Probably sheds witches and picks them up as she goes I think. We know her M.G. familiars are nasty combatants, and unlike basically any other familiars they seem to be all unique
Also, Walpurgisnacht has been alive and infamous for centuries. I don't know if she became any more powerful during most of that time, because all I know is that she was able wreck entire cities even then.
Subsumption (PMMM Faux-Quest) (Witch MC)
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
I've been stuck on the 'why did Sayaka think she'd be free from Ashtaroth's control if she got far enough away' question. And sure, surface level it doesn't make much sense. As long as her soul is part of Ash, she can't get away from her. There's nothing for it no matter how either feels on the matter.
But it does make sense if we account for what Sayaka doesn't know. We the readers know that the soul and soulgem function as a magic girl's mind, and Ashtaroth also seems to know. But Sayaka didn't. She only knew that her soul was in Ash now, and that meant she could control her, and she couldn't get away from her. But she also knew that she didn't have that limited travel distance in the barrier. She might have thought that her mind was a separate thing from her soul, and it needed her soul to work outside the barrier. She might not even have thought that much, just knowing that she could go seemingly anywhere in the barrier without passing out. She might've thought the bodily control over her Ash has was an ability that needed her soul to work. So if she got away from Ash, and outside the 100 meter range of the control ability, she'd be free. Still stuck in the barrier, but she probably didn't have nuch of a plan beyond that.
It's not a line of logic running on good assumptions, but she was very desperate for any kind of out, which is understandable. It's not like she had a lot lose by trying. Just that last shread of hope she didn't know she had left.
But it does make sense if we account for what Sayaka doesn't know. We the readers know that the soul and soulgem function as a magic girl's mind, and Ashtaroth also seems to know. But Sayaka didn't. She only knew that her soul was in Ash now, and that meant she could control her, and she couldn't get away from her. But she also knew that she didn't have that limited travel distance in the barrier. She might have thought that her mind was a separate thing from her soul, and it needed her soul to work outside the barrier. She might not even have thought that much, just knowing that she could go seemingly anywhere in the barrier without passing out. She might've thought the bodily control over her Ash has was an ability that needed her soul to work. So if she got away from Ash, and outside the 100 meter range of the control ability, she'd be free. Still stuck in the barrier, but she probably didn't have nuch of a plan beyond that.
It's not a line of logic running on good assumptions, but she was very desperate for any kind of out, which is understandable. It's not like she had a lot lose by trying. Just that last shread of hope she didn't know she had left.
She's probably just not used to the idea that her seat of consciousness could be anywhere other then her body and defaulted to thinking of Ashtaroth's control as an effect that needs to reach out to her and can therefore be escaped by running away.
Confrontation 15: The Seed of Something Greater
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
> Plan B: Use Tearful Storm.
You tilt yourself towards the ground, feeling the collection of selectively invisible lines that serve as your head shift into a fan-like configuration. As they begin to rotate, your magic swells at their center, feeling like an inflating balloon. Just as it seems as though it's about to pop, it bursts out of you as a brilliant polychromatic tornado.
One aimed straight down at the familiar-laden bridge below.
The Pyotr clinging to you are the first to be affected, the force of the winds at ground zero flinging at least half of them straight into the nearest wall. Many of those waiting to ambush you on the trapeze lines are blown off as well, their grip evidently not strong enough to keep them anchored within the immediate vicinity of a miniature twister. As your attack gyres downward, blowing out many of the surrounding candles as it goes, it unexpectedly picks up the still-descending metal beds in its path on the way. The resulting flying detritus crushes more than a few familiars before the tornado even touches down — and when it finally does, everything that couldn't manage to move in time is sent flying in all directions. Nurses and mice go soaring through the air at random angles before crashing into whatever happens to be in their way, many of them simply dying on impact.
...wow. Maybe you should've just led with this.
The tornado dissipates in short order, but it's already done all it really needed to. Scattered both by and to the four winds, what remains of the horde of familiars seems to have largely lost track of its collective goal. Some of those still left on the bridge network start running, fleeing from the scene of the unnatural disaster-
*THOCK THOCK THOCK*
-only for a volley of swords thrown at speeds faster than most cars to cut most of them down before they can get too far. Oh good, Sayaka's back in action.
You take a moment to make some new shatterwords before checking the magical girl's perspective. Judging from her restored stereoscopic vision, it seems she did indeed manage to fix her eye. Honestly, you almost expected her to refuse on principle, but thankfully it seems she isn't quite that petty.
