- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Mami, for sure. She's got way more experience with this then we do, and is way less likely to go full foot in mouth.
Puella Magi Adfligo Systema
- Thread starter Firnagzen
- Start date
-
- Tags
- puella magi adfligo systema puella magi madoka magica be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist bad decisions dating mami tomoe (tomoe mami) diabolical laughter friendship is the best ship handholding identity crises microwaving tea gets you put in the bad place names are important the body is the fursona of the soul this is not the baked goods thread we don't talk about rionna what could possibly go wrong? who in the world is azure sanfrancisco?
- Location
- USA, Midworld world line
Sabrina actively likes Mami to be her best self. And Mami has way better stats at this skill right now.
Yes, they would perhaps want a lesson. If not that, enchantment practice as a group should be a thing. As we grow the city, we should organize many circles for this. As I understand it, enchantment is a skill one could only pursue under conditions of relative wealth or safety. Most magic expenditures (for girls who manage to live) directly relate to Grief seed economics. Without Sabrina, sitting around every few days burning magic on crafts is dangerous.
It would be right to think they may know about it, or maybe tried it once and gave up due to the learning curve / high costs.
For us, enchantment brings several benefits. Personal development via meditation. Regular socialization, a way to keep our girls from getting bored. Support for a specialization of labor, feeding into a hybrid economy with magic and cash. That is, fungible economic production in the future. Or support for frontline combatants. Not least, it enables us to conduct the side research project of positive emotion feeding for Clear seeds.
mCooperative
meanderingCephalopod
- Location
- Back in Mitakihara after like 1000 years.
Lessons offered at some point, maybe, or perhaps more like workshops so we can get other vets to collaborate and learn from us just as we learn from them without seeming like we're trying to specifically place ourselves in a teacher position they didn't ask for.
That said, I think tonight isn't the time to start those, beyond maybe verbally offering. We invited them over for dinner, so unless we mentioned lessons or practice or workshopping at the time, they're going to be expecting a reasonably standard "dinner with people you don't really know yet but they're your new neighbors who've really helped you out, and you're trying to get along with them and maybe figure out if you owe them something". Our job isn't to lord our helpfulness over them, and correspondingly isn't to try and place them in the social position of being understudies to us either, not right now; it's to be good neighbors. (And being good neighbors does, of course, include telling them all the recent gossip/social and political meguca upheaval and the incoming threats they may be around for as we face them.) I'm not fully sure on Japanese social conventions, but we've had a dinner like that with our new neighbors recently, and turning it into a teaching lesson without prior indication feels... weird. If anything, thinking about it that way I now half expect them to think of something they do that we haven't thought of yet and, when they get a bit more settled, for them to make efforts to try and share it with and teach it to us as an effort to sort of pay us back in some way for our hospitality.
Or that's what I'm thinking about this here, anyway.
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
Don't know what this weird conversation is about, but one thing we need to somehow achieve tonight is to dispel whatever assumptions the Shiogama girls' got, and try to avoid any misunderstandings, like with Mika.
People being helpful is nice, but them reading more into our words than we want to say will go wrong at some point.
I'm looking forward to it, actually.
Imagine Akemi and Noriko, all nervous and waiting for the other shoe to drop, maybe fearful of what we might demand of them, but willing to put in the work they know is required to buy themselves this miraculously strange, unbelievable luck.
Then their slowly dawning realization as they're treated to a nice, simple dinner by two guca who borderline mother over them, and they realize they just want to be nice, and that the one with miraculous powers is a total dork.
- Location
- USA, Midworld world line
A repayment of our favor would be a happy event, and we can always find more uses for magic. As you say, this would be later.
Let's think in general, not only in the case of girls hand-picked by Nadia to work out well for us. This isn't about submission, that was already negotiated. We are the hosts, they are the guests ATM.
We are now at three immigrants, and counting. So far these girls are on a much better path than Ono, and I want us to figure out how to add and manage new people in the best way for our situation.
Mitakihara isn't a "truly free" refuge. That never happens. Sabrina is imposing her will. She is requiring civilized behavior. Fortunately, these ladies seem to like that. But it isn't an option.
Our social component at dinner is about forming an appropriate relationship. We need simple plans and activities to give us a way to establish the sort of relationship we expect to sustain with all the immigrants as they become a permanent part - eventually the dominant part- of our community.
Thus, I want to explore the right things to do with our newest girls. We are very, very rarely going to be dealing with adults in this role. Leading adolescents is different.
