[X] Talk to Strength; something bothers her and maybe you can help
[X] Just find a nice spot to lie down and enjoy today's last sunlight; you need to think
[X] EXP-Plan
- [X] Save it
I wasn't aware that the exp was limited ... that changes things a lot.
I kind of want to include Ana since getting Harmonious Incorporation to get World Eater means that, with the higher speed she has in her caterpillar form, that she could take care of the speed needs of the team and allow sun and moon to focus of their strengths.
there are probably problems I'm not seeing though.
IIRC we do gain control over World Eater's EXP spending. And can improve the connection (she starts at basic).
Regarding the shop items, I believe the only five ones worth getting in this run are:
Harmonious Incorporation: The Devourer Radiant Shine Unbroken
Mistress of the Tide
Neverending Sunlight
Neverending Moonlight
RSU is most probably going to continue the Sun's tendency for having a mixed offense/defense approach. Her MM reliance, her Veil, her Radiance... At a guess, she might gain the ability to ignore attempts to bypass her Veil outright. As a Super, it's very good for her.
MotT is the most obvious one, replacing Shining Protector. Probably removes the limit. Likely allows her to use her own defenses as well, if All is Equal is a hint.
Neverendings I already said that I guess they are keyed to the twins' affinities.
[X] Maybe now is a good time to thank Chi for her hard work?
[X] Talk to Strength; something bothers her and maybe you can help
[X] EXP-Plan
- [X] Save it
[X] Maybe now is a good time to thank Chi for her hard work?
[X] Talk to Strength; something bothers her and maybe you can help
[X] EXP-Plan
- [X] Save it
Incredibly worthwhile. It gives sun damage, APT, and defense in one easily-leveled package. Does require that we level moon's defense to keep pace with it, due to detonate.
Not worth it. It has terrible scaling except APT. We may want to bring it to level 10 when we've leveled everything else a lot, just for the APT, the milestone, and to counter people who need to take small amounts of damage at a time.
Scorching Sunlight May the glorious rays of the sun set you ablaze
Level 9
Base Damage: 10,240 x2
Magic Modifier: 210 +25
Affinity: Sun
Ability: Burn | Armor Removal
Decent heal scaling. Has a problem I mention much farther down.
With the revelation that it is possible to target someone with more than one heal (if probably not with all of them), it's scaling improves significantly.
Become Whole Again A gentle touch is all it takes
Level 3
Base Damage: 72 x1.2
Magic Modifier: N/A
Affinity: Love
Ability: Heal | Instant Recovery
Taken entirely for instant recovery. May be worth leveling to 5 to see the milestone, under the same conditions as supernova and moon's scepter
Baleful Eclipse Blue and orange light join together to form black; the eclipse brings all opposition low
Level 6
Base Damage: 2,442 x1.65
Magic Modifier: N/A
Affinity: Sun | Moon | Balance
Ability: Juggernaut | Judgement | Non-Lethal | (Synchronize Only)
Nonlethal. Mediocre scaling compared to the twin's other options. Might be worth it if we want to be able to do that, but probably caps out at level 15.
Skilled
-Sacrifice four moves to negate an opponent's action
Skillful Dodge
-Sacrifice four moves to dodge an attack
Discipline
-No skill-based malus from using unfamiliar weapons; any familiar weapon used deals an additional 25% of its Base Damage
Helps with dodging and against fast opponents. Very worth it. More worthwhile for sun due to her vulnerability to unstoppable/judgement/smite attacks.
Veil of the Lunar Goddess Even in the darkest of nights, even if you can not see me, I will watch over you.
Level 13
-Increases Maximum Health and Base Resilience.
-Total End Damage below 25% of your Maximum Health is nullified; immune to mind-altering effects.
Health: 98,781 x1.7
Base Resilience: 700 +50
Very worth it as moon's main defense. Also must be leveled in parallel with sun's scepter. 3 levels higher should be enough until after level 15 scepter, then 4 till after level 25 scepter, and so on.
Flight
Level 4
-Can take to the air and fly at up to 30mph
Depends entirely on the thread's opinions. Power should not be a concern here. Take it if we want it, don't otherwise. If we do plan to take it, probably the sooner the better, though we may want to bring up our base capabilities first. (See my last post.)
