The Devil's Own Time (Azecreth & tiger_lily)

[tiger_lily]

It's pointless now, a small voice insists within Sayaka Miki's head as she trods down the street, the setting sun casting a blood-red tint over the city of Mitakihara, the lengthy shadows of its buildings stretching ever further towards her as if to grab her and drag her into their dark depths. If you were going to do something about her, you should have done it back in middle school. Just wait a few months until you graduate. Go to university somewhere far away and you'll never have to think about her again. Sayaka knows the voice in her head is the sensible part of her talking, but she ignores it. She won't have to think about Homura, but at this point, it will bother her for the rest of her life if she doesn't do something while she still can.

She'd tried to do something about Homura before; she remembered that much. She'd had an argument with her, just before Madoka came back to Japan. What had the argument been about? Why had she dropped it, despite being so frustrated it still bothered her to this day? Why couldn't she remember? Sayaka's memory was excellent. Even though it had been years ago, she remembered that day like it was yesterday. She remembered one of Kyouko's apples floating down the river after Homura threw it there. She remembered Nagisa running around without a care in the world while she and Homura argued. She remembered how she'd cried afterwards. But she couldn't remember Homura's words, or her own. Not the ones that mattered.

"Eventually you won't feel out of place anymore." Homura had said that to her. Did she only remember the lies?

"I won't forget the fact that you're a demon." She'd said that to Homura. Sayaka could be rude when someone deserved it, but that didn't seem like her style of insult. What had she meant by it?

The blue-haired girl finds herself staring at the ring she always wore on her finger. She'd forgotten why she wore that too, but somehow she'd always had a foreboding that something bad would happen if she didn't. Tearing her gaze away, Sayaka looks up instead. She's in front of the building where Homura lives. It's old-fashioned, with a courtyard and a stone gate. Words from the Italian poem she's been reading in one of her high school classes appear, unbidden, at the forefront of Sayaka's mind.

"Only those elements Time cannot wear
Were made before me, and beyond Time I stand.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
These mysteries I read cut into stone
Above a gate.

Sayaka closes her eyes, shaking her head, and opens them again. There are no mysteries cut into stone above this gate. She steps forward through it, ignoring the momentary chill that goes over her, and continues towards Homura's apartment.

She raises her hand, allows herself one last sweet moment of hesitation, and raps her knuckles sharply against the door. "Homura," she says in a loud, stern voice. "Akemi Homura. We need to talk." She considers following that up with a white lie, but there's no use pretending she's here for any reason besides the truth. Homura would probably ignore her if she said anything other than the truth; she's never seen any sign that the girl cares about anyone or anything else.

"...About Madoka."

 

[Azecreth]

Wo ist eine lange Nadel?
Wo ist eine kurze Nadel?
Auf Wiedersehen Bestrafungshügel
Das Fenster genau geschlossen?
Der Schlüssel genau befestigt?
"Noi" Zuerst gebe ich Zwei
"Noi" Diese Zwei sind statt deinen Tränen

An easy smile rested on the face of one Homura Akemi as she relaxed in place, looking out the window onto the near perfect sky. The world was beautiful, like a pearl in an oyster, or perhaps a splendid cut diamond now made to perfection. It was her world, of course, one where she had the power to create and destroy, to shape as she saw fit. And so it was, focused on the welfare and happiness of a single individual. Madoka Kaname.

A low chuckle slipped past peeled lips, as the young woman cast her gaze in that direction. She had grown up well, with magic providing a bit of a boost in areas where she had been lacking before. She still cut something of a mysterious figure, but now she better suited the role that she had taken upon herself.

She was the Devil after all, she had to look the part.

Her musings were interrupted by a sudden impact, the girl not even flinching as sticky red tomato juice splattered across her face. Those would be her Familiars, loyal to a fault and willing to help her maintain the system, but they were always quick to return to their usual hijinks and externalized self flagellation. She was used to it by now, and paid it no mind. She deserved it, and who was she to reject her due punishment?

