And if they try and pass us up to federal authorities, to, say, the FBI or Homeland Security? Plus, if we're their on-call SWAT mage, are we going to be able to get approval to spend our power on Havens, especially for MGs? We have a limited amount of mana, and Havens are expensive. Concerns about us using our power supply on things other than our job would be quite reasonable. Especially right now, as they're having to respond to MGs being revealed.
You're asking us to commit to a pretty big play before we even have a face for our character yet, much less a name. I think this can maybe wait a vote or two.
Perfectly fine. We'd have too much celebrity juice to shuffle off into a corner. In fact, that might be even better, because:
The magic words are "training" and "power source". The stronger we get and the faster we get there the better. I bet that, once HH is explained to them, they actually go out of their way to find magical girls for us to enchant the houses of. They can lean on us for PR and info early on, basically riding around to show the flag and dropping Havens on the occasional important place as a PR stunt, and we'll only start spending real energy on anything other than HH once we've established a steady upward curve. It's not like they're idiots; at worst we tell them to talk to any scientist or engineer about feedback loops and building infrastructure and so on and so forth. They'll get it just as fast as we would, and the higher up we get the more likely it is they'll take the strategic view and focus on HH. It might even give us chance to work in the information about how Witches keep getting stronger. And on top of that, you know, we'll basically be explaining that we gain power by protecting people. That's not exactly the kind of thing you ignore.
As an example: "I wished to protect humanity from things like Walpurgisnacht. I got the ability to steadily strengthen everyone and everything around me, healing-regen-rez to make sure we don't lose ground, and the ability to declare a Haven from violence. Whenever I use that one to protect someone's home it feels like everything I do gets a little bit easier and cheaper. When I protect the home of a magical girl it's not even a little bit. I suspect that my Wish Magic is trying to tell me something there about who's going to be most useful when humanity needs to be protected and is encouraging me to gather and protect them. So we may want to do something about that."
Half the votes right now are to get ourselves bogged down in magical girl drama which will interfere with our ability to do any of this. The other half involve breaking the news on live TV and giving up the chance to build a rapport with the police by giving them a chance to get their house in order before the masquerade finishes breaking. Two or three votes from now may be too late, especially given how people are talking about things - "let's go get in some fights" is not a helpful mindset for a wannabe Captain America. So I think that I'm presenting an idea that's in line with the other proposals and that now is exactly when I have to present it.
This particular exchange bothers me, because it makes a lot of pretty massive assumptions. Association with an organization does not necessarily mean subjugation and supplication to it; in the same manner that Knight's Vow wouldn't make us the final say to our Vowed people and they wouldn't be our slaves, helping the police with their magical start-up doesn't necessarily make us the personal gopher of the enforcement arm of the American government, no matter how certain parties would want it. We'll likely have a lot of negotiating space between 'occasional independent contractor' and 'magical wetwork agent'.
If you're going to pull crap like this then I'll go ahead and use metatextual arguments. You brought this upon yourself.
The vote after going exploring is not going to be an exact repeat of the current vote. That would just be bad writing. So something will change as a result of our going exploring, if only so the thread isn't presented with the task of re-fighting the same vote. So what will change? Not as a result of anything we do, but that will change our options enough that we don't just go walking around, get bored, come home, grab some pizza, and vote to go out again? The damn masquerade breaks.
So, yeah, we get exactly one shot at this. Heck, I think it was pointed out that we're still in character generation. "Heal, authorities, or do it yourself?" Feels like it could be a subtle way for us to choose some personality, right? Let's be Captain America.
Meta arguments fall a little flat here, I doubt the situation will change that dynamically that fast. Yes, Alivaril wants to move things along, but I never saw any specific mention that this would be our only chance ever to break the masquerade to the general public because by the end of business hours today someone else will.
That said, I still don't like the hospital as much as the police.
This particular exchange bothers me, because it makes a lot of pretty massive assumptions. Association with an organization does not necessarily mean subjugation and supplication to it; in the same manner that Knight's Vow wouldn't make us the final say to our Vowed people and they wouldn't be our slaves, helping the police with their magical start-up doesn't necessarily make us the personal gopher of the enforcement arm of the American government, no matter how certain parties would want it. We'll likely have a lot of negotiating space between 'occasional independent contractor' and 'magical wetwork agent'.