As Sayaka forms another bundle of swords beneath her cape and grabs one up to throw, you remember something that might be helpful and decide to relay it to her.
<Hey Sayaka, try pointing that at the familiars and flipping the switch on the hilt?>
Sayaka stumbles, briefly looking up at you and grimacing, but does as you suggested and points her sword at another absconding cluster of Pyotr before thumbing the indicated switch down.
The blade immediately flies out of its handle and spears directly into the center mass of the fleeing mice, where it proceeds to explode into a rather pretty cerulean display — if admittedly somewhat less pretty than it could be, what with the torn and bleeding familiars thrown from the blast in the process. Sayaka jumps almost two feet in the air, then proceeds to crane her neck back up to glare at you.
"Maybe a little warning next time?!"
<What, for the telepathy? Sorry, but I'm not exactly sure how to give a warning for that without->
"No, warn me when something's going to EXPLODE!"
<...oh, right. My bad.>
You kind of thought she'd be less surprised, given she used that exact same attack on you earlier, but perhaps she never realized exactly what caused that.
Between Sayaka's exploding swords and your renewed shatterword assault, the remaining familiars are cleared out before long, either dead or having managed to evacuate the premises. You look around at the various scattered corpses left behind, wondering if you should... er, indulge yourself. You're at least slightly injured and semi-low on magic due to that pointless illusion gambit, so you suppose it would make sense to do so... plus, you kind of feel like you have a right to some spoils of war after going through all that.
Yeah, you're gonna do it.
You descend into the cake pit, where the vast majority of the bodies ultimately ended up, and summon the now-familiar vortex into Novella before turning the book outwards. In an inversion of the tornado you summoned a few minutes ago, everything begins being sucked towards you, the lifeless familiars dissolving into formless streams of color that Novella silently absorbs as you float around the area. By the time you're finished, your minor wounds have healed and your magic feels almost fully replenished, though you still don't grow at all — apparently familiars simply lack whatever it is that causes that.
Floating back up to the bridge above, you idly wonder if you could have simplified all this by just subsuming the familiars when they first started charging at you. Though, you're not sure if that would have actually worked, as something tells you they needed to be... injured, first? No, that's not it. Weakened? The proper term doesn't really seem to be coming to mind...
You ponder it for a moment more before shrugging to yourself. Well, you'll test that later. Right now, you want to see if the witch's profile has any new information. This time you'll try to keep ALL of it in mind, rather than just the parts you happen to find most interesting.
You flip Novella open to the page you want, and find that it has indeed changed. There's a lot more filled out now, and even a picture, albeit an incomplete and still very indistinct one that looks like someone made a detailed sketch, only to erase half the lines afterwards. From what you can tell, part of the witch looks like a small figure with a sort of coat-like shape behind it, while the rest looks like a winding stream of either polka dots or bubbles. Weirdly, the two parts don't actually seem connected to each other in any fashion. Perhaps it's an illustration of some sort of weapon or attack, or the witch has disconnected body parts? Can't really rule anything out yet.
The sound of footfalls heading in your direction prompts you to look up from the entry. Sayaka is stalking across the bridge towards you, her mouth set in a hard line.
"So, here to eat the witch and its familiars the same way you ate me, huh?"
...oh, right, that subsequent conversation you couldn't imagine going well before. And most certainly can't now, for obvious reasons.
<I'm mostly here because I was concerned for you, actually.> you explain, already resigned to this ending poorly. <You were being rather... reckless, earlier.>
Sayaka briefly shudders for some reason, then resumes her defiant stance.
"I wasn't being reckless! Everything was going fine!"
<You were beating familiars into the floor while screaming loud enough to wake the dead.> you point out. <Not to mention you got your eye stabbed out trying to take on too many enemies at once.>
"It wasn't like it was my choice to fight in the middle of all of them like that! And I'd have made it out on my own even if you hadn't shown up!"
<Maybe you would have, but I was here, so there was no reason for me not to help.>
"How about because I said I didn't want your help?!" Sayaka shoots back. "You keep trying to convince me you care about me for some reason, but that went right out the window the moment you decided it was convenient, didn't it?!"
Yeah, this is going about as well as you thought it would.
