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    TXT Adalinda to Sayaka: Sayaka, are you awake?
    TXT Adalinda to Sayaka: I wanted to meet up to talk about what happened at that store.
    TXT Adalinda to Sayaka: And to hear what you had to say about Kyubey.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
<PHONE> Sayaka Miki texts Adalinda Blumenkrantz: Yes, I am.

<PHONE> Sayaka Miki texts Adalinda Blumenkrantz: Currently on the track.

<PHONE> Sayaka Miki texts Adalinda Blumenkrantz: Exercising, running.

<PHONE> Sayaka Miki texts Adalinda Blumenkrantz: After that, it's patrol time.

<PHONE> Sayaka Miki texts Adalinda Blumenkrantz: But you can reach me, yes. You won't like it, though. Kyubey has lied to us all.

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
<PHONE> Adalinda Blumenkrantz texts Sayaka Miki: The world is lousy with things I don't like.

<PHONE> Adalinda Blumenkrantz texts Sayaka Miki: I prefer to be informed about them before they become a problem.

<PHONE> Adalinda Blumenkrantz texts Sayaka Miki: I'll come find you. Be right over.

    It takes a little while, but soon the German girl is on the track with Sayaka. She's not dressed for a run, just wearing a bomber jacket, a white blouse, short blue ruffled, white socks, and brown shoes. But she manages to catch up to and keep pace with Sayaka, with some effort. She doesn't speak initially, casually observing her surroundings and waiting to be certain than Sayaka has likewise determined it's safe to talk.

    In particular, she has an eye out for any white rabbit-like creatures.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka stops running when she sees Adalinda come up. She has been checking around for Kyubey while she kept doing laps of the track course, but frankly, she isn't confident at all that treacherous cat-thing would let himself be spotted.

It's very clear from the state of her gym uniform she has been running a while. "Hi, Adalinda-san", the bluenette mentions as she approaches the other girl.

She skips to a bench, sitting down on it and suggests Adalinda to do the same. "Have you ever tried to go to classes without your Soul Gem?"

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    As she is invited to do, Adalinda stops running and walks along with Sayaka to the bench, where she tucks the back of her skirt down underneath herself before sitting. "I can't say that I have. A Witch can appear anywhere. It seemed imprudent to be without my only means of defense." Yellows eyes have stopped searching for Kyubey and are focused on the bluenette next to her. She is attentive, and listening carefully, not just to what is said but what is unsaid. 'This has to do with our Soul Gems.' for example.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Yes, this has to do with our Soul Gems", Sayaka admits. "We have been kept in the dark since the start. And I don't mean just the fact they are liable to kill us."

Sayaka sighs, looking at her ring. "We are literally trapped with them to an ever deeper level. They are us, and we are them." Sayaka doesn't expect to be believed, so she adds. "If you want a demonstration, give me your Soul Gem and run as far away from as possible."

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda doesn't argue with Sayaka or try to refute what she's saying. To be honest, she isn't quite sure what Sayaka is referring to yet. "I'm good, thanks. I don't think I'd hand over my Soul Gem to anyone unless the circumstances were dire." Folding her hands in her lap, she looks out over the track field. "So, what has he lied about? In what way are we deeply connected to our Soul Gems beyond the pitch we've been given?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"I just told you, we are these gems", Sayaka repeats, a little unnerved. "If you want to take me by my word, at least actually do that." She adjusts a lock of hair before continuing.

"Their name is meant to be taken literally, Kyubey admitted as much." And at the worst possible moment, she could add. But going over those memories is still highly stressful. She doesn't want to do it of her own will.

"If you would have done what I told you to, your body would have collapsed like dead After 100 meters, because you would have never left me."

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Resisting the urge to sigh, the foreign girl carefully reaches out to rest a hand on Sayaka's shoulder, if permitted, noticing the increased anxiety. "I'm sorry. I wasn't clear. I was asking after the specific mechanics of how we are our Soul Gems. I think I understand enough now though." She cups her chin as she looks at the ring on her finger in thought. "100 meters... That's a fair distance if one is staying in roughly a single area. Breaking a Soul Gem would kill us then?"

