- Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will be meeting the Kagoshima group and Murasaki Shrine Maidens
- We promised to the Tome group to schedule a meeting with them this week
- We had a tentative proposal to visit the Myanmar girls on Thursday that needs to be confirmed or rescheduled
- Visiting Tsubaki Mikoto in Hokkaido on Thursday night
We also told things like this to Sayaka who was much closer to us than Nagisa but the moment she felt herself being useless she took the deal. They are kids. Nagisa even younger than them. And Kyubey knows how to exploit vulnerability.
Ok, to hell with it, if people vote for it - they vote, if they dont - they dont. Hopefully mods wont smite me down for double post (like 12 hours apart).
[X] Give advice on how to avoid getting attacked by a Witch and what to do if he encounters a Witch kissed group.
[X] There's a kaiju-witch scheduled in Mitakihara on the 30th. We're gonna kill it, but it'll do a lot of damage first, so be ready to evacuate for that.
-[X] We asked Nakano Mika to help fix the city afterwards, which we understand has affected his workload. Sorry.
[X] The Incubators prefer to target girls who are alone, feel use- or helpless, or have suffered great loss. From what you've seen, he's already done a good job making Nagisa a less appealing target, even unknowingly.
-[X] However, The Incubators know how to exploit vulnerability and Wish granting takes a minute or so. The Incubator could try to sway Nagisa or any other girl to make a Wish to help us fight kaiju-witch. You should watch out for that during evacuation, just in case.
[X] Yeah, the food at Shion's Cafe was pretty good.
[X] Give advice on how to avoid getting attacked by a Witch and what to do if he encounters a Witch kissed group.
[X] There's a kaiju-witch scheduled in Mitakihara on the 30th. We're gonna kill it, but it'll do a lot of damage first, so be ready to evacuate for that.
-[X] We asked Nakano Mika to help fix the city afterwards, which we understand has affected his workload. Sorry.
[X] The Incubators prefer to target girls who are alone, feel use- or helpless or have suffered great loss. From what you've seen he's already done a good job making Nagisa a less appealing target, even unknowingly.
[X] Yeah, the food at Shion's Cafe was pretty good.
You frown thoughtfully. Walpurgisnacht is something he should know about, all things considered - it is a lot to pile on his shoulders, but frankly, it's something everyone should know about. And with the topic of Kyuubey's machinations fresh on your mind, you can't help but feel a little squirm of paranoia worm itself in.
"Two... two and a half things," you say, after a bracing sip of tea.
"Oh?" Shin says, inclining his head slightly.
"Number one - all things going well, it won't ever come up, but on the topic of Witches," you say, biting your lip. "What I... kind of glossed over is that Witches do attack ordinary humans. "
Shin closes his eyes for a brief moment.
"Of course they do," he says. "What are the signs?"
"Watch for people acting strangely," you say. "They're attracted to despair, and they frequently in turn induce despair in others. They can also lure people with a sort of mind control we call Witch's kisses - if you see people dazed, walking unsteadily and trying to harm themselves or others, or to try and grab people, that sort of thing... leave immediately. The same, if terrain starts to distort unnaturally around you. Run, in that case. Call me, if you can. I'll be there."
"Common sense, I suppose, now that I know such a... threat exists," Shin says wryly. "I wonder if this is how our ancestors felt, when there were big animals that might actually catch us?" He shakes his head. "That's existentially terrifying, but I'll keep your warning in mind, thank you."
"Yeah... I'm sorry," you say with a sigh. "And on the note of existential terror, there's... let's call it a chaser."
"Might as well hear it all out in one go," Shin says. "But I really do hope that's the last of it."
"It's the last of the bad news, yes. There's a kaiju-Witch that we're expecting to show up in Mitakihara on the thirtieth," you say. You meet his eyes steadily, holding his gaze with your own, because as much as anything, you want him to believe. "We're going to handle it. We're going to kill it, but it is coming. There will be warnings - we've arranged for meteorological agencies to predict a superstorm formation in advance to evacuate the city, but we're expecting substantial damage."
Shin swallows, his throat bobbing, and reaches for his teacup before draining it in one pull.
