"Here you observe the social process of the magical girl in her native habitat. Witness the application of excessive nonlethal violence and the submission of the defeated to the victor."
Shards of a Broken Sun [Deprecated; see link in final post for remake]
- Thread starter Baughn
- Start date
- Crossover Sci-Fi
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
<Amu> What's going on... how... I swear I didn't mean to!
I don't either
ω₁
The Long Count
[x] ... I'm sorry, Maya-san.
- [x] You know what happened between me and Kagutsuchi. You know what Kanno-sensei was doing, and you helped to take her anyway. Millions of people, and the last remnants of my world, may die because of you and your President.
- [x] So, again, Maya-san, I'm sorry. We seem to be allies of convenience, at the moment; or, perhaps, you may consider yourself a prisoner of war. If so, you may rest assured that it is our law and custom to treat such prisoners humanely until their negotiated repatriation. But, as things are, I do not think we can be friends.
[x] ...
- [x] You're right, by the way. Nothing but heartache.
- [x] You know what happened between me and Kagutsuchi. You know what Kanno-sensei was doing, and you helped to take her anyway. Millions of people, and the last remnants of my world, may die because of you and your President.
- [x] So, again, Maya-san, I'm sorry. We seem to be allies of convenience, at the moment; or, perhaps, you may consider yourself a prisoner of war. If so, you may rest assured that it is our law and custom to treat such prisoners humanely until their negotiated repatriation. But, as things are, I do not think we can be friends.
[x] ...
- [x] You're right, by the way. Nothing but heartache.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Well, because she doesn't have it. Personality doesn't count as UMI, you know.
al103
Grumpy Russian Bear (SV edition)
- Location
- Russia, Krasnoyarsk
Heh, I wonder where exactly Maya from...
*looks at where he lives now: Buryatia to the right, Tuva right down, Mongolia also right down and Kazahstan to the left*
*Maya is most likely Russian*
Ah, silly of me to ask, really...
*looks at where he lives now: Buryatia to the right, Tuva right down, Mongolia also right down and Kazahstan to the left*
*Maya is most likely Russian*
Ah, silly of me to ask, really...
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Ohhhhh
we got distracted by the shiny again
let's see how we can work this development into exploring the area
ω₁
The Long Count
Pfft. Next you'll be telling me she's actually a Moh Shuvuu, and not Alcor's disguised Persona or something.
Are you going to actually vote that, though? (If someone can come up with a decent hybrid vote, I'm willing to switch.)
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
The ayes have spoken.
[X] …Yes?
- [X] Wait, will you get in trouble with your boss? If not, let's be friends!
I guess Amu isn't the sort of person who takes the near extermination of the human species personally. That, or she didn't make the connection. It's really more likely to be the latter.
[X] …Yes?
- [X] Wait, will you get in trouble with your boss? If not, let's be friends!
I guess Amu isn't the sort of person who takes the near extermination of the human species personally. That, or she didn't make the connection. It's really more likely to be the latter.
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She's a psuedo-sister with one of them now. But they kind of worked for the bad guys without any say in the matter more than anything, she's never actually befriended a full-on enemy before... part of that's probably because they're also mostly adults.
And yes, that implied "extinction of all humanity part" does have a good chance of flying over her head.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Emphasis on "pseudo". That entire situation got setup because, while Amu's parents wouldn't have survived a full-on Conception, Ikuto and Utau would. Since that didn't happen...
Well, Ikuto isn't very likely to let it go; it's very convenient for him. Not that Amu really has time for attempts at romance at the moment.
It's almost a pity, though. I think I would have enjoyed writing that story. Just the Shugo Chara characters, dumped into Nocturne...
You realize you'd need a Death Counter like DBZ Abridged has a Krillen Owned Counter, right?It's almost a pity, though. I think I would have enjoyed writing that story. Just the Shugo Chara characters, dumped into Nocturne...
Also this makes me think of that one story that's labeled as a Shugo Chara/DMC cross... "Desolator-san" My Face When ->
I dunno, it'd be a lot easier for Amu to protect everyone if all she had to protect were a few chara users who are all capable of "leveling up" now that Kagutsuchi isn't binding them anymore. They're changing right now, of course, which is where the chara subplot is coming from, but I imagine they'd be rather more combat focused if they weren't being coddled. Not that I can blame JP's for coddling kids.
