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

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I mean, yes, you should assume people are more or less competent, but there's the consideration of priorities and personality. The Incubators are fine with the current system they developed because they're unmoved by human death and suffering and it's a good enough system. They have no psychological incentive to find ways to make it better. It's not a matter of them being too incompetent to identify better ways of leveraging the current system; it's that they don't care.

And if you take what we see literally, in-universe, no waving off issues as 'the writer didn't think about it' or the like, it's very obvious that the Incubators don't really care about optimizing the system even a little bit, are in fact moderately self-sabotaging. Every single magical girl who dies without Witching out is a waste, yet Kyubey is perfectly happy to let magical girls die, and in fact we explicitly see him exhorting magical girls to get into fights, potentially to the death.

So yes one should assume the Incubators are competent, but that's in no way an obstacle to the idea laid out in Symbiosis, or any number of other models that are less dumb than what they're doing in canon. The reason they would never arrange such a thing is because they're, to be blunt, assholes who don't care about humanity and don't even care particularly about optimizing within the framework of the kludge they're using. The kludge does, technically, achieve infinite energy; that it could be better and more efficient with a minimum of effort on their part, let alone substantially altered into something far better, clearly just doesn't move the Incubators at all. Probably if you laid the possibility out to Kyubey, it wouldn't conjure anything like 'oh, we tried that, but X Terrible Thing resulted, so I can't recommend it', but rather would cock its head uncomprehendingly at you and fail to see a reason to care while you're trying to explain how this would be a more ethical and stable system.

Magical girls, meanwhile, are highly unlikely to try to arrange such a thing because they're inculcated with the idea that Witches are monsters, and Witch behavior is adequately supportive of this interpretation that even magical girls who find out The Truth are unlikely to go 'wait, but Witches being evil is also a thing that lying liar who lies told me, so I should re-check that idea'. You'd basically need some weird circumstance like, I dunno, a pair of twins who contracted, one Witched out in front of the other, and the non-Witch twin basically want 'screw all of you, she's still my sister' only then it turned out good?
 
Hmm. I have an idea for a cute little propaganda advertisement we could write for Kyubey, some day.

Start with a faceless hoard of anonymous blob people walking along the streets going about their day, and then one girl stands out. Give her pink hair, obviously.

This girl has the rare chance to preform a miracle and literally wish for her dream to come true! "I wish..." Scene freezes, splits into 3 panels, all grey and frozen.

First panel gains colour, starts moving. "... That anon-kun would return my feelings!". Scene change, she's at school, holding hands with her love interest, brilliant smile on her face. Scene freezes.

Second panel gains colour, starts moving. "... That my friend, no, that nobody in my hometown ever had to go hungry again!". Scene changes, she's handing out food with a charity on the news, a young child thanking her profusely as she wears a brilliant smile on her face. Scene freezes.

Third panel gains colour, starts moving. "... That my parents weren't so stressed and angry all the time." Scene change, she's at home helping her mother cook dinner. The father arrives, he's early. He got that promotion he wanted, all his hard work has paid off, they'll never have to struggle again and he can be home with his family more often. They eat dinner as a family, but even with her mouth full the protagonist can't hide the brilliant smile on her face. Scene freezes, the three panels all brightly colored and showing her smiling face.

Next scene, she's in magical girl costume. It shows her saving lives, but then it also shows her getting injured. It's a tough but rewarding life, with benefits such as healing, youth, and functional immortality. However...

Scene change, 80 years into the future. The girl now appears to be a beautiful young woman, her costume vivid against the grey building and cloudy sky. Her soul gem is nearly full. She has no more seeds. "I had a good life, saved so many people and did so many things. Thank you, Kyubey for giving me this chance. Now i can finally repay you..."

She turns into a witch, just off camera. It's heavily downplayed, made to appear almost peaceful. Then another magical girl shows up with a dark soul gem, and enters the barrier. Then she leaves the barrier, grief seed in hand, and cleans her gem. Kyubey appears. "Thank you," she speaks to the grief seed, "for your sacrifice. I will continue to save the world thanks to you."

Kyubey jumps upon her head then, looking cute. "And both of you continue to save the universe!" Kyubey then looks straight into the camera. "Thank you for helping me reduce Entropy."

The new girl giggles in embarrassment, but doesn't deny it. "And thank you too Kyubey, for saving my sister's life."

"Nonsense. It was your wish that did so. I'm only doing my job. Now I must go, I've found another candidate! What will the next hero wish for, I wonder?"

Ad end. In summary, you make a miraculous wish, you gain superpowers, you live a long and meaningful life, and at the end you turn into a witch. This is not something to be avoided, but simply the next part of the cycle that helps other magical girls and all the universe. Even your death makes you into a hero (as long as it's via witchification)
 
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I'm usually pretty "give characters who are supposed to be competent the benefit of the doubt", too – but as you said, with the Incubators in particular, they're already established as being generally competent but missing things that we would think of as very large. Not just emotional reactions, but also the whole "we can't predict what they'll wish for, and they definitely dislike large parts of our system (and us when they realize it's our fault)", over a sufficiently long time, basically guarantees someone wishes for something that breaks the magical girl system into something more pleasant for the girls. A large part of that error is in not properly accounting for small chances over very long times, which seems to me to be more or less the same error that it would take to overlook "just get them to perform manual labor at negative energy cost forever".

