Would you Distort or manifest EGO?


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Adhoc vote count started by Lepidoptera on Jul 4, 2023 at 12:24 AM, finished with 15 posts and 15 votes.


I made another thing. Go check it out. Or don't, I'm not your boss.


*Obligatory post about making sure not to spread yourself thin and the fact that I prefer keeping to the current stories rather than beginning new ones when it comes to plot bunnies*

Now, let's check this thing.
 
Chapter has been delayed due to unexpected emotions this time. Who would've thought that writing emotionally taxing scenes could be so emotionally taxing. As of right now, it's going a bit like this. No need to worry too much though, it'll all work out by the end.
 
Chapter has been delayed due to unexpected emotions this time. Who would've thought that writing emotionally taxing scenes could be so emotionally taxing. As of right now, it's going a bit like this. No need to worry too much though, it'll all work out by the end.

I see that emotions are running hot.

It's good to see that Kyouko still has the energy to brighten the room.

This is just the warm up.

Does that mean Kyouko is confessing her undying love right now?

In case of doubts, do just as the song says and give her lots of food!

I didn't know Kyouko had manifested her EGO!

Man, I'm running out of fuel for my muse, should get some new combustibles.

At least the crying children aren't there.
 
Remember to take some breaks! Otherwise, you'd get burnt out. Igniting Kyoko's inner flame isn't an easy endeavor. That explosive personality is volatile yo! The glassy girl is quite hard to piece together for someone so transparent.
 
holy smokes! things are certainly heating up, a bit sparkly conseidering the up coming match, sertainly pass the melting point a long time ago, the smouldering warmth, this is gonna be a buring pot of hot stuff! hope that it doesn't end in a hellish inferno! One thing i know for sure is Kyoko is not to the blame! get it? flame, blame? I lava good pun.
yes i do think im funny, im quite a bright spark.
 
2.3.11 - Angelfire
Chapter 122 - Angelfire

Up until now, you've been more reactive than proactive when handling Kyoko. That might have been a mistake.

Kyoko's psychological issues have not been subtle. She's far too quick to put herself down and has been acting downright shy compared to the more brash, outgoing persona Nothing There had put on while imitating her. Up until this point, you've been content to let that be. Not every situation calls for immediate action, and sometimes rushing in to try and fix things before they've stabilized can just make everything worse. Kyoko needs reassurance and stability, and that's not something that can be given all in one conversation. It has to be built up and then proven, again and again until you can trust that it will always be there.

But even so, there is a place for directly confronting one's self. Just providing a place of rest is not enough for recovery. You have to reveal the source of the suffering and allow a person to recognize its flaws. More subtle guidance is necessary in establishing stability, but open conversation has to happen to move past just being stable.

"Kyoko," you begin softly, "you know you can tell us if things aren't okay, right?"

"I know." Kyoko snaps before recoiling at her own reaction. "I just… you don't need to be bothered by this. I can handle this much."

The room's temperature has begun to rise again.

"You don't have to be afraid to rely on us, Kyoko." Mami assures. "We aren't going to judge you if you need help."

"It's not about needing help. I just… I don't want to make things harder for you." Kyoko insists.

"Well right now, we want to help you. It's not gonna make things harder if you tell us what's wrong." you counter, taking careful note of the gradually increasing ambient temperature. It's not enough to hurt an ordinary person yet, but it's certainly going to get unpleasant.

"Nobody will blame you for being upset, Kyoko." Mami adds in. "This is about your family. You have every reason to be feeling intensely right now. We just want to know what we can do to help you right now."

"It's not that! I just—I just thought-" Kyoko's voice cuts off, choked by a sudden, wracking cough. Mami exchanges a worried look with you and activates her transformation. There is no flash of light, no brilliant sequence. Just a silent stretching of magical energy over her body beneath her clothes, practically invisible. The heat's gotten bad enough that she might get burned without it. It's visible, the way the air has started to sizzle and waver. You're past the point of backing away now. One way or another, this conversation must be seen through.

When Kyoko raises her head again, her eyes are glassy and maroon-tinted. Flecks of molten gold float around the corners in a close approximation of tears. You consider stopping and pulling back, but Kyoko keeps talking.

"I'm not… I am angry, but it's-that's not it. That's not what's wrong with me."

"Nothing's wrong with you, Kyoko." Mami immediately reassures. Her sister shakes her head sadly.

