1559/NODE: City of Cycles - Tall Woman

NODE: City of Cycles - Tall Woman
Date of Scene:	13 February 2015
Location:	The Homeworld
Synopsis:	Wherein the heroes allow the Short Man and Tall Woman to meet and Abstractum drops an unending chain of Shitty Twists(tm).
Thanks to:	Abstractum as usual.
Cast of Characters:	2, 40, 253, 347, 353, 380, 570, Ayako Hasekawa
Tinyplot:	When They Return

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Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Entering the Witch Barrier Gate is simple and easy. One needs to be connected to Homura, of course, that's the means by which she can limit intrusion into her Node. A held hand or a hand on the shoulder works perfectly for the group to pass through with ease.

    Within, things are a bit of a different matter. The space is a strange one; it's Mitakihara, upside down. The stalagtite-like building structures above tick ominously, like giant clocks, while below, a sky full of stars shines. The Node Path, the structure which traditionally goes between a Node Gate and the Node itself, is a unique one this time. It's a massive arrow, held up by a titanic drawn-back bow. The huge wooden shaft of the arrow is ornate, with different designed viewed from each angle. It's thankfully wide enough that walking alongside it is easy, though. And it's high up enough that it runs close to some train tracks on the inverted Mitakihara above. That's where Mr. Speaks was, before. He's not here now.

    Exiting from the "barrier" that makes up the Node Path leads out to... A very normal-looking city. It's wide, expanding out great distances and expanding to the horizon, but it's still a rather normal-looking city. In fact, it looks a fair bit Mitakihara-ish. And not even in the horrible secretly-a-witch-barrier way, it seems pretty genuine.

    However, Homura and others who are capable of directly detecting the sort of things so associated with this sort of environment will know that there's a lot going on under the surface. The magical atmosphere is polluted in precisely the same ways that a town beset by combinations of witches and demons. However, it seems... Stale, as if isolated for a very long time, and condensed, as if built up in that same space for a similarly long time.

    The exit is in the center of town, high up on skyscraper where a radio broadcast tower rests. It gives a good view, and for those like magical girls, it makes for a good starting place to get moving in the city. It is NOON of JULY 11th, according to all timekeeping mechanisms. The sun is strangely muted and dulled, as if through a cloud cover, as is the norm for daytime here in the cycles. Q, the local wounded Incubator, is still waiting here, and can be brought as a companion, as is Miki, who seems to have been busy with business elsewhere for the past 22 hours or so. Both are giving each other a wide berth.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko appears in her usual manner. She's already transformed, because every time she's come here to date has involved jumping off the very skyscraper everyone is now standing upon. She expects this to be no different. The group that's come in is--slightly different, but there aren't any entirely unfamiliar faces, at least.

    She gives a nod to Miki, while walking over toward her portion of the rooftop. She's not going to press for a report, though she would like to hear it. Rather, "One of us needs to look after the Short Demon, if he's to meet the Tall Witch. I can do that."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura is pretty beaten up today, but she doesn't expect this to be too high-activity a visit. Just gotta find the Tall Woman, maybe send a few people to guard the Demon. No big, right?

    Dressed in lazy casual clothes, mostly a black and purple sweater with jeans, the Puella Magi looks exhausted, but at least isn't covered in injuries or anything like that anymore.

    A brief briefing:

    "Two teams. One to find the Tall Witch, and one to guard to Demon. Kimiko's volunteering, but one more might not hurt. Everyone else, we're going Witch hunting. You... may have to make up for my slack if it comes down to it, but she shouldn't be hostile. I'm not really in a state to fight."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    MIKI MIZUSHIMA is one of those present, a young girl with a western-style mage-like outfit, though not abandoning the magical girl frills and elegance. Her robes are a more daded yellow than her hair, and she's clutching a gnarled wooden staff to herself, as always. She seems cautious, but somewhat more trusting, especially around Kimiko and Eleanor.

    Q, the Incubator for this sector, is a wounded iteration, which is something you don't usually see! One of its ears has been torn off halfway down, and its leg is wounded. That catface smile isn't going away though. Both are willing to stay behind or go to work on other matters, but both are here mostly to help if needed.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor is once again here in her phony Magi get up, her hands brushing dust off the lace on the hem-line of the skirt. "Well, that's understandable, Homura. It was a rough night." The Big Sister smiles over at Miki, and shuffles closer to offer some moral support to the young lady.
    She does grip a little at Utopia, ever faithful, and murmurs. "I dare say you and I have plenty of experience with the two, out of the people who are here. What do you say I take Miki and go find Miss Tall and have a chat?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is juggling two responsibilities today: Be awake. Helicopter around Homura.

    Thusly, the half-angel has one of those shoulder strap cooler bags hanging off his side. The kind that is generally made to hold 12 cans and some sort of cooling apparatus on the inside to keep the cans chilled. His hand goes into the cooler and takes out a can of energy drink, opening it up and drinking the entire thing in one go as he blinks bleerily. He crushes it and throws it off the skyscraper.

    The other task is handled by hanging close to Homura and keeping by her side, "If it comes to a fight, I'll be ready to rumble. Just lemme..." He yawns heavily, having gotten up early today for that hearing earlier, "... wake up a bit and then I'll be able to cover you."

    "I'm gonna go with whatever team Homura is on," He notes decisively, fighting back another yawn.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "That's fine," Homura answers Eleanor and Miki. "She deserves to see the truth as much as we do at this point. Having another body along will make it easier. Just-- resist the urge to kill the Witch, please. She will likely talk, like the Demon you encountered. Her information might be vital, but given the way Witches usually communicate, it might not be pleasant to obtain." Can't have Miki decide she needs to kill it and finish the pair.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer has tagged along this time, presumably following a great many promises to be on her best behavior. Nyarie is tucked firmly in behind the elf's ear, whether or not the pen is presently active. Seemingly feeling nostalgic, she's brought out the electric eclectic bass as well.

    "I have no idea what's going on." She admits, cheerily. "So I'll just go with whichever group you think I should. Though guarding people isn't really my speciality." This may open up the question of just what her speciality is, but at least she's being by and large honest today.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako is of course here! She's dressed in her witch outfit with a water drop motif, which she seems to be fond of recently. Once in a while, she glances over to Homura, seeming a bit concerned about her. She does stifle the worried noise that almost gets out when she glances, though. Well, it is her Node! If Homura feels like she's up to going in, who is she to tell her no?

    However, Ayako does make a quick decision. "I'll stay with you this time, Homura." She smiles cheerfully.

    Oh? Psyber's also hovering around Homura as well! Ayako blinks her eyes slowly and notes Psybers sleepiness. Her hands cup together and water with an orange tinge fills them. The Orange Healing Water floats up in a sphere as Ayako offers it to Psyber. "Here Psyber! This will wake you up! Just... promise me you will sleep sometime. I don't want you to overuse this stuff!" Elsewhere, somewhere in the Multiverse, Riva probably just sneezed!

Madeline Vance (380) has posed:
    "Mmm... hmm." Madeline hasn't been keeping up, but she seems to absorb the news pretty swiftly and is soon caught up. "I can go on guard duty with Miss Shinobu, it might be good to have someone of my talents along with her." This isn't meant as an insult... Kimiko is pretty bluntly a fighting type, and Madeline figures a level head and someone with some diplomacy skills might be helpful.

    She sees Ayako offering a sphere of orange liquid to the yawning Psyber and nods, "More of that Morning Rescue stuff?"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "I agree." Utopia says, to Eleanor. "You're a lot more qualified for that sort of thing by now. And... I think it'll be a bit hard on you if we wind up needing to fight the other Miki off, or something like that. Let's stick to Witch-hunting."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "I'll have you awake as soon as you need to be." Adjudicator says, the handle peeking over Psyber's shoulder. "You may be recovering, but I am still at full energy. I can get us battle-ready as soon as necessary. But today, I hope, we will not need to come to that."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko is used to both Homura's and Psyber's antics when it comes to working past the point of exhaustion, and she therefore makes no comment on it, even if it is obvious and therefore noticed. Besides, there hasn't been any really hard fighting so far, at least to a level that would put this group in unacceptable danger.

