I thought Bloodfiend still consider human because if they aren't human, they already got banished into the Outskirts by the Head like Angela and other sapient.
Conference Call: Redhead Redemption
- Thread starter breakingamber
- Start date
- Crossover
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/They
Good shit. Very good.
I'm a little curious what the moderator's up to myself, now.
I'm a little curious what the moderator's up to myself, now.
LunaMoth
Wings of Kynareth is my comfort song...
- Pronouns
- He/They
You know I don't think a single conference call fic has ever really delved too deep into the actual reasoning behind the premise.
It's some sort of SCP higher and lower realities type thing obviously.
I think the moderators are some sort of Q-esque species.
Non of the fics have yet to enable the blur feature and each mod has different goals, I think each is trying to create their own domain to rule over stitched together from the mangling of several universes, and the blur feature is the fastest way to do that; yet since we only see heroically inclined moderators its always disabled (or maybe the blur feature only works on universe that are already compatible like two franchise's that take place on different planets with different species inhabiting the planets makes it easy to use the blur feature because there aren't any contradictions and they can be easily merged into a single setting that makes sense.
Its been a while since I read the original fic though...
I think the moderators are some sort of Q-esque species.
Non of the fics have yet to enable the blur feature and each mod has different goals, I think each is trying to create their own domain to rule over stitched together from the mangling of several universes, and the blur feature is the fastest way to do that; yet since we only see heroically inclined moderators its always disabled (or maybe the blur feature only works on universe that are already compatible like two franchise's that take place on different planets with different species inhabiting the planets makes it easy to use the blur feature because there aren't any contradictions and they can be easily merged into a single setting that makes sense.
Its been a while since I read the original fic though...
from what I understand from Elena's Dialogue they are not regarded as human by other people, thinking back on it there was no mention of how or if the Head dealt with Bloodfiends. So I guess my head just made something up
ziizo
Lazily Lurking
Bloodfiends, like Distortions, Abnormalities and Sweepers are considered human by the Head.
What you have to remenber about Elena is that she is an insane sociopath trying to fish for sympathy.
In canon other Bloodfiends hate her because she managed to singlehandlely ruin their reputation. Due to her they went from playing to be noblity to needing to hide they are Bloodfiends.
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Thanks, you are completely correct! I misremembered Pyrrha's speech there. Fixed.
Also...
Chapter 2: The Relic command was set to try and connect to Pyrrha's Realm even though the connection to it had technically not been established yet.
Chapter 3: I forgot on one occasion to put ASGORE's name in all caps. This is relevant, probably.
Pyrrha had her Aura up.
I ended last Friday's chapter early. Looking at my dubious planning document, I'd originally intended to get through a bit more exposition and explanation, which would have ballooned the word count out to, like, 7k. Probably would've gone over both the City and Remnant in that. Seems as if I completely forgot. Unfortunately, it looks like that's caught up with me, since I now needed to do a frustratingly long chapter with way less Node exposition than I'd prefer to make up for it. And I'm still not caught up to where I want to be in my outline. Stuff keeps hitting the cutting room floor and delayed for later. Some of this shit might not even make it into the fic at this point.
Griping aside, now we can have our Node horror interlude! Aka, I ramble about Node horror for a couple of paragraphs and you either sit there and listen or flat-out ignore it, depending on how much you guys care about author alerts.
There's a number of fairly horrifying ways in which one could choose to interpret Node fics.
The Node Moderator's stated goal is to build a more coherent multiverse by making all universes more alike. In a sense, this means that they want to increase the rate of entropy, by reducing differences between universes, including differences in energy levels. This is fairly relevant to at least two to three of the bigshot pseudo-gods in the universes used here. At least, by my reading of things.
Speaking of. The Node Moderator themself. They're traditionally a somewhat personable sounding board and enabler for Node shenanigans, implied to not be human, with the goal to make universes more similar. They don't have to be. Or, rather, there can be more to them than that. If you assume them to be driven only by their goal to increase multiverse coherency, if the Node participants refuse or take too long… well, the Mod has a direct pipeline into everyone's head. They're the only one that knows what's going on. The potential power imbalance…it scares me, that's for sure.
Big-picture implications aside though, the very existence of the Blur Core has the potential for peak horror. This is actually something I might touch on in this fic, now that I think about it, so I'll keep mum for now.
Ultimately, I don't think there's really enough Node fics for a 'Node deconstruction' to be necessary or popular. That said, if it's at all intriguing to y'all, feel free to show me I'm wrong. Kick the genre off with a bang, with your eldritch horror Moderator and your increasingly homogeneous Nodemate hivemind, as vibrant multiverses slowly congeal into muddy shades of gray. Show this amateur hack how it's done.
- Location
- Netherlands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I understand the sentiment of not wanting everything to be a deconstruction that tries to "puncture the fantasy" so to speak, but I think that was already understood:
I read breakingamber's post as "i'm curious to see a Nodefic that takes a more deconstructive route", which isn't the same thing as wanting Nodefics to be deconstructed as a whole. One deconstructive story existing doesn't have to invalidate the non-deconstructive stories, and it's entirely possible to appreciate both.
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Sure, if you go and generalize entropy like that it sounds bad. But entropy is only bad because it means things run out, someday. That isn't a problem when the thing you're importing is the meta-rules that define or get rid of entropy. Like, unless you go and do the "rational fic" thing and make it so that actually, aura is fake, doesn't draw on the soul, and it's drawing on the user's metabolic energy or some such nonsense like that, slapping a bunch of additional metaphysical nonsense onto other worlds does not increase the rate of thermodynamic entropy.
There might be some philosophical objection to making worlds more similar, but it's not really related to the entropy that the Entities or Incubators care about.
Shadow Archon
Protoss Preserver
- Location
- Louisiana
I mean, the moment a Node connects to someone in the TTGL-verse, Culture-verse, or Doctor Who, boom, entropy solved.
The Grid, the Eye of Harmony, literally just creating more mass and energy out of sheer will, etc. means that entropy is just not that big of a deal anymore.
The Grid, the Eye of Harmony, literally just creating more mass and energy out of sheer will, etc. means that entropy is just not that big of a deal anymore.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
There's an argument to be made that increasing multiversal coherency is a net good for the universes involved. They can get access to new forms of magic, science, and more esoteric stuff that would give the civilizations in those universes more options for things they can use to improve their lives. I'm sure if you asked the moderators they would use this argument.
There's also an argument to be made that certain universes getting mixed in is extremely dangerous, and that introducing new frikken laws of physics to stable worlds could play absolute havoc on the worlds in question before societies eventually adjust - assuming said societies survive. Under this interpretation the moderators range from reckless fools to brutal "greater good" types that are willing to allow entire civilizations to get ravaged in the name of some nebulous better future.
Given that the original, Great Node was split because of ideological differences, it's entirely possible that all of the above is true simultaneously - I'd say it's even likely. That's the wonderful thing about conference call - the original premise and lore allows an incredibly large number of variations in how things can play out. The node is a versatile tool.
There's also an argument to be made that certain universes getting mixed in is extremely dangerous, and that introducing new frikken laws of physics to stable worlds could play absolute havoc on the worlds in question before societies eventually adjust - assuming said societies survive. Under this interpretation the moderators range from reckless fools to brutal "greater good" types that are willing to allow entire civilizations to get ravaged in the name of some nebulous better future.
Given that the original, Great Node was split because of ideological differences, it's entirely possible that all of the above is true simultaneously - I'd say it's even likely. That's the wonderful thing about conference call - the original premise and lore allows an incredibly large number of variations in how things can play out. The node is a versatile tool.
I'm not sure how much this really matters when multiple universes involved can casually violate conservation of energy. Like, Kyubey worries about entropy, but only in the sense that he needs to have enough little girls making energy-reversing wishes to keep up with it. If there were other universes with easier sources of power, he'd probably go with that instead.
Also, I don't see why coherence between universes requires reducing energy differences. A waterfall is not "less coherent" than a lake, even though it has more readily available energy.
LunaMoth
Wings of Kynareth is my comfort song...
- Pronouns
- He/They
In my earlier comment:
It was just kind of me talking about my head canon for node fic mostly. I'm thinking of writing one eventually, but I have college and my other writing projects competing for my writing time right now.
In any case I wasn't really talking about a de-construction in the above quote, it was just since technically every node fic is in the same setting, me expressing my interest in what exactly the moderators are and some other things about the node fic setting.
My head-canon is pretty much just this:
blur forces multiple universes into one, but things go wrong if the universes aren't already similar, and its energy intensive. I'm thinking you could for example... uh blur the freedom planet verse with the backpack hero verse with ease because they can be justified as happing on like two sperate planets. (coincidently two of the settings I plan to include into my own Conference Call if I ever decide to write one).
The moderators are like borg-esque entities each a hive mind and like gods the way star trek usually portrays gods, with the goal of basically becoming the gods of lower realties or something IDK.
Really I don't quite get why I'm so invested in conference call stuff, but I think its a neat way to cross-over works.
I have a few different thoughts about the moderators. The first consideration is simply that I have always felt moderators in Node stories are idiots to facilitate the plot. Why wasn't there an option to decline joining the node? "I didn't think of adding one" How do we increase multiverse coherency if the nodes used to do it are locked? "I don't know even though that's my job" How are you going to select people to increase multiverse stability "At random based on hair color". (These come from different stories)
If this omnipotent/omniscient higher dimensional cabal of moderators wants to weld all of existences together, they should act far more like the Infinite Loops hub of gods where they are all a highly competent group of higher dimensional beings with ultimate power over reality, but they can't actually effect every reality at once so they have to delegate to the people in those realities. (Also highly competent doesn't mean immune to universe destroying mistakes) Instead the moderators just kind of flail around from the readers viewpoint in order to not have an all powerful character dominate the story.
On a completely different track, their goal doesn't make a ton of sense. Although admittedly no fic has gotten far enough to address how the coherency idea plays out, with the original being the closest starting to introduce blending Chakra and Mana when it died. If they want to bring say FMA and HP together, how does that work? FMA has a very hard power system where everything has to be paid for and balanced exactly according to the law of equivalent exchange. HP (canon no magic core version) has no cost for how magic works, just skill and power limits. There isn't a middle ground to make them more "alike" each other to increase coherency.
Finally, there is always the power scaling argument. Sure to these mere 3 dimensional being they can do whatever, but what about 12 dimensional super threats, beings in inaccessible cardinals from things like comics, fictional infinite layers of super special bigatons? At some point in the fictional omniverse they are probably going to run across something which will poke them back.
If this omnipotent/omniscient higher dimensional cabal of moderators wants to weld all of existences together, they should act far more like the Infinite Loops hub of gods where they are all a highly competent group of higher dimensional beings with ultimate power over reality, but they can't actually effect every reality at once so they have to delegate to the people in those realities. (Also highly competent doesn't mean immune to universe destroying mistakes) Instead the moderators just kind of flail around from the readers viewpoint in order to not have an all powerful character dominate the story.
On a completely different track, their goal doesn't make a ton of sense. Although admittedly no fic has gotten far enough to address how the coherency idea plays out, with the original being the closest starting to introduce blending Chakra and Mana when it died. If they want to bring say FMA and HP together, how does that work? FMA has a very hard power system where everything has to be paid for and balanced exactly according to the law of equivalent exchange. HP (canon no magic core version) has no cost for how magic works, just skill and power limits. There isn't a middle ground to make them more "alike" each other to increase coherency.
Finally, there is always the power scaling argument. Sure to these mere 3 dimensional being they can do whatever, but what about 12 dimensional super threats, beings in inaccessible cardinals from things like comics, fictional infinite layers of super special bigatons? At some point in the fictional omniverse they are probably going to run across something which will poke them back.
