Confringentur, Mk.2; a Madoka Magica / Fate/Stay Night crossover
- Thread starter SVS
- Start date
- Crossover
[X] Plan Consensual Hand Holding Minus the Hand Holding.
- Location
- Around here
@Enetious @WanderingTwix @NMS @r s @BoundaryPhantasm;
I have a question for each of you regarding this part of the vote
I have a question for each of you regarding this part of the vote
What makes Finitora Freccia as expensive as it is is the combination of the energy required to push the freeze damage down to absolute zero + the energy required for the mass-self-replication of the arrows. Those two elements are what makes Finitora Freccia, Finitora Freccia. So when we're trying to develop a cheaper and more localised version, what should we be focusing on? Self-replicating ice arrows that don't reach absolute zero, or a single absolute zero projectile without the self-replication? Because if we remove both what we have is essentially just our regular ice arrow with its regular wide-area splash damage.
A single absolute zero projectile without the self-replication would be my choice. Homura need a more cheaper heaver/finisher attack that she could spam more often.
Day 44 Chapter 6
- Location
- Around here
[X] NMS
As you finish up another round of practice with your new Projection abilities, you check the time on your phone; it's still too early to be doing anything with Nagatsuki Miyuki yet. Tomoe-san and Mikuni Oriko are still hard at work practicing their combination attack - and from where you stand, they appear to be doing quite a good job of it - while Kyouko has given up practicing anything and is instead talking to Sayaka on her phone.
"... so yeah, I'm over here with the others... Nah, I'm not doing much of anything right now. Thought I'd give ya a call and see what's up. ... Uh-huh; yeah? Uh, good fer her, I guess. Know where yer moving to yet? ... Oh, yeah, I know it. Kinda nearby ta where Mami's apartment is, right? Guess we'll be neighbors then..." Kyouko looks over her shoulder, her eyes settling on you for a moment as she says "Yeah, she's here. ... I dunno; I'm not a mind reader, but I'd guess she's beaten herself up inside pretty bad over what happened. ... Yeah, I'll let her know." Kyouko walks over to you, and offers you her phone as she says "Blueberry wants ta say something to ya."
She does?
You take the phone from Kyouko and bring it up to your ear. "Sayaka?"
"Hey, Homura, I..." A lengthy pause waits for you on the other end, before Sayaka finally works up the courage to say "Nothing. It's nothing. Can you hand the phone back to Kyouko now?"
It sure didn't sound like nothing to you; but then, what do you know? The inner machinations of Miki Sayaka's mind are an enigma. "Right," you say, adding before you relinquish the phone "Oh and Sayaka, thank you."
"But I didn't do anything."
"You did more than enough," is what you want to say, but you hold your tongue, and hand the phone back to Kyouko.
"So, what was that about?" Kyouko makes no hesitation as she resumes conversing with her girlfriend. "Aren't you still mad at her? ... How the hell am I s'pposed ta know that? I told ya I ain't a mind reader. ... No, no, yer right; I'm sorry. I shouldn't be yelling at ya like that. ... Listen, I know it don't seem like it, but I know what yer going through right now... Kinda. Did I ever tell ya about the night I confessed ta Mami? ... No, really, I ain't trying ta rub it in yer face or anything, this... I gotta yell ya this, 'cause it's the only thing I can think ta say to ya right now..."
You'll give Kyouko the privacy she needs to say to Sayaka whatever it is she needs to say, and you return to practicing. "Alright," you say to yourself. "Isa; what are some creative applications I can think of trying?" What do you currently use Isa for? Enhancing your arrows with additional power and a strong freezing effect, making barriers, a few minor Mystic Codes, and Finitora Freccia. So what does that leave you?
Enhanced movement abilities. Lancer is able to fly by using Sowilo, so perhaps you can try something similar. But how? You close your eyes, and try to imagine achieving lift through the invocation of your rune. Lancer. Keep Lancer in your mind. Picture her flying with Sowilo, then substitute Lancer for yourself and Sowilo for Isa. Lancer. Sowilo. Flight. Akemi Homura. Isa. Flight.
Flight.
Flight.
Flight!
You feel yourself rising at a rapid pace, only stopping when the shock of your success forces your eyes open. You haven't achieved flight; rather, you stand tall over the treeline atop a pillar of ice. But you've still managed to achieve some much-needed high ground, even if you haven't yet found a way to soar through the air on frozen winds. But... How do you get down from here? With your eyes open, you try once more to concentrate on those thoughts from earlier, of Lancer and you and of achieving takeoff, and you step down from the pillar of ice as you hope for a success.
At least if you fall, Mikuni Oriko will be there to pick you up.
Wait. If you were going to fall, then wouldn't Mikuni Oriko have warned you ahead of time?
You don't fall, but for the second time you fail to achieve flight. You do, however, find your foot stepping onto another frozen platform, one which juts out from the center of the pillar of ice as though it were a singe stair. You take another step, and then another; and each time you try to step onto the open air, another step of ice appears beneath your feet. You descend from the pillar on a spiral staircase of ice, not sure how pleased with yourself you should be feeling right now.
Flight would have been nice, though.
Once your feet are firmly back on solid ground, you return to the drawing board and try to think of other things you can do with Isa. Greater offensive power. Not greater in the sense that you need something to surpass Finitora Freccia, but greater in the sense of an attack of comparable output to Tomoe-san or Mikuni Oriko. Neither of them are pushed to the brink through the use of their strongest attacks, but you are. While immensely powerful, Finitora Freccia is also too draining on your Soul Gem to be of use in the same way that Tomoe-san and Mikuni Oriko can use their strongest attack; and that is something you would like to correct.
But how do you reduce the cost to your Soul Gem to use it?
You hate to interrupt "Tomoe-san!" but for what you're attempting it doesn't hurt to play things safe.
Tomoe-san breaks from what she's doing with MIkuni Oriko and turns her attention to you. "Did you need something from me, Akemi-san?"
"I'm trying to find ways to lower the cost Finitora Freccia puts on my Soul Gem, but I need your Grief dampening just in case I'm unsuccessful."
"Of course." With a flourish of her finger Tomoe-san sends a Wunjo-laced strand of ribbon to tie itself around your ankle. "I wish you the best of luck, Akemi-san," she says as she returns to her practice with Mikuni Oriko. "Now, where did we leave off... ?"
You bring up your bow, and concentrate on the aspects of Isa that allow you to create your strongest attack. The ability to push freezing damage down to absolute zero, and the self-replicating nature of the attack. If you were to remove one of those, could you create a more manageable version of Finitora Freccia?
As you concentrate, you decide that a single, repeatable attack is better than one capable of self-replicating, and from there you focus all your concentration on bringing the freezing power containing in your ice arrow down to absolute zero. Holding the arrow at the ready in your bow, you can feel pain coming from your hands as the warmth is stolen from them. It would be pointless to come up with yet another attack which you can only use as a last resort, so you wisely decide to loose before pain turns into permannent damage.
Just like the full-power Finitora Freccia, this version in miniature leaves a a spiraling contrail of frozen water molecules in its wake, but unlike the full-power version the frozen contrails do not form into arrows of their own in the wake of the original. The arrow strikes the tree, immediately freezing it from top to bottom before the frozen tree collapses on itself, leaving only a pile of ice shards.
Does that count as a success? you ask yourself as you survey the results of your attack. You check your Soul Gem, finding your buildup of Grief to be at manageable levels. Yes, you think, recalling how a single use of Finitora Freccia is enough to push your Soul Gem to the brink even after Tomoe-san's Grief dampening. Compared to that, this is absolutely a success.
