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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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It would also be a nice way to practice having really fine control over the appearance of a barrier, try and replicate the way things look outside of the barrier. Lots of little details that are easy to check if we got them right. Fine control over magic has tended to be one of our weaker skills.
 
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justinkal said:
It would also be a nice way to practice having really fine control over the appearance of a barrier, try and replicate the way things look outside of the barrier. Fine control over magic has tended to be one of our weaker skills.
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You're talking about grief manipulation. Not magic. That's not going to improve our ability to use magic in any meaningful way.

It's just making a regular barrier and choosing not to draw in non-magicals except instead of the inside looking all bizarre and confusing like a witch barrier, it looks almost the same as the outside.

It would be for when we want to diffuse a fight by talking rather than by using excessive force. Sure its easier to stop a fight by creating grief chains and binding everyone, but it won't exactly make them willing to talk to us.
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Then what you're talking about isn't an experiment but a tactic, and not a particularly good one. It's impractical, ineffective, risky and time consuming all in one package.

We have better options.
​
 
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Ehh, I guess.

On a different note, anyone want to go use our barrier as an isolation field to let us take things up a few notches in another spar with Kyouko? I also kinda just want to see her reaction.
 
I think the barrier idea works better by staying outside the barrier and moving it around, using the opening to scoop targets into the barrier.

It'd be a very niche, situational thing at best, though.

EDIT: Moving it around. It.
 
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Ehh, my mind is assuming that drawing forcibly drawing other people into a barrier works the same way as activating a Reality Marble. The scene of Sayaka witching out doesn't really have anything in it to contradict that assumption.

Edit: We should also think up some epic speech to use the first time we weaponize our barrier.
 
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justinkal said:
Ehh, my mind is assuming that drawing forcibly drawing other people into a barrier works the same way as activating a Reality Marble. The scene of Sayaka witching out doesn't really have anything in it to contradict that assumption.
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I... don't think we can 'activate a reality marble' in that fashion. Sayaka witching out at the time is a variable we have no intention of imitating at this time.

And even if we could, it still doesn't change the fact of it being impractical in just about every way.
 
When referring to the scene of Sayaka witching out I meant how the barrier kinda just pops up instantaneously, dragging Kyouko along for the ride. I meant being able to imitate the act of making the barrier appear instantly while dragging nearby girls inside.

At the very least, being able to deploy a barrier instantly is definitely a useful skill.
 
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justinkal said:
On a different note, anyone want to go use our barrier as an isolation field to let us take things up a few notches in another spar with Kyouko?
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[q] Become the devil.
-[q] Kyouko too.
-[q] Devil Fight: GO!!

Madokami did it for all Meguca.
Homucifer did it for Madoka.
Kyouko did it for a fight.
And Sabrina ... she did it for the LOLS.
*insert SabrinaDealWithIt.jpg here*

*grins*
<I know what you meant to say. Nevertheless - I never let the facts get in the way of a good joke (or a bad one, or a terrible one...).>

[x]Muramasa

And while on experimentation topic - periodic suggestion/reminder that we haven't 'poked' a completely cleansed (quiescent) grief seed in the same way we 'poked' the witch's core or the familiar's core. (Technically we haven't poked a normal grief seed either, but I think we can assume that it'll be the same as poking the still-living witch's core.)

Should poking the quiescent seed not result in a response that we could reasonably assume to come from something sentient - I'd be open to distributing fully cleansed seeds to others.
If we do get a 'sentient' response (N.B. going for the lower bar of sentient - not sapient) - possible communication with the soul in the seed/avenue for further de-witching research.

Due to the danger of messing with souls, we likely need a spotter. Would've suggested Homu, but we recently took a hit to our Homu points. Can't use Oriko without upsetting Homu further and anyone who hasn't been witchbombed is out of the question.

It'd also be good to try to slow down or stop grief being produced while a Meguca uses their magic - would be very handy for preventing spirals/witchouts in situations where we can't simply de-grief due to making a 'hostile action' (e.g. like negotiations with Masami, or negotiations with Sendai/UG, or meeting a new meguca with a twitchy trigger finger). This would be easier with a science buddy: They do big magic - we cleanse, they repeat big magic while we try to slow/stop grief production - then cleanse and compare grief produced each time.

*'Find Science Buddy' added to your Journal*

P.s. we still on for stealing from the Yakuza/Military with Homu tonight?
 
justinkal said:
When referring to the scene of Sayaka witching out I meant how the barrier kinda just pops up instantaneously, dragging Kyouko along for the ride. I meant being able to imitate the act of making the barrier appear instantly while dragging nearby girls inside.
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I get the sense that you're changing your statement as you go. But yes I already got that.

