Maybe then Sabrina should spend less ( subjective ) time on discussing merits and disadvantages of global domination, protracted Witchbombs and Mamihugs ( the last one is very important, I admit, and should be discussed at length. ), and more time beating up befriending her fellow Megucas?
There wasn't a WaFF omake in me, sorry. The concept of busting up the Incubator's racket was on my mind. So I got out the crayons, lacking author cred and such, to represent the idea in prose. But very poorly.
She just couldn't swallow this mouthful, and there was no mundane event to explain to her why. Missing memory joined with rumors and reluctant acceptance, and the girl knew what had happened. The sounds around Eriko swum, dopplered and fuzzed. Her friends and other kids at the lunch table noticed, though it wasn't much that concerned her. Her whole attention had come to a halt on one idea, a simple statement of fact. "It's real."
The two girls on her right were both trying to get her to speak, to look at them. Nishigawa and Funae were her friends, and she hated to feel like she made them worry. But going by the rumors Eriko overheard... probing gently, and finding that her midsection was numb... there wasn't any chance for those feelings. Not anymore.
Jerking away from the table while leaning with an arm, she disentangled herself from the bench seat. Her eyes flicked repeatedly before serving her, locking on the emergency exit door. The long way around to the back of the building was not going to help at this rate. Punishment was suddenly not even a consideration, either. "How did I come to be this person?" That though quickly flashed in and out of her awareness.
Launching into a power walk, Eriko made for and opened the door. The sounds of tenuous mob pursuit became loud, as she made footfalls one after another. Her stomach shipped gas, and loud squelching noises. Her footing was skipping a beat now and then, her ribs getting a stitch that didn't register as 'pain' but had blocked her stride as expected anyway. Almost there. Moving faster. Not falling.
The other kids trailed just behind and to both sides, as if she was leading a march over to the dump site. No one had laid a hand on her, given the hectic coloration and odd, slightly puffed facial expression she wore. By fumbling it three times, she made her oddly un-responsive fingers roll the starter of the incinerator gas valve. Standing, and feeling cold sweat pop up from that exertion, she put her back against the brick frame of the firebox. Just as Funae went to grab her hand, despite some weak wrist gesture and a not-at-all-fine "it's fine, it's fine," Eriko gave back her lunch. Forcibly. It was thin, voluminous, and not very digested, just tea, croquets, rice and salad minced and mixed. As it splashed upon the pavement, everybody kept away. The narrow alley behind the school building made the sky seem so dark right now.
Thinking of the righteous young heros in Grandma's fairy stories, she tried to catch her breath, even though that air didn't go as far as she hoped it would. Just enough to yank open the steel door, and move herself before the cavity. She turned to face her class, most of her world, really. The partial return of sensation in her chest made her swoon with agony. Eriko re-established her visage, and shouted, at least that was her aim. "Don't … let them… g… - g ----" Her eyes rolled to white, and she writhed back in tonic seizure as awful shallow pants came from between her teeth. For a moment, she was bent back stiffly as her arms hung in vibrating motions that synced with nothing. If she was conscious, it would be only part way. Her body, no body, was meant to calmly carry on in this state,
Did anyone see her cascade in cold sweat? Watch her eyelids piston? See the clawing motions of her fingers? No, in fact the copious bloody stain in the center on her chest had all eyes. Because it was moving. A lump was tentpoling the blouse and sweater of her uniform, and a faint sound of wrong, the noise of cartilage failing was coming out. Eriko thinly barked out a cry of blood curdling pathos as she jerked like a puppet.
Suddenly, something cut her clothing right over the bloody wound, and a slick dome of a few inches across was coming through the hole with seemingly hydraulic force. An unbelievable volume of the tumorous something shouldered it's way out of her as Eriko screamed. Easily the size of a cat, the upper body of some creature was wriggling and shouldering free of her chest. Then it shook, in a rapid snapp. Against any expectation, most all the blood an bits of anatomy covering it flew off, having absolutely no attachment to the lofted white fuzz of the alien form. The pair of small legs and some shapes that stood where the ears could resemble a cat were plainly there. The nearly lens-like pink fish eyes broke that up. The pair of limbs hanging from the head added to the horror. And as it hissed, the transparent chitinous needles fighting for real estate in its jaws instead of enameled teeth canceled that illusion entirely.
