2014-07-20 - Silence in the Labyrinth

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Title: Silence in the Labyrinth
Summary:

Be very, very quiet. We're hunting Witches.

Who:

Mami Tomoe, Kyouko Sakura
GM: Hayato Nishi

Where:

Game Center Crown - nearby alley

OOC - IC Date:

14 February 2014 - 7/20/2014


<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [None] has posed.

There have been unsettling rumors in Shitamachi. Rumors that, now and then, someone goes missing - loudly making a nuisance with loud music one day, gone without a trace the next. Are young people gaining a sense of civic responsibility and becoming respectable citizens, or is something more sinister going on?

To those who hunt Witches, there are ways to swiftly determine that it's the latter.

Near a local arcade, where loud music is a norm rather than an exception, there is an alley. Make your way carefully, turn at the right - or wrong - time, and the world of the mundane fades away. A Witch's Labyrinth, a realm separate from what most would consider 'real', showing a glimpse of something alien and wrong. Few know of such places, and most of the few are those tasked with seeking them out and ending them. This mad realm beckons...

Color. Bright, vibrant colour is the first glimpse - abstract, flowing, shifting between solid and illusion with each moment. It's as if the world were glimpsed, painted in watercolours, and the art substituted for reality. Blue skies and sunlight, trees visibly swaying in a cool breeze, birds flying around overhead with beaks open for a happy song.

Or a sinister song. Or perhaps no song at all. For in spite of the bright appearance, this colourful world is absolutely silent. The birds make no sound, the leaves cannot be heard to rustle, the wind is felt but the air is silent. The world makes no sound, whatever the appearance might imply.

The world responds to no sound. However heavy the feet that fall on the ground, no footstep can ever be heard. However mighty the blow struck to a nearby tree, the sound of metal on wood will never ring out. If one were to speak, those words might be heard - but they would never echo.

This world is quiet. In the distance, there might be movement - a dark flaw in the art, a path to something more real than this pastoral painting - but there is nothing to hear.

COMBAT: Hayato Nishi transforms into Youma Form The Silent Witch!
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 2 opponents!


<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.

Glancing sidelong into the windows of the arcade, Kyouko's eyes track over the glowing machines, thoughtlessly absorbing the colorful action playing out on each for a moment or two. /No games tonight./

Kyouko has her favorites, but there aren't many arcades in the city that she hasn't wandered into, ever searching for new opponents to test herself against. The neon lights of the streets bathe the area in their pervasive glow, and the vivid colors of the inner labyrinth tear through them like foglights, boldly standing out in the night.

Grinning to Mami, Kyouko scratches her leg. "Looks a lot more colorful than our last one already, huh?"

Transforming with a flash of scarlet, Kyouko laces her fingers together and stretches her arms forward, cracking her knuckles. Lightly bouncing her spear shaft on her shoulder, her gait is relaxed and almost casual as she approaches the threshold of the witch's madness. But her brow is furrowed as she takes in the beautiful sights, and the profound sense of wrongness of so quiet a world.

Closing her eyes, she can hear the gurglings and beatings of her body's processes, the blood flowing behind her ears and everywhere else.. "This is..different.." Her eyebrows lift at the sound of her own voice. Normally it carries well, but the sound that she just heard seemed strangely suppressed and flat.

Fishing into her pocket, she pulls out her cell phone. With a few swipes of her thumb, she starts playing a shuffled playlist of Girls Generation songs. The J-pop sounds reedy and tinny through the little speakers, unassisted by the evil nature of the place. Nonetheless, it's something for their minds to hold on to.

"That's better."

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura transforms into Puella Magi Kyouko!


<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

The Labyrinth is its own sort of reality, and Mami Tomoe knows them well--or at least, she's experienced a lot of them. She's spared only a glance for the arcades, and only then to check for more unusual signs; the sounds, and the stories, are what drew her attention to this area first, and how she walks with a golden gem in hand, which glows as they approach--

And disappears soon enough, as the clashing riot of color from within the Labyrinth calls out at them.

