“Human Resources” Shouldn’t Be This Literal: A PMMM/ProjectMoon Quest
- Thread starter Lepidoptera
- Start date
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- Tags
- library of ruina lobotomy corporation project moon puella magi madoka magica eldritch horror magical girl crossover eldritch protagonist female protagonist fluffy gore non-human protagonist suffering violence discussion is always good civ good decisions identity crises nuclear moth detected parenting powers activate
questioningmeme
Just be yourself
- Location
- River of Light
I think you meant to write live here.
On one hand, this is absolutely a great way to get Sayaka to accept you more.
On the other hand, it would be because the level of pity she feels for you would go through the roof at how you describe the situation.
But that is Homura's biggest problem, *Good-For-Nothing* is not the descriptor for her used by her own familiars without a reason.
Your life is not *irrelevant information*.
Continue like this, and we'll be, we'll ask Madoka to help convince you.
Next update:
Simple: most don't.
Really, most fic authors makes 1,4 to 2k long updates, regular 4k is not the norm.
questioningmeme
Just be yourself
- Location
- River of Light
The people who drop 20k+ chapters are crazy man.
and so it begins...PREPARE THE COMFORT FOOD!!
- Location
- Earth
Correction, people who can do that regularly are. Those who spend six months to a year writing one of those large ones need to compartmentalise their story better.
Correction to the correction: those who can do that regularly and maintain it without burning out.
I only know one such case, maybe, not sure, since the author has disappeared since and I only know of them through hearsay.
Also, let's not even talk about those that not only spend six month to a year, but also call the 80k part they just finished *the prologue*.
Edit:
It's a little like baldur gates 3 and the publishers that get afraid that we will demand the same thing of everyone (but particularly of their cashcow copypastes they sh** out each year, yes, triple A industry, I am looking at you):
I am indeed not expecting every game to be at that level of quality and length, particularly from little publishers with small teams. That would be insane.
I could also say that the game raised my expectations as far as triple A goes, but I'll be honest here, that would require me to expect anything out of the triple A industry, as is, it didn't because 0 times anything is still 0.
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I don't know, this doesn't seem right. By this logic, if Oriko suddenly shows up and murders Madoka out of the blue, Homura would be "responsible" for that, too.
I think there's no particular reason why someone's writing speed should affect the way they structure their story.
Not really, Homura allowed the current situation by virtue of helping Mami and Kyouko, by talking to Madoka, and by being our ally.
Oriko is a consequence of Kyubey, Homura is not responsible for her existence or contracting because she never interacts with her before it happens.
He's not talking about their writing speed, he's telling that if someone only get 20k updates out, but in such a long time they could have wrote the exact same number of words or more by publishing 1k updates every week, then they probably needs to rethink their schedule.
On a similar logic, I personally hate guys that publish content *regularly*, but write so many different fics that at the end of the day, they may as well not be writing any of the individual ones. I don't care that they updated one fic every week, if the fics only get one update every year at most, I think I can very well tell they are not really updating anything.
Edit:
Like, can you imagine if a professional author did that one?
*Yeah, I know the series of books on the story of the Hobbit was last published ten years ago right before the last book, but I have made 50 new books that begins a new series in that time, I totally updated things!*
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- Location
- Earth
As Nyarky already pointed out, I am not talking about story structure; that is a separate aspect from chapter size. But yes, if someone puts out one 20k chapter in six months, they can just as well split that into five 4k chapters to have one out about once a month. There are few, few cases where the increased length is necessary; most times if it is one huge scene, that is just bloat.
Still pretty good. I found it comes with practice.
Barely?
I got so little in the way of discipline that I can not even reach the 4k in a series of omakes in three months, despite being able to write 600 words essays when properly motivated, and having a plotline ready, and loving the character concept of the omake I came up with. (Yes, I did publish these omakes, but I have ideas for a continuation, no, I won't show them, just know they are on SB, good luck finding them with just that!
)In short, don't worry, I can easily accept 4k a month, nevermind double that.
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
There's definitely a learning curve to it. Most of my earlier chapters were around or under 1k words, whereas now they're closer to twice that. While I have been taking longer to release each chapter as of late, that's more due to increasing complexity than anything else. Writing is a skill, and you get better at it the more you do it.
Then again, number of words isn't really a good way to quantify writing.