While you still have your bow at the ready, you decide to try out some other things as well. Once again taking a page from Archer's book, you decide to try what does he call it? Breaking your arrow by overloading them with mana. You Project the first arrow of this new test, and concentrate all your focus on Reinforcing it. You know your arrows by heart, know how they are made and exactly how much they can take. Your mana fills in the empty gaps, and when the arrow is full to bursting you release your hold and let the arrow fly. The arrow screams towards its target, cracking with arcs of mana, until finally the arrow explodes on contact with the target tree, tearing a large crater in the center of the poor tree. You're really giving these trees a pounding, you think as you survey the damage. Maybe you should think about planting a few trees to make up for all the damage you've done in this clearing. You could even make a date of it. Madoka likes gardening, and you're sure she'd enjoy spending an afternoon planting trees with you.
Mitakihara is going to need a lot of trees after Sunday.
You give your broken arrows a few more tests before the accumulated Grief from your afternoon of practice compels you to stop and refuel; and once you've done that you try to think of other things you can test your Reinforcement on. You hate to interrupt, but once again you call out to "Tomoe-san!"
"I don't mean to be rude, Akemi-san, but I am in the middle of practicing with Mikuni-san," Tomoe-san says as she is once again torn away from her practice exercise with Mikuni Oriko.
"I know," you say. "And I'm sorry to keep interrupting your exercises, but I was in the middle of practicing my Reinforcement magecraft, and I got curious about what would happen if I were to reinforce your Tiro Finale."
"Interesting," Tomoe-san says. "What do you believe would happen?"
"I'm not sure. Reinforcement is supposed to make an object more of itself, so I'm hoping that it'll make your attacks stronger."
Tomoe-san chews on your explanation, eventually saying "Very well. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you test your theory with me." You nod your head, and group up with Tomoe-san as she prepares for another round. "Mikuni-san, Akemi-san is going to be joining us for awhile. She has something she wants to test out."
"Of course," Mikuni Oriko says. "Good afternoon, Akemi-san. You've been quite the busy little bee this afternoon, haven't you?"
"Well, there's a lot of different things I wanted to try out."
Mikuni Oriko nods her head, and Tomoe-san motions with her hands, saying "Let's get back to work," as she calls forth the massive flintlock cannon you couldn't imagine her without. "Alright, Akemi-san, do whatever it is you need to do, and let me know as soon as you're done."
You place your hand to the side of the cannon, concentrating, compelling your mana to fill in the gaps of Tomoe-san's Projected construct. You don't know the limits of the Tiro Finale quite the same as Tomoe-san does, so you try to stop short, rather than risk pushing too much in and causing an explosion. "You're good to go," you say, giving the side of the cannon a few slaps.
"Then let's see what this baby can do. Ready Mikuni-san?"
Mikuni Oriko, having formed her drones into another railgun as you were working on Tomoe-san's cannon, nods her head. "Ready."
"Tiro..."
"-fulmine!"
You should have worn sunglasses.
As you finish up another round of practice with your new Projection abilities, you check the time on your phone; it's still too early to be doing anything with Nagatsuki Miyuki yet. Tomoe-san and Mikuni Oriko are still hard at work practicing their combination attack - and from where you stand, they appear to be doing quite a good job of it - while Kyouko has given up practicing anything and is instead talking to Sayaka on her phone.
"... so yeah, I'm over here with the others... Nah, I'm not doing much of anything right now. Thought I'd give ya a call and see what's up. ... Uh-huh; yeah? Uh, good fer her, I guess. Know where yer moving to yet? ... Oh, yeah, I know it. Kinda nearby ta where Mami's apartment is, right? Guess we'll be neighbors then..." Kyouko looks over her shoulder, her eyes settling on you for a moment as she says "Yeah, she's here. ... I dunno; I'm not a mind reader, but I'd guess she's beaten herself up inside pretty bad over what happened. ... Yeah, I'll let her know." Kyouko walks over to you, and offers you her phone as she says "Blueberry wants ta say something to ya."
She does?
You take the phone from Kyouko and bring it up to your ear. "Sayaka?"
"Hey, Homura, I..." A lengthy pause waits for you on the other end, before Sayaka finally works up the courage to say "Nothing. It's nothing. Can you hand the phone back to Kyouko now?"
It sure didn't sound like nothing to you; but then, what do you know? The inner machinations of Miki Sayaka's mind are an enigma. "Right," you say, adding before you relinquish the phone "Oh and Sayaka, thank you."
"But I didn't do anything."
"You did more than enough," is what you want to say, but you hold your tongue, and hand the phone back to Kyouko.
"So, what was that about?" Kyouko makes no hesitation as she resumes conversing with her girlfriend. "Aren't you still mad at her? ... How the hell am I s'pposed ta know that? I told ya I ain't a mind reader. ... No, no, yer right; I'm sorry. I shouldn't be yelling at ya like that. ... Listen, I know it don't seem like it, but I know what yer going through right now... Kinda. Did I ever tell ya about the night I confessed ta Mami? ... No, really, I ain't trying ta rub it in yer face or anything, this... I gotta yell ya this, 'cause it's the only thing I can think ta say to ya right now..."
You'll give Kyouko the privacy she needs to say to Sayaka whatever it is she needs to say, and you return to practicing. "Alright," you say to yourself. "Isa; what are some creative applications I can think of trying?" What do you currently use Isa for? Enhancing your arrows with additional power and a strong freezing effect, making barriers, a few minor Mystic Codes, and Finitora Freccia. So what does that leave you?
Enhanced movement abilities. Lancer is able to fly by using Sowilo, so perhaps you can try something similar. But how? You close your eyes, and try to imagine achieving lift through the invocation of your rune. Lancer. Keep Lancer in your mind. Picture her flying with Sowilo, then substitute Lancer for yourself and Sowilo for Isa. Lancer. Sowilo. Flight. Akemi Homura. Isa. Flight.
Flight.
Flight.
Flight!
You feel yourself rising at a rapid pace, only stopping when the shock of your success forces your eyes open. You haven't achieved flight; rather, you stand tall over the treeline atop a pillar of ice. But you've still managed to achieve some much-needed high ground, even if you haven't yet found a way to soar through the air on frozen winds. But... How do you get down from here? With your eyes open, you try once more to concentrate on those thoughts from earlier, of Lancer and you and of achieving takeoff, and you step down from the pillar of ice as you hope for a success.
At least if you fall, Mikuni Oriko will be there to pick you up.
Wait. If you were going to fall, then wouldn't Mikuni Oriko have warned you ahead of time?
You don't fall, but for the second time you fail to achieve flight. You do, however, find your foot stepping onto another frozen platform, one which juts out from the center of the pillar of ice as though it were a singe stair. You take another step, and then another; and each time you try to step onto the open air, another step of ice appears beneath your feet. You descend from the pillar on a spiral staircase of ice, not sure how pleased with yourself you should be feeling right now.
Flight would have been nice, though.
Once your feet are firmly back on solid ground, you return to the drawing board and try to think of other things you can do with Isa. Greater offensive power. Not greater in the sense that you need something to surpass Finitora Freccia, but greater in the sense of an attack of comparable output to Tomoe-san or Mikuni Oriko. Neither of them are pushed to the brink through the use of their strongest attacks, but you are. While immensely powerful, Finitora Freccia is also too draining on your Soul Gem to be of use in the same way that Tomoe-san and Mikuni Oriko can use their strongest attack; and that is something you would like to correct.
