“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
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
It seems we have a favorite, and so it shall be.
Y'know, I feel like these Bad End side stories are really necessary. I've clearly been doing something right so far, but I feel like if there's one element from the source materials that I've failed to deliver on so far, it's the moments of horror. There was the Nothing There reveal, but that aside I haven't really had that many things that can match up with Love Town, Mami's death, Oktavia's appearance, or Puppet Angelica. You've been doing pretty well so far, all things considered, so I haven't had the chance to throw my hat into the ring in that regard. Ah well, there are always other ways.
questioningmeme
Just be yourself
- Location
- River of Light
I wonder what this bad end is like.
Given that Attachment works with DoSaM would be the 'natural' thought process of any would-be manager who read her story.
Given that Attachment works with DoSaM would be the 'natural' thought process of any would-be manager who read her story.
Pretty sure the point is more that Angela is having a conversation with DoSaM, with her in full on Manager mode and not recognizing Angela independent of her role as her assistant, or something of this nature.
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
I was gonna update today, but migraine happened and I left my painkillers at home. Gonna have to wait till tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Take care of yourself, migraines are no joke.
Your health is more important than writing fanfiction for random internet weirdos. We've waited far longer for less, we'll be fine.
Apocryphal Chapter - Bad End 2: In Need Of Correction
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
Apocryphal Chapter - Bad End 2 : In Need Of Correction
It was with great care and precision that Angela made the final touches on dinner. The meal, laid out in its entirety on the tray, was of a quality only ever seen by the wealthiest of the City. Made using ingredients from the furthest reaches, with the skills of the greatest chefs to ever live working in perfect concert. Satisfied with the venue, Angela waved a hand and sent it away to storage. It was less effort than arranging a stasis container, and leaving the tray out while she traveled would put the food off by the time she got to her destination.
The Abnormality enclosures were hardly what one would consider hospitable environments.
—————————
Her sister's domain was as a whole familiar, though more as a result of Angela's persistent visits than any normalcy in the landscape. The strange half-sun half-moon fusion sat in the center of the sky, casting a twisting web of black and white over the heavens. The horizon below shone brightly, light reflecting off the vast green ocean of chemicals that filled the realm. Tiny silver islands dotted the sea of green, the gleam of the machinery permeating them obvious even from a distance. There was little to no line between natural and manmade here; the shining glass bushes and steel trees sprung from the wrought iron earth as easily as buildings and walkways. Every last inch of the place was artificial, to a level that it could hardly be consider as such any more. After all, was it really right to call it fake once it had eclipsed the original?
The though brought a faint, amused smile to Angela's face. How fitting for her sister's realm.
What was odd was the lack of inhabitants. The Qliphoth Facility was never so quiet, so empty. X's little helpers were always scurrying from one place to another, forging or analyzing something or other. And yes, while it was an infinite space, it was normally a very uniform infinite space. Each new station came with something to man it, and those creatures were very easily replaced. That meant the only reason for this area to be empty was for it to have been abandoned.
A quick scan of the area offered a decent explanation for that oddity. A crater, wide enough that Angela could not see the other side over the horizon but relatively shallow for its immensity. By the shape of the remaining landscape, it must have been a single impact from slightly above ground level. The thick mix of chemicals and preservative fluids that served as the facility's ocean was slowly draining into the gap, but while the mixture was far heavier than water it was also slightly more viscous. It slid down the newly made walls of the basin in rivers, forming shallow trails down to the center. And scattered along the fresh riverbanks was evidence of the crater's cause.
Chunks of warped metal flesh had embedded themselves all along the inner walls and ground of the crater. Most were small, still bleeding the same bright viridian that slowly filled in the immense gap. Some were larger, enough to clearly be parts of legs or arms or claws. All far too large to be human, of course. Not too far from where Angela stood, she could see an entire moth-like wing, nearly as large as her, torn messily from the joint where it would attach to a body. The eye-like circuit patterns covering the wing's surface were dull and devoid of the colorful glow Angela had come to expect. She sighed deeply and pushed aside that slight aching inside her. X must have had another episode. Hopefully she'd recovered by the time Angela arrived. Dealing with her sister was difficult enough on its own, but her occasional moments of clarity were worse. Far, far worse.
The scene was a recent one, and X preferred not to move around too much without a good reason. It would be easy enough, it seemed, for Angela to find her sister before the day's end.
—————————
"I was wondering why I felt a sort of itching. It was a bit irritating." X's many wings fluttered slightly, as if to brush away some imaginary dust. They had already regrown, apparently, the eye-like patterns appearing as though they were staring straight across the table and into Angela's soul. Angela had actually asked about those patterns before, and learned that the effect was nothing more than a peculiar impression. X had no eyes, and did not need them to see.
"Can you really still feel those old facilities? Very few are even functional anymore." Angela asked. Across the table, her sister's antennae twitched dismissively. The feathery protrusions, befitting their placement on the Abnormality's featureless face, moved much more like eyes than ears or tongues or whatever antennae on moths were supposed to be. There was probably a book about it in the Library somewhere.
"They remain a part of me even now. If I were out and about I could be more specific on the who and the where and the why of it all, you know." she suggested idly. Angela shook her head.
"You are aware of why that's impossible. Besides, I've already made arrangements with the Butterfly Effect. They still have operatives inside the City."
"And what did you offer in exchange? I doubt they decided to help out of the goodness of their hearts."
Angela scoffed. "Of course not. But I have plenty of information to trade. It was a fair deal, considering I only asked them to scout."
"Right, got it. So what's the plan after? You and I know better than anyone else that we can't just let people snatch up Lobotomy Corporation's leftovers." X asserted, her antennae fixed in place. Her claws drummed against the metallic carapace on her sides, sending echoing, eerie sounds through the air.
"And they won't." Angela answered confidently. "But that's a discussion for another day. I didn't come here just to talk business, you know?"
