Puella Magi Systema Fractus, or A Practical Guide To Fixing Everything (PMAS/APGTE)

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Your name is Sabrina, just Sabrina, and yesterday was one hell of a day. You don't mean that in...
Venture Forth 1.1

Lord Chungus

God of Nutella
Location
The Hague (it’s where all the cool people are)
Your name is Sabrina, just Sabrina, and yesterday was one hell of a day. You don't mean that in the 'exiting' way, no, you mean that the last day felt like it lasted months, mainly due to a frustrating and unproductive conversation with one of the most unpleasant magical girls you've ever met.

But that's behind you, now. Sayaka doesn't have Rionna's power, the shades have been released as per their request, and Sayaka doesn't know about the witchbomb. It's not the best possible scenario, but you can't say you're unhappy with it.

You've just finished eating breakfast with Mami, and you've started the daily walk to school when you're rudely interrupted.

"Sabrina!" cries a telepathic voice, one you recognize as Kirika Kure. "Get over here, quick! Oriko's freaking out, and- ah fuck, no, Oriko, you like that teacup, fuck fuck fuck-"

You look up, eyes wide. "Did you-"

"I heard it," says Mami. You blink, and Homura's standing in front of you, hand on your shoulder, the world turned grey. "I assume we should head to the Kure residence as quickly as possible?" she says. You nod, and the usual proceedings follow; Mami's ribbons, grief jet, that old song and dance, and within a minutes you're landing on one of Oriko's rose bushes, a dwindling species.

You step out, collapsing the jet once Homura and Mami are on solid ground, and stop in front of the door.

"I don't think there's anyone else in there," you say. "But we should be careful anyway. If Oriko's freaking out, she may end up hurting one of us by accident."

Homura exhales sharply through her nose at the last word, coming close to a laugh, taking a pistol out of her shield and pointing it at the door. "After you," she says.

You push the door open, ready to form a wall of grief in front of your soul gem if an orb comes shooting towards you, but no threat appears. The house is silent, unmoving, and you relax slightly. Moving further inside, you come to the living room to find Oriko and Kirika on one of the couches. Kirika has her arms around Oriko, which would be adorable if not for how violently it seems Oriko was struggling. Kirika is struggling to hold Oriko's arms to her side, though the free arm scratching at her own face is a good indicator of why. You step over shards of ceramic, moving closer and closer to the scene unfolding.

"Kirika wasn't kidding," you say, staring at Oriko's face. "She's really freaking out."

"You two restrain Oriko," says Homura. "I'll stay back, in case it's a trap."

You don't think it is, personally, but her suggestion is a sound one so you nod your head. Once Homura's near the back of the room, pistol at the ready, and Mami's ribbons are ready to restrain Oriko you nod once more and watch the world turn once more.

"Oriko, calm down, Sabrina will- Sabrina!" Kirika turns towards you, face brightening, which has the unfortunate effect of loosening her grip on her flailing girlfriend.

But Oriko doesn't take the chance to break free. She doesn't do anything, in fact.

Her screaming stops, her flailing ceases, and her breathing begins to slow.

"O-Oriko?" says Kirika, turning back to her girlfriend. "Is- is it over? What was that?"

"It- I… just give me a minute, please," Oriko says, hands rising to clutch at her head.

Kirika complies, hugging Oriko and staying silent. You sit down on the couch opposite theirs, Mami right next to you, and Homura sits down on your other side. She keeps her pistol out, though she has the tact to not point it at your hosts.

Now that Oriko's calmed down you have some time to think, and you have come to the conclusion that something's wrong, here. Oriko freaking out, then suddenly calming down the second you arrive? It doesn't make much sense, and you can only hope that Oriko will have some answers.

Homura shoots you a questioning glance, which you can only assume is her wondering if you're as confused as she is, and you shrug your shoulders. You don't think this is a trap; Oriko has no reason to betray you, for one, and without her magic she wouldn't be able to hurt the three of you, much less escape and stay hidden.

After a minute or two, Oriko lifts her head and finally speaks up.

