Puella Magi - Memento Mori (PMMM-Quest) [Story only -thread]

[DrZiztah]

[X] Just let's get it over with here, and move on to Tamiko.

"I-I see," you stutter out, all the while inwardly trying to parse together what you just saw and make something out of it. The image looks quite comprehensive in terms of visual effects, and you're quite sure you could hear the man's voice from where his clone was as well. "H-how, though?"
Tick, tock
"Hmm? Well, you were so absorbed in your own thoughts that I could pull that off pretty easily," the man tells you, and you can feel your cheeks flare up from the embarrassment. "It's actually pretty easy to tell something's off when you're looking closely at it. Figments like that are real only as long as you believe in them. Properly backed illusions won't go down as easily, but are much more limited and expensive without specialized magic, unfortunately."
Tick, tock
You nod along at the explanation, making mental notes as you go. "I-is there a difference then?"
Tick, tock
"Well, it's a crude distinction I personally make between the various methods, and I'm sure someone somewhere would scream at me for doing it in such a shoddy manner," he laughs out. "What I did there is basically mind trickery with only minor involvement of light-bending or conjuration required by other types illusions. Your mind was the one to make the images real… well, for a given value of real anyway."
Tick, tock
The man takes several steps forward to stand beside you. A goofy grin mars his face as he glances over the now figment-free clearing. "Remember, it's real only as long as you believe it to be. This is the sort of magic that requires you to be able to guess your target's mind's movements with pretty good accuracy to have a chance to work. And even then, you have to be subtle about it. A single bout of doubt brings it all down."
Tick, tock
You're fairly sure he's mocking your gullibility by now, and you shrink back from the man. You also can't help but to wonder if you even have the skills to make any kind of psychological guesses about people.
Tick, tock
"Maa~, don't feel disheartened by it. I had to practice for years to get anything like that even started, and it wouldn't have worked had you not been so distracted by other things," he tells you reassuringly. "Besides, I cheated by using other enchantment forms at the same time, and we won't be practicing that today anyways. I just wanted to show off."
Tick, tock
Wait what?
Tick, tock
"I mean, I could go on and on about this, but we're on a timer here. You should probably transform for the next thing, because I'm going to get you started on something that might look a bit familiar…"

===

You're Tamiko Higekino, and you have a problem… Well, you have several problems when you get down to it, really. You're a big mess after all. But in this particular instance your problem comes in the shape of your aunt looking at you with a deadly serious expression on her face.

She has already taught Kishi to manifest a small energy shield like you can, which is kind of cool, you guess, and Ariane to become Saber, which is just plain awesome on every possible level. You're just jealous of your friend for getting to pull off the look so well, and you'd like to improve on your abilities that let you fire energy beams as well.

But you don't think your aunt was this deadly serious with them, and it's making you nervous. You doubt you're going to practice sword beams here, and the woman confirms as much once you stop walking.

"We're going to be focusing on one particular thing you can do," your aunt tells you, her voice as serious as her expression. "And that's your Star Veil."

"Huh, why?" you babble out in your nervousness as soon as your aunt's closed her mouth. "Err, I mean… It's all sorts of pretty, but why it specifically?"

"Because Tokyo is a really bad place," the woman tells you, and lets out a weary sigh. She's rubbing the back of her head. "Speaking of, how are you feeling with the trip coming closer? It's not long anymore until we're there."

Oh...

What do you do?

[] Write-in what you wish to say.

===

Bet you had already forgotten that Star Veil even existed

 

[DrZiztah]

[X] "I'm nervous. I'm really really nervous!"
-[X] "But... I can't help but feel a little excited to see Kimiko again."
-[X] "I want to see her again, I want reconnect with her. She's my sister after all, it's a chance I have to take."
[X] "Also, now I'm pretty nervous because you said Tokyo is a bad place. Do you mean there is too many Witches there? Or that there is bad magical girls?
-[X] "Kishi warned me they exist, but all the magical girls I met so far was friendly..."

