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Puella Magica Somniabunt Sanguinis [PMMM/Bloodborne]

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*Shrug* Alright. Yeah, I don't really have anything this time, so...

[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?

Quick through-away option that can be taken or left. *Shrug* QM can either skip the dialogue and sum it up in a sentence or two or write (some of) it out if he feels it's worth it/wants to pad the update a little.
Spector29 said:
[Endless internal screaming]
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Origmai Clock said:
IMO, she's too traumatised and exhausted from another failed Loop to be really thinking at all right now. Though she does think that Ruby is an extreme chunni, even if nothing about her makes any sense.
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*Ruby unfolds herself and speaks in full Eldritch tongue*

Homura: "... Meh, been through worse." *Shrug*
 
Sorry if the last update was a bit filler-y, I was really expecting that the vote after pt 4 would be moving onto tomorrow, rather than sticking with this scene. I suppose I shouldn't have underestimated the desire of this site for cute girls being sad and snuggling.
 
[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
 
Origmai Clock said:
Sorry if the last update was a bit filler-y, I was really expecting that the vote after pt 4 would be moving onto tomorrow, rather than sticking with this scene. I suppose I shouldn't have underestimated the desire of this site for cute girls being sad and snuggling.
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We have no larger plot to project out into in order to do so. Despite its ignominy, my vote won all the same!
chocolote12 said:
[X] Hand the plot off to the sadhomu for a bit
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Origmai Clock said:
That's what interludes/omakes are for. I've only planned out the interludes for the first chapter and after, but I'd happily do a Homu one if there was interest in it.
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I'm interested!


Also, could we have longer chapters (even if it means less frequent ones)? Something to, metaphorically, sink our teeth into.
 
Takareer said:
I'm interested!
Also, could we have longer chapters (even if it means less frequent ones)? Something to, metaphorically, sink our teeth into.
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Well, since you asked so nicely, and because I have an (almost) free day tomorrow, I'll see what I can do. I may be a bit too used to SB and the like, where if you don't keep keep your quest on the front pages long enough to build dedicated interest, your quests will just die from a lack of participation. I'll say one thing for small, regular audiences, it means a lot less pressure on my end.
Adhoc vote count started by Origami Clock on Oct 19, 2017 at 12:43 PM, finished with 26 posts and 9 votes.
  • [X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
    -[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
    --[X] If the opportunity presents itself, attempt to discern the nature of the parasites. You may be able to learn more about this world, how they affect it, and how you could affect them (in ways other than just killing their bodies, that is).
    [X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
    -[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
    [X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
    -[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
    --[X] If the opportunity presents itself, discern the nature of the parasite, and how best to rip out its roots and eyes.
    [X] Follow your Host around; it's not like you have anything else to do here.
    -[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
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Origmai Clock said:
Well, since you asked so nicely, and because I have an (almost) free day tomorrow, I'll see what I can do. I may be a bit too used to SB and the like, where if you don't keep keep your quest on the front pages long enough to build dedicated interest, your quests will just die from a lack of participation. I'll say one thing for small, regular audiences, it means a lot less pressure on my end.
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SV/SB schismed a little oddly. We seem to have all the quests here, the fanfiction is on SB, and the roleplaying... I think is a little more evenly split but favors SB.

So we generally have more people on the look out for quests here than there are over on SB.
 
[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
--[X] If the opportunity presents itself, discern the nature of the parasite, and how best to rip out its roots and eyes.

I am always up for more Homura POV.
 
[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
--[X] If the opportunity presents itself, discern the nature of the parasite, and how best to rip out its roots and eyes.
 
[X] Follow your Host around; it's not like you have anything else to do here.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?

Note the removal of the line about killing parasites. Ol' Soulstealer McRingears may have seemed bad to us, but going around killing things here -without being asked to do so- does not mesh with our displayed reverence of Homura.


In a related vein, we don't actually have to kill Kyuubey, you know? Although I am a fan of sublime war, we're a powerful being from beyond this universe - it's not inconcievable that we can work out something that addresses the Incubators' problems without consuming girls' souls in the process. Solving problems with words is not a strategy reserved only for dealing with our friends.
 
Takareer said:
Note the removal of the line about killing parasites. Ol' Soulstealer McRingears may have seemed bad to us, but going around killing things here -without being asked to do so- does not mesh with our displayed reverence of Homura.