Sunlight Scepter: Spellslinger -Sunlight Scepter lv10
-350 EXP
Add the Ability "Multi-Caster (Lvl 1)" to Sunlight Scepter
This adds an extra spell per round to sun. This at best doubles her damage, which is far outclassed by levelling Scorching Sunlight, which also affects Moon.
This will only become worthwhile if it levels up, conceals an unlock, or we need Sun to cast multiple different spells in a turn.
This works like multi-caster, except it allows from 1 to 2 (or higher with more APT) extra casts and those casts take APT. This one doesn't help while flying and interferes with dodge/skill negations, but potentially allows more casts and allows sun to break through once per round defenses more easily (assuming just her scepter doesn't fix it.)
Primordial Legacy
-300 EXP
Stand strong even if your moon is far away.
Both twins are pretty good on their own, or will be once Scorching sunlight is leveled a bit. It might be worth taking one of these eventually, just to see what it does, but not for a long time. I can't think of anything that would actually help.
Speed Gap
-Veil of the Solar Goddess
-500 EXP
Light moves faster than anything else... but you can not do the same.
Ah, yes. The highly contested speed gap. Once we are looking to increase our flight levels, we might want to try gambling with this. Depends how many other things we want at the time.
Radiant Shine Unbroken -Radiance
-Solar Blessing lvl 10
-Magic Modifier > 10,000
-650 EXP
For there is no one who can match the sun's light. Replaces Radiance.
I've already mentioned this a lot. It's a super ability, so it's probably very good. My personal guess is that it applies radiance to everything, which is nice, but, as I noted last analysis, inefficient compared to simply leveling scepter and veil. At least for now.
However, that's just my guess. I highly doubt it'll be worse than that, but it might well be better. It's cheap and close enough to be worth gambling on, if we want to gamble at all.
Consuming Light -Radiance
-Sunlight Scepter: Advanced Catalyst
-350 EXP
Sunlight is a source of all life; even you can prosper from your own shine.
This is fairly obviously some method of hitting someone attacking us. It might mean we hit them whenever we skill negate something, it might give our scepter Punch-Through, etc...
In any case, this is one of the more tempting options. Still a gamble, and not as enticing of one as, say, the super abilities.
Moonlight Scepter: Judgement
-100 EXP
Adds the Ability "Judgement" to the Moonlight Scepter
See earlier, but for moon...and moon has less APT to use with it. No.
It has been brought to my attention that this lets moon heal and use scorching sunlight (i.e. deal damage) on the same turn. As such, it's more useful.
Mistress of the Tide -Shining Protector
-All is Equal
-700 EXP
For only the moon directs the flow. Become the conductor of the battlefield. Replaces Shining Protector.
Very tempting by virtue of being a super ability. Probably wait till we have our essentials (veil, sun's scepter, sunlight) leveled up, but it's probably the third-most tempting gamble on the list, after radiant shine unbroken and radiant conductor.
Primordial Legacy
-300 EXP
Stand strong even if your sun is far away.
See Primordial Legacy, but more expensive and has a prerequisite that also isn't worth it. No.
So my goals are now roughly:
Special: Harmonious Incorporation goes wherever people want it. It's worth taking at any point if people are interested.
1: Sunlight scepter and Scorching Sunlight to 15, Veil of the Lunar goddess to 18. This gives ~640k damage per cast to both twins(2.5 mil together), 110-220k damage to sun's attacks (pre-radiance), 220-330k defense for sun, 1.4 million hp for moon, and a 350k no-sell threshold for Moon. 1990 XP to bring our raw numbers on par with what we've seen from I.E. the seasons. If we feel like it, we can invest an extra level or two in each to surpass them.
2: Decide what we need the most. Options are, in a very rough order of priority:
A: buy Radiant shine unbroken, Radiant Conductor, and/or Mistress of the tide. Fairly safe gambles.
B: Purchase flight levels up to HSC 3. Maybe only or moreso on sun, as she has more to fear from I.E. Unstoppable, judgement, etc...
AltB: Purchase speed gap first. It should either help sun deal with fast enemies or make her go faster. The problem is that flight levels may well be more effective themselves. A gamble that may be worth doing if we have an excess of Xp at the time.
