Good idea; I generally go with explaining the wellspring of ideas we already have going due to being a hivemind here as coming from Una, but... it might be worth a shot.
Additionally, I am incredibly happy that we chose the early setting.
Imagine Una getting her hands on Puella Magi Madoka Magica and then crying herself to sleep in Cerys' arms for days.
Because it's never going to happen, I don't mind sharing your fate if you had chosen a later setting.
You would have played as Una. Cerys would have been a full fledged Magical Girl, though one who has constant issues with her power, seeing her relegated to the back line.
Depending on how you act, Cerys more likely than not would have died a horribly painful death, which would have been Una's fault.
Cue Una becoming a Magical Girl and inheriting her sisters power by design. Then you leave the tutorial. A mentally scarred Loli with magic, PTSD and trust issues.
Cue Una becoming a Magical Girl and inheriting her sisters power by design. Then you leave the tutorial. A mentally scarred Loli with magic, PTSD and trust issues.
You're joking, right? She's read the fucking Sailor Moon Manga (which honestly paints PMMM as a return to the roots series) and Berserk. PMMM may have ended up being a "My Feelz" situation for her, but it is not worse than Berserk.
By the way, people... what exactly are our plans for the near future?
I am honestly tempted to try getting to Japan, both for the culture and because it is not on the American continent. But neither Cerys nor Una can speak Japanese.
But still... where do we want to go? Get strong enough to protect Una by ourselves might be a good goal, but I doubt it will work out that way. So either trying to create an organisation of our own (take over the underground?) or joining one (military?) seem like favourable ideas. Of course, this is for after we consolidated an acceptable base of powers to work with, especially in case someone tries to blackmail us.
We could try to stay under the radar, but the call knows where we hide.
As secondary goals, maybe gain enough control over our powers to try connecting with Una again?
By the way, people... what exactly are our plans for the near future?
I am honestly tempted to try getting to Japan, both for the culture and because it is not on the American continent. But neither Cerys nor Una can speak Japanese.
But still... where do we want to go? Get strong enough to protect Una by ourselves might be a good goal, but I doubt it will work out that way. So either trying to create an organisation of our own (take over the underground?) or joining one (military?) seem like favourable ideas. Of course, this is for after we consolidated an acceptable base of powers to work with, especially in case someone tries to blackmail us.
We could try to stay under the radar, but the call knows where we hide.
As secondary goals, maybe gain enough control over our powers to try connecting with Una again?
Definitely continue to cross the border to Canada, sooner we're out this military's jurisdiction the harder it'll be for them to chase after us in an official capacity.
But your right about the language barrier plus there's the problem of just how insular the country is. Last time I checked the foreign pop for Japan was less then 1% so We'd stick out like a sore thumb for the locals.
But for secondaries Cerys is still very much against that so at least put it on the back back burner. What I want to do is be on the look out for places/entities like forest bro. Unless of course if we do go to Japan, then I do not to go anywhere near Aokigahara - Wikipedia .
Canada's probably a good one. Canadian's are just kinda nice.
However, the US did join the Commonwealth. We probably have time as it sounded recent and the governments are going to still be reorganizing, and by extension the military, and cultural barriers will still get in the way, and that last one is no small thing.
Canada is... a good bet. Canada's a good bet in our world, nevermind how The Light that Shines will affect it.
Canada's probably a good one. Canadian's are just kinda nice.
However, the US did join the Commonwealth. We probably have time as it sounded recent and the governments are going to still be reorganizing, and by extension the military, and cultural barriers will still get in the way, and that last one is no small thing.
Canada is... a good bet. Canada's a good bet in our world, nevermind how The Light that Shines will affect it.
Canada and Australia joined the commonwealth, not the US.
Also, sorry about the chapter not being out.
I'll write it up and post it up as soon as I get up tomorrow, it's been a long day.
The two of you keep moving for another hour or so. Energised as you are, you feel like you could keep running forever, but Una is still young and you've already moved a significant distance today, so it's probably not a good idea to push her too far. You start slowing down from your jogging pace and bring Una slowly to a stop, where she practically falls over panting for breath, yes a good thing you had stopped so early.