A bright gold glow springs from her feet to the top of her shining hair, as Mami twirls once into her transformation. "It's not hard to be more colorful than the last," she points out. "If we're lucky it'll at least have a more reasonable /path/..."

She steps forward and for a moment cannot pin down the difference; the colors, she would expect, she's already seen; it's hard on the eyes, but beautiful in its way. Still, that she only needs to search through to see the layers, and then she can see her foes. But there's something.... missing....

Her feet make no noise, and when Kyouko speaks, Mami looks over to her. "...It is. I wonder..."

There's music.

"And it may draw our quarry out to us. Be ready." Mami does not draw out any waeapons yet.

She instead points toward the movement in the distance. "...This way." She starts walking.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe transforms into Puella Mami!


<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [None] has posed.

Reedy, tinny, Kyouko's music plays through the cellphone's meager speakers. It's like a candle in a pitch-black room, a beacon of light in incessant darkness. But that faint hope is miniscule at best, and seems to fade as the air grows heavier. It can still be heard - there's almost nothing else to cling to - but the very world seems to be trying to snuff it out in subtle ways.

The world also lashes out in not-so-subtle ways, as the Puella Magi delve deeper into the painted world. The dark flaw reveals a corridor of glass and shadows, fluorescent lights reflecting in a scintillating kaleidoscope off of endless windows. Beyond those panes stretch an unending succession of abandoned desks, many overturned in haste.

And before those who speak, movement. Hands, disembodied, two or three feet tall each, half a dozen. They hop on bloodless wrists, fingers tipped not with nails but with glistening knives. Every one of them is curled, two fingers pointing upward as they advance-

More movement, glimpsed as a reflection in a window - a dozen of the hands, having just landed behind the girls. Silently advancing in an ambush, stretched out with all fingers aimed at the duo. They rise up, chop fully against the ground once in silence, then charge. Twitching, lashing out, seeking to slice those who speak and their meager musical device.

Where metal edges clash, there are sparks but no ringing. Even engaged in battle, the familiars are silent.

COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has used Knives In The Back on Kyouko Sakura.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has used Cannot Hear Them Coming on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly dodges Hayato Nishi's Cannot Hear Them Coming, taking 6 Fatigue damage!  Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates!  Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates!  Tangle applied to Mami Tomoe!  
COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura fails to dodge Hayato Nishi's Knives In The Back, taking 38 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Stagger applied to Kyouko Sakura!  


<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.

The soundlessness is more distracting than any din, and the dazzling colors distract and disorient. Normally observant, Kyouko's attention bounces around the many elements spread out before her, the several singers' songs a meager lifeline. She does not notice the squat spidery hands crawling upon her until a few sink their knives into her back and her leg. Crying out in pain and surprise, Kyouko lurches forward, her hand flying back to grope for an assailant, violently hurling the familiar back as she feels it out.

Brushing the others off with her spear, her lip curls and her eyes blaze. The blood on her back is warm and wet. Flinging her hand forward, palm open and outstretched, five slender spears from from her fingertips, soundlessly slicing through the air to stab and lance at the butcher's mitts sneaking up with knives brandished.

"If this one can scream, I'mma find out how after that."

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has used Pincushion on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi fails to brace Kyouko Sakura's Pincushion, taking 15 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Hayato Nishi is Quipped!  Cripple, Exhausted, and Stagger applied to Hayato Nishi!  


<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mami can feel the air solidify, weigh down on her shoulders, all the moreso as they move into the corridor ahead. Glass and shadow it might be, but it still imposes a limit on her movements, and movement is what keeps her alive in a place like this. At least the silence doesn't bother her as much; as she steps more and more, continuing to have no sound, she reflects how she'll have to compensate, if she can't hear the impacts of her shots--

As a matter of fact, she relies a lot on sound. It's only the reflection in the glass that prepares her for the coming attack; rolling forward suddenly, her ankle twists on the shadow-coated ground, which takes her away from the blade-tipped hands, but not as gracefully as she'd like.