"We already have plans in motion for it, Mr. Momoe," Mami says, reassuring and confident. "It's a powerful Witch, but we're going to defeat it. Mitakihara is our home, after all."
"Is there anything else that can be done?" Shin asks weakly. "Can the military do anything?"
You shake your head, trying to chase off images of timelines past. Of tankers full of fuel, thrown in the smiling face of a monstrous foe. Of mortar barrages, pre-sighted in timestop and raining down in a single thunderous blast. Of missiles, of a stadium filled with explosives. Of a seemingly invulnerable Witch, laughing through it all.
"It's very, very resistant against mundane firepower," you say quietly. "It has to be magic - it has to be us. But we're not standing against it alone. We're building alliances across Japan, and hopefully the world."
"It's good to know it's not just the two of you," Shin concedes. "I'm sure you're capable, but..."
"I get it," you say. "And, uh... mixed news? So, uh... one of those allies we've been making is with Nakano Mika. Yes, that Nakano."
"... oh, son of a bitch," Shin blurts, then looks embarrassed. "Pardon my language."
"I've heard worse," you say, even as Mami giggles.
"That explains it," he says, eyes narrowing as he stares off at a distant point, lips moving silently for a moment. "Mitakihara's not quite a saturated market, but we were surprised to see Nakano Corp make such aggressive moves out of the blue... ah. Rebuilding?"
"Exactly," you say, smiling. "We're planning for this."
"You're teenagers, you shouldn't have to," Shin says. He sighs and rubs his forehead. "I'm glad you've got your plans for all this, but it hardly sits well with me that you have to face some sort of city-destroying monster, on top of fighting similar monsters every day."
He hesitates.
"I mean no offense, but do you have any adults helping out at all? I don't doubt your competence, Miss Vee, Miss Tomoe, but experience is nothing to be dismissed or neglected," he says.
"Only somewhat," you say, grimacing and shifting your weight on the cushion. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind getting more on board with the Constellation - we're actively looking for some therapists, for example, and for that matter, I wouldn't mind finding consultants on organization and disaster relief, that sort of thing."
"But I don't think we would accept any adults in a supervising role," Mami adds quietly. "No one who hasn't experienced the things we have."
You nod silently. You're not sure you totally agree with that particular argument, even if it's from Mami, but you do agree that magical girls would be deeply unlikely to accept outside leadership... and you're not even a fan of authority in the first place.
"I suppose not," Shin says, and sighs, sitting back with a contemplative look. He doesn't look happy about it, but he seems to realize that this is a difficult line to push. "... so, Nakano Mika? I don't recognize the name, but by inference, Nakano's daughter?"
"Heiress presumptive of Nakano Corp, yeah," you say. "She was one of our friends and allies who intervened against those raiders I mentioned, and she signed up with Constellation, too."
"Huh." Shin sits back, scratching his cheek as he stares off at the wall again. "It's the ones you'd never expect, I suppose. Magic."
"Magic itself is a wondrous thing," Mami says quietly. "The feeling of your own magic answering your call, of the freedom it brings and the joy of pushing yourself in ways you could never have imagined... it's impossible to describe. It's just that we were sold on false pretenses, with the costs hidden from us."
It's your turn to take Mami's hand, squeezing gently.
"I believe you, Miss Tomoe," Shin says with a strained smile. "Even for me, just hearing about it, and seeing some of what you can do it's... a whole new world that just opened up. It reminds me of my childhood dreams. But as you say, it's the circumstances surrounding it."
"Speaking of childhood dreams and mediocre segues and ending things on a good note, I had one last thing to note," you say. "Keeping Nagisa out of the Incubators' clutches."
Shin's gaze sharpens, his attention focusing on you.
"The Incubators tend to target girls who are alone, feel useless, or helpless, or have suffered great loss. The emotionally vulnerable, in other words," you say, and flash a smile. "But from what I see, you don't have to worry about that with Nagisa. Just... you've made her feel loved, I think, and that alone has worked out to make Nagisa a far, far less appealing target."
"I couldn't do anything less. She's family," Shin says, expression even. "I..."
He frowns, and shakes his head as if trying to abort that thought.