"But it's right. The first thing I though when I heard what had happened? It was of course. I wasn't even surprised." she chokes out between shallow breaths. "They already died because of me. So what's one step further? Of course they would end up desecrated too. That's what always happens."

The furniture is, by this point, beginning to char. The paint on the walls has started to bubble and burn. Flakes of ash from the scorched pillows are floating through the air. You shift your weight to avoid collapsing your seat beneath you. Honestly, you're surprised it's only begun now. Kyoko's aura must have less of an effect on things than it does people.

You exchange a look with Mami. By this point, transformed or not, you expected her to be in danger of getting hurt. If things had gone as you'd expected, you would've cut this short before they got to this point. But Mami remains stalwart and unharmed. She nods to you without a hint of hesitation, answering your unasked question. You will both keep going.

"This isn't your fault in the slightest, Kyoko. It's just the Abnormality trying to get in your head. Trying to hurt you." you say sternly, resting a hand on your daughter's shoulder. Mami moves to her sister's side, wrapping one arm around her and pulling her close despite the roiling heat. You can clearly feel the temperature of Kyoko's body right now; it's easily enough that simply touching her should be agony for any normal person. Even a Magical Girl of Mami's caliber would likely not go unharmed, yet your eldest daughter hasn't shown even a hint of pain.

Kyoko closes her eyes and breathes deeply. For a moment, the three of you wait in near-perfect silence listening to the red-haired girl's slow, ragged breaths go from unsteady to even. For a moment, you think that the worst might be over. But then Kyoko starts to laugh.

It's a joyless sound, full of sharpness turned inward. "It should!" Kyoko says finally, as if relieved. "It should hurt me! They should hurt me! After everything I've done, I deserve that more than anything." Her voice, for a moment full of wild, manic fire, trails off into a burnt-out, exhausted whisper. "It's always somebody else who has to pay for my mistakes. I was too stupid and ended up as a Magical Girl, and so my family died. Then I wasn't strong enough to stay with you, Mami, so I ran away. I left you alone like a coward, and you were the one to pay for it. And then I couldn't even defend myself against a random monster, and they made me hurt you. I messed up so many times, and so many people got hurt because of it. But never me. No, I always-" Her voice is cut off by a sudden fit of coughing, sputtering flames flashing in the air before vanishing into nothing. "I always crawl away somehow. But not this time. They'll hurt me back now, and I'll deserve-"

Kyoko likely would have continued, but her spiraling is interrupted by a yelp of pain. Mami pulls back, a golden glow already enshrouding the rapidly-vanishing burns on her hands and arms. In spite of fresh wounds, Mami's smile remains unshaken. It reminds you somewhat of the austere, almost regal demeanor she tends to wear when hunting, however more genuine. This is not Mami Tomoe, the prodigal warrior who has been killing monsters just to survive since she was barely ten. This is Mami Tomoe, a girl who cares about her sister and refuses to let her remain hurt when she can do something to help.

Of course, the sentiment won't matter much if you both end up as ashes by the end of this conversation. Fortunately, you do have a plan for this exact scenario. Kyoko hasn't had any incidents like this until now, but that doesn't mean you weren't prepared for extenuating circumstances.

Before anyone can even begin to react to what's just happened, rings of azure light flare around the three of you. The inky blackness of the night sky pours out, filled with the radiant twinkling of countless stars. Constellations stretch between them, forming a beautiful tapestry of shapes and symbols whose meanings have long since been lost to humanity. Then the stars fall away, and you and your children are sitting beneath a more familiar night sky. Sand stretches out as far as the eye can see with not a single person or man made structure in sight.

Kyoko hasn't noticed the change of scenery yet, even though the desert beneath her has already begun to turn to glass. Her human disguise, already beginning to falter, finally collapses as she reels back in shock from Mami's wounds. The towering silhouette of Kyoko's true form stands above you, reared back in fear. Kyoko's real body, cracked scarlet glassware painted a dozen different shades and set aglow by the vein-like trails of fire running through her transparent body, looks almost small from the way she shies from you and Mami. It's an impossible proposition, the equine lower half of her body alone reaches around your shoulder and doesn't have the range of motion for hiding or curling up. The dull red robes wrapped around her body flap in the low winds. Her face, unrecognizable and expressionless, looks as though it is bleeding liquid flame through the countless cracks covering its surface. You know better, though.

Those are tears.

