Jonen C
F.M.D.G.
- Location
- Lincopense, Ostrogothia, Suecia
Nah, "Vital National Security Assets".
That password though.
Puella Magi Adfligo Systema
- Thread starter Firnagzen
- Start date
-
- Tags
- puella magi adfligo systema puella magi madoka magica be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist bad decisions dating mami tomoe (tomoe mami) diabolical laughter friendship is the best ship handholding identity crises microwaving tea gets you put in the bad place names are important the body is the fursona of the soul this is not the baked goods thread we don't talk about rionna what could possibly go wrong? who in the world is azure sanfrancisco?
That password though.
Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
- Location
- Russia
Actually, about the database. If we want to ensure secrecy, we're gonna have to create some sort of privacy-sphere enclosed autonomous Grief-based computer network.
And even then I'm not so sure they aren't going to hack it as soon as they find it.
And even then I'm not so sure they aren't going to hack it as soon as they find it.
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Who is "they", in this context? I expect magic based systems to be extremely resistant to the kind of physics based hacking the Incubators could attempt.
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Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
- Location
- Russia
mCooperative
meanderingCephalopod
- Location
- Back in Mitakihara after like 1000 years.
**shrug** Have it powered by chibi-Brinas after we figure out a way around the range limit? What one Brina knows, they all know; we can be the tin-cans-on-string between private grief consoles generated by each pocket-Brina.
For that matter- between techguca, Niko's perception filter technology, and the possibility of enchanting an object to reflect what's happening to another object at range with no obviously detectable 4-space data transfer, we could totally set up a super-secret data-hub (possibly run by that hypothetical Brina-Neural-Network we shitposted/seriously-proposed a few months back) where all the sensitive intel is actually stored, possibly in someone's higher dimensional pocket, and then it's mirrored to individual locations after security is confirmed by the consoles set up in other secure-but-slightly-less-secure locations.
The difficulty of verifying that an Incubator isn't viewing any of this by people-piloting a meguca or something could probably be handled by figuring out how to perception filter the consoles from Incubator eyes, plus straight-up putting up a privacy zone (via grief or enchantment), and having them automatically lock out of any non-Cubes-safe knowledge if an Incubator is detected by grief-fog-check within a certain range.
... honestly, sticking these mirror-output consoles in someone's absolute control space (e.g. Sabrina's Barrier if it ever becomes safe to use, one of Yuki's claimed buildings depending on how much we trust her) is probably the safest way of keeping an Incubator out while the thing is powered up and connected. If we leave the consoles in someone else's absolute control space, just have them able to access the level of intel up to the control space owner's own clearance level?
...
... I dunno, just throwing some ideas out there.
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DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
make a network of fake KB's to be the network!
They also will hunt down and eat actual KB's
They also will hunt down and eat actual KB's
The Narrator
Disembodied Voice
- Location
- Somewhere Offscreen
I suspect that developing an alternate communications system is going to involve using Mami's ribbons to connect everyone.
Torgamous
Aspiring Gynoid
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Those seem too dependant on Mami's processing power to work as a scalable solution.
Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
- Location
- Russia
We need a self-sustainable magical power source
That doesn't include a Grief Seed.
The Narrator
Disembodied Voice
- Location
- Somewhere Offscreen
We only need Mami to make the connections (because that's her power) because of our range limits. We don't need her to personally manage the switchboard. Possibly it could be an enchantment instead? She would still be the one most suited to enchanting it, however.
Torgamous
Aspiring Gynoid
- Pronouns
- She/Her
We don't need her to do that with the search grid either and she's still limited in how big the grid can get.
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
Next time I try writing something larger than a couple thousand words, someone slap me. 
This is done. Over. The muse is fed. From now on, I'll stick with short omakes. \o/
Buddy Cops 1: The Obelisk.
Buddy Cops 2: Mikuni.
Buddy Cops 3: The Wallyphant Gun.
Buddy Cops 4:
This was turning waaaaaaaaaaaay too long so I ended up grabbing every half baked idea I had about it and microwaving it together, so it's a hot warm mess that would make more sense if I had fleshed it all out.
But I've now calculated my writing speed to be around a glacial pace of 300 words per hour, and this rushed part was done at nearly double that speed!
But I've now calculated my writing speed to be around a glacial pace of 300 words per hour, and this rushed part was done at nearly double that speed!
This is done. Over. The muse is fed. From now on, I'll stick with short omakes. \o/
Buddy Cops 1: The Obelisk.
Buddy Cops 2: Mikuni.
Buddy Cops 3: The Wallyphant Gun.
Buddy Cops 4:
A small body curled up in pain.
'Mik-'
No, no, no, no, no, no, no...
The word repeated in her mind as she dropped.
Not another one, why didn't she hurry up?
She ping-ponged down the walls of the chasm as Magical Girls did.
'...rik-'
Slow, too slow, but oh, no, she was busy talking and taking her time and not stressing out, what did it matter when she took too long and someone else paid for it?
A plume of miasma struck her face, stung her eyes, filled her ears.
Again.
'Her Soul Gem!'
Oriko landed in a crouch besides Machiko, who already held the trembling girl. When had she got there?
'I-It's almost f-f-full!' her pink eyes glared accusingly- no, pleadingly, the girl's hands already holding a Grief Cube to a black diamond shaped Gem.
At least someone's doing what they're supposed to do.
Oriko fumbled to get her own Cube -almost full?- and pressed it to the unknown girl's Soul Gem. Streams of Grief poured from the Gem and covered the already dirty cubes.
Come on, come on, work, why isn't it working?
'Full. T-they're full!' Machiko shouted. The Cubes were completely black after taking a fraction of the miasma cursing the little girl's soul. 'What do we do? Oriko!'
