I don't think continuing this line of discussion is likely to be productive, but no, that does not seem consistent with Midori's character so far.
Shards of a Broken Sun [Megaten/Shugo Chara/Exalted]
- Thread starter Baughn
- Start date
- Crossover
- Location
- Laniakea
That is the exactly case the prosecution is going to be making: that Amu was brainwashing people and is just as bad as Easter.
As in, just look at what she did to these poor children under the age of 16, they are now in love with her and worship the ground she walks on thanks to her influence on their minds. Hell, these children were all vulnerable individuals with mental issues, some of whom like Utau and Hikaru had split personalities too and many others whose consciousnesses were fragmented into "X-Eggs" and whose bodies were barely conscious when she had her way with them.
Amu and her lawyer will, of course, be the one arguing that shes was helping them to the best of her ability and trying to treat their problems using her psionic abilities rather than deliberately trying to brainwash them and she had only the best intentions in mind.
The prosecution will then ask the rather obvious question of "give us the details of how you thought your actions would help, the way you diagnosed the victims and the exact mechanics being your application of psychic powers during the treatment".
And Amu herself has no idea how the hell Open Heart works. She would probably have to leave the details to Tsukasa, who wasn't there most of the time.
By the end of it, with a good enough lawyer, they will probably make a solid enough argument to prove to the court - and Midori - that, yes, Amu HAD good intentions but really didn't know what she was doing and needs to be more tightly controlled to prevent her playing vigilante and seriously damaging someone with her largely instinctual use of psychic powers.
Hence, probation instead of jail.
Would Midori disagree with this outcome?
I think she'd agree in relief, given that Amu avoided jail.
I don't understand this line, that sounds a bit like a plea deal which so far I know wouldn't exist in Japan. I think you get what ever judgement the judge decides upon and that is what you'll have to live with, agreement doesn't come in to it I think.
Though I also think the prosecution in Japan probably wouldn't start a case against you all that quickly in the first place, they seem to favor having a near 100% conviction rate or some such. And with a case with so many uncertainties and unknown powers they haven't heard of before, I wonder if they'd move as quickly as one might think.
There is also the political angle, where Amu might be argued to be more of an asset really. Things are only getting more dangerous after all and she's certainly capable. Also she is considered important by some groups and orgs, ones also sanctioned by the gov, something that could well make the politicians prefer to not escalate things nearly so much. After all, starting an interdepartamental war when one is doing far worse then the others is not great. There's a lot of dirty laundry that can come up in court.
So in that sense this is all kind of speculative anyway and it's not really clear it would ever really spin off in such a way. There are more forces at play then just a group trying to look at everything in the worst possible light you can.
PS, I'm not sure how one would reliably argue she has actually mind controlled everyone, Saaya is clearly a fairly biased source that many others won't agree with. Just as arguing that chara are a split personality is highly speculative and not really accurate. These seem pretty thin straws to balance on when some government orgs will be presenting their 'expert' point of view on the matter, rather then the speculations of others.
-----
In any case, for now I as such think this branch isn't even all that likely. Other factors preclude things going this way for now I think, else other supernatural things would have led to things as well. Unless there are pictures or video in the media, fair chance nothing much will happen. Manticore for instance certainly wouldn't want its secrets coming out as well after all. Once things go to court many things will probably end up burning due to everything that will start coming to the surface.
- Location
- Laniakea
I meant, I can see her agreeing with the idea that Amu is out of control and requires a firm hand and a watchful eye - a period of probation under an trained, assigned guardian, in this case - to make sure she doesn't go ham with her abilities and accidentally do something that causes tragedy despite having the best intentions.
A firm hand that Midori would herself admit to being unable to provide, given her complete and utter lack of in-depth knowledge whatsoever about psychics and the occult.
Could see her agreeing with the idea that her own home environment was/is not the best for nurturing a wild spirit like Amu Hinamori and that she is better somewhere else, under a specialist that can provide the proper care that she needs.
Obviously, Midori herself would not be able to influence the judgment handed down, outside of attempting to vouch for the soundness of Amu's character to the judge, which would be likely quickly discarded given the obvious bias-ness of the source.
