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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Obviously we use our grief to make extensions, and then rock Millia Rage's sword hair.
 
Arum60 said:
Because having too much skin exposure means it's more likely that you get sunburns. And more skin coverage means that you have to put on less sunscreen.
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Remember, we don't need to suffer through sunburns. We've got literally magic healing, after all. Also, if we can't use Grief to perfectly apply sunscreen, then I don't know what we're doing with our life.
AndrewleTrans said:
What on earth is with this die roll not found: 7862648
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Early in the quest, Firn would occasionally use dice rolls to determine things like whether or not Mami is a morning person, as well as some character actions, like whether or not Homura would succeed on her own during the Great Timestop Hunt. If the site used for the rolls isn't maintained, or if they discard old rolls, then the links to those old rolls will error out.
 
Script Mak3r said:
Remember, we don't need to suffer through sunburns. We've got literally magic healing, after all. Also, if we can't use Grief to perfectly apply sunscreen, then I don't know what we're doing with our life.
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Clearly we need to control the Grief so that it baps away all the UV light

Or we could use Grief on a nanoscopic scale in order to mimic a UV reflecting material
 
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Hazard Course Pt. 33
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Hug Oriko
    -[X] Reassure her that we aren't going to let her backslide, and thank her for being brave enough to face this.
    [X] Explain we're here because Oriko predicted she was going to die and we're trying to get information on her killer so we can save her.
    -[X] I've been calling this entity Feathers because Oriko said her visions were obscured by feathers when it acted.
    -[X] Sayaka was transported into a Witch barrier before her contract, and when it happened, Oriko's vision of it was obscured by those same feathers.
    [X] Provide booster construct to help with the resistance
    [X] To Oriko:
    -[X] Ask Oriko, in some cases to be answered with UmikaMagic
    --[X] If she wants to answer privately to her question or when showing any answers, facilitate that.
    -[X] What her question was
    -[X] If she knows what "Law" and "she" refer to
    -[X] What she was thinking when she said you and Homura could change destiny
    -[X] What the feathers that were obscuring her visions looked like, relative to The Feather.
    -[X] What she remembers about the attack on Sayaka
    -[X] Where she was and what she was doing when she saw herself dying
    [X] for yourself, Iterate through...
    -[X] Everything Oriko wants to ask.
    -[X] Your own questions about...
    --[X] Your status before you woke up in the alley
    --[X] Where your clothes came from (in the alley)
    --[X] What you've done when tranced, when it was significant
    --[X] What you recall Homura's feathers are supposed to look like
    --[X] Why your potential was strange
    --[X] Who the voice you've been hearing belongs to
    --[X] "Who is dreaming?"
    --[X] Where is the missing fragment?
    [X] Show Umika the feather and see what she can get from it.

    "Well she can't have me, I'm taken," you carefully don't say.

    Instead, you purse your lips, eyeing Oriko, who's only now opening her eyes to give you a curious look. The only person to have laid eyes on what's written so far is you, and you have to decide who to tell about it - and more upsettingly than the knowledge itself, you have to make said decision under the expectant and curious looks of your friends.

    That's not to say that it's not a damn bombshell, laid out in Oriko's flawlessly neat handwriting. Just two sentences, not even a full line across a page of the notebook Umika provided for the endeavour.

    The Law is broken. She searches for the missing fragment.

    There are vanishingly few interpretations of those two sentences, given what you know.

    The Law of Cycles. Madoka's Law, the backbone of her ascension as a goddess that once upon a never, the salvation of magical girls. Except Madoka's right there at school, flesh and blood and alive and happily working through classes and not a disembodied concept of reality. Not just an unfading ribbon and lingering memories in the mind of Homura.

    If the Law exists, then that once upon a never has already come to pass. Then Madoka has already sacrificed herself. To save every magical girl that had ever and will ever exist, to save every Witch before they could be born. To become a being that has no beginning and has no end, because she took her own end in hand and told it, 'It's OK now. You don't have to be a monster.'

    If the Law exists, then once upon a never, Homura was left to linger. Not alone, for Madoka could never be so cruel, but... bereft.