True, but that's the end-goal. We may not get there immediately, but V is outlining his preferred route to get there. And, really, getting passed to the FBI or Homeland Security would probably only happen after we helped out the NYPD pretty seriously anyways. So that's kinda on me, for proposing a flaw that should really only come up with enough time for us to have earned a better position than "independent contractor".
Mind you, I see no reason not to shoot for a spot on the force. Being able to make massive war-wolves is kinda a major asset to a SWAT team, as is our ability to heal. The reduced odds of legal action against SWAT officers for injuries suffered from wrongful action, either due to the rare address screw up or from some dipsh*t deciding to SWAT someone, would definitely be an asset of some worth, to say nothing of keeping the officers alive and kicking.
Meta arguments fall a little flat here, I doubt the situation will change that dynamically that fast. Yes, Alivaril wants to move things along, but I never saw any specific mention that this would be our only chance ever to break the masquerade to the general public because by the end of business hours today someone else will.
That said, I still don't like the hospital as much as the police.
Might as we'll strike while we know the iron's hot, though. Waiting around doing stuff that might not matter or that we could do later isn't necessarily a better plan either. The changed situation could improve odds, but since we know that the masquerade's days are numbered, assuming that seems like a bad move to me.
True, but that's the end-goal. We may not get there immediately, but V is outlining his preferred route to get there. And, really, getting passed to the FBI or Homeland Security would probably only happen after we helped out the NYPD pretty seriously anyways. So that's kinda on me, for proposing a flaw that should really only come up with enough time for us to have earned a better position than "independent contractor".
Mind you, I see no reason not to shoot for a spot on the force. Being able to make massive war-wolves is kinda a major asset to a SWAT team, as is our ability to heal. The reduced odds of legal action against SWAT officers for injuries suffered from wrongful action, either due to the rare address screw up or from some dipsh*t deciding to SWAT someone, would definitely be an asset of some worth, to say nothing of keeping the officers alive and kicking.
Might as we'll strike while we know the iron's hot, though. Waiting around doing stuff that might not matter or that we could do later isn't necessarily a better plan either. The changed situation could improve odds, but since we know that the masquerade's days are numbered, assuming that seems like a bad move to me.
Ah, his posts were a bit weighty, I only started really paying attention recently.
Personally I'd prefer to position ourselves as parallel to mundane organizations rather than integrate directly. We're well-poised to be not-half-bad at policing magic/mundane interaction in a lot of different disciplines in an administrative capacity thanks to HH and the way white works.
Contacting the New York Police Department and offering to help them officially deal with Witches might get you plenty of positive attention, but it'd also be a bit of a pointless gesture. Aside from using Hallowed Haven on their stations or jails or whatever, there isn't a whole lot you can do to help them against Magical Girls. Bringing them in against Witches would be suicide until you're much better at granting temporary Blessings.
I'd prefer for any of the options besides visiting the NYPD to win. As the PC states in the update, she is not presently equipped to help the police against Witches or Magical Girls. Aside from some positive attention, they have little to offer her in return; dragging the police to a meeting with the local magical girls would only spook them, and casting HHs on mundane locations is a poor investment until the PC has a lot more mana to work with.
If you want to break the masquerade (and I do), visiting a hospital or conducting an interview with a newspaper are better choices. The former is a solid way to get rich fast, makes the PC famous, and is a mana commitment we're actually prepared to meet. The latter is an even greater boost to publicity, and would us frame the narrative in our favor by leaking some grim facts of the magical girl lifestyle. Both can later transition into cooperation with law enforcement, when the PC is better prepared.
Ah, his posts were a bit weighty, I only started really paying attention recently.
Personally I'd prefer to position ourselves as parallel to mundane organizations rather than integrate directly. We're well-poised to be not-half-bad at policing magic/mundane interaction in a lot of different disciplines in an administrative capacity thanks to HH and the way white works.
