Confringentur 3; a Madoka Magica / Fate/Stay Night 3quel
- Thread starter SVS
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Day 17 Chapter 1
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"So I see you received the gift I left for you. Do you like it?"
You would say that you were surprised to see Sidonia inside of your dreams again, after the absence of several days left you thinking she'd said all she needed to, but after yesterday you were expecting some sort of response from her. Or if not, then you were expecting that your unconscious mind would have a lot of questions to sort through, and assuming she's just a figment of your imagination having them worked out in the form of Sidonia would also make sense. Either way, you aren't surprised to find your dreaming self atop a tall building, overlooking the night-time Mitakihara scenery alongside Sidonia von Borchk. As if that were ever a sentence you thought you would think. The you of even just a few months ago would never believe the you of now. "So I see you're still going to be cryptic about whether or not you're the real Sidonia," you respond. Knowing this is a dream, it's easy enough to find Sidonia's pendant clasped in your hand, cold metal in the shape of a ram's head pressed against the flesh of your palm.
"Believe what you want, child. Unfortunately, nothing I say or do can really prove anything to you. Either I'm the real me and I tell you things only the real me could know; or I'm just a figment of your imagination and anything I tell you are things your sleeping mind has made up to fill in the gaps." Sidonia scoffs at the notion that you and she are still going around this topic in circles, and says "But, regardless, I'm glad. It's not as if I had anyone else I could entrust my mother's keepsake to outside of you."
"This was your mother's?" you ask. "As in-"
"My biological mother," Sidonia says. "I was told by mother that she died giving birth to me." Sidonia chews on her lip, showing you a rare moment of hesitation in a face you've only ever known to show conviction and malice. "You know, I actually got to meet her," Sidonia says, pointing straight down towards the unseen street below you in the endless night. "Down there. I don't mean in Hell, though you'd be forgiven for thinking I deserve to be there. No, it's down for me because Veles's domain is under the earth, so that's where the afterlife is located for me. She was... I won't say she was particularly proud of me for the way I handled my second shot at life, but she was rather impressed at what I'd done to advance the practices of our bloodline's witchcraft."
"Your biological mother was a witch?"
"Yes," Sidonia replies; "And it seems that's a bit more literal than I thought it would be." Sidonia scoffs, adding "You know, I never actually knew when I was alive that 'witch' was a technical term for a specific kind of magic-user, and not just a generic descriptor for anyone capable of wielding magic." Sidonia 'hrm's to herself, moving the topic away from the technical and back to her biological mother. "You know, I was amazed by how much she looked like me? Aside from the way she styles her hair, she's my spitting image." Quickly, Sidonia corrects herself, saying "Or, I guess it's the other way around, isn't it? Since she is the woman who gave birth to me."
"So, if that pendant belonged to your birth mother, why did you leave it for me?"
"Who else could I have left it to?" Sidonia asks. "Clara had no children. Ulrich did, but like Hell I was going to leave anything of mine to that bastard and his offspring after the way I was treated. But then, I never had any children either. I spent so much of my first life scouring Europe for knowledge of the magical world that I all but eschewed romance entirely; and the few romances I did pursue were all with other women." Sidonia was a lesbian? Or again, are you just projecting your own homosexuality onto an image you've dreamed up to help sort through last night's questions? "I only found it by chance, actually. A colleague of mine - Makiri Zolgen, I believe you're familiar with that purple-haired descendant of his? - suggested that she might have had in her possession a copy of Twardowski's Mirror, which I was searching for even back then, and pointed me towards her. By coincidence, she and my father had been 'friends-" Sidonia puts the word "Friends" in air-quotes. "Though I didn't find that out until mother confronted me after you all defeated me. She didn't have Twardowski's Mirror, unfortunately, but she'd left behind a number of other things for me: other books, not just on magic but also on the ancient religious practices of our ancestors, as well as effigies to several of our old gods, and that pendant. Her house seemed particularly insistent that I take the pendant, though I still haven't been able to figure out why. Perhaps it was just her essence insisting that I take something to remember her by."
That explains why you felt such a strong compulsion to take it, if Sidonia wanted you to have it as much as her birth mother wanted her to have it. Though, "That still doesn't answer my question," you say. "Why me?"
