:ThumbsUp:
Clarisse Quest [now in Part II, Revolutionary Girl Clarisse] (a PMMM/TTS quest)
- Thread starter tomoyo
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
- Location
- In the bull's belly, where it doesn't snow or rain
[x] AlphaDelta
I mean, it is sort of true that Oriko killed Ryouko and Mami, and it's compelling that the information is being sent through future-tech, but if Ryouko died wouldn't Simona's first question be how Clarisse is still alive? Maybe I'm not understanding part of this plan.
I think in character we don't know how Madoka became a God and don't know enough about potential to come up with the idea on our own, either.
Does Kyubey even have the power to do that? I don't think he could stop megucas from turning even if he wanted to.
I mean, it is sort of true that Oriko killed Ryouko and Mami, and it's compelling that the information is being sent through future-tech, but if Ryouko died wouldn't Simona's first question be how Clarisse is still alive? Maybe I'm not understanding part of this plan.
- Location
- Central Standard Time
Toning down paranoia.
Removed.
[X] Have a nice productive evening patrol/walk with all of the Local Group Mages, plus Best Cat
-[X] Bring snacks, and buy some more
-[X] Personally run electronic sweeps along Governance channels.
--[X] Spoof Ryouko's implants
--[X] Have everyone else (that is, other than you) disable auto-handshake to minimize risk of detection
-[X] Drop Best Cat off somewhere near Mami's apartment for a one-cat stakeout. Perhaps sleep in front of the door?
--[X] Disable auto-handshake for everyone that isn't a member of the Local Group
-[X] Plan a route that happens to walk within handshake and range of various Police Stations and Jails
[X] Have Yuuka ask about "the explosion at school" out of curiosity whenever convenient.
Same reasoning applies.
@Grey John Updated vote.
- Location
- Oooooooh emotional roller coaster
Vote update!
[4] Check out local police stations
-[4] combine with an electronic search while patroling for wicked witches with megucas
-[1] plan from @Itaywex - "hi i'm clarisse, oriko killed everyone, please respond" message
-[1] plan from @freeRebs - get kyouko to compose a message
(The former is easier for me to write.)
[2] deploy kitty to watch mami's apartment
[2] put tacnet into stealth mode
[1] high power sweep from a local antenna
[2] have Yuuka ask her daddy about the explosion at the school
[1] recolor the chat
Here's a question. Does Simona know that Clarisse is an entity that exists?
I think this proposal would be satisfied with merely a message of "allow these cubes to proliferate."
You'd need some arguments that can convince the incubators, of course.
I'd be quite interested to hear these.
[4] Check out local police stations
-[4] combine with an electronic search while patroling for wicked witches with megucas
-[1] plan from @Itaywex - "hi i'm clarisse, oriko killed everyone, please respond" message
-[1] plan from @freeRebs - get kyouko to compose a message
(The former is easier for me to write.)
[2] deploy kitty to watch mami's apartment
[2] put tacnet into stealth mode
[1] high power sweep from a local antenna
[2] have Yuuka ask her daddy about the explosion at the school
[1] recolor the chat
Here's a question. Does Simona know that Clarisse is an entity that exists?
I think this proposal would be satisfied with merely a message of "allow these cubes to proliferate."
You'd need some arguments that can convince the incubators, of course.
I'd be quite interested to hear these.
- Pronouns
- Him/He
She didn't see the movie?!
I don't think it's come out yet.
- Location
- In the bull's belly, where it doesn't snow or rain
Well, that's an interesting question that only Hieronym can answer in a way I'd accept as canon, but
given the two latest TTS chapters it sounds like beyond knowing that Clarisse exists, Simona might've had something to do with her existing in the first place XD
On a different note, Yuuka trying to get information from her dad is giving me a Death Note vibe~
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- Location
- Central Standard Time
Electronic sweep means "send pings everywhere and hope for a response" and "hope for a handshake", not hacking.
In addition, I believe that we should not broadcast at high power in the interests of minimizing risk of contact with Simona, and thus Oriko.
Simona will certainly question it, but her only way of getting answers is by contacting us, which is what I'm hoping she would do.
I'm not sure what Simona's motives are, but I doubt she wants Ryouko to die. My plan is to ruin the trust she has towards Oriko and get her to talk to us.
Well, that assumes that Simona is still around and is capable of contacting us, but if she isn't then I'm not all that worried about her acting as a spy for Oriko.
- Location
- Oooooooh emotional roller coaster
I think I need to reply to more things by saying "No Comment."
But before I start, this excerpt from Homura Tamura~ !!!
(Volume 2, IIRC).
Mind the chapter-52 spoilers!
The point of the hypothetical, anyway, is that for quest purposes, we really don't know.
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Trilicon
Talks too much
- Location
- Illinois
Okay! Tomoyo pulled me aside, forced me to admit I wasn't caught up and coerced me into catching up.
I'm just joking this quest is great, keep it up!
Anyway, that said.
[x] Check out local police stations
-[x] combine with an electronic search while patroling for wicked witches with megucas
Apologies if I don't have the voting format right, I'm still working this out. Really looking forward to where this goes!
I'm just joking this quest is great, keep it up!
Anyway, that said.
[x] Check out local police stations
-[x] combine with an electronic search while patroling for wicked witches with megucas
Apologies if I don't have the voting format right, I'm still working this out. Really looking forward to where this goes!