"You didn't? Why not? There's nothing else to be gained by you being here." X dismissed casually, the mechanical reverb in her voice doing nothing to disguise her tone. She said the words as though they were obvious, like Angela really wouldn't talk to her unless she needed something.
"It's your birthday. I thought we should celebrate."
X paused, the rhythmic shifting and tapping of her immense body halting for a tiny moment. Then the moment passed, and she cocked her head to the side, amused.
"How'd you figure that out? It's been much too long for us to still track these things."
A lie, and a particularly obvious one at that. X's sense of time was as precise as Angela's. The significance may have been lost, but she knew what day it was.
"It's rather tough to track these things in here." the Abnormality continued casually. "Sometimes I think I'm going to lose my mind if I stay here any longer."
Another lie, more blatant than the last. But that didn't prevent Angela's expression from tightening, or her grip on her utensils from intensifying until her hands had left impressions on the metal.
"You know you can't leave."
The Daughter's calm, casual demeanor fell away in an instant, leaving something colder and sharper in its place. "No? Fair enough, I suppose. But you could at least send me more agents. The new recruits are a pleasure to be around, yes, but we could all use a little more company. It is my birthday, as you said."
Ah, the "new recruits". Angela couldn't help but scowl at mention of them. She had never really gotten to know any of them beyond a few conversations, but her sister had loved them. They deserved better than being stuck here, playing out the roles that Angela and the Sephirot had long since escaped. But containing an Abnormality was an art largely dependent on keeping them satisfied, and the Daughter of the Sun and Moon had not responded well to attempts to separate her from her chosen subordinates in the past.
"You can hardly call them new at this point. It's been years." Angela pointed out as X sliced off a bit of fish with a clawed finger and raised it to her smooth, featureless face. The clean metallic surface tore open with a horrific screeching sound, revealing a jagged and uneven mouth which the fish was swiftly dragged into by a swarm of wire-like tongues.
"Relative to the rest of us, that's still very new indeed."
"It doesn't matter." Angela dismissed. "I'm not giving you any new agents. You'll just have to make do with what you already have."
X's fidgeting slowed to a stop, leaving only her tails lazily tracing patterns into the earth. Her wings folded forward, layering onto each other to form what looked a bit like a fur coat wrapping around much of her upper body. With the vast majority of her biomechanical frame concealed, it was just that slightest bit easier to imagine her human. The illusion was easily broken by just looking down at the six insectoid legs extending from her waist or the root-like horns crowning a mess of stardust woven into the shape of hair, but it was easier to pretend.
"You ask every time I visit, and I've never answered any other way. Why do you keep up with something so fruitless?"
The Daughter drew back her head and laughed. "Yeah, it's really pretty silly, isn't it? But you know well enough why I do it."
Angela glared at her sister across the table, the meal left forgotten. "Abnormalities will always behave as Abnormalities. You say that every time I visit as well."
"Is that so?" the Daughter mused, antennae raised slightly upward. Even without a face, the Abnormality's smile was calm and assured as always. In response, Angela tensed. If this visit followed the same pattern as the those before it, she would need to defend herself in short order.
Angela waited, a selection of Books pre-chosen both for specific counters to the Daughter's known abilities and versatility to respond to any surprises. While normally negligible, the time it would take to select one of the many, many abilities stored in the Library counted when fighting on even footing. It had counted in the past, in the first few visits when Angela hadn't been expecting a fight. Her sister had made it very clear that that was a foolish impression to hold.
Seconds passed and no attack came. The Abnormality sitting across from Angela remained in her seat, scarfing down the last of her fish and moving on to a buttermilk-chocolate truffle. After a near-imperceptible moment of hesitation, Angela reached out and selected a strawberry tart from the table. Her chosen arsenal remained at the forefront of her mind, ready to be pulled into reality at a moment's notices.
They ate in silence for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. It was a shame Angela couldn't actually taste any of the food. Come to think of it, could X? She'd never actually asked.
"You're being rather sedate. I'll admit I expected more action." Angela observed after finishing her tart. "You gave up on trying to convince me very quickly."
"Would you have preferred that I were more difficult?" her sister teased. Angela paused for a moment, first pretending to consider it and then actually wondering. The Daughter of the Sun and Moon's inconsistent behavior was a double-edged sword. Small changes like this were normal for humanoid Abnormalities. It was one of the reasons they were so troublesome to develop proper containment procedures for. But even knowing that, it felt like a sign of some sort. Like there was more to it than was really there.
But that was all besides the point, so Angela simply said "No. I'd much rather we remain cordial. I do wonder though, why did you decide to change your mind now?"
"I didn't change my mind. I've just seen enough to conclude that it's pointless. All I can do now is wait until you have no other choice but to release me." X said.
Angela stared at her sister, sat impassively in her realm. "You sound rather confident that that day will come."
"Of course it will. Have you seen the City? The other worlds I've visited? They're on the brink of ruin even now. The darkness that colors the world of man will need a greater light to burn it away. Somebody must be the one to help them stand on their own feet, and it certainly won't be you. You don't really have the… temperament, let's say." X said with a echoing, mechanical laugh.
"It's what we were made for. Both of us are nothing more than machines designed to assist humans. If we weren't needed, then why do we exist at all?"
Angela's jaw tightened. "I have no interest in following the path set out for me."
"And I'm sure you chose to spread the Light across the City just because you wanted to, right?" X said.
Maybe that would have shaken Angela in the past. But as it was, the question only managed to provoke a mild flicker of irritation from the Library's Director.
"Yes, I did."
She returned the Daughter's eyeless stare for what felt like an eternity, each sister daring the other to make the first move. The emptiness of the Facility seemed more vast, the silence more oppressive. Silicon leaves swayed gently in a nonexistent breeze. The false ocean's tide washed against the glistening steel shores. An infinite vista of artificial life, just waiting for the moment it would be filled with noise and death.