What could they do, why was she asking her? Maybe if she had been faster or not wasted the Cubes or if she had worked more on getting her powers back she could've known and prevented this and this random girl wouldn't turn into a Witch-
That couldn't be allowed to happen.
As if a switch had turned, a haze lifted from Oriko's mind.
In a single moment, she studied the situation: Her Valkyrie themed companion was yelling her name, holding a young -too young- Magical Girl she didn't know who was on the verge of Witching out. The Obelisk was gone, their Grief Cubes spent -the miasma probably didn't help, Oriko was choking on the concentrated Grief.
They couldn't let her Witch out, not there, not then, poor girl, what would happen when the news spread...
Her hand was already snatching the blackened Soul Gem -so small, so easy to crush-
'Machiko,' she snapped, taking the Soul Gem and pressing it to her companion's hand. Then she grabbed the girl and shoved her into the pink eyed girl's arms. 'Take her, run, get out of her here, Homura will find you, she has cubes, go!'
But the stupid girl stood there in a half crouch, wide eyes staring at Oriko, blaming her for not daring to do what she should, for dropping the responsibility on her shoulders...
'What- what about you?' Machiko's voice rung scared, frightened- not recriminating, not reproaching her.
'You're faster!' glared Oriko, 'just GO!'
The valkyrie flinched, but stood, holding the unknown girl -almost a Witch, she wasn't going to make it, don't extend her suffering- and jumped up and away so quick Oriko could've swore she saw her grow wings.
And Oriko stood alone.
Useless.
The miasma was thick down there, she finally took note of how it seemed to press down on her, surrounding her and squeezing the air out of her lungs...
She should've moved. Got out of the pit. She felt as if she was drowning, but she couldn't go. Not until she found out what had happened.
She wanted tear her perfect mane of silver hair off her head.
What had she accomplished? She went into the miasma, walked, stood around pointing at things while everybody else fought -probably her biggest contribution in a fight in years- and then the random giant monster died.
Hooray, she still didn't know zilch about what had happened, and why?
What was the giant grief monster? It didn't feel like a Witch, despite the Barrier like space. Why had the Obelisk seemingly turned into that thing? Was that natural? A consequence of gathering curses in one place for so long? The Cubes never had that problem, but the scale and strength of the enchantments were completely different... If it turned out the Obelisks turned into giant monsters after months of use...
That was gonna be a problem, and she had to get out and contact Sabrina ASAP.
'Hello-'
Who-
-Back-
Piercing searing pain flared at the small of her back and spread like wildfire up and down her spine-
How?
A silent scream tore itself off Oriko's throat and she fell trying to catch herself but her arms wouldn't move.
The cold, hard ground met her face hard.
It tasted like dirt.
What just happened?
Something kicked her on the side, which sent more flares of pain through her body as she rolled onto her back.
'I said.'
A hooded figure stood over her. Her mind went into overdrive, taking note of every little detail she could.
Short. Thin. Long, untamed hair. Magical hood; her face obscured, she couldn't make out details. Grey cloak covering most of the girl's body.
'Hello.' She growled. 'Show some manners.'
Oriko grit her teeth.
Another flare of pain at her back, her spine, made her shudder -she finally thought to deaden her connection to her Soul Gem, to alleviate the pain-, and despite trying, she couldn't move her legs.
The other girl, the one who had stabbed her -how did she not know it was gonna happen? Did her enchantments fail? Was there something she didn't account for?- and demanded manners, of all things... she was twitching, growing impatient.
So she grit her teeth and did what she always did.
'Good morning, miss,' she greeted as if she wasn't bleeding on the ground, 'I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but you seem to have attacked me like a coward.'
'Ah, ah, ah...' the hooded figure started pacing around her prone body, 'base name calling? I thought you were above such things... Mikuni.' She growled, actually growled the name.
Instantly, Oriko's rising feeling of dread washed away, replaced with irritation.
She got the feeling something very stupid was going on.
'I'm sure you're wondering what's going on,' continued the pacing girl, and Oriko could feel her glare, 'strange Barriers, weird monsters, a fateful meeting...'
The Seer kept an ear on the Incoming Vengeful Rant™ (not really) and went over her options.
'... it was oh so difficult to arrange all this...'
She couldn't move, not that she would've been able do much if she could; she was pants at combat, despite training her ass off for the rare cases she needed to actually fight. If she could move her hands, which she tried, but her fingers wouldn't even twitch -probably a magical paralysis effect on the dagger being flipped on her captor's hand- so she couldn't even use her gun.
'... I'll alleviate your fears: That girl? The Obelisk? Just a masterful plot to get you alone, see, we need to talk...'
Maybe she could start flinging orbs and lasers left and right... but she'd leave that as a last resort. It probably wouldn't go over well.
'... convincing the stupid girl to Wish was a piece of cake, even with that little Potential, anyone could cause real harm if you handed them a metric ton of magical curses...'
Bitch.
No, focus. Oriko noticed -again- the miasma was dissipating ever since the giant monster died. It was still too think down on the pit, but it was lifting. If she waited long enough, she could contact Homura and she would kick this girl's ass in a second.
'... all worth it in the end. At last. I wanted to talk with you for so long, Mikuni Oriko.'
'Masterful,' commented Oriko as soon as she noticed the girl stop, 'I was completely blindsided. I have to appreciate your dedication, despite my... position.'
'I know!' nodded the hooded figure, 'I- I... It was easy, just... following steps, I just new what to do and it was so easy and it worked.'
Steps?
The pacing stopped. The girl stood in place, unmoving, silent.
Oriko wished she'd stay that way.
Steps...
She counted to ten before commenting.
