[ ] 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.
It returns!
Living in an area technically controlled by another Witch feels risky, especially since they're mostly closed-in spaces.
Man, even more depression. I love the vibes, but it's really very sad just how much Tira seems to think her life's improved. She doesn't even want to separate from Ashtaroth.
I really liked the discussion about Tira and Sayaka status. Though even if they were Familiars, there'd be no reason to treat them differently. But with Tira's issues with being able to only make copies of great art, being a copy would hit her extra hard.
As for where to put the bed and other furniture, I dunno, it all seems pretty bad. I guess Saar'a Hill? Sleeping with the lights on isn't too hard if you have a sleepmask, which shouldn't be hard to get a hold of.
[X] 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.
With Charlotte's realm, easy excavation of the walls and free food
Not to mention can be trapped to hell and back in case anyone snoops
The others can be easy to be sighted and attacked, areas where any invader can find their personal belongings and ransack them
Space area
If it is space where Exactly are the objects going to be placed
There is no floor, wall or ceiling!
We'd easily lose stuff and unless a satellite is made
Their might be something their already as shemesh demonstrates but it might nit be friendly
Not to mention snipers paradise like little miss ahab can likely do from what I remember
....... and if my original theory on our ash being the esca of ashtaroth
Or ashtaroth being a mere extension of the real witch
Then she likely sleeps in their
What better place lay beneath than the very nightsky itself
Underground they play on our terms, even diggers will have to since they'll have to find us
And if necessary we cam cause cave ins to retreat and regroup or get them trapped
[x] Canvas' ceiling
There should be plenty of advice out there for attaching furniture to roofs for pranks(you might even find some college kids willing to do it for you), add in some straps, cords, and harnesses and the whole arrangement should be usable. It keeps all of the advantages of using Canvas, but the furniture will all be out of the way when we are doing Canvas things!
[X] 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.
Is Sayaka's Labyrinth gonna be added? It'd technically count as her own room right?
...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...
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 just realized something. Now that Sayaka has effectively witched out, will she be able to read the runes?
As for where to put the furniture, my first choice would be Candeloro's cottage, since it's already set up as a living space. Besides, now that she already has what she wants, it's unlikely that she'll go back to what she was doing, since she can just tag along with Tira if she leaves. My second choice would be Charlotte's caverns, since it's set up like a hospital and thus has plenty of rooms, plus lots of food, and the du polignac have been prettying up the place, so it won't be quite as dreary.
<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.
"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.
On the bright side, we can get her Witch and find out how that interaction goes if it involves different time travel versions. If her Witch isn't inherently hostile to her, then we know Sayaka's case was something based on her own issues.
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.
I hope their fridge also scales with that size increase. We do have to loot other stuff too, after all. I wonder if they have a mobile generator for emergencies?
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.
We have to loot everything. It should at least make a good distraction for Sayaka. Having her wake up to this is preferable to her panicking over her Witch-self.
Tira blinks as she finds herself now wearing what is very clearly an actualpendant, 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.
Interesting. Is that because Witches can't properly manifest outside of their Labyrinths or was my theory of the Witch being the Labyrinth and the body being more of a sockpuppet right?
In the second case, this would be kind of like the signal that connected the Witch/Labyrinth to the body getting weakened/disrupted.
The human silhouette part is also interesting. That could mean most of the Witchy-stuff stays with the Labyrinth around Ashy, while the pendant is made up of most of what was left of the magical girl. I wonder what would happen if the Pleiades girls used their Witch reformation tech on something that was already "filtered" to an extend.
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."
[-] 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.
I think that's just asking to get caught up in a fight between Familiars.
[X] 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.
They plan to do some redecorating anyway and I'm sure Charlotte would appreciate it.
My second choice would be Charlotte's caverns, since it's set up like a hospital and thus has plenty of rooms, plus lots of food, and the du polignac have been prettying up the place, so it won't be quite as dreary.
I don't recall many wishes actually removing things without being asked to. I wonder if Tira never actually lost her artistic ability, but instead had her copying ability completely overlap her artistic ability and take precedence over it. If that latter is true, then maybe some sort of psychological training could allow her to resist or avoid copying in some way and allow her access to her art again. I would assume that she has already tried some stuff though... so it can't be easy.
