- Location
- Bowling Green
Just have her decide to change how she looks, maybe have her try a few different styles before setting on one. Make it a character trait.
Subsumption (PMMM Faux-Quest) (Witch MC)
Well, yes, Ashtaroth found Saar's barrier before the sunset, but when did Tira find it? I would think that, being an experienced MG, Tira knows about the 'radar' funtion of her soul gem. In combination with her mount, it didn't seem like she'd have to spend much time locating the barrier once she got in the vicinity. (and the witchs shortly after. It's not like the barriers were very labyrinthian) Therefore, I presumed that Tira wouldn't have entered Saar's barrier until after sunset.
Reguarding Candeloro's pendant form, I like your psudo-pendant more than her becoming a more literal pendant. Hugs are adorable, and there's a more direct relation when she folds up vs. transmuting(?) herself.
That said, I can easily see both happening in rhe story- she's a psudo-pendant initally for Tira's benefit, (again, huuugs) but she could later turn into a more regular pendent for incognito purposes.
It's possible that neither Ashy nor Homura caused that, at least directly. Ashy!Sayaka's phone call to Past!Madoka could have distracted Kyubey in this timeline, meaning it spend its time around Past!Mami instead of having a talk with Past!Tira about the Skull Witch.
In that case Past!Tira might have gone to a different area or tried to find the Skull Witch again.
As for Candeloro's form, if it's plot-relevant then I'm fine with a retcon. Otherwise, I would write it off as a difference between timelines caused by the situation during which Mami despaired.
This had to be the update that gave me the weirdest reaction for me: I basically didn't like it* in all but one small part, but at the same time I didn't find anything wrong about it nor I can say there's something to be fixed.
*And before I continue: I'm making a distinction between "not liking" and "disliking", basically I didn't dislike it but I'm hard pressed to find anyting to like.
- Kyubey's conversation was more or less as it was talked previously, no horror because no stakes
- Sayaka's breakdown? I hope you don't expect me liking seeing Sayaka suffer, but I can't say that witching out was completely unexpected, after all it's been shown several times already subsumed magical girls can produce extra grief
- The middle part I didn't get it because of the sudden names and whatever to the point I gave up at some point, but I get it was a reflection oAshtaroth's mental state at the moment.
- You also did the stupid thing again. That, I do disike.
- It was bad that Ashtaroth wasn't completely honest with Tira, but that follows her personality that she gets stupid
Ultimately, the great takeaway from this chapter is that apparently you "killed" Sayaka's character out of the story, much like you already did with Hitomi earlier (also Mami but I didn't care that much about her here). I don't like that but I can agree it was a consequence that properly follows the events from the story.
By the way, the only part I liked? How Sayaka suddenly attacked Kyubey at the beginning, I found it funny.
*And before I continue: I'm making a distinction between "not liking" and "disliking", basically I didn't dislike it but I'm hard pressed to find anyting to like.
- Kyubey's conversation was more or less as it was talked previously, no horror because no stakes
- Sayaka's breakdown? I hope you don't expect me liking seeing Sayaka suffer, but I can't say that witching out was completely unexpected, after all it's been shown several times already subsumed magical girls can produce extra grief
- The middle part I didn't get it because of the sudden names and whatever to the point I gave up at some point, but I get it was a reflection oAshtaroth's mental state at the moment.
- You also did the stupid thing again. That, I do disike.
- It was bad that Ashtaroth wasn't completely honest with Tira, but that follows her personality that she gets stupid
Ultimately, the great takeaway from this chapter is that apparently you "killed" Sayaka's character out of the story, much like you already did with Hitomi earlier (also Mami but I didn't care that much about her here). I don't like that but I can agree it was a consequence that properly follows the events from the story.
By the way, the only part I liked? How Sayaka suddenly attacked Kyubey at the beginning, I found it funny.
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Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
As far as we know, Sayaka is just knocked out. Is not right to say that she is "dead".
- Location
- Terra-Luna
I find myself in agreement with this. Candeloro can change form. What form does she take, and why? Yes, she can turn into a more typically pendant-like pendant in strict canon; she may do so for a reason, or not do so for a reason, and may do something else for a reason. Candeloro might perfectly well, entirely sensibly and believably, take her current semblance when around Tira's neck as she is now instead of looking like ordinary jewelry because she's around Tira's neck, specifically, and different circumstances might be, in fact, different.
Should Candeloro, say, end up irritated at Tira and cold towards her, or needing to help her blend in for whatever arbitrary reason, or hanging out with Sayaka or something, then hey, who knows, maybe the witch known to be a necklace shapeshifter dons some other guise. As it is, canon is canon, but we don't have anything strictly saying that the story as it is couldn't be canon compliant, necessarily. It would hardly be unreasonable and fits nicely enough; if it maintains internal consistency and has some sort of in-setting reasoning and development portrayed, it could be thoroughly apt, just made to work well.
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It may be that the intention was that original Sayaka is "dead" and has been replaced by her witch, or a familiar. It is my own, admittedly fallible opinion that this is so, due to what I myself perceive as unusual phrasing. For myself, I am currently inclined to dispute this theory, but as far as my own philosophy is concerned, I agree that were such a thing to transpire, that, while the others still have Sayaka, and that Sayaka should be treated as, well, debatably Sayaka, but definitely her own person as she believes herself to be, barring severe incompatibilities... that the "original" Sayaka would have experienced death, and would now be gone, and thus, if one concerns oneself with her wellbeing, then from that perspective the scenario in which she has been replaced would very much be a scenario in which she is dead.
It does seem odd to me though. I mean, if I understand the canonical interpretation of Homura's power(which I suspect I do not, given that surely Madoka would influence the fates of all of the worlds to which Homura will travel, rather than the ones that she has previously travelled, and thus Madoka's potential would actually be shrinking with each loop, given that the new loops seem to have no further influence upon the prior loops, thus any given Madoka is only directly influencing her own world, and can only indirectly influence worlds via Homura, whose wish, whether she knows it or not, would not have been granted at all, given that she would only be granted a chance to save another world's replacement for the girl she actually wished to save, and wishes generally seem to actually be granted...), then the story has "killed" pretty much everyone who wasn't within the bodies of either Homura or Ashtaroth... like, they might, maybe, still be alive in another world, and not have experienced death, but have been completely lost to the story...
Or they meant that the Sayaka that is bound to Ashtaroth was killed in the prior scene, in which case I agree that I am not aware of any such event transpiring. If I were wrong in this, I should rather like to be corrected, given that whatever she is, I would rather like her not to be dead and thus should prefer an opportunity to brace myself.
Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
...
There is no need to overcomplicate things, man.
Is simple, Oktavia got out, Sayaka fought it, Oktavia used their conection to incapacitate her and knock her out, and then she was forced to return to Ashtaroth.
Neither Madoka, Homura or anyone else has been involved. And the thing about all others being "dead", though true somewhat, is not relevant at the moment, is just confusing.
