176/Friends and Enemies

Friends and Enemies
Date of Scene:	14 July 2015
Location:	Mitakihara - Downtown
Synopsis:	Nagisa seeks out Mami, and Kyouko drops in for a chat.
Cast of Characters:	Mami Tomoe, Nagisa Momoe, Kyouko Sakura

---

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko sits on the edge of a building in Mitakihara, watching the sun sinking down towards the horizon in a growing explosion of pinks and purples. She's chewing on a pocky, the end of the stick waving about in the air as she slowly devours it, centimeter by centimeter. Her spear lays across her lap, her eyes on the sky as she mindlessly devours the treat.. lost in thought. Mostly about what she saw last night, and what she should do about it.

    That creepy dude had tried to abduct the pink-haired girl. And Homura had cared an awful lot about stopping him. Almost unreasonably so, or so it seemed. Plus, the dude had had Grief Seeds. There's opportunity here, if only she can figure out how to take advantage of it. She needs to somehow incapacitate Homura, to prove to Miss White that she /can't/ be pushed around. She also needs to stop other people taking her Grief Seeds.. maybe there's some way she can do both..

    These are the thoughts which occupy the redheaded Puella Magi as she sits on the edge of the building, out in the open, letting her legs dangle over the open air. Good thing it's too high for the passersby on the street below to really notice her, or someone would surely have called the cops.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    Nagisa had been foolish, and naive. She had put something off that she had been meaning to do for weeks. Despite repeating over and over that she would seek help from others when she couldn't handle things herself she hadn't done so, and she'd been left in awkward positions.

    No more. With threats like Riventon and Kyouko out there she was going to have to be a crafty and careful as she could in order to survive.

    And so here she is, standing on the sidewalk just outside the main entrance of Infinity University, watching every student that leaves and waiting in expectation of someone in particular- someone who had said she understood her wish, and someone that Homura Akemi had told her to seek out by name.

    So here she is, hoping she didn't get out here too late to catch Mami Tomoe as she exited the school, unsure if she is even going to use this entrance, but ready to run up waving with a smile should she see her, intentionally using the hand that holds her little silver ring with it's tiny white gem.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Nagisa is one of those little figures that has branded herself in Mami Tomoe's mind - mainly due to the seeming nature of what Nagisa is going through, as well as her being a new Puella Magi. Mami didn't try to run off other Magi, mainly due to wanting to have friends, especially friends that understood the nature of her magic and of Kyubey, but Nagisa was still so *young*... so Mami had hopes that Nagisa would show up alive and well, and she wouldn't run into the wrong side of a witch.

Seeing Nagisa at the gates, she immediately lifts her own hand, her silver ring flashing back on her hand as she makes her way over to Nagisa through the crowd.

"How are you doing?" Mami asks the younger girl, looking her up and down.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Oh well.. life isn't getting any longer." Kyouko mutters to herself after all that introspection. She stands up and stretches arms going over her head. Then she turns and leaps off the building. She has enough sense to leap off of the side into the alleyway between this building and the next one, and not directly onto the sidewalk. That would have raised unfortunate questions.

    A moment later, civilian-clad Kyouko emerges from the alleyway onto the sidewalk, now spear-less, though with her box of pocky in her hand as she pulls out another stick to munch on. It just so happens that her path takes her near the gate to Infinity.

    Where she spots Nagisa. That little troll. She grumbles under her breath, instantly annoyed, because Nagisa hadn't listened to her advice and scrammed out of town. She's focused enough on Nagisa that she pays no attention to exactly who the gradeschooler is speaking to.

    She marches right up, scowling. "Hey, listen here you little-" She starts to say, hand reaching out to actually grip Mami's shoulder and push her away from Nagisa, not giving an eff about who this person might be. However, it's about at this point that she bothers to actually /look/ at who she is now gripping by the shoulder, and her eyes widen almost comically. "Oh sh-"

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    That smile brightens when she's waved back to. As she comes up to a respectable speaking distance within Mami she stops, and offers her a polite greeting to go with the friendly one, bowing to her before answering her question. She actually has to think that over- how is she doing? Such a simple question, but so complex, given recent events.

