617/Tea Party!

Tea Party!
Date of Scene:	20 October 2023
Location:	Cafeteria Plaza
Synopsis:	Mami sets out a tea party in the cafeteria, hoping to make some friends. She's joined by Amy, Madoka, Norie, and Sayaka, and she's so excited. At least it didn't end up a _total_ disaster, like usual. She did make _one_ friend.
Cast of Characters:	Mami Tomoe, Norie Okana, Sayaka Miki, Madoka Kaname, Amanda Faust

---

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami Tomoe does not stay after school very often. She shows up for classes, and that's it. She's got her hands full with her life as a magical girl, after all. But today? Today is different. Today, she's decided, she's going to do something about a little bit of that loneliness that eats away at her all the time.

She's all set up on one of the medium-sized tables, and she clearly went to some effort. She's set up an entire afternoon tea service with cups and saucers, a matching teapot, and an electric kettle. In the center are arrayed several small plates each with a beautiful little cakes that look like they could have come here from some French patisserie. How many are there? Just enough.

Mami is sitting at the table, with a smile on her face, watching as people pass by the cafeteria after classes. Surely cakes and tea will help with that loneliness, and if she has the tea party _here_ where _other people_ might join, that would probably help too.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana has no choice but to stay after school now because she lives in the dorms now. She's taken to parking into the Cafeteria Plaza after classes now for a bit to load up on cafeteria donuts. She doesn't consider the donuts here to be high quality but they still are donuts.

That's when the scent of tea and cakes get to her and she 'almost'.. almost dark energy floats over as if carried by the scent. She eyes the cakes. and the tea kettle. And the large table and part of her wants to ask to sit. The other part is going 'of course she'd say no' if you asked.

Instead, she just stays there and stares at the table, Mami and the pastries from a short distance, as if waiting, hoping, to be invited. Maybe.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka would normally head to the clubs at this time of the afternoon, but classes have been particularly intensive today, so this is just the right occasion for her to grab a pick-me-up at the cafeteria while she still can. 'Maybe I can sneak Kyousuke something. Hospital food is always so dreary', she thinks, making her way through the doors of the wide room. Besides, he only had so much space by now for extra classical tracks.

So that's how she is about to check what food the school is offering at this time of the day when her eyes fall on a student sitting by her lonesome with an impressive set of teapots and cakes prepared on the table. She waves at her before making her way there. "Hello, I couldn't help but notice the impressive arrangement you have here. What have you prepared it for?" she asks with a small grin. "I am Miki Sayaka, by the way, grade 8."

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka doesn't usually stop by the cafeteria on the way home from school, but today is an exception. She's sitting down at a table, sorting through her bag, while her tiny mascot Brai hovers over her shoulder.

    "Are you sure you didn't leave it at home?" asks the tiny Chara.

    "I thought I brought it!" said Madoka with a strained voice. After a second or two of looking, she sighs. "I hope I didn't leave it somewhere."

    It's then that Madoka starts looking around the cafeteria. She sees a face she hasn't seen in a while, setting out a tea party with cakes. Suddenly curious, Madoka gathers up her bag and wanders over, with Brai following behind her. When she sees Sayaka, she walks a little faster to catch up. "Sayaka-chan. Mami-senpai. How are you today?"

    Norie goes unnoticed by Madoka, but Brai looks in her direction.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Someone's... actually doing the tea and cake thing. But in the cafeteria. It projects a feminine aura that draws Amanda's attention. She hesitates at a distance, glancing at the cakes, glancing at Mami, but not sure if she can approach. What do you, like, say? Is it presumptive to act like she can join? Is she misreading someone who would prefer to be alone, somehow?

    Why does she have to be awkward like this? What happened to when you were young, Amanda? What happened to the little kid who'd just walk up to people with no problem?

    Well, he got hurt a whole lot, duh.

    And then Norie and Sayaka are there. And Madoka too, and it seems she at least knows the tea party haver by name.

    Amanda walks over a bit shiftily. "Hey... girls. What's up? Are you uh... having a sort of tea and cake party?" That's not a thing, Mallory, you idiot. *Words*. "It's uh..."

    Maybe she can start over? "Hi! Good to see you girls again. Madoka, is this a friend of yours?" She smiles a bit awkwardly to Mami and extends a hand. "Hi, I'm Amanda Faust, grade nine. Nice to meet you!"

Mami Tomoe has posed:
It worked! She built it, and they came. Mami is delighted. She rises up from her seat when people start approaching and smiles. She lifts up a hand and waves to Norie, warmly inviting her, "Hello! Would you like some tea and cake?" Then there's Sayaka with a very good question. "Well, I was feeling a bit lonely, and I thought what could be better than a tea party? Would you like some?"

She's about to introduce herself, when Madoka arrives, her eyes bright with delight at seeing a familiar face. "Madoka-chan! What serendipity. I've been wanting to catch up with you," she says. Ever since Kyubey lost interest in the girl, Mami's been curious, but also so busy. But she's definitely curious. She's especially curious about Brai, clearly, looking at the little mascot.

And then Amanda arrives and offers her hand, and Mami takes it, delicately giving a little shake. "Mami Tomoe, also grade nine," she says with a delighted smile. Then she looks to everybody. "Please, let's all sit down, I'll start the kettle," she says, and then gestures to the cakes. "Please help yourselves."

She turns on the kettle, it must have already been filled, and then sits down. She reaches down for a little basket on the floor next to her and sets it on the table in front of her, rifling thru it to select just the right tea for the occasion, and then goes about preparing the teapot, measuring out the leaves and getting it ready for the water when it's heated.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana moves to the table when she's invited. She looks at Brai and feels guilty, immediately, remembering the small chara from the time she shot Sayaka. Which means the pink haired girl is... "Ah..!" she goes loudly, before.... "I mean. Uh. Hi." she says, more quietly. "I am. Norie Okana. Greetings." she says starting to settle. "Grade. 6."

She says as she watches Mami prepare the tea, she makes a grab for a lemon-filled cake and places it in front of herself. Amy approaches. She knows Amy. But as La Crima.

Not so much... the other. This makes things super awkward for her as she grips the table a moment.

She needs to watch and see her hands right now.

"I saw. the table and was. hoping I could sit too." she admits quietly. "Thank you." she says to the group.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Heya, Madoka-chan", the bluenette waves at her best friend, her smiles just turning off a tiny bit. She is following Harlaown-senpai's suggestions for now, so she gives herself a mental push and puts on her best smile. Madoka doesn't have to take everything on herself, she can still help her even like this.

"So you know her. Have you been extending your influence in the school?" she jokes at the pinkette, sitting at the table after Mami has invited her.

"Sure, I would love to!", Sayaka tells Mami, helping herself to one of her cake slices. "Have you been here for long?" she asks, curious due to her comment about feeling lonely. She wouldn't want that to be the case.

"What did you want to catch up with Madoka-chan for, Mami-senpai?" she asks. There is a lot she needs to catch up for with her best friend too now she has gotten rid of Kyubey.

"Hello, Faust-senpai", she greets the redhead too. "I hope everything is alright. It was worrying how you disappeared the other day." She is at least glade Amy didn't have to see her all bedraggled at the end, wherever she went off to.

She waves to Norie too, her attention focused by her manner of speech. "Do you feel tired?" she asks, before taking her first bite of Mami's cake.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka turns towards Amanda with a smile. "Hi! Yes, I met Mami-senpai a while ago." She decides not to explain how she knows Mami or where they met. At least not yet. That's Mami's story to tell, or her secret to keep, as she wishes. That said, if Madoka were asked, she'd rank Mami's skill as a Puella Magi pretty highly.

    When Nori introduces herself, Madoka says, "Madoka Kaname. Grade 8. Nice to meet you, Norie!" She has no reason to suspect that she's already met Norie under less fortunate circumstances. None at all.

