[4][Priority] Follow up on what happened to the Goddess
[3][Priority] Rest like the delicate, fragile, fading flower we are
[2] (less urgent invocations of rest)
You'll take it easy until the others are back, at least. Have brunch. Watch a few visions. Afterwards you'll task yourself to figure out what happened to the Goddess. If you could figure out that one, it might solve lots of problems.
For now, though, you'll start by taking the ribbon and getting to the bottom of some Oriko business.
"I am considering thanking you for brunch," you inform Oriko.
"Oh?" she remarks. "What's stopping you?"
"I'm worried it will devolve into trading barbs," you say. "This would undermine our efforts here. So first, I was wondering if I could ask you to cut it out?"
"Consider it asked," remarks Oriko.
There are a few moments of silence as Oriko does something with a chicken cutlet and flour.
[3] Talk to Oriko about why she cares about our well-being (use the ribbon)
"I don't understand something," you say. "When I was on the train, what you said to Ryouko about treating me carefully. It doesn't really match the rest of our interactions."
Oriko says nothing.
"I suppose it's nice that you care about my well-being," you continue, "but … why?"
"Do you know anyone else, Clarisse," asks Oriko, "who can do magic, any magic at all, but hasn't made a contract?"
"This is special," she says, turning to look at you. "Keep it secret. Especially from Kyuubey. Did you notice how quickly it distracted him from grief cubes?" She pauses, and changes tone slightly. "On the other hand, maybe he just realized the scope of your potential is infinite."
"… literally infinite?" you ask.
She shrugs. "Enough for him to retire on, in any event."
Is infinite potential even possible? you wonder.
Well. Is infinite suffering possible? Certainly if the Star Empire has its way…
"When we're done with brunch," you say, "we should look in on him."
Oriko nods.
> … be Oriko? ish?
The terror is less than last time, and you can make out more nuances.
Clarisse is dangerous. It's like being trapped, with a tiger guarding the exit. But the tiger is exciting, too. It's exotic and has an elegant, deadly brutality to it. Well. Not as brutal as you could be, but brutal enough.
Also, she's doing something to you right now.
"What are you doing?" you ask, sharply.
"— Nothing," says Clarisse, a little startled. "Just making sure that you're not pulling a fast one on me."
"Stop it!" you snap. This is how it starts, and it ends with you on her leash, adoring her like a cruel angel, building your worth around being irreplaceable to her. You'll need to go easy on the menacing but you are not, you are definitely not, going to head down that road without a fight, you'd rather she—
> ^C
"I stopped," you tell Oriko.
Oriko stands completely still for about three seconds, glaring.
Mami stands up and makes ready to intervene — but Oriko turns back to the stove.
"… now, you see?" says Oriko. "I almost burned something, Clarisse, dear. Do you think you can set the table?"
She doesn't sound sarcastic or condescending when she calls you dear. Maybe she's keeping it on the inside?
Brunch is a little tense, but uneventful.
[3] Tell the Gang about the potential info leak and implore them to keep all secret
-[3] Kyuubey will use everything he can against us in an attempt to get us to contract forcefully.
For the non-contractees, you delegate this to Wakaba, who relays your message earnestly, and you remind Homura yourself.
[3] Discuss implications of non-MGs doing magic with Machina
The first implication is "magical girls without Kyuubey," she notes. I can't imagine he'd approve. The grief cubes may eat at his margins a little, but that's a direct strike at his core interests. And, if he's truthful, the whole enterprise of fighting entropy. If that isn't remedied in the long term, the consequences could be cosmic.
Do you think magical girls could still fight it without him, though? asks Ryouko.
I wonder, she replies. They might prefer to spend the power on more transient things. It's worth thinking about, I suppose, but it's all frighteningly abstract at this point, and Kyuubey has always been quite reticent on the topic of how fighting entropy actually happens. All we really know is that there's a gain when a girl makes a wish, and when he collects grief cubes.
As far as Governance is concerned, continues Machina, it depends a lot. Are they more or less powerful? What are the logistics behind resupplying them? Do the Incubators go on strike when they find out? Assuming it's not, everyone will want to study you. Of course, that's a given twelve times over, but some of that depends on how little we tell them.
What are you suggesting? you ask her.
Just that I won't tell them anything you won't, she assures you and Ryouko.
I'm surprised, Machina, you say. You've always struck me as a little more by-the-book.