    "I'm surviving!" she replies, trying to put a cheerful spin on that second word. "Things have been difficult, but so far I've managed thanks to the help of others. I-"

    And that's as far as she gets, because she hears a familiar, dangerous voice sounding not to happy- and she shoves Mami.

    Woah! Is she going to start a serious life or death fight right here?! The look on Nagisa's face suggests she actually thinks that might be the case, and so with a cry of surprise she jumps back away from her.

    The young Puella Magi can sometimes be utterly fearless in battle, but sudden things like this have her far out of her depths, to the point that she, quite literally, cowers behind Mami, quickly running around her and then peeking at Kyouko from behind her. This would have happened had Mami not even been a Puella Magi.

    Only... once she's peeking she sees /Kyouko/ acting like she just did, though to a lesser extent. Shock? Surprise? Maybe not fear, but this is more off kilter than the girl had ever seen the combative redhead. Her eyes narrow, peering.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami hears footsteps and words, words spoken by a familiar voice, a strangely familiar voice and one that sets Mami on edge slightly, even as Kyouko pushes her back by her shoulder, causing the school uniform claf teenager to shift her weight, wheeling around neatly to face--

Kyouko.

Her eyes narrow.

"Sakura-san." She says, drawing herself up to her full height. "What are you doing to Nagisa-chan?"

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko hasn't actually /seen/ Mami in.. what, two years? Since they had that big fights that Kyouko totally won and Mami left Kazamino. It shouldn't be a surprise to find one Puella Magi talking to another, but she hadn't actually known Mami was in Mitakihara, so this takes her entirely by surprise, and not exactly the good kind of surprise. They hadn't exactly parted on good terms, after all. And Kyouko knows, if there's anyone in this city who can truly give her a run for her money, it's the girl she just pushed rudely aside.
    She snatches her hand back as if she's been burned, her expression caught somewhere between dismay, embarassment, and anger. There's no fear, not really, but it's /very/ plain that this was not a confrontation she was looking for or intended to leap into so haphazardly. "Um.. I.. w-well.." She stutters, really unsure of how she should be reacting, her eyes darting about as if looking for somewhere to escape.

    Finally though, after about 10 seconds of this, she seems to 'reboot', as if deciding on a path. "Mami. I didn't know /you/ were in town." She says, her voice taking up a scornful edge. "Maybe you can tell this kid here the way things work, so I don't have to. She doesn't seem to learn very quickly." Ah, the old 'pretend I'm not shocked' routine.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    Recoiling, stammering. A full ten seconds of doing nothing but processing information and glancing around. With the intensity that Nagisa is observing these reactions you'd think she was Kyubey. She even has red eyes!

    Okay, half-red eyes and not nearly so beady, but you get the picture.

    It is very, very tempting for Nagisa to just step forward and start mouthing off with the redhead looking so trapped, but deep down she knows that any lip she's gives now she may have to pay back in blood later.

    So she cools her jets and steps out from behind and up beside Mami before bowing politely to Kyouko. "Kyouko Sakura-san." Then, deliberately, she half turns and looks up towards Mami and explains. "Kyouko-san has recently arrived, and has claimed the entire city as her territory. She wants me to leave so she can have all the grief seeds to herself."

    Simple, accurate, and potentially damning words softly spoken from the lips of an eight year old.

    She continues, making a light shrug and holding her arms out, "I gave her the grief seed of a Witch we both helped to defeat," incomplete but true, "as a peace offering, but she wasn't satisfied. I was hoping I could show her how much better it would be if we fought together instead of against each other, but Kyouko-san hasn't been willing to share."

    She could stop there. She could stop right there, or even have stopped even earlier, and make things very ugly. She doesn't, though. Nagisa reaches out and gives a tiny tug onto the cuff of Mami's school uniform to try and make sure the older Puella Magi pays attention to what she says next. "...I disagree completely with her methods, but I don't blame her for them. She's like us; stuck fighting for her life with no other choice. I think she's just trying to survive, and not ready to trust anyone with something so precious as her life."

    Nagisa lets go of the cuff then and holds her arms in front of herself, head down a little bit but eyes peeking up towards Kyouko, shifting slightly from side to side uncomfortably, the tiniest little hope in her eyes that her insight might break through.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami's golden eyes flicker from Nagisa where the smaller girl has arrayed herself next to Mami, then she turns to the slightly shorter and younger red-head, her voice firm but kind nonetheless. "I've been here in Mitakihara since I left Kazamino." She says to Kyouko, simply. "I was the first Puella Magi here of any note, so this is my territory, so to say, and here, I say no one person can claim all the Grief Seeds."