Chapter 7: Burning the Candle
Chapter 7: Burning the Candle
test: i see ur havin a hard time with kyoko
test: sorry.
ModScarlet: It is somewhat frustrating.
ModScarlet: You think it'd be easy to get the cooperation of my users since I'm offering them superpowers.
ModScarlet: But noooo. My Node is dysfunctional and couldn't get along if you paid them.
ModScarlet: And now they're trying to weasel concessions out of me?
ModScarlet: "Exceptional" apparently means "exceptionally annoying!"
test: sorry again.
test: if it helps im interested in powers.
test: but i think i have nothing to offer.
test: u said that basic laws of physics shit isnt exceptional.
test: not exotic
test: dont think plain ol electricity counts.
ModScarlet: Have you considered talking in the Node, yet?
ModScarlet: You seem reasonable, for the most part.
ModScarlet: Perhaps you could act as a moderating influence?
test: uh
test: isnt that literally ur job?
ModScarlet: Clearly, I'm not very good at it.
ModScarlet: Could you give the matter some thought?
test: …idk yet.
test: can i just give u some advice instead?
ModScarlet: Sure. I'll take anything, here.
test: u shld b more assertive.
test: u 2nd guess urself a lot.
test: & ovreact when u make mistakes.
test: stop it.
test: people notice when u dont have confidence.
test: so people wont have confidence in u either.
test: if u want kyoko & undyne & pyrrha to listen to u
test: u shld try to b some1 worth listening 2
test: like dont go overboard?
test: but mean what u say.
test: use "…" less
test: & dont fold when u fuck up
test: u have more power than u think here.
test: use it wisely.
ModScarlet: Huh.
ModScarlet: That is well-reasoned.
ModScarlet: And it certainly sounds like you have experience!
ModScarlet: I think I'll try that!
ModScarlet: Thank you, test.
ModScarlet: Though, you didn't mention Yuri?
test: she alrdy listens to u.
test: prbably
test: i think shes scared of u.
ModScarlet: Huh.
ModScarlet: Also, I assume that test is not your actual name?
test: lol
test: ya
test: im emma.
ModScarlet: Then thank you, Emma.
test: sorry.
ModScarlet: It is somewhat frustrating.
ModScarlet: You think it'd be easy to get the cooperation of my users since I'm offering them superpowers.
ModScarlet: But noooo. My Node is dysfunctional and couldn't get along if you paid them.
ModScarlet: And now they're trying to weasel concessions out of me?
ModScarlet: "Exceptional" apparently means "exceptionally annoying!"
test: sorry again.
test: if it helps im interested in powers.
test: but i think i have nothing to offer.
test: u said that basic laws of physics shit isnt exceptional.
test: not exotic
test: dont think plain ol electricity counts.
ModScarlet: Have you considered talking in the Node, yet?
ModScarlet: You seem reasonable, for the most part.
ModScarlet: Perhaps you could act as a moderating influence?
test: uh
test: isnt that literally ur job?
ModScarlet: Clearly, I'm not very good at it.
ModScarlet: Could you give the matter some thought?
test: …idk yet.
test: can i just give u some advice instead?
ModScarlet: Sure. I'll take anything, here.
test: u shld b more assertive.
test: u 2nd guess urself a lot.
test: & ovreact when u make mistakes.
test: stop it.
test: people notice when u dont have confidence.
test: so people wont have confidence in u either.
test: if u want kyoko & undyne & pyrrha to listen to u
test: u shld try to b some1 worth listening 2
test: like dont go overboard?
test: but mean what u say.
test: use "…" less
test: & dont fold when u fuck up
test: u have more power than u think here.
test: use it wisely.
ModScarlet: Huh.
ModScarlet: That is well-reasoned.
ModScarlet: And it certainly sounds like you have experience!
ModScarlet: I think I'll try that!
ModScarlet: Thank you, test.
ModScarlet: Though, you didn't mention Yuri?
test: she alrdy listens to u.
test: prbably
test: i think shes scared of u.
ModScarlet: Huh.
ModScarlet: Also, I assume that test is not your actual name?
test: lol
test: ya
test: im emma.
ModScarlet: Then thank you, Emma.
"Hey! Pyrrha!"
Pyrrha glanced down from her position atop the Beacon dorm's roof, hearing her name called by a familiar voice.
Even from this great height, the mane of blonde hair was unmistakable. That shade of brilliant yellow was something of a rarity on Remnant. Coupled with its immense, flowing volume and also the fact that she was shouting at her from ground level, there was no confusing Yang Xiao Long for anyone else.
Standing beside her, looking slightly less excited, was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company: Weiss Schnee. Though, perhaps it was unfair to designate her purely as such. It was not as if Pyrrha enjoyed being constantly identified as the Invincible Girl after all! If she were instead to describe her character, she would call Weiss prickly. Easily riled up, and quick to judge. But at the heart of it all, she cared. She cared for her team, about upholding her own high expectations and family legacy. For the people she fought to protect, and the skill that allowed her to do so.
It was not as if Pyrrha herself had not exhibited some of those negative traits. When they had first met, Weiss had attempted to partner with her. She had not done a good job disguising her naked desire. Pyrrha had assumed that the heiress was planning on riding on her coattails, so to speak (she didn't wear a coat), and had actively avoided her as politely as possible. In hindsight, while there was undoubtedly some element of that—Weiss Schnee was an opportunistic, pragmatic person—there were also genuine common elements between them. Both had been held apart from the masses by a pedestal, that invisible barrier of perceived superiority. Both possessed great skill at combat, a fact that had frankly surprised Pyrrha to see. And both had been quite lonely, when first entering Beacon.
Pyrrha was glad that she had not rebuffed Weiss more forcefully on their first meeting. It would have been a shame to lose such a good friend over a poor first impression.
"Hello again!" she shouted down, only half-paying attention to the Node now, Undyne and Yuri's speculation on her teammates.
"Whatcha doing up there? You rushed out of the cafeteria so quickly!" Yang shouted.
"I am," Pyrrha started, before realizing that she didn't have a ready reason to provide. 'I wanted to send people from a different dimension a snapshot impression of Vale' would… probably require some additional explanation. And she didn't really want to go through that right now! She needed to come up with a plausible excuse that dispelled suspicion.
Pyrrha, floundering, glanced around at Beacon's campus. Her eyes locked onto the only building taller than the dorm roof, which gave her the idea she needed.
"I wanted better CCTS reception," she announced proudly, holding up the Scroll in her hands.
Beacon Academy's central tower served many purposes. It stood above all of Vale, serving as a symbol of inspiration and awe for all of its citizens. It contained Professor Ozpin's office, a spot at the very top where he could survey his school, do paperwork, and sip his cocoa (presumably). It was a landmark (a beacon if you would) for lost travelers. And arguably most importantly, it was one of the four pillars upon which the Cross-Continental Transmit System was built.
The CCTS facilitated global communications for all peoples of Remnant. So long as one held a Scroll and the four CCT Towers stood, one could speak with a loved one, a coworker… anybody at all, anywhere at all. One tower resided in each Kingdom, and if any of them were to fall, Pyrrha was certain that the world would be plunged into a new era of chaos, of darkness. A time of false information and frightened searching for lights in the blacked-out sky.
Yes. It would be a simple fact to state that the CCTS was fundamental to society as they knew it. It was the reason that the Towers were so strategically guarded, sectioned in the middle of the Huntsmen Academies. It would take an army, led and composed of pure evils who wanted for the downfall of not just Vale, but the entire world, to bring a tower down.
All of this to say: the transmitter and receiver at Beacon Academy was at the top of the tower. It made perfect sense to climb to a height if one wanted a better connection. It was genius.
…Judging by Weiss's baffled expression, it seemed as if not everybody present agreed with Pyrrha's deductive reasoning.
"Are you sending a large file? The reception is just fine down here!" the white-haired girl shouted.
Oh no. A hole in her ruse.
"Maybe?" Pyrrha tried.
It only now occurred to her that she could have said 'I wanted to send a picture of Vale to a friend in Mistral.' That wasn't too far from the truth, and wouldn't raise any questions. In her defense, though, she wasn't especially good at. Lying. Honesty was the best policy, wasn't it?
"What do you mean, 'maybe'? That's—" Weiss let out a long-suffering sigh. "This is ridiculous. Get down here. I don't want to keep shouting up at you."
Ah, that was reasonable. Pyrrha's voice carried, but she too would prefer not to wear it out unnecessarily. She put her Scroll in her pocket and went to meet Weiss and Yang the same way she had initially gotten up here.
Thud.
"Nice landing," Yang commented. "Could've done without the dust in my hair, though."
Pyrrha straightened and put her hands over her mouth, mortified. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She'd simply wanted to get down quickly!
Yang laughed it off, thankfully, shaking some of the aforementioned dust loose. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, Weissy and I were going to finalize some stuff for the dance this weekend. Just figured we'd say hi."
Weiss interjected, "Speaking of the dance…"
An accusatory finger, pointed straight at Pyrrha's heart. It jumped.
"Do something about your lout of a partner! He won't stop propositioning me to go to the dance with him! I've been quite polite in rebuffing him so far, but Jaune is starting to try my patience!"
It was true, Pyrrha couldn't help but think. Jaune had been… quite persistent, in his attempts to woo her. In some ways, she could admire his determination. He'd spent nearly the entire semester attempting to win her affection, despite her complete and utter non-interest. Negative interest, borderline antipathy. Truly, the ice queen was cold.
A more present part of her wished that he would look at Pyrrha with that degree of absurd fervor. Was Jaune just into poliosis?
Weiss concluded, as Pyrrha thought the matter over, "If he asks me again, I'm sending him through the nearest window."
"Please don't. Though, I'll see what I can do," Pyrrha affirmed, offering a slight smile.
"Welp," Yang said. "We should be on our way now. Nice catching up with you, Pyrrha!"
That, too, reminded Pyrrha that she had an appointment to keep. She'd promised to study with Nora for Professor Peach's Dust Studies exam. While her teammate was quite skilled in mixing Dust out of what seemed like natural talent—she built her own grenades from scratch!—her ability to exhibit that skill and practice on paper, the mathematical requirements to know exact Dust ratios and identify more esoteric types, needed some work.
Looking at the time, she really did need to be going. Pyrrha bade farewell to Yang and Weiss, and returned her attention to the Node as she walked towards the library, where it seemed that Scarlet had an announcement to make.
Kyoko: I dunno. He's got a certain kind of charm to him, but
Kyoko: Pretty-boys just aren't my thing.
Yuri: I can't believe this is the discussion we're having.
Yuri: Pyrrha's classmates are all too young to…
Yuri: …Be doing much of anything, now that I think of it.
Undyne: They seem like adults to me.
Undyne: None of them are wearing striped shirts!
Yuri: …What.
ModScarlet: Hi!
ModScarlet: Hate to interrupt.
ModScarlet: But following up on yesterday's discussion…
ModScarlet: I'm finally tentatively willing to give you some Core access.
ModScarlet: The Relic Core is the most difficult to weaponize, and also the most directly relevant for our purposes here.
Pyrrha: Scarlet, I believe we may have put the conflict between Kyoko and Undyne to bed.
Pyrrha: The whole issue involved a misunderstanding regarding the Summoning Core.
Pyrrha: Which I presume you could have prevented, if you'd elaborated.
Pyrrha: So would it be alright if you considered being more lenient?
ModScarlet: …I saw.
ModScarlet: I'm guessing there still might be some lingering enmity.
ModScarlet: I don't want to stir that up, so I'm being cautious.
ModScarlet: That said, I'm taking it under consideration.
ModScarlet: We'll see if you girls can control yourselves for a little while longer.
