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.
She's really good at murder. Like outright unfairly good. We have plenty of better fighters but nobody in the world is as good at murdering people as Homura is.
...That's not really an argument in favor tho because if she gets brainwashed that just means she can kill any of Sayaka's crew pretty trivially and be mindfucked into ignoring the cost to her soul gem.
The one problem with waiting for an emergency is that Homura is not mentally capable of moving quickly without a lot of risks.
If we want to have the option we need to make plans in advance because those saying that there are risks are right. But the risks don't go away if we call Homura on short notice.
[X] Yes. Bring Homu Over. (2 DIFFICULTY. Homura doesn't want to come, you don't want her to come)
As far as I see it - this isn't calling Homura to say we need a nuke now. It's calling her and saying we will need help in the future and giving her warning so that she's in as good a headspace as she can plausibly be in town - after setting up guidelines and heads up about everything.
The bomber isn't ready to fly at a moment's notice. This is calling the hanger and basically asking with a high chance of failure for to prepare for another run.
Because if we do need the help - like say to deal with a Mami doppelgänger or with multi timelines or heaven forbid an alternative Homura we want all the preparations already done and not dealing with the fireworks the lack means
[X] Yes. Bring Homu Over. (2 DIFFICULTY. Homura doesn't want to come, you don't want her to come)
I mean, aside from my original insistence for the so-called 'Ace in the Hole', there's a better reason to vote for this one option. The... core thing that led to how things went in Chapter 1 has been the failure to communicate and actually note that things can't be sustained by just hiding things, whether from fear or pride or other such factors.
As such, we might as well pull the proverbial teeth out and get the murderblender, damn the awkwardness.
[X] Yes. Bring Homu Over. (2 DIFFICULTY. Homura doesn't want to come, you don't want her to come)
We don't need her yet, but if we don't get started now we won't have her available when we do need her. At the very least she needs to be informed of what's going on.
You yourself have known too well the power of the hairflip. After so many years have passed and such unknown changes followed can you not see the calamity that might result were its evolved form to be unleashed on an unsuspecting Mitakihara?
[X] Yes. Bring Homu Over. (2 DIFFICULTY. Homura doesn't want to come, you don't want her to come)
Using Homu and Homu-derived abilities ( the Hairflip, The Homuglare, The Highlander Sayaka ) is considered a war crime in Japan after the Diet passed the law in 2026 as their answer to "Madoka was thinking if she should try herself in politics" incident. You can find about this and more in the eponymous tetralogy "How to Care For Your Hair", co-authored by Homura Akemi and Miho Miki, parts of it ghostwrited by Homulily and Homucifer. The juicy parts.
You yourself have known too well the power of the hairflip. After so many years have passed and such unknown changes followed can you not see the calamity that might result were its evolved form to be unleashed on an unsuspecting Mitakihara?
[X] No. (2 ACCURACY. Kyouko is not very committed to plan "Bring Homu Over")
"With a mind controller and our kid being an empath, I really don't think bringing crazy auntie Homu is a good idea."
"Yeah I didn't think so. Still felt like it was worth askin'." Her hands trace your stomach. "Hey, did you know that you're cute? Kinda think ya needed to know."
"Yeah I knew that." You look out to the bay. "And I'd rather our meeting with her not be because I ordered her to come back. Homura's been-" self-absorbed, obnoxious, controlling, a bad partner, a worse friend, "-a handful. Always been a handful."
"You could say 'raging bitchotron'."
"That works," you say, snickering before your mirth fades off into a sigh."Did we ever get the full story about how Madoka broke up with her?"
"Nah." Kyouko shrugs. "I mean, I got some of it from Homura but that source is kinda biased. She was wrecked."
"I thought she was going to jump to another loop."
"Same." Kyouko sighs. "I thought that's what happened. That she just left the timeline forever and tried getting a shiny new Madoka."
You pause. "Shit, what if she and Madoka get back together?"
Kyouko winces in the corner of your eye.
"Yeah, that's my feeling, too."
"They're just real bad for each other. Least I thought so."
"Hey, so...actually..." You bite your lip and wriggle against her. "Hrmmmmm."
"Wassit? Are you still thinking about bringing Homu?"
"Nah. I'm pretty sure bringing her is a bad idea. It's just..." You wriggle a little more. "Yeah, I'm pretty horny too."
