To make people actually remember, here's it once for posterity: Minako is nonbinary and uses they/them. This message will be pinned so you people stop getting it wrong and pissing me off. If you get it wrong in the future I'm going to be much less nice, considering you have to scroll past it just to read the quest.
CONTENT WARNING: This update contains mature content underneath a spoiler. Reader discretion is advised.
[X] Let Kyouko answer.
You wait for Kyouko to finish. "Hey, you don't have to if you don't-"
"No, no, I want to." She raises a hand. "I kinda fucked up. Thought that it'd be a good idea for Mina to use their power, test how far it could go."
You wait for her to continue, and when she realizes you're not interrupting, she decides to go ahead.
"They fainted. Their power overloaded them after I told 'em to use it, and they just...fainted in the barrier. I protected them as best I could and I mean...they had a power, but they still just..." She keeps looking up at you. "You're not worried."
"I'm too fucking tired to be worried," you mutter. "And it's better that you were there than if Minako was with Takane or, god forbid, alone." You press your face into her chest. "Koko, this week's been too much. This week's been way, way too much. I want it to be over. It's been so much."
She strokes your hair. "Hey, heyhey..." She squeezes you tight. "I just...god, I was so worried. I thought I killed them and it was just-"
"They're alive. They went on a date with their girlfriend." You squeeze your eyes shut. "I think I left all my tears in that alleyway. All my terror and sorrow and it's just back there, with that fucking creature, with them holding their soul gem in their hands. And right now I'm just glad you were there to protect them."
Kyouko squeezes you tight. "That...that was not the answer I was hoping for."
"Were you hoping I'd be pissed at you?"
"I was hoping that you weren't as tired as I am."
You inch up just a little and give her a kiss at the bottom of her lip. "Nrgh."
"This early?"
"We're still kinda sweaty and gross." You shrug. "We should probably take a bath."
"Fuckin' agreed." She sticks her tongue out.
"Individually or-"
"Hah! Fuck no."
[=]
It takes a few seconds to start up the bath, a minute to fill up the tub, and another minute for you and Kyouko to rinse yourselves off. Your frame is bigger, but she's taller, so it takes a second for you to figure out how you'll be getting in. Then Kyouko decides for you by squeezing one of your cheeks and jumping into the bath first.
She slips into the water and motions for you to sit right in front of her. So that's what you do; you wriggle in front of your wife as she grips you around the waist and kisses you on the neck.
"Dunno why you were tryna figure out who's going in first. I always top."
You shrug "Still wanted to think about it. Make it seem like we were gonna figure it out so it's more satisfying for you."
"Heh, you fucking bottom." She pokes her fang into your neck and it makes you shiver. "And the meeting's...?"
"Meeting's by," you gasp as she pokes your neck again, "-A-Akibazokuhen.
"You're so cute when you're like this."
"Enh."
She keeps one hand on your waist and the other wanders up to your chest. She traces a finger across your breast and rubs her thumb across the surface.
"Oh, remember," you gasp as she grips your chest hard. You bite your lip and you let out a shuddering breath, "t-the first time we did this?"
"Bathtub sex?" She traces her forefinger across your thigh.
"Y-yeah." You wriggle. "That was f-fun."
"You hit your head and made the water bloody."
You laugh. "I still laugh about it!"
"It was terrifying. You looked like Sadako."
"That's why it's so funny!" You giggle. "God, wasn't that our first time, too?"
"I don't remember our first time."
"What?" You blink. "I do! It was that bathtub."
"Our first few times sucked, Sayaka." She moves her hand between your legs. Your legs shake at the touch; you already know what she's going to do. "I don't even think first times are that great. I sure as hell don't remember the first time I masturbated."
"Nnrggh, truuuueee..." You bring one hand to her thigh and wrap one arm around the back of her head. "But I...snanshit, Kyouko." Your hips buck against her hand as she circles her thumb around.