In fact, most of the Guardians and Utau's character assessments of her would also likely be written off under a combination of being too young to be a good judge of character, being brainwashed psychically or just influenced the old-fashioned way into believing Amu was always an upstanding person. And since the actual incident Amu would be on the hook for would involve the Scavengers, who the rest of her other friends would not have met much if ever at all, they wouldn't actually be able to say much in her defense aside from vouching for her character and all the "good things" she did in the past.
The main testimonies that would be able to convince a judge that Amu was well-intentioned and really, trully never knew she was in bed with a bunch of murderers would be Nikaidou and Tsukasa's testimonies as her teachers. And man, would they also cop a ton of flack for how they let her be on the Guardians, knowing what she usually gets up to.
At this point in the quest, I agree that Amu's public status would probably prevent her from being put on trial even if she was caught with the Scavengers. As mentioned, this was in reference to a situation where Amu had no status and JP's were not on good terms with her.
JP's would argue that her Heart Beams are mind control and operate on the same mechanisms as Kana Nanami's known mind controlling abilities. Which in this quest, they do.
As for arguing Charas are a split personality? Hello, have you seen Tadase's Chara-Change? Or what Amu's Chara-Change with Ran did in front of the school assembly early on in the series?
Boy, it does not make for a good look.
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The moment you put away the kids testimonies, then where is the evidence for mind control? Who would testify to that? A kid?
JP wouldn't argue for any such thing I think, that isn't their experience with Amu and they've never seen the beam or analyzed what it exactly did. They'd be far more likely to argue it is some kind of magical effect then as the other things they handle are. And in a way it is. Also I doubt JP would get along with Manticore considering how Hotsuin seems to handle things, so in the interdepartmental fight they'd probably have a motive in making the Manticore side look worse. All in hopes of being able to gain control of their elements.
In that light they'd probably also be interested in picking up Amu as well, on the basis of that under their supervision she can be properly handled, unlike other groups.
And what is the argument for split personality really? These are from our knowledge in person, but that's not expert witness testimonies. The foremost 'expert' on Chara would probably end up to be some one like Tsukasa, and it is hard to know what exactly they'd say, but I doubt they'd paint it as negatively as you suggest. (For instance you could paint it as just suffering more from childish fantasies, something they grow out of after awhile, a pretty mild trade off for keeping dangerous magical/psychic powers under control) Yes there might be some flack on their handling, but considering how much other dirt would come up in such a court case where the departments start tearing each other down to try and come out as the final winner of handling all things magical... Well Tsukasa would actually look far more like a well intentioned person trying their best, but at times a bit in over their heads with the forces they're trying to deal with.... not to mention having to counter some some what evil other orgs and government departments.
Truthfully such a court case would be a huge mess and things would be on fire everywhere. Amu would almost end up more of a side show, starting to look more a victim between the machinations of far vaster orgs trying to use kids as tools for their own ends.
A not unlikely conclusion for such an out of control train wreck was that the government had failed in its supervision and had greatly contributed to the problems at hand. In such a situation it is unlikely I think that Midori would look at things as you suggest, far more likely she might conclude that Amu was in a far more dangerous situation then she first thought. And that Amu was keeping some pretty dangerous conspiracies from her, probably to keep her out of danger, but that she got in to far to much danger due to that as well.
So even in this scenario, a public court case for something like this would thus probably not happen if the government can help it. As it just unleashes far to many problems. The moment the media spot light is on magical powers and how they are being regulated and what led to this situation... that are things they don't want to just explode in to the open like that. They'd probably prefer quietly closing down Matnicore and handing more things to JP or other orgs in comparison. Erase the mistake and keep things calm.
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- Location
- Laniakea
For better or worse, Saaya did have a point about how odd it is that Amu can get into fights in the middle of a public street and nobody appears to notice anything wrong. If JP's followed up on that, that would be pretty clear evidence that she's been affecting the minds of people around her.