I still look forward to Sayaka reading that her official encyclopaedia entry insults her. I mean, tomboy is not much of an insult in my book, but I kinda suspect that it is not what she is going for. I also doubt that "immature" would feel anything but insulting to anyone who would actually get it into their official encyclopaedia entry. Really, having that sort of assessment will pretty much always be insulting, nobody much wants to be carelessly assessed...
I wonder if the familiars have trashed Candeloro's place with constant all-night parties while the resident parent was away. Or, for a less meme-review, I do genuinely find myself wondering what has been going on with Candeloro's familiars, and whether they or any others have moved into that house and tried to set up a life for themselves there. It could be much more lived-in by now, with a community that would rather not be intruded upon by a band who feel like they are authority figures over them and the location.
I wanted to read the previous chapter to remember more things on the stoty but somehow I couldn't, at least I remembered Sayaka had a breakdown and something something Oktavia something.
And as I mentioned I'm invested in seeing how the characters gain a new meaning for their lives since they have effectively lost everything and everyone else with the timeline shift. And finally there's a start with Ashtaroth's speech there: I think not only Tira needed it, but the story as a whole too.
Looking forward to the continuation, and thanks for the update.
Man, even more depression. I love the vibes, but it's really very sad just how much Tira seems to think her life's improved. She doesn't even want to separate from Ashtaroth.
I don't recall many wishes actually removing things without being asked to. I wonder if Tira never actually lost her artistic ability, but instead had her copying ability completely overlap her artistic ability and take precedence over it. If that latter is true, then maybe some sort of psychological training could allow her to resist or avoid copying in some way and allow her access to her art again. I would assume that she has already tried some stuff though... so it can't be easy.
Keep in mind the conversation between Ashtaroth and Tira was never about the latter's ability to do art in the first place, only about her enjoyment. Now that Tira has the time, doesn't have the pressure to hunt grief seeds to prevent witching out anymore, and is in a better headspace she could take art once again.
[X] 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.
Wasn't expecting this to be back! Thanks for the chapter.
Definitely not Charlotte's caverns. That place is dreary, and given her past experience with Charlotte, I really doubt Tira will be all that keen to sleep there. Hell, when she was exploring with Sayaka she refused to even go in there.
Mami's cottage on the other hand is quite nice, and probably won' have to many familiar problems given that it has a door and Candeloro's familiars at least don't want to be there. I doubt Candeloro will try to keep people from leaving there. She isn't attached to any particular place, she's attached to her friends, so I think as long as she's with Tira she won't care where they go.
[X] 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...
Today will be the day I figure out Patreon because I meant to glance at this quest a few days ago for reasons I no longer recall and I was hooked. Hooked bad, I drifted off to sleep having my computer read this aloud over the course of the last four days or so.
I'm afraid I missed the discussion, side stories, and fan stories and just went through reader mode, so even though I am caught up I still have a lot to read, and I think I will enjoy doing so when I have time to do so.
You've done an amazing thing here! Why is this called a Faux quest though? It seems that our votes do matter.
Actually, they really don't. Is on the author's decision what will happen. Is a Faux Quest because is more or less a fanfic with quest format. It isn't actually a quest.
Actually, they really don't. Is on the author's decision what will happen. Is a Faux Quest because is more or less a fanfic with quest format. It isn't actually a quest.
Because some, like you, believed this to be a normal quest. Besides, there is nothing saying that they can't. The clarification is to prevent people from getting the wrong expectations that they have full control of the choices like in a quest.
It can also be a bit of fun, to try to think of silly or creative votes. It is also hypothetically a method of offering inspiration to the author. Sure, the votes are not binding, but there is nothing stopping mutated versions of them from being used at some point in the story. Yjen there is the chance to communicate with the author. If there is a bunch of support for some or other vote, then it might offer insight into what the readership is thinking/how they are reacting...
Treating it like a real quest does not, as near as I can tell, do any harm, and it can be an easy way to participate in story discussion...
[ ] 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.
I imagine they'd first have to find themselves some anti-gravity/magic vehicles that can stick to the roads in order for that to work, which aren't exactly in high supply. Then again, this is a witch barrier, so anything's possible... 🚗
....... and if my original theory on our ash being the esca of ashtaroth
Or ashtaroth being a mere extension of the real witch
Then she likely sleeps in their
What better place lay beneath than the very nightsky itself
I'm not sure what you mean by "esca", but that's an interesting theory. And Ashtaroth really should take a look at those rings at some point regardless...