Taking on the role of the senior figure might not be wrong at all. That role is part of Mami's cachet, after all. Gently reinforcing that power is a normal social event. Our techniques and results will be typical for girls of the ages we are recruiting. Momentum in the decision process is greatly emphasized, IMHO. Thus, it's far easier to be the leader from day one, than to muddle through until the day one needs to assert leadership.
Make no mistake, we can't have a city without leadership. Even as freedom loving idealists. It just so happens that Mami isn't interested in using the leadership position heavily. In the event that something dramatic does happen, can we afford to have these girls rolling dice to see how cooperative they feel?
It might be unexpected in some sense, but developing any girl's enchantment capability is effectively a personal gift.
Thus, at the same time as we add (or return to normal) the amount of rules in their lives, we can compensate and give them something good. Since one's enchantment is related to their Wish, it is very likely to be a positive experience when one gains mastery over it.
A few points of order for our underlying goals (provisional)
1. Re-affirm the trust between the new girls and us. This isn't about compulsion, or contracts.
2. Try to keep people with nothing happening in their lives busy, until things do start to occupy them.
3. Do things that will generally protect our city from festering depression and helpless passivity that may be inside our refugees. Rin couldn't do this, learn from her example.
4. Offer immigrants our agenda to use. We don't compel, but we DO have an interest in how they live from now on. Be honest about that. We want them to be alive, happy, and good. Further, we wish they would be cooperative. Helping our city to live would be ideal.
5. Be the source of order, the inspiration, establish basic leadership in the minimal sense.
6. Paying all the bills establishes obligation, not the same as indoctrination. It is far preferable that we see if the new people will accept our doctrine.
7. If we leave a vacuum, and do not establish any leadership, it is the same as inviting chaos. Or worse, inviting gossip and Incubators.
Avoiding misunderstandings is exactly what we should be doing. Pin-Pon!!
Don't know what this weird conversation is about, but one thing we need to somehow achieve tonight is to dispel whatever assumptions the Shiogama girls' got, and try to avoid any misunderstandings, like with Mika.
People being helpful is nice, but them reading more into our words than we want to say will go wrong at some point.
I'm looking forward to it, actually.
Imagine Akemi and Noriko, all nervous and waiting for the other shoe to drop, maybe fearful of what we might demand of them, but willing to put in the work they know is required to buy themselves this miraculously strange, unbelievable luck.
Then their slowly dawning realization as they're treated to a nice, simple dinner by two guca who borderline mother over them, and they realize they just want to be nice, and that the one with miraculous powers is a total dork.
That is why this conversation isn't weird at all. We need to get our intent in order, so what we communicate to Akemi and Noriko isn't ambiguous, nor incomplete. Part of the compensation for our satisfaction in acting as a total dork, is to really consider our conversation at times when we need it to count. Further, we have to consider all the fairness reserved for the others who will come after them. Mothers with lots of kids have it rough.
Let me put it this way: as a hypothetical circumstance, Sabrina never welcomes another immigrant to Mitakihara, and neither does Mami. We all are off on a globe-trotting adventure with Sayaka and Oriko. Immigrants keep arriving, however. The citizenship process is operated by the former Shiogama girls, using a few phone numbers, a cash account and three Clear seeds we left for the purpose. Those, and the fond memories of when we first welcomed them a week ago. The city we build must be raised with care, for at some point it follows the rules we made.
Let's hear your take, not only on "what to talk about during dinner," but "what do we want that talk to achieve?" Lay some principles on me.
Point Insertion pt. 15
You flick a glance at the bedroom door -still closed- and give it a bit of thought. "Yeah, actually - if you have a moment?"
"Yep," Mika says. "Probably gonna escape the meeting and go hunting before I go mad from boredom soon, so hit me."
"Right, so... Mitakihara is due to get hit by Walpurgisnacht," you say. "I assume you know what it is?"
"Mitakihara's that nice city down the coast, right?" Mika says. "Company's got some decent investments there."
... she's messing with you, right?
"I... meant Walpurgisnacht, but yes, it's a very nice city," you say. "I live here, with Mami."
"I see, I see," Mika says, her tone the very picture of polite interest.
... yeah, she's messing with you.
"So, yeah," you say. "We're intending to fight, of course, and I'm going to try to minimize damage. But... it's Walpurgisnacht. We're probably still going to need some major reconstruction afterwards. I don't suppose you know anyone who might be in the business?"
"I might know a few people," Mika says thoughtfully. "I could... drop a few words in some ears."
"Ah... yeah, that'd be great," you say, picking your words carefully. "Like, lay the groundwork for post-disaster reconstruction and such? And, well, actually, I'm kind of interested in getting some reasonable adults in the know? I don't wanna encroach on your turf, but I'd like some kind of income through, uh... legitimate, positive work?"