Eriko was no longer bent backwards like a bow, but didn't fall dead in one move. Her eyes re-lit, bloodshot and focused only on her hands. Those had shot up and clamped around the neck of the thing that was killing her. The white animal deformed under her death grip. And in a moment, were both gone. She had hip checked herself into a diver's roll over the sill of the incinerator door. A gout of orange embers and flying ash answered back, with a lashing column of flame pursuing them.
Sabrina had just scrolled another page on her phone, and tilted it for the man next to her to read. A small gesture, as they were shoulder-to-shoulder inside an ovoid shell of Grief just tall and wide enough to enclose the two of them. "Do you think your crew can make make me a film very much like that given the budget I have placed on deposit? I can't guarantee you won't get your memory erased later, but the money will still be yours."
You blow out a breath. The who is easy, isn't it? Kyuubey. Perhaps using a cat's paw, in the form of Anri. And then you've got to break it to Kazumi and company. At least you have Mami on your side. Literally, as well as metaphorically. You draw strength from her presence.
Of course, you can't start with the lichbomb, even if it's a fact of magical girl life... Speaking of which.
"Sayaka? Remember to keep your Soul Gem clean," you say to Sayaka. "You're doing fantastic work, but take care of yourself, OK? Ease up on the clones if you have to."
"I got this," Sayaka says. "I got this, Sabrina. And I have your Clear Seed right here. Trust me!"
"OK," you say. "You're doing fantastic work, as I said. But make sure you don't forget about yourself."
Mami squeezes your hand as you end that conversation. You squeeze back, trying to convey as much reassurance as you can: you'll be treading dangerous, touchy waters from now.
You look at Kazumi, meeting her eyes, and then Niko's. Kazumi's stares right back, expression still settled into careful neutrality, while Niko just looks miserable, clinging to Kazumi's arm for support.
"This isn't going to be a nice explanation," you say.
"We can take nasty," Kazumi says, waving it off. Her eyes flicker over to Mami, questioning, but resolute.
"Kyuubey," you say simply. Mami's hand tightens on yours.
"What?" Kazumi says, flinching.
"Kyuubey is more than willing to try to coerce people into making contracts," you say. You're watching Niko as you explain. As much as anything else, this conversation is for her. "It doesn't lie, as far as I know, but it's willing to mislead and manipulate girls into becoming magical girls."
"That can't be right!" Kazumi protests, eyes wide. "I- I mean he's Kyuubey!"
"Yes, it is," you say, your attention on Niko. "I have a friend back home, Madoka. You met her at the lunch? Kyuubey has been pursuing her, trying to make her become a magical girl, and it's perfectly happy to mislead her for it."
You give them a moment to absorb that, reaching out instead by telepathy. "Oriko? Kirika?"
"Yes, Sabrina?" Oriko says, composed as ever.
"So... two things. Anri's out right now, but do you think maybe you could talk to her when she's up?" you ask. "You know the info and the infohazards, as it were, and you're a new, neutral-ish face."
"Certainly," Oriko says. "Talk her down from her mad crusade, and into peace terms."
"I wouldn't put it like that, but more or less," you say. "I'll offer extra thoughts when I figure it out?"
"Certainly," Oriko repeats. "What was the other matter?"
"Ah, yeah - Kirika, do you think you could make an antimagic enchantment of some kind to hold Anri?" you ask.
"Handcuffs?" Kirika drawls.
"... do you have handcuffs?" you ask.
"Nah, just wanted to see what your reaction would be," Kirika says. "I can do an antimagic thingy, but you'll need to actually tie her up or whatever since I don't have anything tough enough."
"Yeah, not a problem," you agree. "Thanks, both of you."
"No prob!" Kirika says cheerfully, echoed more sedately by Oriko.
You turn your attention back to Kazumi and Niko, watching them carefully. Niko doesn't actually seem surprised, attention focused on you.
"You're saying Kyuubey misled Hijiri," Niko says finally, with that distant look that says she's more thinking aloud than actually asking anything. "You asked what I might do if I knew... certain things, but not the rest. What would I do if I were being surveilled constantly at range by someone for purposes... allegedly for my own good?"
"You'd run," Kazumi says, clasping Niko's hand between two of her own. "Run and hide... and you'd try to distance yourself from us, to protect us. Because you're a silly girl."
"No. I'd act normal, first. And then, when I was sure I could, I'd run. And later, I'd come back for revenge," Niko says. "I'm spiteful as hell. Shit."
"But... Kyuubey?" Kazumi asks. Her eyes flicker over to Anri for a second.