You cast your gaze down n as you attempt to make sense of your feelings. It's not the easiest of topics for you even on other days, and now that you're so close to meeting with your sister… You can't quite put it all into words that would do it justice. But at the same time, perhaps speaking out something might help squash the butterflies in your stomach.

"I… I guess I'm nervous," you begin quietly, hoping to let the momentum of speech carry you forward from there. Your voice begins to rise as you follow up with more. "I'm really, really nervous! But…"

You draw in a deep breath, and look up again. Your eyes are shining now. "I can't help but feel excited too! To be able to see Kimiko again," you exclaim with increasing determination. "I want to see her again, I want to reconnect with her. There's just so much I want to tell her, and do with her. She's my sister after all, it's a chance I have to take."

Your aunt nods along quietly, prodding you to go on and let it go while you still can. It reminds you of something else on your chest, and something you need to make clear.

"And… Also, I think I'm pretty nervous? You told me that Tokyo is a bad place," you say, dragging on the sentence unsurely. "Do you mean there are too many witches there? Or are there so many bad Magical Girls?"

You've actually talked about this before, about how there are no bad Magical Girls as much as desperate ones. But at the same time, you know full well how bad people can be even without magic. And desperation makes people dangerous. "Kishi has warned me several times that they exist, but all I've met have been friendly so far."

Your aunt sighs. "You've simply gotten lucky, and that's good. But it's not something you can trust to keep happening, given how reality can be." You bite your lips as she goes on. "Remember when I told you how it's like gambling? Well, the big cities are the worst, as the competition is usually harsh in all of them with the amount of very experienced Magical Girls to hunt down the witches... as quickly as they appear."

Your aunt takes a momentary pause to think. She's frowning heavily. "Well, sufficient to say, just being a Magical Girl there is enough to paint a bright target on your back, and someone will come down on you if given a chance. Tokyo is one of those places where you don't want to play with your chances if you run across a Magical Girl."

You nod along with reluctance and hesitation, but inside you're once again wondering about everything. Why can't everyone just get along? Why can't everyone just be friends with each other? "Is it even safe to go there at all?"

"Not as safe as simply staying here," your aunt answers you. "But that's not exactly an option, is it now?"

...No, it's not.

"Besides, you can get by as long as you avoid exposing yourself as a Magical Girl, or at least don't cause any ruckus. Attacking another unknown Magical Girl is always a risky bet for them. So if you're simply passing through without hunting, they tend to play it safe and let you be."

"...But we're practicing for the chance that we still end up getting into an encounter with them, aren't we?" you ask dejectedly.

"...Yes," your aunt admits with a heavy sigh. "I'll be briefing both you and Mariko together later. But for now, just remember that you should always take the chance to run." The woman frowns again. "Well, this is a very rare time when your curse actually works to your advantage. You're about as safe as it gets if you don't talk with the local Magical Girls."

Yeah, you can understand where she's coming from. It doesn't stop it from feeling horrible to have anything to do with that.

"But, well, it's Mariko who's more at risk anyways," she sums it up. "Which is why we're practicing the Veil, and we're going to do it properly. I'm not going to sugarcoat this - should the worst come to pass, having the ability to cloak your friend at hand can save her life."

What do you do?

[] Talk more with your aunt.

[] Move on to the training.

[] Write-in.

===

Heh, April Fool's over and all . The picture and appearance of Kimiko are both legit, though.

 

[DrZiztah]

[X] Talk more with your aunt.
-[X] But I cannot move with Star Veil activated. What happens if a hostile magical girl decides to check the place we just were?

"But, auntie," you ask, confused and worried in equal measure. You know that the Star Veil has some glaring flaws, pretty visual effects aside, which you can't just ignore. But at the same time, the very idea of keeping your friends less safe than they could be is unthinkable. "How would Star Veil help with that?"

Before the woman can retort, you rush to explain your worries and reasoning. "I mean, I cannot move with the Star Veil activated. It dissipates too fast. What happens if a… hostile Magical Girl-" the words leave your mouth tasting like ash. "-decides to just check the place we just were in?"

