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.
Considering just how much of the Quest dealing with Rin is taking, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if we picked the option to try to kill Rin when we first met her and then rolled a 20.
Considering just how much of the Quest dealing with Rin is taking, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if we picked the option to try to kill Rin when we first met her and then rolled a 20.
Considering just how much of the Quest dealing with Rin is taking, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if we picked the option to try to kill Rin when we first met her and then rolled a 20.
My guess?
Final Boss Preview with a side note of This Fight Didn't Count, most likely.
Like, maybe Sayaka chipping Rin's Soul Gem, making Rin accelerate the time schedule and act even more unhinged.
... or, since the difficulty of the roll subtracts from the final result, we wouldn't have rolled a 20 anyway, and any result less than 20, even a very lucky one, can be written around.
For example, Sayaka takes Rin's arm home as a souvenir after shouting: "See that, world?! For once, I take the limbs from you instead of you from me! "
A very confused Rin's sister makes her entrance facing the Miki-Sakuras amongst rolling thunder... reading a hastily fixed version of The Plot.
"Muahahahaha! You couldn't have thought it'd be so easy, could you? Uh... hold on, this part's a mess... It is I, Rin's sister (yet to be named) -oh, my bad, I'll just go on- who holds the real power in Kasamino! Now that Rin's gone- wait, what happened to Rin?"
Sayaka trades a guilty glance with Kyouko and Minako while the girl seems to talk to empty air.
"... so Rin's OK? You promise? ... Ah, OK. So! You've made your last mistake, for now I am unfettered! And I shall... I shall... wait a second, I can't say this, it's evil!"
"Let's sit down," Kyouko ruffles Minako's hair, "this is gonna take a while."
"But who would- this is... but it's wrong, how... but you're not paying me anyway? Fine, I'll just skip over that part. A-hem: And thus... having carried on... such a horrible set of acts against you... meanies... I shall have not only taken my revenge for Rin's life, but- MY SISTER IS DEAD?!"
Sayaka rubs at her temples. "Great, now I just feel bad," she watches as the girl bawls her eyes out and goes home.
"Shouldn't we do something?" asks Minako.
"Don't interfere in matters of dice," Kyouko shakes her head. "Don't worry... this isn't even close to canon."
Minako sighs. And they'd thought they were close to understanding their parents.
If Rin did get whacked before her time, The Glow would be able to summon an alternate Rin. Of course that could lead to some significant shenanigans on its own.
If Rin did get whacked before her time, The Glow would be able to summon an alternate Rin. Of course that could lead to some significant shenanigans on its own.
If Rin did get whacked before her time, The Glow would be able to summon an alternate Rin. Of course that could lead to some significant shenanigans on its own.
For extra spicy fun, she might even cleanse her grief off all her alternate selves for effectively infinite magic.
Now all she needs is Love Train (the ability to redirect all her wounds and misfortunes to random people across time and space) to complete the Steel Ball Run loadout.
"Fuck that." You turn upwards to face a hailstorm of raining brass and debris. A particularly large brick screams towards your face, but you raise one spear, impale it, then twist it into shreds before jumping upwards. The brass continues to rain down, bouncing against your armor as you swat the worst of it away from your face.
"Aracnide Rosso Fantasma!"
You spear the walls around you, spiderwalking your way up the surface as Mami leaps backwards. Each leg clenches into the wall, the polearms' two wings locking into the wall with a clack before they release. Your armor gleams in the moonlight, your weapons bristle, the chains jangle inside of each spear.
Overhead, Mami's gatling gun is cranking out rounds and rounds and rounds of ammunition before she stops. Overhead, you see Iruka dashing forwards, only to come face to face with you.
She pulls a grief seed out, her eyes locked on you. Her uniform materializes on her body, her soul gem gleaming. It's crystal-clear, glimmering, shining. You keep your eyes locked onto hers as you raise yourself to her level. Six spears are lodged in the wall around the balcony, four aimed directly at her.
