Magical Girl Quest - The Fire That Burns

[X] Choice B
The choice is obvious, it sucks but I'm more concerned with cerys than willow.
 
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[X] Choice A

I make my return, I have no idea what's happening really. But fuck it this as good time as any to interject.
 
My thoughts on this:

Gaia obvious wants option B if only for two simple reasons:

1. She doesn't like Willow much.
2. It isn't much leadership training if she takes the option that doesn't get her help from her allies

It gets us to be more pragmatic, and tries to get us to pick a more strategically viable choice. Pick your brain over your heart. Do what you must, because the other option is untenable.


Option A is the "good" option that follows Cerys heart, brings the Willow arc to a less abrupt end, and brings closer. But it also puts Cerys into a lot of danger, and is meant by Gaia to impress the risks of following your heart. It doesn't give any experience to her party members, who have less experience than she does, and puts the weight of everything on her rather than with the others. When you consider that attacking the fort lead to Cerys almost dead with Sabina covering her and Daiyu, or how she very well could have died again attacking the peace conference, Option A becomes very unappealing.

Of course it follows the previous two such choices of picking the "kind hearted" but "difficult" choices like when we saved willow or mercy killed Amy.

Of course there is also Option C: Write-in

You hear Tohru quietly cross the room as you process, only able to slowly choke out the one thought in your mind. "You bitch." A concerned sound from behind you makes you slowly look to the side, Tohru looking uncomfortable as she looks around the room, searching for something that she can't see.

Take a risk, tell Tohru, and see if she can flip the board. She'd obviously be not very happy by the cruelty of the choices given by Gaia.

She is aware something is happening and seems concerned.

On the other hand, this is a very risky proposition, since I am… uncertain she'd agree with Gaia's reasoning for starting the war amongst humans, so the most guarrenteed way she could help, by tag teaming with her in the fighting, is a path I am not certain she'd take.

On the other hand she is a powerful player, and Cerys can infer this by the fact that Kanna, a younger dragon was more powerful than her and had to hold back a lot.

Besides that Tohru might be able to flip the tables on this decision in a different way.

Though it might be that for all that Tohru is even she can't change this fate.

It is also a hard choice character wise. Cerys placing her trust in a near stranger, especially right after showing weakness to them. Betting on a third option with a non-zero chance of it backfiring terribly.

Furthermore, Tohru called her an owned woman a couple updates ago and this would be nearly admitting it and asking for help.

It is also perhaps more likely to get Gaia ire than even option A, and might take the storyline down a path where we are no longer allied with Gaia. Seeing as we are public enemy #2 in some places, being no longer allied with Gaia is a pretty dangerous.

Sometimes being a great leader is looking a two untenable options and being able to see through and grasp a third option. Sometimes that backfires terribly. I am not certain which one option C is :V
 
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[X] Choice A

Yeah no there is literally no reason for Gaia to act like this besides purely being dickish to us. This is a blatant attempt to pressure us and she can go fuck herself with it.
 
First time posting on this, since I just caught up, and this is the decision I have to make... Oh well, I know what I'm going to choose, and it will just make Cerys stronger anyway!

[X] Choice A
 
[X] Choice A

The Heart, please.
As a reminder people have been given more than once, Threadmark Titles matter.

Lesson One: The Heart or The Brain.

This isn't even the second time we've been made to take these decisions - it's at least the third one, with Willow "Continue: Y/N" and with the Barrier Magical Girl being other times.

EDIT:
Choice A puts Cerys under a great deal of combat stress and will force her to progress hard and fast and rather lethally, all things considered.

Meanwhile, her two, possibly three combat partners, are lazing about the Turtle, and worrying about her? No, I don't think so. I find it more likely her fellow MGs will be also sent out elsewhere, because Gaia is on a time crunch and will not allow time to be wasted idling.

Choice B would relieve some pressure from Cerys. That much is true.

Meanwhile, Una is left with Willow and a single minder in the middle of a foreign country, knowing Willow is dying, knowing her Big Sis and another of her friends are risking lives out there. Not much of a vacation.
Adhoc vote count started by Faraway-R on Jun 30, 2018 at 2:08 AM, finished with 9566 posts and 21 votes.
 