'So... all of this, the miasma, the monster, the damage to the city-
Twitch.
'-it was all... a red herring?' mused the Seer.
'Yes!' the pacing resumed, faster this time. 'See, you thought all that was important, so your rushed in like an idiot, and now I have you here, helpless...' the grin could be heard in her voice.
Steps? Steps.
'When you attacked me... my enchantments didn't warn me, not until it was too late.'
The girl balanced a glistening dagger in her hand.
'Ha! A-ha-ha!' she laughed haltingly. 'See, see? It was so easy to fool you, Mikuni. Your enchantments react to threats, but I wasn't a threat... not yet. See? I was just... walking around, following directions... Just happened to walk behind you. Then I stabbed you. It just takes a little lateral thinking, and it wouldn't work if you hadn't rejected your magic...' the clearly insane girl sneered, 'bet you're regretting that right now.'
'So you fooled me,' sighed Oriko, 'congratulations. I'd clap, but, well, I can't, at the moment.'
'Don't worry,' the hooded figure knelt besides the Seer, 'this is almost over.'
Slowly, hesitating, her off hand rose, grabbed the hem of her hood, and pulled it back.
'... Do I know you?' asked Oriko. She'd have raised an eyebrow if she could.
A random face -green eyes, brown hair- sneered down at her.
'You- you, you, you, you-?' the girl growled again.
Her hand reached for Oriko's lapel -brushed past her Soul Gem-, janking her up so she could snarl down at her, nose to nose.
'-riko? Or- k... Miku-' Homura's voice crackled in her mind.
'Homura get in here right now-'
'How dare you!' shouted random girl, 'how dare you how dare you how dare you...'
'-riko... t hear y-'
Miasma. Interference. Short messages best.
'Help help help help help help help help-' Oriko chanted in her mind, her words mixing with the rant of her captor- she probably should pay attention to that.
'-It's your fault! Your fault! If you hadn't- if you- you only tried a bit harder, but no- y-you-' tears streamed from the girl's eyes now, 'you c-couldn't be bothered, could you?!'
A shaking hand rose, dagger glistening in the darkened pit.
'I tried my best,' Oriko put as much sincerity in the hazardously thrown comment.
'No you didn't!' screeched the girl, dropping the knife to clatter uselessly on the ground. Instead she grabbed and shook Oriko with both hands. 'You didn't you didn't you didn't! You could've saved her!'
Oriko bit back a grunt as her head bounced off the hard dirt, and resumed chanting into her head for Homura to hurry the hell up and-
'-aim... can't- rget- Mik-'
For fuck's sake.
'She's not coming, you know?' suddenly commented the green eyed girl, eerily calm. She stopped shaking Oriko, instead choosing to glare down at her. 'She wants you dead, don't you know?'
A chunk of Oriko's hope fizzled away. She couldn't help it.
'What do you mean?' she asked.
But her captor just shook her head.
'This is wrong, wrong, it wasn't supposed to be like this,' she clutched at her head, scrunching her eyes in pain, 'you- you're doing something! What are you-'
Oriko's head dropped back on the ground and she yelped this time, but ignored the pain and tried to make sense of the other girl whose shaking hands groped for her knife and whose eyes glowered at the Seer...
'What will this accomplish?' she asked as calm as she could.
'I...' the girl's eyes trembled, 'my mama... will be able to rest in peace... at last.'
Oriko tried to make sense of that, but her mind came up blank.
'I know... I know you didn't kill her...' the girl finally got a good grip on her blade, 'but you might as well have.'
If anything, she was making less sense, thought Oriko as the dagger tip came to rest on her neck.
But OK, the girl was clearly insane, she could work with that...
The dagger moved down to rest on her Soul Gem.
'-can't spot... wher- u-' Homura's voice.
Wait, wait, wait, Oriko chanted at her partner as a thought crossed her mind.
'You said you wanted to meet me,' she practically blurted.
Hood and knife girl stopped.
'Yes.'
'You were looking forward to this, for...'
'For two years, yes!' frantic nodding. The dagger didn't stray from its place.
'Because I couldn't save your mom,' there were so many people she failed -not that many, yes too many- and she wrecked her brain to come up with a name...
'You could have,' hissed the girl, flecks of spit flying into Oriko's face, 'but no. No. Because you had a headache. Your tiny little head hurt and that was oh so more important, wasn't it?'
The girl's hand shook.
Any moment it would chip Oriko's Gem, and that would be bad.
She had to try something.
Her mind put together all the pieces she had.
Two years. One woman dead. Inside information? Probably Kyuubey. Someone she could've saved. Couldn't because of migraines... Precognition. She used to get migraines back when she had her precognition.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
'I'm sorry,' she whispered, which only caused her captor's face to turn into a rictus of fury.
Which hopefully bought her a few seconds.
She hoped the miasma had lifted well enough.
'Sabrina,' she called across continents.
'Yes! Oriko-'
'Remember The fight in Sendai, what were the names of the victims?'
'What- ah, Moro Nishimura and Maki Aiko.'
Maki.
"Takako?" said -actually said- Oriko.
('My name is Maki Takako, if that means anything to you.')
The crazed girl blinked. Her lips trembled, almost smiling.
"Y-y-yeah..." she breathed. "You know, you know..."
"Yes," the Seer tried to nod, before remembering she couldn't move. "This might be a belated answer..."
Takako Maki -apparently- leaned forward.
"... But I do think we could be friends," she smiled.
The girl's eye twitched.
'Homura, in three seconds run -under the Obelisk- as fast as you can-'
'-Got it-'
'Sabrina, Precog Protocol.'
An unholy screech tore through Oriko's mind-
Takako yelped and flinched and clutched her head-
"NO!" She raised her knife and stab-
CRACK!