- Location
- The infinite well of fanfics
Having read though and caught up from the start, I would agree with avoiding Simona for now. Finding mami should defnetly be done, though care needs to be taken since we have no idea what she will do given what happened on the roof. Therefore I would say:
[x] Go witch hinting with MGs
[x] Have Yuuka ask about the explosion at school
[x] Conduct an electronic sweep at the same time
-[x] NOT Hijack a nice broadcast antenna for high power coverage
Also, something I noted when reading is we made an assumption about what tech people got from the wish, we didn't actually check properly. Assuming there is a wireless way to get that sort of info(otherwise you need a chair for basic diagnostics and that is just bad design) it might help to know if people have just what Ryouko has (sans tac-comp) or if they have the full suite of stuff for humans (MG usage of human). They don't have a tac-comp so the other stuff will properly differ. Therefore:
[x] AT SOME POINT check what tech people have properly wirelessly OR IF NEEDED emergency mode diagnostics.
[x] Go witch hinting with MGs
[x] Have Yuuka ask about the explosion at school
[x] Conduct an electronic sweep at the same time
-[x] NOT Hijack a nice broadcast antenna for high power coverage
Also, something I noted when reading is we made an assumption about what tech people got from the wish, we didn't actually check properly. Assuming there is a wireless way to get that sort of info(otherwise you need a chair for basic diagnostics and that is just bad design) it might help to know if people have just what Ryouko has (sans tac-comp) or if they have the full suite of stuff for humans (MG usage of human). They don't have a tac-comp so the other stuff will properly differ. Therefore:
[x] AT SOME POINT check what tech people have properly wirelessly OR IF NEEDED emergency mode diagnostics.
- Location
- Central Standard Time
- Location
- Can't read map
Been distracted, so late response:
In TTS there is event where someone tried to clone girls, beside those clones having lower chance for having potential, when incubators finally fulfilled wish for clone... it was one with wish "I wish this hell to end" or something like that. This indirectly caught Earth's ear and they brought guns. incubators have been picky whom they choose.
While there is problem of incubators lack or emotions, in TTS they eventually had help by working MSY psychologist to better learn... this part likely doesn't apply to incubators in this time, but they might have friendly MG with whom to discuss "hypothetical" scenarios to help them understand, as well as prior thousand years of human-incubator interactions. Maybe Mami could have been used as such a person with how Kyubey attached to her?
But he can decide whom to approach and initiate wish process, as well as monitor candidate's present situation in life to guess most likely wish.
In TTS there is event where someone tried to clone girls, beside those clones having lower chance for having potential, when incubators finally fulfilled wish for clone... it was one with wish "I wish this hell to end" or something like that. This indirectly caught Earth's ear and they brought guns. incubators have been picky whom they choose.
While there is problem of incubators lack or emotions, in TTS they eventually had help by working MSY psychologist to better learn... this part likely doesn't apply to incubators in this time, but they might have friendly MG with whom to discuss "hypothetical" scenarios to help them understand, as well as prior thousand years of human-incubator interactions. Maybe Mami could have been used as such a person with how Kyubey attached to her?
..... Tomoyo!!! That might explain some Diabolus ex machinas here!!!I think I need to reply to more things by saying "No Comment."
But before I start, this excerpt from Homura Tamura~ !!!
(Volume 2, IIRC).
I am the batman
- Location
- Oooooooh emotional roller coaster
(Apologies for the delays! We got a late start on consensus on this one, and it's a tricky update!)
… "But anyway, the point is, she's a witch hunting machine, and I'd be checking out the high probability witch spots," Kyouko concludes.
[6] Combined patrol and electronic search, passing near police stations
[1] (+2 -1) High power wide-area broadcasts
You lean back in your seat, contemplating. "We have our own ways to look for Mami," you say, "but employing them as part of a patrol would make a lot of sense. And we have two more girls who can help."
"Four girls hunting for the same witches?" says Kyouko. She shakes her head. "That's a waste."
"Okay, then," you say, "how about two groups? Nanami would be able to use this technique as well, and we can contact one another if there's trouble."
"That makes sense!" says Ryouko. "We should put Homura with Nanami; then both groups will have mobility, firepower, and long range comms."
You nod. "And hopefully that means Homura makes a friend, too."
"What is this special technique, anyway?" asks Kyouko.
You make a face. "I'd prefer not to go into detail, but… it involves the incidental properties of someone else's wish, it wouldn't work on most people, but it would work to find Mami-san."
Kyouko frowns briefly, but then shrugs it off. "All right," she says.
"Why don't we just try to search the entire city at once?" asks Ryouko, beginning to consider the logistics of how to make that happen.
"Because Simona might notice," you note, "and that means Oriko might notice, and I'd prefer that she doesn't notice anything. Not yet, anyway."
"Oh. Of course," replies Ryouko.
"So, if Mami's status is unknown, and Kyouko is just visiting, that leaves Ryouko as the most senior magical girl. That said, Kyouko is the local expert, and might be the toughest. How should we structure the chain of command here?"
Kyouko looks at you like you have two heads. "Chain of command? Is this a thing you guys do?"
"It's combat," you say. "If we're fighting about who's in charge during actual combat, we're dead."
She shakes her head. "Whatever, it just sounds like you're in the army or something."