Undyne: I think I liked you better when you were being useless and cagey.
Undyne: As opposed to veiling insults at us every chance you get.
ModScarlet: Welp. Here goes!
ModScarlet: /admin relic enable
Relic Core enabled.
Kyoko: Yay.
ModScarlet: Yay!
ModScarlet: Now. Kyoko. Is that "Grief Seed" still available for analysis?
Kyoko: I've got one, yeah.
Kyoko: It's a different one, but they're mostly the same as far as I can tell.
ModScarlet: How large is it?
Kyoko: It's a sphere with pointy things on either end, about 8 cm in length.
ModScarlet: Oh. Hm.
ModScarlet: Let me check on some diagnostics real quick.
Kyoko: Pretty-boys just aren't my thing.
Yuri: I can't believe this is the discussion we're having.
Yuri: Pyrrha's classmates are all too young to…
Yuri: …Be doing much of anything, now that I think of it.
Undyne: They seem like adults to me.
Undyne: None of them are wearing striped shirts!
Yuri: …What.
ModScarlet: Hi!
ModScarlet: Hate to interrupt.
ModScarlet: But following up on yesterday's discussion…
ModScarlet: I'm finally tentatively willing to give you some Core access.
ModScarlet: The Relic Core is the most difficult to weaponize, and also the most directly relevant for our purposes here.
Pyrrha: Scarlet, I believe we may have put the conflict between Kyoko and Undyne to bed.
Pyrrha: The whole issue involved a misunderstanding regarding the Summoning Core.
Pyrrha: Which I presume you could have prevented, if you'd elaborated.
Pyrrha: So would it be alright if you considered being more lenient?
ModScarlet: …I saw.
ModScarlet: I'm guessing there still might be some lingering enmity.
ModScarlet: I don't want to stir that up, so I'm being cautious.
ModScarlet: That said, I'm taking it under consideration.
ModScarlet: We'll see if you girls can control yourselves for a little while longer.
Undyne: I think I liked you better when you were being useless and cagey.
Undyne: As opposed to veiling insults at us every chance you get.
ModScarlet: Welp. Here goes!
ModScarlet: /admin relic enable
Relic Core enabled.
Kyoko: Yay.
ModScarlet: Yay!
ModScarlet: Now. Kyoko. Is that "Grief Seed" still available for analysis?
Kyoko: I've got one, yeah.
Kyoko: It's a different one, but they're mostly the same as far as I can tell.
ModScarlet: How large is it?
Kyoko: It's a sphere with pointy things on either end, about 8 cm in length.
ModScarlet: Oh. Hm.
ModScarlet: Let me check on some diagnostics real quick.
"Hey! Pyrrha! Over here!"
Nora's voice filled the library, much to the consternation of the other students studying there. Her table, across the library, was covered in books, food, and Dust. Pyrrha hurried to her classmate's side in the hopes that she'd quiet down. It worked, thankfully. As soon as she sat down, Nora's voice shrank to a whisper: "What's going on? You left us at the cafeteria in such a hurry! Is it something to do with—" Nora glanced left-right, furtive, her voice dropping further, a whisper of a whisper, "Your Node buddies?"
"Yes. Of sorts," Pyrrha replied in that same low tone. "Yuri wanted a view of Vale."
"That's the quiet one, right?" Nora asked.
Pyrrha nodded. "Though, that isn't why we're here." She tapped the Dust Studies textbook in front of her.
"Aww…" Nora whined plaintively. "But aliens…"
ModScarlet: Alright. We have a minor issue.
ModScarlet: The connection Relic functions as a portal between contexts, which uses the Node as an intermediary.
ModScarlet: It is through this portal that I would be able to run analysis on your Grief Seed, Kyoko.
ModScarlet: Unfortunately, I don't think we can make a portal that is large enough to scan it, with our current capacity.
Kyoko: Why not?
Kyoko: How hard can it be to make one, I don't know.
Kyoko: The size of a fist?
ModScarlet: The size isn't truly the problem, though I do suppose any increase in portal size would draw more power.
ModScarlet: But the real killer here is dimensionality.
ModScarlet: A zeroth-dimensional portal is the smallest possible connection—a point.
ModScarlet: It would only be useful for transferring energy and certain magical properties.
ModScarlet: It takes up approximately 6% of our Node's power capacity when active.
ModScarlet: Since all of your worlds consist of at least three dimensions, we would need, at minimum, a two-dimensional connection.
ModScarlet: This would allow for a scanning, of sorts, that would irrevocably destroy your Grief Seed.
ModScarlet: Capacity consumed is proportional to both dimensionality and size.
ModScarlet: We don't have enough.
Yuri: I assume that, given the difficulty involved in creating even a small portal, a portal the size of a human body would be nearly impossible?
ModScarlet: A bit oddly specific, but that would be a pretty hefty draw.
ModScarlet: Why do you ask?
Yuri: I wanted to know how difficult it would be to send Undyne a human.
Yuri: To free her people.
ModScarlet: The connection Relic functions as a portal between contexts, which uses the Node as an intermediary.
ModScarlet: It is through this portal that I would be able to run analysis on your Grief Seed, Kyoko.
ModScarlet: Unfortunately, I don't think we can make a portal that is large enough to scan it, with our current capacity.
Kyoko: Why not?
Kyoko: How hard can it be to make one, I don't know.
Kyoko: The size of a fist?
ModScarlet: The size isn't truly the problem, though I do suppose any increase in portal size would draw more power.
ModScarlet: But the real killer here is dimensionality.
ModScarlet: A zeroth-dimensional portal is the smallest possible connection—a point.
ModScarlet: It would only be useful for transferring energy and certain magical properties.
ModScarlet: It takes up approximately 6% of our Node's power capacity when active.
ModScarlet: Since all of your worlds consist of at least three dimensions, we would need, at minimum, a two-dimensional connection.
ModScarlet: This would allow for a scanning, of sorts, that would irrevocably destroy your Grief Seed.
ModScarlet: Capacity consumed is proportional to both dimensionality and size.
ModScarlet: We don't have enough.
Yuri: I assume that, given the difficulty involved in creating even a small portal, a portal the size of a human body would be nearly impossible?
ModScarlet: A bit oddly specific, but that would be a pretty hefty draw.
ModScarlet: Why do you ask?
Yuri: I wanted to know how difficult it would be to send Undyne a human.
Yuri: To free her people.
Pyrrha wondered why Yuri had decided to disguise her intentions. Was it because she simply didn't trust Scarlet? Or was it that she was testing the waters, so to speak? On how much they were willing to tolerate, morally speaking?
Alternately…was she straightforwardly telling the truth? That raised a whole different cache of concerns. Where would she be obtaining such a human? Yuri had mentioned the City was a harsh place to live, but had not gone into much detail as to why. Mentions of Grimm-like monsters, true, as well as a mercenary—Fixer, sorry—job that seemed utterly soul-crushing. Did she deal in that many human corpses?
Pyrrha could appreciate the consideration for Undyne and her circumstances. But now she worried for Yuri's soul.
…She had a solution to Undyne's issues as well. It was a good one. But she did not like thinking about it.
She could have one more semester, right? She wanted to shine at the Vytal Festival. She wanted more time with her teammates. She wanted… more time.
The future wasn't here quite yet.
ModScarlet: Ah, fair enough.
Undyne: Can't you just pull the soul out and use a smaller portal?
Yuri: …No?
Yuri: That would require the use of a Singularity, I think…
Yuri: Can monsters just do that?
Undyne: Huh.
Undyne: Human souls tend to linger after death in my world.
Undyne: I guess this is one of those weird constants that ModScarlet talked about.
Undyne: One that doesn't hold across worlds.
ModScarlet: On that note, I bid you all a task.
ModScarlet: Rare kinds of energy! Magic! Whatever!
ModScarlet: Compare and contrast to figure out what's exclusive to where!
ModScarlet: Discuss!
ModScarlet: And we'll see what we can do with them.
Pyrrha: This is the part where you bow out without offering any further help, isn't it.
ModScarlet: Almost!
ModScarlet: But let me help you get some toys to play around with, first.
ModScarlet: /relic create Connection{'Realm1', 'Realm2', 'Realm3', 'Realm4'} point(freeFloating, open)
Creating Relic.
Opening Connections.
Undyne: Can't you just pull the soul out and use a smaller portal?
Yuri: …No?
Yuri: That would require the use of a Singularity, I think…
Yuri: Can monsters just do that?
Undyne: Huh.
Undyne: Human souls tend to linger after death in my world.
Undyne: I guess this is one of those weird constants that ModScarlet talked about.
Undyne: One that doesn't hold across worlds.
ModScarlet: On that note, I bid you all a task.
ModScarlet: Rare kinds of energy! Magic! Whatever!
ModScarlet: Compare and contrast to figure out what's exclusive to where!
ModScarlet: Discuss!
ModScarlet: And we'll see what we can do with them.
Pyrrha: This is the part where you bow out without offering any further help, isn't it.
ModScarlet: Almost!
ModScarlet: But let me help you get some toys to play around with, first.
ModScarlet: /relic create Connection{'Realm1', 'Realm2', 'Realm3', 'Realm4'} point(freeFloating, open)
Creating Relic.
Opening Connections.
Right there on the table next to Pyrrha's hand, a tiny point appeared, just as Scarlet had described. Glowing. Free-floating. She got the sense that she could pick it up and move it around if she wanted to.
Was this really a portal to another world? It was so small.
"Hey, what's that?" Nora asked, eyes keenly focused on the new distraction.
Pyrrha didn't know how to answer. So she parroted back the terms the Moderator had used to call it into existence.
"It's a connection between four realms. A free-floating point," she said, slowly.
The weight of the Node, previously just a mental chatroom and little more, began to set in. This was a tangible point in the physical world. More than just words and promises.
"It's a portal."
"Hey. Whaddya think we'll do when we finally reach the surface? What kind of plans do you have?"
Alphys's room, inside the Royal Laboratory. You wouldn't think a metal building built inside the roiling inferno known as Hotland would be comfortable. But thanks to the glorious Alphysian invention of AIR CONDITIONING, Undyne could hang out with her best friend at her house without shriveling and dying! She was super considerate like that!
"Oh… Um. I-I-I guess I'd… want to see the sun! Sunlight! Being outside and feeling the sun on my, uh, scales… it sounds r-really cool! Uh, I mean warm!"
For those not in the know, Alphys was a yellow lizard monster. The Royal Scientist, a very lofty title! Also, a HUGE NERD! She threw herself into things with the same fervid intensity that Undyne threw herself off cliffs! Except, instead of chasms and falls meant to toughen her body and soul, Alphys preferred the finer things in life: Anime! Cup noodles! Human history! Also science, she guessed, but it was those things that had drawn the Captain of the Guard to the Royal Scientist in, like a fish to a hook!
"Hahaha! That's cute! But, I'm not gonna lie: That doesn't sound like you. When was the last time you left the lab? This room?"
It was what they were doing right now, actually. Watching some human anime. Specifically, one about magical princesses! Alphys had been overjoyed by her interest, and being the well-prepared professional video-player purveyor that she was, already had one queued up! Panic'd Manic'd Mary Maine had been a little slow, so far, but she'd already learned so much about Magical Girls…
"Uh… I-I-I mean, I think I'd, uh, go outside more? If it was, uh, the real surface? *sigh* No, you're right… at least we'd get, uh, like, more complete a-a-nime? Less scrounging around in the, uh, dump."
Er. She didn't really have a great reason to kill Kyoko anymore, but she wanted to be equipped just in case she had to! What was that they said about the smallest edges and the difference between life and death? Probably that a BIGGER edge was better for both, haha! Hence the SUPERMASSIVE anime sword they'd been building together but that wasn't the point at all now was it.
