- Location
- United States
Which setting is this? The Anime or the Manga?
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Both. The manga overrides where they conflict, but Rikka exists, as you can see.
Hinamori Ami 1.2
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Hinamori Ami: 1.2
Life as a telepath isn't much like life without it. So you've thought, even though you yourself have always been one — part of that difference is that you're contrasting your life to Amu's memories of her childhood, and not just to her stories of it. Responsibility, though? Power?
No. That's part of it, but it's not what really matters.
It's a sense, an entire way of seeing the world, as different from sight as sight is from hearing. You can imagine not having it — of course you can, you've seen Amu's memories — but you can't remember ever not feeling your sister's love, Hikaru's brightness, Rikka's Rikka-ness, Utau's… fluffiness, and everything that goes with it. Not just to feel their emotions, but to see inside them, the universe of thoughts and less-than-thoughts that make them who they are. Losing it would be like losing your eyes, and sense of taste, smell and touch, all at once.
It matters for your classmates too, even if it's not the same. Even if they're a little flatter than your family.
Fudou's determination to succeed, his hard work and exhaustion after every test. Everyone else just sees the number one student, you see how hard he's worked to get there. It's as plain as the color of the clothes you're wearing.
Sakura's easy joy, superficial cheerfulness hiding the love she feels for both her best friend and her boyfriend. If you were the type, you'd tell her you can see it in her green, soulful eyes. You don't know how to fix that. You're scared of what would happen if you tried. What words can you use, what advice would truly help your friend, when the last thing you want is to force her?
They're all irreplaceable people. That's why you can't let them get hurt, and that's why, even as you wonder if you're overreacting, you decide that you can't stay. Whatever this is, whatever's happening, it's after you. Rikka's assault fresh in your mind, you know that much. What other purpose would there be, to block off a sense that few of your classmates know exists?
It's like sight, and sound, and touch, except you still have those. You aren't blind, you just feel like you are. You can still feel your classmates, you just can't feel anyone else. It feels like you've lost half of existence, but you haven't. It just feels that way.
You just wish your hands weren't shaking this much.
Only seconds have passed. It's not something you'd like to do, but you look into yourself and shut that panic attack down, hard. It's dangerous — fear is important, your sister has always said — but you need to be able to function, more than you need to be fully yourself. Even though you could be running straight into the trap now.
[= = =]
You exchange glances with Kohaku, who nods in response. It's still slow, and the teacher hasn't noticed, but your unease is spreading through the class. The other children are looking away from the whiteboard, the scritches of pen on paper are slowing down, and above it all, of course you can literally feel it.
There's no question you have to act, the only question is how. What are you supposed to do?
Scream for help? You don't think it'd work.
Your phone…
It's with halting movements you open the messaging app, glancing between it and Saya-teacher.
<GardenGnostic> Amu, Utau, anyone. I can't feel anything.
<GardenGnostic> Something is happening, help!
<Mikki> GG, wahat?
<GardenGnostic> Aagh
<Mikki> Talk to me!
Your self-mod is helping less than you'd thought.
Mikki's instant response would have been touching, hadn't it been entirely pointless. An apology will have to wait. Biting your lip, frustration welling up inside, you spend the time to double-check you've picked the right app this time.
You have one for each group of friends. You say that, but you barely ever talk to Amu electronically. You can't, when you're a telepath, and your sister's bare voice, or words on paper, aren't so much 'flat' as just complete uncanny valley.
[Ami-chan] Anyone, help!
[Ami-chan] Something is happening everything outside the classroom just disappeared. Mentally I mean. Can't feel them.
[Ami-chan] I'm going outside.
The network is unreachable, or your phone is in airplane mode. Hold 'retry' to try again.
Oh no, no, no. No no no no no.
The panic attack is real, now, but suppressed. You poke at the phone again, completely ignoring the lesson, but it's no good. Any moment now someone is going to storm in and knock you to the floor, grab your arm, and…
And that's where your imagination fails you, or runs into the blocks you've set up. You felt Rikka's red-out of pain from eight city blocks away. Few other people did.
You look up to find a lot of people looking at you, and at the phone in your hands.
"Miss Hinamori." Your teacher looks ready to throw the chalk at you, but hesitates. It's probably the look on your face. "Is something wrong?"