"The manipulation of Grief was apparently the specialty of our bloodline. Don't ask me how. My biological mother couldn't tell me how such a specialty came to our bloodline, and the books she left behind for me only told me how I could refine and use it for myself, and not where it came from or how our bloodline came to manipulate it. You, out of anyone else in your circle that helped defeat me, show that same specialty in your own magic. I suppose I could complain that you've got an affinity for ice rather than fire, but aside from that it makes you as good a spiritual successor to my family's witchcraft as anyone else. Though, you'll forgive me for not being in a position to formally adopt you as my heir." Sidonia's expression changes to a downcast one, and she adds "Not that I'd expect you to accept even if I were. You've got your own family, whom I gravely hurt during my... Temper tantrum."
Even putting all of that aside, you don't think you particularly like the ways "Homura von Borchk" sounds. You might still, if you had any proof that any of this was real, pursue some sort of apprenticeship to learn more about how to manipulate Grief without inviting the wiles of your witch, but you wouldn't abandon your real family to pursue the opportunity. Though, there is some small part of you that's tickled pink by the idea that Sidonia prefers you as her successor over her own living descendant. If you had any proof that this were more than just your sleeping mind working through last night's questions, you might even consider taunting Franziska with the knowledge. In fact, you almost speak up to ask Sidonia about Franziska, but you stop yourself. Knowing that Sidonia's only living descendants would have to have come from her brother's line, assuming they had as poor of a relationship as Sidonia claims you doubt she'd want anything to do with them whether she knew they existed or not.
Which only raises the question of, how did the descendants of Ulrich von Borchk, who by Sidonia's accounts hated his sister, become the magical house of von Borcke which seems to idolise her, by Tohsaka-san's reckoning? Is Franziska descended from another branch of the family? Maybe an uncle who had no knowledge of the feud between Sidonia and her brother? Or did something happen to cause Ulrich's descendants to suddenly idolise Sidonia and want to see another one of her in the family? All questions whose answers you have no way of verifying for yourself.
[ ] Is there anything you'd like to ask Sidonia before you wake up? (write-in)
You awaken with your hand stretched out, clasped tightly around the pendant Sidonia left behind for you. Left behind? For you? Any answer you could have gotten could just as easily have been something your mind made up. Your laptop is still open where you left it, but the screen is turned off. The answers you found last night were inconclusive, and the Sidonia from your dream-state remained as she ever was. You aren't sure how to feel about the fact that a formerly-genocidal witch views you as the closest thing to a child she has, based solely on a shared ability to manipulate Grief. How lonely was her life where you are her best option for seeing her bloodline's magecraft - witchcraft? - continue?
You glance over to the bed on the opposite side of the room: Kirika is still sleeping, though you hear her muttering Oriko's name to herself. You hope she's having a sweeter dream than the one you had.
Do you
[ ] Hop in the shower now before Kirika wakes up
[ ] Wait until Kirika is awake and has finished showering before going in the shower
-[ ] Continue researching Veles while you wait
-[ ] Play with Amy while you wait
-[ ] Find an adult and talk to them about your dream while you wait (what do you want to say to them?)
-[ ] Message Madoka and see if she's awake; if she is, talk to her while you wait (about what?)
[ ] What do you need to do today? (write-in your list of priorities)
[ ] Other (write-in)
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Major objectives:
- See what else you can squeeze out of your runes and grief powers.
- Attempt to resolve Oriko and Hitomi's combat issues.
- Either find a way to hide Sayaka, and Minako, or find a way to give them adequate protection.
- Make sure Madoka gets to the point of being able to use Uruz practically.
- Keep the Occult Club well away from anything supernatural.
[ ] Set new major objectives here
- Attempt to resolve Oriko and Hitomi's combat issues.
- Either find a way to hide Sayaka, and Minako, or find a way to give them adequate protection.
- Make sure Madoka gets to the point of being able to use Uruz practically.
- Keep the Occult Club well away from anything supernatural.
[ ] Set new major objectives here
- Scare the remaining low-end Yakuza influences away so that they're out of the city.
- Attempt to recover all of Kim's puppets, and bring them to Touko.
- Acquire more allies and leverage for the confrontation with the Association.
- Keep your family, including yourself, safe.
- Investigate what can be done to help Mitakihara recover from Sidonia's rampage
[ ] Set new major objectives here
- Attempt to recover all of Kim's puppets, and bring them to Touko.
- Acquire more allies and leverage for the confrontation with the Association.
- Keep your family, including yourself, safe.
