Oh hey, update! ... Glad too see this back!
Oh hey, an alert for a post from Flairina. That was fast, the last big response post in ABG was two hours ag—ohhhh it's Subsumption! Woo!
Good to see another Subsumption update.
Yes, it does live, it is back, and I really am sorry about letting anyone think otherwise - I've been stressing myself out for the past three months desperately trying to shove this update out the door, and just completely failing at it. While ABG has proved to be significantly more popular, I still have WAY too much planned for this fic to let it stop here, so I'll do my best to get the next update out on the expected bi-weekly schedule. No promises I'm afraid, but do know that out of all my fics, this is the one you should LEAST expect to ever fully die.
I'm glad this is still a story you're working on, I was convinced you'd lost interest.
Rarely do I actually "lose interest" in continuing one of my fics - what usually happens is that I suddenly have a new fic/story idea, and then get pulled away from what I was working on into working on that instead, and just never get back to it until like a year later. It's what happened with TTTCT when I started Stand-in, what happened with Stand-in when I started this, and what happened to this when I started ABG. I do
try to jump around, but that tends to work less often than not... I've really got to stop trying to multitask. if I just finished one chapter for one story, and then moved on to another chapter for another story, instead of trying to write
both of them simultaneously as the mood strikes me, I think I'd get things done a lot quicker. It's a tough habit for me to break, for some reason.
I don't think I've ever told anyone this, but because I read Madoka fanfiction before seeing any of the visual material, I always picture Charlotte as a Mimikyu. Always. No exception.
That is... honestly rather fitting. Though, what that brings to mind for me is a Mimikyu attempting to disguise itself as Charlotte, and then being both sad and confused when no one seems to think it's cute/adorable/etc, and instead just runs in the other direction. Poor thing...
Just got caught up.
That was quite interesting.
Thanks, and welcome to the thread! Sorry it's been so inactive as of late; I aim to fix that soon. ^^;
my, what is Candeloro doing to you? It's almost like your nothing more than a puppet... Dancing on strings!
Ashtaroth, quietly dying of embarassment:
<...why must that be what I'm best remembered for...?>
Going by a previous conversation of Ashy vs Candeloro in terms of manuverability, she's a bit faster than Ashtaroth, so running away isn't really an option here.
Correct - Ashtaroth is actually faster than she thinks she is, as her size makes up for her low airspeed to some degree, but Candeloro is significantly faster. Imagine the way that small fairies and pixies tend to move in movies or games, and you'll have a pretty decent comparison.
Anyway, boy oh boy this is happening. What an unexpected turn of events. I wonder if that Tira familiar is getting a power/skill boost from the actual Tira technically being a part of the greater Barrier? It seems stronger and smarter then one would expect.
Perhaps... but you should also consider that Candeloro's familiars, being based on specific magical girls (and with access to those girls' weapons), are likely just rather powerful to start with, at least as far as familiars go. Though, this particular one does probably have something of an advantage over others of its kind.
I can't find it in the previous chapter, but didn't the escaping familiars look beaten up? It seems iffy to hand them back to be "disciplined."
No, it doesn't. None of the familiars look abused or hurt, just restricted by their ribbons, which Candeloro can use to control/bind them if need be. The Tira-maid actually lacks these ribbons, as well as the silver platter all of the others are carrying, so she looks significantly less restricted than the other familiars do.
And wow, Candeloro can control Ashtaroth's own limbs? That seems kind of...broken?
You say that, but ribbon manipulation is honestly a pretty darn limited skill, at least in terms of its direct applications against most opponents. Ashtaroth just happens to have a very bad matchup here, being part-ribbon herself.
Like, imagine if Mami encountered a Witch that also had ribbon control; she'd be completely fucking defenseless without even the slightest chance of resistance.
Why do you think so many magical girls die? Eventually, almost
everyone runs into a witch they have little to no chance against, simply because they aren't equipped to hurt it properly, or the witch's magic trumps theirs. That's what happens when the monsters you fight may have once been just like you, and have access to similar magic as a result.