    She returns her hands to her lap, though with a lot of attention paid to that ring. "I wonder why nobody contacted me to say anything. You're the first one I've heard about this from. In fact, I've had a hard time getting in touch with any of the Meisters." Given what Sayaka has just said, that gives cause for concern. "Do you suppose someone has separated them from their Soul Gems?" She is taking this very calmly, all things considered.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
The thoughts of Lulu stuck paralysed, with her spine broken come back to Sayaka, and despite all the days that have gone by since then, her stomach still rebels to the memory...

"Maybe? Probably?" Sayaka replies uncertaintly. She certainly doesn't want to test it herself. "If it kills you when out of magic, then it's probable it could also kill you when destroyed. It is us. We are these rocks now."

"If nobody contacted you before them, it's because it has been hard for everybody, so they must have thought to keep it to themselves. You wouldn't be happy to know either." Sayaka comments. "Lulu's Soul Gem needed to be brought over to Teresia, and Lulu was being healed by Magda, so Katarina took it and ran away. You can imagine what happened next."

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Adalinda closes her eyes, and nods a couple times, brow furrowed. "Right... Right. I'm sorry, it will take time to start thinking of it as me." Opening her eyes, she takes in a breath and lets it out. "Yes. I can imagine." Oddly to Adalinda, she finds herself more upset about the distress caused to her friends than the fact she is in the same boat. First thing's first though, "Who else knows, that you're aware of?" Something this important should be shared as quickly and efficiently as possible. "We should all know about this. Keeping it to ourselves would be selfish."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Madoka-chan knows", is the first reply Sayaka gives even though she is not a Puella. "Amy-senpai and Kyouko-san were also there. Katarina, Lulu and Magda too. Teresia night know, Mami Tomoe too."

Disgusting, absolutely disgusting is what she thinks about this matter. And she herself is the most disgusting part of it all. Sshe is not sure she agrees with Adalinda, though. One part of her says yes, the other no. "I don't know if it's a good thing to tell someone their soul was stolen against their will and put in a rock. Wouldn't she be happier thinking she is still human and not a rock piloting a dead body?"

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    "If I knew, and you didn't, would you want me to hide it from you?" Adalinda asks. "They have the right to decide for themselves, at the very least, if they want to know." A heavy sigh. "I've tried to think of any time that Kyubey lied to me about what happened to my soul. I can't come up with anything. Convincing anyone else that he lied is going to be more difficult without direct proof, or even a statement that he can't explain away. It's frustrating, but..."

    Adalinda pushes herself back up onto her feet. "So... What happens to our bodies, if our Soul Gems remain intact?" she asks as she holds up her hands in front of herself. One with the Soul Gem, one without. She can't detect any difference between the gem and the flesh it controls. "Like, if someone chopped me up into little pieces, but my Soul Gem was fine, would I die? Stay chopped up? Gradually put myself back together."

    She is... Very much not taking this the way virtually anyone else has so far. Even Mami's reaction is probably more reasonable, even if it has meant her overcompensating for her emotional state and blaming others for it... That's Linda's take anyway.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
That's a good question, Sayaka realises. What would she want to do if everyone else knew and she didn't? Her hatred is over Kyubey, for sure. She doesn't think she would hold it against them, but is it better knowing or not?

Frankly speaking, as far as she is concerned, knowing has only helped realise who she truly is now, treachery by Kyubey aside. "In my case, I believe knowing would be better, because my ignorance wouldn't change the fact I have been turned into a rock. So, I haven't been supposed to interact with people ever since I took the contract, and only discovered it now", Sayaka explains morosely.

"Why do you want to know that?" Sayaka's brows furrows. "I don't know if you would stay chopped up, maybe so? Unless magic is used to put you back together", she grimaces. "In my case I wouldn't, my wish has enhanced my regeneration to the point I have been able to heal this charred body in 2 minutes or regrow a chopped arm in 1 second."