    If the Law exists, and if the Law is broken, then that once upon a never, Homura... snapped. Drunk on Grief, drunk on despair, drunk on love, she tore Madoka from the Law. Because only in Madoka's own self-sacrificing love could Madoka be so cruel to herself, to condemn herself to fight forever, far, far away from those who loved her, and how could Homura possibly accept that? So she took up the mantle of the devil, the dark goddess to oppose Madoka's light and render her human again.

    None of this has happened yet. Once upon a never, in futures unwound and unmoored, it has come to pass.

    And then... what? Do you assume that this happened in the acausal past, before another Wish wrenched back acausality to a point Witches exist? To give one more chance for a happy ending? Are Madoka and Homura both their ascended selves, their divinities suppressed? Is that why Oriko warned you that Homura must never know of Madoka's potential?

    Your mind whirls, racing through the implications. How much to tell, how much to explain, how much is dangerous to share...

    Mami's hand on your elbow grounds you, jolting you from your circling thoughts, and you shoot her a grateful smile.

    "Oriko," you say lightly, tapping the book. "If this is the answer, I have to ask - what was the question? Was it 'what would cause Sabrina to develop a stress ulcer?'"

    Oriko raises an eyebrow at you.

    "... is it that bad?" she ventures. "The question I asked was 'what is the most important thing that I didn't communicate?'"

    "It's... concerning," you say, and sigh. "Alright. First things first: Oriko. Thank you for being brave enough to face this. And of course we're not going to let you backslide. That's a promise from me, and in the astronomically unlikely event that something gets past Kirika, I'll help keep you on track too. OK?"

    You shoot Mami a quick smile, and stand to walk over to give Oriko a firm hug. And sure, it's a little awkward, with all eyes on you, but... people are important. It helps to see the relief in Oriko's eyes, and Kirika's bright, fanged grin at you as you settle back next to Mami, wrapping your arm around her waist so she can burrow into your side.

    "So what, exactly, is this about?" Yuki asks, emerald eyes sharp as she props her chin on her fist.

    "Right, yes, sorry," you say, taking a breath. "So. Oriko's original magic was prophecy, but it mutated into clairvoyance after some, uh, life-changing revelations. But one of the things she did predict was her own death, and, y'know. I'm not letting that happen."

    Umika pushes her glasses up, straightening fully on the sofa.

    "You really should have started with that, Miss Oriko," she says, a gleam of interest in her eyes. "A murder mystery is right up my alleyway."

    "Oh?" you say. "... does your true writing work better if there's a narrative to it?"

    "... not as such, but it's my area of interest," Umika concedes, and you're rather forcibly reminded that she is a writer.

    "Ah," you say, gaze flickering to Oriko for a moment. She looks mildly put out by the avid interest directed her way, but she doesn't seem to be about to say anything, so you let it pass.

    "What all do we know of our... opponent?" Yuki asks.

    "Very little. Oriko's magic changing also took most of her prophecies with it - it's why we're hoping that Miss Misaki's magic can recover more of it," you explain, and scowl at the ceiling. "And it's already borne fruit, but not in a way that's immediately relevant. Anyway. I've been calling the entity Feathers, because Oriko's visions have been invariably obscured by, well, feathers when it happens."

    "What kind of feathers?" Umika asks.

    "Black feathers, about yea big-" you hold up your hands forty centimeters apart, "-and, like. Hard flight feathers, not soft display feathers. Though, uh, we should double-check that, Oriko? That's what I know, so we should confirm that with your visions via Miss Misaki's power."

    Even with that said, you're... pretty sure. Those feathers are like those of no living bird. Larger than any real bird, midnight black in a way that no real creature would have. That one feather is still tucked away in your hammerspace, enfolded in Grief and watched by a sliver of your mind at all times. It hasn't done anything, but you also know there's no bird that it could possibly belong to.

    "Mm," Yuki says, frowning in consideration. "I've heard that Walpurgisnacht can appear in the physical world, without a Barrier, or perhaps by subsuming an entire region within its Barrier. It stands to reason that there might be other Witches that can do so. Is it simply a matter of power?"

    She cracks a thin, sharp smirk.

    "If nothing else, we could consider it a warmup against the coming fight against Walpurgisnacht," she adds. "Thwarting a prophecy sounds like something to burnish our reputations with."