- Investigate what can be done to help Mitakihara recover from Sidonia's rampage
[ ] Set new major objectives here
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So, here we have Homura learning several things from Sidonia, who by now I think we can all agree is the real Sidonia and not just a figment Homura's dreamed up. Though she still doesn't know that. While I will not say how Sidonia is able to contact us, I think it's at least obvious enough why she's been contacting us, and why she wanted us to have her pendant. I did try at first to keep things ambiguous with this conversation, but given the subject material (the pendant and information that Sidonia could have only known if she'd experienced the one omake) I had to put my foot down and make it obvious that she's the real deal because otherwise this would have gone absolutely nowhere, and I didn't want that. But what I do want is for all of you to have thoughts about what to do next, and for you to hopefully share those thoughts before dropping a vote; not just about our objectives for today, but also just how Homura is going to approach this whole pendant situation and whatever relation it might have to Veles, Sidonia, Grief, our witch, our death (or the deaths of any of our loved ones), or that vision we had.
PlaguePaladin
The Bird Lady
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I don't have much to add and had to wrack my brain for about an hour for anything, but I have now just realized that Sidonia's place has books in it. Books that could probably help figure this out. Only thing is, they are not in Japanese, so we'll have to get another Servant to translate. That is, if they aren't in code like Aife spent a couple days deciphering once before. Too bad Google Lens doesn't exist in 2013. That aside, I probably should think of another way to approach this.
That aside, my plans are essentially the same as they were before. See if we can finish Ignite and get a bead on anything we can do to hurt the Enforcers.
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Had. We already ransacked her place for the majority of her books, if not all of them. The few that might have been left behind, if memory serves me, were books that Sidonia had been reading for personal pleasure rather than being research-related. But I'm sure we can ask Assassin if she'd let us take Sidonia's books off her hands for her.
Well, nice to have confirmation Homura isn't completely crazy.
Hmm, there might be one way to confirm this is actually Sidonia. Ask her how to summon up one of her werewolfs or other Slavic inspired familiars. If Homura can follow the instructions to summon them and get the same result, then that'd be a solid point in this being the real Sidonia, would it not?
Hmm, there might be one way to confirm this is actually Sidonia. Ask her how to summon up one of her werewolfs or other Slavic inspired familiars. If Homura can follow the instructions to summon them and get the same result, then that'd be a solid point in this being the real Sidonia, would it not?
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OOC< we know it's the real Sidonia. But IC, Homura has no idea whether any information Sidonia gives her isn't just information that her mind draws from or makes up. Would she attempt to follow up on any information "Sidonia" might give her? I mean, sure, we could always vote on it and she'd do it, but do we think that's something she would do?
And I don't suppose nine hours has changed anything about that? What about you, @NMS? Do you perchance have a vote where @PlaguePaladin doesn't?
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PlaguePaladin
The Bird Lady
- Pronouns
- She/Her
As a matter of fact, it has not.
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Welll all right then. Hopefully this just means I'm a fuckup who can't give good vote choices, and not that we're transitioning to a "once every other day" schedule.
PlaguePaladin
The Bird Lady
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan: Grief Study Day
-[X] Is there anything you'd like to ask Sidonia before you wake up? (write-in)
--[X] Personally, you'd like to know what her grief remnants are doing. Are they hostile, docile, possibly there for the taking if you can find out how? And if so, how?
-[X] Hop in the shower now before Kirika wakes up
-[X] What do you need to do today? (write-in your list of priorities)
--[X] First off, finishing Ignite is on the docket, if possible.
--[X] Second off, you want to see if you can at least get a hit in on the Enforcers. Gilgamesh might have some insights, and maybe whatever Oriko's got now could help narrow down their movements, depending on how it works. Perhaps if all else fails you can use Hrunting, or perhaps you can probably just go deep and try to search various nooks and crannies. It might be more worthwhile to do this out of Mitakihara and in the city to the north, since it looks like they're trying to send their forces into here and only have their foot in the door so far.
--[X] Third, you'd like to look into Sidonia's books. See if Aife is willing to let you access them if possible, depending on if she actually left behind translations that you can use. If she left things behind in Pictish, you might be SOL there, but in such a case you can at least try and ask her to paraphrase. You mostly want to know about Veles first and foremost, and how she works with grief secondarily. You would like to know more, but those are the big two, and if you have to rely on Aife giving you a translation you might want to stick with those.
-[X] Is there anything you'd like to ask Sidonia before you wake up? (write-in)
--[X] Personally, you'd like to know what her grief remnants are doing. Are they hostile, docile, possibly there for the taking if you can find out how? And if so, how?
-[X] Hop in the shower now before Kirika wakes up
-[X] What do you need to do today? (write-in your list of priorities)
--[X] First off, finishing Ignite is on the docket, if possible.