    To Madeline, she gives an even nod. When an opponent shows--an opponent they would prefer not to fight--things could get awkward, and Kimiko is only partially equipped to deal with that kind of situation.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Miki looks cautious. She seems uneasy about the idea of trying to speak to a Witch. But she replies to Homura. "I'm not gonna promise anything. But I'll try to give you guys a chance before I do anything. You've known what you've been doing so far. I'm just gonna do what makes sense, that's all I'll promise." Close enough! Kind of.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Nyarie speaks up briefly, cheery tones from the pen behind Laer's ear. "The Tall Woman and the Short Man seem like they're liars pretty regularly. Or at least actors. We oughta focus on getting to talk to them, whatever we're doing." Nyarie can be honest sometimes! In the context of the Lying Business, it seems, anyway.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber looks at the healing water offered to him, "Thanks," He notes, taking a straw out of his coat and then drinking from the orb, "Not sure how long it'll last, though. I process this kinda stuff pretty fast." It'll probably give him a temporary boost. Half an hour to an hour with his level of processing.

    He does look at the sword on his back a bit, "Right. I'm sure if we need to fight I can get ready, it's no big deal if I'm a bit sluggish right now." He is pretty adamant that he's fine, anyway.

    "Nah, I don't think it's Morning Rescue. I don't drink that one. I'm a Red Bull kind of guy. That is more Homura's gig," He notes to Madeline. A wary glance is given to Laer, but the most he anticipates her doing is messing with him passive aggressively.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Then it's settled." Majestic Crown speaks up from Madeline Vance's head. "I've consulted with the other Abstractums and figured out the most effective solution. Kill the Miki Mizushima variant of this particular cycle and the threat stops. Since we have a spare, it'll solve our problem immediately without causing any extra losses or risks."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor ruffles Miki's hair and smiles. "The 'Witch' in question likes to talk and talk and talk. I've yet to see either of these two take any direct action more than just talking and being obtuse."
    A glance over at Laer, and Elle's eyes narrow, but she's not disagreeing with the Bard or her Abstractum. "As she said. We will be gaguing the Tall One's response this time around."

    Eleanor shoots a glare at the crown on Madeline's head.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes quickly. "Morning Rescue?" She shakes her head slowly. "I have no idea what that stuff is." A bright smile and a cheerful giggle follows. "I'll look it up on the Multiversal Internet later!"

    She smiles softly when Psyber drinks the Orange Healing Water and nods her head slowly. Ayako then reaches back and pulls out her collapsed broom that was secured behind her. A moment of adjustment and uncollapsing later, she's sitting sidesaddle on top of the floating broomstick. "Ready when you are!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I... erm. I will... leave how to proceed to your best judgment," Homura answers Kimiko and Madeline, trying to disregard the efficient whispers of that one. Not gonna lie, Homura can't say a thing about it, because she's kind of gone with that plan a few times herself.
    The less reminisced about that, the better.

    To Laer, Homura says: "I don't know what you're best at, but you seem like you're the kind of person who can handle the Tall Woman on an even level, so let's have you talk to her with us."

    To Miki: "Good enough. Just remember she may be the key in fixing this mess before you do anything reckless. Self control is how you survive this job longer."

    To Ayako: "Thanks. I'll try not to need it this time."

    And to Psyber: "It's rare to see you this... hm. Housewify?" That's not a word at all, but it'll do.

    Right, well, the teams are split. Let's find a Tall Woman.

Madeline Vance (380) has posed:
    Madeline just shrugs at the people looking her way. "It's not wrong. I don't intend to follow that plan, but it's good to know we have that option, isn't it?" She checks one of her pistols, more for something to do than any expectation of a problem, and adds, "I think we'll try the 'not killing' route first, Majestic."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Paternal. The word you're looking for is Paternal," Psyber says in a bland tone. There are other synonyms he could use, such as 'protective' or 'guarding', but he'll elect to counter her embarassing word with one of his own.

    Ayako, when she smiles, just gets a thumbs up from Psyber. Kimiko gets one too, as if to reassure her that he's fine and that she shouldn't worry. Thumbs ups all around. Psyber is totally cool.

    And then he'll just fall back to trailing after Homura.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Hey." Koishin speaks up, almost whispering to Kimiko. "Everything's gonna be fine. This is all for their sake, right? Just keeping them safe." Kimiko's bracer almost hugs her arm for a moment. Not that Kimiko needed the comfort about the potential awkwardness that might come up, but better to try to support where it's not needed than to fail when it is.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Heading to the RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS is a pretty simple matter of navigating over the rooftops. It's not like the group has any shortage of rooftop mobility. Q stays behind, and goes off to go do some business of his own, while Miki comes along, leaping the way Magical Girls are known to do. As usual, getting there takes some time, and so it's now AFTERNOON of JULY 11TH. Miki Prime, as you may recall, kill the Short Demon at EVENING of JULY 11th, meaning you've arrived just in time. The group heading to the SHORT DEMON will find him present where he was before, though clearing the Slaves out of the area before has left it still relatively pure. The SHORT DEMON is... Well for Madeline Vance, he'd appear, for all intents and purposes, to be a man in a Demon costume. A bald cap, some robes, white makeup on all his skin, even a fake distortion mask on his face. Spiritually, though, he FEELS like a proper demon. How the group intends to handle this one is up to them, all options seem open.

    Searching for the Tall Witch provides an unsual result. There appears to be no ACTIVE Witch readings that Homura can pick up with her senses. If she searches VERY hard, she might be able to find just the lightest traces of Witchy magic, but the Witch appears to be... Conspicuously attempting to HIDE her presence. Not just with a barrier, but actively and intelligently employing a degree of stealth. Oddly, though, she'll find the feeling extends back a very long time, months at least. This group will also get the chance to see MIKI PRIME on her patrol for today. School's out due to horrible cosmic events, you see. She's slowly making her way towards the Demon. MIKI BETA reports that to the others but doesn't approach. "I can't get near me from this cycle." She reminds the group firmly. "After that incident with the Doppleganger Witch... Honestly, I'd probably try to kill me. If I were her. Which, I am."

Laer (353) has posed:
    "Oh, sure, I'm great at talking to people." Laer says, in response to Homura, tapping a hand to Nyarie to point to the cheerful abstractum. "And whatever else they are, they sort of look and act like people. Is there something in particular you want from her now? I've never actually managed to get either one of them to break character." The elf almost sounds like she thinks of that as a good thing, though.

    Following after Homura, though, Laer's likely to get distracted by anything interesting seeming along the way. She doesn't really have the patience for quiet witch hunts; more the sorts with lots of clever and made up accusations.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor Lamb is no stranger to Witches or Tall Woman. But that's not to say she hasn't wanted to kill them either before. But with the time loops here the way they are... the thought has tickled her in the back of her mind. But instead, the Big Sister sniffs and adopts a quiet approach on the Witch.
    She nods though, at Miki Beta's words. "We'll attempt to keep that from happening, do not worry. That said, I am going to react poorly if the Tall One introduces herself properly as a Witch. Don't worry, it will pass. Just so you are aware."

    Stupid Mental Runes.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Doppleganger Witch? That must have been... interesting," Homura side-comments, quite glad she never ran into one with those kinds of powers. Must make things pretty hectic, unless the fakes aren't convincing. But from what Miki says, they must have been.

    Homura leads-- as best as she can. "The Witch is... hn. It's trying to hide. Strike that in the 'never seen a Witch do this before' column. Hide, yes, but not... hide, like human being. Barriers are camouflage and hiding of a sort, this one is... intentionally staying on the move, not leaving traces behind. It might not even be feeding."

    Thankfully, it isn't especially taxing to track a Witch. A bit slow physically, Homura will at least get people where they need to go, without intersecting with the other Miki's route.

    To Laer: "I don't know. Anything will do. We need more insight on this Node, but if you can wring general Homeworld or behavior stuff out of her, that'll be just as great. None of us have gotten much out of them."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    And to Psyber: "Y... yes, I suppose that word is... a little better." She should know better than mess with Psyber by now. Should. Turns out she does not. "It's still not something you do often."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko doesn't seem too worried, but that could be because she almost never seems worried. Koishin's encouragement isn't entirely unnecessary. Majestic Crown's plan is... something she naturally won't accept, any more than some others would, Homura's past experiences notwithstanding.

    As predicted, the Puella Magi must now jump off a building. Rather than merely falling, she seems to be running down the side, for any who care to look and don't just fly off on their own wings like the cheaters they are. (Still not jealous.) Once low enough, she leaps from the wall to the rooftop of another building, and thus makes her way toward the Short Demon's plaza.

    Once there, Kimiko slows. She advances at a casual walking pace, looking to either side as she considers each of the physical paths of approach. At some point, Miki Prime will come here--if not intercepted. She'll see a single Demon, rather than an area covered in Demons and Slaves. And she'll see Kimiko, and Madeline (assuming Madeline follows Kimiko out, and into the open). Ideally, they don't want to fight. They want to prevent a fight from occurring. To do that...