Is—
"I, um… The council!" You blank, completely unable to think up a decent lie. "I got a message, there's a… special meeting, about…" You throw Kohaku a desperate glance.
"The vandalism in the gym building," he suggests.
"Right!"
"I see," your teacher says. You easily feel her doubt. You can even see it on her face, and if you can, then it's obvious indeed.
Any moment now someone might be storming up the stairs.
The classroom is quiet. Are you overreacting? You hope you are, but nothing like this has ever happened before, not to anyone you know of. Is there someone coming for you? You can't tell, that's all — you're having a panic attack because you're going blind, not because you've seen something dangerous. The network outage could be a coincidence. You don't believe that at all.
"I'm sorry, teacher," you say, looking down, and you mean it. At the same time, you do something you'd promised yourself never to do — you reach into her unresisting mind. Don't think too hard about it.
"I meant to tell you, but I forgot. Can I go now? We're already late for the meeting."
I'm trustworthy, and not lying at all.
Sakura is grimacing at you. You try hard to ignore the friend-shaped brunette.
"I suppose, since it's you." Your teacher sighs. "Don't make a habit of it, all right?"
"I won't," you say, hoping that's true. "Kohaku, Daichi, come on. Kenji— you too."
You get up, awkwardly. These tweaks aren't even subtle, and half the class is staring at you. Kohaku is frowning. Sakura is glaring daggers at you. Will you have to explain this to her later on?
She isn't psionic, but she's always been bizarrely perceptive. You feel you shouldn't leave her in the dark.
[= = =]
'Sakura… Kinoko, was it? Amu, didn't she…'
A half-suppressed giggle.
'Kinomoto. She's the one who disappeared, yes. She wasn't taken, Rikka said she lost track of her walking across flat ground. I wanted to ask her parents, but I can't even find their home anymore.'
"Are you telling me her house disappeared?"
"I'm saying the street never existed."
[= = =]
You were worried you'd be caught the moment you left, or might be trapped in the classroom, or at least that passing through the barrier would hurt. You needn't have worried, at least about the last bit— it moved along with you, so now that you're outside you can't feel the inside of the classroom anymore, or really anything outside the corridor.
It's a nice corridor, white-washed and full of windows. You chance a look outside, and see nothing but the empty sports field. The corridor itself leads to a number of classrooms, but there's no-one else in it. You're on the second floor; there are stairs on either side of it.
...the sports field shouldn't be empty.
It still seems like you're safe for the moment… maybe? That's why, after getting a moderate distance away from the classroom and before Kohaku's anger turns into outright rebellion, you turn and guiltily face your trio.
"What the hell was that, Hinamori?"
Kohaku is livid. As well he might be, after you've done something you swore up and down that you'd never do again. Daichi doesn't get it, and Kenji — he doesn't get it either, but you suspect he'd have been fine with it, unfortunately.
He takes half a step backwards when you face him.
"Get yourself under control, Galadriel. You're radiating," he says, more quietly. "Nobody can overhear us. Tell me what's going on."
Daichi's eyes snap up to meet you. A moment later, the air between you fills with an angry buzz — his own form of 'radiation'. Your heart sinks a little. Daichi breaks things, telepathy included, and he always has to be careful not to stand too close to anyone. You? You make people love you, whether they'd like to or not. Whether you'd like them to or not.
If Uta were here, she'd stabilize you. You've never accidentally hurt anyone while she was present. She's not, and you can't call her.
Kohaku wants answers.
[ ] Tell him why you're worried
[ ] Tell him what you're feeling
[ ] Tell him to wait
[ ] Write-in
= What do? =
[ ] Continue the plan. Find Hikaru, even if on foot.
[ ] Explore. Try to discover what happened to the students outside.
[ ] Write-in
Votes are by plan, not line; the combination matters.
A/N: A well overdue update, but you can breathe a sigh of relief — this took about a sixth of the time it usually does. We shall see how this goes.
Life as a telepath isn't much like life without it. So you've thought, even though you yourself have always been one — part of that difference is that you're contrasting your life to Amu's memories of her childhood, and not just to her stories of it. Responsibility, though? Power?
No. That's part of it, but it's not what really matters.