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The frustrating thing about this is that Gaia is so focused on Willow having the role of a pawn to Shiva Sil, that she is not realizing this kind of thing is exactly the reaction that Shiva Sil would have wanted.

If She killed Willow when we first retrieved her, Cerys' mental trauma at letting a child die would have been heavy, and she might have blamed herself for the result, and definitely blamed Gaia.

Gaia's planned for leader gets a heavy mental hit, and a divide between them could form.

Next she tries to bring Cerys on a vacation, and goads her into something that would take the entire vacation's time to get anything worthwhile out of, Shrine Maiden training, distracting her and distancing her from Willow, and only told Cerys of Willow's condition when Cerys made it clear she had no intention at all of doing the Shrine Maiden thing. That Cerys doesn't seem to realize what Gaia's motive was there besides Shrine maiden stuff is a minor miracle, or else the fall out would have hit even harder.

Now again she tries to separate Cerys from Willow in her final days and…

Well if Cerys takes option A, Gaia won't like it and the divide between them grows.

If Cerys takes option B, Cerys won't like it and the divide between them grows.

Gaia's heavy stance of hatred toward anyone related to Shiva Sil is poison here. Probably intentionally so.

Out of all the possible "people with the knowledge to defeat you" from the summoning ritual Shiva Sil picked an innocent child with no intent of really being a bringer of destruction, or destroying Gaia, and who they didn't really give huge incentives to be their follower or turn her to their point of view.

Gaia despite being able to read Willow's thoughts can't come up with a reason outside of her being a pawn of Shiva Sil for Cerys not to spend her time with Willow. Else she would have tried to explain it, to show Cerys that Willow truly is bad news.

Instead she brings Cerys an ultimatum of "fight alone or with an ally in the thickest parts of the war" when the last two times she went out (fort and ambush) would have resulted in her death had she been alone.

Because lets be honest here, she wouldn't force this "lesson" on us if anyone else in our group was about to die. She might have wanted to enforce the idea of us making a hard choice at some point, but she is only doing it now because she dislikes Willow.

After all, could you really say that Gaia would have given the equivalent choice here if Cerys was doing Shrine Maiden training now instead?

Willow hits Cerys buttons to care about because of who she is. Willow hits Gaia's buttons of disdain because of who sent her. Gaia's dislike of Shiva Sil transferring unfairly to Willow is forming a divide between us.

Just like Shiva Sil would want.

At the cost of one innocent little girl that they care about not one whit.
 
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LESSON ONE: THE HEART
If you think- [Oh well.] You clench you fist when she interrupts you again, unaware of the the tiles beneath your feet sagging as they start smoking. [It was something of a long shot anyway, but this really does prove my point.] You grit your teeth as you feel an odd wave of nausea, taking deep breaths as you focus on keeping your balance. And what the fuck did you think I would say? That I would just fuck off and leave her to die alone? Leave my sister to deal with that without me? [Well, yes.]

Tohru grabs your shoulder roughly and lifts you up, jarring you from your thoughts as you feel something wet on your feet. You barely restrain yourself from shouting at her, ineffectually hitting the arm holding you and hissing lowly to her. "What?!" Her other hand grabs you by the back of the head and shoves it down, forcing you to look at the floor, the molten liquid floor. [But still, it would be bad if I left things like this.] You feel weightless for a moment, the world suddenly coming back into focus with an odd crack. [Better.]

You hang limply in Tohru's grip, wondering why she was holding you and why the floor was melting. Oh, I guess I should fix that? A few seconds is all it takes for the tiles to return to their mostly solid state, warped and unrecognisable compared to the others around them. You smile slightly as it settles, looking up to Tohru with a curious eye. "Why are you holding me?"

She frowns harshly, lifting you closer to her face and sniffing you. For a moment you feel a twinge of something and your hand twitches, but just as quickly the brief urge is gone, making you wonder if it was ever even there. "What has your owner done to you?"

