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.
I really can't wait to watch Lady Rin watch her empire burn. I want to see if she will accept her defeat gracefully or if she'll witch just to spite us.
Well, Witches do feed on suffering. And cause it, I think, so as to feed on it. That's why they hang around hospitals and other places where death and bad stuff happens.
So Rins control is done by carefully pruning the memories of their target to mold them for her purposes? I'm immediately suspicious of what she might have done to her own memories, she seems batty enough for that.
Of great interest is the word used there, disable. If I'm reading right into that the memories aren't outright destroyed, but suppressed. Minakos power allows them to see through that bullshit and bring the memories back from that malicious blinding light.
...I'm suddenly struck with the similarities Rins themes have with The Radiance from Hollow Knight. Minako pouring all the grief from the girls Rin betrayed down her throat when?
Well, Witches do feed on suffering. And cause it, I think, so as to feed on it. That's why they hang around hospitals and other places where death and bad stuff happens.
Your eye shoots open. And it's fresh as the day. Your hair's undone. It's a mess. You are a mess. The bedsheets are askew, the windows are wide open, the breeze is refreshing and cool, even with the faint sound of cars and people down below, just a few dozen meters below.
It's been a week since you were freed, and a couple of days since you finally got this apartment. It's a bit more furnished than the place you stayed at in Kasamino under...
Under...
You have to resist the urge to scream at the thought of her. You hate her. You hate her more than anyone on the planet. You want to put your fist through a window, to yell it out, to bash your face against the wall. But that's counterproductive. You take a deep breath.
Your name is Mami Tomoe. You are stuck in 2031. You are not naive enough to think there is an easy way back home. You take a look back up and wonder if you should cut your hair.
No...no you shouldn't. Not without some advice. You move your legs to the side...just in time to hear a knock at your door.
You stumble sideways into the wall, before you regain your bearings. A step, a step, another step, and then you bounce on your legs to force yourself awake. You take a few quick hops towards the door and pull it right open.
Standing in front of you is a pink-haired young man, one arm behind his back, the other still raised at a door that's already been opened. "Oh, a good mooooooorning to you, Tomoe~!" His voice is peppy and high-pitched and you can almost feel that old Kaname energy coming through.
As it turns out, your landlord is Madoka's kid brother, though that's probably an incorrect term for him now.
You still haven't gotten used to the idea; he's almost twenty four now. Even wilder is his unbearably pink outfit; white crop-top, pink arm warmers, pink boots...the change is mind-boggling. But, well, you aren't about to start questioning it. He is leasing this room for free. In fact, he has a number of these rooms just free.
"Tatsuya." You rub your eyes. "Apologies for my appearance. I just woke up." You check your phone. Another change; it's not all that different from what you used in 2011, but...well, it actually is; you used a flip phone in 2011. You don't know when those got phased out, and these crystal blocks are an adjustment that you never really wanted.
His energy ebbs away, and he stands a little bit straighter. "Oh, no it's fine." He points to the side with his thumb. "I just wanted to let you know you had a package downstairs in the post office with my boyfriend."
"Mmm." You nod. "Thank you again."
You bow at him, before you close the door behind you and step down the long, fluorescent-lit hallway. Your bare feet hit a carpeted floor that's been beaten and worn by thousands of other feet and footsteps; this building is clearly well over twenty years old.
Older than you. And yet...not? You are technically in your thirties. Granted, you've never really lived most of your life if that's the case. It's a thought that worms its way in as you jump down the stairs in your nightgown. It's yellow; new silk but old-fashioned. You were surprised that they sold them when Kyouko and Sayaka and their dau-
You freeze. You bite your tongue, even though it was just thoughts.
Their child took you out shopping. You finally hit the ground floor. Sure enough, right there, is another magi, this one is a blonde young man with a binder in his hands. "Mami." He says with a wave.
"H-hey." You wave back. "I believe you have a package?"
"I do." He pulls through the binder, quickly signs something with his stylus and steps back. The paper in front of you flickers with the word, before smoke wafts into the air and the word and dates are permanently etched into the surface.
You wonder why they would bother with paper if they have electronic storage. The man glances between your eyes and the binder, before he chuckles. "Oh, yeah, we have a backup server. But I prefer keeping paper records. Servers can break. Paper doesn't."
You glance between them, before you shrug and take the box. "I suppose that makes a certain amount of sense." You wave your hand. "Thank you!"
He waves back as you bound back up the steps. You take a look at the box, tempted to open it. But really, you're not going to. Not yet. You have to get to your room first.
You still have yet to be registered into the school system. You suspect that'll take a few more days before you're in. Everyone in this part of town goes to the same school that Minako does. You suspect you'll be doing that soon.
You pull yourself together and open up the box, revealing a beret. A cute, yellow little beret. You pop it onto your head, as you curl your hair into a familiar pair of twintail spirals.
Except...well, maybe that's not quite you anymore. You're not sure what you are, anymore.
You're used to not having parents.
You're not used to having no identity. You still aren't, really.
You were a teacher. You were Mami Tomoe.
But now you're just...
Mami. And what worth is Mami, really?
Stupid, gullible, bigoted Mami.
Ugly Mami.
Failure Mami.
You are a failure.
It's what you're best at.
Failing, falling over yourself, getting people killed.
You almost killed Sayaka. You almost killed Kyouko. It's a miracle they still accepted you after what you did. You envy those that Minako didn't touch. They don't remember what they did, but you do.
You remember it clearly.
You're so wretched.
You squeeze your eyes shut. You turned down that offer for Kyouko to find you a therapist. You shouldn't need help. You don't need more people wasting their time on you. They deserve better than you. You take another deep breath.
You're isolating yourself. This is exactly the problem you had before and you're doing it again. You should know better...right? You're fifteen. You should know, right? You feel much older than fifteen.
Another deep, deep, deep breath. You should stop.
You take a look outside as you slip on a pair of black pants and put on a yellow coat. It curls up around your body; it's bright and sunny outside but as October rolls in it's starting to get colder and colder. You love the autumn, really. Back in your world, it was around spring.
You take a look outside. You think you should see someone...it is the weekend. You could go anywhere you want right now.
You should see...(Pick One; You can do the others later)
[] Kyouko and Sayaka. Catch up and see what happened in the years since.
[] Minako and their friends. It's bizarre to think that Sayaka and Kyouko had a child. Let alone someone like Minako.
[] Stay here and meet the other tenants. You should probably get to know your neighbors at some point.
You squeeze your eyes shut. You turned down that offer for Kyouko to find you a therapist. You shouldn't need help. You don't need more people wasting their time on you. They deserve better than you. You take another deep breath.
[X] Stay here and meet the other tenants. You should probably get to know your neighbors at some point
I realize we should get back to the main characters but I really want to get a deeper look at this magi halfway house Tatsuya is running. I bet it's full of interesting weirdos.
"I'll find out what year eventually." You raise the volume of your voice just a hair, but it's enough to make you sound less like a fifteen-year-old girl and more like a woman twice your age. You raise a hand. "I'm patient, yes, but there's a line between patience and withholding precious information."