In a related vein, we don't actually have to kill Kyuubey, you know? Although I am a fan of sublime war, we're a powerful being from beyond this universe - it's not inconcievable that we can work out something that addresses the Incubators' problems without consuming girls' souls in the process. Solving problems with words is not a strategy reserved only for dealing with our friends.
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You didn't really read the discussion, did you? Kyuuby is basically the closest thing to a Horror From Beyond that Ruby can conceive of. There's a reason she knee-jerked to crushing the thing without even thinking about it.

Great Ones are of Emotion and Magic. Kyuuby is Anathema to us.

That she thinks that this thing has been killing a being that should be to her as she is to humans and has brought Her this low is just icing on the cake honestly.
 
ShadowAngelBeta said:
Kyuuby is basically the closest thing to a Horror From Beyond that Ruby can conceive of. There's a reason she knee-jerked to crushing the thing without even thinking about it.
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Sure. Still, I believe that taking a slower, more cautious approach has merit. If I was in a similar situation (thrust into a strange place beside a powerful figure, and a monster burst in), I'd definitely kill the monster.

However, my next course of action would be to ask "what's the deal with these monsters?", rather than "search and destroy!".

ShadowAngelBeta said:
Great Ones are of Emotion and Magic. Kyuuby is Anathema to us.
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Now that you say that... Ruby would probably find our world -governed by math and random numbers, with no magic and humans the only sparks of emotion- to be Hell. In turn, to us Ruby would seem a monster as well... despite her personality not truly being very alien at all.

There's also the somewhat comical fact that we, from Ruby's Hell-verse, technically created her world and control her thoughts and actions.
 
Takareer said:
Now that you say that... Ruby would probably find our world -governed by math and random numbers, with no magic and humans the only sparks of emotion- to be Hell. In turn, to us Ruby would seem a monster as well... despite her personality not truly being very alien at all.

There's also the somewhat comical fact that we, from Ruby's Hell-verse, technically created her world and control her thoughts and actions.
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We might lack magic, but at least we don't lack emotion. Alien, but relatable ultimately.
Takareer said:
However, my next course of action would be to ask "what's the deal with these monsters?", rather than "search and destroy!".
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Except she already thinks she's nailed down what they are, and in some ways/points of view she really isn't that far off actually.
 
So I was thinking a bit about how Ruby would react to/interact with Madoka, I had some interesting thoughts

Firstly, she should be able to sense Madoka's enormous potential. Hell, as tuned in Ruby is to magic, Madoka would probably be downright overwhelming to her Eyes.

Secondly, in this 'verse, Madoka making her Concept wish might not be a bad thing for Homura. Great Ones are casually multiversal, with the ability to hop in and out of various realities at will. It wouldn't surprise me if Ruby could go visit Madokami in her heaven, and more importantly for the lovebirds, she might be able to take Homura with her. Or just send Homura on her own. Ruby could even provide a nice, moonlit flower garden for them all to have tea in. The perks of being a reality-screwing monstrosity from beyond the limits of time, space, and karmic destiny I guess.

Anyway, the vote.
[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
--[X] If the opportunity presents itself, attempt to discern the nature of the parasites. You may be able to learn more about this world, how they affect it, and how you could affect them (in ways other than just killing their bodies, that is).

A bit of an edit to the vote. Before we go around trying to fuck with (possibly very important) shit, we need to get the lay of the land. What are the parasites? How to they interact with the world? That kind of thing.
 
[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
--[X] If the opportunity presents itself, attempt to discern the nature of the parasites. You may be able to learn more about this world, how they affect it, and how you could affect them (in ways otherthan just killing their bodies, that is).
 
[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
--[X] If the opportunity presents itself, attempt to discern the nature of the parasites. You may be able to learn more about this world, how they affect it, and how you could affect them (in ways other than just killing their bodies, that is).
 
[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
--[X] If the opportunity presents itself, attempt to discern the nature of the parasites. You may be able to learn more about this world, how they affect it, and how you could affect them (in ways other than just killing their bodies, that is).
 
[X] Follow your Host around it's not like you have anything else to do here. And you can kill/eat the parasites that try to approach her if any do.
-[X] Maybe you can ask her about some of the things in Her Dream you are unfamiliar with if it doesn't annoy her?
--[X] If the opportunity presents itself, attempt to discern the nature of the parasites. You may be able to learn more about this world, how they affect it, and how you could affect them (in ways other than just killing their bodies, that is).
 
