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.
Minako leans on their hand. They rub their temple and push their eggs around. They take a deep, deep breath. "Fuck it, sure."
"Aight. I know a place."
"Is it the training-"
"No, actually. It's a place that Sayaka thinks was torn down. Up by the hills at the east end of town. Just an old abandoned theme park."
They pierce the top of the yolk. It spills out across the plate, reaching into the rice and sausage before they finally just stab at it.
"Just kinda wanted to train ya, you know. Just..." You rub your eyes to stop yourself. You're okay right now. You oughta stay that way. "Get you the basics. Your moms are two of the best magi in the country, y'know."
They give you a nod. "Right, yeah." They probably have no idea how right that is, and honestly you hate the fact that it's a completely accurate statement. You and Sayaka are exceptionally skilled, yes. It's the only reason you two have lasted as long as you have.
You send a message out, then. 'Hey, to the magi in the area, we got a new one. My kid just contracted last night. If you want to help me train that'd be fuckin' great.'
A second. Then two. Then three. Then, finally, you get a voice back and-
'I'll be there.'
It's Takane. And she sounds...not great. Probably because she was trying just as hard as you and Sayaka to keep this from Mina.
'It's a different place from normal. Just over the hills and around the swamplands. The Ferris wheel collapsed so it's a bit hard to find, but I can help you out.'
'Mmm. Right.'
You stand up. "Okay, so first lesson will be after you eat breakfast."
They finally do finish their meal, and when they do, you take them down to the sidewalk in front of the apartment complex. It's a bit crowded today, but you also know that Kyubey will simply wipe most of these peoples' memories, so honestly, it's fine.
That, and you honestly hope it fucks up its plans. Even in a small way. You're feeling real fucking petty.
You tighten your belt, ruffle your jacket (a G.L.O.S.S. jacket this time), and take a step outside in the autumn breeze. Sun's starting to rise, and the shadows are stretching faaaaaaaaaaar across the ground. The apartment you're in faces northward, so you and Minako turn right towards the hills. The normal training place can be seen from here, a tiny grey dot on a sea of beige grass, but that's not where you're going right now.
"So magi are superhuman. Straight up fuckin' superhuman. You will never need a car as long as you live. Maybe you might need public transportation, but otherwise? Cars are for chumps." You tap your feet against the ground. "Now, be careful. It takes a bit of practice to Jump without breaking the ground."
Minako shakes their head. "Wait, jump?"
"Yeah, Jump."
You bend your knees, and you do...well, that. Without much effort, you jump about six meters upwards. The concrete under your feet shudders and the force kicks up a bit of stray dust, shoved out from underneath and up between the cracks. You hit the ground with a light tap, your hands in your pocket, your undercut swaying in the breeze.
"Like so."
Minako blinks in surprise before quickly looking down at their own feet. They pull their hands out of their hoodie pockets, bend their knees a bit too far, and jump.
They soar straight upwards, into a lamppost and through it, hard enough to pull it out of the ground and cause it to collapse into someone's balcony. A person walking just nearby screams in surprise as Minako goes up, up, up.
Finally, gravity takes hold. They start to descend at high speed, and immediately you move forwards towards the rest of a surprised crowd. "Hup! Stand back! Kid's falling!"
You pull your arms out and Minako slams into your hands. Momentum carries you both downwards, hard into the ground, but you keep your knee to the ground for balance. The concrete underneath shatters with a loud CRASH, and honestly you don't feel that rough.
But you've also been working out nonstop for almost two decades.
Minako...has not.
"Owwwww..." they grumble as they pull themself out of your arms. "Owwhohowww."
"Yeah, you're almost as reedy as I was at fourteen." You say. "But hey, on the plus side you have a hell of a jump." You tap your feet against the ground. "Well, you can definitely jump. We can work on that later. But can you run?"
"Yeah." Minako shakes their head.
"Not just run. I mean can you run like a magi?"
Minako squints. "Like, Hulk-jump everywhere?"
"Basically." You tap your feet and take a few bounding steps backwards. "Just follow me!" And then you bend your knees and go flying. Your feet bound across the concrete wall of a different apartment building, up by a clothesline and through a mess of wires. You then take that opportunity to stop at the power lines, two feet on the electrical lines and your arms crossed. You're adept at keeping your balance; Lord knows you had to with fullplate, but you're more interested in seeing if Minako can handle this part.
And lo, they can.
Their leaps are clumsy, their moves destructive. They feet hit the same wall you did, but their final leap cracks concrete and causes chunks to fall to the ground. They rip a piece of clothing from the line, bump into a brick wall, but then finally reach the power line you're on. Their movement shakes the entire thing, almost disrupting your stance but nooot quite.
You squat down as they hang just underneath, one hand on the lines, the other dangling by their side.
"Not bad!" you say. "Yeah, you're taking to it pretty well. But let's continue the lesson; follow me."
