- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
Are you saying that as long as the main character is alive that Mami is perma dead?
Subsumption (PMMM Faux-Quest) (Witch MC)
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
Sewer levels are pretty much required in modern vidoe games, and it'd be kinda funny as a location were junk from the other barriers winds up. What starts as a just filthy and kinda weird sewer would soon fill up with blood tea, pink water, gaint broken bits of candy, smashed road segments and gaint grass and flower cuttings.
Man, that poor witch would get very confused by all the not disgusting but still really strange crap flowing in.
Plus Sayaka and Tira would appreciate the plumbing, if there was a way to hook up showers and toilets.
Man, that poor witch would get very confused by all the not disgusting but still really strange crap flowing in.
Plus Sayaka and Tira would appreciate the plumbing, if there was a way to hook up showers and toilets.
Jamie Roberts
Hávamál 127
- Location
- N/A
- Pronouns
- she/her
Is it, though? When does Madoka take place?
I was under the impression that it was sometime in the both imminent and yet distant future. You know, like Invader Zim, where the architecture and social structures and such are pretty modern, but also at some point people started giving out meat on valentines day and all of the cameras can fly for some reason.
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
Just because you don't need plumbing doesn't mean it's not appreciated. Humans need grooming to maintain their psychological well being, with showers and baths being great ways to relax.
It's the same logic as giving Sayaka that bedroom. Sure, she could've just gone back in the book to rest up, but she clearly liked the bed more.
It's the same logic as giving Sayaka that bedroom. Sure, she could've just gone back in the book to rest up, but she clearly liked the bed more.
Given the implications, Ashtaroth does not want to know the answer to that question.
Sayaka's already gone back into the book (after being exploded, even), so we know it doesn't reset the mental state.
Rather, is it free sleep/eat/cleaning/waste disposal?
That might be an exaggeration, but sure. Let's say that baths, showers, and sleep do psychologically help (waste disposal, I'm going to call BS on). Bath/shower water can be easily dumped into the river (or probably just in Ash's grasslands, even), rather than constructing an entire sewer for the purpose.
Of course, if she gets a power for easily constructing sewers, might as well--the occupancy of the barrier may well expand in the future, to include the non-subsumed. However, it's not really worth doing so just for two people who might not even need most of it anyway.
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Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
Honestly, I'd love to have the power to construct sewers at will. Wouldn't you? It's so useful.
Sure. Call me Sewer Girl. I mean, call me Sanitation Girl. Yeah, I got nothing.
Would be a very useful power if you got isekaied, and also maybe for defensive fortifications, depending on the specifics. If a canal is too difficult, just build a sewer the whole way (but don't use it for actual waste). Need to get over the Misty Mountains? Just sewer your way through, etc.
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Appletank
Acquire Cheese
Its supposedly roughly in the late 00's, but, well, wishes are a hell of a drug (on architecture engineers, have you seen those fences?)
Reject Magic, return to 50 cal. Subsume the nearest armory.
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
I'm going to divide my response, because while I care about them both, they aren't entirely related, despite being about the same thing.
First is the sewer witch, which I like as a concept and also for the possibility of gaint sewer gator familiars, or GSGFs. The idea of something somewhat mundane becoming a representation of someone's broken mind, and becoming stranger and stranger as the refuse of other broken minds flows down (or possibly up, Witch Barriers are strange like that) into it. This could have odd effects on the native Witch there, just because of distraction they would provide from her suffering, or something weirder because those chunks are technically part of someone else's mind, and having foreign thoughts invade your brain would change how you think.
Secondly, I can agree that Sayaka and Tira might not need plumbing. They also might not need to eat or to sleep, or any self care actions or items in that vein. Sayaka also doesn't need to visit her parents, neither of them need to be allowed free use of their bodies, and really, neither of them need to be out of Novella unless there's fighting to be done.
Need is a very strong word.
Now, might they want an of those things? Yes, in fact we know they want almost all of that. The only reason they haven't asked about plumbing is because it hasn't really come up yet. Given the opportunity to get such amenities, I assume they'll want them. And as we know there's inevitably going to be more Magical Girls, getting ahead on the housing situation is worthwhile, including the things that usually come packaged with it.