"Now now, calm down. We're about to have a guest," she told her Familiars just before the doorbell rang. A quick look revealed it to be one Sayaka Miki, as if it could have been anyone else. The two of them did not have the best relationship, to put it mildly, and it was hardly one sided. Homura was willing to let bygones be bygones, but she could not forget how often the self destructive behavior of her visitor had driven Madoka to contract, and the pain and suffering she had inflicted. For her own part, she could never quite suppress Sayaka's divine nature, which led to repeated conflict between them, even if she was successful in removing those memories to a great extent.

Gliding forward, Homura opened the door to view her guest, calm and relatively neutral in her expression. They had grown older, but the dynamic had not changed. Homura had put herself in whatever position was necessary to keep an eye on Madoka, and that had naturally created some friction, even if she was relatively high placed in the school student structure. "Greetings, Miki Sayaka," she said with a nod before opening the door. "Please, come in."

So she allowed the girl to walk into the spiders den, closing the door behind her. If Sayaka was quick she might perhaps see a glimpse of a Familiar out of the corner of her eye, though only for a flicker of a moment before it vanished from sight. Homura said nothing about that though as she led the girl into her living room, which was unchanged from the old days. Lots of chairs, couches, floating pictures, and an ominous swinging chandelier.

Spinning on her heels, Homura gestured for Sayaka to sit down before doing the same. "And what is it about Madoka Kaname that you wish to speak about?" Did she remember? They would soon find out, and she was very much looking forward to it, even if it was annoying to repeat this. Still, there was no real problem. It wasn't like Sayaka had a chance.

 

[tiger_lily]

Sayaka enters the apartment without a word. She sits down without a word. Somehow, she can't bring herself to be polite to the other girl, even to the degree of casual politeness between friends - she has known Homura for years now, after all. 'Friend' is the only word that offers some modicum of explanation why she's here, right now. But who would be friends with the devil? Who would show courtesy to the devil? Who would so willingly walk into the devil's lair, heedless of her own safety?

The blue-haired girl regards her counterpart. The shadows outside, grasping at her, were nothing compared to the void of Homura's black hair. Or her face - always expressionless, always impossible to read, in itself a void.

Almost without making the conscious decision to do so, Sayaka starts talking. "Once I graduate, I might be going overseas... or somewhere else in Japan, at least," she says. "I've applied to some conservatories in Europe. I don't know if I'm good enough for any of them, but one has to dream, don't they?" Her interest in music as more than a listener had come late, but she was certain it was genuine by now. "If that doesn't work out, there's always the Tokyo College of Music. That wouldn't be so bad... it's a long train ride, but at least I can come visit Mitakihara once in a while." Sayaka is also certain that Homura couldn't care less about any of this. She's talking for her own sake. To ease her nerves. A metaphor occurs to her; she's talking to a brick wall, except the wall could collapse on her and bury her if she says the wrong thing.

"The point is," Sayaka continues, using the momentum of her rambling conversation to force herself to say what she came to say, "before I leave, I want to know my friends are going to be okay without me. Kyouko's always taken care of herself. Hitomi's... fragile, but she has Kyousuke looking out for her. It's Madoka that I'm worried about. And it's not because of her that I'm worried." Having let her gaze wander - Sayaka keeps seeing movement on the edge of her vision; there can't be mice in this creepy apartment, can there? - Sayaka forces her eyes back to Homura in what she hopes is a serious, determined gaze. "Are you going to let Madoka live her own life, Homura?" Sayaka asks.

But Sayaka doesn't wait for an answer. She can't shake the feeling that she might not get a chance to speak again if she doesn't say her piece, in full, now. "You're not the only one who's known Madoka since she was a child, Homura," she continues. "You're not the only one who cares about her. And if giving up on my dream is what it takes to make sure that she's free to pursue her dream... I'll do it."

Sayaka didn't even know what Madoka's dream was. Madoka was the most indecisive person she knew, even now, months away from finishing school. That had to be why she was so worried. If she left without having this talk, Homura would probably convince Madoka to not go to university and instead become her live-in housemaid or something. And then the poor girl would have to deal with the mice.