She spins a curved blade in front of her, settling in a reverse grip. Mami told you what she knew earlier; Iruka can't use witches anymore, so there's one less thing to worry about if you fight her.
But yet...
She is still an inner circle magi.
"Hey bitch." You smirk. "Miss me?"
She spits. "Fuck you."
"Nah." You raise four spears. "You ain't my type." And you stab.
Four blades plunge forwards, and she swats them aside with two more spears as a quick parry. Your six spear limbs crawl across the walls as your legs dash across the ground with a sideways kick.
She grabs it with her spare hand and tries to go for a stab to an open slot of armor, at any weak spot. She only succeeds at scraping against metal before you twist your leg and kick her in the jaw.
She tumbles backwards and you come in with a spinning flurry of spears. She quickly dives through a hole in the wall, makes a front roll, and throws a knife directly at your face.
You block it with a spear and decouple three of your other weapons. The chains dangle and drag across the ground as the woman dashes through the apartment on the other side of the building, past a ruined kitchen and a bed so badly damaged that it's little more than fluff and debris. She pulls a piece of furniture up and throws it towards you as she dives over the balcony.
It doesn't even slow you down as you slice the couch in half and dive right after her into the roof of a salon. Her back crashes through the wall and smashes into a seat hard enough to obliterate it completely. You follow her with a ten-spear drop directly where she landed.
She rolls out of the way as soon as you crater the ground with a thunderous crash and a rain of ceramic tiling and debris. She pulls a pair of scissors off of a nearby sink, twirls them in her hand, and brings them to your face. They extend into a machete mid-swing, but you catch it with your teeth. Your fang digs into the blade before you crack it to pieces in your jaw.
You go in for another kick. She ducks under it, only to catch a stab to the gut from three of your spears. You begin to pry them apart, but she's wised up to your attacks. She yanks them out and, before you put another pair of spears in her chest, she dashes backwards. She sprays a barrage of knives your way as she dashes into the bathroom at the back of the salon and your spiderlegs tear the place apart.
"You think you can fucking run?" you shout. "I know what you motherfuckers have been doing!" You grit your teeth. "My wife found one of you beating the fuck out of my kid!"
You hear metal pipes straining and tearing as Iruka pulls a toilet out of the room. She spins on her heel and throws it at your face. You block it with the flat of six spears, then shred it with a twist. The pieces scatter across the tile, and in front of you Iruka is already crashing her way through the wall.
She whips herself around, eyes locked on you as she pulls her soul gem into her hand. She flicks it between her fingers and stares you in the eye.
You stop. You climb through the hole in the wall, your spears each slamming into the floor as you cross your four main arms. "Do it. Fucking do it. What're you gonna get? You really wanna pull that trigger? Kill yourself for the fucking cause?"
"I'll do it!" she hisses. "I'll do it if you come closer!"
"Yeah. Get replaced. A new magi just like you, with your name, your face, and a soul that looks like yours comes in." Your spear-legs tap into the floor before you lower yourself and begin to step with your real feet. "What does that get you?"
"I get a pass. I get to die with the knowledge that I-"
"Killed yourself to save the ass of a megalomaniac. Yes. We get it." You narrow your eyes. "Or, or...you know, you could not."
"I told the Lady. I either go home, or I die." She holds the gem in her hands. It's gleaming; a perfect clean soul gem between her trembling fingers. "And I am-"
"No, you're not." You narrow your eyes. "You aren't ready to die."
"Fucking watch me!"
[] Talk her down. [DIFFICULTY: ???. Your arguments could either improve or worsen the situation]
So this is the woman that Mina diagnoses with a case of terfness, right?
"Rin's power doesn't hit adults as hard. But I'm thinking it doesn't need to, right?" You narrow your eyes as you try to pull yourself back to your feet. "Because you believe her fucking bullshit to the CORE!"