--[X] Second off, you want to see if you can at least get a hit in on the Enforcers. Gilgamesh might have some insights, and maybe whatever Oriko's got now could help narrow down their movements, depending on how it works. Perhaps if all else fails you can use Hrunting, or perhaps you can probably just go deep and try to search various nooks and crannies. It might be more worthwhile to do this out of Mitakihara and in the city to the north, since it looks like they're trying to send their forces into here and only have their foot in the door so far.
--[X] Third, you'd like to look into Sidonia's books. See if Aife is willing to let you access them if possible, depending on if she actually left behind translations that you can use. If she left things behind in Pictish, you might be SOL there, but in such a case you can at least try and ask her to paraphrase. You mostly want to know about Veles first and foremost, and how she works with grief secondarily. You would like to know more, but those are the big two, and if you have to rely on Aife giving you a translation you might want to stick with those.
I've ran out of energy for today. You are good. I've tried to rehash points a bit as to give us something, which maybe someone else can work with.
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Whether it's someone else or you tomorrow when you have more energy - though I suspect it'll be you tomorrow when you have more energy since @NMS and @K4lepo both seem to prefer voting by checking your name rather than copying the whole plan - two things I'd like to see worked on are:
With a bit more specificity. Given what we know, and I guess what we think we can expect, what's the sort of hit we'd like to make, and how might we go about planning for and achieving such a hit? And regarding Sidonia's books, what in particular are we looking for? Veles stuff? Notes on her pendant? Research into Grief refining? Something else? I suppose we could also incorporate
This into the mix, if you felt like it or something similar (or maybe something that also covers our research needs in more detail) since you missed the part of the vote where we could ask Sidonia something before waking up.
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That being said, while I would still like to see some specificity directed towards the two referred points, given that I only just barely got a full hour of sleep last night, I'm not sure I'll have much bandwidth with which to write anything. I suppose you'll find out when there's an update, or if not I'll be sure to let everyone know there won't be.
PlaguePaladin
The Bird Lady
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Consider the edit done. Apologies for the wait. Sorry about your hour of sleep; I've only very recently begun fixing my sleep schedule myself, I get it.
Day 17 Chapter 2
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- Around here
[X] Plan: Grief Study Day
While you're still asleep, aware that you're dreaming, you decide to ask Sidonia a question that's been on your mind for some time now, ever since Archer discovered Sidonia's spiders still lurking in the sewers, but which hasn't really come up again until last night's encounter with one of Sidonia's werewolves. "What about the rest of your leftover familiars?" you ask. "I know I asked about them before, but after last night..."
"As I said when you asked me this question last time," Sidonia responds, "If they haven't hatched yet, they won't. Those that are still around, while I can't guarantee their docility towards the populace in general, I can confirm one thing about them for you." Sidonia walks towards you, slowly, until she's standing right in front of you. Instinctively, you recoil when Sidonia reaches out her hands, and only settle again when you see that she's only clasped them around your own. You can feel the cold metal of her pendant digging into your palms, and Sidonia says "You, at least, have my protection from them, for as long as you possess that pendant. They will recognise you."
The sentiment sounds appealing enough on paper, but in practice you aren't sure how comfortable you are with Sidonia's hands, the tips of her fingers stained back with Grief like the tobacco-stained fingers of a lifelong smoker - you watched Kinoshige die just two days ago - clasped around your own like she's familiar to you. "Do I..." you speak, "Or, I guess, can I control them? Will they obey me, or does this just mean that they won't attack me?"
Sidonia shapes her head, and responds "Truthfully, I wouldn't know myself," which causes you to crinkle your face in disappointment. "I was led to my birth mother's home by a familiar she had left behind, but I don't know if it was obeying me when I asked it to take me to its master, or if it was merely following instructions that had been left behind for it to follow. Since I never encountered another familiar of hers afterwards, I don't have any other frame of reference. It's possible the ones I left behind may still try to follow the commands I left them with, even above your own, but they shouldn't try to attack you as long as you're in possession of that pendant."
That thought, maybe that was why you awaken with your hand stretched out, clasped tightly around the pendant Sidonia left behind for you. Left behind? For you? True, that was what Sidonia said, but any answer you could have gotten could just as easily have been something your mind made up. Your laptop is still open where you left it, but the screen is turned off. The answers you found last night were inconclusive, and the Sidonia from your dream-state remained as she ever was. You aren't sure how to feel about the fact that a formerly-genocidal witch views you as the closest thing to a child she has, based solely on a shared ability to manipulate Grief. How lonely was her life where you are her best option for seeing her bloodline's magecraft - witchcraft? - continue?