"Mami!" Kyoko cries out in a warped, grinding voice. Her arms are both outstretched and pulling away, as if she's unsure of whether to rush to comfort her sister or to run as far away from her as possible. "I-I'm so sorry, I—I didn't mean to—No, I always—"

"No," Mami says softly, the one quiet word carrying more authority and finality than most people could fit into an entire conversation. "This is my fault, Kyoko, not yours. I shouldn't have been touching you while you were feeling this way. It was my own foolishness that got me hurt, not anything you did."

"But I… I was the one who…" Kyoko's anguish is momentarily blunted by confusion as she looks around, noticing the unfamiliar terrain. "Where are we?"

"Your radial effect is more intense in enclosed areas and less so in wide open ones." you explain calmly. "I just teleported us to the middle of nowhere. This should give us all more room to work with. I would have done this at the start of the conversation, but I thought it would be better to stay in a familiar environment. That was my mistake, it appears. You have my apologies."

"No, I did that, it's… it's my fault." Kyoko responds, sorrow resurging in full force. The sand beneath you has become a molten slurry, glowing bright orange. Mami remains unbothered. At this point, you are fairly certain that that she's assembled some form of additional heat resistance for this exact sort of situation. Despite the dire straits, a glimmer of pride rises up within you.

Continuing to fuel that feeling, Mami shoots down Kyoko's self-deprecations in a gentle but authoritative voice. "It's not your fault, Kyoko. You keep saying that, but I just cannot agree with you on anything you've brought up. What happened to your parents was not your fault, and you do not deserve to suffer for it. I do not blame you for anything you have supposedly done that has hurt me. And it is not your fault that you were attacked, that you were nearly killed, by a rampaging monster that none of us could fight either!"

Kyoko makes an echoing hissing noise that might be a sniffle. "I still hurt you. You say these things aren't my fault, but I did them, and other people suffered for it. And I didn't. That's why I'm like this right now." She gestures to her body, cracked and aglow from within. "I should burn for everything I've done. It's what I deserve. But I don't. Even now, it's always somebody else who gets hurt."

"But you are hurt." Mami points out sadly. "Even now, Kyoko, I can see you crying. You are hurt, and you don't deserve it. Just please, let us help you."

"I do deserve this." Kyoko snaps before reeling back in disgust at herself. "This is all because of what I did. Because I was stupid enough to become a Magical Girl, and then cowardly enough to run away from you. Of course I was left alone. I did it to myself."

"Now hold on," you intercede. "You aren't stupid. You became a Magical Girl because Kyubey has at least a few centuries of practice convincing people it's a good idea. You're not at fault for trusting someone who acts and appears trustworthy and goes on to offer you whatever you want. And you're not a Distortion because you deserve it." you continue sternly. "You are a Distortion because I failed to save you in time and then further failed to fully restore your body. I am the one who made a mistake, and you do not deserve to suffer for it. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Me, Mami, everybody. That doesn't mean everything that goes wrong in our lives is our fault. It doesn't mean we deserve to be punished just because we're still learning."

Mami spares a concerned glance for you, but there is no time for it now. The desert is beginning to cool, and the scorching heat pouring from Kyoko's body is dying down.

"I… I don't… deserve you. Either of you."

"Well, then I suppose we are fortunate that I do not care whether you deserve me or not." Mami says definitively. "We will be standing by you no matter what."

Kyoko says nothing at all.

"It's gotten rather late, you know." you observe quietly. "You both should really be off to bed by now. You've had a long day, and you deserve some rest."

———————————————

Night falls…
[] Training/Experimentation
-[] With what?
[] Hunt Witches/Abnormalities
[] Investigate Kamihama City
[] Attend to business in the Library
-[] Just talking
-[] Write-in
-[] Receive…
--[] The gaze from the keyhole is
fixed on its target without ever stopping.
--[] All things in
nature are blind to turn to dust one day.
--[] They
cared about each other from the bottom of their hearts.
--[]
Pink is considered the color of warmth and love, but is that true?
--[] Fall
beyond the bounds of convention.
[] Write-in


———————————————

Der Freischütz's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
CENSORED's Sapling - Observation Level EXPUNGED/REDACTED

Whew. That was suitably dramatic, I hope?
 
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DISASTER ADVERTED!
Our house is charred but it didn't burn down!
We are making slow progress if nothing else. Though there wasn't notable progress, getting Kyoko to vent a bit is better than bottling it up and exploding.

By the way Lepid, we'll talk to Homura regardless of the vote, right? Or is it required to vote for it again?
 
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