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Child of Blood - pt. 6 [XL edition]
  • Threadmarks
    • It is only by the dimming of your flowers that you recognise the coming of the new day. You had only seen the Sun on a few occasions, when propriety and politics incomprehensible for anyone lower in stature than your Papa demanded it.

    Even so, after every visit, you could swear that you had grown at least a foot, and it took days for the manic, joyful energy He left imprinted in you to fade entirely. He was life and light, too potent to comprehend except by his passage.

    This thing was as a half-dead firefly in comparison, fat and orange and barely warm enough to compel your flowers to follow its slow rise.

    You wonder if there is a creature sitting at the heart of it, fattened to bursting as it devours all but the barest crumbs of what should be a glorious incandescence.

    Speaking of crumbs, the thin, bony body of The Host has begun to shift again, and you loosen your embrace, letting her slowly bring herself back to awareness. You tsk inwardly, wishing that The Host permitted herself some more time to rest, but who were you to dictate what a being such as her should do?

    You begin to withdraw your tendrils, reconstituting your lower regions for the wretched inevitability of having to get out of bed. As much as you'd like to spend forever cuddled up around The Host, you suspect that She has far too many things to do, and not enough time to do them in, even with her power.

    For a bleak moment, you wonder what would happen if an Eternal One burnt out their mind like some of your less mindful relatives.

    Would they just stop existing for anyone else, trapped like a fly in amber in the terrible, insurmountable gap between moments? Or might they just never have existed at all, excised from time entirely for their transcendent arrogance?

    You banish those thoughts as you concentrate on returning fully to your most coiled form. It wouldn't do to imply that The Host could not see to her own protection, regardless of what the reality might be.

    The loose hug you maintained might have become a little more uncomfortable, Her sharp, angular body poking you rather than sinking into the warm, comfy flowerbed you had been, but her stirring was growing, so you happily bore this little hardship.

    At last, you sense that she has awoken, and it is bare moments after that before a pair of violet eyes snap open, her body immediately thrumming with tension you had thought you had successfully banished last night.

    She snaps upwards, hand reaching for something before aborting the effort half way. She takes several deep breaths, not looking at you, and something in you wants to reach out and touch her, though her body language couldn't have been advising more strongly against that if it had written 'GO AWAY' in 12-foot high letters of fire.

    At last, she turns around to face you, and for once, even though you can sense the emotions swirling with The Host, you cannot even begin to describe what is taking place within her. It is one of those times when you realise just how young you are. And how much you have yet to learn.

    "…About last night…"

    What do you say? What do you say? You don't want to see her as she was last night again, all hollow glassy eyes and half-dead soul. You want her to like you, to trust you, but you don't know the words that will let those things happen. It's like sword-drill with Mama, where even one wrong step will lead inevitably to losing.

    "…Yes, Exalted One?"

    You see her eyes widen a fraction, and how she fully fails to hide a shudder passing through her body, and you know that you've ruined it.

    You were so caught up in your internal spiral of self-recrimination, that you almost don't notice what she says next, so softly that it could just be mistaken for an outward breath for anyone who didn't have the benefit of being mostly made out of sensory organs.

    "…Thank you."

    You try very, very hard to maintain your composure. With your form at its most mature and stately, you come quite close to succeeding as well. Not enough to not glomp the now slightly blushing Host, a babble of semi-coherent apologies spilling out of you.

    Face hidden in the ebon waterfall of The Host's hair, she cannot see that you are smiling so fiercely that it would have hurt her to mimic it. You suspect that she suspects nevertheless.

    In your defence, your kind are more than a little notorious for their excessive emotions, and you feel very proud, personally, that you haven't succumbed to the urge to devolve into a cuddly flowerbed again.

    Once you had recovered enough of your composure to stop imitating a particularly affectionate limpet, the pair of you sit on her bed, the silence between you still a little awkward, but much less than it had been beforehand.

    "You know I have questions, yes?"

    You nod amiably. You have quite a few of your own, not that you expect to be able to find anyone capable of answering them; if the future version of The Host from the time after you've helped fix everything was going to show up and tell you why you were sent here, She would have done it by now.

    "Ok. Because you seem to know why you're here just about as much as I do, I suppose we can skip that one."