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    No contesting the 'being a rock' or 'not supposed to interact with people'. Either she agrees, doesn't think it wise to argue, or legitimately doesn't care about what has happened to them all. Instead, she focuses on the last detail. "Really? You can regenerate? And that quickly?" Linda seems impressed by that, as she turns around to focus on Sayaka completely. "That would be extremely useful. If I kill a Familiar or a Witch, my Soul Gem refills and my body heals. A Witch refreshes completely, a Familiar partially, depending on how strong it is. Essentially, I can fight forever as long as I have enemies to kill. But you don't even need to kill them to heal yourself."

    Adalinda strokes her chin thoughtfully. Then she smiles. "I think that you and I would make an excellent team. I don't need Grief Seeds as long as I can keep fighting. And you basically can't die as long as I keep giving you any Grief Seeds I recover to cover the costs of magic." She walks back over to Sayaka and sits down next to her. "On top of that... I'm not sure I'd want to test it inside of a Labyrinth, but if I put my Soul Gem somewhere inaccessible to others, and only fought within a 100 meter radius, I'd basically be unkillable too."

    Her mind clearly works... Very differently from most people's. Perhaps realizing this, she allows her smile to slip away, and says, "I think interacting with people is important still. It keeps us grounded in reality and emotionally stable to have people we can still care about. That, in turn, will prevent our Soul Gems from depleting or darkening as quickly... And that means we can keep killing Witches longer too." Turning fully to face Sayaka on the bench, the German girl says, "Even non-humans can care about others, and feel love and affection from those aorund them. Cats, dogs, monkeys, dolphins, even things like birds and elephants. ...Maybe snakes and reptiles too. I'm not sure. The point is, even if we've become something else now, better, or just different, we still have the right to be loved and to love others. We were already social animals as humans, and that hasn't changed."

    Smiling gently, Ada says, "We are now an animal that predates upon Witches -- those things that predate on our friends, family, and innocent people. We are their protectors. We are at the top of the food chain. And that means we get to decide what that means. If we're just tools... Or if are the guardians that humans need, to fight the things they can't. Our prey... Is those things that spread curses and death everywhere they go. If maintaining a relationship with someone will assist us in staying strong while we hunt down our prey, then I will gladly enjoy the time between one hunt and the next with them."

    Then she leans in a bit and emphasizes, "There is nothing more important than Killing All The Witches. If it lets us keep doing that, anything is justified. Even love."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka nods. "I didn't discover it on purpose, but La Crima was giving up on caution and created a huge energy bomb as payback for me attacking Riventon that would have destroued the entire shop we were in. Next, I threw myself at it, while covering myself with my cape, and that's how I survived the explosion while sparing our surroundings from it." That hurt immensely, especially the regeneration itself, but she will do it again if she has to.

"The arm thing was because I had been bound by magic, so I cut it off to get away. Realising I am a rock helped me put things in a new perspective: it doesn't matter how much of this body I have to mutilate or how much I have to sacrifice myself to protect others. That's the power I got, and I inted to use to its full extent to make up for the difference in experience between me and others."

When it's Adalinda who explains her powers, Sayaka is astonished, her eyes fully open as she goes over what she said again, not only due to the power itself, but due to the wish that must have caused it. "That's incredible, and extremely useful. You might have just dealt Kyubey a tough blow, you are free from his system, no matter what he uses those filled Grief Seeds for." She doesn't regret her wish, but being able to continue help people despite the artificial limits Kyubey put on them with the Soul Gems would be a dream come true. "How much do you want to talk about that power?", she asks uncertaintly. Because she isn't actually asking about her power, but about the wish that caused it.

"That sounds dangerous", is Sayaka's gut reaction to the thing. "What if a familiar finds your Soul Gem? We are in enemy territory when fighting Witches, I don't think there is such a thing as a safe space. Though, I don't mind cooperating with you, and if I gain your trust eventually, I could be the one to keep your Soul Gem safe while fighting with my ranged attacks." It's a good thing she isn't just melee.