"I couldn't do anything less, either." You echo, in answer to the question he didn't ask. You didn't befriend Nagisa just because you wanted to stave off her becoming a Witch. You can't say it wasn't part of the reason, but it certainly wasn't the only reason. "I saw a kid in distress, and... I couldn't not want to help."
Shin gives you a chagrinned look, even as Mami chuckles, cupping your hand in both of hers.
"There's no need to be so blunt, Sabrina," she says.
"... well, it's true," you grumble. "Besides, my weapon is a hammer, and I'm a rude, noisy foreigner who doesn't know any better. It's thematically appropriate for me to be blunt."
"Your Japanese is better than just about anyone I know, local or not," Shin says drily. "Dare I ask about this hammer?"
"Oh, I've got a magical weapon - most magical girls do," you say, raising your free hand and summoning your hammer.
Shin jolts a little, presumably at the casual display of magic, then gives it a long look, examining the filigreed, silvery metal.
"... it's not blunt at all," he observes. "It has spikes."
"What? No, it-"
This time, it's your turn to give your hammer a long look - specifically at the head of your weapon, with its wickedly curved armour-piercing spike on one end... and the blunt end, with its little armour-piercing clawed head. You stare at it for a moment, rotating it this way and that to observe the way light catches on the facets of the striking surface. Mami dissolves into giggles next to you, trying to hide it behind her teacup.
"... thematically appropriate," you insist, dismissing your hammer because the demonstration is over, and definitely not to prevent further examination of the evidence. "It's still a hammer. Big, blunt-force swings, not surgical precision."
"As you say, Miss Vee," Shin says, amused.
"But yes. Moving on," you say. "Yes. That, at last, is the last of the bombshells I had to drop on you."
"Thank god," Shin says mildly. "I don't think my old man heart could have taken much more."
You eyeball him. He can't possibly be older than his early forties, you're pretty sure.
"In the vein of good news, magical healing is a learnable skill for all magical girls!" Mami says brightly. "Sabrina and I are quite practiced at it, too."
You snicker, even if Shin's giving Mami an unimpressed look.
"I'll keep that in mind, too," he says, his voice bone dry. He leans forward across the table, offering his hand. "That said... thank you both, Miss Vee, Miss Tomoe. For trusting me with this grand secret, and for caring about Nagisa, and for the warnings."
You shake firmly, rising to a kneel to meet him halfway.
"It's only right," you say. "And... I consider Nagisa a friend, now." It would be presumptous to call her the little sister you never had, but it does feel like it, sometimes. "So... I really couldn't do anything less."
"That's nothing to dismiss," Shin says. "There are far too many who would look at the right thing to do and to choose the easy thing to do. Or the profitable thing to do." He snorts. "But let's set that aside. I think a round of dessert is in order after all that, don't you?"
"That would be lovely, Mr. Momoe," Mami says, answering for you.
It's not exactly the traditional accompaniment to a sushi dinner, but sometimes tradition must bow to the modern, and it turns out that the sushi restaurant offers some very nice chilled mochi. Shin snacks silently on the mochi after they arrive, lost in thought, and you and Mami choose to do likewise, giving him time to think.
Finally, he stirs himself with another distant smile.
"Forgive me," he says. "I have a lot to think about."
"Considering it was me who gave you all that to think about, I can hardly complain," you say.
"That said, I should be going," he says. "Would you like to come and visit? I'm sure Nagisa would be delighted."
"Unfortunately, we can't - we're meeting other friends later," you say. "Do give her my best wishes, though? And the parmesan. Oh! And I nearly forgot - the food at Shion cafe was excellent. I'd recommend it."
Shin snorts.
"Ah, I actually had forgotten about that," he says amiably. "Thank you for the recommendation, then, I'll try that out. And I'm sure Nagisa will love the cheese - it's a good thing she has a growing metabolism."
He heaves himself to his feet, and you likewise follow. You split the bill with Shin, the older man grumbling about the whole affair, but you're insistent. This is to make amends, and after dropping all that on his lap, you feel mildly guilty about the whole thing. Finally, with that settled, you part ways, Shin heading for his car.
"I think that went well," you tell Mami.
Stepping back out into the city proper is all but a shock to the senses, after the warm, cosy lighting of the restaurant. A chill steals through the air, the remnants of the rain making one last grasp at relevance, and the streets throng with crowds and buzzing chatter. Night has fallen properly now, the skies dark and the moon slowing creeping up across the velvet darkness.
