Puella Magica Somniabunt Sanguinis [PMMM/Bloodborne]

[Origami Clock]

Do you want some time to put a plan together? The next update is intended to be the end of the prologue, after which a short time-skip will take us to the start of PMMM canon, with Transfer Student enduring the same welcome for what must be a truly sanity-shredding number of times, with Ruby running overwatch (or whatever other role you think suits her). So this vote will be for the general pattern of how Homu and Cutethulu cooperate in Operation: Death to Bunnycat other than sitting outside Madoka's window with a frankly irresponsible quantity of weapons and/or cup ramen.

[Yes, I really should put these things in the chapter post, but I have a whole minimalist aesthetic thing going on which I rather like compared to the standard spreadsheet of vote choices, even if it does require ocassional posts like these. Also, I'm aware using words like minimalist aesthetic make me sound like a smug arsehole, and I will concede that isn't entirely inaccurate. I may not be Ruby, but I have it on good authority that I can convey an aura of smug through a full face mask and several layers of sports equipment]

 

[Sinsystems]

I suggest we plant one of our eyes in the garden and tell it to kill Incubators that try to get close.

 

[Mechanical]

How independent are Eye clones, and how many Eyes do we have?

 

[Origami Clock]

How independent are Eye clones, and how many Eyes do we have?

Click to shrink...

Eye clones are literally extensions of yourself, with Eye!portals connecting the Bud-bodies to your main body. You have 15 Eyes, going below 14 will affect your magic levels, going below 10 will start affecting your ability to think properly/humanly, and going full naruto with your clones has a non-insignificant chance to turn you into Uncle Spider Amagdyala, a dimensionally challenged lunatic who ceases to operate under any comprehensible system of motivations. This is because you're routing so much power through Nowhere that something notices you, and follows the power back into your mind in reality, like one of those amazonian parasites that swim up streams of urine to make a nice cosy home in your urinary tract.

I suggest we plant one of our eyes in the garden and tell it to kill Incubators that try to get close.

Click to shrink...

That will just make the garden slightly Eldritch. Eyes can be put in clones, but once they're out of your body/ies, they are just slighty creepy Arcane batteries. At best, Ruby can turn the Kaname house and environs into a modernist take on the Hunter's Dream.

 

[Zedman7054]

Ruby can turn the Kaname house and environs into a modernist take on the Hunter's Dream.

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While that would be really cool, somehow I don't think anyone else would really appreciate that...

 

[WyrmofFrost]

Can we make some sort of familiar right now?

 

[Origami Clock]

Can we make some sort of familiar right now?

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You only get to make Messengers if you're in a Dream you made, because they basically are just slightly sentient robots made out of dreamstuff. Unless you want Ruby to suddenly be naked and defenceless next update, you don't have enough dreamstuff that recognises what you want to do with it to be able to make one.

If you do want that, you are irredeemably lewd, and will be visited by the rolled up newspaper fairy. Homu blushes are not sufficent justification either.

 

[HymnOfRagnarok]

How about teaching Madoka magic, or would that be too difficult because of her power.

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Interesting idea. Not sure how you plan to sell Homu on that idea though.

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Actually, selling it as giving Madoka the ability to use her own power, and thus attack her self-esteem issues directly instead of having to rely on the Incubator's poisoned chalice seems pretty valid. Especially if awakening her own magic means it can't be consumed as potential for the Incubators.

If it gives Madoka the ability to fight and beat Walmart Night without witching out, that may be reason enough on its own.

Possible downsides include the enroachment of madness, going mad upon seeing Homura's shield if she gets senses like Ruby, and Homura not knowing what will remain constant in the loops now that she's clearly pushed too far and made Ruby show up.

All in all, the answer to, "Should Madoka learn Bloodborne magic," should probably be "HELL NO!" except Kyubey is hanging around offering Madoka a free hit of phenomenal cosmic power with tag of even more, "HELL THE FUCK NO!"

So, probably worth considering.

 

[Origami Clock]

Actually, selling it as giving Madoka the ability to use her own power, and thus attack her self-esteem issues directly instead of having to rely on the Incubator's poisoned chalice seems pretty valid. Especially if awakening her own magic means it can't be consumed as potential for the Incubators.