    "A Puella Magi will, if smart enough to survive, give pause when viewing something sufficiently strange." Kimiko explains that much of her reasoning as she keeps walking toward the cosplay-Demon-that-is-definitely-still-a-demon. She summons to her hand a massively oversized chopping blade, of the type one might think best suited for cutting a dragon. She leaps, spins, and executes a ground-shattering blow to lodge it into the floor of the plaza, not far from where the Demon stands. She leaves it and, in quick succession, summons blade after shield after armored plate.

    Under her hands, the arms and armor flow into new shapes, while retaining their general form. The sword becomes the high back of a chair, and several, twisted steel staves hold up a table between the chair and the Demon. She is unable to summon a tea set, as that would require far greater practice and finesse.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako floats just behind Homura as she glances around. She doesn't know what a Witch with a captial 'w' is, nor what she should be looking for or trying to sense. "Doppelgangers..." Her head inclines to the side as she glances skywards for a moment. "Well, taking someone else's appearance is harder than it looks!" She nods once. "It's really easy to make mistakes and do things to give you away." She then startles slightly and quickly adds, "Not that I would change my appearance to imitate someone else without their permission! That would be mean."

    Another incline of the head later, "Well... we did find you in the rubble of a very blasted apart building, Homura! So... yeah. I am worried. So I can't blame Psyber either." Ayako nods her head once.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Yeah well, you took some of the worst injuries from last night," Psyber notes seriously, keeping tail with Homura on this matter and making sure to stay within arms reach of her, "So I'm worried about you over-exerting and getting yourself hurt. I won't make a habit of it." He promises to her.

    Psyber does have his own suggestion to Homura as he moves along. He calmly states: "What if, instead of looking for the weird, look for the lack of weird. If she's actively using concealment, and the entire city is passively fucked up, she'll leave her trail that way maybe?" He thinks about it, "The places that look too normal. Where the least is going on. That might be where she is."

    Though Eleanor brings up a fact Psyber dreads: A potential Witch introduction. While accustomed to them, they're immensely unpleasant for him.

    He looks over to Laer, "So you're going to send me a copy of whatever book you base off this Node, right?" Seems he might be a slight fan of her writing. Well, her and Psalm both.

Madeline Vance (380) has posed:
    Madeline slides down the side of the building not long after Kimiko, landing with a light touch despite the long 'fall' she performed. The long-haired woman tosses her hair back over her shoulder as she walks forward, taking in the sights and what is going on. She hasn't settled on a plan herself, yet, when Kimiko sets up the 'tea party' for the greeting, but it gives her an idea. It's an especially easy idea given the hard part is already done for her.

    "Allow me." She clasps her hands together and murmurs lightly, and the flaring golden light around her briefly illuminates the plaza. The swirling rings of some sort of complex programming language surround her, stabilizing and then contracting within her before she finishes with a gesture outward.

    The makeshift table and chairs are suddenly overcome with a glow, becoming regal and pleasant to look at. A tablecloth is set out from nowhere, and various rich and fancy foodstuffs populate the table, including tea.

    "Is that what you were looking for?" she asks. The spell left the fact that the chairs were /metal/ alone, as she felt the unusual appearance would help.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Oh yeah. People, animals, Nathan Hall, we can run the whole spectrum of things to be good at talking to." Nyarie says, assuring Homura alongside Laer. What confidence! Laer is likely going to be distracted most by the fact that there's a background mini-apocalypse going on. It would seem that this particular location has been sealed into some kind of barrier, and as such the locals have been panicking a while. Quietly, though. Police are taking care of this. Tracking a witch wqon't be a strain, it seems, and so Homura can lead the group on. From the rooftops she can feel it moving through the streets and alleyways, or at least find the traces of where it did several hours ago. Nothing she'd ever be able to see unless she was specifically looking for it, though.

    She's also been moving slowly, at something like a walking pace, towards the Short Man. But before they manage to catch up with her, they find something unexpected! Chiyo Yamauchi is here! The thinner girl with the long blue hair is still in her school uniform, but seems to be following the same trail as Homura's group is, with a purposeful look! Meanwhile the others are commenting. "Oh! U-ummm..." Homura's other ring pipes up briefly. "Hey! Don't worry, I can monitor Miss Akemi's Soul Gem, and make sure everything's OK. I'll make sure to start, uhmmm.. To start shouting, a lot, if there's a p-problem." Clairvoyant Rush seems mildly uncertain about that, but she's trying to help assuage Ayako and Psybver.

    "Hmmm." Adjudicator says once they find Chiyo. "Someone else has had the same idea we did. But the Incubator said he couldn't track her. She must know about this Witch if she's following it. Homura, Laer, be cautious."

Laer (353) has posed:
    "I doubt I'll do a book per node. More likely find something to cut out of the overall mess. Nyarie and I already got stuck with one editing project in my node, after all; I can't overstress myself for what's basically just a side project." Laer replies to Psyber. "But maybe a series of short stories."

    She seems half absentminded as she speaks, now. "For this one.. I haven't caught everything that's going on yet, but perhaps.. the aftermath of a tragic romance between a tall witch and a short demon! Years after their affair, the daughter they gave up for adoption sets out to stop them." Here, she gestures vaguely in the direction Miki set off in. "Not knowing that they are truly her parents, she slays both of them, finding out the dark truth with their last breath, sending her into despair. Not great, but kind of a classic sort of tale." She decides.

    Oh, hey, there's an apocolypse. "Anyway, look, witches aren't really that bad. Don't drink anything they offer, and don't let them touch you, and we should be okay to talk." The confederacy's intellegence on the witch situation really is not very good, and Laer's research into what they did have is evidently nonexistant.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    To Psyber: "I'm fine-- but that's a good idea."

    To Ayako: "I wish I couldn't answer that with 'it's not the first or last time I end up at the bottom of a collapsed building'."
    "I see that artistic liberty may be your true specialty," Homura asides to Laer, recalling her Node. Talking to people? Kind of takes a backseat to that creativity, right there. Still, her tone isn't severe or anything, more of a jest.

    At the sword's warning, Homura slows the pace down, making sure they pick higher ground to have a better view of what ways they take. One that gives them a good view of Chiyo.

    "That's odd. Yes, the fact the Incubator can't track her is extremely unusual to start with. Even I couldn't escape that, and probably still can't reliably." The far too obvious guess here is that Chiyo is the one carrying the Pure now, but that seems too easy.

    "Let's follow her and jump in as needed, then. I doubt she has the power to kill the Tall Woman in one strike, so if we're ready we should be able to stop that."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "It's very Oedipal in nature, while being different enough to still pull in some measure of originality," Psyber notes, stopping when the others do. Only, he doesn't want to leave the roof after Chiyo gets spotted.

    "I'm going to stay up here, or try to find a perch. With Jude in rifle form and with a good scope, I should be able to track her movements if she goes evasive. And all my Strike Drives mean I can land a hit nearly anywhere in the city," Psyber says to the group.

    Then he looks to Homura, "You okay with me taking overwatch?"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako smiles sadly at Homura. "As long as you don't make it a habit, I think you'll be okay!" She nods her head quickly to Homura's ring. "Un un. I'll leave it up to you then!" She smiles softly to Clairvoyant Rush. She floats more slowly once Homura slows the pace down.

    "Mmm... Sounds like a plan." Ayako's amber gaze darts around as she tries to keep a lookout as well once they find Chiyo. "It's kind of weird... we're looking for the witch and so is she... I wonder how long she's been looking for it... or if she's found it before?"

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Bother. Chiyo. Eleanor sighs, adjusts her !Magi dress and looks over to Miki. "Right, you know her best, Miki, so. Come on, let's go make friends and see what she knows."

    And at Homura's direction, Eleanor busts out her best Magi impression and goes bounding down the street in magical girl motions. We are now in Attention Grabbing mode. She mentally prompts Utopia to try and emulate and radiate Magi-Like-Energy.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Koishin says, "Oh! Oh, this is smart! Miki seems really, really cautious, so this is the perfect way of doing this." The little bracer does seem encouraging of this plan. The meeting place is set perfectly. The Short Demon even wanders over and seems to check if he can take a seat. "Mind if I grab a seat here? Standing around's hell on my feet. You here about the meeting we're 'bout to have too?" His voice is distorted, just like the sounds of other Demons and Slaves, but the noise is... like an accent, being suppressed mostly.