It's a sense, an entire way of seeing the world, as different from sight as sight is from hearing. You can imagine not having it — of course you can, you've seen Amu's memories — but you can't remember ever not feeling your sister's love, Hikaru's brightness, Rikka's Rikka-ness, Utau's… fluffiness, and everything that goes with it. Not just to feel their emotions, but to see inside them, the universe of thoughts and less-than-thoughts that make them who they are. Losing it would be like losing your eyes, and sense of taste, smell and touch, all at once.
It matters for your classmates too, even if it's not the same. Even if they're a little flatter than your family.
Fudou's determination to succeed, his hard work and exhaustion after every test. Everyone else just sees the number one student, you see how hard he's worked to get there. It's as plain as the color of the clothes you're wearing.
Sakura's easy joy, superficial cheerfulness hiding the love she feels for both her best friend and her boyfriend. If you were the type, you'd tell her you can see it in her green, soulful eyes. You don't know how to fix that. You're scared of what would happen if you tried. What words can you use, what advice would truly help your friend, when the last thing you want is to force her?
They're all irreplaceable people. That's why you can't let them get hurt, and that's why, even as you wonder if you're overreacting, you decide that you can't stay. Whatever this is, whatever's happening, it's after you. Rikka's assault fresh in your mind, you know that much. What other purpose would there be, to block off a sense that few of your classmates know exists?
It's like sight, and sound, and touch, except you still have those. You aren't blind, you just feel like you are. You can still feel your classmates, you just can't feel anyone else. It feels like you've lost half of existence, but you haven't. It just feels that way.
You just wish your hands weren't shaking this much.
Only seconds have passed. It's not something you'd like to do, but you look into yourself and shut that panic attack down, hard. It's dangerous — fear is important, your sister has always said — but you need to be able to function, more than you need to be fully yourself. Even though you could be running straight into the trap now.
[= = =]
You exchange glances with Kohaku, who nods in response. It's still slow, and the teacher hasn't noticed, but your unease is spreading through the class. The other children are looking away from the whiteboard, the scritches of pen on paper are slowing down, and above it all, of course you can literally feel it.
There's no question you have to act, the only question is how. What are you supposed to do?
Scream for help? You don't think it'd work.
Your phone…
It's with halting movements you open the messaging app, glancing between it and Saya-teacher.
<GardenGnostic> Amu, Utau, anyone. I can't feel anything.
<GardenGnostic> Something is happening, help!
<Mikki> GG, wahat?
<GardenGnostic> Aagh
<Mikki> Talk to me!
Your self-mod is helping less than you'd thought.
Mikki's instant response would have been touching, hadn't it been entirely pointless. An apology will have to wait. Biting your lip, frustration welling up inside, you spend the time to double-check you've picked the right app this time.
You have one for each group of friends. You say that, but you barely ever talk to Amu electronically. You can't, when you're a telepath, and your sister's bare voice, or words on paper, aren't so much 'flat' as just complete uncanny valley.
[Ami-chan] Anyone, help!
[Ami-chan] Something is happening everything outside the classroom just disappeared. Mentally I mean. Can't feel them.
[Ami-chan] I'm going outside.
The network is unreachable, or your phone is in airplane mode. Hold 'retry' to try again.
Oh no, no, no. No no no no no.
The panic attack is real, now, but suppressed. You poke at the phone again, completely ignoring the lesson, but it's no good. Any moment now someone is going to storm in and knock you to the floor, grab your arm, and…
And that's where your imagination fails you, or runs into the blocks you've set up. You felt Rikka's red-out of pain from eight city blocks away. Few other people did.
You look up to find a lot of people looking at you, and at the phone in your hands.
"Miss Hinamori." Your teacher looks ready to throw the chalk at you, but hesitates. It's probably the look on your face. "Is something wrong?"
Is—
"I, um… The council!" You blank, completely unable to think up a decent lie. "I got a message, there's a… special meeting, about…" You throw Kohaku a desperate glance.
"The vandalism in the gym building," he suggests.
"Right!"
"I see," your teacher says. You easily feel her doubt. You can even see it on her face, and if you can, then it's obvious indeed.
Any moment now someone might be storming up the stairs.
The classroom is quiet. Are you overreacting? You hope you are, but nothing like this has ever happened before, not to anyone you know of. Is there someone coming for you? You can't tell, that's all — you're having a panic attack because you're going blind, not because you've seen something dangerous. The network outage could be a coincidence. You don't believe that at all.
