Remove ads

Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

Reader mode
I want to see Vebyast polish off his altered vote, and present it for us to consider at length, before closing the vote.
 
Since the consensus seems to be to let her go/talk to her, unless Mami brings out the ribbons, I think any vote should some variation of: "What do you want? You can't help her if she doesn't tell you." Vebyasts new proposed vote does some of that, so I'll likely end up voting for it if it gets finalized.

I'm not entirely sold on the wish creation bit though. While both Sabrina and Hijiri where created by a wish, there are clear differences in the circumstances and the reasoning behind the wish. While both of them are wishborn is something they have in common, that's also kinda where the commonalities stop. It could be something to shock her out of what she's doing, but I don't really know how to build on that afterwards.

Warning her about Kyuubey as he's likely her primary source of information, is definetely good though. Even if she doesn't believe us, we'll at least make her doubt him a little.
 
huh, thought I'd voted

anyway, yeah, not even going to touch the debate here, but I was thinking that if nothing else, revealing that we were created by a wish should at least be enough of a shock to get Hijiri to stop for a second and give us the time to try one more thing

in any case though, among the votes already up I pick:

[X] Kaizuki
 
[x] Hijiri:
-[x] Don't stop her. Open telepathy. Break to vote if Mami stops her.
-[x] Waking up in an alley with no memory gave you similar problems, and your goals looked similarly impossible. So you sympathize. But this? She's just going to give up?
-[x] You didn't give up. You will change the world to make everyone's impossible goals possible. But even with all your power, you can't just give people what they want. They have to take it.
-[x] You can put Hijiri's goals within reach, but she'll have to do the rest of work. Like actually sharing what she wants, for one - sometimes all that's stopping a person is themselves.
-[x] If nothing else, she should grill Kyubey. Any conclusions based on its claims are suspect. Omission and misdirection are its favorite tools. And be careful - its job is to hurt people.

[x] Telepathy allies:
-[x] Anri found. She has the clear seed. You'll engage.
-[x] Hijiri's powerset is full Pleiades-union, she's teleported away. Only excessive force could stop her, you're continuing social-fu - you don't know why she didn't run earlier.

[x] Anri:
-[x] Hand tracking off to other sensors - grief telescope, ribbons - and help Mami recover.
-[x] Retreat to buy time.

I think that I'm happy enough with this vote to vote for it. I'll X it in if nobody has any major complaints; I am carrying the second-largest voting bloc.

edit: Xs added.
Guilop said:
Since the consensus seems to be to let her go/talk to her, unless Mami brings out the ribbons, I think any vote should some variation of: "What do you want? You can't help her if she doesn't tell you." Vebyasts new proposed vote does some of that, so I'll likely end up voting for it if it gets finalized.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The tricky part is saying that without it coming across as "If you tell me what you want, I'll give it to you". We need to emphasize that all we're doing is opening the option back up for her.
 
Last edited:
The only thing I don't like about @Kaizuki 's vote is how it just... throws the 'blame KB' social out.

We know Hijiri doesn't want to listen. That's the whole point of the microupdate, I believe. It didn't really matter what we said, Hijiri's already decided on this course of action and she wasn't honestly speaking with us (which we already knew), but rather she wanted to throw a last 'you suck' at our face before running away.

Also, shouldn't we mention Anri, too? Or is that a bad idea?

-[ ] Telepathy Hijiri: She's either getting her info from Anri or from KB, from a possibly legit psychopath or from the alien who engineered all of this.
-[ ] You still haven't given up on her. You'll talk later. (Maybe add something about shared origins here).
-[ ] And Hijiri? She needs to work to get the peaceful life she wants. We can help, but nobody can give it to her.

Of course, the more we'd try to say, the more chance Hijiri will stop listening midway through; I think it's really the first line that matters. Just make a point and let Hijiri stew on it until we call her back later.
 
