By the way, some food for thought regarding our 100 meter range:
Some ways of exploiting that weakness aside from teleporters are: snipers/long range powers/attacks, summoning the soul gem away from us, summoning our body away from our soul gem, controlling our body, and casting illusions (e.g. Naruto style genjutsu).
Also, what if an enemy MG had a wish that made her immune/heavily resistant to being grabbed, confined, or otherwise having her movements restricted (meaning we can't just grab her soul gem and go)?
Also, what if an enemy MG had a wish that made her immune/heavily resistant to being grabbed, confined, or otherwise having her movements restricted (meaning we can't just grab her soul gem and go)?
A possible alternative avenue for getting Incubator information about Soul Gems: this dude.
Problems:
1) Juubey can lie and its knowledge might be wrong or incomplete
2) I don't know how Firn is going to roll with the Kazumi Magica material and
3) It involves Asunaro. Yeeesh.
Still, it doesn't involve talking to a real incubator. Just a fake one and a bunch of regular, human crazies.
As far as lasers go; I think railguns would be more likely to work, since we can potentially griefbend the accelerator mechanism to impart sufficient velocity to a non-grief object, like a pebble or something. Kind of like magic in the Dresdenverse; you can't create a shield of magic, but you can create a shield of regular force, with magic.
That said, I think this is of dubious use. Combat power doesn't seem like something we need to be working on, so unless "do forces created by griefbended objects persist beyond our range?" is an important question to test, I think we have more important science to do.
As far as lasers go; I think railguns would be more likely to work, since we can potentially griefbend the accelerator mechanism to impart sufficient velocity to a non-grief object, like a pebble or something. Kind of like magic in the Dresdenverse; you can't create a shield of magic, but you can create a shield of regular force, with magic.
That said, I think this is of dubious use. Combat power doesn't seem like something we need to be working on, so unless "do forces created by griefbended objects persist beyond our range?" is an important question to test, I think we have more important science to do.
Maybe we can check how much damage Mami can make with infinite magic, then think about whether it'll be worth making the Grief Railgun or not when Walpurgisnacht comes.
We could go the trouble of trying the railgun, getting 'ammunition', creating a super huge gun to shoot at Walmartnight, just to find ourselves outdone by Mami.
As far as lasers go; I think railguns would be more likely to work, since we can potentially griefbend the accelerator mechanism to impart sufficient velocity to a non-grief object, like a pebble or something. Kind of like magic in the Dresdenverse; you can't create a shield of magic, but you can create a shield of regular force, with magic.
That said, I think this is of dubious use. Combat power doesn't seem like something we need to be working on, so unless "do forces created by griefbended objects persist beyond our range?" is an important question to test, I think we have more important science to do.
Yeah, railguns/generic matter accelerators are probably going to be our go-to, but frankly, "do forces created by griefbended objects persist beyond our range?" is an important question to test, both because of the options it opens up and to determine the limitations on our ability.
You sigh. "I was afraid of that," you mutter, half to yourself. Not a terribly difficult conclusion to arrive at, really.
"Tch," Homura bites out, garnering looks from Madoka and Hitomi.
Madoka shakes her head. "She feels guilty," she says. "So she's being very hard on herself."
Your lips quirk into a faint smile. "Yeah. I was going to say that," you admit. Well, if there's any truth to the idea that Madoka's your mother in a wibbly, wobbly, timey way... Well, you could say 'like mother, like daughter'.
Heh.
"Honestly..." you huff as you watch the girl in question struggle with the mid ranged targets, Mami calling encouragement at her. "I'd have been happy just for her friendship. Friends don't keep score."
Hitomi nods emphatically. "I... it doesn't help that her parents think that they do owe my parents too," she adds.
Damn.
You huff another aggrieved sigh.
"I'm going to try and talk to her about that in a bit," you say, pursing your lips. "Do you have an ideas for that? Anything I could say or do that might help? Madoka, Hitomi?"
Madoka's brow wrinkles in thought, and she worries at her lower lip.
Hitomi sighs. "I've been trying," she grumbles, shifting her sling. "Do you see the way she carries my bag for me? I have a broken arm, not a broken leg."
"I think... she needs something to do," Madoka says at last. "She needs to do something to help, however small it is. I think... maybe being a magical girl will be good for her?"
Homura snorts quietly, so softly you're not even sure of you'd heard it.
You eye Sayaka. She seems to have stalled out with the midrange targets, but Homura's skepticism notwithstanding, she seems happy and uncowed, bouncing energetically on her toes even as she talks over Mami, who's come over to examine one of her swords.
Madoka's suggestion... is entirely reasonable, you guess. Give her something to hold on to. Something substantial, you suppose.
... Of course, you share some of Homura's doubt. Sayaka is, well, Sayaka, and doesn't have the best track record with being a puella magi.
That aside, though... You exhale, shaking your head with a smile. "That makes sense," you say. "Thanks, Madoka."
"Ah, no..." Madoka shakes her head. "She's my friend, too."
