Puella Magi - Memento Mori (PMMM quest)
- Location
- Head in the clouds
[x] Always Late
[x] Lawless Ate
Chapter 2 - Intervention 1
DrZiztah
Mumu
- Location
- Europa
[X] Go over to Mariko's, better get things done.
-[X]Before you leave, ask if there's anything that will need to be moved by a car. Even if it's 'just that much stuff'.
You take a step forward and cough into your fist to get Mariko's attention. Her eyes practically snap into you.
"Well, you heard my uncle," you say with a small shrug and a modest, reassuring smile. "Shall we get going? It will get late soon!"
A shaky nod from Mariko follows your question, and at the same time, almost as if on instinct, the girl scrambles to stand upright. You think she seems a bit wobbly with the way she tries to stand. No doubt she's still trying to process everything that's been going on.
"Yeah, let's go…" she says, her voice shaky and low.
However, she still seems to be able to walk. And the cold evening air might do wonders for clearing her head! "Alright. Oh, and by the way, before we leave…" Maybe you should ask this beforehand, rather than be forced to wait for miss Cathy? "Do you think there's going to be anything that needs to be moved by a car? Even 'just that much stuff'?"
This time the answer is simple and prompt.
"No, there's no need," she says, slowly and ruefully shaking her head. It doesn't even seem to you like she's hiding anything from you, or even trying to be as unproblematic as possible. You have to suppress a frown at that. "Come on."
"Well, okay? Lead the way, Mariko," you intone, motioning for the girl to move ahead while you turn to look at your uncle. "We won't be gone for long!"
"No doubt," he pans. "Just be home before ten o'clock at the latest, alright?"
You take a look at the clock on the wall. It's almost seven already, and well past dinner-time. It seems you'll need to roof-hop your way to Mariko's home if you want to make it back in time.
"Yes, uncle! We'll be back soon," you promise with a small wave, moving out of the living room with Mariko to head out to the cold evening outside.
The trip to Mariko's home is uneventful, and nerve-wrackingly quiet. You don't dare to say anything, not with the way Mariko seems to be absorbed into her own thoughts. On one hand, the stress and worries about her new situation are obviously getting to her still. On the other hand, the further you jump across the buildings that make up Northern Mitakihara, the more she grows… steady? Assured? No...
...Resigned?
She's no longer shaking and trembling, but you can't see her smiling either.
It doesn't take you too long to reach the apartment building where Mariko lives. It's not too far away from the abandoned amusement park you've used for training, and the outer side of the building is obviously time-worn. Perhaps it was built at the same time as the park itself?
The interior is quite patchy as well, with obvious signs of surface-level renovations here and there. Everything still seems to work, though, so that's a relief at least, and the interior is decay is not as bad as you feared in some of your wilder nightmares about Mariko's home situation.
Her apartment is on the third floor, the door to which she opens with a heavy, haunted defeated sigh.
"We're here. The toilet is to the left. Feel free to make yourself comfortable, this shouldn't take long," Mariko says as she steps into the dark entrance hall. The dying lightbulb flickers painfully into activity. The hall itself leads to what you assume is the living room, with a left turn to the kitchen (and probably bathroom) before that. Two doors are to the right, separate rooms with doors.
Once more the interior is not as bad as you feared… But to you it's pretty obvious that Mariko has cleaned very recently, and most likely done a very thorough work at that. The air is simply too fresh. Too much extra time on her hands perhaps? And if you squint, you can make out some faint patches of determined dirt not even Mariko has been able to remove from the floor and the old wallpaper.
The girls herself makes her way to the first door on the right, probably her room...
What do you do?
[] Follow Mariko to her room?
[] Explore?
-[] Living room.
-[] Kitchen.
[] Talk with Mariko.
[] Write-in.
===
First time over at Mariko's!
-[X]Before you leave, ask if there's anything that will need to be moved by a car. Even if it's 'just that much stuff'.
You take a step forward and cough into your fist to get Mariko's attention. Her eyes practically snap into you.
"Well, you heard my uncle," you say with a small shrug and a modest, reassuring smile. "Shall we get going? It will get late soon!"
A shaky nod from Mariko follows your question, and at the same time, almost as if on instinct, the girl scrambles to stand upright. You think she seems a bit wobbly with the way she tries to stand. No doubt she's still trying to process everything that's been going on.
"Yeah, let's go…" she says, her voice shaky and low.
However, she still seems to be able to walk. And the cold evening air might do wonders for clearing her head! "Alright. Oh, and by the way, before we leave…" Maybe you should ask this beforehand, rather than be forced to wait for miss Cathy? "Do you think there's going to be anything that needs to be moved by a car? Even 'just that much stuff'?"