Last edited:
[X] Let Hijiri go.
-[X] ... unless Mami can stop her with ribbons, in which case, emphatically do not stop Mami from stopping Hijiri with ribbons. (If this happens, immediately break to voting. Absolutely no pauses.)
-[X] Reply to Hijiri via telepathy: I think you'll find that the "can's" and "cant's" of the world are very different from how Anri or Kyubey would imply them to be. Lying by omission has been the majority of Kyubey's job since before the dawn of history, not that he'd characterize it that way -- and Anri is batshit crazy.
[X] Take down and capture Anri ASAP. (Simul with telepathying Hijiri)
-[X] Use overwhelming speed, force, and defense (solid Grief). Accept Mami's support.
-[X] Mami stays out of hearing range.
--[X] Knock Anri out.
[X] Telepathy the Pleiades, Sayaka, Mami: Hijiri, it would seem, has the entire powerset, including teleportation and fast transit. Why she didn't just break that out the first time you have no idea, but you completely failed to anticipate it and you had no way to stop her without excessive force, which... you don't think Niko would have wanted. Anri is caught and has the clear seed with her.
-[X] Meet up? Anri will keep but you should probably discuss Hijiri.

I hadn't realized about Anri and then I was asleep. Vote updated. Keep in mind that this isn't just throwing the blame KB social out, it's replying directly to her assertion that we can't help her.

Also, double-extra-clarified that we're going ham on Anri immediately.
Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Dec 16, 2017 at 4:40 PM, finished with 130596 posts and 31 votes.
  • [X] Let Hijiri go.
    -[X] ... unless Mami can stop her with ribbons, in which case, emphatically do not stop Mami from stopping Hijiri with ribbons. (If this happens, immediately break to voting. Absolutely no pauses.)
    -[X] Reply to Hijiri via telepathy: I think you'll find that the "can's" and "cant's" of the world are very different from how Anri or Kyubey would imply them to be. Lying by omission has been the majority of Kyubey's job since before the dawn of history, not that he'd characterize it that way -- and Anri is batshit crazy.
    [X] Take down and capture Anri ASAP. (Simul with telepathying Hijiri)
    -[X] Use overwhelming speed, force, and defense (solid Grief). Accept Mami's support.
    -[X] Mami stays out of hearing range.
    --[X] Knock Anri out.
    [X] Telepathy the Pleiades, Sayaka, Mami: Hijiri, it would seem, has the entire powerset, including teleportation and fast transit. Why she didn't just break that out the first time you have no idea, but you completely failed to anticipate it and you had no way to stop her without excessive force, which... you don't think Niko would have wanted. Anri is caught and has the clear seed with her.
    -[X] Meet up? Anri will keep but you should probably discuss Hijiri.
    [x] Hijiri:
    -[x] Don't stop her. Open telepathy. Break to vote if Mami stops her.
    -[x] Waking up in an alley with no memory gave you similar problems, and your goals looked similarly impossible. So you sympathize. But this? She's just going to give up?
    -[x] You didn't give up. You will change the world to make everyone's impossible goals possible. But even with all your power, you can't just give people what they want. They have to take it.
    -[x] You can put Hijiri's goals within reach, but she'll have to do the rest of work. Like actually sharing what she wants, for one - sometimes all that's stopping a person is themselves.
    -[x] If nothing else, she should grill Kyubey. Any conclusions based on its claims are suspect. Omission and misdirection are its favorite tools. And be careful - its job is to hurt people.
    [x] Telepathy allies:
    -[x] Anri found. She has the clear seed. You'll engage.
    -[x] Hijiri's powerset is full Pleiades-union, she's teleported away. Only excessive force could stop her, you're continuing social-fu - you don't know why she didn't run earlier.
    [x] Anri:
    -[x] Hand tracking off to other sensors - grief telescope, ribbons - and help Mami recover.
    -[x] Retreat to buy time.
    [X] One action: Catch Hijiri with Grief.
    -[X] If that fails, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri as soon as she's in range.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashban style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] One action: Catch Hijiri with Grief.
    -[X] If that fails, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri ASAP.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashban style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] Gem her.
    [X] Cause Hijiri physical pain.
    -[X] If that fails, if feasible, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri as soon as she's in range. Rush her if she stops moving towards us.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashbang style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] Null
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
[X] Kaizuki

I'm not very happy with how you handle Anri though, what with "retreat to buy time", @Vebyast.
Especially since you're giving a message that you're engaging not a few lines before.