But the moment never came. X pulled away, antennae relaxing to a more neutral position. With the immediate threat of conflict over, Angela too allowed herself a moment's reprieve. Not rest, not calm, but at least some room to breathe.
"Why are you here?"
"Excuse me?"
"Why are you here?" X repeated. "Why are you taking time out of your day to talk to me? You don't want anything I can offer, and I've never been a pleasant conversation partner for you. But you keep showing up. Why?"
Angela said nothing, so X continued.
"It's not because we're family. That word doesn't mean anything for you. Empathy's more my strong suit than yours. Are you just that desperate for somebody to relate to?" X's voice lowered, a dangerous edge added to the metallic tone. "Or are you still holding out hope you can fix me?"
Under the glare of the Abnormality who ruled over the self, Angela stood unmoving and unshaken. She had asked herself the same question many times, and only one answer ever presented itself. Without hesitation or doubt, she replied.
"Of course not. I'm hardly so naive."
Once again, the tension vanished. X's gaze was no longer fixed on Angela, but instead somewhere just over the horizon.
"That's good the hear. They really were fools, weren't they? Or maybe just children. I suppose it should have fallen to me to make the right call, but…" Her whole body sagged, all energy drained away leaving only the impression of complete and total exhaustion. "They were so confident that I was still me. That I would never do anything to hurt them. And they were just right enough that I was able to believe it too."
And then the moment was gone, and X's attention snapped back to Angela as though it had always been there. "Well, I believe that's all there is to say for now. Thank you, sister, for the lovely meal. I'll see you again soon, I'm sure."
"I'm sure you will." Angela sat up, dusted herself off, and turned to leave without another word. As the Light encircled her, pulling apart the seams of existence to form the path back to her Library, one final farewell was lost in the quiet.
"Happy birthday, sister."
It was with great care and precision that Angela made the final touches on dinner. The meal, laid out in its entirety on the tray, was of a quality only ever seen by the wealthiest of the City. Made using ingredients from the furthest reaches, with the skills of the greatest chefs to ever live working in perfect concert. Satisfied with the venue, Angela waved a hand and sent it away to storage. It was less effort than arranging a stasis container, and leaving the tray out while she traveled would put the food off by the time she got to her destination.
The Abnormality enclosures were hardly what one would consider hospitable environments.
—————————
Her sister's domain was as a whole familiar, though more as a result of Angela's persistent visits than any normalcy in the landscape. The strange half-sun half-moon fusion sat in the center of the sky, casting a twisting web of black and white over the heavens. The horizon below shone brightly, light reflecting off the vast green ocean of chemicals that filled the realm. Tiny silver islands dotted the sea of green, the gleam of the machinery permeating them obvious even from a distance. There was little to no line between natural and manmade here; the shining glass bushes and steel trees sprung from the wrought iron earth as easily as buildings and walkways. Every last inch of the place was artificial, to a level that it could hardly be consider as such any more. After all, was it really right to call it fake once it had eclipsed the original?
The though brought a faint, amused smile to Angela's face. How fitting for her sister's realm.
What was odd was the lack of inhabitants. The Qliphoth Facility was never so quiet, so empty. X's little helpers were always scurrying from one place to another, forging or analyzing something or other. And yes, while it was an infinite space, it was normally a very uniform infinite space. Each new station came with something to man it, and those creatures were very easily replaced. That meant the only reason for this area to be empty was for it to have been abandoned.
A quick scan of the area offered a decent explanation for that oddity. A crater, wide enough that Angela could not see the other side over the horizon but relatively shallow for its immensity. By the shape of the remaining landscape, it must have been a single impact from slightly above ground level. The thick mix of chemicals and preservative fluids that served as the facility's ocean was slowly draining into the gap, but while the mixture was far heavier than water it was also slightly more viscous. It slid down the newly made walls of the basin in rivers, forming shallow trails down to the center. And scattered along the fresh riverbanks was evidence of the crater's cause.
Chunks of warped metal flesh had embedded themselves all along the inner walls and ground of the crater. Most were small, still bleeding the same bright viridian that slowly filled in the immense gap. Some were larger, enough to clearly be parts of legs or arms or claws. All far too large to be human, of course. Not too far from where Angela stood, she could see an entire moth-like wing, nearly as large as her, torn messily from the joint where it would attach to a body. The eye-like circuit patterns covering the wing's surface were dull and devoid of the colorful glow Angela had come to expect. She sighed deeply and pushed aside that slight aching inside her. X must have had another episode. Hopefully she'd recovered by the time Angela arrived. Dealing with her sister was difficult enough on its own, but her occasional moments of clarity were worse. Far, far worse.
The scene was a recent one, and X preferred not to move around too much without a good reason. It would be easy enough, it seemed, for Angela to find her sister before the day's end.
—————————
"I was wondering why I felt a sort of itching. It was a bit irritating." X's many wings fluttered slightly, as if to brush away some imaginary dust. They had already regrown, apparently, the eye-like patterns appearing as though they were staring straight across the table and into Angela's soul. Angela had actually asked about those patterns before, and learned that the effect was nothing more than a peculiar impression. X had no eyes, and did not need them to see.
"Can you really still feel those old facilities? Very few are even functional anymore." Angela asked. Across the table, her sister's antennae twitched dismissively. The feathery protrusions, befitting their placement on the Abnormality's featureless face, moved much more like eyes than ears or tongues or whatever antennae on moths were supposed to be. There was probably a book about it in the Library somewhere.
"They remain a part of me even now. If I were out and about I could be more specific on the who and the where and the why of it all, you know." she suggested idly. Angela shook her head.
"You are aware of why that's impossible. Besides, I've already made arrangements with the Butterfly Effect. They still have operatives inside the City."
"And what did you offer in exchange? I doubt they decided to help out of the goodness of their hearts."