This time the answer is simple and prompt.
"No, there's no need," she says, slowly and ruefully shaking her head. It doesn't even seem to you like she's hiding anything from you, or even trying to be as unproblematic as possible. You have to suppress a frown at that. "Come on."
"Well, okay? Lead the way, Mariko," you intone, motioning for the girl to move ahead while you turn to look at your uncle. "We won't be gone for long!"
"No doubt," he pans. "Just be home before ten o'clock at the latest, alright?"
You take a look at the clock on the wall. It's almost seven already, and well past dinner-time. It seems you'll need to roof-hop your way to Mariko's home if you want to make it back in time.
"Yes, uncle! We'll be back soon," you promise with a small wave, moving out of the living room with Mariko to head out to the cold evening outside.
The trip to Mariko's home is uneventful, and nerve-wrackingly quiet. You don't dare to say anything, not with the way Mariko seems to be absorbed into her own thoughts. On one hand, the stress and worries about her new situation are obviously getting to her still. On the other hand, the further you jump across the buildings that make up Northern Mitakihara, the more she grows… steady? Assured? No...
...Resigned?
She's no longer shaking and trembling, but you can't see her smiling either.
It doesn't take you too long to reach the apartment building where Mariko lives. It's not too far away from the abandoned amusement park you've used for training, and the outer side of the building is obviously time-worn. Perhaps it was built at the same time as the park itself?
The interior is quite patchy as well, with obvious signs of surface-level renovations here and there. Everything still seems to work, though, so that's a relief at least, and the interior is decay is not as bad as you feared in some of your wilder nightmares about Mariko's home situation.
Her apartment is on the third floor, the door to which she opens with a heavy, haunted defeated sigh.
"We're here. The toilet is to the left. Feel free to make yourself comfortable, this shouldn't take long," Mariko says as she steps into the dark entrance hall. The dying lightbulb flickers painfully into activity. The hall itself leads to what you assume is the living room, with a left turn to the kitchen (and probably bathroom) before that. Two doors are to the right, separate rooms with doors.
Once more the interior is not as bad as you feared… But to you it's pretty obvious that Mariko has cleaned very recently, and most likely done a very thorough work at that. The air is simply too fresh. Too much extra time on her hands perhaps? And if you squint, you can make out some faint patches of determined dirt not even Mariko has been able to remove from the floor and the old wallpaper.
The girls herself makes her way to the first door on the right, probably her room...
What do you do?
[] Follow Mariko to her room?
[] Explore?
-[] Living room.
-[] Kitchen.
[] Talk with Mariko.
[] Write-in.
===
First time over at Mariko's!
[x] Talk and help Mariko
-[x] About kittens
[x] Hum Disney songs if told no thanks
-[x] About kittens
[x] Hum Disney songs if told no thanks
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
[x] Talk and help Mariko
-[x] About kittens
[x] Hum Disney songs if told no thanks
-[x] About kittens
[x] Hum Disney songs if told no thanks
Thebigpieman
I've got this, I think.
- Location
- United States
[x] Talk and help Mariko
-[x] About kittens
[x] Hum Disney songs if told no thanks
This one:
Obviously.
UbeOne
Daydreaming CPU
- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- She/Her
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Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
What? What harm could there be in singing Disney? That always helps!
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
[X] Follow Mariko to her room?
-[X] Offer to help find or carry stuff.
-[X] Otherwise make yourself at home, behave like you do back home.
I like this vote, this is a good vote.
-[X] Offer to help find or carry stuff.
-[X] Otherwise make yourself at home, behave like you do back home.
I like this vote, this is a good vote.
- Location
- Earth
I made it! And in good time!
First of all:
[X] Follow Mariko to her room?
-[X] Offer to help find or carry stuff.
-[X] Otherwise make yourself at home, behave like you do back home.
I would rather not see another trainwreck because of joke-votes; there were quite a lot of those over the last hundred pages or so.
Additionally, I doubt I have read another Quest where the first serious debate about conflicting views happened after more than five hundred pages. That is impressive.
It has been a pleasure reading through this thread, both because of the high quality of the updates as well as the pleasant atmosphere the players generate. To elaborate on the former, @DrZiztah, I believe your character-design is gorgeous. Both in terms of Witches and Magical Girls, I doubt I have ever seen any better portrayal of the setting before; keep up the good work, this is amazing. I also adore how you manage to explore Tamiko's character in such depth as the story progresses without pushing too much emphasis on it; aside from the appropriate situations (i.e. people talking explicitly how Tamiko feels), of course.