Can't Ashtaroth just exert her power a bit more and forcibly regain control of her limbs? It's her own body, after all.
If your limb has been paralyzed by an outside force, and someone else is moving it around for you, can you just "exert more power" and force it to move on your own instead?
[A] Sever the ribbons controlling your arms with some well aimed shatterwords.
-[A] Create a 'barrier' of Shatterwords that circle your body to prevent yourself from being puppeted again.
--[A] Specifically, surround yourself with a variant of the Navy Seals Copypasta:
---[A] "What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in as a Magical Girl, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Witches, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire Middle School Grade Bracket. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with stringing me around like a puppet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of magical girls across this Barrier and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of Every Magical Girl I Subsume and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" tactic was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking ribbons. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo. "
I have no idea what to say in response to this, but I appreciate the amount of work it must have taken to reformat that copypasta to apply to Ashtaroth.
Tira could also send a few minions to distract Candeloro. Or to kidnap Tira-maid and fly away with her.
If she'll just
move, perhaps. Sayaka had to all but drag her up onto that cottage roof.
"Obvious", huh? She's still horrible at taking other people's perspectives into account. Well, for a given value of "other" in this case.
I mean, why should one bother explaining their plans to themselves? No real point in that, right?
I wonder if Ashy could get that trick by subsuming Tira-maid, assuming she doesn't already have it from Tira. She didn't get anything from subsuming other Familiars but Tira-maid seems to be similar to Shemesh in her intelligence, so maybe?
*quietly snickers*
I hope this is limited to "magical" ribbons, otherwise Ashy could power her up with ribbons from outside the Barrier until we can get rid of all attacking magical girls by pointing them at Candeloro. Simply put up a few signs that point at her cottage, maybe kidnap a few of her Familiars, and drop them in the Outer Layer of Ashys Labyrinth.
If Candeloro and Ashtaroth both make it out of this situation intact and unsubsumed, perhaps we'll see.
[X] Just shove yourself far enough into Tome that your ribbon arms don't stick out anymore. If they aren't there, she can't control them.
No comment on whether or not this would work just yet, but the mental image of Ashtaroth with nothing except her "head" poking out of the middle of Tome is highly amusing to me.
Another thing Ashy could do is spin until Tira-maid gets shaken off. Candeloro controls Ashys ribbons but not her books, so she should be able to spin or simply fly away.
[X] Spin to win.
You aren't wrong, but do keep in mind this has a significant chance of tearing Ashtaroth's arms off if Candeloro's control is stronger than Ashtaroth's ability to create force by spinning.
[x] spin to win
I am not convinced that Ashtaroth is fast enough to generate the centrifugal force necessary to dislodge a snowman, far less a determined familiar. It might be an interesting experiment in: whether Candeloro has finite ribbon-length, whether Candeloro can escape from her own ribbons being tangled around another witch, and whether Ashtaroth can vomit.
Whether or not Candeloro's ribbons have finite length isn't really important in regards to this question, since her control over Ashtaroth's ribbons is mental, not physical - she's not literally taking Ashtaroth's arms in hand and dragging them around, she's just using Ashtaroth's arms like her own arms. Getting her ribbons tangled around Ashtaroth thus would require them getting snagged on a branch or something; otherwise Ashtaroth is just going to end twirling in a circle as Candeloro's ribbons strike all around her.
...though, as for whether or not Ashtaroth can vomit, you already know that answer. She already spit up two of her former meals, remember?
Now it there is a good chance this will devolve into a fight no matter what. Candeloro might get tired of having Ashtaroth in the way and try to eliminate her. The maid might get stabby, thinking she can piss Ashtaroth off enough to start fighting for real, and since Candeloro still wants the maid alive she'll start fighting to keep Ashtaroth off her. And Ashy could get pissed enough on her own to say enough is enough and attack them both.
I admittedly cannot deny that there is a significant chance of any or all of these things occurring. ^^;
