Tbh I never really got the Kyousuke and Hitomi hate so much in the fandom, they never seemed like bad or unfair people. Kwijibo is stressed and had his source of self-worth wrenched from his hands very literally and painfully, and is a bit oblivious, and Hitomi honestly was being pretty damn fair to Sayaka considering her limited knowledge of the circumstances.
Also, if Hitomi had given that "woman up and ask him out or I will" ultimatum a week earlier, when Sayaka was riding the confidence high before she got lichbombed, it probably would have worked out.
Well, at least as far as "working out" means that Sayaka learns that the dude is really really focused on his violin to the point he ignores his girlfriend, anyway.
So basically, Hitomi's only mistake was not being clairvoyant.
"Oh no, it seems that due to convoluted circumstances, only the three of us are available to fight Walpurgisnacht!"
"It's really unbelievable, but it's up to us to defend Mitakihara. Kyousuke-kun, you're still new at this, so we won't blame you if you want to run away."
"Of course I won't run away! I might not be strong on the front lines, but my music will inspire you and guide you into being the perfect team!"
"Right, time to go! Suffer not the Witch to live!"
"..."
"..."
"I am not a Witch."
"Sure, let's-"
*BRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!*
"HA HA HA- HUE HUE HUE HUE!"
"Let's go!"
*Jumps towards Walpurgisnacht*
"Right!"
*Follows*
"... OK, Kyousuke, you know what to do."
*Takes a deep breath and starts playing*
From his violin emerges a song full of grace and compassion, inspiring camaraderie on everybody who hears it, and this song reaches to encompass everybody in a mile radius, who can hear it as clear as if he was standing right besides them.
*Sabrina and Mami proceed to beat, shoot, rend, and thoroughly tag team Walpurgisnacht's ass like they were fighting together for years*
*Frowns*
*Stops playing*
The music ends.
*Sabrina and Mami obliviously continue and finish handing Walpurgisnacht her ass*
"..."
"Whooo!"
*Lands back where they started*
*Lands beside her a second later*
"That was amazing, Sabrina! You were incredible back there!"
"I was incredible? What about you, miss Two Tiro Finale a Second?"
Also, if Hitomi had given that "woman up and ask him out or I will" ultimatum a week earlier, when Sayaka was riding the confidence high before she got lichbombed, it probably would have worked out.
Well, at least as far as "working out" means that Sayaka learns that the dude is really really focused on his violin to the point he ignores his girlfriend, anyway.
So basically, Hitomi's only mistake was not being clairvoyant.
If we take the PSP game into account as well, he does try to reach out to Sayaka after he leaves the hospital, the only problem is that the magical girl business takes most of her time and that makes their interactions diminish.
Sereg later PM'd me and UbeOne about the answer to the posed question of what Sereg would yell while engaging in vigilantism, which I asked if I could share in this thread, and he said yes, so I did a bit up the page.
"Well," you say. "We could start with her school? Do you know what that is? She comes to Mitakihara from Kasamino, so we could just do a flyover of the schools there?"
Homura nods. "I know her school," she murmurs. "Matsuzawa Middle School."
"Right, excellent," you say, smiling at her. You walk towards the fence surrounding the roof, peering thoughtfully in the general direction of Kasamino. You can faintly see the river in the distance, beyond the frozen smokestacks of the industrial district.
Hmm...
"Actually, other than that... I know she spends time around Shirome," you say, frowning thoughtfully. "Do you know if there's any other places worth checking?"
"Yes," Homura murmurs, joining you at the side of the fence. She raises a hand to rest her flattened palm against the ornately wrought metalwork. "A library. The mall. The park." She exhales. "I thought you might have a better idea."
"Sorry," you offer, grimacing. "I'm not- my knowledge isn't perfect. I... I do have an idea, though? Not a place to search, but..."
Homura gestures at you to continue, a little motion with her hand.