Mami seems firm about this, tilting her head slightly so her chin is set stubbornly, glancing down at Nagisa. "You ... don't know Sakura-san the way I do." She says, softly, her eyes darkening slightly. She knows what's happened with Kyouko, and she shakes her head slightly, turning to Sakura.

"No running off the other Puella Magi. Nagisa and I aren't the only two in town, either. I don't want this to end the way it... did before. We're not the only ones fighting the Witches anymore, either - we have people getting their hands on Grief Seeds that don't need them." Mami feels like Kyouko needs to know this, because she's hoping it'll help clear the air around the trio.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko lets out a sigh of exasperation which sounds exactly like the sort of sound a teenage kid makes when her mom tells her she can't go to the party at the frat house. "You don't get to tell me what to do, Mami!" She says, although there's an.. unexpectly whiny tone to her voice, as if she's pleading rather than telling, certainly different from the way she speaks to pretty much anybody else. "We went through this last time, and you know how it turned out." Of course, the outcome of that event is entirely different based on which of them you ask, so really, this means nothing.

    But, she does have something perhaps more constructive to say, as Mami mentions people stealing Grief Seeds who don't even need them. "You don't have to tell me that. There's this chick.. Miss White, she calls herself. She founded an entire company to steal Grief Seeds. I been telling her in no uncertain terms that she needs to take her grubby mitts of my Seeds, but she won't listen." She scowls, pointing a finger at Mami. "We need to teach her a lesson. Grief Seeds are for us, not for some slimy corporate toad." Oh, all of a sudden its 'we'.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    Ten seconds ago Nagisa was explaining to and filling in Mami about Kyouko- or thought she was.

    Now Mami seems to know Kyouko better than she does, and all her attempts at smoothing things out have done is get Kyouko glaring at her and wording at her silently like the boys in class do with each other.

    Mami seems to have this very well in hand, actually, and is stating things to be the way she wants them like a consummate veteran- shockingly similar to how Kyouko did upon Nagisa's first meeting with her, if entirely different in tone. The whole thing screams 'late to the party' to the novice Puella Magi.

    She feels entirely out of her depths with the two older Puella speaking, but suddenly there is something more she can say as Kyouko speaks up about Miss White. Before she even thinks about what she's doing she reaches into her pocket and produces a small business card and hands it to Mami. It reads 'WitchHunter Professional Services' at the top with 'Homura Akemi' as the owner of the card, complete with a phone number.

    Then, about five seconds later, she realizes what might come of this.

    "W-wait a second! Akemi-senpai is my friend! She gave me a grief seed, the only one I've ever used! And she suggested I talk with you if I needed a mentor, Mami-san!" She cries out, looking shaky and all of a sudden terrified. She slumps, actually dropping to her knees and crying, seemingly out of nowhere, seriously concerned she might have just started a war with a potential friend as a prime target.

    After all, she can't deny Homura is working with non-Puella that are taking grief seeds- she's seen too much evidence to the contrary to do so without lying.

Mami Tomoe has posed:
By shifting around the conversation to the stolen Grief Seeds, Mami manages to keep Kyouko and Nagisa from henshining and going for each others throats. It's almost like Mami's been doing this for awhile. Mami gives Kyouko a sharp look, before glancing down at Nagisa, a more thoughtful one than sharp.

"I ... highly doubt Akemi is White, considering I know Akemi-san is a Puella, but on the flip side, I don't know her at all. She's just shown up very recently, just like Nagisa-chan did, but I don't know if she's a new Puella Magi or not." Mami admits, frowning at the card before handing it back to Nagisa.

"On the flip side, I have contact with someone that has been assisting me with getting Grief Seeds if she finds herself fighting witches without a Puella Magi around - she's handing them off to me, so we've got two sides here, one good, one bad."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko shakes her head, sending her long red ponytail swaying. "No, this 'Homura Akemi' works for Miss White. Miss White is the boss, and this other chick," She gestures dismissively at the business card, "Is just some toadie. Although.." She falters for a moment, mouth twisting, "She's.. well you shouldn't underestimate her. She's tougher than she looks. But she's not the real problem."