Yet as the final words leave her mouth, Sayaka suddenly feels rather embarrassed. She's being incredibly dramatic over what amounts to another childhood friend of Madoka's being overly clingy with her. It makes her feel as if she's acting like... well, like Homura. But she's certain, even though she can't remember the reasons why, that Homura is the devil. That she needs to protect Madoka from her. No matter how little power she has to do so; no matter what the cost is to her.

So she gazes at the wall, and waits for it to topple.

 

[Azecreth]

To Sayaka Homura might seem like an imperceptible book, but the reverse was far from true. Homura was amused, confident, and she knew all too much about how the mind of the blue haired girl worked. She had learned again and again, repeat after repeat. Homura had the upper hand here, but she didn't even really need it. Not when she could read her guest like an open book. The question was, what would happen this time.

When Sayaka started talking about herself, Homura slipped into an almost casual disinterest. She did care about her future plans, but that was as they related to Madoka and the safety of her world. What place she ended up studying music didn't matter that much, though she would admit that it was an acceptable alternative to what usually happened when Sayaka became a magical girl. It was something she never would have gotten had Homura not taken over, to give them human lives to live.

But at last they came to the crux of the matter, and a small grin escaped her facade as she leaned forward as she accepted the spoken challenge. How much like her it was, Sayaka willing to lay down her own life and her own dreams for someone else, to sacrifice in some pointless display of heroics and bravery when there was no need to do so. And so stubbornly sure that she was right, even in the face of the facts. It made dealing with her frustrating at best, but she would not be Sayaka otherwise. It was nothing that the Devil was not used to dealing with.

"Come now Sayaka," she said at last, once her guest had finished saying her piece and proposing her frankly outrageous ultimatum. It wasn't like she had a way of actually fulfilling it, not with the power that she was up against. But Homura was more than willing to give peace a chance. "Have I ever brought Madoka harm in the time that I have known her?"

A hard question to answer, if only because Homura hadn't. Sure, she might be overbearing to some extent, but she'd never actually hurt Madoka, and had helped her on many occasions. Though she doubted that that would assuage Sayaka, full of justice as she was. "I have every intention of letting Madoka live her own life, indeed I would like nothing more than for her to live as she wishes. All I wish to do is to protect her from herself, because you cannot deny that her selfless personality makes her all too willing to hurt herself for the wellbeing of others." It was a story she had seen play out many times, and the one she was hoping to stop here.

She met Sayaka's gaze then, peering to see whether the glimmer of the past rested there, a power beyond the world that currently existed now unleashed and ready to fight. Homura didn't feel it, but one could never be too sure when it came to Gods and Angels. "You can choose to not believe me, of course, but it's the truth. Am I the real danger to Madoka? For being her friend, you are remarkably quick to drag her off on whatever scheme you have concocted, regardless of how risky it may be. Are you sure that it isn't you she should be worried about?"

My, she had forgotten how much fun this was. Here was hoping her guest did not disappoint.

 

[tiger_lily]

Somehow, it's even more unsettling when that mask of Homura's falters and a smile slips onto her face. Sayaka averts her eyes from the other girl, even though she knows it makes her less than intimidating. She knows Homura isn't intimidated by her, anyway. Which raises the question once more... why is she here? Why is she doing this? Sayaka shakes her head, closing her eyes for a moment. "You... haven't done any harm to her," she replies, not able to hide the uncertainty in her voice.

What Homura says next, though, starts to harden the feeling of ill-ease Sayaka has been consumed by into a foundation she can stand upon. She opens her eyes, gazing at the black-haired girl. "What schemes?" she asks. "What risk? We're high school girls, Homura. Are you talking about when I dragged Madoka to karaoke with all those friends of Kyouko's she didn't know? Or... do you know something I don't?"

Even though admitting that it's hard to imagine any actual danger arising from a prosaic life like theirs undermines her earlier concern for Madoka's safety, Sayaka matches Homura's smile with her own, the profound uncertainty fading from her demeanor. It's still just a vague feeling, based on memories that she can't quite grasp, but Sayaka's confidence is growing. She was part of something, once... something bigger than this. Something important. And Homura's words - her talk of danger and protection, when any reasonable person would find it absurd and insulting that Sayaka could even imagine such things - are convincing her that it's not just her imagination.