Rolling the rest of the way down, she pulls a rifle from her side, staring down the creatures. "If anyone can manage it, you can," she replies, and fires once, letting the impact send her backwards, stepping up and pulling another gun, and another, and another, retreating and firing one after another at what she assumes are Familiars.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Flourish on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi narrowly braces Mami Tomoe's Tiro Flourish, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  
<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [None] has posed.

Through the air, spears fly in silence - and each finds a mark, pinning a hand to the floor. Impaled, they each twitch once before going still - but there are more. There are always more. Through the scintillating windows, dozens upon dozens crawl along walls, vanishing into the darkness. Blade-tipped fingers might now be scraping silently along the glass overhead, approaching ever closer...

The gunfire is somehow...unsatisfying. Familiars fall, and there's a muffled boom as each flintlock fires - but it sounds wrong. There's no crack of a bullet ripping through the air, no thud of an impact on a target - at most, the muffled sound of gunpowder igniting. That, and no more. More familiars fall, and more can be glimpsed approaching.

The lights flicker as the next waves advance from behind - wherever the Puella Magi turn, they're always advancing from behind - but there is an escape that can be glimpsed. Deeper in, a shift in the lighting, perhaps the lair of the Witch itself? Or another trap?

A sudden chalkboard erupts from the floor between Mami and Kyouko, cutting each off from the other - and while Kyouko can still cling to muffled singing, Mami is left in silence...

COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has used Up Against The Board on Kyouko Sakura.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has used Left To One's Thoughts on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe narrowly counters Hayato Nishi's Left To One's Thoughts, taking 3 Fatigue damage!  
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe's counterattack, Tiro Retort, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Hayato Nishi!  
COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura fails to brace Hayato Nishi's Up Against The Board, taking 13 Fatigue damage!  


<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.

The silence certainly takes some of the fun out of it..Kyouko still grunts and huffs as she fights, but in isolation it feels detached, even with her wounds. A swarm is bad for this quiet realm. The vigilance necessary to spot the soundless attackers is difficult when there are too many foes to keep track of.

Turning around in a slow circle, Kyouko tuts at the approaching onslaught. She's starting to feel like she's kicked an ant mound over. Scanning and scanning, she searches for a break in the line, and finds one in the subtle discoloration flickering ahead. It's a classic trap to nudge your prey one way, so she doesn't just dash forward..

But then she's knocked on her butt by a sudden blackboard bursting up through the ground. Steam practically huffs from her nostrils as she growls, increasingly irate over how often she's finding herself caught unawares. Grasping her spear in both hands, she shoves herself to her feet by pushing off the floor with her weapon.

"Mami! I'm going deeper, just ahead!" She has no idea if her words could be heard. Kyuubey would be pretty useful right about now..if ever there were a place that called for telepathy.

Tightening her grip, she lunges forward, sprinting for the shift in the light.

Kyouko snarls and slashes at all the hands that creep by, yowling like an angry alley cat, hissing and spitting up a storm around the silent swings of her razor sharp strokes.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has used Masterstroke on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi narrowly dodges Kyouko Sakura's Masterstroke, taking 32 Fatigue damage!  


<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Familiars fall, and even that doesn't make a sound; Mami has to keep her eyes on everything before her to keep up, looking for motion and firing where she can't hear the sounds of something approaching. ...As a sharpshooter, relying on her vision is one thing--but this is different. Her rhythm is off, which keeps her tense.

...Frankly, the lack of the big explosions sucks the fun out of it for Mami, too. Not that she'll admit it's fun, of course.