"Sounds like a good reason to me! Plus, on the surface, they have anime ONLINE, don't they? You wouldn't even have to leave your house! Your room! Dream come true or what?"
A nod from Alphys. A period of companionable silence between the both of them, as they settled in and watched Mary Maine kicked the ass of a bunch of brain-spider-tank-things with her crazy magic spear.
Right up until Undyne broke it.
"Hey… Alphys. You've worked with some weird sciencey stuff, right?"
Her primary job, as Royal Scientist, was to break the Barrier through any means necessary. The two of them, they worked towards the same goal, the same dream, from different angles. Neither of them had yielded fruit so far.
"Uh… Yes? Y-yes, of course."
Her eyes were still locked on the television screen.
"What's the most powerful thing you've ever worked with? Like, a source of energy?"
As ModScarlet had suggested, the members of the Node had done some brainstorming, earlier that day. Each had walked away with leads to chase, powers that turned out to be unusual brought to light. Pyrrha had her 'Dust'. Yuri had 'Singularities'. Kyoko had her magic, though it turned out that wasn't exactly an option for… some reason. And Undyne…
"Oh! Well, I, um, I've performed maintenance! O-on the CORE? That thing powers the, uh… the entire Underground, doesn't it. D-does that count?"
Monster magic, maybe. But she was hoping for something with a little more punch to it. Something more unique. ALL monsters had magic, after all. Not so exotic when you got down to it!
"True… But I was thinking a little smaller. Something powerful that has a lot of energy! And I know this is a bit of a stretch, but… maybe something that rivals the power of a human soul?"
Alphys wasn't looking at the television anymore.
"O-oh. I-I-I… I see. That's… T-that's—If I, uh. If I h-had something p-p-powerful enough to… to break the b-barrier. I would h-have used it! Already!"
She was nervous. Well. Moreso than usual. Alphys was normally kind of a twitchy bundle of nerves, Undyne could admit. But this was weird, even for her. Undyne felt kinda bad even for asking.
…Yeah, what kind of friend was she being? Of COURSE Alphys didn't didn't have anything that strong. Undyne was insinuating that the Royal Scientist wasn't trying hard enough to break the Barrier, wasn't she? God, now she felt like crap. How would SHE feel if, say, Jerry, frickin' Jerry, said that she was soft on humans? SHE'D BREAK HIM OVER HER KNEE!
But Alphys wasn't like that. When she was out of her element, she got scared. She wasn't a combat-focused monster. So…
"Ngah. Forget it, let's just watch the show!"
"Okay!"
So they did.
Pyrrha: I have something of a strange question for you all.
Pyrrha: How do you see the stars?
Kyoko: With my eyes?
Pyrrha: Let me rephrase.
Pyrrha: What do you think of them?
Kyoko: Hell do I care?
Kyoko: They're just white dots.
Kyoko: Light things up at night.
Kyoko: Occasionally mistake airplanes for 'em.
Pyrrha: Stars, by what I have been taught, are the markings of heroes.
Pyrrha: Legends, written in the night sky.
Pyrrha: One can look up into the celestial sphere and be comforted by the belief that history has its eyes on you.
Pyrrha: And someday, even if they do not know it, someone will look up and find your star in the sky.
Kyoko: Wow.
Kyoko: That's.
Kyoko: Way too flowery for me.
Yuri: Stars are…
Yuri: The freest beings in the City. They hang so high above.
Yuri: You can always see them, reach for them, close your fist and pretend you're holding them in your hand.
Yuri: But they are so far out of grasp.
Yuri: No one can touch them, not really.
Yuri: …Sorry. I got carried away.
Pyrrha: It's okay!
Pyrrha: I think that's a very valid interpretation.
Pyrrha: Undyne, what do you think?
Undyne: I hate to break it to you.
Undyne: But I live in a CAVE, remember?
Undyne: I've never seen the stars.
Pyrrha: Oh. That's right. I'm sorry.
Undyne: The closest thing we've got is the glowing lichen on Waterfall's ceiling.
Undyne: I guess that's pretty nice.
Undyne: …
Undyne: I imagine the real things are even more beautiful, though.
Pyrrha: Hold on for one minute, please.
Undyne: ???
Pyrrha: /inputFlow
Pyrrha: How do you see the stars?
Kyoko: With my eyes?
Pyrrha: Let me rephrase.
Pyrrha: What do you think of them?
Kyoko: Hell do I care?
Kyoko: They're just white dots.
Kyoko: Light things up at night.
Kyoko: Occasionally mistake airplanes for 'em.
Pyrrha: Stars, by what I have been taught, are the markings of heroes.
Pyrrha: Legends, written in the night sky.
Pyrrha: One can look up into the celestial sphere and be comforted by the belief that history has its eyes on you.
Pyrrha: And someday, even if they do not know it, someone will look up and find your star in the sky.
Kyoko: Wow.
Kyoko: That's.
Kyoko: Way too flowery for me.
Yuri: Stars are…
Yuri: The freest beings in the City. They hang so high above.
Yuri: You can always see them, reach for them, close your fist and pretend you're holding them in your hand.
Yuri: But they are so far out of grasp.
Yuri: No one can touch them, not really.
Yuri: …Sorry. I got carried away.
Pyrrha: It's okay!
Pyrrha: I think that's a very valid interpretation.
Pyrrha: Undyne, what do you think?
Undyne: I hate to break it to you.
Undyne: But I live in a CAVE, remember?
Undyne: I've never seen the stars.
Pyrrha: Oh. That's right. I'm sorry.
Undyne: The closest thing we've got is the glowing lichen on Waterfall's ceiling.
Undyne: I guess that's pretty nice.
Undyne: …
Undyne: I imagine the real things are even more beautiful, though.
Pyrrha: Hold on for one minute, please.
Undyne: ???
Pyrrha: /inputFlow
That's how Undyne became one of five monsters in the Underground to see a sky full of stars.
Pyrrha: I probably ought to apologize.
Pyrrha: These are the stars, as seen from Vale City.
Pyrrha: Light pollution has reduced the quality of the view.
Kyoko: Your moon is really big.
Pyrrha: Is it?
Kyoko: Also broken.
Pyrrha: …Yours isn't?
Pyrrha: These are the stars, as seen from Vale City.
Pyrrha: Light pollution has reduced the quality of the view.
Kyoko: Your moon is really big.
Pyrrha: Is it?
Kyoko: Also broken.
Pyrrha: …Yours isn't?
Waterfall's ceiling was beautiful in its own, unique right. Some monsters called it gloomy, dank, depressing. But Undyne liked it and she'd fight anyone that said otherwise. Spreading and dying mosses and lichens, each glowing a slightly off-white color, contrasting with the black-blue stone and reflecting off the rushing waters below. As much as she hated the Underground, she truly, genuinely, loved Waterfall. There were worse places to build a home.
The night sky of Remnant blew it out of the water. Which, Onionsan aside, was probably where most monsters wanted to be anyway.
It was the DISTANCE that was really getting to her, she was guessing. In the Underground, everything was… well, underground. The ceiling was never more than a couple of hundred feet away. A lot of the time, in the twistiest caverns of Waterfall, she could reach up and touch it. Jump up and poke it. Throw a spear at it.
Undyne hadn't paid all that much attention back in monster school, but thanks to Alphys's occasional nerd-outs, she knew that each of the little twinkly dots was actually an unfathomable distance away. Light-years. If she were to chuck a spear at the stars, it'd just… come back down. Even in the fastest rocket ship monsterkind could ever build, actually traveling there would be next-to impossible. The gulf of space was not entirely unlike the Barrier: completely impassable.
Unless you were a human in a giant space robot!
Undyne: Wow.
Undyne: That's really something.
Undyne: It's so much better than in the books.
Undyne: The TV.
Undyne: ASGORE's recollections.
Undyne: It's like…
Undyne: Someone sprinkled glow-in-the-dark glitter all over the ceiling.
Undyne: Except the ceiling is a million billion miles high.
Undyne: And also someone broke a dinner plate in the middle.
Undyne: What's up with that?
Pyrrha: The moon has been like that as long as life has been present on this planet.
Pyrrha: I really don't see what is so strange about this!
Undyne: That's really something.
Undyne: It's so much better than in the books.
Undyne: The TV.
Undyne: ASGORE's recollections.
Undyne: It's like…
Undyne: Someone sprinkled glow-in-the-dark glitter all over the ceiling.
Undyne: Except the ceiling is a million billion miles high.
Undyne: And also someone broke a dinner plate in the middle.
Undyne: What's up with that?
Pyrrha: The moon has been like that as long as life has been present on this planet.
Pyrrha: I really don't see what is so strange about this!
"Uh, U-Undyne… Are you, uh. Okay?"
Undyne startled, realizing that she had been paying absolutely no attention to the anime Alphys had put on. Too starstruck, literally. Crap.
"I-it's just that, uh. You were kinda… s-spacing out? Mary just d-defeated the, uh, Chill Queen. And you'd normally b-be, like… s-s-saying something? Right h-here?"
Undyne sighed. Yeah, that was enough.
"Yeah… you're right. I've been a little distracted."
She'd intended on finishing the anime before breaking the news. Get Alphys comfortable, all that. But seeing as she'd picked up on Undyne's distraction, she figured this was as good a time as any.
"But there's a good reason for that! You know that question I asked earlier? About exotic sources of energy? It wasn't… gah. What's the word? It wasn't RHETORICAL. That's it."
Undyne pulled the Node Relic, the portal, the connection - the whatever. She pulled it out of her pocket. And felt pity at Alphys's expression of confusion. It was about to get so much worse.
"So there's this Node…"
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- Location
- Israel
Alphys is the best thing that happened to this node, for real. Electromagñetic radiation is the simplest form of energy that could be detected by the Node Relic, since EM energy operates as both particles and waves the Relic could detect the wave portion of it, thus allowing Alphys to help Pyrrha revolutonize remnant with mid 2010's tech and çonnecting all the nodes through more mundane means and allowing the easy transfer of information between them.
punster lv1
Killjoy - cheerful shitposter - ignorant pedant
I'm feeling snippy today and fictional characters should (hopefully) not be able to get me back for it.
Also, I didn't know the word "poliosis" before. I thought it was gonna be a fancy word for frostbite but it's about Weiss's hair instead. Weird choice considering hers is naturally all white.
Also I liked everyone's descriptions of the stars, even Kyoko's painfully down-to-earth one.
Thank you for the exposition and foreshadowing, Pyrrha. It was very thorough, unlike your plans for your deception.
Also, I didn't know the word "poliosis" before. I thought it was gonna be a fancy word for frostbite but it's about Weiss's hair instead. Weird choice considering hers is naturally all white.
Spheres don't have ends Kyoko, it's one of their defining characteristics.
Also I liked everyone's descriptions of the stars, even Kyoko's painfully down-to-earth one.
Not sure why Pyrrha would think this is blasphemous. It's not like she knows that the four relics exist to compare hers to. Even then for the idea of a general legendary relic something that "connects realms" certainly fits. Also, we didn't get to see Pyrrha react to an undestoryed moon via Kyoko, which I thought we were builidng to, so now I'm sad. On the other hand, the plot is moving forward, so I'm very happy.
- Location
- California
Undyne came this close to finding out about the DT experiments. I don't think Alphys would have it in her to lie convincingly about it.
Sorry about the late update! I normally try to throw these out in the mornings, but real life got in the way of me finishing the chapter.
Alright, now that all the beans have been spilled… I can finally talk about some of the other people I was considering for this fic.