But how do you reduce the cost to your Soul Gem to use it?
You hate to interrupt "Tomoe-san!" but for what you're attempting it doesn't hurt to play things safe.
Tomoe-san breaks from what she's doing with MIkuni Oriko and turns her attention to you. "Did you need something from me, Akemi-san?"
"I'm trying to find ways to lower the cost Finitora Freccia puts on my Soul Gem, but I need your Grief dampening just in case I'm unsuccessful."
"Of course." With a flourish of her finger Tomoe-san sends a Wunjo-laced strand of ribbon to tie itself around your ankle. "I wish you the best of luck, Akemi-san," she says as she returns to her practice with Mikuni Oriko. "Now, where did we leave off... ?"
You bring up your bow, and concentrate on the aspects of Isa that allow you to create your strongest attack. The ability to push freezing damage down to absolute zero, and the self-replicating nature of the attack. If you were to remove one of those, could you create a more manageable version of Finitora Freccia?
As you concentrate, you decide that a single, repeatable attack is better than one capable of self-replicating, and from there you focus all your concentration on bringing the freezing power containing in your ice arrow down to absolute zero. Holding the arrow at the ready in your bow, you can feel pain coming from your hands as the warmth is stolen from them. It would be pointless to come up with yet another attack which you can only use as a last resort, so you wisely decide to loose before pain turns into permannent damage.
Just like the full-power Finitora Freccia, this version in miniature leaves a a spiraling contrail of frozen water molecules in its wake, but unlike the full-power version the frozen contrails do not form into arrows of their own in the wake of the original. The arrow strikes the tree, immediately freezing it from top to bottom before the frozen tree collapses on itself, leaving only a pile of ice shards.
Does that count as a success? you ask yourself as you survey the results of your attack. You check your Soul Gem, finding your buildup of Grief to be at manageable levels. Yes, you think, recalling how a single use of Finitora Freccia is enough to push your Soul Gem to the brink even after Tomoe-san's Grief dampening. Compared to that, this is absolutely a success.
While you still have your bow at the ready, you decide to try out some other things as well. Once again taking a page from Archer's book, you decide to try what does he call it? Breaking your arrow by overloading them with mana. You Project the first arrow of this new test, and concentrate all your focus on Reinforcing it. You know your arrows by heart, know how they are made and exactly how much they can take. Your mana fills in the empty gaps, and when the arrow is full to bursting you release your hold and let the arrow fly. The arrow screams towards its target, cracking with arcs of mana, until finally the arrow explodes on contact with the target tree, tearing a large crater in the center of the poor tree. You're really giving these trees a pounding, you think as you survey the damage. Maybe you should think about planting a few trees to make up for all the damage you've done in this clearing. You could even make a date of it. Madoka likes gardening, and you're sure she'd enjoy spending an afternoon planting trees with you.
Mitakihara is going to need a lot of trees after Sunday.
You give your broken arrows a few more tests before the accumulated Grief from your afternoon of practice compels you to stop and refuel; and once you've done that you try to think of other things you can test your Reinforcement on. You hate to interrupt, but once again you call out to "Tomoe-san!"
"I don't mean to be rude, Akemi-san, but I am in the middle of practicing with Mikuni-san," Tomoe-san says as she is once again torn away from her practice exercise with Mikuni Oriko.
"I know," you say. "And I'm sorry to keep interrupting your exercises, but I was in the middle of practicing my Reinforcement magecraft, and I got curious about what would happen if I were to reinforce your Tiro Finale."
"Interesting," Tomoe-san says. "What do you believe would happen?"
"I'm not sure. Reinforcement is supposed to make an object more of itself, so I'm hoping that it'll make your attacks stronger."
Tomoe-san chews on your explanation, eventually saying "Very well. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let you test your theory with me." You nod your head, and group up with Tomoe-san as she prepares for another round. "Mikuni-san, Akemi-san is going to be joining us for awhile. She has something she wants to test out."
"Of course," Mikuni Oriko says. "Good afternoon, Akemi-san. You've been quite the busy little bee this afternoon, haven't you?"
"Well, there's a lot of different things I wanted to try out."
Mikuni Oriko nods her head, and Tomoe-san motions with her hands, saying "Let's get back to work," as she calls forth the massive flintlock cannon you couldn't imagine her without. "Alright, Akemi-san, do whatever it is you need to do, and let me know as soon as you're done."
You place your hand to the side of the cannon, concentrating, compelling your mana to fill in the gaps of Tomoe-san's Projected construct. You don't know the limits of the Tiro Finale quite the same as Tomoe-san does, so you try to stop short, rather than risk pushing too much in and causing an explosion. "You're good to go," you say, giving the side of the cannon a few slaps.
"Then let's see what this baby can do. Ready Mikuni-san?"
Mikuni Oriko, having formed her drones into another railgun as you were working on Tomoe-san's cannon, nods her head. "Ready."
"Tiro..."
"-fulmine!"
You should have worn sunglasses.
Day 44 Chapter 7
- Location
- Around here
[X] Plan Powers Testing (part 2)
This afternoon has been a long one, one whose exercises have been taxing on the Soul Gems of its participants. You hope you can drag Archer and Lancer away from their other duties for long enough to do their parts in cleaning everyone's dirtied Grief Seeds. But finally, after a long and tiresome afternoon, your team of four arrives at the Mikuni mansion. "She should be here soon," Mikuni Oriko says, checking the time on her phone. "I'll keep the front gate unlocked while I get some snacks ready for everyone." Turning to you, your host asks "Akemi-san, would you mind getting the targets set up in the garden for our guest?"
"Of course," you respond, making your way to the patio door while Mikuni Oriko heads to the kitchen. There isn't much you nee to do; with Lancer having already done the hard part of setting up an earthen berm, all you need to do is set up new targets. You can't help but wonder where Mikuni Oriko gets her seemingly-endless supply of cardboard from, though; it's uncanny. Packaging for gardening supplies, maybe?
Maybe she and Kirika would like to join you and Madoka in your theoretical tree-planting date? You could make it a double-date and family bonding experience all in one.
Once new cardboard is up, and new targets stapled to each piece of cardboard, you head back inside; just in time for Mikuni Oriko to emerge from the kitchen with tea and snacks. "I do wish Kirika could join us," she says to you as she sets the tray of tea and snacks down on the living room table. "I know how much she's taking a liking to shooting with you. I hope she brings her grades up soon."
"But if things go back to normal for Kure-san, won't that mean she's no longer spending time with her mother?"
"I had thought about that, and it is something that bothers me about our previous living arrangement," Mikuni Oriko says in response to Tomoe-san's question. "Originally, I... I had trouble controlling my precognition, back then, and so I needed Kirika to go hunting for me while I got my powers under control. It wasn't long before I realised that inviting her to live with me was the best way to facilitate our arrangement; and later, I needed her close to me in order to help with my plans." Mikuni Oriko sighs, adding "I hope that doesn't make it sound like I'm just using Kirika."
Tomoe-san shakes her head. "I know you aren't like that, Mikuni-san."
"I really did need her help, back then. But now we've gotten so used to living with each other that, for as much as I don't want to keep her from Minako-san, I also don't want to go back to how things were for us before I invited her to live with me." The melancholy expression that had graced Mikuni Oriko's face as she talked about her past self fades, turning into a soft croon as she says "Getting to wake up beside her, cooking her meals for her, getting to touch, hold hands, hug, and love her whenever we want..." She smiles, saying "Just thinking about my love for her makes me giddy."