I wonder what Reasons they'd create.
I wonder what Reasons they'd create.
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Monday's Turmoil 13
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
"This way, you think?"
They peeked around the corner. Another hallway full of mist, another random group of doors, but at a first glance it didn't look like any of them would lead outside. Whatever "outside" meant, in this place, and assuming looks could be depended on to mean anything, which they'd already determined that they couldn't…
At least the walls weren't tiled with octagons this time.
Half an hour earlier, and in the slightly less cramped confines of a fogged-up television studio, Miki watched in alarm as Amu got verbally overrun by the demon they were talking to. Maybe it was because Maya hadn't been talking to her, personally, or maybe Miki just thought that much faster, but there were all sorts of questions they needed to ask and it looked like Amu was too busy thinking about what Maya had already said to ask them.
"I, um… yes?" Amu said, her voice wavering uncertainly and making it more of a question than an answer. "Um, I mean—"
She tugged at Amu's sleeve, harder this time. She thought she could see a gleam in Maya's eyes. Maybe she was just imagining it, but she wasn't inclined to trust this demon.
"Oh, wait." Good. Amu, don't— "Will you get in trouble with your boss? If not, let's be friends!"
Oh, fiddlesticks.
"Friends?" Maya sounded like she was testing the word.
Amu nodded earnestly, setting her misgivings aside for the moment. It wasn't like she'd forgotten that Maya had helped to kidnap Fumi, but the way Maya had spoken had given her a lot to think about. She hadn't rescued her for any kind of ulterior reason—it had been a spur of the moment thing, really—but since she had, she felt like she should do something that made sense afterwards. Befriending her just fit, really. Plus…
Her mood darkened a little. She'd seen the size of that army.
They could probably defeat one army like that, even if it might take nukes—if the individual soldiers had been really powerful, they'd be popping around like Dubhe—but then what about the next one? And the one after that?
This was just the second day. They'd beaten the odds in making it this far, against completely unfair opposition, but there was no guarantee her enemies would let up. She wished she could go back to a week ago, when her biggest worry was what kind of crazy scheme Easter would cook up next. Even at their worst, she'd never feared anyone working for Easter would really hurt her. Hurt her sisters, maybe, but they'd never really achieved anything in their attempts.
Kagutsuchi had killed seven billion people in the span of five minutes.
It wasn't a number she could emotionally understand. There was no way to comprehend the meaning, not when the closest she'd gotten to death was watching a battle on a television screen yesterday, and at the time she'd been able to pretend it was a kind of game. It was the only way she'd been able to make herself give the orders she'd needed to give without having to fight against her own conscience,
She couldn't rely on being able to defeat every comer, not even with the resources of Japan to draw on. So, the next best thing, and maybe a better idea from the start—divide and conquer. Get demons on her side, enough of them to hold for Japan to hold their own; JPs seemed to have the same idea, but their summoning program couldn't possibly be enough to counter whole armies. She didn't know if Maya was a good start or not, but she had to start somewhere.
"Friends," she confirmed. "I mean, that's what you were asking—right? Unless Botis would frown on that sort of thing."
"Usually it's more of a master-servant thing," Maya said. She stared past them for a moment, her hair twitching sporadically. "No, I don't think he'd care. It wouldn't be the first time someone's disappeared for years on end, and I already did what he asked… failed, I suppose, but that's besides the point. He won't object."
"Then…"
"Then… sure, why not. I've always wanted to be a big sister!" Maya held out her hand, but at the last second—just as Amu was about to shake it—it shot up towards her head, fast as lightning.
"Amu!" Miki shouted.
She felt a hand messing with her hair, just for a second, before the combined power of Amu's dodge—backwards—and Miki's forceful push—sideways—sent them tumbling into a tangled pile of limbs.
She was certain she could have dealt better with an actual attack, but as it was the sheer unexpectedness of Maya's action meant it took her a second just to figure out what had happened, and by the time she'd extracted her head—somehow stuck under Miki's left leg—there was nothing for it but to blush beet-red, looking up at a demon who was unreservedly laughing at them. Then, adding insult to injury, she reached down and mussed up Miki's hair as well.
"I really don't think I like her," Miki volunteered.