You tilt your head to the side, a kind of hazy thought prodding at your brain. "I'm... not sure?" You finally register her saying 'owner' and frown, a little annoyed. "She doesn't own me anyway." Your frown fades when she sets you down, idly watching a dozen different kinds of emotions shoot across her face. "I feel like I should probably be angry right now." You wait for that twinge, but it never manifests, just a very mild annoyance that quickly fades. "That's weird." Her face contorts as you shrug, not really finding yourself all that bothered about it. [Umm]

"We need to fix this." She steps forwards and grabs you, throwing the both of you out of the open window and quickly transforming under you. "Hold on." Your eyebrow twitches slightly at her manhandling of you, but the feeling is quickly lost as you start moving really fast, so fast that you can't even see what you are passing any more. When she finally stops it's abrupt, a thin shimmer of magic being all that stops you from being flattened like the rest of your surroundings. [Shit]

"What do you need to fix?" She turns back into her human shape as you float down to the ground, feeling just a little awkward as she grabs your chin, turning it from side to side as she sniffs you again. "Could you not? That's a little weird." A deep rumbling sounds from her chest as she lets you go and steps back, the edges of her body wobbling slightly as she grits her teeth and waves at you.

"This, your... thisness." You hum again, watching the complex emotions vying for control over her oddly shifting facial features. "I felt someone do something and you are acting strangely, if I had done that earlier you would have attacked me." You pause for a second to think about it, eventually nodding. [I didn't mean like that you stupid thing.]

"Probably." She makes a frustrated noise, suddenly grabbing you by the front of your shirt and tugging you towards her.

"That is exactly what I mean!" You attempt a smile, but it comes out kind of hesitant as you try to work out what she means. Evidently it doesn't help as she looks down at you, a sort of pity starting to gain prominence on her face. "You... you don't feel annoyed at me pulling you around, you aren't even thinking about pushing me off." You hum as you nod, impressed by her ability to read you. You wince as she suddenly shoves you to the ground, hearing something crack as you bounce off of the hard earth.

"Oww, why did you do that?" She just watches you with that look on her face as you struggle to your feet, actually kind of annoyed at her for shoving you like that. [You better stop that or I- I'll...]

She closes her eyes, not quick enough for you to miss the slight wetness there before she opens them again, clear and glowing brightly. "Do you even realise what she's done?"

"I don't really feel angry at you right now, but I remember that I should." You nod. "I guess she did that." Your answer doesn't look like it's helped her, in fact she just looks angrier. [Fuuuuuuuuuuck]

She rather abruptly grabs you in a suffocating hug, awkwardly reciprocating after an instinctual shove just stops on it's own. "It's alright, we'll fix this ok?" You nod against her head, carefully avoiding hitting her horns.

"Does this need to be fixed?" Her grip tightens on you as you speak. "Isn't it a good thing that I'm not feeling angry now?" You have kind of mixed feelings about it. You think that you should be really angry at Gaia right now, but you just... aren't. [STOP HELPING IT'S NOT HELPFUL] [...] [DON'T IGNORE ME]

"No." She steps back, looking down at you. "No it's not, you can't just not feel negative emotions, that's not right." You shrug, not really feeling particularly strongly about it either way, apart from a kind of gentle nagging annoyance at Gaia. "Fuck, I can't let your sister see you like this, she'd know that something was wrong straight away." She starts biting one of her nails, frowning heavily. "Hey, is it just you and your sister or are you staying with anyone else?"

I probably shouldn't just tell her stuff like this... but I'm sure it'll be fine. "I'm staying with a few other people as well, we're up on... the Akagi mountain, I think it was called." She nods, her face lightening a little.

"Alright, hop on, I need to talk to them." You hum, acquiescing without any real disagreement- Oh.

"Say, I really should be there for my sister and Willow right now."

Tohru grunts deeply at her full size and takes off, your surroundings strangely silent as you zoom over them. "You don't want her to see you like that, trust me, it's bad enough for me and I've only known you for an hour." You nod in agreement, mildly worried about how your sister would react. [STOP IT YOU'LL BREAK HER]

You arrive and point out the house, quietly landing in the garden without much fuss- well, until Daiyu comes running out, looking like she's on the verge of hysterics as she completely ignores your ride and grabs you, looking over you with panicked eyes. "Hey." You are slightly worried at her frantic state and you feel like you should probably console her, that seems like the right thing to do. "I'm fine." She stops her search, looking at you with wide eyes, glancing between you and the now human sized dragon beside you.

"What did you do!" She pulls you away from her, armour forming between you and your new friend as she keeps you pressed against her back.

[] Tohru POV
[] Daiyu POV
[] Cuifen POV
[] Sabina POV
 
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