<Sayaka, whether you believe it or not, I do actually care about you.> you reply. <I may not really know you, but I'd still rather you didn't end up dead.>
"Yeah, so you can keep me around as your walking, talking human puppet."
<Oh for- Sayaka, this entire endeavor was carried out with you in mind!> you protest. <We are in this barrier for YOUR sake!>
"How was any of this for me?!" Sayaka yells. "I didn't ask to be here! I didn't ask you to do this! In fact, the only thing I DID ask you to do, you totally ignored!"
...
You... don't actually have a retort for that. She's right — this isn't anything she actually asked for, or even necessarily needed. It was just your best guess at something that might help her feel a little better. Granted, Sayaka probably wouldn't have responded even if you had asked her what she thought would help instead, but you should have at least tried.
<...you're right.> you admit. <I'm sorry. I just... I thought it might help if I found another witch for you to defeat so you'd stop feeling so bad about yourself. I wasn't trying to force you to do something you didn't want to, I was just...>
You trail off, not sure what else to say.
There's a long, protracted silence that lingers in the air for altogether far too long. At some point, Sayaka breaks it by looking down and slowly trailing her hand down the left side of her face, followed by a strangely abrupt heel-turn as she starts walking away from you.
<Where are you going?> you can't help but ask.
"To find the witch." Sayaka says, not breaking her stride. "I'm already here, so I might as well see this through to the end."
Oh. Well, that's... good that she at least wants to continue, you suppose.
<...guess I'll just go then.> you sigh, turning in the opposite direction.
"What, you're not gonna follow me?" Sayaka asks without turning around. "You're already in here, at this point you might as well just tag along. At least then I won't have to worry about you stalking me from behind the nearest corner."
You slowly rotate back around.
The tone made it sound like it was said in jest, but... could this possibly be an olive branch? It doesn't seem likely, given the way your conversation just ended, but...
<If you're actually okay with that...> you tentatively reply, drifting slightly closer.
Sayaka shudders again before stopping and looking back over her shoulder at you. "You know what? I've changed my mind; having words shoved directly into my head by your weird silent telepathy is way creepier than when you were imitating me. Go back to that."
Unable to tilt a head you don't have, you lean slightly to the side in an attempt to express the same sentiment.
<Wait, you're saying you want me to use your voice after all?>
Sayaka looks away. "I don't want you talking to me to begin with, but at least if you sound like me, I might be able to pretend my brain is just being annoyingly loud. So yeah, sure, let's go with that."
Without another word, she resumes walking. You fail to follow after for a moment, feeling slightly blindsided.
...huh. You... think you may have actually made some progress with her, somehow? You're not exactly sure how that happened given the way things were going a minute ago, but you'll accept it without question if it means Sayaka might eventually stop treating you like the enemy.
You quietly trail after the magical girl, not wanting to risk breaking the fragile peace between the two of you by talking. You use the time instead to look around and observe the far less haunting section of the barrier you've now found yourself in, free to do so at your leisure now that all the familiars are gone.
...hmm. Now that you really look at this place, it doesn't seem like all this should be able to fit within the cavern you saw outside. Sure, it was expansive, but not THIS expansive; there's at least ten stories worth of space between the floor and the ceiling in here. You don't think you're underground though, you went up at least as many staircases as you went down earlier... you guess this place is just bigger on the inside then? Space did go kind of screwy earlier, and that is how barriers generally work anyways. You suppose you're just not used to them having a visible "exterior" to compare their interiors to.
You eventually come to a sort of cliff leading off the side of the bridge network. Sayaka's feet sink into the ground as she steps onto it, the surface soft and pillowy like marshmallow.
There's only one way forward from here — a tall, winding staircase leading out from the edge of the cliff, its floating steps covered in haphazard splashes of melted chocolate. Streamers of what appears to be jelly, each one decorated with strawberries along the top, hang suspended in the air from nothing at all. More towering candles and some very tall medical equipment frame each side of the stairs, like enormous stalagmites stretching up from the floor, while at the top lies a series of patterned rings, leading into a gargantuan black and white spiral that's... strikingly reminiscent of your subsumption vortex, actually. You're unsure it really has anything to do with you, but the resemblance is rather startling all the same.
<…looks like the way to the witch to me.> you say, cautiously breaking the silence.
Sayaka merely nods and starts marching up the stairs, planting her feet securely with each step so as not to slip on any of the chocolate puddles. You, not having to walk, simply float along behind her.
