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Shards of a Broken Sun [Megaten/Shugo Chara/Exalted]

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You know, Ami's class probably knows about Miki. When Ami goes to school without Miki tomorrow, her classmates are probably going to ask where Miki is. It could be interesting to have some of them come over for a "hope you get well soon/congrats on getting big" visit.

I wonder if they know about Second Ami. Will Second Ami get a "wow, there are two of you?", or a "wow, you got out!"?
 
Her classmates wouldn't ask. I'd wager they'd just read it off her mind immediately.

But even with mind reading, they might not know about Akkun, because Ami doesn't actually think of her as a separate person.

If Akkun got out, there would be bigger problems than her classmates' reactions to her, chiefly because it seems like Acchan would prefer she got back in. And probably take immediate steps toward trying to make it so. Which would probably result in both ending up in a state unfit for attending school.

....Unless Akkun ended up as Ami's Chara. In which case all her classmates would soon forget about Miki in favor of ooh-ing over Ami's new replacement fairy friend.
 
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PistachioCookies said:
Her classmates wouldn't ask. I'd wager they'd just read it off her mind immediately.

But even with mind reading, they might not know about Akkun, because Ami doesn't actually think of her as a separate person.

If Akkun got out, there would be bigger problems than her classmates' reactions to her, chiefly because it seems like Acchan would prefer she got back in. And probably take immediate steps toward trying to make it so. Which would probably result in both ending up in a state unfit for attending school.
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They're not all mind readers. Look at Misaki - she's specifically there because Ami needed a mind-control-capable friend, yet she has Mind Control 0 and a 1-dot mind reading specialization limited to providing statistics. Or Hikaru - for all his power, he only has Mind Control 1, with a 2-dot specialty in "mind crush". He doesn't know how to perform telepathy. (His usefulness as an example is limited because he's not actually one of Ami's classmates, but he's still a point of comparison, and the only actual classmate we have stats on is Misaki.)

Most of Ami's classmates are psionic, but Ami might be the only one capable of full mind reading.

As for Akkun, it really doesn't sound like the relationship is that hostile.
 
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They don't have to be particularly skilled at it. Apparently, Ami's thoughts or empathic projections are uncontrolled enough that people feel them if she thinks too hard about something:
Baughn said:
When she thought hard, or remembered something vividly, her own feelings echoed through the air like a physical force; a gentle light or an invisible touch or a wave of darkness or water washing over everyone nearby—a reflection of Ami's moods given shape and substance. Of Misaki's thoughts, of Namami's dreams… there was no-one in her grade who didn't at least recognise it when it happened.
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So if Miki is on her mind.... her classmates will know. Whether or not they want to.

As for Akkun, well....
Baughn said:
"We weren't?" replied Ami-chan, with a frown. She rubbed at her eyes and looked around again, finally paying attention this time. "Wow. Um..." She poked the surface of the puddle and leaned in closer. "You weren't trying to get out again, right?"

"Of course I wasn't trying to get out again!" snapped Ami-kun, rolling her eyes. "If I'd been trying to get out I'd have done it already!" She paused and took a deep breath, reining in her temper. "Though I will, once we figure out how Miki did it. Wherever she is."
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Akkun has a temper and apparently tried to "get out" before. Causing a certain level of distrust to develop between them.

In addition:
Baughn said:
At least 'Ami-chan' had stopped complaining when she snarked at her. They both knew well enough why they were arguing, and neither of them liked to say it out loud anymore. 'Ami-chan' had those impulses too, after all. Even if she preferred to shove them on her instead.
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Acchan apparently has a tendency of dumping her negative emotions onto Akkun.

That's a disaster in the making, but at least Acchan still thinks of Akkun as a part of her, which probably mitigates the impact somewhat. If Akkun got out and Acchan started thinking "you're not me", well then who knows what the heck would happen.

Persona 4 would suggest imminent violence.
 
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Projective empathy projects emotions. "I feel happy", or "I feel worried". Emotions don't have the informational content to tell that Ami is happy about Miki's accomplishment, or worried about Miki's health. It takes something like Utau's Pyroglyphics to convey that.

As for Akkun, yeah, I read those sections, but the relationship still doesn't read anywhere near hostile enough for Acchan to try to stuff Akkun into her head. It just reads as annoyance and frustration, not anything that would lead to that kind of fight. When Akkun says she's going to get out, Acchan nods.
 
I imagine it going like this: Akkun comes out and does not want to go back in, because she doesn't think she's the same person as Acchan. She will flaunt it as proof to Acchan of them being separate people.

Acchan will now either be forced to either agree that Akkun is a different person from her, or else prove to Akkun that they are indeed the same person.

If the former was likely, Acchan would probably already have done it. In the case of the latter - Akkun has a temper and does not seem like she'd be inclined to accept any sort of proof Acchan might offer up in a hurry. In which case, it could get ugly pretty quickly.
 