First off, this fic originally starred a cast of Sacrificial Lions. Characters the likes of Maes Hughes from Full Metal Alchemist, Mami Tomoe from PMMM, Sayaka Maizono from Danganronpa 1, and Jet from A:TLA. Characters that made you feel bad about their deaths in the original source material, usually because they were among the first to die and had a lot of buildup.
This wasn't for a Nodefic, though. This was for a Danganronpa multicross. A killing game. I would've harvested a glorious bounty of tears. I would've made so many people upset. It would have been amazing.
Then I randomly stumbled upon the 'Redhead Redemption' joke in a half-asleep haze, and knew that was what I was actually going to write.
All candidates for this Node had to fulfill all of these conditions:
Frankenstein (Fate): No, seriously. She ended up being the most viable Fate-based candidate. Frankenstein's hair is a little pink for my preference, but she could've worked. In this particular scenario, she would've replaced Emma Barnes as the 'low-dialogue, low-interaction' character, simply so that no one in the Node would actually know her story; I don't imagine Kyoko to be especially versed in British literature. The starting point would have hewed closer to the the original novel than anything Fate-related, connecting her to the Node more or less straight off the operating table. Early parts of it would've involved her learning 'English' from the Node, and gone into what someone with zero understanding of language would see from a medium entirely driven by language. Year would've been... ~1800? There would have to be all sorts of shaking and gimcrackering and justification to get the characters I would have wanted involved (mostly Dr. Jekyll in Soho, who I could probably justify existing by saying 'he's in his younger years'), but I think I would've managed. Might've been able to squeeze in Charles Babbage, but that might be a bit of a stretch. I definitely would have tried to shy away from anything involving Servants, the Clock Tower, or most of the stuff people actually read Fate for, now that I'm thinking about it... that would require me to do intensive research into how Magecraft in the Nasuverse actually works, and I am very much not down for that if I can help it.
This actually would have made the rest of this fic's timeline incredibly messy, now that I am thinking harder about it. The Modern Prometheus takes place over the course of years. Most of the works I'm entertaining here are at most a couple of months away from their inciting incidents. I'm not entirely sure what or how I would've done with that. Necessity likely would have forced me into simply starting later into Frankenstein's timeline, skipping a good chunk of the stuff I'd be really interested in showing.
All that said: It's obviously way too late now, but are there any characters that you would've liked to see? Any of these ideas you think have more potential than I'm letting on?
Alright, now that all the beans have been spilled… I can finally talk about some of the other people I was considering for this fic.
First off, this fic originally starred a cast of Sacrificial Lions. Characters the likes of Maes Hughes from Full Metal Alchemist, Mami Tomoe from PMMM, Sayaka Maizono from Danganronpa 1, and Jet from A:TLA. Characters that made you feel bad about their deaths in the original source material, usually because they were among the first to die and had a lot of buildup.
This wasn't for a Nodefic, though. This was for a Danganronpa multicross. A killing game. I would've harvested a glorious bounty of tears. I would've made so many people upset. It would have been amazing.
Then I randomly stumbled upon the 'Redhead Redemption' joke in a half-asleep haze, and knew that was what I was actually going to write.
All candidates for this Node had to fulfill all of these conditions:
- They had to be from a work I actually was familiar with (duh)
- They had to die, more or less for good, in at least one 'canonical' timeline.
- They had to have hair that was a shade of red.
- Fred Weasley (Harry Potter): Something something growing disillusionment with the Harry Potter franchise.
- Romani Archaman (Fate/Grand Order): There's too much going on in F/GO regarding his current status for me to decisively conclude he's actually dead.
- Faerie Knight Tristan (Fate/Grand Order): She's too bitchy. Plus, Faerie Britain is kind of depressing, even by my standards.
- Clockblocker (Worm): Someone pointed it out, and I agree with them: too similar to the original Conference Call, for the most part.
- Black Widow and Gamora (Marvel Cinematic Universe): …is it okay if I just didn't want to use the MCU?
- Penny Polendina (RWBY): She's in a bit of a weird spot. The choice was between Penny and Pyrrha, in this regard. I would have used Volume 8-9 Penny specifically, for this, and that could have been legitimately interesting. However, I wanted a character who was solidly in a state of 'things are okay right now!' rather than the pseudo-panic of RWBY's Atlas Arc. So Pyrrha ultimately won out.
- Roman Torchwick and Adam Taurus (RWBY): See Faerie Knight Tristan.
- Leon Kuwata (Danganronpa): I don't like him enough to write him.
- Kali (Lobotomy Corporation): I already have a Quest about her. Which will… update any day now, I'm sure
Frankenstein (Fate): No, seriously. She ended up being the most viable Fate-based candidate. Frankenstein's hair is a little pink for my preference, but she could've worked. In this particular scenario, she would've replaced Emma Barnes as the 'low-dialogue, low-interaction' character, simply so that no one in the Node would actually know her story; I don't imagine Kyoko to be especially versed in British literature. The starting point would have hewed closer to the the original novel than anything Fate-related, connecting her to the Node more or less straight off the operating table. Early parts of it would've involved her learning 'English' from the Node, and gone into what someone with zero understanding of language would see from a medium entirely driven by language. Year would've been... ~1800? There would have to be all sorts of shaking and gimcrackering and justification to get the characters I would have wanted involved (mostly Dr. Jekyll in Soho, who I could probably justify existing by saying 'he's in his younger years'), but I think I would've managed. Might've been able to squeeze in Charles Babbage, but that might be a bit of a stretch. I definitely would have tried to shy away from anything involving Servants, the Clock Tower, or most of the stuff people actually read Fate for, now that I'm thinking about it... that would require me to do intensive research into how Magecraft in the Nasuverse actually works, and I am very much not down for that if I can help it.
This actually would have made the rest of this fic's timeline incredibly messy, now that I am thinking harder about it. The Modern Prometheus takes place over the course of years. Most of the works I'm entertaining here are at most a couple of months away from their inciting incidents. I'm not entirely sure what or how I would've done with that. Necessity likely would have forced me into simply starting later into Frankenstein's timeline, skipping a good chunk of the stuff I'd be really interested in showing.
All that said: It's obviously way too late now, but are there any characters that you would've liked to see? Any of these ideas you think have more potential than I'm letting on?
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
For Tam Lim Tristan, you could have gone with one of her earlier incarnations before she got abused to final death and revived by Morgan as a turbo-evil vampire fairy, which would have gotten around the "too bitchy" problem. Of course, you would still have the "Faerie Britain" problem. There were so many times in my playthrough of that arc where I was mentally going "Why are we trying to save these people again?" Like every single likable fairy goes through incredible tragedy because all the other fairies can't stop being stupid evil if their lives depend on it. Literally.
The Fran idea has merit, but I feel like it's extremely ambitious and probably would have bogged down the fic a lot if you couldn't execute it extremely well.
As for other possible redheads who canonically die... If you had read Pale you could have done something extremely funny in a meta way (and very mean to people who reached a certain arc of Pale but didn't yet get to the end of it. Won't explain further, it's really big spoiler territory). Alternatively, there's a different Pale character who doesn't start as a red-head but does become one later, who would have been an absolute shitshow to add to a node in so many (possibly entertaining) ways. But the most interesting point in his story to add him is also the one where he's not a redhead yet, so that's moot.
The Fran idea has merit, but I feel like it's extremely ambitious and probably would have bogged down the fic a lot if you couldn't execute it extremely well.
As for other possible redheads who canonically die... If you had read Pale you could have done something extremely funny in a meta way (and very mean to people who reached a certain arc of Pale but didn't yet get to the end of it. Won't explain further, it's really big spoiler territory). Alternatively, there's a different Pale character who doesn't start as a red-head but does become one later, who would have been an absolute shitshow to add to a node in so many (possibly entertaining) ways. But the most interesting point in his story to add him is also the one where he's not a redhead yet, so that's moot.
I would have been interested in seeing Romani, Clockblocker, Black Widow, Gamora, or Penny [ either (V1-3) or (7-8) is fine ]. Romani just requires slapping a "written before part 3" tag on the fic since no one can prove he isn't currently dead, the PRT panicking over interdimensonal contact they didn't control was one of the best parts of the original fic, either MCU character gives you a ton of room to play with butterflies over a huge timespan and a lot of events (but if you don't want to use a property that's your right as an author), and Penny is a character who got a raw deal being killed off 2-4 times depending on how you count, so any fic that is interested in fixing that would be great (also she would get chatroom friends).
Outside of your list, I think some other characters that fit the criteria are.
Isakander from Fate (Think of the speeches! I mean even outside of Isakander being like the best orator in Fate, the gathering of kings also shows he is a decent philosopher and can help others think through their actions and the world around them. A great character to have for characters to reflect on a story's themes.)
Kushina Uzumaki from Naruto (Thinks of the shenanigans! I mean we don't know a ton about her compared to her husband and most of my image of her is build from wacky fanfics, but there has to be something you can do with her either in training days, or as an OP ninja in the war/post war)
Wally West from DC (Choose any timeline where he dies) [Look DC sees enough weird nonsense being contacted by an interdimensonal chatroom wouldn't crack his top 10 list unless this was origin Wally. His day to day highjiinks would confuse the rest of the node greatly.]
Ganondorf (Choose any timeline where he is killed instead of sealed) [This one is just for fun, but people have made really good anti-villain/anti-hero Ganon fics before and I think getting his worldview opened up would be good for him]
And then just to really mess with with people, Senketsu from Kill La Kill is (debatablely) a redhead. [Ok so if you look at Senketsu, his color scheme is Black/Red, and if you decide that the top of him counts as red (the eyebrowish things) then he is a redhead. Everyone introduces themselves as a member of an understandable concept like human, or magical girl, or monster, and then this one guy is just a sapient piece of clothing who narrates his adventures in anime land]
Outside of your list, I think some other characters that fit the criteria are.
Isakander from Fate (Think of the speeches! I mean even outside of Isakander being like the best orator in Fate, the gathering of kings also shows he is a decent philosopher and can help others think through their actions and the world around them. A great character to have for characters to reflect on a story's themes.)
Kushina Uzumaki from Naruto (Thinks of the shenanigans! I mean we don't know a ton about her compared to her husband and most of my image of her is build from wacky fanfics, but there has to be something you can do with her either in training days, or as an OP ninja in the war/post war)
Wally West from DC (Choose any timeline where he dies) [Look DC sees enough weird nonsense being contacted by an interdimensonal chatroom wouldn't crack his top 10 list unless this was origin Wally. His day to day highjiinks would confuse the rest of the node greatly.]
Ganondorf (Choose any timeline where he is killed instead of sealed) [This one is just for fun, but people have made really good anti-villain/anti-hero Ganon fics before and I think getting his worldview opened up would be good for him]
And then just to really mess with with people, Senketsu from Kill La Kill is (debatablely) a redhead. [Ok so if you look at Senketsu, his color scheme is Black/Red, and if you decide that the top of him counts as red (the eyebrowish things) then he is a redhead. Everyone introduces themselves as a member of an understandable concept like human, or magical girl, or monster, and then this one guy is just a sapient piece of clothing who narrates his adventures in anime land]
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Chapter 8: Coming Up With PMMM-Related Chapter Titles Is Surprisingly Hard
Chapter 8: Coming Up With PMMM-Related Chapter Titles Is Surprisingly Hard
test: stars to me are
test: suns.
test: supermassive spheres.
test: H fusion
test: cant even wrap my head round it.
test: most have their own planets.
test: own worlds.
test: theyll be here after humanitys dead & gone.
test: still glowing
test: burning.
test: looking up at the starry sky
test: in the end it makes me feel so very small.
ModScarlet: That's all well and good.