    "Eheh," is Madoka's response to Sayaka's teasing. "I mean... someone told me it's important to network." The pinkette realizes, after speaking, that she probably isn't helping her case at all.

    The group is invited to a tea party, including the quiet girl that Madoka didn't know well. With a bright beaming smile, Madoka responds with a little extra politeness, "Why thank you. I'd love too!" and then takes a seat.

rai looks back at Mami, and for once decides not to hide behind her Bearer's pigtails. Instead she politely bows towards Mami, then floats closer to the table while Madoka takes a seat.

    Madoka accepts one of the cakes and carves off a tiny piece, dropping it onto a small plate that Brai is now holding in her hands. Where did the Chara get a plate? Don't worry about it. Chara magic.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's handshake is firm now that she's feeling a bit more confident! And she can see Norie is also awkward, poor girl. "Hey, it's okay, we're all nice!" She smiles. Amy takes a seat and blinks at Sayaka. Disappeared? What, when they went up to the roof? "Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you worried."

    Madoka reflects on the importance of networking and Amy slumps. "Yeah... probably more important than anything they actually *teach* us in school, career-wise..."

    She stares at Brai eating a tiny cake slice. That is *adorable*. After a few seconds she takes a piece of cake for herself, cutting off a forkful and putting it in her mouth, looking nowhere in particular as she focuses on the taste curiously.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
It doesn't take long for steam to start billowing out of the kettle, and for it to make a little beep to let Mami know it's done. She pours it it into the teapot, and then puts the lid on it, glancing over toward a nearby clock to make note of the time. She's got several minutes for the tea to steep, which means it's time for conversation!

Looking to Sayaka, she smiles, "Oh, it's just been some time, and I'm curious what's been going on in her life." She glances twoard Madoka, and lets her eyes linger on Brai for a moment, before looking back to Sayaka. "I have been here for a while, though, I may not be the _best_ senpai to look up to, because I don't have the best attendance," she says, her cheeks flushing just a little bit. Witches don't care about her school schedule, after all. "I met Madoka a few months ago through a mutual friend, and they haven't said anything about her in ages, and so I've been curious."

She turns her attention toward Madoka, then, and smiles, "So I'm glad our paths crossed." She glances down toward Brai again, watching the little mascot eat, but doesn't say anything. She's not sure everybody can see the little mascot, not yet at least, and she's trying to be discreet.

"I'm so glad you all joined me for tea," she says, then she glances toward the clock. It's been just enough minutes. She scoots back from the table, and rises up, picking up the teapot to walk around and fill everybody's cups.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana looks at Brai and wishes she could smile at this. But she's literally incapable of it so instead Brai gets wide eyed blinks as Brai manifests a tiny plate and gets a tiny cake slice.

She looks back to Mami and then to Sayaka again as she frowns a little at her. "Huh? I'm...not tired. This is just. how I speak. Sorry." she says, shrinking down, self conscious about her manner of speech.

She looks down at her lemoncake as tea is steeped. She looks to the teapot and mutters something under her breath, unintelligible. Probably some personally self-insulting thing as she gripped the table more firmly. Cling.

"You're welcome." she says softly, muttering, to Mami gently as she tries to recenter herself. Think donuts. Think of donuts. Delicious donuts.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"I love this cake, Mami-san!" Sayaka exclaims after finishing tasting the sweet flavours gracing her mouth with their presence. "How did you make it?" she asks, being quick to follow the first with another piece of the slice.

Sayaka arches an eyebrow, amused at the development of this conversation. "Oh, so you have been getting lessons too. Who is this mysterious someone?"

Sayaka shakes her head at Amy's apology. "I am glad you are ok. It was really surprising when all of a sudden it was just me and Madoka." She doesn't mention the third girl since it's not really relevant to the conversation.

To Mami she says "Madoka and I go way back. We are childhood friends, and we have always been inseparable." She shrugs all of a sudden. "At least until a few months back", she comments, slightly annoyed. "I had someone holding up my time. Really frustrating and he wasn't very friendly, but I got rid of him recently."

Sayaka nods as confirmation. "Ah, I get it. Don't worry about it! Me and my random questions", she smiles awkwardly. "Is everything alright? What have you been doing recently?" she asks to move past that.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka glances off to the side at the mention of the mutual friend. She's pretty sure she knows what 'mutual friend' Mami is talking about. Being more or less ghosted by him hasn't really left a good impression on her.

    "Oh, you know..." says Madoka. While she's pretty sure that everyone here is magic, she doesn't really know about Norie. Instead she glances at Brai and says, "I've... picked up a new hobby recently. Archery. I actually haven't spoken to our... 'mutual friend' recently. Usually when I do it's when he's hanging out with someone else." That's about as much as she's willing to say.

    She fingerpets Brai for a moment as the tiny Chara eats her cake. "How about you, Mami? I haven't seen you around in a while. You must have been pretty busy."

    Madoka sits back and withdraws her hands as Mami walks around filling teacups. Brai, almost predictably, also has a tiny teacup. How did she get tea in it? Don't worry about it! Chara magic.

    "It's good to see you again. I like the tea party atmosphere. It suits you."

    In response to Sayaka, Madoka sips her tea for a moment before saying, "Well, that would be Homura-chan. She hasn't really been training me, but she has a lot of advice."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy savors the taste. She gives Mami a second look-over when she mentions she doesn't have the best attendance. The girl doesn't look like a delinquent-type at all. What could be going on?

> I'm so glad you all joined me for tea
    "Oh, the pleasure's mine! I've... never had tea and cakes with someone before. What kind of tea is this?"

    She cocks her head to the side as Sayaka recounts that day. What. Amy's memory isn't perfect, but that doesn't match up...

    Wait...

    Amy thinks back to the 1-o'clock Witch. Did Sayaka not see her...? Sayaka was definitely *there*, but she was kind of distracted, she might not have seen Amy transform. Well, hang on, they must have seen eachother before sometime, right? Yeah, Sayaka was there at the hospital room, she knows Amy's a Puella Magi...

    ...But Amy didn't transform there, did she?

    he look on Amy's face suddenly is that of someone who realizes they have been kind of stupid. Oops.

    TWell, this'll be quick to clear up soon-ish, at least.

    She looks to Madoka. "Oh huh, yeah, there's clubs for everything! Of course there's an archery club..." She pictures Madoka in a traditional Japanese archery outfit. Although, she's never *seen* anyone practicing Japanese archery, so where'd she get that mental image from, anyway...? Media, somewhere, but it's not exactly *common*. Anime, manga, videogames...? It might not be accurate...

    Metamo Kiss and Yamada and the Seven Witches both had chapters revolving around the archery club, didn't they...

    Amy sweatdrops. This has touched every aspect of her life, hasn't it... -_-;

    Well, at least no one can read her internal monologue. She looks over at Norie now that the girl has joined them, and smiles. "Hi! Amy Faust, grade 9, nice to meet you!" She holds out a hand to shake.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
"This is one of my favorites. It's a ginger pu'er. The fermentation gives it such a complex flavor, and then the ginger leaves it a little sweet, even without adding any sugar," Mami says, as she moves around the table filling cups. There's sugar on the table though, aside from the sugar in the cake, if anyone wants it in their tea. "As for that, one, Sayaka-chan, it's a genoise sponge, so it starts out really simple with just eggs, sugar, flour, and butter." Obviously there's more to it than that. There's the filling and the decoration, but the sponge is most of it, really.

When she gets to filling Madoka's cup, she almost pauses to put tea in the cup she just knew that Brai was going to have, but then she sees there's tea in it already. Chara magic. So she just moves on. Still, she can't help but smiling. The little mascot is rather adorable. She's makes a note to find Madoka again later when they can actually _talk_. Being a magical girl sure is complicated sometimes. But she does smile, and say, "I've always loved tea parties." She's just rarely had them with anybody but herself.