But she has no time for admissions; she can only vaguely see some kind of exit, but that's cut off by another Familiar, and suddenly--

Silence. Mami is alone again; the board cuts off the sight of her friend, and she can't hear her, either. "--!" Another Familiar rushes too, and suddenly she fires outward at hose near her, in all directions, trying to get her bearings. "Sakura-san?" she calls, her voice briefly caught in her throat. There's another few moments, before--

"No, it's not that easy--" She stretches her arm, and a much larger weapon appears in it, pointed straight at the chalkboard. "I'm on my way!" she calls, whether she can be heard or not, and takes off running through the wreckage--if there is wreckage to run through.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Like Nails On... on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi fails to brace Mami Tomoe's Like Nails On..., taking 10 Fatigue damage!  Mami Tomoe is Psyched!  


<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [None] has posed.

Desperation breeds fury. On Kyouko's side of the board, dozens of hands swarm in, cutting each other in their haste to reach the spear-wielding girl. Her answering fury is devastating to the familiars, and whatever angle they advance from they are cut down. They keep coming, however, and the path forward is clear enough.

Light, of another nature. Once more, the place seems painted - except in places, where wooden walls instead cordon off a large area. There's no easy path down, and the floor of the great room is covered in spikes and platforms, like some titan's pottery collection smashed to shards and left to remain.

One of the wooden walls explodes in a cloud of silent smoke - Mami visible to Kyouko once more, having found another way into this central room. High above, the walls and paintings segue into those glass windows, familiar hands visible behind them with fingers either held in Vs or just balled up in fists, dancing around.

It must be the central room, however, as the Puella Magi are not alone. Crouched among the pottery is a large creature - covered in cottony fluff, excepting for long arms of flowing hair. There's no eyes, no ears, and yet it seems to know that there are other beings here as soon as they enter.

The arms flow in the air, and a bird-like shape appears from the tip of one. Abstract, bright red, beak opened in a silent warcry as if flies directly at Mami. The other hand gestures to Kyouko, but nothing comes out-

-though the survivors of her rampage have caught up horribly fast.

COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has used Cannot Hear Them Coming on Kyouko Sakura.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has used Silence And Fury on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura narrowly dodges Hayato Nishi's Cannot Hear Them Coming, taking 15 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Tangle applied to Kyouko Sakura!  
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe fails to dodge Hayato Nishi's Silence And Fury, taking 24 Fatigue damage!  Cripple applied to Mami Tomoe!  


<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.

Kyouko's lawnmower routine goes over pretty well with this crowd, and helps distract the redhead from her still smarting injuries. She doesn't have much of a chance to drink in the scenery, though its ruined impressions register on her as she runs through.

Feeling the ghostly breath of air as the wall bursts before her, Kyouko flashes Mami a grin and a thumbs up as they both come to the core. The witch is strange, as so many are. It will prove its mettle soon enough..

Kyouko squares her stance, mentally charting out the best path to hop along to reach her prey, digging her heels into a flake of a giant's teacup..when knives carve into her ankles. Leaping forward, she dodges some of the damage..but not all that much, all things considered.

Cursing under her breath, she leaps forward again, and again, turning her dodge into a haphazard, darting charge. Jumping high into the air, Kyouko plunges her spear down, tip towards the floor, shoving the blade at the cottony creature's head, attempting to pole vault off of her and across to the other side.

Her spear makes contact with something. She sails forward through the air.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has used Masterstroke on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi narrowly dodges Kyouko Sakura's Masterstroke, taking 32 Fatigue damage!  


<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

A sudden smile fades onto Mami's face as she sees Kyouko's ever-arrogant grin. Having made a door, now she emerges into the central area, looking around here at the painted walls, the strange backdrops, the pottery littering the area after some sort of giants' rowdy party. She should have noise, here, from all the rubble, but at least the red of her friend is loud enough.

She moves along with Kyouko, twin rifles suddenly in her hands, pointed upward, her arms bent to allow her to pick her target quickly. Her steps are silent, but only because of the peculiar qualities of this place. As they move out towards the center...