Amu studied her, and wondered.
"Okay. Rule number one. First! No messing with the hair. I don't care what you do to Amu, but you'll leave mine alone. Second, I already have quite enough sisters. You don't get to be one."
They'd gotten themselves untangled, but the situation had apparently been enough to put the normally taciturn Miki over the edge. As much as Amu might agree with her, it was a little odd to watch another version of herself walk around; slightly-upset Miki, pacing rapidly back and forth with her finger raised, looked a lot more like a clone of herself than she'd ever done before. She actually looked a little cool.
"Of course, imouto-chan." Cute little sister. Maya wasn't taking them seriously.
"Rule number two!" Miki looked frazzled, but she carried on gamely. "You'll follow instructions if we get into anything that looks close to being a fight. Maybe you're good at fighting, but there's no reason to ask for trouble. I have a feeling you wouldn't bother try to avoid them. Am I right?"
"Well—"
"On second thought, don't answer that. Just tell me you'll follow orders."
"If there's a fight, sure." Maya shrugged. "That's no more than I was expecting anyway."
"You were—good, I mean. That's good. Rule number three! Last rule. Um, don't tell anyone you're a demon unless we say it's okay. I don't think it'd go over well, and you can probably pass for human. Definitely, if you change your clothing."
"I have no objections. I'm not sure I actually can change my clothing, but it'll be fun to find out. Hey, can I borrow yours for a minute? Or yours, Amu-chan?"
"I—" What? Wait, where had—no, Miki's clothing wasn't exactly real, was it?
"We're using it," Miki ground out. "It wouldn't fit you anyway."
"Oh, okay then." Maya smiled guilelessly, though Amu wondered if her eyes weren't crinkled just a little too much to be entirely innocent. "So, what do we do now?"
"I was going to look around for anything useful," Miki said. Then, sounding as if she'd just thought something through and it added up to horror, "And you're coming with me. Maybe you've never been here before either, but it's another pair of eyes. Amu's safe enough right here."
She couldn't call her on that. Maya mostly seemed safe, but Amu was sure it hadn't escaped either of them—and she suspected it hadn't escaped any of them—that she was probably safer right here, on her own, than she would be with Maya around. Miki might be safer with Maya, but she couldn't hope for that, because it'd mean the area they'd lost themselves in really was dangerous.
"Walk down a hallway, end up in a ballroom, but the double glass doors on the inside led to a subway station." Maya was talking to herself, muttering about the areas they'd explored as if that would make them any more sensible. "Then, three doors to the left, the only exit is to a clothing store. A clothing store for children, but I wouldn't put on any of those dresses even if they fit me. Freaky place."
"Yeah."
Miki was mostly reduced to monosyllables. She didn't want to talk to Maya, which was fine, since Maya seemed determined to talk enough for both of them.
"Do you think if we'd waited, a train would have shown up?"
"Even if it had, I don't think boarding it would be a good—Wait!"
They stopped. Maya looked curiously at her.
"Another one?"
"I think so…" She made a rough sphere of semi-solid, rubbery paint—no sense in spending any effort for something she had to do so often—and threw it through the bit of air Maya had been about to walk into. It bounced, once, twice, and then disappeared, seemingly in mid-air.
"Right," she muttered. "I thought the echoes were weird. Let's not go there."
"You're not getting any complaints from me on that front. Why doesn't this place make any sense? The rooms are hooked up all wrong, there are one-way corridors, there are—"
"Rooms that should by all reason be overlapping, but aren't?"
"What? No." Maya raised an eyebrow. "What does that even mean? I just meant there's no theming of any kind, it doesn't make any sense as a place to live."
I don't think anyone lives here…
Maya knew that perfectly well, but this was getting them nowhere. Slowly, because she had to check for potential one-way trips every couple of meters in this crazy sideways place. The echoes helped, somewhat, but the echoes were uniformly weird; she couldn't rely on them.
[ ] Give up and return. Maybe you can find a more direct way back by helping Amu.
[ ] Go have a look at those subway tunnels. Maybe see if a train shows up.
[ ] If the doors don't work, try a window.
[ ] Or a wall.