Imagine what happens if someone like Hirako breaks in again, and Ashtaroth tries to cover everything in an illusion... only for the attacking magical girl to slam into a bed they can't see, realize what's going on, and the jig is immediately up.
(Also, the Canvas is functionally Ashtaroth's bedroom. And even were it not, would you want the exact same static elements to be slapped on top of every single picture you paint?)
[x] Canvas' ceiling
There should be plenty of advice out there for attaching furniture to roofs for pranks(you might even find some college kids willing to do it for you), add in some straps, cords, and harnesses and the whole arrangement should be usable. It keeps all of the advantages of using Canvas, but the furniture will all be out of the way when we are doing Canvas things!
Perfect! All the fun of one of those big rope jungle gyms, with 1000% added danger of falling and going splat if you happen to roll over in your sleep!
Even if it is, I somehow don't imagine that sleeping would be all that easy next to an ever-playing orchestra. ( 'O⌣')/( 'O⌣')/( 'O⌣')/♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪ (≧~≦)
Man, even more depression. I love the vibes, but it's really very sad just how much Tira seems to think her life's improved. She doesn't even want to separate from Ashtaroth.
I really liked the discussion about Tira and Sayaka status. Though even if they were Familiars, there'd be no reason to treat them differently. But with Tira's issues with being able to only make copies of great art, being a copy would hit her extra hard.
Yeah, I don't blame Ash here. That's entirely unfair. Maybe it's because Ashtaroth is sort of the load-bearing wall of her own barrier, and the other witches are not? Also, it's possible that the real world, for lack of a better turn of phrase, is more 'real' than barriers are, so despair monsters have to bleed energy just to continue to exist. Under this model, Candeloro would be avoiding pain and death by going into a low-power state and absorbing the remaining required despair from Tira, neither of which are things Ash can easily do.
Interesting. Is that because Witches can't properly manifest outside of their Labyrinths or was my theory of the Witch being the Labyrinth and the body being more of a sockpuppet right?
In the second case, this would be kind of like the signal that connected the Witch/Labyrinth to the body getting weakened/disrupted.
The human silhouette part is also interesting. That could mean most of the Witchy-stuff stays with the Labyrinth around Ashy, while the pendant is made up of most of what was left of the magical girl. I wonder what would happen if the Pleiades girls used their Witch reformation tech on something that was already "filtered" to an extend.
I thought pendant was supposed to be cute. Transforming into one from ridiculous pain is kind of depressing. At least, that's what I thought initially.
Chibiroth is less annoyed about the weight comment than she is about not being able to see anything when she's closed. Luckily, she still has Sayaka and Tira to be her eyes for her~ 👀
With their chains broken, the Du Polignac have been using their freedom to go on some absolutely wild benders. The house may be trashed, but they've figured out how to make the giant magic teacups produce magic alcohol instead, and that's what really matters in the end.
On the bright side, we can get her Witch and find out how that interaction goes if it involves different time travel versions. If her Witch isn't inherently hostile to her, then we know Sayaka's case was something based on her own issues.
I'm seeing a surprising nigh-unanimous agreement to go collect Tira's witch-self some time soon, without much thought about what that witch's labyrinth actually consists of. Even just considering what her familiars are described as doing, are you sure you really want that? ⚆_⚆
We have to loot everything. It should at least make a good distraction for Sayaka. Having her wake up to this is preferable to her panicking over her Witch-self.
Standard adventurer magical girl procedure: if you find a seemingly abandoned location, be it a dungeon, a mansion, or otherwise, you ransack that place like a Du Polignac party. ┻━┻ ︵ ＼( °□° )／ ︵ ┻━┻
(And then suddenly the floor turns to quicksand, and enemies start breaking down the door, and you realize that maybe this place wasn't abandoned after all- wait, still the wrong genre.)
Yeah, that certainly is a very revealing painting. Really illustrates where Tira was as a person at the time she made her wish. Combined with the fact that she says she rushed it, implying she wasn't really trying, I can see her having made something like this in quite the emotional state. Then, perhaps a little alien popped up to offer her a solution…? (Maybe not immediately, but still.)