Mami's eyes lift up the creature, with fluff and long arms and features she can't actually make out. She sees the hands as soon as the arms flow, and the bird's beak flies straight towards her--

As Kyouko charges, Mami is carried backward with the force of the blow, the wind knocked out of her before she can shout; her hands scrape over the thing, her guns briefly lost to either side, before she manages to pull herself free--but 'free' in this case means 'crashed into one of the walls', landing with a smear of blood along the wood behind her. She ends up in a somewhat less than elegant pile, still for a moment--

Before suddenly the rubble around her bursts, set in all directions with a spark of motion in the silence that, if one looks closely, turns out to be a ball of ribbon that becomes two arms that right the Puella Magi soundly.

COMBAT: Mami Tomoe has used Evadere on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi narrowly braces Mami Tomoe's Evadere, taking 7 Fatigue damage!  Mami Tomoe is Psyched!  Bind Break! All of Mami Tomoe's debuffs are cleared!  


<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [None] has posed.

It's silent. Even confronted, even grievously injured, the Witch remains silent. It moves as Kyouko leaps, her cell phone's tinny music sounding her assault, and avoids being pierced in the head. Still, Kyouko's spear makes contact with something, though the lack of a distinctive sound makes it hard to tell what. The blade digs in, and tears something important as Kyouko finds another upturned piece of pottery.

Mami's entrance, interrupted by the painted bird, is at least attention-grabbing to the Witch. From the shattered wall, more hands appear - each holding a single razor-tipped finger upward, dancing in circles as they advance toward the ribbon-righted girl.

Clay shards tumble and bounce in the wake of both Puella Magi, utterly silent as they collapse into the depths beneath. The Witch's hair-like arms whip upwards abruptly, and the surrounding walls change in an instant - coloured a deep navy blue, dotted with whorls of gold. A night sky, produced in watercolour, with nothing but sky and stars.

Kyouko's music fades away entirely. The air is no longer heavy, now - it is thin. At this rate, it will soon be a struggle to breathe - and there is little to carry sounds, now. To be heard, at all, one would have to scream as loudly as possible...

COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has used Knives In The Back on Mami Tomoe.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi has used Peace And Quiet on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi accepts Hayato Nishi's Peace And Quiet, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Surge applied to Hayato Nishi!  Cleanse! All of Hayato Nishi's debuffs are cleared!  
COMBAT: Mami Tomoe perfectly dodges Hayato Nishi's Knives In The Back, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Dodge!  Mami Tomoe's Fade ability activates!  Mami Tomoe's Flash ability activates!  


<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.

The upbeat tunes seem to retract in on themselves, retreating like a broken wave, creeping back through the pinholes from which they came. Kyouko tries to shout at the speechthief, but her voice can't escape her lips. Mami has taken some hits but seems in fine form, and Kyouko's injuries aren't something that she's about to fall over from.

With the two of them in fighting shape, it's just a matter of time before they pick this cotton, even if their fingers get a little bloody in the process.

Silently spitting, Kyouko flings her spear forward like a javelin. It seems to slightly compress in mid-air, buckling out in eight directions as though it were shattering and splintering, the pole becoming and expanded octagon. Each sliver of spear splits off on its own, growing a tip with a stunning speed and hurtling toward their billowing target.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has used Pincushion on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi narrowly dodges Kyouko Sakura's Pincushion, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  Critical Hit!  Hayato Nishi is Quipped!  Cripple, Exhausted, and Stagger applied to Hayato Nishi! 


<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Mami can at least see Kyouko tearing into the creature from her place amidst the now-disrupted pile of rubble, unmoving for a moment as she puts out the distractions of her peripheral vision to see the Witch before her, and the sky around it on the walls. Gold, starry gold, in all these watercolors--this brings Mami's target into relief. She can hear even less, and can breathe almost none--

But she doesn't register the thin air as why; there's blood trailing down her side, her wounds in need of magic, soon. It's strangely surreal, given the loss of hearing she has here.