"Captain, actually," says Ryouko, "not that it means anything here …"
"What." declares Kyouko.
Managing Miss Not-A-Team-Player will require some measure of diplomatics, you fear.
"We're not making an army," you declare, "we just need an understanding for the moment. Everything will change if we find Mami anyway." You take a breath. "So, I'd propose that in group combat, Kyouko sets our tactical priorities, since she'll know what to expect, and Ryouko's responsible for making everything happen." Which should leave Ryouko in charge, but will hopefully keep Kyouko happy too. "Outside of combat, we talk to each other and work on consensus."
"Ehh," says Kyouko. "Sure, whatever. Sounds fine."
"We'll invite the others, then," you say, "and meet up here to introduce each other. While we wait, we can plan patrols."
[2] put tacnet into stealth mode
[1] AT SOME POINT check what tech people have properly
You call up Homura and Nanami, both of whom are happy to join you, and send around a quick settings update, to activate a stealthier mode of operation for your mesh network and to extract a technology inventory. The girls seem to be running a Governance firmware version 2011.04a, release codename "Nanami's Wish," which is informative but unhelpful; inspecting the superficial manifest, it appears to be a civilian package as far as the physical implants and nanites are concerned, but with a custom set of what appear to be unrestricted drivers. From the absence of several modules, you suspect that there is nothing here, for instance, to prevent any of the girls from going into a VR fantasy land forever, performing strange body modifications on herself, or preventing mind-to-mind file transfers.
You should probably discuss this matter with Nanami at some point, but later.
"Ah! There you are!" says Nanami, bounding towards the three of you. "Hello hello!"
Kyouko has gotten bored, and is playing a round on the Dog Drug Reinforcement machine to help take her mind off witches.
Homura-chan is a few steps behind Nanami, approaching nervously.
"Hey again, pigtails," says Kyouko, not turning around. "Looks like your friends found you, huh?"
"Oy. No thanks to you," declares Nanami. "What were you trying to do, anyway? Terrorizing a poor innocent girl."
"Terrorizing!" exclaims Kyouko, launching into a section of difficult footwork. "If she's gonna be terrorized by a little nothing like that, I hate to think what happens when you put her in a labyrinth."
"f-f-… for your information," says Homura, "I've been in multiple labyrinths —"
"Yeah?" says Kyouko. "How many of them as witch-bait?"
"As — h-hey!" she exclaims. "That's…"
"Wow, talk about rude," says Nanami.
"I just call it — uhf — like I see it," says Kyouko, still intent on her score. "Streets out there are tough, not everyone's going to be as understanding and as friendly as I am."
"That — That wasn't friendly at all!" exclaims Homura.
Nanami scowls.
You sigh. You suppose you could ask her to be nice, but she'd probably push back. Maybe instead …
"Come on, Kyouko," you say. "Be serious. You can flirt with them another time."
Kyouko stumbles, and misses a step, ending her 400-step combo streak.
"W-what?!? I'm not …"
"Sure you're not," you declare.
"Reeeeaaaaallllly," says Nanami, raising an eyebrow.
"W-whatever!" says Kyouko, turning her back.
"Getting back to business," you say, "Nakamura Namami, Akemi Homura, meet Sakura Kyouko," you declare. "Nanami enjoys putting holes in things at high velocity. Homura can supply… stealth, and literally infinite speed. Sakura-san enjoys impaling things with her spear, and also cares about food waste and the well being of small black stray kittens."
Kyouko spins back around. "Aha! I knew someone was watching!" she declares.
"I believe her exact words were, quote, Don't abuse cats, I'll kill you if you do," adds Ryouko.
"Well," says Nanami, "it's true that she protected Amy, so she can't be all bad."
"… You named the cat Amy?" says Kyouko.
Homura nod-nod-nods. "Amy's the best cat in the whole world," she says with quiet conviction. "If you — if you helped keep her safe, then I ... I owe you a debt of gratitude." She bows.
"Aw, geez, kiddo," she says, leaning onto the rail and ignoring the screen as her dance game finishes with a mere 74% score. "It wasn't anything special or nothin' like that."
"It is!" exclaims Homura, straightening up. "There's a — There are girls out there who would make a wish with Kyuubey to save her, okay??!?"
"What?" says Kyouko. "Now that's an idiotic —"
"Kyouko." you interrupt, loudly. "Please. I would prevail upon you most strongly to let this matter go. It is deeper than you appreciate."
"Right, no bullying our little Homu," declares Nanami, stepping over to give the girl a showily protective hug. "That's my job."
Homura seems a little surprised.
"Hmmph," remarks Kyouko. "Fine."
"Thank you," you reply, sweetly.
After a few more minutes during which no one tries to kill each other, you seem to have things mostly hashed out, and everyone has a good idea of where they should be going.
"We're playing a numbers game here," you tell Nanami and Homura, "a long one. Risk aversion is the name of the game. If you have a 90% chance to win against a witch, then after seven witches you're more likely to be dead than alive. A 95% chance gets you to about 14 witches. At a 99% chance, and we're still only talking 70 witches or so. So you can take this seriously, and there's no reason you can't live forever, or don't, and you can expect to die before your sixteenth birthday."
Homura swallows, and looks nervous. Nanami seems thoughtful.