She finally comes back around to her spot and sits down, filling her cup and then setting the pot back down on the table. Only then does she finally reach for a plate of cake--the same cake as Sayaka--and pulls it to right in front of her. She looks around the table and smiles. Friends! At least for the moment. She can enjoy it for just this moment.

She reaches down then and picks up her tea--she doesn't add any sugar to it--and takes a sip. Her eyes lid and she inhales and lets it back out slowly, clearly relaxing. Then her eyes open and she smiles brightly. She looks over toward Sayaka, and says, "I'm glad to hear you were able to get away from him, Sayaka-chan. Protecting your boundaries is very important."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana can clearly see Brai at this point, with her tiny cake plate and tiny tea cup. "Uh." she goes. "Who's your. Tiny friend?" she asks Madoka, finally. "She's small. and very tiny. cute." she says stiltedly, coming out of her donut filled reverie to try to make conversation.

Mami fills her teacup. She stares back into the tea, looking at her reflection a moment before she sips the tea and finally, finally bites the lemoncake. Oh it's delicious, and the lemon is tangy and she still can't smile and enjoy it like anyone else can, but it helps her find that neutral center...

Yeah... yeah... everything is going to be okay. She can't do this. She can be a normal person, maybe! If she tries! Yeah....!

Yeah!...

and then Amy goes and offers her hand and she can't shake that hand. If she touches that hand. She'll just energy drain Amy and she'll cause an issue and and and... she's sweating suddenly. From Neutral okay to sudden, dead panic. She tries to think of an excuse. Nothing is coming to mind. Short of leaving. She doesn't wanna leave.

Norie... offers hand hand... this will be awkward for her and Amy-- and everyone really. If Amy shakes the hand, there will be a shock, a visible crackle of dark energy and an energy drain and she's counting on Amy just letting go.

Please let go, she thinks. She begs, with her eyes.

With that done she shrinks back into her chair and she mutters. "Sounds like a jerk." she says, on the point of boundary pushing jerks. She says, quietly, finally. Ignoring everything else now.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Madoka picking up archery recently and her not talking with this 'mutual friend' recently. She looks at her with annoyance and a bit of animosity. "Madoka-chan, is this mutual friend him?" If he is, she needs to be sure Mami knows who she is dealing with, she keeps to herself.

"I really need to meet her", Sayaka replies when Madoka mentions Homura. "You keep speaking highly of her, and I would love to know what she is like."

"Is something wrong, Faust-senpai?" Why is she suddenly thinking deeply after her statement? She didn't say anything special. "You don't to worry about not having being there, it's all right." That's probably the issue, yes.

Sayaka nods towards Mami with a more expression. "I am glad too. He is a liar, and he doesn't even have your best interests at heart." Mami might think the use of "your" here is a general one, but Sayaka is pretty much convinced and that is very intentional. She is only waiting for Madoka's confirmation.

Norie not answering how she has been doing recently and her suddenly tense behaviour only serve to make Sayaka apprehensive. "Is something wrong?" she asks to the anxious girl.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka is starting to sweatdrop a little. Her attempt to hint at 'magic things' by mentioning archery seems to have gone over some people's heads. Then again, the whole point of using vague hints like that is to make it intentionally impenetrable. If Mami wants to know details, Madoka would be happy to talk about it later. "W-well, not a club persay. More of an extracurricular activity."

    Brai looks up at Mami and watches her with wide, curious eyes. She's been politely quiet so far, largely because it'd be weird for people to respond to her, and participating in her own way because she wants to spend time with her Bearer. When Norie asks, and even compliments her, Brai is suddenly a bit startled. "O-oh! You can see me? Sorry. Don't mind me. I'm a Chara, and my name is Brai."

    Madoka suddenly glances around nervously. Who here can see Brai? Mami and Sayaka for sure. After a moment's fretting, she laughs a little sheepishly and decides to stay quiet. She remains blissfully unaware of Norie's plight. Knowing that she can see magic isn't the same thing as knowing she's an energy vampire.

    Sayaka starts cluing in, and asking some very direct questions. Madoka freezes up for a moment, because her childhood friend is correct. Around the same time, there's a strange shift in the air. What is it? Don't worry about it. Chara Magic. On the other hand, maybe do worry about a little bit, because it feels like someone is emulating a Labyrinth.

    A moment later, Gretchen appears. A tiny masked Chara in a too-long black dress with way too much pink hair. She's not approaching the conversation yet, but she's watching it very intently.

    Madoka looks up, sees her X-Chara, and suddenly feels a bit awkward. Then she turns to the bluenette. "Y-yeah, Sayaka-chan. It's that friend." This is going to be complicated, she suspects. Madoka hasn't told a lie as far as she knows, but sometimes the truth can cause problems.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    *The look on this girl's face when a handshake is offered.* Amy draws back her hand slightly without thinking. "Um... if you don't like handshakes it's okay... are you a germophobe...? You don't have to make yourself uncomfortable on my account... Sorry." She offers an apologetic smile.

    Amanda then turns back to the table. Mami is explaining the food. "Fermented tea?" She sips it curiously. "Huh..." And, the cake! "Genoise? There are different kinds of sponge cake? Are you a... ah... is baking cakes a hobby of yours?"

    Mami's always loved tea parties. "I've never had one before. Do Japanese girls have them often, these days...?"

    Sayaka said earlier she was getting away from a jerk, and she seems to be really mad at this person. A liar and doesn't have Mami's best interests at heart... do they both know some guy taking advantage of them? Wait, Madoka knows him too? "Who, uh... is some guy bothering you two?"

    And then she freezes. She knows that feeling. A Labyrinth. Here? Now?! She clutches at her shirt, and the soul-gem-turned-pendant under it, as she looks around at... the complete lack of Labyrinth or Witch weirdness, what.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami takes a moment to enjoy her tea and cake, listening to the other girls as they speak. It does not take an especially astute thinker to piece together that the him Sayaka got rid of is none other than Kyubey. She picks up her teacup and takes a sip, and then quietly says, "_He_ saved my life. If it were not for Kyubey, I would have died a long time ago."

So much for discretion.

She takes another sip of her tea and then sets the cup back down. "You're lucky, Sayaka-chan," she says, then, and offers the bluenette a sad sort of smile. "You have Madoka-chan. Kyubey's been my best friend for years."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana shifts a bit. "I uh. I uh.. uh.. I uh..." she keeps repeating this for a bit as she swallows. "..No... touch....please?" she says finally. "...condition..." she says quietly, placing her hands back down to clutch at the side of the table. She looks away from Amy now. Like ashamed. Because the girl has offered her energy so many times.

She can't even shake her hand.

She gently just stares down her cake as if it had eyes and was staring her down in turn as Sayaka asks questions of her.

"Anxious..." is all she manages to mutter out.

Her eyes look away over to where Madoka looks because she senses the dark energy signature. Well that's another cutie floating around. She blinks and looks back down to Brai. "Chara? W..what's a.. Chara?" she asks to Brai as she looks over to Mami.

"O..oh." she says, shrinking even more in her seat. She kinda wants to. Hide under the table.

She isn't it yet though. "S..sorry to hear that. Who is .. Kyubey?" she asks another question.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"So it is Kyubey", Sayaka speaks out. She would have abandoned all pretenses and mind games going on at the table even if Mami hadn't. Gretchen's arrival, Labyrinth nonwithstanding, doesn't really serve to improve her mood, since the X-Chara last time declared she isn't going to help and made it Madoka's fault.