And then those same people could presumably have their memories jogged and relate all about how, yeah, now they think about it - they DID witness Amu firing big multicolored beams (or at least, making some occult-looking hand gestures, if they couldn't see the beams) at some other crazed kids who were throwing tantrums and suddenly having them pacified moments later.
It's true at this point in the quest, JP's might not be very inclined to work with Manticore or go after Amu but since the original plan for the Scavengers was that JP's would be helping Manticore hunt them down, we know there's at least one world where it would have happened to some extent.
I can't really comment on the details of that. So I'll just note it's probably best not to over interpret what that would have meant.
Perhaps, though aren't there also magical effects that result in notice me not outcomes? And isn't it odd how Easter in general some how managed to remain under the public radar? If I were JP I think I'd find that pretty suspicious considering how big some of the things Easter did were and Amu really wasn't around for all or probably even most of those, just some. So it's a really big stretch to think Amu would be responsible for the overall effect then. How ever by logical deduction they are all with out question connected to Easter doing something they didn't want found out. ( Easter was in the end collecting X-Eggs from all over, and they got large numbers of them in ways never shown... or thus Amu wasn't there for it. And apparently no one remembers those being taken as it sure didn't hit the news.)
So one could equally argue that a lot or all of this might have been in some way related to Easter coverups. And for all we know there is potentially a fair bit of truth to that.
It is also worth mentioning a lot of these things were really mental only, so it's quite conceivable a lot of things people just wrote some things off as dreams or being out of it. Or that when damage was repaired when say Eggs returned to people, that some short term memories were lost along the way. So in the end I don't think it's really such a clear cut thing, and if anything the overall evidence might to an extent point away from her being a central cause. Who do you blame in the case of a megacorp ripping things out of peoples mind and that one kid who managed to return some of the stolen mind things? Especially when those who got it returned are recovered and normal and those who aren't... aren't.
All things that actually make it really hard to say if Amu was really doing much of anything from 3rd party sources. Yes she shot some kind of light beam... but there are no recordings of it, so it's some kind of magical effect presumably. And that made X-Eggs turn normal again... but what does that really mean? And it doesn't actually sound like anything but trying to undo damage that Easter had created as the people who come out of that would certainly look far more normal then anyone who never recovered. It's not really clear to me how this would stand out as anything particularly dangerous compared to the many other things JP has likely ran in to, like Persona, holes in reality, demon summoning, etc. At first description it sounds pretty mild, possibly some kind of mental healing spell? And if one asked Tsukasa about it, would one really get something all that different on it?
I mean sure, a spell that influences mental is of course on some level a mental effect, but that's not much basis to conclude far more on it though. The only ever noticed effect is that people get better, reversing things like severe depression.
So yes, Saaya has a point that it is odd that no one appeared to find anything odd about those things. But on the other hand, the actual reason why is far from clear. And the one constant between all cases from that conspiracy wasn't Amu but Easter. Well that and the also equally obvious matter that in any such court case the powers that be will have to live with many parts of the magical underworld coming to the surface. Easter, Manticore, JP and who knows what else.
Amu's abilities might work on the same underlying principles as the bad guys, but lots of good things and bad things run on the same principles. It's very hard to argue that Amu's active uses of her abilities are worse than if she didn't act.
Amu's passive psionic effects have only been stated to be around the magnitude of what you'd get by naturally looking good. That's not going to explain people ignoring all the weird shit that goes on around here.
Personally, people not being weirded out by magical girl antics is the kind of story element I'd just chalk up to suspension of disbelief, and ignore. It's not really all that much weirder than "traditional" magic's place in the setting in terms of "would people really behave this way", and trying to explain this kind of thing tends to add complexity and invite even more inconsistencies. Baughn seems to have a different attitude towards that kind of thing, though.
I would guess Sidereal shenanigans are involved, but it sounds like whatever's going on may predate the Sidereal shard showing up, and/or be present in more universes than the Sidereal shard is in. Of course, we know very little about either the Sidereal shard or whatever's going on, so this is little more than wildly guessing at reasons why another wild guess could be wrong.
