AUDIENCE: HOMURA

[retellers]

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week 0, wednesday

[retellers]

[ Homura's wish is quickly followed by the stars shining bright ... and then a voice from right behind her: ]

Hi! I'm here, thanks for calling!

[ f a s t ]

[horologia]

[ jfc where the hell did you come from ]

[horologia]

[ one of her hands comes up halfway in a reflexive, aborted motion to- what? she has no shield here.

she hasn't been able to transform, even after finding her soul gem, so really, she's just a regular girl. who apparently is way too jumpy and has the according combat reflexes, but nothing to make them actually useful. what a good first impression!

so she forces herself to relax, expression sheepish, and: ]

I- um, actually meant to call sooner, but... does it have to take a wish every time?

[retellers]

Sorry! Did I startle you?

[ they take a step back at her reaction, hands raised to show they mean no arm ]

But, yeah, if you're calling from the Planetarium and not talking to us in town, that's how it works. I don't know why when we all have the PHS and we can text you any time we want but you guys can't contact us like that? It's dumb. [ it's blunt ] Would... it help if I texted you next time to warn you I was coming?

[horologia]

I think... if I know to expect that it's going to be that sudden every time, I'll be fine. You don't have to go out of your way and treat me any differently, or anything. I'll just be more prepared, going forward.

[ which, speaking of. ]

Wishing... doesn't cost us anything here, right? We're not trading... memories, or nova, or anything like that?

[retellers]

Okay...

[ the question seem to surprise them and they're quick to raise their hands again ]

What? No, no, I promise this is just some super long-winded communication method. And also why we need to stick some of us in town at all times anyway, just so you don't need to come here every time you need anything.

w0, sunday

[retellers]

[ time travel powers, activate— wait. swan teleports into the room on sunday, though their demeanor seems a lot less excited than it used to be. there's a tense line to their shoulder in back. ]

Hi, Homura. How are you holding up?

[horologia]

I think I'm the one who should be asking you that. It sounds like you had a busy few days...

[ between whatever was going on over there on friday and saturday, and then keeping watch thereafter. ]

[retellers]

Yeah, but you guys had to deal with the whole... trial and execution, bleh. [ they can't even finish that without making a face ] I know it can't have been easy.

[horologia]

... I'm fine. Maybe I feel like I should have been able to do more. Known what was coming and stopped Virid, somehow. At least just from what he did to Pikachu.

But... what's happened has happened, right? There isn't any going back to change it now.

[ haha ]

I guess I just don't really understand why you kept saying 'removed,' when it seems like the punishment was fairly straightforward in the end.

[ and your sentence is: death! ]

[retellers]

We weren't completely sure what it would be at first. "Removed" is how the Realm kept referring to what needed to happen. Then... up until that morning, we didn't think it'd be public either.

week 1, sunday

[retellers]

[ homura will receive a message on her phs. unfortunately, it might not be the most helpful: forest.

but assuming she actually makes the effort to search through the (not exactly small) forest, sooner or later a bird will come fluttering about her. if she follows it, it takes her to a figure lying on the ground, posed like a corpse.

wait, no, they're not dead. goat holds up a hand, waiting as the bird perches on it, before it flies off. anyway, hello. ]

[horologia]

[ yeah she's going to go looking, so haha. hello bird. it takes a bit of time, and she makes a stop to grab a small cloth from probably the dining room on the way, but she eventually makes it there.

the tea is probably lukewarm at best, now, but. she settles down nearby and sets the pot and cups down. ]

... I don't actually know if you eat or drink anything. You said, um, that you weren't human, right?

Still, even if you heal quickly... it doesn't mean getting rebuffed by that barrier so many times wasn't painful. So I thought... some teas have anti-inflammatory properties, and can help with pain relief...

[ she's rambling. ]

[retellers]

[ they look up from where they're lying. ]

I will recover soon, but thank you for your kindness nevertheless.

[horologia]

You can still have the tea even if you don't need it to recover. Unless, ah, you don't drink?

[retellers]

... Then, I will accept your gift with gratitude.

[ as they take a cup. ]

week 2, wednesday

[retellers]

[ in a backdated time, after or before pirates have attacked, swan teleports right to homura as always ]

Hi, Homura! How are you this week?

[ swan is wearing a pirate hat. ]

[horologia]

[ a pirate hat over the hood. beautiful.

anyway she looks a little ashamed and a bit, uh, guilty? ]

I, um. I may have done something a little stupid ... but it was my mistake, and um. No one died? I think I need to figure out a way to apologize to Fiora-san, though, if she's willing to hear it...

O-oh, but that's not the reason I called you here! I was wondering... do you know anything about the mysterious messages some of us get at the beginning of the week? What their purpose is?

[retellers]

I'm sure Fiora will forgive you! You got rid of the pirates, didn't you?

[ they are beautiful, yes. and they do not seem worried homura exploded a robot. it's fine. she lived. ]

... What mysterious messages?

[horologia]

Well, I don't know for sure that there's more than one, but I'm inclined to think it... Um. At the beginning of last week I got a message that deleted itself. It told me to pick one of three things, and then a person...

That person then told me later that they were experiencing, um, an odd sort of symptom? And it started before we got our rewards from collecting Nova, but lasted until the end of the week.

[retellers]

[ ... hmmm ]

What kind of symptom?

week 2, sunday

[retellers]

[ it takes a bit to have an answer, long enough that swan teleports wherever homura has probably left to after giving up. they kind of ... falter when they land, shaking their head ]

Ugh. Hi. Everything okay?

[ this seems backwards ]

[horologia]

... Shouldn't I be the one asking that? When the others left, they seemed ...

[ a little panicked? ]

Concerned. And you don't usually take that long to respond.

[retellers]

Uh, well. People on the other teams have been breaking the rules and things aren't great but we're holding it together! So it's fine!

[ IS IT ]

[horologia]

What do you mean, breaking the rules?

[ IS IT REALLY FINE ]