01 ➷ video

[heartfeltfancy]

 [The feed turns on to the face of someone possibly familiar.]

Ahh, it is working? I was afraid this worked differently than the one I'm used to. 

[She folds her hands in her lap, but awkwardly--because her left hand keeps twitching uncontrollably. If you study her for longer than a few seconds, you'll notice it's for a reason. Her entire left arm, as well as the left half of her face is horribly scarred, with a lightning-like pattern on the skin itself. Her left eye is partially closed, and overall the left side of her seems awkward.]

My name is Madoka Kaname. If anyone here is familiar with a place called the Facility, please contact me.  [she pauses, looking a bit unsure.]

I guess...maybe it's good it was destroyed, if our worlds are all really gone, now. I hope everyone was able to get out safely, and those who weren't...

[A longer pause.]

They're in a better place, now.

Comments

hey i can use that icon too :'D

[heartfeltfancy]

[She stays silent for a while, still trying to hold back that flood of tears.]

wall of hug icons is pretty 0kay with me

[beknightedheroine]

<sub>[--Ah. There's something wet on her shoulder. Just one spot, but - was Madoka crying?

Sayaka feels a brief flash of painful self-consciousness - her eyes weren't dry, but she'd reflexively been reigning herself in. It always seemed right to try being strong in front of others, in the tower - but had she turned herself cold?]</sub>

..We probably have a lot to talk about, huh?

>8)

[heartfeltfancy]

Mmm. [A small nod in confirmation.] But...it's not pretty.

[beknightedheroine]

That's okay. I can't promise mine will be much better. Maybe it'll even be a little fun, trading stories.

[heartfeltfancy]

[She gives a weary smile, and lets go, plopping back down on her bed.]

Well...I haven't come straight from home. Ah, for the past...three months, I think, I was living at a testing facility.

[beknightedheroine]

A testing facility, hah.. ..I think I'm starting to hate scientists. Weirdest thing.

_{[Is there more than one place that unceremoniously drags people away from their homes, like here? Sayaka bristles at the thought, in a mix of fear and outrage.]}

Was it.. a place in our world? Or 'some place else,' like here?

_{[Either answer is bad. The chance that places like that exist in their world is unbelievable, but after meeting Jin and Minato.. it's not impossible to fathom.]}

[heartfeltfancy]

Some place else, I'm sure. It was a floating space-station that orbited the Earth, silly as it is.

It was...terrible.

[beknightedheroine]

...

<sub>[Sayaka wrings her hands for a moment, staring at them rather than look at Madoka. She doesn't want to give back news on top of what Madoka's sure to have gone through already.

When someone says something was 'terrible' and doesn't continue on, she's learned not to pry.]</sub>

Guess it's my turn to say a little.

I don't know how long I've been here. I usually tell people four months, but that's just when I started counting the days. I wasn't really that.. good at paying attention to those things, when I first woke up here.

I don't know what it'd be like in comparison to where you were. But this has never been a good place to be.

[heartfeltfancy]

Well, if it's anything like the Facility, I can just adapt.

Maybe it'll be better, now that I'm here.

[beknightedheroine]

<sub>[Sayaka's gaze jumps right back up to Madoka at that, her immediate response frozen in her throat even as her emotions turn into something utterly tumultuous.

She wants to say 'It'll be worse.'

She wants to say 'I know it'll be better.'

She decides on the latter.]</sub>

You're right.

We'll be fine. We'll be fine as long as we stick together, no matter what they do to us.

that icon makes me giggle so much

[heartfeltfancy]

[She gives a small clap, though her left hand falters a bit.]

Um, there's not a lot to say about the Facility, I think. [Spoiler: there is.]

They made us grow wings, one week. And we got replaced by...murderous puppets another week...

good that is what it exists for

[beknightedheroine]

..Wings sound kinda fun.

_{[She wonders if wings would be useful for a fight, if things end up in a situation desperate enough. Puella Magi work so strangely, it might be possible to will some into being..? Huh.]}

So they did things week by week. They mess with us here, too. Usually just once a month, depending on who's in charge. ..There's Dax, Riki, Zo, Ruana... and Jason.

<sub>[The last is said with a supreme jolt of venom, like that one name is a symbol of everything terrible in the world.