"Ga~ay," Kyouko drawls.
Tomoe-san shoots Kyouko a sharp look which immediately causes the redhead to recoil. "Why don't you invite Minako-san to live with you as well?" she asks. "I don't mean to impose by saying that, but you've certainly got plenty of room, and it would allow you to continue living with Kure-san and would also allow her to see her mother. I suppose the only problems would be explaining the natures of Lancer and Berserker to her, but she doesn't seem to have a problem with loving Archer." Tomoe-san turns to you, asking "He has told her his true nature, hasn't he?"
"I don't know," you reply. "I don't think that's something I would know, unless it had backfired on him."
A soft *ding dong* interrupts your team's reverie, and Mikuni Oriko stands, saying "I'll get it." Not long afterwards, she returns with your fifth member in tow. "You're just in time, Nagatsuki-san."
"Hey." Nagatsuki Miyuki waves to everyone, before asking Mikuni Oriko "So, you know there's a giant hole in your fence, right? You ever going to fix that, or what?"
Mikuni Oriko nods, replying "It's a consequence of an unfortunate battle. I do plan to fix it eventuallly, but I'm thinking it might be best to hold off on doing so until after Walpurgisnacht. I would hate to put in the work of fixing it, only to have to do it again should something happen to it."
"Right... And, what about in the mean time? Aren't you worried someone might notice?"
"The Boundedd Field around the mansion keeps passersby from noticing there's anything amiss," Mikuni Oriko says. "It's how we're able to have you test your abilities out in the garden without attracting attention."
So, what's first on the docket concerning Nagatsuki Miyuki's test of her powers?
"Let's start with your pistol. Versatile, yes, but we think you can do better." In fact, doing better was something the four of you talked about on the train ride up to Shirome. "We've come up with some ideas for you to try out to see if there's anything you can do to improve your pistol's abilities." Mikuni Oriko even made a checklist. She made a checklist of everything the four of you came up with on the train ride up, not just of ideas to improve Nagatsuki Miyuki's pistol.
Combining elements is, for the moment, a no-go. While after a few tries Nagatsuki Miyuki has improved the speed at which her pistol can transition from one elemental attack to the other, all her attempts at combining elements into a single shot have failed. A circle of fire fades, immediately replaced by the crack of electricity as the magic surrounding Nagatsuki Miyuki's pistol flips from red to green. "I just can't do it," she says. "Maybe with more practice I could, but I can't get it down just yet."
"Then what about trying void? Your pistol's attacks are based on the classical elements, so have you ever tried shooting an attack based on void?"
Nagatsuki Miyuki shakes her head. "That was one of the first things I tried once I figured out how this thing worked," she says. "I can't do void at all."
"Have you tried shooting other things besides just elemental attacks? Or maybe shaping your elemental attacks into other forms besides just general blasts of whatever element you're using? Any form of control over your elemental attacks after they've been fired?"
"Well, I can do this with earth..." Golden light surrounds the pistol, and Nagatsuki Miyuki performs a sweeping motion with her arm, dragging the pistol across the entire length of a long target. Several golden circles appear as the pistol passes over the target, and from each one a golden bullet is fired, striking the targets with precision that isn't too bad for a move ripped straight from an American action film. "But I haven't really figured out how to do anything similar with the other elements. I don't mind, really. Earth was always the one I needed the most work on, and as long as Mikuni can use her barriers to corral my attacks I think fire, water, and air are all fine the way they are even if I can't control them after I fire."
"What happens if you try to charge up a shot?" Mikuni Oriko asks. "One of Kirika's videogames has a character who shoots elemental attacks very similar to yours, and her weapon is able to retain a charge in order to fire a stronger attack; can your pistol do something similar?"
"That is what happens," Nagatsuki MIyuki says, thumbing to the results of her multi-projectile earth attack. "It doesn't make a bigger attack; it makes multiple attacks of the same strength."
"While we're on the topic of your elements, have you ever tried using them for non-offensive purposes?" When Nagatsuki MIyuki looks at you, not understanding what you meant, you clarify. "What I mean is, the classical elements all have characteristics related to them. Have you ever tried to invoke those characteristics in a non-offensive capacity? Like using water to heal someone, for example?"
"Do you want to get shot trying to find out?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks you, fortunately keeping her pistol pointed downrange and as she does. "I've seen what you can do with your own ice attacks; do you really want to get shot by mine to see if it'll heal you? Maybe I could find a way to do what you're suggesting, but I haven't been able to so far."
"What about your sword? What can you do with that?"
"I can fence with it," Nagatsuki Miyuki replies. "It's just a normal fencing saber. I'm glad I have it because it's something I actually have experience with, but there's nothing special about it at all."
"Have you ever tried?"
"Tried what? I've only got two hands, and one of them has this thing-" For emphasis, Nagatsuki Miyuki wags back and forth the hand holding her pistol. "-so it's not like I've got a third arm to wield two swords with or anything." Nagatsuki Miyuki stops herself, taking several deep breaths before saying "Sorry. I don't mean to sound this bitchy when you're only trying to help. It's just that Saber already went through a lot of this stuff with me, and all I found out was that I'm a lot more limited than any of you are. I can only do so much with my pistol, and the sword is really just a normal fencing saber, like what I'm used to using for dueling. Maybe it's my own mind limiting me, maybe I just haven't tried hard enough, or maybe I could do it but I don't have enough time between now and Sunday; I don't know. But the point is, I'm limited. What you've already seen of me is what I'm able to do, full stop."
"That's perfectly fine, Nagatsuki-san," Tomoe-san says. "We were all rather limited at the start of our careers. You'll get there with time and practice. Now, how about we focus on something you probably haven't gone over with Saber?"
"Your sight," you say. "Your ability to see through illusions is a strong ability, but we'd like to know more."
"Are you able to see through other things as well?" Mikuni Oriko asks. "The same character in Kirika's videogame I mentioned earlier also has the ability to see in a number of different channels; thermal, infared, sonar, things like that. Are you able to do that? Maybe you could see lines of magic, or something to that effect, if you tried?"
"I haven't tried any of that," Nagatsuki Miyuki says. "Actually, I wasn't even aware I could see through illusions until Akemi tried to do her murder-contract thing on Koito-chan." You choose to say nothing. "But, I guess I could give it a shot... I don't know how I'd do it, but I can try." Pistol and saber vanish from Nagatsuki Miyuki's hands, which she brings up to her temples. "Alright, I'm going to try... Thermal vision, I guess." She rubs her temples, muttering "Thermal... Thermal... How do I see in thermal..." "Nope, nothing."
"I don't mean to pry, Nagatsuki-san," Tomoe-san says. "But, if you were willing to share with us, perhaps knowing what your wish was might help us lead you to ways to improve your sight abilities?"
"You really want to know?"
[ ] Wat do?
This afternoon has been a long one, one whose exercises have been taxing on the Soul Gems of its participants. You hope you can drag Archer and Lancer away from their other duties for long enough to do their parts in cleaning everyone's dirtied Grief Seeds. But finally, after a long and tiresome afternoon, your team of four arrives at the Mikuni mansion. "She should be here soon," Mikuni Oriko says, checking the time on her phone. "I'll keep the front gate unlocked while I get some snacks ready for everyone." Turning to you, your host asks "Akemi-san, would you mind getting the targets set up in the garden for our guest?"