That said, two girls can totally just sneak into a public bathhouse or even a gym shower to hose off, and those will probably be better then anything that can currently be put together in the barrier. So for now that's the better option.
But remember, plumbing going to a sewer is a minor side benefit to having a sewer Witch, which is the far more interesting part of this discussion, as you can't have giant sewer gator familiars without a sewer witch. And it's not a guaranteed package deal! Given how Flairina described the psychological layout that would form such a barrier, I'd say such a familiar would unlikely. Ash would probably have to run into a different barrier that had giant gator familiars and somehow relocate them into the sewer barrier.
It's a lot of work, but it's worth it to recreate that 80's B horror creature feature feel.
The nearest armoury likely has a flamethrower, definitely knows how to use one, and wants to know what we did to her otherwise gloriously perfect hair, but would much rather just fix the issue quickly, and thinks that a flamethrower would be the best way of doing so. I think that, should we need an armoury, it would be best to find a different one...
All this seems to be avoiding the one thing sewers are--in particular--designed for, which is also the one thing I doubt Sayaka and Tira would actually want (as opposed to a quick and non-messy book refresh).
But, as you say, a sewer witch doesn't actually have to do with the prospect of actual sewage. You do paint an vivid picture of one.
Now, no magical girl is going to actually wish to construct sewers no matter how useful the power might be so we must consider the sewer to be some kind of inversion of her original powers. Since a sewer, by nature, takes on the waste of other people, perhaps this original magical girl took on [some, unspecified] positive aspects of other people: perhaps their powers, their emotions, their thoughts or capabilities. Given your description of the sewer witch receiving the "refuse of other broken minds", something like this seems apropos.
Addendum: even though sewers generally have a certain purpose, don't you find the actual flushing of waste to be handled by the witch somewhat... cruel? I suppose it depends also on the witch's new psychology, and whether or not she, too, is lured out from the sewers.
(In the event of cruelty, Ashtaroth may find herself, ironically, having to construct different sewers, despite having just recruited a sewer witch.)
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Or we just eat her. I doubt that Saar will be a once-off.
Burned_Cookie
Very tired girl.
- Location
- Plato´s cave.
- Pronouns
- She/Her/It/Its
That was the joke yes.
That just sounds utterly wrong. I can't find anything grammatically wrong with creating that word, but I doubt anyone ever would.
Silvester update OP pls nerv.
Do you have any idea how much gel you need to make your hair look like levitating strands?
He says "Emotions are considered a mental illness among my kind." He never said he was sane, did he now.
Xexilf
Oblivion Sempiternum Daemonis
Near Future. Something like 2030 is a common guess.
Farseer Sen'Zabl
Accolyte of 'Common Sense'
- Location
- Dome of Crystal Seers, Ulthwe
From what I gather (I did a bit of research on this for my own quest) 2011 is apparently a very strong guess because a good few things in the show like the phases of moon would match up, and the date of Walpurgis night would align relatively neatly with the day Walpurgisnacht appears in the timeline presented by the show.
The differences in aesthetics and tech could plausibly be written off as some wishes having led to more advanced tech or made such tech cheaper. Or, you know, someone wished to make Mitakihara more interesting.
Failing that, a few decades down the line remains quite plausible and 2030s sounds like it could be right.
- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
They literally change Wally to a plain old thunderstorm to mirror the Thunderstorm that delayed them during the runtime instead of a typhoon.
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on the point of contention regarding traditional use of sewers. Personally I don't see getting eaten by a book monster, however temporally, as a preferable alternative to the john. Especially if the book monster is aware of why you want to get eaten. Like no. Just no.
Also there might be a misunderstanding here. I based my thoughts on this witch solely on the sorta outline Flairina provided. When I thought of tying her barrier into a plumbing system, my assumption was that said plumbing would be built the old fusion way, involving shovels, pipes, and a lot of digging. Or a lot of scaffolding if it's sky sewers. I didn't see the Witch being much involved beyond them being in the sewer.
As for the addendum, well, you gotta think it through more. While I hope I cleared up what I meant, you need to remember the Witch is already living in filth, possibly worse then anything you'd find in a real sewer. Worse, the existing filth is likely tailored to things that disgust the Witch on a personal level, and any real refuse is going to be unnoticed. For the Witch, her fate is already about as cruel as it's going to get. So tying her sewer labyrinth into a sewer system is a major step up, because that would mean her barrier is part of Ash's, and that means her options open up massively. If she's peaceful enough, she could live in just any other part of the barrier that's not sewers. Pretty much any other barrier is going to be a massive step up. Even if she's got a major liquid requirement there's two barriers full of waterish stuff that's not raw sewage.