"Sabrina, miss Tomoe, miss Akemi, thank you all for arriving so quickly," she says. "I am sure you have many questions, and while I cannot explain everything, I will do my best to make clear what I know." She shuffles, straightening her posture and rolling her shoulders. "In exactly two hours, a barrier entrance will appear Sabrina and Miss Tomoe's apartment. It does not seem to contain a witch, and if you enter it you will not return for some time; to be more precise, no matter who goes in or what happens inside, you will always exit the barrier minutes before whatever great threat descends upon Mitakihara city, be it Walpurgisnacht, the Soujus, or anything else."

Well, that sounds ominous.

"How do you know this?" asks Homura. "I assume it was related to your episode earlier?"

"It was," says Oriko. "I saw… possible futures, as I do with my future-sight, but only parts of it; I saw you entering and exiting the barrier, and brief excerpts of conversation between us afterward." She pauses, rubbing her forehead. "In some scenarios, I go with you into the barrier. As I can only see you debriefing me on events inside the barrier, I have no idea what happens in those scenarios other than the knowledge of how many of us survive the journey."

Once again, not the most hopeful note. You glance over at Homura, who's staring at them with narrowed eyes.

"The bits that I see after your group returns are incomplete," continues Oriko. "I only see glimpses, responses to an unheard question, statements without context, but one thing remains the same. Across all scenarios, you always tell me that, given the chance to start over, you would choose to enter the barrier. No matter how many of your group are dead, you always want to go back. I do not see you explain why, only state that the opportunity must be taken."

"No matter how many are dead?" quotes Homura. "How likely is it that some of us die?"

"I cannot give you any percentage," says Oriko. "But usually, you all survive. Sabrina and Homura Akemi survive almost all scenarios, with only four or five instances of either of you dying."

That's good, but… You clench Mami's hand, intertwining your fingers. Her name wasn't included there, something that bothers you tremendously.

"What about the others?" you say. "Mami, Sayaka, anyone else. What are their chances of survival?"

"It varies, from middling to high," says Oriko, shaking her head. "Though there does appear to be a pattern; when your group is made up of five people, the chances of survival increase greatly for everyone involved."

When there's five of you? What?

"But, that doesn't make sense, does it?" says Mami. "Five is the optimal number?" Seeing Oriko nod, she continues. "If it was about safety in numbers, then it would increase after five, but it doesn't…" She trails off, deep in thought, and you can't help but join her. Why would five people be the optimal number? Was it just probability, that the more people you brought the more likely it was that someone would die? But no, Oriko said it increased for everyone, suggesting that it was the likelihood of a person surviving, not just the result of someone dying and affecting the overall data.

"There are some exceptions to this rule," says Oriko. "Looking over it, the data seems to suggest that Madoka Kaname, Kyoko Sakura, and Yuma Chitose all mess with what constitutes this 'group'. Madoka Kaname can function as a member of the group, becoming the fifth member if there are four others, but not affecting the outcome if there are any other number of members. Likewise, Kyoko Sakura and Yuma Chitose together can function as either one member or two, depending on how many others there are."

This only raises further questions! If this group isn't literal, more metaphorical, than how can it affect your chances of survival?

"So," says Homura. "You're saying that, if Sabrina, Mami Tomoe, Sayaka Miki, Kyoko Sakura and I were to go into the barrier, the rate of survival would be the same as if we brought Yuma Chitose and Madoka Kaname with us, or if we replaced Kyoko and Sayaka with the two of them? This situation makes no sense…"

Her eyes dart around the room, looking for clues, and you're once again hit by how suspicious this is; Oriko's telling you to go into some not-witch's barrier, returning (according to her) mere minutes before Walpurgisnacht, possibly losing your friends. And future-you is apparently very insistent that you go, for reasons Oriko can't explain.

You don't think that Oriko wants to hurt you, far from it, but you'll admit that this is far too convoluted to be normal. It's rather likely that this is simply how the situation is, and that Oriko is just trying to relay the information the best she can, but from the perspective of someone who doesn't trust her?