The main problem with that is that meguca have been underground and doing things that are, frankly, illegal for some time. Once that gets out, and it likely will, staying independent will likely get much harder.
I'd prefer for any of the options besides visiting the NYPD to win. As the PC states in the update, she is not presently equipped to help the police against Witches or Magical Girls. Aside from some positive attention, they have little to offer her in return; dragging the police to a meeting with the local magical girls would only spook them, and casting HHs on mundane locations is a poor investment until the PC has a lot more mana to work with.
If you want to break the masquerade (and I do), visiting a hospital or conducting an interview with a newspaper are better choices. The former is a solid way to get rich fast, makes the PC famous, and is a mana commitment we're actually prepared to meet. The latter is an even greater boost to publicity, and would us frame the narrative in our favor by leaking some grim facts of the magical girl lifestyle. Both can later transition into cooperation with law enforcement, when the PC is better prepared.
Actually...going to the cops might be the best compromise between not breaking the masquerade and breaking it. Telling them about the situation, and maybe letting them know what may happen in the near future, would potentially let them control how the story breaks. Or at least get their ducks in a row. They won't necessarily act on it immediately, or inform the press. We still get points for masquerade breaking with someone in authority, and don't end up in the limelight in a way that might result in too much inquiry into our past.
Even if we can't help them yet in the field, we're giving them a chance to try and work out a deal with, or just deal with, the local meguca before sh*t goes public. Might even be able to help make the former easier by helping them with diplomacy, making subtle inquiries into the nature of the local factions, and outlining what gives an MG high potential, I.E. a sh*tty life. That could be worth quite a lot, and save some lives in the process.
[X] Head over to the NYPD HQ (Or whatever they call it), inform them of what actually happened in Mitakihara, inform them about magic, and offer to help them in making a deal with/scoping out the local factions for ones willing to work with the police, as well as offering your own services.
Not perfect, but good enough, I think.
Edit: removed subvote, as I'm already committing to a fair amount of dialog blind, and would like to shave off as much as I feel I can. How upfront we are is a topic for another vote, IMO.
Actually...going to the cops might be the best compromise between not breaking the masquerade and breaking it. Telling them about the situation, and maybe letting them know what may happen in the near future, would potentially let them control how the story breaks. Or at least get their ducks in a row. They won't necessarily act on it immediately, or inform the press. We still get points for masquerade breaking with someone in authority, and don't end up in the limelight in a way that might result in too much inquiry into our past.
Even if we can't help them yet in the field, we're giving them a chance to try and work out a deal with, or just deal with, the local meguca before sh*t goes public. Might even be able to help make the former easier by helping them with diplomacy, making subtle inquiries into the nature of the local factions, and outlining what gives an MG high potential, I.E. a sh*tty life. That could be worth quite a lot, and save some lives in the process.
If this were Japan and you did end up being the first member of such a team, there's a pretty good chance you'd end up with the nickname "SWAT-chan," complete with your face being edited onto various armored police vehicles.
If this were Japan and you did end up being the first member of such a team, there's a pretty good chance you'd end up with the nickname "SWAT-chan," complete with your face being edited onto various armored police vehicles.
QM's Note: Sorry about the massive delay, everyone! A series of unfortunate events held this up, including the flu, classes, and my own desire to keep my promise of "this quest will not slow down the others."
[X] Head over to the NYPD HQ (Or whatever they call it) and and offer to help them with magical law enforcement.
-[X] Be upfront about your capabilities: You're an inexperienced support, so for now, the best you can do is ward their stations and jails against violence one by one.
You spend a good five minutes checking on the food, water, and sanitary situations of your pets before grabbing your purse and heading outside. Going out without at least one animal companion feels weird, to say the least; even in areas that require animal carriers, you still tend to bring along a dog for protection. Still, non-service animals probably aren't allowed inside the NYPD HQ, to say nothing of how your dogs might overreact to anyone trying using a less-than-friendly tone of voice with you. The canines of your family don't quite follow typical pack dynamics, but they'll still fanatically guard you from perceived threats.