"I'm sorry, teacher," you say, looking down, and you mean it. At the same time, you do something you'd promised yourself never to do — you reach into her unresisting mind. Don't think too hard about it.
"I meant to tell you, but I forgot. Can I go now? We're already late for the meeting."
I'm trustworthy, and not lying at all.
Sakura is grimacing at you. You try hard to ignore the friend-shaped brunette.
"I suppose, since it's you." Your teacher sighs. "Don't make a habit of it, all right?"
"I won't," you say, hoping that's true. "Kohaku, Daichi, come on. Kenji— you too."
You get up, awkwardly. These tweaks aren't even subtle, and half the class is staring at you. Kohaku is frowning. Sakura is glaring daggers at you. Will you have to explain this to her later on?
She isn't psionic, but she's always been bizarrely perceptive. You feel you shouldn't leave her in the dark.
[= = =]
'Sakura… Kinoko, was it? Amu, didn't she…'
A half-suppressed giggle.
'Kinomoto. She's the one who disappeared, yes. She wasn't taken, Rikka said she lost track of her walking across flat ground. I wanted to ask her parents, but I can't even find their home anymore.'
"Are you telling me her house disappeared?"
"I'm saying the street never existed."
[= = =]
You were worried you'd be caught the moment you left, or might be trapped in the classroom, or at least that passing through the barrier would hurt. You needn't have worried, at least about the last bit— it moved along with you, so now that you're outside you can't feel the inside of the classroom anymore, or really anything outside the corridor.
It's a nice corridor, white-washed and full of windows. You chance a look outside, and see nothing but the empty sports field. The corridor itself leads to a number of classrooms, but there's no-one else in it. You're on the second floor; there are stairs on either side of it.
...the sports field shouldn't be empty.
It still seems like you're safe for the moment… maybe? That's why, after getting a moderate distance away from the classroom and before Kohaku's anger turns into outright rebellion, you turn and guiltily face your trio.
"What the hell was that, Hinamori?"
Kohaku is livid. As well he might be, after you've done something you swore up and down that you'd never do again. Daichi doesn't get it, and Kenji — he doesn't get it either, but you suspect he'd have been fine with it, unfortunately.
He takes half a step backwards when you face him.
"Get yourself under control, Galadriel. You're radiating," he says, more quietly. "Nobody can overhear us. Tell me what's going on."
Daichi's eyes snap up to meet you. A moment later, the air between you fills with an angry buzz — his own form of 'radiation'. Your heart sinks a little. Daichi breaks things, telepathy included, and he always has to be careful not to stand too close to anyone. You? You make people love you, whether they'd like to or not. Whether you'd like them to or not.
If Uta were here, she'd stabilize you. You've never accidentally hurt anyone while she was present. She's not, and you can't call her.
Kohaku wants answers.
[ ] Tell him why you're worried
[ ] Tell him what you're feeling
[ ] Tell him to wait
[ ] Write-in
= What do? =
[ ] Continue the plan. Find Hikaru, even if on foot.
[ ] Explore. Try to discover what happened to the students outside.
[ ] Write-in
Votes are by plan, not line; the combination matters.
A/N: A well overdue update, but you can breathe a sigh of relief — this took about a sixth of the time it usually does. We shall see how this goes.
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HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
So. Either she was imaginary, or she's been Retconjured, or she was an infiltrator who has now bugged out. In any case, she's a priority to investigate.
Six combinations, not including write-ins. Write-ins are supposedly the best path if we can make good ones. Objectives for this current stretch:
*Keep the plot going.
*Find all plothooks in the prologue.
Current clues:
*Amu and/or her friends are caught in a psychic isolation shell.
--Try splitting up a bit while staying in sight, seeing if the effect splits or stays on one of us. Or is it affected by walls, specifically? What about opening a window? Look through doors to check for students - this might be a dimensional effect like in Nanoha.
*Hikaru is going to disappear, despite all his tremendous power. We should see if we can get details.
--Beeline for him, delaying only to try escaping the block and texting him. (With a meeting place, like the sports field?)
*Students outside are just plain missing. Could be a coincidence, honestly. Even if it isn't, the only sort of clues I'd expect to find out there are weird vans, and this sort of operation might not have those.
