Of course, all evidence indicates that Distortion is a far more likely outcome. That… well, it could be worse. As far as you can tell Distortions are still the same people they were before the transformation, just with certain traits over-expressed. The Ensemble had some way to bind a Distortion to a more human form, and between that and the disguises Angela managed to work out Homura was able to appear as a completely normal human. Even if Kyoko Distorts, you'll be able to do the same for her.
That's good, we already have a way to remove the physical problems with the disguise, all we need now is a way to help with the mental ones.
She is also staring in abject confusion at you, a look which Mami mirrors towards her. If she hadn't already met Angela, she'd likely have assumed the legendary mercenary to be your sibling instead.
Right. This is awkward.
"Angela, mind explaining why the Manager looks like me?"
Yeeeees, yes, this is all I hoped for, let the shenanigans begins!
Would've brought Binah too, but she's not really safe to keep around children."
"She's not really safe to keep around anybody." you grumble as you dig out Kyoko's Soul Gem.
Lies and slander! Binah's perfectly harmless! Just ask the city of Vale! She definitely didn't let the queen of hatred loose on it on a whim because it was amusing in another quest!
Mami squeezes your arm. You pull her closer and widen the connection between you and Kyoko and let her voice filter in.
"Oh. So you died too. Damn it. Mami was really happy to have you around, you know?"
Her voice echoes through your mind, choked and weak. It sounds as though she's been crying while trying to swallow shards of broken glass.
"Neither of us are dead. You are pretty badly hurt, though. Should be healed in a bit, so just hold on until then."
"Healed? Why are you wasting time with that? I died. Something stronger than me showed up, and nobody's got any right to complain about it. That's just how it goes."
So she was cognizant enough to see us through Nothing there's eyes, interesting.
Her mindset is pretty bad though, we are going to have to work on it if we don't want her to become self-destructive.
You will simply play the part of guide before Carmen can.
Interesting little thing to note here: The important part is not to have Kyouko get EGO instead of distorting, that's an end state, but not a method, the most important thing is to have Kyouko in a good mental state, one she can live with and thrive with, reaching it is not going to be easy, but we should strive for that anyway.
Carmen's problem is that she is too centered on letting people *be themselves* at any costs, we can reach balance and allows for a better solution.
Also, I've started up a
second Quest to run at the same time as this one.
*See distortion quest in the title*
I am going to run very fast to read it right after I finish voting for this quest! This is a dream come true! You can't imagine how giddy I am right now!
[X] "It's not the strong who survive; it's those who survive that are strong."
Not bad, but maybe not enough, we may add a little thing or two?
(Also, I'm interested in how QM will parse it, cuz I'm not actually sure what precisely Kali even meant by it, lol)
Clearly we should ask Myo about it, she's clearly an expert on this!
[X] "It's not the strong who survive; it's those who survive that are strong. Empathy and Friendship are the privileges of the strong, you have earned them at the least."
Better, still seeing what the thread had for ideas, may vote for this in absence of iterations, we'll see.
Goddamn, it gun man. We will never complete that damn thing, will we? The price required is far too much.
*Point at a sign saying "I told them so"*
[X] Let Mami take the lead on this. She knows Kyoko best out of anyone. Support Mami.
Pretty good! No complaints on this one, will probably vote for it!
Even Partial E.G.O would be good enough for me personally.
As I said earlier in this post, my goal is not about EGO or distortions, it's about Kyouko's mental health, if she come out of it as a distortion that is mentally healthy, that's a win, if she comes out as an EGOist that is bonkers, that's a loss, the states of EGO and Distortion are not the important bit, and they are not necessarily a good indication of the truly important part, what with Carmen contaminating the Distortion part of the sample with her bullshit.
Well, time to vote:
[X] Let Mami take the lead on this. She knows Kyoko best out of anyone. Support Mami.
Now excuse me, I have a distortion quest to read!
*Go away while Bouncing like a little girl*