Omake: A Terrible Fate, Indeed
Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
Okey, here I go with the third instalment of these series of omakes Im making. A somewhat of a sequel to "It can be, and it is". Any feedback is welcomed, so here we go! TRIANGLE ATTACK!
A Terrible Fate, Indeed
She was in an odd hallway, walking slowly and calmly. Anyone would be scared or confused in such a situation, but not her. She felt as if she was supposed to be there, as if she was part of this place. The hallway she was in seemed to extent to infinity. An odd orchesta could be heard from far away, but it sounded off, muffled, as if it was played underwater. The brick walls were filled with posters promoting a concert of sorts. In them, there was a depiction of an entity she did not want to think about.
After what felt like eternity, she reached the end of the hallway where a double door was waiting for her. With this change, she suddenly gained the ability to stop her movement.
Her mind then began processing the situation, as if she just noticed the strange environment she was in, but it still manifested this odd indifference in her. Regardless, she reached with both hands to open the door.
And as she did, in front of her, seemingly countless hands reached for the door too, all of them looking similar to hers. Noticing this, she stopped her hands and looked behind her in a panic, the previous indifference suddenly gone. The hallway was deserted, but there was a change, the floor was now covered in many white pieces of cloth that were scattered with abandon.
After looking that no one was behind her, she resumed her trance and opened the double doors, no hands appeared this time. On the other side, she still found herself in a hallway but with a different architecture, more noticeably, it had big circle-shape windows on both sides in a pattern. These windows were changing colors constantly, orange, yellow, blue, green, pink and more were shown in a blur.
As she entered the room, she managed to move her head to look at one of those windows. She then noticed that the colors were not random. The windows were showing scenes from HER life. And she remembered them as they were shown:
The first time she went to school with her parents.
The day she met her two best friends.
The happy times she spent with the people she cared about.
The times she felt guilty for a tragedy of an unsung song. A lost dream of a boy.
The time she almost died with her friend no so long ago and the girl that was the reason she was still breathing.
The confusion and anger against the new black-haired girl and her refusal to make amends.
The moment they were introduced to a world of miracles and curses.
The moment she accepted the pact made by that white demon.
Her fight against a giant book and her…
Defeat.
The information she gained about everything and how she reacted to it.
The quest she had in the candy cave and meeting its odd master.
Her feelings about the boy she healed.
They were all here, but why? She wasn't surprised they were here, and that was what baffled her. It was as if she knew every single note of a song she never heard. Why? Why?
Her mind then cleared itself form its daze, and she realized where she was. As her eyes widened, the double doors that were left opened before, suddenly slammed shut, making her look at that direction but she was not focusing on it.
She began speaking to herself for the first time since arriving here. Her voice held fear.
"No…, i-it can't…" the song began to increase in clarity, deep inside this memory lane.
The orchestra, she recognizes. But the unfamiliar familiarity of its tune was filling her with dread.
"I-I can accept that my life won't ever be the same." The hallway itself blurred in her vision.
"I can accept that I'm STUCK now." Was the hallway or the floor the one moving? She wasn't sure, but she looked like she was going somewhere.
"I-I can even accept that my soul is not inside me anymore!" She turned her head to look to where she was going and saw a blinding light, and after that, it revealed another, bigger, room.
"But…but…"
And as the room manifested in her vision, an entity revealed itself. The music of the orchestra echoed in the chamber as the features of the creature were shown. It was big, with a fish tail and wearing what seemed like knight armor, its head was something difficult to describe, having three holes where its face should be. And its movements were just as weird looking as the others.
It was a witch. And in her heart, she knew why it was here.
A testament of a terrible fate, indeed.
"But I can't believe this, not this, anything but THIS! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS CAN BE TRUE!" She screamed in fury, her fear banishing from her voice.
As if taking those words as cue, the witch lifted her right arm, materializing many big odd-looking wheels and sending them straight at the girl. As the wheels came closer to her, she instinctively activated her powers, manifesting her magical girl attire and began running at the witch. Her emotions dictating her actions, just as they always did. The wheels that would hit her were torn to shreds by the girl's swords and, using her music-theme platforms, she reached the witch's face at great speed, attempting to finish her.
But the witch was faster than she anticipated, blocking the girl's sword with her own much bigger one. The girl jumped back in an attempt to spot an opening, maybe using projectiles would be more effective. But before she could process that plan, the witch's wheels materialized again, surrounding her. She began to evade and destroy them before she got hit but didn't noticed that the witch had launched another sword strike, a descending one, at her, until the blade was almost in her face.
The impact struck, and the girl was almost flattened to the ground, managing to block the force of the strike with her own swords too. But the floor didn't have the same luck, it shattered to pieces by the pressure as if it was made out of drywall. And so, witch and magical girl fell in what seemed like the void. The music of the orchestra was lost in the depths.
As they fell, the girl's mind began to return to its daze, her movements began to feel sluggish and her head demanded for her to close her eyes. Her clothes reverted back to what they were before. And she gave up at the command, just as her body hit some sort of platform.
A terrible fate, yes. But what about this time? Didn't something change? Was it enough? Was it enough to change the world?
As she opened her eyes again, she found herself alone, somehow still standing. The creature was nowhere to be found.
Wait, what did she saw before again? She doesn't remember.
At her feet, there were many pieces of paper that looked like they came from a book, with something written in them, but she didn't move to see what. She began walking instead, barely looking at her surroundings.
She was in an odd hallway, walking slowly and calmly. Anyone would be scared or confused in such a situation, but not her. *poke* She felt as if she was supposed to be there, as if she was part of this place. *poke poke* The hallway she was in seemed to extent to infi *poke poke poke* ty. An odd orchesta could be heard from far away, but it sounded off, muffled, as if it was played underwater. The brick walls were filled with posters promoting a concert of sorts. In them, there was a depiction of an entity she did NOT WANT TO THINK ABOU-"
"Hey...!"
Sayaka's eyes pop open, for good this time, as she quickly bolts up into a sitting position. Some of the fog of sleep seeming to clear from her mind as she looks around at the unfamiliar bedroom. She then spots a missing wall in the room, along with the one responsible for the situation she was in at the other side. Then, the memories of how she ended up there returned, as the ones from the dream she just had disappeared.
"...oh. Right."
<Good morning.> she "reads" in her mind, an odd form of telepathy that could only be from someone just as odd.
Regardless of what the future has in store, Sayaka feels grateful that she was treated nicely. After everything that happened yesterday, maybe fate had something better in store today.
Maybe
"I wouldn't say 'good' but… yeah. Morning." she sighs.
Fate would beg to differ. After all, SHE was right.
A Terrible Fate, Indeed
She was in an odd hallway, walking slowly and calmly. Anyone would be scared or confused in such a situation, but not her. She felt as if she was supposed to be there, as if she was part of this place. The hallway she was in seemed to extent to infinity. An odd orchesta could be heard from far away, but it sounded off, muffled, as if it was played underwater. The brick walls were filled with posters promoting a concert of sorts. In them, there was a depiction of an entity she did not want to think about.