It seems odd, if their primary goal is "prevent the heat death of the universe", that they wouldn't be able to take small-effect-over-long-duration into account properly – but we already know that they've made that mistake at least once in canon.

EDIT: Yeah, also what @Ghoul King said. Incubators are already not operating at perfect efficiency in extremely blatant ways. They got something good-enough and stopped there.
 
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Re: incubators not being super great, we don't need to make a complicated debate out of it. It's simple, we kill the batman

Any changes we want to make to the system start with us. Our character, convincing the other girls, convincing regular humans, convincing world governmentd, and personally putting in the work every step of the way to realize our vision.

At no point can we say "you should totally do this instead" to anybody ever and expect it to stick. Be the change you want to see, and all that.

Somewhere between convincing people and putting it into effect, we'll end up having a discussion with an incubator. It'll be our challenge, then, to convince the incubator not to interfere, because what we want is also good for it. Again, we can not expect the incubator to ever simply agree that our idea is good and change the system.

Whatever our idea, it's thought of it, and whether it doesn't agree or simply doesn't care, the result is the current system and its up to us to change it, one vote at a time. And several years of waiting for updates ofc :p
 
Qwertystop said:
Fair enough. I'd argue that hiring a magical girl provides a constant free-energy source indefinitely where witchouts are one-off. Kremhild Gretchen apparently provides enough energy to be worth writing off all potential future energy generation from Earth, which means they don't expect generation from humanity to last forever – every meguca hired can last forever.
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This is strictly false from the Incubator's reasoning perspective.
Witches are one-off per unit but magical girls are a renewable resource, theres more potentials born literally every minute and the rate is set to keep increasing as the tech level rises. The only actual limitation on harvesting Witches is the point where the Incubators actually need to spend energy to avoid them setting humanity into a downward population spiral. Which is where Yui comes into the picture, she's one of the tools they're using to avert the Tokyo cluster from wiping out a major metropolitan area from their harvesting operations.

To use a more visual metaphor.
A magical girl is a tree.
Collecting the energy from the magical girl is like picking up fallen branches and leaves for fuel.
Witching out is cutting down the tree for fuel, sure the tree would continue dropping branches and leaves for a hundred years, but even if you add it all up you could repeatedly harvest ten trees growing on the same spot for a thousand times as much fuel.

Madoka on the other hand is finding a deposit of uranium under the forest and well...the forest, given a million years, would not generate as much energy. The solution is to clear cut the forest to get at the uranium, you have other forests, and this one would probably die to some blight before the return on investment is equaled.

As such, the Incubators don't actually care if individual magical girl find some cheat to avoid corruption, as long as they still generate energy, the incubator would just contract more girls, the witch population will equalize out eventually and they'd actually turn a profit.
A systematic cheat to ensure arbitrary numbers of indefinitely cleansed soul gems? Awesome contract the entire human race, you have hit peak green energy since theres no longer an upper limit on the amount you can harvest before population collapse.
 
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Also, assuming a theoretically infinite supply is actually infinite is stupid. Would the time that a MG could and would do so before dying/stopping/whatever produce more than Witching? Maybe (definitely if it ends with Witching anyway, but that's not exactly a reasonable sustainable set up). Is it reasonable that it'd also be more production, and outpace 'inflation' i.e. opportunity cost (e.g. do incubators use a bit of the energy harvested to catalyse new contracts or otherwise sustain the system)? Probably not. And then you've got that it's an unproven system that would take a while to reach fruition, with no guaranteed pay off i.e. a very unappealing investment.

TL;DR There's a lot of reasonable reasons that the incubators wouldn't (and probably shouldn't from their pragmatic PoV) go with a meguca power source. Of course, this doesn't preclude other improvements (definitely from an ethical, probably from purely pragmatic incubator PoV), but it doesn't seem like there's much of a drive for the incubators to innovate or improve on what's proven.
 
Well, part of the issue from an Incubator PoV is that emotions are incomprehensible eldritch things that warp reality, so they're under pretty much the same incentives as someone who managed to get a Lovecraftian magic ritual to produce energy going.

Sure, maybe you could get more power out of your horrific mind-bending magic circle with just a few tweaks, but you've got to balance those odds against the chances that you'll accidentally mess something up and make the whole system collapse (and/or retroactively rewrite the universe so that your entire species is reduced to slaves suffering untold despair from the beginning of time).
 
Redshirt Army said:
Well, part of the issue from an Incubator PoV is that emotions are incomprehensible eldritch things that warp reality, so they're under pretty much the same incentives as someone who managed to get a Lovecraftian magic ritual to produce energy going.