C: Level soothing moonlight to 10-15. This should let moon keep up with shining protector. The problem with this is that all of the XP invested in soothing moonlight could also be spent on veil of the lunar goddess, which increases her raw health by enough per level that soothing moonlight may not be worth it for a while. Also, Mistress of the tide could change how much moon needs healing. However, the possibility of stacking multiple beams on one target makes this much more efficient, so I moved it up.
C: Decide whether the below options are actually worth more than continuing to level our abilities as described in 1 or buying mystery boxes.
D: Level baleful eclipse. Probably no higher than 15, and we could stop earlier. Lets us go nonlethal, but scales poorly by comparison.
F: 2 levels in supernova or become whole. Maybe there's something worthwhile at level 5? Or bring moon's scepter to 10.
E: Level soothing moonlight to 15. This should let moon keep up with shining protector. The problem with this is that all of the XP invested in soothing moonlight could also be spent on veil of the lunar goddess, which increases her raw health by enough per level that soothing moonlight may not be worth it for a while. Also, Mistress of the tide could change how much moon needs healing.
Train really hard so that the spell can target the same person more than once in a single cast. Presumably the amount of training needed scales with how many times you want it to use duplicate targets.
Basically, the kind of soft mechanics hax that top tier MGs do. May involve selecting body parts as targets instead of people as targets.
Train really hard so that the spell can target the same person more than once in a single cast. Presumably the amount of training needed scales with how many times you want it to use duplicate targets.
Basically, the kind of soft mechanics hax that top tier MGs do. May involve selecting body parts as targets instead of people as targets.
I know how much you love this idea, but IIRC naron specifically said it wouldn't work (and it wouldn't be enough anyway, without at least a few more levels.)
I know how much you love this idea, but IIRC naron specifically said it wouldn't work (and it wouldn't be enough anyway, without at least a few more levels.)
Objectively, for all their usefulness, Sunlight Scepter isn't a priority compared to Scorching Sunlight, due to Shining Protector lending a hand with Unstoppables. We can afford to postpone raising it sharply.
Harmonious Incorporation is nice, and Scorching Sunlight 15 will solve our damage problems.
That's 1333+690.
After that, priority is both Supers we currently can see, and Ana's Connection (for social reasons). Those give us a side-grade in both Scepter and Veil along the way.
Assuming Sun goes first it's 100+650, and for Moon it's 700. And 110+130 for scepter 12 and veil 14. As for connection, it's 200+380 at least, possibly a bit more.
Round it all up with Soothing Moonlight and Baleful Eclipse perhaps, but until everything we already named is purchased, further planning will need to wait. After all, Supers tend to alter the playing field significantly.
And 2023+1450+240+580+490... Well 4.5 to 5k exp we're already reserving is a sizeable chunk.
(I have an omake idea, btw... Note to self, Night can summon 200k zombies in 5 seconds, probably more, which translates into... 200 million damage shunted? Oh my. Right, and she probably has a save-from-death too).
(I have an omake idea, btw... Note to self, Night can summon 200k zombies in 5 seconds, probably more, which translates into... 200 million damage shunted? Oh my. Right, and she probably has a save-from-death too).
I am neither confirming nor denying any of this.
Just want to give a reminder of the fact she is still #2. Strength is capable of one-shotting her if she actually wanted to.
I am neither confirming nor denying any of this.
Just want to give a reminder of the fact she is still #2. Strength is capable of one-shotting her if she actually wanted to.
Night did put in the clause of killing her as a victory condition, so if the omake does go that way I'll finish the attack resolution with a laconic ??? followed by the referee declaring the match over.
And her claim to summoning (and 53 thousands of zombies) are canon as of Monsters kill men interlude vs Grey Phantasm. Again, laconic description will have me give her between 2 and 5 thousands of them for the test.
Finally, Transcendent Strength one-shotting her? Also not impossible. I mean, high damage AOE might kill her army before her damage shunt works, so there's at least that way to lower her survivability level.
[X] Talk to Strength; something bothers her and maybe you can help
[X] Just find a nice spot to lie down and enjoy today's last sunlight; you need to think
It takes you a little bit to decide what to do; today will be a day of new experiences indeed.
After dinner with your friends, you bid them goodnight and split up. One body's path goes toward the dorm as you have to find Strength, the other wanders outside to look for a nice spot to lie down. You ultimately decide to just try with the meadow a little bit outside of the city border while still looking around.