"Yeah, just... talking to you makes a difference for me too, you know?" you say, leaning against the car and tilting your head to look up at the sky. "Right, Homura?"
The time traveller nods, a microscopic movement of her head.
"Ah... That's good," Madoka says, blinking.
You glance over at Sayaka again. Mami's now aiming one of her own muskets at the same targets that had been troubling Sayaka, one eye squeezed shut. With a smooth pull, she depresses the trigger. The ball slams square into the bullseye of the target.
"Whoo! Nice shot, Mami!" you cheer, joined by Madoka and Hitomi.
Mami turns to beam at you, expression dazzling and bright. You smile back, and wave at her. Her expression softens into a warmer, but no less cheerful smile, and she turns back to offer corrections to Sayaka, whose face is set in a mask of concentration as she aims her sword at the target Mami just hit.
You chew on the inside of your cheek. "What about you, Madoka?"
"Eh?" Madoka glances at you in surprise.
"No, just... you don't feel useless, right?" You shake your head, giving her a depreciating smile. "I worry."
"Ah, no, I'm alright," Madoka says, blinking in confusion. Over her shoulder, you can see Hitomi giving you a raised eyebrow. And you can feel Homura hovering by your shoulder, a looming spectre of both general and directed grumpiness and worry.
You huff out a sigh, shaking your head. "I... well, to be honest," you say, glancing from Madoka to Hitomi to Homura. "I... really wish she hadn't contracted. She has a good power - and she'll do fine! Especially with Mami and Homura and I around." You give Madoka a reassuring smile.
"But...?" Hitomi asks, eyeing you.
You shrug, propping the heels of both palms against the hood of the rusting old car and leaning back to look up at the sky. "Fighting as a magical girl, the way things are? It's... rough. Homura can back me up here."
The time traveller makes a noise of vague agreement.
"It... it can isolate you," you say, choosing your words slowly. "From friends, from family, and powers are fun, but... they don't make up for it, you know?" You finally look away from the scudding clouds, smiling warmly at Madoka and Hitomi. "I want to change that for the better, but it doesn't make it better in the short term."
Madoka nods, looking faintly poleaxed.
"It's a job, isn't it?" Hitomi says, slow and thoughtful. "Like being a policeman, or a firefighter. It seems..." she waves her good hand, searching the air for a word. "It seems glamorous, and in many ways it is, but it's risky. Hard work."
You nod. "That's it," you say. With a few hidden caveats. "That's essentially it. I... I just worry that she'll regret her choice later, or blame herself for something."
"Ah... do you regret anything, Sabrina?" Madoka asks.
A fair few things, if you're honest with yourself.
"Eh," you say, shrugging. "Hard not to go through life without picking up some. But..." You smile, letting your gaze drift to include Madoka and Hitomi and Homura, and Mami and Sayaka. "I have you guys. It helps, you know, it really does, without any magic involved."
Hitomi nods, smiling faintly.
Madoka nods vigorously, twin ponytails flying. "I know!" she says.
You let the silence stretch out, watching as Mami tries to coax Sayaka into better accuracy. Not with terribly much success, though; she's still struggling with the targets about two hundred meters away.
"Homura?" you ask, speaking into the time traveller's mind. "Are you OK with this?"
Cloth rustles as she shifts slightly. "You're doing better than I have," she says, voice toneless and quiet.
You're about to respond when Mami glances over, beaming at you. "Sabrina!" she calls. "Would you like to spar with Sayaka? Just melee against melee?"
[] Write-in
[X]We...never told her the full details of what we were doing, did we? Beyond just fighting Witches, as important as that is.
-[X]Because of what I told you about earlier, lot of magical girls...Their lives aren't very happy. They're fighting just to stay alive, not just against witches but against each other pointlessly, over grief seeds. Because of Kyubey and what he does. Most of them aren't really bad people, they're just...in a bad situation, desperate, or misguided and don't know better. I want to try and change that. I want to help as many girls as I can, and break this messed-up system for good. Make it so none of them die, or fight needlessly.
--[X]And I want to ask for your help with that. One magical girl to another.
---[x]But make sure it's what YOU want, yeah?[/color]
----[x] You don't owe me anything.
-----[x]Hmm. Like... remember how when you and Madoka found me? I was in pretty bad shape. I probably would have been toast if you didn't show up.
------[x]So...thank you, both of you. But... that's not why I want to help you.
-------[x]I want to help you...because you're my friend. Friends help friends, and that's that. No debts or you-owe-me's.
--------[x]I have your back, alright? If you're ever in trouble, or you wanna talk... just let me know. We're all in this together; you, me, Mami, Homura... so don't act like you need to pay us back for anything.
---[X]Either way, I'm honored to fight alongside you. I meant what I said earlier, about you making a great magical girl.
-[X] Make sure to cut training a bit before they want to go to the Hospital; you want to talk with Sayaka, she needs to learn healing, and then you're going somewhere else