With that said, hello everyone!
First of all:
[X] Follow Mariko to her room?
-[X] Offer to help find or carry stuff.
-[X] Otherwise make yourself at home, behave like you do back home.
I would rather not see another trainwreck because of joke-votes; there were quite a lot of those over the last hundred pages or so.
Additionally, I doubt I have read another Quest where the first serious debate about conflicting views happened after more than five hundred pages. That is impressive.
It has been a pleasure reading through this thread, both because of the high quality of the updates as well as the pleasant atmosphere the players generate. To elaborate on the former, @DrZiztah, I believe your character-design is gorgeous. Both in terms of Witches and Magical Girls, I doubt I have ever seen any better portrayal of the setting before; keep up the good work, this is amazing. I also adore how you manage to explore Tamiko's character in such depth as the story progresses without pushing too much emphasis on it; aside from the appropriate situations (i.e. people talking explicitly how Tamiko feels), of course.
With that said, hello everyone!
Omake - An analytical essay on the suspicious links between the narratives of Memento Mori and Undertale
- Location
- Earth
Now then... I was thinking that I should write an Omake.
But instead of making it a half-baked short-story like I do most of the time... why not do things a little differently?
Therefore, and in spoilers for those who did not play the game, here is my analysis on why this Quest is one big Undertale reference:
So... uh... I am going to stow away my tinfoil hat now.
But instead of making it a half-baked short-story like I do most of the time... why not do things a little differently?
Therefore, and in spoilers for those who did not play the game, here is my analysis on why this Quest is one big Undertale reference:
To start off, the QM already mentioned knowing the game due to previous comments given in the thread. I will get back to that later, but this at least means she is aware of it.
First of all, let us look at the mechanics:
In the beginning, we are given one choice for a wish; no limits, just say whatever we want.
This is obviously the same as waking up in the Ruins and being taught the basics by Toriel; this is where it was decided which route to follow.
Upon death, we can return to a previous point in time and try again from there; Determination at its best, even though the QM masks it behind other reasons.
Each arc stars a particular character, all of them antagonistic in the beginning for one reason or another; as per Word of God, all of them can be befriended and I can name you exactly one game that has the very same promise to it.
Of course some parts do not correlate, but this is due to transitioning errors; fighting Witches is mandatory to a PMMM-setting, so nothing can be done about it (even though I suspect from previous comments on the matter that hugging them might lead to unexpected positive results, but that has yet to happen to base my suspicions). However, it works well in disguising what this is actually about, the social aspect.
Anyway, I can gauge three routes here:
First of all would be the normal route, given by most of the wishes chosen. Specifics would change based on what was taken, but going this way would basically always result in the same experience with slight changes. With Tamiko being ignored by most of the world, this is to be expected.
Someone theorised how she might have become bitter and furious with Kimiko upon wishing to find out about who did this to her or why this happened; wishes of that kind could have led to something like the Genocide route, if less extreme.
And then, of course, the path we are on.
By luck/intuition/fate/whatever, a wish was chosen that counteracts Tamiko's main problem and made her... well, run around and basically, in Undyne's words, "hug random strangers"; they are semi-random, but it does still count (especially for prude Japan). That she makes them all her friends does not retroactively disprove the previous statement, either. She hugged Kishi almost right off the bat, after they knew each other for maybe fifteen minutes.
The first actual encounter with Ariane's ghost saw Tamiko hurt, yet she did not let this dissuade her from helping and making friends. The same counts even more with Mariko, considering the pain-reflection.
No matter how often Tamiko is hurt, she refuses to give up on others and holds her hand out to them. This is, without doubt, equivalent to the True Pacifist route.
Now for the characters. It was very helpful for my analysis that our QM already compared aunt Hicchan to Sans; she is goofy and aloof, happy to help out and has a great many tricks up her sleave. On top of that, I can feel that any Magical Girl who ever tries to hurt Tamiko on purpose... will have a bad time.
So we have Sans already referenced.
Looking at it, Ariane's boundless cheer and enthusiasm does remind me of the Monster Kid, both of them very hard to bring down. Tamiko herself makes for a very believable Frisk (... now we have to see whether Kimiko might fit Chara) and Mariko appears somewhat like Napstablook in her behaviour, if a little less obvious.
Kishi gives off some vibes of Alphys, especially with how she tries to carry her burdens by herself; the sciency shtick only underlines the similarities there.