"Experience means a lot. First times can be with anyone. But this?" She bends her finger in just the right way. Your back straightens, and you can't stop yourself from gasping. "This is what I can do now." She moves her mouth to your ear. "Now beg."
"F-fucking hell," you hiss. "Just...f-finish me already!"
"Ah, ah, ahhh...you didn't say the magic woooooooord~"
"Jurassic P-park?! Reall-" She inches her thumb in again and you thrash in the bathtub. "F-fuck this is t-torture!"
"And that's how you like it, isn't it?" she whispers. "And you're still turned on, so it woooooooorked~"
"ENngnggh...p-please."
"Mistre-"
"M-mistress Kyouko."
"Thank you." She twists her hand, and that does it. You squeal as she finishes it off, as your legs close around her hand and you shudder and the water splashes and god god god you feel so goddamn good right now.
She kisses the back of your head, tracing her fingers down your neck and to the collar. "So, you gonna eat me out or...?"
"Heh." You shudder and sigh. "You're really gonna take advantage of the fact that Mina ain't here."
"We don't get to do this that often." She smiles. "It's either quickies under a bridge or quickies in a locker room or quickies on the bed. We don't have work or training, I'm horny and lonely, and fuck yes, I want you. I love you." She kisses your cheek. "And I still can't believe you're not pissed at me."
"Ah, yes, for the crime of trying to help train our child." You take a breath. "...I'm seeing my therapist again in a couple of days."
"Good." She kisses you again before you turn around with a light splash. She leads you to her lips with the experience of a hundred thousand kisses. And when you break apart, she strokes your hair. It's matted and wet by this point; you'll need some shampoo and a little bit of magic to give it some volume again.
"I'll be seeing mine tomorrow." She sighs. "I've been slipping off."
"Koko-"
"It's been hectic." She shrugs. "And I mean, I've been getting better. I got Rosso Fantasma back last year..."
"And I'm proud of you. I'm so proud of you." You rub her cheek. "But a milestone isn't a goal. There's no endpoint; it's just-"
"A road. Yeah." She wiggles a little. "There's no endpoint, just a lot of stops and a winding path to something better."
"That's right." You smile. You press her forehead into hers. And a few seconds into the gesture, her eyes flick open to look at yours.
"So, underwater or do you want me to sit on the edge."
"Sit on the edge," you say. "It sucks when I get water in my nose."
[=]
Hours later, and you and Kyouko are on top of a building at the edge of Akibazokuhen. You're wearing a thick, padded jacket with a bright blue scarf around your neck and a turtleneck. Kyouko, meanwhile, has a dark red blazer, a bright blue undershirt, a pair of black slacks, and a red scarf. Gotta match those themes.
You watch as people start to slowly trickle in, mostly adults from what you can tell. All the kids are at school (as they fucking should be) and everyone is just muttering to themselves. They all know you; they all notice you. You spent twenty years building up goodwill and respect and you're damn well going to use it to keep them safe.
Kyouko nods. "Alright, so..." She throws two spears upon the ground, one to your left, one to your right, before she throws several more overhead, all of them connected in a metallic spiderweb over the crowd. She jumps high, the chains stretching overhead before she twists.
The chains blot out the sun, covering the group in a single tent; not that big, as there are only thirty magi here, but it's still large and useful. Most importantly, it's extremely difficult to break. It won't bend at a cannonshot, and it won't shatter with a slash of your largest weapon. And given this many magi, all bunched into one place?
A good ambush could be dangerous. And this way, Kyouko can tear down a wall and make an easy escape route.
Finally, the central pillar descends. A spear drops down overhead, a few meters away from the crowd, before it plunges into the ground and holds the whole thing up. The chain tent jingles and jangles as she licks her finger and taps the edge of the chain screen behind you. It's stable and taut from what she can see, made of the brightest metal she could summon.
So she props up a phone to the central pillar of the tent, wrapping it with a cheap little stand she bought at an electronics store, and turns on the built-in projector. The light shines onto the screen behind you and she brings up a photo album labeled "Spy Shit."
