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A Little Vice (Trans Magical Girl fic)

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C remains to be remarkably wise and emotionally mutate regarding literally everything but herself. It's interesting that her "dream" self seems increasingly aware that what's going on is real but also seems to be trying to throw off "awake" C.

I'm hopeful to find out if Avaritia actually knows C is clueless or not next chapter. I feel like we're not going to, but I can dream!
 
Ultrackius said:
C please

Please C

How can one egg be so oblivious
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Anime power and the influence of multiple overlapping interlocking mind control spells?

C's under the influence of so many identity-obscuring glamours, it's arguably a miracle C can walk in a straight line without smacking into walls or something.

rikalous said:
C: This mysterious new enemy has a very cool and impressive power befitting someone so attractive and intelligent.
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To be fair, C doesn't feel attractive or intelligent, so I don't even know what to make of this. :(
 
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Simon_Jester said:
Anime power and the influence of multiple overlapping interlocking mind control spells?

C's under the influence of so many identity-obscuring glamours, it's arguably a miracle C can walk in a straight line without smacking into walls or something.


To be fair, C doesn't feel attractive or intelligent, so I don't even know what to make of this. :(
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Well, Temperance is obviously into them, and C has been shown to be good at helping people with their issues and giving advice.
 
C just about maxed out the envy sin gauge 'naturally', so I guess the dark powers had to rummage around in the back of the closet for the boxes labeled 'self-envy' and 'delusion'. And magically stapled those to C's forehead along with 'besties with Avaritia Wolf' and 'supervillain monologues first, explaining things to Inessa never'.

I really wonder what these resinner attacks looks like without the dream filter. I get the impression the generals are obviously going through some stuff, and C keeps doing annoying gimmick resinners.
 
I think C does annoying gimmick resinners because on some level C very much doesn't actually want to hurt the girls. So Invidia throwing together something that just uncomplicatedly punches Team Magical Girl in the face isn't really her speed. No, it's got to be complicated tricky shit, because Invidia is inheriting C's tendency to greatly overthink stuff as long as doing so will help her avoid actually coming to a conclusion that will help her move forward and accomplish her goals.
 
Shadell said:
"Umm, actually, while we're still doing apologies, I needed to talk to you Temperance if that's okay." I winced. That was a particularly awkward transition, even for me.
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Is the pun that they needed to talk about temperance's transition, or that C is particularly awkward about hers?
 
GreatWyrmGold said:
There are more sins than greed. It could also be someone that got really wrathful at fidget spinners.
(Or something with sloth. But wrath is funnier.)
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I've gotten the vibe that the Beasts generally stick to monsters associated with their own sin (it doesn't get specified very often, but Shock Jock and the basketball monster were both called out as greed-based and this chapter has Invidia beeline towards someone full of envy), so I think the odds are that this one has to do with greed. For fidget spinners.
Simon_Jester said:
To be fair, C doesn't feel attractive or intelligent, so I don't even know what to make of this. :(
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What I was getting at is that C thinks Dream-C is pretty and perfect, and when the evil alter ego is already unacknowledged transition goals it's fairly on-brand that her power is something C considers particularly good.
 
Theaxofwar said:
I'm hopeful to find out if Avaritia actually knows C is clueless or not next chapter. I feel like we're not going to, but I can dream!
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In my opinion, ey act like ey know. I'd expect Lupin to at least try to directly compliment Indivia on her work if ey weren't trying to hide it.