Takako blurred-
And crashed against the wall of the pit in a heap, crying out in agony.
Oriko sighed.
Her heart tried to explode out of her chest, but calmed down... slowly.
She watched Homura's back, as the girl rather suddenly stood there between herself and the groaning mess of a wannabe avenger sprawled against a wall of cracked dirt, little clouds of the stuff pouring down on her.
"Oriko?" Homura turned to look down at her.
The Seer smiled weakly. "Paralysis," she grunted.
The purple eyed girl hummed and, after throwing a glance at the brown haired girl -coughing, kneeling on the ground-, crouched besides Oriko.
With a few directions, Homura carefully turned the Seer around. She grimaced as she spotted the wound, and the pool of blood drying underneath.
In a moment, she had laid her palm over the red stained part of Oriko's dress, and her hand glowed.
Oriko twitched.
A fraction of a second later, she stopped, and the Seer sighed.
"Thanks," she nodded as they stood up, receiving a simple nod in acknowledgement.
Oriko stretched, one hand poking the healed wound at her back. No matter how many times it happened, she couldn't get over how weird the Healing and Time magic combo felt.
Rather than healing, she felt as if her partner had grabbed a bit of her from the future and sewed it into her present body. It felt... disjointed.
She sighed again, standing side by side with Homura, looking down at Takako.
The girl was still kneeling, her eyes empty, staring at nothing.
... Homura had that effect on precogs.
What was seeing the future worth when the boogey-guca was pissed at you and capable of breaking every bone in your body before you could blink?
Speaking of broken bones, Oriko took note of how the girl clutched her arm, the one previously holding her dagger... The Seer plucked her own Soul Gem from its place, checking it over carefully.
Homura's eyes stared questioningly, maybe even concerned.
"No damage," smiled Oriko.
"Maybe next time you'll accept the Gem shielding enchantment," Homura's shoulders drooped a bit.
"Perhaps. I guess I can't see all of them coming."
"If you did," Homura raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't need to save your ass so often."
"Both I and Kirika appreciate the ass saving," Oriko snorted, before turning serious. "Let's get this over bit."
Together, they turned to the still kneeling girl, who did little more than glare at them. Helpless.
Oriko looked at Homura.
Homura shrugged and pulled out a pair of -magical- handcuffs.
The Seer kneeled before Takako, so she could stare her in the eye.
"For what it's worth... I'm sorry."
The girl's hands clenched into fists.
She didn't move, though.
Oriko nodded, and Homura walked around them, to cuff the girl's wrists.
"Maki Takako," intoned Oriko as the girl's eyes shook, whatever visions her magic was feeding her cutting abruptly, "... you're under arrest."
The girl started crying.
Oriko bit back a long suffering sigh, grabbing her by the arm and tugging at her to stand as she straightened up.
"... I'm not carrying her," commented Homura, looking up at the clear morning sky from where they stood, at the bottom of a thirty metres deep pit.
Oriko sighed.
"The girl," she remembered suddenly, "did you cleanse her, or did she... turn?"
Homura's head tilted, her lustrous mane of hair swaying a little.
"The other Magical Girls got her first, and cleansed her," she shrugged. "I didn't even see her."
Oriko smiled sardonically. "I told them to clear the area, but they never listen, do they?"
"They did clear," commented Homura, watching as Oriko lifted Takako and got a firm grip on her, "but there was this little girl with a white coat..."
A few seconds later the had ping-ponged their way over the pit's walls, and landed back on the plaza.
... The place was a mess.
Homura caught the Seer's eyes.
"Not our problem. Let's get her sorted out," she stared curiously at Takako, still silent, "so I can go take a shower and a nap."
Oriko followed as Homura strode out towards the closest street, tugging their unresisting captive along.
"A nap?" the Seer raised an eyebrow at the time mage when she turned. "Excuse me, Homura, but as soon as we 'sort out' Miss Maki, we're hitting the shops."
Homura blinked.
"You need a dress for your date, remember?" smirked Oriko, tapping Homura's shoulder as she walked past her, "maybe we could visit the spa..."
The time controlling Magical Girl stood still as a statue for a moment.
Her brain worked to make sense of the words.
Then she remembered.
Date. Madoka. Tomorrow. She still hadn't picked a dress.
A thin little sound -eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee- tore its way out of her throat.
In an instant, she turned and blurred towards the surprised Seer and their captive and-
Then they weren't there anymore.
'Mik-'
No, no, no, no, no, no, no...
The word repeated in her mind as she dropped.
Not another one, why didn't she hurry up?
She ping-ponged down the walls of the chasm as Magical Girls did.
'...rik-'
Slow, too slow, but oh, no, she was busy talking and taking her time and not stressing out, what did it matter when she took too long and someone else paid for it?
A plume of miasma struck her face, stung her eyes, filled her ears.
Again.
'Her Soul Gem!'
Oriko landed in a crouch besides Machiko, who already held the trembling girl. When had she got there?
'I-It's almost f-f-full!' her pink eyes glared accusingly- no, pleadingly, the girl's hands already holding a Grief Cube to a black diamond shaped Gem.
At least someone's doing what they're supposed to do.
Oriko fumbled to get her own Cube -almost full?- and pressed it to the unknown girl's Soul Gem. Streams of Grief poured from the Gem and covered the already dirty cubes.
Come on, come on, work, why isn't it working?
'Full. T-they're full!' Machiko shouted. The Cubes were completely black after taking a fraction of the miasma cursing the little girl's soul. 'What do we do? Oriko!'
What could they do, why was she asking her? Maybe if she had been faster or not wasted the Cubes or if she had worked more on getting her powers back she could've known and prevented this and this random girl wouldn't turn into a Witch-
That couldn't be allowed to happen.