In retrospect, you probably should have used your phone. But now's not the time for regret.
"So," you begin, "we have confirmation that a magi group across the bay from us has intentionally been sending grief seeds towards us. Not just inert seeds, but intentional, about-to-hatch seeds.
"We have a confirmed name: The Glow, based on a few magi that tried to attack us last week."
There's no word of surprise. Honestly, that's to be expected. Foolhardy magi that try attacking others are pretty common and to be expected in a system where grief seeds are scarce.
You continue. "We don't know where they're getting them from, but we do know that they also have the ability to manipulate timelines." You glance at Yuki.
He walks in front of you as Kyouko quickly slides over to a picture of a whiteboard. "We were assigned to watch over the Glow for the past couple of weeks. This here..."
Yuki throws a top upwards, carefully tracing around a note with the glowing pink toy as it leaves an easy-to-follow trail on the screen. It highlights an icosahedron, one that's splitting apart. "...is how they port the seeds over. We saw the beginning..."
The slide moves to a different picture, this time featuring a young girl with pigtails and short violet hair who looks delighted as Rin places a grief seed in the center.
"...and the end."
The picture moves, this time to a three-part grief seed,standing perfectly in front. The group in front of you murmurs. You can hear faint mutterings of 'A Walpurgisnacht?' and 'Shit, that explains it' as well as a few sighs of relief.
You seem confused at first. Then it clicks; they were worried that they had lost some of their people.
"We don't know the exact mechanism for how they bring in seeds, but we do know that they've been engaging in timeline manipulation. And I suspect that's how they've been able to get this many seeds."
This time, Kyouko steps forward. She nods once at Yuki, then at you as she pulls out a remote from her back pocket. The screen scrolls through a few more photo albums before finally settling on a picture of a...familiar witch. It's a twenty-year-old photo file, taken from a woman whom you would rather not see again.
"So, twenty years ago, when Sayaka and I first contracted as magi..." Kyouko raises her hand. "We fought this."
She points to a creature that towers over the both of you, eyes barely visible among the snow that pours from its sockets, long, bear-like tongue lolling out of its mouth and humanoid teeth faint outlines in the blizzard as fur jaggedly sways in the wind.
"This was Skadi. We beat her twenty years ago." She looks to the group. "And yesterday, when I was hunting with my magi child, we discovered a witch using the same component seeds." The image changes to the old grief seed, a corrupted, three-cored thing with a broken base, three spheres that seemed less like they were fused into one and more as though they were attempting to eat the others.
And in her hands, she holds a similar seed. Fused exactly the same way. "We fed this grief seed to Kyubey decades ago."
The group in front of you murmurs before one of them steps forwards. It's Akane, her arms crossed as she takes a step ahead.
You nod at her. "Go ahead, Akane."
"Alright, so we already know that these magi are directly threatening us. Do you have a plan of retaliation?"
"If it's all the same..." Behind her, Tomo speaks up. "I don't want open warfare with The Glow."
"Oh, no." Akane shakes her head. "Nobody does. I don't want to take a life again. But we do need to weigh our options."
You sigh. "That's actually exactly why I called everyone together. Have a discussion about our possible options..."
LIST A PLAN UNDER EACH KIND OF VOTE: ONE OF EACH MUST BE INCLUDED FOR THE DISCUSSION TO CONTINUE, AS WELL AS THE ORDER OF WHICH THEY ARE FAVORED BY YOU, THE VOTER.
List them as [X] 1 - [X] 3, with 1 being most favored and 3 being least favored.
TYPE RETALIATION - This plan is one that favors an aggressive strike. This kind of plan also runs the most risk of getting people killed, no matter what your plan is.
TYPE PARLAY - A parlay does not mean that future aggression is off the table. It just means keeping the peace for a little bit longer. But there is also no guarantee of this happening.
TYPE SUBTERFUGE - Simply put? Sabotage. Keep on a friendly face, but have agents from Mitakihara sabotage different parts of The Glow'soperations.