Your aunt gives you a look, caught somewhere between amusement and incredulity. You're taken aback by the strange expression, and immediately go on the defensive. "What? That's how it works. Right?" You bite your lips, suddenly unsure. "Right?"

"Well, that one's true, yes," your aunt allows, while scratching her head. "And you've pretty accurately described the problem with that application of your magic as well, the lack of much needed mobility. You need every possible option to the latter half of fight or flight. Fighting in Tokyo is a bad idea."

Oh, so you're vindicated then?

"Which is why we're going to be working on it right here, right now," your aunt proclaims, and raises her eyebrows as her eyes linger on you. "You didn't forget that we came here for training, did you?"

"Err, no?" Maybe for a teeny-weeny bit? You admit nothing!

"Well, regardless, that's what we're going to do, get your Star Veil as far as we possibly can. I trust that you understand full well why I also want you to put everything you have, even more so than all those times before, into this," she says.

And you do. You understand it all too well. But...

"Mariko's going to feel like a burden again when she realizes the reason for this practice," you say in a low voice and bow your head. Your aunt simply nods.

"Which is why you should probably avoid rubbing it on her face. But at the same time, don't even try to force yourself into pretending it to be anything else," she tells you. "Mariko's a bright girl, she'll figure it out eventually. She can also understand it's because she's cared about, even she might not believe it first."

For what should be an important and joyous moment in your life, the Tokyo trip is appearing quite glum and depressing on every level today so far.

"Well, that's a worry for later. Are you ready to begin the training, Tamiko?" your aunt asks you.

What do you do?

[] Not yet, talk more with your aunt in private.

[] Move on to the training, and skip to going back to your friends.
-[] Talk with your friends.
-[] Talk with Cathy and auntcle

[] Write-in.

===

Goddammit, Mariko

 

[DrZiztah]

[x] Not yet, talk more with your aunt in private.
-[x] Hugs and thanks, cause after you gonna be super tired.

[X] Move on to the training, and skip to going back to your friends.
-[X] Talk with your friends.
-- [X] What have you guys been talking about?

No, not yet.

You're not ready to start training just yet. You know the time you have here is limited, but you don't want to begin immediately. There's something you need to let off your heart first, lest it try to weigh you down too much during the practice. And you don't know if you're even going to be in shape for it after you're done.

Your aunt isn't particularly surprised when you pounce at her for the all-too important hug, and embraces you gently in return after a quiet sigh. She already knows to expect this from you at any moment, what with the closeness addict that you are. But it's not like either one of you minds it either, really.

"Thank you," you tiredly tell your aunt. It's not just the fatigue from the hand-to-hand practice, even if that's also bearing down on you, the last one to have a go. "We're going to make it work amazing." And no doubt you will be even more super tired once you're through here. "And then… Yeah."

"Mmm, shall we get going then?" your aunt asks you, and you nod at her without loosening the hug one bit.

"Yeah, let's," you say quietly. It's for your friends who rely on you, and you can't let them down by being weak. "What did you have in mind?"

"It's what we call endurance training," you're told. "Between your friends and this, I guess we're actually going to get that grief seed filled in one go..."

===

You're Tamiko Higekino, and you've made it back to the civilized world at last. Though you feel spent after everything, your steps nonetheless keep getting lighter and lighter as you approach your friends and miss Cathy. A toothy grin creeps onto your face as the sense of accomplishment washes across you in steady waves.

You're not coming back to disappoint them.

You had considered trying to sneak behind them, true, but couldn't really muster the will to go through with it back there with your aunt. It occurs to you that you probably missed a good chance for showing off, much like Ariane likes to do with her new tricks.

Why is it that she gets to be the Saber Magical Girl?

But really, you suppose it's not that big a loss in the end. You're done, you're here, and you're about to hang out with your friends again. What's not to like there? With that in mind, you run the rest of the way to the group that's been waiting for you and your uncle to come back as well.