[ ] Write-in
They peeked around the corner. Another hallway full of mist, another random group of doors, but at a first glance it didn't look like any of them would lead outside. Whatever "outside" meant, in this place, and assuming looks could be depended on to mean anything, which they'd already determined that they couldn't…
At least the walls weren't tiled with octagons this time.
————————
Half an hour earlier, and in the slightly less cramped confines of a fogged-up television studio, Miki watched in alarm as Amu got verbally overrun by the demon they were talking to. Maybe it was because Maya hadn't been talking to her, personally, or maybe Miki just thought that much faster, but there were all sorts of questions they needed to ask and it looked like Amu was too busy thinking about what Maya had already said to ask them.
"I, um… yes?" Amu said, her voice wavering uncertainly and making it more of a question than an answer. "Um, I mean—"
She tugged at Amu's sleeve, harder this time. She thought she could see a gleam in Maya's eyes. Maybe she was just imagining it, but she wasn't inclined to trust this demon.
"Oh, wait." Good. Amu, don't— "Will you get in trouble with your boss? If not, let's be friends!"
Oh, fiddlesticks.
———————
"Friends?" Maya sounded like she was testing the word.
Amu nodded earnestly, setting her misgivings aside for the moment. It wasn't like she'd forgotten that Maya had helped to kidnap Fumi, but the way Maya had spoken had given her a lot to think about. She hadn't rescued her for any kind of ulterior reason—it had been a spur of the moment thing, really—but since she had, she felt like she should do something that made sense afterwards. Befriending her just fit, really. Plus…
Her mood darkened a little. She'd seen the size of that army.
They could probably defeat one army like that, even if it might take nukes—if the individual soldiers had been really powerful, they'd be popping around like Dubhe—but then what about the next one? And the one after that?
This was just the second day. They'd beaten the odds in making it this far, against completely unfair opposition, but there was no guarantee her enemies would let up. She wished she could go back to a week ago, when her biggest worry was what kind of crazy scheme Easter would cook up next. Even at their worst, she'd never feared anyone working for Easter would really hurt her. Hurt her sisters, maybe, but they'd never really achieved anything in their attempts.
Kagutsuchi had killed seven billion people in the span of five minutes.
It wasn't a number she could emotionally understand. There was no way to comprehend the meaning, not when the closest she'd gotten to death was watching a battle on a television screen yesterday, and at the time she'd been able to pretend it was a kind of game. It was the only way she'd been able to make herself give the orders she'd needed to give without having to fight against her own conscience,
She couldn't rely on being able to defeat every comer, not even with the resources of Japan to draw on. So, the next best thing, and maybe a better idea from the start—divide and conquer. Get demons on her side, enough of them to hold for Japan to hold their own; JPs seemed to have the same idea, but their summoning program couldn't possibly be enough to counter whole armies. She didn't know if Maya was a good start or not, but she had to start somewhere.
"Friends," she confirmed. "I mean, that's what you were asking—right? Unless Botis would frown on that sort of thing."
"Usually it's more of a master-servant thing," Maya said. She stared past them for a moment, her hair twitching sporadically. "No, I don't think he'd care. It wouldn't be the first time someone's disappeared for years on end, and I already did what he asked… failed, I suppose, but that's besides the point. He won't object."
"Then…"
"Then… sure, why not. I've always wanted to be a big sister!" Maya held out her hand, but at the last second—just as Amu was about to shake it—it shot up towards her head, fast as lightning.
"Amu!" Miki shouted.
She felt a hand messing with her hair, just for a second, before the combined power of Amu's dodge—backwards—and Miki's forceful push—sideways—sent them tumbling into a tangled pile of limbs.
She was certain she could have dealt better with an actual attack, but as it was the sheer unexpectedness of Maya's action meant it took her a second just to figure out what had happened, and by the time she'd extracted her head—somehow stuck under Miki's left leg—there was nothing for it but to blush beet-red, looking up at a demon who was unreservedly laughing at them. Then, adding insult to injury, she reached down and mussed up Miki's hair as well.
"I really don't think I like her," Miki volunteered.
Amu studied her, and wondered.
———————
"Okay. Rule number one. First! No messing with the hair. I don't care what you do to Amu, but you'll leave mine alone. Second, I already have quite enough sisters. You don't get to be one."
