Relations between Kyouko and Mami have been a bit frosty in recent days. Kyouko was holding a grudge over the comments Mami made at the fancy party, etc etc. But this was a teenage spat- it wasn't a real beef like she had with Homura, what with the kidnapping and torture and such. And when Mami had made an appearance at the Thanksgiving dinner, Kyouko had found that she did miss her old friend.. well, at least a little. In part because Mami was just so useful in a crisis.
And a crisis what Kyouko has, although perhaps not to the extent that Mamoru does. The Dark Kingdom is after her- as a secondary target, to be sure, with Mamoru as the focus of their attention, but that still means that she had to vacate Mamoru's apartment and essentially has to lay low, because while she may not exactly be being hunted, if she's noticed that could lead to trouble.
And so, related to that, she finds herself at Mami's apartment. She hesitates before knocking, but only for a moment. Mami can be a stuck up goody-two-shoes, but when the chips are down, Kyouko knows she's reliable. That's more than can be said for Kyouko herself, at least in the past.
Mami Tomoe is for once, at home. Naturally she's making tea - which comes in handy once there's a knock at the door. She takes the tea off the burner and walks to the door, not even looking out it before opening it. After all, there's not much on the other side she'd fear.
But the presence of Kyouko is a total surprise, and her face shows it - but it's not a bad surprise - at least not at first. "Sakura-san!" she says, a bit excitably. Mami does love company. But then she's leaning out, looking around behind her. "You didn't bring anyone else with you this time, did you? I mean... unwillingly, again?"
Kyouko is pushing in past Mami as soon as the door is open, walking in as if she owns the place. Despite their differences, she has a level of comfort with Mami that she doesn't have with anybody else except maybe Mamoru, and even that is new enough to not push so much. "Nah, no kidnapping this time, I promise." She says, at least stopping inside the door to take her boots off before continuing.
She turns once she's inside a little bit more and Mami is done peering into the hallway, and says, "Listen, Mami.. I need your help." Well, time to get right to the point, at least. But her eyes are open and serious as she peers at her old friend.
Somehow, Kyouko just walking in makes everything seem... oddly LESS strange and off-putting, because in a large way, this is the Kyouko Sakura that Mami remembers. She shuts the door as Kyouko removes her shoes.
Mami tilts her head only a little bit before she takes a breath. "Sakura-san, I'll help you if I can." she says. Mami knows not to promise anything too much up front, given the kind of problems a girl like Kyouko might be getting into. But her eyes, too, are regarding Kyouko in an honest way.
Kyouko nods her head as if this was a given, and maybe it was. She turns and walks over to the nearest seat, sitting and crossing her legs, spreading her arms out and leaning back in her usual slipshod way. "I take it you've heard about my recent.. " she hesitates a moment, flicking her eyes to the side, "employment with the Dark Kingdom. And how it wasn't exactly.. voluntary."
She flicks her eyes back to Mami a moment later. "And they're a little bit peeved that I decided to skip out without giving my two week's notice."
As Kyouko talks, Mami goes into her kitchen and retrieves another cup, a saucer, and a small slice of cake from the fridge, which she puts in front of Kyouko before she gets the tea and pours them both a glass.
There's a bit of silence before Mami speaks up. "I'm sorry, Kyouko-san." she says, changing from her usually proper modes of address. "I wanted to be there and help, but... I was worried that I might make things worse during all that. I was... I was very rude to you when you fell at that party. It wasn't proper of me." she says. Admitting that she wasn't proper is Mami's way of expressing seriousness, though Kyouko might not pick up on it.
"...And I worried I might have been one of the reasons they got ahold of you. And I don't know if that's true, but I owe you an apology. And not just with words. So I will help you however I can. You can stay here as long as you need to." she says, before finally taking a drink of her tea.
Kyouko will never say no to free tea and cake, and so she sits up a bit straighter and begins to consume the offerings while Mami talks, slurping the tea (although managing not to spill any) and munching on the cake with an enthusiasm that is entirely natural to her and has nothing to do with the fact that she's not been getting proper meals.
She shakes her head a bit when Mami finishes though, her ponytail swaying. "Look, you were a bitch to me, but I've been a bitch to you and tons of other people lots of times, don't worry about that." She says, dismissing the party incident as if it didn't even matter, though she had been the one with a chip on her shoulder because of it. "And I dun think you had anything to do with Queen Beryl finding me either. But, it's not for my sake that I'm asking for your help."
