Exasperated: "No one's asking you to share grief seeds. But if you're not interested, you're not interested. Do you know anyone in the area who might be?"

"No.  Now get out of my barrier unless you want a fight."

"Alright, alright, we're going. No need to be unfriendly."

She watches them go.  It's easy enough to backtrack; soon they're back in the alley.

"Yeesh," Kaylee says.  "I didn't expect it to be that tough a pitch."

"Yeah. And something about the way she talked about farming witches just - was wrong."

"Do you think she meant - familiars grow into new witches but I thought they had to kill people - "

"Don't know. I hope not."

"We should probably keep hunting, huh."

"Yeah, just far away from her. I don't think she'll react well to a second run-in."

She nods.

They manage to find a few more witches, and steer clear of grappling-hook girl.  No other magical girls show up that night.

When they return to the hotel room, Lianne collapses into bed with a groan. "Well, that was a long day. At least we'll have plenty of extra grief seeds to share with the group. And we're getting pretty good at hunting."

"Yeah.  - you did a really good job handling the girl with the grappling hook, I think she would have attacked us if you weren't so good at - de-escalating."

"Thanks. That felt more nerve-wracking than most witches! I wonder why she was being so - aggressive, even after we explained ourselves? Like, suspicion I can understand, not the - hair-trigger she was on."

"Yeah... maybe Kyubey was right, and outside of Mallory's group that kind of meeting just - always-always-always ends in a fight.  Or she - started off alone, and he convinced her, because she didn't have somebody she trusted more than him."

"Dunno. Just, background human personalities, I'd guess there's a lot more girls willing to cooperate than just our group, and Mallory's been around longer and seems pretty optimistic, but - maybe the strong emotions thing selects for girls who're more likely to be volatile?"

"Yeah, that could be."  She exhales.  "Well, one down.  She wasn't interested, but we've got more time."

"Yeah. With any luck, next one will go better."

"Here's hoping.  ...I can take point with the next one we meet, if you want me to.  Since you said it was scary."

"Not scary, more - felt high-stakes. Like, I really don't want to get into a fight with another girl. But if you want to take point, you can."

"That makes sense.  And, I mean, I certainly wouldn't mind if you did."  She smiles over at Lianne.  "I just wouldn't mind if I did either, if you wanted - a break."

"I think I'd rather feel - in control of the situation some, so I'll take point. Thanks for the offer, though.

"You're welcome."  Streeeetch.  "Bedtime, I think."

Yawn. "Yeah. Night!" And she hauls herself out of the bed to get ready for sleep.

As does Kaylee.  "G'night!"

The next morning, Lianne gets up bright and early as usual. "Morning!" she greets when Kaylee wakes up. "Want to get breakfast out again, then maybe go to the music museum?"