Amu's passive psionic effects have only been stated to be around the magnitude of what you'd get by naturally looking good. That's not going to explain people ignoring all the weird shit that goes on around here.
Personally, people not being weirded out by magical girl antics is the kind of story element I'd just chalk up to suspension of disbelief, and ignore. It's not really all that much weirder than "traditional" magic's place in the setting in terms of "would people really behave this way", and trying to explain this kind of thing tends to add complexity and invite even more inconsistencies. Baughn seems to have a different attitude towards that kind of thing, though.
I would guess Sidereal shenanigans are involved, but it sounds like whatever's going on may predate the Sidereal shard showing up, and/or be present in more universes than the Sidereal shard is in. Of course, we know very little about either the Sidereal shard or whatever's going on, so this is little more than wildly guessing at reasons why another wild guess could be wrong.
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Hibiki
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
I was probably meant to be working on the final arc update for the last hour, but it's late and I worked on it earlier. You get this instead.
= = =
He dropped the coin ten times, recording each outcome.
Then, just to make sure, he tried it another ten times.
But the result was always the same.
"The probability is definitely..."
Kuze Hibiki's fingers trembled slightly.
"...might as well be zero. There's no doubt about it."
Hibiki, who was in his third year of high school, held his face in his hands. His fingers ran up and down, as if he were trying to wipe the fatigue from his brow.
"This is ridiculous."
Thirty-something drops. Thirty times the coin had landed on its edge, a feat that was nearly impossible according to the law of large numbers. Or common sense.
He'd never heard of anyone's luck being this good. Nor had he kept in contact with a demon who could have granted him such an ability. Or who would have, without prompting. A trickster's prank, then?
"No way. Not even him."
"Playing with coins?" Io's voice cut through Hibiki's thoughts, causing him to flinch.
"A-Ah, you startled me."
"Sorry." The girl named Io smiled and sat down beside Hibiki, who put the coin back in his pocket and glanced around the rest of the library. It was mostly empty, giving them a rare moment of privacy. Did Io spend a lot of time in libraries? He didn't think so.
"You seem tired," she said.
"Do I?"
"Yeah. You're really pale."
"I'm okay." Hibiki forced a smile. This wasn't his version of Io. He had to keep that in mind, or his heart would leap out of his chest. "So, what brings you here?"
"I just saw you and wanted to say hello." Io looked a little embarrassed as she explained herself.
"Ah, that's... fine," he said. Had Io always been so outgoing? Probably. "But why did you come over here in the first place?"
"Ah, um... I just wanted to get away for a bit." Io put her hands behind her neck, as if trying to find the right words. "Thinking about... stuff. About my parents. So, I went to a place where no one else would bother me."
"Is that right?"
"Yes, it is." She seemed like she was struggling with something, and after a short pause, continued. "I was looking for a book, and..."
Hibiki looked around, then down at the table, at the one he'd been reading. Statistics for Beginners.
"I thought about asking for your help, but then you started looking all depressed."
"That's..." Hibiki was a bit at a loss.
"Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?" Io asked. "Maybe I can help. It might feel better to talk to someone about it."
Hibiki's head snapped up. "Huh?"
"You're worried, aren't you?"
Yes... well, he was, but...
"About this whole thing with the demons, right?" Io asked hurriedly. "The dead kids? I heard your cousin's studying there. In that school, I mean." She giggled nervously, but it sounded more like a cough. "It's... worrying."
Hibiki felt a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah. Nitta-san... why are you here? I mean. In the library. What book was it you were looking for? Maybe I can help."
"Um... Well, I'm not actually sure." Io's face grew red. "Something on... demons, maybe."
"D-Demons?"
"Yeah." Io nodded. "I've been thinking. This is probably something I should look into, too. Demons. Theology. Something on... Lugh?" She gave him a quick glance, then lowered her gaze, seemingly embarrassed.
Hibiki wasn't sure he'd heard what he thought he'd heard.
"It's, um... it's not exactly easy to find a good source. Most of the books that have anything on Lugh are pretty vague. And most of the sites are run by nutjobs," she said. "It's all mostly wrong. They're saying that, um, Lugh's a god of light, or something? That's not exactly right, is it? He's a god of... craftsmanship, right? And kingship. And a bunch of other things."