Sayaka scowls at Adalinda's reassurances. "That's not how it works. Those animals aren't dead, we are. If you take us away from our bodies, then there is no vital sign whatsoever. Now I am just a rock that pilot a dead body, filthy and not worthy to actually enjoy myself. You say it's to keep us grounded, but I haven't forgotten the people I hold dear. Even now, I fight for them all: mom, dad, Madoka-chan, Ula-chan, Hinoiri... And I care about all the people that are in danger too. Please don't tempt me like that, Adalinda-san. I actually want to spend those happy times with my friends and family, but I can't, that's something I have no right to anymore."

"I agree on that, but I actually extend it to all youmas, no matter how big or small. My cause is against every single dangerous being, not just Witches."

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Linda sits there and gets Sayaka's perspective, and her side of things. "I see." She looks up at the sky. "That is a way to fight too." If it is Sayaka's chosen path, then so be it. As long as she continues her fight, nothing else matters. In regard to trusting her Soul Gem to Sayaka, she hesitates, but says, "I'd like that. To be able to go all-out while knowing I can come back afterwards, and still have somebody there. It's true, that trust is needed. And not just from me. But working together in that manner... I can see potential there."

    Then she sighs heavily and looks down at the grass as she kicks her feet back and forth idly. "There is a Super Witch, of sorts. We call her Walpurgisnacht. Magical Girls do, I mean. She didn't introduce herself when she showed up in my hometown. We didn't know what we were up against either. We had no warning, it was just... A storm. Suddenly approaching. Everyone in my friend group had already made a Wish. Everyone was there, and all of them fought to save everyone. I was the only one still hesitating. Teresia wasn't around from the start, or we might have been able to keep anyone from dying at all. She's amazing, you know?" A faint smile traces her lips at the thought of that larger-than-life heroic Puella.

    "But she didn't arrive until the end. And during the battle, all I could do was try to help people as a mere human, while avoiding skyscrapers falling from above, and things exploding, and cars colliding, and fire everywhere... And the storm itself. Blinding rain, deafening thunder, tidal waves that whipped through like solid walls, crushing and sweeping up things in their path. There was really nothing I could do. Nothing anyone could do. Too much, too fast, too strong. And her Familiars never even tried to fight, really. They were there as decoration. That I saw, anyway..."

    Heaving a sigh, Adalinda folds her hands in her lap. "In the aftermath, all I could think was, 'Could I have prevented this somehow? If I had made a Wish, could I have made a difference? Saved lives? Stopped that awful Witch?' Kyubey said I had a lot of potential. An immense amount. More than almost any other girl he'd seen. Back then, at least. He said it depended on my Wish, but I could do... Just about anything."

    "So I wished to bring them all back."

    She is silent after that, not explaining further, or elaborating upon what bringing someone back means, or how that ties into the power she was granted.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"I will do my best to build that trust between us", Sayaka answers decisively, the matter clear to her. She really believes in that course of action, and she will move Heaven and Earth if that's what's needed to bring it to its completion.

Walpurgisnacht again... The Witch that is their ultimate enemy, and caused this whole situation to begin with. "So that's how you got to know of it...", Sayaka sighs, stretching her legs outwards as she begins to feel them get restless. "They revealed her to us, Katarina-san did", Sayaka explains her lack of surprise. "Madoka-chan has been really afraid of it for a long while too, she gets these fragments of her somehow." Sayaka starts ripping the blades of grass, gathering a bunch of them into her hands, focusing the fear even just what she heard of the Walpurgisnatch onto that exercise.

"I'm sorry that happened to you and your city. She might be coming here now, at least that's what everyone thinks. It's not hard to believe them admittedly, since we fought its familiar the day before Kyubey revealed everything. It was hard and gruesome, and Lulu almost died to it." A deep grimace is on Sayaka's face as she is focusing on forming a ring of grass with what she gathered. "I don't get what Lulu's brilliant plan was, she recruited us to fight that familiar, and her thought wasn't to bring us up to date on what to expect and how to fight it, rather we just went in completely blind, and we were so close to a disaster as a result."