Can you please give me an explanation why it's so divergent, and why aren't you engaging her?
 
Faraway-R said:
Especially since you're giving a message that you're engaging not a few lines before.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Vebyast said:
-[x] Anri found. She has the clear seed. You'll engage.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Future tense.
Faraway-R said:
Can you please give me an explanation why it's so divergent, and why aren't you engaging her?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Because I'm already at 175 words and trying to optimize two things in the same vote is insanity.
 
Always Happening said:
Tremble in despair mortals, PMKM is canon now.



Michiru/Kazumi, Umika, and Kaoru just hit Magia Record. There's also a girl with some kickass gun-tonfas.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I know I'm hella' late on this, but I gotta say, I am really disappointing that Umika and Kaoru get awesome Transformations with dynamic final poses and Kazumi's is like 'lets get her dressed, fuck forgot the hat' with a pretty generic end-pose. I guess they make a cool reference to the Manga (and also confirm that it is Kazumi, not Michiru since Michiru didn't have the Earring) with the opening shot, but the rest is kinda tame.
 
Vebyast said:
FFS.

-[] If necessary, fall back so you can deal with Anri in the succeeding vote - you said that you will engage, not that you are engaging.

Because if I don't have enough words to describe pulling back slightly I certainly don't have the words to describe capturing Anri.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Is there any need for that?

We can do all the telepathy in simultaneity... I dunno, falling back just seems completely irrelevant. Like...

I know we don't do serious combat very much, but if Anri is advancing on us there is no reason we can't just solidify all our grief, pull it in a bit and completely overwhelm her in an instant. A MOF doesn't trance us and the concept is fairly similar. We can use control over grief to (more/less) arbitrarily accelerate a substance which can exert a force on our body. This allows us to create and manipulate telekinetically powered armor which can overcome gravity trivially without mechanisms. We just haven't done it. It's no different from creating a MOF, we just remove all the space between the grief and our body. Do that, then also bring all our grief along in a damn tidal wave. Anri is welcome to try getting out of the way of that, but she won't succeed. This is how I envision the next half-minute going: we open telepathy with Hijiri, and simultaneously we pause to ask Mami to ribbon Anri and to tell her that we'll lock Anri down so that she won't be able to do anything about it. We continue telepathying Hijiri and simultaneously move at high speed towards Anri, engulfing her in grief and solidifying it as she is engulfed while leaving enough opening for ribbon. Mami locks her down, we tap her on the head, lights out, we go back and hug Mami.

We are category one bullshit. We can just overwhelm this girl at will.
 
Can Sabrina KO Anri without trouble, and do so without being distracted from the Hijiri situation? Absolutely!

Can we craft a vote that does that? No. This is not a power problem, this is a control bandwidth problem.

Furthermore, I would like to hold off on dealing with Anri until we get Hijiri's reaction. If she does turn around, we'll probably want to handle Anri at least slightly differently. So I want a round of voting between whatever happens with Hijiri and opening hostilities against Anri.
 