ModScarlet: Why are you telling me this?
test: cuz
test: ok
test: is it weird that I kinda consider u a friend?
test: ugh when I say it aloud thats pathetic.
test: jumping at the 1st person Ive rly talked to.
test: 1st person outside of family whos reached out to me.
test: but still
test: yeah.
test: thats why.
ModScarlet: Oh.
ModScarlet: Interesting.
ModScarlet: I wasn't expecting that.
test: ?
ModScarlet: I'm honored, that you think of me that way.
ModScarlet: I think I can return the sentiment!
test: srsly?
ModScarlet: It sometimes feels as if you are the only user of this Node to bother treating me as a person.
ModScarlet: The only one who chats with me without necessarily wanting something.
test: I litrally msged u to ask 2 favors from u.
ModScarlet: Well, aside from that.
ModScarlet: You kept at it.
ModScarlet: You've given me well-intentioned advice.
ModScarlet: We've commiserated.
ModScarlet: You're right in that it may be premature, but I frankly don't see the harm.
test: o
test: cool.
test: tho, now Im kinda curious.
test: what do u think of stars?
ModScarlet: That's a legitimately difficult question for me to answer accurately.
ModScarlet: Stars are context-dependent.
ModScarlet: It may be common knowledge in your world that stars are "supermassive H fusion spheres".
ModScarlet: But it may be equally true that, in, say, Pyrrha's world…
ModScarlet: That they represent the souls of the departed.
ModScarlet: I've heard of contexts where stars were drawn into the sky by a mighty pen, held by the hand of God.
ModScarlet: Where they were bright little five-pointed shapes, able to be captured and stuffed in a jar.
ModScarlet: Living organisms with varying degrees of care for the planets and lifeforms under their care.
ModScarlet: Stars, as with so many other nouns, simply are, from my point of view.
ModScarlet: It is the difference in their properties between contexts that brings awe to me.
test: wow
test: somehow, that makes me feel even smaller.
test: the idea that acrss universes, were not even lookng up at the same sky.
ModScarlet: Sorry.
ModScarlet: It was not my intention to make you feel more alone.
test: its ok
test: o, 1 more q, if u dont mind?
test: is ur name actually ModScarlet?
test: not to pry or anythng.
ModScarlet: For most intents and purposes, yes!
ModScarlet: It's a little more complicated than that, but that is my true name as far as language allows.
ModScarlet: It's not a pseudonym.
test: well I guess
test: good to b friends w/ u, ModScarlet.
ModScarlet: You as well.
test: suns.
test: supermassive spheres.
test: H fusion
test: cant even wrap my head round it.
test: most have their own planets.
test: own worlds.
test: theyll be here after humanitys dead & gone.
test: still glowing
test: burning.
test: looking up at the starry sky
test: in the end it makes me feel so very small.
ModScarlet: That's all well and good.
ModScarlet: Why are you telling me this?
test: cuz
test: ok
test: is it weird that I kinda consider u a friend?
test: ugh when I say it aloud thats pathetic.
test: jumping at the 1st person Ive rly talked to.
test: 1st person outside of family whos reached out to me.
test: but still
test: yeah.
test: thats why.
ModScarlet: Oh.
ModScarlet: Interesting.
ModScarlet: I wasn't expecting that.
test: ?
ModScarlet: I'm honored, that you think of me that way.
ModScarlet: I think I can return the sentiment!
test: srsly?
ModScarlet: It sometimes feels as if you are the only user of this Node to bother treating me as a person.
ModScarlet: The only one who chats with me without necessarily wanting something.
test: I litrally msged u to ask 2 favors from u.
ModScarlet: Well, aside from that.
ModScarlet: You kept at it.
ModScarlet: You've given me well-intentioned advice.
ModScarlet: We've commiserated.
ModScarlet: You're right in that it may be premature, but I frankly don't see the harm.
test: o
test: cool.
test: tho, now Im kinda curious.
test: what do u think of stars?
ModScarlet: That's a legitimately difficult question for me to answer accurately.
ModScarlet: Stars are context-dependent.
ModScarlet: It may be common knowledge in your world that stars are "supermassive H fusion spheres".
ModScarlet: But it may be equally true that, in, say, Pyrrha's world…
ModScarlet: That they represent the souls of the departed.
ModScarlet: I've heard of contexts where stars were drawn into the sky by a mighty pen, held by the hand of God.
ModScarlet: Where they were bright little five-pointed shapes, able to be captured and stuffed in a jar.
ModScarlet: Living organisms with varying degrees of care for the planets and lifeforms under their care.
ModScarlet: Stars, as with so many other nouns, simply are, from my point of view.
ModScarlet: It is the difference in their properties between contexts that brings awe to me.
test: wow
test: somehow, that makes me feel even smaller.
test: the idea that acrss universes, were not even lookng up at the same sky.
ModScarlet: Sorry.
ModScarlet: It was not my intention to make you feel more alone.
test: its ok
test: o, 1 more q, if u dont mind?
test: is ur name actually ModScarlet?
test: not to pry or anythng.
ModScarlet: For most intents and purposes, yes!
ModScarlet: It's a little more complicated than that, but that is my true name as far as language allows.
ModScarlet: It's not a pseudonym.
test: well I guess
test: good to b friends w/ u, ModScarlet.
ModScarlet: You as well.
Undyne yawned. Stretched. Blinked the blurriness out of her eye.
Realized that this wasn't her bed. Then… Alphys's lab, she was guessing? Yup. Sleeping on the couch. Man, what a wild night.
To recap: Undyne had gone over the Node with Alphys. Her lizard friend had run the whole gamut of reactions: shock, confusion, barely-concealed laughter. Finally, she'd settled upon excitement, as Undyne had explained the Connection Relic. She'd immediately called off anime night and set upon doing all sortsa sciencey science tests, with machines Undyne couldn't even begin to fathom. Massive drilling laser things. Tiny little flashlight-esque devices that Alphys had warned to never ever shine directly into her eye, lest she be rendered blind as a blobfish. She'd been wrapped up in the whirlwind that was the Royal Scientist with a new toy to play with, acting as a research assistant, a sounding board, and occasionally heavy muscle.
She must've fallen asleep at some point. Not sure when. And Alphys probably moved her to the couch.
Undyne checked the backlog on the Node, see if she missed anything, or if anyone had noticed the late-night Relic testing.
Pyrrha: Oh, Gods!
Pyrrha: Jaune finally said yes!
Pyrrha: This is beyond my wildest imaginings.
Pyrrha: Yes!
Undyne: Your teammate, right?
Undyne: Yes to what?
Pyrrha: Oh, I'm sorry!
Pyrrha: I did not expect anyone else to be awake at this late hour.
Pyrrha: This was somewhat inappropriate, in hindsight.
Undyne: Whaddya mean?
Pyrrha: Perhaps I am the only one here that sees it this way.
Pyrrha: But this Node, to me, is the first contact Remnant has had with any alien civilization.
Pyrrha: I felt it would be proper to, well.
Pyrrha: Be proper.
Pyrrha: To treat you all as ambassadors to foreign lands, and gift each with the respect and gravitas one would be due.
Undyne: Huh.
Undyne: Crazy.
Undyne: Never thought of it like that.
Undyne: Chatroom format's got me thinking a certain way.
Undyne: Actually, nah.
Undyne: This is just the way I am!
Pyrrha: I wasn't criticizing you!
Pyrrha: It's simply my perspective.
Pyrrha: It is times like these that remind me that we come from very different worlds.
Pyrrha: Jaune finally said yes!
Pyrrha: This is beyond my wildest imaginings.
Pyrrha: Yes!
Undyne: Your teammate, right?
Undyne: Yes to what?
Pyrrha: Oh, I'm sorry!
Pyrrha: I did not expect anyone else to be awake at this late hour.
Pyrrha: This was somewhat inappropriate, in hindsight.
Undyne: Whaddya mean?
Pyrrha: Perhaps I am the only one here that sees it this way.
Pyrrha: But this Node, to me, is the first contact Remnant has had with any alien civilization.
Pyrrha: I felt it would be proper to, well.
Pyrrha: Be proper.
Pyrrha: To treat you all as ambassadors to foreign lands, and gift each with the respect and gravitas one would be due.
Undyne: Huh.
Undyne: Crazy.
Undyne: Never thought of it like that.
Undyne: Chatroom format's got me thinking a certain way.
Undyne: Actually, nah.
Undyne: This is just the way I am!
Pyrrha: I wasn't criticizing you!
Pyrrha: It's simply my perspective.
Pyrrha: It is times like these that remind me that we come from very different worlds.
Ah, right. Undyne remembered this. Pyrrha was kind of an upright stick in the mud, and that Aura thing had made her confused as to whether or not she was a human or a monster for a moment. But you couldn't say she wasn't thoughtful.
The red-haired human (ha, that described everyone in the Node except for Undyne) had spent the next twenty minutes attempting to apologize for 'improper decorum' and 'dropping personal business in unnecessarily'. And stuff. Which was ridiculous. Whatever Pyrrha said, this was still a CHATROOM. Sure, some kinda interdimensional, telepathic, superpowered, Undernet-disconnected chatroom with magical visitation rights moderated by some figure none of 'em had yet seen, but that didn't change the fact that, like Undernet, it was built for stupid people doing stupid things! Reckless shenanigans! Sharing them with the world! Nothing wrong with announcing you got a boyfriend. LOVE WAS A TREASURE!
…Oh God. Now she felt self-conscious. What was she doing here? Lying on Alphys's couch, blanket half-tucked over her, probably snoring up a storm through the night while the Royal Scientist scienced the science on that Node connection? What kinda guest was she being! What kinda FRIEND was she being?
The thought filled her with determination. Undyne sprang out of her resting position, filled with bloodlust! Intent on battling apathy and tiredness! And to fight the fight that was being a better freaking friend!
With pep in her step, a pie in her eye, and phones in her bones, Undyne grinningly rushed to face the day…
…Only to be confronted with a distinctly different sight than what she was expecting. A sight that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Alphys. A personage of similar volume to Undyne, but completely different lifestyle. A robot that brought back memories of the Node's discussion on stars, for who else could possibly exude as much raw star power? Who else could so effortlessly command the attention of a room with their stunningly rectangular body? Who else…
…would be lying (seductively?!?!) on Alphys's piano(?!?!). With a bowl of grapes.
Undyne stared at Mettaton.
Mettaton looked at Undyne.
Undyne glared at Mettaton.
Mettaton slowly and deliberately raised a grape to his face, held it there longingly as if it were the pinnacle of all Underground morsels, and popped it into a heretofore unseen grape-sized hole, emitting a canned and implausibly fake chewing sound from his speakers.
Undyne chaired at Mettaton.
By which, of course, she meant that she hucked a chair at him.
"WHOA THERE! THIS EXCEPTIONALLY HANDSOME AND PHOTOGENIC FACE IS NOT A SEATING REPOSITORY! THINK OF THE HEARTBREAK YOU'LL INFLICT ON MY ADORING FANS!"
Undyne snarled. Of course he'd dodge.
Yuri: So…
Yuri: I've realized that I'm, at this point, the only one here who hasn't described her world.
Yuri: Unless the Moderator counts…?
ModScarlet: The moderator does not count.
Yuri: Uh.
Yuri: Okay, then.
Yuri: Is it alright if I try to correct that now?
Yuri: I've realized that I'm, at this point, the only one here who hasn't described her world.
Yuri: Unless the Moderator counts…?
ModScarlet: The moderator does not count.
Yuri: Uh.
Yuri: Okay, then.
Yuri: Is it alright if I try to correct that now?
And now Yuri was saying things. Ugh. She could just ignore the Node for now. She'd catch up on it later.
"Can it, tin can. What the hell are you doing here? Were you watching me sleep?"