"Hi, I'm back again!" you exclaim cheerily as soon as you're within talking distance. "What have you been talking about? Did I miss anything important?" The smoothest start to a conversation you've got there…

"Oh, you haven't missed anything, really," Ariane tells you with a lazy wave. You quizzically look down to see her lying on her back, eyes closed and her smile tired. You have to blink when you see the bare ground underneath her, a dry spot she seems to have melted for herself to specifically lay on. It's no rolling green meadow, but she seems to like it anyways.

"Uh, are you sure about that?" you keep pressing the topic, trying your best not to comment on the position she's in.

"W-we were mostly planning the weekend, actually," Kishi butts in next from the closest edge of the occupied bench. "W-we didn't agree on much yet, though."

Next to her is Mariko who looks almost relieved about your arrival. The topic hasn't pertained to her, and she has probably tried to make herself as invisible here as she humanly could. Next to her on the other end of the bench is Evelyn, who's pointedly trying to look elsewhere as her arm rests between her chin and crossed thighs.

You feel a twinge of guilt in your guts. You're really going to have to talk about everything with her soon. It's not getting any better with time.

"I mean, that's actually pretty nice!" you try to offer Kishi, drawing your eyes back to her. That's as far as you get, however, as you're interrupted by Miss Cathy hollering at you.

"Alright then, could we have your attention, please?" she announces, nodding at your uncle next to her. "I imagine you'd prefer to go home sooner rather than later, after all. And it's getting pretty damn late."

Well, you're really open for anything, actually? It would probably be rude to mention it out loud, though.

"I don't really have much to say from today," your uncle picks up from there, his demeanor quite serious for the occasion. "Good job, stay responsible and take care of each other, alright?"

"Aye. That does remind me of something else too," Cathy continues again, hanging her arms on the shaft of her scythe resting on her shoulders. "As you might well know, half of you will be in Tokyo over the weekend, which is why those here should probably exercise caution about any hunting. More so than usual, at least..."

You definitely do. You haven't actually hunted as a full group yet, now that you think about it, but you get the idea. "...This is also because I won't be available to save your butts if something goes horribly wrong."

That on the other hand is a complete surprise, which you actually voice in semi-panic. "Wait, are you leaving!?"

"From 4 am tomorrow until next week. I think the plane's here on Wednesday night?" the woman tells you. "But anyhow, this is because I'll be in Paris to see some old acquaintances of mine. It's nothing you should worry about, even if it's good to inform you of my absence."

What do you do?

[] Talk more with your friends-slash-teachers.

[] Write-in.

===

I'll be compiling the results from the training later. This week's been a doozy one.

Now for something else from the Author:
But that does actually remind me of something else I needed to ask all of you about. See, I've been thinking of going over the mechanical parts of the quest at some point. Though the d100 system does offer its fair share of hilarity and awesomeness, it's not without its flaws. I would like to ask you to tell me whether you think it works for the quest and for you personally. And if not, are there any particualr shortcomings?

Please don't take that as anything to be set in stone just yet. It's no poll or a decisive vote (do vote normally, though!), and I'm merely trying to map out whether we're on the same page about it, and whether things are working out as they are. I don't want to start shoving changes down your throats without a good reason.

 

[DrZiztah]

[X] Talk more with your friends-slash-teachers.
-[X] Wish Miss Cathy well on her trip.
-[X] Lend your superior (non-existent) planning skills to your friends and help them with the weekend and sleepover activities.
--[X] After all, your visit to Kimiko is a sleepover too, from a certain point of view. You need to refresh your sleepover skills!

"Huh, I see," you say, trying to calm down a bit before continuing. Miss Cathy's a grown-up woman who has every right make her own decisions. She no doubt has her own important people back in her home and has probably been looking forward to this particular trip. Even if it does make you a bit nervous, it's not your place to complain. You'll just have to hope you don't run into a situation too large for you to handle during that time.

But that's something you can worry about later. You have managed to make it without her several times, it's alright. Besides, it's not like you aren't going to go on a family trip of your own soon.