She isn't having much success with her craftmanship, her fingers trembling with a mixture of fear, anger and regret. "I am going to train in any way I possibly can, so when Walpurgisnacht comes, I will be ready to fight alongside you all. And if you have seen it fight, I need you to teach me what she and her familiars does. Being blindsided again by trick like that 2-familiars-in-1 is going to be fatal, so I need to know it as much as I know myself. Will you do it, Adalinda-san?"

The matter of her wish is confusing to her. Like, how? There is clearly no relation at all. How does it work? Sayaka is about to ask for more when all of a sudden, as if a dreadful omen had reacher her, Ula appears on the field, floating to them as fast as she can. The tiny mermaid looks between her and Adalinda, the high levels of worry she was experiencing quite clear on her face. "What is going on here?" the koi mermaid asks, the question addressed to Sayaka by the direction of her gaze.

"Just a debrief on our particular powers and what to do against Walpurgisnacht", the bluenette replies quickly. "And we are probably going to cooperate a lot in the coming days." Ula nods slowly, her focus now on Adalinda. "Thank you for being willing to help Sayaka, she is a bit reckless towards her own wellbeing, but she means well, despite her self-worth having practically gone to zero. We are trying to make her understand she shouldn't behave like that?" Why is she telling Adalinda all this? Because she wants to see with whom will the other Puella agree.

Adalinda Blumenkrantz has posed:
    Linda shrugs. It is what it is. She does think there's a lot of potential in a team up between them, and thinks that maybe they can find their own shared purpose and way of becoming whole. She doesn't seem terribly bothered by finding out she is the gem on the ring on the finger of the body she is apparently controlling remotely. But she doesn't like that it distresses others. She doesn't want them to be upset. "Well--" she starts and then a little floaty thing appears and confronts them.

    Adalinda stops. She looks towards Sayaka for a reaction. Okay, recognition. And it's capable of speech. So it's not a Familiar. "I'll tell you everything I know. She isn't going to get away this time. I'm going to carve out her Grief Seed myself, even if I have to tear her apart to do so." That's her explanation for Ula and Sayaka alike.

    She doesn't know what Lulu's plan was either, but the news of a Familiar being in town is startling, and that it had two in one... What the hell? She sighs. "Walpurgisnacht... She has so many tricks. We'll probably run into things I have no knowledge of. Any plan we come up with that hinges upon knowing what she can do is likely going to fail. So it has to be able to succeed without that knowledge."

    She pushes herself up off the bench, and brushes off the back of her skirt. "I'll think about it. I'll ask what Teresia thinks. And... I need to go see Lulu. I had no idea that happened to her." She is, at the very least, concerned about others, if not herself. She looks at the mermaid fairy thing again. "Provided she cares enough to maintain the base requirements to keep fighting as safely and effectively as possible... That's her choice. It's not my place to judge her way of living." Katarina and Magda are also going to need a visit... There's no way they didn't take the news harshly. "But, I will be here for her, whenever she needs me. Whether she feels worthy or not, the people she cares about shouldn't be hurt by her disappearing. Just like the ones who care about me."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Between Ula and Sayaka couldn't be more different. The former has an expression of disappointment and some modicum of relief at once. Disappointed that Adalinda won't interfere with Sayaka's closing herself away from everyone and relief she will be at her side so she doesn't die.

"Thank you..." Ula watches inquisitively towards Sayaka, who replies a simple "Adalinda". "Thank you, Adalinda-san", the koi mermaid continues. That's probably just as much as she can ask of a stranger. "I am glad you are willing to help with her self-esteem. Then, my introduction. I am Ula, Sayaka's friend and co-roommate." A small bow follows despite Ula non having legs to bow with."

Sayaka looks at Adalinda glad instead. She is going to actually be taught all of that and then protect Madoka and everyone. "Thank you, Adalinda-san", the bluenette addresses her. "I will look forward to it and do my best in learning how to deal with Walpurgisnacht. Now I think I am going on patrol." The bluenette gets up too. She needs to change from this gym uniform, but it won't take long. "See you soon", the fellow student bows before walking away, tossing away the botched grass ring.

"Be well", Ula chimes in before floating next to Sayaka. 'Please, let both of them be fine', Ula thinks as they leave the track field behind them.