    "It's not a Witch, I'm afraid," Oriko says. "Witches, I can -could- forsee without issue."

    "A magical girl, then?" Yuki says, giving Oriko a long, considering look. "Your clairvoyance might be different from your... foresight, but your powers were recently defeated by the Iowa group. Magical girls who Wish to be able to hide are... not uncommon, unfortunately."

    "There's a confounding incident, one that has already happened," you interject. "At one point, before Sayaka made her Wish, she was... teleported practically into a Witch's Barrier, and Witch-kissed. Oriko's vision of the event was similarly obscured by the feathers."

    You're eliding the fact that the Witch in question was Elsa Maria, a Witch that has been... associated with Sayaka, to say the least. So too are you eliding the fact that you'd been messing with a Barrier of your own at the time. And that is the self-same incident that produced the singular feather you have, to boot. None of that you say out loud, because these are dangerous, dangerous waters to tread.

    "I see," Yuki says, frowning sharply. "Why was I not told of this before?"

    You hesitate. You don't really want to air out Oriko's dirty laundry, even if Yuki's a friend.

    "It is no fault of Sabrina's. We were enemies, owing to my actions in the beginning," Oriko says bluntly, staring Yuki down. "And I was... mildly suicidal. I've since reconsidered both stances, but this is, truthfully, the first time the topic has come up in any cohesive way since then."

    "Ah," Yuki says, her frown lightening, then she nods. "I understand. In that case, thank you for telling me now. Does Miss Nakano know?"

    "No, but I should also say that I don't really expect everyone to..." you trail off, a frown of your own developing. You don't expect to call in everyone for this threat, but you'd all signed onto a mutual defense pact, and you could just make it an exception, but you feel like Yuki in particular might take offense at the notion.

    Judging by the amusement that flickers across her face, you've gotten predictable enough for her to figure out what you're thinking.

    Mami giggles, taking your hand between both of hers, her fingers tracing over the back of your hand.

    "... yes, well, anyway," you say. "So. That's the only... definitive action that Feathers has taken, so far. And, uh, yeah, I've been calling it Feathers, since that's the only identifiable thing about it that we know of."

    There is, perhaps, one other name you could put to it.

    Homura.

    Homura had wings. Black feathers, a dark counterpart to Madoka's ethereal wings.

    But that possibility you keep to yourself, for now.

    "Which brings us to the current fact-finding session," Yuki says with a nod. She leans forward to collect her cup of tea, then settles back with an air of placid acceptance. "Thank you for explaining."

    "Yeah, I'm more than glad to lend my help to a worthy cause like this," Umika says, bright interest undimmed. "Not that, er, I wasn't going to help anyway. You know what I mean."

    "Yes, well, uh... on that note, question for you before we continue, Miss Misaki," you say. "I can also create a magic booster that amplifies, well, magic in general by reinforcing it with my own. Would it help here?"

    Umika looks thoughtful, collecting a teddy-bear-head-shaped mochi from the teddy-bear-shaped plate on the teddy-bear-shaped table before you and popping it into her mouth, chewing as she thinks.

    "It might, but I doubt it," she says after swallowing. "The quill is a direct manifestation of my magic, and it might benefit, but it's rarely about power. It is possible to use magic to resist my magic, but something like that is pretty noticeable. So perhaps if something like that comes up? Otherwise, I doubt it would be useful."

    "Alright, fair enough," you say with a shrug. "Then... I guess it's back to you, Oriko. Though I'm curious?"

    You toss the book back at her, Kirika catching it for her once more. You wait for her to open the book and look at what she wrote, her brows knitting in confusion.

    "... I was gonna ask if you knew anything about that, but judging from that look, probably not?" you venture.

    "Not at all," Oriko admits. "'The Law is-'" She breaks off, giving you a curious look, but you just gesture for her to continue. "'The Law is broken. She searches for the missing fragment.' I... have no idea what that's referring to."

    She casts a look at Umika.

    "Hey, don't look at me," Umika says, shaking her head. "I am... nowhere near an expert on the interaction between powers."

    "You seemed to have an idea, Miss Vee?" Yuki asks, the emerald-green of her eyes sharp.

