♐ April 14th [ video of sorts; stalker community is in ur computers ]

[stillneedawish]

[ what you can see isn't a room or even a street, as is the community's usual ways with its privacy invasions; no, instead you're getting the view of... a word document? whatever's on Madoka's computer screen tonight, it's clear the community thinks it should be seen and has helpfully activated a skype-esque screen-sharing function to that effect. ]

- leave the city?
↳ I can't leave the others behind
↳ what about Mama Papa and Tatsuya?
↳ if they're in this city they're probably in other cities as well

- escape to another world until after April?
↳ no Incubators (I don't think they can world-hop?)
↳ cons: see above
↳ that's so obvious I bet Homura-chan already tried it anyway

- use my wish to outsmart them somehow? |

[ there's a long silence with only the blinking of the cursor after that sentence appears, and then Madoka's voice can be heard mumbling "I'm nowhere near smart enough for that," before she promptly deletes it.

talk to her? ]

Comments

[oceanicbutterfly]

What are you working on?

[stillneedawish]

... Back-up plans, I guess. Or um, I'm trying to, anyway.

[oceanicbutterfly]

Backup plans for what?

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[stillneedawish]

Karen-san... I know that you and Mami-san are close, but, um. How much do you know about what's really going on on our world?

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[oceanicbutterfly]

If you're asking me whether I know the truth about witches...

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[stillneedawish]

That's part of it, but I was wondering if you also knew about the reason time's become so strange here.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

...I can't say that I do. Does it have to do with Akemi-san? [You know, since she's been mentioned.]

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[stillneedawish]

Yes. At least, according to the notebook I wrote for myself. Apparently she can control time, or something like that, so she keeps repeating the same few weeks. That's why ever since I joined this community, it's only ever been March or April.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

I see. If only my world had such a simple answer. So then, she's trying to get a specific result, I suppose. Like repeatedly reloading a saved file in a video game.

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[stillneedawish]

Mm. ... I think she's trying to stop something terrible from happening to me. But I don't think it's working.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

So it seems, if she's still doing it. The question now, then, is what are you trying to avoid?

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[stillneedawish]

Well, at first I think I wanted to stop the cycles from repeating over and over, so I must have written my notebook so that I could do the same thing as Homura-chan, sort of. That's why I've been trying not to contract. Except that I don't think that's worked either. So I was thinking, well, maybe we need to start looking at something different.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

Such as leaving until the danger has passed.

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[stillneedawish]

Yes, exactly. Only there's another problem with that that I didn't even find out about until yesterday, so now I really don't know what to do.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

It's something Mikuni-san told you about the future, isn't it?

[2+2=4]

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[stillneedawish]

[ ace detective Karen Minazuki is on the case ]

Ah- well, yes, actually.

... according to her, if I contracted I'd become a Witch powerful enough to destroy the entire world in a few days. So I. I don't think that staying on my world is a safe option anymore.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

[She can realize obvious things from time to time]

...yes. I think that's probably right, then.

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[stillneedawish]

The thing is, I don't want to leave without everyone else. Not now I know that they're all in danger if they stay behind. And also... I think that if I left, I wouldn't be able to come back either, because the Incubators would just keep trying to get me. I'd have to move away for good unless I thought of a way to outsmart them properly.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

Who are these Incubators? You mentioned them earlier, too, but this is the first time I've heard of them.

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[stillneedawish]

Has Mami-san told you about Kyubey? He's one of them.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

I see. So it's all their game, so to speak. They write the rules, and they'll set things up so you can't win. [Man, does that sentence stir up some bad memories.]

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[stillneedawish]

I think that's more or less how it works, yes. I mean... I've been keeping a tally in my notebook, so that even if I can't remember anything else, I can keep track of how many timelines go by. There's already five marks in there since I first came up with the idea, so... something must keep happening where I don't really have a choice.

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[oceanicbutterfly]

What you need is a way to turn things around on them. A loophole in the rules.

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[stillneedawish]

A loophole... I guess so. That'd be perfect, but I'm not sure where I'd find one.

[ locked ]

[oceanicbutterfly]

That's the hard part. It's a matter of finding something they can't stop you from doing, because it never occurred to them that you might try.