"Have a nice trip!" you follow up with a growing smile, just barely managing to prevent yourself from actually asking for souvenirs. It would be pretty rude, even if you'd honestly like some. It's Paris after all! "And safe travels! Hope it goes well."

Your friends follow suit after you, telling miss Cathy to have a safe trip each in their own words. It's probably just you, but Kishi especially appears to be a bit relieved and honestly conflicted at the same time.

"Ah, thanks, I'm sure I will." miss Cathy smiles at you. "But if we're done here, I will be taking my leave to get some sleep and pack my stuff. Remember to be responsible kids, and don't do anything stupid! Just because you have the house for yourselves, it doesn't mean you should throw a party."

With all said and done, miss Cathy's the first one to depart from the abandoned amusement park. You stay there for a bit, though, as before anyone can follow suit you turn to your friends with a goofy grin splitting your face in two. "So, about that sleepover…"

"Uh, wh-what of it?" Kishi asks.

"Well, you see, I believe it is only proper that I, Tamiko Higekino, lend my expertise on the matter of sleepovers to you!" you announce as pompously as you possibly can.

"Oho, what are your credentials then?" Ariane challenges you immediately, eyes narrowing slyly. You're forced on your back foot right there. Technically speaking, you haven't had a sleepover for years, because of… very understandable reasons. If you remember correctly, the last time was when you got your hands on the tomatoes.

Great times.

But you don't really want to mention that. And you're more or less forced to admit that maybe your expertise on the matter might be a wee-bit smaller than you just claimed. But at the same time, it doesn't really matter that much. You're going for a weekend trip yourself, and seeing Kimiko again might as well be a sleepover after all. And you need all the practice you can get for that.

"Uh, I'm willing to learn?" you offer weakly.

"It's a start," Ariane notes somewhat dismissively. "But certainly no master plan."

"I mean, what have you decided so far?" you return the challenge to her.

"Um, w-we were hoping to watch movies?" Kishi offers. "A-and Ariane did say something about introducing us to her hobbies, whatever they are?"

The aforementioned girl's coy smile turns absolutely gleeful as Kishi goes on. "Oh, you're going to love all that."

You don't answer just yet, as out of the corner of your eye you can see Evelyn rise up from her seated position and start walk away from you. You feel another pang in your gut at being reminded of what happened earlier this day…

"Uh, I-I hope so?" Kishi tries unsurely from your side, drawing your attention away from the departing girl. "Y-you certainly seemed enthusiastic about it."

What do you do?

[] Excuse yourself and go after Evelyn.

[] It can wait, talk more with the rest of your friends.

[] Skip to the evening
-{X} Time to go hunting.

[] Write-in.

 

[DrZiztah]

[X] Excuse yourself and go after Evelyn.

As interesting as the topic at hand is, you have much bigger fish to fry. Well, not literally in this case, but one of your few bonds of friendship coming under peril trumps the fun of planning a weekend sleepover that you won't be able to participate in. It's honestly not even a close contest there.

"Ah, sorry guys, I'll have to leave this here," you tell your friends, edging to the side as your gaze travels back to the form of Evelyn. She seems to have started to steer to the side from the route back to your ride, it seems, and towards the overgrowth of trees. You frown, and give a quick glance and a smile to your friends. "I'll catch up with you in the car soon, okay?"

A glance to the side confirms that your uncle seems to have disappeared from sight while your gaze was elsewhere.

"W-wait, wh- Oh," Kishi blinks as the realization hits her. She has her back covered by Ariane, though, who also seems to understand somewhat.

"Mmm, yes, we'll wait for you, don't worry," she reassured you very understandably, glancing over at Mariko immediately after. "No rush."

Mariko grumbles something under her breath, but lets it be. You guess they have started to pick on the exact nature of your problem while the day has unfolded. Though in a way you'd like some help there, you can understand that you probably need to talk things through with Evelyn by yourself after screwing up with her by yourself. They're just giving you the room to do that, Mariko included.

