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Puella Magi Imperatrix Mundi, or: Wherein Half Of Japan Tries To Kill You

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Shaseyu said:
She's Kyubey, who gone insane after watching too many 'Kamen Rider'?

She's Asami's split personality? That can explain her strange potential; she actually made a contract, but doesn't know about it.

She's Kaoru? He was expelled from his university and too embarrassed to return home, so he became magical superhero-hobo?
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I would be happy with any of those
 
Kaoru is clearly the best choice, since the possible interactions with Yui are the best.
 
Nervos Belli said:
Wait. Are you saying Naoko can be a dullahan? If so, I love her character even more.
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...nnnnot really? I mean, technically yes, but not for very long. It wastes a lot of magic to keep her head alive when it's not attached and it's hard to think clearly with a dead brain, so while she could totally do that as a cheap stunt she's not gonna walk around headless for an extended period of time.

Remember, Naoko is very intimately aware of the ramifications of being a gem with a meat puppet. She's completely not bothered by being in pieces, and as long as every piece is healed enough to stay alive and within range of the Soul Gem, she can control everything just fine.

She can lop off a hand and make it finger-walk around, for example. That's a lot cheaper magically than keeping her head alive, too. (Brains are expensive to maintain.)
 
Echo said:
Oh, that reminds me: Given that she has a fair chance of showing up again, I figured I should finish deciding what Kaede actually, y'know, looks like. So here's a super-rough sketch of the current basic idea for her meguca outfit:

*snip*

Details may differ in the final design but that's the basic idea, anyway.
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Is it weird that I actually really really like her face?
 
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Ch. 3: Light the Path Whenever It's Dark (34)
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    • Evening - Monday, January 17th, 2011​

    "Let's start with the 'unusual properties' one," you say. "That's pretty much guaranteed to involve a magical girl, right? And we can scout things out near the border, find out if more Tokyo girls are nosing around."

    "We'll need to stay on guard for that same reason," Maiko cautions. "It might be wise to search as discreetly as possible."

    "I say we let ourselves be pretty obvious," you reply. "The sooner we know about any invaders the better, right? My magic sense should let me see them before they try anything, and between the three of us we should at least be able to hold them off and retreat safely."

    Maiko doesn't look entirely happy about this, but doesn't object either. "Very well. In that case, you and Minami should scout from the rooftops while I trail behind out of sight. As always, I will intervene if necessary," she says. "The incidents we'll be investigating tonight are some distance away, however, and I have a better alternative than traveling the entire distance by rooftop."

    "Okay! Let's go, then!"

     
    		 
    "...I thought you meant a cooler alternative," you complain at Maiko.

    She looks over at you from her seat across the center aisle of the bus. "I said better," Maiko says, one eyebrow raised. "How you chose to interpret that is your own concern."

    You pout.

    Maiko just goes back to reading some book full of charts and diagrams and English words and other confusing things, so you poke Minami. Getting spy satellite practice? you ask telepathically.

    Affirmative, she replies. Currently performing basic sweeps of the surrounding area.

    Seen anything interesting?

    Lots of Witches, she sighs. But I'm not sure that really counts as interesting anymore.

    Yeah, you say. In that case, seen anything... 'interesting'? you ask, grinning at her.

    Minami flushes slightly and looks away from you. N-no! And I'm not looking for anything like that, either!

    You kick your legs idly, looking out the bus window for a while. "Hey Maiko," you say eventually. "You sure it's okay for me and Minami to be sitting here like this?" You gesture to your magical girl outfit.

    "Tokyo street fashion is more outlandish than your outfits," Maiko says with a shrug. "And nobody would notice anyway, thanks to Kyubey." Minami frowns slightly at that, but doesn't say anything.

    You frown. "I am unconvinced," you say. "Rule number one of being an anime protagonist is that you have to stand out in a crowd of background characters! Otherwise the audience won't know who to cheer for and/or buy merchandise of, you see."

    "By that logic, you should stand out even without transforming," Maiko points out.

    "Ooh," you say. "Good point. Objection withdrawn! Oh, Maiko, by the way..."

    Maiko sighs, then makes a big show of closing her book and putting it in her bag before turning to you. "Yes, Yui?"

    "If the whole 'knowledge is power' thing actually works, does that mean I could read minds if I really tried?" you ask.