[X] Talk her down. [DIFFICULTY: ???. Your arguments could either improve or worsen the situation]
-[X] "What about all the other people Rin has abandoned or sent out to die, obvious canon fodder? What about all the other promises she has given, only to break them? Rin used you, has been using you. She's counting on you throwing your life away in the hope it will hurt us, and she doesn't even care. You must have seen it before, must have seen all those other magi grinding themselves to nothing because of vague promises and threadbare hopes. So don't do this. Don't let yourself become just another body set on the alter of her ambitions."
This is a very rough draft and not really set in Kyouko's voice, but I'm tired and I figure it'll at least kick off discussion on the actual argument.
I really want to talk her down, if only for the sake of contrasting with Sayaka (especially considering that if it were successful it'd be a total role-reversal from canon). But as Onmur said, Kyouplomacy. Iruka definitely believes in the Glow's agenda considering her talk with Misaki, and I didn't catch any chinks in that armor. And I'm not confident enough in my read of the situation to put something together.
Though on a related note, it's kinda interesting that despite being a prisoner in enemy territory, she's got a clean gem. Normally that'd be a good cause of despair, but even after a harrowing fight her gem is described as "gleaming; a perfect clean soul gem." Last chapter (maybe 2 ago) she complained she wasn't generating any grief at all. I wonder if that had something to do with Mina's influence or if there's something else going on. On that note, gems are supposed to be indicators of the Magi's hope, right? What hope is Iruka holding on to, or what hope was placed in her that could do that?
[X] Talk her down. [DIFFICULTY: ???. Your arguments could either improve or worsen the situation]
-[X] "What about all the other people Rin has abandoned or sent out to die, obvious canon fodder? What about all the other promises she has given, only to break them? Rin used you, has been using you. She's counting on you throwing your life away in the hope it will hurt us, and she doesn't even care. You must have seen it before, must have seen all those other magi grinding themselves to nothing because of vague promises and threadbare hopes. So don't do this. Don't let yourself become just another body set on the alter of her ambitions."
[X] Talk her down. [DIFFICULTY: ???. Your arguments could either improve or worsen the situation]
-[X] "No, you're not ready to die. Wanna know how I know that? You aren't pulling the trigger. You're grandstanding, going on about how ready and willing you are, how it's all in the service of the grand plan, and you're putting it off. People who're ready to die, really ready, don't have to hype themselves up for it. They just do it, and leave everyone else behind to try'n pick up the pieces. I know the type."
—[X] "Y'know what I think? I think you're scared. I think you've got something or someone here who ya don't wanna leave behind, summat that you care about more than your precious Lady Rin's scheme - even if you don't wanna admit that to yourself. You're just tryin' to convince yourself that this is more important, that you have to die even though you don't want to. But that's the trick, isn't it? You don't have to. You can make that choice, right here and now. Hell, even if the plan was the most important thing, you think your death'll really help? There's no guarantee that she'll grab a new you that doesn't hate her guts or somethin'."
Dunno if this is any good, but I figured I'd take a stab at it.
[X] Talk her down. [DIFFICULTY: ???. Your arguments could either improve or worsen the situation]
-[X] "No, you're not ready to die. Wanna know how I know that? You aren't pulling the trigger. You're grandstanding, going on about how ready and willing you are, how it's all in the service of the grand plan, and you're putting it off. People who're ready to die, really ready, don't have to hype themselves up for it. They just do it, and leave everyone else behind to try'n pick up the pieces. I know the type."
—[X] "Y'know what I think? I think you're scared. I think you've got something or someone here who ya don't wanna leave behind, summat that you care about more than your precious Lady Rin's scheme - even if you don't wanna admit that to yourself. You're just tryin' to convince yourself that this is more important, that you have to die even though you don't want to. But that's the trick, isn't it? You don't have to. You can make that choice, right here and now. Hell, even if the plan was the most important thing, you think your death'll really help? There's no guarantee that she'll grab a new you that doesn't hate her guts or somethin'."