"Are you asking for an internship?" Mika asks, sounding faintly amused. "I can get you one -yay, nepotism!- but I dunno if it's what you're after. Pay ain't exactly great."
"No, no, I mean... with Grief manipulation, I can do some serious heavy lifting and, uh, general force application," you explain. The bedroom door cracks open, Mami emerging. You meet her halfway, sweeping her into a hug. "If there are adults actually in the know, then I'd be happy to work with them to help actually build things with magic when the time comes."
"Oooh," Mika says. "Yeah I gotcha. I mean I've run some errands for dad before, but if you wanna get into large scale work... yeah, I can ask for you."
"Errands?" you ask. So her father knows. You beam at Mami, giving her one last squeeze before releasing her and heading to the bedroom so you can change.
"Hey, gotta get that pocket money when you're a kid," Mika says. Her voice turns sheepish. "'course, that was... yeah, well. When I say 'kid' I was like fifteen, and I actually really wanted a... you know what, never mind. It's kind of silly now that I say it out loud."
"... right," you say. "But yeah, that would be appreciated."
"Dad might wanna interview you maybe?" Mika says thoughtfully.
"I wouldn't expect anything less," you say. "I mean, I'm not gonna ask him to trust it on principle."
"Mmmh!" Mika says. "Yeah, I'll ask him. And see if I can drop some hints about Mitakihara."
"Very much appreciated, Miss Nakano," you say as you pull a shirt on.
"I'll be in touch!" Mika says, and signs off.
You huff, checking yourself in the mirror before heading out. Dear Madokami, but Mika is helpful. Well connected and willing to simply toss these things in as... practically as afterthoughts.
"Hey," you call, beaming at Mami. You make a beeline straight for the sofa and throw yourself over the back of it, legs dangling in the air and face mashed into the seat.
Mami giggles, relaxing slowly. She lifts your head up and inserts a pillow before letting your head return to flopping.
"Mmmmrg," you mumble into the fabric. Mami laughs fondly, and you feel her fingers on your head, carding gently through your hair. "Mmmnm."
You butt your head against Mami's hand. As much as you can while upside down over the sofa, anyway. Eventually, though, it gets uncomfortable enough that you let yourself slither forward, off the sofa and onto the ground before you pick yourself up again.
Mami giggles as you sit down properly and cuddle closer to her.
"Thank you for the necklace, Mami," you murmur. "It's beautiful, and I'll treasure it."
"It's- it's nothing," Mami says, a little hitch in her voice. "I didn't even complete it..."
You reach up to tap her gently on the nose. "Mami, I love it. I really, really do. Please accept my appreciation?"
"I... alright," Mami says. "Thank you, Sabrina."
"Nuh-uh," you say. "I'm thanking you."
Mami huffs, but subsides. You wrap your arms around her waist, head still tucked against her shoulder. Slowly, her hand rises, toying first with your hair, then with your ears. You sigh happily, snuggling closer.
"So what enchantment did you have in mind, Mami?" you murmur.
"Is... is it alright if I keep it a secret for now?" Mami says, shifting. Her fingers still in your hair, and you imagine she's biting her lip. "I... haven't fully worked it out yet."
"Of course," you say, tightening your hug a little. "I'm sorry I ruined the surprise."
"It's alright," Mami says, her fingers pick up their motion again. It feels nice.
"Mmm," you say. "I... hey, Mami? I just realised... I don't actually know when your birthday is. I... think it's June the fifth, but I'm not sure."
"It is," Mami says. "From your... ah."
"Yeah," you say, tilting your head back to smile at Mami. From your knowledge, but it's something to be kept a secret from possible prying ears. "June fifth."
"Is... is there a reason you ask, Sabrina?" Mami asks.
"Well, I definitely have to get you something special for it," you say, settling back against Mami. "But it's also something I should know, right?"
"I..." Mami trails off. "Thank you, Sabrina."
"Always," you say, and butt your head gently against her hand. Mami obligingly goes back to running her fingers through your hair.
"Did you want to work on the enchantment?" you murmur after a few minutes of contented silence.
"I think so," Mami says. "It... doesn't feel right, leaving it incomplete."
"OK, then," you say, raising your hand to remove the necklace, only to be stopped by Mami's gentle touch.
"Not on the necklace," Mami says, shaking her head. "I'll experiment on something else before finalizing it with your necklace."
"Ah, that's good thinking," you say, beaming up at Mami. "I'm sure you'd be able to get it right quickly, though."
"I don't want to risk it," Mami says firmly. "And it's a... tricky idea, anyway, I've never tried it before."