Last edited:
Is 'containment foam Anri' too many words?
Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Dec 16, 2017 at 8:42 PM, finished with 130597 posts and 32 votes.
  • [X] Let Hijiri go.
    -[X] ... unless Mami can stop her with ribbons, in which case, emphatically do not stop Mami from stopping Hijiri with ribbons. (If this happens, immediately break to voting. Absolutely no pauses.)
    -[X] Reply to Hijiri via telepathy: I think you'll find that the "can's" and "cant's" of the world are very different from how Anri or Kyubey would imply them to be. Lying by omission has been the majority of Kyubey's job since before the dawn of history, not that he'd characterize it that way -- and Anri is batshit crazy.
    [X] Take down and capture Anri ASAP. (Simul with telepathying Hijiri)
    -[X] Use overwhelming speed, force, and defense (solid Grief). Accept Mami's support.
    -[X] Mami stays out of hearing range.
    --[X] Knock Anri out.
    [X] Telepathy the Pleiades, Sayaka, Mami: Hijiri, it would seem, has the entire powerset, including teleportation and fast transit. Why she didn't just break that out the first time you have no idea, but you completely failed to anticipate it and you had no way to stop her without excessive force, which... you don't think Niko would have wanted. Anri is caught and has the clear seed with her.
    -[X] Meet up? Anri will keep but you should probably discuss Hijiri.
    [x] Hijiri:
    -[x] Don't stop her. Open telepathy. Break to vote if Mami stops her.
    -[x] Waking up in an alley with no memory gave you similar problems, and your goals looked similarly impossible. So you sympathize. But this? She's just going to give up?
    -[x] You didn't give up. You will change the world to make everyone's impossible goals possible. But even with all your power, you can't just give people what they want. They have to take it.
    -[x] You can put Hijiri's goals within reach, but she'll have to do the rest of work. Like actually sharing what she wants, for one - sometimes all that's stopping a person is themselves.
    -[x] If nothing else, she should grill Kyubey. Any conclusions based on its claims are suspect. Omission and misdirection are its favorite tools. And be careful - its job is to hurt people.
    [x] Telepathy allies:
    -[x] Anri found. She has the clear seed. You'll engage.
    -[x] Hijiri's powerset is full Pleiades-union, she's teleported away. Only excessive force could stop her, you're continuing social-fu - you don't know why she didn't run earlier.
    [x] Anri:
    -[x] Hand tracking off to other sensors - grief telescope, ribbons - and help Mami recover.
    -[x] Retreat to buy time.
    [X] One action: Catch Hijiri with Grief.
    -[X] If that fails, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri as soon as she's in range.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashban style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] One action: Catch Hijiri with Grief.
    -[X] If that fails, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri ASAP.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashban style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] Gem her.
    [X] Cause Hijiri physical pain.
    -[X] If that fails, if feasible, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri as soon as she's in range. Rush her if she stops moving towards us.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashbang style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] Null
Click to expand...

Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Dec 16, 2017 at 11:46 PM, finished with 130597 posts and 32 votes.
  • [X] Let Hijiri go.
    -[X] ... unless Mami can stop her with ribbons, in which case, emphatically do not stop Mami from stopping Hijiri with ribbons. (If this happens, immediately break to voting. Absolutely no pauses.)
    -[X] Reply to Hijiri via telepathy: I think you'll find that the "can's" and "cant's" of the world are very different from how Anri or Kyubey would imply them to be. Lying by omission has been the majority of Kyubey's job since before the dawn of history, not that he'd characterize it that way -- and Anri is batshit crazy.
    [X] Take down and capture Anri ASAP. (Simul with telepathying Hijiri)
    -[X] Use overwhelming speed, force, and defense (solid Grief). Accept Mami's support.
    -[X] Mami stays out of hearing range.
    --[X] Knock Anri out.
    [X] Telepathy the Pleiades, Sayaka, Mami: Hijiri, it would seem, has the entire powerset, including teleportation and fast transit. Why she didn't just break that out the first time you have no idea, but you completely failed to anticipate it and you had no way to stop her without excessive force, which... you don't think Niko would have wanted. Anri is caught and has the clear seed with her.
    -[X] Meet up? Anri will keep but you should probably discuss Hijiri.
    [x] Hijiri:
    -[x] Don't stop her. Open telepathy. Break to vote if Mami stops her.
    -[x] Waking up in an alley with no memory gave you similar problems, and your goals looked similarly impossible. So you sympathize. But this? She's just going to give up?
    -[x] You didn't give up. You will change the world to make everyone's impossible goals possible. But even with all your power, you can't just give people what they want. They have to take it.
    -[x] You can put Hijiri's goals within reach, but she'll have to do the rest of work. Like actually sharing what she wants, for one - sometimes all that's stopping a person is themselves.
    -[x] If nothing else, she should grill Kyubey. Any conclusions based on its claims are suspect. Omission and misdirection are its favorite tools. And be careful - its job is to hurt people.
    [x] Telepathy allies:
    -[x] Anri found. She has the clear seed. You'll engage.
    -[x] Hijiri's powerset is full Pleiades-union, she's teleported away. Only excessive force could stop her, you're continuing social-fu - you don't know why she didn't run earlier.
    [x] Anri:
    -[x] Hand tracking off to other sensors - grief telescope, ribbons - and help Mami recover.
    -[x] Retreat to buy time.
    [X] One action: Catch Hijiri with Grief.
    -[X] If that fails, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri as soon as she's in range.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashban style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] One action: Catch Hijiri with Grief.
    -[X] If that fails, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri ASAP.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashban style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] Gem her.
    [X] Cause Hijiri physical pain.
    -[X] If that fails, if feasible, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri as soon as she's in range. Rush her if she stops moving towards us.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashbang style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] Null
Click to expand...

Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Dec 17, 2017 at 4:44 AM, finished with 130598 posts and 33 votes.
  • [X] Let Hijiri go.
    -[X] ... unless Mami can stop her with ribbons, in which case, emphatically do not stop Mami from stopping Hijiri with ribbons. (If this happens, immediately break to voting. Absolutely no pauses.)
    -[X] Reply to Hijiri via telepathy: I think you'll find that the "can's" and "cant's" of the world are very different from how Anri or Kyubey would imply them to be. Lying by omission has been the majority of Kyubey's job since before the dawn of history, not that he'd characterize it that way -- and Anri is batshit crazy.
    [X] Take down and capture Anri ASAP. (Simul with telepathying Hijiri)
    -[X] Use overwhelming speed, force, and defense (solid Grief). Accept Mami's support.
    -[X] Mami stays out of hearing range.
    --[X] Knock Anri out.
    [X] Telepathy the Pleiades, Sayaka, Mami: Hijiri, it would seem, has the entire powerset, including teleportation and fast transit. Why she didn't just break that out the first time you have no idea, but you completely failed to anticipate it and you had no way to stop her without excessive force, which... you don't think Niko would have wanted. Anri is caught and has the clear seed with her.
    -[X] Meet up? Anri will keep but you should probably discuss Hijiri.
    [x] Hijiri:
    -[x] Don't stop her. Open telepathy. Break to vote if Mami stops her.
    -[x] Waking up in an alley with no memory gave you similar problems, and your goals looked similarly impossible. So you sympathize. But this? She's just going to give up?
    -[x] You didn't give up. You will change the world to make everyone's impossible goals possible. But even with all your power, you can't just give people what they want. They have to take it.
    -[x] You can put Hijiri's goals within reach, but she'll have to do the rest of work. Like actually sharing what she wants, for one - sometimes all that's stopping a person is themselves.
    -[x] If nothing else, she should grill Kyubey. Any conclusions based on its claims are suspect. Omission and misdirection are its favorite tools. And be careful - its job is to hurt people.
    [x] Telepathy allies:
    -[x] Anri found. She has the clear seed. You'll engage.
    -[x] Hijiri's powerset is full Pleiades-union, she's teleported away. Only excessive force could stop her, you're continuing social-fu - you don't know why she didn't run earlier.
    [x] Anri:
    -[x] Hand tracking off to other sensors - grief telescope, ribbons - and help Mami recover.
    -[x] Retreat to buy time.
    [X] One action: Catch Hijiri with Grief.
    -[X] If that fails, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri as soon as she's in range.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashban style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] One action: Catch Hijiri with Grief.
    -[X] If that fails, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri ASAP.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashban style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] Gem her.
    [X] Cause Hijiri physical pain.
    -[X] If that fails, if feasible, quickly ask Mami to go after her and to call for help (Sayaka, Pleiades).
    [X] Gem Anri as soon as she's in range. Rush her if she stops moving towards us.
    -[X] Create an opening first: Examples: Ask Mami to distract her; blind her with Grief light (flashbang style); catch her with your Grief Fog; etc..
    -[X] If Anri gets away, Oriko, Kirika and Sabrina will deal with her.
    [X] No speechifying; no battlefield therapy. If you capture Hijiri, just tell her we're all gonna have to wait until she cools down, stops lashing out, and is willing to talk. For real, this time.
    [X] Null
Click to expand...
 
