640/Just Two Magical Girls Talking

Just Two Magical Girls Talking
Date of Scene:	21 September 2014
Location:	Mitakihara Town, Puella Magi Loft
Synopsis:	Homura and Yui chat. Samael wuz here, Burden sux 9/21/AU22.
Cast of Characters:	2, 455
Tinyplot:	When They Return

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Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Yui has sent Homura a text wanting to talk somewhere.
    Homura replied that was convenient because she had something to give to Samael anyway, so on her way back home if she could deliver that it would be super.

    Quiet place, though... Homura immediatly strikes out restaurants. That has NEVER worked well in this damn city for Elites meeting. Well, important people, even, not necessarily just Elites. Let's not tempt fate.

    Since Yui's world is off the table, Homura has invited her to MITAKIHARA TOWN, despite the fact this is literally the worst idea ever. More specifically, TO HER HOUSE. Samael already knows where it is, privacy is pointless.

    It is a loft, more than a house.
    It has a map.
    

    Currently no one is home but Homura. It's Sunday, Madoka's off doing GOD THINGS and the others went to the amusement park. Whatever, she never really enjoyed rides anyway, and she had homework to finish. The house is well-furnished, the people here are obviously fairly well-off.

    Homura is wearing bland black pants and a black shirt, with her hair in a side-tail w/ red ribbon, and her glasses on.

Samael (455) has posed:
    There was a knock on the door as the almost nondescript girl with medium length black hair came towards Homura's abode. She had her bag held in both of her hands, and had on her school uniform; maybe she had just come from school? In any case, she knocked, and when Homura opened the door, she bowed.

    "Ah, I'm sorry, but..." she started, shifting somewhat nervously. "I just wanted to talk, I guess. It's been a while, and Samael hasn't been around, so ah..." She shrugged helplessly.

    "I've been getting stronger, but not as strong as Samael or you. It's been getting easier, at least. May I come in?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "That's alright. Come in."

    Inside: THE LOFT.
    It's pretty nice.

    "Make yourself comfortable. Food? Drink?"

    There is probably some of everything in the fabled fridge over there. Just don't tell the owner you took anything from it. Homura will sit down, wherever Yui decides she wants to.

    "How can I help? And is it you who's been getting stronger, or your weapon? There is a fundamental difference between the two, one I had to learn the hard way."

Samael (455) has posed:
    "It's...been the latter, really. But I'm not like you, or any of the others. I just have a thing, that's all. I was 'lucky,' I guess." Yui took a seat and a bottle of ramune, popping the little marble drink and giving it a rattle. "So my weapon is my strength. I learn how to use it better, and it gets stronger as well. But...I don't know. It's been a huge battle. There's always stuff to do, people to save, and I always get there in the nick of time, and...sometimes I don't."

    The girl sighed, before taking a sip of soda.

    "It's..." she started, before shaking her head. "I just tell myself that if I didn't go in anyway, more people would pay the price. How do you deal with that? Just...you have to do the same thing, right?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I do. I have had to kill some of my own friends to save lives, and whenever something crops up here, you can rest assured at least one life has been lost already. I dealt with it by deciding that nothing mattered except my end goal, and that almost destroyed me," Homura says, before shaking her head. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you don't ever really get used to it, and you have to keep thinking the way you do right now, because it's probably the healthiest. Focus on the lives you're saving and not those you're failing to, because if you weren't around they would have all been lost anyway. In other words, they're not even a variable. They're a constant."

    Perhaps a bit colder than Yui was expecting.

    "Sorry. Probably not the sort of cheering you were looking for. And you're wrong, there's a big difference. Even without any powers, your force of will is something worth harnessing, and it will be a power even greater than your staff, one day. That doesn't mean you should fight without it, but don't sell yourself short either. You're not cowering anymore, you're fighting. That takes more than a weapon."

Samael (455) has posed:
    "...I see." the plain girl said, a bit quieter than the last time. There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence, before Yui opened her mouth again. "I don't think will is something that can b-!"

    Unfortunately, she seemed to be interrupted by the appearence of a certain girl in a hat, kicking the door open. She may have also forced her way past anything else that may have blocked her passage, such as wards, stopped busses, traffic...but those don't really matter, right?

    "Hiiii~! I heard there was something going on, so I brought this!"

    In Samael's hands were bags...from a local fast food place. Burgers and fries, apparently.

    "I had nothing else to do, sooooo...I picked these up!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Please close the door behind you," Homura simply asks, not so much unsurprised as realizing there's no point getting upset or agitated. Set the example for Yui, just be calm all the time even if internally you aren't at all.