You let yourself fall down backwards, knees still bent in a squat, before you stretch them right out. Minako shakes helplessly underneath, their hand flailing wildly before they clench their fist and swing. They go down, down, down, right into another apartment complex. Their feet hit an air conditioning unit before they take a leap forwards. The poor thing is knocked out of its hinges, but they're definitely getting a better handle on movement.
You nod. They're taking to magi movement pretty well.
A bit too well, honestly.
But you're not about to say that out loud. And neither would Sayaka.
[=]
It takes a few minutes, but you and Minako bound over the top of the hill, past the training zone and into a forest just outside of town. The place is utterly deserted, devoid of evidence of human life, save for the odd ruined house.
And, well, your training zone. You and Minako reach a clearing, feet patting red clay and sending bits of dirt into the air.
It's one of the few dry spots in the bog, where a company that's long since gone bankrupt thought they could establish a park. Just close enough to Mitakihara for business, just far enough out of the way to be exotic. But the bog proved a true adversary. Part of the biggest attraction, a massive wooden roller coaster, had collapsed midway into its first year, killing everyone riding it and taking out a number of pedestrians that were unlucky enough to be too close.
Since then, it's been abandoned. The company never recovered, and now you have a rad training ground.
The roller coaster has long since rotted into the dirt, reduced to scaffolding that is barely visible among the trees. The Ferris wheel is on her side, the carousel still shimmering under trees that had overgrown it, bumper cars have fists and sword slashes marked in them, and...
Well, there's a tree that you hadn't seen in a while. A tree with you and Sayaka's names carved into it, with a heart and the words "Love Me Do" scratched in underneath.
You smile.
But you have a kid to train. "Okay, so." You crack your knuckles. "Mind transforming?"
Magi don't need to be taught to transform. That's a quirk of the whole thing. Your soul just knows how to transform, how to form a weapon, how to make the uniform. You wonder if that's just how souls work, if that's just a bit of the power used to counter entropy at work.
"Uh...right, yes." They press their hands together. They look at you and wince.
You blink a bit, then realize they were probably reading your emotions again. Including the ones you were trying to keep buried.
"Focus on transforming, alright?" You lean down. "We can try learning how to control your power later. But right now, we got the basics."
"I...yes."
They breathe in through their nose and clap their hands together. And the first thing that forms is a hood over their head and a mask over their face. The top of their mask shimmers with gold, their arms growing leather straps and shimmering golden guards. The hood spreads down their chest into a wide-open hoodie as several strips of cloth flow out from the sides. Their skirt transforms into a pair of shorts and their shirt splits into a series of scarves that wrap around their torso. Knee guards explode into existence over their bare legs and their shoes grow into boots.
At the center of their chest, an inverted purple triangle shimmers into existence and the scarf grows three eyes, one of them wide-open, the other two closed shut. And, well, finally comes their weapon. A long bar of metal extends from their hand, the tip of it scraping against dried clay, before the head balloons into a fat edge.
And it takes you a second to realize your child has a goddamn baseball bat. They circle it over their head as the ground shimmers into purple sparks and the path that they carry it over gleams with a brilliant mandala.
Definitely not quite what you were expecting. And if you didn't know how shit being a magi was, you'd be proud that your kid looks as rad as they do.
Shit even with that, you're still proud. It's hard to keep that feeling down.
They strike a pose with the bat, then they blink. Then they grin. The mask on their face matches the expression underneath.
"So, how's it look?" they ask. The mouth that's drawn on their mask matches their lip movements one-to-one, an ornate, shifting white pattern overtop a black ski mask.
"You know what I feel about it."
Of course, next up is more practice.
[] Spar. Not too hard. They're still just learning, but Takane's going to be over in a few. Maybe you can have them fight her when she's over?
[] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
[] Explore their powerset. See what they can do. Though they don't have a great handle on their empath abilities yet...
[X] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
If things go really, really south, they might be in a major fight soon (as in, tomorrow or earlier), whether we want them to be or not. Being able to defend themselves long enough to call for backup/not get too badly hurt is important. As powerful as the Witches are around here, it might be a vain hope, but, that's my logic?
[X] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
[x] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
OH MY FUCKING GOD I LOVE MINA'S TRANSFORMATION
OUR BABY IS FUCKIN' THUG ASS AND I LOVE IT.
[X] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.[] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
[X] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
Oh hell yeah, Mina looks awesome. A modern street brawler with fantastic, magical influences.
Here's hoping they live (unlive?) up to the hype of their costume.
[X] Explore their powerset. See what they can do. Though they don't have a great handle on their empath abilities yet...
Seems most conductive to being able to go to school without Soul Gem immediately exploding, and maintaining some grip on what life was before is important.
[X] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
[X] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
It's a goddamn baseball bat- they should be able to knock some shit out of the air, and it should be pretty funny to watch.
[x] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
First place my mind went with the mask was the League of Legends KDA music vid. Cooincidence?
[X] Drills. Throw items at them and see if they can't knock them out of the air. If they can't block with the bat, they will not have any defensive options.