But Sayaka is focused on another matter at the moment, so she doesn't address her presence unless she enters the conversion. Instead she looks at Mami. "I am sorry to hear that, Mami-senpai. But you should think about what he stood to gain from saving your life. He acted like that with me too, pretending everything he suggested was necessary and when one of his games got accidentally ruined, it exposed the lie he actually wanted to keep from me. Moreover, the Soul Gem is actually a vital organ that Kyubey extracted and turned into that form. If you exhaust your magic, that vital organ stops working and you die." She limits herself to what Chrono had specifically told her, barely keeping her own emotions from colouring her speech.

She scowls. "Like I just mentioned, the guy that has been tormenting me, avoiding to explain how things worked, and keeping me away from Madoka-chan so she would be unable to, that's all Kyubey", she explains to Amy.

"Besides everything else I said about him, Kyubey is the one who gives people magic and binds them in his trap", she mentions to Norie. She hasn't really stopped to consider whether she and Amy would have recognised this information, or whether it was safe to.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Gretchen looks down at Amy, then Mami, and then Sayaka. She doesn't look at Madoka, despite the pinkette being her Chara Bearer. The tiny, corrupted mascot descends upon the table, as the entrance to her Labyrinth vanishes. She settles down on the table, with the ribbony strands of her black dress splaying out over the table top, and she turns to Sayaka with her hands behind her back.

    Madoka blinks at this. Brai stares. They both seem pretty tense about this, since Gretchen usually shows up for A Reason.

    "Wow," says the tiny X-Chara, after listening to Sayaka just lay it all out. She crosses her arms. This isn't good. Gretchen isn't really in a position of trust right now, but she's concerned about Mami's mentality. "Look, I know that Kyubey seems... dubious at times. However, it's not as simple as all of that. He's not that bad of a person..." Gretchen suppresses the urge to retch. She can't believe she has to defend him of all people. Good thing she's wearing a mask right now. "He's doing what he thinks is best for everyone. The problem is that he doesn't have values as we do, and doesn't understand why we find certain things offensive. It's true that the Soul Gem is of vital importance to a Puella Magi, but it's not just a weak point. It provides you with a lot of meaningful benefits. It's the source of your magic, and without it you'd stand no chance against Witches. Also... Not every Puella is going to feel the same way that you do. Many of them are satisfied with their Wishes, and wouldn't regret their choice even if they knew the details."

    Madoka blinks at her tiny X-Chara. "Gretchen-chan... it's strange to see you, of all people, trying to defend someone. But... Homura-chan told me..."

    Gretchen cuts her off. "Homura has her own point of view. She said what she said to prevent you from entering danger over something frivolous. She also clearly stated that she was satisfied with what she got. Her advice was solid and good, but don't overinterpret her words."

    Brai, meanwhile, floats closer to Norie, leaving the Kyubey conversation to Mami, Sayaka and Gretchen. "Okay so... I'm a Chara. You could think of me as a fairie, in a way. I represent the dreams of my Chara Bearer, regarding who they want to be. Kyubey is a different kind of fairy who grants miracles in exchange for them becoming a Puella Magi."

    Madoka, meanwhile, is sitting in her chair fretting. "Even so, I think it's unfair not to warn people..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
> Who is ... Kyubey?
                                      · ·                                      


    Amy's head whips around back to face the other Puellas. How will they explain--

    Sayaka continues. Just like Amy's non-Puella Magi friends, she words everything to do with Kyubey and Puella Magi in the worst light. Amy would almost think it was on purpose. Well, the cat(-like creature) is out of the bag now... "He let us become Magical Girls. I didn't see the god of the Pretty Cures making us offers. And it's a 'vital organ' that wasn't working, unless you were using magic before? I sure wasn't. And if we run out of magic while fighting a Witch... do you really think we'd live that long anyway?"

    A second minidoka speaks on Kyubey's behalf. Madoka says it's unfair.

    Amy sighs and looks down at the table. "Every time... All my friends, but now even another Puella Magi...? I don't get it. We risk death regularly, keeping others safe. We knew that's what being a Magical Girl involved, right?" She looks to Sayaka. "You even came on a Witch hunt with us. You saw what they're like. If you still agreed to become a magical girl... You knew you were going into deadly situations. It's not like you're just going to run out of magic. You can go through several battles, even without carefully conserving magic, before you'd run out."

    But something feels wrong...

    "Why does everyone act like Kyubey... the only reason I... the only reason we're not regular old civilians, who might be the next to be kissed by a witch and, and... and die if Magical Girls don't come along to save us in time... is some kind of sinister trickster?"

    <<Amy-san has the right of it. ...Gretchen-san, too.>> The familiar voice is in their heads again. Kyubey is sitting on a windowsill, two high school boys chatting right next to him none the wiser. He bounds down to the floor, and makes his way over towards the table the girls are gathered at.

    <<I have heard this sentiment from other magical girls before, but that even Puella Magi would feel this way... how unfortunate.>>

    The red-eyed, white cat-thing hops up onto the bench and then the table next to Mami. <<Mami, it is good to see you again.>> If she reaches to pet him, he'll press into the petting like a cat before walking over to the opposite end of the table from Gretchen. Expressionless, as always. He looks at Madoka. And then at Norie. <<I am Kyubey. Girls make contracts with me to become Magical Girls and have their wishes granted.>> That simple explanation to someone who can't Contract over, he looks to Madoka again. <<Madoka, it is a shame you did not become a Puella Magi, but you had more warning of the dangers than anyone. No nonmagic human has accompanied Puella Magi on as many Witch hunts as you have. It is truly marvelous that Puella Magi have taken the responsibility of looking out for civilians in such a dangerous situation, as I lack the power to protect them save by making a Contract.>> Kyuubey grooms his tail as he 'speaks'.

    Next he shifts position slightly, and turns that expressionless gaze on Sayaka. <<'Tormenting you'... What a cruel tongue... You have been through a lot lately. However, thanks to your Contract I was able to make the Wish you desired come true! Are you not happy with the result?>> He cocks his head to one side, curiously.

    Amy looks away in awkward shame as wishes are brought up. Her *true* wish was becoming a Magical Girl, the 'wish' was but an afterthought. But others' wishes were no doubt extremely important.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami came here to eat cake, drink tea, and make friends. Since the friends part is going roughly, she decides to _listen_ and eat her cake. It'll give her a moment to think of just what to say. Gretchen's appearance, though, catches Mami's attention. Her brow furrows just a little, and the thumb on her left hand unconsciously rubs at her soul gem ring on her finger. But she doesn't feel in _danger_, and so she just eats her cake and drinks her tea and listens.

And then her bestie shows up! How could this tea party get any better? "Kyubey!" She says, with delight. Of _course_ she reaches out to pet him. She'll give him as many pets as he'll stay for. "It's good to see you too. Seems like you've been busy," she says, almost chidingly. He's always busy. So is she.

Kyubey asks his question, and then before Sayaka has a chance to answer, she says, "I don't think you understand what I mean when I say, Kyubey here saved my life, Sayaka-chan. My living _was my wish_. If it weren't for Kyubey, I would have died in the same car crash that killed my parents. Is this life different than what it would have been if I hadn't wished? Yes. Is it difficult? Yes. Was it _worth it_? It was for me, because I _get to be alive_."

She takes one last sip of her tea, slurping just a little, and then sets it back down on the saucer. "I'm sorry you regret your wish, Sayaka-chan," she says, softly. "But you can't put that on Kyubey."

Norie Okana has posed:
A visual image starts forming for this Kyubey. A Dark older boy, handsome, easily deceiving girls into... some trap! Is.. Is Kyubey one of Hematite's friends? They're all dark older boys. Maybe...maybe...

Then he's described as fairy and this entire visage goes out the window and now he's a tiny, tiny boy in a handsome suit, who goes around deceiving girls. This makes Norie Blush more and she taps her bottom lip.

"So. What did... your bearer wanna be...?" she asks curiously.

Then Kyubey actually arrives and the illusion she had mentally shatters into that of what's before her as she looks between Gretchen and Kyubey and cross eyes a little bit as she frowns.