"Really? Are you sure? You're not just-"
"I'm not just saying that because you wanted it, Kyouko. I'm saying it because I'm sitting on a ledge with my wife."
"You're sure? You're not just-"
"For the love of god I want you to rail me on this bridge." You grab her hand and move it right to your chest. "Please?"
Kyouko smiles into the crook of your neck. "Yeah." You turn your head to meet her lips. You kiss with twenty years' worth of familiarity. "But you gotta beg."
You laugh as soon as your lips separate. "Always, Koko."
[=]
You follow Rin down the road. It's a quiet walk, a beautiful moonlit stroll down an empty, dingy sidewalk. The air is thick with smog. You've always thought of Kasamino as a rough town, but this? This is the worst it's ever been.
It's worse than how it was when Kyouko lived here. When you had to visit her...family. You shake your head. That's something you'd rather not think about right now.
"But why a magical girl like myself?" you ask. "Anyone can have a power set like mine. And firearms aren't a rare weapon type."
"But you are astute. You're observant. You're unusual in how long you lasted." Rin smiles back. "Two years is no small feat."
"I was told that was average by our mutual...pest."
Rin nods. You wish you could read her mind, see what she's thinking. "Ah, but that number is heavily warped. It's an average, in that it is a mean. It's not average as in 'the norm'. Magical girls don't tend to last long. They live for a few weeks, then they die."
You glance away and squeeze your eyes shut. "Hrm."
"Or worse," Rin says. "Do you know the ultimate-"
"I do," you interrupt. "I know it. I don't need to be reminded of how our lives are designed to go."
Rin chuckles. "Ah, yes. Good. Then you know more than I was expecting you to." She turns back. "Most girls don't react well to the news."
"Who said that I did?"
"Most girls either kill themselves or hatch, as the Incubators call it. As though they are the chrysalis from which an adult emerges."
You shudder. "It is evil. The most evil fate I could imagine."
"Perhaps it is. It was one of the biggest threats in Kasamino before I contracted just a few short years ago."
You narrow your eyes. You really, really don't like this. "What did you do?"
"Simple. I brought order and cooperation where there once wasn't any. This town was much like other cities. A death trap for civilians and magical girls alike. Kasamino in particular was hellish. And then-"
"You came along?"
"Yes." She smiles. "I halt the grief in their gems. What was once unsustainable becomes easy. There were once only fifteen magical girls in this town. There are now forty of them, living together in harmony."
You narrow your eyes.
She pauses for a while, waiting for your response. Except she answers your question before you ask it. "Yes, it does sound too good to be true, doesn't it? I don't blame you. The Incubators harden everyone. It makes you look for a catch. As though simple altruism is impossible. But I can tell you that your cynicism is misplaced."
"It's not cynicism when it's built on experience."
"Is it?" Rin glances towards you out the corner of her eye. "I believe that's just another vector. Another way to avoid dealing with your problems. I understand my problems. And I understand how to fix mine, but it takes time and effort and a little bit of help."
You look away. "I don't need help. Did you not summon me because you needed my ability? Why are you waxing lyrical? Do you want me to converse faster? We could just jump to your home-"
"Time is of the essence, but I planned ahead. We are well within my planned schedule. Besides, I want to know the magical girls in my city. Even those who are simply passing through." She smiles. "Yuri invites them over; she brings magical girls from other timelines into ours, and then when they are done helping, we send them home. It's simple, clean, and it works. We bring them over, they help us out, then we send them back home."
"Huh." You blink. "Then...what's the catch with that?"
"The catch?" She frowns. "The catch is that the magical girl cannot be alive in our world. Two of the same souls cannot exist at the same time. It's an ironclad rule of our universe; one soul at a time. Only one of each person, only one of each magical girl. And each has a near-infinite variation, as unique and different as the human experience."
"Then I was-"
"Dead," she says, simply. "You died twenty years ago. And you were brought here, at the precise age that you had perished at. Fifteen years old."
You stop in your tracks. "O-Oh."
[] Ask more questions of Lady Rin. (Write in 3 Questions)
[] Be quiet as you continue walking towards her beach house.
Adhoc vote count started by TheOneMoiderah on Jul 7, 2019 at 9:17 AM
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