It isn't until you reach the front lobby that you belatedly remember the idea of locking the door to your apartment. You hurry back upstairs and try the doorknob. Apparently, it's already locked? That's a little weird, but I guess that makes sense? Auto-locking doors might be a necessity in such a high-population environment.
Public transportation — specifically, a bus going to within ten minutes of your destination — isn't nearly as horrifying as you'd expected. Slightly cramped? Sure. Somewhat stinky, a little, but it's not any worse than the rest of the city. It is long, though; the trip should've only been about seven miles, but it still took about forty minutes for you to get there. What's even the point of having a using a mechanical vehicle if it spends more than half its time stopped?
The various city structures you pass come with their own shade of disappointing. You'd thought you could hop from building to building, but that seems to have been entirely too optimistic. New York's structures are too varied in height for you to pass between them without flight or a disqualifying amount of possibly-destructive climbing. Even in the rare cases where an unbroken row of buildings have the same height, the smallest streets accompanying them possess three lanes with sidewalks half as wide on either side.
You might have to look into making paths from White if you want to get anywhere in a reasonable timeframe. Not mere shields, which utilize the properties of protection, safety, and exclusion; while you could use shields to help you across streets, it'd be a horrible waste of power. Guidance and faith, maybe?
...Well, you're sure you'll figure it out eventually.
A second, equally irritating issue makes itself known when you actually arrive at 1 Police Plaza, your destination. Instead of dealing with lines of vehicles, you'd need to twiddle your thumbs behind a crowd of twenty, thirty, entirely too many people. You suppose being connected to a structure with around fifteen floors should've been a warning sign. Or maybe you should blame all the cameras and microphones members of the crowd seem to be carrying around? You might've just arrived at a bad time.
(Land Discovered: 1 Police Plaza, New York City [W/UW/UW])
A third problem crops up within another two minutes: you don't actually know what you're doing. You can't even admit that, not if you want to be taken seriously. You're no longer certain you should've come directly here; from what you can find out online, it sounds as though you're supposed to "contact your local precinct" for most stuff. On the other hand, this place does supposedly have the main Community Affairs Department offices, so maybe you can invoke that to BS your way inside?
Eventually, you walk toward a six-four pillar of tanned muscle masquerading as a black-haired security guard — Rhyleigh, his nametag claims. You stop a few feet away from Officer Rhyleigh, open your mouth, and immediately wish you'd decided on what to say before you started moving. You have no idea what to say.
"Yes?" the officer prompts.
You shake your head and take a deep breath.
"Excuse me, but do you know what I'd do with, um, perishable information that I don't want to let out of my sight and don't want to bring out in public, but that I'm pretty sure the PD would be really, really interested in? As in, the department as a whole, not the precinct for the place I happen to live."
Close enough.
Officer Rhyleigh frowns and glances over your shoulder. You're guessing he's eying the crowd of reporters clustered around the two-story visitor center.
"Not entirely, Ma'am," he reluctantly admits. "We've been revamping a few procedures lately, so I'd stick with whatever our website says now. If it's documentation of some sort, I'd recommend making hard copies before you come to us; if you need to keep it with you, that drastically limits our options for verification and distribution."
You exhale through your teeth.
"No, it's not that. I can show literally any member of the department if we're away from prying eyes. Even a group would be OK since I'm mostly worried about the general public freaking out before you guys do a press release or whatever. Also my own safety, but I guess that's a secondary concern at this point."
You hesitate for several seconds before sighing. It'll be caught on the officer's body camera, but you hadn't been planning on full privacy to begin with. You just don't want Magical Girls butting in until you've gotten everything sorted out.
"Actually, just watch. Nothing up my sleeve, right?"
You form a bowl from your hands, hunch over to shield it from those behind you, and forge a spherical shield from a minimal amount of environmental White. A telltale golden glow flickers into visibility within a second. You expect some sort of a gasp, but none is forthcoming; when you look back up, you find Officer Rhyleigh blankly staring at the miniature shield-orb.
"So, that mess in Japan? Literally magic," you say quietly. "Can I please help you guys set up some system for policing its users before it finishes going public?"
The police officer before you continues staring for several seconds more before he shrugs and reaches for his handheld transceiver. He pauses with one hand on it.