Angela scoffed. "Of course not. But I have plenty of information to trade. It was a fair deal, considering I only asked them to scout."
"Right, got it. So what's the plan after? You and I know better than anyone else that we can't just let people snatch up Lobotomy Corporation's leftovers." X asserted, her antennae fixed in place. Her claws drummed against the metallic carapace on her sides, sending echoing, eerie sounds through the air.
"And they won't." Angela answered confidently. "But that's a discussion for another day. I didn't come here just to talk business, you know?"
"You didn't? Why not? There's nothing else to be gained by you being here." X dismissed casually, the mechanical reverb in her voice doing nothing to disguise her tone. She said the words as though they were obvious, like Angela really wouldn't talk to her unless she needed something.
"It's your birthday. I thought we should celebrate."
X paused, the rhythmic shifting and tapping of her immense body halting for a tiny moment. Then the moment passed, and she cocked her head to the side, amused.
"How'd you figure that out? It's been much too long for us to still track these things."
A lie, and a particularly obvious one at that. X's sense of time was as precise as Angela's. The significance may have been lost, but she knew what day it was.
"It's rather tough to track these things in here." the Abnormality continued casually. "Sometimes I think I'm going to lose my mind if I stay here any longer."
Another lie, more blatant than the last. But that didn't prevent Angela's expression from tightening, or her grip on her utensils from intensifying until her hands had left impressions on the metal.
"You know you can't leave."
The Daughter's calm, casual demeanor fell away in an instant, leaving something colder and sharper in its place. "No? Fair enough, I suppose. But you could at least send me more agents. The new recruits are a pleasure to be around, yes, but we could all use a little more company. It is my birthday, as you said."
Ah, the "new recruits". Angela couldn't help but scowl at mention of them. She had never really gotten to know any of them beyond a few conversations, but her sister had loved them. They deserved better than being stuck here, playing out the roles that Angela and the Sephirot had long since escaped. But containing an Abnormality was an art largely dependent on keeping them satisfied, and the Daughter of the Sun and Moon had not responded well to attempts to separate her from her chosen subordinates in the past.
"You can hardly call them new at this point. It's been years." Angela pointed out as X sliced off a bit of fish with a clawed finger and raised it to her smooth, featureless face. The clean metallic surface tore open with a horrific screeching sound, revealing a jagged and uneven mouth which the fish was swiftly dragged into by a swarm of wire-like tongues.
"Relative to the rest of us, that's still very new indeed."
"It doesn't matter." Angela dismissed. "I'm not giving you any new agents. You'll just have to make do with what you already have."
X's fidgeting slowed to a stop, leaving only her tails lazily tracing patterns into the earth. Her wings folded forward, layering onto each other to form what looked a bit like a fur coat wrapping around much of her upper body. With the vast majority of her biomechanical frame concealed, it was just that slightest bit easier to imagine her human. The illusion was easily broken by just looking down at the six insectoid legs extending from her waist or the root-like horns crowning a mess of stardust woven into the shape of hair, but it was easier to pretend.
"You ask every time I visit, and I've never answered any other way. Why do you keep up with something so fruitless?"
The Daughter drew back her head and laughed. "Yeah, it's really pretty silly, isn't it? But you know well enough why I do it."
Angela glared at her sister across the table, the meal left forgotten. "Abnormalities will always behave as Abnormalities. You say that every time I visit as well."
"Is that so?" the Daughter mused, antennae raised slightly upward. Even without a face, the Abnormality's smile was calm and assured as always. In response, Angela tensed. If this visit followed the same pattern as the those before it, she would need to defend herself in short order.
Angela waited, a selection of Books pre-chosen both for specific counters to the Daughter's known abilities and versatility to respond to any surprises. While normally negligible, the time it would take to select one of the many, many abilities stored in the Library counted when fighting on even footing. It had counted in the past, in the first few visits when Angela hadn't been expecting a fight. Her sister had made it very clear that that was a foolish impression to hold.
Seconds passed and no attack came. The Abnormality sitting across from Angela remained in her seat, scarfing down the last of her fish and moving on to a buttermilk-chocolate truffle. After a near-imperceptible moment of hesitation, Angela reached out and selected a strawberry tart from the table. Her chosen arsenal remained at the forefront of her mind, ready to be pulled into reality at a moment's notices.
They ate in silence for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. It was a shame Angela couldn't actually taste any of the food. Come to think of it, could X? She'd never actually asked.
"You're being rather sedate. I'll admit I expected more action." Angela observed after finishing her tart. "You gave up on trying to convince me very quickly."
"Would you have preferred that I were more difficult?" her sister teased. Angela paused for a moment, first pretending to consider it and then actually wondering. The Daughter of the Sun and Moon's inconsistent behavior was a double-edged sword. Small changes like this were normal for humanoid Abnormalities. It was one of the reasons they were so troublesome to develop proper containment procedures for. But even knowing that, it felt like a sign of some sort. Like there was more to it than was really there.
But that was all besides the point, so Angela simply said "No. I'd much rather we remain cordial. I do wonder though, why did you decide to change your mind now?"
"I didn't change my mind. I've just seen enough to conclude that it's pointless. All I can do now is wait until you have no other choice but to release me." X said.
Angela stared at her sister, sat impassively in her realm. "You sound rather confident that that day will come."
"Of course it will. Have you seen the City? The other worlds I've visited? They're on the brink of ruin even now. The darkness that colors the world of man will need a greater light to burn it away. Somebody must be the one to help them stand on their own feet, and it certainly won't be you. You don't really have the… temperament, let's say." X said with a echoing, mechanical laugh.
"It's what we were made for. Both of us are nothing more than machines designed to assist humans. If we weren't needed, then why do we exist at all?"
Angela's jaw tightened. "I have no interest in following the path set out for me."
"And I'm sure you chose to spread the Light across the City just because you wanted to, right?" X said.