"This is one reason why Homura is such a valuable asset," you continue. "She can be a Get Out Of Trouble card. Even if she does nothing most of the time, she is an excellent form of insurance, and when things get rough, she can get us out of there. If Homura is present, your top tactical priority is to preserve her mobility, so that she can preserve everyone else. Beware entangling things, ribbons and vines and the like." Those weren't fun at all.
Nanami nods. "So if we actually find a witch," she says, "we should probably phone it in to you, and then decide what to do from there?"
"Yes," you say. "Also, if you find something that's not a witch."
"Yeah, that's another thing," interrupts Kyouko. "Don't go and try to fight familiars before they turn into full-fledged witches. That's a trap that gets rookies."
"Huh," says Nanami. "I would have thought that it's easier when they're weaker."
"It is. It's also a total waste of magic," says Kyouko. "It's totally unsustainable."
"How about when we've saved up a lot of grief seeds, then?" asks Nanami.
Kyouko sighs, and closes her eyes.
"The king of Egypt had a dream," she recites; "he was standing on the banks of the Nile, when out of the river came seven cows, fat and sleek. And the cows grazed there happily among the reeds." She opens her eyes as she goes on. "Afterwards out of the river came seven skinny cows, all skin and bones, ugly and diseased, with festering wounds and open sores infested by maggots." She leans in towards Nanami with a big grin. "And the seven skinny cows devoured the happy cows, and ate them whole."
Homura stares with wide eyes. Nanami looks confused.
"… holy Genesis, Kyouko," you observe, "I don't recall there being maggot-infested wounds in my copy of that text."
She shrugs, and points to her head. "Goin' off memory here."
"I don't get it," says Nanami, folding her arms.
"After the feast comes the famine?" summarizes Ryouko.
You should be able to look it up, you message her. It's a lot more pedestrian than the Mandatory Session materials, that's for sure.
Oh! You're right! she remarks.
"I understand," says a pliant Homura.
"Fighting familiars is completely unsustainable," declares Kyouko. "Just don't. If you're going into a labyrinth and they're in your way, that's one thing, but if you can save magic by avoiding them, do that instead."
"This is a fine point," you allow, "but I was actually thinking of the event that you run into something else, a new danger: not a witch, not a familiar, not even in a labyrinth. Anything out of the ordinary like that, stay back, do not engage, call the group immediately. If you find you can't call, run until you're clear, and then call. We tackle something like that together, okay?"
You turn to look at Kyouko, who seems surprised at the attention for a moment, then nods and makes a noise. "Mmf."
You decide to take that as an affirmative.
Nanami has your proposed route, your points of interest along the way, and a program to broadcast a Governance handshake with a simple message asking anyone who hears it to respond (and relay the response to you, unless you're offline.) The four of you head out into the night, and she heads off to patrol with Homura.
Kyouko is eager to get moving. She seems somewhat agitated.
"Is something wrong?" asks Ryouko.
Kyouko hesitates, then sighs. "Yeah. Sparkling-eyed rookies who don't know how to take things seriously."
Ryouko shakes her head. "Nanami can take things very seriously," she says. "She's definitely still, uh, still sparkly about everything, but … well, if you call her out on something, she actually responds, and thinks things through. Like, that talk about taking risks, for instance."
"Mmf," grunts Kyouko. "Yeah, and that was a good way to put it, too, I guess."
She thinks on it for a while, and then asks a question.
"Hey, Clarisse, what the heck are you doing hanging around with magical girls, anyway? Why are you out on this patrol?"
You consider what you can tell her without telling additional future secrets.
"I'm mostly here to look out for Ryouko, really," you explain. "It's my job."
"You're also a friend," says Ryouko, smiling.
"Yeah, but what kind of job is that?" Kyouko asks. "Like, who actually employs you?"
"Ah. The military," you say.
"Ahh," says Kyouko. "Right." She walks on a few more moments before continuing. "So, Ryouko is the officer, and you're… some sort of a batman."
"Yes, that's a very good way of putting it," you declare. "I am the batman."
Kyouko smirks.
"What?" you ask.
"Oh, nothing," says Kyouko. "I just thought of something really funny."
You're a little suspicious.
"Hey," says Ryouko. "I think I felt something. It's a little faint."
Kyouko pauses. "You're not wrong," she says.
Fifteen minutes later, you're in a poorly lit alley, strewn with garbage, infested with rats, in what is almost certainly a bad part of town, when Kyouko motions for you to stop, and quickly ducks behind a dumpster. The two of you follow.
Trouble ahead, she sends to Ryouko telepathically.
What kind of trouble? your girl asks.
Nothing magical. Two guys hanging around looking shady. Drug deal or something, Kyouko replies, businesslike, then shifts her tone to complain. Damn it. These are always annoying, because you can't always get to the witch without someone noticing you. Especially in a place like this.
Ah, says Ryouko.
You close your eyes and listen to the radio landscape ahead of you.
Is there a way you can get to the other side of the alley? you ask your girl. If we can get a few meters between us I can do some electronic intelligence.
Your girl acknowledges you internally. Hold on, she sends to Kyouko, doing a thing with Clarisse. In a moment she's found her way to a nook in the wall by some doors.
Perfect. You can trilaterate with this. You make a quick map. Most of the signals are stationary, which helps a lot. You concentrate on the third…
There are two cell phones up ahead, she tells Kyouko, one more approaching from the north, I think. Not moving too fast. The specifics are kinda fuzzy.