"So girls make wishes in return for becoming magical girls?" she asks curiously. She frowns. "A wish?..."

"T.."

"That..."

How...!? How can these girls get things for their powers when she got everything taken from her for her's?

"Nrrggggg..." she manages to seethe though her teeth. Life is becoming more unfair by the second for her. "So what did... you all wish for?" she manages to ask, tersely. Very. Very. Tersely.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
And then Gretchen intervenes of course. "Who actually asked for your help?" Sayaka attacks her. "Weren't you the one who had to be weird about it, and said you weren't going to provide any?" she scowls at the X-Chara.

"Instead of wasting your time covering for him, how about you address how he had to know what he was doing even by our parameters, since he willingly chose to keep me apart from Madoka with his lies and hide the truth from me."

"I am sorry, Faust-senpai, but if you were any of the magical girls on a hunt that day, you should reveal yourself or avoid mentioning it, because I can't recognise you as is", Sayaka points out scathingly. "I am thankful about you being there to provide help, and explaining things to me, but I believe this situation is actually unjust in how it's presented."

"As for why you say we risk dying anyway, are you really saying I shouldn't care if the one killing me is my enemy or my ally? If I die or have to retreat before I have given it my all because of the limitations Kyubey put on the Soul Gems? Why do the other magical girls get to use their powers to their natural limits, and not us? What does Kyubey even gains from our deaths?"

Speaking of the devil, Kyubey shows up just then, to Sayaka's irritation. "Kyubey, I thought we agreed you would stay out of my way unless you wanted to take those full Grief Seeds", she comments without reserve. "What do you use them for anyway? I doubt you are taking them away as an act of goodwill."

She touches the ring that is her Soul Gem, as if to ascertain it's still there. "And yes, tormenting me, you fed me lies, you kept me away from my best friend under false pretenses, you made me believe you were honest and I didn't have to doubt you. You pushed my limits, and manipulated me so I would keep dancing to your strings. If you had been honest since the start, I think we would be having a very different conversation right now."

She shakes her head. "My wish is out of the question, I don't regret that. When I made it, I knew at least part of what I was getting into. I only loathe Kyubey for his dishonest behaviour. And I am also sorry you were with your back against the wall like that, and I do not blame you for doing it. I just don't believe Kyubey 1 second if he says he did it from the good of his heart."

"My wish was to heal a friend who had an incurable injury that would have compromised his passion forever", she explains to Norie plainly.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka's eyes fall upon Kyubey as he appears. She crosses her arms at him and frowns. "I don't regret my choice. I didn't have anything to wish for, and I'm happy to have my Chara." She pointedly glances towards Gretchen before adding, "No matter how tense things might be, I love them both very much."

    "I did get plenty of warning. From people who had reason to distrust you," responds Madoka. This is the first time she's directly confronted him about this, now that she thinks about it. She opens her mouth to say more, but Gretchen's masked face turns towards her, tiny finger over the mask's mouth. Madoka blinks, and then gives her a disappointed look. "Gretchen-chan, please don't ask me to be dishonest."

    "I'm not asking you to lie. I'm asking you to avoid causing a problem," responds the tiny X-Chara. Suddenly, Madoka grabs her, hand snapping out like a snake upon prey. Gretchen is caught off guard, and starts flailing against her Bearer's hand.

    "Being technically honest is not the same as being sincere," chides Madoka. "I've been patient with you, and tried to understand your situation, but I don't want you picking up bad habits."

    Gretchen flails her arms and kicks her legs, but her struggles are fruitless. Without using magic, there's very little that she can do. "Everyone here would get along if you all just got to know each other, so why waste time on meaningless fights? Don't you know there are bigger things at stake? I can't help you as directly as you want, but that never meant I didn't care!"

    Madoka frowns, and raises an eyebrow. "How can I know when you don't ever share anything?"

    Gretchen tsks. "Oh, you want to know something, do you? Chara Change! Become someone who has a clue!"

    Madoka's pink eyes suddenly turn yellow and start glowing. Her hair gets longer and darker. She whispers, "Her name was Lorelei. She was in love with the river, but that river isn't there anymore." Her mouth hangs open as she stares unfocused. Her grip loosens, and Gretchen flies up and away.

    The entrance to her faux Labyrinth reappears. No, it's more like she recreates it. Gretchen crosses her arms. "Watch out for my Bearer's sake. In a minute, you're going to see why I can't help you. Witch magic, even emulated, isn't something you can just mess around with."

    Then, the X-Chara vanishes back into her Labyrinth, which itself speeds up and away. A moment later, Madoka's eyes revert to pink. She grabs her head with both hands and closes her eyes, resting her elbows on the table as she grits her teeth. "What's a treechild?!" she demands, to no one in particular.

    A moment later, she lets out a deep breath, and begins rubbing her forehead. "What was I even saying? I knew so much, but now I can't remember any of it." She goes silent for a bit, but it's pretty clear that she's nursing a headache.

    Brai looks over at the shenanigans between Gretchen and Madoka and winces, but for the most part she keeps talking to Norie. "My Bearer wanted to be a magical girl, in order to help and protect people. Specifically, I represent Madoka's wish to be the kind of veteran magical girl that people like Homura and Teresia are. Gretchen represents Madoka's desire to be her best possible self, but she's been corrupted into... I don't know what. Her Witch connection is obvious, but we don't know much beyond that."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    There will be more petting another time! Or maybe sooner rather than later, if this argument leads to Kyubey in Mami's arms. Humans will have an awkward time trying to make out a cute fluffy thing being held like someone's pet as a bad guy, right?

    Amy lifts her head and looks at Mami. So, here is someone who also made their wish in a hurry, and for whom there was not an important 'choice' to be made in which wish to make. He wanted to be a magical girl. She wanted to live.

    It takes a moment for that mental image to sink in. A teenage girl, bleeding out in a wreck beside the bodies of her parents, and Kyubey makes his offer... She says something like 'Of *course* I wish to live!' And he says her wish has prevailed against entropy, and to go forth and unleash her new power, and then the pain, briefly wondering if something went wrong as something's ripped out of her chest, and then... Life. By means she believed impossible until moments before. May not have even believed until it happened.

    Regret their wish... Amy looks slightly more solemn. That's right, these are just middle-schoolers. Could a Puella Magi have made a wish without understanding the horror of fighting monsters? Mallory hasn't thought about it much since, but... No, Sayaka knew what she was going to go up against. Could she have made a wish that was poorly thought-out?

    ...Wouldn't most people? Amy vaguely recalls seeing a forum once where people were workshopping the no-loophole Immortality wish, and she recalls it was getting rather long...

    And Kyubey isn't necessarily interpreting the wish himself. It could be some sort of magic program for all Amy knows.

    ...Maybe 'how wishes work' is something she should ask...

> So what did... you all wish for?
    Amy stiffens, and looks away awkwardly. "It's not important..." She mutters, "I just wanted to be a magical girl..."

    Sayaka has things to say. And indeed doesn't recognize her. "Yeah, I *just* figured that out when you said I disappeared. I thought you saw me on the Witch hunt. I'm, uh, the red one with the rocket launcher, or do you have to see me transform for it to work..."

    Damn. Sayaka has a very, very different picture of Kyubey than Amy does. A two-faced puppet master manipulating them for some mysterious end, like Fav--

    OH THAT'S WHY FAV IS HALF WHITE AND HALF BLACK IT IS A METAPHOR FOR TWO-FACEDNESS. SHE TOOK OVER A YEAR TO GET THAT ARRRGGGGH

    --planning in secret and lying as magical girls are manipulated to fight each other for... what *was* the end goal, again? Cranberry just wanted strong opponents to kill, but what did Fav actually get from it? Huh, either Amy doesn't remember or it wasn't revealed before she stopped watching it. But that doesn't add up. It's not like Kyubey is manipulating them into fighting eachother. Soul gems, Witches, grief seeds, that's just how it all works... right?