As if a switch had turned, a haze lifted from Oriko's mind.
In a single moment, she studied the situation: Her Valkyrie themed companion was yelling her name, holding a young -too young- Magical Girl she didn't know who was on the verge of Witching out. The Obelisk was gone, their Grief Cubes spent -the miasma probably didn't help, Oriko was choking on the concentrated Grief.
They couldn't let her Witch out, not there, not then, poor girl, what would happen when the news spread...
Her hand was already snatching the blackened Soul Gem -so small, so easy to crush-
'Machiko,' she snapped, taking the Soul Gem and pressing it to her companion's hand. Then she grabbed the girl and shoved her into the pink eyed girl's arms. 'Take her, run, get out of her here, Homura will find you, she has cubes, go!'
But the stupid girl stood there in a half crouch, wide eyes staring at Oriko, blaming her for not daring to do what she should, for dropping the responsibility on her shoulders...
'What- what about you?' Machiko's voice rung scared, frightened- not recriminating, not reproaching her.
'You're faster!' glared Oriko, 'just GO!'
The valkyrie flinched, but stood, holding the unknown girl -almost a Witch, she wasn't going to make it, don't extend her suffering- and jumped up and away so quick Oriko could've swore she saw her grow wings.
And Oriko stood alone.
Useless.
The miasma was thick down there, she finally took note of how it seemed to press down on her, surrounding her and squeezing the air out of her lungs...
She should've moved. Got out of the pit. She felt as if she was drowning, but she couldn't go. Not until she found out what had happened.
She wanted tear her perfect mane of silver hair off her head.
What had she accomplished? She went into the miasma, walked, stood around pointing at things while everybody else fought -probably her biggest contribution in a fight in years- and then the random giant monster died.
Hooray, she still didn't know zilch about what had happened, and why?
What was the giant grief monster? It didn't feel like a Witch, despite the Barrier like space. Why had the Obelisk seemingly turned into that thing? Was that natural? A consequence of gathering curses in one place for so long? The Cubes never had that problem, but the scale and strength of the enchantments were completely different... If it turned out the Obelisks turned into giant monsters after months of use...
That was gonna be a problem, and she had to get out and contact Sabrina ASAP.
'Hello-'
Who-
-Back-
Piercing searing pain flared at the small of her back and spread like wildfire up and down her spine-
How?
A silent scream tore itself off Oriko's throat and she fell trying to catch herself but her arms wouldn't move.
The cold, hard ground met her face hard.
It tasted like dirt.
What just happened?
Something kicked her on the side, which sent more flares of pain through her body as she rolled onto her back.
'I said.'
A hooded figure stood over her. Her mind went into overdrive, taking note of every little detail she could.
Short. Thin. Long, untamed hair. Magical hood; her face obscured, she couldn't make out details. Grey cloak covering most of the girl's body.
'Hello.' She growled. 'Show some manners.'
Oriko grit her teeth.
Another flare of pain at her back, her spine, made her shudder -she finally thought to deaden her connection to her Soul Gem, to alleviate the pain-, and despite trying, she couldn't move her legs.
The other girl, the one who had stabbed her -how did she not know it was gonna happen? Did her enchantments fail? Was there something she didn't account for?- and demanded manners, of all things... she was twitching, growing impatient.
So she grit her teeth and did what she always did.
'Good morning, miss,' she greeted as if she wasn't bleeding on the ground, 'I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but you seem to have attacked me like a coward.'
'Ah, ah, ah...' the hooded figure started pacing around her prone body, 'base name calling? I thought you were above such things... Mikuni.' She growled, actually growled the name.
Instantly, Oriko's rising feeling of dread washed away, replaced with irritation.
She got the feeling something very stupid was going on.
'I'm sure you're wondering what's going on,' continued the pacing girl, and Oriko could feel her glare, 'strange Barriers, weird monsters, a fateful meeting...'
The Seer kept an ear on the Incoming Vengeful Rant™ (not really) and went over her options.
'... it was oh so difficult to arrange all this...'
She couldn't move, not that she would've been able do much if she could; she was pants at combat, despite training her ass off for the rare cases she needed to actually fight. If she could move her hands, which she tried, but her fingers wouldn't even twitch -probably a magical paralysis effect on the dagger being flipped on her captor's hand- so she couldn't even use her gun.
'... I'll alleviate your fears: That girl? The Obelisk? Just a masterful plot to get you alone, see, we need to talk...'
Maybe she could start flinging orbs and lasers left and right... but she'd leave that as a last resort. It probably wouldn't go over well.
'... convincing the stupid girl to Wish was a piece of cake, even with that little Potential, anyone could cause real harm if you handed them a metric ton of magical curses...'
Bitch.
No, focus. Oriko noticed -again- the miasma was dissipating ever since the giant monster died. It was still too think down on the pit, but it was lifting. If she waited long enough, she could contact Homura and she would kick this girl's ass in a second.
'... all worth it in the end. At last. I wanted to talk with you for so long, Mikuni Oriko.'
'Masterful,' commented Oriko as soon as she noticed the girl stop, 'I was completely blindsided. I have to appreciate your dedication, despite my... position.'
'I know!' nodded the hooded figure, 'I- I... It was easy, just... following steps, I just new what to do and it was so easy and it worked.'
Steps?
The pacing stopped. The girl stood in place, unmoving, silent.
Oriko wished she'd stay that way.
Steps...
She counted to ten before commenting.
'So... all of this, the miasma, the monster, the damage to the city-
Twitch.
'-it was all... a red herring?' mused the Seer.