After what felt like eternity, she reached the end of the hallway where a double door was waiting for her. With this change, she suddenly gained the ability to stop her movement.
Her mind then began processing the situation, as if she just noticed the strange environment she was in, but it still manifested this odd indifference in her. Regardless, she reached with both hands to open the door.
And as she did, in front of her, seemingly countless hands reached for the door too, all of them looking similar to hers. Noticing this, she stopped her hands and looked behind her in a panic, the previous indifference suddenly gone. The hallway was deserted, but there was a change, the floor was now covered in many white pieces of cloth that were scattered with abandon.
After looking that no one was behind her, she resumed her trance and opened the double doors, no hands appeared this time. On the other side, she still found herself in a hallway but with a different architecture, more noticeably, it had big circle-shape windows on both sides in a pattern. These windows were changing colors constantly, orange, yellow, blue, green, pink and more were shown in a blur.
As she entered the room, she managed to move her head to look at one of those windows. She then noticed that the colors were not random. The windows were showing scenes from HER life. And she remembered them as they were shown:
The first time she went to school with her parents.
The day she met her two best friends.
The happy times she spent with the people she cared about.
The times she felt guilty for a tragedy of an unsung song. A lost dream of a boy.
The time she almost died with her friend no so long ago and the girl that was the reason she was still breathing.
The confusion and anger against the new black-haired girl and her refusal to make amends.
The moment they were introduced to a world of miracles and curses.
The moment she accepted the pact made by that white demon.
Her fight against a giant book and her…
Defeat.
The information she gained about everything and how she reacted to it.
The quest she had in the candy cave and meeting its odd master.
Her feelings about the boy she healed.
They were all here, but why? She wasn't surprised they were here, and that was what baffled her. It was as if she knew every single note of a song she never heard. Why? Why?
Her mind then cleared itself form its daze, and she realized where she was. As her eyes widened, the double doors that were left opened before, suddenly slammed shut, making her look at that direction but she was not focusing on it.
She began speaking to herself for the first time since arriving here. Her voice held fear.
"No…, i-it can't…" the song began to increase in clarity, deep inside this memory lane.
The orchestra, she recognizes. But the unfamiliar familiarity of its tune was filling her with dread.
"I-I can accept that my life won't ever be the same." The hallway itself blurred in her vision.
"I can accept that I'm STUCK now." Was the hallway or the floor the one moving? She wasn't sure, but she looked like she was going somewhere.
"I-I can even accept that my soul is not inside me anymore!" She turned her head to look to where she was going and saw a blinding light, and after that, it revealed another, bigger, room.
"But…but…"
And as the room manifested in her vision, an entity revealed itself. The music of the orchestra echoed in the chamber as the features of the creature were shown. It was big, with a fish tail and wearing what seemed like knight armor, its head was something difficult to describe, having three holes where its face should be. And its movements were just as weird looking as the others.
It was a witch. And in her heart, she knew why it was here.
A testament of a terrible fate, indeed.
"But I can't believe this, not this, anything but THIS! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS CAN BE TRUE!" She screamed in fury, her fear banishing from her voice.
As if taking those words as cue, the witch lifted her right arm, materializing many big odd-looking wheels and sending them straight at the girl. As the wheels came closer to her, she instinctively activated her powers, manifesting her magical girl attire and began running at the witch. Her emotions dictating her actions, just as they always did. The wheels that would hit her were torn to shreds by the girl's swords and, using her music-theme platforms, she reached the witch's face at great speed, attempting to finish her.
But the witch was faster than she anticipated, blocking the girl's sword with her own much bigger one. The girl jumped back in an attempt to spot an opening, maybe using projectiles would be more effective. But before she could process that plan, the witch's wheels materialized again, surrounding her. She began to evade and destroy them before she got hit but didn't noticed that the witch had launched another sword strike, a descending one, at her, until the blade was almost in her face.
The impact struck, and the girl was almost flattened to the ground, managing to block the force of the strike with her own swords too. But the floor didn't have the same luck, it shattered to pieces by the pressure as if it was made out of drywall. And so, witch and magical girl fell in what seemed like the void. The music of the orchestra was lost in the depths.
As they fell, the girl's mind began to return to its daze, her movements began to feel sluggish and her head demanded for her to close her eyes. Her clothes reverted back to what they were before. And she gave up at the command, just as her body hit some sort of platform.
A terrible fate, yes. But what about this time? Didn't something change? Was it enough? Was it enough to change the world?
As she opened her eyes again, she found herself alone, somehow still standing. The creature was nowhere to be found.
Wait, what did she saw before again? She doesn't remember.
At her feet, there were many pieces of paper that looked like they came from a book, with something written in them, but she didn't move to see what. She began walking instead, barely looking at her surroundings.
She was in an odd hallway, walking slowly and calmly. Anyone would be scared or confused in such a situation, but not her. *poke* She felt as if she was supposed to be there, as if she was part of this place. *poke poke* The hallway she was in seemed to extent to infi *poke poke poke* ty. An odd orchesta could be heard from far away, but it sounded off, muffled, as if it was played underwater. The brick walls were filled with posters promoting a concert of sorts. In them, there was a depiction of an entity she did NOT WANT TO THINK ABOU-"
"Hey...!"
Sayaka's eyes pop open, for good this time, as she quickly bolts up into a sitting position. Some of the fog of sleep seeming to clear from her mind as she looks around at the unfamiliar bedroom. She then spots a missing wall in the room, along with the one responsible for the situation she was in at the other side. Then, the memories of how she ended up there returned, as the ones from the dream she just had disappeared.
"...oh. Right."
<Good morning.> she "reads" in her mind, an odd form of telepathy that could only be from someone just as odd.
Regardless of what the future has in store, Sayaka feels grateful that she was treated nicely. After everything that happened yesterday, maybe fate had something better in store today.
Maybe
"I wouldn't say 'good' but… yeah. Morning." she sighs.
Fate would beg to differ. After all, SHE was right.
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NIghtmareNursery
Scheming Spectator
- Location
- Earth \ AU
Do we get a full entry for Oktavia von Seckendorff?
That is the 8 million yen question, isn't it. We need to see if there are any changes to the entries in Novella, as well as determine how Sayaka's faring after feeling the pain of her head exploding from the inside (probably not good and definitely needs a hug and a good cry), though it would probably be best to let her rest for now and check Novella first.
Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
Hey, Merry Christmas to you all!
Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
And Happy New Year. May this new year be kind to all of us.
I've been working my way through Magia Record's story over the past year, and am currently reading the story for Madoka's swimsuit alt from summer 2022. There's a background in the story that looks uncannily similar to Saar's canals as depicted in this story.
Edit: wasn't able to find a screenshot of the background itself, but here's an illustration from the story; it's hard to see the trees lining either side of the river, but they are there.
Edit 2: ask, and the folks on the Magia Union Translation discord will generously provide.