"It's true," Mami says, bowing her head rather than look at Kazumi. You release her hand, so that you can wrap your arm around her waist instead, hugging her close. "I... I was a victim of that. Sabrina saved me."
"It wants magical girls," Niko mumbles, half to herself. Her eyes go to Mami, and then to Anri. "So it points people into a recruiting role?"
"Yes. It's perfectly happy to manipulate events and present facts to its own benefit," you state.
"I was a figurehead for it for so long," Mami says, exhaling slowly. "I..."
"It's not so bad," Kazumi says, shaking her head. "I... I suppose that's how I wound up meeting Niko and everyone else."
Mami bites her lip, looking away. You tighten your hug around her a little, trying to reassure her - she's thinking about the facts of life, for a puella magi. So are you, but it's not something you bring up lightly. Not to Japanese, anyway. Cultural hangups are odd things, but you'll respect them, and perhaps you'll find a time later. You need Kazumi's permission, anyway.
"I think..." Niko whispers, every word spoken as if torn from her. "I think you did the right thing. Letting Hijiri go."
"I hope so," you admit with a sigh. "I don't... I could only guess, right? I thought that just stopping her would have just fed all those toxic ideas she had."
"About being an experiment," Niko says, voice hollow.
"We can fix that," Kazumi says. "As long as she comes back."
"She'll be back," Niko murmurs. "I would be."
Kazumi sighs, and pulls Niko into a hug. The blonde girl slumps bonelessly into her arms, twintails almost seeming to wilt.
"Give us a moment, Mami, Sabrina?" Kazumi asks.
"Of course," Mami says, standing. You rise with her, taking her hand as you vault over the side of the platform to the rooftop below - a different one than the one you'd caught Anri in, but not so far off that you can't see the hole in the wall of that one, or the blinking lights of the fire trucks clustering in the streets below.
"Sayaka, Mirai, the fire department's here," you note. "Guessing you already know, but just to be sure?"
"Yep!" Sayaka says, sounding cheerful by contrast to Mirai's sullen grumble.
You look away, turning your attention to Mami, and give her a warm smile. You didn't touch directly on anything painful, but you trod close to it - and Mami held up well, regardless. And Mami was awesome, earlier.
"Hey," you murmur. "Are you alright?"
"As long as you're here," Mami whispers, burrowing under your arm and smiling back at you.
"I am," you say, and pull back a little. You move your hands to her shoulders, holding her at arm's length so you can beam at her. "So."
"Mm?" she asks, looking at you.
"Mami, you are awesome," you squeal, letting the grin finally break. "That shot back there - that was amazing! Just - you could barely even see us, and you still hit Anri without even coming close to me! That was- I don't even know, how do you always manage to do something more amazing every single time?"
Mami blushes. "It- it wasn't anything special," she says.
"Yes, it absolutely was," you insist, your smile stretching from ear to ear. "You're wonderful, Mami. You're breathtakingly beautiful, and smart, and kind, and compassionate, and every time I turn around you find some new way to impress me with how badass you are."
Mami blushes even redder, making a little squeaking noise before throwing herself forward, wrapping her arms around your midriff and hugging you tightly. You hug her right back, leaning forward to bury your face in her hair, and you savour the moment.
The world has all its issues, waiting and jostling for your attention, but for now, for just a moment, you have peace.
You notice magical girls approaching by roofhopping, and spare them a glance - Satomi and Umika, which would be everyone. They stop at a respectful distance, linking up instead with Mirai and Kaoru two roofs over, and settle down. They seem perfectly content to wait.
Finally, Kazumi lands on the roof, Niko standing with a straight back if reddened eyes.
"We'll look for Hijiri," Kazumi says, focusing on you. "To talk, not to fight. Do you have any suggestions for Anri? Ordinarily, I'd throw her out of the city, but..."
[X] Privately, Kazumi: You noticed she was pretty guarded just now and how seriously she took Oriko's warning. If she has any major worries, it should be safe to talk about them with yourself or the Kures, though not Mami or Sayaka.
=====
And we're back. I hope everyone had a good Christmas, or other appropriate holiday!
Kazumi sighs, and pulls Niko into a hug. The blonde girl slumps bonelessly into her arms, twintails almost seeming to wilt.
"Give us a moment, Mami, Sabrina?" Kazumi asks.