There's only one conclusion that Sayaka can come to. One reason why this has been bothering her for so many years. One explanation for why her memory fails her here, when she clearly remembers her first meeting with Madoka, with Homura, with Kyouko. She glances down at her hand, at the ring she wears, then back up at Homura. What she says next will drive a wedge into the relationship between her and Homura, more than ever before... but they never really did get along in the first place.

"...Just what did you do to me, devil, all those years ago?" Sayaka asks, keeping her eyes fixed on Homura. "I told you I wouldn't forget. But you've sure tried your best to make me, haven't you?" Her smile is a strained one, with no happiness underneath, but her uncertainty is gone.

The past and the power it holds might still be locked away from the ordinary-looking schoolgirl, as solidly as if it were behind a door. But if there's one thing that's common to Sayaka Miki, across every life she's lived, it's that she won't stop bashing against that door, no matter how broken and bruised her body might get, until she reaches the truth behind it.

 

[Azecreth]

In the end it seemed that perhaps Homura might be her own greatest enemy. There was no sign that Sayaka had tapped into the power that Homura had sealed away, yet it was as if her own words had brought about some realization of what she had lost in the mind of the blue haired girl. It was an error, but one that could be easily rectified. As if Sayaka had the power to challenge her when she was an ordinary schoolgirl, much less an angel. The Devil would not be subdued so smoothly, nor fought against when her world was in jeopardy.

Yet as Sayaka made her realization, things would begin to shift. Flickering shadows, and Homura seemed to take on a darker tint that did not so much promise happiness or a fair appeal, but rather the look of a predator preparing to strike. This would not be the first time that she had been forced to reimpose the memory wipe that she had placed upon Sayaka, frustrating though it usually was. But she could always take pleasure in the futile attempts that were made to try and overthrow her reign.

"Do you really want to know," she asked, that dangerous smile she wore laced with pure amusement, and no fear to be seen. With Sayaka sitting right in the Devil's own lair, perhaps best to not be challenging her here. Who knew what sorts of tricks she had up her sleeve? She just hadn't decided what she was going to specifically do just yet, though it was not like time was a resource that she lacked.

The question asked, she did not wait for an answer as she leaned back. "In spite of what you may believe, I have your best interests at heart. All of us should be able to live a normal life, to follow our own wishes and desires without being tied to some obscure fate that claims to hold sway over us. It may have come at a cost, but it is one that is worth it." There was a glimmer in her eye as she accepted the metaphorical gauntlet and dared her guest to come at her. "It is hardly my fault that you insist on your method, no matter how flawed it is."

 

[tiger_lily]

Able to live a normal life? Speak for yourself, Sayaka thinks, satisfying herself with a rebuttal solely within her own mind - though at this point, if Homura revealed she could read her thoughts, she wouldn't be that surprised. Some obscure fate that holds sway over us? Oh, maybe you are speaking for yourself. "Of course I want to know," Sayaka finally replies aloud. "Even if it's worth it, paying a cost isn't fair if you don't fully grasp what that cost is. I know that better than anyone." Why does she know that better than anyone? She isn't sure. But she's certain of it.

Sayaka rises to her feet. "Did you know I've started keeping a diary, devil?" she says. It's foolish to tip her hand, but there's always been a bit of foolhardy boastfulness in her. "I've tried to be as detailed as I can about the thoughts that lead me here today. Make me forget them, and I'll read what I wrote and come back tomorrow to say the very same things. Make me forget I have a diary, and I'm going to be awfully curious what that book sitting on the center of my desk is. Break into my house and take it, and..." Sayaka shakes her head, grinning ruefully. "If you're willing to go that far, maybe you've got the better of me. But you'd better be sneaky about it if you're not going to disturb my family, okay?"