After just a few seconds of lying down on the hard ground -the fluffy-looking grass betrayed you- you transform into Primordial Sun; the feeling of grass poking into your back ceases after that... and you can hover a few centimetres above the actual ground. Much better.
Looking up and straight at the sinking sun is nice, even though you are still searching and have to ask for directions from Spring at one point.
Your mind wanders a little, to what you heard earlier.
Every last member of Yggdrasil except the five you saw is dead.
Your chests clench and you have trouble walking straight for a moment over the pain this thought brings. It hurts.
Half-remembered faces flash in front of your mind's eye, of how weird Red and Purple were... and Knight, nice despite the fact she always kept her distance. Or so many other friendly girls, who took care of you without having to. They really did not deserve this, however it happened...
"Such heavy thoughts on such a young mind." Huh?
You blink, then turn your head to see who snuck up on you... and pause. You pause in your searching as well to concentrate, for next to you sits her. No words need to be spoken, no explanations need to be given; some part of you relates to her in an instant, acknowledging her as one you belong to.
She is...
Not human, yet so much more. Not related, yet closer to you than any of your actual relatives ever were. Where looking upon Nightmare Child made you feel like an insect about to be crushed, seeing her brings forth the feeling of being a beloved child; weak and small all the same, but protected and cared for. She is anything and everything, god to this world and the world itself.
Warmth blossoms all throughout your bodies while Gaia herself... giggles a little. She then moves to lie down next to you, looking up at the sky. "You're such a sweet child, my dear sun and moon. So different from your sister, yet so similar. I'm glad to have met you beforehand already."
You are... genuinely happy with how her shoulder only barely brushes against yours. Being with her is... so overwhelming that you actually have to sit down your other body for a minute or two, to focus better on Gaia. She looks so relaxed lying there, despite the heavy ground... or is that actually an insult, with her being the world and all?
"Pffft...tehehe"
And she giggles again. You pout at her a little bit, but stop once you feel a hand coming to lie on your own. It is big and soft and warm and squeezes gently. "I can tell of all the things bothering you; you're not alone in this, yes?"
A faint breeze makes her dress flutter and the graceful features remain utterly relaxed, though she has one of her eyes on you at all times until you nod your understanding. She really is always there, guiding and helping you. "I wanted you to know this, my dear. Grieving for those close to you is perfectly normal, but I hope you can get over it in time. There is much to be done and soon... you will answer Bianca's call for aid, will you not?"
""...of course I will.""
"Of course you will what?"
You flinch a little and turn your other head around, only to find two older girls looking down at where you are sitting. Strength and... Night of all people. It takes you a moment longer to realise you used both of your bodies to reassure Gaia, but then you blush a little and avert your gaze from Strength. "Nothing. Um... do you have some time?"
Gaia is now openly laughing at you and pokes your side a few times, but you just pout back and suppress the urge to squeal as best as you can. Meanwhile, both older Magical Girls give you curious looks; Night seems to relax for some reason, some kind of tension leaving her body as her gaze wanders over your face a few times, flicking here and there. You do the same to her, taking in the gently curved chin and curled lips; her eyes are green and the weird robe-thing she wears hides most of her figure.
Strength throws her companion a look to which she nods, then offers you a hand and a smirk. "Sure, what's on your mind?"
Now it is you looking back and forth between them while Gaia keeps quiet; when you give her a look also, she just shrugs and waves you off. "Finish that first, I can wait a few minutes."
"Thank you..."
You take Strength's hand and let her pull you to your feet with ease; she does not let go afterwards, keeping your hand in her bigger one as you look around. "Um... it's kind of private, so I don't want to talk about it right here in the hallway. That's okay, right?"
You can see understanding run over their faces before Strength gives Night a nudge. "Guess it's just me and Moon then, I hope you don't mind?"
Gaia giggles again while the other Magical Girl says it will be alright and wanders off, then she speaks up: "I didn't really come here for anything pressing... though there is one thing we should get out of the way soon. You're confused right now."
It is no question; Gaia already knows, so she just states the facts. There is no need to lie to her, either; even if you did, she would know. So you just nod, your other body quietly following Strength to wherever she thinks is a good place to talk. With the Earth's next words however, you stumble and only barely manage to catch yourself: "Most of all, you will need a name."