With the way Sayaka thinks, to her, he might be.]</sub>

He's the worst of them all, but--

_{[Hold on a sec. Sayaka had chanced to look down, away from Madoka's still rather upsetting visage - and sees a very familiar kind of ring on her finger. She stares, and feels her insides twisting themselves into knots the longer she does.]}

[heartfeltfancy]

[Madoka was listening intently, but widened her eyes when Sayaka abruptly stopped.]

...what? What's wrong?

[beknightedheroine]

...You have one. A soul gem. Madoka, you know what that means, right...?

[heartfeltfancy]

[Blink-blink.]

Um, yes...? Of course I do.

[beknightedheroine]

<sub>[So Madoka made a contract.

All of the energy drains from her the instant of that realization. Was it because of her? Because of what she did, what she'd said what felt so long ago now - or was this Madoka from a different timeline, like Mami...?]</sub>

..no secrets. No hiding things. Madoka, I'm going to ask this now. Do you know where Witches come from?

[heartfeltfancy]

[Madoka's silent for a moment. The Sayaka she knew, she didn't have a clue as to how the Puella Magi system worked, not Soul Gems, not Witches. Did this one have the knowledge? She wouldn't be asking about Witches, otherwise.]

...I do.

How did...how did you find out?

[beknightedheroine]

I guess you could say it was trial-and-error.

_{[..it's really difficult to speak about this, with Madoka out of anyone. She doesn't want to admit that she fell that far. Sayaka's voice turns distant and clipped, a defense mechanism she'd made to be able to bear talking about the secrets of Puella Magi at all.]}

There were no Grief Seeds or Witches around in all the tower when I got here, so it was pretty much inevitable. I think I lasted a while, but eventually, I stopped being able to. I just kind of.. slipped away.

..but that's another thing about this place. They always bring you back the very next day, no matter what happens.

[heartfeltfancy]

[Madoka's face falls.]

Oh, Sayaka-chan...

[She tries to muster up a smile, but it's not sincere.] Eheh, I never thought I could call the Facility merciful, but...I guess it was. Our Soul Gems got cleaned every Sunday, for us...

[beknightedheroine]

It's not going to happen ever again, I can promise that.

_{[Even if she has to smash her soul gem herself.]}

You don't have to be sad about what's already happened, Madoka - _{[--'to hell with yesterday,' right?--]} - Because I know better now. I just.. for a minute, I sort of wished you weren't like this. Like me.

_{..'wish' feels like a very wrong word now.}

[heartfeltfancy]

[Another little laugh, but this one has virtually no life to it.]

I'm curious, though...what's the last thing you remember from home? I think we might be different, there.

the revenge of the return of my crying icon

[beknightedheroine]

_{[Out of everything, this is what's going to hurt to say the most. The brief strength that had returned to her voice when she had been trying to reassure Madoka is gone again.]}

..when I last remembered, you weren't a Puella Magi. I'd just killed a Witch, and you told me that the way I'd fought it was bad for me.

I got angry. I don't remember a lot of what I said, but I ran away after saying it - and then I was here, and I never... h-had a chance to...

..Apologize to you, Madoka...

elgdfks;hgdfh

[heartfeltfancy]

[She's silent for another moment, unsure of what to do. She remembered something similar happening, but she had definitely been a puella magi at the the time.

Was this more of Homura's time-looping at work?]

Ah, I see. [ . . . ] Please, don't blame yourself.

i live to serve

[beknightedheroine]

<sub>['Ah, I see.'

That wasn't the sound of recognition. Sayaka's not sure whether to feel relief or worse - this isn't the Madoka she needs to apologize to. This is just another case of Sayaka being from the wrong timeline, the terrible awful one where Mami died and none of them got along at all and she was, most definitely, headlong on the path to turning into a monster where it really mattered -

Sayaka simply breathes rather than answer, the breath hitching in her throat every now and then.]</sub>

[heartfeltfancy]

[A nervous gulp from Madoka herself. It was going to come up sooner or later. The Sayaka from the Facility didn't know either. And if she already knew about Soul Gems and Witches, it wouldn't be as hard of a revelation.]

Sayaka-chan...do you know about Homura-chan's powers?