Still, you let her rest for a little while as you look around. The place you stopped really isn't where you want to stay. There are thorns everywhere and piles of crap lying all over. Once you look over at Una to make sure she isn't lying in anything, the two of you move on for another ten minutes or so. The next location is much better than the last, but not exactly great. There are still thorns everywhere, and there is no tree cover to speak of, but it is workable if you have to.
You decide to try one more place before you decide and move on. Yes, this place, while not idea is the best you've found. It's just a simple dirt clearing, no thorns or droppings, trees overhead providing cover. Simple but safe-ish, it will do. If someone stumbles across the place then you won't have anywhere to hide, but you've been quietly working on your thermal sense all day, trying to solidify it's passive effect. You hope that this will alert you to any large sizes of heat approaching you while you sleep, seeing as otherwise you would be completely helpless. You do think that they are still searching for you, it's only been three days so far, so they probably are.
You'd had your sense expanded to it's maximum all day too, you hadn't sensed anything apart from what you were sure was a heard of deer and a flock of birds overhead. The distinct lack of anything threatening had gone a long way to helping you calm down. Maybe you were just ahead of the searchers? You don't know, maybe you were behind them actually, your two day stop might have let them pass you. If that was the case, you'd need to be careful about passing them on the way back, assuming they searched up then down instead of just up then back on transports.
Regardless, you were just thinking in circles now, you had no idea. So you just had Una help you set up your tent against one of the bigger trees at the edge of the clearing, giving you cover from one side at least. You should probably try camouflaging it somehow.
(Cerys: 90 + 15 Stealth = 105 Critical Success!)
A brilliant idea comes to you as you remember the one time you'd had a quick flick through the index of the survival guide. A quiet call to Una and she throws the book from her lazy place atop the pile of clothes. When you rush through the book to the right page you smile. Using your surroundings to camouflage your shelter, and this was about doing so in clear areas. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would make it a lot harder for anyone to see them, hopefully. Your own experience in hiding from prying eyes told you that this should work fine.
You use a quick burst of reinforcement to clamber your way up the trees surrounding you, a little bit of effort later and you now the clearing is littered with enormous fallen tree branches. You leave most of these littering the clearing, but quickly drag several of the best shaped one over to your tent. You pile them up around it in a fairly haphazard way, trying to make it look natural rather than constructed. Once you are done, it looks like an animal den of some sort.
There is a small opening near the side that is covered by leaves, no way to see it unless you already know where it is seeing as the entire thing is covered in leaves. Inside the den you've made there is a good thirty centre metres or so between the tent and the branches. Enough room to move around the tent silently or just sit there. The tent itself is untouched, though the branches that go over the top of the den are resting on the metal frame in the roof for support.
All in all, it looks like a den for a bear, or something of the like. Not something anyone searching would willing poke about in if they had any sense in their head at all. The inside is nearly pitch black, since you made sure it was impossible to see through the branches but you found you could generate a very small amount of light by cycling magic near the surface of your skin. It never actually left your body, nor was it possible for Una to touch the magic in any way and if it was disrupted the magic just returned to you.
Now that your camp is well set up and very well hidden, now seems like a good time for dinner. You flare your light a little brighter in your tent, enough that you can make out the details on your sisters face without issue. She gives you an appreciative smile as she stops squinting when she tries reading through more of the encyclopedia. Apparently my ability to create light isn't bioluminescence, though it was cool that animals could make light like that. The picture attached was really pretty, the patterns running along the side and the strange blue-orange glow was really interesting.
You wonder if you could do the same with your own light? You decide to put off trying that for the moment, you are hungry, and you are sure Una would be if she wasn't buried in books. So you just reach into your bag and pull out the fruits again, you get a minor groan from Una, but she knows as well as you how these will go off first and that the packaged food will last for a long time. An apple that tastes like an orange and an avocado later, known thanks to your sisters perusal through the encyclopedia and you are feeling a lot better. Strange flavours aside they were pretty good, a quick look outside lets you see that the sun is just barely peeking over the sky, probably eight or nine then.