*Amu is worried because this is scary and she's losing control. Asking mister psybreaker to jam her powers for a minute might be useful if it's not stupid. @Baughn, is the former King able to break up her psychic 'run around screaming for ten seconds' if she asks?
*Amu is feeling stuff. This will almost certainly contain clues, because intuition, but talking about it now might work her up.
Best guess plan:
[X] Explain your feelings while walking. Touch on your worries.
[X] Continue the plan. Find Hikaru. Check some doors on the way, though, maybe including the classroom you came from - if you've been kidnapped to some freaky mirror dimension, it's best to know now.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
One point: Your current protagonist is Ami, not Amu. Amu is her older sister. They do look nearly identical.
Your speculation is... delicious, and maybe not entirely wrong? There are plot hooks in here, but you aren't expected to guess the truth for quite a while. So that all seems to be working as expected.
Re. your question, I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Ami is currently using her abilities to stop herself panicking and stay rational, so blocking that wouldn't be a good idea. Daichi is already using his own to stop her possibly affecting him, but that's an area-of-effect thing largely surrounding only himself; any other human being inside the volume isn't... safe.
HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Ah. I was wondering something along the lines of: "Is Daichi sufficiently good at psyblocking that he can jam Ami's mindcontrol broadcasts while she does the equivalent of screaming and running in circles for about ten seconds, then composes herself again?"
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
In principle yes, but I don't think he'd want to test it. Keep in mind that the psi. strength scale isn't linear.
- Location
- Laniakea
........Oookay. So dealer's choice for the excuse was to Jedi Mind Trick the teacher and leave the entire class open-jawed.
Doesn't sound like her usual go-to play considering that she's vowed never to do it before, so... I guess she doesn't typically cut and run mid-class?The existence and subsequent disappearance of Sakura Kinomoto is interesting, but the extent of her significance is still somewhat indeterminable at this point. She could simply be an ordinary part of the world in this quest that got very unlucky like she apparently was in Shards - or her odd circumstances and disappearing house could just as much be an indication that she isn't a natural part of the world and she's some kind of anomaly that was artificially inserted into Ami's world (whether by herself or by someone else). That's assuming Ami's world isn't just some artificial simulated reality or the like in the first place.
Need more information to work with for that one.
If the effect follows Ami, that means it's some sort of targeted, localized suppression field. The fact it's person-targeted, not area-targeted means there's a wilful aggressor deliberately trying to restrain her, although there is still an open question of whether it was targeted on Ami herself or actually used on one of the other people who left the classroom with her and she just got caught in the effect radius.
Either way, it indicates that the perpetrator knows and is familiar enough with Ami (or one of those friends) to personally target them. Even more alarmingly, it indicates they are likely being actively monitored since targeting a specific person necessitates the attacker to actually know where they are. At bare minimum, they would've needed to be monitoring the classroom when the effect got dropped on Ami - this assumes the technique is a naturally lingering fire-and-forget thing. If this is not the case and it actually requires constant effort to maintain, chances are good they're STILL monitoring Ami now she's moved outside and they manually moved the effect along with them when they saw her group go.
Yeesh. What kind of enemies have she and her friends been making?
So she can reach SufficientVelocity for some reason but otherwise cellular connectivity is down. Leaving aside SV, there's an easy way to check whether the phone jamming is tied to the mental suppression field, all she has to do is walk far away enough from someone else that they're blocked out and have them try and make a call. I personally doubt it's the suppression field though.
The question is this - how much time do we have to check things and make observations? There are plenty things we can check, but how much time do we have to do it before Hikaru goes poof?
If we've been dumped in some mirror dimension, we haven't just been dumped in a mirror dimension but ALSO had a suppression field dropped on us. We know one is there, because Ami could tell that it "moved" with her as she left the classroom by which I assume she felt individual people fall off as she walked in the same way the field shrunk everything from the city inwards when it first got dropped on her.
If it was some instant, jarring effect the moment she stepped out of the room I'm inclined to think it would've been noted. And if that were truly the case, yes, I'd likely believe that the school got segmented into multiple pocket dimensions for each area and room like separate maps in a video game.
But otherwise, what would be the point of both a suppression field AND dimensional BFR? The latter would do the entire job of the former as long as the target was stuck there. I suppose it is worth checking, but doesn't seem very likely.