    You quietly wish that a future version of her could appear and do this for you, but you suppose that might be a teensy bit of a bootstrap paradox, and it would be rude to destroy the universe just to save you from a mildly awkward interrogation.

    "Well, we may as well start with an easy one. Why do you keep calling me Exalted One?"

    You look at her, with the special head tilt reserved only for when you can't decide whether to be amused, bemused, or just plain confused at the current state of the world.

    "…You can pass through Time, Exalted One. Great Ones tell their children stories about beings like you."

    "…Beings like me? T-there are others?"

    You see the desperate flash in her eyes, the sheer longing for another that might understand her, the possibility of having a peer, rather than floating through eternity with no company but that of mayflies whose minds would shatter under the burden of Her truth.

    "Stories only, Exalted One, I am sorry, I really am."

    You see the hope die in her eyes. You look away, ashamed.

    "Great Ones, Exalted Ones…please tell me that these are just your way of talking about Magical Girls?"

    You can't help yourself. Even the Princess couldn't resist the hilarity embodied in that statement. If you had a fan, or even a sleeve to hide your mouth behind, you might have even considered less genteel forms of expressing your gentle ridicule at the idea. Lacking that, you try to giggle as quietly as you can.

    "M-magical Girls, hehehe, don't be silly, Exalted One. If only girls were magical, where would all the little Great Ones come from?"

    For one blissful moment, you catch a glimpse of her face from the corner of your eye, and you see that the Exalted One has gone bright red at the implications of your statement. You almost want to pinch her cheeks, having found a reservoir of adorable innocence within this war-torn Eternal. You're almost sure that it's against the rules for anything that could be older than the universe make you want to act like a big sister to it.

    "Little…You mean…oh. Oh. You don't know about Incubators?"

    You get a sinking feeling in your stomach when she mentions that name.

    "You mean the…"

    You make a gesture towards the door, making a tiny smirk materialise on Her face for a moment as She recalled the oh so satisfying sound of the vermin being reduced to red slurry.

    "Yes. You mean you've never seen it before? How did you get your powers if you didn't make a wish?"

    "Make a wish? You mean They are responsible for gaining your powers?"

    You feel sick. Genuinely, viscerally ill by what she has just told you. The only thing you feel more strongly is the beginnings of a hot, unquenchable rage that can only be ameliorated by reducing every Incubator in this world to their constituent parts.

    In a sombre tone, she reveals just how the vermin help those with magic within them, uncorking their potential, even granting them whatever they want, and all they ask for in return is for them to go slowly mad, poisoning themselves and the world with their corrupted magic.

    If you had a stomach, you would vomit. These Incubators, they have been drowning the Exalted One and her world with the blood and tears of her own children, forced from their eggs before their time.

    All Great Ones Lose Their Children

    You never knew you could hate the idea of Fate itself before.

    She can see the effect her revelation has had upon you, and both of you quietly agree that she would only ask one more, leaving the rest for some later date, perhaps when you have stopped feeling the urge to simultaneously develop new orifices to void yourself out of, and to try to beat your Papa's record for most atrocities slain in a single night.

    "…You said that you just woke up here?"

    "Yeah…last thing I remember was going to sleep at h-home, t-then…"

    You uncoil a little then, because it's that or shatter like a blossom in midwinter. It is a moment or two before you remember that you're supposed to be the strong one here, and with a final, slightly damp sniff, you pull yourself together.

    The Host is looking at you, partly sympathetic, but also coolly appraising, but you don't begrudge her that. You can practically see the patchwork of emotional scars written over her heart.

    "Your notes…they say you were in a car accident. Does your head hurt at all?"

    "No, why would my head hurt?"

    You are confused, before you realise just what The Host is asking you. If she's been reduced to so limited a form, why would she assume that you wouldn't be subject to the same limitations?

    "I…I still have my memories, if that's what you're asking. I just went to sleep, and woke up here…what did you call it, Mikatihara?"

    "Mitakihara. I don't suppose you remember where you came from, do you?

    "Y-yes, but I can't go back. I don't know the w-way…"

    Your lip starts to wobble again, despite every effort you make to the contrary. Your head sinks once again, as some spiked and vicious part of your mind asks you how you ever intend to help The Host if you can't even keep yourself from going to pieces from a little homesickness?

    You feel a thin arm cross over your shoulders, and for a moment, you can barely keep yourself from sobbing. How pathetic are you, that She, who stands despite bearing the weight of the world entire, must lower herself to comfort you?