Go to sleep now and get up early so you can get moving sounds like the best plan. You don't know how close you are to the border right now, but the spirit seemed adamant that you could reach the edge of the forest within three or four days, so you can't be that far. Still, you are still a little too energised from earlier to sleep, so you shift her to your lap and turn up the warmth. You start reading through the encyclopedia with her and have her speak the bigger words out loud. There are some you don't know, but you correct her pronunciation for any of the ones you do know and quietly correct several spellings you had been doing wrong.
A while later your conversation veers off of it's path when Una starts asking about the strange fruit. That of course, leads to you talking about the strange but helpful spirit that you had been talking with. Una was literally vibrating in your lap as you tried to describe what talking with it was like without much success. Still she was more than happy to babble on about a million of different things she had read from Manga or a more scientific book. A lot of it flew over your head, but you took the time to have Una tell you about the more scientific things she mentioned.
She was a wellspring of knowledge she had picked up from here and there, it helped to be educated on the various scientific things going on, how things worked and why they worked. Made most everything that wasn't dealing with other people easier and made blending in easier, like you hadn't been out of school for ages. Seeming like a normal, well educated kid had helped you get out of a lot of sticky situations in the past.
Still, her curiosity went from mostly scientific to that strange land of Manga when you had mentioned that it wanted to be set on fire. You really weren't sure what the normal response was to be being told to set someone or something on fire, but according to your sister it was perfectly normal to have urges to set things on fire and want to destroy the world. You are pretty sure that had something to do with something she's read, you've never heard anyone else describe their urge to set things on fire or destroy the world... Maybe it was just a private thing you didn't share? Man, teenagers were weird. It was a good thing you had kept Una away from them, who knew what they would do.
Still, while you were thinking over that, you felt Una's hands running along your face. It wasn't that unusual, sometimes she just did it to annoy you or because she was bored. But it was when, in the dim lighting, you saw her face as her fingers followed the lines of the little scars on your face that you were concerned.
"Don't those hurt?" Despite her words, she poked one of the bigger scars in curiosity, no care for her beloved big sister, you think amusedly.
"No, they ache a little from time to time, but they don't hurt."
"Why haven't they gone away like the ones on your back?" When had Una gotten the chance to look at my back? I've not taken off my shirt for three days or so. Sneaky girl.
"I think I could make them go away if I tried, I just didn't bother." They actually looked a little strange on my face, from what I'd seen. The whole 'cool scars' thing didn't seem to work properly on someone who was thirteen. That annoyed you quietly.
Your sister frowned up at you as she carefully traced them across your face again. "You should make them go away. I don't like them." She was pressing her lips together a little as she said that, they must have really bothered her for her to actually speak up about it. You hug her a little tighter at her words though.
"It's ok Una, I'm not going anywhere. I'll make them go away." She was just so cute when she was concerned for you, though to be honest it was a valid concern, you really aren't sure what would happen if another of those demons appeared. Still, you kicked off your regeneration, focused entirely towards your scars this time. You don't know how long they will take, but they are just patches of discoloured skin without melatonin, according to the book in front of the two of you. So you doubt it will be long.
You think about asking her for ideas about your magic, but if you do that you doubt you'll be able to coax her into sleep any time soon. She'd be so excited that she'd be practically bouncing around the tent. No, better to wait for tomorrow, maybe you could use it as a way to wake her up in the morning faster? The idea amuses you enough that you actually seriously consider it. Still, that will have to wait for the morning, you think as you fall into a comfortable sleep, thermal sense quietly scanning as you do.
Journey...
[] Stay in your camp for an hour or so, you have some things you want to do before you move on
-[] Write In...
[] Get moving as soon as you are up and have retrieved your tent
[] Write In...
Magic...
[] Don't practice
[] Practice
-[] Write In...
Magic
You can passively extrude light. Seems to scale with magic usage?
???
Removed Abilities
Scarred
Healed perfectly. You have a smooth and clear face again.