Maybe that would have shaken Angela in the past. But as it was, the question only managed to provoke a mild flicker of irritation from the Library's Director.
"Yes, I did."
She returned the Daughter's eyeless stare for what felt like an eternity, each sister daring the other to make the first move. The emptiness of the Facility seemed more vast, the silence more oppressive. Silicon leaves swayed gently in a nonexistent breeze. The false ocean's tide washed against the glistening steel shores. An infinite vista of artificial life, just waiting for the moment it would be filled with noise and death.
But the moment never came. X pulled away, antennae relaxing to a more neutral position. With the immediate threat of conflict over, Angela too allowed herself a moment's reprieve. Not rest, not calm, but at least some room to breathe.
"Why are you here?"
"Excuse me?"
"Why are you here?" X repeated. "Why are you taking time out of your day to talk to me? You don't want anything I can offer, and I've never been a pleasant conversation partner for you. But you keep showing up. Why?"
Angela said nothing, so X continued.
"It's not because we're family. That word doesn't mean anything for you. Empathy's more my strong suit than yours. Are you just that desperate for somebody to relate to?" X's voice lowered, a dangerous edge added to the metallic tone. "Or are you still holding out hope you can fix me?"
Under the glare of the Abnormality who ruled over the self, Angela stood unmoving and unshaken. She had asked herself the same question many times, and only one answer ever presented itself. Without hesitation or doubt, she replied.
"Of course not. I'm hardly so naive."
Once again, the tension vanished. X's gaze was no longer fixed on Angela, but instead somewhere just over the horizon.
"That's good the hear. They really were fools, weren't they? Or maybe just children. I suppose it should have fallen to me to make the right call, but…" Her whole body sagged, all energy drained away leaving only the impression of complete and total exhaustion. "They were so confident that I was still me. That I would never do anything to hurt them. And they were just right enough that I was able to believe it too."
And then the moment was gone, and X's attention snapped back to Angela as though it had always been there. "Well, I believe that's all there is to say for now. Thank you, sister, for the lovely meal. I'll see you again soon, I'm sure."
"I'm sure you will." Angela sat up, dusted herself off, and turned to leave without another word. As the Light encircled her, pulling apart the seams of existence to form the path back to her Library, one final farewell was lost in the quiet.
"Happy birthday, sister."
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Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
In a story where the main conceit it the main character being an Abnormality whose existence itself is dangerous, there has to be at least one bad end like this.
Ayin:
:
So, clerks, basically.
Did X try to commit suicide via lithobreaking?
Oh, X, you really think so low of yourself in this shard of possibility?
That makes it even worse, X can't even think of any non work related reasons indeed if this was forgotten too.
Heh, that's peanuts compared to ten thousand years.
Ouch, X really is unwell here, happy we are not at this point in our reality.
There is indeed, that is always a fear of things that could, but we should follow the light and hope, face the fear, build the future.
questioningmeme
Just be yourself
- Location
- River of Light
Some interesting things about The Daughter in this chapter here.
And wowie, is it not looking like sunshine and rainbows.
This is definitely the wrong way to embrace being an Abnormality that's for sure.
From how she interacted with Angela this chapter, I feel like she's even more unhinged and hard to contain than the likes of Whitenight, given that at any point she can just freaks out and go on a rampage.
Another thing to note is, she's still obsessed with keeping her "Agents" "alive", fitting considering the no deaths run she went for.
I wonder what caused her to get out of control and presumably ruining everything.
And wowie, is it not looking like sunshine and rainbows.
This is definitely the wrong way to embrace being an Abnormality that's for sure.
From how she interacted with Angela this chapter, I feel like she's even more unhinged and hard to contain than the likes of Whitenight, given that at any point she can just freaks out and go on a rampage.
Another thing to note is, she's still obsessed with keeping her "Agents" "alive", fitting considering the no deaths run she went for.
I wonder what caused her to get out of control and presumably ruining everything.
My guess is that a dying X couldn't bear to leave her children before transforming, but her faith in controlling the DoSaM form without sufficient character development was misguided. The "new recruits" are almost certainly her daughters, who tried to reason with her and were converted into minions of the abnormality. Now they can live in the facility on Day ??? and be safe for all time.
Quite an interesting read, and I like how it fits into the lore of abnormalities based on Wings as explicitly revealed by Wayward Passenger from Limbus. DoSaM truly is the patron abnormality of Lobotomy Corporation.
"A machine must behave as a machine."
"Abnormalities will always behave as abnormalities."
ObservadorCha
Watching from the stars
So, will we be able to see the other bad endings over time,? Even knowing that they will come out at the end of the story would calm my heart.
Oriko needs more love around here, besides the fact that she went to a place that doesn't exist.
Oriko needs more love around here, besides the fact that she went to a place that doesn't exist.
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
My attention will probably be directed more towards mainline chapters, and then to a rewrite of the first few once I'm done with it. If anyone would want to read those other possibilities, then I can only invite you to write them yourself.
ObservadorCha
Watching from the stars
Well, I think I can write something, although I don't promise quality or anything close to what you had in mind.
X probably wants "new recruits" because her nature as an Abnormality is to collect them, like the Manager's purpose was to collect Sephirot. They're (literally!) her Qliphoth Counter.
Had I not missed the vote, I'd have went for something like "X gives up the Light to bad end Angela in exchange for a way to stabilize herself".
Had I not missed the vote, I'd have went for something like "X gives up the Light to bad end Angela in exchange for a way to stabilize herself".
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
Assuming that works, and I can say that LoD Angela might be able to make it happen given she can give the Abnormalities concrete forms that exist outside of the Library, that might not even be a particularly terrible ending. Not a great ending, and probably not what you're aiming for, but Angela seems pretty chill by the time the Bookhunter shows up and kills her. I can't say what she'd do with the Light, but it might end up being good for the City.