At the very least, being able to deploy a barrier instantly is definitely a useful skill.
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Mind you Sayaka's creation of a barrier wasn't exactly instant but I can kinda agree with this.

In comparison to the skills we already know though, it's usefulness is debatable. Why deploy a barrier when you can yank soul gems or bind people using their very own grief seeds?
 
While instant barrier is nice for combat, its also good as an isolation field, particularly if there's another 20 meguca pileup and we want to contain the collateral damage. If there's that many people involved, instant barrier ends the collateral damage quicker than grief chains to bind everyone. For that purpose, it doesn't actually matter what the inside of the barrier looks like.
 
Torgamous said:
We can fill a football field with floating buzzsaws made of purest despair, and we can also make Mechagodzilla.

A barrier is, like, the least intimidating possible grief construct. Any girl worth intimidating is used to working with barriers.
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Redshirt Army said:
There's a certain intimidation factor in knowing that Sabrina can revoke your floor, air, and gravity privileges on a whim, as well.
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It's still speculative, since we haven't done real testing yet, but being able to actively and intentionally fuck with physics in our own pocket dimention isn't something to be taken lightly, when we can literally play "the floor is lava".
 
justinkal said:
While instant barrier is nice for combat, its also good as an isolation field, particularly if there's another 20 meguca pileup and we want to contain the collateral damage. If there's that many people involved, instant barrier ends the collateral damage quicker than grief chains to bind everyone. For that purpose, it doesn't actually matter what the inside of the barrier looks like.
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Assumes that we're actually able to keep these girls in our barrier as there's no precedent for a witch barrier magical girls couldn't escape from and even if we could, there's questions as to weather or not such an action is even wise.

Sorry. I'm just not sold.

It still comes off as hideously impractical for all our purposes.
 
Muramasa said:
I get the sense that you're changing your statement as you go. But yes I already got that.



Mind you Sayaka's creation of a barrier wasn't exactly instant but I can kinda agree with this.

In comparison to the skills we already know though, it's usefulness is debatable. Why deploy a barrier when you can yank soul gems or bind people using their very own grief seeds?
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It depends on what Sabrina is capable of inside her own barrier. I'd imagine that having complete control over the battlefield would be very useful when we're vastly outnumbered or up against more powerful enemies.
 
justinkal said:
While instant barrier is nice for combat, its also good as an isolation field, particularly if there's another 20 meguca pileup and we want to contain the collateral damage. If there's that many people involved, instant barrier ends the collateral damage quicker than grief chains to bind everyone. For that purpose, it doesn't actually matter what the inside of the barrier looks like.
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Barriers have a single point of entry. They don't overlay reality like a Reality Marble. Getting twenty girls into a barrier will be harder than stealing their gems.
 
So... Firn and I decided to collaborate on a thing again.

Noise resounded across the walls of Mitakihara Mall as people ventured about, looking for whatever struck their desires. Families walked together, hand in hand, enjoying the day. A cool breeze made its way across the open areas, bringing refreshment and keeping the light from the sun from becoming overbearing.

The mall itself was gigantic, a towering, flowing mixture of form and function. Vast portions were left to the open air, allowing for enjoyment of the weather. To simply wander about was as much of a treat as to gather whatever the patrons desired for the day. It was a testament to the skill of the designers that their creation brought arguably more joy to experience than to simply shop.

"These… clothes, are very uncomfortable," Sosuke said, picking at the collar of his too-tight shirt with one hand. "Are you sure I couldn't wear my kimono?"

"You'd get too much attention," Sabrina replied.

Sosuke looked about. People were staring at him, gaping at his looming height. He glowered at them, not enjoying the sensation he was being put on display for their amusement.

"Really?" he asked, voice deliberately loud. "From all these tiny people? Feh. I'd have gotten their notice anyway."

The gawkers flinched, the bubble of people coalescing around them collapsing as they returned to studied indifference.

"More attention," Sabrina amended, rubbing at her nose. Homura and Oriko snorted in stereo unison. They promptly glanced at each other, and then looked sharply away again. Kirika giggled to herself.

"Ah… I'm sorry," Madoka said, voice tiny. The pinkette looked down, tapping her fingers together. "My father isn't as… big, as you are."

Sosuke winced, his lips turning downward in a frown. The little girl's words brought full relief to his ingratitude. These people had no obligation to help him. He stood here, beyond the reach of the Celestial Order. He was Samurai, but what did that mean without the context of the Empire? These people around him were not peasants, and while Gaijin they resembled his people closely enough that he had to remind himself of the fact often.

Frankly, it was all very confusing. Sosuke didn't want to imagine what his experience here might have been like without their aid. And now he was spitting upon their hospitality simply because they didn't wish to cause a scene? It was a disgrace. Even here, amongst people who did not know the true meaning of honor, he had to uphold an ideal. Such was just the way of things.