Sure, maybe you could get more power out of your horrific mind-bending magic circle with just a few tweaks, but you've got to balance those odds against the chances that you'll accidentally mess something up and make the whole system collapse (and/or retroactively rewrite the universe so that your entire species is reduced to slaves suffering untold despair from the beginning of time).
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Madoka broke the system so hard I don't think they had any conception of what her wish COULD do, its enough energy to rewrite the universe, i.e. enough power to actually solve entropy.

They expected to write off the planet at most
 
Redshirt Army said:
(and/or retroactively rewrite the universe so that your entire species is reduced to slaves suffering untold despair from the beginning of time).
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*post rebellion*

Madoka: Homura... Why those cute bunny cats hate us? And look at their pictures of use. Mami, Sayaka and Kyouko got drawn with moustaches, goatee, devil tail and horns... the works... While two of us have bat wings looking as dark aurora and tentacles coming out of mouth.

Homura: Don't bother your head with it. Just their little joke. Go play. *Madoka leaves* Kyubey... I told you already that resistance is futile, didn't I? You reap what you sow.
 
Qwertystop said:
EDIT: Yeah, also what @Ghoul King said. Incubators are already not operating at perfect efficiency in extremely blatant ways. They got something good-enough and stopped there.
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Maybe it's more a matter of being stretched thin? That would explain the quota thing too. If cattle-civilizations are a dime a dozen for them, then maybe they just aren't really putting much effort into each one?

Also the one time we really see them experiment in cannon they end up producing a new class of magical being that hates them.
 
They probably have actual proper research departments. They were sophisticated enough to get the system up in the first place, and to deal with the whole entropy situation, so the idea that they just don't care about improving things doesn't seem... well there are options, but it still seems like a poor match to the evidence. I figure that Kyuddles is just a telemarketer or used-car-salesman, or their equivalents in a planned economy, and doesn't do much investigating personally because that is outside of its purview, but still collects data when magical girls get ideas to pass off to the proper authorities, or to claim a commission bonus or something...
 
Aunty Shi Ping said:
I figure that Kyuddles is just a telemarketer or used-car-salesman, or their equivalents in a planned economy, and doesn't do much investigating personally because that is outside of its purview, but still collects data when magical girls get ideas to pass off to the proper authorities, or to claim a commission bonus or something...
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And then info on the Law of Cycles gets bumped up the chain, the rest of the incubators get interested, and then Rebellion happens. Woops.
 
Redshirt Army said:
Well, part of the issue from an Incubator PoV is that emotions are incomprehensible eldritch things that warp reality, so they're under pretty much the same incentives as someone who managed to get a Lovecraftian magic ritual to produce energy going.

Sure, maybe you could get more power out of your horrific mind-bending magic circle with just a few tweaks, but you've got to balance those odds against the chances that you'll accidentally mess something up and make the whole system collapse (and/or retroactively rewrite the universe so that your entire species is reduced to slaves suffering untold despair from the beginning of time).
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Kyubey is even less safe from Lovecraftian stuff than humans are, pseudo-immortality aside. He has greed, but no fear or genre savviness to balance it out. So when he sees an untapped source of free energy and has no idea what he's getting into, he goes full steam ahead into potential danger, which means he won't stop doing stuff to That Which Should Not Be Poked/Prodded/Scienced until he has empirical evidence of its dangerousness. :facepalm:
 
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I hold to the idea that Kyubey hivemind seeks to counter entropy through using Witch Barriers, specifically, as bubbles of anti-entropic vacuum decay.

Just by witches existing and enforcing their rules on existence, their high magic pocket realities reprogram the physical information of the universe itself, effectively sucking in entropy like a black hole doesn't, but with an exponential falloff that peaks its maximum at the period of the witchout.

The hivemind can feed entropy from elsewhere in the universe to a witch barrier passively, and can take a Grief Seed, stimulate the witch inside back to minimum levels of activity, and plug it into their network of entropy-effectors across existence for a minor network gain while safely unravelling the Wish Contract in a manner that is safely spread across reality.

Wish Magic normally should do no work upon the universe's entropy, as Hope and Despair would naturally complete the cycle of magic between the finitely temporal emotional wishee and the emotionless infinite atemporal universal wishgranter.
The wishee is normally forcibly dissipated into the entirety of Samsara, and the universe normally resolves the situation of suddenly having the wishee's desires imprinted on it by retconning existence to fulfill the wish. Similar to paradox resolution.

THEN THE INCUBATOR HIVEMIND ATTACKED.

Kyubey inserts itself into the Wish Magic cycle with its own Contract, the Hivemind behaves like an accumulator, transformer, breaker, and power switch all in one, by intercepting in the wishee's place as an immortal, emotionless, universal translator, putting Kyubey in the right spot to intercept the dissipation of the Soul and the magical energy of the Wish.

Kyubey then transposes the Contract into physicality, trapping the Soul and the Wish Magic within the Soul Gem, putting the cycle of Hope and Despair between the wishee and the universe on hold, resulting in a body that has been paradox-resolved from being nonexistent Bhudda-fied holy corpse dust into a perfectly copied lifeless timeless homunculus of the original from the instant the Wish circuit was completed in the eyes of the universe, which with the Soul Gem is then programmed to act as the Soul interface as it did in life.