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PistachioCookies said:
Acchan will now either be forced to either agree that Akkun is a different person from her, or else prove to Akkun that they are indeed the same person.
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...no? She's not forced to do any of that. Besides,
Baughn said:
She resisted the urge to kick herself in the shins; it would just annoy Ami, who'd probably start her "we're totes the same person even if I'm gonna pretend otherwise for Mom and Dad and literally everyone I meet" spiel. It would have been cute when they were six, but not anymore! They were seven now. Not a baby!
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Acchan has already decided to treat Akkun as a different person when interacting with others. Stuffing Akkun into her head would go against that.
 
Quine said:
Acchan has already decided to treat Akkun as a different person when interacting with others. Stuffing Akkun into her head would go against that.
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Keyword being "pretend".

Acchan doesn't actually believe it internally. That segment itself indicates that Acchan gets annoyed with Akkun when she insists they are separate people.

Since Acchan currently believes they aren't, Akkun getting out and waving it in her face as "proof" of being separate will force her into either agreeing with Akkun. Or get into a pissing match trying to prove she is right and Akkun is wrong.
 
PistachioCookies said:
Keyword being "pretend".

Acchan doesn't actually believe it internally. That segment itself indicates that Acchan gets annoyed with Akkun when she insists they are separate people.

Since Acchan currently believes they aren't, Akkun getting out and waving it in her face as "proof" of being separate will force her into either agreeing with Akkun. Or get into a pissing match trying to prove she is right and Akkun is wrong.
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That doesn't force anything! They can just disagree. They certainly don't have to go to such violent lengths that neither of them would be able to go to school.

Besides, Akkun never actually disagrees with the idea that they're the same person. Both in her narration:

Baughn said:
Ami-chan nodded—unsurprisingly, since they were the same person—and pulled a face.
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and in her dialogue:

Baughn said:
"You're me," said Ami in exasperation, leaning down towards the puddle
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she expresses a belief that they're the same person. Her annoyance with Acchan's "'we're totes the same person even if I'm gonna pretend otherwise for Mom and Dad and literally everyone I meet' spiel" may be a disagreement on the degree, implications, or relevance of being the same person, or simply annoyance at the speech itself.

Acchan never expresses any disapproval of the idea of Akkun getting out, either. As I said before, Acchan nods when Akkun says she's going to get out. She doesn't reject the idea, or try to discourage the attempt. The closest she comes to expressing disapproval is the "You weren't trying to get out again, right?" line, which doesn't actually express disapproval of the idea. Given the context of the nod, this line sounds more like "are we in this situation because you were trying to get out?", tech support problem diagnosis style.
 
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If Akkun accepts being the same person as Acchan, there's not really going to be a "second" Ami, this would just be the equivalent of Hikaru's Astral Projection. Neat trick, but she wouldn't even be the first in her class to do it.

If there's disagreement between them on whether they are the same... well let's just say, I would not put money on either Akkun or Acchan being mature enough to agree to disagree.

It is a possibility. I just have serious doubts about the likelihood of it.
 
quantum lurker said:
Note: I don't recall the QM saying that, it was us questors trying to extrapolate why the effort of making certain Informational Threadmarks was made?
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Honestly, "Baughn enjoys thinking about this stuff" is often sufficient reason. When it comes to informationals, some of them exist just to help with the worldbuilding; there's no guarantee you'll run across an example anytime soon.

quantum lurker said:
Wasn't it mentioned that Ami couldn't make another Astral Projection copy simultaneously back in earlier discussion (ergo we might be seeing Astral Projection in action rn, theoretically)?
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That's accurate. And yes, Ami is using that skill right now, though it isn't a requirement for getting use from Dreamwalking. It does make things less complicated.
 
quantum lurker said:
So I can take from this that
1) The interlude was also an example of Astral Projection (in the same place), and
2) With it you won't have to Dreamwalk during the day to keep your memories?
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No comment on #2.

Re. 1, Ami is sleeping on the couch at home; her presence next to Amu is a projection. There is no "in the same place"; the Acchan reflection in the pond only exists in Ami's mind, although admittedly that wouldn't stop anyone from seeing her.
 
Unrelated: just making sure you noticed the "Happy Fun Cooking Time" subvote in the plan, @Baughn. Pistachio didn't explicitly announce it when they put that in, and it seems easy to miss.

Also, since the interlude ended up not covering the Naoto conversation, are you planning to include that in the next update, or just skip it?
 
quantum lurker said:
I wonder what happens if an Astral Projection dies/is injured, or is it a "try it and find out" question?
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If I had to guess, I'd would place my bets on "mental abrasion".

Though I'd rather not find out if possible.

In theory, an Astral Projection should be able to be voluntarily dismissed before it gets so damaged it would completely collapse. I'd imagine the attack would have to be sudden and overwhelming for that to happen... or the Projector would need to be purposely straining themself to keep the Projection going, which would probably result in mental abrasion anyway.
 
Quine said:
Unrelated: just making sure you noticed the "Happy Fun Cooking Time" subvote in the plan, @Baughn. Pistachio didn't explicitly announce it when they put that in, and it seems easy to miss.