    The magic of magical girls is dependant upon the land-pon. Think of it as a limity-limited resource-pon. I've realized that even though the city is big, its magic will driey-dry up in no time with sixteen magical girls draining it-pon. Weren't *you* the one who kept increasing the number of magical girls? I missy-miscalculated pon! I'm truly sorry-pon.

    Okay, *okay*, but hang on, that's just a story, this is real life. Kyubey *helped* her. Just like Fav 'helped' La Pucelle? ...The author, let alone Fav, couldn't have known. But if Kyubey knew, then she would have been an easy mark. But what about all these other girls?

    Like Mami, who was literally on death's door?

    Amy shakes her head. There is no evidence. Things *do* work this way. She's *seen* grief seeds recharge soul gems, it makes *sense* that her power has to come from somewhere. If anything, it's that people die when their magic runs out that she *hasn't* seen, and hopefully never will.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Meanwhile, the cat-fox-thing of the hour cocks his head slightly in response to Madoka. She is no longer important. Nor are the Charas, so long as they don't interfere.

    Amy's a little more vocal. "I'd like to get along. I'd like to know eachother. ...Wait, what do you know, tiny Madoka? Gretchen, was it?"

    And then... something happens. Amy and Kyubey stare at Madoka as she speaks some sort of prophecy. "A... treechild? ...Witch connection? What?"

    That interruption done, Kyubey looks once more to Sayaka. <<You believe I put limitations on the soul gems? Thinking outside the box is an excellent trait to have when hunting Witches, however, I fear this time it has led you astray. You are aware of limits of your power. Just because other magical girls are not aware of the limitations of *their* power, does not mean those limits do not exist.>>

    Kyubey circles like a cat making a comfy spot to sit, and then sits again. <<You understand the concept that all power comes with a price. Humanity has told stories of this since the beginning of history. It is the very reason you are suspicious of me -- your Contract has granted you wondrous power, and now you ask what is the cost, as if promising to battle Witches were not onerous enough.>> He licks his paw, and grooms an ear.

    <<Other magical girls have not been told where their magic comes from. They fight every day, believing their power infinite. Can this really be true? That power comes with a cost is a law of the universe. The electricity you use every day comes from burning chemicals humans dig up from the ground. Those chemicals come from the bodies of plants, and animals that ate those plants or eachother, from long ago. Plants get their energy from sunlight. The sun's light is produced by the heat of atomic nucleii fusing inside it.>> Kyubey looks towards a nearby window, from which a sunbeam shines on the floor. <<Hydrogen becomes helium, and will not break apart again on its own. In approximately five billion years, the sun will run out of fuel and die. Your teacher told you this in science class, didn't they?>> Kyubey cocks his head. <<All the matter and energy in the universe has been there since the beginning. It merely changes from one form to another.>>

    Amy nods along with this high school science lesson. She knows all this, and hopes that humanity will one day figure out a way to defeat even entropy, perhaps through jumping to other universes or something. It's hardly a daily concern, though.

    Kyubey stretches, like a cat, and stands. <<And yet. You are so sure that other magical girls can break this law, creating limitless power from nothing. I should quite like to know how it works if so! Perhaps, then, we could find a way to recharge your soul gems from this limitless energy, to say nothing of what limitless energy can do for civilization!>>

    Kyubey cocks his head the other way. <<Whether it is the secret to limitless power, or the secret limits of their powers, secrets are indeed being kept... By whoever claims to produce magical girls with limitless power. It would be rather terrible if any of you used magic without care, without the darkening of the soul gem to let you know how much you had left. Perhaps you should be concerned for your friends who believe their magic has no cost.>>

    Amy continues to nod slightly. That... makes sense, right?

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami laughs lightly. "Sayaka-chan, Kyubey doesn't have goodness of his heart. He doesn't have badness either. Not the way we think about it," she says. "But he _has_ helped me and been a companion to me while I've been alone, in the years since the accident," she says. There's a look toward Kyubey, and then he's talking. She does note that he doesn't say a single thing about her direct accusations of dishonesty, instead opting to wax poetic about the limits on magical girl power.

She simply cannot believe that _her_ Kyubey could be this cold, manipulative jerk that Sayaka is describing. Just look at him. He's so cute, and he's always been there for her when she really needed him.

"I'm sorry I was not available to help you understand the choice you were considering, Sayaka-chan," Mami says, her voice tender. "If I had been, I would have told you that you should only wish for something you're willing to give up your life for. My life was already leaving me, so it was an easy choice, no choice at all, really. Perhaps if you'd know the gravity of the choice, then you would have chosen differently." There she goes, assuming things again.

The other conversations at the table go largely ignored, her focus entirely on Sayaka and defending her bestie in this moment.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana listens to wishes. Madoka...isn't one of these. Puella Magi. But she wanted to be a magical girl....? Amy...wished to be a magical girl!? Sayaka.... wished to heal a friend? Mami wished to save herself. She frowns a little.

She frowns hard. She looks down into her slowly cooling tea cup and looks down at her frowning reflection. Her cup shakes. She's. Becoming upset.

She has power. She was plenty of that. But. She never wanted it. In trade... she had her feelings taken from her. Well. The good ones. Her smile... her laughter... she lost all her friends... her family... and she has to... to attack people in a controlled manner to keep what she does have or she just attacks people recklessly, beyond her control.

"You people. Don't know. How lucky you are." she says quietly. "...I never got a choice. All I did. Was buy a damn necklace in a secondhand store." she says angrily.

She sours a little and sips her tea as she places the cup down.

"Yeah, your little friend is filled with dark energy." she says sharply to Madoka. "You probably heard some dark energy nonsense. It's dark energy nonsense." she says as she sips more of her tea.

"S..sorry." she says as she sinks into her chair, putting the cup back down, again and now..

She finally hides under the table. Sliding right under it.

She's still there if you look. She didn't duskport away. She probably needs a minute after the outburst.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Amy's explanation is enough to break the veil on her identity. "Oh, I recognise you now. So you had never disappeared, you were that other girl in red all along. Thanks for helping save me", Sayaka says, touching where her Heart Crystal had been extracted.

"That doesn't mean I have forgotten about you", Sayaka mentions to Kyubey, with a very different tone from the one she had used to thank Amy. "All of that, and you didn't explain why you chose to lie to me, or what you do with Grief Seeds, or why I should believe you now. And you can avoid putting words in my mouth, because all I want is using my magic until my natural limits, like all the other magical girls except those contracted by you. I never said they don't have limits on their magic, but those limits are dictated by the strength of their bodies and spirits: I want to keep helping people until I am too tired, not because you decided that was what it was best under your distorted point of view."

She looks at him torbidly. "You didn't explain your lies, and you attributed me false arguments. Everything you do just proves Madoka right when she claimed you are untrustworthy." The Sharpsong Puella Magi just tosses Kyubey a furious glare now, before looking at Mami since she is so done with him.

"Mami-senpai, please don't misinterpret my words. I already said I don't regret my wish, so you can avoid being sorry about something that's very important to me." That statement from Mami has actually offended Sayaka, and the bluenette is now giving her a sour look.

"If Kyubey is neither bad nor good, he shouldn't have had any reason to push me away from my best friend, leaving me alone with his machinations while he was free to play with me as he desired, and he didn't have to keep any secrets from me either. If you want to keep him at your side, that's your prerogative. I hope no harm comes to you because of it", she ends her spiel with a displeased expression on her face.

Norie takes her attention when she starts talking about something that happened to her. "Okana-san?" Sayaka says uncertaintly when she slides under her chair. "What happened to you? What did that necklace do?" She moves in to touch her shoulder, wanting to provide the comfort of closeness to the other girl.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    "I wouldn't say that our power has no cost," responds Brai to Kyubey, "but that cost comes in the form of needing to keep your dreams alive, and also work towards them. If Madoka didn't take her dream of being a magical girl seriously, then we wouldn't be able to help her."