    "Thanks for the food. I have the video of our second Fragment dive, if you still want it. Uncertain you'll find anything incredibly entertaining in there besides Psyber's antics, but a deal is a deal."

    She'll hand her the thumb drive later.

    "Now, Yui, take this as a lesson, everytime important, powerful people gather in this city, shit happens. We gathered, Samael showed up. Looks like the city thinks you're powerful even without your weapon out," she says, half-jokingly, but half-seriously too.

    "But either way, please believe me. I've been at this for... longer than a decade. Eventually, your mind and will are going to be better weapons than anything you can get your hands on. You'll find opponents you can't overcome with raw power alone, and that's when you'll really shine."

    She glances at Samael.
    "No matter what she might tell you."

Samael (455) has posed:
    The door was similarly kicked closed as Samael decided to join in at the table, smiling widely and apparently entirely oblivious as to what she had interrupted. "Ohoh. But sometimes they just decide to have a tea party instead! With cakes and cheese, isn't that right?" she said as she took a seat, placing her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands.

    Yui, on the other hand, had grown silent again, but Homura could at least tell she was listening. She hadn't zoned out or stopped paying attention at all, but it seemed that Samael's prescence was the kind of grandiose thing that could drown out any persons of lesser status. Eventually though, she gathered enough mind to say "I see," but her eyes remained locked down at the table.

    Samael, on the other hand, made a mock frowny face at Homura's last comment. "What, is everything I say false, now? I've never lied. I'll tell you if I do, though!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Lie, no. Color the world your way, yes. But I would be a hypocrite to say I am not guilty of the same. I've lived this way for a long time, so everything I say and do is shaped by that. I can't help it any more than you can." Granted, Samael is much older than Homura, so it might be much different.

    "And yes. Cakes and cheese," she adds, bitterly.
    Does Samael know or is she just being random?
    Well, she did get a look at her in Unshift, and then Shifted a few times... so who knows. Samael's odd, and her perception of the world might just be as conceptual as Burden's for all she knows.

    "Right, well. Yui, why are you so quiet all of a sudden? Am I really easier to talk to than Samael? I mean, for all she's overwhelmingly powerful, she's... a lot more outgoing and chatty than I am. Can't imagine I am much better conversation than she is."

Samael (455) has posed:
    "I..." Yui started, before Samael made another huff, and started to speak over her. "You're underselling yourself, I think! But...if you want to know my read of the situation..." she stood up, spinning around for no apparent reason with a burger in her hand. She started to unwrap it, leaving the paper covering one half.

    "It's because I'm me. I have no concept of the type of suffering you and Yui are going through. So she relates to you, since you're going through similar experiences. Whiiiile she looks up to me because I'm super strong and powerful...it's like how normal people relate to a comic book hero, compared to how they relate to someone in real life."

    Taking a bite of the burger, she spun around back to the table, grinning. "Get it? Also, she feels intimidated, in spite of looking up to me. Because I'm so strong. On the other hand, she also views it as the reason why I'm so carefree, as opposed to you and her."

    Yui remained silent, Samael having apparently put everything out in the open.

    "It's fun, this sort of thing. You should try to pay attention to people more!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I'm a very bad people person," Homura admits, before he eyes focus on Samael. "Really, though... you have no concept of suffering? Even after that flashback we got when you tried making a Node?" Hey, if Samael can mess with her, she's allowed to return the favor a bit. "You seemed pretty bad off. Like you were about to die. And then power saved you. That actually makes you a lot more like Yui than I am. I wasn't saved by my power, I picked it up because I had something I wanted more than anything else. As origin stories go, you two are much closer."

    Then she turns to Yui, handing her one of the many burtgers Samael decided to bring over. "I really hope you didn't murder someone for these, by the way," she says idly to Samael, before addressing Yui again. "And really, there's nothing to be intimidated about. She puts on airs about being inhuman and so different, but really, I think Samael is just like anyone else you'll meet. Someone normal, who made a choice and stuck with it. She's just had much longer than anyone you'll meet to stick with it."

Samael (455) has posed:
    "That is..." Samael shrugged. "I can tell you that the truth of that is far from the correct version. Way far. That isn't how that happened." For once, the girl seemed a bit deflated, to the point where she had gotten a little bit serious. "But that's why...I'm wanting you to collect things! To see what's gone wrong and what's not." ...though only for a bit, it seemed.