"R-Right," he stammered. "Nitta, why—"
"Anyway, it's not much, but I'm trying to do my research." She laughed nervously. "I know, it sounds kind of silly, doesn't it? And I fixated on Lugh because, because-" She stopped, as if thinking she was talking too much. "I... I'm not really sure."
There was a faint purplish aura around Io's face. That wasn't actually new; there had been different-coloured auras around many of his classmates' heads. He'd thought that it was just a part of his imagination. But it was clearly visible to him now, and it made him want to push.
"Lugh? Specifically Lugh?" he asked. Io beamed, though she didn't meet his eyes.
"It's probably nothing." Io folded her hands on her lap, as if trying to stop them from trembling. "It's just a hunch, really. But, er... yes. Lugh. Does that... matter?"
Hibiki looked around, making sure there was nobody nearby. He then lowered his voice and whispered, "Io. Do you remember-?"
There was no need to specify. He had to ask. Just had to.
"-JPs?" she blurted out.
"You're..."
Io smiled.
"I am, yes."
She said it like she'd said it a million times before. Like it was a common thing. A moment later she'd enveloped him in a tight hug, tears streaming down her cheeks. Hibiki found himself a little choked up himself.
"This is..." Io struggled to speak, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I never thought this would happen. I was so sure that the memory would fade away eventually. I thought I would forget it all. That's what was supposed to happen. Then I thought it was because of Lugh. But you remember too!" She let out a weird, high-pitched giggle, and began sobbing. "You do! You do remember! Haha. Ahahaha."
Hibiki wrapped his arms around her, until her laughter turned into quiet sobs. Then, until the sobs themselves quieted down.
He checked the library. Certainly it was mostly empty. Mostly. But even so...
The librarian gave him an understanding nod.
= = =
He dropped the coin ten times, recording each outcome.
Then, just to make sure, he tried it another ten times.
But the result was always the same.
"The probability is definitely..."
Kuze Hibiki's fingers trembled slightly.
"...might as well be zero. There's no doubt about it."
Hibiki, who was in his third year of high school, held his face in his hands. His fingers ran up and down, as if he were trying to wipe the fatigue from his brow.
"This is ridiculous."
Thirty-something drops. Thirty times the coin had landed on its edge, a feat that was nearly impossible according to the law of large numbers. Or common sense.
He'd never heard of anyone's luck being this good. Nor had he kept in contact with a demon who could have granted him such an ability. Or who would have, without prompting. A trickster's prank, then?
"No way. Not even him."
"Playing with coins?" Io's voice cut through Hibiki's thoughts, causing him to flinch.
"A-Ah, you startled me."
"Sorry." The girl named Io smiled and sat down beside Hibiki, who put the coin back in his pocket and glanced around the rest of the library. It was mostly empty, giving them a rare moment of privacy. Did Io spend a lot of time in libraries? He didn't think so.
"You seem tired," she said.
"Do I?"
"Yeah. You're really pale."
"I'm okay." Hibiki forced a smile. This wasn't his version of Io. He had to keep that in mind, or his heart would leap out of his chest. "So, what brings you here?"
"I just saw you and wanted to say hello." Io looked a little embarrassed as she explained herself.
"Ah, that's... fine," he said. Had Io always been so outgoing? Probably. "But why did you come over here in the first place?"
"Ah, um... I just wanted to get away for a bit." Io put her hands behind her neck, as if trying to find the right words. "Thinking about... stuff. About my parents. So, I went to a place where no one else would bother me."
"Is that right?"
"Yes, it is." She seemed like she was struggling with something, and after a short pause, continued. "I was looking for a book, and..."
Hibiki looked around, then down at the table, at the one he'd been reading. Statistics for Beginners.
"I thought about asking for your help, but then you started looking all depressed."
"That's..." Hibiki was a bit at a loss.
"Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?" Io asked. "Maybe I can help. It might feel better to talk to someone about it."