"Of course," you respond, making your way to the patio door while Mikuni Oriko heads to the kitchen. There isn't much you nee to do; with Lancer having already done the hard part of setting up an earthen berm, all you need to do is set up new targets. You can't help but wonder where Mikuni Oriko gets her seemingly-endless supply of cardboard from, though; it's uncanny. Packaging for gardening supplies, maybe?
Maybe she and Kirika would like to join you and Madoka in your theoretical tree-planting date? You could make it a double-date and family bonding experience all in one.
Once new cardboard is up, and new targets stapled to each piece of cardboard, you head back inside; just in time for Mikuni Oriko to emerge from the kitchen with tea and snacks. "I do wish Kirika could join us," she says to you as she sets the tray of tea and snacks down on the living room table. "I know how much she's taking a liking to shooting with you. I hope she brings her grades up soon."
"But if things go back to normal for Kure-san, won't that mean she's no longer spending time with her mother?"
"I had thought about that, and it is something that bothers me about our previous living arrangement," Mikuni Oriko says in response to Tomoe-san's question. "Originally, I... I had trouble controlling my precognition, back then, and so I needed Kirika to go hunting for me while I got my powers under control. It wasn't long before I realised that inviting her to live with me was the best way to facilitate our arrangement; and later, I needed her close to me in order to help with my plans." Mikuni Oriko sighs, adding "I hope that doesn't make it sound like I'm just using Kirika."
Tomoe-san shakes her head. "I know you aren't like that, Mikuni-san."
"I really did need her help, back then. But now we've gotten so used to living with each other that, for as much as I don't want to keep her from Minako-san, I also don't want to go back to how things were for us before I invited her to live with me." The melancholy expression that had graced Mikuni Oriko's face as she talked about her past self fades, turning into a soft croon as she says "Getting to wake up beside her, cooking her meals for her, getting to touch, hold hands, hug, and love her whenever we want..." She smiles, saying "Just thinking about my love for her makes me giddy."
"Ga~ay," Kyouko drawls.
Tomoe-san shoots Kyouko a sharp look which immediately causes the redhead to recoil. "Why don't you invite Minako-san to live with you as well?" she asks. "I don't mean to impose by saying that, but you've certainly got plenty of room, and it would allow you to continue living with Kure-san and would also allow her to see her mother. I suppose the only problems would be explaining the natures of Lancer and Berserker to her, but she doesn't seem to have a problem with loving Archer." Tomoe-san turns to you, asking "He has told her his true nature, hasn't he?"
"I don't know," you reply. "I don't think that's something I would know, unless it had backfired on him."
A soft *ding dong* interrupts your team's reverie, and Mikuni Oriko stands, saying "I'll get it." Not long afterwards, she returns with your fifth member in tow. "You're just in time, Nagatsuki-san."
"Hey." Nagatsuki Miyuki waves to everyone, before asking Mikuni Oriko "So, you know there's a giant hole in your fence, right? You ever going to fix that, or what?"
Mikuni Oriko nods, replying "It's a consequence of an unfortunate battle. I do plan to fix it eventuallly, but I'm thinking it might be best to hold off on doing so until after Walpurgisnacht. I would hate to put in the work of fixing it, only to have to do it again should something happen to it."
"Right... And, what about in the mean time? Aren't you worried someone might notice?"
"The Boundedd Field around the mansion keeps passersby from noticing there's anything amiss," Mikuni Oriko says. "It's how we're able to have you test your abilities out in the garden without attracting attention."
So, what's first on the docket concerning Nagatsuki Miyuki's test of her powers?
"Let's start with your pistol. Versatile, yes, but we think you can do better." In fact, doing better was something the four of you talked about on the train ride up to Shirome. "We've come up with some ideas for you to try out to see if there's anything you can do to improve your pistol's abilities." Mikuni Oriko even made a checklist. She made a checklist of everything the four of you came up with on the train ride up, not just of ideas to improve Nagatsuki Miyuki's pistol.
Combining elements is, for the moment, a no-go. While after a few tries Nagatsuki Miyuki has improved the speed at which her pistol can transition from one elemental attack to the other, all her attempts at combining elements into a single shot have failed. A circle of fire fades, immediately replaced by the crack of electricity as the magic surrounding Nagatsuki Miyuki's pistol flips from red to green. "I just can't do it," she says. "Maybe with more practice I could, but I can't get it down just yet."
"Then what about trying void? Your pistol's attacks are based on the classical elements, so have you ever tried shooting an attack based on void?"
Nagatsuki Miyuki shakes her head. "That was one of the first things I tried once I figured out how this thing worked," she says. "I can't do void at all."
"Have you tried shooting other things besides just elemental attacks? Or maybe shaping your elemental attacks into other forms besides just general blasts of whatever element you're using? Any form of control over your elemental attacks after they've been fired?"
"Well, I can do this with earth..." Golden light surrounds the pistol, and Nagatsuki Miyuki performs a sweeping motion with her arm, dragging the pistol across the entire length of a long target. Several golden circles appear as the pistol passes over the target, and from each one a golden bullet is fired, striking the targets with precision that isn't too bad for a move ripped straight from an American action film. "But I haven't really figured out how to do anything similar with the other elements. I don't mind, really. Earth was always the one I needed the most work on, and as long as Mikuni can use her barriers to corral my attacks I think fire, water, and air are all fine the way they are even if I can't control them after I fire."
"What happens if you try to charge up a shot?" Mikuni Oriko asks. "One of Kirika's videogames has a character who shoots elemental attacks very similar to yours, and her weapon is able to retain a charge in order to fire a stronger attack; can your pistol do something similar?"
"That is what happens," Nagatsuki MIyuki says, thumbing to the results of her multi-projectile earth attack. "It doesn't make a bigger attack; it makes multiple attacks of the same strength."
"While we're on the topic of your elements, have you ever tried using them for non-offensive purposes?" When Nagatsuki MIyuki looks at you, not understanding what you meant, you clarify. "What I mean is, the classical elements all have characteristics related to them. Have you ever tried to invoke those characteristics in a non-offensive capacity? Like using water to heal someone, for example?"
"Do you want to get shot trying to find out?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks you, fortunately keeping her pistol pointed downrange and as she does. "I've seen what you can do with your own ice attacks; do you really want to get shot by mine to see if it'll heal you? Maybe I could find a way to do what you're suggesting, but I haven't been able to so far."
"What about your sword? What can you do with that?"
"I can fence with it," Nagatsuki Miyuki replies. "It's just a normal fencing saber. I'm glad I have it because it's something I actually have experience with, but there's nothing special about it at all."
"Have you ever tried?"
"Tried what? I've only got two hands, and one of them has this thing-" For emphasis, Nagatsuki Miyuki wags back and forth the hand holding her pistol. "-so it's not like I've got a third arm to wield two swords with or anything." Nagatsuki Miyuki stops herself, taking several deep breaths before saying "Sorry. I don't mean to sound this bitchy when you're only trying to help. It's just that Saber already went through a lot of this stuff with me, and all I found out was that I'm a lot more limited than any of you are. I can only do so much with my pistol, and the sword is really just a normal fencing saber, like what I'm used to using for dueling. Maybe it's my own mind limiting me, maybe I just haven't tried hard enough, or maybe I could do it but I don't have enough time between now and Sunday; I don't know. But the point is, I'm limited. What you've already seen of me is what I'm able to do, full stop."
