Eh...might be a little premature to say that, after our latest adventure. They haven't joined yet, but I'l wager apples to oranges that we can expect to see some allies who aren't even Japanese at all join the group.
Eh...might be a little premature to say that, after our latest adventure. They haven't joined yet, but I'l wager apples to oranges that we can expect to see some allies who aren't even Japanese at all join the group.
I genuinely think they don't know what to think, their day has been a much slower release version of having a gun held to their head, tensing up for and hearing the shot, only to realise they shot the ground next to them just to fuck with them.
They've been near certain they were dead for an unknown amount of time, languishing in the hold of the boogeygucas and with all hope gone in comes 20 gucas out of goddamn nowhere with impossible powers like the hand of god revealing itself for a second. We are their Deus Ex Machina. It's gotta be a little hard for them to process this is real.
It was meant to be a sort of galaxy brain pun involving yōkai, but Hieronym can't remember how that was supposed to work, and no one has really devised a sensible explanation after the fact, so it was probably mistaken. ("yokai" could be a pun meaning "world organization", except the original MSY was strictly a local organization, so that doesn't really make sense)
I'm not sure that really works - if that's supposed to be 世会, anyway, we'd have to explain to everyone why it's not pronounced sekai - "yokai" would be an odd mixed pronunciation [not unheard of, but AIUI unlikely to be assumed by default for a novel combination of kanji]
They've been working on it onii-saaaaaaaaaan.. I hate it! Two days from now supposedly is when "Gallery mode" will hit. H. And i'll miss all the wonderfull stories and never get to see the cool dopples. .
So, about a two weeks ago I found my first PMMM fanfic. A week later I found fourth or fifth that just so happen to be PMAS, and since then no night was fully slept through, no working day was spent with good working ethics.
That's a wonderful story, with great deal of between-lines secrets. I loved recent (for me) posts on Homura by @Kaizuki and tidbits players noticed in story posts.
Now what should I do next? Return in two years for another in-story week?
I think @Firnagzen made a mistake allowing you so much actions piled one upon another every day. Sabrina must be looking like a squirrel on speed for everyone around!
So, about a two weeks ago I found my first PMMM fanfic. A week later I found fourth or fifth that just so happen to be PMAS, and since then no night was fully slept through, no working day was spent with good working ethics.
That's a wonderful story, with great deal of between-lines secrets. I loved recent (for me) posts on Homura by @Kaizuki and tidbits players noticed in story posts.
Now what should I do next? Return in two years for another in-story week?
I think @Firnagzen made a mistake allowing you so much actions piled one upon another every day. Sabrina must be looking like a squirrel on speed for everyone around!
It's mostly the politics I think. Combat was always going to devour chapters, but having to micromanage any kind of negotiation is... slow, since it requires a whole lot of reader input.
You hesitate for a long moment, taking in the Mandalay team's faces, their expressions and the pained slump of their shoulders. They lost someone, that much is clear. They're tired. They're hurting, and... they're overwhelmed. They made their own escape attempt the moment you'd struck, and they'd been put down with ruthless finality.
You...
Hah. You're not even sure who they lost. A teammate? Friends? Family?
You don't know, but they're hurting. That much you can tell, and you're not going to ask. Maybe if you had just a bit more rapport with them, maybe if Mami knew the language to help smooth things over with her easy poise and smooth, unruffled calm. Maybe if they'd volunteered it. Maybe, maybe, maybe, but not now. Not today.
See?
Sometimes you can be tactful.
"Alright," you say, holding your hands up. "We'll leave you alone, but we'll be just a call away, if something comes up. Would... would it be OK if we visited again next week? Maybe Friday or Thursday?"
"We'd like that, I think," Ta Kaung Chien says, flashing a wan smile. "We'll be able to give a better welcome then."
"Well," you say, a note of humour entering your voice. "We're here without an invitation, so..." You chuckle, and shake your head.
"You saved us," Ta Kaung Chien says, shaking her head.
"I wish I could have been here earlier," you say, and hold up both hands. "But... we'll leave you be for now. Until next time?"
"... yeah. Until next time," Ta Kaung Chien says.
You flash them a brief smile and retreat towards the stairwell, your friends falling in step with you a moment later. The Burmese girls take to the rooftops as you leave, leaping towards the next building, and heading away from Yuki's building.
Mami's hand finds yours.
"Oh, suck it up, you sad sack," Kyouko grouses from behind you, her voice echoing up and down the stairs as you round the corner at the landing. "You're not even saying anything and you're making it all emo in here."
She vaults the railing to land in front of you, sneer on her face.
"Lemme guess, they didn't fall over themselves professing immediate friendship?" Kyouko says. "And you're sad because you wanted to stuff them full of Grief Seeds and money?"
"I mean... yeah. I guess it wasn't that hard to infer," you say, shrugging. "It feels wrong to just step away from this."
"Oh my god," Kyouko mutters, shaking her head. "Mami-sempai, why don't you tell your girl there about people dealing with shit differently?"
"Sabrina wants to help," Mami says. She smiles, unbothered. "I can't say I can fault her for that."