If it gives Madoka the ability to fight and beat Walmart Night without witching out, that may be reason enough on its own.

Possible downsides include the enroachment of madness, going mad upon seeing Homura's shield if she gets senses like Ruby, and Homura not knowing what will remain constant in the loops now that she's clearly pushed too far and made Ruby show up.

All in all, the answer to, "Should Madoka learn Bloodborne magic," should probably be "HELL NO!" except Kyubey is hanging around offering Madoka a free hit of phenomenal cosmic power with tag of even more, "HELL THE FUCK NO!"

So, probably worth considering.

Click to shrink...

I need to make a list of all the horrible warnings that Ruby will have to give her, phrased in the most carefree and nonchalant fashion I can manage....This is why all the people given revalations by Great Ones go mad, isn't it? They are given straightforward, practical instruction by things that regard growing an extra head or becoming sentient shade of the colour blue as features and not a bugs.

 

[Stranger1950]

So what should be the course of action from here?

I guess one of the possible route is trying to get enroll in the same school as the girls. While this will allow easier and possibly closer interactions with the girls, this will limit a good amount of our time. Additionally, trying to get enroll might be a tad difficult and using Ruby's eldritch power cuteness might cause suspicion.

Another route is being independent and just travelling around, exploring the waking world. I can see Ruby just being excited with all the new stuff and scenery. With this route, we can possibly meet more magical girls, befriending them, forming a group, and blessing them with the truth. If we are going this route, I suggest the first place to explore is the hospital. We might be able to meet Nagisa and help prevent her from witching out. Also doing that Ruby'll get a new little sister, just look how perfect they are with each other. Sharing sweetness to the world.

And the final possible route I can think of right now is just go full hunter mode. Hunt those twisted abominations and give mercy to the forsaken witches. Don't know what this will result, but what could possibly go wrong?

 

[HymnOfRagnarok]

I need to make a list of all the horrible warnings that Ruby will have to give her, phrased in the most carefree and nonchalant fashion I can manage....This is why all the people given revalations by Great Ones go mad, isn't it? They are given straightforward, practical instruction by things that regard growing an extra head or becoming sentient shade of the colour blue as features and not a bugs.

Click to shrink...

I very much look forward to Ruby giving those disclaimers.

...The funny thing is, Homura may still consider doing it herself if it gives her an edge.

So what should be the course of action from here?

I guess one of the possible route is trying to get enroll in the same school as the girls. While this will allow easier and possibly closer interactions with the girls, this will limit a good amount of our time. Additionally, trying to get enroll might be a tad difficult and using Ruby's eldritch power cuteness might cause suspicion.

Click to shrink...

Being Homura's wingman may be worth it though.

I'm actually being entirely serious. Cutethullu is doing a stunningly good job humanizing the cold as ice meguca. Considering how Homura's attitude can cause her a fair bit more problems than it solves, keeping Ruby handy to be zany and cute on demand and/or on accident may be a good idea.

I mean it can also probably go horribly wrong, but hey, win some lose some.

Just ignore the lonely Mami in the background...but seriously Homura has essentially lucked into a permanent companion whose loyalty probably isn't gonna be swayed.



...Also, while I remember reading that Ruby going grief vampire may be hard, I'm guessing that's referring to directly siphoning the Grief out of Soul Gems.

If she can just eat the Grief in Grief Seeds, then she's extending the use of Grief Seeds, or even refreshing them.

That's gonna help Homura a fair bit.

...Wow, considering Ruby is here to help, this really is like the Nega PMAS Quest. Sorta. If you squint.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

...The funny thing is, Homura may still consider doing it herself if it gives her an edge.

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Beat you to it.

Probably never? Unless one follows us through a crack in reality (and we're a Flower and an Octopus, we're kind of really, really good at slipping through cracks) or another Great One who can make Hunters falls in when the cracks widen.

We might be able to make them in the future. Magical Girl healing is potent shit, so they may be able to survive it long enough for us to learn how to do it.