I am hesitating between:
*Hi my name is Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way and I have long ebony black hair (that's how I got my name) with purple streaks and red tips that reaches my mid-back and icy blue eyes like limpid tears and a lot of people tell me I look like Amy Lee (AN: if u don't know who she is get da hell out of here!). I'm not related to Gerard Way but I wish I was because he's a major fucking hottie. I'm a vampire but my teeth are straight and white. I have pale white skin. I'm also a witch, and I go to a magic school called Hogwarts in England where I'm in the seventh year (I'm seventeen). I'm a goth (in case you couldn't tell) and I wear mostly black. I love Hot Topic and I buy all my clothes from there. For example today I was wearing a black corset with matching lace around it and a black leather miniskirt, pink fishnets and black combat boots. I was wearing black lipstick, white foundation, black eyeliner and red eye shadow. I was walking outside Hogwarts. It was snowing and raining so there was no sun, which I was very happy about. A lot of preps stared at me. I put up my middle finger at them.*
And just saying: *Taylor Varga* (and quite a lot of the authors other fics in fact, they go on and on and on without anything happening.)
- Location
- Earth
This is indeed true, though was a step along the way for me personally; I started out writing little, then slowly got better at writing more words and longer stories. At the moment I am at the step to say more with less words, compressing content in size so to speak.
There is a reason editors exists, and quite a lot of their work is *nope, use less words, that's too long*.
- Location
- Earth
Well, the problem there is that I do not like other people telling me what to do
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
The next update will be released roughly this time tomorrow, after which point voting cycles will resume as normal. Please bear with us until then.
2.4.10 - Briefing
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
Chapter 133 - Briefing
"Witches are born from Magical Girls."
From a detached perspective, the Incubators' system for the prevention of energy is fairly logical. A Contract is established with a living being with appropriate Karmic Potential, a measure in some way connected to one's impact on the world and limited by a species' capacity for emotion. Once the Contract has been established, the contractee receives a Soul Gem, an exterior container which houses their consciousness and allows them remote control over their body. Kyubey's prattled on about the superiority of such a mechanism to a more typical arrangement, but you've never asked whether the separation is a necessary part of the process, but it seems likely. Were it not, the whole ordeal would be a waste of energy. Regardless, the Soul Gem allows a contractee to perform various feats of magic, accumulating Grief within the Soul Gem in the process. Once enough Grief has gathered, it aggregates into a Witch and bursts from the Soul Gem, destroying it. Both the initial Contract and a Witch's birth moment of birth provide energy. While not the simplest of systems, it is effective at accomplishing the desired outcome with minimal input.
From the perspective of those subjected to it, it's nothing short of a nightmare. Kyubey doesn't explain what happens when too much Grief accumulates and you run out of magic right away, but does impress its importance upon new Magical Girls. The life of a Magical Girl is one with a timer attached, eternally bound to the hunt. No matter how it is framed, no matter how noble or necessary, it is a terrible duty to be entrusted with. And they must carry out that duty for the rest of their life.
Due to a combination of unusual circumstances, Mitakihara has become a hotspot for Witch activity, drawing in monsters from all across the world. In the two or so weeks Sayaka's been a Magical Girl, she's participated in hunting more than ten times as many Witches. Mami and Kyoko were both Magical Girls for years, to the point where they've doubtless killed hundreds of Witches over their careers. A person can't rack up a body count like that without consequences. Not unless the things they're fighting are truly monstrous, beasts without a shred of humanity. To all outward appearance, Witches are exactly such monsters.
But the truth isn't quite so simple.
Yuma and Hitomi don't understand, you can tell. Not like the others do. Madoka doesn't react anywhere near as dramatically as the rest, though she gasps and squirms in her seat. Sayaka recoils, a full-body shudder running through her. Anxiety takes the place of eagerness in driving the constant energy of her jittering, followed by the sickly rot of Grief creeping into her mind. Kyoko is nearly the exact opposite, simply drawing her legs up to her chest at a casual pace and lowering her head into them, all without the slightest change in expression. Mami remains smiling, though the expression is paper-thin. Her gaze is far away, peering back at years of experience to try and pry some understand out from what she already knows. But no new revelation comes, and her attentions falls further back still.