"Alright. Let me know if I can help?" you say.
"You definitely can," Mami says. "Can you help me get the rocks out of my bag?"
"Hmm?" you say, and pout at Mami. "That's not what I meant."
Mami giggles, leaning her cheek against the top of your head. "I know, but... let me do this for you?"
"Alright," you say. "Of course, Mami. But let me try something?"
You glance at her bag, on the shelf at the opposite end of the room, and let your cloud of Grief infiltrate it. You find the rocks, smooth river rocks she must have picked up at some point, and you wrap them up in Grief. A thought pops them away, into that otherworldly storage space, and a small effort of will brings them over to you.
"Hold your hand out, Mami?" you say.
She smiles at you, cupping her hands in front of her, and you drop the rocks right into her palms - and one more, the one you've been carrying with you all day. Mami laughs, setting them down on the sofa seat beside her.
"You used the pocket trick, right?" Mami asks.
"Yeah," you say, grinning at Mami. "Figured I could."
"I know what you're thinking," Mami says, tapping your nose. "It doesn't work."
"What doesn't?" you ask, smiling innocently at her.
"Teleporting yourself by putting yourself into the pocket," Mami says.
"... dangit," you say, huffing. "You got me."
"I had the same thought too," Mami says. She takes your hand, fingers gliding gently over your knuckles and stopping on your Soul Gem ring. "This becomes an anchor. You can't bring your Soul Gem with you, and... the pocket is very unpleasant to be in. And, um, I had no way to move in the real world, with just my Soul Gem, but that's different for you."
You laugh and beam at Mami. "I should have known you'd already know better than I do about this kind of thing," you say. "At the very least, I would guess I can streamline travel by reducing the surface area exposed to air, so that's nice. And probably get into smaller areas. Do you think your ribbons can connect to my, ah, pocket?"
"No," Mami says, shaking her head. Her smile turns a little melancholy. "I've tried it - you can't connect to other people's pockets."
"Alright," you say, and cuddle a little closer to Mami. "Thank you."
"Mm," Mami says, her hand tightening in your hair. You rest your hand over hers, squeezing gently, and let her recover. She stirs, eventually, picking up one of the rocks while giving you a tentative, worried look. You smile back at her, reaching across to grab one for yourself.
Mami relaxes, her smile becoming more natural.
"What kind of enchantments do you think would be most helpful to carry around?" you ask, rolling the rock thoughtfully between your palms.
"What do you mean?" Mami asks.
"Well... I was thinking I could maybe have some kind of arsenal of enchantments I could keep with me," you say. "Stuff that would be useful all the time? I'm not very good at enchanting, but I think I can use the Grief enchantment aid I figured out a while ago."
Mami purses her lips, considering. The flow and twisting of magic between her fingers stills as she thinks it over.
"I'm... not sure," Mami admits, finally. "Your Grief can achieve essentially any effect, correct?"
"Yeah, but at the cost of feeling Witchy," you say. "Magical girls can feel it, and I've noticed that it can throw experienced magical girls like you or Homura off."
Mami shakes her head, smiling at you. "That's true, but... I'm getting used to it," she says. "I recognize your... flavour of Grief, I suppose."
You return the smile.
"And for other magical girls..." she says. "It takes a while for you to form your Grief constructs, so you have time to warn your allies. And, um, unless you make pure enchantments, they'd be noticeable anyway. The only scenarios in which having an arsenal of enchantments might be useful is in an extreme emergency, or maybe if you're trying to conceal the full extent of what you can do?"
"Hmm..." you say. "That makes sense. Or... well, one more is if I'm meeting new magical girls and want to stay absolutely innocuous."
"Sabrina, you are the furthest thing from innocuous," Mami says, giving you a fond smile.
"Touché," you say cheerfully. "So, nothing too useful, apart from maybe non-range limited effects."
Mami nods in agreement, and you return to considering the rock between your palms, the silence companionable as you work on your own projects. Really, if there's no really easy enchantment you can think of that would be helpful to carry around on a day-to-day basis, then you want to go back to trying to figure out an artificial Grief Seed.
The biggest obstacle of which is that you don't actually know how to enchant something to hold Grief. But then, you have a manipulation enchantment. There has to be something related, right?
You frown at the rock in your hand. Can you make an enchantment that controls something else?
It turns out that the answer is yes. Half an hour later, you manage to get a rock shard levitating another in a simple figure-of-eight. Mami claps, beaming at you when you show it to her.
The question then is Grief, but that's something you have to leave for another time, because it's time to cook.