Hibiki's head snapped up. "Huh?"
"You're worried, aren't you?"
Yes... well, he was, but...
"About this whole thing with the demons, right?" Io asked hurriedly. "The dead kids? I heard your cousin's studying there. In that school, I mean." She giggled nervously, but it sounded more like a cough. "It's... worrying."
Hibiki felt a bit uncomfortable. "Yeah. Nitta-san... why are you here? I mean. In the library. What book was it you were looking for? Maybe I can help."
"Um... Well, I'm not actually sure." Io's face grew red. "Something on... demons, maybe."
"D-Demons?"
"Yeah." Io nodded. "I've been thinking. This is probably something I should look into, too. Demons. Theology. Something on... Lugh?" She gave him a quick glance, then lowered her gaze, seemingly embarrassed.
Hibiki wasn't sure he'd heard what he thought he'd heard.
"It's, um... it's not exactly easy to find a good source. Most of the books that have anything on Lugh are pretty vague. And most of the sites are run by nutjobs," she said. "It's all mostly wrong. They're saying that, um, Lugh's a god of light, or something? That's not exactly right, is it? He's a god of... craftsmanship, right? And kingship. And a bunch of other things."
"R-Right," he stammered. "Nitta, why—"
"Anyway, it's not much, but I'm trying to do my research." She laughed nervously. "I know, it sounds kind of silly, doesn't it? And I fixated on Lugh because, because-" She stopped, as if thinking she was talking too much. "I... I'm not really sure."
There was a faint purplish aura around Io's face. That wasn't actually new; there had been different-coloured auras around many of his classmates' heads. He'd thought that it was just a part of his imagination. But it was clearly visible to him now, and it made him want to push.
"Lugh? Specifically Lugh?" he asked. Io beamed, though she didn't meet his eyes.
"It's probably nothing." Io folded her hands on her lap, as if trying to stop them from trembling. "It's just a hunch, really. But, er... yes. Lugh. Does that... matter?"
Hibiki looked around, making sure there was nobody nearby. He then lowered his voice and whispered, "Io. Do you remember-?"
There was no need to specify. He had to ask. Just had to.
"-JPs?" she blurted out.
"You're..."
Io smiled.
"I am, yes."
She said it like she'd said it a million times before. Like it was a common thing. A moment later she'd enveloped him in a tight hug, tears streaming down her cheeks. Hibiki found himself a little choked up himself.
"This is..." Io struggled to speak, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I never thought this would happen. I was so sure that the memory would fade away eventually. I thought I would forget it all. That's what was supposed to happen. Then I thought it was because of Lugh. But you remember too!" She let out a weird, high-pitched giggle, and began sobbing. "You do! You do remember! Haha. Ahahaha."
Hibiki wrapped his arms around her, until her laughter turned into quiet sobs. Then, until the sobs themselves quieted down.
He checked the library. Certainly it was mostly empty. Mostly. But even so...
The librarian gave him an understanding nod.
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The coin thing doesn't sound familiar, but I'm not familiar enough with the source material to really know.
I wonder who the cousin is... and how things went with "their version" of the cousin. Experiences in the "lost timeline" might give these kids some extra insight into the Seiyo kids, if the Seiyo kids did anything noteworthy in that timeline. Might also introduce a sense of distance, like that between Hibiki and Io at the start of the interlude, since the Seiyo kids don't remember.
On a more meta note, I like the decision to give us an informative glimpse of these characters early, before they become relevant to the quest plot (and before they become relevant to our decisions). Especially since the next decision we make regarding these characters is likely to be a meta-level "are we interested in sending the story this way" decision rather than a decision based on in-character knowledge.
I wonder who the cousin is... and how things went with "their version" of the cousin. Experiences in the "lost timeline" might give these kids some extra insight into the Seiyo kids, if the Seiyo kids did anything noteworthy in that timeline. Might also introduce a sense of distance, like that between Hibiki and Io at the start of the interlude, since the Seiyo kids don't remember.