I can't imagine that Mami is personally well-served by me eroding our bonds of of trust, and making you and Ryouko second-guess our interactions. That sort of thing matters, and people matter. That's something I learned from her, you know.
Well, you say. You have my gratitude in advance.
Of course, I will remind you that I'm counting on you to help Ryouko do the right thing, she notes.
Ah, yes, there is that angle.
[5][Futuresight] Kyuubey and his schemes
[4][Futuresight] Walpurgisnacht
Your top threats are Kyuubey, and Walpurgisnacht. Of course, if you put it that way, the witch might well be one of his plots. You mention as much to the others. It seems a little riskier to spy on him than it might be to spy on the others, but the insights could be invaluable.
> … be … Kyuubey?
This will be a stretch.
Your awareness doesn't know how to fit into this umwelt. It's the wrong shape and size, and for that matter, the wrong color; it's overly varlex, and insufficiently theed. It is in short alien in a way that would make the Ceph seem like sisters. You're liable to interpret things strangely.
The sensation that you recognize best is a sensation that feels like coldness. It is of course not coldness, and closer to "infinitely lukewarm" as an idea, but it feels like cold. A true cold of absolute zero would feel warm in comparison.
The next sensation is the awareness of matter around you. This is a texture that you feel. The shape is like brick buildings and trees but the sensation is like walking on the soft sand of a warm beach, but the grains of sand are precious like gold, and the gold is transient like the morning fog. The overall effect is something a little like comfort, suffused with purgency, set against a sense of ithicity which you can't quite place.
If someone were to put it poetically, they might say that you are appreciating a transient loveliness, too easily taken for granted. In reality, this is more of an aesthetic sense than an emotion, of course, but it's an ever-present awareness of your purpose.
The story that is coming together from the two in front of you (one ordinary organism, one magical girl) does not match your understanding of the local reality. The organism is also aware that its previous understanding of the local reality is obsolete. This contributes to the conclusion that yours is obsolete as well. More troubling is that the organism claims that she used to be a magical girl. The organism also appears superficially similar to the magical girl Simona, and also calls herself Simona. You've been watching her for a while now.
"I think the witch scrambled her brains," says the magical girl, "because she definitely wasn't a magical girl, and all the magical girl things almost make sense, but there's something weird and wrong. Like, for instance, there's some smaller version of grief seeds called 'grief cubes'. Are those a thing?"
"It's interesting that she mentions them," says Kyuubey. "Simona, before Ophelia saved you, did you know anything about witches?"
> wait, i thought we were being Kyuubey
… of course, dear, but, surely you don't think the fluffy part is the important part?
Simona shakes her head No. "Magical girls fight… demons, not witches," she says. She proceeds to outline the basic lifecycle and hunting process.
"I believe she is telling the truth," says Kyuubey. "The evidence suggests that she is from a divergent timeline. The reason that you've never seen demons before is that there weren't any, at least not on Earth. But an infestation has recently been introduced in Mitakihara, Japan."
"That's … that's where Ryouko went," says Simona.
"Maybe we'll get lucky, and a demon will eat her," suggests Ophelia.
"No!" exclaims Simona.
The two girls proceed to discuss whether or not Ryouko is a space princess and a "smug, self-satisfied, entitled bitch" or a shy, standoffish, socially-awkward war hero.
It would be beneficial to your understanding to understand more of the specifics here. Among other things, it is quite possible that Clarisse has been concealing things from you.
"If Simona is from a divergent timeline," says Kyuubey, "then knowing the differences could help you figure out how to get back there some day."
Simona nods.
"I'd be particularly interested in knowing more about Clarisse," says Kyuubey.
"I don't know how to use computers," says Simona. "I can't send her an email."
"You're from the future and you don't know how to use computers?" boggles Ophelia.
"They're all different!" says Simona. "And my phone won't dial internationally. There's just a recorded message."
"And you're certain that this letter is from the Ryouko from your universe," asks Kyuubey, "and she's in Mitakihara?"
"It's definitely Mitakihara," says Simona, "and… well, I guess you can't tell from the letter, not really, there's just a feeling…"
"But you don't have very strong evidence," says Kyuubey.
Simona shakes her head. "Maybe I'm just fooling myself…"
It's time to interrupt with an observation that will help answer the question you want.
"Your intuition here is definitely worth paying attention to," says Kyuubey. "Have you had any other signs?"