    "I do, but... mm," you say, hesitating. "Let's just say it's a message for me, with a lot of context that isn't mine to share. And... arguably dangerous to share." You bite the inside of your cheek. "I can promise that I will tell everyone if it becomes relevant, but for now, trust me, please?"

    Yuki nods slowly, holding your gaze and tucking her arms back under her cloak, practically disappearing into the fabric.

    "I'll accept that for now," she says. "Your judgement has been sound for the most part, and while I would like to register my concerns about the topic, I am entirely cognizant of how information can be dangerous. But please do keep in mind that the less we know about this threat, the less we can do about it, Miss Vee. "

    "I can tell Kazumi about this later, right?" Umika says.

    "Preferably under cover of proper privacy measures," you say, motioning towards the interdiction field sitting on the table. "I... especially do not want the white rat getting even the slightest whiff of this."

    "Understandable, gotcha," Umika says. "Full privacy only."

    "I admit I'm deeply curious," Oriko says. "But I'll trust your judgement on this too, Sabrina." The ghost of a smile dances on her lips. "If only to avoid chasing my thoughts in spirals on the matter, I suppose. Having some paths flatly denied is annoying but helps me to focus on what's in front of me."

    Kirika hugs her even as you exhale, relieved.

    You're sure you know Mami's answer, but even so, you're not going to take her for granted, so you glance at her - only to find her already smiling back at you, golden eyes meeting yours steadily for a moment as she nods. She trusts you, and... there's gratitude in the way her smile widens and her fingers interlacing with yours.

    "Thanks, everyone," you say, looking around the group and meeting everyone's gazes for a moment. "For trusting me. I promise I'll do my very best to uphold that trust."

    Umika chuckles lightly.

    "You're the one with an overview on the situation," she says. "And Kazumi trusts you, so I trust you. But that surely wasn't the only question you wanted answered, right?"

    "Ah, yeah!" you say. "Mm... Oriko? You can take the lead on this one for any questions you want - I've got a few to follow up, and... I'd like to try it myself if possible, Miss Misaki?"

    "Oh, answering some of your own questions?" Umika says. "Of course, but keep in mind that my power doesn't just pull information out of thin air. You can try things like hypotheticals, but if there's no way at all of knowing, it's not going to work. Admittedly, the only thing you'll waste is time and a bit of my magic in the attempt."

    "Understood," you say, exchanging a look with Oriko. "I'll be happy to cleanse your Soul Gem if you want?"

    "No need," Umika says with a grin. "It's an excuse to stick with Kazumi for a bit."

    "Ah," you say, nodding solemnly. "Then... it's in your hands, Oriko."

    "Of course," she says, and takes a deep breath, her voice slipping into a steady, measured cadence, one she might have been taught for public speaking. "I'll state my questions out loud for everyone, and save us some time. As such: second question. Who is the entity that kills me, in my visions?"

    She sets the quill to her book and... pauses, her hand unmoving. She purses her lips for a moment, then shrugs.

    "Third question," she continues. "What is the entity that kills me?"

    And when that doesn't yield a response either, she sighs.

    "Why does the entity kill me?" is her next question, and to your lack of surprise, there is no answer. She's trying to probe her visions, and motivation is something that would be difficult to divine at the best of times, after all. Still, she seems undaunted, continuing with, "When does the entity kill me?"

    Scratch. The quill moves with surety over the paper, multiple lines. Yuki's eyes snap to the booklet, thoughtful, while Kirika stiffens.

    "A list of dates and times," Oriko reports, grimacing. "The last one being Tuesday, the twenty-sixth of April. As we've previously discussed, then. Next. Where does the entity kill me?"

    More scratches of the quill over paper, unrelentingly filling in the page, and the next, Oriko's expression steadily becoming more drawn until she forcibly yanks her hand away.

    "A... very comprehensive list of locations," she notes, shaking her hand out. "All over Mitakihara, and less so in various locations across Japan, including Asunaro." She frowns. "Seemingly not beyond its borders, however."

    "Does that mean we might be able to prevent it by moving you out of Japan?" Yuki asks.

    "I am... uncertain," Oriko admits, and sighs. "My magic did not envision a future where I left Japan, but was that because I simply would not have been able to set aside the opportunity to influence events here? Would I always have thought that it was something I could fight, or maybe something I would have accepted as my fate?"