You nod at your friends, and leave them behind for now to jog after Evelyn before she disappears from your field of vision entirely

You catch up to the girl well out of the sight of the rest of your friends. Her pace is brisk and her eyes seem to wander around the area, finding the abandoned attractions of the park around her obviously mesmerizing. But there's a certain uncertainty to her movements, as if she was heavily thinking about things and feeling conflicted over those.

You only slow down once you're walking right next to her, your steps unsynchronized as you try to adjust your pace to hers. For a small moment, you just walk. Evelyn doesn't turn to address you for some reason, not at first. As such, you make the first move to break the silence.

"Evelyn?" you ask, hesitating about what you should say here.

She doesn't stop walking, but her gaze fixes itself straight ahead of your for now. She listens now. And she answers after a small, tired sigh.

"You know, this amusement park is really full of places to explore. We didn't have the likes of these back in France," she notes with a hint of melancholy in her voice.

Huh?

"I honestly wanted to go out exploring the place like they do in those weekend morning cartoons for children," she continues without missing a beat. "But other things got in the way, I guess. Kind of a shame too, it could have been fun back then."

What do you do?

[] Talk with Evelyn.

===

Social exists.

 

[DrZiztah]

I have a lot of time to think about my mistakes and doubts these days. A lot of it is about matters irrelevant to this particular topic, but this quest gets its fair share too.

I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this, but Memento Mori was my first truly big writing project, as well as my first time running a game for people who I was not closely familiar with. Now here, 2,5 years and a word count of about 600,000 later, I dare say it has been a wild ride all the way through. I have learned a lot over the course of that time and, even if I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, I think I have improved a fair bit both as a writer and as a QM.

You'll probably understand that the quest with all that entails is dear to me.

But that's also a pretty big problem. Because it was my first time running a quest, I have stumbled onto almost every possible pitfall there is. My failures are too many to count, and from each one I've been forced to learn at least a little bit. A lot of grief could have been avoided wholesale had I understood everything what I was doing back then.

A persona of a gleeful killer GM without actually being quite adept at delivering it. The worst of both worlds right there. Also, stupid taunting.

Letting a crap ton of really cringey stuff go through because I thought it would be okay if the people reading had their fun.

Keeping a structure of micromanaging Tamiko's entire day, which takes a gazillion updates to do.

And so on and so on…

All through that it was all me really wanting to keep on writing. I've poured my heart into crafting the characters and plots you've seen here, and there are still so many things I want write and show to you.

But with every single mistake I have made along the way, the quest has become unapproachable for people who might otherwise be thrilled about reading that. It's no fun reading 600k words of a shitty QM trying to graduate to the class of mediocre QMs. Perhaps had I been brave enough to confront these problems a lot earlier, as I have been aware of them longer than is excusable, things would be workable.

The end result is an increasingly insular quest with few people voting and fewer people daring to read through to get to this point. And with me being as emotionally invested in this as I have been, it has bled onto the rest of my life, as I agonize for the chance to keep writing for days with nothing happening in the thread.

At this point any attempt to steer back to clear is kind of too late. With the story this far the best I can do - for example with the witch fight mechanisms - is just do patching work for a boat leaking everywhere. And the way things are now is just plain unhealthy on so many levels. It's better to confront it, and find a dock to do a proper overhaul.

As such, I will be putting things on hiatus here for now.

Of course, I can't imagine not running a quest of any kind, being the fiction-addicted QM that I am. Restarting the whole thing is a no-go for obvious reasons, and I'd rather not do other quests. I love Memento Mori for all its flaws to death no matter what, and in the end I will probably continue from a new thread to give chance for other people to jump aboard without the worst of the baggage and archive panic from this one. There are still stories to tell.

Regardless, for now I just need the chance to be free and do some important soul searching and try to realize all the things I've learned. You will hear from me later in the Summer. I promise you that much. But now I need to rest.

Thank you to all of you who have kept enjoying this quest despite my constant, obvious fuck-ups. And sorry for the suddenness of it all. I hope to see you still around when I get back .