Kyouko rolls her eyes, and jabs at your chest with one finger. "People. Deal. With. Shit. Differently."
"I know that," you say, annoyance creeping in. "I know that, Kyouko. Heck, you're Exhibit A, Kyouko, so I damn well know that. And I know that they're grieving. They lost someone. That's why I backed off. That doesn't stop me from wanting to do more."
"You saved their lives," Kyouko grunts. "Dragged a small army here to do that. You think they don't know that?"
You sigh, rolling your shoulders. Yuma frets quietly, fingers fidgeting over each other. Kazumi's watching silently, and so is Kaoru, an identical, curious tilt to both their heads. And... so is Mika, with that enigmatic expression on her face as she leans against the stair railing.
"What's your point, Kyouko?" you ask.
"I'm sick of seeing you sulking around," Kyouko says, the dusky crimson of her eyes drilling into yours. "That's all."
"... riiight," you say, considering the tense set of her shoulders. "Well, I wasn't really sulking. I was gonna go talk to Miss Tsuruya, so..."
"Sure you weren't," Kyouko says, voice laced with sarcasm, and steps out of your way with a florid, overdone bow.
"And I believe I should take that as my cue." Yuki's voice emerges from the wall, followed by the girl herself. "I've moved everyone back to Fukushima, the new prisoners included. Shall I bring us all there?"
"Yeah," you say, nodding. "Sounds good."
"Then everyone, please brace yourself," Yuki says. You feel her power flicker bright, the floor seeming to yawn away from you as the surroundings distort. And with a shuddering jolt, a discontinuity, you are suddenly elsewhere.
The musty gloom of the stairwell is gone, replaced with crisp afternoon sunlight and lemon-ish air freshener, the sunlight filtering through the great glass windows of... what probably used to be an open office floor, now converted into a sunroom of sorts. Squashy sofas and beanbags litter the carpeted floor, colour-coordinated in dark greens and blues that match the not-quite familiar vista beyond the windows of Fukushima and Mount Shinobu.
Shinobu-the-girl-and-totally-not-related-to-the-mountain-honest waves without getting up from her bean bag, her eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration - and she has a brick held in her other hand, her magic twining slowly through the block of clay. Enchantment, though you can't tell what of.
"Kazumi!" Mirai bounces from a sofa, the massive lavender floof of her hair wobbling as she pounces on Kazumi. "What took you so long?"
You spot Akemi and Noriko too, the two of them occupying another sofa. They offer you tired smiles.
"Welcome to Fukushima," Yuki says, smiling faintly. "I have the prisoners secured at a lower level, but whoever wants to rest, feel free to rest here."
"Great, thanks," Kyouko grunts, and throws herself at one of the beanbags, face-first. She lands with a muffled floomph and stays there, crimson ponytail strewn all over her back.
"I believe I'll take a rest too," Mika says, flopping gracelessly into one of the many sofas strewn around, then rolling over to watch Shinobu's enchantment with bright-eyed interest.
You eye her thoughtfully as Yuma wanders over, and promptly gets dragged down onto the same beanbag. That entire interaction earlier had been odd. Uncharacteristic, almost. And... coming on the heels of that talk with Mika. Mami takes your arm, offering you a warm smile as she leans her head against your shoulder.
"Where's Umi?" Kazumi asks, looking around.
"Working with Miss Oriko," Mirai mumbles, having successfully entrapped Kazumi's arm and nuzzling shamelessly against it. "Got her truth-finding thing. My bears are still down there, too. Oh!" She pulls back to blink huge, pink eyes at you. "Umika said she wanted to talk to you an' Miss Tsuruya later, Miss Sabrina."
"Uh? Gotcha," you say. "I mean, I'll be headed down soon enough. Um..."
Mami doesn't let go of your arm, making her position on the matter obvious. Which means you do need to be careful with secrets, but -Yuki catches your eye and nods slightly- it shouldn't be a problem.
"Alright. Where to, Miss Tsuruya?" you say.
"This way," she says.
She leads the way out of the office area and up a flight of stairs that brings you down to what seems to be an observation deck of sorts. It brings to mind the grand atrium of some hotel or something, all burnished brass and wood and marble, with a balcony overlooking the reception area. Except... well, except that the reception floor fades to deep shadow that almost seems to drink in light, save for rectangular cut-outs of light, laid out in neat grids. And in each cut-out, you can see into what are obviously the rooms of each magical girl under Yuki's guard, one girl per room.
You recognise the Iowa girls, of course, all ten of them, and... there's Anri, curled up on her bed with the faint twinkle of a Clear Seed cradled in her hand. Arzt Kochen, the Witch of Asuka Yuuri.
... and Sayaka, who is very busily wrecking her room with lightning and writhing overgrowth and the crimson sheen of Nadia's power and goodness knows what else, a veritable storm of power surging around her and setting her hair and cape both adrift.
And you're not alone on the observation deck. Umika and Oriko lean against the railing with their heads bent over the former's book, muttered conversation passing between them, while Kirika loiters nearby, looking vaguely bored. Homura stands off to the side, observing with unyielding intensity. Sasami and Moe have pulled up some chairs, and both of them have Nintendo 3DSes out.