If she's not peaceable, well, then she doesn't need to worry about living anywhere for long.
So no, I don't see much cruelty in treating a sewer barrier as a sewer beyond the inherit cruelty of the existing situation. As stated, I mostly see it as a way to see possible psychological effects if for some reason the Witch refuses to leave and an opportunity for giant sewer gator familiars.
If awareness and the resulting embarrassment are great issues, you should probably also keep in mind that same book monster would be aware of one's going into the john. It seems difficult to believe that sustained minutes of this would be preferable to a moment's awkward refresh, though of course people will get used to either eventually.
The notion that "adding more filth is okay for the sewer witch (and perhaps even makes it better for her)" should be taken with extreme suspicion. It's extremely self-serving reasoning, for one thing, and we need strong reason to actually believe it true.
(It should also be weighed against the alternative of flushing down clean water for the witch, rather than actual sewage.)
Naturally, if the witch is no longer present, we can do what we want with the sewers.
Magical girl healing is quite broad. I would not be surprised if they could just magic such issues away, along with lacks of food, water, air, companionship... and with their only waste product being grief, which the book monster will be guzzling down regardless.
Omake: All That Grief For Nothing
Sayaka: "It has to be a lie... Because… because if my soul is actually my gem, that would mean I'm… I'm not a person anymore-!"
Homura: "Heal."
Sayaka: "What is this? Is it all so meaningless that I'm not even allowed to have feelings any--"
Homura: "Heal."
Sayaka: "What the hell, Homura! How dare yo--"
Homura: "Heal."
...
Madoka: "Sooo... grief is just another one of those psychological conditions that we've been healing every few minutes, right?"
Kyubey:" ...Yes?"
Madoka: "And there's no reason, a priori, that this particular mental state would cost any more to heal than any of the other conditions, no reason for there to be intractable complexity for grief and grief alone..."
Kyubey: "Uhh..."
*Magic away grief*
Kyubey: "It doesn't work like that, you little shit."
Homura: "Heal."
Sayaka: "What is this? Is it all so meaningless that I'm not even allowed to have feelings any--"
Homura: "Heal."
Sayaka: "What the hell, Homura! How dare yo--"
Homura: "Heal."
...
Madoka: "Sooo... grief is just another one of those psychological conditions that we've been healing every few minutes, right?"
Kyubey:" ...Yes?"
Madoka: "And there's no reason, a priori, that this particular mental state would cost any more to heal than any of the other conditions, no reason for there to be intractable complexity for grief and grief alone..."
Kyubey: "Uhh..."
*Magic away grief*
Kyubey: "It doesn't work like that, you little shit."
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
That's a strange argument to me. How is adding filth to worse filth notably selfsevering?
Though trying to, presumably, clean the sewer is an interesting logistical problem. The first question would be with what? The two largest sources of 'water' are Candeloro's blood tea and the Brandy's pink stuff. For the sake of the mental exercise, let's go with the pink water. Assuming there's a way to connect the Brandy's irrigation canals to those sewer, reasonable enough for me, my next assumption is that there's an attempt to flush out the sewer.
The first problem is if that would work at all. The filth is magically generated, it's source is the barrier itself. It's very possible that more will just appear by magic. The second, bigger problem is where to put the now filthly waste water? There's only barrier, you'd have to dump it someplace. Saar's canals? Down Charlotte's tunnels? Candeloro's blood lake? Just out on Ashtaroth's lawn? You can't really clean something like that in this situation. There's no filtration system in this barrier. At best you move the nastiness someplace out of sight and out of mind. Which, ya know, the sewer was probably doing a good job at.
In conclusion, it's easier and better to take the Witch out of the sewer, one way or another, then try to clean the supernaturally disgusting waste disposal system.
Well, unless there's a Witch that likes that sort of thing. Like somekind pigpen Witch. You could dump that stuff there.
- Location
- Here
The cost of magic is it generates grief. At best, you end up breaking even.