Adhoc vote count started by TheOneMoiderah on Jul 26, 2019 at 11:18 PM, finished with 17 posts and 6 votes.
[X] Have Mina experiment with their powers. (???: Extremely Hazardous)
I think it's preeeeeetty clear parlay isn't gonna do shit. Of course, not doing parley will probably make it easier to manipula Mami into believing Sayaka is the big bad, but ooc knowledge.
Not going to put out an actual vote here, just some ideacrafting.
FIrst I'm going to assume parleying as anything other than stalling while trying to get in a better position is a waste of time. Rin has tried to trample over us and ignored every restriction she ever agreed to. Only upside would be image purposes to make us seem like the reasonable ones and given the Mitakihara girls all respect and trust us a lot and the Kasamino ones are all some degree of brainwashed PR is not a major concern.
Moving onto the meat of the vote, subterfuge and assault. This should be about weakening Rin's hand as much as possible, so that when the inevitable climactic showdown happens we have the upper hand. So, what do we know IC is important to Rin, her cult, and her goals.
1. Rin herself. Obviously, she's the lynchpin of the operation. Killing or incapacitating her would be the easiest way to end the crisis. However, we know nothing of her combat ability or the number and skills of her guards, so this is probably impossible for the time being. We don't even know where she lives.
2. Timeline magi. Provides Rin with a seemingly unlimited source of new recruits and grief seeds. We remove her and Kasamino collapses due to too many girls and no more timeline seeds. Again though, Rin is not an idiot, so she's probably the second most guarded girl in the city, if not the first.
3. 10 enforcers. This was an interesting thing Henrietta said that I caught on a reread. Rin has 10 enforcers who are responsible for enforcing her rules and leading her magi. Incapacitating them would mean Rin has to handle all of day to day stuff herself. Plus they are likely some of the most powerful and loyal magishe controls. Flipside is that again, these are likely all powerful girls and while Sayaka and Kyoko can probably win a fight 1v1, there are still a lot of ways a confrontation could go wrong.
4. Grief seed teleporter. Based on Yuki's intel, this isn't just a power but an actual device for transporting the seeds. That means we can blow it up without any ethical concerns. Doing so would stop the campaign of harassment and attrition, at least until whoever built the device in the first place repairs or rebuilds it. Too much to hope for that it's one of a kind, unfortunately.
5. Mooks. On the one hand, Rin can literally pull new recruits from thin air, on the other, that ability is unlikely to be instant. Plus it's possible we could get some new allies by rescuing magi, like with Henrietta and Uriko. Of course, this has the potential to lead to general warfare in the streets, which would be bad for everyone involved, especially the civilians.
Overall, I'm leaning towards a Subtefuge plan of destroying the grief seed teleporter, to stop Rin wearing our magi down. As a Retaliation plan, I'd say try and jump a patrol near the border. See if we can get some intel that way.
Parlaying is definitely only going to be useful stalling for time or trying to distract from doing sneaky shit. The Glow is already on the offensive, if not an all-out offensive per se, and frankly Rin doesn't strike me as the type to stop of her own volition if she thinks there's more for her to take. But I think I'm just speaking the obvious there.
I'm going to agree that if we can hash out a team to try and take out the grief seed teleporter, even temporarily, that'd be my most favoured plan both for the subterfuge option and in general. If we leave it up then they can just keep dropping witches and Walpurgises on us from Kasmino-or-however-that's-spelled without fear of direct retaliation.
I don't see anything necessarily indicating that the teleport is done by some distinct mechanism rather than a magi with a teleport-things wish, but that just means that the parameters need to be set to "if object destroy, if magi capture/disable/kill as possible". Capture might even work if it is a magi considering Rin's brainwashing isn't permanent, although it would be much more difficult. Not to mention we might get more information from the mission overall, if things go well. Probably won't, but hope springs eternal.