    Madoka suddenly covers her mouth with one hand. She doesn't look so good. Her other arm wraps around her gut. Norie is saying something to her, but Madoka can't really focus on it. She shakes her head. Brai is a bit more aware, and sympathetic. "You were given magic against your will?" Clearly she doesn't know the full story there. "It's true that Gretchen has a bit of darkness in her. Could it just be... Madoka-chan?"

    Madoka's turning pale. She immediately stands up and runs away, towards the bathrooms. Brai looks on and surprise, then turns to Mami. "U-um... thanks for the tea and snacks! Sorry for leaving suddenly like this. I need to um..." She tries to figure out what to say, but quickly realizes that she doesn't have time to fumble with words, so she chases after her Chara Bearer instead. "Madoka-chan, wait! Let me hold back your hair!"

    So much for Madoka getting to enjoy Mami's tea party. A moment after those two leave, Gretchen's Labyrinth wanders by. A weird eldritch angel-like thing pops out, grabs the last of Madoka's cake, and dives back into the Labyrinth. Then it zooms off for real.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    To Mami, Amy observes, "Um... Sayaka-san said she wasn't unhappy with her wish..."

    "Speaking of wishes... How do wishes work, anyway? Like, if Sayaka-san wished to heal her friend, what determines whether that... whether it magically heals, or whether a cure is discovered, or whether, whether events are altered so they never got hurt in the first place?" <<I don't know. The inner workings of magic are complicated. If someone asked you how a computer interprets commands, you might give a simplified explanation about how programming languages are compiled down to machine code instructions.>> Kyuubey cocks his head to one side and scratches the other ear with his paw. <<But that's not how it really works, is it? Each individual instruction actually executes microcode, operations composed of varying numbers of steps of the most basic functions the processor can perform. Let alone predictive execution, pipelining, and determining which instructions are executed by which core. You are a trained expert and know more about this than almost anyone at this school.>>

                                      · ·                                      


    Those unblinking red eyes stare into Amanda's. <<But do *you* know how your computer really works?>>

    Amy sweats, and looks away. "Well, uh..."

    <<One would need to be a far, far greater expert on magic than you are on computers, to know if it is even possible to answer 'How do wishes work'. I do not know.>>

    Amy tries to find something else to talk about to change the subject from her percieved failure. "Wait..." Amy has a thought. "You talk about the laws of the universe, but... magic does the impossible all the time. What if someone wished to create infinite energy?"

    Kyubey turns to her, now. <<Do you believe that is anyone's heartfelt wish? ...Well, I suppose someone might. Magic can...>> The Incubator needs a moment to work out how to word this in Human. Without revealing too much too soon. <<Magic can exchange energy between forms not otherwise possible. The exact rules are something even a theoretical scientist of magic would struggle to figure out; Certainly they are beyond my knowledge. The relative costs of such transfers appear to have little rhyme or reason to those with an understanding of nonmagical physics... however, they can result in an apparent increase of energy from such perspectives that cannot measure magic.>>

    <<There are limits, however. Your soul gem cannot charge other soul gems, for example. Your rockets may release large amounts of thermal and kinetic energy, but you would eventually run out. Compared to that, changing your weapon's size to manipulate angular momentum and kinetic energy costs a tiny amount of magic, but not zero.>>

    Kyubey sits back down. <<A wish could indeed produce a lot of energy, especially by producing effects that are impossible without magic. But not infinite.>>

    Kyubey turns his head to look at Madoka. <<Even Madoka could not have produced an infinite amount of energy... directly.>> He raises a hind leg to scratch at an ear. <<However, she might have been able to change the laws of the universe so that it was no longer impossible, if she wished. But it does not matter, now.>> Kyubey walks a tight circle to get comfortable again and lay down.

    "...She *what*?" Amy looks at Madoka, then back at Kyubey. <<Madoka had the potential to be the greatest Magical Girl the world has ever seen. It does not matter now, she walks another path.>>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    While Amy puzzles this out, other things come up.

    Sayaka asks questions. The white-furred, red-eyed creature rolls over, stands, and shakes himself. <<You said you do not regret your wish. Would you still have healed your friend, if you were convinced to such suspicion of me? Or would you merely be a powerless bystander while others fight? If you believed then as you do now, would you still make your wish? If, knowing everything, you do not wish to be a magical girl, then indeed a grave error has been made.>> He'll not say *whose* error, of course.

    He cocks his head. <<It is regrettable that I misunderstood the nature of your concern about the limits of soul gems and magical girls. But just how do you measure the strength of body and spirit? Most magical girls are clearly superhuman. What determines those limits?>>

    Kyubey takes a few steps closer to Sayaka. <<I don't know how I can answer a question so vague. I am not sure how to measure the strength of one's spirit. But the strength of your body is much greater than that of such magical girls. You can heal yourself with magic when others would break. You can continue to help people even after withstanding physical harm that would kill other magical girls many times over! If you are concerned that your body's limits are less than theirs, then you can rest assured it is quite the opposite: You are far more resilient.>>

    Kyubey sits again and licks his paw. <<You are Magical Girls that hunt Witches, after all! What point would there be in agreeing to that, if you were not equipped to do so?>>

    Madoka leaves, and Norie... um... that. Neither is Kyubey's concern.

    Amy, however... "What? Hang on, what happened to you?" Amy looks back at Madoka. "Dark energy? What's she mean?" Amy leans over to look under the table. "Hey, maybe we can help you? ...Um, do you want a hug...?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh right, there was another thing. <<...As for grief seeds, it is not safe for them to be kept by anyone who is not a Puella Magi. It would be impractical for you to carry them all, if you are a successful Puella Magi for long. I mentioned before that magic allows for conversions between different forms of matter and energy.>> Kyubey paces around a bit. <<I process the dangerous energy of depleted grief seeds into a harmless form, which prevents the Witch from re-hatching.>>

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami dips her head a little and lids her eyes then looks back up toward Sayaka. "My apologies, I wasn't very clear before. Yes, you did say you don't regret your wish, but here you are complaining about how you got a sub-par deal because you don't like the _kind_ of magical girl you've become." She shakes her head, and then looks at her empty teacup.

She picks up the pot, and pours herself another cup. "I have a little more in here if anybody wants it," she offers.

Then she looks back toward Sayaka, and says, "Honestly, the way you're complaining, I wonder if the problem is less that Kyubey 'manipulated' you and more that you're just not that good." There's a pause for a beat. "I'd be happy to help with that."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is still under the table. She should had duskported away when she had the chance she thinks. Instead now she's being prodded and poked and Madoka's running off towards the rest rooms and she huffs. "Her other little friend. The more rude one. Is Dark energy tainted. What she spoke was probably. Dark energy nonsense." she says.

Amy is asking her for a hug. She frowns. She is listening to Kyubey. She had a Grief Seed before! She gave it to Riven-senpai.

She'll remind herself to tell him of potential dangers around it. Right now...

"Ugh, you. You're always wanting to help." she says. "We'll talk later. But the answers always the same and it's always the same result. You just end up feeding me energy and then I feel bad about it." she says. She's trying to drill past the veil. Into Amy's brain that she's La Crima.

But that's so hard. Without outright saying it. Even with all the connections. So instead, she types. 'I'm lacrima' on her phone screen's notepad and peeks it out from under the table on Amy's side.

This is all Amy will get... in the ensuing secrecy attempt she's touched.

There's a visible crackle of dark energy and Sayaka feels an energy drain suddenly. This makes Norie FREEZE and she suddenly yanks herself forward, out from under the table.