The robot let out an overly dramatic gasp, holding a hand over where his heart would be.
"MY, HOW UNCOUTH! I WOULD NEVER STOOP TO SUCH UNDERHANDED DEBAUCHERY!"
He paused.
"UNLESS MY RATINGS WERE TANKING. AND I THOUGHT IT WOULD HELP. BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"
Mettaton put his four-fingered hands on his waist.
"I'M SIMPLY HERE TO SEE THE ESTEEMED DR. ALPHYS. AS WERE YOU, I'M SURE, BEFORE YOU PASSED OUT SO SLOPPILY."
Ugh. That was frustratingly plausible. They WERE friends, after all. Undyne didn't see what Alphys saw in the melodramatic showbot. Well, he was nice to look at, she supposed. But she didn't get that vibe from her, that she only cared about Mettaton for his right angles. They were, like, legit friends. It was weird.
Pyrrha: Go ahead, Yuri.
Kyoko: Sure, whatever.
Yuri: …Okay.
Yuri: I live in the Backstreets of District 4.
Yuri: And I work as a Grade 8 Fixer for an excavation Office.
Kyoko: Whoa, hold on there.
Kyoko: That's a lotta words with emphasis on 'em.
Kyoko: Care to explain what any of them mean?
Yuri: …Oh, you're right.
Yuri: Pyrrha did explain all the terms she used.
Yuri: Let me think.
Pyrrha: Take your time.
Kyoko: Sure, whatever.
Yuri: …Okay.
Yuri: I live in the Backstreets of District 4.
Yuri: And I work as a Grade 8 Fixer for an excavation Office.
Kyoko: Whoa, hold on there.
Kyoko: That's a lotta words with emphasis on 'em.
Kyoko: Care to explain what any of them mean?
Yuri: …Oh, you're right.
Yuri: Pyrrha did explain all the terms she used.
Yuri: Let me think.
Pyrrha: Take your time.
Mettaton shuffled back and forth a bit on his wheel.
"SO… WHERE IS SHE?"
Oh, right. Undyne made her way towards the room Alphys had been using, pushing a door open.
"Last I saw her, she was just through here… Oh God."
Turns out that Undyne wasn't the only one who'd fallen asleep. And Alphys hadn't had time to clean up before conking out. The room was littered with scraps of doodled-upon graph paper. Machines lay about, some toppled over, some even still running. Some kind of gear mechanism spun wildly without purpose, and was that a laser cannon firing into a mirror? The hell?
In the midst of a mass of crumpled papers, Alphys lay spread-eagled on the ground in what must've been an extremely uncomfortable position, given her tail. But Undyne supposed she was just so goddamned exhausted that she managed to lose consciousness anyway. She'd been there! Recently, even.
Undyne and Mettaton shared a glance. Mutual understanding passed over their faces. And then they both quietly tiptoed out of the room. Well. Undyne tiptoed. Mettaton rolled less squeakily.
Yuri: Alright.
Yuri: There are 26 Districts in the City.
Yuri: Each one is separated into two halves: the Backstreets and the Nest.
Yuri: The Nests are where the rich, the successful, and those of prestige live.
Yuri: You either earn your way there or are born there.
Yuri: The Backstreets encompass everyone else.
Pyrrha: Like the difference between Mistral Above and Below.
Kyoko: I woulda said slums and suburbs.
Yuri: I'm glad you seem to understand!
Yuri: What else…
Yuri: Right.
Yuri: Fixers are those that will take on miscellaneous jobs of all kinds for money.
Yuri: Grades go from Grade 9 to Grade 1 based on merit and power.
Yuri: Where a Grade 9 is the weakest.
Kyoko: So you're bottom of the barrel, then.
Yuri: …Yes.
Yuri: I'm not very powerful in the grand space of the City.
Yuri: I'll also admit I'm not the most qualified to explain.
Yuri: I have only been a Fixer for a year or so.
Kyoko: Guess that makes me your senpai then!
Yuri: …What?
Yuri: There are 26 Districts in the City.
Yuri: Each one is separated into two halves: the Backstreets and the Nest.
Yuri: The Nests are where the rich, the successful, and those of prestige live.
Yuri: You either earn your way there or are born there.
Yuri: The Backstreets encompass everyone else.
Pyrrha: Like the difference between Mistral Above and Below.
Kyoko: I woulda said slums and suburbs.
Yuri: I'm glad you seem to understand!
Yuri: What else…
Yuri: Right.
Yuri: Fixers are those that will take on miscellaneous jobs of all kinds for money.
Yuri: Grades go from Grade 9 to Grade 1 based on merit and power.
Yuri: Where a Grade 9 is the weakest.
Kyoko: So you're bottom of the barrel, then.
Yuri: …Yes.
Yuri: I'm not very powerful in the grand space of the City.
Yuri: I'll also admit I'm not the most qualified to explain.
Yuri: I have only been a Fixer for a year or so.
Kyoko: Guess that makes me your senpai then!
Yuri: …What?
"So…"
"YES."
"I'll get her a blanket."
"I WILL MAKE SOMETHING FOR HER TO EAT WHEN SHE WAKES UP. PERHAPS SOMETHING MORE NUTRITIONAL THAN CUP NOODLES."
"Yes. Please."
…They both cared about Alphys. In their own ways. Some better than others, in Undyne's humble opinion! But if nothing else, she could respect Mettaton's hustle. And also his grapes. Man, she wanted grapes just like his.
Kyoko: C'mon, kouhai!
Kyoko: I've got way more experience than you.
Kyoko: If you've only been fixing stuff for a year, well I've got years under my belt!
Kyoko: I'll teach you everything you need to know, don't worry.
Yuri: That's… that's preposterous!
Yuri: You can't possibly expect me to treat you as a superior!
Yuri: I'm almost twice your age!
Kyoko: Don't talk back to your senpai like that!
Yuri: …I've worked aside from being a Fixer, you know?
Yuri: I was a Feather of L Corp once!
Yuri: This, this is what makes me appreciate how far I've fallen.
Yuri: I'm getting sass from children…
Yuri: Teenagers are impossible…
Pyrrha: What is L Corp?
Yuri: …
Yuri: I'd rather not discuss that right now.
Yuri: Painful memories.
Kyoko: I've got way more experience than you.
Kyoko: If you've only been fixing stuff for a year, well I've got years under my belt!
Kyoko: I'll teach you everything you need to know, don't worry.
Yuri: That's… that's preposterous!
Yuri: You can't possibly expect me to treat you as a superior!
Yuri: I'm almost twice your age!
Kyoko: Don't talk back to your senpai like that!
Yuri: …I've worked aside from being a Fixer, you know?
Yuri: I was a Feather of L Corp once!
Yuri: This, this is what makes me appreciate how far I've fallen.
Yuri: I'm getting sass from children…
Yuri: Teenagers are impossible…
Pyrrha: What is L Corp?
Yuri: …
Yuri: I'd rather not discuss that right now.
Yuri: Painful memories.
Reconvening after completing their respective tasks, Undyne found that the robot had the courtesy to make a double-serving of… ooh! Monster eggs and monster bacon! With orange-flavored ghost juice on the side, apparently—where did he even get that? Enough for both her and Alphys. It was almost enough to forgive him for his stunt earlier that morning. She dug in with gusto as Mettaton tapped away on a phone, apparently working on "THE PLOT OF MY NEXT BOMBASTIC MOVIE!"
The silence that followed was almost companionable.
"WHAT'S GOT ALPHYS IN SUCH A TIZZY? COULD IT BE A BREAKTHROUGH? ON BREAKING THE BARRIER?"
Mettaton didn't seem as enthusiastic on the subject as one might expect. For a self-proclaimed part-time 'killer robot', he tended to be skittish on the subject of their inevitable war on humanity. Undyne could only guess why. Still, she didn't see the harm in being honest.
"Maybe! It could even be an alternative means of escape! All thanks to yours truly!"
A lot (read: all) of the science had gone over her head last night. But Alphys wouldn't be this worked up for no reason. This was promising. A real possibility, a powerful tool that could aid their escape.
If anything had convinced her that this Node was a blessing, it was seeing Alphys's face awash in studious dedication. The passion, the drive, the feeling that of 'Oh my God, this might actually be possible!'
Most of all… Hope looked good on her.
Mettaton let out a humming hm sound, like a television tuned to a dead channel. Undyne couldn't help but find it just slightly ominous.
"WELL, THEN. GIVE HER MY BEST WISHES! I CAN'T STICK AROUND FOREVER, I'M AFRAID. YOU KNOW, SHOWS TO HOST, MOVIES TO SHOOT! TOODLE-OO!
And with that, Mettaton was gone.
…What was up with him?
"Has anybody seen my purse?"
Yuri: Do you ever wonder if the world you live in is, perhaps…
Yuri: The worst of all possible worlds?
Yuri: In an infinite amount of branching realities, have you ever felt as if "it is only possible for this to get better?"
Pyrrha: I'm afraid not.
Undyne: I mean, we monsters have it bad.
Undyne: But we could all be dead, so.
Undyne: Nah, it totally could be worse.
Kyoko: Feeling depressed, kouhai?
Yuri: Don't you start.
Yuri: I will find some way to stab you across realities.
Yuri: The worst of all possible worlds?
Yuri: In an infinite amount of branching realities, have you ever felt as if "it is only possible for this to get better?"
Pyrrha: I'm afraid not.
Undyne: I mean, we monsters have it bad.
Undyne: But we could all be dead, so.
Undyne: Nah, it totally could be worse.
Kyoko: Feeling depressed, kouhai?
Yuri: Don't you start.
Yuri: I will find some way to stab you across realities.
Kyoko grinned widely, matching the brightness of the noontime sun. Who knew that the normally calm, somewhat composed, very shy woman could be so easily flustered? And who knew that screwing with her would be so damned fun?
…It was almost enough to shrug off the disappointment. At the fact that she legitimately wasn't interested. Kyoko would've made a great senpai, y'know? She knew all sorts of ins and outs of combat. Could teach a thing or two. Most Magical Girls tended to be either hostile or generally uninterested in mentorship. She'd only met one exception.
"My purse! My purse is missing!"
That lady oughta shut up. If she'd wanted it to not get stolen, she shoulda held onto it better. Kyoko hadn't even needed to use magic to snatch it from right next to her. She'd been careless, plain and simple.
Kyoko watched from the mall's second floor as the woman who'd just unwillingly treated her to a week of candies and gaming descended into panicked, angry hysterics. A security guard approached her to try and calm her down, get her to stop making a scene. It only seemed to drive her further into a tearful frenzy.
"It has a gift for my daughter in it! It's her birthday! She's been looking forward to this for so long…!"
Huh, was that what this box was? Kyoko gave it a shake next to her ear. Something weighty, metal. She considered tearing off the gift wrapping just to get at what was inside. If it was nice, she might use it herself! Whatever it was. She was guessing jewelry, lady seemed posh enough for that to be reasonable.
Wasn't as if the mom couldn't just buy her girl another present, prolly. All dressed up in fancy silks and shiny heels. Daughter was just as probably some rich, spoiled brat anyhow. Tantrum-throwing, mother-snubbing, ungrateful girl. People who had everything tended to be like that. Took stuff for granted, didn't realize how good they had it.
Yeah. This gift wouldn't be missed. This purse, and all the money inside it, wouldn't be missed.
Kyoko: Ugh. I think I'm about to do something almost altruistic.
Pyrrha: Do you. Usually, um.
Pyrrha: Not?
Kyoko: What?
Pyrrha: You fight those monsters, Witches, on the regular, don't you?
Kyoko: That's a survival measure, y'know?
Kyoko: Mighta mentioned it before, but Magical Girls need Grief Seeds to stay alive.