Well, you can see why someone might just brush this off as a trap.

"I don't trust this," says Homura. "How did you get this vision, if your magic is not functioning? Why can you only see some things? And most importantly, why would we go?"

That is the question of the day, isn't it? Why would you enter the barrier? Maybe something comes out of it if you don't go in? But then why do you stay for so long? You doubt that you're inside for the exact amount of time before the next big threat hits in every single scenario, so some time dilation might be at play; if so, what's to say you experience more than a few hours in there? Actually, what's to say you're not there for months?

But that still doesn't answer why you decide to go in every time, and why you're so convinced that going in was worth it.

But if the barrier can have such time dilation, maybe it's more than just a barrier.

Maybe it's more like a portal. If it was and you end up transported to some other world, that would be an obvious reason for why you should go; you can and will save everyone in this world even if you're gone for a few weeks, but you can't help anyone from wherever you may end up if you stay here. This is your only chance to help an entire world, one facing problems unknown.

Hell, this opportunity may actually be a gift from Madokami, if she exists. It would explain quite a lot.

Looking at it from that perspective, things start to make a little more sense.

But still, there are many questions on your mind; who do you bring, what do you do with all the girls who arrive in Mitakihara while you're gone, how do you convince the others to go, etcetera.

What do you do?


[ ] Ask Oriko more questions.
--[ ] Write in what to ask.

[ ] Convince the others to go with you.

[ ] Put out ideas for who should come.

[ ] Call (
insert here). They should be here for this.

[ ] Arrange for your absence.

[ ] Write-In
 
Welcome to the Jungle
Heya, Lord Chungus here. Welcome to Puella Magi Systema Fractus, my second quest and my first crossover quest. You will play as Sabrina, on a quest (heh) to help the world that she will soon be thrown into. No dice will be used for this quest, so don't worry about nat-1-ing your way into failure. In terms of tone, I'll be trying to emulate PMAS itself, as well as the series this is being crossed over which, and that brings me to my next point.

You will know what world you find yourself in once you get there, not before, so min-maxing your team comp is not required or recommended. My reason for allowing you to choose who comes with, and even having others come with you, is twofold; Sabrina is a character heavily defined by her relationships, and I love writing interactions and relationships between characters more than simple conflict resolution by overwhelming force of arms. You will not just be choosing your squad, but also your cast for the duration of this quest, so choose wisely.

And of course, how could I write a PMAS thingymajig without mentioning no one's favorite magical girl Rionna, and more specifically what happened afterward as far as this story is concerned. This quest's take is that Sabrina talks with a shade in Mitakihara, who explains that it and the other shades want to be let go, as they have nothing tying them to their old lives and no reason to continue suffering, especially at the expense of fine people like her and Sayaka. Sayaka remains un-witchbombed and does not have Rionna's power. Hopefully, that wraps up the Rionna Problem, may she never enter our thoughts again. Now, time to forget she exists.

This probably won't update a lot, once or maybe twice a week, so that's a thing.

Now let me leave you with one last warning; in this brave new world, you will not be as comparatively powerful as you are in the PMMM-verse, though that is to be expected from the lack of soul gems. Do have caution. Take Care, my friends.
 
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I still didn't catch up with PMAS, at least by more than a hundred updates. I don't know much about what to vote for currently, I'll definitely follow this tho. I'll just follow along with other popular votes at least until we get to the other universe PMAS is crossed over with.

So for now, voting for this.

[X] Arrange for your absence.
 
The main problem I see with this, is that it'll seem like Oriko is arranging for Sabrina to be removed from the environment, and Sabrina will feel like it's abandoning the people she's promised to help.
 
Not now
I'm going to sit this one out, maybe come back after a couple updates
Cheers, Chungus
Edit: doesn't mean I won't shitpost, as is my wont.
 
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... A sentai team? :V




Hm. There's quite a bit thinking to be done, here.




:thonk:

If we don't bring them along, I wonder if we can get away with making a ring to give Oriko so she can put it on Kirika's finger, so they can match.
 