Ultrackius said:
C please

Please C

How can one egg be so oblivious
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If I can project my debatably comparable experiences onto C...she probably spent most of her life interpreting her own actions with the assumption that she's a normal straight man. She now knows that people who aren't "normal" exist, but recognizing that and recognizing the excuses that you created to understand yourself are built on faulty assumptions are two completely different things.
 
rikalous said:
I've gotten the vibe that the Beasts generally stick to monsters associated with their own sin (it doesn't get specified very often, but Shock Jock and the basketball monster were both called out as greed-based and this chapter has Invidia beeline towards someone full of envy), so I think the odds are that this one has to do with greed. For fidget spinners.
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...or Gluttony? We don't know if Fidget Spinner was pre-Temperance or post. Gluttony seems much more likely when it comes to Fidget Spinners, imo.
 
notbirdofprey said:
It was post, since it was during the episode with the basketball game IIRC.
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It was, yeah. Temperance has some opinions about the whole affair.
Shadell said:
Temperance nodded along stoically, "Right, she's still confused about a few things, but we'll help her see the light soon enough after all this."

Which is to say Temperance was livid, insofar as Temperance actually felt any emotions at all under that mask of hers, at whatever this fidget spinner themed monster had been and was probably totally determined to crush her enemy next time she saw her.
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GreatWyrmGold said:
When C finds out that she's a lesbian and that somehow leaks to her dad, I don't think his first thought will be "Girls can't love girls!" I don't think that part of lesbianism would bother him.


There are more sins than greed. It could also be someone that got really wrathful at fidget spinners.
(Or something with sloth. But wrath is funnier.)


We now know why C doesn't suspect that she's the new Abyssal Beast.
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Huh.

The rational part of my brain thinks Shadell was probably marking something I said about C's dad as "Insightful". But it would be pretty funny if this was her way of confirming that the Fidget Spinner monster was fueled by a teacher getting really mad about fidget spinners.
 
[teacher-hat on]

Fidget spinners are fine as long as they're properly balanced and have enough bearing lubrication to prevent excessive noise.

I am guessing that the fidget spinner Resinner was not properly balanced, especially after Our Heroines got done kicking it at car-accident speeds a few times.
 
Simon_Jester said:
I think C does annoying gimmick resinners because on some level C very much doesn't actually want to hurt the girls. So Invidia throwing together something that just uncomplicatedly punches Team Magical Girl in the face isn't really her speed. No, it's got to be complicated tricky shit, because Invidia is inheriting C's tendency to greatly overthink stuff as long as doing so will help her avoid actually coming to a conclusion that will help her move forward and accomplish her goals.
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Also, like, I wonder if they aren't giving her some of the little desires C had.

Shadell said:
My family moved to the Brandt's street when I was nine years old. Even then I was quiet and weird and I'd barely had any friends before the move. The new school only made that worse. Inessa went as well, was in the same grade and lived only a few blocks away. She was also a lot less popular among our peers back then. A pair of outcasts, we bonded out of desperation as much as anything else.

Our relationship was built on a symbiotic foundation from the start. I stood up to the bullies for Inessa in a way that made my mom worried and my dad cheer (I tried at least). Inessa shared her family with me. I gave her companionship in her many hobbies and fandoms and I got to copy her love of magical girl anime like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura and Princess Knight Orion in return. Both of us were a bit depressed and aimless and we took solace in sharing that, even if Inessa learned to fake a smile as she got older and the bullies went away.

And then, while I was busy with my own issues, Inessa's smile stopped being fake. She just turned around and figured herself out. She came out, suddenly and proudly, and made everyone accept her for herself. She made new friends and started dragging me out to meet Ida and then Temperance as well.
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Dragging Inessa back to when she was just as much a depressed aimless kid as C.
 
So, it's not quite been said explicitly yet unless I missed it, but it seems likely that Inessa's burst of impetus for admitting and then announcing her sexuality is deeply involved in how she ended up qualifying as Castitas. (Read: episode one happened around that time)

I understand the emotional storm wall keeping C from asking about how exactly Inessa 'figured stuff out', but C could really benefit from asking. Same with Temperance. C doesn't have to figure C's stuff out alone and without help, but since the first chapter it's been pretty clear that C was actively permitting the magical girl stuff to separate from Inessa and friends.
 