"That's perfectly fine, Nagatsuki-san," Tomoe-san says. "We were all rather limited at the start of our careers. You'll get there with time and practice. Now, how about we focus on something you probably haven't gone over with Saber?"
"Your sight," you say. "Your ability to see through illusions is a strong ability, but we'd like to know more."
"Are you able to see through other things as well?" Mikuni Oriko asks. "The same character in Kirika's videogame I mentioned earlier also has the ability to see in a number of different channels; thermal, infared, sonar, things like that. Are you able to do that? Maybe you could see lines of magic, or something to that effect, if you tried?"
"I haven't tried any of that," Nagatsuki Miyuki says. "Actually, I wasn't even aware I could see through illusions until Akemi tried to do her murder-contract thing on Koito-chan." You choose to say nothing. "But, I guess I could give it a shot... I don't know how I'd do it, but I can try." Pistol and saber vanish from Nagatsuki Miyuki's hands, which she brings up to her temples. "Alright, I'm going to try... Thermal vision, I guess." She rubs her temples, muttering "Thermal... Thermal... How do I see in thermal..." "Nope, nothing."
"I don't mean to pry, Nagatsuki-san," Tomoe-san says. "But, if you were willing to share with us, perhaps knowing what your wish was might help us lead you to ways to improve your sight abilities?"
"You really want to know?"
[ ] Wat do?
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[x] Plan the usual routine
-[x] Ah, it sounds like her wish was to "see the truth" as it were. And since illusions can be considered lies obscuring that truth, she can see through them.
--[x] Can she inherently tell when someone is lying to her, now?
-[x] Go which hunting.
--[x] Random Servant and Master Pairs.
-[x] Ah, it sounds like her wish was to "see the truth" as it were. And since illusions can be considered lies obscuring that truth, she can see through them.
--[x] Can she inherently tell when someone is lying to her, now?
-[x] Go which hunting.
--[x] Random Servant and Master Pairs.
- Location
- Around here
Lancer and Caster are off setting up our southern wall, and Archer may or may not be free to join us. We've got Saber, Rider, Berserker, Assassin, and (maybe) Archer. Five of us and four (maybe five) servants; does that mess up this part of your vote any?
I don't think so?
- Location
- United States
Well then, that was a whole lot of nothing on Miyuki's end. Sucks that none of the methods of possibly increasing the power of her attacks worked in any capacity; she'll likely be pretty useless during Walpurgisnacht aside from being Saber's Master (assuming no new information suddenly appears that's conveniently very useful against Walpurgisnacht). :/
[X] Plan 42
-[X] It seems as if Miyuki's Wish magic is to know and keep true to herself, so perhaps she's immune to outside changes such as through corruption (like Walpurgisnacht's mud, or the liquid Grief from that one Witch you encountered) or anything trying to alter her physical form?
--[X] Can she try and see anyone else's "True Self"? Perhaps if not through sight then through contact?
---[X] Can she identify the True Names of Servants or their Noble Phantasms using this ability?
---[X] Can she detect lies and falsehoods told to her using this ability?
----[X] Can she take this one step further to confirm if certain information or theories told to her are truthful or not, even if no one is certain of the information or theory's factuality?
--[X] Perhaps it would be possible for her to use a "healing" magic of a sort, except instead of physically healing someone she could reverse or counteract curses or other esoteric abilities overtaking an ally?
--[X] Perhaps her Wish magic could allow her to extend her field of "knowing her true self" to others through contact, allowing them to become resistant or immune to certain phenomenon such as Walpurgisnacht's presumably corruptive mud?
-[X] Go Witch hunting if there are any Witches around to hunt
--[X] Pair up into random Master-Servant pairs
---[X] If there aren't enough Witches for pairing off like this, just hunt the Witch with the Puella Magi gang
Some of the definitions of "truth" are "the quality or state of being true" or "that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality", so perhaps she could use this ability to figure out if information she is aware of is true or not? She'd be like a Magic 8-ball, except her answers would be accurate.
Also I was serious about wanting to see a Sayaka omake, would be neat to see her whole perspective of things after Homura told her the truth about herself before Walpurgisnacht comes around to end the quest one way or another.
[X] Plan 42
-[X] It seems as if Miyuki's Wish magic is to know and keep true to herself, so perhaps she's immune to outside changes such as through corruption (like Walpurgisnacht's mud, or the liquid Grief from that one Witch you encountered) or anything trying to alter her physical form?
--[X] Can she try and see anyone else's "True Self"? Perhaps if not through sight then through contact?
---[X] Can she identify the True Names of Servants or their Noble Phantasms using this ability?
---[X] Can she detect lies and falsehoods told to her using this ability?
----[X] Can she take this one step further to confirm if certain information or theories told to her are truthful or not, even if no one is certain of the information or theory's factuality?
--[X] Perhaps it would be possible for her to use a "healing" magic of a sort, except instead of physically healing someone she could reverse or counteract curses or other esoteric abilities overtaking an ally?
--[X] Perhaps her Wish magic could allow her to extend her field of "knowing her true self" to others through contact, allowing them to become resistant or immune to certain phenomenon such as Walpurgisnacht's presumably corruptive mud?
-[X] Go Witch hunting if there are any Witches around to hunt
--[X] Pair up into random Master-Servant pairs
---[X] If there aren't enough Witches for pairing off like this, just hunt the Witch with the Puella Magi gang
Some of the definitions of "truth" are "the quality or state of being true" or "that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality", so perhaps she could use this ability to figure out if information she is aware of is true or not? She'd be like a Magic 8-ball, except her answers would be accurate.
Also I was serious about wanting to see a Sayaka omake, would be neat to see her whole perspective of things after Homura told her the truth about herself before Walpurgisnacht comes around to end the quest one way or another.
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- Location
- Around here
Yes, I'm sorry that a girl with less than a month's worth of experience doesn't measure up to in terms of power or versatility girls who have been at this for years. Seems like you were expecting a lot more of her than you should have been, all things considered.
You can want all you want to, but I can only give you what words will come to me. If they don't, then you get nothing.
- Location
- United States
Oh, I wasn't criticizing your handling of Miyuki or anything, just disappointed due to unreasonable expectations that I myself was hoping for considering the endgame is near.
It doesn't hurt to hope that Miyuki had some trump card just waiting to be pulled out at a moment's notice after all, especially before we were even properly aware of what she Wished for.
And don't push yourself to meet my or any of the other questers' out-of-the-norm (non-regular chapter) expectations. Just idly speculating about what I'd potentially like to see, much like how I want to see Homura and co triumph over Walpurgisnacht while making it to the next quest - however we all know that that isn't a guarantee.
- Location
- Around here
I'm curious as to where those expectations came from. She spent her first week as a magical girl either piss drunk or being led along by a revenge-obsessed Koito, spent a week locked in the church basement, and has spent the past two weeks training with us where we've seen firsthand the kind of skills she has. That and she was one of the bottomest-of-the-barrel girls Kyubey was able to scrape up.
We knew, or could reasonably infer from context, all of the above; so what sort of super-special trump card were you expecting a bottom-of-the-barrel newbie like her to have?
Believe me, I want to see Homura win and move on to the sequel way more than you do.
- Location
- United States
I actually did forget about this little tidbit. 😅
[X] Plan 42
- Location
- Around here
And you can thank Oriko for that. She, Kirika, and Lancer did way too good a job wiping out the local population for Kyubey to ever hope for high-quality Mitakihara magical girls.