… North? asks Kyouko. Which way is north?!?
The alley joins up with a cross-street about 200 meters ahead of us, Ryouko replies. Left. I think. We can probably teleport by after he's passed, or come to meet this guy.
She peeks out from the nook to get a better look. One of the people ahead is lighting some sort of a cigarette, and you catch a glimpse of their faces.
Oof.
Ryouko, you tell your girl, I think that's Nanami's … brother, or stepbrother, or something.
Wait, she replies, really?
You share a still frame from the memory footage you have.
Huh, she thinks.
Kyouko is suddenly angry. Damn it! she cries. I don't think this is even a witch at all. Just a fat familiar. We've been wasting our time.
Oh, Ryouko replies. This isn't quite my specialty, so I'll defer to you here.
Wait, she says. Hold on. It's a real fat familiar, right? So we probably just need to hang around a little longer, until these druggies stab one another or whatever, and it'll be a proper witch.
You're pondering whether to say something about this when the moving contact becomes visible at the end of the alley. Ryouko's enhanced vision can just make him out in the halo of a streetlamp, and it appears that he's wearing a uniform, like some sort of a policeman.
> strategic and tactical advice
[x] Message Nanami to check in
- [ ] Warn her about her wayward brother
[ ] It's the fuzz, beat it!
- [ ] Loudly yell, "It's the fuzz, beat it!" first
[ ] Lurk quietly and watch this go down
- [ ] Fight the witch afterwards
- [ ] Try to protect Nanami's wayward stepbrother if it comes to violence
- [ ] Try to protect the officer of the law if it comes to violence
[ ] Stay hidden, but try to startle them off somehow
[ ] Dial one of the phones to get the police officer's attention
[ ] Try to maneuver around everyone and fight the familiar as a familiar
[ ] Confront the dastardly villains in the name of the Moon.
- [ ] and try to steal any guns for the Homu
… "But anyway, the point is, she's a witch hunting machine, and I'd be checking out the high probability witch spots," Kyouko concludes.
[6] Combined patrol and electronic search, passing near police stations
[1] (+2 -1) High power wide-area broadcasts
You lean back in your seat, contemplating. "We have our own ways to look for Mami," you say, "but employing them as part of a patrol would make a lot of sense. And we have two more girls who can help."
"Four girls hunting for the same witches?" says Kyouko. She shakes her head. "That's a waste."
"Okay, then," you say, "how about two groups? Nanami would be able to use this technique as well, and we can contact one another if there's trouble."
"That makes sense!" says Ryouko. "We should put Homura with Nanami; then both groups will have mobility, firepower, and long range comms."
You nod. "And hopefully that means Homura makes a friend, too."
"What is this special technique, anyway?" asks Kyouko.
You make a face. "I'd prefer not to go into detail, but… it involves the incidental properties of someone else's wish, it wouldn't work on most people, but it would work to find Mami-san."
Kyouko frowns briefly, but then shrugs it off. "All right," she says.
"Why don't we just try to search the entire city at once?" asks Ryouko, beginning to consider the logistics of how to make that happen.
"Because Simona might notice," you note, "and that means Oriko might notice, and I'd prefer that she doesn't notice anything. Not yet, anyway."
"Oh. Of course," replies Ryouko.
"So, if Mami's status is unknown, and Kyouko is just visiting, that leaves Ryouko as the most senior magical girl. That said, Kyouko is the local expert, and might be the toughest. How should we structure the chain of command here?"
Kyouko looks at you like you have two heads. "Chain of command? Is this a thing you guys do?"
"It's combat," you say. "If we're fighting about who's in charge during actual combat, we're dead."
She shakes her head. "Whatever, it just sounds like you're in the army or something."
"Captain, actually," says Ryouko, "not that it means anything here …"
"What." declares Kyouko.
Managing Miss Not-A-Team-Player will require some measure of diplomatics, you fear.
"We're not making an army," you declare, "we just need an understanding for the moment. Everything will change if we find Mami anyway." You take a breath. "So, I'd propose that in group combat, Kyouko sets our tactical priorities, since she'll know what to expect, and Ryouko's responsible for making everything happen." Which should leave Ryouko in charge, but will hopefully keep Kyouko happy too. "Outside of combat, we talk to each other and work on consensus."
"Ehh," says Kyouko. "Sure, whatever. Sounds fine."
"We'll invite the others, then," you say, "and meet up here to introduce each other. While we wait, we can plan patrols."
[2] put tacnet into stealth mode
[1] AT SOME POINT check what tech people have properly
You call up Homura and Nanami, both of whom are happy to join you, and send around a quick settings update, to activate a stealthier mode of operation for your mesh network and to extract a technology inventory. The girls seem to be running a Governance firmware version 2011.04a, release codename "Nanami's Wish," which is informative but unhelpful; inspecting the superficial manifest, it appears to be a civilian package as far as the physical implants and nanites are concerned, but with a custom set of what appear to be unrestricted drivers. From the absence of several modules, you suspect that there is nothing here, for instance, to prevent any of the girls from going into a VR fantasy land forever, performing strange body modifications on herself, or preventing mind-to-mind file transfers.
You should probably discuss this matter with Nanami at some point, but later.