Aggressive is probably my least favourite tack to take right now, because Rin has an unknown number of magi of unknown levels strength (although probably generally high), fanatically loyal to her so long as her power doesn't give out or something, with the ability to draw in more such magi as needed - as well as the teleporter still being up at the moment, so if we overextend she can just drop witches behind us and trap us between a rock and a hard place. (I might be overestimating the utility of the teleporter, but we have little enough information that I find it most prudent to be prepared for potential worst-case scenarios.)
A patrol jump could be a good idea, but I would suggest that right now we keep it quick, small, and contained, a hit-and-fade approach at most. At least in the open, we don't want to hit anything big, not yet.
Would try typing something up for this, but it's after 1 AM here, I am not capable of thinking straight enough for something like that right now. Maybe after I've rested.
[X] Plan Retaliation: Assasinate Rin
-[X] From what you've gathered, Rin is somehow able to impress and convince other Magi to follow her using some kind of magic. You're not looking at an organization with a layered structure, you're looking at a cult. Kill Rin, and the whole thing loses cohesion, breaking down in a matter of days, if not immediately. Send spies to observe Rin directly, look for the window of opportunities, then send another group for assasination. Contact is to be maintained by one-purchase mobile phones only. Even then, it shouldn't be a surprise that if the Incubator would like to fuck with you, it'd find a way.
[X] Plan Parlay: Jolly Cooperation
-[X] Very probably, Rin's stated goal is to obtain the Walpurgisnacht's Grief Seed. Whether it is a stepping stone on some plan to dominate Japan or some other shit, you frankly don't care. Many of the Magis probably follow Rin, because she promised them access to it. Negotiate rotations under your supervision to get to the Seed, cleanse, then get back to Kasamino. Undermine Rin's authority. This is only a short-term solution, and you doubt its feasibility.
[X] Plan Subterfuge: Provocation
-[X] You have conclusively established that they Witchbomb your city. Find their operations as they appear and stop them in their tracks. Snatch the Seeds they plan to send to you, and either feed them to the Incubator or smash them. Find more about the girl who manipulates the timelines and whether she performs some kind of ritual you could sabotage. Use rotating teams with stealth capabilities, get the hell outta dodge the moment you are spotted, don't engage.
[] 1. TYPE PARLAY - A parlay does not mean that future aggression is off the table. It just means keeping the peace for a little bit longer. But there is also no guarantee of this happening.
-[] Obviously, we WANT a total cessation of hostilities and aggression, but we could settle for a temporary one. Especially if it gives us an opportunity to further plan and spy. The major downsides are that the Glow will likely be doing the same spying/preparing that we are and they are likely to break the peace before we do. The major upside is that we'd be more ready than we are now when it happens, and we'd be more prepared to enact one of the alternate plans.
[] 2. TYPE SUBTERFUGE - Simply put? Sabotage. Keep on a friendly face, but have agents from Mitakihara sabotage different parts of The Glow's operations.
-[] A similar approach to what's mentioned in the parlay, except prep is replaced with surgical strikes. Operations focused on analyzing and dismantling the logistics in place for managing that many Magi. That means teleporters need be taken down, enforcers gotta be eliminated, and if they're pulling their seeds from alternate timelines, locating and assassinating the girl behind it. This is where we play Rin's game with her, smiling and holding out one hand while the other readies a knife or two.
[] 3. TYPE RETALIATION - This plan is one that favors an aggressive strike. This kind of plan also runs the most risk of getting people killed, no matter what your plan is.
-[] This is the all-out war scenario. Whether it's a full-frontal assault against the whole structure or simply assassinating Rin to let the cult fall apart, it'll be a big fight with a lot of dead Magi at the end. We all know it's a terrible idea to risk Magi so recklessly to get this bitch killed, but if we're at this point then all other options have been exhausted and/or are guaranteed to fail. Considering how she's discarded her lackeys so far, it's likely she'll throw the entire cult to the wolves just to save herself. She'll have her inner guard, of course, to protect her at all times, and if for some reason we can't find them it's because they're hiding. Find out all we can about her and her retinue, and plan further around that. Whether this becomes a purge or an assassination, her bodyguards will have to be removed before we can even touch her. Magi are going to die before this bitch goes down, so we've got to make those deaths count.