Edit: wasn't able to find a screenshot of the background itself, but here's an illustration from the story; it's hard to see the trees lining either side of the river, but they are there.
Edit 2: ask, and the folks on the Magia Union Translation discord will generously provide.
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- Location
- From the void
Hey guys anyone still here?
Sole Purpose
Clueless
- Location
- Spread Across Several Miles
Ain't nobody here but us chickens
I'm here for the reading material... be it the stated kind or the sated kind... assuming that the resident book even can be sated... although while it is understandable, it remains disappointing that a device almost exclusively derived and employed for providing vocabulary, is not actually capable of audibly stating anything... no, telepathy doesn't count, and probably doesn't even qualify as audible...
The author'sstalker-tools profile leaves me optimistic, and there is nothing unusual going on to suggest that the story should not be expected to update. So the thread seems healthy enough.
The author's
Ferb_Ancos
The one under the table
- Pronouns
- He
To be fair, when was the last time a book talked to you?
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Assemblance 14: Pack It In
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
> Wake her up.
You...
…
> Wake her up.
You should...
…
…
…
> Wake her up.
...you can't. Not right now.
<Maybe let's just... let her rest, and pick this back up in the morning?> you suggest, praying that your voiceless telepathy will disguise your desperation. <It's gotten pretty dark out->
You pause for a moment to pin up an illusion of the outside, where night has now overtaken the world — if only just.
<-and after everything that's happened, I kind of feel like we should just call it quits for the day. All this time travel, and Kyubey, and other... stuff can wait until morning, don't you think?>
It takes a moment, but eventually, Tira nods.
"Perhaps that would be for the best." she says quietly.
Relieved beyond belief to not have to talk about this yet, you shove your boiling cauldron of concerns to the back of your mind in favor of focusing on simpler things.
<So,> you start, <uh... where do you want to sleep? I'm afraid I'm not exactly flush with furnishings.>
If she doesn't want to just go back inside Novella, you can try and cobble together some beds again, you guess. Not that the other one lasted very long, or was really that comfortable to begin with, but it was something.
Tira sighs even more heavily than before.
"If you are truly so lacking in amenities, perhaps we should simply head to my residence and appropriate some of my own."
You'd blink if you had the eyes for it. Sayaka isn't awake to object right now, and Tira is freely offering, but...
<Are you sure?>
Tira nods, eyes downcast.
"My family will likely not even notice," she says, "and while it is technically not mine to give, my other self is... apparently no longer a factor anymore."
...oh. Right. That. Between everything else, you'd all but forgotten that Kyubey let that relatively minor detail slip.
Evidently Tira did not.
<Okay.> you reply, in no frame of mind to attempt to comfort her about it and undoubtedly fail anyways. <Which way?>
Tira takes a moment to get her bearings, then points towards the river in the distance. As you start heading in that direction, you both fall into silence, equally lost in your thoughts — which of course just causes that cauldron to start bubbling over again.
You're trying to stay calm. You really, really are. It's just... hard, given what happened, especially since you'd been relatively certain that it couldn't happen. Did Kyubey maybe do something to you? You didn't notice anything, but he probably wouldn't have made it particularly obvious if he did...
Speaking of which.
You look around, scrutinizing the Canvas for any hint of pink or red. Other than the... pieces... he left behind however, you don't spot any sign of the little white devil. You're pretty sure she- you- it killed him again? Honestly, you doubt that did him any more permanent harm than the first sword that went through his head, but given that he hasn't reappeared, he might not be coming back any time soon. In the abstract, that's slightly frustrating, as you somehow came out of that little Q&A session with even more questions than you had going in, but...
Well. You're not exactly in the mood to ask him anything else right now anyways.
Your gaze falls on the lingering pulped Kyubey parts. Since he didn't come back a third time, the remnants of his second body are still around, serving as a macabre reminder of the event that produced them. You'd try to subsume that, if just to get it off the floor, but there's... not really much left to subsume, and the idea is honestly just kind of gross. You'll have to find another way to-
"Do you mind terribly if I get rid of that mess?"
You look down at Tira, who's staring at the same bloody body bits that you are.
<Er... no. If you have a way, feel free.>
With your okay, Tira summons a penbrush to her hand again. Aiming the sharp side of her weapon at the offending bits of gore, a spray of liquid black pours forth, the ink bubbling and hissing as it washes over the corpse and begins eating away at it like the acid Novella describes it as. Once no visible lumps remain, Tira flicks her wrist, and the puddle of ink evaporates like it never was, leaving nothing behind.
<Thank you. Those remains were revolting.>
"Of course." Tira murmurs, her eyes downcast. "Familiars are supposed to serve their masters, after all..."
You rear back a little. Right, there was that little detail too. You said something similar to Sayaka last night, but you wouldn't have imagined that Kyubey would actually agree. Is that really what subsuming them did...?
...no. No, that's dumb.
<Look, don't pay that nonsense any mind. Kyubey obviously didn't know what he was talking about.>
Tira glances up at you, morose. "How can you be sure-"
<Because Kyubey was only here for a few minutes, and knows nothing of the mountain of evidence against you girls literally being familiars now.> you refute before she can continue. <The distance limit still exists. You both still have non-transformed states. You show up in Novella as "Puella Magi", whereas actual familiars seem to be categorized under their parent witch. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to siphon grief from you two if you shared the same basic nature as me. And we literally just learned that Sayaka very demonstrably still has a witch of her own, which obviously makes no sense if you two aren't still at least essentially the same magical girls I met you as. So just, forget about what Kyubey said, even if he doesn't lie that doesn't mean he can't still be straight up wrong.>
Tira stares up at you, blinking slowly for a moment, before her shoulders slump again — though this time not in sadness, but relief.
"...thank you." she whispers after a moment. "I needed to hear that."
You nod, and the two of you lapse back into silence, albeit a slightly more comfortable one than before.
A short while later, Tira breaks the silence again to give you a series of shorter, more specific directions. A minute or so later, she brings you to a stop, pointing down at a structure below.
"There."
You look, and say nothing for several seconds.
<Um. Are we...?>
You trail off, having been about to ask Tira if she's looking at the same thing you are, before realizing just how stupid that question would be. However, you kind of feel like you should ask it anyways, as the mansion Tira is currently pointing at is even larger than Hitomi's was — as in, probably over thrice the other residence's size, and somehow even more extravagant.
<You're serious? This is your house?>
Tira just nods. Sheesh, what are the odds of you running into two girls in two days that live this ritzy? You'd sort of gathered that Tira was fairly well off, but not this well off.
"My bedroom is in the west wing, near the back." Tira says, as though a house having multiple wings is normal. "There are a number of guest rooms whose furniture we can potentially redistribute as well."
Redistributing. Right. That's... definitely what you're doing here.
You move in, slowly descending into the miniature estate. Once inside, you find yourself all but lost inside a completely different kind of labyrinth, this one man-made, and constructed of innumerable palatial hallways. The structure is braced in places by literal marble columns, and expensive-looking ornamental art pieces decorate what feels like every nook and cranny of the space. It's just as well you don't have a mouth to gape with anymore, allowing you to retain some amount of dignity as Tira directs you through the maze in question.