It's also interesting how this symbol of vanity—the peacock is clearly intended to vicariously fulfill Tira's past desires to be lauded and envied—has become something else to her. Even if she didn't try, even if she didn't care at the time, she still made something, which she is no longer able to do. It's become a symbol of the past, of when she was still free, both from her duties as a magical girl and to create genuinely new things.
I bet if Tira could remake that artwork today, she'd switch the positions of the birds: the black birds in the center, flying free to wherever they choose, with the peacock watching from the edge of the canvas, sealed within a gilded cage. Just a thought I had.
I still look forward to Sayaka reading that her official encyclopaedia entry insults her. I mean, tomboy is not much of an insult in my book, but I kinda suspect that it is not what she is going for.
I'm sure Kyubey will be back to experiment. Imagine, if you will, if you could witch out a girl not just once, but again and again...? His eyes must be little red $s.
I don't know, he doesn't seem too thrilled about the whole Doppel system in Magia Record, which allows exactly that. Granted, that's likely because the energy produced isn't actually going to him, and is instead just continually collecting around the torso of a giant half-hatched Moth Witch. Curse those girls he sat down and explained the entire intricacies of the magical girl system to because they actually had the forethought to ask!
Today will be the day I figure out Patreon because I meant to glance at this quest a few days ago for reasons I no longer recall and I was hooked. Hooked bad, I drifted off to sleep having my computer read this aloud over the course of the last four days or so.
I'm afraid I missed the discussion, side stories, and fan stories and just went through reader mode, so even though I am caught up I still have a lot to read, and I think I will enjoy doing so when I have time to do so.
You've done an amazing thing here! Why is this called a Faux quest though? It seems that our votes do matter.
I'm glad you enjoyed the story so much! 💝As Ferb mentioned, it's called a Faux-Quest because the result of any "vote" is ultimately going to be ignored in favor of what I, as the author, already intended to do. The format of quests works excellently for some of the overall themes of this story, and allows me to do some just generally cool things here and there, but I didn't want the direction of the plot to be up to the readers, so I basically just yoinked the format for my own purposes. That being said...
Actually, they really don't. Is on the author's decision what will happen. Is a Faux Quest because is more or less a fanfic with quest format. It isn't actually a quest.
...the votes do indeed still matter at least a little, as opinions/discussion will occasionally sway me in a different direction than I initially planned. That's especially the case for this particular chapter, as I'm genuinely rather divided on where the "living quarters" should be set up. Plus, I just quite like seeing votes regardless, so feel free to vote away!
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...
Ashtaroth just needs to become an audio book, and all shall be well. Heck, going by 16 characters mentioning that they listened to their computer read this story aloud, she's halfway there already! o(*￣▽￣*)ブ
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.
Were the best traits of Saar's inner and outer barrier combined, you're right, that'd be pretty spot on! Though, I may just have something else in that vein to showcase at some point...
I'm seeing a surprising nigh-unanimous agreement to go collect Tira's witch-self some time soon, without much thought about what that witch's labyrinth actually consists of. Even just considering what her familiars are described as doing, are you sure you really want that? ⚆_⚆
It's a character-building experience! How else are we supposed to improve as people if not by confronting our own darkest fears and insecurities embodied as real, tangible monsters and beating them up?
...the votes do indeed still matter at least a little, as opinions/discussion will occasionally sway me in a different direction than I initially planned. That's especially the case for this particular chapter, as I'm genuinely rather divided on where the "living quarters" should be set up. Plus, I just quite like seeing votes regardless, so feel free to vote away!
Uff, sorry I completely forgot about that, is just people haven't been voting from here so I didn't knew how relevant it was.
And if that is the case, then the best option would be to transport everything to the Canvas. Yeah, it would be destroyed if a fight breaks out unless it is positioned far away (Like the furtherst corner of the Canvas), but it is safer and out of reach for any Familiar Shenanigans. And there would be the illusion of night (with extra new lights).
If safety is the concern, they should really setup in multiple areas. And be put together more like safe houses then a bedroom. Nab as much comfy looking furniture from Tira's place as possible and see if Tira's credit cards still work and stock up with toiletries, clothes, blankets, stuff like that. If they're feeling ambitious get some generators and a manual for electric lights. Or a hand charger for Tira's phone at least.