"Well... I've been meaning to try making a tracking Grief artifact for a while. It might take me a while to make, though, and, well, it might not work perfectly," you say, pausing thoughtfully for a moment before continuing. "Or at all. Some... most of my other constructs were limited to a hundred meter range, but not... all of them. I managed to boost my sensing radius before."
She nods. "Try it."
You beam at her. "Thanks, Homura."
Homura shrugs, pursing her lips as she gestures around at the grey-hued world. "We have time."
A violet gaze dares you to laugh.
You chuckle. "I suppose we do, at that," you say. "Hmm. One last thing before I start on that... is there anyone else? To check on, I mean?"
Homura considers that for a moment. "Kuroki Matsuko," she says. "She is... typically a magical girl about now."
"Typically?" you ask.
"The Incubator tends to seek her out after Sayaka becomes a magical girl," Homura says. "She is... a strong, but emotionally fragile magical girl."
"Ah," you say. You can read between the lines there. She tends to Witch out rapidly, then. "Do you know where to find her?"
Homura nods. "What will you do if we find her?"
"Depends on whether she's a magical girl or not," you say, rubbing at your forehead with your knuckles. "I... I guess I'd do what I usually do. Talk to her, offer my help and... the usual."
Homura exhales, looking away. "Try making your Grief thing."
You grimace to yourself. Yeah, you probably remind her more than a bit of her earlier self, and Madoka to boot.
Ah, well.
"Right," you say, transforming in a burst of light and smiling at her. You drop to the floor, sitting cross-legged as you summon a small sphere of Grief to your hands. It clinks against that Grief ring, the one you never did dismiss. Of course, your finger's still happily uncorroded by Grief. "I'll be just a bit, alright?"
You draw in a breath and focus. Locating Sasa Yuuki... a compass. A compass to locate Sasa Yuuki.
You push with your mind, with an ability that rises to the forefront of your mind like a limb you don't have. You force your will on the Grief, trying to mould it into a shape, and-
-a blinding migraine sledgehammers you between the eyes, an icepick driven into the crevices of your mind.
Your breath hisses out of you in a pained gasp, and you drop the Grief, squeezing your eyes shut.
Homura's at your side in an instant, hovering almost anxiously as she touches a hand to your shoulder.
"I-" you draw in a shuddering breath. "I- I'm OK. That was just- yeah. You know. When I fail to make something. I get a massive headache?"
"Mmm," Homura says, brow furrowing as she inspects you.
You sigh. "That didn't work, which means..." Lots of things, really. For example, that you really can't seen to extend your sensing range beyond the existing two hundred odd range. Or at least, not with Grief. But the more relevant thing is that it means... "Manual searching," you sigh.
Homura shrugs.
"Right, right," you say, waving your hand. Grief follows the motion, spheres cascading around you, spreading thin like butter on bread. Except without the bread. You mould it into a simple, flat disc, and beam at Homura, bowing extravagantly. "Shall we?"
She huffs out a quiet sigh, easing the string tying you to the timestop around herself as she steps onto the disc. You follow her on, giving her a quick, reassuring smile before lifting it into the air without further ceremony.
You clear the fence with ease, zipping up into the sky as Mitakihara Middle School dwindles away behind you.
"So, which way, Homura?" you ask.
She stands, utterly fearless despite the vertiginous drop barely centimeters away.
You purse your lips, eyeing her as she surveys the city below. Of course, she knows what she's doing, and you can keep the disc absolutely level, but uh...
A bit more Grief joins the disc from the cloud that perpetually follows you, adding a small, raised wall to the side of your flying carpet. Just in case.
"That way," Homura says, pointing off into the distance. "We'll look at Shirome first." She takes a moment to consider. "It's unlikely she'll be there during school hours. We can check the mall next, and the nearby library. The park last."
"Right," you say starting the carpet -really, it's more of a Minimal Mobile Oppression Fortress now- off in the direction indicated.
Homura settles back down, folding her legs elegantly.
"Say, Homura?" you ask, after a moment of silence.
You feel, more than you actually see, her questioning glance over in your direction.