    The crown eventually does speak up too. "Mmmm. An inefficient tactic in the long term, but the decisions are yours. This will make it function in the short term." The crown doesn't seem especially... Pushy about this. It's not insisting, it seems, just offering. The group will have a wait, though, it's a while before Miki arrives. And she does it silently. "We're being watched." Is all Majestic Crown has to say. She seems uneasy, cautious, careful. She's far, far on the perimeter of the area, assuming the group hasn't seen her. A lone Demon at a table with Puella Magi? No, she seems to think, it could be something awful there. She seems to give the situation in its entirety a wide berth, avoiding it.

    Unless they stop her, Miki Mizushima -- the one from this cycle, anyway -- will promptly leave, taking an alternate route. Evening time comes and... Miki doesn't come to kill the demon. By exploiting Miki's defining personality characteristic of CAUTION, Kimiko has managed to avert further tensions with the local Puella Magi as well. Or, you know, MAJOR tensions, anyway.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko watches Madeline, silent and expressionless. When it's finished, she says only, "Thank you for the food," formally. She takes her seat, and pours for herself and anyone else who sits, the demon included, because it is polite to do so. "Be our guest." She refrains only from helping anyone else sit.

    Having a feast here is going to make the wait a lot more pleasant. It's unclear to Kimiko how she's previously spent so much time--has she spent so much time?--without becoming hungry, but whether time is really passing at the rate it appears to be or not, this is much preferable to any other form of stake-out within her imagination.

    When the crown speaks again, "Of course. Based on the previous cycle, I think... she will not approach." Whatever is happening here is too strange for any Puella Magi to consider safe.

    While Kimiko is open to suggestions for other actions, she makes no move to stop Miki Prime on her own. Her mission is already being fulfilled.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Rifle form." Adjudicator says, without pause, dutifully. With a quick mechanical churning, the blade becomes a long clockwork rifle, its scope rather hefty for today's job. Plenty of magnification. Nothing gets away from the gaze of justice, you know.

    Homura, Eleanor, and Miki bound down to the street level, and after Chiyo. Utopia does modulate its power as best it can to spoof Eleanor's genetic power as being at least inoffensively magic, but it won't stand up to much scrutiny. Of course, they've got orders to hang back until Chiyo catches up with the Witch, the Tall Woman, who is presumably approaching the Short Man. And it just... Oddly, it just doesn't happen. She never seems to encounter it. She's still on the trail though, Homura can feel she's on the same path as its tiny traces.

    Eventually, she'll get to the perimeter of the plaza where Kimiko and Madeline and the Short Man are, stopping on the Witch's path. Seeing something strange out there, she hangs back from an alleyway, seeming to peer out at the group. Waiting. Cautiously, almost fearful. And yet, the Witch herself that they're tracking hasn't seemed to arrive at the table. And these are the freshest tracks there are!

    It's currently EVENING of JULY 11TH.

    Eleanor and Homura can approach how they like. Miki is confused. "Yamauchi ought to at least transform if she's going to go /Witch/ hunting. Where's Takenaka? She shouldn't be going after Witches alone." She's a little worried for her friend there.

    "Ooh, that one sounds good. She finds out she was a witch all along, and then she uses magic to... This is a time cycle, right? Yeah, I got it, she's definitely using magic after she finds out she's a witch to do the time cycle part, it's a big culprit twist." Nyarie rambles, quietly, in the background of the group's pursuit.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura glances at Miki. "Is that how you three-- four-- hunt Witches?" She rubs one of her temples. "Sigh. Rookies. No, this is... this is right. Witches can detect magic, if you never noticed. Going as far as you can without transforming greatly reduces the amount of Familiars you need to kill. It's efficient. Wastes less magic, especially now that Witches provide no incentive to beat them." Or... "Erm. Well, maybe they do here. Do they? The ones from my world don't produce Grief Seeds anymore, so..."

    Where IS the Witch, though?

    "Laer, Ayako, see if you can get ahead of her and locate the Witch. It's going to look like a wandering pocket dimension, most likely, barely visible. You should be able to follow the traces, this close up. I'll stay back with Psyber, Eleanor and Miki to keep watching."

    Idle chit-chat, towards Miki: "By the way... what was Sakae's wish? And have you noticed any strange object she carried around? It would have been black, probably like a gemstone."

Madeline Vance (380) has posed:
    Madeline is quiet company, but then again she is guessing Kimiko is not the type to want a chatterbox. "Thank you, Majestic. As always, your appreciation for efficiency provides an excellent baseline." Yes, she's being diplomatic to her Abstractum, letting it know that she appreciates the help and implying that she uses it in her final planning. Maybe she even does.

    Madeline is, despite her nature and position, fairly straightforward in many ways. So the thanks for the food gets a small nod as she also settles in to eat, motioning for the demon to join them as well. 'Demon' that is. "I've missed a few cycles, so I can afford to be a little extravagant, Majestic."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor will let the actual Magi teach the younger Magi how to handle herself around Witches and hunting in general. Eleanor is not aa Magi, but she is knowledgable at spying, at least in her own way back home.
    The Sister bites her lip and startswatching the perimeter as well. If she can spot what Chiyo is looking for, we'd know a bit better what's coming the next cycle.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Hanging back is a pretty posh job, all told. Psyber gets to perch on the edge of a roof, laying down on his stomach and setting up his rifle to track his target. Occasionally, a hand reaches into the cooler he's carrying to take out an energy drink and slug it down. He yawns a bit, but is pretty good as a hunter.

    So from up high and above the city, he just keeps a bead on Chiyo. He's not firing yet, but he's prepared to take a shot or two if she makes a move.

Laer (353) has posed:
    "Oh, is that it? Okay, then take what I said about her slaying her own witch mother and add on that she's her own witch mother. I didn't realize this was that kind of thing." Laer replies to Nyarie, trailing just a bit behind the others. At least, up until Homura suggests that she scout ahead. "What? Oh, sure, fine. You want me to be subtle, I assume?"

    Of course, she's totally unsuited to doing this without magic, in spite of the lecture that just occured, and she's not going to mind using it. Stepping forward, she'll wrap illusions around herself to blend in as best she can to her background. As best she can is, incidntally, pretty good. Using flight magic, but not leaving the ground by more than a few inches, she'll start forward to see if she can detect any hidden pocket dimension type things nearby.

    Other than, y'know, the entire Node. Or the minor bag of holding on her person. Or any similar tricks any of the others have...

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako nods her head once. "Alright, I'll try to look around." Normally, she wouldn't, but... Psyber is keeping watch on the area, so it should be fine. Instead of staying low, she flies up high to get a better view of the area.

    Once she's suitably high up, she takes note of Chiyo's location and the general area so she doesn't get spotted. After a moment of trying to memorize the area from above, she descends and starts to methodically look around. "Hmm... pocket dimensions... huh?"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "They chase us down." Miki whispers quietly. "That's how we used to hunt. Something changed a while ago, early last year. Relative while, I mean, not in the loop. They started acting weird. It was that Doppleganger Witch first, then every few weeks we get a witch that goes after us instead of hunting regular people. They know about us even when we're not transformed, it's dangerous but they're not making headway" She looks up from her intense peering. "You didn't get that happening where you do your hunting?"

    "Takenaka... The younger one... She didn't tell us what exactly it was. She just said it was going to make sure Q didn't hurt anyone else. She did have that, though. It was a ring she had a while after she made her wish, after she disappeared the third time." Miki is cautious about saying things in firm terms to Homura. But that's odd, it looks like the Pure wasn't responsible for the disappearing?

    Ayako can see a distinct lack of visual distortion. Laer... Not only can she not detect a pocket dimension, there seems to be precise data showing otherwise. There is, in fact, no way that the witch is here at all.

    The Short Demon spies Chiyo and waves in a friendly inviting way.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "No. Well... there might have been one Witch that intentionally hunted magical girls down, but it was just the one and it was years ago. Not especially noteworthy, although fairly powerful. For every one of them to do that, though, that's..." Really freaking weird, yes.

    Homura keeps an eye ahead, growing suspicious as the Short Man interacts with her. The Witch isn't here, there's only a magical girl-- that couldn't possibly mean what jumps to mind, could it?

    Better distract Miki.

    "Did she talk to the ring at all? Call it anything? And why are you all so dodgy about her disappearances?" Obviously it must be pretty important.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako glances down and around from her vantage point up above. "Hmm... weird... I don't see anything out of the ordina-" Whoa, wait. Hold the phone.