'Yes!' the pacing resumed, faster this time. 'See, you thought all that was important, so your rushed in like an idiot, and now I have you here, helpless...' the grin could be heard in her voice.
Steps? Steps.
'When you attacked me... my enchantments didn't warn me, not until it was too late.'
The girl balanced a glistening dagger in her hand.
'Ha! A-ha-ha!' she laughed haltingly. 'See, see? It was so easy to fool you, Mikuni. Your enchantments react to threats, but I wasn't a threat... not yet. See? I was just... walking around, following directions... Just happened to walk behind you. Then I stabbed you. It just takes a little lateral thinking, and it wouldn't work if you hadn't rejected your magic...' the clearly insane girl sneered, 'bet you're regretting that right now.'
'So you fooled me,' sighed Oriko, 'congratulations. I'd clap, but, well, I can't, at the moment.'
'Don't worry,' the hooded figure knelt besides the Seer, 'this is almost over.'
Slowly, hesitating, her off hand rose, grabbed the hem of her hood, and pulled it back.
'... Do I know you?' asked Oriko. She'd have raised an eyebrow if she could.
A random face -green eyes, brown hair- sneered down at her.
'You- you, you, you, you-?' the girl growled again.
Her hand reached for Oriko's lapel -brushed past her Soul Gem-, janking her up so she could snarl down at her, nose to nose.
'-riko? Or- k... Miku-' Homura's voice crackled in her mind.
'Homura get in here right now-'
'How dare you!' shouted random girl, 'how dare you how dare you how dare you...'
'-riko... t hear y-'
Miasma. Interference. Short messages best.
'Help help help help help help help help-' Oriko chanted in her mind, her words mixing with the rant of her captor- she probably should pay attention to that.
'-It's your fault! Your fault! If you hadn't- if you- you only tried a bit harder, but no- y-you-' tears streamed from the girl's eyes now, 'you c-couldn't be bothered, could you?!'
A shaking hand rose, dagger glistening in the darkened pit.
'I tried my best,' Oriko put as much sincerity in the hazardously thrown comment.
'No you didn't!' screeched the girl, dropping the knife to clatter uselessly on the ground. Instead she grabbed and shook Oriko with both hands. 'You didn't you didn't you didn't! You could've saved her!'
Oriko bit back a grunt as her head bounced off the hard dirt, and resumed chanting into her head for Homura to hurry the hell up and-
'-aim... can't- rget- Mik-'
For fuck's sake.
'She's not coming, you know?' suddenly commented the green eyed girl, eerily calm. She stopped shaking Oriko, instead choosing to glare down at her. 'She wants you dead, don't you know?'
A chunk of Oriko's hope fizzled away. She couldn't help it.
'What do you mean?' she asked.
But her captor just shook her head.
'This is wrong, wrong, it wasn't supposed to be like this,' she clutched at her head, scrunching her eyes in pain, 'you- you're doing something! What are you-'
Oriko's head dropped back on the ground and she yelped this time, but ignored the pain and tried to make sense of the other girl whose shaking hands groped for her knife and whose eyes glowered at the Seer...
'What will this accomplish?' she asked as calm as she could.
'I...' the girl's eyes trembled, 'my mama... will be able to rest in peace... at last.'
Oriko tried to make sense of that, but her mind came up blank.
'I know... I know you didn't kill her...' the girl finally got a good grip on her blade, 'but you might as well have.'
If anything, she was making less sense, thought Oriko as the dagger tip came to rest on her neck.
But OK, the girl was clearly insane, she could work with that...
The dagger moved down to rest on her Soul Gem.
'-can't spot... wher- u-' Homura's voice.
Wait, wait, wait, Oriko chanted at her partner as a thought crossed her mind.
'You said you wanted to meet me,' she practically blurted.
Hood and knife girl stopped.
'Yes.'
'You were looking forward to this, for...'
'For two years, yes!' frantic nodding. The dagger didn't stray from its place.
'Because I couldn't save your mom,' there were so many people she failed -not that many, yes too many- and she wrecked her brain to come up with a name...
'You could have,' hissed the girl, flecks of spit flying into Oriko's face, 'but no. No. Because you had a headache. Your tiny little head hurt and that was oh so more important, wasn't it?'
The girl's hand shook.
Any moment it would chip Oriko's Gem, and that would be bad.
She had to try something.
Her mind put together all the pieces she had.
Two years. One woman dead. Inside information? Probably Kyuubey. Someone she could've saved. Couldn't because of migraines... Precognition. She used to get migraines back when she had her precognition.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
'I'm sorry,' she whispered, which only caused her captor's face to turn into a rictus of fury.
Which hopefully bought her a few seconds.
She hoped the miasma had lifted well enough.
'Sabrina,' she called across continents.
'Yes! Oriko-'
'Remember The fight in Sendai, what were the names of the victims?'
'What- ah, Moro Nishimura and Maki Aiko.'
Maki.
"Takako?" said -actually said- Oriko.
('My name is Maki Takako, if that means anything to you.')
The crazed girl blinked. Her lips trembled, almost smiling.
"Y-y-yeah..." she breathed. "You know, you know..."
"Yes," the Seer tried to nod, before remembering she couldn't move. "This might be a belated answer..."
Takako Maki -apparently- leaned forward.
"... But I do think we could be friends," she smiled.
The girl's eye twitched.
'Homura, in three seconds run -under the Obelisk- as fast as you can-'
'-Got it-'
'Sabrina, Precog Protocol.'
An unholy screech tore through Oriko's mind-
Takako yelped and flinched and clutched her head-
"NO!" She raised her knife and stab-
CRACK!
Takako blurred-
And crashed against the wall of the pit in a heap, crying out in agony.
Oriko sighed.