On a more meta note, I like the decision to give us an informative glimpse of these characters early, before they become relevant to the quest plot (and before they become relevant to our decisions). Especially since the next decision we make regarding these characters is likely to be a meta-level "are we interested in sending the story this way" decision rather than a decision based on in-character knowledge.
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- Location
- Laniakea
Who the heck knows if Seiyo Academy (at least, the version we are familiar with) even existed in the previous timeline.
We know that we're supposedly in the "SMT3" version of the timeline, which sports Hikawa's crazy cult conducting mass demon-summonings, which decidedly did not exist in the DS2 version of the timeline. Or if Hikawa did, he got killed off so early he was never able to make any waves whatsoever.
Similarly, Tsukasa might not have existed in the previous timeline or ended up so different from this timeline's version of Tsukasa that he never got involved in Charas and never founded the Guardians. Seiyo's psionic population in that timeline might have been a big fat zero.
Or, timelines, if we are talking more than one. That's a possibility too. Can't tell for sure yet, the way Io mentions "again" and memories fading implies there might have been multiple timelines and she was only ever able to briefly remember flashes in those. But it could also be refering to just flashes within this same single timeline that faded away, until the ones about Lugh stuck.
- Location
- Laniakea
The real question is, which version of Devil Survivor 2 is the one that Hibiki and Io remember? The game version? The anime? The manga? All of them?
......Do Hibiki and Io even remember the same version(s) of DeSu 2? (They probably do, it would just be too ridiculously convoluted if they didn't and came from parallel DeSu 2 timelines, but thought they both came from the same one, until they find out otherwise)
......Do Hibiki and Io even remember the same version(s) of DeSu 2? (They probably do, it would just be too ridiculously convoluted if they didn't and came from parallel DeSu 2 timelines, but thought they both came from the same one, until they find out otherwise)
Well... the Occam Razor explanation doesn't quite fit when JPs and memory loss are added to the mix, and when we all know you've created a setting where Occam Razor explanations about the Occult usually do not fit well if at all?
...anyway, anyone know what the Lugh thing is probably about?
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Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
I'm operating with the game's version of the story, although with some visuals pulled from the anime. Which is to say that not all demons will fit into a single square.
- Location
- Laniakea
During DeSu 2, Io let herself get possessed by Lugh in order to try and use the Dragon Stream.
Assuming we're talking the game's version of events, depending on Hibiki's Fate bond with her, this attempt will either kill her or not.
I'm guessing with his apparent intimacy levels, she Survived and made it to the end of the route until the timeline got reset.
Explaining that Japan has totally sealed foreign gods to use as components of their magical national defense grid will surely go over well with their more normally associated countries.
Especially if something like the ice cream cone bomb attacks early enough for the revelation to make international news.
Here's hoping someone accuses Al Saiduq of being named after a pokemon.
Especially if something like the ice cream cone bomb attacks early enough for the revelation to make international news.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Ireland is incensed, and has put their fifty infantrymen and one ATV on standby.
Sure, Ireland might not be able to do much until they work out how to summon lore accurate Fionn mac Cumhaill or Cu Chulainn, but JPs isn't picky about where their gods are from and I'm like 95% sure anything with a brahmastra ought to count as being covered by all those nuclear treaties.
Original, or Record Breaker?
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Original is the one I played, so Record Breaker will only happen by accident.
- Location
- Laniakea
Gotta admit, knowing that Hibiki and Io are running a New Game+ and this thing with a cousin at Seiyo is really making me wanna pick that interlude Stargazing option, sounds like it would be a near-guaranteed fast-track for Amu to meet whoever the cousin is and also learn about the timeline resets.
But, that Makoto event is still at the top of my list.
But, that Makoto event is still at the top of my list.
For event ordering, I'd like to put a "downtime" event before the Makoto event. Maybe Miki's thing? For "take it? y/n" ranking, the Makoto event is probably at the top of my list too.
I wonder how everyone else is feeling about sending the story back in here for the Yui rescue event. On one hand, we don't need to come - Naoto, Kana, and any buddies Naoto calls in can probably handle it, and the story doesn't need to follow them while they do it. On the other hand, we've still got a Yui shard stuck to the Dumpty Key. If we want to come along, that should be enough grounds to argue to Naoto that we should.