    While Ayako was attentively looking around for anything out of the ordinary, seeing the Demon Costumed Man suddenly wave in a friendly fashion definitely counts! Her amber eyes blink as she looks around the area... and spots Chiyo. "Uhhh... okay. That's..." She just shakes her head and fishes her radio out of her muffler. "Uhh... yeah... this... I should tell the others..." And she starts talking into the radio to tell what she sees!

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    WELL THIS IS AWKWARD. Eleanor's eyes flicker from the Short Man to Chiyo(???) and then back to the fake demon and... and she sighs, burying her face in her hands. "Bother." Though as she does so, she silently activates her Houdini plasmid, suddenly becoming Someone Else's Problem and definately not something to be looking at.

    WHAT A MESS.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko stands. She's eaten a little, but largely to pass the time. As may have been expected, she is a quiet dinner partner. Keeping an eye out--even if she spotted no one--was keeping her on edge, a little.

    An awkwardly long pause after she realizes they're being watched (again), she stands from her seat, and moves to position another empty chair near the table. She then, assuming she is at all able to figure this out based on the positions of everyone else present, looks toward Chiyo.

Madeline Vance (380) has posed:
    Madeline can hear the tension in the air, and after the clarification that was given, she scoots her chair back just a little. She's holding a cup of tea though, so it's partly just to sip that and relax. It's also partly to remain behind cover if she needs to.

    "I hope you don't mind the sudden intrusion," she adds, offhandedly. This is more to keep things looking casual than anything else.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Chiyo hides, immediately, from Kimiko and Madeline's sight, presumably hoping they haven't seen her. Apparently not yet aware of her OTHER observers, she moves to the side, seeking to not be recognized for who she is. And then, something very strange happens. Whether or not she gets through all of this next part will depend entirely on Psyber's trigger finger.

    Chiyo backs off to one side, behind a dumpster. Assuming that Kimiko and Madeline haven't seen her, and that nobody else is observing, her body begins to shimmer. Active Witch magic can now be detected. CHIYO disappears, her body distorting and warping just as a Witch's barrier does. In her place is a Tall Woman with long red hair, wearing an elaborately elegant colorful dress, around which odd construction-paper designs can be seen arranged behind her, like a halo, like some sort of Witch cosplay. Magical senses sensitive to such things will immediately detect her.

    Unless Psyber decided to shoot her, she'll approach the table and take a seat. The Short Demon makes friendly, dismissing gestures to Madeline. "Don't mind. It's all fine for me. We do a lotta talking for visitors like you." He gives a friendly shrug.

    Miki would answer Homura, but she appears to be in shock, and currently in the process of some kind of emotional breakdown. One would have to puzzle out the full, precise implications of what happened months ago if you're to understand why, of course.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Despite all her efforts at stealth, the Witch is actually unable to not release her psychic wave. Her observers get a brief bit of runic psychic payload.

gg ,gg, _pg _pg, _, *ggp _gp,
]008 _pm_#0000, ]000f y000000g # 006 ]0F pm,p0000g
M00 0& 000000# ]0##' q000000006 0f "~ _0P #0 B000000
"& "' 0000000 0 _ #000000000 00_ pf _g00 `! #000000
~0g 0~ M000 jf40f0000000000 ^0000M08 p0^Bf _ #F ~000
0g p, ' 00f _0 _` #00' ~000 `^`0F j# 0 q00M yg ! #0#
#&g, 08 0# 00 0# ]00 00000& y00 0f #c MM_f00 00
000 #_ _d@ j00 ~' M0, ^00' 0 p000 ]0& ~0g_,0 ], p0^
"0@ MNm0@~ #0000u ~MMMM^ 0X _00000& #0& `M00' ~MNN0~

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber, for the record, does not fire. Instead he just observes the transformation and relays it to people on the ground.

    The runes cause him to rub at his temples a bit as she transforms, but then he goes right back to watching, letting out a heavy sigh. Psyber notes the piece of information, but isn't sure what to do with it immediately. So he just files it away and keeps watching.

Laer (353) has posed:
    That runic psychic hit is new to Laer, but she's able to largely shrug it off. It doesn't have quite the same emotional resonance with her, either, with the missing pieces of the story. It does add a nice twist to her tales of time travel, which is why she assumes Miki is horrified.

    She'll move over towards the table, lifting a hand in vague greetings. "Good evening. I hope you don't mind my joining you?" She requests, even though she only really has the vaguest idea of what she should be bothering the duo about.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako diverts her attention back to Chiyo... and quietly stares downwards when Chiyo actively tries to hide. And then, the transfomation occurs. She senses the magic, alright! Her mouth opens in an 'o' and she blinks her eyes quickly. "I... huh." One eye closes for a moment when the psychic wave hits her. "Ick... I wonder what that was...?"

    And then she resumes watching from above. Probably not a good time to descend!

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Suddenly, Witch. That's par for the course. Usual headache, distorted visuals, not helped by standing right next to a Demon-- fake or not. At least, now that they're together, maybe they can explain things. She will trust people to badger them with a wave of questions and draw exposition out.

    For her own part, Homura puts her hands on Miki's shoulders and attempts to get something out of her. "Miki? Please calm down. Explain what you're seeing? None of us here know as much as you do. Did you not know that magical girls turn into Witches, sometimes, or... is this something worse?"

    It is kind of easy to see Miki is undergoing distress. In retrospect... a brief mental communication: <<Eleanor, come here. You're much better suited at calming someone down than I am.>>

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko is nice enough to get the Tall Witch's seat, though she returns to her own before the Witch reaches them. She sits down, and does not appear to be unduly worried about this situation, if one ignores the following: Her senses are telling her that she's sitting with a Demon and a Witch. She is sweating bullets. The intense wrongness just barely alters her poker face.

    "Hello. I have a question. Did you kill, or otherwise engineer the death, of Yamauchi Chiyo?" She asks this without hint of emotion.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor... somehow the Sister's two handed pipe spanner has found its way into her invisible hands, a little click of noise as it rests itself against he concrete of the plaza. Never before in the Nodes has she felt such an urge to murder the Tall Woman or the Short Man before.

    This time the intrusion was unconscionable. Obscene. This was far beyond any sort of mere meddling on the part of the two former Generals. This was... Sheer arrogance bordering on vast cruelty.
    The Sister lets out a very ragged breath in her invisible cloak of Still Not Your Problem, Seriously Please Do Not Look Over Here. She very much resists the urge to become a problem. Homura's already dealing with one.

    Calm... cleansing breaths...

    But then Homura's request comes, and Eleanor just... shoves that anger into a terrible deep place where it will surely never return, that same place her contempt for Her Mother lies... and then makes her way back to Miki and Homura, appearing out of a cloud of pink smoke behind Miki, and whispers. "Miki. Miki it is okay, please, just calm down, we are here to help, no matter what, alright?"
    She... cheats, a little bit, and starts trying to gingerly ease into her psychologist's voice pattern, soft soothing words and vocal rhythms. "We're here to help and we need to to be calm, alright? What's done is done and we can move forward."

Madeline Vance (380) has posed:
    Madeline is less aware of what the implications are than some, but she's gotten the idea. Keep them busy, keep things easy. She passes some food to the Demon, too, and when Kimiko makes her blunt statement she also has an idea about what to say. It's not quite how she would handle it, but she can go with the flow.

    "Or, if you know of any information regarding these deaths, now would be the best time to open up about it," she offers. "It's unlikely you'll get a better chance to explain yourself either way." She doesn't have Kimiko's handicap of these being her natural enemy... though admittedly she's pretty sure that her Holy powers could hurt them pretty bad, if they're what Homura implies.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Go ahead." The Short Man says, gesturing over to Laer, suppressing his accent a little harder.
    <It seems we have plenty of room at our table today.> The tall woman doesn't speak. She uses some kind of broadcast telepathy. <Assuming our gracious host agrees.>

    "Did she kill Chiyo? Oh, lil' miss blue."
    <This depends entirely on the particular nuances of how you define identity, in its core essence.>
    "Now, I'd say maybe, but if you're wanting t'know if she's the same Witch who killed the lil' blue Hunter?"
    <I would say that I have the same name, and a little of the identity.>
    "Didn't expect you t'know the lil' Hunter! But, continuity of identity's a tough puzzle."
    <In as much as any magical girl can be said to be, though, Chiyo Yamauchi passed on, yes. May her soul find peace in the Law of Cycles.>

    Both of them accept their food, but respectfully do not begin to eat. There is still tension that needs resolution. They are at least willing to acknowledge that this is a serious matter.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    "I see." Kimiko says, retaining a trend of unchanging expression during this exchange, with a low, matchingly inexpressive tone. "If you had killed her, I would be obligated to destroy you. I do not believe my duty extends to this special case. This might have made it difficult continue speaking, so I am glad." She's set down her tea, waiting with hands in lap.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Miki is still in cover. The Short Man and the Tall Woman are both unaware of her presence. She's breathing heavily and unhealthily fast, going pale and visibly experiencing symptoms of intense and immediate grief and misery. Nausea, trembling, dizziness. Deep and intense aches in the chest. She's beginning to tear up. It is not cute sadness. It's just misery.