"Of course," Mami says, standing. You rise with her, taking her hand as you vault over the side of the platform to the rooftop below - a different one than the one you'd caught Anri in, but not so far off that you can't see the hole in the wall of that one, or the blinking lights of the fire trucks clustering in the streets below.
Yeah, just throwing Anri out of the city is a bad idea. She'd just come back, with some other way to 'get revenge' against the Saints... I'd might suggest The Freezer, but giving that Hijiri already proven herself to be able to break into NicoNicoDouga's Lab with ease, that'd might just be a liability.
It all depends how far Oriko gets with her. The Freezer might be our best bet if she's too far gone.
Well things are progressing nicely. I'm glad we could get across to Niko.
and...
@Firnagzen, I hate to be a bother, but given that it was the last point of contention, what happened to the "carefully inform Kazumi that it's safe to talk to us if she has major problems" part of the vote? Just delayed due to not fitting in with the flow of the update?
Wait a minute, how tamper proof can we make Kirika's anti-magic? What if we just shut down all of her magic, give her a clear seed and let her live a normalish life?
Uh... while Hijiri definitely can't be labeled a psychopath, if only due to canonically having a shounen turn about after Defeat Means Friendship, the jury's still out on Anri. :|
Throwing her out? Even if she doesn't come back, Anri's still someone who gets her kicks off other people's suffering.
House arrest? She does not feel guilt. Actually, she felt so guilty at Yuuri's death that she repressed the fuck out of it and lay the blame entirely on the Pleiades so she could live a murder revenge fantasy instead. Putting her on house arrest would mean she'd break out at the earliest opportunity because she won't feel it's justified.
She's not like Oriko, who knows right and, while being resentful of the wrongs done to her, still is ready to take full responsibility for her own actions (and maybe more).
Wait a minute, how tamper proof can we make Kirika's anti-magic? What if we just shut down all of her magic, give her a clear seed and let her live a normalish life?
Could Oriko and Kirika take care of Anri? If we can convince Homura that it's a good idea? They already know everything and have fast access to antimagic.
I'm just sort of concerned that if we don't handle our treatment of Anri very carefully then Hijiri will look at it and think "That's what they're going to do to *me*! They *do* want to control me!"
So, here's the plan. Empty out the grief seed of the witch that used to be her friend. Then strand her in the Australian outback with it, and tell her to do a walkabout.
Over time, while surviving in harsh conditions, she has some personal epiphanies, grows as a person, reaches enlightenment, and comes to peace with herself and the world.
OR, she shows up again in a few months, angry and nursing koala-inflicted wounds, hell-bent on revenge. But this time, she has legitimate grievances, and Sabrina has had a lot of time to think of a better strategy for helping her.
Hmm, that makes me think of another problem. It's kind of fucked up to force someone to dump their despair into the soul of their best friend or at least I think so. She should have a non Yuuri seed I think. But it'll be hard to convince Kazumi's crew why on earth we'd give her 2 clear seeds without dropping the bomb.
So I think the least bad option will be to hang onto it and promise her that we won't use it or give it to kyubey and we'll continue to try to make dewitching work but we won't use her seed for research in case we break it and if we ever crack dewitching we'll save her as soon as the procedure is safe.
[] Excerpt some parts of your "conversation" with nri. Don't justify anything she said (drop no bombs).
-[] Throwing her out of the city would not be effective. At best she's another victim of misunderstanding who is totally and completely willing to resort to murder and -- even if her personal grudge against the Pleiades is misguided, the kind of thing that says about her is...
-[] At worst she's a lunatic who has a deadly weapon available to her 24/7. Either way.
--[] Your track record with talking to people who have serious issues like this is... Not so good. You were hoping to have Oriko try to speak with her...
---[] If that doesn't work out... This would be the first time you've done it, but you've long considered a form of suspended animation for this sort of circumstance. It's not the greatest thing, but absent an effective means of imprisonment and in the interest of avoiding executions...
[] Excerpt some parts of your "conversation" with nri. Don't justify anything she said (drop no bombs).
-[] Throwing her out of the city would not be effective. At best she's another victim of misunderstanding who is totally and completely willing to resort to murder and -- even if her personal grudge against the Pleiades is misguided, the kind of thing that says about her is...
-[] At worst she's a lunatic who has a deadly weapon available to her 24/7. Either way.
--[] Your track record with talking to people who have serious issues like this is... Not so good. You were hoping to have Oriko try to speak with her...