    "Miss White isn't a Puella at all. She has magic, but some other kind. But she's trying to grab all the Grief Seeds.. something about studying them, putting them to greater use." Kyouko snarls now, baring her little fangs, and points a thumb at her own chest. "I don't know about you, but in my book there ain't no greater use than keeping me alive. I ain't about to let somebody who don't even need the things start hoarding them."

    She relents after a moment, scuffing a boot against the pavement. "I fought her, but it was kinda a draw. But I don't intend to give up." She doesn't make claim to the whole city again though- positioning this as a "Puella vs. Non-Puella" issue rather than a "Kyouko vs. Everybody" one. It seems she really isn't interested in fighting Mami on the spot, at least right now.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    Nagisa has to take a few deep breaths to calm down the hysterics, accepting the card back from Mami and putting it away. She dries her eyes on her sleeve, and then slowly stands up. The thing she was worried about most was starting a witch hunt, no pun intended, against Homura, but lucky for her Mami doesn't even begin to go down that path. Even Kyouko seems to be shifting the entire tone away from infighting.

    Her lack of tact and control over herself has her face burning red in embarrassment, even as she's finishing up her last sniffles. "If there are people that are fighting witches and giving us," that wonderful inclusive pronoun, "the grief seeds, I don't mind at all. I actually think that's wonderful. But I agree if someone is taking them and using them for other purposes they should be stopped. It's just the same as slowly starving us to death."

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami closes her eyes. "I can't recall meeting anyone by the name of 'White' personally, but if you ever run into a person like this-" She describes Runealy's henshin- "She's safe. Trust me on this. She'll also give up any Grief Seeds she might have to you." Mami says, reassuringly.

She then reaches down, her hand gently resting on Nagisas' head comfortingly, petting it a bit. "It'll be okay. If we work together against them, we should be able to stop them from getting any more of the Grief Seeds, as well as getting those they have back."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko actually nods at Nagisa. She's agreeing with the little twerp! Apparently, putting convincing Mami is more important to her than her continued intimidation of the littlest Puella. "That's right," She says, as if this were her position all along. "If they're gonna kill Witches and then /give/ us the Grief Seeds, then I don't see an issue. The issue is with people like Miss White, who /take/ the Grief Seeds and have no intention of letting us have 'em.. unless we 'work for her' and then she gives us a cut. That's what she's got going on with this Homura chick. Homura gets a cut of all the grief seeds Miss White pulls in. It's like stealing food from our mouths!" And we all know how Kyouko feels about that.

    Of course, then Mami goes and describes Runealy, saying that she can be trusted. This actually gives Kyouko pause, and she hesitates, unsure what to say. That is obviously the same person who put Miss White in the hospital. Miss White had said NOT to trust her.. that she was a backstabber. Kyouko can't exactly say this after railing against Miss White for the past 5 minutes though- and yet, internally, she trusts Miss White to a degree she's /not/ sure she trusts Mami right now. Miss White is her enemy, but she's an open honest enemy. Or at least Kyouko wants to believe. She doesn't know where she stands with Mami at the current time.

    For now, Kyouko decides the safest route is to simply avoid discussing it. It should be a non-issue, since she has no intention of crossing paths with Runealy. "Y-yeah. Yeah! That's what I'm saying. You an' me, Mami," She points at the yellow-haired Puella, "We could take their whole outfit down. You know we could."

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    Nagisa takes in the information about Runealy's henshin, which makes her tilt her head back and forth. It sounds very similar to the person Homura spoke about earlier- she'll have to do a little checking into that if she can, but doesn't say anything about it aloud. Mami's vouching should surely be enough, and it's not like she thinks Kyouko values her opinion, even though she is currently agreeing with one of her other thoughts.

    The petting of her head comes as a bit of a surprise, she considers protesting... but it actually feels kinda nice, so she lets it go and just sorta stands there with a smile.

    Unfortuantely, it's time for Nagisa to disagree with Kyouko again.