Yuri Vampire
Kirameku Hōseki! Cure Coral!
- Location
- US
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Enetious
Sorry about being quiet for the last few days, but I've been busy.
Sorry about being quiet for the last few days, but I've been busy.
WanderingTwix
Posting something good once in a full moon
- Location
- United Kingdom
[X] Enetious
Day 44 Chapter 8
- Location
- Around here
[X] Enetious
"I don't mean to pry, Nagatsuki-san," Tomoe-san says. "But, if you were willing to share with us, perhaps knowing what your wish was might help us lead you to ways to improve your sight abilities?"
"You really want to know?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks, shying away from your gazes as she rubs her arm. Tomoe-san nods. So do you. "I... I wanted to know why I felt so conflicted about Komaki's death. She was my friend, and I... But I also knew she was a horrible person, deep down, and that she would have treated me the same way she treated Mikuni if I ever said anything. So I wished to know what my true self was, in the hope that I might find an answer to the questions that were making her death so miserable for me."
Wish magic that allows the user to know and remain true to themselves? Well, that's certainly one way of seeing through illusions, and it would also explain why Nagatsuki Miyuki can't see in other channels; at least, you think it would, but you're hardly an expert on translating wishes into tangible magic powers; especially when you weren't there to hear precisely how her wish was worded. What else might she be able to do with magic like that? If she's immune to the effects of illusions, then maybe she's also immune to other attempts to influence change within her? Could she be immune to being corrupted by Grief?
You shake that idea off; that would completely go against the laws of the puella magi system, which you're entirely certain the Incubator would not allow to be possible from within its own system. You yourself needed to look outside the Incubator's system to find a way to go against its fundamental grain. But, there's still the chance that Nagatsuki Miyuki could be immune to external corruption, like what you experienced with that one witch.
Or that you're expecting to see in Walpurgisnacht.
The question is, how do you test for something like that?
"So, uh, why did everybody go silent all of a sudden?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "'Cause it's kind of freaking me out."
"Sorry," you say. "I was trying to think of what your wish might mean in terms of your abilities. I can't speak for the others, but I imagine they were thinking something similar."
Tomoe-san and Mikuni Oriko both nod; only Kyouko was probably thinking something else. "And, what were you thinking?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "I know all of you can do some really crazy, so you're all probably better suited to figuring out what my wish means for me than I am."
"It could mean any number of different things," Mikuni Oriko says. "I don't know if we can rule out the ability to see in other channels just yet, or even if you could develop something else entirely, but it is something that would require you to practice. Instead, I think we should focus on what you might be able to immediately accomplish through your magic."
Tomoe-san nods. "I was also wondering whether you might be able to see through other falsehoods besides just illusions; what if someone were to lie to you, perhaps? Could you discern the truth in what you were being told that way?"
"There's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "Come on, tell me things, and I'll see if I can, I dunno, sense, if you're lying to me or not."
"I'm wearing black panties today."
"I have a poor relationship with my uncle."
"I actually prefer coffee over tea."
Each of you takes turns telling Nagatsuki Miyuki something which may or may not be true. Your own statement, "I went bowling with my girlfriend yesterday" is true, and based on what you know you can assess how accurate Nagatsuki Miyuki's guesses are. You know Mikuni Oriko has a poor relationship with her uncle, and you know there's no way Tomoe-san would prefer coffee over tea; so that just leaves Kyouko, the thruthfulness of whose statement is up in the air. You were the one who paid for her clothes that day at the mall, and you don't recall seeing black among the panties she picked out, but it's always possible she picked up a pair later on with Tomoe-san.
When she has heard enough, Nagatsuki Miyuki says to you all "Okay, so I think I can tell when someone is lying to me. Uh~ Akemi, Mikuni, you two were telling the truth; while Sakura and Tomoe weren't. Did I get that right?" Four heads nod in affirmation. "Alright. Uh... Can we try written stuff next? I guess that might be useful to know if I can see through written falsehoods as well."
Four scraps of paper are passed around, onto which everybody writes something. "I've had more than one girlfriend," you write, curious to see whether Nagatsuki Miyuki can detect written falsehoods, but also to what degree her detection can pick up. While you technically have had multiple girlfriends in the past, all of them have been Kaname Madoka, and you're curious to see how Nagatsuki Miyuki's detection is able to parse this. When everyone has handed in their slip of paper, Nagatsuki Miyuki takes a look through each of them. "Okay, let's see~ Sakura, you're telling the truth, Tomoe is lying again, Akemi... I don't know how to make sense of this. It's... Both? I'm not really sure how to make sense of this. Actually, it just flat-out doesn't make sense at all. That just leaves Mikuni... Okay! If that's true, then I did not need to know that! Moving on!"
Everyone looks to Mikuni Oriko. "Just what the fuck did ya write?" Kyouko asks. Her only response is silence.
"Okay, so, moving on from that, what should I try next?"
"What if it's something that none of us know for sure?" Tomoe-san asks. "Do you think you could still tell whether it were true or not, even if the person telling you weren't sure?"
"What, you mean like, "What's the meaning of life?" or something like that?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "Akemi wrote down something that I guess was both true and not true at the same time, so... Maybe something similar would happen, and I'm just not able to properly get a read on it?"
"Well, it's worth a shot, isn't it?"
"I don't know. I mean, just how far do you want to take this? It's not like I"ll be able to use this stuff against Walpurgisnacht or anything, not unless it tries to give us a pop quiz or something and it's all on me to answer 'cause none of us studied for it." Nagatsuki Miyuki looks over to Mikuni Oriko, and asks her "It isn't, right?"
"As far as I have seen, Walpurgisnacht will not be giving us a pop quiz."
You almost have to stifle a laugh at the way everyone breathes a sigh of relief upon hearing Mikuni Oriko's answer. "Okay, so let's get back to figuring out how I can actually use this in the upcoming fight. Anybody got any ideas?"
"I have one," you say. "I was thinking about what else you might be able to detect aside form illusions, and I found myself wondering if you could maybe avoid external corruption. There was a witch we all fought, awhile back, whose familiar could leech corruption onto whatever they touched; and Walpurgisnacht is apparently arriving on a wave of curses. I highly doubt your magic makes you immune to the usual, internal accumulation of Grief, but if you could be immune to external sources of corruption as well..." Then the weakest among you might suddenly become the strongest, against the one witch where you would need it most.
"That would kind of make me your ace in the hole against Walpurgisnacht, wouldn't it?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "But, uh, there's just one problem- How are we supposed to test whether I am or not? It's not like we have any spare corruption just lying around we can toss on me, and even if we did, what happens if I'm not immune? Do you just suck it up and let me witch out when we're so close to the end, just because you wanted to test something?"
Your eyes travel downwards, to the place where your Soul Gem sits on the back of your left hand. There is a way. But is testing your new power on Nagatsuki Miyuki worth the potential risk that something could go wrong?
[ ] Wat do?
"I don't mean to pry, Nagatsuki-san," Tomoe-san says. "But, if you were willing to share with us, perhaps knowing what your wish was might help us lead you to ways to improve your sight abilities?"
"You really want to know?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks, shying away from your gazes as she rubs her arm. Tomoe-san nods. So do you. "I... I wanted to know why I felt so conflicted about Komaki's death. She was my friend, and I... But I also knew she was a horrible person, deep down, and that she would have treated me the same way she treated Mikuni if I ever said anything. So I wished to know what my true self was, in the hope that I might find an answer to the questions that were making her death so miserable for me."