She's played her trump card. Now she just needs to hope it will force Homura's hand. "Do your worst to me, devil," Sayaka declares, looking down at the dark-haired girl and that insufferable smirk upon her face. "And I'll do mine to you." Just what can she do? Sayaka still doesn't know. But she finds herself taking action nonetheless. She reaches down, picking up her bag, opening it. She takes out a water bottle. She opens it. With a tip of her hand, she pours its contents out upon the floor, causing a small puddle to gather around her feet.

Looking at the state of this place, I don't think the devil cares about water damage to her floor, chides that logical voice in the back of her mind. But there's no place for logic here. Only conviction.

Sayaka glares down at Homura. As she stands, she casts a long shadow upon the wall behind her. It flickers in the light, and the twin lines cast by her legs seem to merge into one...

 

[Azecreth]

It was hard for Homura to take any threats that Sayaka made seriously, if only because of how paltry those threats actually were. A diary? Her Familiars could take care of that easily enough. Yet it seemed that Sayaka wanted the truth, and was more than willing to throw her life away in order to get it. That was just like her, and she knew more than most that the blue haired girl had done that before. Well, if that was the game that they were playing then so be it.

"Interesting," she noted aloud, ignoring the water on her floor. If that was the worst Sayaka could actually do then they wre still ridiculously unmatched. She held all the cards, whether the other girl recognized it or not. But as she sat there she couldn't help but catch sight of the shadows cast by her guest, eyes widening slightly. Oh, she knew the implications, and it seemed that she would have to act after all. It seemed bullheaded conviction had its perks after all.

With a sigh, she gave in. "Fine. You wish to know what happened?" She would show her what had happened. So she leaned back in her seat, in a manner most uncharacteristic of the girl that Sayaka knew. Her smile was almost indulgent as she basked in her power. Time to show her guest just how outclassed she was.

A clap rang out in the air.

Reality warped, the diary vanishing from existence as if it had never been there, while Homura reinforced the divide between Sayaka and her powers. Yet the building would seem a bit different, the water on the floor gone and the structure seeming a bit...other. Homura herself is drastically different, clad in a strange dress, a purple ribbon in her hair, and wings sprouting from her back. "You are in my world," she said, suddenly behind Sayaka and grabbing her hands, to clasp them together in magically enchanted handcuffs. "Where my word is law. But it seems you've forgotten that fact, and gotten a bit too nosy for your own good. Again."

A chuckle escaped as she moved back around front, cupping Sayaka's chin to tilt her head upwards. "I'll just have to correct that before you prove too troublesome for me."

 

[tiger_lily]

Though Sayaka may have, at one point, grasped at the coat-tails of divinity... right now she's human. And so an entirely human gasp of shock comes from her as her memories change, and the building changes around her. Both are disorienting, though Sayaka can't place what exactly has gone missing from her mind; she just knows that something has. She steadies herself as quickly as she can and looks at the devil before her, with scarcely enough time for her eyes to widen at Homura's rather different appearance before the demon is behind her, asserting the power she always had.

Instinctively, Sayaka thrashes, letting out a yell that's more borne of anger and indignation than a cry for help. But the cuffs hold firm, nor can she break free from Homura's grasp. By the time she considers whether she should cry for help, she understands that it's useless. Homura has powers that she can hardly even imagine... not with the relevant parts of her memories in tatters. Bits and pieces float through her mind's eye, just out of reach; she glimpses a vision of herself in similarly ostentatious attire to Homura's right now, a sword in her hand, but she has no idea how to become that again. She's sure Homura has seen to it that she can't.

So she places her hope in the only weapon she has left; her words. She may not be able to fell Homura with them, but she can at least jab the demon a few times before she's disarmed. A grin spreads across Sayaka's face as she glares into Homura's eyes, only too eager to meet her gaze, even as she makes it clear with a few motions that she'd twist her chin out of that grip if she could. "Just try it," she retorts. "How many times have you messed with my head already, devil? For all I know, I've come here every day since that first argument when we were in middle school, and every day you've tricked me into going away. But I'll never forget what you are. I promised you that, and I never break my promises. Not even to monsters like you."