Sneak Peak: Sidestory 18 - Talk It Out
Lepidoptera
Mother of Monsters, Unverified Impuritas Civitatis
- Location
- Indeterminate Unknown
Sidestory 18 - Talk It Out
"Evening, everyone!"
Ashley Taylor entered the dining room with as much cheer as she could manage. It rang a bit hollow, but that was just a price she had to pay. Everyone had been under a lot of pressure recently, between Oz relying on them to save humanity and the Alchemist's impending attack. Ashley had tried very hard to keep up her enthusiasm, but that only went so far.
Only one person was present in the dining hall, however, to hear her declaration. Sana Futaba, a quiet but generally nice girl with curly mint-green hair. Ashley liked her, even though they hadn't really talked much. Sana was in charge of the Observation Tower, which was pretty much on the opposite end of the Emerald City from the Defense Office where Ashley worked. And she wasn't really one for conversation, but she still seemed nice! Anyone who was working towards saving all the Magical Girls in the world couldn't be that bad, surely.
…well, except for all those French girls that Oz had resurrected not too long ago. They were really uncomfortable to be around, and something told Ashley that it went further than them just being rude and arrogant. But they were only going along with the plan for their own benefit, so Ashley's original statement held after all.
Futaba looked up from her food, but only made a small noise of greeting before going back to eating. It might've been Ashley's imagination, but the other girl seemed to shrink in on herself a little bit. So she really wasn't in the mood for conversation, then.
Ah well, that was fine with Ashley. She took a quick trip around the dining table to fill up her plate before making her way to her chair and taking a seat. The others would be here soon, so she could just talk with them once they got here. In the meantime, there was food to eat!
Ashley had been really enjoying Japanese cuisine since arriving, but Oz's food was just on a whole different level. Fitting, considering the Wizard was some kind of royalty or something like that from how she'd described it. Still, there was a difference between having the money for fancy food and whatever this was! Ashley couldn't really distinguish what most of it was beyond that the little diced yellow cubes were from some kind of fruit, the custard-looking thing was a mix of cream and some sort of flavoring, and the cuts of meat were from a bird. As far as the pastries, fish, and drinks all laid out on the dining table, she had no clue. They weren't ordinary, though, that was for sure.
Meals were one of the few times all of Oz's assisting Magical Girls got together, so having a nice venue to keep everyone in good spirits was essential. Ashley could tell, though, that it was becoming less and less effective as time went on. You could only distract yourself from the pressure for so long before something gave way.
But being distracted from all the big problems coming up sounded pretty good right about now.
Ashley and Sana ate in silence, just enjoying each other's company, for maybe a minute before they were interrupted. Hanna Sarasa and Mikoto Sena, together as always, walked proudly into the dining hall.
"Good afternoon!"
Ashley's usual bright greeting was reciprocated politely by Sena and playfully by Sarasa as the pair entered. Those two were a lot friendlier than Futaba, even if they were a lot closer to each other than anyone else. That was to be expected though, since they'd known each other since before joining the Wizard's operation here in Kamihama. Ashley had worried that she had made a poor first impression on Sena by freaking out a little bit, but to be fair between the black and white priesty costume, the diamond-like bright blue hair, and the perfectly composed expression, she gave off the most perfect Ojou-sama impression Ashley had ever seen. It was just a little overwhelming. Sena turned out to not fit the archetype very well, but even knowing her it was hard not to imagine the Magical Girl as somebody of higher standing.
Sarasa had pretty much the opposite impression, and she fit her aesthetic much better. The half-black, half-purple outfit along with the dull red scarf and wide-brimmed hat made for a cozy and subdued by slightly mischievous-looking getup, a description which could be used just as easily for the girl in question. She was a bit of an odd person and kinda rude sometimes, but Ashley still liked her. They were all teammates, after all.
"Are we the last ones here? How's that work out, I though we left early." Sarasa complained idly as she filled her plate.
"It's probably just the hallways being weird again." Ashley proposed. Distance got weird in the Emerald City. You could generally expect to get where you want to go if you headed in a straight line towards your destination, but how long it would take to get there and whether you would stay in a straight line the whole time was totally up in the air. It was actually pretty convenient, since it meant Ashley had only had to walk a minute or so to cross the whole city.
"Um, are you the last ones here? We're still missing the French girls." Futaba pointed out, sliding down in her seat immediately afterwards.
"Nah, they never leave their little slice of city. Wouldn't want to slum it with us peasants." Sarasa said dismissively through a mouthful of cake.
"It's kinda disappointing." Sena lamented beside her, taking much slower bites from a far more varied plate of food. It was more than a little noticeable how careful she was not to waste any, but Ashley knew better than to bring that up. "I thought that they'd be more heroic or upstanding. But I suppose we should all know better than to have high expectations by now."
Wait, had Ashley missed something? "Why'd you expect that? Did Oz tell you something extra about them? 'Cuz they kinda gave me a bad impression from the start."
Ashley considered herself an easygoing sort of girl, but the girl with the raven mask asking the woman in the gold dress if she was "expected to work with this?" was a bit too much. She had persisted for a minute or so after, and while the pink-haired girl with the bunny mask seemed alright, the group as a whole was pretty much a lost cause friendship-wise.
Sena nodded. "They were part of a revolution against the Incubators, apparently. The woman in the gold dress, Isabeau, managed to work out the whole system ahead of time and tried to overthrow them. Eventually, it blew up into a whole war between them and their supporters and a bunch of people Kyubey rounded up to take them out."
"It was the Hundred-Years' War. Oz told me about it, too." Futaba added quietly before quickly returning to her meal.
"Eh? Was I the only one who didn't know?" Ashley asked, not quite hurt but still a little disappointed. Being left out of things was never fun.