The Soul Gem Contract is designed to maintain the cycle of Hope and Despair with the universe, but slowly, and intentionally imbalanced so that the Soul Gem would naturally accumulate Despair from the Universe and discharge Hope to the universe as magic is worked, in order to intentionally create Witches and their Witch Barriers.

Witches fit the desires of the Incubators by being closed singularities that still interface with existence like a naked singularity with none of the drawbacks.
 
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I just read through this, but mostly just the story posts. I think I saw mention of a wiki and a picture album. Are there links to those? Could those get threadmarked?
 
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Super lazy threadmark with a link to the wiki so that new readers can maybe find it
  • Informational
    • TJSomething said:
    I just read through this, but mostly just the story posts. I think I saw mention of a wiki and a picture album. Are there links to those? Could those get threadmarked?
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    The wiki, which I tossed up because I got tired of fighting with BBCode to make a "character profiles" post that was readable given the number of named characters involved and then never really got around to updating in any detail, is here. Also note that despite owning that domain name I am absolutely and definitely 100% probably not affiliated with the Incubators. :V

    At some point imgur changed things so I can't just link to my account there to show a list of everything uploaded, but the wiki main page includes links to the galleries. I think a few pictures are missing from that, but I can't recall what they were.
     
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    Ch. 3: Light the Path Whenever It's Dark (51)
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Educational. Let Maiko take the lead, and help her coach the newbies through combat.
    -[X] Emphasize that they work together, either fighting together or tag-teaming and watching each other's back
    [X] Particular guidance:
    -[X] Never fight alone. One person is much more vulnerable to things suddenly going wrong.
    -[X] Help the newbies schedule paired witch hunting
    -[X] Call for backup if the witch is unusually strong. There's nothing to prove.

    After School - Wednesday, January 19th, 2011​

    Maiko attempts to extricate herself from her conversation, but evidently fails as Tomo and the other new girl--who you assume is Reiko--end up trailing behind her as she walks in your direction.

    "Hi, Tomo!" you say, waving at her. She straightens slightly, then gives you a nod just as a perfectly timed gust of wind sets her Dramatic Scarf of Heroism fluttering. Tomo's special effects are totally top-notch, you are possibly somewhat jealous.

    She taps rapidly at her phone, then holds it up to you.
    [Hello, Yui. Maiko asked me to come along and said you wouldn't mind.]​

    "Don't mind at all!" you say, then turn to the girl you haven't met. She glances hesitantly between you and Maiko.

    Maiko looks slightly pained. "Yui, this is Reiko, who Minami and Yumi met last night. Reiko, this is Yui, the nominal leader of the organization we're attempting to build and the de facto leader of Nagamioka's magical girls for a host of practical reasons both implicit and explicit."

    Reiko nods, then seems to gather herself up before bowing deeply. "It is an honor to meet you," she says. "My name is Reiko Uesumi and I will be in your care."

    You bow in return. "I'm Yui Aikawa! I hope we can be friends."

    She doesn't react to your family name, but then again it's not exceptionally uncommon? You should probably mention your grandfather at some point. As awkward as that entire conversation seems like it will be, putting it off certainly won't make it any less awkward, and you have no desire to get yourself involved in some kind of long-running lack-of-communication subplot. You may be basically an anime character, but you are a protagonist with standards and you refuse to protagonize that kind of nonsense.

    Reiko just nods earnestly, meeting your gaze with an odd intensity. "What does your leadership position entail?"

    "Uh," you say, stopping to consider that a girl who insisted on a written contract with Kyubey would probably prefer a straightforward answer, "to be super extra honest about it? Making things up as I go along, mostly. Kyubey wanted me to replace the woman who used to be in charge and I just kinda ran with it? I mean, Maiko here is probably more qualified, but she's n--"

    "Not cut out for leadership," Maiko interjects.

    "Was gonna say not interested, thanks," you say, giving her a flat look. "So she's been trying to get me up to speed. But, I mean, if there's something you need from me, or think I should be doing, feel free to ask?"

    "Understood," Reiko says. She fidgets slightly, tapping fingers together and gazing into the distance, before refocusing on you. "Is 'Kyubey' the proper form of address for the provider of our contracts?"

    You blink at the sudden topic shift, then shrug and glance at Maiko. "...yes? Why wouldn't it be?"

    Maiko rubs the bridge of her nose. "It's a nickname of sorts, and yes, that is the standard form of address. Anything else will likely confuse other magical girls."

    Reiko nods. "The clarification is appreciated." She doesn't say anything else, just watches you expectantly.

    After a brief and slightly awkward--to you, anyway--silence, you notice Minami arriving and clap your hands. "So! I think it's time to get things started," you say. "Maiko, I'mma go say a few words of profound and unimpeachable wisdom, apply judicious quantities of indiscriminate friendship, and then hand things off to you for high-impact educationalizing, okay?"