"If this is some sort of trick, you should really know that—"
"Please don't bother," you interrupt. "I would do a full-body effect, but that can wait until I'm out of the open."
Officer Rhyleigh wrinkles his nose and holds up one hand.
"Hold that thought."
Fifteen minutes, one bag check, four underwhelming reactions, and one visitor badge later, you're ushered into a small office on the second floor of the NYPD headquarters. You used about a tenth of a mote making shields, but the White/Blue of 1 Police Plaza still has plenty to spare. The nameplate on the wooden desk identities the grey-haired, uniformed man before you as Senior Officer Jones. Although the office door does have a window, it looks as though the blinds were already pulled in preparation for your arrival.
Officer Jones glances up from his desktop computer and nods toward the chair across from him.
"Miss Eichel? Please take a seat. I've been told you have something urgent to discuss, but not what, which is disturbingly irregular as it is. Could yo—"
Operating entirely off the bastardized habits you formed when your mana first awakened, you pull Green mana from yourself and spread it across your body. After that, it's simply a matter of not thinking about what you're doing. If you try to think about it, it has a terrible tendency to fail and leave you with a pile of vines instead of proper Summer Raiment.
You wait until you feel light cloth settling across your body and the weight of several flowers in your hair before you let yourself start thinking again. You open your eyes, blink, and smugly smile. Senior Officer Jones is staring at you with his mouth slightly agape. In other words, he's finally giving you a proper reaction instead of this unsatisfying stonefaced stupidity. When you decided to reveal magic, you'd thought it would be more enjoyable and would provoke more curiosity than it has been. Nope. Instead, you just have people passing you along without even asking more questions.
After several long seconds, Jones closes his mouth, swallows, and reaches toward the grey landline phone at one corner of his desk.
"If I ask you what that I just saw," Officer Jones begins cautiously, "then the answer is going to be something along the lines of 'magic,' isn't it?"
"Mm-hmm," you cheerfully confirm.
Officer Jones stops moving with his hand atop the phone. His brow furrows with puzzlement as he turns to stare at it, but no further action is taken. If he wasn't clearly still breathing and blinking, you'd think he'd been frozen by Blue.
"What are you trying to accomplish?"
You flinch as the voice of an alien abomination inserts itself directly into your mind. Severed springs, why now? Kyubey's tone might be more inquisitive than confrontational, but you won't make the mistake of thinking he's genuinely friendly. Your opinion is only strengthened when a cat-sized form hops up from behind the desk and stares at you through little red eyes. He's... cuter than you'd expected, actually, although the lack of Green in his body is more than a little jarring. You knew he had countless bodies to use, but you'd assumed he grew them from biological seeds. Instead, you're detecting just as little Green as you would in a steel plate and wait. How do the golden rings around his ears stay afloat? Are they physically bound to his body or can you steal them?
You take a deep breath and force yourself to focus. You aren't a Blue or a Black; intrigue isn't your specialty. However, you doubt you're going to escape from this conversation until Kyubey constructs some sort of a personality profile for you. The more fake information you can feed him, the less of an annoyance he'll be in the future.
After a moment of consideration, you decide against answering telepathically. You don't want to risk accidentally attaching some Green to a mental message. More than one of your ancestors could infuse her voice with mana, but you can't. That's more Red's wheelhouse.
"Footage of Walpurgisnacht is freely available on the Internet," you reply aloud. "Magical Girls are going to be revealed sooner than later."
"Why be the one to reveal it?" Kyubey asks with apparent curiosity. "Much of the attention you'll receive as the 'first Magical Girl' will be negative. Why subject yourself to such scrutiny when you aren't a Magical Girl in the first place?"
Well, that was probably the shortest-lived secret I've ever halfheartedly tried to keep. And brushing right past the positive attention, are we? How utterly unsurprising.
"However, I can help you with that last part. Witches often attack those who acquired magic through a wish not their own—"
Because you plant hatching Grief Seeds inside their homes. Killing the subject of a wish is usually a great way to make overpowered Magical Girls turn into Witches, right?