    "S-she... She... I thought we killed a F-Familiar, a weird Slave, she..." The second Miki is descending into anguished, strained distress. Eleanor and Homura are the few barriers between her and getting severely "blackgemmed", as her group so concisely puts it. Between anguished half-sobs she manages to choke out something to the effect that she knew where Witches come from, but that thing isn't Chiyo. Rather, Chiyo fought it. Her ability to speak is still so incoherent that it can't practically be put to text, but her plummeting emotional state is at least being eased by Eleanor and Homura. Eleanor, admittedly, especially so, though Homura's getting the most practical information.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer will take a seat, not seeming too concerned with the specifics of the here and now. Instead, she's going to ask rather more general questions, leaning back for a moment as she considers the approach to take.

    "Those are very lovely costumes. Where did you get them at?" She'll ask. "And what made you decide to go with them, of all things? It's not really a very classic witch outfit." Her neglect of the topics more immediately at hand may or may not go over very well.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    In lieue of others, who do not wish to join the conversation face-to-face for whatever reason (such as keeping guns trained on some of those involved), Kimiko adds, "Following our conversation, you will be judged. However, your judgment will not depend on the conversation itself. Please be at ease in that regard." In slight contrast to her tone on the radio, her poker face is, again, nearly perfect.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor, for her part, is quietly moving to hug Miki, as best she can, and murmur softly. "We understand. It's okay, Miki. No one is blaming you. This is the nature of Witches, this is what they do to people. Once they're gone, they take that step past. It is not your fault."
    Hug hug hug and push away her own thoghts of murder.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    To close out his actions for the night, we'll use the following question:

    (Hysterical Girl + Recent Personal Emotional Duress + Inherent Dislike of Systematic Bullshit) * Hypothetical Murder = Righteous Fury

    The crosshairs of his rifle snap straight onto the head of the Tall Woman Witch. The half-angel puts one eye to the scope and then starts to take a deep breath.

    "Adjudicator," He notes calmly, "I want you to push us as high into Shift as we can go without overt detection. Tandem with Majestic Crown and then load me up Law's Grasp. All Strike Drivers spooled to maximum output."

    Internally, he searches for a good Bible verse to calm himself in this moment. Eventually... he finds one. One that accurately assesses how he feels in this moment.

    "If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    <I am, unfortunately, as close as anyone will get to being her murderer. Aside from Miki and Mio, of course.>
    "Can't really blame those hunters, not much. Anyone can get fooled. Half the damn hunters get tricked into it, right?"
    <But we will not demand you bear no grudge for what I did while less capable of communication and thought. It would seem my friend's openness has exposed more than expected. I had hoped the current arrangements might stand as they are for some time more.>
    "Better for everyone, I'd say, but can't help it."
    <So. Now that you understand the situation, what will you choose to do?>

    The pair seem resigned to a state of essentially helplessness in affecting the group's decision on what to do here. Not that they don't seem... Somewhat tensely poised to resist if it turns out to be violent. But they are, at the very least, clearly at peace with the idea of being judged in the wrong here, by Madeline and Kimiko.

    Laer gets a bit of a grin from both speakers. They seem to be respectfuly, wryly amused by her query here, and answer appropriately.
    "Not like we're not wearin' masks worse than you all usually do."
    <Of course, your are difficult to remove.>
    "Your masks, they're just how reality works."
    <I would go as far as to say we are simply wearing the same kind of masks you wear, and always do, by the necessity of the way you live in this world.>
    "But, we'll admit, ours, they're a lil' more obvious. 'Course, that's beggin' the question. You've got a better mask than we'd ever get. Where'd you get yours? How'd you pick it?"

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    "I do not hold a grudge." What Kimiko says is not actually true, but it is something she wishes to be true, and it is something she has managed to project through long practice. "Others, I think, do." She has already explained what she expects her side to do, so she avoids repeating herself by not answering the question. Instead, she looks at Laer, waiting for her response.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer, as ever, seems to be completely unconcerned about the aura of imminent violence rather swirling about the table. She may or may not participate in it, of course, but either way she plans to play through this conversation.

    The elf shrugs slightly, stating in response to that. "I suppose I don't have any proof, but my me-ness would suggest that an elf maiden met an elf gentleman, and they hit it off long enough for some sweet, sweet maskmaking. But they weren't prepared for it, and like any responsible adult they left a small baby on the doorstep of the nearest large organization."

    She'll lean back, relaxing visably. "But I only get the one. You two seem to change them all the time. Have you considered taking them off to show what's actually going on?"

Madeline Vance (380) has posed:
    Madeline leans forward and lays her hands on the table. "I can hardly fault someone for the actions they took in a previous life. At least... so long as they really do feel like they should make amends. Do you? And have you been attempting that?"

    Well, Madeline shows no intention of whipping out her pistol and shooting either of them dead, at least. She's more curious about the Demon now, though. So it's to him that her eyes turn, trying to fit his role into the overall narrative.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Understood." Adjudicator says. The sword is capable of being subtle, in a sense; Resonance exhaust can be dealt with in more subtle ways. A buildup of Resonance can be felt in a thrumming along the form of the rifle, a gentle hum of power that sounds less like a charged gunshot and more like some titanic flywheel is whirring to life. No huge gushes of crimson fire or blasting bolts of electrified energy right now.

    Lines of red scripture inscribe themselves up and down Psyber's right side, going all the way up to his cheek, while a ring of stone, like a halo, carved with religious imagery, forms at his back. He can't hit Shift 3 without it being obvious, but 2 is enough. A set of seven scales of balance, the traditional symbol of justice, can now be seen down the barrel of the gun, translucent red constructs set unevenly, going back and forth, unbalanced. "40% to full output. Stand by." He'll be spooled to full power by the time they need to make their judgement.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    As much as Homura wants to pay attention to the Short Man and Tall Woman, she will, for the moment, play damage control with Miki. Though she does not go the route of physical contact like Eleanor, she doesn't distance herself either, since she was already within arm's reach.

    "Miki, listen. I've lost more friends than anyone can say they have in this... line of work, I guess you'd say. Some died fighting, some succumbed to their grief and were never dealt with, and some I had to kill myself. It was never pleasant, but... there's one thing I think I can say I learned from it, and it's that when you carry a weight like that, the last thing you need to allow yourself is to fall too. There's a lot of reasons for that, some exaggeratedly poetic and cheesy."

    She avoids making a face. "But the most important of all is to honor their memory. The real Chiyo would be angry if you let her death kill you too, wouldn't she? And there's still Mio and Sakae. I can't promise we can save them, but I can promise we're here to try and fix all of that."

    Homura sighs, gets up, and extends a hand towards Miki, to help her up. "We can't do it without you though. We need your knowledge, and your battle skills might come in handy too. If that's really the Witch that killed your friend, and not some sort of fascimile wearing a costume, then she'll be judged and killed here tonight. It's meager and won't bring her back, but it's better than nothing."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Homura ought to be familiar with the signs of Grief. Not just the feeling after one discovers the death of a friend, but capital-G Grief, the thing that turns Puella Magi into Witches if left unchecked. She's collapsed onto her knees for now, continuing to shake in Eleanor's arms. Homura's statement is, at least, working in a way. She's trying to stabilize herself, but runaway grief is difficult to get through.

    The distraught, still barely coherent reaction, her changes in posture and her attempts to speak, will make it clear that she's trying to believe what Eleanor says, in as much a healthy way as she can, and the response to Homura's statement is... Intense to say the least. "Ki... kill them. Please. Both of them." Is all she can stammer out coherently. Homura's experience with Grief, and Eleanor's knowledge in psychology, will make several things abundantly clear: First is that if the pair isn't killed tonight, Miki Beta will suffer a huge hit to her soul gem that will make her unlikely to survive until the end of the cycle. Eleanor would more exclusively understand that fulfillment of revenge would be psychologically damaging to Miki for years later, however. Both will see plainly that Miki Beta's previously unbreakable trust towards her allies and caution towards Homura's group has been broken, but it seems like the cost of doing so is this brutal lose-lose situation.