Click to shrink...

Since the whole 'My Soul is a Rock!' thing makes physcial pain a bit less of a factor, it's mostly just a task of finding someone willing to undergo a fairly disturbing procedure for the sake of increased power. Think of it as a less bleakly obsessed version of Kirika Witching herself out to help Oriko complete her plan.

Click to shrink...

Homura: "YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes!"

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Oh, I forgot that bleakly obsessed is Homura's middle name. Wonder what she'd prefer? Mami-tier plant tendrils, Sayaka-tier healing factor, 'budding' Clones or just the ability to tear big holes in reality and drop asteroids on people?

Click to shrink...

 

[TotalTemplar03]

How lifelike are the bud clones? I'm thinking it may be worth it to send one to school with Homura as support, and to act as her cute hanger-on/mascot/whatever you want to call it. And hell, we may even learn something while we're there. We'd have to make sure we didn't say or do anything that would attract too much attention, though.

Others have made a good point in that Ruby has done an excellent job of humanizing Homura, and that will very probably help with social-ing in the future as well. It's more difficult for Homura to be an antisocial hardass when she's got an adorable little hospital buddy at her side. Hell, I can practically hear the suppressed d'awws from if/when people hear the (somewhat modified) story of how the two met.

Related thought, I wonder how well would Ruby do in the various classes. She'd of course be useless at history for a while, but I wonder, would her nature as a Great One make her better or worse at stuff like mathematics? And I somehow think she'd be a natural at language-related subjects.

 

[Origami Clock]

How lifelike are the bud clones? I'm thinking it may be worth it to send one to school with Homura as support, and to act as her cute hanger-on/mascot/whatever you want to call it. And hell, we may even learn something while we're there. We'd have to make sure we didn't say or do anything that would attract too much attention, though.

Others have made a good point in that Ruby has done an excellent job of humanizing Homura, and that will very probably help with social-ing in the future as well. It's more difficult for Homura to be an antisocial hardass when she's got an adorable little hospital buddy at her side. Hell, I can practically hear the suppressed d'awws from if/when people hear the (somewhat modified) story of how the two met.

Related thought, I wonder how well would Ruby do in the various classes. She'd of course be useless at history for a while, but I wonder, would her nature as a Great One make her better or worse at stuff like mathematics? And I somehow think she'd be a natural at language-related subjects.

Click to shrink...

They're basically identical, if not as strong/fast/cute as Ruby's prime body.

Academics wise, Ruby is very good at maths, but very bad at explaining how she came to her answers in any way that makes sense to anyone but her. Languages...well once you're fluent in Plant and Astronomical Body, MFL loses a bit of its mystique, even if she couldn't just cheat massively by using her empathy/telepathy to know what the meaning is without needing to understand the words. The only reason that she doesn't do that to Homu is because it would be rude, not because she can't do it.

Anywasy, I need to sleep now, so if any other questions come up, I'll be back in 6 or seven hours, roughly Happy planning, SV

 

[HymnOfRagnarok]

...Oh this would be sweet.

Kyubey is probably going to point out Ruby is an eldritch abomination to try and turn people against us. Pretty much inevitable.

So...steal the eldritch's abominations tricks.

Be insufferably cute about it. Like when called out on it, start waving the plant tendrils around and cheerily chant, "Ia! Ia! Ruby fhtagn!" Be so silly and impossible to take seriously that Kyubey's attempts to paint us some dangerous being completely flops in the face of ditzy adorableness.

Mind, he'll probably be proven right when Ruby gets serious....but discrediting Kyubey is a worth endeavor in itself.

Assuming Ruby doesn't discredit herself by killing and eating a Kyubey in front of everyone, including Mami. We gotta be ready for that; Kyubey can recognize a pattern just fine, so hopefully Homura and Ruby will be ready for when Kyubey uses that against them.

 

[Origami Clock]

Just collating all this wonderful engagement down into the SV Checkboxes of FateTM​, and if you all find it generally agreeable, I'll make a start in writing the final bit of epilogue.

 

[Origami Clock]

Sorry for the delay, had to go AFK for a bit to sort out some things and only just remembered I'd left this half written when I left.