You take a few seconds to stare at her in wonder, noting how the fading light and your own illuminate the different colours in her hair; before you can speak about already having names however, she interrupts you with a single finger raised. "I know. Each of these bodies, each girl making you already has a name. However, you are more than the sum of your parts. Next to me is Rico, following Strength in the other half of the city is Evangeline... but neither is good to call the both of you, hmm?"
...
She is right, is what you have to admit to yourself. It feels wrong to call yourself either Eva or Rico and meshing both together would be worse. But... "Is it really okay to just take a new name? My mother chose both of them..."
"But your mother would have trouble understanding what happened to you", is what Gaia answers once your words fade out. Her smile is gentle as she sits up and carefully pulls you into her lap. "Even Bianca might need a while to get her head around this... and she won't understand your potential until you've already become more, just like with this connection of yours. You are my precious sun and moon... so if you allow, I would be honoured to give you a name for your joint spirit to be called by."
Arms wrap around you and Gaia falls quiet as you ponder; though you do not get much time for it because Strength finally reaches what looks like her room and offers you to enter first. It is... messy; so messy that you can barely see the floor under clothes and paper and many other stuff, which makes you stare for a moment. Then Strength closes the door behind herself and motions for you to sit on her unmade bed. "Sorry about that, I usually clean up when I'm expecting visitors... but I like my chaos otherwise."
Some part of you can emphasize with that, but the rest of you screams it down with righteous indignation. Not that you show any of this on your face, simply nodding in response to the older girl. "It's fine, I don't mind it."
You do mind, oh how you mind... but aside from Gaia having another giggling fit, you also remember that this is not what you are here for.
Strength takes a seat in an office chair opposite to you and shows her curiousity while you tense up a little; this is it now, you will be really invasive of her privacy and really did not think this through-
"It is quite alright, my dear. I would have stopped you if this would go too far."
You relax a little bit again and trust Gaia's words on this; if there is anyone who knows, it should be her after all. Having half of you wrapped in a warm hug helps a lot with that, too.
"Um... I wanted to talk about the assembly... about the White Reaper..."
The other girl immediately stiffens and you avert your gaze, waiting a moment before looking up at her again. "I... you said I look just like her... and you started acting weird over the topic... and... I don't know if I am related to her in any way, but if I am, I..."
You cut yourself off and try to make the ground swallow you somehow; you just started babbling and it made no sense, none at all. Heat rushes all over your face, but Strength does not say anything; she does relax a tiny bit, though. Her hands are still clenched, but the hard line on her forehead is gone.
When she does speak, it is calm; no trace of her usual energy. "Yeah, you do. I met her, once. No idea how I'm still alive... but don't tell the others, yes? Don't need everyone knowing that there's an unknown I can't take."
You nod slowly, understanding what she means with ease; you are a little unsettled about the matter yourself, but not enough to panic. However, you are also curious about this. "You fought with her?"
The question has her bark out a pained laugh. "Hah, 'fought'? Nope, not a single hit. Wouldn't have done me much good anyway. The Reaper plays in a league of her own..."
She trails off before heaving a deep sigh and pressing her palms onto her knees, eyes closed. "She gives you the creeps, same way Night does. Doesn't talk. Heck, I was just a few years older than you when I met her."
She remains silent for a while, leaving you to guess whatever she might be seeing in the darkness of her own head. There are gentle shivers going through her whole body... and after a bit, you shift over so you can put a hand on hers. Maybe it will not do anything, but you do not like to see people unhappy.
Strength for her part gives you a weak smile and actually takes your hand. "Thanks. You're a sweet one."
Then, while still squeezing gently, her face grows much darker. "But you shouldn't spend much time comforting me. I've had years to deal with the sh-stuff I went through, there's people I can go talk to if it's necessary. You're friends with the girls from Yggdrasil, right?"
Oh... yes. You can feel your own face fall at the reminder, the thing you originally wanted to think about when Gaia interrupted. Strengths gently pulls you into an embrace of her own now. "Sorry... but you and Sun are both more mature than I thought ten-year-olds should be. I'm thinking you're good to help tackle this problem. Mirror and Truth seem fine and Iron is just shellshocked... but I'm worried about the other two. They had to actually watch the carnage in New York."
Your stomach churns and your chests are painfully tight, but you listen raptly to everything Strength has to say. In the end, you just nestle yourself up to her side and look up, forcing the tears away for now. "What can I do?"
"Heh."
