i'm starting a mahou shojo collection

[theguideless]

Date & Time: Buh week of 11/25 sure
Location: MOON
Characters: Kyouko, Sayaka, Oriko, Marty, more? Mahous?
Summary: Marty meets many magical missuses meandering a moonbase
Warnings: Nothing could be as bad as what I just typed a line above so I think we're in the clear


[PROMPTS BELOW IN THREADS]

Comments

[precludes]

Hm. [Her lips purse, mouth becoming very small, in thought.]

Haven't most things been transferred digitally by now? I wonder.

[theguideless]

[nodding.] That's why it's hard to find...but I can't practice writing things by hand without it. I have pencils, but no more paper. [growing sheepish:] Napkins tear up, because when I try to write it dark enough...

[precludes]

So that's what you need it for? That must take conviction.

[It might be misplaced dedication, but he dedicated nonetheless. There shouldn't be much time to dedicate to things, but...]

Perhaps you should ask at one of the few offices that made it up here? These days I doubt they're using much paper.

[theguideless]

Do you know them? [because Martin's drawing blanks. he's about to meld offices with officers, which makes better sense in his head.] I mean... [ducking his head.] I've been here for a little while still, but. There's a lot I don't know, so even that...

[precludes]

[Not as well as she'd like. She thinks, idly, of those she's met and hasn't, the general miasma of incompetence, of interference.]

At a time like this, what's inspired you to learn this for yourself? It could be a very noble cause, couldn't it?

[theguideless]

Noble...? [a beat. his mouth twitches into a smile.] Oh, ah...I don't think it's noble. I mean, I'm not sure. [his face? a little pink.] I never learned to write letters before – before being in this world, I mean. And I wanted to try... [and Sayaka's given him good reason to try a little harder, anyhow.]

[precludes]

[Really, what is she supposed to say about that kind of modesty? It's a small think to compliment, true.]

Very well. You should look forward to it, if you're possessed of plenty to say.

Is there someone, perhaps, to whom you wanted to write?

[theguideless]

[he nods, a quicker response than before.]

Madoka. [a beat.] We wrote letters a lot before, to our families. That was before we were here and a lot changed.

[precludes]

Oh, really?

[Is that so...There's only the one here, that Oriko knows of, though she makes a point of only trying to think of important information.]

Much has changed, it's true. I often wished that I could speak to my father.

Do you plan to send these letters, when you return home?

[theguideless]

[his head shakes once he understands what she's getting at.]

No, no...That's not somewhere I can go back to. They'll stay here.

[precludes]

[Why would you write a letter you'll never send...? How unfulfilling, she thinks.]

That must be difficult.

[It's said sympathetically, but openly--the kind of sympathy that leaves room for elaboration.]

[theguideless]

Oh, it's... [his smile is twitchy, a little lost on what emotion to pick. embarrassed? sad?] It's alright. It's a little sad, but I'm not... [he squints.] Nn, I mean. I already understand it, and I don't think it's unfair.

[precludes]

I see.

It sounds as though it wasn't your choice. I'm sorry.

[And she might be, some. Oriko cannot really hold anything against him, for whatever Madoka has given him, but she cannot help but wonder if he knows what the girl carried inside her.]

[theguideless]

You don't have to say that. [he's shaking his head, too. even now, he has a hard time accepting apologies on his behalf.

he smiles, meek.] I'm not sorry about being here, after everything. It's a good thing.

[precludes]

Even after everything?

[For her, too, there are days where being here seems selfishly preferable to the alternative, and that is enough to soften her even a little, despite the harm they've brought this world (congratulations, Martin).]

Well, there is no use in wasting it. Why not find you your paper?

[theguideless]

Oh! [the paper had slipped his mind in the midst of all this; his face flushes anew, remembering.] You're right...I should be looking for that.

[precludes]

[So absent-minded! Oriko looks up from where she's just been looking down at her tablet.]

I think you may find some off of the research and development side of things.

Do you have yourself a tutor?

[theguideless]

Auh, well...a lot of people, now and then. [counting them off by his fingers:] Madoka taught me how you're supposed to write letters...Koltira helps me make the words look right. Sayaka says she's going to help me, too!

[precludes]

I see. Is Sayaka well? [Well enough, she means, after all that happened, after she faced her sorry and inevitable fate.

How odd it is that one individual entirely independent from them has managed to become this kind of axis--but maybe not that odd. Magical girls seem to follow each other.]

[theguideless]

She's... [he hesitates, still smiling, but there's a little pulse of uncertainty. he doesn't know her well enough to know for sure, but he has hunches...]

I think she's safe. A lot of people are here for her.