You glance over to the bed on the opposite side of the room: Kirika is still sleeping, though you hear her muttering Oriko's name to herself. Frankly, it's unusual for you to be awake before Kirika: Even though she strikes you as the type to be a habitual late sleeper, the fact that she's always had a longer commute to school than you - before she was your sister, she and mom lived in an apartment building about forty-five minutes north of the junior high; and afterwards, once she was in high school she had the same forty-five minute commute going to school in Shirome - means she's gotten into the habit of waking up before you. You're content to let her sleep, hoping that she's having a sweeter dream than the one you had, but on the chance that she isn't sleeping, you decide you'll slip into the shower while she's still in bed. If your positions were reversed, and you were 'dreaming' about Madoka, you hope that Kirika would give you the same privacy. Shut up shut up shut up.
You leave Sidonia's pendant on your bedside table and- "No, Amy, I'm going to the shower," you quietly hiss as your cat tries to follow you. "If you follow me you're going to get wet." Amy immediately gives up her pursuit of your shuffling feet, and you head towards the bathroom and into the shower. As soon as the water hits your head, your thoughts come streaming out, spiraling down the drain just like droplets of water. Sidonia's biological mother was a witch just like her. Sidonia's bloodline specialised in Grief manipulation. Sidonia saw that in you and decided to posthumously make you her heir. Franziska would be very upset if she knew her ancestor chose you instead of her. Why the hell does Lena Kloss look like Sidonia when they aren't even related? Why does Franziska not look like Sidonia? Four-hundred years of genetic drift could easily explain why her hair is white and her eyes are red - aren't those the same colours that artificial constructs like homunculi and the Incubators wear? - instead of being pink and green; but it doesn't explain why her adopted sister, who isn't even a von Borcke, looks identical to Sidonia, right down to sharing the same face.
You aren't sure how long you stay there, letting the water splash against your face, before you even move to do any sort of bodily cleaning. You just felt so zoned out after that mental experience you had last night. What was it that Sidonia's pendant tried to show you? Was that even the pendant's doing in the first place? Archer said it only had minor luck and protection charms on it, but then Sidonia had ways of getting around even the best of Oriko and Caster's precognitive visions, so you can't rule out that she'd hidden something in that pendant only detectable by you. You also can't rule out the possibility that it wasn't the pendant at all, but another function of whatever kept her workshop free of dust, some sort of charm effect placed on the workshop itself meant specifically for you. How would that work? Should you have asked Archer if he felt any other odd spells inside the workshop than what he was specifically searching for? Wouldn't Archer have noticed them anyway even if he wasn't searching for them? Is whatever happened to you not even magic at all, but some sort of supernatural force? Has Veles taken an interest in you, or in your witch? You can't imagine what for, not when you can't think of any connection you or your witch have to earth, water, livestock, or the underworld. You can't think of any connection Sidonia had to any of those domains, either, but Veles still took an interest in Sidonia regardless. Because of his aspect as opposition to Perun? Is that implying that you too will become a villain like Sidonia and sow chaos once you mature into your witch form?You she doesn't seem like the type of person who would. Chaos does seem antithetical to the sort of nature you she seems to present yourself herself as having.
Your thoughts are still present, spilling from your mind like the shampoo you've just washed out of your hair, as you turn the water off. As you stare at your toes and the suddy water circling the drain, you imagine your thoughts circling with them, until every thought you've had since waking up has drained and you're left with only unanswered questions. What does any of this mean for Akemi Homura? What does it mean to be Akemi Homura? Are you even still Akemi Homura, or has whatever this experience was brought you one step closer to becoming your witch? After all, you and she did reach for the pendant at the same time, and you did see your hand merging with hers when you both took it.
Your body wreathed in a towel, you walk back to your room, finding that Kirika has risen and is sat upright on her bed playing with Amy. Remembering your intrusive thoughts from before you stepped into the shower, you say to her "Please make sure to wash your hands before playing with my cat."
Kirika shoos Amy off her lap, and looks up at you with a massive grin. "Gee, sis," she responds, "You've got a really dirty mind all of a sudden. Could you maybe say that a bit less perverted-sounding?"
You roll your eyes and do what you can to shoo Kirika away like she shooed Amy. "Don't be crass," you say, knowing your words will fall on deaf ears. "You know what I meant. You also know that you've said way worse than anything I could ever say."
Kirika's grin only widens, and she says "Heh, yeah~" in as goofy a tone as she can manage. "But you know what? When it's just the two of us, Oriko likes it when I get perverted." Yes, you would imagine. If Oriko didn't like when Kirika got perverted, she would have stopped being perverted a long time ago. "Maybe Pinkie'd like it if you got perverted once in a while." Yes she would. Shut up no she wouldn't. You don't know that. No but I respect her enough to not try and find out before she signals that she's ready.