    Yui cautiously took a bite of the burger, before choosing wisely not to say anything about Homura's needling of Samael. "So, um...I don't know. I just kind of do my thing, because Samael hasn't really needed me for anything lately."

    Samael nodded vigorously, confirming Yui's words. "Yup! I told you~ No strings attached, except for a tiny little thing. Which hasn't been an issue lately, anyway."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "That may not be how you remember it, but when we looked at you in Unshift, we saw the Roussean emblem on your... for a lack of better word, Pure. Whatever you are, Samael, you have roots in the same Cycle as Burden, Speaks, Answers and Welcomes. Maybe They have interest in keeping you from remembering. Or maybe you don't want to remember." Homura returns Samael's shrug. "We'll find out, won't we?"

    How heavy a conversation for Yui this must be.

    "Sorry, Yui. I don't mean to overwhelm you like that. Keep doing your thing, Yui. Think of every life you save as a notch on your belt. You can't shoulder the entire world, no matter how hard you try. That's why you get friends to help. It's no one person's responsibility to make the entire world a better place." Whether or not Madoka succeeded, doesn't change the fact Homura still fundamentally disagrees with the notion.

    "Hm. Heavy conversations will get old eventually though, won't they? We could talk about other things if you don't want to keep rehashing the sappy script to every magical girl anime."

Samael (455) has posed:
    "I do. But on the other hand, I don't think it matters now, since I'm pretty sure that they don't control me. Besides, they're not so big players in this, anyhow. No, there's a teensy bit more going on." said Samael, before going to town on another burger.

    Yui...had apparently frozen, before snapping back to Earth. "Oh! Um...did you have any stories that you thought might be useful? You've been dealing with this a lot longer than I have, so...I was just wondering if you did. I've been getting stronger, but..."

    Her eyes went to Samael, before looking back at Homura. "I don't know, it just seems like things have gotten almost too easy."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I agree, but it seems neither side knows what it is. That's why I consider it in our mutual interest to find out," she tells Samael, before turning to face Yui fully.

    "Stories... I have a lot, but relevant ones, that's a bit more difficult. I guess the most obvious one is Walpurgisnacht. There was a creature from this word, a Witch stronger than any other. We never learned its identity or where it came from, but it appeared at regular intervals. No matter how powerful I became, I could never stop it alone. Even when I was so powerful that I could at any moment decide the life and death of anyone I wished, which I can't even begin to quantify against how weak I was when I started, I still couldn't beat it. Every other encounter was routine to me. I knew what every monster would do, and dispatching them was trivial. But that opponent... it's as if it became stronger along with me."

    She sighs. "I only beat it when I stopped trying to do things alone and relying on my power. So the lesson here, I guess... is that no matter how easy things become, never take them for granted. Keep perfecting yourself, and don't shun help away, you might need it one day."

Samael (455) has posed:
    Samael yawned, tapping her fingers on Homura's table. As Homura started to talk, she streeetched before grumbling. Apparently, she was getting bored at the magical girl feelgood stories. Yui had simply nodded, wringing her hands a bit at the moral of 'Hey, don't go it alone.'

    "SO! Did you find out anyting interesting? Is there anything you wanted to ask me about~?" Samael suddenly asked, just as Homura stopped talking. "You know, anything new or interesting. You do know that I'm willing to divulge as much as I know about certain things if you tell me about it!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Not yet," Homura says towards Samael.
    Although...

    "But, now that I think about it. The Operators. Our Precursors, the heroes of the first Cycle. Burden. Do you really know absolutely nothing about them? Never met any of them, even in later Cycles? The Operators, especially. Speaks certainly seems to know YOU. Surely you must have encountered him during several Cycles. Perhaps, upon your assaults on the Homeworld?"

Samael (455) has posed:
    "Nope. Though I don't doubt they may know 'of' me. I'm just that famous, you see! And while I may have...oh, I dunno, done some things, it was pointless to attack the Homeworld, really. Because things cycled." Samael said, nodding. "Precursors? Oh, I may have met a few. But I don't think I did much. No, back in those old days...ah, it gets fuzzy." Samael stated, shrugging. "But that's your job, isn't it? To find out things I don't remember that well. It just so happens that that thing you mentioned is something that I clearly remember. Anyway."

    Yui was picked up by the scruff of the neck, and Samael had apparently decided to drag her out the door. "We're done here~! I have a thing that needs doing. So does Yui. We'll see you later~!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Alright. Well, we'll talk later, then," Homura says, to both of them. Samael because their paths keep crossing, and Yui because she has personal interest in her, so it can't be helped.

    "Take care of yourself, Yui."