It takes some wandering, but soon enough you come to a pair of large, fancy oak doors that Tira identifies as the entrance to her room. Passing through them at her behest, you pause for a moment to take it in.
The interior of Tira's room is just as large as you'd been expecting, yet somehow manages to be amazingly cluttered despite that. Hell, cluttered is probably too kind; this is an outright mess. All manner of art supplies are strewn about the place, as though some sort of creativity-based hurricane just blew through. Countless sheets of paper litter the floor, some of it is fresh, some of it has been crumpled up into balls, and a rare few sheets that seem to have actually been used, yet are still just lying around like everything else. A number of easels have been set up along one wall, each with its own completed piece of artwork placed upon it, while a haphazard spread of newspapers cover the floor beneath them, various paints and materials sitting atop them with no apparent system. A single, isolated easel has been separated from the rest and shoved into a back corner, but that's barely of note compared to the half-done marble bust sitting on a workbench at the back, squeezed between a pair of enormous bookcases and a fancy computer desk, upon which sits an equally fancy desktop computer and graphics tablet. The only relatively tidy section of the room lies in its sole remaining corner, where a stupid-huge canopy bed simply takes up too much space for the mess to truly encroach on it.
<...quite the room you have here.>
Quite the life you have here, you don't say. Though you're surprised Tira's living space is this... chaotic. Don't people who live this rich usually have cleaning staff or something?
Whatever the case, Tira simply nods again without further comment, so you let it drop. Probably for the best — that bed won't move itself in here, after all.
Figuring you'll need as many hands as you can get for this, you have Tira hop aboard Tome and exit the Canvas, leaving Sayaka — looking surprisingly peaceful in sleep — where she lies for the moment as you make the silent, several minute trip back to the center of your barrier. Once you arrive, you open a portal, wincing a little at the sensation that doing so always seems to produce.
As Tira hops down and walks over to the portal in question, you silently note that its design has changed again. The sapling sprouting from the central book is slightly taller, and seems to have grown a second leaf at some point, while the colorful tulips and candy silhouettes placed around the exterior have been joined by elegant lengths of golden ribbon, their trailing ends spiraling down into the central book just like everything else. You can only imagine that's due to Candeloro, what with her barrier now also attached to-
Wait.
<Tira, stop, don't!>
Tira startles — but too late, having already finished stepping through the portal before you managed to say anything.
"Wh-what?" she stutters aloud into the empty room. "What's wrong?"
<I... is Candeloro okay? When I tried to leave the barrier yesterday, it hurt, like a lot, and->
You're cut off by a sudden flare of light, originating from the bottom of Tira's vision. She looks down just in time to see Candeloro start to shift on her collarbone, the tiny witch's form seeming to almost twist and crumple inwards, compacting in on itself like a piece of paper. All the while, the light intensifies, until the tiny witch is almost too bright to actually look at.
And when it dies back down...
Tira blinks as she finds herself now wearing what is very clearly an actual pendant, rather than a witch just sort of folded into the vague shape of one. Candeloro's arms are still technically present, but have grown to twice their former length, and are now tied into a fancy bow around the back of Tira's neck. The ribbons' trailing ends curl and spiral forward over her shoulders in a manner eerily reminiscent of Mami's former hairstyle. At the bottom of the fabric loop, there now rests an engraved portrait medallion, holding within it a familiar, strikingly human silhouette, rendered in shadow against a bright red background.
It isn't moving.
"Candeloro... san...?"
Tira pats at her new jewelry for a moment or two, growing increasingly frantic as she does — until the face of the portrait suddenly shines again, less intensely this time, and Candeloro's faceless head quizzically pokes back out, staring up at Tira in confusion. The girl in question quickly sighs in relief, softly patting the tiny witch's head with a fingertip.
...and while she's busy doing that, you promptly begin silently fuming. You're happy for Tira that Candeloro is okay and all, but why the hell can she leave the barrier without issue? Just because she can turn herself even more into a little magic necklace than she already had? No fair...
Candeloro doesn't seem too interested in staying out for fresh air, ducking her head back into her... frame, after just another moment or two. Reassured, Tira turns her attention back to her room, and once you've gotten over your minor sulk, you do as well.
<So... you enjoy making art? Recreationally, I mean?>
Even at a glance, you can tell that the completed paintings resting on the collection of easels are extremely well done, despite them all having completely different styles and subject matters. You're not sure if they're all reproductions, and even if they are you're not sure you could name any of them, but some of them do seem at least vaguely familiar.
Tira shakes her head.
"I used to. However, I ceased to truly enjoy the practice after becoming a magical girl."
<...oh. I'm sorry.>
"No need for that." Tira replies, glancing around at the various paraphernalia strewn around the room. "My motives for taking up the practice were not particularly pure to begin with. In truth, I've no stronger a connection to it than any other hobby I dabbled in. The only reason I still have... or, I suppose, had, all this cluttering my living space was for combat practice."
<Combat practice?> you repeat.
"You are aware that my magic is primarily dependent on reproducing existing works of art, correct?"
<Yeah, it's part of your entry in Novella.>
Tira glances back at the portal still floating behind her, squinting.
"I really must have you read that to me at some point." she mutters. "Regardless, you've not actually seen me make much use of that skill yet, simply because it often takes quite a bit of time to recreate a given piece. I hoped to one day alleviate that, and thus regularly made these-"
She gestures to the paintings.
"-as a method of practicing my speed. The process isn't entirely equivocal, but it was far preferable to wasting precious bits of magic to achieve the same basic purpose."
A wistful look comes over her face as she walks forward, heels clicking against the polished floor as she approaches the one "isolated" easel, lifting the painting it bears off its perch and holding it up in front of her. The art seems less technically skilled than Tira's other examples, but is quite striking nonetheless, featuring a peacock caught in mid-flight at its center, painted in strikingly bold colors. A flock of simple, silver-beaked black birds surround it on all sides, staring on from the periphery of the canvas with what almost looks like... envy?
<I don't recognize that one.>
...well, that's not entirely true, as that's very clearly the peacock Tira seems to use as her default mount, and the black birds are a match for the ones she uses as attack flocks. The art itself just isn't ringing any bells for you, even the distant ones some of the others did.
"You would have no reason to." Tira says, still staring at the painting with downcast eyes. "This particular painting was my own creation."
<Oh- well, it's quite nice!>
Tira scoffs. "You need not flatter me. It was a rushed, slapdash job that I put very little thought into, amateurish by nearly any measure."
Her expression softens. "...but it is the last original piece I made before my wish stripped me of the capacity to do so, so I suppose it is still meaningful in its own way."
…man, you just can't seem to get away from depressing topics tonight.
<You know, if what Kyubey said was true, then the other Tira is... I mean, once we find a way to decouple you and Sayaka from me, there'd be no reason you couldn't just, slot right back into your life now.> you suggest, hoping to grant Tira at least a small bit of hope.