They'd gotten themselves untangled, but the situation had apparently been enough to put the normally taciturn Miki over the edge. As much as Amu might agree with her, it was a little odd to watch another version of herself walk around; slightly-upset Miki, pacing rapidly back and forth with her finger raised, looked a lot more like a clone of herself than she'd ever done before. She actually looked a little cool.
"Of course, imouto-chan." Cute little sister. Maya wasn't taking them seriously.
"Rule number two!" Miki looked frazzled, but she carried on gamely. "You'll follow instructions if we get into anything that looks close to being a fight. Maybe you're good at fighting, but there's no reason to ask for trouble. I have a feeling you wouldn't bother try to avoid them. Am I right?"
"Well—"
"On second thought, don't answer that. Just tell me you'll follow orders."
"If there's a fight, sure." Maya shrugged. "That's no more than I was expecting anyway."
"You were—good, I mean. That's good. Rule number three! Last rule. Um, don't tell anyone you're a demon unless we say it's okay. I don't think it'd go over well, and you can probably pass for human. Definitely, if you change your clothing."
"I have no objections. I'm not sure I actually can change my clothing, but it'll be fun to find out. Hey, can I borrow yours for a minute? Or yours, Amu-chan?"
"I—" What? Wait, where had—no, Miki's clothing wasn't exactly real, was it?
"We're using it," Miki ground out. "It wouldn't fit you anyway."
"Oh, okay then." Maya smiled guilelessly, though Amu wondered if her eyes weren't crinkled just a little too much to be entirely innocent. "So, what do we do now?"
"I was going to look around for anything useful," Miki said. Then, sounding as if she'd just thought something through and it added up to horror, "And you're coming with me. Maybe you've never been here before either, but it's another pair of eyes. Amu's safe enough right here."
She couldn't call her on that. Maya mostly seemed safe, but Amu was sure it hadn't escaped either of them—and she suspected it hadn't escaped any of them—that she was probably safer right here, on her own, than she would be with Maya around. Miki might be safer with Maya, but she couldn't hope for that, because it'd mean the area they'd lost themselves in really was dangerous.
———————
"Walk down a hallway, end up in a ballroom, but the double glass doors on the inside led to a subway station." Maya was talking to herself, muttering about the areas they'd explored as if that would make them any more sensible. "Then, three doors to the left, the only exit is to a clothing store. A clothing store for children, but I wouldn't put on any of those dresses even if they fit me. Freaky place."
"Yeah."
Miki was mostly reduced to monosyllables. She didn't want to talk to Maya, which was fine, since Maya seemed determined to talk enough for both of them.
"Do you think if we'd waited, a train would have shown up?"
"Even if it had, I don't think boarding it would be a good—Wait!"
They stopped. Maya looked curiously at her.
"Another one?"
"I think so…" She made a rough sphere of semi-solid, rubbery paint—no sense in spending any effort for something she had to do so often—and threw it through the bit of air Maya had been about to walk into. It bounced, once, twice, and then disappeared, seemingly in mid-air.
"Right," she muttered. "I thought the echoes were weird. Let's not go there."
"You're not getting any complaints from me on that front. Why doesn't this place make any sense? The rooms are hooked up all wrong, there are one-way corridors, there are—"
"Rooms that should by all reason be overlapping, but aren't?"
"What? No." Maya raised an eyebrow. "What does that even mean? I just meant there's no theming of any kind, it doesn't make any sense as a place to live."
I don't think anyone lives here…
Maya knew that perfectly well, but this was getting them nowhere. Slowly, because she had to check for potential one-way trips every couple of meters in this crazy sideways place. The echoes helped, somewhat, but the echoes were uniformly weird; she couldn't rely on them.
[ ] Give up and return. Maybe you can find a more direct way back by helping Amu.
[ ] Go have a look at those subway tunnels. Maybe see if a train shows up.
[ ] If the doors don't work, try a window.
[ ] Or a wall.
[ ] Write-in
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ω₁
The Long Count
It reminds me of Moonside. Or possibly Yume Nikki. Or any of ten thousand dreams.
[Q] Amu: Wake up.
Honestly, I think we're going about this the wrong way. In P4, the protagonists had to run into Teddie before they could return to the real world. Since the area isn't exactly infested with lesser Shadows (we'd have run into them by now), and since we don't have to worry so much about defending Maya now that she's awake, we should probably go back to base and try to attract attention, rather than stumbling about looking for who-knows-what.