    "Point taken," Yuki says.

    "Moving on to the next question, then," Oriko says, setting the quill once more to the page. "How does the entity kill me?"

    Silence - which Oriko seems undeterred by.

    "Who, why, when, where, and how," Oriko says after a moment. "With not too many answers forthcoming. Next, the... attack on Miss Miki. We know the when and where, of course, leaving three questions."

    To your total lack of surprise, 'who' goes unanswered, as does 'how' - but as she asks 'why', the quill jolts into motion. Judging by the flinch and the way Oriko stares at her hand, she hadn't expected an answer there, either.

    "It was ordained by fate," she reads out a moment later, expression drawn. "What does that even mea- wait. What, specifically, was the vision that led me to conclude that?"

    Scratch.

    "... I apparently foresaw Miss Miki's death at the hands of that Witch," Oriko says slowly. "But my prophecy was overwritten twice over, first by Sabrina's actions, then by the entity's actions, and ultimately defied once again by Sabrina."

    "... what?" you say, blinking. "Does that... OK, so... you're saying Sayaka was destined to die there, but I changed her fate, and the entity... tried to course-correct reality, and then I defied fate definitively by saving her? Well, Mami, Homura, and I."

    "Apparently so," Oriko says, staring down at the book.

    "Why Miss Miki?" Yuki asks, her brow creasing. "Why her specifically, and why then?"

    [] How do you answer?
    - [] Gloss over it; admit your own uncertainty
    - [] Write-in
    [x] Vote in abeyance
    [] While trying to divine answers about yourself...
    - [] Conceal the answers from everyone else
    - [] Don't bother concealing the answers
    -- [] How do you address your friends' curiosity?
    --- [] Write-in
    [X] for yourself, Iterate through...
    -[X] Everything Oriko wants to ask.
    -[X] Your own questions about...
    --[X] Your status before you woke up in the alley
    --[X] Where your clothes came from (in the alley)
    --[X] What you've done when tranced, when it was significant
    --[X] What you recall Homura's feathers are supposed to look like
    --[X] Why your potential was strange
    --[X] Who the voice you've been hearing belongs to
    --[X] "Who is dreaming?"
    --[X] Where is the missing fragment?

    =====​

    New year, new start! A bit later than I had intended, and jetlag is still kicking my ass a bit, but it's good to be back in the saddle! I'll try and keep the updates rolling.

    Also, I dropped the line to show Umika the feather for brevity, because I can say that she'll get nothing from it - you can vote it back in if you want, though.
     
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    • ...yeah, this is an utter minefield. Sabrina has a lot of answers (potentially, at least - it's not guaranteed that she has the correct ones), but all of them, first to last, are utterly shattering, reaching into the absolute worst the original series could get.

    This is... tricky.
     
    Torgamous said:
    Do we know of any timelines where Sayaka died to Elsa Maria?
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    I don't think so strictly unless you count it as being a tipping point.
    WeissRaben said:
    ...yeah, this is an utter minefield. Sabrina has a lot of answers (potentially, at least - it's not guaranteed that she has the correct ones), but all of them, first to last, are utterly shattering, reaching into the absolute worst the original series could get.
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    Sabrina has the very unenviable task of potentially having the most information but not knowing how much of it is relevant and how much of it is 'safe' to give out.
     
    Torgamous said:
    Do we know of any timelines where Sayaka died to Elsa Maria? If it's not trying to recreate a timeline we know, then that complicates things.
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    I think Elsa Maria was the last witch Sayaka fought before witching out herself, in the original series. It's a stretch, but you could say that Elsa Maria was responsible for Sayaka's fall, there.
     
    Shadowhisker said:
    I think Elsa Maria was the last witch Sayaka fought before witching out herself, in the original series. It's a stretch, but you could say that Elsa Maria was responsible for Sayaka's fall, there.
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    It's a stretch even for more ambiguous phrasing than "death at the hands of."