[X] Tell him what you're feeling
-[X] You're freaking out. Everyone is gone from your senses.
[X] Tell him why you're worried
-[X] Three reasons: One, something's cut off your ability to sense anyone beyond the range of a room. Two, your phone's been cut off from the cellular network. Three, everybody who should be out on the sports field is gone.
[X] Continue looking for Hikaru on foot, but carry out these checks along the way:
-[X] Check whether the suppression effect is actually centered around Amu and whether Kohaku is spared from the effect if he's far away enough from her group (or vice versa). At the same time, check whether phones work outside of the suppression effect area and if they do, follow the plan to try and call Rikka and Hikaru.
-[X] Check whether the effect is actually room-targeted (as in, every room is psychically cut-off from every other room). Have someone briefly pop through a door or stick their head outside a window, etc.
-[X] Check whether the effect is actually psychic-suppression or whether it's some sort of subtle spatial segmentation. Find a landline phone, either in the nurse's office or reception and ask to borrow it to make a call home since your cellphone isn't working. Call Amu and a pizza place and especially another phone somewhere in the school (i.e. staff room, principal's office etc). If nothing connects, someone either went through a lot of effort to cut the landlines or else there's spatial shenanigans at work.
I think we were meant to read that as the connection being cut off between the messages. Not sure what that implies though.
- Location
- Laniakea
That would mean the cell jamming isn't tied to the psychic suppression, since the suppression came before her phone stopped being able to send messages. This would mean they are separate effects and if they are, then it's unlikely that there's any spatial alteration going on since such a thing should have impacted both at the same time.
To a lesser extent, it also says the perpetrators weren't perfectly 100% coordinated in their assault or particularly good at planning, since the phone jamming should have been done before the psychic suppression - one of them is a lot more noticeable than the other after all, especially to Hikaru. Needing separate methods to shut down each communication method also drastically increases the amount of evidence left behind in wake of the operation - if they haven't neglected to cut the landlines, there will be obvious evidence of it afterwards. If they haven't cut the power, the computers will still be running complete with internet access and if they HAVE cut the power, there will be traces of that too. Which leaves stuff to investigate after the events are over.
Apart from that, there's only one other alternative I can think of which is that there IS no phone jamming. It's Ami's personal phone being specifically hacked and blocked off from the network after the perpetrators noticed her trying to send messages via her app.
That one I find pretty unlikely, to be honest.
I don't think its effect radius.
This means she can feel what is presumably the rather long corridor, but not the classroom that is literally next door. This gives more the impression of segmentation based on where the walls are.
- Location
- Laniakea
Alternatively, it could that there's simply nobody in any of the other classrooms, just like there's nobody in the sports field. Either because the other classes were meant to be in the sports fields, or else that they all got poofed and there's nobody left to sense but the students in her classroom that she's walked far enough away from (i.e. could be that it's already too late and Hikaru's been poofed as well, just for some reason everyone else comes back eventually except for Hikaru).
It's kinda a problem that don't actually know what's supposed to be normal around the school, even though Ami does. And since she's freaking out right now, she'll probably be a deliberately unreliable narrator.
For instance, if we knew the route to Hikaru's classroom took us through the sports field (or if Hikaru were meant to be at the field) we could actually knock off both exploration and finding Hikaru at once. Or if there were computer rooms along the way. Or the library. Or the gym. Alas, unless we get QM confirmation on the layout of the school we're stuck between either/or.
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There'd still be people in the classroom you just came out of and thus presumably are standing right next to in the context given. So feels more segmentation like to me. At least that sounds more probable of the options we have.
Though it's hard to be entirely sure of anything with relatively limited data. For instance even if we did have a moving field, you could also resolve that by having a large suppressive field and your bubble being nothing more then the area you can still scan despite the large area suppression.
With sufficient testing you could eliminate various options, but I don't know how much time you have for such things really...
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
She can't, exactly. The mapping from mind-space to real-space is hard for her, and the corridor "fuzzes out" pretty quickly. The corridor also isn't intelligent. She's pretty sure sure can feel further through it than the nominal distance to the nearest student through the walls, but that's normal, even if normally her range is orders of magnitude higher.