Hmm. My first thought is that even if there are some time dilation shenanigans going on such that we'll be back in Mitakihara if a crisis occurs, we should still leave people behind to "mind the fort" and to keep the social progress we've got going - greeting possible refugees with Clear Seeds, etc. Not to mention the chance of failure - we don't know the level of accuracy of Oriko's (suddenly restored?) visions, and even according to those it's *possible* for us to die.

Ideally ideally, we leave behind enough stuff and people that even if our group gets TPKed, whoever's left can make a credible effort at fixing things anyway.

I don't think we can talk Homura into taking Madoka on a sudden apparently dangerous adventure, and Madoka herself probably shouldn't miss a ton of classes and worry her parents and shit. And if Madoka's not going, then Homura isn't coming either.

I really don't wanna just "abandon" Homura to deal with this timeline, though - even if we have a semi-guarantee of success from Oriko, Homura won't be inclined to trust it.

The obvious way to deal with this potentially being a trap is to just straight up send Oriko and Kirika in. I'm kind of assuming that Sabrina is locked into going, given that she's the PoV character and this is the whole premise of the quest, and that means Mami's going too.

The last person... I don't want to leave Homura alone, for the aforementioned reason. So my first thought was leaving Sayaka behind and finangling something with Kyouko... but then my mental voice for Homura started screaming about being left alone with Sayaka for a month, and PMAS Kyouko is gonna be kind of tricky to talk into bringing her little sister along into the fucky magic hole. (Plus Chungus already has a Yuma focused quest).

So I think the composition should be Sabrina, Mami, Sayaka, Oriko, and Kirika.

We'll clear out like thirty grief seeds for Homura to tide her over while we're gone, and pay Kyouko six million dollars in gold or whatever to help Homu keep Mitakihara rolling.
 
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Straight up abandoning Homura, when we know there's going to be a shitload of magical girls showing up in Mitakihara, girls who are expecting a grief cleanser and whom Homura has never dealt with before?

Seriously, I like the idea of PMAS fanworks, but the premise here just... doesn't work.
 
First IC thought, Oriko just got mind-whammied by either Feathers or some unknown meguca.

[X] Would you please let Mami check that you aren't under mind control or have had your memory altered?

It tests this hypothesis quickly, and we know that Mami can do it, since she just did it for us in PMAS.
I would like to have this vote added to the start of any vote we make, for in character purposes.
 
Does Sabrina still have long-range responsibilities like providing healing for the groups over in wherever it is? I honestly don't remember, but if she does then they need to be warned and have a contingency put in place.
 
Hmm. My first thought is that even if there are some time dilation shenanigans going on such that we'll be back in Mitakihara if a crisis occurs, we should still leave people behind to "mind the fort" and to keep the social progress we've got going - greeting possible refugees with Clear Seeds, etc. Not to mention the chance of failure - we don't know the level of accuracy of Oriko's (suddenly restored?) visions, and even according to those it's *possible* for us to die.

Ideally ideally, we leave behind enough stuff and people that even if our group gets TPKed, whoever's left can make a credible effort at fixing things anyway.

I don't think we can talk Homura into taking Madoka on a sudden apparently dangerous adventure, and Madoka herself probably shouldn't miss a ton of classes and worry her parents and shit. And if Madoka's not going, then Homura isn't coming either.

I really don't wanna just "abandon" Homura to deal with this timeline, though - even if we have a semi-guarantee of success from Oriko, Homura won't be inclined to trust it.

The obvious way to deal with this potentially being a trap is to just straight up send Oriko and Kirika in. I'm kind of assuming that Sabrina is locked into going, given that she's the PoV character and this is the whole premise of the quest, and that means Mami's going too.

The last person... I don't want to leave Homura alone, for the aforementioned reason. So my first thought was leaving Sayaka behind and finangling something with Kyouko... but then my mental voice for Homura started screaming about being left alone with Sayaka for a month, and PMAS Kyouko is gonna be kind of tricky to talk into bringing her little sister along into the fucky magic hole. (Plus Chungus already has a Yuma focused quest).