    [] This isn't hazardous in the same way that other facts are. With this you're mostly worried about stumbling into a "speak not her name lest she appear" situation.
    -[] So you're going to try to explain things, but you're going to do a lot of not speaking names, and there's going to be some wild stuff that they're just gonna have to let pass without elaboration.
    --[] You know Sayaka isn't destined to die to Elsa Maria in general. In every timeline you're aware of she dies either without meeting her or a while after for only broadly related reasons. So whatever script Feathers wants to follow, it's not one you have.
     
    I think part of the problem might be that Sabrina's existence effectively prevents 'witching out', which is the usual cause of Sayaka's death. If Sayaka is destined to die, but will not die via the usual cause, then a new cause must be created. It follows, Sabrina prevented Sayaka's death via witch-out, so Feathers attempted a different means, and Sabrina prevented that too.

    While this particular witch is narratively significant to Sayaka's story arc, I don't think there's any meaning beyond that, and the fact the this witch was available and Sayaka was supposed to die. Edit: That is to say, there is no specific property of this witch that causes anything beyond historical precedence.

    Hypothetically, feathers could have murdered Sayaka more directly; dropping her in front of a train, perhaps. We're not sure if there are any rules or limits preventing this. But Sayaka's death served another purpose, hurting, isolating Madoka and further drawing her into the dark and depressing world of magic, encouraging her into making a wish. I don't think Sayaka getting hit by a train would have that same effect, a defiance of 'destiny' as feathers sees it, in a different way. To keep the plot on track, Sayaka has to not just die, but die in a specific way that makes Madoka feel powerless, guilty even.
     
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    It's going to be a little awkward to phrase with all of these other people in the room but before we move on to our own questions we really need to ask Oriko to ask why exactly she warned us not to tell Homura about Madoka's potential. Any scrap of information we can get about what happens and whether that results in Homura remembering that she's always been the devil is going to be incredibly relevant for what we do next
     
    Shadowhisker said:
    I think Elsa Maria was the last witch Sayaka fought before witching out herself, in the original series. It's a stretch, but you could say that Elsa Maria was responsible for Sayaka's fall, there.
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    I'm thinking something similar. The timeline we see, which is implied to be largely unremarkable until the very end, involves Sayaka fighting Elsa Maria while despairing, as her last act before Witching out. Feathers couldn't replicate that scenario anymore -- because Sayaka wasn't a magical girl yet, because even if she was most of the rest of the cast was (and is, to my continued gratitude) still alive and sane and able to back her up or at least bail her out after, and because even if everything else somehow was stuck on rails we would almost certainly prevent her from Witching out in the end. But even still, the bit of the timeline that is "Sayaka confronts Elsa Maria and then dies" can be replicated, if in a totally different context.

    (EDIT: Actually, I misremembered; Sayaka does quite a bit after fighting Elsa Maria, going at least another day or two, refusing a Grief Seed from Homura, and of course the confrontation with the assholes on the train.

    However, Elsa Maria was the last time Sayaka was in a Barrier before she died/Witched out. That seems... important.)

    It also lends weight to explanations of Feathers that ascribe a more Witch-like mentality, rather than the half-sane/arguably-still-clinging-to-sanity Akuma Homura. "Trying absolutely single-mindedly for a largely pointless goal to the point of accepting absolutely any approximation, however shitty" seems much more like a traditional Witch than, well, Homura herself.

    DarkVeracity said:
    It's going to be a little awkward to phrase with all of these other people in the room but before we move on to our own questions we really need to ask Oriko to ask why exactly she warned us not to tell Homura about Madoka's potential. Any scrap of information we can get about what happens and whether that results in Homura remembering that she's always been the devil is going to be incredibly relevant for what we do next
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    Hm. Have we ever tried telepathy within our interdiction bubble before? I know outside we're nearly certain Kyuubey can eavesdrop on it even if he isn't playing router, but within it might be valid?

    ... Also, I think I missed some discussion, as last I checked our vote was to start coming clean about some of the Madokami stuff. Why'd we decide against that?
     
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    Hey @Firnagzen I think you got something wrong here.

    Firnagzen said:
    I do have an enchantment booster that amplifies the effect of enchantments by reinforcing the magic from the enchanter with bits of my own magic, making it easier to shape. Would it help here?"
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    The booster we wanted to use was the one that boosted magic not the enchantment one.

    The one that we used to boost Oriko magic.
     
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