Kyoko: To replenish our magic supply and cleanse our Grief.
Undyne: I thought you said you didn't use all that much magic anyway?
Pyrrha: Do you. Usually, um.
Pyrrha: Not?
Kyoko: What?
Pyrrha: You fight those monsters, Witches, on the regular, don't you?
Kyoko: That's a survival measure, y'know?
Kyoko: Mighta mentioned it before, but Magical Girls need Grief Seeds to stay alive.
Kyoko: To replenish our magic supply and cleanse our Grief.
Undyne: I thought you said you didn't use all that much magic anyway?
Huh. She had. She'd admitted it back when they were trying to figure out "exotic sources of energy" they might use to power up the Node. The illusion magic of her youth was what came most naturally to her, and she didn't have it anymore. Everything else, she'd worked out from base principles. To be fair, even if she did still have it, she wasn't sure how she'd feed it into the point-sized connection Relic, tucked away safely near her Soul Gem.
A little of that non-illusionary magic helped tidy up her appearance, made her look slightly more respectable. Her hair wrapped into a slightly fancier ponytail, washing grease out of it. There wasn't anything she could do about her hoodie without illusions, but she was able to give it a cleaning, get some of the chocolate stains out.
Yeah, she was doing this in broad daylight. No, nobody noticed. People tended to stick to their own damned business. If a spot of dark on a random teenager's shirt vanished between one blink and the next, who cared? Trick of the light. Seeing things.
Kyoko: I mean, yeah.
Kyoko: Still use some.
Kyoko: Not really important though.
Kyoko: I'm still gonna need Grief Seeds eventually.
Pyrrha: You could say the same for any Huntsman, any policeman or fireman.
Pyrrha: Many rely on income from their work to feed themselves, to maintain their weaponry, and even frivolities on the side.
Pyrrha: Does this make their actions of fighting against the dark tide of Grimm any less heroic?
Kyoko: Yes.
Kyoko: Heroes act selflessly. With no desire for payment.
Kyoko: They care about the innocent, without even receiving gratitude.
Kyoko: I'm not a hero. It's too hard.
Kyoko: I only care about myself.
Kyoko: Still use some.
Kyoko: Not really important though.
Kyoko: I'm still gonna need Grief Seeds eventually.
Pyrrha: You could say the same for any Huntsman, any policeman or fireman.
Pyrrha: Many rely on income from their work to feed themselves, to maintain their weaponry, and even frivolities on the side.
Pyrrha: Does this make their actions of fighting against the dark tide of Grimm any less heroic?
Kyoko: Yes.
Kyoko: Heroes act selflessly. With no desire for payment.
Kyoko: They care about the innocent, without even receiving gratitude.
Kyoko: I'm not a hero. It's too hard.
Kyoko: I only care about myself.
Kyoko approached the hysterical woman, channeling her best "not a delinquent" energy. "Excuse me, is this purse yours?"
The woman's eyes locked onto the purse, held in Kyoko's outstretched arms.
"Oh! It is! Thank you so much! Where did you find it?"
The lady was only halfway paying attention to her own question. Too busy rummaging through her bag, trying to figure out what was there and what was missing. She could almost see the thoughts run through the woman's mind: surprise, that her bag had been returned at all. Dismay, that all of the cash had gone missing. And finally, relief that her little girl's birthday gift was still in place.
Kyoko was especially satisfied to see that last part. She woulda been a little pissed if Miss 'Boo-hoo I'm Going To Make A Scene Over My Daughter' cared more about the money than the girl she'd so espoused.
"It was a bench on the upper level," Kyoko smoothly not-quite-lied. "Tossed over, like someone had been digging through it. I'm sorry if there's anything missing…" she trailed off, tried to put on a remorseful expression.
The woman gave her a hug.
Oh.
Huh.
Uh.
Clearly, she needed to steal more stuff.
"It's fine, thank you so much! I wish I could repay you somehow, But it looks like you were correct, I don't have any money left…"
"No, no, that's fine," Kyoko said with a smile. "Just trying to do what's right." The words almost didn't feel wrong coming out of her mouth.
The security guard, who she'd almost forgotten about, spoke up. "I appreciate you doing your civic duty, young lady, but shouldn't you be in school?"
Crap. She didn't let her expression slip, but internally, she cursed herself for forgetting. Her fault. Shoulda remembered that most girls her age weren't in malls at one o'clock.
"I'm homeschooled," Kyoko lied, hoping the guard would simply buy it and not ask further questions.
He didn't. "Oh? Would you mind if I asked your name, young miss?"
What was this guy, a freaking truant officer? What did he care?
"Kyoko Tomoe, sir," Kyoko half-lied. …Ugh. She immediately wanted to backpedal. Felt slightly guilty for borrowing her ex-senpai's name in such a stupid way. 'Specially since it could, maybe get her in real trouble. It was the first thing that came to mind, unfortunately.
"And your parents?" Man, this guy just wouldn't let up.
Purse lady came to her rescue, luckily enough. "Oh, officer, give the young lady some room to breathe. Clearly, her parents are doing something right if she is willing to take time out of her day to help someone in need."
…The praise was nice. But Kyoko remembered that it was fake. Like she'd said in the Node, she wasn't an altruist. She'd been the one to snatch the woman's bag in the first place, after all. Anything the lady said had to be filtered through that info. Returning it was simply a lesser crime.
Security guard didn't know that though. "I suppose you are correct… Well, then. Enjoy your shopping, you two."
The moment the two adults looked away, Kyoko snuck away, using a tiny pinch of magic to quiet her footsteps. Once she was well and truly out of sight, she escaped the mall post-haste, finding herself on the shingled roof of a nearby restaurant.
Pyrrha: I think you're being harsh on yourself.
Pyrrha: It is true that the ideal hero acts as you describe, with a pure heart and noble ideal.
Pyrrha: Such is, perhaps, the standard we should all strive for. One we should hold ourselves to, in times of crisis or doubt.
Pyrrha: But such heroes rarely exist outside the realm of fairy tales, admirable as they are.
Pyrrha: We are left with, instead, the heroes of reality. Fallible men and women with foibles and flaws.
Pyrrha: This does not make their deeds not noteworthy.
Pyrrha: It does not make your deeds not noteworthy.
Yuri: …I can kind of agree with that.
Yuri: If one looked only at the money Association Fixers are paid to look the other way, the deals Colors likely had to make to secure their position, the corpses swept under rugs…
Yuri: I think the City would be devoid of heroes, in its entirety.
Undyne: Still worth trying, though!
Undyne: Heroes are awesome!
Pyrrha: It is true that the ideal hero acts as you describe, with a pure heart and noble ideal.
Pyrrha: Such is, perhaps, the standard we should all strive for. One we should hold ourselves to, in times of crisis or doubt.
Pyrrha: But such heroes rarely exist outside the realm of fairy tales, admirable as they are.
Pyrrha: We are left with, instead, the heroes of reality. Fallible men and women with foibles and flaws.
Pyrrha: This does not make their deeds not noteworthy.
Pyrrha: It does not make your deeds not noteworthy.
Yuri: …I can kind of agree with that.
Yuri: If one looked only at the money Association Fixers are paid to look the other way, the deals Colors likely had to make to secure their position, the corpses swept under rugs…
Yuri: I think the City would be devoid of heroes, in its entirety.
Undyne: Still worth trying, though!
Undyne: Heroes are awesome!
Kyoko scowled, as she'd been wont to do when interacting with Pyrrha Nikos.
Kyoko: You guys.
Kyoko: How can you be this much older than me?
Kyoko: And also be this much more naive?
Kyoko: You, all of you, 'cept maybe Yuri.
Kyoko: Easy marks for Kyubey.
Yuri: …Thank you?
Kyoko: How can you be this much older than me?
Kyoko: And also be this much more naive?
Kyoko: You, all of you, 'cept maybe Yuri.
Kyoko: Easy marks for Kyubey.
Yuri: …Thank you?
Quoth her father: Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear.
Kyoko Sakura. There is another Magical Girl hunting Witches in Kazamino City. I am informing you as per my promise.
Kyoko nodded to her patron and transformed, jamming a Finnish Sweet in her mouth.
Undyne: Who's Kyubey?
Kyoko: Magical Girls aren't benevolent.
Kyoko: Not heroes. Not cartoons. Not angels, or superheroes, or knights.
Kyoko: And I'll prove it to you.
Kyoko: Magical Girls aren't benevolent.
Kyoko: Not heroes. Not cartoons. Not angels, or superheroes, or knights.
Kyoko: And I'll prove it to you.
Her spear manifested at her side. Kyubey sent her coordinates, a sense of location. Kyoko took to the skies.
Pyrrha: Kyoko.
Pyrrha: Whatever you're about to do…
Kyoko: Shut up.
Kyoko: You've got no clue what you're talking about.
Kyoko: We're humans.
Kyoko: Clawing and scraping for life and power.
Kyoko: Constantly in-fighting for limited resources, where the strong get 'em and the weak die.
Kyoko: I'm not weak.
Pyrrha: I never said you were.
Kyoko: I said!
Kyoko: Shut!
Kyoko: Up!!!
Pyrrha: …
Yuri: Kyoko, isn't this being a little rude?
Pyrrha: Whatever you're about to do…
Kyoko: Shut up.
Kyoko: You've got no clue what you're talking about.
Kyoko: We're humans.
Kyoko: Clawing and scraping for life and power.
Kyoko: Constantly in-fighting for limited resources, where the strong get 'em and the weak die.
Kyoko: I'm not weak.
Pyrrha: I never said you were.
Kyoko: I said!
Kyoko: Shut!
Kyoko: Up!!!
Pyrrha: …
Yuri: Kyoko, isn't this being a little rude?
She poured her thoughts into the Node. Words, run through her mind, run through the logs. Unfiltered. Raw.
Kyoko: You know what, know-it-all college girl?
Kyoko: Here's a little lesson on how things work in my world.
Kyoko: Territory's everything to us.
Kyoko: Witches that show up, the Familiars they spawn, we covet them.
Kyoko: We feed on them.
Kyoko: There's another Magical Girl, here in Kazamino City. My city.
Kyoko: Normally, I'd just drive her away, teach her never to step on my turf again.
Kyoko: But I'm not feeling merciful right now.
Kyoko: I'm gonna kill her.
Kyoko: And you, all a' you.
Kyoko: Learn to shut the Hell up talking about good deeds and heroes!
Kyoko: Here's a little lesson on how things work in my world.
Kyoko: Territory's everything to us.
Kyoko: Witches that show up, the Familiars they spawn, we covet them.
Kyoko: We feed on them.
Kyoko: There's another Magical Girl, here in Kazamino City. My city.
Kyoko: Normally, I'd just drive her away, teach her never to step on my turf again.
Kyoko: But I'm not feeling merciful right now.
Kyoko: I'm gonna kill her.
Kyoko: And you, all a' you.
Kyoko: Learn to shut the Hell up talking about good deeds and heroes!
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This was a good transition chapter. I think I would prefer a little more since it doesn't feel like much happened between the 2&1/2 scenes but I would always take a consistent schedule of shorter chapters that easier for the author to get out than them pushing themselves to make longer chapters with more intricate details if it causes delays. That being said, for what we got, I continue to despise this moderator, they seem to have no idea what they are doing, how to do it, little back bone, are easily manipulated, and became attached to the first person to give them positive attention. This is not who you give a job to reshape all of the observable cosmos to. On the other hand the Kyoko innocence plot is interesting to see where that goes.
Well, if every cosmology eventually harmonizes this won't be true. After all it would become true everywhere, "There are many worlds, but they share the same sky".
Mama mia, Kyoko went from zero to a hundred at the drop of a hat.