Sayaka's breathing is ragged, her chest rising and falling conspicuously beneath her uniform blouse; not from the exertion of her momentary, useless struggling, but from nervousness. The signs are subtle - the slight wavering in her otherwise confident voice, the way her eyes are just a little too wide as they glare at Homura. But it's there. The emotion that any self-respecting demon savors like fine wine.

Fear.

 

[Azecreth]

Homura's grin did not fade as Sayaka thrashed and struggled, forced into useless efforts to escape as if of a subconscious thought. That was perhaps her lot in life, to struggle against the unbeatable and to be ground down and destroyed by it. Perhaps like what would happen here, given enough time. But of course there was the defiance, the angry words, the threats, everything that she knew to expect. Like she had said, Sayaka was predictable.

"I could tell you how many times it has been, but where would the fun be in that," Homura crooned as she released Sayaka's chin. Her grin widened at the telltale signs, the fear beginning to slip through. It was a reaction sh had never received before, and she had to wonder what inspired it. Was it because she had struck before her guest could return to her apotheosis, her divinity? It was an opportunity she had never achieved in their previous encounters, so it seemed likely. She would just have to make the best of it.

She did not pause though, instead suddenly behind Sayaka again as she went on. "You don't need to forget, or stop hating me. I just need you to not resist," she explained smoothly. That was the point, to maintain this world as best she could. Sayaka was key to that, a focal point of resistance that threatened her order every time she remembered. Something needed to be done. and with the situation at hand it seemed as though she might finally have a way to solve this problem. At least, so she hoped.

A hand rose to begin loosening Sayaka's school uniform, not stripping anything away but tormenting her guest with silken touches, tracing along hems and brushing against bare skin. At the same time the 'mice' would be revealed, her Clara Dolls stepping out from the shadows to sing and play as they walked about the room and waited on their mistress. "These are my children," Homura explained as she glanced over at them. "Rowdy, but they will do anything for me. They're going to make sure you don't get any ideas about pulling pointless theatrics. After all, this is my world. I could wipe you away and no one would ever know you were gone." A lie, but Sayaka didn't know that. Let the games begin.

 

[tiger_lily]

Sayaka yanks a bit more at her handcuffs just for the principle of it, though she's not eager to make her wrists sore in what she suspects would be a futile effort. "Me, not resist? That's about as likely as you not being a creep," she retorts. With every word, it becomes more evident that her brazen insults are a facade over the far more ambiguous feelings below. Realizing how helpless she's become, in mere moments, once Homura deigned to render her so has already dampened the girl's spirit. Now it's just a matter of beating down her pride so she acknowledges she's no match for the demon.

The girl flinches as Homura lifts a hand to her clothes. She takes a step back and twists to try and yank the fabric out of Homura's hands, but then pauses, realizing that it's a show of weakness to allow Homura to provoke the reaction she obviously desires. So she stays put, glaring at the demon before her as that hand trails along her body. Yet reflexive motions, subtle shivers and twitches, slip past her valiant attempt to remain cool and undisturbed. In time, she bites her lip. It's obvious the teasing bothers her.

One advantage remains on Sayaka's side; this Sayaka isn't the one Homura knows best. She's gotten smarter over the years. "If I'm such a problem for you, yet you could wipe me away, you'd have done so already," accuses the blue-haired girl. "So either you can't... or you're a sicko who keeps people around just to mess with them." That teasing grin reappears on her face. "And if you are, why tell me not to resist? Won't it spoil your fun if I give in too easily?"

Pointedly, she makes no comment about the dolls, and Homura might notice she's trying not to look at them. Sayaka was a witch with her own familiars on numerous occasions, but now she's human, and familiars are meant to unsettle her. Perhaps it's a sort of primeval survival instinct, a warning humans forged for themselves to flee before the witch catches them. But she can't flee from this. She walked into the trap herself.

 

[Azecreth]

For how much Sayaka might think herself to be clever, Homura had not made it this far by not being able to improvise or roll with events as they happened. At the very least her current state of being gave her some advantages that her old self had lacked. So a simple accusation like the one proposed would not throw her for a loop.