"Shall we?" you ask Mami, reluctantly disentangling yourself and standing. "Did you get anywhere with the enchantment you're working on, by the way?"
"Ah... yes, somewhat," Mami says, hiding the rock behind her back. "I'll show you when it's done?"
You laugh, and offer Mami your hand. "Of course," you say as she takes your hand and lets you pull her to her feet.
It's time to cook, and then it's time for your guests!
[] Dinner
- [] How do you present yourself?
- [] What conversational goals do you want to hit?
-- [] You're not going to force them to do anything
--- [] Elaborate! They're going to want to stay busy.
-- [] Walpurgisnacht
-- [] What they can do around Mitakihara
- [] Privacy sphere talks?
[] Kyouko, Sayaka, Yuma
- [] Check in...
-- [] With who?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
Apologies for ending this here - I'd meant to actually get to the dinner, but after a bunch of delays in writing, well... If I don't end it here I wouldn't be posting tonight, so here we are.
"Yep," Mika says. "Probably gonna escape the meeting and go hunting before I go mad from boredom soon, so hit me."
"Right, so... Mitakihara is due to get hit by Walpurgisnacht," you say. "I assume you know what it is?"
"Mitakihara's that nice city down the coast, right?" Mika says. "Company's got some decent investments there."
... she's messing with you, right?
"I... meant Walpurgisnacht, but yes, it's a very nice city," you say. "I live here, with Mami."
"I see, I see," Mika says, her tone the very picture of polite interest.
... yeah, she's messing with you.
"So, yeah," you say. "We're intending to fight, of course, and I'm going to try to minimize damage. But... it's Walpurgisnacht. We're probably still going to need some major reconstruction afterwards. I don't suppose you know anyone who might be in the business?"
"I might know a few people," Mika says thoughtfully. "I could... drop a few words in some ears."
"Ah... yeah, that'd be great," you say, picking your words carefully. "Like, lay the groundwork for post-disaster reconstruction and such? And, well, actually, I'm kind of interested in getting some reasonable adults in the know? I don't wanna encroach on your turf, but I'd like some kind of income through, uh... legitimate, positive work?"
"Are you asking for an internship?" Mika asks, sounding faintly amused. "I can get you one -yay, nepotism!- but I dunno if it's what you're after. Pay ain't exactly great."
"No, no, I mean... with Grief manipulation, I can do some serious heavy lifting and, uh, general force application," you explain. The bedroom door cracks open, Mami emerging. You meet her halfway, sweeping her into a hug. "If there are adults actually in the know, then I'd be happy to work with them to help actually build things with magic when the time comes."
"Oooh," Mika says. "Yeah I gotcha. I mean I've run some errands for dad before, but if you wanna get into large scale work... yeah, I can ask for you."
"Errands?" you ask. So her father knows. You beam at Mami, giving her one last squeeze before releasing her and heading to the bedroom so you can change.
"Hey, gotta get that pocket money when you're a kid," Mika says. Her voice turns sheepish. "'course, that was... yeah, well. When I say 'kid' I was like fifteen, and I actually really wanted a... you know what, never mind. It's kind of silly now that I say it out loud."
"... right," you say. "But yeah, that would be appreciated."
"Dad might wanna interview you maybe?" Mika says thoughtfully.
"I wouldn't expect anything less," you say. "I mean, I'm not gonna ask him to trust it on principle."
"Mmmh!" Mika says. "Yeah, I'll ask him. And see if I can drop some hints about Mitakihara."
"Very much appreciated, Miss Nakano," you say as you pull a shirt on.
"I'll be in touch!" Mika says, and signs off.
You huff, checking yourself in the mirror before heading out. Dear Madokami, but Mika is helpful. Well connected and willing to simply toss these things in as... practically as afterthoughts.
"Hey," you call, beaming at Mami. You make a beeline straight for the sofa and throw yourself over the back of it, legs dangling in the air and face mashed into the seat.
Mami giggles, relaxing slowly. She lifts your head up and inserts a pillow before letting your head return to flopping.
"Mmmmrg," you mumble into the fabric. Mami laughs fondly, and you feel her fingers on your head, carding gently through your hair. "Mmmnm."
You butt your head against Mami's hand. As much as you can while upside down over the sofa, anyway. Eventually, though, it gets uncomfortable enough that you let yourself slither forward, off the sofa and onto the ground before you pick yourself up again.
Mami giggles as you sit down properly and cuddle closer to her.
"Thank you for the necklace, Mami," you murmur. "It's beautiful, and I'll treasure it."
"It's- it's nothing," Mami says, a little hitch in her voice. "I didn't even complete it..."