"I apologize, Kaname-san," Sosuke said, stepping in front of the girl and bowing low. The shirt, already stretched tight around his bulky form, strained alarmingly at his shoulders. "My words were ill thought, and do not show you the respect you deserve for aiding me. I will not repeat this mistake."

Madoka flinched. "N-no! Sosuke, you don't- I don't- don't apologize!" Homura placed a hand on Madoka's shoulder in silent support.

Sabrina slapped a hand to her face, groaning into her palm. "Not again. Sosuke, what have I told you about this kind of thing?" At her side, Mami covered her mouth, eyes crinkling into a smile.

"I recall, Sabrina-san," Sosuke replied, rising from his bow. "I have simply elected to ignore it. There is a proper etiquette for living one's life, and it must be adhered to."

Sabrina groaned. "In Rokugan. We've talked about this."

"And I still disagree," Sosuke said, continuing to walk. "If I am all that exists of the Emerald Empire in these lands, then that simply means I must hold ever stronger to the proper way of things."

"He's so serious!" Kirika burst out in giggles, earning herself a withering glare from Sosuke. Oriko patted the black haired girl on her head, a fond, amused smile on her face.

"These are serious concerns," Sosuke replied, looking forward such to not grant the response any further attention. "And should be treated as such."

Sabrina groaned again, knuckling her forehead as she recalled the sheer petty annoyance of Rokugan. The sheer ossified social conventions had been an enormous pain to work through, let alone what they thought of tea. What was so wrong with reheating tea? Everything, apparently.

"Yes, anyway, let's go," Sabrina grumbled, waving the entire group forward. "Time's a-wasting and we really need to get you out of those, Sosuke."

"I can agree with that," the young man replied.

The motley crew headed into the mall. The interior was expansive, nearly cavernous, cool white lighting beaming down from above. The sounds of hundreds of people, chattering happily as they go about their own shopping trips resonate off the walls, sights and sounds and smells assaulting them from every direction. A pair of concierges, dressed in smart yellow uniforms zoom by on segways[1]​.

Sosuke drew his arms up in a ready stance at their passing, eyes wide with alarm. The Samurai prepared to strike at the concierges on instinct, but they moved past too quickly for him to do more than prepare. He relaxed as the two vanished into the crowd, though he still kept his hands up. His feet shifted as he walked, subtly taking a moving battle stance as the group made their way throughout the mall.

Kirika started giggling again, clamping her hands over her mouth as she quivered with barely restrained laughter.

Sabrina and Mami turned in unison, the former quirking an eyebrow as Sosuke slowly lowered his arms. The young man glowered, before shifting his eyes to face resolutely forward, obviously ignoring the curious looks directed his way.

A few minutes later, the group found themselves at one of the many, many clothes shops in the shopping center. "Alright, we can start here," Sabrina said, turning to face the rest of the group. "They, uh, might not have anything your size, but… say, Madoka, where does your father shop? We could sta- where's Sosuke?"

"Oh, he stopped a while back," Kirika said, grinning as she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.

Sabrina stared at her, then Homura, who shrugged fractionally back at her. The white haired girl's eyes shifted to Oriko, who raised both eyebrows at her, indifferent expression belied only by a tiny smirk curling the side of her mouth. Madoka mouths a quiet 'sorry' at Sabrina's martyred face.

Mami covers her mouth and giggles.

Sabrina grumbled. "... alright, where did we misplace him."

Ten minutes later​

Sosuke had been staring at the images in the book for quite a while. The language was similar to Rokugani, at least in form. He could almost work out what the book actually said, though it took him effort to interpolate between words. It seemed to be about the adventures of some Gaijin and his family.

That wasn't what caught his attention, however. What drew his eyes were the various strange poses the characters seemed to indulge in every few pages. They all looked quite odd, and frankly Sosuke wasn't sure they were actually physically possible to do in any quick or comfortable manner.

"Hmm…" he muttered. "Well, let us see."

Sosuke set the book aside, propping it open on the shelf so that he could glance at it for reference, and lifted one leg, turning his hips to the side. He forced his other leg to turn, folded in the opposite direction of his hips. His left arm crossed his body, elbow bent with his palm facing downward. His other arm, meanwhile, rested adjacent to his side, tensed with his hand held in a fist. Said fist also leaned upward, in opposite of his downward facing left hand.

"This is not easy," he said to himself, keeping his balance with effort. His shirt creaked dangerously at the seams, and his pants became worryingly tight. "It would not be so difficult in my kimono…"

A familiar voice reached his ears, sounding relieved. "Sosuke, there you- oh what."