    "With the caveat that I do not condone any part of that phrasing, yes," she says.

    "Perfect." You trot over to a conveniently-placed park bench and, after inspecting it quickly to make sure that this one hasn't been artistically adjusted by Sae's magic, step up onto it so that you can address everyone from a position of oh wow you can see the top of Maiko's head, how cool is that? Anyway, the point is that perching on top of any available object is a vital characteristic of heroes, and also cats, but cats are cute so that's okay.

    You transform into your magical girl costume to make this all official and stuff, then clear your throat. One way or the other, you get everyone's attention, and the ongoing conversations die off.

    Sae peers at you, chin in hand. "Hm. No glitzy magic tiara after all," she says, sounding vaguely disappointed.

    You shrug. "...sorry?"

    "I forgive you," she says airily.

    "Great! Now, you probably already know basically who I am. Yui Aikawa, tiny and adorable hero of love and justice, etc., etc. Officially unofficial leader of Nagamioka, or maybe unofficially official? Eh, anyway. We've got a bunch of newly-contracted magical girls in our town, most of whom are you but some is also me. We're technically missing a couple people, but one kinda has her own family thing going on and one is, uh. Actually, wait, why didn't we invite Shinobu?"

    "I tried," Minami says. "An 'I understand why you might be avoiding it but Witch hunting is kinda vital' strategy was attempted, but the mission was unsuccessful."

    You sigh. "Did she say why?"

    "That's a negative," Minami says. "She nodded along and agreed with everything and then at the end when I was about to tell her where to meet up she was just, like, weird pose, 'but I refuse!' ...and then got disappointed when I didn't react, also."

    "...I don't really understand, but okay, moving right along. Now, Maiko--she's the tall one who doesn't look like a tokusatsu superhero--has roughly fifty times as much magical girl experience as the rest of us here combined. She's been mentoring me and today she's going to give the rest of you a crash course in magical girling. ...hopefully without any actual crashing, though going by prior experience any unexpected collisions will probably be my fault, so sorry about that." You look around, catching people's eyes as much as possible. "But before I let Maiko start being all gloomy and ominous at you, how about a quick round of introductions so everyone knows who's who?"

    Nobody voices any complaints, which you choose to interpret as wholehearted agreement.

    "Great! Going around in a circle... Reiko! You're up first."

    She hesitates. "Reiko Uesumi, third-year student at Urawa Primrose Academy.... I do not know what else you wish me to say."

    "Um... just say something about yourself or your life? Maybe a bit about what your magic does, if you've had time to figure it out?"

    She nods. "My parents are lawyers, but I am undecided on what path I wish to follow. My magic reveals purpose and motive, and shapes the future with the consent of those affected." She straightens up, a proud set to her jaw. "I am contractually obligated to prioritize the safety of all magical girls, so fear is unnecessary."

    ...wow, okay, you're not sure what you were expecting from her but it probably wasn't that?

    Maiko steps forward smoothly. "My name is Maiko Sakue. I have been a magical girl for seven years, which is unusual. I will be doing my best to ensure you can all say the same someday."

    ...

    This was a terrible idea.

    Tomo steps forward, fiddles with her phone for a minute, then looks up at you expectantly. You pull your phone out from... from... you left it with your regular clothing again, didn't you. Your shoulders slump as you come up empty-handed. Whyyy?

    Minami leans over to look at Tomo's phone. "So, uh, this is Tomo. She says... she became a magical girl because she wanted a chance to be a hero, and her magic is for that purpose."

    Tomo nods firmly, then returns her phone to a pouch on her belt. Finally, someone had something reasonable to say! You pause to appreciate Tomo's existence even more than you normally do.

    Minami then steps forward herself, giving a lopsided grin. "I'm Minami Motome, and... see, did you guys know that magic stuff doesn't get noticed because Kyubey does something to make people not notice? I've always been interested in, like, the paranormal and other weird stuff. I got involved in magic because suddenly things made sense, y'know? And then I became a magical girl because, well, hey." She shrugs. "My magic is good for reconnaissance and communication. Combat, not so much."

    Hana is the next to step forward. I'm Hana Kayou! I can't talk, but you probably noticed that. Telepathy is cool. So is my magic. Because, y'know, ice? Aha.. heh. Um. She flushes slightly. I love my family, but they're a bit overprotective and, uh, I guess that's why I'm here? Mostly.

    Sae is next. "I am Sae Shikimi. My fondest desire is to bring beauty and wonder to the world. My magic allows me to alter the properties of objects, that they might be seen from a new perspective."

    "Hiii! Sayuki Yamamoto here," Sayuki says, with a flirty wink and a megawatt smile. ...wait, are her teeth actually glowing? "I'm an aspiring idol singer, so wish me luck! My magic creates super-detailed illusions."