"Speaking of Oriko," you say, pushing aside her unasked-for comment about your relationship with Madoka - should you tell mom that Kirika is taunting you again? - and your own intrusive thoughts therein. "I need you to get in touch with her-" "Way ahead of you, sis." "-for me. I need you to have her ask Nurse Ortensia if she and Assassin could bring some of Sidonia's books with them to school today. There's some stuff in there I'd like to take a look at." Kirika responds with a chipper "'Kay," and when she asks if there's anything in particular you're interested, you say "If Assassin say anything in those books about Veles, that would be what I'd like to take a look at first. Second after that, if Sidonia left behind any notes on how she refined and worked with Grief." You'd like to know more, obviously, but those two should give you a decent enough starting point, especially if Assassin has left Sidonia's works untranslated from their original Pomeranian.
Outside of that, you've got at least two things you'd like to get done; the first being to finish the work on your secret project, for which you'll need to recruit Matou Sakura. You haven't spoken to her since you came back from the other city, and it's now Wednesday. Especially after your lack of leadership when facing Kim caused her to be hurt, you'd understand if she didn't want to work with you any more. But even so, you still need her help in completing your project. Then - possibly after you've finished work on your secret project, perhaps - you'd like to make a major strike against Franziska and her team. They're all the way in the other city, but you've seen the signs that they're trying to make moves into Mitakihar, but only have one foot in the door courtesy of your foiling of Benveniste's slimes two nights ago. Asking for help from Oriko or Caster might be the best course of action in figuring out how to hit them.
But before anything else, you have to get dressed. You have to eat breakfast - you don't, really, but after not eating... Anything, you think, yesterday you know you should to keep your parents' suspicions off your back - and you probably have to go to school.
[ ] Wat do? (write-in)
While you're still asleep, aware that you're dreaming, you decide to ask Sidonia a question that's been on your mind for some time now, ever since Archer discovered Sidonia's spiders still lurking in the sewers, but which hasn't really come up again until last night's encounter with one of Sidonia's werewolves. "What about the rest of your leftover familiars?" you ask. "I know I asked about them before, but after last night..."
"As I said when you asked me this question last time," Sidonia responds, "If they haven't hatched yet, they won't. Those that are still around, while I can't guarantee their docility towards the populace in general, I can confirm one thing about them for you." Sidonia walks towards you, slowly, until she's standing right in front of you. Instinctively, you recoil when Sidonia reaches out her hands, and only settle again when you see that she's only clasped them around your own. You can feel the cold metal of her pendant digging into your palms, and Sidonia says "You, at least, have my protection from them, for as long as you possess that pendant. They will recognise you."
The sentiment sounds appealing enough on paper, but in practice you aren't sure how comfortable you are with Sidonia's hands, the tips of her fingers stained back with Grief like the tobacco-stained fingers of a lifelong smoker - you watched Kinoshige die just two days ago - clasped around your own like she's familiar to you. "Do I..." you speak, "Or, I guess, can I control them? Will they obey me, or does this just mean that they won't attack me?"
Sidonia shapes her head, and responds "Truthfully, I wouldn't know myself," which causes you to crinkle your face in disappointment. "I was led to my birth mother's home by a familiar she had left behind, but I don't know if it was obeying me when I asked it to take me to its master, or if it was merely following instructions that had been left behind for it to follow. Since I never encountered another familiar of hers afterwards, I don't have any other frame of reference. It's possible the ones I left behind may still try to follow the commands I left them with, even above your own, but they shouldn't try to attack you as long as you're in possession of that pendant."
That thought, maybe that was why you awaken with your hand stretched out, clasped tightly around the pendant Sidonia left behind for you. Left behind? For you? True, that was what Sidonia said, but any answer you could have gotten could just as easily have been something your mind made up. Your laptop is still open where you left it, but the screen is turned off. The answers you found last night were inconclusive, and the Sidonia from your dream-state remained as she ever was. You aren't sure how to feel about the fact that a formerly-genocidal witch views you as the closest thing to a child she has, based solely on a shared ability to manipulate Grief. How lonely was her life where you are her best option for seeing her bloodline's magecraft - witchcraft? - continue?