Not that she would have a chance to say anything before a tomato hit Sayaka in the face, splattering and throwing juice all over her upper torso. With the angle that it had come from though, Homura knew that it had been tossed at her, and had only hit her guest on accident. Possibly. She wouldn't put it past her Dolls to have their fun tormenting the captive girl."You overestimate your importance," she replied, wiping off the other girl.

She couldn't stop herself from licking her lips, drinking in the resistance and the fear, the twitching and signs that Sayaka is disturbed by this. With how things had turned out here it wasn't too much of a shock, especially without her knowing the sorts of relationships she had gotten into in other timelines. her drifting hand explored further, slipping beneath the hem of the school uniform to explore. The devil embraced Sayaka from behind, one arm over her shoulder while the other wrapped around her waist.

"The reason is simple," she explained then. "Madoka is happier with your existence than without. So far the advantages of your presence have not outweighed the negatives. But that could always change...." Magic created another item in her grip, and she did not hesitate in slowly slipping and securing the blindfold in place over her guests eyes, all motions deliberate to give her some idea of what was to come, with the dread that it promoted. She wouldn't have to see the Familiars, but she wouldn't be able to see what Homura did next. A fair trade? The Devil didn't particularly care.

 

[tiger_lily]

Sayaka winces as the tomato hits her face, bursting her and covering her in juice. For a moment, disoriented, she thinks Homura's hit her and covered her in blood - but the lack of pain and the distinct taste of tomato juice soon correct that notion. She squirms uncomfortably as Homura wipes her off, but doesn't resist with quite as much vigor as before; even when held captive, she has no wish to be covered in juice. The gesture even leads to her relaxing a little. But not for long, as she tenses like a wire when Homura's hand slips under her clothes, her body growing stiff and rigid as those arms wrap around her.

Even as tense as she is, the blue-haired girl doesn't hold back a sigh at Homura's words. Of course it's about Madoka. Sayaka supposes she should be thankful to Madoka that she still exists, but she can only feel sorry for her, and disgusted by Homura. She speaks up again, still aware that words are all she has left. With luck, she'll provoke Homura into showing some kind of opening, and without luck, at least she'll get a little satisfaction out of talking back to her. "So you're saying you can't make Madoka happy enough on your own," she replies coolly. "I wonder why that is. Maybe it's because I'm normal, like her."

Then the blindfold slips over her face. There's a difference between merely being unable to escape, and having a sense stripped away from her, and Sayaka's now unpleasantly aware of it. She'd fancied she could provoke Homura into some kind of misstep with her words, but how will she even tell if the demon's let her guard down? How will she mentally prepare herself for whatever's going to happen to her next? And which of those reasons inspired the demon to blind her?

Her anxiety surging over the wall of her composure like a tidal wave, Sayaka starts to struggle again, despite knowing how useless it is. Only biting her lip hard enough to draw a trickle of blood keeps her from letting out some kind of cry of fear. "Will Madoka be happy that you've taken me captive and had your way with me, demon?" she spits, then goes back to biting her lip, not knowing when Homura's next action will threaten to expose her inner weakness.

 

[Azecreth]

As she secured the blindfold in place, making sure that the blue haired girl couldn't see anything, Homura found herself challenged once again. Trust in Sayaka to have a sharp tongue even in a situation like this, though it lacked quite a bit of common sense. Then again, that was just like her as well. No matter, eventually she would recognize how pointless it was, or she would find herself on the receiving end of the power of a Goddess, worse than she was now. This was like a pinprick compared to what Homura could do if sh was truly angry.

"Oh, I could keep Madoka happy without you," Homura reassured her as she finished up with the blindfold, rejecting the ludicrous notion that she couldn't do what Sayaka as suggesting. "But there is some benefit to being normal, though you seem determined to be otherwise by forcing my hand again and again." Too perceptive for her own good, though it had to do with her divine nature. That was just a part of it, and if she had her way this would be the last time that it happened. They would see what came of this little exchange between them.