Despite the blood, she is indeed still able to move.

Kyouko pulls her spear, and the golden Puella Magi sees her moment. Reaching up to her collar, she pulls loose the tie that stays there, golden and shining in the night sky colors of the walls. Shouting with all the force her bruised lungs can muster, she calls, "TIRO...!"

One hand snaps the ribbon taut, and then it grows, spiralling until it becomes a gigantic cylinder larger than it could have been moments ago. In a flash of light, it is no longer a simple coil; it is a gigantic pistol, silver and shining with gold accents. Mami herself is suddenly behind it...

And she counts on Kyouko to know what's coming.

"FINALE!"

What's coming comes; a gigantic torrent of brilliant light issues forth towards the Witch.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Mami Tomoe has used Tiro Finale on Hayato Nishi.
COMBAT: Hayato Nishi fails to dodge Mami Tomoe's Finisher, Tiro Finale, taking 189 Fatigue damage!  Hayato Nishi is unable to keep fighting!  


<Pose Tracker> Hayato Nishi [None] has posed.

Sound, already nearly gone from the world, vanishes even further. Only one's own heartbeat remains, as the air thins even further - and how much longer will that rhythmic thrum remain? The night sky around the duo is filled with stars - stars that shine like countless knives in the darkness. The Witch bundles itself up a moment, then starts to ascend into the heavens of black and blue and gold.

Kyouko's lance flies forward to interrupt that motion, an eightfold strike pinning the Witch in place. Above the stars, behind walls of glass, what hands remain point accusingly at the red-haired girl, before the accusing fingers curl sinisterly.

A shout. Even in thinning air, a shout, and the summoning of a mighty weapon. The hands, to this, wave - and spin, and snap like birds' beaks.

In spite of their activity, the Witch - pinned by the spears - whips its arms across itself. The countless stars twinkle - and the shout finishes.

There is light, piercing the cotton, burning through it.

There is a lengthly, dreadful silence, as the last of the air vanishes, and the accusing painted sky shines.

And then, abruptly, there is sound. A strange sound, a familiar one, the sound of dimensions warping and cracking. The sound of a Witch's Barrier coming to an end, shattering to reveal the true world once more.

The cacophony is nigh-deafening - blaring music from the arcade next door, people in nearby streets talking loudly to the point of nearly shouting, cars thundering by, a million footfalls on pavement mere blocks away - Tokyo is absolutely thundering with noise.

The silence is at an end, and a Grief Seed slowly turns on the ground of the alleyway.


<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.

Watching that gigantic blast of energy noiselessly tear through the sky..Kyouko realizes that it reminds her exactly of a scene from "Akira," when the a laser on a space station formed and fired in the empty void of space. Kyouko is not one to underestimate Mami's power, but such displays still startle even her.

When the sound returned, it couldn't have been more abrupt if a sonic boom had accompanied it. Kyouko closes her eyes to re-acquaint herself with one sense by quieting another. Walking towards Mami, she rubs her back, fingers lightly skimming over the furrows that bladed fingers caressed into her back, grinning broadly.

"I almost felt sorry for that one after a display like that. Talk about out with a bang. I think you earned a claim on this seed."


<Pose Tracker> Mami Tomoe [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

When the light crashes down, Mami is no longer visible; even in the cacophony resultant, just normal noises suddenly so loud, Mami of course can't be seen for the moment. But the light itself fades.... and soon she's in the alley. The clink of her teacup against the saucer is audible, as she takes a sip.

She breathes out, then. "...It really is quite loud out here, isn't it?" she asks, all bravado and quite insistent on not showing the pain of her injuries. ...youko, of course, may see them anyway.

"Even after all this time, I don't understand them," Mami admits. "...But, I'm still happy to share. We both did the work. And now, this won't be silencing anyone again." She does, however, walk forward, and pick up the Seed.