You glance over to the bed on the opposite side of the room: Kirika is still sleeping, though you hear her muttering Oriko's name to herself. Frankly, it's unusual for you to be awake before Kirika: Even though she strikes you as the type to be a habitual late sleeper, the fact that she's always had a longer commute to school than you - before she was your sister, she and mom lived in an apartment building about forty-five minutes north of the junior high; and afterwards, once she was in high school she had the same forty-five minute commute going to school in Shirome - means she's gotten into the habit of waking up before you. You're content to let her sleep, hoping that she's having a sweeter dream than the one you had, but on the chance that she isn't sleeping, you decide you'll slip into the shower while she's still in bed. If your positions were reversed, and you were 'dreaming' about Madoka, you hope that Kirika would give you the same privacy. Shut up shut up shut up.
You leave Sidonia's pendant on your bedside table and- "No, Amy, I'm going to the shower," you quietly hiss as your cat tries to follow you. "If you follow me you're going to get wet." Amy immediately gives up her pursuit of your shuffling feet, and you head towards the bathroom and into the shower. As soon as the water hits your head, your thoughts come streaming out, spiraling down the drain just like droplets of water. Sidonia's biological mother was a witch just like her. Sidonia's bloodline specialised in Grief manipulation. Sidonia saw that in you and decided to posthumously make you her heir. Franziska would be very upset if she knew her ancestor chose you instead of her. Why the hell does Lena Kloss look like Sidonia when they aren't even related? Why does Franziska not look like Sidonia? Four-hundred years of genetic drift could easily explain why her hair is white and her eyes are red - aren't those the same colours that artificial constructs like homunculi and the Incubators wear? - instead of being pink and green; but it doesn't explain why her adopted sister, who isn't even a von Borcke, looks identical to Sidonia, right down to sharing the same face.
You aren't sure how long you stay there, letting the water splash against your face, before you even move to do any sort of bodily cleaning. You just felt so zoned out after that mental experience you had last night. What was it that Sidonia's pendant tried to show you? Was that even the pendant's doing in the first place? Archer said it only had minor luck and protection charms on it, but then Sidonia had ways of getting around even the best of Oriko and Caster's precognitive visions, so you can't rule out that she'd hidden something in that pendant only detectable by you. You also can't rule out the possibility that it wasn't the pendant at all, but another function of whatever kept her workshop free of dust, some sort of charm effect placed on the workshop itself meant specifically for you. How would that work? Should you have asked Archer if he felt any other odd spells inside the workshop than what he was specifically searching for? Wouldn't Archer have noticed them anyway even if he wasn't searching for them? Is whatever happened to you not even magic at all, but some sort of supernatural force? Has Veles taken an interest in you, or in your witch? You can't imagine what for, not when you can't think of any connection you or your witch have to earth, water, livestock, or the underworld. You can't think of any connection Sidonia had to any of those domains, either, but Veles still took an interest in Sidonia regardless. Because of his aspect as opposition to Perun? Is that implying that you too will become a villain like Sidonia and sow chaos once you mature into your witch form?
Your thoughts are still present, spilling from your mind like the shampoo you've just washed out of your hair, as you turn the water off. As you stare at your toes and the suddy water circling the drain, you imagine your thoughts circling with them, until every thought you've had since waking up has drained and you're left with only unanswered questions. What does any of this mean for Akemi Homura? What does it mean to be Akemi Homura? Are you even still Akemi Homura, or has whatever this experience was brought you one step closer to becoming your witch? After all, you and she did reach for the pendant at the same time, and you did see your hand merging with hers when you both took it.
Your body wreathed in a towel, you walk back to your room, finding that Kirika has risen and is sat upright on her bed playing with Amy. Remembering your intrusive thoughts from before you stepped into the shower, you say to her "Please make sure to wash your hands before playing with my cat."
Kirika shoos Amy off her lap, and looks up at you with a massive grin. "Gee, sis," she responds, "You've got a really dirty mind all of a sudden. Could you maybe say that a bit less perverted-sounding?"
You roll your eyes and do what you can to shoo Kirika away like she shooed Amy. "Don't be crass," you say, knowing your words will fall on deaf ears. "You know what I meant. You also know that you've said way worse than anything I could ever say."
Kirika's grin only widens, and she says "Heh, yeah~" in as goofy a tone as she can manage. "But you know what? When it's just the two of us, Oriko likes it when I get perverted." Yes, you would imagine. If Oriko didn't like when Kirika got perverted, she would have stopped being perverted a long time ago. "Maybe Pinkie'd like it if you got perverted once in a while." Yes she would. Shut up no she wouldn't. You don't know that. No but I respect her enough to not try and find out before she signals that she's ready.