"I decided that some reconfiguring was in order," Yuki observes, a note of pride in her voice. "These are... one way screens, in essence."
"Very impressive," you say, and you mean it. "Hey everyone."
"'sup?" Kirika says, waving.
Homura nods slightly at you.
"So, what've we got?" you say, joining them at the railing and peering down at the Iowa girls. Most of them seem angry, pacing furiously or worrying at something or another, but none of them have weapons out. Their captain stands stock still as if trying to muster her magic, but from your vantage point, you can see a chain wrapped around her ankle - one of the antimagic enchantments, you're sure.
Even so, that's... worrying.
Yuki doesn't seem to be concerned, though, so you'll trust her, you guess.
"Names, and their powers - Miss Miki has their powers copied," Oriko says. "I'm attempting to trace their path, but it's... difficult going, and they're unsurprisingly uncooperative on that matter."
Yuki snorts quietly.
"One of them said 'I have the right to remain silent'," she notes, indicating one of the cells, and you squint. The one you've been calling knock-off Power Girl. "Her."
"OK, so I've got comments on that, but first, I gotta ask - why is Sayaka in there?" you say, peering down at her.
"I requested her aid in probing the defenses," Yuki says, nodding at the rooms. "Each of those rooms is held in a discontinuous space, isolated as well as I can manage. The only way in or out is some form of dimensional power that operates on the same wavelength as mine."
"... right, yeah. Good point. And you work impressively fast, I have to say," you say. "Are you sure it's sufficient, though?"
"It's not," Yuki says. "Which is why I hold their Soul Gems in separate chambers, just barely on the cusp of the maximum range. Additionally - I had been considering the idea for a while."
"Ah," you say, and nod. "That makes sense, yeah."
"These aren't to be permanent holdings, correct?" Yuki asks, eyeing you carefully.
"Until I can figure out how to rehabilitate them," you say with a sigh. "Days, weeks, months, perhaps, but definitely not years. Not long term. I need to find... I dunno. Therapists. Specialists who've studied this sort of thing, who I can read in and throw at the problem."
Yuki nods sharply.
"Acceptable," she says.
And in that you read a statement, too, that she isn't willing to become a permanent jailer. Which is entirely reasonable, you feel, and it's not like you weren't already making plans and connections in that direction. Dinner with the Shizukis is just the start, as is reading Shin in to all this.
"Miss Sabrina, Miss Tsuruya, can I have a word?" Umika says. She's abandoned Oriko to join your conversation, book held closed at her side.
"Of course," you say. "Mirai mentioned you wanted a word. Do we need privacy?"
"Ah..." Umika glances at Mami, and shakes her head. "No, this is fine. It's just... there's an alternative, I suppose."
"Oh?" you say cautiously.
"Tocco del Male," Umika says, and you force yourself not to shiver. You recognise that name. "It's an... attack, I suppose, that I've been working on. Takes too long to set up to really be useful that way, though. It's half enchantment, half spell. It knocks magical girls out, puts them in... stasis. We could keep them like that."
Mami's hand tightens on your arm, fingers digging in slightly, while Yuki frowns thoughtfully.
"That could be a potent backup plan," Yuki says after a moment. "A backup, if they prove too difficult to hold as is."
"Mm," Umika says, pushing her hand through her fringe. "Well... I wanted to bring it up, I suppose."
"And it could be useful," Yuki says. "Thank you."
"You are a seriously terrifying person, and I'm glad you're on our side," you inform Umika, managing a slight grin. "Yeah. It's a good backup option, so thank you."
"Yep," Umika says, nodding, and retreating.
"Do you want to speak to any of the prisoners?" Yuki asks, turning to you once more. "I've... spoken to them, but they weren't very talkative. They might respond better to you."
[] Speak to one of them
- [] Write-in who and how
[] Just stick with what's been gathered so far
[x] Vote in abeyance
[X] Check in on the prisoners.
-[X] Find out what all their names and powers are, and Yuki's read on their personalities.
--[X] Mention that according to Nadia, one of them must be a sub-3 month experience new hire? Any indication on which one?
[X] In the next sections, be very clear that you're *still* not interested in pressuring anyone to do anything they don't want to do.
[X] Thank everyone very much for their contributions. That went incredibly well, and you hope that you can all work together more in the future.
-[X] Touch on the existing level of alliances and agreements that exist. It's not made itself extremely apparent yet, but a group with infinite magic can apply different magics to each others' non-combat goals, or go about developing new abilities. Exchange of ideas and powers could quickly become a Big Deal.
--[X] If naming comes up, propose "Mahou Shoujo Kyoukai".
[X] If Kazumi and Yuki are on-board, extend an invitation to Mika to attend the Tokyo meeting with us as a partner in our coalition.
-[X] Ask Kazumi and Mika if they're interested in letting Yuki set up a node near them - Mitakihara's getting one, and near-instant transport would make future collaboration much easier.
=====
Apologies for the weird breaking point - this post kind of got away from me. (And the vote is huge, anyway.)