A strong arm squeezes you against the other girl for a moment, then comes to rest on your shoulder; it is a little tight with both of you sitting there. "You're definitely a sweetheart; I'd date you if you were six... maybe seven years older."
"What about Night?"
Your quick question catches her off-guard, though it stops her from noticing your faint blush; that was a compliment, right?
Strength giggles the same time Gaia does and shrugs lightly. "It's... complicated, I guess. I'm not sure either of us is in the right headspace for an actual relationship, so we take it one step at a time... hehe, want to know the best part about having a girl like her?"
When you only give her a curious glance and wait, Strength smirks. "You get alllll the cuddles. Anyway, back to our friends."
She cuts you off before you can ask about their flirting before. Awww...
At least Gaia has fun, that is something. You pout at her while waiting for Strength, which at least makes her stop giggling about the whole thing. That is worth craning your neck.
"So, I don't know them at all... but you don't know how their situation feels to them in return, so we're both a little lost."
Strength squeezes you a little bit and sighs, as does Gaia for some reason. "Look, if I'm correct, those two will need a lot of time and care. But they don't have something we can actually cure for them. They need to work through it by themselves. Do you understand?"
She remains quiet a little longer even after you told her yes; whatever goes through her mind, you use the time to wonder what exactly might be going on with your friends. Igni and Soul mostly... but for how long can someone be sad?
"Anyway", Strength finally continues and you turn a little to meet her gaze. "What we can and should do is to be there for them. Not coddle them or pity them, but be there. Talk to them if they want to, leave them be otherwise. Spend time with them, make sure they do not shut themselves off for too long. The most important thing is that we do not push too much and keep them away from stress."
That is... so weird. You can not really remember having a problem before that could not be solved with a warm hug, a few nice words, or a good meal. On the other hand, you had a pretty nice life in comparison to some of them. The gist of it -to you- is to not be overbearing and to make them feel wanted... ugh, so vague. Is there nothing concrete you can do?
It is Gaia who offers a response to that question, even before you can ask it aloud: "Don't be so pushy about it; you aren't the only one involved in this, now are you? Strength has some more things she can do about it, but she doesn't want to bother a girl so much younger with all of it. Help those two feel welcome here, that will be enough."
You can feel her shift for a moment... but there are no more words, even though it seems as if she wanted to say something. That is why you give Strength a thoughtful nod. "Okay... I think I can do that... um... you said you had it, too?"
"Yeah... but I'm a special case there and your big sis helped me get over it. It generally takes a long while and lots of care to get better... but I refused to feel the way I ended up doing after some time. I fought back against myself... and forced myself until the rest of me yielded and I got better."
She lets that stand for a moment, but immediately turns your head so you have to look her right in the eyes; Strength's lips are pursed and she frowns. "Just so we're clear on this: I'm an exception there, what I just described to you is not a good way to go about it. So please do not try to replicate it ever... and for Heaven's sake, do not tell anyone about it. Okay?"
She keeps looking at you that way until you nod again, then the hard lines vanish and she gives you a gentle pat. "Thanks. It sucks being where they are now, so you and Sun being around will probably help them."
You ponder that for a moment and decide you will wait for what happens before trying to do more than Strength said; with Gaia telling you it is okay as well, maybe you do not even have to. "I'm glad I can help... but... I guess you want to go find Night now?"
There are a lot more things you can think of talking about to her, but Strength did tell you she likes that girl... in a way. At least you are pretty sure about it, with how her cheeks turn a little pink and the smile becomes more sheepish. "Yeah, I'd like that. She usually doesn't show up more than twice a year... and doesn't stay for long, either."
"That's okay, I think I understand. I always spent as much time as I could with Bianca when she dropped by, too."
You hop down from Strength's lap and smooth out your skirt, taking note of how she relaxes a little; was she tense? You did not even notice if she was. Either way, you wander over to the door and wave. "Thank you for talking to me. See you around!"
Once you are out of the door, Gaia stops her ministrations and lets you sit up properly; the last few rays of the sun are gone now, though your own shine illuminates the surroundings just fine. Even if you were busy with Strength, you did not forget about her. Gaia herself wants to give you a name... a name that is both Eva and Rico together. "But what name would you give me?"