There's a pause, a second or so of silence, between your words and the first response. Something in your mind cannot help but draw up the image of the brief moment between the unmistakable crack of a gun being fired and the inevitable cry of pain when the bullet hits its mark. You forcefully dismiss the image. Such thoughts will do no good.
"That… can't be right." Mami says, struggling to maintain some semblance of poise and posture. "Witches are just monsters, they don't…"
"It's true. I saw it when I was… I saw it happen a week or so ago." Kyoko answers, her words grinding unnaturally against the air. "Everything from then is fuzzy, hard to tell what's happening, but I still saw it. I wasn't sure… I didn't know exactly what happened at the time."
"Oz said something similar. She was working on something to exploit it, but hadn't finished before I left." Leonie affirms, her flat voice the only reminder of her presence. You barely even blink at the insight into your opponent's plans, preoccupied as you are with the present moment.
"W-what does that even mean? How can that happen?" Sayaka asks, a weak bravado failing to cover the shaking of her voice. Regardless, you are grateful for the question. Clarity is the most you can offer at this point.
"Kyubey describes Witches as creatures born from 'curses'. As usual, this is technically correct but also a vast oversimplification that leaves out any important details. Witches are, specifically, the Grief that forms on a Magical Girl's Soul Gem." you explain solemnly.
Mami stares in shock, then slowly reaches to her own Soul Gem concealed on her hand and returns it to its natural form. The gold-hued gemstone in her hand is half-darkened by foamy, iridescent blackness, a surface like spilled oil. Even as you stare at it, the cancerous filth continues to climb little by little. Sayaka follows her senior's example, conjuring her own Soul Gem to reveal similar growth. The two Magical Girls stare into their Soul Gems, contemplating the clinging shadows much the same way a man might stare over the edge of a cliff, wondering just how easy it would be to fall.
"You should clean your Soul Gems. I-It's probably just safer not to let them get that dark." Madoka stammers, breaking the two Magical Girls from their reverie. Hastily, Mami and Sayaka each gather a Grief Seed from their reserves. Sayaka fumbles with the small metallic item a bit before pressing it to the surface of her Soul Gem and watches the Grief recede. Mami nearly does the same, but stops just short and stares at the silvery spindle in her hand.
"It's funny, I never would have allowed my Soul Gem to darken so much before. It was too much of a risk. With how everything's been recently, it just… hasn't been on my mind as much." Mami says, voice hollow. Grief Seeds don't closely resemble Soul Gems, but held next to one another the similarities are hard to miss. Your daughter's eyes move back and forth between the two, slowly noting the details she had somehow always managed to miss.
Shakily, Mami pockets the Grief Seed without using it. Sayaka stares at her, shocked.
"What are you doing? Didn't you hear what X just said? If you don't clean your Soul Gem-"
"We'll become Witches. That's where this is going, isn't it?" Mami says. Her gaze is no longer fixed on her Soul Gem or anywhere else, but aimless and unguided. Something in her eyes, some innate brightness, is slowly starting to fade.
"Nobody's becoming a Witch." you correct, putting more force into those words than even you expected. The gentle whistling of the breeze and rolling of the tide stops completely, as if the whole world has been called to attention. "I can't reasonably claim not to see the similarities, but all my testing has concluded that Witches are not the same beings as humans. They're more like parasites that take on some characteristics from their hosts, if any such comparisons must be made."
It's not a perfect representation, but having some existing idea to latch onto will only make it easier to assess the situation. It's a better conclusion than the one Mami nearly fell to, than the one idea that you cannot allow to take root under any circumstances. An idea that Homura clearly believed on some level, judging by the nearly imperceptible straightening of her posture. Likewise, some of the tension eases from Kyoko's shoulders and she finally raises her head once again. Mami practically deflates, the tension and fear that had lurked behind her mask slowly draining away and leaving only a hollow feeling behind.
"Great, so we're not gonna turn into Witches. We're just gonna die because of a creepy parasite instead. That's much better." Sayaka deadpans, earning a shocked look from Mami and Madoka in the process. They miss the way Sayaka was tensing just moments earlier, the ghosts of a proper combat stance that were abandoned only seconds ago. Unbidden, memories of a Witch force their way to the forefront of your mind. Not your memories, but Homura's.