Wish magic that allows the user to know and remain true to themselves? Well, that's certainly one way of seeing through illusions, and it would also explain why Nagatsuki Miyuki can't see in other channels; at least, you think it would, but you're hardly an expert on translating wishes into tangible magic powers; especially when you weren't there to hear precisely how her wish was worded. What else might she be able to do with magic like that? If she's immune to the effects of illusions, then maybe she's also immune to other attempts to influence change within her? Could she be immune to being corrupted by Grief?
You shake that idea off; that would completely go against the laws of the puella magi system, which you're entirely certain the Incubator would not allow to be possible from within its own system. You yourself needed to look outside the Incubator's system to find a way to go against its fundamental grain. But, there's still the chance that Nagatsuki Miyuki could be immune to external corruption, like what you experienced with that one witch.
Or that you're expecting to see in Walpurgisnacht.
The question is, how do you test for something like that?
"So, uh, why did everybody go silent all of a sudden?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "'Cause it's kind of freaking me out."
"Sorry," you say. "I was trying to think of what your wish might mean in terms of your abilities. I can't speak for the others, but I imagine they were thinking something similar."
Tomoe-san and Mikuni Oriko both nod; only Kyouko was probably thinking something else. "And, what were you thinking?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "I know all of you can do some really crazy, so you're all probably better suited to figuring out what my wish means for me than I am."
"It could mean any number of different things," Mikuni Oriko says. "I don't know if we can rule out the ability to see in other channels just yet, or even if you could develop something else entirely, but it is something that would require you to practice. Instead, I think we should focus on what you might be able to immediately accomplish through your magic."
Tomoe-san nods. "I was also wondering whether you might be able to see through other falsehoods besides just illusions; what if someone were to lie to you, perhaps? Could you discern the truth in what you were being told that way?"
"There's only one way to find out, isn't there?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "Come on, tell me things, and I'll see if I can, I dunno, sense, if you're lying to me or not."
"I'm wearing black panties today."
"I have a poor relationship with my uncle."
"I actually prefer coffee over tea."
Each of you takes turns telling Nagatsuki Miyuki something which may or may not be true. Your own statement, "I went bowling with my girlfriend yesterday" is true, and based on what you know you can assess how accurate Nagatsuki Miyuki's guesses are. You know Mikuni Oriko has a poor relationship with her uncle, and you know there's no way Tomoe-san would prefer coffee over tea; so that just leaves Kyouko, the thruthfulness of whose statement is up in the air. You were the one who paid for her clothes that day at the mall, and you don't recall seeing black among the panties she picked out, but it's always possible she picked up a pair later on with Tomoe-san.
When she has heard enough, Nagatsuki Miyuki says to you all "Okay, so I think I can tell when someone is lying to me. Uh~ Akemi, Mikuni, you two were telling the truth; while Sakura and Tomoe weren't. Did I get that right?" Four heads nod in affirmation. "Alright. Uh... Can we try written stuff next? I guess that might be useful to know if I can see through written falsehoods as well."
Four scraps of paper are passed around, onto which everybody writes something. "I've had more than one girlfriend," you write, curious to see whether Nagatsuki Miyuki can detect written falsehoods, but also to what degree her detection can pick up. While you technically have had multiple girlfriends in the past, all of them have been Kaname Madoka, and you're curious to see how Nagatsuki Miyuki's detection is able to parse this. When everyone has handed in their slip of paper, Nagatsuki Miyuki takes a look through each of them. "Okay, let's see~ Sakura, you're telling the truth, Tomoe is lying again, Akemi... I don't know how to make sense of this. It's... Both? I'm not really sure how to make sense of this. Actually, it just flat-out doesn't make sense at all. That just leaves Mikuni... Okay! If that's true, then I did not need to know that! Moving on!"
Everyone looks to Mikuni Oriko. "Just what the fuck did ya write?" Kyouko asks. Her only response is silence.
"Okay, so, moving on from that, what should I try next?"
"What if it's something that none of us know for sure?" Tomoe-san asks. "Do you think you could still tell whether it were true or not, even if the person telling you weren't sure?"
"What, you mean like, "What's the meaning of life?" or something like that?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "Akemi wrote down something that I guess was both true and not true at the same time, so... Maybe something similar would happen, and I'm just not able to properly get a read on it?"
"Well, it's worth a shot, isn't it?"
"I don't know. I mean, just how far do you want to take this? It's not like I"ll be able to use this stuff against Walpurgisnacht or anything, not unless it tries to give us a pop quiz or something and it's all on me to answer 'cause none of us studied for it." Nagatsuki Miyuki looks over to Mikuni Oriko, and asks her "It isn't, right?"
"As far as I have seen, Walpurgisnacht will not be giving us a pop quiz."
You almost have to stifle a laugh at the way everyone breathes a sigh of relief upon hearing Mikuni Oriko's answer. "Okay, so let's get back to figuring out how I can actually use this in the upcoming fight. Anybody got any ideas?"
"I have one," you say. "I was thinking about what else you might be able to detect aside form illusions, and I found myself wondering if you could maybe avoid external corruption. There was a witch we all fought, awhile back, whose familiar could leech corruption onto whatever they touched; and Walpurgisnacht is apparently arriving on a wave of curses. I highly doubt your magic makes you immune to the usual, internal accumulation of Grief, but if you could be immune to external sources of corruption as well..." Then the weakest among you might suddenly become the strongest, against the one witch where you would need it most.
"That would kind of make me your ace in the hole against Walpurgisnacht, wouldn't it?" Nagatsuki Miyuki asks. "But, uh, there's just one problem- How are we supposed to test whether I am or not? It's not like we have any spare corruption just lying around we can toss on me, and even if we did, what happens if I'm not immune? Do you just suck it up and let me witch out when we're so close to the end, just because you wanted to test something?"
Your eyes travel downwards, to the place where your Soul Gem sits on the back of your left hand. There is a way. But is testing your new power on Nagatsuki Miyuki worth the potential risk that something could go wrong?
[ ] Wat do?
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- Location
- United States
[X] Plan Schrödinger's Oriko
-[X] Inform Miyuki that you could use Inguz to try to transfer a little bit of your Grief to her, so the plan is to intend to test it out, except Oriko could interrupt after seeing you do it with her precognition in order to obtain an answer without actually corrupting Miyuki in any way while minimizing the risk - Oriko could even just put a stop to it if whatever would occur would be largely unclear
So, plan is for Homura to go to test it out, except if Oriko interrupts for any particular reason (e.g. she sees the result, she doesn't see the result, etc.) which is what they want, then you don't have to do the test at all.
They still got the rest of the last vote to go through (Witch hunting), so I think this should suffice for now.
-[X] Inform Miyuki that you could use Inguz to try to transfer a little bit of your Grief to her, so the plan is to intend to test it out, except Oriko could interrupt after seeing you do it with her precognition in order to obtain an answer without actually corrupting Miyuki in any way while minimizing the risk - Oriko could even just put a stop to it if whatever would occur would be largely unclear
So, plan is for Homura to go to test it out, except if Oriko interrupts for any particular reason (e.g. she sees the result, she doesn't see the result, etc.) which is what they want, then you don't have to do the test at all.
They still got the rest of the last vote to go through (Witch hunting), so I think this should suffice for now.
[X] Plan Schrödinger's Oriko