"… I had a dream," says Simona. "I was … in a temple, somewhere. It felt like the place was important, but … somewhat out of the way, like no one ever went there. It felt familiar. I thought I was going to find a red ribbon, but instead there was just a priestess with a magic feather. I asked her where Ryouko was, and she asked me where I was, and I realized I didn't know, and she said to go ask Clarisse, that she'd know where I was. Then I woke up."
This is fortunate, and unfortunate. Fortunate, because you hadn't previously heard the part about Clarisse. Unfortunate, because it suggests that Clarisse is keeping very important things from you, and whether she knows how they work already or learns more in the future, it places much at risk.
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+++ATH0
This isn't good, Clarisse.
Oriko is safe. Her soul is securely in its little gilded cage, and that is anchored to a physical reality.
You do not have this protection. You are flung into something which is, quite frankly, a bit of a nightmare, and you will half-remember it later. It's like one of those dreams where you half-know you're asleep and in your bed (maybe you really are in bed) but you're also going about your day like it's normal, except it's so long, and everything is going wrong and then it finally ends and you're lost again and
+++ATDT01081354562560
You regain consciousness slowly. The first thing you notice is that someone is holding your hand, and it's warm.
You're not in a very comfortable position, though. The ground is hard and lumpy and… kind of wet?
You open your eyes and try to get a sense of where you are.
"Don't worry, Maggie, it's just me," says the voice, as the speaker leans over you. "Here, let me help you sit up."
She extends her hand, and you take hold of it.
"… what happened?" you ask, sitting up.
"I'm not sure exactly, love," says Gretchen. "You were kind of all over the place for a while."
"Oh. Where am I now?" you ask.
"Nowhere in particular," says Gretchen. "You were in a vision."
"Huh," you say.
"I thought it might be easier getting back if I saved you," she says, "and, well, I think you were contemplating a visit anyway, right?"
"Uhm," you reply. "I can't say that this was exactly what I had planned. But, yes, there's a lot that it would be nice to understand."
"Do you ever notice," says Gretchen, as she climbs onto a signal-box on a traffic light sticking out of the ground at a forty-five degree angle. "Did you ever notice that all the divine interventions and visions and things are all ambiguous, and annoyingly selective, and just anything but straightforward? Ever wonder what's up with that?" She perches on the edge, the heels of her shoes keeping her from sliding off.
"The thought's crossed my mind," you tell her.
"Well," she says. "The problem is, I'm an atemporal existence interacting with a temporal universe. Think about taking a universe in your hands and touching it and reshaping it. But it's not like Silly Putty, so you can't just squish it into shape. It's structured. There are tensions, and torsions, and symmetries, and strange attractors, and nonlinearities, and metastable states. I mean metaphysically. And I'm a hope monopole, which means that even just touching a universe does surprising things to the quantization of certain metaphysical fields. Using agents helps, but you can never really tell them everything that they deserve to know, and if you're too open with them, then they have to start recusing themselves. It all has to be done with the lightest touch, or things break, and I don't just mean all the spontaneous symmetries."
You wrap your head around this as you stand up and brush yourself off. (What is this outfit you're wearing supposed to be, anyway? Military lolita?)
"So with all that in mind," says Gretchen, leaping back down onto an upset vending machine, "I want to give you a very, very special present. Answers, as straightforward as I can make them. I've worked hard to make them safe. Or, will work hard. Future-retroactive tense. Say, your top two questions."
"Just two?" you say.
"Well," she says. She presses her hands together, smiles shyly, and crosses one leg behind the other, rocking back and forth a little. "It takes so very long, you see, and I don't have the galaxy brain to make it any faster… but, you know, mmmaybe if I had something really extra special to look forward to, I might push myself to work extra extra hard, and I could still retroactively have done another."
You frown, confused. "Something… special?" you repeat.
"Maggie, we…" She blushes, and lowers her gaze. "We're in a vision, sweetie, do — do you want to make me to spell it out in detail?"
"… O-oh," you say.
> dearest lady magellan, you tease —
> ... hey you're cute let's kiss
[ ][Gretchen] Make out with me?
[ ][Gretchen] A kiss, perhaps, but no more
[ ][Gretchen] Keep it very platonic
[x][Gretchen] Actually, forget the questions. They're a distraction.
Approval voting:
[ ][Questions] (write in)