    Maiko gives you a flat look. "Why are you asking me? You should have an intuitive grasp of your own magic," she says.

    "Well, yeah, but..." you wave your hands around expressively. What you're expressing you're not sure, but it's definitely something. "I sorta feel like I... don't really have hard limits? Like I could do just about anything, in the right circumstances and given enough magic, but I don't know how."

    Maiko frowns, then pushes her glasses up her nose. "That would fit my guess regarding your wish magic being... conceptually expansive, I suppose," she says. "But if you can't figure out how to accomplish something with it I'm not sure there's anything I can do to assist. That type of thing is often tied intimately to the mindset and motives you had when making your wish, and nearly impossible to describe clearly in words."

    "Hmm," you say, tapping your chin thoughtfully.

    "That said, if your wish is enhancing your ability to acquire and retain information, I don't believe there's a sound conceptual link from that to obtaining otherwise unavailable information. Furthermore, 'mind reading' is a very broad notion, and may simply be too general for you to frame in terms of your wish," Maiko says.

    You pout. "Okay, then."

    "However, if your interest was primarily aimed at reading surface thoughts to aid in diplomatic situations, you may find it useful to study microexpressions and cold reading techniques. They can be remarkably effective against the unprepared," Maiko says, looking distinctly pleased with herself, "and either myself or Yumi can teach you the basics."

    You... kind of want to ask more about that, but your stop is coming up soon and you have a mysterious magical girl to search for.

     
    		 
    After reaching Asaka Ward you start looking around as planned. Given that you have no idea who or what you're looking for, you look around with your magic sense while Minami scans the surrounding area for magical girls. You very quickly spot some unusual magic, of a kind you've never seen before--not a magical girl, obviously, but maybe one of the strange objects? Minami and Maiko follow as you look for the source of the magic.

    What you find is a bicycle. With a piece of paper stuck to it.

    On the paper is a kanji meaning "walk", written in fluid brushstrokes, and the ink used seems to be the primary source of magic. Threads of weaker magic extend out from it through the bicycle, particularly the wheels. The three of you regard the bike in silence.

    "I don't get it," Minami eventually says.

    Maiko sighs, leaning closer to peer at it. "It doesn't appear dangerous, but we should nevertheless--" she trails off as you hop on the bike. "Yui!"

    "What?" you say. "It's fine, see?" You push off and start pedaling, and as soon as you do the bike's wheels elongate vertically, lifting you up as the bicycle begins walking forward with an unsteady gait.

    Maiko and Minami stare.

    "Right," Maiko says. "'Unusual properties' it is."

    You hop off and a few seconds later the bike looks completely normal again. "Well, the paper says 'walk'," you say. "Seems self-explanatory to me. Like, literally self-explanatory, by definition."

    Maiko rubs the bridge of her nose. "That does seem to be the case, yes."

    "I found more things with bits of paper like that," Minami says, pointing. "The greatest concentration seems to be this way."

     
    		 
    Your next find is a bench labeled with a kanji meaning "descend".

    You sit down, but nothing happens. You tap your chin. "I was expecting it to, like, sink into the ground or something," you say. "Hmm."

    The bench continues to be stubbornly bench-like, and eventually you get bored and stand u--

    --the world seems to tilt and you tumble down from the bench, ending up sprawled on the ground in front of Minami and Maiko. "...oof."

    "Interesting," Maiko remarks.

    You grumble as you get to your feet, then look around. "There's a magic-y something over there that looks like another one, let's--"

    "Found her," Minami suddenly says, pointing west-ish. "A bit over two kilometers that way."

    "You're certain?" Maiko asks.

    "Target is a teenage girl wearing a stylized kimono, presently engaged in what appears to be calligraphy practice while standing on top of a street light," Minami says. "So... fairly certain, yes."

    "Right," Maiko says dryly.

    Once again, you and Minami take to the roofs and the three of you make your way toward the girl who appears to be responsible for all of this... this. You're not quite sure what to make of it all. What's her goal? Does she even have a goal? Or is she just sticking magic kanji to random items because she can?

    At least you don't need to wonder why she's standing on a street light: It's to be dramatic, obviously. You're glad to know that at least one thing she's doing makes sense! Now if you could just--

    --a bit of magic to the south catches your attention. It's growing stronger in a way that suggests the source is approaching rapidly. You hold up a hand and Minami comes to a stop. We have incoming, you say telepathically. Probably will be coming at us through that construction site.