"Ah! There you are!" says Nanami, bounding towards the three of you. "Hello hello!"
Kyouko has gotten bored, and is playing a round on the Dog Drug Reinforcement machine to help take her mind off witches.
Homura-chan is a few steps behind Nanami, approaching nervously.
"Hey again, pigtails," says Kyouko, not turning around. "Looks like your friends found you, huh?"
"Oy. No thanks to you," declares Nanami. "What were you trying to do, anyway? Terrorizing a poor innocent girl."
"Terrorizing!" exclaims Kyouko, launching into a section of difficult footwork. "If she's gonna be terrorized by a little nothing like that, I hate to think what happens when you put her in a labyrinth."
"f-f-… for your information," says Homura, "I've been in multiple labyrinths —"
"Yeah?" says Kyouko. "How many of them as witch-bait?"
"As — h-hey!" she exclaims. "That's…"
"Wow, talk about rude," says Nanami.
"I just call it — uhf — like I see it," says Kyouko, still intent on her score. "Streets out there are tough, not everyone's going to be as understanding and as friendly as I am."
"That — That wasn't friendly at all!" exclaims Homura.
Nanami scowls.
You sigh. You suppose you could ask her to be nice, but she'd probably push back. Maybe instead …
"Come on, Kyouko," you say. "Be serious. You can flirt with them another time."
Kyouko stumbles, and misses a step, ending her 400-step combo streak.
"W-what?!? I'm not …"
"Sure you're not," you declare.
"Reeeeaaaaallllly," says Nanami, raising an eyebrow.
"W-whatever!" says Kyouko, turning her back.
"Getting back to business," you say, "Nakamura Namami, Akemi Homura, meet Sakura Kyouko," you declare. "Nanami enjoys putting holes in things at high velocity. Homura can supply… stealth, and literally infinite speed. Sakura-san enjoys impaling things with her spear, and also cares about food waste and the well being of small black stray kittens."
Kyouko spins back around. "Aha! I knew someone was watching!" she declares.
"I believe her exact words were, quote, Don't abuse cats, I'll kill you if you do," adds Ryouko.
"Well," says Nanami, "it's true that she protected Amy, so she can't be all bad."
"… You named the cat Amy?" says Kyouko.
Homura nod-nod-nods. "Amy's the best cat in the whole world," she says with quiet conviction. "If you — if you helped keep her safe, then I ... I owe you a debt of gratitude." She bows.
"Aw, geez, kiddo," she says, leaning onto the rail and ignoring the screen as her dance game finishes with a mere 74% score. "It wasn't anything special or nothin' like that."
"It is!" exclaims Homura, straightening up. "There's a — There are girls out there who would make a wish with Kyuubey to save her, okay??!?"
"What?" says Kyouko. "Now that's an idiotic —"
"Kyouko." you interrupt, loudly. "Please. I would prevail upon you most strongly to let this matter go. It is deeper than you appreciate."
"Right, no bullying our little Homu," declares Nanami, stepping over to give the girl a showily protective hug. "That's my job."
Homura seems a little surprised.
"Hmmph," remarks Kyouko. "Fine."
"Thank you," you reply, sweetly.
After a few more minutes during which no one tries to kill each other, you seem to have things mostly hashed out, and everyone has a good idea of where they should be going.
"We're playing a numbers game here," you tell Nanami and Homura, "a long one. Risk aversion is the name of the game. If you have a 90% chance to win against a witch, then after seven witches you're more likely to be dead than alive. A 95% chance gets you to about 14 witches. At a 99% chance, and we're still only talking 70 witches or so. So you can take this seriously, and there's no reason you can't live forever, or don't, and you can expect to die before your sixteenth birthday."
Homura swallows, and looks nervous. Nanami seems thoughtful.
"This is one reason why Homura is such a valuable asset," you continue. "She can be a Get Out Of Trouble card. Even if she does nothing most of the time, she is an excellent form of insurance, and when things get rough, she can get us out of there. If Homura is present, your top tactical priority is to preserve her mobility, so that she can preserve everyone else. Beware entangling things, ribbons and vines and the like." Those weren't fun at all.
Nanami nods. "So if we actually find a witch," she says, "we should probably phone it in to you, and then decide what to do from there?"
"Yes," you say. "Also, if you find something that's not a witch."
"Yeah, that's another thing," interrupts Kyouko. "Don't go and try to fight familiars before they turn into full-fledged witches. That's a trap that gets rookies."
"Huh," says Nanami. "I would have thought that it's easier when they're weaker."
"It is. It's also a total waste of magic," says Kyouko. "It's totally unsustainable."
"How about when we've saved up a lot of grief seeds, then?" asks Nanami.
Kyouko sighs, and closes her eyes.
"The king of Egypt had a dream," she recites; "he was standing on the banks of the Nile, when out of the river came seven cows, fat and sleek. And the cows grazed there happily among the reeds." She opens her eyes as she goes on. "Afterwards out of the river came seven skinny cows, all skin and bones, ugly and diseased, with festering wounds and open sores infested by maggots." She leans in towards Nanami with a big grin. "And the seven skinny cows devoured the happy cows, and ate them whole."
Homura stares with wide eyes. Nanami looks confused.
"… holy Genesis, Kyouko," you observe, "I don't recall there being maggot-infested wounds in my copy of that text."