Her heart tried to explode out of her chest, but calmed down... slowly.
She watched Homura's back, as the girl rather suddenly stood there between herself and the groaning mess of a wannabe avenger sprawled against a wall of cracked dirt, little clouds of the stuff pouring down on her.
"Oriko?" Homura turned to look down at her.
The Seer smiled weakly. "Paralysis," she grunted.
The purple eyed girl hummed and, after throwing a glance at the brown haired girl -coughing, kneeling on the ground-, crouched besides Oriko.
With a few directions, Homura carefully turned the Seer around. She grimaced as she spotted the wound, and the pool of blood drying underneath.
In a moment, she had laid her palm over the red stained part of Oriko's dress, and her hand glowed.
Oriko twitched.
A fraction of a second later, she stopped, and the Seer sighed.
"Thanks," she nodded as they stood up, receiving a simple nod in acknowledgement.
Oriko stretched, one hand poking the healed wound at her back. No matter how many times it happened, she couldn't get over how weird the Healing and Time magic combo felt.
Rather than healing, she felt as if her partner had grabbed a bit of her from the future and sewed it into her present body. It felt... disjointed.
She sighed again, standing side by side with Homura, looking down at Takako.
The girl was still kneeling, her eyes empty, staring at nothing.
... Homura had that effect on precogs.
What was seeing the future worth when the boogey-guca was pissed at you and capable of breaking every bone in your body before you could blink?
Speaking of broken bones, Oriko took note of how the girl clutched her arm, the one previously holding her dagger... The Seer plucked her own Soul Gem from its place, checking it over carefully.
Homura's eyes stared questioningly, maybe even concerned.
"No damage," smiled Oriko.
"Maybe next time you'll accept the Gem shielding enchantment," Homura's shoulders drooped a bit.
"Perhaps. I guess I can't see all of them coming."
"If you did," Homura raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't need to save your ass so often."
"Both I and Kirika appreciate the ass saving," Oriko snorted, before turning serious. "Let's get this over bit."
Together, they turned to the still kneeling girl, who did little more than glare at them. Helpless.
Oriko looked at Homura.
Homura shrugged and pulled out a pair of -magical- handcuffs.
The Seer kneeled before Takako, so she could stare her in the eye.
"For what it's worth... I'm sorry."
The girl's hands clenched into fists.
She didn't move, though.
Oriko nodded, and Homura walked around them, to cuff the girl's wrists.
"Maki Takako," intoned Oriko as the girl's eyes shook, whatever visions her magic was feeding her cutting abruptly, "... you're under arrest."
The girl started crying.
Oriko bit back a long suffering sigh, grabbing her by the arm and tugging at her to stand as she straightened up.
"... I'm not carrying her," commented Homura, looking up at the clear morning sky from where they stood, at the bottom of a thirty metres deep pit.
Oriko sighed.
"The girl," she remembered suddenly, "did you cleanse her, or did she... turn?"
Homura's head tilted, her lustrous mane of hair swaying a little.
"The other Magical Girls got her first, and cleansed her," she shrugged. "I didn't even see her."
Oriko smiled sardonically. "I told them to clear the area, but they never listen, do they?"
"They did clear," commented Homura, watching as Oriko lifted Takako and got a firm grip on her, "but there was this little girl with a white coat..."
A few seconds later the had ping-ponged their way over the pit's walls, and landed back on the plaza.
... The place was a mess.
Homura caught the Seer's eyes.
"Not our problem. Let's get her sorted out," she stared curiously at Takako, still silent, "so I can go take a shower and a nap."
Oriko followed as Homura strode out towards the closest street, tugging their unresisting captive along.
"A nap?" the Seer raised an eyebrow at the time mage when she turned. "Excuse me, Homura, but as soon as we 'sort out' Miss Maki, we're hitting the shops."
Homura blinked.
"You need a dress for your date, remember?" smirked Oriko, tapping Homura's shoulder as she walked past her, "maybe we could visit the spa..."
The time controlling Magical Girl stood still as a statue for a moment.
Her brain worked to make sense of the words.
Then she remembered.
Date. Madoka. Tomorrow. She still hadn't picked a dress.
A thin little sound -eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee- tore its way out of her throat.
In an instant, she turned and blurred towards the surprised Seer and their captive and-
Then they weren't there anymore.
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Romka
Master of Stealth
- Location
- In a barrel
What if we name the codewords after people in the thread? Obviously the
Raiseth
I Find Your Lack of Memes Disturbing
- Location
- Russia
Weeell
Sure, why not
Brinabomb is still Firnagzen
Potentialbomb is probably Hannz
Loopbomb is Onmur
Witchbomb is Higure or Duskwitch, take your pick
Lichbomb is Redshirt Army
Our secret shipping chart is Ugomura
Edit: don't think I don't see you there, Akuma Homura. Or, should I say, Rebellionbomb?
Sorry, the name's just perfect.
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Dragontrapper
Homeless Draconis
- Location
- A Tower in the middle of nowhere
sorry to back-track, but a thought on the security thing; Since IRL security clearances (Secret, Top Secret, etc) are based on how much damage to national security they can cause if revealed, what is the basis for a Meguca security schema? Damage if revealed to QB? Damage if revealed to other meguca? Most obvious would be how dangerous it would be if revealed to anyone outside the Mitakihara Alliance.
