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.
Homura is a final boss... for our enemies
If we fuck up too much, Homura arrives to Mitakihara on a flying spinning shield and systematically demolishes every and each opponent in town
Plus, this is a Moid Quest. Moid has a history of punishing bad choices and/or silly choices made at inappropriate times (*cough* drunk Shinji piloting *cough*) by having bad things happen, and in PMMM that's not something we need to invite more of onto ourselves.
I know this is late, but I must remind everyone that we rolled a 100 after we got Shinji juiced. If he didn't get doused in acid after the next roll, we'd probably have had Shinji drunk the entire quest.
Homura is a final boss... for our enemies
If we fuck up too much, Homura arrives to Mitakihara on a flying spinning shield and systematically demolishes every and each opponent in town
I know this is late, but I must remind everyone that we rolled a 100 after we got Shinji juiced. If he didn't get doused in acid after the next roll, we'd probably have had Shinji drunk the entire quest.
Mm. Glad to see that conversation went basically alright, as a first introduction. That is to say, nothing is immediately on fire or exploding. Except for the balloon that cat had, but I gather that that was supposed to happen.
Now, my re-read of SayakaQuest 1 hasn't quite gotten up to Tomo, Yoko, and Sukuyo being introduced, so I'm going off some rather old memories of them that might not be 100% accurate right now. Is good to see that they're well enough to be called on for help with this sort of thing, though.
Going through the list, Kyouko seems likely to overwhelm Takane, though in the same breath she has had time to mature and could surprise us. Though she also knows Takane is dating her kid, and I doubt Kyouko's changed so much that she could avoid poking that somehow.
Akane is more reserved in such things and has at least some prior experience being a mentor of sorts to the other three, which probably contributes to her popularity here. (She's also just generally a cool person and it would be nice to see her again.)
I think Tomo's thing was that she was working off a smaller power reserve than average and slightly less direct powers? If we wanted to take Takane efficiency she could be a good choice, maybe.
And I am drawing a complete blank on Yoko and Sukuyo's abilities. Evidently Sukuyko has gun, which could be useful for Takane who also has gun? But then Takane has punch-guns, instead of just gun-guns. That's about all I've got.
Then there's calling on a new-old student, which is the mystery option. We don't know who they would be or what they could do or basically anything like that, and they'll probably have at least a little less experience that the other five and generally be used to a post-Walpurgisnacht world, so that option could go any number of ways. Some have reached twenty, which is impressive. About the only thing it has close to a guarantee is that it'll probably cement Sayaka's status as the Big Puella Around Mitakihara, considering everything. But it also offers learning more about what sort of thing Sayaka's been up to on the magical girl side of things and introducing at least one new character, which on the whole is very enticing. Personally I'm torn between this option and Akane.
On the whole, I think since Akane's already got a goodly amount of support, I'm going to put my vote on the new-old student, just so it can be said someone did.
[X] One of your old students; you've got a dozen surviving magical girls in Mitakihara right now that trained under your wing. Some of them are even in their early twenties.
(Also I'm loving the viewpoint swaps, just wanted to mention that.)
[X] One of your old students; you've got a dozen surviving magical girls in Mitakihara right now that trained under your wing. Some of them are even in their early twenties.
She's been around for almost as long as you've been a magical girl. Seven feet tall, hair like a burst of flame and sporting a pair of bright orange eyes. Her massive arms are crossed across her chest, and she's wearing a white tank top and a pair of dark jeans. She sits at a park bench in an abandoned part of Mitakihara. There's an empty apartment building in the top of this hill, on land so unstable that nobody dares to touch it.
The fact that it was just left here is born out of bizarre circumstances; during the fight against Walpurgis, one of the thrown building hit the hill at such an angle as to embed itself in the side. The building didn't collapse, but the hill itself was permanently damaged. The building can't be demolished; it's keeping this side of the hill in place, like a knife in an open wound. Removing it would run the risk of a landslide.
As it is now, it's an eyesore in Mitakihara. A giant shank in a hill that nobody can even touch. But it's a perfectly fine training ground. The building is still solid Mitakihara architecture, a mix of concrete and solid steel. There are little bits of furniture scattered around the inside; most of them were taken over the years, but some still remain. It's great fodder for skeet shooting.
You check your phone, a rectangular piece of solid transparent crystal. You bring it up to your face and the crystal turns black as the time appears right in front of you. It's 7:00 in the evening. Takane was supposed to be here by now. She's probably still in the middle of dating your kid.
You desperately hope they're not moving too fast. This is pretty much their second date as far as you know. Minako's about as impulsive as your wife was is, but you hope that they have the good sense to not go that far.
"Where the hell is she?" Akane asks what you're thinking.