You reach up to tap her gently on the nose. "Mami, I love it. I really, really do. Please accept my appreciation?"
"I... alright," Mami says. "Thank you, Sabrina."
"Nuh-uh," you say. "I'm thanking you."
Mami huffs, but subsides. You wrap your arms around her waist, head still tucked against her shoulder. Slowly, her hand rises, toying first with your hair, then with your ears. You sigh happily, snuggling closer.
"So what enchantment did you have in mind, Mami?" you murmur.
"Is... is it alright if I keep it a secret for now?" Mami says, shifting. Her fingers still in your hair, and you imagine she's biting her lip. "I... haven't fully worked it out yet."
"Of course," you say, tightening your hug a little. "I'm sorry I ruined the surprise."
"It's alright," Mami says, her fingers pick up their motion again. It feels nice.
"Mmm," you say. "I... hey, Mami? I just realised... I don't actually know when your birthday is. I... think it's June the fifth, but I'm not sure."
"It is," Mami says. "From your... ah."
"Yeah," you say, tilting your head back to smile at Mami. From your knowledge, but it's something to be kept a secret from possible prying ears. "June fifth."
"Is... is there a reason you ask, Sabrina?" Mami asks.
"Well, I definitely have to get you something special for it," you say, settling back against Mami. "But it's also something I should know, right?"
"I..." Mami trails off. "Thank you, Sabrina."
"Always," you say, and butt your head gently against her hand. Mami obligingly goes back to running her fingers through your hair.
"Did you want to work on the enchantment?" you murmur after a few minutes of contented silence.
"I think so," Mami says. "It... doesn't feel right, leaving it incomplete."
"OK, then," you say, raising your hand to remove the necklace, only to be stopped by Mami's gentle touch.
"Not on the necklace," Mami says, shaking her head. "I'll experiment on something else before finalizing it with your necklace."
"Ah, that's good thinking," you say, beaming up at Mami. "I'm sure you'd be able to get it right quickly, though."
"I don't want to risk it," Mami says firmly. "And it's a... tricky idea, anyway, I've never tried it before."
"Alright. Let me know if I can help?" you say.
"You definitely can," Mami says. "Can you help me get the rocks out of my bag?"
"Hmm?" you say, and pout at Mami. "That's not what I meant."
Mami giggles, leaning her cheek against the top of your head. "I know, but... let me do this for you?"
"Alright," you say. "Of course, Mami. But let me try something?"
You glance at her bag, on the shelf at the opposite end of the room, and let your cloud of Grief infiltrate it. You find the rocks, smooth river rocks she must have picked up at some point, and you wrap them up in Grief. A thought pops them away, into that otherworldly storage space, and a small effort of will brings them over to you.
"Hold your hand out, Mami?" you say.
She smiles at you, cupping her hands in front of her, and you drop the rocks right into her palms - and one more, the one you've been carrying with you all day. Mami laughs, setting them down on the sofa seat beside her.
"You used the pocket trick, right?" Mami asks.
"Yeah," you say, grinning at Mami. "Figured I could."
"I know what you're thinking," Mami says, tapping your nose. "It doesn't work."
"What doesn't?" you ask, smiling innocently at her.
"Teleporting yourself by putting yourself into the pocket," Mami says.
"... dangit," you say, huffing. "You got me."
"I had the same thought too," Mami says. She takes your hand, fingers gliding gently over your knuckles and stopping on your Soul Gem ring. "This becomes an anchor. You can't bring your Soul Gem with you, and... the pocket is very unpleasant to be in. And, um, I had no way to move in the real world, with just my Soul Gem, but that's different for you."
You laugh and beam at Mami. "I should have known you'd already know better than I do about this kind of thing," you say. "At the very least, I would guess I can streamline travel by reducing the surface area exposed to air, so that's nice. And probably get into smaller areas. Do you think your ribbons can connect to my, ah, pocket?"
"No," Mami says, shaking her head. Her smile turns a little melancholy. "I've tried it - you can't connect to other people's pockets."
"Alright," you say, and cuddle a little closer to Mami. "Thank you."
"Mm," Mami says, her hand tightening in your hair. You rest your hand over hers, squeezing gently, and let her recover. She stirs, eventually, picking up one of the rocks while giving you a tentative, worried look. You smile back at her, reaching across to grab one for yourself.
Mami relaxes, her smile becoming more natural.
"What kind of enchantments do you think would be most helpful to carry around?" you ask, rolling the rock thoughtfully between your palms.
"What do you mean?" Mami asks.
"Well... I was thinking I could maybe have some kind of arsenal of enchantments I could keep with me," you say. "Stuff that would be useful all the time? I'm not very good at enchanting, but I think I can use the Grief enchantment aid I figured out a while ago."