Either way is justifiable. I think it mostly comes down to whether we want to spend more time in here, seeing the kinds of things we'd see. We've spent a lot of chapters in here already, so it might get repetitive, but it could still be informative.
I wonder how everyone else is feeling about sending the story back in here for the Yui rescue event. On one hand, we don't need to come - Naoto, Kana, and any buddies Naoto calls in can probably handle it, and the story doesn't need to follow them while they do it. On the other hand, we've still got a Yui shard stuck to the Dumpty Key. If we want to come along, that should be enough grounds to argue to Naoto that we should.
Either way is justifiable. I think it mostly comes down to whether we want to spend more time in here, seeing the kinds of things we'd see. We've spent a lot of chapters in here already, so it might get repetitive, but it could still be informative.
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- Location
- Laniakea
So..... speaking of Naoto and finding Yui, I do believe there might actually be a way for Amu to help accelerate Naoto's quest in nursing Nanako out of her coma. And going along with her to help find Yui might or might not present an opportunity to segue into that.
In fact, I can think of 2 ways in which Amu could assist Naoto.
The first - and which is the method I personally prefer more - is to bring along Utau and have her use Ragged Crossroads on Nanako. Assuming that my guess is correct and Nanako is still in a coma because the P4 team failed to hit their Good Ending, it means that Teddie ran off and never came back and they never pinned down Adachi.
Therefore a successful execution of Ragged Crossroads (either on Nanako or the hospital space or equipment she's hooked to) should reveal the alternate timeline in which Teddie actually came back and called out to Nanako, triggering the miracle that brought her back (Utau will probably also see the the timeline(s) in which Nanako died, but those aren't important - we just know there will be one where she woke up and if we're lucky and Utau gets a critical success, she might even end up seeing Adachi getting identified as the culprit in addition).
And once it is known that Teddie has the ability to bring back Nanako, the Investigation Team can start looking for him. I prefer this method since, while it is "slower" than the alternative, it gets us on track to find Teddie, potentially unmasks Adachi and is less expensive than the other option.
.....The other option is for Amu to try and do it herself. Which will cost our once-per-month Dia to try.
While we don't know exactly what Teddie did, we know the guy is a Shadow, represents the Star arcana to Narukami and the method involved Nanako "hearing him" in some respect. Which makes some amount of sense, given Teddie was the party's Navigator prior to Rise joining and potentially has the ability to broadcast his voice in the cognitive world.
Meanwhile, Amu is a Shadow, Dia is a navigator with cognitive world/Road of Stars access and is likewise associated with stars. Her special attack is literally named Starlight Navigation and gets blasted through a microphone. I feel like Amulet Diamond has good odds of being able to replicate whatever Teddie did. The only thing she'd lack that Teddie has is the intimate connection with Nanako, which could likely be compensated for by having someone else close to her assisting in calling out when Amulet Diamond starts broadcasting - Narukami would probably be the most effective choice, especially if he's maxed out his Justice Social Link. We know Dia can bring people along when she accesses the cognitive world, since she brought Tadase along the last time she went into the Road of Stars with Amu.
So I suspect there's a pretty strong chance that Amulet Diamond and Narukami doing a duet of Shadow World (which is one of the songs Nanako sings in P4 Dancing) in front her hospital bed would be "Special enough to guide your way through through this Shadow World" and bring her out of her coma. After seeing what Utau could do with Kana by singing, Naoto would probably even be reasonably easily convinced to give it a shot.
The problem is, that would burn our once-per-month Dia and Teddie would still be missing afterwards and nobody would find out about Adachi.
Which is why I prefer that route less than hauling Teddie's ass back to Inaba and getting him to do it the way he's supposed to.
But if for some reason we really need Nanako up and walking at a moment's notice, I suppose it is an immediately available option.
Could also be a timeline that doesn't line up with any of the game endings. Though if they got the ending you're thinking of, or anything less than the golden ending, we might have to worry about what happened to Marie, too.
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