Tira shakes her head.
"Even if I found that notion acceptable, there is nothing I care enough for here that I would particularly desire to return to it."
You balk.
<Surely you don't mean that->
"Have you noticed how sterile this estate is, Ashtaroth-san?" Tira interrupts. "Seen any sign that this place is even lived in, other than this room?"
Ah... well, it's awfully late, and you've only gone through a relatively small section of the halls, but...
<No.>
Tira nods solemnly.
"Perhaps take some time to consider that." she says, before abruptly switching subjects. "Do you have a spot picked out for the furniture I will be moving in shortly?"
...come to think of it, no, you don't. Where are you going to put this stuff? If Tira's planning on moving that monster of a bed into your barrier, let alone any others as she previously implied, you'd like to at least place it somewhere it's not likely to get destroyed, overrun by familiars, or rendered useless in some other manner. Unfortunately, by simple virtue of your private dimension's nature, you're not sure anywhere within it actually fulfills all of those conditions. You're certainly not putting it next to your road ramp again — you've already seen how well keeping bedding there worked out, even if you still don't know the cause — and while placing them inside the Canvas means you could make the nights more comfortable for the girls, if this is going to be a long term thing, you'd rather not be moving furniture in and out of your "personal space" every morning and night.
In which case, the next best option is probably...
[-] Candeloro's cottage. The natural choice, given it's the only real space in your barrier right now that's clearly meant to be lived in. Though, you kind of worry if you let the girls back in there, Candeloro might revert to her previous behavior...
[-] Charlotte's caverns. You know from experience how creepy they are, but with less familiars occupying the place, they're probably at least slightly less so now. They're also naturally dark, which should make for easier sleep, and food would never be far.
[-] Saar's hill. The ground might still be a bit wet in the area, but at the rate things are progressing that'll undoubtedly be fixed soon, and it's definitely got the nicest view to wake up to. It might be a bit bright there though, not to mention it's rather exposed to the outdoors, or at least a fairly convincing facsimile thereof.
[-] One of the clearings on your "lawn". Probably the easiest place for the girls to reach you, assuming you'll be staying in the Canvas most of the time, and you assume it wouldn't be a problem to simply "claim" one, given that group of Polina who've already done the exact same thing. Though, if you get invaded again, it's not exactly an out of the way spot.
[-] Write in.
AN+Patrons: You ever have a project that like, you're working on, and you feel like you're making decent progress, yet you never seem to actually finish it? That's been me with basically every chapter of every fic I've been working on lately. Really hoping that passes soon.
A huge thanks to @Pheonix14, @Warclam, @ScorpioBot, @Dai, Henry Branscombe, Leaf, Bertucchi, BlackEagle91, Jordan Juengel, Stays Secret, Alxariam, and my eight other Patrons not named here, as well as an extra special thanks to a certain generous patron who wishes to remain unnamed. Each of them receives one of Tira's numerous recreations of historically famous artworks. Seriously, it's not like she's doing anything with them, and even if they aren't to your personal taste, I'm sure they'd still be worth a pretty penny if you find the right buyer. Though uh, maybe keep where they actually came from on the down low, yeah? 🖼️
You...
…
> Wake her up.
You should...
…
…
…
...you can't. Not right now.
<Maybe let's just... let her rest, and pick this back up in the morning?> you suggest, praying that your voiceless telepathy will disguise your desperation. <It's gotten pretty dark out->
You pause for a moment to pin up an illusion of the outside, where night has now overtaken the world — if only just.
<-and after everything that's happened, I kind of feel like we should just call it quits for the day. All this time travel, and Kyubey, and other... stuff can wait until morning, don't you think?>
It takes a moment, but eventually, Tira nods.
"Perhaps that would be for the best." she says quietly.
Relieved beyond belief to not have to talk about this yet, you shove your boiling cauldron of concerns to the back of your mind in favor of focusing on simpler things.
<So,> you start, <uh... where do you want to sleep? I'm afraid I'm not exactly flush with furnishings.>
If she doesn't want to just go back inside Novella, you can try and cobble together some beds again, you guess. Not that the other one lasted very long, or was really that comfortable to begin with, but it was something.
Tira sighs even more heavily than before.
"If you are truly so lacking in amenities, perhaps we should simply head to my residence and appropriate some of my own."
You'd blink if you had the eyes for it. Sayaka isn't awake to object right now, and Tira is freely offering, but...
<Are you sure?>
Tira nods, eyes downcast.
"My family will likely not even notice," she says, "and while it is technically not mine to give, my other self is... apparently no longer a factor anymore."
...oh. Right. That. Between everything else, you'd all but forgotten that Kyubey let that relatively minor detail slip.
Evidently Tira did not.
<Okay.> you reply, in no frame of mind to attempt to comfort her about it and undoubtedly fail anyways. <Which way?>
Tira takes a moment to get her bearings, then points towards the river in the distance. As you start heading in that direction, you both fall into silence, equally lost in your thoughts — which of course just causes that cauldron to start bubbling over again.
You're trying to stay calm. You really, really are. It's just... hard, given what happened, especially since you'd been relatively certain that it couldn't happen. Did Kyubey maybe do something to you? You didn't notice anything, but he probably wouldn't have made it particularly obvious if he did...
Speaking of which.
You look around, scrutinizing the Canvas for any hint of pink or red. Other than the... pieces... he left behind however, you don't spot any sign of the little white devil. You're pretty sure she- you- it killed him again? Honestly, you doubt that did him any more permanent harm than the first sword that went through his head, but given that he hasn't reappeared, he might not be coming back any time soon. In the abstract, that's slightly frustrating, as you somehow came out of that little Q&A session with even more questions than you had going in, but...
Well. You're not exactly in the mood to ask him anything else right now anyways.
Your gaze falls on the lingering pulped Kyubey parts. Since he didn't come back a third time, the remnants of his second body are still around, serving as a macabre reminder of the event that produced them. You'd try to subsume that, if just to get it off the floor, but there's... not really much left to subsume, and the idea is honestly just kind of gross. You'll have to find another way to-
"Do you mind terribly if I get rid of that mess?"
You look down at Tira, who's staring at the same bloody body bits that you are.
<Er... no. If you have a way, feel free.>
With your okay, Tira summons a penbrush to her hand again. Aiming the sharp side of her weapon at the offending bits of gore, a spray of liquid black pours forth, the ink bubbling and hissing as it washes over the corpse and begins eating away at it like the acid Novella describes it as. Once no visible lumps remain, Tira flicks her wrist, and the puddle of ink evaporates like it never was, leaving nothing behind.
<Thank you. Those remains were revolting.>
"Of course." Tira murmurs, her eyes downcast. "Familiars are supposed to serve their masters, after all..."
You rear back a little. Right, there was that little detail too. You said something similar to Sayaka last night, but you wouldn't have imagined that Kyubey would actually agree. Is that really what subsuming them did...?