She shrugs, and points to her head. "Goin' off memory here."
"I don't get it," says Nanami, folding her arms.
"After the feast comes the famine?" summarizes Ryouko.
You should be able to look it up, you message her. It's a lot more pedestrian than the Mandatory Session materials, that's for sure.
Oh! You're right! she remarks.
"I understand," says a pliant Homura.
"Fighting familiars is completely unsustainable," declares Kyouko. "Just don't. If you're going into a labyrinth and they're in your way, that's one thing, but if you can save magic by avoiding them, do that instead."
"This is a fine point," you allow, "but I was actually thinking of the event that you run into something else, a new danger: not a witch, not a familiar, not even in a labyrinth. Anything out of the ordinary like that, stay back, do not engage, call the group immediately. If you find you can't call, run until you're clear, and then call. We tackle something like that together, okay?"
You turn to look at Kyouko, who seems surprised at the attention for a moment, then nods and makes a noise. "Mmf."
You decide to take that as an affirmative.
Nanami has your proposed route, your points of interest along the way, and a program to broadcast a Governance handshake with a simple message asking anyone who hears it to respond (and relay the response to you, unless you're offline.) The four of you head out into the night, and she heads off to patrol with Homura.
Kyouko is eager to get moving. She seems somewhat agitated.
"Is something wrong?" asks Ryouko.
Kyouko hesitates, then sighs. "Yeah. Sparkling-eyed rookies who don't know how to take things seriously."
Ryouko shakes her head. "Nanami can take things very seriously," she says. "She's definitely still, uh, still sparkly about everything, but … well, if you call her out on something, she actually responds, and thinks things through. Like, that talk about taking risks, for instance."
"Mmf," grunts Kyouko. "Yeah, and that was a good way to put it, too, I guess."
She thinks on it for a while, and then asks a question.
"Hey, Clarisse, what the heck are you doing hanging around with magical girls, anyway? Why are you out on this patrol?"
You consider what you can tell her without telling additional future secrets.
"I'm mostly here to look out for Ryouko, really," you explain. "It's my job."
"You're also a friend," says Ryouko, smiling.
"Yeah, but what kind of job is that?" Kyouko asks. "Like, who actually employs you?"
"Ah. The military," you say.
"Ahh," says Kyouko. "Right." She walks on a few more moments before continuing. "So, Ryouko is the officer, and you're… some sort of a batman."
"Yes, that's a very good way of putting it," you declare. "I am the batman."
Kyouko smirks.
"What?" you ask.
"Oh, nothing," says Kyouko. "I just thought of something really funny."
You're a little suspicious.
"Hey," says Ryouko. "I think I felt something. It's a little faint."
Kyouko pauses. "You're not wrong," she says.
Fifteen minutes later, you're in a poorly lit alley, strewn with garbage, infested with rats, in what is almost certainly a bad part of town, when Kyouko motions for you to stop, and quickly ducks behind a dumpster. The two of you follow.
Trouble ahead, she sends to Ryouko telepathically.
What kind of trouble? your girl asks.
Nothing magical. Two guys hanging around looking shady. Drug deal or something, Kyouko replies, businesslike, then shifts her tone to complain. Damn it. These are always annoying, because you can't always get to the witch without someone noticing you. Especially in a place like this.
Ah, says Ryouko.
You close your eyes and listen to the radio landscape ahead of you.
Is there a way you can get to the other side of the alley? you ask your girl. If we can get a few meters between us I can do some electronic intelligence.
Your girl acknowledges you internally. Hold on, she sends to Kyouko, doing a thing with Clarisse. In a moment she's found her way to a nook in the wall by some doors.
Perfect. You can trilaterate with this. You make a quick map. Most of the signals are stationary, which helps a lot. You concentrate on the third…
There are two cell phones up ahead, she tells Kyouko, one more approaching from the north, I think. Not moving too fast. The specifics are kinda fuzzy.
… North? asks Kyouko. Which way is north?!?
The alley joins up with a cross-street about 200 meters ahead of us, Ryouko replies. Left. I think. We can probably teleport by after he's passed, or come to meet this guy.
She peeks out from the nook to get a better look. One of the people ahead is lighting some sort of a cigarette, and you catch a glimpse of their faces.
Oof.
Ryouko, you tell your girl, I think that's Nanami's … brother, or stepbrother, or something.
Wait, she replies, really?
You share a still frame from the memory footage you have.
Huh, she thinks.
Kyouko is suddenly angry. Damn it! she cries. I don't think this is even a witch at all. Just a fat familiar. We've been wasting our time.
Oh, Ryouko replies. This isn't quite my specialty, so I'll defer to you here.
Wait, she says. Hold on. It's a real fat familiar, right? So we probably just need to hang around a little longer, until these druggies stab one another or whatever, and it'll be a proper witch.
You're pondering whether to say something about this when the moving contact becomes visible at the end of the alley. Ryouko's enhanced vision can just make him out in the halo of a streetlamp, and it appears that he's wearing a uniform, like some sort of a policeman.
> strategic and tactical advice
[x] Message Nanami to check in
- [ ] Warn her about her wayward brother
[ ] It's the fuzz, beat it!