Not a vote, per se, but some thinking on each of the plan types and what is most likely to be successful. No matter what, all-out war should be the last resort and any overtly aggressive action we take will lead to it. We've got to at least try the other two before we embroil ourselves in such a large conflict, even if all it does is prove that aggressive action is the only thing Rin will respond to.
[] TYPE RETALIATION - This plan is one that favors an aggressive strike. This kind of plan also runs the most risk of getting people killed, no matter what your plan is.
-[] Target the enforcers, and whichever Magi is doing the timeline shenanigans. This requires finding them, and will have to be planned with each individual operation. It really isn't wise to have some detailed plan this early, not before we know when and how to strike.
-[] Strip The Glow of its mid-level powers, and then try to use that to force them into a position of giving the fuck up.
-[] If you can manage it, of course, try to capture some of them to see whether you can stop their brainwashing, but if it comes down to 'us or them' there's no doubt what the choice is.
-[] If losing the core of their forces isn't enough, that's when it's time to target Rin, and end this. A cult leader is a King, and checkmating her will mean the rest of her organization is likely to collapse.
How's this? Thoughts, anyone? I'll do others, later.
[X] 1. Type Subterfuge - OPERATION GARBO
-[X] We don't know what Rin wants with or in Mitakihara. We don't know what she wants with us, or our kid, or whatever so has her attention focused on our little gang. All we really know is that she is shaping up to be our primary threat, if she isn't already. The cure? Shake up her effectiveness. Find out how to predict where Grief Seeds will be dropped, and neutralize them before they have a chance to form Labyrinths, or at least before they can cause trouble. Target whatever passes for the Glow's logistics (discretely, of course), set up rumor mills to convince young megucas to join your side, and either scare off or recruit Rin's enforcers. Kill Rin's enforcers and lieutenants only if necessary, and make sure it can't be traced to you. Meanwhile, keep up appearances. After all, shadow wars are a minimum two-player game.
[X] 2. Type Parlay - OPERATION PARIS
-[X] The obvious target for Rin is Walpy's Grief Seed. From a purely strategic standpoint, there's really no reason for her to see you as a threat in the first place unless she believes you to be in the way of her getting at it. This is below Sabotage because it's entirely possible Rin is at the tail end of the 'willing to negotiate' part of whatever her plan is, or even beyond it. That, and we don't really know what Rin specifically wants with the Walpurgisnacht Grief Seed, or if that's her real target. After all, if her real target is us, then obviously a parlay will only delay the inevitable. But at the very least, it'll give us more time to plan for Constantinople or Acre.
[X] 3. Type Retaliation - OPERATION ACRE
-[X] This is a last resort, mainly because we simply don't know enough about the Glow's martial strength to risk it as a first option. Either way, the first stage will be similar to Paris and (maybe) Garbo, at a lesser scale, with a different focus. Learn what the Glow's strengths are in a fight, learn their weaknesses, but under no circumstances make it look like Mitakihara is planning anything other than staying the course. When the attack comes, strike with absolutely no warning - bonus points for finding a way to keep Rin and/or some of the Glow's other heavy hitters distracted while you launch the alpha strike. Disregard the grunts and footsoldiers, as they no doubt won't be critical to Rin. Instead target older enforcers, the inner circle, anyone who can keep you from eliminating Rin or at least give her forces one hell of a bloody nose. If you can kill Rin in one strike, all the better, but that's extremely unlikely even if you manage to get her alone with every adult meguca in Mitakihara, which would be a bad idea anyway because you'd need them out in the field. The goal will be to (at least temporarily) weaken the Glow, and make Rin's status as an unfallibe Dear Leader far less secure to new and potential megucas in Kasamino.