Mami purses her lips, considering. The flow and twisting of magic between her fingers stills as she thinks it over.
"I'm... not sure," Mami admits, finally. "Your Grief can achieve essentially any effect, correct?"
"Yeah, but at the cost of feeling Witchy," you say. "Magical girls can feel it, and I've noticed that it can throw experienced magical girls like you or Homura off."
Mami shakes her head, smiling at you. "That's true, but... I'm getting used to it," she says. "I recognize your... flavour of Grief, I suppose."
You return the smile.
"And for other magical girls..." she says. "It takes a while for you to form your Grief constructs, so you have time to warn your allies. And, um, unless you make pure enchantments, they'd be noticeable anyway. The only scenarios in which having an arsenal of enchantments might be useful is in an extreme emergency, or maybe if you're trying to conceal the full extent of what you can do?"
"Hmm..." you say. "That makes sense. Or... well, one more is if I'm meeting new magical girls and want to stay absolutely innocuous."
"Sabrina, you are the furthest thing from innocuous," Mami says, giving you a fond smile.
"Touché," you say cheerfully. "So, nothing too useful, apart from maybe non-range limited effects."
Mami nods in agreement, and you return to considering the rock between your palms, the silence companionable as you work on your own projects. Really, if there's no really easy enchantment you can think of that would be helpful to carry around on a day-to-day basis, then you want to go back to trying to figure out an artificial Grief Seed.
The biggest obstacle of which is that you don't actually know how to enchant something to hold Grief. But then, you have a manipulation enchantment. There has to be something related, right?
You frown at the rock in your hand. Can you make an enchantment that controls something else?
It turns out that the answer is yes. Half an hour later, you manage to get a rock shard levitating another in a simple figure-of-eight. Mami claps, beaming at you when you show it to her.
The question then is Grief, but that's something you have to leave for another time, because it's time to cook.
"Shall we?" you ask Mami, reluctantly disentangling yourself and standing. "Did you get anywhere with the enchantment you're working on, by the way?"
"Ah... yes, somewhat," Mami says, hiding the rock behind her back. "I'll show you when it's done?"
You laugh, and offer Mami your hand. "Of course," you say as she takes your hand and lets you pull her to her feet.
It's time to cook, and then it's time for your guests!
[] Dinner
- [] How do you present yourself?
- [] What conversational goals do you want to hit?
-- [] You're not going to force them to do anything
--- [] Elaborate! They're going to want to stay busy.
-- [] Walpurgisnacht
-- [] What they can do around Mitakihara
- [] Privacy sphere talks?
[] Kyouko, Sayaka, Yuma
- [] Check in...
-- [] With who?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
[X] Dinner
-[X] Be you. Debunk any notions about you making them do anything. Unlike most meguca, you are in a position to provide basic needs -- safety, sustenance, shelter -- to people lacking them without suffering anything for it.
-[X] Inform them of Walpurgisnacht. Make it clear that you will absolutely not demand that they fight it.
-[X] Be you. Debunk any notions about you making them do anything. Unlike most meguca, you are in a position to provide basic needs -- safety, sustenance, shelter -- to people lacking them without suffering anything for it.
-[X] Inform them of Walpurgisnacht. Make it clear that you will absolutely not demand that they fight it.
=====
Apologies for ending this here - I'd meant to actually get to the dinner, but after a bunch of delays in writing, well... If I don't end it here I wouldn't be posting tonight, so here we are.
Last edited:
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Hmm. Mika's dad is in the know. That's definitely a potential contact for the Shizuki's, then.
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
Truths have been revealed today.
to PMAS, period.
I guess... we could still shield our Gem and put everything else (using magic to shield our body against the vacuum?) in hammerspace and still travel super fast?
I would say we need to try this while Soul Snuggling, but I doubt it'll make a difference. Still, Soul Snuggles, though.
Yep, Mika's dad using her using her powers for business.
Yep, this is now canon
Yep, this turned out to be a thing.
I guess... we could still shield our Gem and put everything else (using magic to shield our body against the vacuum?) in hammerspace and still travel super fast?
And darnation.
I would say we need to try this while Soul Snuggling, but I doubt it'll make a difference. Still, Soul Snuggles, though.
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Hmm. If the "4D" spaces can't have soul gems inside them, and are entirely unique to each magical girl and inaccessible otherwise, then that's very, very strong evidence that they're connected to the eventual formation of Barriers when magical girls become witches.
We already had some theories in that direction, but this all but confirms it.
We already had some theories in that direction, but this all but confirms it.
