one | am i alone?

[riflesandtea]

Characters: Mami Tomoe and anyone!
Setting: Room 3-01 and then the dormitory floors/living areas
Format: Starting off in prose, but i'm up for anything
Summary: Mami trying to find people she knows and also attempting to make friends!
Warnings: none!


It's a little disorienting here. It's a lot of new information to take in, all at once, and...

Well. She doesn't trust quite as easily any more, in those who say one thing but present other complications.

At least the collar doesn't seem to hurt. It's simply there, glowing a soft violet, and she has to wonder what it's for.

She leaves her empty room after a small amount of time, leaving the two letters she'd received neatly folded on the bedside table, and she is soon wandering the dormitory hallways, looking for any sign of familiar names or faces.

Comments

[riflesandtea]

It's a little bit surreal, yes, but it's almost comforting in its familiarity. She takes a sip, staring into the depths of the cup like it will tell her something, before starting to arrange her thoughts.

"I think that sounds about right. Akemi-san's powers do involve alternate timelines, so it's not too much of a stretch." She gathers herself before she asks the next question.

"Miki-san. If it's not too much trouble, would you mind telling me how I died...?"

[beknightedheroine]

"So that's the transfer student's deal!?"

Sayaka sits up at hearing that, nearly spilling her cup.

"But, so..."

Her questions never have a chance to be thrown, however, as they're stifled in her throat by Mami's own. She hunches her shoulders and rubs at her throat with her free hand, as if it's pained sympathetically.

"..the witch at the hospital did it. It looked like you'd won the fight really easily, but.. she spat out another form and got you by surprise."

[riflesandtea]

"It took her a while to tell us, but it was very hard for her. Every time she repeated that same amount of time, our relationships with her changed and became more distant."

She processes that response, looking down at her tea as she gathers her thoughts.

"I see. She almost caught me when I fought her, but I managed to get away in time." She glances up at Sayaka after another moment.

"Do you have anything you want to ask, Miki-san?"

[beknightedheroine]

"I can't even imagine a world where we'd get along. I guess she was at it for a long time."

Sorry, Mami, but Sayaka's cool attitude to Homura is.. gonna be difficult to thaw.

"...what was it like, all working together? And.. What did Madoka end up doing?"

She shifts her eyes to stare into a corner while mulling over the last conversation she'd ever had with Madoka - a conversation she definitely regretted. What if in this other world she'd done the same thing, and Madoka listened?

What if that other Sayaka hadn't said those things at all?

[riflesandtea]

You didn't really get along even in her timeline, Sayaka! That is cool, she is used to calming everyone down and not flipping out over Terrible Secrets.

"What was it like...?" She swirls her tea, taking another sip, mulling the question over. She empties her cup as she thinks, absently pouring herself another cup on automatic.

"We were able to spread out and cover more territory, and we could patrol in pairs instead of by ourselves. It was...it wasn't exactly relaxing, but it made battles less stressful. We didn't always get along, and we didn't become instant friends, but working in a team was...good. The stress became easier to handle, with teammates.

Kaname-san didn't end up contracting, in the end. She stayed as an ordinary girl."

[beknightedheroine]

Sayaka's mischievous streak bubbles back up, and she smirks. "Ah, ah, two by two~. Everybody wanted alone time with each other, huh~?"

Then she takes a loooooong sip of tea, nearly as punctuation to the comment.

[riflesandtea]

She actually giggles at that, smiling more brightly. She seems happier and a little more relaxed than the Mami Sayaka was familiar with.

"Ah, but Miki-san, you partnered up with Sakura-san sometimes. What would that mean, then?"

Siiiiiip. She does the same thing.

[beknightedheroine]

Now she's in her element. Giggles are a good sign--!

--cough. Sayaka cuts her extended sip short, and attempts to downplay her near-splutter off as just tea going down the wrong pipe.

"..pshh, well! Variety's the spice of life, gotta switch things up sometimes..."

[riflesandtea]

You hear that, Sayaka? That is more giggling, and Mami covers her mouth to at least attempt to stifle it.

"If you say so, Miki-san." She hides her growing smile by sipping her tea again.

She waits for a while before saying anything, not wanting to spoil the mood just yet.

"Miki-san, if you feel comfortable answering this, what's the last thing you remember before arriving here?"

[beknightedheroine]

The good mood is nice while it lasts, but when it's over Sayaka awkwardly rubs at her shoulder while trying to word this correctly.

"I had an argument with Madoka. I said some really harsh things, and then.. I just ran off. Then.. I closed my eyes for a second, and I woke up here."

[riflesandtea]

"Oh, I see...

Something very drastic must have happened for you to argue with Kaname-san. I know you two are good friends."

She has a sort of prompting tone in her voice, gently pressing without saying so. At the same time, she doesn't sound accusatory or judgmental; again, she merely sounds... understanding. Ready to listen, at least.

[beknightedheroine]

"..."

Bait taken.

"It was a while ago. I've thought about it a lot. ..I still believe what I said.. mostly, I feel guilty that I got mad at her, and that that was the last conversation we had."

[riflesandtea]

She sort of smiles, a little sadly this time. She knows what it's like to fight with friends, especially close ones.

At least she'd gotten to reconcile with the friend she'd lost, long ago.

"If you're comfortable enough to tell me, Miki-san, what did you say to Kaname-san...?"

[beknightedheroine]

She shrugs, sounding a bit distanced from the subject as she recounts it - like she's glazing over half the real meaning involved. "I told her I couldn't change the way I was fighting, since I'm not very strong as a Puella Magi. ..and I said she really couldn't understand how I felt, since she was still..."

She trails off of the obvious. Still human.

[riflesandtea]

In a bizarre way, Mami is lucky in that respect; even though her life as a magical girl was lonely, she had nobody to take care of or depend on (up to a certain point). All her losses - her parents, and the way she slowly drifted away from her friends - were sustained in earlier days, as she forced herself to be independent.

But she'd had nobody else to share it with; she hadn't wanted to put the burden on others, just so they understood.

"Ah, I see..."

She swirls her tea, staring into the hot liquid as she thinks of the best words to say. Sayaka had told Madoka that she couldn't change the way she was fighting - that meant Sayaka was fighting in a way that was upsetting to her friend, and was possibly life-threatening - and that she couldn't understand how she felt, because Madoka was still human.

She'd had that crisis herself, when she'd found out. She'd managed to bounce back a little better than the others, if only because she'd tried to look on the bright side of things - it was easier to fight and it didn't hurt as much.

"Being a Puella Magi is very stressful, Miki-san. You must have been very upset, and that's okay.

But just because we function differently, it doesn't mean that makes a Puella Magi any less human. Every one of us has hopes and dreams; that's why we made our wishes, isn't that right?"