"Well..." you say, brushing aside some hair from your face, frowning as a strand gets caught in that Grief ring you're still wearing. "I suppose you've already guessed, but I was thinking about having Kyouko train Sayaka in melee combat."
"I have," Homura acknowledges.
"So... any concerns or suggestions about that?" you ask.
Homura takes a moment to consider that. "They don't always get along," she says.
"Yeah, I know," you say. "Really, though... it's about first impressions. Sayaka's very... well, if you manage to make a good impression on her, it's hard to disrupt her of that notion. And vice versa."
"Yes," Homura says.
"And... well, I figure we can tell Kyouko to put her best foot forward." You pause for a moment before adding, "Probably not in those exact words. But you get the point."
Homura sighs. "I'll leave it to you," she says. "I do not get along well with her."
"She looks up to you this time, you know?" you point out.
She shrugs.
The conversation promptly dies again.
... sweet Madokami, but talking to Homura's like trying to get blood from a stone.
Hmm. If you swear by Madokami, would that count as heresy? You are insulting her consort sort-of-but-not-really.
Eh.
Maybe.
"So... about that girl you mentioned, Kuroki Matsuko?" you say. "What can you tell me about her?"
"Her powers are better for hiding than anything else," Homura says. "She's very withdrawn. Avoids people."
"Hmm," you say, summoning the Grief blob carrying your notebook. "Well- actually, if she becomes a Witch, could you point out which one for me?"
Homura nods, expression flat. She grabs the notebook and pages through it rapidly. "This one," she says, pointing it out to you.
A doll-like Witch, you read in Homura's neat handwriting. A giant doll with huge, frizzy blonde hair and a pink vest. Tries to hide, while Familiars in cartoon planes dive bomb attackers.
Interesting.
[] Write-in
-[x] Regarding Walpurgisnacht: At some point, you wanted to check exactly how timestop interacts with your ability tomanipulate grief - in particular, if it's possible to damage a witch with your ability directlywithout bringing it into timestop. When's a good time to test that? ("Right now" is an acceptable answer.)
-[x] Does Homura have any special requests or suggestions for the picnic - in terms of location or food brought or anything else?
It's possible that a person-locating compass just won't work. It's also possible Sasa is already dead. As a control trial we might want to make a Homura-locating compass to rule out range or other limitations.
It's possible that a person-locating compass just won't work. It's also possible Sasa is already dead. As a control trial we might want to make a Homura-locating compass to rule out range or other limitations.
We have not. Sereg pushed for it a lot before he got threadbanned, but Ugolino always argued against it (and other "metamagic" artifact effects like improving our creation time) with the argument that there's no way Firnagzen would make it that easy to overcome our limits, so it would be a waste of time to try.
You focus on the Grief in your hand. Something to amplify your detection range, so...
"Sabrina?" Mami's voice intrudes in your head again.
"Hmm, Mami? Is something wrong?" you ask, still considering the lump of Grief. Detection. The Grief wavers, edges becoming fuzzy and indistinct, before it collapses in on itself, shrinking and turning a bright, azure blue. It forms a small ellipsoid that floats into the air seemingly on its own volition, singing Witch in your senses.
The stone swings around your head in a gentle orbit without your prompting. That means it's working, you think?
and... you can sense Mami and Homura in school. You frown. It seems to be further than your usual range, you think. But you need to focus on Mami for now.
"That didn't work, which means..." Lots of things, really. For example, that you really can't seen to extend your sensing range beyond the existing two hundred odd range.
The way grief manipulation works, anything we do to try and boost our manipulation range would be the same as boosting the operating range of our soul gem.
Not saying that's impossible but it is essentially modifying our soul. With grief. That in itself should be cause for concern.
It's possible that a person-locating compass just won't work. It's also possible Sasa is already dead. As a control trial we might want to make a Homura-locating compass to rule out range or other limitations.
The way grief manipulation works, anything we do to try and boost our manipulation range would be the same as boosting the operating range of our soul gem.
Not saying that's impossible but it is essentially modifying our soul. With grief. That in itself should be cause for concern.