Essential Variations of Operation: Kyuubicide
[x] Plan 1 - Key to the TARDIS
- Keep your main focus on Homura, finding some way to stay close even when she's in school
- Suggest teaching Homura magic (Possibly others as well, if you can keep your Eye supply up)
- If in doubt, use charm offensives rather than any other kind, don't give IT ammo to use against you.


[x] - Plan 2 - ALL SEEING FLOWER
- Aquire Eyes, Make Buds, be everywhere Homura can't.
- Conduct Incubator pogrom, try to protect/collect any vulnerable eggs that IT might try to prey on.
- Keep main body mobile, but leave a chibi-Bud around to snuggle Homura and make sure she's alright

[x] - Plan 3 - Anything I've missed
- Insert your own brilliant scheme for Cutethulu operating operationally here.

 

[HymnOfRagnarok]

Well while we're planning...

On the topic of Bloodborne magic, we should work out whether Homura wants it, and which ability she wants. Because two in particular are very relevant to how we approach the coming days.

First, the plant tendrils. If that really is Mami tier, then Homura can essentially layer an entire area in tendrils. Which combined with Timestop leads to, "And suddenly a jungle appears, roll Nat 100 to not die."

Plus once she's practiced enough at the tendrils they can hold and fire her equipment, on top of direct attacks. So that opens up a number of options.

Not as many as clones though. We really need to decide whether Homura is taking this soon, because with it she can send the weaker clones to school with Madoka while the main, stronger body is free to do stuff, or just provide overwatch.

Also if the clones can still move and act freely even while Homura is in timestop, that means the real Homura can be standing somewhere far away, watching through the clone, and immediately timestop when something goes wrong, without her main body ever showing off magical girl abilities.

This could go a long way towards preventing Kyubey or Mami from glamorizing the magical girl life, as Homura hangs around in plain sight and halts any problems well in advance and out of sight.

The healing and suddenly meteor can be useful, but they aren't as game-changing for the overall strategy as clones and tendrils.

Annnnnnd OP updates, sorta, okay then, for now:

[x] Plan 1 - Key to the TARDIS

Cause if Homura gets some game-changing magics, Ruby and Homura can be in multiple places at the same time, starting with Madoka and spreading outwards. Clones in particular let a copy of Homura always be around Ruby to keep Ruby on track and informed of the locale.

Kyubey is as effective as it is because of superior information and multiple bodies, time to level the playing field.

 

[MoonlightSpark]

[x] Plan 1 - Key to the TARDIS

 

[Origami Clock]

*HAPPY QM NOISES*

Cause if Homura gets some game-changing magics, Ruby and Homura can be in multiple places at the same time, starting with Madoka and spreading outwards. Clones in particular let a copy of Homura always be around Ruby to keep Ruby on track and informed of the locale.

Kyubey is as effective as it is because of superior information and multiple bodies, time to level the playing field.

Click to shrink...

Just try not to drive Ruby or Homu insane. I'm enjoying myself here, and I'd hate to have to hit a BAD END so early in this quest's life.

Also, what you described are what Homu whould get as a result of being Infused by Ruby, which is a bit more than learning magic. Budding in particular requires you to be slightly more plant than meat, as well as having rather more eyes than you'd ordinarily expect, to act as the relays between bodies.

 

[HymnOfRagnarok]

Just try not to drive Ruby or Homuu insane. I'm enjoying myself here, and I'd hate to have to hit a BAD END so early in this quest's life.

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Fair enough, although try to let us, or at least me, know if we're pushing the boundaries on magic.

Obviously dozens upon dozens of clones are out, but I'm guessing Homura will manage at least one. It sounds like the budding process is a one-time investment rather than constant upkeep.

If Homura can maintain one clone to keep near Madoka, or two clones for Madoka and Ruby, that will make the duo much more effective. Anything after that is just Homu keeping herself busy and ahead of schedule, or increasing overall coverage.