    Acknowledged, Minami replies. Orders, Commander?

    Wait until we make contact, you say. The unknown target may or may not be host--

    With a deafening crash, several floors of the partially-constructed building collapse as their metal supports are ripped away. A magical girl clad in a gray and electric blue costume barrels out of the dust cloud, gently waving streams of metal chunks trailing behind her, one from each hand, as she leaps through the air.

    You barely have time to react before she crashes to the roof in front of you, the scrap metal whirling around her like a cyclone. By the time you draw your wand, she's already focused on you, one hand extending in your direction.

    Bits of scrap metal slam together in rapid succession with a loud clatter, pressing into the shape of a crude lance three meters long, and the instant it's formed she flings it at you with tremendous speed. You raise your wand to meet the attack, fire a beam down the center of the lance, and--

    --the makeshift lance explodes violently, bits of scrap metal flying in almost every direction except toward you and Minami. A wave of shrapnel pelts your opponent almost too fast for her to respond, metal bits coming to a halt only a few centimeters from her shocked face. ...with a wave of her hand the fragments are swept back into the maelstrom circling her and she's attacking again.

    Already you can see a number of smaller projectiles forming out of the metal storm, while the magical girl herself raises a clenched fist over her head, two dense, narrow metal columns slowly assembling in parallel to either side of her hand.

    Minami stands wide-eyed, only now starting to recover from the shock enough to take action.


    [x] Fight...
    - [x] For defense, blocking her attacks.
    - [x] For interference, preventing her from attacking
    -- [x] Focus on the small projectiles
    -- [x] Focus on the dense columns, whatever they are.
    - [x] For offense, hoping to injure her enough that she'll surrender.
    - [x] (write-in?)
    [x] While you fight, try talking to your opponent via brainmail.
    - [x] Try to talk her down peacefully. (write in details)
    - [x] Play hardball. (write in details)
    - [x] (write-in?)
    [x] Tell Minami to...
    - [x] ...fall back and assist however she can from long range. ...you probably should have asked what kind of weapon she uses.
    - [x] ...do her stealth thing and do what she can assist--just be careful of getting in the crossfire.
    - [x] ...use her own judgment.
    - [x] (write-in?)
    [x] You're feeling a bit out of your depth here... screw it, ask for Maiko to bail you out.
    - [x] Have Maiko attack in the open. All or nothing.
    - [x] Have Maiko attack from out of sight. Unless this girl recognizes Maiko's attacks, the secret should still be safe.
    - [x] (write-in?)
    [x] Call in back-up just in case... you're not sure anyone could arrive quickly enough to help, though. (write in who to call)
    [x] (write-in?)


    Fun fact: For the next unspecified period of time, I'll be rolling dice every time you go out being obviously magical to decide whether you run into one or more possibly-hostile magical girl(s) who entered the city recently. This time, I rolled 2d6 - 8 for the number of meguca encountered (i.e., a slightly more than 1 in 4 chance of encountering one or more meguca).

    Oh, and these aren't just random encounters--once I set where an enemy stand meguca is coming from and why, she may potentially be a recurring character.
     
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    • However, if your interest was primarily aimed at reading surface thoughts to aid in diplomatic situations, you may find it useful to study microexpressions and cold reading techniques.
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    I think you mean warm reading techniques, but I could have the distinctions between cold, warm, and hot reading wrong.
     
    [x] Fight...
    - [x] For defense, blocking her attacks.
    [x] While you fight, try talking to your opponent via brainmail.
    - [x] Try to talk her down peacefully. (write in details)
    --[x] Immediately offer your surrender. Ask to parlay, or at least to be allowed to leave unmolested.
     
    [x] Fight...
    - [x] Pump random surges of POWER into her magic so that she can't properly control her metal anymore. No need to try and take control yourself; just make it so she can't properly control it.
    [x] While you fight, try talking to your opponent via brainmail.
    - [x] Try to talk her down peacefully. Point out that she didn't overwhelm you in the initial assault if that was her plan, so she has nothing to lose by stopping a moment to talk now.
    [x] Tell Minami to...
    - [x] ...fall back and assist however she can from long range. ...you probably should have asked what kind of weapon she uses.
     
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