    So the core insight to take away, it seems, is this: Various iterations of Miki can be made to trust Homura's group, but only by dooming her to a swift death or dealing debilitating psychological harm that she'll need to recover from over a matter of years.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    From his position on high, Psyber lets the power of Shift wash over him. He also carefully keeps his aim on the Tall Witch's head. Internally, though, he is conflicted.

    He wants to just mow her down. Very badly, in fact. The years of interaction with the Puellas and his personal relationship with Homura make it take a substantial amount of effort on his part not to just pull the trigger and mow her down mid-sentence and just call it done. He rarely gets a chance for so clean a deliverence of justice on someone. Usually he claims his victories in inches and greayscale.

    But this is also a grayscale situation, and the hard fact remains that he may need to swallow his personal desires and feelings on the topic for the betterment of Homura and her Node. So he's able to restrain the desire to just gun the woman down in the middle of the talks, if barely.

    From his perch, he's mostly just watching and waiting for the cue to fire. Or not, as the case may be.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor... has seen this. She's been this. She's felt this. Her blood has felt this. Grief unending. Loss eternal. This is the sundering of a young woman's soul and it is agonizing for her right now to be here. But she is a Big Sister and this is what proper Sisters deal with. As Miki falls to her knees, he hug doesn't stop, a hand coming up to rub at the back of the Magi's head, getting Utopia into the contact as well. Eleanor's voice is warm and calming as she presses energy into her own concept to reassure this poor girl.
    "Mizushima Miki, you are strong, you are going to be strong, alright? We are going to get you through this and you are going to get through this but right now, for your friends, we are going to need to be strong together. You are not alone, not now, not anymore. We're going to help you, alright?"
    She quietly turns Miki so that the girl will have the option to watch the courtyard. "I am right here, Homura is right here, and we are with you. Kimiko is over there, and we are not going away."

    A lie, that breaks her heart to say.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura frowns.

    The thought that maybe they should just not protect this Miki from the next reset occurs to her. The amount of energy that's going to be needed to get her back on her feet is going to be a pain, even if the information she has is worth most of it.

    Crossing her arms, she shakes her head.

    "They will be judged. That man with the rifle has the special ability to inflict damage proportional to one's sins and to weight the good and the bad. If that Demon and that Witch are real, and not just costumes, they will break under the pressure of his shot. But if these are really costumes, then the Witch that killed your friend is already dead. What you see there is her corpse, being worn by someone else. A bit dark, I guess, but at least it means the monster that killed your friend isn't there anymore."

    Homura raises her hand-- she stops.

    The thought of slapping Miki and telling her she can either stay here and grieve or help her save her other friends also crosses her mind. She decides not to. Last time she tried that with a speech about friendship, Mami killed herself. That was kind of a low point.

Lowering her hand, she sighs.
    She should let Eleanor handle this.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Amends?"
    <...I would say that we seek to make amends.>
    "Couple old things we did wrong."
    <But dying and making amends for past life are not mutually exclusive acts.>
    "Hell, way we've seen, couple times they're the same thing."
    <So, since you act to help them, and since we may yet die, I assume you sought us for some reason that is not simple revenge or some endeavor to reveal secrets.>
    "Heard you out-of-towners running around looking to deal with the big dome. Can't have just gone after us for this."
    <Whether or not we die tonight, what do you seek?>
    The Short Man and the Tall Woman seem to offer information regardless of whether or not they're about to be shot. Easy enough to pull data about the situation out of them, if you're seeking it!

    Laer gets her side subject response again, with more wry looks.
    "Everyone's gotta wear one."
    <It is the way the world works.>
    "When yours aren't well made, you've gotta swap them sometimes."
    <Not everyone has permission to take their mask wherever they go.>
    "Places have standards about what they'll let in, y'know."
    <You seem sure you have seen us wearing others, though.>

    Both laugh briefly, and speak to each other.
    <Ah, nostalgia, for when we had our own.>
    "Good times. Well, 'till right at the end."

Laer (353) has posed:
    "I suppose. It's hard to care too much about a story I'm not as invested in." Laer admits, gesturing vaguely around. "But that doesn't stop me from wanting to find out more about my two favorite recurring bit players, now does it? Still, if you're just going to go being terribly cryptic more, it's going to spoil things. You have to give at least a little, right? So unless you want to go claiming you have quite a lot of twins.."

    Though she hadn't actually seen all that many others. Laer should really visit more nodes.

    "Besides, I'm sure your normal masks are perfectly well made. You can't go hiding them because of a lack of self confidence. You owe it to the world to share them with us. It's like any other work of art - it demands to be seen."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko glances toward Madeline. "A Witch would see nothing wrong with killing anyone. It is in their nature." She shakes her head, again looking at the tall and short pair. "I don't expect you to seek atonement for what you may have done in this city, though, I think... it would help everyone else here."

    Blandly, she forges on, "Please explain what you know of Takenaka Sakae, the other missing girl."

Madeline Vance (380) has posed:
    Kimiko's question is what Madeline was also going to ask. The Solar nods to Kimiko, though she doesn't seem surprised. Just thoughtful. "The important thing is that they have no interest in being a Witch, I think." To the other two, she murmurs, "Though I am curious how this came to be, and what you have to do with it." Indicating the Demon.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Psyber's own charging attack is reaching a peak. "Morality Paradigm loaded: Law's Grasp." Adjudicator intones. There's a very soft sort of glow along the rifle now, and the scales are gradually beginning to approach balance. A gentle wind is beginning to kick up around him, fluttering dust off of the rooftop and into the air in gentle waves. They'll be prepared soon, likely as soon as the questions are complete.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    After Homura helps her up, Eleanor moves her to watch the plaza, and Miki now takes a more dignified, harsh look, her grief being reshaped into a sort of jaded hatred. It will keep her from dying. She's not going to witch out now. That's the important part. In fact, she'll probably survive years more. She just looks, very much, like it won't be a happy survival. If she does survive in the first place. Eleanor's statement doesn't get a verbal response, but she does lean a bit towards her, calmed by the lie and the soft blue resonance Utopia presses into her. The posture changing makes it clear that Miki's previous inability to trust Homura's group has been thoroughly torn out.

    Homura gets a nod. "Fine." She says, simply. "Thanks." It's terse and simple, but it's not ungrateful. Homura should at least mostly be able to push Miki towards helping her in dealing with this.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor just holds on to Miki and murmurs. She can feel the gentle acceptance to this horrible scene, and sighs quietly. That comforting glow from Utopia remains, even as she can feel the tension building in the air from above her. Justice is coming, in one way or another.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Good enough. Hate is negative, but as emotions go it's not one that'll lead to death the way despair does. It might still be more of a drain than if she were chipper and happy, but it'll do for now.

    Homura glances towards the ongoing conversation with the Man and Woman, and decides not to move in. Looks like they're asking the good questions, so... let's keep distracting Miki.

    "By the way... the Witch at the docks. Why seal her instead of defeating her?" Homura already knows, of course-- or rather, the group's mostly figured it out and had it given to them on a silver platter. But she wants to hear it from Miki directly.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "They're broken."
    <They're broken.>
    Both speak up to Laer briefly, in unison, but with a casual tone. Well, that explains not wearing the "genuine" mask, it seems. It's gone!

    Then they're back to the other subject. The Tall Woman nods a bit at Kimiko. <She is correct. Witches are meant to kill our hunters, what you call 'Puella Magi'. This is how the natural order is, just as we're supposed to be stopped by the same hunters.>
    "We've got other wrong we're supposed to make amends for. Still workin' on it. Makin' progress. Slow. Steady, though. We'll still be, even if you kill us."
    <Especially so, some would argue.>
    "As for Sakae?"
    <Her situation is complex.>
    "Damn shame we don't know all of it."
    <She made a wish.>
    "Wish had somethin' to do with the In<span class="underline bold_fg_c bg_n ++ ubators."
    ch"><We have no idea what wish she made.></span>
    "Sure spooked the Incubators though, after it was done."
    <I believe they had to intervene in some fashion.>
    "The Reset Witch, Kristiane, is Sakae."
    <And at the same time, she is not Sakae.>
    "Incubators had somethin' to do with it."
    <But not, it seems, the local Incubator.>
    "Rogue incubator faction, somewhere else?"
    <Local incubator cut out of the loop for some grander scheme??>
    "Can't figure it ourselves. Sorry, kids."
    <That is all we know of what we understand you are investigating.>

Laer (353) has posed:
    "That's just an excuse. Nothing broken can't be fixed; nothing lost is lost forever." Laer says, with a vague handgesture to brush off the lack of truth to that. "Still, it looks like the usefulness of this talk might have run out for now. Will your deaths that might be coming hold true, or is it simply a temporary inconvenience?" She says, more curiously than anything else, glancing back and over at Psyber.