Now, caveats would be generated as needed - this lets you ID 'need to know' - but these would be more general. of the top of my head you'd have Unrestricted, Restricted, Protected, Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret, corresponding to 'no damage', 'Disadvantageous', 'Harmful', 'Damage', 'Serious Damage', 'Grave Damage'. A theoretical higher level could be 'Catastrophic Damage'. Based on RL systems, the corresponding colors would be Green, Purple, Teal, Blue, Red, Orange, and Yellow for 'Above Top Secret' (US doesn't have Restricted and restricted, so I just picked some). If you mapped it to the 'Paranoia' ROYGBIV it would be Unrestricted - Red, Restricted - Orange, Protected - Yellow, Confidential - Green, Secret - Blue, Top Secret - Indigo, and 'Special' - Violet.
You could also have caveats for groups who can know (just Mitakihara? Our allies?) along with special handling, so you get things like
MERCURY - Inadvisable to show Mami Tomoe (Gold dissolves in mercury)
IMITATOR - Information Hazard ('Meme' comes from the greek word for 'imitator')
BLAZECON - Homura Controls the release of the information. (Pun based on a reading of Homura's name)
RAVEN or RAV - cover term for de-witching activities.
WINKLE - Anything related to time travel. (Rip Van Winkle)
MITAO - Mitakihara Circle Only
ALLY - Releasable to Allies
So, for instance, Any documentation related to de-witching could be VIOLET/RAVEN/BLAZECON/MERCURY(Can cause catastrophic damage, related to de-witching, Homura decides who knows, Mami cannot know) though, it realistically it would just be VIOLET/RAVEN since a lot of the rest is implied due to RAVEN.
Witch-bomb documentation would be INDIGO/IMITATOR/MERCURY while litch-bomb might just be INDIGO/IMITATOR since while both could cause a random Meguca to spiral (Grave damage), Mami is read in on one. Something like where we end up housing Oriko could be BLUE/ALLY or BLUE/MITAO depending on the situation.
Now, caveats would be generated as needed - this lets you ID 'need to know' - but these would be more general. of the top of my head you'd have Unrestricted, Restricted, Protected, Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret, corresponding to 'no damage', 'Disadvantageous', 'Harmful', 'Damage', 'Serious Damage', 'Grave Damage'. A theoretical higher level could be 'Catastrophic Damage'. Based on RL systems, the corresponding colors would be Green, Purple, Teal, Blue, Red, Orange, and Yellow for 'Above Top Secret' (US doesn't have Restricted and restricted, so I just picked some). If you mapped it to the 'Paranoia' ROYGBIV it would be Unrestricted - Red, Restricted - Orange, Protected - Yellow, Confidential - Green, Secret - Blue, Top Secret - Indigo, and 'Special' - Violet.
You could also have caveats for groups who can know (just Mitakihara? Our allies?) along with special handling, so you get things like
MERCURY - Inadvisable to show Mami Tomoe (Gold dissolves in mercury)
IMITATOR - Information Hazard ('Meme' comes from the greek word for 'imitator')
BLAZECON - Homura Controls the release of the information. (Pun based on a reading of Homura's name)
RAVEN or RAV - cover term for de-witching activities.
WINKLE - Anything related to time travel. (Rip Van Winkle)
MITAO - Mitakihara Circle Only
ALLY - Releasable to Allies
So, for instance, Any documentation related to de-witching could be VIOLET/RAVEN/BLAZECON/MERCURY(Can cause catastrophic damage, related to de-witching, Homura decides who knows, Mami cannot know) though, it realistically it would just be VIOLET/RAVEN since a lot of the rest is implied due to RAVEN.
Witch-bomb documentation would be INDIGO/IMITATOR/MERCURY while litch-bomb might just be INDIGO/IMITATOR since while both could cause a random Meguca to spiral (Grave damage), Mami is read in on one. Something like where we end up housing Oriko could be BLUE/ALLY or BLUE/MITAO depending on the situation.
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
Apropos of absolutely nothing whatsoever, I wonder if we could feasibly weaponize Sabrina's Sabrinaness to screw over precogs (when facing precogs). 
Sabrina: "So I need you to poke inside my head and find if you can copy that precog screwing effect."
Niko: "... And I thought someone willingly strapping themselves to my operating table once was weird."
Sabrina: "Come on," she finishes strapping herself to the table thanks to Grief hands, "my Soul's in my Gem, I'm sure you poking at my brain won't like, really hurt me."
Niko: "..."
Sabrina: "... What?"
Niko: "Did your friends agree to this?"
Sabrina: "Do I look like I need permission to do things?"
Niko: *Raises eyebrow*
Sabrina: "... Homura was on board as soon as I said 'anti-Oriko measures'..."
Sabrina: "So I need you to poke inside my head and find if you can copy that precog screwing effect."
Niko: "... And I thought someone willingly strapping themselves to my operating table once was weird."
Sabrina: "Come on," she finishes strapping herself to the table thanks to Grief hands, "my Soul's in my Gem, I'm sure you poking at my brain won't like, really hurt me."
Niko: "..."
Sabrina: "... What?"
Niko: "Did your friends agree to this?"
Sabrina: "Do I look like I need permission to do things?"
Niko: *Raises eyebrow*
Sabrina: "... Homura was on board as soon as I said 'anti-Oriko measures'..."
The Narrator
Disembodied Voice
- Location
- Somewhere Offscreen
A single ribbon to each of our teammates or allies is a lot less ribbons than "blanket the entire area." We don't know yet what the maximum length she can make a ribbon is.
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
That's a tiny large image?Re: GriefNet
The discussion about autonomous Chibi!Brinas verifying security and sending data brought to mind the Operators of Ghost in the Shell
mCooperative
meanderingCephalopod
- Location
- Back in Mitakihara after like 1000 years.
I keep having that happen too whenever I try and stick large images into spoilers or quotes or anything that's not directly posting them. Anyone know why that is?
This seems very difficult to operationalize. Where exactly is the line between "Harmful" and "Damaging", or between "Gave" and "Catastrophic" damage?