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
Going by this, the guy's been using Mika for his business for at leastl.... 4 years? 6?
Shiiiiiiiiiiit...
I have to wonder how she feels about it. Maybe she'd like to try doing her own thing some time?
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
She lives on her own and is by all indications a stupid powerful guca. I don't think her father can really force her to work for him if she doesn't want to.
Her phrasing implies to me that she only occasionally assists him, and on a contractual and compensated basis at that.
Hmm. Sabrina pegged her as looking eighteen or nineteen, so she's got at least three years of experience as a magical girl. Not bad.
Also, she totally wanted a pony, didn't she.
Last edited:
I find curious why it wasn't wierd to Mika. After all, it isn't normal that Walpurgisnacht doesn't have a barrier so we need to worry about reconstruction afterwards.
Good, that sounds more like the veteran meguca Mami is supposed to be be. *nods*
*raises hand*
Ehh...
*lowers hand*
(Can't complain if it's a valid point /shrug)
What mika's power?
Being awesome?
Being awesome?
Jonen C
F.M.D.G.
- Location
- Lincopense, Ostrogothia, Suecia
So my read of this is we're all TARDISes, but with non-functional dematerialisation circuits, and maybe maturing into a full on TARDIS and abandoning the delusion that we're human is what's required to fix it, but tends to mess up the general outlook on things so maybe not do that.
I'm not quite sure what problem Mami ran into here. She obviously didn't go past 100 meters and get disconnected, or she would have figured out what her soul gem actually is. Is there also something like you can only reemerge from your soul gem, or did she just abandon the idea when she realized she'd have to leave her soul gem behind, or what?
Jonen C
F.M.D.G.
- Location
- Lincopense, Ostrogothia, Suecia
What she means is if you put your body into 4D space, your soul gem pops out of 4D space, and you can't move the soul gem into 4D space without moving your physical body out of 4D space. You can separate yourself some distance from the soul gem, but can't move it, all your 4D movement is 4D rotation around your Soul Gem.
...What happened in this epilogue of yours?
...Cat-Brina much?
Past tense: not confirmation that she doesn't (or wouldn't) do it again, but I doubt that's anything we need to worry about.
DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Wait whose Mika again? Soo many characters x___x
Also I think we should be polite, and you know are normal selves but tone it down a little?
Also I think we should be polite, and you know are normal selves but tone it down a little?
Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
Someone that's already in on the secret! Awesome. Starting to build that network.
I'm also amused by the careful implications everyone was talking in."I don't suppose you know anyone in the construction business", lol.
- Location
- Illinois
Push magic into ribbon. Push ribbon into pocket. ???
I'm, like, 900% sure this can be done, lol.
*There's* the reaction I was--
Okay, true story, I wrote a response to this reaction *last post*, but then I went up and realized that the reaction wasn't there, and I was really puzzled, but here it is I guess.
And now it should probably wait until after dinner... Ay yi yi, nyan...
Since we are a port, maybe we should have our mami gold thing be a cruise ship...with the corpse of walpugy stapled to the prow
Also i forget the map, where is mika in relation to where we are? Commute gonna be a killer
Also i forget the map, where is mika in relation to where we are? Commute gonna be a killer
- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Nakano Mika is an independant magical girl from Ishinomaki. Her family runs the Nakano Corporation, a multi-billion dollar international development company. This is the same company that currently holds the land rights to Kyouko's church, and which was planning to demolish for development before Mika leaned on them to delay as a favor for us.
As a result of this, she has very high potential. Her personal power is Aerokinesis (airbending), and while her true limits are unknown, she can definitely fly at highly supersonic speeds, and she's very confident that she can defend a Clear Seed by herself - a position the Ishinomaki group, which has seven members but still felt they couldn't handle the heat of a Clear Seed, didn't contest.
Last edited:
Vebyast
Nascent Transhuman
You don't need to be part cat to enjoy headpats. Headpats are the best....Cat-Brina much?
Commute is probably less than 10 minutes. An enclosure just big enough for a soul gem is small enough that I'd be willing to get up into high mach numbers in low atmosphere, especially if we do some wind tunnel testing first.
Last edited:
.......
Meguca aerial gran prix when?
Who else can join a flying race?
Onmur
Archangel of Nutella.
$$$
Well, you know how long we wanted to make a familiar, I figure it could happen at some point...
And Krekian's art is so good:
We can, Sayaka can, Chouko (UG group, magic: flight (wings)) can...
But Mika would beat us all, anyway.
Maybe we could compete, but we would need to test our flight capacities, and our abilities to not cause collateral damage while flying, quite a bit before then...