---[] If that doesn't work out... This would be the first time you've done it, but you've long considered a form of suspended animation for this sort of circumstance. It's not the greatest thing, but absent an effective means of imprisonment and in the interest of avoiding executions...
---[] If that doesn't work out... This would be the first time you've done it, but you've long considered a form of suspended animation for this sort of circumstance. It's not the greatest thing, but absent an effective means of imprisonment and in the interest of avoiding executions...
I think it's worth pointing out, that the same of issues we talked about with gemming Hijiri also apply to doing so to Anri too. The points we raised were originally in the context of her reaction to the freezer after all and this line of approach is... kinda doing that.
I think it's better to look for other methods of containment we can attempt. This one seems likely to alienate Hijiri.
Tell her we have one very specific piece of leverage with Anri that we'll want to attempt, privately. If it works, she might leave quietly, supervised by us. If it doesn't, we'll find a place to stash her until it does.
Also Oriko can't do this, so I question the effectiveness of sending her. In this situation Anri will automatically be defensive, so it's really the worst situation to deploy Oriko if you want her to succeed. She doesn't get the normal "not with them" bonus because she's obviously with them. She's set up to fail here.
In a sense, she vindicated both sides of the previous argument: Hijiri's issues making containing her a bad idea on the one hand, and her being a spiteful little shit that's going to be back for revenge on the other. Ultimately, Niko has to be the one with whom she talks through their mutual issues, so I'm okay with the current operating plan (though I do perhaps wish that she had more backup).
Tell her we have one very specific piece of leverage with Anri that we'll want to attempt, privately. If it works, she might leave quietly, supervised by us. If it doesn't, we'll find a place to stash her until it does.
Also Oriko can't do this, so I question the effectiveness of sending her. In this situation Anri will automatically be defensive, so it's really the worst situation to deploy Oriko if you want her to succeed. She doesn't get the normal "not with them" bonus because she's obviously with them. She's set up to fail here.
I imagine that using Art Deco as leverage is going to end poorly unless it's something to the effect of "I have a theory on how to bring her back, but I need the Pleiades Saints alive to do it." We can't pull any ultimatums on her like we did on Oriko because not only is she willing to die, she already lost the one thing that mattered to her.
I imagine that using Art Deco as leverage is going to end poorly unless it's something to the effect of "I have a theory on how to bring her back, but I need the Pleiades Saints alive to do it." We can't pull any ultimatums on her like we did on Oriko because not only is she willing to die, she already lost the one thing that mattered to her.
No ultimatums. I was suggesting the ability to bring her back, but I don't think the Pleadies have anything to do with it. Idk did my latest theory on what we can do make it to the thread yet? I'll post it when I get back to a computer
[Q] Airi.
-[Q] Akiko.
--[Q] Introduce them to each other, have them bond over the things they have in common: dead loved ones ( or witched out, I guess ), their burning hatred of noisy whiteheads, getting beaten up by said whitehead.
---[Q] On Sundays, Oriko and Ono can come over for tea and a scintillating conversation wait a minute I think I've read an omake like that nevermind then.
Also, sad as it is, Airi is not so bad for a magical girl. I don't say we should treat her with cookies ( not unless she agrees to be a good girl ) and stuff, but she's not that far from the original cast. Seriously, look at what Sabrina's friends can do if pushed over the edge and marinated in grief.
Sayaka "I was so stupid and I may have killed or hospitalized two obnoxious pricks" Miki.
Mami "Tetris" Tomoe ( can't believe I've called her that. You win, memes. ).
Homura Akemi aka AK-wielding Akuma the Murderface. Couldn't resist, sorry.
Kyouko "Break his legs is a perfect love advice" Sakura.
The only stable ones are Nagisa and Madoka. Btw, I've had a cool idea, but I need to know if anyone makes chairs out of dairies.
They are all quite chill and cute, if you don't push their buttons, that is.
Airi's buttons were pushed hard. So, since I'm rejoining discussion, can I suggest ( edit: wow, that sounded hella pretentious, sorry ) we do something* for her? Because no one else would. I don't remember much about her parents, and I'm sure it's not a good thing...
*And by something I mean locking her up with Pleiades with antimagic and shit, and then Social her until we get it right. It sort of worked with Oriko, right? How harder could it possibly be to help Airi? Wait, don't answer that question.
Still, I'm throwing my vote in for someone with a good "house arrest" plan. Still think that telling her about Artsy Sempai should wait a little, though.
