◇ 001; video

[turns]

[ she's put this off for almost a month now. what with looking out for madoka, keeping an eye on oriko mikuni, examining the surrounding areas and moving in with three other magical girls... there simply hasn't been time for something as frivolous as this. nonetheless, it's something that needs to happen at some point, and thus she has holed herself up in her room with her tablet at the ready.

today is the day homura akemi finally contacts the network.

when the feed comes on, a young woman with long black hair can be seen. some of you may already know her, for any number of reasons; her cool, formal demeanor is in effect as always, even if it's significantly less icy than it's been over the past few weeks. ]

My name is Homura Akemi. I arrived here a little over one month ago, and I've been working on settling in ever since. [ her words have a certain practiced, muted tone to them, as does the slight bow she gives the camera. ] It's nice to meet you all.

[ she closes her eyes, takes a breath, exhales- when she finally opens her eyes again, she resumes speaking in that controlled way of hers. ]

If the network is reliable, I've been to this place several times already. As such, some of you have likely met me before. I'd be very interested in meeting with anyone I once knew.

[ a slight pause, another breath, and then- ]

Thank you for your time.

[ and with that, she unceremoniously reaches out and closes the feed. ]

Comments

[Video]

[speakveryclearly]

[A girl sitting on a bench in the training hall. She should look striking, if not familiar.

She remembers Homura, from last month. And now seeing her on the network she realizes she has seen her long-haired Japanese schoolgirl form on these screens before and heard her melancholy voice over the speakers - an introduction, request for information, that she'd almost honored but hadn't gotten around to before it was too late.

The poor thing, then, is probably not used to time travel like this. (She genuinely thought this.) Kanaya shouldn't ignore her this time.]

You shouldn't be. Interested, that is. Investigation of such a nature only leads to pain.

[Video]

[turns]

[ pain? she's long since passed that threshold. she'd be amused at the alien's words, even, if they weren't directly counterproductive to her goals. still, she is clearly attempting to provide advice, and since their last meeting was admittedly a brusque one... ]

Does it? I suppose I wouldn't know.

[ ...she decides to be polite for now. ]

And yet I still wish to find out what I can.

[Video]

[speakveryclearly]

[Oh, Ms. Akemi. How innocent she seems to Kanaya right now, ignorant of the cruelties the multiverse has to offer. She was that way once. Before she tried to win over the affections of her old friends who shunned her based on the experiences they had had in different timelines.

Homura clearly has no idea what this is like. At all. Clearly Kanaya can somehow keep it that way.]

I did see "you" here before, though the meeting we had in the beginning of April was the first time.

But she wasn't you. That's what you're going to have to keep in mind, if you're going down this travel guidance structure. When you're confronted with whatever escapades alternate versions of yourselves got up to, keep in mind that they are separate persons.

video;

[invocation]

Eh, maybe you'll stick around this time. [she does not sound or look particularly concerned one way or the other] Are you really gonna trust this group to give you information? There's a ton of freaks who use this thing.

video;

[turns]

Perhaps.

[ who could say for sure? no person seems to have any clue in the slightest as to why people go back when they do. it's something she'll have to look into further.

and as for "trusting this group..." ]

I wonder, is trust even relevant at the moment?

video;

[invocation]

Huh? What's that s'posed to mean?

[video]

[blahblahblah]

Nice to meet you, for what it's worth from a bunch of strangers equally trapped in some elsewhere-elsewhen. Not that the whole "settling in" thing loses any value.

Rita Mordio, mage. Hopefully we can work together to take care of business and get back to our respective lives.

[video]

[turns]

[ someone she's never met - judging from her words, in this incarnation or any other. yet more people to keep tabs on (or at the very least, some memories - a name, a face).

still, they are a mage. (this place seems to have no shortage of fantasies and fictions; she's long since lost any capacity to be surprised, given her own life.) ] ]

It's nice to meet you. [ and normally, that'd be it. but this is a new location, one which she is still observing and taking notes on; any information, any help she can get should be kept carefully. so she asks, in a politely interested tone it's almost difficult to tell is artificial- ] What do you mean, "mage?"

[Video]

[immortal_smoke]

Coming here doesn't seem like the sort of thing one easily forgets.

[Video]

[turns]

Memories are not always such simple things.

[ there's still a politeness to her voice, even if her words are almost brusque in their nature. ]

Re: [Video]

[immortal_smoke]

Is that so? I'd ask if you have experience with memory loss, but it might be a difficult question to answer.