...no. No, that's dumb.
<Look, don't pay that nonsense any mind. Kyubey obviously didn't know what he was talking about.>
Tira glances up at you, morose. "How can you be sure-"
<Because Kyubey was only here for a few minutes, and knows nothing of the mountain of evidence against you girls literally being familiars now.> you refute before she can continue. <The distance limit still exists. You both still have non-transformed states. You show up in Novella as "Puella Magi", whereas actual familiars seem to be categorized under their parent witch. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to siphon grief from you two if you shared the same basic nature as me. And we literally just learned that Sayaka very demonstrably still has a witch of her own, which obviously makes no sense if you two aren't still at least essentially the same magical girls I met you as. So just, forget about what Kyubey said, even if he doesn't lie that doesn't mean he can't still be straight up wrong.>
Tira stares up at you, blinking slowly for a moment, before her shoulders slump again — though this time not in sadness, but relief.
"...thank you." she whispers after a moment. "I needed to hear that."
You nod, and the two of you lapse back into silence, albeit a slightly more comfortable one than before.
A short while later, Tira breaks the silence again to give you a series of shorter, more specific directions. A minute or so later, she brings you to a stop, pointing down at a structure below.
"There."
You look, and say nothing for several seconds.
<Um. Are we...?>
You trail off, having been about to ask Tira if she's looking at the same thing you are, before realizing just how stupid that question would be. However, you kind of feel like you should ask it anyways, as the mansion Tira is currently pointing at is even larger than Hitomi's was — as in, probably over thrice the other residence's size, and somehow even more extravagant.
<You're serious? This is your house?>
Tira just nods. Sheesh, what are the odds of you running into two girls in two days that live this ritzy? You'd sort of gathered that Tira was fairly well off, but not this well off.
"My bedroom is in the west wing, near the back." Tira says, as though a house having multiple wings is normal. "There are a number of guest rooms whose furniture we can potentially redistribute as well."
Redistributing. Right. That's... definitely what you're doing here.
You move in, slowly descending into the miniature estate. Once inside, you find yourself all but lost inside a completely different kind of labyrinth, this one man-made, and constructed of innumerable palatial hallways. The structure is braced in places by literal marble columns, and expensive-looking ornamental art pieces decorate what feels like every nook and cranny of the space. It's just as well you don't have a mouth to gape with anymore, allowing you to retain some amount of dignity as Tira directs you through the maze in question.
It takes some wandering, but soon enough you come to a pair of large, fancy oak doors that Tira identifies as the entrance to her room. Passing through them at her behest, you pause for a moment to take it in.
The interior of Tira's room is just as large as you'd been expecting, yet somehow manages to be amazingly cluttered despite that. Hell, cluttered is probably too kind; this is an outright mess. All manner of art supplies are strewn about the place, as though some sort of creativity-based hurricane just blew through. Countless sheets of paper litter the floor, some of it is fresh, some of it has been crumpled up into balls, and a rare few sheets that seem to have actually been used, yet are still just lying around like everything else. A number of easels have been set up along one wall, each with its own completed piece of artwork placed upon it, while a haphazard spread of newspapers cover the floor beneath them, various paints and materials sitting atop them with no apparent system. A single, isolated easel has been separated from the rest and shoved into a back corner, but that's barely of note compared to the half-done marble bust sitting on a workbench at the back, squeezed between a pair of enormous bookcases and a fancy computer desk, upon which sits an equally fancy desktop computer and graphics tablet. The only relatively tidy section of the room lies in its sole remaining corner, where a stupid-huge canopy bed simply takes up too much space for the mess to truly encroach on it.
<...quite the room you have here.>
Quite the life you have here, you don't say. Though you're surprised Tira's living space is this... chaotic. Don't people who live this rich usually have cleaning staff or something?
Whatever the case, Tira simply nods again without further comment, so you let it drop. Probably for the best — that bed won't move itself in here, after all.
Figuring you'll need as many hands as you can get for this, you have Tira hop aboard Tome and exit the Canvas, leaving Sayaka — looking surprisingly peaceful in sleep — where she lies for the moment as you make the silent, several minute trip back to the center of your barrier. Once you arrive, you open a portal, wincing a little at the sensation that doing so always seems to produce.
As Tira hops down and walks over to the portal in question, you silently note that its design has changed again. The sapling sprouting from the central book is slightly taller, and seems to have grown a second leaf at some point, while the colorful tulips and candy silhouettes placed around the exterior have been joined by elegant lengths of golden ribbon, their trailing ends spiraling down into the central book just like everything else. You can only imagine that's due to Candeloro, what with her barrier now also attached to-
Wait.
<Tira, stop, don't!>
Tira startles — but too late, having already finished stepping through the portal before you managed to say anything.
"Wh-what?" she stutters aloud into the empty room. "What's wrong?"
<I... is Candeloro okay? When I tried to leave the barrier yesterday, it hurt, like a lot, and->
You're cut off by a sudden flare of light, originating from the bottom of Tira's vision. She looks down just in time to see Candeloro start to shift on her collarbone, the tiny witch's form seeming to almost twist and crumple inwards, compacting in on itself like a piece of paper. All the while, the light intensifies, until the tiny witch is almost too bright to actually look at.
And when it dies back down...
Tira blinks as she finds herself now wearing what is very clearly an actual pendant, rather than a witch just sort of folded into the vague shape of one. Candeloro's arms are still technically present, but have grown to twice their former length, and are now tied into a fancy bow around the back of Tira's neck. The ribbons' trailing ends curl and spiral forward over her shoulders in a manner eerily reminiscent of Mami's former hairstyle. At the bottom of the fabric loop, there now rests an engraved portrait medallion, holding within it a familiar, strikingly human silhouette, rendered in shadow against a bright red background.
It isn't moving.
"Candeloro... san...?"
Tira pats at her new jewelry for a moment or two, growing increasingly frantic as she does — until the face of the portrait suddenly shines again, less intensely this time, and Candeloro's faceless head quizzically pokes back out, staring up at Tira in confusion. The girl in question quickly sighs in relief, softly patting the tiny witch's head with a fingertip.
...and while she's busy doing that, you promptly begin silently fuming. You're happy for Tira that Candeloro is okay and all, but why the hell can she leave the barrier without issue? Just because she can turn herself even more into a little magic necklace than she already had? No fair...
Candeloro doesn't seem too interested in staying out for fresh air, ducking her head back into her... frame, after just another moment or two. Reassured, Tira turns her attention back to her room, and once you've gotten over your minor sulk, you do as well.
<So... you enjoy making art? Recreationally, I mean?>
Even at a glance, you can tell that the completed paintings resting on the collection of easels are extremely well done, despite them all having completely different styles and subject matters. You're not sure if they're all reproductions, and even if they are you're not sure you could name any of them, but some of them do seem at least vaguely familiar.
Tira shakes her head.
"I used to. However, I ceased to truly enjoy the practice after becoming a magical girl."