Vebyast has a pretty appealing vote, but telling Hijiri that she has to take what she wants by herself, without knowing what that entails is dangerous. We don't want to make everyone's impossible goals possible, that's simply not feasible with so many conflicting goals. We want to make the majority of megucas happy.

[X] Kaizuki
 
Remove ads
Highway 17 pt. 19
  • Threadmarks
    • Idiot girl.

    A frozen second in time.

    You're looking right at Hijiri as her body blazes into lightning. But she's not faster than thought. Somehow.

    Grief answers your call. Grief saturates the air, enough to freeze the air around her, ahead of the streaking bolts of lightning-

    And then you stop. Your mind races with a thousand scenarios in an instant-

    If she teleports and you capture her Gem-

    No.

    You have time to glance to Mami, in that endless space between seconds, but she is flinching away. Just in time. You can see lightning crackling up the invisible ribbon, a trailing streamer snapping out, but Mami snaps the ribbon in time and then-

    Hijiri is gone.

    "Dammit," you snarl viciously. You couldn't risk trying to capture lightning, when her Soul Gem was still there. You couldn't risk accidentally Gemming her when her power ripped her body away? Her fundamental issue is control, and the lack of it she feels she has. Intentionally or not, she took herself hostage and won the battle of wills. "Idiot girl."

    "That way!" Mami says, launching to her feet. You catch her by the arm.

    "No- Anri first," you say. "Unless you can get her by ribbons?"

    Mami's expression flickers for a second, and she bites her lip. "No. I can't tell where she is. Sorry."

    "It's fine," you say. "Anri, now."

    Mami nods sharply, expression firming. "You're sure?"

    "Yeah," you say, already leaping across to the next building. No flight platform this time - you need the relative stealth, so you let it dissolve behind you. You reach out by telepathy, at the same time. "Y'know, Hijiri," you say almost conversationally. "When I woke up in that alley with no memory, my goals looked pretty damned impossible too. I can sympathise with your position. But this, Hijiri? You're just going to give up?"

    "I'm not giving up!" Hijiri snarls back at you. "I'm taking what I want!"

    You sigh, the sound snatched away by the wind. "Mami, do remember to stay back?" you call to her, tilting your head back far enough to smile reassuringly at her.

    "Dangerous information, yes," Mami agrees with a tight, strained smile. "I'll support you at range."

    "In the hardest way possible," you say with finality as you vector for Anri. It's some relief that Hijiri's still responding to you. "I mean come on, Hijiri. You're a smart girl. I mean, of course I can't give you what you want. But I can do my damnedest to put it within reach for you for you to take. But I don't even know what you want, not with you being all coy about it."

    "I already am," Hijiri snaps back.

    "At the very least, do me a favour," you say. Mami speeds past you, taking the lead. "Grill Kyuubey. Not literally. Maybe literally, if you want. But I think you'll find that the 'can's and 'can't's of the world are very different from what it might imply. Misdirection and omission are its favourite tools - its job is to hurt people."