While we're out here, though, we can gather a bit of data.
Assuming that none of these things work, or that those that do work don't give us any results beyond more senseless rooms,
Also, because I'd really rather find some way to use Diarama on Fumi if that's at all possible,
Ideally Amu can analyze Diarama and ascertain that, yes, it's usable on humans. Fumi might not be a safe target to test it on, but Maya is, and so is Amu herself. (IPP will no-sell its effects, but she can still get a first-hand look at them.)
[Q] Amu: Wake up.
Honestly, I think we're going about this the wrong way. In P4, the protagonists had to run into Teddie before they could return to the real world. Since the area isn't exactly infested with lesser Shadows (we'd have run into them by now), and since we don't have to worry so much about defending Maya now that she's awake, we should probably go back to base and try to attract attention, rather than stumbling about looking for who-knows-what.
While we're out here, though, we can gather a bit of data.
[x] Have Maya try to shape some things. (A rock, a wooden beam, a fan, a new dress...)
[x] Try going through a wall... nonviolently.
[x] Uselucid dreaming shaping to make a door in a wall that doesn't have one.
[x] The same, but through the ceiling instead.
[x] Try going through a window... nonviolently.
[x] Use shaping to make a hole directly. Close it afterwards.
[x] Use shaping to make glass-cutting tools. After going through, replace the pane of cut glass with one of your own.
[x] Try opening an existing door, after/while willing the other side to be something specific (a portrait gallery?)
[x] ... using a door you haven't opened yet.
[x] ... using a door you have opened already.
[x] The above, but using shaping rather than just happy thoughts.
[x] Head to the subway station.
[x] Wait five minutes, as a control. (If a train comes, abort.)
[x] Shape a watch.
[x] If there isn't one already, shape a clock and mount it somewhere official-looking. Synchronize your watch to the clock.
[x] If there isn't one already, shape a sign with a station name (say, "Nanjo Rail, Central Honshu Phantasm Line, Tokyo no Yumeishi-eki"?) and mount it somewhere official-looking.
[x] Shape a train-schedule pamphlet that says there's an hourly train arriving at this station in three minutes.
[x] Wait five minutes.
[x] Paint a trompe l'oeil archway.
[x] Close one eye, and walk into it. Beep beep~!
[x] Try going through a wall... nonviolently.
[x] Use
[x] The same, but through the ceiling instead.
[x] Try going through a window... nonviolently.
[x] Use shaping to make a hole directly. Close it afterwards.
[x] Use shaping to make glass-cutting tools. After going through, replace the pane of cut glass with one of your own.
[x] Try opening an existing door, after/while willing the other side to be something specific (a portrait gallery?)
[x] ... using a door you haven't opened yet.
[x] ... using a door you have opened already.
[x] The above, but using shaping rather than just happy thoughts.
[x] Head to the subway station.
[x] Wait five minutes, as a control. (If a train comes, abort.)
[x] Shape a watch.
[x] If there isn't one already, shape a clock and mount it somewhere official-looking. Synchronize your watch to the clock.
[x] If there isn't one already, shape a sign with a station name (say, "Nanjo Rail, Central Honshu Phantasm Line, Tokyo no Yumeishi-eki"?) and mount it somewhere official-looking.
[x] Shape a train-schedule pamphlet that says there's an hourly train arriving at this station in three minutes.
[x] Wait five minutes.
[x] Paint a trompe l'oeil archway.
[x] Close one eye, and walk into it. Beep beep~!
Assuming that none of these things work, or that those that do work don't give us any results beyond more senseless rooms,
[x] Head back to the camp.
[x] Light up the night.
[x] Light up the night.
Also, because I'd really rather find some way to use Diarama on Fumi if that's at all possible,
[x] Ask Maya about her healing abilities.
Ideally Amu can analyze Diarama and ascertain that, yes, it's usable on humans. Fumi might not be a safe target to test it on, but Maya is, and so is Amu herself. (IPP will no-sell its effects, but she can still get a first-hand look at them.)
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
I'm explicitly modelling it on City of Angles, though you shouldn't expect to see any crossover elements other than the general style of the architecture.