"Speaking of Oriko," you say, pushing aside her unasked-for comment about your relationship with Madoka - should you tell mom that Kirika is taunting you again? - and your own intrusive thoughts therein. "I need you to get in touch with her-" "Way ahead of you, sis." "-for me. I need you to have her ask Nurse Ortensia if she and Assassin could bring some of Sidonia's books with them to school today. There's some stuff in there I'd like to take a look at." Kirika responds with a chipper "'Kay," and when she asks if there's anything in particular you're interested, you say "If Assassin say anything in those books about Veles, that would be what I'd like to take a look at first. Second after that, if Sidonia left behind any notes on how she refined and worked with Grief." You'd like to know more, obviously, but those two should give you a decent enough starting point, especially if Assassin has left Sidonia's works untranslated from their original Pomeranian.
Outside of that, you've got at least two things you'd like to get done; the first being to finish the work on your secret project, for which you'll need to recruit Matou Sakura. You haven't spoken to her since you came back from the other city, and it's now Wednesday. Especially after your lack of leadership when facing Kim caused her to be hurt, you'd understand if she didn't want to work with you any more. But even so, you still need her help in completing your project. Then - possibly after you've finished work on your secret project, perhaps - you'd like to make a major strike against Franziska and her team. They're all the way in the other city, but you've seen the signs that they're trying to make moves into Mitakihar, but only have one foot in the door courtesy of your foiling of Benveniste's slimes two nights ago. Asking for help from Oriko or Caster might be the best course of action in figuring out how to hit them.
But before anything else, you have to get dressed. You have to eat breakfast - you don't, really, but after not eating... Anything, you think, yesterday you know you should to keep your parents' suspicions off your back - and you probably have to go to school.
[ ] Wat do? (write-in)
- Location
- Around here
I'm surprised I managed to get as much as this out, when I did. I apologise for leaving the vote open-ended, but I'll have a better idea of the sort of choices to give everyone once I know if we're planning on skipping or going to school today. I'd guess that we're skipping, but after yesterday I could still see some benefit in going to school just for the recharge to our batteries that seeing Madoka would bring, before diving into some big projects like research, workshopping, or planning an attack. Plus, going to school actually puts Sidonia's books in our hands sooner courtesy of our daily need to "receive heart medicine" from Caren, whom Assassin is bound to be with throughout the day. Otherwise, if we skip, we're at the mercy of whenever Archer is able to pick those books up for us in-between any other duties we might want to send him on. So that's that. Like I said, I'll try to have some more concrete options for directing our efforts towards our goals once I know whether we're staying home or going to school.
PlaguePaladin
The Bird Lady
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan: Maybe We Should Go To School
-[X] Go to school, of course. Mental state aside, you should get those books from assassin.
-[X] Maybe if it comes up, you could ask Karin if it's time to interact with the Occult Club again, or if you should just leave that be. Probably not the time to seek it out, though.
-[X] Try to just connect again, though you are more willing to be active and take on more stressful actions.
-[X] Go to school, of course. Mental state aside, you should get those books from assassin.
-[X] Maybe if it comes up, you could ask Karin if it's time to interact with the Occult Club again, or if you should just leave that be. Probably not the time to seek it out, though.
-[X] Try to just connect again, though you are more willing to be active and take on more stressful actions.
I'm surprised too, so soon after my edit. Almost jumpscared me with this update. Not a lot to do here as you've noted, so I've tried to make something out of it. I can change as needed.
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- Around here
Somehow, I had already worked through about 1,300 words out of what you see here before I found myself unable to continue due to a lack of details to work on the outlined points. Your edits only covered the last 600 or so words, which doesn't really take me very long to write at all.
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What am I righting? What's gone sideways that I need to right? I mean, besides this whole series circa 2021. And, why would I take the day off for Pokemon Day? I might be a fan of the older games, but I'm a pretty damn bad fan all things considered. I haven't played a new game since Black 2, didn't watch Detective Pikachu, and I think the Pokemon TCG is the absolute worst card game to play out of every card game currently out there.
- Pronouns
- Mr
[X] Plan: Maybe We Should Go To School
Archer: BACK OFF, I ADOPTED HER FIRST.
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- Around here
Forget Archer, what about Minako's reaction to hearing this? Archer was at least there in Purgatory when Sidonia's mom humbled her and made her apologise. What's Minako's reaction going to be when she hears that the lady who tried to poison the city - herself included - has now adopted her adopted daughter?
Also, I find it amusing that both Sidonia and Homura have had multiple mothers. Kind of an odd coincidence.
EDIT: Come on @PlaguePaladin @NMS @K4lepo I just need two more please respond to this.
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PlaguePaladin
The Bird Lady
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I forgot when that happened. Also, pretty sure Mami left. She instead probably redecorated her house, with the refugees in there...