"—And you would have an easier time protecting yourself from threats if you were stronger," Kyubey continues cheerfully. "Would you like to follow in the footsteps of whoever wished for your sa—"
"No," you interrupt.
Kyubey blinks in feigned surprise. You know better than to think the alien abomination feels anything. Emotion and morality are irrelevant; Kyubey only cares about following the optimal path toward gathering as much conservation-violating energy as possible. You're more than half convinced his species is an example of what happens when paperclipper AIs get out of hand.
"Why?"
You sidestep the dangerous question with a an unhelpful fraction of the truth.
"I don't want to have my powers be tied to some rock that could easily be lost or stolen. I figure our—"
You clamp your mouth shut around a reply that would've casually revealed your knowledge of literal Soul Gems. If Kyubey wants to learn how many bombshells you know, he's going to have to work for it. However, you're going to have to work even harder to keep it from him and find another way to finish your thought. You don't want him to think the "our" implied other wish-enhanced individuals; the Blue artifacts protecting your family from scrutiny can only take so much punishment before they'll need recharging, something exceptionally difficult for your family. Members of your family technically can manipulate the other colors, but it's insanely difficult; better to be a master of one than to spend months staring at unusual colors of mana before they'll so much as twitch.
"W-Well, our..."
You shake your head and fall back on an excuse you've used slightly more often than you should.
"I don't know how to put it, okay?" you lie. "I just don't want to become a Magical Girl. Do I even have enough potential to become an effective one?"
Kyubey tilts his head to one side.
"Yes, you have enough potential to let you become an incredibly effective Magical Girl."
Translation: Assuming I'm skilled enough or lucky.
"But if you haven't given your reasons enough thought to quantify them," Kyubey continues, "could that be a sign you should review your opinion?"
"I have magic and it's not tied to Grief Seeds," you shoot back. "If I become a Magical Girl it won't matter what I say or do. People will still be convinced I'm out to poach their kills."
...Oh, dammit. You hadn't meant to reveal your knowledge of how territorial MGs can be.
"Those inclined toward disliking other magic users will still be biased against you,"Kyubey points out. "And speaking of possible paranoia, is there a reason you seem to be treating me as an opponent? As far as I'm aware, we've only just met. I apologize if I somehow mistreated you or someone close to you."
You're apologizing, but you're not sorry. You're starting to wish you'd practiced arguing against a pretend Kyubey; nudging him toward leaving you alone is hard.
"You push people into an unwinnable war against an endless stream of abominations," you reply aloud. "I can intellectually understand that it might be a good thing overall. Emotionally? Not so much."
"It is their choice."
"Again, I know. That doesn't mean I have to like it."
Kyubey hangs his head with sadness he's incapable of feeling. After several somber seconds, he peeks up past one ear. It'd probably be cute if he wasn't a genocidal monster that you're going to try killing someday.
"Regardless, why do you plan on personally revealing magic to the world? Doing so without making a wish will likely lead to your demise and unnecessary loss of life. Are you familiar with the popular comic plots involving 'Superhuman Registration Acts?' Imagine if such a mistake were applied to Magical Girls, many of whom have parents or family who would try to stop them from fighting Witches."
You sigh and rub at your palm with one hand.
"Explaining to you would take way too long, so could you unfreeze the nice policeman and let me get on with it?"
"You don't care about the possible increase in Witch populations?"
"Already thought of that possibility. Seriously, you're not going to convince me."
Kyubey looks to one side. You aren't sure which emotion he's imitating until he actually begins speaking: guilt.
"I expect many people will ask me what your wish was. It may create problems for you if I tell them you didn't make one."
It takes a moment for his words to journey from your brain to your conscious mind.
"Are you blackmailing me?" you ask incredulously.
As far as you were aware, Kyubey never risked such aggressive actions. Continuously erasing the memories of the police officer was a hint toward how important this is to him, but you're now convinced that Kyubey badly wants to handle the reveal himself. Somehow, he thinks Earth will generate more energy under his plan than it would if he left it to you.
Kyubey's fur and tail begin bristling the moment the accusation leaves your lips. He even goes through the trouble of having his cat ears go back and goodness, why does he have two sets of ears? You never really thought about it before.