The sight of the Witch Oktavia von Seckendorff looming over Sayaka's empty body is- was a familiar one. Almost expected as an inevitability, but for the possibility that she would die before that point. An intimate, familiar frustration and denial wells up and swallows the image up. You know this feeling well, preceded as it was by a mistaken assignment or mistimed command and succeeded as it was by the activation of the TT2 Protocol.
But there is no going back anymore. Only moving forward, towards the conclusion.
"That's not happening either. I will not allow it." you order, and Sayaka startles. "So long as you cleanse your Soul Gems, you're completely safe. So long as I'm here, nothing of the sort will occur."
Your eyes fall to Mami's Soul Gem, still half-tainted by the oily sheen of Grief. You reach out properly for the first time in what feels like an eternity, an invisible branch of light stretching from behind you and bridging the distance between yourself and your daughter. A hitch in your breathing reminds you of your limits, but you ignore it. You are a thing beyond humanity, to which the laws that govern all existence are merely a suggestion. A ruler among rulers whose authority is absolute. You refuse to entertain the idea that something so small is beyond you. That you cannot comfort your children when they need it. The gleaming thorns tipping your lone wing scrape against the Soul Gem's surface, excoriating each layer of filth one after another until nothing remains. With your work complete, the pinion dissolves into nothingness.
Mami gasps, a nearly inaudible sound in the patient quiet. You lock eyes, and something in your expression draws a smile to her face. It's not as wide or as bright as the smiles you're used to seeing on your daughter's face, but it's there. At least you can do that much.
"Of course. I shouldn't have worried like that when you're looking out for me, X. For all of us." Mami says. Kyoko is quick to reassure her, followed by the others. That assurance is soon turned to Sayaka, and so on. You sit back and allow the children to exchange encouragements. The worst is over, and without disaster. All that is left now is everything else.
—————————
"We should hold a sleepover. So everybody can stay together today." Madoka proposes to a chorus of assent. You yourself offer a calm nod, seeing the logic behind the small girl's proposal. It really would be for the best that nobody be left alone for the near future. Your children are all far better at looking after one another than they are themselves.
"I can host. My parents are gonna be out for the night, so my house'll be free." Sayaka proposes, still somewhat shaken after everything. The bluenette has regained most of her usual enthusiasm, but an undercurrent of frailty remains. It's more desperate now, pushing forward to avoid looking back.
"That sounds like a lovely idea. Kyoko? Yuma?" Mami agrees, turning to her sisters for confirmation. Yuma nods enthusiastically, and Kyoko mimics the motion at her own, sedate pace.
"I'll have to call my parents, but I believe I shall be free. I don't have any extracurriculars today." Hitomi says, already pulling out her phone as the group exits Leonie's Route back to the street where you had first entered. Mitakihara is mostly empty at this time in the early evening, at least this part. It's a bit odd, considering the number of attractions and stores not too far away, but it is a rather large city. You'll poke around to investigate, but it's not worth going to full alert about just yet.
You shepherd the group through the downtown city streets, not too far from Asunaro where Kyoko used to dwell, taking care to watch the shadows and corners for anything that might be watching back while the kids chatter. Homura alone picks up on your alertness, temporarily abandoning her role of silent observer of the conversation to join you in standing vigil. Neither of you see anything out of place, even with Lamp's light guiding your way, up until you arrive again at Sayaka's house. The children slowly filter into the small house, taking seats on chairs and couches and cushions and getting comfortable. The undercurrent of unrest is still there, apparent in every motion that is too quick or too drawn-out, but subdued. Already, the pains of the day are drowned in the dreams of the night, and soon tomorrow will come and wash it all away. The day will end like any other, and a new day will follow.
Of course, it's just as everyone is finally situated that a new point of emotion appears just on the edge of your senses. Scornful pride hiding an intense, threadbare anxiety that can only exist in someone whose system has been constantly shot with adrenaline for far longer than is healthy. And further beneath, a desperate longing more ravenous than anything you've seen in a human since your time in the City. All the while, the children chatter away peacefully, nerves finally beginning to settle.
But you have no reason for such rest. And no intention of leaving such a detail uninvestigated.
———————————————
Point Of Interest
[] Bring some help
-[] Who?
[] Go alone
[] Write-in
———————————————
Der Freischütz's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Schadenfreude's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
CENSORED's Sapling - Observation Level EXPUNGED/REDACTED
It's over! That entire chain of conversation, juggling so many characters who are (almost) all very personally invested in what's going at the moment, was absolute hell. But it's done now, and voting has been restored.