"I think so too," Mami says. She swings your joined hands back and forth, smiling as you stroll along the roads, and sighs happily. "Today has been wonderful."
You chuckle softly.
"Yeah, it has been," you agree softly. "Long day, but it's been good."
"Ah, but we shouldn't be so quick to eulogize it," Mami says, smiling cheekily at you. "We still have our business with Miss Tsuruya - and with Homura and Hitomi."
"True, true," you say, beaming at her. "Let's go!"
You turn your attention to considering tomorrow - your afternoon will be pretty full, what with heading all the way to the southern tip of Japan to meet the #nyantokanyaru IRC folks. You hope that that goes well, since Homura mentioned they'd be good to have for Walpurgisnacht. And you'll have to wedge in a stop at Kyoto either before or after that, too.
And for the rest of the week... you'd promised Kazue Fukui, from the Tome group a face-to-face meeting at some point this week. A friend and former teammate of Chouko's, and you do rather hope their rekindled friendship is going well. It'd be deeply awkward if not, really. And a tentative meeting with the Myanmar girls on Thursday you'll definitely need to confirm, to check on in the aftermath of the Iowa girls. And...
Ah, yes.
Meeting Tsubaki Mikoto all the way north in Hokkaido, that same night. One of the oldest magical girls you know of, at the ripe old age of twenty.
But then again, all of that is putting the cart before the horse. It does rather leave your coming morning rather free, you suppose.
[] What are your morning plans?
- [] More Witch hunting with Kyouko and Yuma (and Sayaka?)
- [] Go visiting somewhere?
-- [] Masami, Hiroko, and Megane
-- [] Noriko, Akemi, and the Soujus
-- [] Sendai
-- [] Ishinomaki
- [] Something else?
-- [] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
=====
Slightly later (in the week, anyway) update today, but hey.
So! I'm hoping to cover the rest of the night and the next morning in the next update, so do vote accordingly!
Should the first letter be capitalized? I'm unwilling to dig up if that's a website name that is all lower case.
The one experiment I wanted to do tonight was to enchant something before going to bed and compare the amount of magic left in it in the morning. It would give us an idea of how long things we or others create last. Homura would definitely be amenable to making her bubble enchantment (from a lo~ong way back) for Madoka if she can make one Madoka can then activate at need. It would give her a little sense of security, and Homura needs every drop of that we can give her.
2nd'ing the enchantment test, as clearly we need to enchant a Pillow of Malleable Sleep, one that conforms perfectly to the user to give the best rest possible for Mami.
Other sleep enchantments to be done in the future when there is more TIME.
Hi cured meat here I want to add something to the Hammer symbolism
if I remember correctly are weapon is a warpic a type of weapon design to pierce armor; Is it's not are goal to pierce the system,to break it apart.
It is in fact very symbolic of us, a scythe is not though it would look very cool,aesthetically speaking.
Reading through past discussions and cackling maniacally whenever someone tries to predict how long the quest will take. Granted, that's hypocritical since I wasn't here before February of this year but... y'know... I like dramatic irony.
Don't get me wrong, I also like how long this quest is. Gives rereadability.
The one experiment I wanted to do tonight was to enchant something before going to bed and compare the amount of magic left in it in the morning. It would give us an idea of how long things we or others create last.
You stretch your mind out, searching for the enchanted Grief - but you don't find it. So it dissipated overnight, which is not unexpected. You didn't put that much magic into it, and Mami did explain that the longevity of enchantments is based on just that.
Why don't we make an enchantment during the day and watching how it dissipates over time? Not saying we shouldn't do the sleeping experiment but doing it during the day allows us to know more about how it dissipates rather than just how much it dissipates from before and after sleeping.
I'll also say that for PMAS, the Incubators have in fact chosen a strategy, and... well, you don't know what it is. Sabrina is also incredibly unlikely to sway them from it.
Catching up with this quest after setting it aside for over a year has been an absolute blast! Lots of fun progress and great interactions in the last uh,
... day.
Anyway it's been great catching back up to the first quest I ever participated in.