    Your thoughts are black, and the quiet urge in the back of your head to fall down into a flowerbed once again, to scatter away from these painful thoughts grows a little stronger.

    You don't know what you would have done if you hadn't heard Her whisper a few quiet words into your ear.

    "If you don't have a place to stay…you can come with me once we're discharged."

    What follows is a quiet, technical conversation on what you suppose were once her Messengers. They may have slipped Her control, but they still partially recognise their mistress. She was here to be attended to by them, and they would not release her, or you for that matter, if they did not think that you were healthy enough.

    This was clearly not the first time that She had been trapped thus, as she made you recite back to her the words that her Messengers needed to hear before they would let anyone free from them.

    You barely understood one word in five, but you could hold a conversation with Kin from Papa's side of the family off of less. Then again, you weren't sure if Her Messengers were sufficiently intelligent to properly appreciate the cuteness or the lineage that allowed you to get away with it.

    It didn't even take too long, once you could mimic without thought the lies that you would be telling, if only based on the fact that your own sublime biology bore about as much relation to one of them as one of Auntie's snails did to her coral-framed magnificence.

    The Host had even changed into new clothes, that awful scratchy gown of hers consigned to the oblivion it deserved. You were still happily wearing your own gown as you walked out into the pale sunshine, if only because you weren't entirely sure what to change it into.

    The paths away from the ugly white monolith you had been ensconced in were clogged with feral Messengers, almost like humans except smaller and clad in a thousand different garish wrappings. If one thing never changed between Dreams, it was that Messengers everywhere were utterly without any sort of good taste.

    At least you couldn't see any mis-sized top hats. Being an Eternal One must bring a few perks, after all.

    With a tilt of the head, you were wordlessly invited down an empty passage, and several disorienting moments after that, you found yourself on a rooftop, quiet and blissfully empty compared to the throng below.

    "Once we reach h-home, Exalted One, would you mind if I asked you some things? I don't want to be a burden, and there are some things here I'm not very familiar with."

    "Of course…but can you not call me that please?"

    "Certainly Ex-err, sorry, what should I call you then?"

    "Call me…Homura."

    The pair of you head home across the rooftops. Her propelling herself by great bounds powered by muscle scintillating with magical power, you adopting the much less strenuous option of explosively uncoiling your legs to launch you through the air.

    She, admittedly, is far more graceful, but that's only because it takes you a mile or two to get the landings down right.

    You see the faint upward points on the edge of her mouth, which is the closest she seems to come to a smile, and there is a lovely warm feeling in your chest, which is only slightly undermined by the next collision into an obnoxiously hard piece of grey stone. Just the slight of it makes all your pratfalls worthwhile, though that may only be because you don't have the burden of fragile internal biology.

    Far sooner than you'd have liked, you are at the place which has become your new home.

    …Why is there a giant pendulum in the living room?
    ---
    Once you've settled in, Homura is going to ask you a question.
    Do you need to hunt, SV?    ​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • You did it again, I think? This thing where you expect us to work towards goals now, but you don't give us any goals. It's like putting an upward slope on a gravity powered rollercoaster without any acceleration first.

    Homura has questions. Voters already know everything about this setting. Making us ask about things we already know, what's the narrative point?
     
    chocolote12 said:
    You did it again, I think? This thing where you expect us to work towards goals now, but you don't give us any goals. It's like putting an upward slope on a gravity powered rollercoaster without any acceleration first.

    Homura has questions. Voters already know everything about this setting. Making us ask about things we already know, what's the narrative point?
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    There's an argument to be made that there's noncanon information to try and pick up on now, but if that's the case i don't have the faintest on where to begin.
     
    chocolote12 said:
    You did it again, I think? This thing where you expect us to work towards goals now, but you don't give us any goals. It's like putting an upward slope on a gravity powered rollercoaster without any acceleration first.

    Homura has questions. Voters already know everything about this setting. Making us ask about things we already know, what's the narrative point?
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    Then why was it voted for? If I'm just going to ignore a non-conditional part of the winning option, then what's the point of me being here?

    Homura only asked a few softballs in this one because she might be traumatised, but she's not autistic, and she realises that saving the 'how good at murdering are you?' questions for when Ruby's had a bit of time to get used to things is a good idea.
     
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