The blindfold had a good reaction though as Sayaka began to struggle, without her sight. It had just he sort of reaction that she expected, and she was glad to see it. It made her work that much easier. The lack of divinity was held, and Homura paced around the struggling girl as she took in everything, simply savoring the moment while it lasted. "Fufufu," she chuckled aloud at the enraged cry. "You amuse me, Miki Sayaka. With the power that I currently possess, do you think Madoka will ever get the slightest inkling that this encounter took place?" Would Sayaka even remember this after it was over? They would see.

Pulling back, she let her hands come together in a clap. Reality shuddered, and Sayaka would suddenly find herself wrapped up in rope, arms pinned behind her back, legs bound together, chest constrained above her breasts and with a rope around her neck. "There, that's a better look for you," Homura replied as she dipped in to kiss her guest on the cheek. "I hope they aren't too tight. I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

 

[tiger_lily]

Determined as she might be to get in the last word, Sayaka's tongue is starting to lose its vigor as the reality of the situation sinks in. "If you find yourself doing the same thing over and over again, maybe you should-" she spits, before pausing. If she brought that thought to its conclusion, she'd be more or less advising Homura to erase her, and she doesn't want to be erased. Silently disappearing may be a lesser assault on her pride than the current state of affairs, but perhaps Homura will just amuse herself with her and then erase her. That's the worst of both possibilities.

Sayaka bites her lip again, this time less out of nervousness than frustration. Without her words, there's absolutely nothing she can do to resist. Not meaningfully. "I'll never forget this, demon," she growls, but she can't silence the uncertainty in her voice. She has no idea what the limits of Homura's power are... and in the past, she'd forgotten everything except that she was evil. Just as she pointed out earlier, this could have been happening every day of her life, unbeknownst to her.

The girl gasps in surprise as the fuzzy handcuffs are replaced by firm rope. She squirms, but only briefly before the feeling of the material rubbing atop her clothes begins to bother her - it can't be described as comfortable by any means. "The only way I'd be comfortable right now is if I were-" she begins, before flinching at the feeling of lips against her cheek and reflexively hopping away. With her legs bound as they are, she loses her balance, and with a cry she goes crashing to the ground. She quickly sits up and draws her legs back again herself to try to reduce how vulnerable she is, looking around to try and somehow orient herself despite her blindfold. But she's lost track of Homura and has no idea where she is.

 

[Azecreth]

Oh, Homura hardly needed to be told that old line about repeating the same process and expecting different results. As someone who had spent over ten years trying to rescue Madoka from her fate she was more than used to it. But by the same token she found it flawed, for she never did exactly the same thing each time. Explaining that would be an exercise in the futile though, especially when Sayaka did not have her own memories to access and confirm that. "You'll find I can be very patient when I want to be," she said at last, the only thing she would cede there.

Homura ceded the claim, rather she indulged in it. That was right after all, she was evil. She had torn down God, remade the world in her own image and defied the very salvation that Madoka had wanted to bring to everyone. How could she be anything but evil when one considered those facts? But this was the way it had to be, the only way for her to get her wish. And for that, she was more than willing to burn eternally.

Amusement spread once again as Sayaka leapt away from the kiss, only to be tripped up by her bindings and sent toppling to the floor. Sure, she sat up afterwards but it was nonetheless funny to witness from an outside perspective. Here was the one who had caused her so much trouble, no more able to act than a simple babe. She was trapped, wrapped up, and had no hope, with only the lack of knowledge of how out of depth she was keeping things from falling apart.

With a gesture Sayaka would be grabbed from all around, the Clara Dolls hefting her off of the ground and onto their shoulders, to carry her through the house. Homura followed close behind as they arrived in her bedroom, and the girl would be pulled to her feet once again from above, thanks to a Familiar. "Now then, I believe you were saying something?" Homura swept around her, letting her Clara Dolls badger Sayaka from each and every angle with hits and projectiles. "You misunderstand me, of course. I don't want you to forget this. let it serve as a reminder of what happens when you stand against my order."