That should have been obvious from the start- Mami knows that Kyouko hates appearing weak, and part of that is asking for help from a 'rival'. "It's Sayaka-chan." She says after a moment, sighing. "I'm a little worried about her now that I'm free of the Dark Kingdom. Queen Beryl knows about her, and knows she's.. important to me. She was using Sayaka's safety as a way to keep me under control, threatening to hurt her if I stepped out of line. Well, guess what? I've stepped out of line in a big way."
She laughs a bit scornfully. "Bound to happen, I guess, and the Dark Kingdom guys have their hands full hunting for Mamoru right now anyway. They want him, and me, a lot more than Sayaka, but the threat to Sayaka isn't non-existant and since I'm keeping a low profile I can't always be on hand to keep an eye on her."
She sighs softly. "I was hoping you'd help keep her safe. You don't have to like, babysit her or nothing, but you go to the same school as her and stuff. Anything you could do to just make sure she doesn't get hurt or snatched when I can't be there.. would mean a lot to me."
Mami nods a bit. She's happy to hear that at least that messy business is behind her, as it has been weighing heavily on her heart. And when it comes to Kyouko wanting to protect Sayaka? Well, there's something that reminds her of a Kyouko from a long time ago. And that also helps take some of that weight off.
"Yes, I know of Miki-san." Mami says. "She was at the apartment where we had that... Thanksgiving dinner, I believe. And she's friends with Kaname-san."
"That's horrible..." she exclaims as she hears how the Dark Kingdom kept control over Kyouko. "But it also explains a lot." She knows, better than anyone, what's under Kyouko's stern exterior.
"Look, I'll keep an eye on Miki-san for you." Mami says after a moment. But then, there's a thoughtful look on Mami's face. And she begins quietly, slowly. "But you know, Kyubey thinks Miki-san would make a good Puella Magi, along with her friend Kaname-san."
Kyouko looks immidiately relieved as Mami says she'll help look after Sayaka. Even though it's far from a guarantee, it's just such a relief to know she won't be the only one trying to protect the blue-haired girl if things really do go pear-shaped. At the talk of Kyubey though, she makes a bit of a face. "Oh, I know, believe me. And maybe she would. I dunno. She's involved in our world now, whether I like it or not. Maybe she'd be safer with some kinda powers than without. But I already warned her about Kyubey."
She eyes Mami, knowing the blonde girl is rather fond of the space-rat. Kyouko herself does not have the level of antipathy for Kyubey that Homura does, she just knows the little thing will say whatever he needs to to get contracts, and is often misleading. "I warned her to be careful what she wishes for.. if she wishes for something." She clarifies. Then she gives Mami a stern look, while sipping the rest of her tea. "But don't you go telling her how great it is to be a Puella or anything. Let her make her own decisions."
Mami regards Kyouko, and the things she's saying, with a very serious degree of attention. "You and I both know how easy it is for someone to end up in Labrynth suddenly, Kyouko-san - especially when they have the sort of strength Kyubey sees in them. But I think you also know how important it is to me that girls aren't rushed into making these decisions." she says, looking right into Kyouko's eyes.
"So if Miki-san and Kaname-san end up making the contract, I want them to have as much information as I can give them - about the wishes, about what we do. About what our lives are like. I think that's only fair. I'm not going to rose-tint it... but I do think it's nice to have the power to save people."
"You did once, too." she reminds her.
Kyouko's eyes narrow just slightly. She's not mad, exactly, but there's a hint of that 'don't mess with me' edge in her voice as she says, "I hope I can trust you on that, Mami. I don't know about Madoka-chan, but Sayaka-chan isn't ignorant. She's gotten the story from me already. Don't make me regret asking you to help me. If you end up putting her in even more danger.."
She laughs then suddenly, shaking her head. "No.. I know you're not like that. And you know what? I have realized, lately, that it is nice to have the power to save people." She smirks in a slightly ironic fashion. "Hell, I never had the power to save myself. Might as well save somebody else."
Mami leans over a bit. Her look is very stern - but not in a cruel way. In just a clear way. "You know, Kyouko-san - you saved a lot of people with me. When we hunted together, we protected a lot of people from witches. And now, when I work with Virtue, I can save people. You've always had the power to help others Kyouko-san - and when you were helping them, I think you helped yourself."