Also, since the interlude ended up not covering the Naoto conversation, are you planning to include that in the next update, or just skip it?
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I'll include as much of it as is needed for the story to make sense. And yes, saw the subvote. Currently working out precisely how Kana's shadow-self works.
 
That deffo wasn't in my bingo card, and is a very good thing we sprung that early?

Unless we accidentally put them through a blender by doing this stunt, that is

@Baughn Are there narrative benefits (on success or on failure) to doing something using Psionic Specialty Dice + Psionic Dice over just Psionic dice net dice being equal?

Getting Specialties are really expensive on training time esp given Psionic discounts, I want to grab a Mental Healing one but can't justify it over just training general Mind Control now and all
 
PistachioCookies said:
If I had to guess, I'd would place my bets on "mental abrasion".

Though I'd rather not find out if possible.

In theory, an Astral Projection should be able to be voluntarily dismissed before it gets so damaged it would completely collapse. I'd imagine the attack would have to be sudden and overwhelming for that to happen... or the Projector would need to be purposely straining themself to keep the Projection going, which would probably result in mental abrasion anyway.
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We've seen Personas collapse. Mental Abrasion sounds right
 
quantum lurker said:
That deffo wasn't in my bingo card, and is a very good thing we sprung that early?

Unless we accidentally put them through a blender by doing this stunt, that is

@Baughn Are there narrative benefits (on success or on failure) to doing something using Psionic Specialty Dice + Psionic Dice over just Psionic dice net dice being equal?

Getting Specialties are really expensive on training time esp given Psionic discounts, I want to grab a Mental Healing one but can't justify it over just training general Mind Control now and all
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The psi specialty pricing relative to baseline dots seems to be geared toward specialties being lategame super-upgrades. (It's a little weird thinking of them that way, since ability specialties are priced identically and aren't anywhere near as super.) The benefit for buying psi specialties over buying regular dots seems to be that by the time you're buying specialties, there are no more baseline dots.
 
Quine said:
The benefit for buying psi specialties over buying regular dots seems to be that by the time you're buying specialties, there are no more baseline dots.
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Well that and 3 weeks is faster than the 4 needed to get to rank 4 in any psionic skill.... though the specialization would need to be really, really useful to justify having it over a rank 4 base skill, since just using Teleportation as an example, we're talking about the difference between merely teleporting vs warping space and making permanent portals.
quantum lurker said:
Can Astral Projection be used for non-Psionic training to deal with our training time problem (say, Lore) after we get 1 dot?
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Training is apparently a matter of concentration, which is why full training time overlap isn't a thing. Since I'd assume the Astral Projection itself requires concentration, we'd be splitting attention between it and whatever else we were trying to train while using it.

What it WOULD help with is with eliminating travel time and potentially needing permission from adults to go places, if we could just sneak a Projection to the alternate location while we were supposed to be, say, in school. Making it possible to train Medicine at JP's while at school - but Amu still wouldn't be paying attention to class if she was focused on the Projection at JP's, so if we were trying to study Lore at the same time there, we'd just be dragging out the training of both activities.

I'm also pretty sure it wouldn't help with Integrity, which is possibly the most critical stat to train. We've been told Amu can't do more than 2 hours of it safely per day, no matter what.

That is to say, we could probably get some good training overlap going between Integrity and Astral Projection, if we, say, conjured a Projection and got Ran or Su to attach themselves into it (like how Akkun is currently in the driver's seat of Ami's projection) - but if we wanted to keep the Projection going past 2 hours, they'd probably be forced to "detach" themselves at that point and then our Integrity training for the day would be over.

(....Which actually makes me wonder if keeping Ran or Su out itself qualifies as training Astral Projection. Huh.)
 
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PistachioCookies said:
Well that and 3 weeks is faster than the 4 needed to get to rank 4 in any psionic skill.... though the specialization would need to be really, really useful to justify having it over a rank 4 base skill, since just using Teleportation as an example, we're talking about the difference between merely teleporting vs warping space and making permanent portals.
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It only takes 2 XP and 3 weeks to get from rank 3 to rank 4. That's the same time as a specialty dot, with less XP cost. Only rank 5 takes longer than a specialty dot, and even then, the XP cost is the same. It's damn near impossible to justify buying specialties for a psi skill before rank 5.

PistachioCookies said:
That is to say, we could probably get some good training overlap going between Integrity and Astral Projection, if we, say, conjured a Projection and got Ran or Su to attach themselves into it (like how Akkun is currently in the driver's seat of Ami's projection) - but if we wanted to keep the Projection going past 2 hours, they'd probably be forced to "detach" themselves at that point and then our Integrity training for the day would be over.
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Astral Projection is likely already...

wait. Astral Projection is likely already what we need to manifest Ran and Su normally. We're sitting at 0 dots there. Maybe if we trained that, manifesting Ran and Su wouldn't be such a struggle.
 
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