I really like the way this one is phrased, and am wholeheartedly leaping on this one. Drawing on Fr. Sakura's murder suicide is probably a safe way internally to not really handle, but influence the situation more positively. I know it's gonna be hard to keep Iruka around, but I feel terrible for helping get Emiko killed. (She was a total bitch though, and probably deserved to die.) Maybe Rin will be the only one who has to die from now on. Plus, the situation with Oriko and Kirika? My fanperson heart is breaking. Ach, that's the sign of healing-type writing, a la Urobuchi. Genuine struggles and appropriate amounts of darkness without ever crossing into edge for its own sake.
So yeah, I'm gonna re-read the last few story updates and see if there's anything I can add to this already pretty baller vote. And of course, Happy New Years!
[X] Talk her down. [DIFFICULTY: ???. Your arguments could either improve or worsen the situation]
-[X] "No, you're not ready to die. Wanna know how I know that? You aren't pulling the trigger. You're grandstanding, going on about how ready and willing you are, how it's all in the service of the grand plan, and you're putting it off. People who're ready to die, really ready, don't have to hype themselves up for it. They just do it, and leave everyone else behind to try'n pick up the pieces. I know the type."
—[X] "Y'know what I think? I think you're scared. I think you've got something or someone here who ya don't wanna leave behind, summat that you care about more than your precious Lady Rin's scheme - even if you don't wanna admit that to yourself. You're just tryin' to convince yourself that this is more important, that you have to die even though you don't want to. But that's the trick, isn't it? You don't have to. You can make that choice, right here and now. Hell, even if the plan was the most important thing, you think your death'll really help? There's no guarantee that she'll grab a new you that doesn't hate her guts or somethin'."
Not only will Oriko not provide us any information about Rin and her goals, inner circle composition and capabilities, she won't tell us what to say to the psycho zealot here to talk her down from Witchifying herself, because Oriko has deep and abiding faith in fair play and not using "I win" buttons.
In the timeline she came from, she once read Worm and disliked Contessa so much she promised she'd never use such bullshit powers in her life.
Not only will Oriko not provide us any information about Rin and her goals, inner circle composition and capabilities, she won't tell us what to say to the psycho zealot here to talk her down from Witchifying herself, because Oriko has deep and abiding faith in fair play and not using "I win" buttons.
In the timeline she came from, she once read Worm and disliked Contessa so much she promised she'd never use such bullshit powers in her life.
She read it before contracting. In that timeline, her dad was an honest philanthropist who loved her and wholeheartedly supported her relationship with Kirika.
But the Wish stayed the same, because she lost faith in humanity ( and consistent plot-holes lacking writing ) after reading Worm.
And then Kyubey struck, thinking it'd be an easy Witch-out.
Yet, compared to the previous mental blow, fighting the birth of a Witch that could potentially destroy Earth sounded downright tame.
Even Kirika dying didn't compare to the trauma of reading wildbow. Thus Oriko the Juggernaut was born. Nothing can bring her down! She already doesn't care about anything, what can you do to her?
[X] Talk her down. [DIFFICULTY: ???. Your arguments could either improve or worsen the situation]
-[X] "No, you're not ready to die. Wanna know how I know that? You aren't pulling the trigger. You're grandstanding, going on about how ready and willing you are, how it's all in the service of the grand plan, and you're putting it off. People who're ready to die, really ready, don't have to hype themselves up for it. They just do it, and leave everyone else behind to try'n pick up the pieces. I know the type."
—[X] "Y'know what I think? I think you're scared. I think you've got something or someone here who ya don't wanna leave behind, summat that you care about more than your precious Lady Rin's scheme - even if you don't wanna admit that to yourself. You're just tryin' to convince yourself that this is more important, that you have to die even though you don't want to. But that's the trick, isn't it? You don't have to. You can make that choice, right here and now. Hell, even if the plan was the most important thing, you think your death'll really help? There's no guarantee that she'll grab a new you that doesn't hate her guts or somethin'."