"Hello, Sabrina-san," Sosuke responded, still holding the pose. "Tell me, could you explain the purpose of these poses? The characters in that picture book seemed to do it before and during battle, but I'm not seeing much point."

"I'm not sure, but… hmm," Sabrina muttered, eyeing the books. "Let me try the other one. Mami, could you hold my bag for me?

"Of course, Sabrina, but what are you doing?" Mami asked.

"Posing," Sabrina answered. She cocked her hips, one leg in front of her and the other shifting backwards. One arm curled in front of her body and her hand rose in front of her face, fingers splayed open. Her other arm hung clear of her body, hand curled into a tight fist and twisted to flex what paltry muscle she had. Certainly paltry by comparison to the hulking young man by her side.

"This takes quite a bit of effort," Sosuke said, sweat beading on his brow from holding his pose.

"Oh, you're both doing it wrong," Kirika said brightly. She stepped forward, releasing her arm from around Oriko's waist, and eyed the book for a moment before effortlessly and flawlessly striking a pose. First Sosuke's, holding it for a moment before returning her leg to the ground and bringing her hand up to her face to take on Sabrina's pose, drawing applause from the gathering crowd.

"... well, I should have expected that," Sabrina muttered. Mami chuckled, patting her on the shoulder in consolation.

"That is very impressive," Sosuke said, his tone earnest. "I am going to try another one I saw in a different book."

The young man shifted his stance. One leg pointed to the side, the other supporting the majority of his weight, and his head hunched forward to give an intense glare forward. His left arm was held straight down in front of him, wrist bent to fold his hand out in a straight L-shape, and the other arm coiled back behind his head, as if he was about to punch downwards.

It was then that Sosuke's shirt, already overburdened and abused so terribly, gave up. The fabric flew apart, ripping all over and sending strips of cloth flying through the air. His heavily muscled torso was bare for all the world to see, his toned arms likewise without covering save for the few meager remnants of that valiant shirt that had tried so hard to hold up against the rigours it had been subjected to.

Kirika wolf-whistled, grinning broadly, while Oriko shook her head slowly. Madoka raised a hand to cover Homura's eyes, though the implacable girl didn't seem to care too much about the sight of Sosuke's bare chest.

"Well," Sosuke said, standing straight. "At least I'm more comfortable now."

"This is karma, isn't it?" Sabrina muttered. "Mami, was my brain damage ever this bad?"
 
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Magical Girls wander into Witch Barriers because they're after what's inside.

If only we were keen on taking hostages...
 
Torgamous said:
Barriers have a single point of entry. They don't overlay reality like a Reality Marble. Getting twenty girls into a barrier will be harder than stealing their gems.
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If the experiments in the current vote succeed, the ones involving having 2 entrances and thinking with portals, is getting people into the barrier really that difficult?

Also, if everyone's already in the middle of fighting each other, I doubt they'd stop fighting long enough to actually find the exit of the barrier.


New way to meet people when visiting a new city: deploy a barrier and wait for someone in need of a cleanse to come looking for a witch.
 
justinkal said:
If the experiments in the current vote succeed, the ones involving having 2 entrances and thinking with portals, is getting people into the barrier really that difficult?

Also, if everyone's already in the middle of fighting each other, I doubt they'd stop fighting long enough to actually find the exit of the barrier.


New way to meet people when visiting a new city: deploy a barrier and wait for someone in need of a cleanse to come looking for a witch.
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Seeing as we should have complete control over the barrier, maybe people can't enter or leave without us wanting them to?

As for meeting new people, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. They might mistake us for a Witch and try and attack us. We apparently already feel like a witch already to other meguca.
 
to be fair if you enter a barrier and see either nothing or a girl creating anything she wants that screams witch to your senses, would stopping to chat really be your first option?

but I'm sure after we subdue the girl have her sit in a grief chair sipping grief tea* she will surely not try to kill us after we let her go with a free cleanse

*grief microwaved of course.
 
There's also the fact that when visiting a new city, doing something that projects a blaring sensation of "Witch" is probably our quickest way of finding the locals, especially if we don't even know their names.
 
justinkal said:
There's also the fact that when visiting a new city, doing something that projects a blaring sensation of "Witch" is probably our quickest way of finding the locals, especially if we don't even know their names.
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In a bad way, yeah. You know, "witch girl" sticks. It would be a bad idea for everyone's first impression of us to be "that crazy girl with her own witch barrier".
 
justinkal said:
There's also the fact that when visiting a new city, doing something that projects a blaring sensation of "Witch" is probably our quickest way of finding the locals, especially if we don't even know their names.
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We've done that before without having to do anything that looked like an actual witch.

I get that you like Nanoha, but we have different magic here.
 
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