    "..Some of these people take their stage very seriously indeed. I suppose I might be obliged to help them. Should figure that out."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    "Not yet," Kimiko says to Laer. "There are other points."

    To the Tall Witch, "You said that the situation docks was taken care of. What did you mean by that? Please explain that situation, restricted to the truth. Please also explain what you told the local Puella Magi about it, whether or not it was true. Then, please explain how and why you have been living as Yamauchi Chiyo."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Yamauchi said..." Miki says to Homura, then immediately chokes back what she's saying. "...That /thing/ said we need to. Normally... The Law of Cycles means stopping a witch, it's something we need to do, that it's better for them. But she..." Miki clenches her fists, becoming angry and hateful again. "Yamauchi and Takenaka /both/ said we need to keep it /safe/ for Sakae. Why would..." Why would Mio lie to her? Chiyo, we know, has motive, but why Mio? She says this, without saying it.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "That Witch," Homura answers Miki, bluntly. "May be your fourth friend. I don't know why Mio wouldn't have told you, but I'd like to find out now, probably as much as you do. It's fairly clear she knows. It might even be possible that everytime your friend disappears, it is because she transforms like this. Whatever means she's using to go back and forth, Mio must have known it was only temporary and so sealing her until she's back to normal was the easiest way to prevent her from harming anyone, and from being killed."

    "Although that raises a lot of questions, so I'm not sure I'm on the right track. I think our next step is to confront Mio and finally get to the bottom of this. Won't you help us fix this mess? Just because your friends lied to you doesn't make them any less your friends. I've lied to mine so much out of a desire to protect. I guess I regret it, but it was always necessary."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    <Truth is subjective.>
    "Will we die?"
    <I am certain of it.>
    "Will you be seein' us again?"
    <I am just as certain of that.>

    Both seem to finish speaking with Laer, and now focus on Kimiko, tilting their heads in unison with a sort of disappointment.

    "You know, Witches aren't /just/ about the murder."
    <We have far more variety.>
    "I've seen Witches that want people to look at art..."
    <Witches who want to make food for people...>
    "Witches that just wanna tell time..."
    <My actions are in accordance with who I am.>
    "Valeria, the Doppelganger Witch, right?"
    <I guide the other Witches to them from within.>
    "What she does, y'know. How she hunts."
    <I have lived as Chiyo since killing her.>
    "Little hunter, I dunno how, broke her."
    <I no longer have full command of my barrier.>
    "That's got nothing to do with the talking part, though."
    <Ah, yes, the speaking. That is just because of external influences.>

    That was odd. They swapped from being the Short Man and Tall Woman talking about their roles, to being the Short Demon and Tall Witch, talking about the Node's effects on them. There was even a palpable shift in posture. Unfortunately, not a lot of actual /information/ to gain from this. "That's just how it works" isn't much to go on. It would seem all the info worth getting has been just about wrung out of them. Good thing too, since this has gone on long enough that it is just about MORNING of JULY 12TH.

    For a moment, only the Witch speaks, not the Demon. <Kristiane desperately wishes to survive. She asked me, as the one best suited to this matter, and the only Witch capable of outright collaboration, to find an arrangement, something to permit her to stay here. She seems to want to wait for something. She says she is waiting for the hunter named Sakae to return.>

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Given the request by Kimiko, Psyber slowly takes in a deep breath. One red eye shuts, leaving the other up against the scope of his rifle. The winds that kick up around him are mentally compensated for as he reaches up and makes a few adjustments to elevation with a couple of whisper-quiet clicks.

    "Psalm 144, Verse 1. Praise be to the Lord, my strength, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle."

    He exhales very slowly and lets his finger gently squeeze the trigger on his rifle. His intent is to let loose a single, powered-up with everything he can muster, lancing shot to fly halfway across the city towards his target. The force and show of the shot probably reveal his position like he lit up a spotlight, but if he did it right he only needs the one shot anyway. One more verse to cap it off.

    "Exodus, 22. Verse 18. Though shalt not suffer a witch to live."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    All seven scales of justice lock into position, balancing precisely. There's a soft beep and the thrumming whir of power in the rifle clicks and stops. "Rendering Judgement." Adjudicator says, gleaming red for just a moment. Then a beam errupts from the rifle. It's not a massive dozens-of-feet-wide thing of blinding light. It's disciplined, a precise shot of resonance only milimeters thick.

    The Short Demon sees it incoming, supernatural reflexes flaring into action, noticing it too late due to Psyber's sniping position and relative stealth. Flickering out of place with a sudden visual distortion like a mess of video glitches, the Demon interposes itself between the beam and the Witch, raising a barrier of distorted space. The beam crashes against it and is halted for only a fraction of a second, and a shockwave crashes through the streets, blowing out every window in a two block radius, fracturing the ground throughout the plaza. Then it crashes through the barrier and annihilates the demon's torso entirely, before the effect spreads through the rest of him. The beam progresses right into the Witch, slamming through her body, pinning her to the ground, and blasting her across the plaza, through the fountain in its center, and then cratering the front of the building on the opposite side as she's smashed into the earth, carving a wide trench. Then, it pins her there for the remaining fraction of a second it takes to end her, forcing her to dissolve away.

    The demon leaves behind a cube, slightly larger than normal. The Law of Cycles -- apparently the local equivalent of Madoka, not proper Madoka -- moves in to relieve the old Soul Gem of its curse, leaving behind nothing but a soft red fire where the Witch used to be.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Miki watches the events unfold, and the titanic shockwave provokes no reaction from her strained, jaded expression, nor her hateful stance. Seeing the Witch killed so thoroughly leaves her with emotional scars that will not be healing, but her Soul Gem stabilizes firmly. The scarring prevents further grief for now. For the immediate future, her descent into despair is halted. "Thank you." She manages to whisper.

    Then she turns to Homura. "We need to find out what's going on. Your..." She swallows dryly. "Your guess might be right. The thing, the Pure, it let her use... More power. Witch power. There's some kind of connection." She looks bitter, hateful for a moment. "I'll decide what Mio is when we find out the truth about this." She looks down and balls her fists tightly. "I'm going to go... Get Yamauchi's affairs in order." Cover up the circumstances of a missing girl, she means. Then she looks up, firmly, back to Homura and Eleanor. "Then, you tell me what you need to fix this. To make all... All this stop." She looks stressed, her tone gets terse, but she gets herself back on track. "I'll meet you back at the radio tower."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko is not the target of the attack, and knows in any case, given the nature of it, that she has no reason to either block or dodge. The fate of the Tall Witch depends, primarily, on whether she is truly a Witch, or merely an actor in the role. From their conversation, she already knows the answer. It's as her innate sense has been telling her.

    And yet, Kimiko is not unaffected. She's barely a few feet from the beam, and when it strikes the Short Demon's shield, the shockwave reaches her. Her chair was made of a sword driven into the ground as she'd forged it, or else even this secondary effect of being near the strike would knock her away. As it is, she raises a hand to shield her eyes, otherwise making no motion at all while she's held in place. Madeline's feast may not be so fortunate.

    She had told them that they would be judged, and so they have been. If anything, this gives her some measure of satisfaction. This is the outcome she'd wanted, as well as the one she'd expected for the last hour. It is a grim satisfaction, and there is no hint of enjoyment on her face.

    When the aftereffects have passed, she stands, and goes to retrieve the Demon's cube. She looks over it for several moments, and then walks with it toward Homura and Miki.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    The look that Miki gives Kimiko when she approaches, after that massive debacle, is a confirmation of what Kimiko was working towards, in a sense. Trust has, at last, been thoroughly built. There's a firm, respectful, and grateful nod to Kimiko, but no words need to be exchanged. about it. Kimiko, as the primary actor of the Save Miki route, will likely be most aware of the fact that Kimiko now has more trust than Miki gave her previous Puella Magi allies.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber watches the shot come down and then takes out a pocket knife. Once he's confirmed both kills, he gently etches two tic-marks into the side of Adjudicator's stock in Sniper Form. Those are, actually, the first two major players he's killed with that gun. The others were just him taking off someone's arm and a Pure that survived the initial shot. So. Two marks on Adjudicator.

    And then he stands up and takes a running leap off the roof. There are Puella in this city and it wouldn't be hard to track his shot or its impact point, so he wants to get moving as fast as he can, leaping from rooftop to rooftop to put some distance between himself and his opening shot point.