Then Mami leans back, the hard sell over. "Don't worry, Kyouko-san. I'll do everything I can to keep her safe. You have my word." she adds, before she pours both of them fresh tea. "And you, too. Wether you like it or not."
Kyouko can't help herself.. she sneers a little bit. She might have changed recently, but it's on a more personal level- she has people she care about now. But that doesn't mean she thinks the whole world is a rosy place where people play nice. "You can delude yourself with that crap all you want Mami, but remember who you're talking to. I know the score. It ain't about saving people from Witches. It's about survival."
She accepts the tea though, a moment later. "There are people now who I want to protect. People who I.. would miss terrible if they were gone. But that don't mean I'm gonna go out and start doing the 'superhero' routine again, so don't get any funny ideas in your head." She sips.. then softens slightly. "But.. thank you. I mean it. I know we don't see eye-to-eye but I know I can count on you when it's important and that means a lot to me." She says this, then flushes slightly and looks away.
Mami Tomoe sips her tea as Kyouko talks - all the better to keep herself calm. "You can say that, but I've seen people who are fighting to make it a little bit better, one dead witch and youma at a time. And I'm survivng quite well. The best way to help people is to stop them early - so you're not running to save them at the last minute."
"You know, I always to wish we could come back and be a team again, Kyouko-san. But I also understand that isn't what you want, so I won't try to force it on you. But just like you don't want me to rose tint everything... I want you to not inflict your pessimistic world view on Miki-san... or Kaname-san. Just because you care about her doesn't mean you should lie to her, either. There's no denying another Puella could do a lot of good in this world, if she was motivated."
"We'll both promise to give her the truth, and not twist it up or down. Deal?"
When Kyouko thanks her though, Mami gets a bit softer voiced. "I still don't want to see anything bad happen to you if I can avoid it, Kyouko-san."
"Yeah.. of course, if we make the world a better place by killing off all the Witches, we won't survive long after that." Kyouko notes, a tad sarcastically. Of course she doesn't know that this would just lead to more Witches anyway, but even without that knowledge the idea of hunting your food source to extinction in order to make the world a better place doesn't exactly sound appealing to her.
She frowns a little bit at Mami's words. "I'd never lie to her Mami." This is, in fact, a lie- what she means is she'd never lie to Sayaka maliciously. She absolutely would if she felt she had to to keep the girl safe. But she doesn't say that part. "And I'm not going to let you dictate the terms of my relationship with her. She's already my friend, which means she must like me or somethin', god knows why. That would cha8nge if I lied to her, and her friendship means a hell of a lot more to me than any promise with you. So you can take that as your assurance."
She sighs a little bit.. putting her now-empty teacup back down and standing. "Well y'know what Mami, I don't want anything bad to happen to me either, but the world don't give a crap what we want most of the time. Still." She offers a half-smile. "Thanks. And I owe you one. Lemme know if I can repay it." And then she's walking to the door to put her boots back on.
Mami Tomoe sighs. "You can't assume that they work like animals or something. If they're made from curses and the despair of humans, they'll never run out - and we're only keeping them in control." Mami says, clearly and boldly. She's... kind of right.
"I'm not trying to dictate terms to you, Kyouko-san. Not everything is a hostile act. I just want us to both do what's best for Miki-san. But I'll take your assurance, yes."
"And no, life isn't easy for us Puella Magi." Especially when some of them go out of their way to make their lives harder... "But you can't let that drag you down. For better or worse we both got our miracles, and now we hunt Witches. It's what we do." she says, putting her teacup down rather loudly. How does she make such a small cup make so much noise? "I'll remember that, but hopefully everything stays okay and neither of us have to call in any favors." she says as Kyouko leaves - and she follows her to see her out, as would be proper. "Just... keep yourself safe, too. I don't want to see you end up as someone's puppet again."
Kyouko slips her boots back on. "Oh yeah, I got my miracle alright." She mutters. She looks up, meeting Mami's eyes with her own, and she's serious as she says, "I think the only miracles in this world worth getting are the ones you have to earn. I'm working on earning mine right now. It takes a lot more than "I wish" to make it happen, but.. I think it might be worth it."
She claps Mami on the shoulder lightly. "Dun worry, Mami. I ain't got any intention of letting myself be a puppet to anybody again. That you can count on." She turns and steps through the door, hands shoved into the pockets of her hoodie. "Thanks for the snacks. I'll be in touch." And then she's walking off down the hallway.