"Running late. She's dating my kid." You rub your forehead.
"Huh. Mina's her SO?"
"Yeah." You cross your arms. "Though I don't think Takane's made that connection yet. I sure as hell hope that Mina doesn't know that they're dating a magical girl."
"And if they do know?" Akane moves towards you. "I mean, speaking as an outsider, kid's probably gonna know. My son kinda figured that I was a magical girl after I obliterated the dumpster-"
"You already told me this story."
"I did, and I know that I did. It's more like kind of a warning. Your kid'll know. It might have even happened today." Akane frowns. "What are you gonna do then?"
"I'll play it by ear. That's what I did with Walpurgis and it worked back then."
"This isn't a big enemy you can kill." Akane rolls her shoulders. "It's no Tokyo Six and no Walpurgis."
You decide to ignore that particular thought and check your phone again. It's been five minutes. Finally, you hear footsteps. You turn to see a blur of green crest the hill. "Hey!" she shouts. "Sorry I'm late! Was saying goodbye!"
You nod once. "Yeah. I figured." You debate just making it immediately clear that you know that her partner is your child, buuuuut for now you decide against it. "Do make sure to keep it a secret, right? Your partner doesn't need to know about the whole business."
You keep an eye on her. She just nods. "Right. They don't need to know." She smiles. "So, uh, what's the thing?"
"Sparring," you say. "Of course, this is going to be a one-on-one thing." You stand back. "I'm going to watch how you fight. Akane here," you motion to the woman on your left, "will be your opponent."
"Heh. I'll try." Takane spreads her own hands out, and she bursts into a shower of green dust and sparks. She arches her back before rolling into a spectacular backflip. Her torso is covered by her coat before it bursts into existence, her pants following suit seconds later. Her hat materializes atop her head and her eyes glow a bright green as her soul gem shimmers into place on her chest.
She slides across the ground before she crossing her arms and whipping them out, two shotgun gauntlets forming upon her hands.
"You're starting to get a little bit simpler with your transformation, but it's still a bit over-the-top," you say. "There's a lot you can do with just a few steps and a quick transformation."
Akane nods. "Let me show you how I do it." She flexes her hands, big beefy things flicking and twisting before she claps them together. The force of it scorches the ground and singes the wet grass before she brings her hands in front of her face. Two massive, massive gauntlets form atop her forearms, flame gathering around her head before she simply pulls her hands out to her sides. There's a spiral of flame around her and her uniform is already in place all across her body. It's changed in the past few years from stone armor to scales atop her torso, with bare shoulders and metallic feet. Her gauntlets flex as her big red scarf curls away from her body.
"Lesson one: If you're intimidating enough, nobody will fight you," Akane says as she stands in front of the new girl. "But when that fails, and it will..." She widens her stance and raises her palm towards Takane. "Then you have to know where and how to strike."
"Don't go too hard on her!"
"Heh." Akane flexes her fingers. "Nah. I'll just go hard enough."
Takane readies herself by crossing her own arms.
"Remember!" you shout as loud as you can from a pretty hefty distance. "This is a test to hit Akane's torso! Do not go for lethal strikes!"
Akane nods. "I did mean it, kid. I'll only go as hard as I need-"
There's a burst of air as Takane rushes forward. There's a thunderous crack and a loud ka-TANG as a single shotgun round explodes against Akane's left gauntlet. The older woman's holding onto Takane's left fist with just the thumb and index finger of her right glove, with her left palm just over the still-smoking shotgun gauntlet.
"Nice!" Akane smiles. "No chance to brag, no chance to pontificate. Just hit." She spits. "If I were a normal magi I'd be dead." Her grip tightens and you see Takane wince under the new pressure.
She tightens her grip then loosens it up, and the sudden pain has Takane instinctively pull her fist away. Akane promptly rips her fist backwards, right over her head, before plunging it into the ground. The girl's eyes widen as she stumbles backwards, then the ground beneath her feet turns a deep, searing orange.
Akane rips her hand out and the ground erupts into lava as the girl dodges sideways. Takane screams in shock as Akane brings her other hand into the air and snaps. The air turns white-hot with sudden pressure. You feel like you're almost blown backwards, while Takane is straight-up knocked out of the air and sent tumbling fifteen meters down the hill.
Takane quickly gets back to her feet, but she notices a big terrifying orange blur heading right towards her. A fist lightly taps the ground, and then there's a crater of molten rock and glass and smoking grass. Takane stares at the hole, then right at you.
You just shrug right back.
Takane mouths the first expletive you've ever seen from her before she jumps into the sky. Akane then stabs the ground where she just was with a pair of fingers. She flicks and the ground splits again.