Lurker breaking out of the shell here:
Shadell said:
I woke up with a start. The dreams weren't going away. If I hadn't checked and asked and verified that the details didn't match up with what attacks were actually happening, I'd have started to get nervous. But they didn't match, and often I dreamt even when there were no monster attacks, and so there was no point in worrying anyone.
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Huh, interesting. This is certainly useful to throw C and the other's trail off of the connection between C and Invidia. Question is, are these scrambled signals an inherent component of the mind control the Abyssal Forest uses, or was it deliberately introduced by Avarita? And if the latter, what other ways can they mess with a person's mind?

Also I know it's been a while, but:
RiceRockRekt said:
So yeah, there seems to be not a guaranteed 1:1 with what inspirations suggest which Beast for which Sin, for me, the fact the page image of ALV is a green apple makes me think that, if C/Invidia isn't exclusively plant themed (to represent some core facet of the Abyssal Forest more than any other Beast?), then the natural association is like.

Worm probably.

Which is just so fun to do with the mimic's self-esteem, I've never watched Fullmetal Alchemist before.
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Why not have them be both snake themed and have plant powers? After all, the apple is rather associated with a certain snek....

Actually, I am surprised that a grass-elemental serpent themed after the one from the Garden of Eden isn't something I've seen before. Suddenly, it seems a very natural combo.
 
C and Invidia/Dream!C might be in a Multiplicity and Invidia/Dream!C is trying make sure C doesn't learn about her so she doesn't "Kill her"

(Now for the real question, is Invidia/Dream!C trans?)
 
Iris-Iven-Ibis said:
C and Invidia/Dream!C might be in a Multiplicity and Invidia/Dream!C is trying make sure C doesn't learn about her so she doesn't "Kill her"

(Now for the real question, is Invidia/Dream!C trans?)
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The answer to that is a bit philosophical. DreamC/Invidia is female, of course, but do we consider it that she came into being as female, and is therefore cis despite being "split off" from a trans person, or do we consider it that she inherits NileC's transness due to still essentially being the same person? I'm leaning towards the latter, myself.

I don't think DreamC thinks that she "dies" if NileC stops being a river in Egypt, though. Not exactly the same but ChibiTemperance also exhibited a sort of disconnect but didn't really make any efforts to preserver her own current state, and if she thinks that becoming regular Temperance again isn't death then DreamC probably doesn't so either.

Anyway I wonder what Invidia's "true form" is like.
 
I have some songs and stolen anime art waiting for a certain someone's proper introduction. It won't be correct because of the hair color, but I'm looking forward to you all meeting her and getting the vibe anyway!
 
Another lurker popping in, and have been absolutely loving the story and everything from the start. Anyway--
Shadell said:
And, as I jumped so high I could steal the moon (were stealing not eir habit instead of mine), I could admit how much I longed for this. The day would never even offer me wings that I might burn myself by flying too close to the sun. But dreams would give me all the imitations I needed to glide through the night.
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This is suuuuuch a super minor thing regarding the writing itself at the start of the chapter that I may just be reading too much into, but I can't help but point out specifically the usage of the 'flying too close to the sun' idiom by Dream!C. Obviously, it's a relatively common used phrase, and within the context here first appears to just help describe C's basic feeling of being able to experience a sense of freedom and power at night/in dreams that C can't experience while awake, with the trans component being perhaps less focused on in this moment.

However, I can't help but feel that the idiom was actually given a real double meaning here that does make it also focus on the importance of C's struggles with their identity as being trans and how its reflected between C and Invidia/Dream!C, because of the fact that fire is connected and has been used many times when describing Inessa, meaning the idiom could be interpreted as actually also referring to her. Sooooo, in this context, this is actually yet another look into C's innermost thoughts/feelings about being/the idea of being a transgender woman, in particular with how it relates directly to C's relationship with Inessa, perhaps hinting at some belief that them actually being trans and admitting it might 'burn' said relationship somehow.

Of course, this is all just assuming that Shadell actually did write this bit like this on purpose and I'm not just completely overthinking something that could just be a neat coincidence regarding the language used, lol.
 
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