<...oh. I'm sorry.>
"No need for that." Tira replies, glancing around at the various paraphernalia strewn around the room. "My motives for taking up the practice were not particularly pure to begin with. In truth, I've no stronger a connection to it than any other hobby I dabbled in. The only reason I still have... or, I suppose, had, all this cluttering my living space was for combat practice."
<Combat practice?> you repeat.
"You are aware that my magic is primarily dependent on reproducing existing works of art, correct?"
<Yeah, it's part of your entry in Novella.>
Tira glances back at the portal still floating behind her, squinting.
"I really must have you read that to me at some point." she mutters. "Regardless, you've not actually seen me make much use of that skill yet, simply because it often takes quite a bit of time to recreate a given piece. I hoped to one day alleviate that, and thus regularly made these-"
She gestures to the paintings.
"-as a method of practicing my speed. The process isn't entirely equivocal, but it was far preferable to wasting precious bits of magic to achieve the same basic purpose."
A wistful look comes over her face as she walks forward, heels clicking against the polished floor as she approaches the one "isolated" easel, lifting the painting it bears off its perch and holding it up in front of her. The art seems less technically skilled than Tira's other examples, but is quite striking nonetheless, featuring a peacock caught in mid-flight at its center, painted in strikingly bold colors. A flock of simple, silver-beaked black birds surround it on all sides, staring on from the periphery of the canvas with what almost looks like... envy?
<I don't recognize that one.>
...well, that's not entirely true, as that's very clearly the peacock Tira seems to use as her default mount, and the black birds are a match for the ones she uses as attack flocks. The art itself just isn't ringing any bells for you, even the distant ones some of the others did.
"You would have no reason to." Tira says, still staring at the painting with downcast eyes. "This particular painting was my own creation."
<Oh- well, it's quite nice!>
Tira scoffs. "You need not flatter me. It was a rushed, slapdash job that I put very little thought into, amateurish by nearly any measure."
Her expression softens. "...but it is the last original piece I made before my wish stripped me of the capacity to do so, so I suppose it is still meaningful in its own way."
…man, you just can't seem to get away from depressing topics tonight.
<You know, if what Kyubey said was true, then the other Tira is... I mean, once we find a way to decouple you and Sayaka from me, there'd be no reason you couldn't just, slot right back into your life now.> you suggest, hoping to grant Tira at least a small bit of hope.
Tira shakes her head.
"Even if I found that notion acceptable, there is nothing I care enough for here that I would particularly desire to return to it."
You balk.
<Surely you don't mean that->
"Have you noticed how sterile this estate is, Ashtaroth-san?" Tira interrupts. "Seen any sign that this place is even lived in, other than this room?"
Ah... well, it's awfully late, and you've only gone through a relatively small section of the halls, but...
<No.>
Tira nods solemnly.
"Perhaps take some time to consider that." she says, before abruptly switching subjects. "Do you have a spot picked out for the furniture I will be moving in shortly?"
...come to think of it, no, you don't. Where are you going to put this stuff? If Tira's planning on moving that monster of a bed into your barrier, let alone any others as she previously implied, you'd like to at least place it somewhere it's not likely to get destroyed, overrun by familiars, or rendered useless in some other manner. Unfortunately, by simple virtue of your private dimension's nature, you're not sure anywhere within it actually fulfills all of those conditions. You're certainly not putting it next to your road ramp again — you've already seen how well keeping bedding there worked out, even if you still don't know the cause — and while placing them inside the Canvas means you could make the nights more comfortable for the girls, if this is going to be a long term thing, you'd rather not be moving furniture in and out of your "personal space" every morning and night.
In which case, the next best option is probably...
[-] Candeloro's cottage. The natural choice, given it's the only real space in your barrier right now that's clearly meant to be lived in. Though, you kind of worry if you let the girls back in there, Candeloro might revert to her previous behavior...
[-] Charlotte's caverns. You know from experience how creepy they are, but with less familiars occupying the place, they're probably at least slightly less so now. They're also naturally dark, which should make for easier sleep, and food would never be far.
[-] Saar's hill. The ground might still be a bit wet in the area, but at the rate things are progressing that'll undoubtedly be fixed soon, and it's definitely got the nicest view to wake up to. It might be a bit bright there though, not to mention it's rather exposed to the outdoors, or at least a fairly convincing facsimile thereof.
[-] One of the clearings on your "lawn". Probably the easiest place for the girls to reach you, assuming you'll be staying in the Canvas most of the time, and you assume it wouldn't be a problem to simply "claim" one, given that group of Polina who've already done the exact same thing. Though, if you get invaded again, it's not exactly an out of the way spot.
[-] Write in.
AN+Patrons: You ever have a project that like, you're working on, and you feel like you're making decent progress, yet you never seem to actually finish it? That's been me with basically every chapter of every fic I've been working on lately. Really hoping that passes soon.
A huge thanks to @Pheonix14, @Warclam, @ScorpioBot, @Dai, Henry Branscombe, Leaf, Bertucchi, BlackEagle91, Jordan Juengel, Stays Secret, Alxariam, and my eight other Patrons not named here, as well as an extra special thanks to a certain generous patron who wishes to remain unnamed. Each of them receives one of Tira's numerous recreations of historically famous artworks. Seriously, it's not like she's doing anything with them, and even if they aren't to your personal taste, I'm sure they'd still be worth a pretty penny if you find the right buyer. Though uh, maybe keep where they actually came from on the down low, yeah? 🖼️
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BlackoutSampler
So Easily Forgotten
[ ] each of the highways in your part of the barrier lead to some sort of outer space zone, if there is gravity and air just beyond the portal, it might be good to set up camp there, there's only one entrance/exit to manage to make it easier to section off "their space", and if things get... TOO long term, there's plenty of room for them to expand their lodgings... a whole galaxy of room so to speak.
MEGUCAS IN SPAAAAAAAACCCCCEEEEEEEEEE!
sadly this is the wrong forum for them to set up a fight club in it.
MEGUCAS IN SPAAAAAAAACCCCCEEEEEEEEEE!
sadly this is the wrong forum for them to set up a fight club in it.
Kalibrius
God of reflection
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
[-] Charlotte's caverns
It honestly makes sense it's underground and somewhere invaders would not seek out immediately, not when the other environs catch most attention upoun entering
Also free Sweets for morning breakfast and snacks
Might have to worry about any diets they may have had before though (wry smirk)
It honestly makes sense it's underground and somewhere invaders would not seek out immediately, not when the other environs catch most attention upoun entering
Also free Sweets for morning breakfast and snacks
Might have to worry about any diets they may have had before though (wry smirk)
JmonsterNEO
Spouter of nonsense
- Location
- The quest forums
Yeah, a racing club would be more appropriate.
Life happens, muses can be fickle and inspiration can shift into another story. In the end the author writes as a hobby thus it's always a chance the current update is the last one, for this and any other unfinished fanfic.
...
...and then I get ninja'd by a story update. While I still stand by my words I'm thankful for the update.