- [ ] Loudly yell, "It's the fuzz, beat it!" first
[ ] Lurk quietly and watch this go down
- [ ] Fight the witch afterwards
- [ ] Try to protect Nanami's wayward stepbrother if it comes to violence
- [ ] Try to protect the officer of the law if it comes to violence
[ ] Stay hidden, but try to startle them off somehow
[ ] Dial one of the phones to get the police officer's attention
[ ] Try to maneuver around everyone and fight the familiar as a familiar
[ ] Confront the dastardly villains in the name of the Moon.
- [ ] and try to steal any guns for the Homu
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- Pronouns
- Him/He
While Ryouko could be talked around to 'ignore familars because everything is fucked' I think protecting family of the *proto-conspiracy* is kinda important. Lets scatter these people, or at least chase off the familar.
Or we could just watch and see the cop come up and start a drug deal with these people.
Or we could just watch and see the cop come up and start a drug deal with these people.
- Location
- Central Standard Time
Tsun/Flustered!Kyouko is precious.
Also: Whee. Ethics. Fortunately, this is a clearer case, because relative.
(Adopting convention [T] = Temporary; full vote with [X] will be properly posted at the end of the post)
First, let's inform Nanami.
[T] Message Nanami to check in
-[T] Warn her about her wayward brother
-[T] Request ROE parameters
--[T] Default to "Intervene if and only in the case of imminent, permanent harm"
Governance doctrine is maximum information.
[T] Telepathically inform Kyouko plan, and reasoning behind decisions (via Ryouko)
Do we still have a gun? If so:
[T] Stay hidden, but try to startle them off somehow
-[T] A gunshot will do the trick.
Thus, a final vote:
[T] Message Nanami to check in
-[T] Warn her about her wayward brother
-[T] Request ROE parameters
--[T] Default to "Intervene if and only in the case of imminent, permanent harm"
[T] Telepathically inform Kyouko plan, and reasoning behind decisions (via Ryouko)
[T] Stay hidden, but try to startle them off somehow
-[T] A gunshot will do the trick.
E:
By word of QM, we do not have Beatrice.
Current discussion is around a call or radio.
Also: Whee. Ethics. Fortunately, this is a clearer case, because relative.
(Adopting convention [T] = Temporary; full vote with [X] will be properly posted at the end of the post)
First, let's inform Nanami.
[T] Message Nanami to check in
-[T] Warn her about her wayward brother
-[T] Request ROE parameters
--[T] Default to "Intervene if and only in the case of imminent, permanent harm"
Governance doctrine is maximum information.
[T] Telepathically inform Kyouko plan, and reasoning behind decisions (via Ryouko)
Do we still have a gun? If so:
[T] Stay hidden, but try to startle them off somehow
-[T] A gunshot will do the trick.
Thus, a final vote:
[T] Message Nanami to check in
-[T] Warn her about her wayward brother
-[T] Request ROE parameters
--[T] Default to "Intervene if and only in the case of imminent, permanent harm"
[T] Telepathically inform Kyouko plan, and reasoning behind decisions (via Ryouko)
[T] Stay hidden, but try to startle them off somehow
E:
By word of QM, we do not have Beatrice.
Current discussion is around a call or radio.
- Location
- Oooooooh emotional roller coaster
Unfortunately, Beato cannot manifest more than about 100m away from Nanami, at least not for extended periods of time.
No comment.
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75% Certain
25% horse thief
It's worth mentioning that we know that cops are investigating our little group; how much do you want to bet that they're here to ask about Nanami and don't give a damn about drugs?
75% Certain
25% horse thief
Wait shit is Nanami's brother Touga
- Location
- Oooooooh emotional roller coaster
Your friend is not Kiryuu Nanami. Her brother (or stepbrother) is not a buff redhead.
In an alley after dark in a bad part of town? An interesting proposition. What does it say about the nature of the investigation if so?
You can assume Ryouko has access to these data. Unfortunately Kyouko is not able to receive this class of transmission. Nanami could, but it'd be quite a test of her accuracy to hit such a target from wherever she is. Especially in an alleyway with buildings on either side. Did you want those to remain standing?
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- Location
- The infinite well of fanfics
Going to just need to clarify this since I'm a little confused, so people CAN use VR as they wish, perform various changes to themselfs and do direct file transfers?
Looks like a long term goal if we can't get back to the future to get tac-comps onto people early, though we will need to update them to be properly secure since the TCF is known to be broken.
In terms of what to do now, Nanami needs to be told whats going on now in case something goes badly wrong the blow might be able to be softened. We also have to remember that we are in the days when magic was a carefully guarded secret. Given that our options are going to be to either do nothing and let all this play out or to try and cause a spook and have them all leave. The second option needs to be limited in what we do since we would need to preserve our energy if there is a chance we will end up without a new seed. The other problem is the cop, if we do anything the cop might take an interest in us and while we could teleport to the roof, we don't want them to come looking for us later. Given that I'm leaning towards waiting it out and getting the witch afterwards.
75% Certain
25% horse thief
While the Utena crossover talk is an obvious joke, your penchant towards noir-inspired police writing is pretty well established, especially since you're drawing inspiration on multiple vectors from your Hitomi fic. It's not a slam-dunk 'gotcha' kind of observation, but I do think that we can expect the investigation to hone in on some of our compromising loose threads with a directness that will take us off-guard at some point. Maybe not now, but the threat/challenge your cops pose is not an idle one.