She giggles, then makes it so you sit in front of her instead. You can feel this tingling again all throughout your body, telling you that what you are looking at is more than what you see. Gaia places a finger on her lip for a moment, taking it away only when she answers: "Even if you're only barely in my grasp by now, we won't ever be separated. Heh... Priscilla is your name, my dear. Priscilla Celeste Vescovi."
You open your mouth at first, but stop. Gaia pouts about as fast as you start being unhappy with what she just said. "But... that's not cute at all."
"And neither is Evangeline", she counters before flicking your forehead. "But you can shorten it to a cute Pris, now can't you? You have a middle name also, just because. Talking about either of your bodies specifically would still be Eva and Rico, of course... but yes, you are now Priscilla."
""Hum... Priscilla...""
You are still not so sure about it; a new name for a new you. You try saying it a few times to see if it feels okay to speak.
Gaia gets up after a bit and stretches. "Well, that was fun... but I think a good girl should go to sleep sometime soon. Plus, I really don't need Bianca to be mad at me for keeping you up. Have a good night, Pris."
She pats your head once more before turning away. You blink once... and she is gone, as if she had never been there. Even though you wanted to ask her things, how mean!
Then again, you have a lot to think about as is.
Priscilla... Celeste...
Is it... really okay to just accept a new name? What will your mother say once you see her again and tell her about all the things that happened?
...
In the end, a name is a name, right? You can at least try and see if you like it, that much should be fine; it is something Gaia gave you, after all... actually, how do you even know her name? She did not say, it was just there the moment you saw her. As if you had already known each other for eons, yet never once talked.
This feeling is... weird. It takes you all the way back inside and into your room until the tingling finally stops, the weightlessness and [CONFUSION] abating at last. You shiver and massage your temples over the sudden headaches. At least you are together again, with a corgi to cuddle right there. Which is what you do for a while.
Yet, this night is not peaceful for you; memories of your time in New York keep coming to the forefront of your mind.
. . .
Line Break Recognised . . .
A petite girl slowly wakes beneath the rubble of her home, body battered and broken. Her eyes have trouble adjusting as she tries to sit up and push the debris away.
The last thing Grace remembers is talking to Blaze about their supplies... then a howl from the outside... and nothing.
Bits and pieces give way as she pushes herself out, fear for everyone else grasping coldly around her heart and making her work. Despite the excruciating pain coming from her leg and coursing through her body, despite her wishing to just lie down and hope it stops, Grace gets up.
Not far away is another form, impaled by a stray pipe and crushed with more debris as she was not transformed at the time.
Another roar has her pricking eyes snap upwards, where a monster is dancing in the sky. The tiny Soul Queller is barely visible against its massive form, gracefully dancing around its swipes but unable to do significant damage.
Grace is frozen in place as the monster swoops and smashes into the place she stands at, its violent landing crushing her into paste before she can get herself to move...
All of it has you wake up on a soggy pillow in the morning, your eyes puffy and stinging. Ludger jumped on top of the bed and is curled around your heads as best as he can do with his small body, giving more warmth to you.
So instead of actually getting up, you just pull the drowsy dog into a double-hug. His fur can be cleaned up later...
It is after some time passed that someone knocks on your door; you just call them in, seeing that the time with Ludger helped you calm down. Though you missed breakfast and classes will start soon... ugh.
"Are you really still in bed? We got to go or we're late!"
Oh, it's Ana... and she does not sound happy about the situation. You aren't really happy, either. So you give her a tired look... that has her pause. You can see emotions warring on her face as she starts frowning, lines hardening and softening a few times before she drops her bag and comes to sit with you.
...oh. Your eyes are still red from crying.
"Do you want to skip today? I can tell Spring you don't feel good."
You feel like doing that, but also not. It would be wrong to skip for as long as you can get out of bed; someone has to walk Ludger, too. So you shake your heads and crawl out from below the blanket, pulling your dog along. "No, but thank you."
It is Saturday anyway; classes are halved over the weekends, so you will manage. Though you have some extra work today, with having to air your pillow and clean the bed... and you are hungry, too.
Ana's lips curl upwards a little bit and she helps you fold the blanket; Ludger sits by her feet and watches you work, waiting patiently. She does keep throwing glances your way, though.
"Um... Eva... Rico?"
""Hm?""
After a moment, you remember that she probably does not know how to talk to you right now, so you quickly chime in before she can say anything: "Actually, it's Pris now. Eva and Rico is for either of me, but both of me is Priscilla."