Do note that going alone does not mean not informing the kids that you're off to do something.
"Witches are born from Magical Girls."
From a detached perspective, the Incubators' system for the prevention of energy is fairly logical. A Contract is established with a living being with appropriate Karmic Potential, a measure in some way connected to one's impact on the world and limited by a species' capacity for emotion. Once the Contract has been established, the contractee receives a Soul Gem, an exterior container which houses their consciousness and allows them remote control over their body. Kyubey's prattled on about the superiority of such a mechanism to a more typical arrangement, but you've never asked whether the separation is a necessary part of the process, but it seems likely. Were it not, the whole ordeal would be a waste of energy. Regardless, the Soul Gem allows a contractee to perform various feats of magic, accumulating Grief within the Soul Gem in the process. Once enough Grief has gathered, it aggregates into a Witch and bursts from the Soul Gem, destroying it. Both the initial Contract and a Witch's birth moment of birth provide energy. While not the simplest of systems, it is effective at accomplishing the desired outcome with minimal input.
From the perspective of those subjected to it, it's nothing short of a nightmare. Kyubey doesn't explain what happens when too much Grief accumulates and you run out of magic right away, but does impress its importance upon new Magical Girls. The life of a Magical Girl is one with a timer attached, eternally bound to the hunt. No matter how it is framed, no matter how noble or necessary, it is a terrible duty to be entrusted with. And they must carry out that duty for the rest of their life.
Due to a combination of unusual circumstances, Mitakihara has become a hotspot for Witch activity, drawing in monsters from all across the world. In the two or so weeks Sayaka's been a Magical Girl, she's participated in hunting more than ten times as many Witches. Mami and Kyoko were both Magical Girls for years, to the point where they've doubtless killed hundreds of Witches over their careers. A person can't rack up a body count like that without consequences. Not unless the things they're fighting are truly monstrous, beasts without a shred of humanity. To all outward appearance, Witches are exactly such monsters.
But the truth isn't quite so simple.
Yuma and Hitomi don't understand, you can tell. Not like the others do. Madoka doesn't react anywhere near as dramatically as the rest, though she gasps and squirms in her seat. Sayaka recoils, a full-body shudder running through her. Anxiety takes the place of eagerness in driving the constant energy of her jittering, followed by the sickly rot of Grief creeping into her mind. Kyoko is nearly the exact opposite, simply drawing her legs up to her chest at a casual pace and lowering her head into them, all without the slightest change in expression. Mami remains smiling, though the expression is paper-thin. Her gaze is far away, peering back at years of experience to try and pry some understand out from what she already knows. But no new revelation comes, and her attentions falls further back still.
There's a pause, a second or so of silence, between your words and the first response. Something in your mind cannot help but draw up the image of the brief moment between the unmistakable crack of a gun being fired and the inevitable cry of pain when the bullet hits its mark. You forcefully dismiss the image. Such thoughts will do no good.
"That… can't be right." Mami says, struggling to maintain some semblance of poise and posture. "Witches are just monsters, they don't…"
"It's true. I saw it when I was… I saw it happen a week or so ago." Kyoko answers, her words grinding unnaturally against the air. "Everything from then is fuzzy, hard to tell what's happening, but I still saw it. I wasn't sure… I didn't know exactly what happened at the time."
"Oz said something similar. She was working on something to exploit it, but hadn't finished before I left." Leonie affirms, her flat voice the only reminder of her presence. You barely even blink at the insight into your opponent's plans, preoccupied as you are with the present moment.
"W-what does that even mean? How can that happen?" Sayaka asks, a weak bravado failing to cover the shaking of her voice. Regardless, you are grateful for the question. Clarity is the most you can offer at this point.
"Kyubey describes Witches as creatures born from 'curses'. As usual, this is technically correct but also a vast oversimplification that leaves out any important details. Witches are, specifically, the Grief that forms on a Magical Girl's Soul Gem." you explain solemnly.
Mami stares in shock, then slowly reaches to her own Soul Gem concealed on her hand and returns it to its natural form. The gold-hued gemstone in her hand is half-darkened by foamy, iridescent blackness, a surface like spilled oil. Even as you stare at it, the cancerous filth continues to climb little by little. Sayaka follows her senior's example, conjuring her own Soul Gem to reveal similar growth. The two Magical Girls stare into their Soul Gems, contemplating the clinging shadows much the same way a man might stare over the edge of a cliff, wondering just how easy it would be to fall.
