"...Oh."

"I guess if I got into it, knowing the risks, I can't very well tell you not to.  Although I think, if it were possible to make an ordinary gun as deadly to another magical girl as it is to a human, more of them would probably rely on guns than their own conjured weapons."

"We'd have to ask Mal if there's a trade-off I guess. Like, speed, or cost..."

She nods.  "But it's better than nothing."

"It'll be something to experiment with, at least."

She nods.  Tennessee speeds by.

Emma has no particular problem letting the conversation lapse until it's time to start considering where to stop for a break.

" - Oh hey, did you guys pick out any road music?"

"Yeah! Even managed to find a few things me and Emma can sorta agree on, though if you don't like anything feel free to say..."

And she'll put on a CD.

Music is half the fun of road trips, in Kaylee’s opinion.  Do Lianne and her sister have a motel picked out for the night?

Not really. Emma's plan is too drive until they're tired then pick somewhere. She wasn't sure what the other two's endurance would be.

Kaylee'll probably want to find someplace to crash around dinnertime - today and most other days of the trip.

Lianne's got zero problem with that - and doesn't super want to be driving when it gets close to dark, anyways. Even in stopover towns, it's nice to have time to sit down and eat and maybe walk around some.

Absolutely!

She tries not to be too sappy in front of Lianne's sister, but every now and then they have a few minutes alone.

This is delightful! There's something amazing about getting to spend so much time together, and seeing new places, and the way the landscape rolls by them...

(And kissing in hotel rooms...)

There are definitely times Emma isn't there available for that!

(And Emma's even pretty good about texting when she expects to be back.)

Summer break: excellent.  Road trips with Lianne: really excellent.

Eventually, though, it's time to stop in a bigger city and start looking for magical girls.

Santa Rosa has a single magical girl, who isn't exactly aggressive but takes their contact information then tells them to fuck off. (She doesn't mind them hunting in the outskirts; the witch population's enough for an established magical girl and the occasional nomad, and she is aware she's on a tourist path).

Albuquerque, New Mexico is the first big city, the entire metropolitan area and nearby cities large enough for ten territorial girls easily. 

"So.  Hunting in other girls' territory seem to go badly... any ideas?"

"Not. Really? There might be - maybe we can sense other magical girls? Like we sense witches? I sometimes get a - feeling? Like when Taylor's being reckless."

She nods.  "I still want to figure out some way to... attract attention over a large area, and then let them come to us.  But I'm not sure we can do that, just the two of us."

"Especially in a way that just alerts magical girls and not also the local police."

She nods.  "We'll try dowsing for now."

"Probably the best place to start, yeah. Is now good, or do you want to wait for night? - I guess we could also practice sensing each other?"