- Location
- Laniakea
While we're on what Ami knows, I gotta ask - does she actually currently know where Sakura lives or was that something she only finds out after the kidnapping, but prior to Sakura's disappearance?
Because if she currently knows where Sakura's house is and the landline phones are indeed still working (which I doubt) I stupidly feel like calling in a pizza delivery to the Kinomoto residence. I mean, if there is anyone or any particular type of call not being specifically monitored by the people behind this kidnapping, it would be the random local Pizza Hut.
Depending on whether the company manages to find the place, it could at least tell us whether it was still in existence at the point of Hikaru's kidnap and if it was, whether its disappearance retroactively affected the company's own digital records of the delivery.
Bonus points if the person who picks up and takes the delivery order is Kinomoto's brother.
...Or even better, if Ami knows where Sakura's best friend (Tomoyo?) and boyfriend (Li?) lives, she can also send pizzas there with a message that Sakura ordered them in. And then see if they remember the delivery and message post-disappearance.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
She does. They've visited each other before; Sakura is one of Ami's better (muggle? uh...) friends. No surprise there, of course -- Sakura easily makes friends. Ami's opinion on Touya is, to quote: "He's a suspicious busybody, and makes me feel uncomfortable."
Sending the poor pizza guy to Tomyo's mansion is likely to get him lost, disappearances or no.
Absolutely no comment on the rest of that.
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HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
My hypothesis is that it's less a suppression field and more a dimensional effect that zaps everyone who isn't psionic - or possibly everyone who isn't outright muggle, if CCS characters are involved - and anyone still in their immediate vicinity into a pocket dimension. And that effect stays up as long as the field does, so wandering away from muggles makes those muggles disappear back to the real world.
That would explain everything except why we can't contact other psions. Maybe the only other psion in school is outside range of the effect?
I assume that SV's accessibility, if it still is accessible - I'd read that as the network going down after a moment - is something to do with Homestuck Influence. It'd be somewhat extradimensional/integrated with the same sort of reality hack.
Or perhaps it's an entirely different spooky phenomenon. Who knows!
Bit worried this is too long; won't stay focused enough. I dunno enough about how @Baughn interprets plans like these - does someone have a link to a good previous quest?
The landlines are a good idea, though. As is checking if SV is still accessible.
[X] Explain your feelings while walking. Touch on your worries.
[X] Continue the plan. Find Hikaru. Check some doors on the way, though, maybe including the classroom you came from - if you've been kidnapped to some freaky mirror dimension, it's best to know now. Check a landline if it's not too far out of the way. Check if SV is still accessible - crazy as that seems, it's something to try while you walk.
Oh, so the whole cast is there? Great. I never finished Reservoir Chronicle, but retconjuration is looking considerably more likely.
(He said with audible bitterness.)
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HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
(To be clear, this is to be read in your best grumpy police inspector voice.)
Ami's school layout
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Have a look at this convenient picture, which I totally didn't steal from someone's tweet:
Teachers move between classes, students stay in their homerooms unless they have special reason not to. The smaller buildings off to the side hold specialized equipment such as craft shops and clubrooms.
At the time of writing (chapter 1.2) Ami is on the second floor, at the back of the building. She's looking out towards the sports field, which she has a poor angle on. The students might just be hidden, though it's odd; there'd usually be someone visible. The ground floor has lockers and such, the first floor has a couple of administrative, club, etc. rooms, and floors 2-4 are for classrooms One floor per grade.
What the picture doesn't show, because I couldn't find a decent one, is that there's a second U-shaped building in there. It's situated, let's say, right where the park is in the middle of the picture. (If I can find the world download I'll do some copy-paste and photograph that. Or maybe I'll build some sketches of my own.)
Ami's school is an elevator school -- that is, it's got both middle and high school classes. This is a common arrangement in Japan, but I don't believe they'd normally be in the same building.
The layout of Hikaru's school is a mirrored copy of Ami's. She might have been able to see him out the classroom windows, except her classroom is in the back. The main stairs are to the side, next to the sky-bridges, but there's also a stairwell in the back.
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HoratioVonBecker
Imperfectly Aligned
Is there any way to jump out a window safely, given our current resources?
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
From the second floor?
None that Ami could ethically consider. Her sister could do it, or Ran could help her if she was here, but Ami's talents all lean towards the less physical side.