"You should clean your Soul Gems. I-It's probably just safer not to let them get that dark." Madoka stammers, breaking the two Magical Girls from their reverie. Hastily, Mami and Sayaka each gather a Grief Seed from their reserves. Sayaka fumbles with the small metallic item a bit before pressing it to the surface of her Soul Gem and watches the Grief recede. Mami nearly does the same, but stops just short and stares at the silvery spindle in her hand.
"It's funny, I never would have allowed my Soul Gem to darken so much before. It was too much of a risk. With how everything's been recently, it just… hasn't been on my mind as much." Mami says, voice hollow. Grief Seeds don't closely resemble Soul Gems, but held next to one another the similarities are hard to miss. Your daughter's eyes move back and forth between the two, slowly noting the details she had somehow always managed to miss.
Shakily, Mami pockets the Grief Seed without using it. Sayaka stares at her, shocked.
"What are you doing? Didn't you hear what X just said? If you don't clean your Soul Gem-"
"We'll become Witches. That's where this is going, isn't it?" Mami says. Her gaze is no longer fixed on her Soul Gem or anywhere else, but aimless and unguided. Something in her eyes, some innate brightness, is slowly starting to fade.
"Nobody's becoming a Witch." you correct, putting more force into those words than even you expected. The gentle whistling of the breeze and rolling of the tide stops completely, as if the whole world has been called to attention. "I can't reasonably claim not to see the similarities, but all my testing has concluded that Witches are not the same beings as humans. They're more like parasites that take on some characteristics from their hosts, if any such comparisons must be made."
It's not a perfect representation, but having some existing idea to latch onto will only make it easier to assess the situation. It's a better conclusion than the one Mami nearly fell to, than the one idea that you cannot allow to take root under any circumstances. An idea that Homura clearly believed on some level, judging by the nearly imperceptible straightening of her posture. Likewise, some of the tension eases from Kyoko's shoulders and she finally raises her head once again. Mami practically deflates, the tension and fear that had lurked behind her mask slowly draining away and leaving only a hollow feeling behind.
"Great, so we're not gonna turn into Witches. We're just gonna die because of a creepy parasite instead. That's much better." Sayaka deadpans, earning a shocked look from Mami and Madoka in the process. They miss the way Sayaka was tensing just moments earlier, the ghosts of a proper combat stance that were abandoned only seconds ago. Unbidden, memories of a Witch force their way to the forefront of your mind. Not your memories, but Homura's.
The sight of the Witch Oktavia von Seckendorff looming over Sayaka's empty body is- was a familiar one. Almost expected as an inevitability, but for the possibility that she would die before that point. An intimate, familiar frustration and denial wells up and swallows the image up. You know this feeling well, preceded as it was by a mistaken assignment or mistimed command and succeeded as it was by the activation of the TT2 Protocol.
But there is no going back anymore. Only moving forward, towards the conclusion.
"That's not happening either. I will not allow it." you order, and Sayaka startles. "So long as you cleanse your Soul Gems, you're completely safe. So long as I'm here, nothing of the sort will occur."
Your eyes fall to Mami's Soul Gem, still half-tainted by the oily sheen of Grief. You reach out properly for the first time in what feels like an eternity, an invisible branch of light stretching from behind you and bridging the distance between yourself and your daughter. A hitch in your breathing reminds you of your limits, but you ignore it. You are a thing beyond humanity, to which the laws that govern all existence are merely a suggestion. A ruler among rulers whose authority is absolute. You refuse to entertain the idea that something so small is beyond you. That you cannot comfort your children when they need it. The gleaming thorns tipping your lone wing scrape against the Soul Gem's surface, excoriating each layer of filth one after another until nothing remains. With your work complete, the pinion dissolves into nothingness.
Mami gasps, a nearly inaudible sound in the patient quiet. You lock eyes, and something in your expression draws a smile to her face. It's not as wide or as bright as the smiles you're used to seeing on your daughter's face, but it's there. At least you can do that much.