EDIT:

Also, what you described are what Homu whould get as a result of being Infused by Ruby, which is a bit more than learning magic. Budding in particular requires you to be slightly more plant than meat, as well as having rather more eyes than you'd ordinarily expect, to act as the relays between bodies.

Click to shrink...

This was not here before....well, that's a bit unfortunate, when you laid out the possible options I didn't realize it'd require a most drastic transformation even for clones. That makes this harder. Even Homura is gonna be leery about that transformation, as opposed to just getting new magic.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

Well while we're planning...

On the topic of Bloodborne magic, we should work out whether Homura wants it, and which ability she wants. Because two in particular are very relevant to how we approach the coming days.

First, the plant tendrils. If that really is Mami tier, then Homura can essentially layer an entire area in tendrils. Which combined with Timestop leads to, "And suddenly a jungle appears, roll Nat 100 to not die."

Plus once she's practiced enough at the tendrils they can hold and fire her equipment, on top of direct attacks. So that opens up a number of options.

Not as many as clones though. We really need to decide whether Homura is taking this soon, because with it she can send the weaker clones to school with Madoka while the main, stronger body is free to do stuff, or just provide overwatch.

Also if the clones can still move and act freely even while Homura is in timestop, that means the real Homura can be standing somewhere far away, watching through the clone, and immediately timestop when something goes wrong, without her main body ever showing off magical girl abilities.

This could go a long way towards preventing Kyubey or Mami from glamorizing the magical girl life, as Homura hangs around in plain sight and halts any problems well in advance and out of sight.

The healing and suddenly meteor can be useful, but they aren't as game-changing for the overall strategy as clones and tendrils.

Click to shrink...

Kinda? Meteor and Tendrils are actual spells in the game. I'm fairly sure, from talks with Clock even, that we can just teach her some of these via Augur at least. They'll be less powerful/versatile than if we inscribed them into her via turning her into a Hunter, which she's also going to want after she hears the benefits, but from the sounds of it we'll only be able to inscribe one Spell of ours into her while she could carry around multiple Augurs.

Healing or Clones are both useful in this case as both cut down on the more expensive portions of her power, that being Healing and how long she needs to spend in time-stop at any given time.

 

[HymnOfRagnarok]

Kinda? Meteor and Tendrils are actual spells in the game. I'm fairly sure, from talks with Clock even, that we can just teach her some of these via Augur at least.

Click to shrink...

Knew the meteor was, didn't know the tendrils were, and I figured Mami-tier is a special level of bullshit.

Healing or Clones are both useful in this case as both cut down on the more expensive portions of her power, that being Healing and how long she needs to spend in time-stop at any given time.

Click to shrink...

If Homura were just starting out, I'd definitely say Healing because she needs to survive her mistakes. At this point she's pretty experienced though, so she shouldn't be getting that hurt that often.

Reducing downtime is still good, mind, but Homura can also just send an uninjured clone in her place while she's injured, while her real, healing body is on stand-by for Timestop.

The two big reasons I see for getting healing are: expecting Walmart Night to thrash Homura, which is fair but healing isn't gonna solve the 'how do I damage Walmart Night' problem, and 'Maybe Ruby is a sign of new, dangerous things showing up,' and Homura wants insurance to make sure she survives those surprising encounter.

Though again, sending in a disposable clone to search for traps and/or be bait is also an option. Just a really expensive and possibly traumatizing one, but it's Homura so she can probably deal.

 

[Stranger1950]

Talking about healing and cloning, that reminded me of a doujin regarding Sayaka healing ability. She essentially used separated body parts and said body parts regenerated into a full body. Problem is, there was no consciousness inside the clone bodies. So what she got was several Sayaka dolls, which she gave to Kamijou and Kyoko (who dresses it up). Would be hilarious if this happen to Homura when experimenting with this power.

[x] Plan 1 - Key to the TARDIS
Besides it being cool that Homura learning some of the arcane arts and possibly becoming a tentacle monster, I also want to Homura just giving Madoka her own Homura life size doll.

 

[Reinholdt]

[x] - Plan 2 - ALL SEEING FLOWER

This also allows us to conduct Search & Destroy actions against the little abomination. Cut the parasite out bit by bit.