"Come on! You can't dodge all day!" Akane claps her hands. It's a light tap, but it sounds like a gong. "Come on!"
Takane responds by pulling a ruined sofa out of the apartment building behind you. You didn't even see her get inside. The thing almost beans Akane in the face, only for her to give it an upwards flick of her finger. The couch explodes into splinters and dust before a desk and a television follow right behind it. Akane swats the desk to the side with a similarly ridiculous explosion of dust before backhanding the TV.
And right behind that is Takane with a look of rage on her face. Her shotguns are both aimed forwards, right at the center of Akane's chest.
Akane's eyes widen as the shotguns come within inches of her breastplate. She brings her forearm back after the hit, just enough to cover her chest. The shot blasts into Akane's gauntlet, tearing chunks off of it in slow motion. Takane herself slams into the gauntlet face-first before landing on the floor with an unceremonious whud.
She stares at the purple sky over your heads, clearly numb and disoriented.
Akane blinks and looks down at her. "You okay?"
Takane spits a broken tooth into the air before grunting. "I frickin' give up."
Akane just frowns and dispels her damaged gauntlet. She brings her hand to Takane's. Her grip looks tight, but you know that she's restraining herself. "Sorry, kid. You still did really, really well for your first spar."
Takane brushes herself off a little bit and wipes some blood off of her mouth. She spits, and this time it's bloody.
You decide to jump off of Akane's point. "Clever use of the environment, dirty tactics, extreme aggression." You tap your chin. "The only thing that got you was the fact that you gave up."
The girl stares at you. You respond by putting your hand over her mouth. In a second, the tooth she just broke is healed, and so's her nose. You didn't even notice that she broke that. "There was no way I was gonna win that."
"How can you be so sure?" You ask.
"Well I mean, it's...okay so one, you're both older than I am. Far older. Your techniques probably far outstrip my own. She, in particular, possesses monstrous strength and flame-based techniques." She looks Akane over. "Chinese aesthetic, and she knows how to project her flames at a distance. Her normal skillset has a wildly limited range but she's figured out new and interesting ways to make up for that, be it by snapping with monstrous strength or turning the ground to lava. Her bases are covered, and so are her defenses. I have a similar problem with my shotgun gauntlets. I need to be at a close range. However, I do not quite know how to extend my reach. My skillset isn't as versatile as hers at the moment.
"So I gave up."
You blink. You stare at her for a few long, long moments. "Your power's analysis? Or self-awareness."
"It's tactical awareness." She says. "I know pretty much immediately if a situation is unwinnable, or what gives me the best chance of winning. It's not perfect, but it's useful." She frowns. "Can't predict emotions, though. That's on me."
"Hrm." You cross your arms. You turn to Akane. "Well, you're also missing another thing."
"What's that?" She looks at you, then at Akane.
"Your powers typically have other secondary uses. It's more than just what your base wish grants you. I have healing-based abilities myself, as you could see, but there's also the matter of your theme." You smile. "Do you know what that is yet?"
She pauses. "I...no? I didn't...what do you mean?"
"Well, I wished to be the strongest." Akane dissipates her uniform. "My secondary is flame projection. Presumably because of my own personality." She scratches the back of her head. "Admittedly I was a hothead."
"Mine is based around water and music. My wish's deeper reasoning was, uh, centered around a boy that I wound up not even dating." You sigh. "Then I found my wife pretty much immediately afterwards, and it stopped mattering."
"I...hm." Takane flexes her fingers. "So I'd need to find my secondary?"
"Well, if you haven't found it already, it's not going to be easy." You shrug. "My wife's secondary abilities were locked away for the longest time, and it took ages for her to feel comfortable using them again."
Takane glances at you. "Wait your wife's also a-"
"Yeah, they've been together for a while." Akane crosses her arms. "But yeah, do you want to do another round? Maybe get some work done on-"
"Actually, I can think about it later." Takane stands up. "Thank you for the training." She bows.
"You're very welcome. Oh, and we meet up again tomorrow, same time and place."
"Right!" Takane nods. "I don't have a date tomorrow, either. My partner wanted me to wait for the weekend."
You make a mental note of that, and then she turns around. "Thank you again!" Finally, she's off with a soaring leap into the city, leaving you and Akane on a scorched battlefield.
[] Go home.
[] Discuss Takane with Akane. (PICK ONE)
-[] Her potential secondary power.
-[] Her relationship with Minako.
-[] Kasamino gang.
-[] Smalltalk.
Adhoc vote count started by TheOneMoiderah on May 14, 2019 at 8:45 PM, finished with 15 posts and 9 votes.
[x] Discuss Takane with Akane. (PICK ONE) -[x] Her potential secondary power.