"Of course. I shouldn't have worried like that when you're looking out for me, X. For all of us." Mami says. Kyoko is quick to reassure her, followed by the others. That assurance is soon turned to Sayaka, and so on. You sit back and allow the children to exchange encouragements. The worst is over, and without disaster. All that is left now is everything else.
—————————
"We should hold a sleepover. So everybody can stay together today." Madoka proposes to a chorus of assent. You yourself offer a calm nod, seeing the logic behind the small girl's proposal. It really would be for the best that nobody be left alone for the near future. Your children are all far better at looking after one another than they are themselves.
"I can host. My parents are gonna be out for the night, so my house'll be free." Sayaka proposes, still somewhat shaken after everything. The bluenette has regained most of her usual enthusiasm, but an undercurrent of frailty remains. It's more desperate now, pushing forward to avoid looking back.
"That sounds like a lovely idea. Kyoko? Yuma?" Mami agrees, turning to her sisters for confirmation. Yuma nods enthusiastically, and Kyoko mimics the motion at her own, sedate pace.
"I'll have to call my parents, but I believe I shall be free. I don't have any extracurriculars today." Hitomi says, already pulling out her phone as the group exits Leonie's Route back to the street where you had first entered. Mitakihara is mostly empty at this time in the early evening, at least this part. It's a bit odd, considering the number of attractions and stores not too far away, but it is a rather large city. You'll poke around to investigate, but it's not worth going to full alert about just yet.
You shepherd the group through the downtown city streets, not too far from Asunaro where Kyoko used to dwell, taking care to watch the shadows and corners for anything that might be watching back while the kids chatter. Homura alone picks up on your alertness, temporarily abandoning her role of silent observer of the conversation to join you in standing vigil. Neither of you see anything out of place, even with Lamp's light guiding your way, up until you arrive again at Sayaka's house. The children slowly filter into the small house, taking seats on chairs and couches and cushions and getting comfortable. The undercurrent of unrest is still there, apparent in every motion that is too quick or too drawn-out, but subdued. Already, the pains of the day are drowned in the dreams of the night, and soon tomorrow will come and wash it all away. The day will end like any other, and a new day will follow.
Of course, it's just as everyone is finally situated that a new point of emotion appears just on the edge of your senses. Scornful pride hiding an intense, threadbare anxiety that can only exist in someone whose system has been constantly shot with adrenaline for far longer than is healthy. And further beneath, a desperate longing more ravenous than anything you've seen in a human since your time in the City. All the while, the children chatter away peacefully, nerves finally beginning to settle.
But you have no reason for such rest. And no intention of leaving such a detail uninvestigated.
———————————————
Point Of Interest
[] Bring some help
-[] Who?
[] Go alone
[] Write-in
———————————————
Der Freischütz's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Schadenfreude's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
CENSORED's Sapling - Observation Level EXPUNGED/REDACTED
It's over! That entire chain of conversation, juggling so many characters who are (almost) all very personally invested in what's going at the moment, was absolute hell. But it's done now, and voting has been restored.
Do note that going alone does not mean not informing the kids that you're off to do something.
I wonder if this is an abnormality. Burrowing Heaven maybe?
While I would like the kids to unwind after the reveal it would probably be a bad idea to confront Burrowing Heaven alone. Assuming it is Burrowing Heaven.
It's good that everything turned out okay. I'm surprised that didn't sate Censored, but that's a trivial concern. Onwards to where we must reach.
BH should be okay to take on solo, but as always it requires our undivided attention. And I feel it would have struck already if it were BH. A minion of the Adult perhaps?
Imagine letting your cast reach this critical mass of complexity in the first place, when you could be killing them off at the first opportunity.
I think that part about adrenaline in the description is meant to be literal, so it's probably a human.
[X] Bring some help
-[X] Kyoko
Let's bring someone who knew already.
I notice that we keep telling Kyoko how great she is, but we've never actually asked her for help, not since, like, thirty chapters ago, when she told us not to witchbomb Mami yet. All I'm saying is, it's much easier to re-contextualize previous experiences when there are new ones contradicting the existing narrative.
Homura can stay and tell the kids
2P1-nd4
Iron Top, the Paradox Future form of Spinda
Like the new chapter, it's nice to see more of X help out the girls.
Also I'm glad to see that me calling the Witches/Grief a virus earlier was correct.
[X] Bring some help
-[X] Kyoko
-[X] Kyoko