voidtreckerexpress | Blue Meeting:

Entry tags:

Blue Meeting:

Who: Gladio + Blue Team and Friends.
Where: Dining carriage. (Change of venue, larger space)
When: Grasshopper 15th after lunch.
What: The first Blue Team meeting with the new Leadership in place.
Warnings: Unknown. Possible cuteness. Snack induced jealousy. Will update if something comes up!

To say that Gladio was nervous would be an understatement. He hadn't been able to get much sleep the night before worrying if this would work out the way he had planned. Would people be receptive to what he asked? Would people even come to this meeting? He had been assured by several people there would be at least some (who could resist lovingly prepared snacks?) but it remained to be seen.

Gladio sat at a table, there was a notepad and a pencil in his hand. He would be taking notes of things he deemed important.

Once people started filtering in, Gladio began to feel somewhat better. Calmer. He watched them milling about with a smile. It was only when he thought there was enough that he rose and gave a call to get people's attention.

"First, I just wanna thank everyone for coming. I know it was short notice, but between the mission and platform day coming up, my hands were tied.

In future I'm going to do my best to have a meeting like this before every big mission, once we get the info. I don't think a little organisation can hurt. And... with that in mind. The reason I wanted to get you all here. I want everyone to get to know each other. And I want to learn more about you all. I'd like, if you're all willing, to assign simple roles within the team to each person for missions. If you don't want to be part of that, just let me know. That's your choice." He smiled wider. "If you do... I'll get to you. If you've any questions, I'm open to them. Piccolo and WangJi are also here to answer your questions and concerns. Not just here and not just for missions, but any you have. We're here for you."

With that his smile became a grin. "Now... I know two of our number have been working hard to make delicious snacks, so do me a favour? Make them happy and dig in! Enjoy them and... chat. Mingle. Get to know your fellow blue. We're a small team, lets make us the best team!"

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[When things quieted down a little, Gladio bent to making some more notes. He was coming to the realisation that he didn't have nearly as many resources as he hoped. But he would work on it. There was time.

There was a tug on his arm and Gladio stopped to look, and found Madoka. He smiled and listened to her before laughing.]

Always have time for you, Princess. Now what's bothering you?

[ It says something about her getting a little more used to the nickname that she doesn't immediately freak out upon hearing it. Sure, Madoka's cheeks colour a little, but it's nothing compared to the usual. She mostly just smiles at the warm way he greets her. It's nice. ]

I'm not sure if you can say it's bothering me.. [ Maybe it is, a little. But Madoka knows she'll feel so much more at ease if she shares it with someone else. ] It's just.. Mami-san often comes along with us on missions, right? So I should tell you something about her.. [ Her voice volume lowers a bit - although it was fairly quiet to begin with, as usually with Madoka. ] Though maybe it's best to talk about it a little further away from everyone else.

[Gladio's smile faded some and a look of concern replaces it. With a nod he closes his notebook and moves down the bench of chairs and out, gesturing for Madoka to follow him to a more quiet, unoccupied corner of the dining carriage. There he decided to just sit down with the back against the wall, out of the way of anyone else.

When he spoke he kept his voice low.]

Alright... Tell me what's wrong with Mami?

[ Madoka obviously follows him over. And although she could probably remain standing for the conversation, since him sitting down actually makes their height difference pretty bearable for once, she figures that it might look odd if someone were to look over.. And she's trying to be at least kind of subtle about all of this!

So she ends up sitting down next to him, folding her hands in her lap. ]

Um, well.. Is there anything you already know about Mami-san? Or her powers? [ Figuring out that first is probably a good starting point. ]

All I know is she's a pretty good healer. She healed that bite for me.

[Gladio reached over to pat the arm that the monster had bitten during the mission. She'd also healed the scratches down his back. Not even a mark was left over, which was pretty damn amazing to Gladio.]

[ She can't help but glance over at the arm, noting with relief that the bite really does seem gone. Not that it's much of a surprise.. It's true that Mami is really strong. Really good at what she does. There's never been a doubt about that in Madoka's mind. ]

Right.. That's part of her magic, since she's a magical girl. I don't know if she used it when she healed you, but she has this gem.. [ Madoka holds her hands a very small distance from each other. Apparently the gem isn't all that big. ] It's called a Soul Gem. It's the source of her magic. And every time she uses magic, it gets a little darker.