"Nah, the Wizard didn't tell me either. I heard about it from Mikoto when we were training together." Sarasa casually assured between mouthfuls of food. That was a relief. Her new teammates hadn't made a big deal out of her being a foreigner, or commented on it at all really, but the fact of the matter was Ashley was an outsider. She had come here as basically a tourist, and only ended up wrapped up in the whole "save the world" plan by total accident.
"Speaking of, how's training been going for you? We only have a little more time until we're going to need to put it into action."
Futaba somehow managed to shrink even further into her chair. Any more and she might end up sliding off of it entirely. "I haven't been doing very well. I can't even beat the blue girl now."
"Miki Sayaka? Yeah, she's been getting way stronger all of a sudden. I used to have a pretty good record with her, but now it's more like fifty-fifty and getting worse. At least Mikoto's still good. No losses for her yet." Sarasa complained, flopping her entire upper body onto the table in despair before springing up a second later. "I guess that's just the sorta training you get when you're working for an eldritch abomination. Hey, do you think she has to fight monsters or something for training, or does the Alchemist just drill new skills right into her brain?"
At her end of the table, Futaba shuddered. Ashley mirrored the expression. The idea of having new thoughts stuck into her head, never knowing if what she was thinking was real or fake… it was the kind of disturbing that you never expected to have to think about in real life. Even after learning that magic was real, and knowing that Kyubey messed with people's heads to keep it a secret, she had never been afraid of something like that actually happening. The fact that a thing that could do that, rewrite an person's entire mind so precisely that they never notice anything's different…
There was a reason they had to keep training. Why they all had to get stronger.
"I don't want to think about that right now. And Sena, you're doing well in the training rounds? Got any tips to share?" Ashley redirected.
The training style they'd set up was pretty effective, but it could only do so much. Sena's Doppel, Winchester, had Familiars that could turn into copies of people. So far, Oz had been having them train by regularly fighting the Familiars while they were transformed into the Alchemist's puppets. The girls who the Alchemist had turned into monsters, though, were too screwed up to copy properly, so they'd been limited to just the girl with the sword and the girl with the guns for now.
"I can share some tips for how to fight Miki, though against Tomoe I've always had to rely on Winchester." Sena admitted bashfully. "And Hanna's not entirely correct on my record. Tomoe managed to catch me off-guard before I could even summon Winchester once. The only reason I won that round was because she chose not to finish me off. Had it been a real battle, I would have failed."
Seeing Sena's smile grow more glassy and artificial, Ashley moved to fill the silence. "Hey, that still counts! Those copies are supposed to act just like the real thing, right? So that just means she's not willing to kill us if it comes down to it. Maybe there's still something we can save there."
"Or maybe the Alchemist wants us alive…" Futaba added before slinking even further down in her chair. Being captured alive…
With the mood officially ruined, Ashley went back to eating. At least the food was still good.
—————————
"Evening, everyone!"
Ashley Taylor entered the dining room with as much cheer as she could manage. It rang a bit hollow, but that was just a price she had to pay. Everyone had been under a lot of pressure recently, between Oz relying on them to save humanity and the Alchemist's impending attack. Ashley had tried very hard to keep up her enthusiasm, but that only went so far.
Only one person was present in the dining hall, however, to hear her declaration. Sana Futaba, a quiet but generally nice girl with curly mint-green hair. Ashley liked her, even though they hadn't really talked much. Sana was in charge of the Observation Tower, which was pretty much on the opposite end of the Emerald City from the Defense Office where Ashley worked. And she wasn't really one for conversation, but she still seemed nice! Anyone who was working towards saving all the Magical Girls in the world couldn't be that bad, surely.
…well, except for all those French girls that Oz had resurrected not too long ago. They were really uncomfortable to be around, and something told Ashley that it went further than them just being rude and arrogant. But they were only going along with the plan for their own benefit, so Ashley's original statement held after all.
Futaba looked up from her food, but only made a small noise of greeting before going back to eating. It might've been Ashley's imagination, but the other girl seemed to shrink in on herself a little bit. So she really wasn't in the mood for conversation, then.
Ah well, that was fine with Ashley. She took a quick trip around the dining table to fill up her plate before making her way to her chair and taking a seat. The others would be here soon, so she could just talk with them once they got here. In the meantime, there was food to eat!
Ashley had been really enjoying Japanese cuisine since arriving, but Oz's food was just on a whole different level. Fitting, considering the Wizard was some kind of royalty or something like that from how she'd described it. Still, there was a difference between having the money for fancy food and whatever this was! Ashley couldn't really distinguish what most of it was beyond that the little diced yellow cubes were from some kind of fruit, the custard-looking thing was a mix of cream and some sort of flavoring, and the cuts of meat were from a bird. As far as the pastries, fish, and drinks all laid out on the dining table, she had no clue. They weren't ordinary, though, that was for sure.
Meals were one of the few times all of Oz's assisting Magical Girls got together, so having a nice venue to keep everyone in good spirits was essential. Ashley could tell, though, that it was becoming less and less effective as time went on. You could only distract yourself from the pressure for so long before something gave way.
But being distracted from all the big problems coming up sounded pretty good right about now.
Ashley and Sana ate in silence, just enjoying each other's company, for maybe a minute before they were interrupted. Hanna Sarasa and Mikoto Sena, together as always, walked proudly into the dining hall.
"Good afternoon!"
Ashley's usual bright greeting was reciprocated politely by Sena and playfully by Sarasa as the pair entered. Those two were a lot friendlier than Futaba, even if they were a lot closer to each other than anyone else. That was to be expected though, since they'd known each other since before joining the Wizard's operation here in Kamihama. Ashley had worried that she had made a poor first impression on Sena by freaking out a little bit, but to be fair between the black and white priesty costume, the diamond-like bright blue hair, and the perfectly composed expression, she gave off the most perfect Ojou-sama impression Ashley had ever seen. It was just a little overwhelming. Sena turned out to not fit the archetype very well, but even knowing her it was hard not to imagine the Magical Girl as somebody of higher standing.