Since it looks like we will be doing a bunch of travel tomorrow I would like to raise one question/idea which has been burning a hole in my pocket since forever: Why don't we pair our mobile operations fortress with a witch-construct to aid in travel?
Like, we used to use a witch-construct to make a transparent windshield of all things. Instead make something which just says "no" to inertia, air friction and inconvenient obstacles. (In a safe way obviously)
Sure we can't alter anything outside of our zone. But there is no rule which says we can't go from 0 to arbitrarily fast to 0 and stop on a dime. Almost-teleportation speeds if we need to.
2nd'ing the enchantment test, as clearly we need to enchant a Pillow of Malleable Sleep, one that conforms perfectly to the user to give the best rest possible for Mami.
We considered it when going after the Iowa girls, but it got nixed by our allies, at least for that trip. Something that compensates for inertia or allows us to travel at supersonic speeds without generating sonic booms could be worthwhile.
The problem with witchy stuff is that it feels witchy. Witch is a bad first impression with new magical girls. We could do it when flying between people we've already met, but Yuki does it better.
What it would be useful for, if we're very sure that we haven't missed anything, is getting most of the way across the Pacific to visit our American internet friends.
We considered it when going after the Iowa girls, but it got nixed by our allies, at least for that trip. Something that compensates for inertia or allows us to travel at supersonic speeds without generating sonic booms could be worthwhile.
Could approximate inertial dampeners, without violating physics in witchy-feeling ways, by injecting some grief nanofog and using it to actively manage passengers' blood circulation and cerebrospinal fluid. Top problems from extreme Gs mostly come down to "wrong amount of blood pressure in the brain" and/or "brain bouncing around inside the skull," so if forces in there can be smoothed out, kept within safe ranges, overall G-tolerance goes way up.
As for sonic booms, how about shaping the MOP as a long, narrow cigar or needle shape, everybody lined up inside like an olympic bobsled team (since less frontal area means less air resistance) and using more nanofog to actively mitigate the shockwaves, similar to noise-canceling headphones?
Or simply removing air immediately in front of the vehicle, via hammerspace, then putting that air back exactly where it was once you've finished passing through?
The problem with witchy stuff is that it feels witchy. Witch is a bad first impression with new magical girls. We could do it when flying between people we've already met, but Yuki does it better.
What it would be useful for, if we're very sure that we haven't missed anything, is getting most of the way across the Pacific to visit our American internet friends.
Knowing whether we can make a construct would be beneficial, even if we don't otherwise need to make use of one now. Our alliance is closer now than it was then, so we might not have such a problem where their discomfort is concerned.
Could approximate inertial dampeners, without violating physics in witchy-feeling ways, by injecting some grief nanofog and using it to actively manage passengers' blood circulation and cerebrospinal fluid. Top problems from extreme Gs mostly come down to "wrong amount of blood pressure in the brain" and/or "brain bouncing around inside the skull," so if forces in there can be smoothed out, kept within safe ranges, overall G-tolerance goes way up.
My idea is to make a portal at the front and rear of the ship, so we don't have to push air out of the way. Whether we can make portals ro each other within our range has never been tested. If we can make portals, those are one of many Grief constructs we should make sure Sayaka and... the girl whose power she copied, whatever her name is, because they can create non-witchy versions without that discomfort or our limited range.
My idea is to make a portal at the front and rear of the ship, so we don't have to push air out of the way. Whether we can make portals ro each other within our range has never been tested. If we can make portals, those are one of many Grief constructs we should make sure Sayaka and... the girl whose power she copied, whatever her name is, because they can create non-witchy versions without that discomfort or our limited range
Theoretically, while we never created barriers again, we could try may be instead of straight up portals (if we couldnt make them in the end) create minibarrier and use two openings to it instead; should allow air pass through all the same. Seems to me more plausible than teleportation but hey, griefbending is bullshit, so I wouldn't be surprised by working portals.
Actually, portals/barrier tube could be useful for defense or rebounding attacks as well, iirc Walpurgis has some lasers going for her.
Hmm... not the most consequential vote, I admit, but could I get a few more to confirm? Admittedly, checking in with Noriko, Akemi, and the Soujus are probably one of the more fun options, but hey.