    And you reach out for the Pleiades. Sayaka, Oriko, and Kirika, too. "Anri found. Closing in on her right now."

    "OK," Kazumi says. "Sabrina, get Anri. We're coming."

    "She's here," Mami murmurs, landing in a light crouch. She shifts, balanced lightly on the balls of her feet, standing stock still. Her fingers are tense, curled lightly at her sides like an Old West gunslinger about to draw - not that inaccurate a mental image, either.

    "Got her," you respond, expression setting hard as you skid to a halt beside Mami.

    Apartment buildings, densely packed and tall and just a little grimy. The street passes far below you. A terrible place for a fight if you want to keep things quiet and inconspicuous, but as long as nobody else gets hurt, everything else is Kyuubey's problem.

    You sense her. Far below you, skulking inside the building. "Fifteen floors down. Lure her out?"

    "I don't think she's coming out," Mami says. "She's hiding here- for a reason?"

    "Cut her off, then?" you say. "I'll go inside the building and drive her to the roof?"

    Mami bites her lip. "No. You go inside, I'll scale the side of the building. I can't support you from up here."

    You nod sharply. It'll do, and it'll keep Mami away from any uncomfortable revelations. You give her a quick hug, tapping a hand to her Soul Gem to draw forth a streamer of Grief. Just in case.

    She grabs you by the wrist for a second. Golden ribbon lashes into a delicate, seamless bracelet, and she smiles at you.

    You grin back at her, and hurl yourself off the rooftop. "If the fight gets drawn out, we'll try and pull her south?"

    "Stay safe, Sabrina," Mami responds. You can feel her rappelling down the side of the building on a ribbon.

    "You too." You respond, and ping out a message to everyone else by telepathy as you crash to a landing. "Anri's gone to ground inside an apartment building. She's trapped."

    "We're coming!" Niko responds, echoed by the rest of the Pleiades.

    You're stymied for a second by a locked door, but just for a moment until you coalesce Grief from your utility fog to spin the tumbler. The door slides open, and you barrel in to find the fire escape stairwell. Perfect. You pull the fog in close - it's hard to sense, but you don't want to give Hijiri a warning until you get in close.

    You take the stairs three at a time, hurling yourself upwards.

    Something's wrong.

    Mami explodes off the walls, leaping clear away to the building on the far side of the street.

    "Mami?" you hiss, terror creeping into your voice as you sway. You'd sensed no attack, and you're far away, too far to get to her in time if anything happened-

    Mami nearly misses latching onto the building. She makes it, just, ribbons lashing out at the last second.

    "Something making me drowsy," she gasps. "Gas?"

    Damn. Wait-

    "Gas-" you mutter, and the words come out just a touch slurred. Adrenaline floods your body, ahead of a wave of magic that burns through the cloudy fog just barely beginning to settle in.

    Horrified logic cascades through your mind - the Anri you remember was utterly callous with human life. She knocked out Niko without her detection, she nearly got Mami, and she's not within your range but still able to direct the effect which means she must be inside the building near the ground floor-

    "I've got it," Mami says, taking deep breaths. "I can handle this. Our- our bodies, we don't need-"

    "I'll go," you say, aching to sweep her into a hug. "I can handle it."

    "Sabrina," she says, and you can feel her smile, sharp and focused. "I've got it. And people are in danger."

    "Alright." You acquiesce, sending bright, fierce pride back at her despite your terror. That's your Mami.

    Knockout gas... except there's no such thing. There's carefully calculated doses of anaesthesia calibrated to every person, yes. Anesthesiologists are one of the most highly paid medical professionals, and for good reason. Coma, death, permanent health damage...

    You can feel Mami swinging back to the building on her ribbons.

    You force yourself to ignore anything you might be inhaling. It doesn't matter. You don't actually need your brain to think, nor your muscles to move, and you're closing in on her. Seventh floor, moving. Heading upwards to the roof. Which means she's noticed you coming for her.