So I think the composition should be Sabrina, Mami, Sayaka, Oriko, and Kirika.

We'll clear out like thirty grief seeds for Homura to tide her over while we're gone, and pay Kyouko six million dollars in gold or whatever to help Homu keep Mitakihara rolling.
I though something along these lines, but I think we're supposed to choose differently. This is choosing the quest's cast, so there isn't a right decision to be made.

It's more: Which three characters do we want to be part of the quest? (Since Sabrina and Mami are definitely going).

And that's difficult. To choose just three characters to be part of the adventure, and not pick everyone else... who do we want in the story?

Making arrangements and excuses is something we should think afterwards, I think.
 
Straight up abandoning Homura, when we know there's going to be a shitload of magical girls showing up in Mitakihara, girls who are expecting a grief cleanser and whom Homura has never dealt with before?

Seriously, I like the idea of PMAS fanworks, but the premise here just... doesn't work.
Hmm... could we send some of the other girls through (with clear seeds) and have Sabrina stay here? Seems like it'd work better from the PMMM side of things, w.r.t. Sabrina's responsibilities and the likely influx of meguca who'll be showing up in the nearish future. Oriko didn't say anything about it having to be us specifically that went, after all.
 
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So we shouldn't think only of those who are close, I think.

We could ask Kazumi to lend us one of her stars? :V

Or invite someone else, like... I don't know, Anri Sakura Akiko Junko you know what, I'll get back at you later. Maybe.

Hmm... could we send some of the other girls through (with clear seeds) and have Sabrina stay here? Seems like it'd work better from the PMMM side of things, w.r.t. Sabrina's responsibilities and the likely influx of meguca who'll be showing up in the nearish future.
Eh... Come on, it's a new story. We'll 'make arrangements' and things will work out well enough on this side. I don't think Chungus' idea is to fuck us over from the start just for kicks.

Maybe there'll be an emergency to take care of when we're back, like a post quest bonus level, but we can't come into the game just not having some good faith in the one writing it.
 
Hmm... could we send some of the other girls through (with clear seeds) and have Sabrina stay here? Seems like it'd work better from the PMMM side of things, w.r.t. Sabrina's responsibilities and the likely influx of meguca who'll be showing up in the nearish future. Oriko didn't say anything about it having to be us that went, after all.

@Lord Chungus

Would that be acceptable, presumably with a PoV switch, or is "Sabrina in[CROSSOVER SETTING]" too key an aspect of the planned quest?
 
Eh... Come on, it's a new story. We'll 'make arrangements' and things will work out well enough on this side. I don't think Chungus' idea is to fuck us over from the start just for kicks.

Maybe there'll be an emergency to take care of when we're back, like a post quest bonus level, but we can't come into the game just not having some good faith in the one writing it.
Oh, OOC I completely agree with you. It's just that Godwinson has a very good point about the IC scenario, how things look from that perspective and all of the stuff that Sabrina has going on right now that she can't really afford to vanish on and drop.
 
[Q] Your team
-[Q] You
-[Q] Ono Megane
-[Q] Airi Anri
-[Q] "Fuck you" Sakura
-[Q] Rionnnnnnnnnnna, bestgirl

There you go, an ideal composition.
Edit: shit, ninja'd! By an army of redshirts, no less!
 
The main problem I see with this, is that it'll seem like Oriko is arranging for Sabrina to be removed from the environment, and Sabrina will feel like it's abandoning the people she's promised to help.

Sabrina's utilitarian streak takes over, perhaps? Given her prioritization of preventing witchifications instead of being a superhero stereotype she could be said to have one, at least by her actions. Given the drama, the old arguments that are supposed to be part of her thought process, etc, she could totally be said to have one because of those too. She just doesn't listen to it very much because it seriously considers destroying the universe to be acceptable if there's no other way to save the witches.

100 percent chance she doesn't regret it? How can that mean anything but Witch grade travesties she can help with? Or benefits she can apply to preventing witch grade travesties when she gets back?
 
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My suggestion for who to send... the Kure's, Homura, Madoka, and Sayaka.
 
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