By the way, I am thinking that we could start hunting for meat. Both as an exercise for our magic and because living off of fruits is not healthy.
My idea would be to cool down a target to the point where its heart simply stops; maybe not a quick thing, but a secure one.
We might also get some exercise in cooking the meat with our powers if we are too concerned about stealth to start a campfire.
Additionally, another idea for the pile would be to turn our fire into energy and then into electricity. That probably has to wait until we have better fine control, but I wanted to have mentioned it.
Since there are no plans or votes, mostly because I posted this late, the next chapter is either going to be pushed back another six hours or I'll do it tomorrow.
Actually, as something of an apology because of all of the missed days lately. A quick mini vote. (Note that there is no vote for ForestBro or Glowy Castle.)
POV swap chapter.
[] Una - Bestest little sisters plans, ???
[] Parents - ???
[] US Military - OSHIWTF, ???
[] African War - Dis sum good guanja
[] Commonwealth - RULE BRITANNIA, ???, ???
[] China - Send halp pls, ???
[] Russia - Can eat rifle?, ???
[] Japan - Animu, ???, ???
The ??? are events that have to surpass a 50 roll for the first and a 70 for the next to be revealed in the chapter. There are additional Nat100 events, for those of you who are curious.
Rolling badly has no effect here.
I'll give you guys an hour or two to vote, then write the chapter.
We need to set up some sort of exercise for the MC to keep up constantly. We're already doing it with sensing temperature, but I'm quite sure we can find other ways.
Maybe, observing/sensing the way temperature flow through living things?
Actually, quick question here. Do you guys think it would be better to have critical overflows?
It will give you better results for crits. But also much, much worse results for crit failures.
Also, remember. This benefits your enemies as well.
Actually, quick question here. Do you guys think it would be better to have critical overflows?
It will give you better results for crits. But also much, much worse results for crit failures.
Also, remember. This benefits your enemies as well.
I'm a bit adverse to this seeing how there's already food so it's not for the sake of survival but for testing our powers. I just personally don't like the thought of killing something that hasn't done anything to you. We also have other things to test out.
[] Stay in your camp for an hour or so, you have some things you want to do before you move on
Magic...
[] Practice
-[] Try to multitask with your magic, start by making two small flames and separately changing their colors at the same time. Experiment try to push your control even if it's just as confusing as patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time for the very first time. Move on to fire and ice? But slowly and very carefully especially on the last one.
Something like this at least in the magic aspect of a plan?
Actually, quick question here. Do you guys think it would be better to have critical overflows?
It will give you better results for crits. But also much, much worse results for crit failures.
Also, remember. This benefits your enemies as well.
Maybe not? I haven't really been in a quest where it's a thing so I'm not sure, but I'd rather have a cap for things can only get so bad even at the cost of how good it can get.
I'm a bit adverse to this seeing how there's already food so it's not for the sake of survival but for testing our powers. I just personally don't like the thought of killing something that hasn't done anything to you. We also have other things to test out.
Actually, it would not be just to test our powers. Meat contains important nutrients and we are currently living off of fruits and maybe vegetables; actually hunting would allow us to last longer on what amount of supplies we brought as well as giving us some training in getting food after the supplies run out.
We need to set up some sort of exercise for the MC to keep up constantly. We're already doing it with sensing temperature, but I'm quite sure we can find other ways.
Maybe, observing/sensing the way temperature flow through living things?
Hm... maybe we should have a constant exercise for something that is not Pyrokinesis. Like... maybe if we manage to just light a small flame in our hand, to hold on to this at all times and move it around for whatever we are doing.
This might help withour overall control.
Hmmm... I just had a thought. Remember our Alpha and Omega ability?
Instead of converting our surroundings into pure energy/magic for us to absorb, maybe we could somehow limit it by combining it with our thermokinesis? We might be able to absorb the ambiant heat and convert it into magic for us.
What I'm saying is that we should look into way to convert thermal energy into magic, then use that magic to practice thermokinesis. While practicing, we convert the heat generated back into magic for us to absorb. We're aiming for a lossless system.
... I'm glad we voted for the first setting.