    Sayuki snaps her fingers, and suddenly you're on a tropical island. Your hair flutters in a gentle breeze that carries the smell of the ocean, gulls cry in the distance, your bare feet sink into warm sand, the heat of the sun is on your back and--

    --abruptly, you're back in your magical girl costume, standing on a cold bench, in a park in Nagamioka in the winter.

    "Holy shit," Minami mumbles.

    Sayuki strikes a stereotypical idol pose, flashing a peace sign with both hands. "Pretty neat, huh?"

    Sae and Hana are both staring at her with stars in their eyes. Figuratively. Not literal stars in their eyes, which you think warrants internal clarification because Sayuki seems to really like cartoon-y special effects even though she can apparently do way more with her illusions.

    "Impressive as that was," Maiko says, walking forward, "we should probably begin looking for a Witch." She stops in front of you, catches your eye, and then--with the tiniest hint of a smirk--steps up beside you on the bench. Hey, not fair!

    Quite a contrast, Hana says, then flushes when people turn to look at her. D-didn't mean to broadcast that!

    "'m tiny and adorable," you grumble somewhat petulantly.

    "The way this will work is as follows," Maiko says. "Magical girl combat abilities are highly instinctual, and as such the best way to learn is by doing. I will primarily be offering guidance beforehand, and feedback afterwards. Yui and I will remain close and intervene if the situation becomes too dangerous, while the rest of you work together to navigate barriers and combat the Witch."

    Minami looks increasingly nervous, while the other girls mostly look excited.

    "Some of you have experienced combat, and some are more combat-inclined than others. That's fine," Maiko continues, "and while I do want all of you to experience this at least once, as we continue to build an organization there will be increasing need for non-combat roles."

    "Speaking of prior experience," you interject, "Tomo here has been through a Witch's barrier before, but she's accompanying us today because, uh. She has healing powers?" you say, then pause. "Actually, that's a really good idea. Fortunately, Maiko is such a responsible magical girl sempai that she anticipated my brilliant insight and invited Tomo along before I even asked her to."

    Maiko rolls her eyes. "Yes, that's exactly how it went," she deadpans. "In any case, please note that the existence of
    healing magic does not constitute free license to get yourselves injured, so kindly avoid reckless behavior."

    "But also remember," you add, "that we're here so you can all learn what a Witch's barrier is like, how to get through one, and how to fight a Witch. I made lots of mistakes the first time I fought a Witch, both because I didn't know how my magic worked yet and because I didn't have anyone to teach me. So be cautious, but don't be afraid to experiment a bit either."

    "I will use my magic to analyze the Witch before we enter the barrier," Maiko says, "but once we are inside your priorities are keep yourselves safe, keep each other safe, listen to my attempts to educate you, and defeat the enemies. In precisely that order. Any questions?"

    Reiko speaks up. "What is the recommended procedure for locating Witches?"

    "A Soul Gem will react slightly to nearby magic, and this can be used to determine proximity to an active Witch," Maiko says. "That is the only universal method. Some individuals, including Yui, Minami, and myself, may be able to more directly detect Witches by various means. If such an individual is available, requesting their assistance is preferred."

    "Understood," she says, then looks to the side. "Kyubey," she says sharply, and a moment later the fuzzy white alien trots out from behind a bush. "As per our agreement, please locate a nearby Witch fitting the specified criteria that is within the combat capabilities of this group, excluding Aikawa and Sakue."

    Kyubey cocks its head. "A suitable Witch has been identified, Reiko Uesumi," it says. "Would you like me to lead you to it?"

    Reiko nods, and a moment later you're all following Kyubey as it bounds down the road. You catch Maiko's eye and exchange shrugs. Whatever works, you guess?

    Yui's Corruption: 3,735 / 9,999
    Maiko's Corruption: 50 / 2,999
    Maiko's MP: 5 / 32​
    Tomo's Corruption: 630 / 3,900
    Minami's Corruption: 785 / 2,799
    Sayuki's Corruption: 1,135 / 4,700
    Reiko's Corruption: 680 / 3,800
    Sae's Corruption: 990 / 2,800
    Hana's Corruption: 650 / 2,300​

     
    		 
    As you walk, Maiko gives a short lecture on the structure of Witch barriers, how they usually have an internal logic built on symbolism rather than realism, how that logic determines the path between the entrance and the Witch's sanctum, the existence of familiars and what they're typically capable of, and the dangers posed by the often surreal environments of a barrier.

    Once you reach the entrance, Maiko studies her grimoire carefully for a couple minutes before the book snaps closed and she nods. "This one is well-chosen, yes. Thank you, Reiko."

    "You are welcome."

    The rest of the group transforms in preparation. Minami and Sayuki you've seen before, but not the others.

    Hana's costume is the simplest--much like Kiyomi's, it could pass easily as normal clothing. Perfectly tailored, never wrinkled, always clean, high quality clothing with a few more ruffles than most people would wear, but relatively normal regardless. Hana wears a hooded jacket over a shirt and vest, a small and tidy bow at the collar, shorts and knee-high socks, in a mixture of blues and grays with pink accents. Her messy blonde hair is held back by a hairband with a flower pin affixed to it, her icy-blue hexagonal Soul Gem in the center. Hana is also carrying an elaborate polearm that you think is vaguely European-looking. It's half-again as tall as she is, and the head seems to combine a slashy-bit, smashy-bit, and stabby-bit into a all-around multipurpose ouching device. There might be a specific name for the style of polearm, but if there is you don't know it.