I am not yet sure whether I should file Cathy as Undyne or Papyrus... but it is most definitely one of those two. We have seen too little about her to determine it yet. This goes doubly for Matsuko and Yuujin, considering those two had exactly one appearance so far. Ami, I am afraid to say, is too normal to fit any Undertale-character properly. However, this might only be a feint to dismiss the comparison as a whole with.
Now for Evelyn, who might turn out a reference to some major character in case she contracts; right now however... I have nothing for her. She might turn out to be the actual Undyne, though. It was already stated that MG!Eve uses a polearm, so that theory might have some merit.
Anyway; to conclude, even if there are some things not fitting the overall assumption, those are trivial in comparison to all the similarities there. Puella Magi Memento Mori is, by and large, an Undertale reference.
Q.E.D.
You can admit to it now, @DrZiztah.
First of all, let us look at the mechanics:
In the beginning, we are given one choice for a wish; no limits, just say whatever we want.
This is obviously the same as waking up in the Ruins and being taught the basics by Toriel; this is where it was decided which route to follow.
Upon death, we can return to a previous point in time and try again from there; Determination at its best, even though the QM masks it behind other reasons.
Each arc stars a particular character, all of them antagonistic in the beginning for one reason or another; as per Word of God, all of them can be befriended and I can name you exactly one game that has the very same promise to it.
Of course some parts do not correlate, but this is due to transitioning errors; fighting Witches is mandatory to a PMMM-setting, so nothing can be done about it (even though I suspect from previous comments on the matter that hugging them might lead to unexpected positive results, but that has yet to happen to base my suspicions). However, it works well in disguising what this is actually about, the social aspect.
Anyway, I can gauge three routes here:
First of all would be the normal route, given by most of the wishes chosen. Specifics would change based on what was taken, but going this way would basically always result in the same experience with slight changes. With Tamiko being ignored by most of the world, this is to be expected.
Someone theorised how she might have become bitter and furious with Kimiko upon wishing to find out about who did this to her or why this happened; wishes of that kind could have led to something like the Genocide route, if less extreme.
And then, of course, the path we are on.
By luck/intuition/fate/whatever, a wish was chosen that counteracts Tamiko's main problem and made her... well, run around and basically, in Undyne's words, "hug random strangers"; they are semi-random, but it does still count (especially for prude Japan). That she makes them all her friends does not retroactively disprove the previous statement, either. She hugged Kishi almost right off the bat, after they knew each other for maybe fifteen minutes.
The first actual encounter with Ariane's ghost saw Tamiko hurt, yet she did not let this dissuade her from helping and making friends. The same counts even more with Mariko, considering the pain-reflection.
No matter how often Tamiko is hurt, she refuses to give up on others and holds her hand out to them. This is, without doubt, equivalent to the True Pacifist route.
Now for the characters. It was very helpful for my analysis that our QM already compared aunt Hicchan to Sans; she is goofy and aloof, happy to help out and has a great many tricks up her sleave. On top of that, I can feel that any Magical Girl who ever tries to hurt Tamiko on purpose... will have a bad time.
So we have Sans already referenced.
Looking at it, Ariane's boundless cheer and enthusiasm does remind me of the Monster Kid, both of them very hard to bring down. Tamiko herself makes for a very believable Frisk (... now we have to see whether Kimiko might fit Chara) and Mariko appears somewhat like Napstablook in her behaviour, if a little less obvious.
Kishi gives off some vibes of Alphys, especially with how she tries to carry her burdens by herself; the sciency shtick only underlines the similarities there.
I am not yet sure whether I should file Cathy as Undyne or Papyrus... but it is most definitely one of those two. We have seen too little about her to determine it yet. This goes doubly for Matsuko and Yuujin, considering those two had exactly one appearance so far. Ami, I am afraid to say, is too normal to fit any Undertale-character properly. However, this might only be a feint to dismiss the comparison as a whole with.
Now for Evelyn, who might turn out a reference to some major character in case she contracts; right now however... I have nothing for her. She might turn out to be the actual Undyne, though. It was already stated that MG!Eve uses a polearm, so that theory might have some merit.
Anyway; to conclude, even if there are some things not fitting the overall assumption, those are trivial in comparison to all the similarities there. Puella Magi Memento Mori is, by and large, an Undertale reference.
Q.E.D.
You can admit to it now, @DrZiztah.
So... uh... I am going to stow away my tinfoil hat now.
Last edited:
- Location
- Europe
[X] Follow Mariko to her room?
-[X] Offer to help find or carry stuff.
-[X] Otherwise make yourself at home, behave like you do back home.
-[X] Offer to help find or carry stuff.
-[X] Otherwise make yourself at home, behave like you do back home.