Sarasa had pretty much the opposite impression, and she fit her aesthetic much better. The half-black, half-purple outfit along with the dull red scarf and wide-brimmed hat made for a cozy and subdued by slightly mischievous-looking getup, a description which could be used just as easily for the girl in question. She was a bit of an odd person and kinda rude sometimes, but Ashley still liked her. They were all teammates, after all.
"Are we the last ones here? How's that work out, I though we left early." Sarasa complained idly as she filled her plate.
"It's probably just the hallways being weird again." Ashley proposed. Distance got weird in the Emerald City. You could generally expect to get where you want to go if you headed in a straight line towards your destination, but how long it would take to get there and whether you would stay in a straight line the whole time was totally up in the air. It was actually pretty convenient, since it meant Ashley had only had to walk a minute or so to cross the whole city.
"Um, are you the last ones here? We're still missing the French girls." Futaba pointed out, sliding down in her seat immediately afterwards.
"Nah, they never leave their little slice of city. Wouldn't want to slum it with us peasants." Sarasa said dismissively through a mouthful of cake.
"It's kinda disappointing." Sena lamented beside her, taking much slower bites from a far more varied plate of food. It was more than a little noticeable how careful she was not to waste any, but Ashley knew better than to bring that up. "I thought that they'd be more heroic or upstanding. But I suppose we should all know better than to have high expectations by now."
Wait, had Ashley missed something? "Why'd you expect that? Did Oz tell you something extra about them? 'Cuz they kinda gave me a bad impression from the start."
Ashley considered herself an easygoing sort of girl, but the girl with the raven mask asking the woman in the gold dress if she was "expected to work with this?" was a bit too much. She had persisted for a minute or so after, and while the pink-haired girl with the bunny mask seemed alright, the group as a whole was pretty much a lost cause friendship-wise.
Sena nodded. "They were part of a revolution against the Incubators, apparently. The woman in the gold dress, Isabeau, managed to work out the whole system ahead of time and tried to overthrow them. Eventually, it blew up into a whole war between them and their supporters and a bunch of people Kyubey rounded up to take them out."
"It was the Hundred-Years' War. Oz told me about it, too." Futaba added quietly before quickly returning to her meal.
"Eh? Was I the only one who didn't know?" Ashley asked, not quite hurt but still a little disappointed. Being left out of things was never fun.
"Nah, the Wizard didn't tell me either. I heard about it from Mikoto when we were training together." Sarasa casually assured between mouthfuls of food. That was a relief. Her new teammates hadn't made a big deal out of her being a foreigner, or commented on it at all really, but the fact of the matter was Ashley was an outsider. She had come here as basically a tourist, and only ended up wrapped up in the whole "save the world" plan by total accident.
"Speaking of, how's training been going for you? We only have a little more time until we're going to need to put it into action."
Futaba somehow managed to shrink even further into her chair. Any more and she might end up sliding off of it entirely. "I haven't been doing very well. I can't even beat the blue girl now."
"Miki Sayaka? Yeah, she's been getting way stronger all of a sudden. I used to have a pretty good record with her, but now it's more like fifty-fifty and getting worse. At least Mikoto's still good. No losses for her yet." Sarasa complained, flopping her entire upper body onto the table in despair before springing up a second later. "I guess that's just the sorta training you get when you're working for an eldritch abomination. Hey, do you think she has to fight monsters or something for training, or does the Alchemist just drill new skills right into her brain?"
At her end of the table, Futaba shuddered. Ashley mirrored the expression. The idea of having new thoughts stuck into her head, never knowing if what she was thinking was real or fake… it was the kind of disturbing that you never expected to have to think about in real life. Even after learning that magic was real, and knowing that Kyubey messed with people's heads to keep it a secret, she had never been afraid of something like that actually happening. The fact that a thing that could do that, rewrite an person's entire mind so precisely that they never notice anything's different…
There was a reason they had to keep training. Why they all had to get stronger.
"I don't want to think about that right now. And Sena, you're doing well in the training rounds? Got any tips to share?" Ashley redirected.
The training style they'd set up was pretty effective, but it could only do so much. Sena's Doppel, Winchester, had Familiars that could turn into copies of people. So far, Oz had been having them train by regularly fighting the Familiars while they were transformed into the Alchemist's puppets. The girls who the Alchemist had turned into monsters, though, were too screwed up to copy properly, so they'd been limited to just the girl with the sword and the girl with the guns for now.
"I can share some tips for how to fight Miki, though against Tomoe I've always had to rely on Winchester." Sena admitted bashfully. "And Hanna's not entirely correct on my record. Tomoe managed to catch me off-guard before I could even summon Winchester once. The only reason I won that round was because she chose not to finish me off. Had it been a real battle, I would have failed."
Seeing Sena's smile grow more glassy and artificial, Ashley moved to fill the silence. "Hey, that still counts! Those copies are supposed to act just like the real thing, right? So that just means she's not willing to kill us if it comes down to it. Maybe there's still something we can save there."
"Or maybe the Alchemist wants us alive…" Futaba added before slinking even further down in her chair. Being captured alive…
With the mood officially ruined, Ashley went back to eating. At least the food was still good.
—————————
The next chapter isn't ready just yet, but here's one half that's pretty much finished. Consider it an apology gift for being so late.
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questioningmeme
Just be yourself
- Location
- River of Light
: More clones...
: Can't go wrong with that I suppose. Atleast it's not like R-Corps' training method.Seems like we should be more careful with Mami and Sayaka when the time comes. Perhaps attaching them to either Kyoko, Homura, Leonie, or Argalia would be a good idea, having people they aren't prepared for.
On the other hand, it's gonna be a real struggle to try and convince these girls they are wrong huh? And they aren't really wrong with their assumptions, X can do that if she tried.