[draconic_historian]

Do you not remember your previous visits? Interesting...

[looks like he's writing something down offscreen.]

[turns]

[ and now, a dragon.

past the initial moment of shock, she can't say she's surprised in the slightest. this place seems to have a propensity for humanity, but past that - any species, any fantasy, has been fair game. she's seen aliens and wizards already, why should a dragon be any different? ]

I do not, much as they did not.

audio;

[salvagedsoul]

Ah... Are you the Homura Akemi-san who knows Madoka?

audio;

[turns]

[ madoka, her mind registers, and just like that she is on her guard. how does this person know her? just what is he up to? it takes a few guarded seconds to recall her - homura's, that is, earlier posts on the network. perhaps he's just judicious in his research.

still... ]

I am. And as for you...

[ and from there she falls silent, waiting for any further explication on his end. ]

[Voice]

[atailoftwoworlds]

.....Several times before?

[Voice]

[turns]

Two, at least.

[ she's inclined to believe it was three - there are comments, notes within other posts that simply don't match up to the network signatures of either previous appearance. but there's no need to reveal that sort of information yet, especially when she has no idea just what her continual reappearance means in the first place. ]

[video]

[ringbeast]

[Nitoh's filming from the couch in the apartment, legs up on the table and the camera shifting around as he eats a doughnut probably pilfered from Haruto with his off hand. It is, yes, covered in mayonnaise.]

Hey, I'm new too! Or, you know, at least I've never met you. So you don't have to worry about running into me and having me be all hey Homura, how come you don't know me?

[He purses his lips at the camera.]

Actually, I should probably call you Akemi, ha ha. Don't want to come off as a weirdo.

[It is far too late.]

Anyway, nice to meet you, I'm Kousuke Nitoh.

[He waves.]

[video]

[turns]

[ she watches his entire post with a sort of distanced bemusement. this person, whoever he is - kousuke nitoh, one of the first obviously japanese names she's run across - is an odd one to be sure. (she tries to ignore the doughnut. it takes a concerted effort.)

when she finally starts recording a reply, her standard inscrutable aura of cool is in place. wouldn't want to fall behind on appearances, after all, now would she? ]

It is nice to meet you too, Nitoh.

[ her formality is unwavering, even in the face of such oddity. she has seen far worse - it will take more than that to make her falter!! ]

video foreverrr

[fortissimos]

[ God, and she'd been doing so well avoiding Homura, too. But Madoka would get upset if she ignored the other girl completely, so she decides to bite the bullet; almost managing to hide the frown on her face. ]

Isn't that kinda weird? [ Asking about what her past versions had done. Even now, she's still only just coming to terms with the idea of different timelines. ]

video

[turns]

[ homura, on the other hand, makes no attempt to hide her absolute ambivalence on the topic of sayaka. her standard half-frown is present, her expression as completely inscrutable as ever. ]

Think what you will. It's none of my concern.

[ wow thanks homura awesome of you to extend that hand of welcome to your roommate ]

[biwinning]

and fiinally 2he 2how2 up.
took your 2weet a22 tiime.

text

[turns]

[ she stares at that for... far too long. it's fairly clear what it's intended to say, even if i have NO IDEA how sollux would translate into japanese, but it's still a bit - offputting.

finally, she types out a (somewhat terse) response. ]

How long have you expected this?

text

[postpones]

[not that it matters when the "from:" field is visible, but typing keeps things more impersonal. Allows her to measure responses using better care.

honestly speaking, she'll have to have a chat with Oriko regarding this as well --]

And if we met prior to your arrival at this place?

text; owo more orikooo

[turns]

[ as awful as oriko was, she was only a momentary setback. after all, she was little without her pet witch; with a concerted attack, homura could likely have defeated her alone. and of course, she'd have minimal problems in recruiting one of the others if madoka was in danger.

but kirika kure... she poses a different problem altogether. she's violent, unpredictable (almost - as long as she can keep track of oriko mikuni, her lackey will likely fall into line as well), and poses a more immediate threat to madoka than anything else she's seen in days. she'll have to watch over madoka more carefully than ever from this point on. ]

Then just knowing you are present should suffice.

[ right now, homura's almost grateful for the harsh white glow of the tablet screen, for the blinking cursor at the end of her reply; it means her own gut reaction can't be read either. ]