"The word 'blackmail' implies malicious intent. If you aren't strong enough to fight Witches and you're reckless enough to risk giving Magical Girls bad publicity, I have no adequate reason to prioritize your needs over those of genuine Magical Girls. Thousands of Magical Girls could die if their reveal is handled improperly. Wouldn't you be upset if someone ignored you and doomed thousands through their own recklessness? Imagine how I feel when you won't even tell me why you're intent on dooming so many."
"Is trying to help the police an inadequate reason?"
Kyubey relaxes minutely.
"I believe so,"he bluntly replies. "I would have far fewer objections if you waited until tomorrow evening. You will likely have far fewer detractors as a civic-minded Magical Girl instead of the first magical girl to come out. You do not seem to be a trained public speaker; could you really handle all the interview requests and attention such a role would bring you?"
You take a deep breath and carefully assemble your request. Kyubey doesn't do direct intervention or make deals, but if he wants this badly enough, he might just make a minor exception. Step one: Find out whether he's willing to do so at all.
"If, after this conversation concludes, I wait to deliberately demonstrate magic to the general public until after someone else does, will you spend at least the next five million minutes treating me as though I'm a Magical Girl you want to keep alive, happy, and of sound mind?"
Kyubey fully relaxes and swishes his tail from side to side.
"I could do that!"Kyubey replies with feigned excitement.
Nice try.
"Will you, though?" you press. "Assuming I hold up my end of the deal, anyway."
"Of course!"Kyubey agrees as though he hadn't just tried to casually weasel out of it. "Isn't your request a little paranoid, though? You're acting like I don't already do that."
You slowly exhale and smile. Unless what you were taught is badly wrong, Kyubey is physically incapable of telling a direct lie. He compensates through half-truths, lying by omission, lying by implication, and dammit. You'd been hoping to put a minimum deadline on the time until Kyubey could end the world, but couldn't he just kidnap you and put you in some sort of VR simulation? Or, no, probably not. You aren't sure if some previous race wished for nonintervention or if that's simply the most energy-efficient route, but Kyubey doesn't do direct attacks. Overfilled Grief Seeds and manipulated Magical Girls? When it's a girl with especially high magical potential, maybe, but you can handle Witches, talk down Magical Girls, and apparently have crappy potential anyway. Cutting your throat in the middle of the night? Not even for girls who kill his bodies. No, even if you walk away, Kyubey isn't going to be attacking you any time soon.
However, there's no real reason you can't negotiate a new deal or outright walk away. Maybe you should just make him give you something immediately? Less chance of him exploiting a loophole that way. You know he'll occasionally collect unfilled Grief Seeds from the corpses of secluded Magical Girls who died alone. You've never heard of him giving them back, but there's probably no wish against that. Maybe if you promise not to tell anyone he gave them to you? Sure, he could be a prick and tell others that they were looted from dead Magical Girls, but then you could easily return fire by saying they came from him.
You could also try asking him what his masquerade-killing plan is, but you're pretty sure he'd barrage you with half-truths if it's anything even remotely bad.
[] Agree to put off informing the public until later.
-[] ...Assuming he agrees to some tweaked terms, anyway.
--[] Instead of the immunity, you'll do it in exchange for thirty unused Grief Seeds. You might not need it, but you'd like to make friends among those who will.
--[] You want a political summary of nearby Magical Girl territories. You've walked into a nest of vipers and you'd like to take the blindfold off.
--[] Write-in New Offer
[] Refuse. You don't trust Kyubey to have the best interests of humanity at heart, not that you intend to tell him that part. If he wants you to delay, that's a good reason to reveal magic immediately.
-[] Give Kyubey one or more reasons for why you're refusing him. He'll probably still disagree, but at least it'll make you seem more reasonable and malleable than you actually are.
--[] You CAN fight Witches, thanks, so his Greater Good justification falls short on that end; he shouldn't be sabotaging someone who also wants to fight against Witches.
--[] You don't trust him not to sacrifice the comfort of all normal humans just to drive home how threatening Witches are. More fearful humans might mean more Magical Girls, but you don't want to live in that sort of world. Meanwhile, the police could help people feel safe.