That stops her for a bit; you are already halfway dressed when Ana finally speaks: "Oh... so... Pris...cilla. Pris... hm. Ah, anyway! Do you really feel alright?"
It takes you a minute or two to actually convince her of that; it helps that you get your faces washed and clean, though your tummies growl and demand food. Ugh, you have to tough it out today... and after classes and your own work, it should already be time for lunch anyway...
That still gives you a free afternoon, though.
What do you do after lunch? Choose five:
[] Ana is still worried about you after what happened this morning; maybe she will calm down if you spend some time with her?
-[] Double Down
[] Play a bit with Strength
-[] Double Down
[] Go look for Nightmare Child, maybe she would like to talk to you
-[] Double Down
[] With how Flower seemed more open to talk to you yesterday, you should go visit her garden today
-[] Double Down
[] You heard that Sky is working on something or other and spars with everyone willing to indulge her; maybe she is up for a challenge?
-[] Double Down
[] After what Strength said, you ought to talk to Soul and Igni
-[] Double Down
[] Chi is relaxing in her workshop, so now would be a good time to see her
-[] Double Down
[] Training sounds like a good idea
-[] Write-in what to train (this option requires one action per subject per character)
[] EXP-Plan
-[] Write-in what to buy
-[] Save it
=====
+6xp Memories of Dear Friends
+250xp Met Gaia
+3xp Humanity's Pinnacle
+25xp Your New Name
EXP gained: 284 + 284 = 568 Total EXP: 1,416
=====
(Unlocked Level 2 Character Sheet: Magical Girl Transcendent Strength)
(Unlocked Level 4 Character Sheet: Gaia)
(New Shop Item Unlocked)
Any and all options will have the Double Down sub-option, which you can add if you want to assign both bodies to any given task instead of just one.
You should therefore keep in mind:
-One body is the default
--Pris assigns bodies to each task at my leisure
-Double Down makes an option count as two actions
-"Option 1 with Double Down" is counted as a different vote than "Option 1 without Double Down"
-If you have an uneven number of actions, this means that one of them is carried out with both bodies per default.
I feel like I should explain how the number of actions comes to be.
Generally, Pris still gets the regular number actions to allocate. Which is two to three for a normal afternoon and one for the evening.
Due to Complete Connection however, she is two people combined and can split up with her two bodies. Depending on her mood for any given voting cycle, that means a part of the amount she gets is doubled, which can range up to all of it.
In the current case up above, Priscilla has 3 actions given. Due to her not being particularly happy today, she wants to spend at least one of them together with herself, i.e. with both bodies. The other two are possible to be split, so turn from 2 to 4.
Overall, we thus reach a total of 5 possible actions, which you can condense back into 3 if you Double Down on two of them.
That is also why uneven numbers always have one action be with both per default; it is a surefire indicator that Pris does not feel like separating the whole time.
[X] Ana is still worried about you after what happened this morning; maybe she will calm down if you spend some time with her?
-[X] Double Down
[X] Chi is relaxing in her workshop, so now would be a good time to see her
-[X] Double Down
[X] After what Strength said, you ought to talk to Soul and Igni
Some part of you can emphasize with that, but the rest of you screams it down with righteous indignation. Not that you show any of this on your face, simply nodding in response to the older girl. "It's fine, I don't mind it."
[X] Ana is still worried about you after what happened this morning; maybe she will calm down if you spend some time with her?
[X] Go look for Nightmare Child, maybe she would like to talk to you
[X] Training sounds like a good idea
-[X] Train Soothing Moonlight's Target by Level to heal the same target multiple times with a single cast
[X] After what Strength said, you ought to talk to Soul and Igni
-[X] Double Down
This Plan increases our damage potential to something that can no longer be ignored by HighLevel MGs. (~82k from a single Scorching Sunlight, ~410k with radiance and cast by both)
It also increases the healing from Soothing Moonlight to a useful level, given the amount of health Moon has. (~23k a pop)
I don't think a single training action will allow us to immediately use all 12 targets on the same person, but just 5 will still allow us to heal ourselves instantly.
That Celestial Ascendance shop option...holy shit. Does that mean that Pris isnt just magical girls who happened to represent the sun and moon but may be some nascent form of the avatars for their corresponding celestial body? As in they are capable of becoming god-like beings in their own rights?