    Sae's costume is mostly what you'd expected from Minami's description the other night, with lots of traditional aesthetic touches, but you're almost definitely certain that traditional kimonos were probably a bit longer than mid-thigh. It combines the appeal of a kimono and a miniskirt in the way only dumb pop culture can. You oh-so-reluctantly admit that Sae totally has the legs for it, but you're not focusing on that right now, ahem. At least the patterns on the fabric are pretty? Sae fiddles with large, scary-looking needles that may be throwing weapons of some sort, and wears a bandolier with multiple pouches carrying rolled-up paper. In case she's struck by poetic inspiration mid-battle? You honestly have no idea.

    Reiko is dressed in a starkly black, white, and deep red outfit, combining a fancy suit jacket and dress shirt, pleated miniskirt over black tights, and shoes with stabby-looking heels. A red bow sits at her neck, her dark red Soul Gem pinning it in place, narrow reading glasses sit on the bridge of her nose, and her dark hair is done up in even more elaborately loopy braids. She also has a cane, made of red lacquered wood, which stands in front of her, her white-gloved hands casually folded atop it.

    Hana pokes the barrier with the stabby-bit of her polearm, the glyph wavers, and all eight of you enter.

     
    		 
    It all goes remarkably smoothly--Tomo, Reiko, and Hana mow through the familiars with weapons and/or heroic fisticuffs, while Minami keeps watch for unexpected threats. Sae and Sayuki mostly just observe. Upon reaching the Witch, Sae does... something... that leaves it disoriented and disabled, allowing Hana to pin it down with a titanic ice spear and hack it to pieces.

    Yui's Corruption: 3,735 / 9,999
    Maiko's Corruption: 60 / 2,999
    Maiko's MP: 5 / 32​
    Tomo's Corruption: 640 / 3,900
    Minami's Corruption: 785 / 2,799
    Sayuki's Corruption: 1,135 / 4,700
    Reiko's Corruption: 680 / 3,800
    Sae's Corruption: 1,035 / 2,800
    Hana's Corruption: 1,120 / 2,300​

     
    		 
    After the barrier fades, Maiko picks up the Grief Seed, then taps her glasses and looks over the group. "Hana, how are you feeling?"

    Fine! she says. Hm, though maybe a bit worn out? But also kinda not.

    "Use this," Maiko says, tossing Hana the Grief Seed. "Hold it up to your Soul Gem."

    Hana does so, then laughs. Wow, that's a rush!

    Hana's Corruption: 0 / 2,300​

    Maiko nods. "Keep the seed; you did most of the work in this case regardless." She folds her hands behind her back. "Realize that your bodies are now infused with magic, and that has consequences, both for the better and for worse. Using magic leaves behind a... residue of sorts, made of negative emotions, and this will affect your mental state. Furthermore, simply existing burns a small amount of magic. For this reason, Grief Seeds are absolutely vital to magical girls. You can survive without food or water, using magic alone, but you cannot survive without Grief Seeds."

    She stops, and looks intently at each of the other girls. Most meet her gaze warily, but Minami stares resolutely at the ground.

    "Kyubey informed me that magical girls exist for the benefit of human society," Reiko says. "If Witches are hunted for sustenance, rather than moral duty, was this inaccurate?"

    Maiko rubs the bridge of her nose, then sighs. "Depending on how you look at it, perhaps."

    Reiko frowns. "I was very precise in my terminology."

    "I don't doubt that," Maiko says, then pauses to think. "I could expound at length on the... magical ecology, I suppose you could call it, but in the absence of magical girl activity there is one cycle that dominates. Familiars become stronger by killing human victims, eventually grow up into clones of their parent Witch, and then likely release stray familiars of their own. Most Witches do not replicate in this fashion, but the few that do would spread like a plague, and since Witches are nearly immortal there would be no 'selective pressure' toward keeping the host society alive."

    "Like those sewing or construction themed Witches I've seen twice each, right?" you ask.

    Maiko nods. "It is likely that not only were neither of those the originals, but that there are dozens more of each wandering Japan," she says, then looks back at Reiko. "The simple fact is that all but the most selfish, violent, and destructive of magical girls are, by virtue of needing Grief Seeds, a net positive for society. The majority are simply trying to survive as best they can, regardless of their impact on others. That they benefit society by doing so is, ultimately, incidental."

    Reiko's face twitches slightly, then she visibly wilts. "I... see. Thank you for the clarification."

    "Um. Reiko?" you say awkwardly. "Are you okay?"

    She nods, then takes a deep breath and rests both hands on her cane, straightening her posture. "I am well, thank you," she murmurs. "My... my parents often say that it is human nature to desire to be good, but fail in practice, and that that is why we form a society of laws; to codify the virtue within the human heart so that weakness of will does not prevent us from being what we can be."