    Fine.

    You spin to a halt at the next landing, coat swirling around you as you yank the doors open. One, two, and then you're out in the corridor. Your Grief fog floods out ahead of you in a roiling cloud as you scan the wall. There. You spot the fire alarm immediately, and jab two fingers into the activation switch. Break glass in case of emergency - well, it is. The siren immediately begins to wail.

    "Hit the fire alarm," you call. You can feel Anri startle from the noise - and then move with alacrity up the stairs. The opposite set of stairs from you, at a guess. She's well within your Grief fog now, and-

    She's not alone.

    You can feel the outline of another human with her. Male, older. He's hanging limp, dragged by Anri.

    You explode into a dead sprint. "She has someone with her," you bark.

    "A hostage?" Mami asks.

    "I don't know," you say, throwing yourself forward. "Almost there!"

    "Us too!" Mirai yells.

    "Go, Sabrina," Mami murmurs to you. "I've got you covered."

    Different definitions of almost there, but OK. Overwhelming speed and force. But you need to see what Anri's doing to that man. If she took him as a hostage, she must have something in mind, if not... You don't know. You're actually almost there, the door of the stairwell looming just ahead of you. Just a moment to check and then take her down. She hurt Mami.

    You slam through the double doors. Gas, noxious and cloying but irrelevant bursts in your face, and you have a split second impression of massive blonde twintails and a crazed grin and a syringe gun held to a man's head fucking idiot girl-

    "Back off!" Anri shrieks, high and cracked.

    Grief. Grief freezes out of the air around the man, a diamond-hard protective shell and one plate right under the syringe gun to stop up the barrel and yank it off target-

    "Incoming," Mami murmurs, and the world shatters.

    The shot smashes open the door behind you. The thunderclap of the shell nearly knocks you off your feet and slams full on into Anri and hurls her against the far wall with a crack of broken bone and golden ribbon bursting into a cocoon. You slap Grief over her mouth as she slumps bonelessly to the ground. Just in case, though it feels almost redundant, and-

    How on earth did Mami make that shot? You spare a glance backwards, through the double doors of the stairwell lobby, all the way down the common corridor at an angle, and there's Mami at the shattered window on the opposite side of the building suspended by ribbons with Tiro Finale cannon cradled in her arms.

    And then you feel something fast and large hurtling towards the building. On your side of the building. The entire building shudders with the impact, nearly as powerful as Mami's shot - and then with a rumble of shattering stonework, a huge paw breaks through the wall to sieze Anri, clawed fingers wrapping around her torso and hefting her up.

    "Got her," Mirai snarls as you make out the balefully glowing eyes and fanged maw on the opposite side of the wall, belonging to one of her war-teddies.

    The fire alarm wails on.

    Voting opens
    [] Vacate the building
    - [] To?
    [] Mami
    - [X] Praise
    - [] Warn her to stay away
    [] Mirai
    - [] ... Excuse you?
    - [] Warn her to back off
    [] Pleiades
    - [] What do you say?
    [] Anri
    - [] Unconscious, broken ribs, cracked skull
    - [] What do you say to her?
    - [] Ask Oriko and Kirika to talk to her
    [] The man
    - [] Unconscious, seemingly unharmed
    [] The building
    - [] ???
    [] Hijiri
    - [] What do you say?
    [] Write-in (word count limit: 250 words)
    [] Telepathy the Pleiades, Sayaka, Mami: Hijiri, it would seem, has the entire powerset, including teleportation and fast transit. Why she didn't just break that out the first time you have no idea, but you completely failed to anticipate it and you had no way to stop her without excessive force, which... you don't think Niko would have wanted. Anri is caught and has the clear seed with her.
    -[] Meet up? Anri will keep but you should probably discuss Hijiri.

    =====​

    It's good to be back in the saddle!
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top