    "You couldn't. I know you are very strong, Kyouko-san, but even if Mami-san is as strong as you, the two of you alone wouldn't be enough. You just said yourself Miss White fought you to a draw." She looks momentarily worried about what she wants to say next, but does so anyway, "And Akemi-senpai was able to keep you guessing, and at a disadvantage. That's before I'm even considering 'Black-san' whom I fought yesterday. He's dangerously powerful- you saw, didn't you? If he hadn't been so focused on that girl I don't know if we would have been able to drive him off."

    She looks between Mami and Kyouko, "I'm not saying don't fight them, I'm saying don't run in expecting an easy victory. We need a plan." She sighs and shrugs her shoulders a little, "Black-san and Miss White are 'partners', and Black-san and Akemi-senpai have come to blows and may continue to do so. There has to be a way to take advantage of that, but I don't know what it is. If we could get Akemi-senpai on our side I think you're right, we could win easily, but I also don't know how we can do that, or even if we can."

Mami Tomoe has posed:
Mami squints back and forth between Nagisa and Kyouko. She's not an idiot.

"Uh-huh..."

She sighs. "Alright, fine. Clearly you both know more than I do at the moment, so I can't really judge or say anything. I'll do some more investigating when I'm out doing my rounds. Kyouko-san, Nagisa-chan, be safe if you're fighting alone.... well, mostly Nagisa-chan there, but still." Mami murmurs something under her breath, exhaling sharply.

"Nagisa-chan, is there something you needed from me?"

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko looks a tiny bit insulted. "Well, maybe I exaggerated a bit for effect.." She says, scowling at Nagisa. "I mean, I didn't really /beat/ her but it's obvious if we'd-a kept fighting' that I'd have won." Not so obvious maybe, but she's not about to admit that. "And this Akemi-san.. I'm figurin' her out." She gives a bit of a predatory grin, flashing fang and tapping the side of her head. "I don't think she's half as tough as she makes out, it's just a matter of figurin' out how to beat her."

    "But, speakin' of her." She draws closer, conspiratorially. "There's this girl. Dunno her name but I saw her. Real cute, pink hair. This Akemi-san seems to care a lot about her. You saw her too, twerp, right?" She's reffering to Nagisa there. "I bet we could use her to get Akemi on our side. She's a Puella like us, right? She shouldn't be workin' for them." Apparently Kyouko has decided that the matter of Puella dominance can be sorted out after the rest of this is taken care of.

    But Mami wants more time to investigate. Kyouko scowls. "You haven't changed a bit. Always wantin' more time, to be more careful. Things ain't gonna wait forever, Mami. You do your investigating, and then find me and maybe we can do this. But I ain't gonna wait forever."

    She turns and starts to walk away. After a moment she hesitates, then glances back over her shoulder. Only one eye visible through her strands of hair. "It was good to see you again." Then she's gone through the crowd.

Nagisa Momoe has posed:
    That's about the response Nagisa expected for suggesting Kyouko might not be the biggest fish in the pond, so the scowl is weathered. The comment about Homura's friend, if that's what the pink haired girl is, gets a nod out of her, though she frowns at being called a name. This girls parents obviously never taught her very many manners. "It would be best if those of us that relied upon grief seeds were unified in not allowing outsiders to keep them. I wouldn't exclude people without a good reason, but it is a life or death matter for us."

    The sudden shift in tone from Kyouko, who starts to just up and leave, has her staring after in aggravation. Just when they were starting some progress! Still, it's better than getting run through by a spear, which was a distinct possibility had Mami not been present. And might still be- the redhead is unpredictable to her.

    Then, to Mami she turns and addresses, "I suppose I wanted the chance to get to know you better. I've remembered what you said, about your parents and your wish." There's a short pause before she adds, "And also, thought it may be a lot to ask, I was hoping you could teach me a little about hunting Witches. I can fight, but I've only stumbled onto them so far. If it comes to a fight I promise I won't be a burden, I'm learning very fast."

Mami Tomoe has posed:
"I..." Mami watches Kyouko leave them, and something crosses Mami's face - something akin to a bit of pain, and of both old memories coming back, that were both good and bad. "... it was... good seeing you too." She says, finally, her voice stilted in the quiet of Kyouko's wake.

"... Nagisa-chan, that is a good idea. However... not... not tonight. I ... have other duties. You have my number and such, no?" If Nagisa says no - Mami can't remember if she did give it or not - she promptly gives Nagisa her personal contact information so she can be reached at any time.