--[] (Write-in points you're willing to reveal or arguments in general)
[] Write-in
This isn't a case of "Kyubey falls, everything is ruined;" on the contrary, it's closer to "Kyubey arrived, maybe I can extort his fuzzy little butt?" Just remember that everything he says is technically truthful. Also, Kyubey may want to handle the reveal differently than he did in Ignition et al, so keep that in mind while deciding what to do—or rather, be aware that those quests aren't necessarily a good guide for how he'll approach the reveal this time.
I admit the issues with roof-hopping were not something I realized when I first made the votes last time; it wasn't until I started plotting routes in Google Earth (instead of Google Maps) that I realized the problems it would face. Normal Magical Girls can vault streets, but you can't (yet), so such a vote probably would've turned into relevant magic practice. On a related note, getting images of the inside of the NYPD HQ Visitor's Center is hard.
Voting is locked for 90 minutes after this first goes up.
I'm pretty sure that if Kyubey is allowed to control the release of information, MGs are going to be painted in a very negative light for grief maximisation. If he were doing otherwise our positive first impression wouldn't matter to him.
I'm pretty sure that if Kyubey is allowed to control the release of information, MGs are going to be painted in a very negative light for grief maximisation. If he were doing otherwise our positive first impression wouldn't matter to him.
You wouldn't be outstandingly surprised if that were the case; the twin promises of a wish and magic can push people toward some exceptionally reckless actions. There does also seem to have been an unusual rise in misunderstood heroine fiction over the last few years, most of which possessed light tones despite their premises. The existence of such would probably encourage yet more contracts despite the poor reputations of Magical Girls.
EDIT: Welp, voting is unlocked. The moratorium was pretty unhelpful, huh... ^^;
You wouldn't be outstandingly surprised if that were the case; the twin promises of a wish and magic can push people toward some exceptionally reckless actions. There does also seem to have been an unusual rise in misunderstood heroine fiction over the last few years, most of which possessed light tones despite their premises. The existence of such would probably encourage yet more contracts despite the poor reputations of Magical Girls.
EDIT: Welp, voting is unlocked. The moratorium was pretty unhelpful, huh... ^^;
[X] Refuse. You don't trust Kyubey to have the best interests of humanity at heart, not that you intend to tell him that part. If he wants you to delay, that's a good reason to reveal magic immediately.
-[X] Give Kyubey one or more reasons for why you're refusing him. He'll probably still disagree, but at least it'll make you seem more reasonable and malleable than you actually are.
--[X] You don't trust him not to sacrifice the comfort of all normal humans just to drive home how threatening Witches are. More fearful humans might mean more Magical Girls, but you don't want to live in that sort of world. Meanwhile, the police could help people feel safe.
[X] Refuse. You don't trust Kyubey to have the best interests of humanity at heart, not that you intend to tell him that part. If he wants you to delay, that's a good reason to reveal magic immediately.
--[X] You CAN fight Witches, thanks, so his Greater Good justification falls short on that end; he shouldn't be sabotaging someone who also wants to fight against Witches.
Haven't been following discussions, so I don't know the exact motives behind this trip, but if it's just to get things set up and not to personally control the reveal and not tipping your hands too much, then perhaps something like...
[] Compromise
-[] Tell Kyubey that his concerns do have some valid points, but you still intend on helping the police get hings set up now, as the sooner you start the more effective it'll be in the long run. As such, if he could unfreeze the police chief you could introduce him(This is Kyubey, we're from two different paths of magic and don't answer to each other, but he has some concerns, etc.) and the three of you can hammer something out that'll let you get started while also keeping things on the down low until Kyubey's done his thing.
Edit: Yeah, this is ugly but I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment.
Edit 2: If someone could work in something to weasel additional resources out of the rat at the same time, that'd be great.
Are you talking about statistically, or...? Helpful Kyubey might be a thing in some fics — I admit I've sometimes been tempted to make a quest with a premade wish forcing him to be such — but his canon methods are abhorrent to most moral systems.