Her phone goes flying forward, and crunch it goes under someone's foot as they walk by and her eyes go wide and she shoots up. "M..my phone..." she says , going full sulk as she looks down, walking over to pick it up, and frowning at the now cracked screen, whimpering.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka has given up on talking to Kyubey. If he doesn't actually addresses what he says, talking is useless. She instead looks at Mami.

"I am very sorry about the subpar way Kyubey granted your wish", Sayaka says with a scowl. "Clearly, he didn't do it right, or else you wouldn't have so many comprehension issues." she adds scornfully.

"As for you, if you want to believe it's a good thing to fail to help people not because your supposedly existing skill failed you, but because your Soul Gem put a stop to you at a crucial moment, then go ahead and enjoy your delusion."

She gives Mami one last look before giving Norie back her phone and chasing after Madoka. "Oh, and I am good, keep your lessons for yourself."

"I didn't know you got cursed with dark energy", the bluenette says apologetically, still feeling the impact of the drain on her hand. "I had talked with a girl whose curse does the exact same thing as you. I hope I can help you both one day. For now, I will try to get you a new phone, at least."

She stays just long enough to hear Norie's reply, then she runs off, worried about Madoka.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    A little while after Madoka ran off to the restroom, Brai floats back alone. She takes a moment to glance at Norie and her cracked phone, then at Amy and Kyubey, and finally at Mami. Brai lands on the table in front of Mami, bows politely, and says, "Um... Madoka-chan says thank you for the tea and cake. She's sorry she had to leave, but she had to go to the nurse's office. Um... I actually need to go follow her, so bye! Until we meet again!"

    She floats over the group, waves at them all, and then flies back the way she came.

    As for Sayaka, she might catch a glimpse of a green-looking Madoka leaving the bathroom and heading to the nurse's office as Brai said. The pinkette waves to her blue friend, but hurries on her way.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy reads the screen. 'Tears?' she mouths. And then Sayaka's drained -- "Don't worry, she barely takes any" and then the sickening *crunch* of technology breaking. This is why Amy has a boring black case that makes her phone look like a contractor's or an overprepared techie's. Amy winces. "Mmmmaybe we can get a replacement?"

    Meanwhile, Mami and Sayaka are getting *catty* at eachother. Amy turns back towards them. "Girls, girls, we're better than this. We're not a bunch of--" the last word dies in her throat as she realizes the nonsensicalness of what she's saying, so the last word comes out as a quiet croak, "--teenagers..."

    Kyubey's stare doesn't change as he watches the emotions that will one day supply the energy to ward off entropy for awhile show themselves. He chose these girls well. To call Sayaka's reaction to how things work annoying would imply that he can feel annoyance. It simply is a thing that's happening, although understanding it a bit better might help him better manipulate other prospective Puella Magi in the future.

    Sayaka has run off, but he can stay for a bit for Mami's benefit. Or rather, to raise her fondness should he need to manipulate her for the good of the universe later. The Incubator walks over to her and nuzzles and rubs his head against her arm like a cat. <<There is no need to worry. Soul gems are not depleted so easily as she fears. To use one up completely in the course of fighting as a Magical Girl, such that you run out of magic before you can obtain a grief seed... would mean running body and spirit so ragged that not only a Puella Magi might be unable to continue.>>

Mami Tomoe has posed:
"You keep telling yourself that, but I've been doing this for years now, and I've never once run up against the limits of my Soul Gem in a fight. If you'd like to learn how to effectively wield the powers you have, you can come find me any time, Sayaka-chan," Mami calls out to Sayaka's back as she scurries off. Then she feels Kyubey at her arm and she lets her fingers run through his fur, giving him some more pets. "I know, Kyubey. It's not like _I'm_ a rookie."

She turns to look at Amy, then, a puzzled look on her face. Aren't they _all_ teenagers? But she doesn't comment on that. Instead, she says, "I'm sorry to make such a poor first impression. I'm a terrible senpai, really." She sighs, and then scoots her chair back from the table rising up. She starts walking around collecting plates.

"But, I really do want to get along. I just, she's got some sort of _problem_," Mami says, glancing toward the direction Sayaka went off to, shaking her head. "I'd love to get to know you better though, Amy-chan. Maybe we could go hunting together sometime."

As she comes around to Norie's side of the table she spies the empty plate. "Did you like the lemoncake? I'd gladly show you how I made it sometime," she says. It's not a new phone, but it's _something_. She gestures to the device, though, and says, "I'm sorry about that."

Then she sighs, as she collects the rest of the dishes. This is how it always goes when she ties to make friends.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana looks down at her phone. Her last major possession, the last ties to her family. With a broken screen and she has two choices, she could turn around and accuse Sayaka Miki of being the one who broke her phone....

Or she could cry.

So tear drops start to dot the broken screen, because that's what she chooses to do, rather than start something. Life kinda sucks when you're a dark energy mass that can kinda only feel bad things. But she does have some control over her actions and right now...

This seems the lesser of two evils.

"I.."

"I need to go. Sorry. Cake...was fine...." she sniffs. She doesn't actually look at Mami, she doesn't look away from the phone as she nods. "Fine...yeah sorry...I need to... go..." she repeats again. "...s-sorry."

She says as she just grabs the sides of her head and starts to leave quickly. She doesn't wanna look at anyone right now. Just get back to the dorm and hide in her room.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"Madoka-chan?" Sayaka comments when she spots her best friend green with presumably nausea. And then she waves at her and she hurries to presumably the Nurse's Office. "I will come with you!" the bluenette tells her, running until she is side by side with the pinkette. Now she will make sure everything will be fine with Madoka, and after that she needs to work out how she is going to afford a new phone for Okana-san.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Norie cries over her phone. "I'm... I'm sure we can find a way!" Amy urges. "Stay in touch with me, I'll find out if--"

    But Norie runs off.

    "...If anyone in computer club knows someone who can repair phones." Amy finishes, lamely.

> It's not like _I'm_ a rookie.
    <<I know! You are truly exceptional, Mami! But for Amy's benefit, too. If Sayaka's concerns weigh on her heart, after she survived weeks without a grief seed a couple of months ago.>>

    "I don't know what other magical girls have been through. But... I've made my stance clear. Thanks to you, I can have this life. Thanks to you, I can help people. If I die in battle tomorrow, I'll be glad for the time I had, these past few months. I always thought people were crazy and myopic, when they said things like that. Thanks to you, I can finally understand what they mean."

    Now Amy focuses on Mami. "Mm. Understanding eachother is a difficult problem. I've struggled with it quite a bit myself. As Kyubey said, she heard of this limit and is obsessing over it, without the practical experience of fighting as a magical girl and seeing exactly to what degree our magic capacity actually limits us. She's picturing, I don't know, having nearly run out of magic and being unable to help her friends because things got bad. But as long as we have Witches to hunt, and we don't do big, flashy uses of magic more than necessary, we'll be fine. Worst case... if we were unable to use magic until friends could get us a grief seed, then in that time we're in no worse position than we were before, right?"

    Amy takes a sip of the tea. "Hunting? ...Oh right, Witches." She smiles. "Yeah, sure! I'd love that!" She'll exchange contact information.

    And she'll try some of the lemon cake. "It's delicious... Where did you get the recipe...?"

    The little tea party continues, embers of cheerful atmosphere burning amidst the ashes of three girls' freakouts. Kyubey gets lots of petting and holding, and Amy and Mami talk. Eventually, food and words run out, and they depart to resupply.

...

Amanda Faust has posed:
...

    After all of this, Kyubey is left to ruminate on the argument and accusations recently made.

    She fears that her soul gem will give out before her spirit does.

    The camera moves in for a close up, the light hitting Kyubey just right so that from this angle his eyes seem to glow.

                                      · ·                                      


    What a nonsensical concern. It's called a soul gem, after all.

    What other form does she think her spirit takes?