    Maiko hums. "Is that so? Or is it simply that societies shaped by laws flourish while anarchy self-destructs, regardless of what virtue may or may not belong to either the laws or the citizens?"

    "I do not know," Reiko says. She laces her fingers together atop her cane, fingers twitching and tapping with nervous energy. "My parents have also told me to be cautious of narrow perspectives, and their views mesh remarkably well with their chosen profession."

    Maiko smiles. "The causation could run in either direction there, you realize. Perhaps even both."

    "Yes. That is why I wish to make my own observations," Reiko says. "Additionally... my parents have always been very honest, very precise. But at school, and elsewhere, I see that the rules people describe do not match the rules they obey. When... Kyubey described to me a hidden world of sorts, not beholden to conventional society, I thought I might find an answer." She looks somewhat crestfallen. "But now I worry if I will like the one I receive."

    You glance at Maiko, who has a thoughtful look on her face, but before you can say anything Reiko pins you with a stare. "What of you, Aikawa? What do you believe? My magic sees a grand purpose in you, to shape the society of magical girls in this city, region, or even country. What might this society of yours look like?"

    [] You think her parents have a point, honestly. Most people are fundamentally good, but they're not always good at being good.
    [] You don't think it's as simple as good or bad. People react to the situation they're in, and magical girls are no different. You just want a society where it's possible for magical girls to be good people without having to fight for it every step of the way.
    [] You think the people, the personal level, is what really matters. You want to help magical be better people, give them that opportunity, and let that shape the society that forms.
    [] Honestly, you don't know. Making it up as you go along, remember? You're looking for answers as much as she is.
    [] (write-in?)



    So, I wanted to unhiatus on a low-impact vote rather than the way more awkward situation that the next update will likely involve. As such, I fleshed out the introductory bits (also to maybe remind voters who the heck all these people are) and cut things off here. I could probably have written Yui's answer just fine by repeating stuff that's already been said, but I figured I'd give you guys a chance to remember what the heck is going on and maybe discuss a bit about where Yui's organization is heading.

    Your answer here will obviously have an impact on Reiko's attitude, and--while not 100% binding in the 'I will hold you to this on pain of QM veto' sense, you can still change course--both the vote and the discussion will have a long-term impact on Yui's view of things.

    Anyway, I feel this is a little rough around the edges still, but I wanted to get something out sooner rather than later.

    Oh, and in case it isn't clear, the previous vote will largely still be "in effect" for the next update, which will continue the Witch hunting expedition with the newbie squad. Well, at least until Reiko makes everything even more awkward.

     
    		 
    Translator Author's note: The phrase "I am in your care" is something of a bogus idiom that I'm pretty sure only exists in subtitled anime as an attempt to quasi-literally translate a stock greeting phrase, and therefore occasionally in fanfic as well. As almost anyone who's watched sketchy fansubs knows, attempting to mostly-literally render conversationally polite Japanese into English sounds horribly stilted and/or impersonal, so more polished localizations often fudge things (like using given names when the original used family names), and I'm effectively doing the same here both because it sounds better in English and because I'm, y'know, not Japanese and would have to spend a lot more time on research to get it right. Heh.

    However, because you guys are (I assume) anime fans, and (I also assume) have probably been exposed to at least a few suboptimal translations, I occasionally elect to intentionally evoke the kind of awkward phrasing mentioned above in order to communicate that someone is being excessively formal/polite even by their own cultural standards. e.g. Reiko, obviously, as well as Fuuka when she's being passive-aggressive. I'm not certain how well it works, but at least to me it seems to get the right feel across? I dunno.

    Also, keikaku means plan, FYI. Just in case you weren't aware.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • I'm already in love with Reiko as a character. God, having a clause in her literal contract when becoming a magical girl to have Kyubey direct her to specific Witches on request? Beautiful.
     
    [X] You don't think it's as simple as good or bad. People react to the situation they're in, and magical girls are no different. You just want a society where it's possible for magical girls to be good people without having to fight for it every step of the way.

    We've seen enough of this one and Yui might be an idealist, but her head is only in the clouds for romance. She understands politics.

    If something is easier, people will tend to do it barring other drives. If something is hard people will tend to give up.

    Change that and people will adjust to the new normal.
     
    [X] You don't think it's as simple as good or bad. People react to the situation they're in, and magical girls are no different. You just want a society where it's possible for magical girls to be good people without having to fight for it every step of the way.
     
    It lives!

    [X] You don't think it's as simple as good or bad. People react to the situation they're in, and magical girls are no different. You just want a society where it's possible for magical girls to be good people without having to fight for it every step of the way.

    This does feel the most in-character for Yui to me, yeah. She's legitimately very savvy about politics, and not particularly naive about what that entails, even if her goals are idealistic.
     
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    [x] You think the people, the personal level, is what really matters. You want to help magical be better people, give them that opportunity, and let that shape the society that forms.
     
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