The gem that makes the strange flowers? [Because when she's healed him flowers had floated around him and that... had been really pretty. But now he frowned.]

Darker? That... sounds like a bad thing. Right?

It is bad. Because..

[ Madoka glances around again to make sure none of the others are near them. She doesn't want anyone else to overhear this - not when the information could be passed along to Mami in as small of a space as this train. ]

It's.. It's called a Soul Gem for a reason. When any of us become a magical girl-- [ She shakes her head. It doesn't feel right to trouble anyone with the worry that it could have happened or would still happen to Madoka herself too, so she tries to word it differently. ] No, when Mami-san became one, her soul was taken out of her body and placed in there. So, um, if someone would take the Soul Gem too far away from her, for example, her body would just drop to the ground dead until someone returned it to her. Mami-san has no idea that that's the case though..

[Gladio caught the little slip, and frowned more. He didn't look happy to learn this information and sighed softly.]

... And I take it there's no way to return her soul back to her body?

[Though that was on her world. There were people on the train with powers beyond either his or her worlds, he wondered if any of them could have the power necessary to help Mami?]

[ She shakes her head. ]

Not as far as I know..

[ Not back home, anyway. Maybe Kyubey could do it, but.. really, why would he? It's not like he'd do it if Madoka just asked it nicely enough. She does wonder if someone on the train could do it, but it seems hard.. It's not just like magically healing someone like some people on the train seem capable of. ]

But that's exactly why it's so dangerous for it to turn dark. After all, it's not just her gem turning dark.. That's her soul turning dark. Once it's completely dark, Mami-san will.. [ She hesitates. This is the worst part to talk about, and Madoka bends her head. ] She'll turn into a monster, a Witch.. And there won't be any way to get her back to normal again by then. I've seen it happen before to one of my other friends from back home..

[He listened... and when Madoka's head bowed, he stretched out an arm and pulled her in close to his side. He understood why she'd taken him aside now, and understood her concerns.]

Then we'll have to do what we can to stop that happening.

... I know Katsuya was saying something about Mami earlier. I'm guessing this is what he meant. And that's fine.

[But he really wished this was more commonly known. He'd bet there were a dozen people on the train right now who could help in a more permanent way if they'd had a clue. But he couldn't break Madoka's trust, or reveal a secret about Mami that she didn't know herself. So all he could do was gently, soothingly, rub Madoka's arm.]

We'll keep her safe from that. And thanks for letting me know, Princess.

[ The moment she's pulled closer, Madoka starts leaning against Gladio's side - considering their size difference, she fits there perfectly. And it's always nice and comforting whenever she's close to Gladio. Which is something she can definitely use right now, considering the nature of their talk. ]

No.. Thank you for listening to me.

[ And taking her seriously. It means a lot to her. ]

His, um.. his pony friend can apparently help keep her Soul Gem clean. He told he that he had already been helping out Mami-san that way. I'm not sure if there are others on the train who can do that too, but maybe I could subtly introduce them to her too.. [ Though she has to think about that. It'd have to be handled very delicately. ]

For now I think he can help... He was very uh... passionate about having his pony friend help Mami when she needed it. I think he was under the impression I wouldn't let it happen?

[He sighed, but he was pretty sure they'd worked that out some. Especially now that he understood what was going on, he was more inclined to want to encourage the kid to send his pony off to do her thing.]

If the pony can do what's needed, it should be fine. It's when Mami decides she wants to go to a different team, instead of with you, that we'll need to worry and maybe someone who can purify a stone... [he was quiet for a moment, thinking]... Maybe someone with celestial powers?

[ She nods. ]

I guess anyone with purifying powers of some kind might work..? [ Not that Madoka sounds too sure of it. After all, back home they never had to consider other ways of cleaning it, considering they had witches dropping Grief Seeds to do that. ]

I'm not sure if general healing powers would work on it. Maybe they would, but I guess healing someone's body is a little different from healing their soul..

[ Even when said soul is trapped in a gem. ]

She's on purple, right? Maybe I can ask one of my purple friends if they know someone who might be able to help.

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Blue Meeting:

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