Nothing interrupts your ascent to the top of the staircase, allowing Sayaka to reach the spiral and walk into it with seemingly no hesitation at all. You do the same not long after, the portal more than large enough for even you to fit without issue. When you emerge on the other side, you find yourself...
...back in the tunnels?
You look around. Same cramped quarters, same barely-there lighting, same nigh-omnipresent bandages stretched over dark gray walls. Yeah, it's the tunnels alright.
Sayaka moves off to your left as the implication sinks in. Did.. did you actually just go in a giant freaking circle? Did you seriously go through all that; beat back an entire army of familiars, just to somehow loop back around to the exact same area you started in?!
That's... THAT'S-!
"What is that?"
Sayaka's question manages to distract you from the minor mental fit you were about to have, allowing you to retain some relative semblance of calm as she walks through another set of needle stanchions and up to an ornate metal gate set into the wall, framed by a couple of gigantic cupcakes and ten-foot-tall crossed forks. The bars are rooted into the rock itself, and have a bright red sign above them reading "In Surgery" that's somehow lit up from behind. You're too tall to easily see inside the cell without shoving yourself into Tome again, but Sayaka leans over and peers in on her own, and through her perspective, you can see that behind the iron grating lies...
...a grief seed?
You blink through Sayaka's eyes, which she either doesn't notice or doesn't comment on, too busy watching the pulsing glow of the seed behind the bars.
"Okay, so we found it. Do we just wait around for it to hatch now?" Sayaka asks aloud.
Honestly, you're not entirely sure. It seems that despite the barrier and familiars having already long-since formed, the witch herself... somehow... hasn't done the same yet? Is that normal? You've never actually encountered a situation like this before. Is this just how rehatching grief seeds work?
Uh...
[-] Take it...?
[-] Subsume it...?
[-] Wait here until it hatches...?
[-] Write in...?
You tilt yourself towards the ground, feeling the collection of selectively invisible lines that serve as your head shift into a fan-like configuration. As they begin to rotate, your magic swells at their center, feeling like an inflating balloon. Just as it seems as though it's about to pop, it bursts out of you as a brilliant polychromatic tornado.
One aimed straight down at the familiar-laden bridge below.
The Pyotr clinging to you are the first to be affected, the force of the winds at ground zero flinging at least half of them straight into the nearest wall. Many of those waiting to ambush you on the trapeze lines are blown off as well, their grip evidently not strong enough to keep them anchored within the immediate vicinity of a miniature twister. As your attack gyres downward, blowing out many of the surrounding candles as it goes, it unexpectedly picks up the still-descending metal beds in its path on the way. The resulting flying detritus crushes more than a few familiars before the tornado even touches down — and when it finally does, everything that couldn't manage to move in time is sent flying in all directions. Nurses and mice go soaring through the air at random angles before crashing into whatever happens to be in their way, many of them simply dying on impact.
...wow. Maybe you should've just led with this.
The tornado dissipates in short order, but it's already done all it really needed to. Scattered both by and to the four winds, what remains of the horde of familiars seems to have largely lost track of its collective goal. Some of those still left on the bridge network start running, fleeing from the scene of the unnatural disaster-
*THOCK THOCK THOCK*
-only for a volley of swords thrown at speeds faster than most cars to cut most of them down before they can get too far. Oh good, Sayaka's back in action.
You take a moment to make some new shatterwords before checking the magical girl's perspective. Judging from her restored stereoscopic vision, it seems she did indeed manage to fix her eye. Honestly, you almost expected her to refuse on principle, but thankfully it seems she isn't quite that petty.
As Sayaka forms another bundle of swords beneath her cape and grabs one up to throw, you remember something that might be helpful and decide to relay it to her.
<Hey Sayaka, try pointing that at the familiars and flipping the switch on the hilt?>
Sayaka stumbles, briefly looking up at you and grimacing, but does as you suggested and points her sword at another absconding cluster of Pyotr before thumbing the indicated switch down.
The blade immediately flies out of its handle and spears directly into the center mass of the fleeing mice, where it proceeds to explode into a rather pretty cerulean display — if admittedly somewhat less pretty than it could be, what with the torn and bleeding familiars thrown from the blast in the process. Sayaka jumps almost two feet in the air, then proceeds to crane her neck back up to glare at you.
"Maybe a little warning next time?!"
<What, for the telepathy? Sorry, but I'm not exactly sure how to give a warning for that without->
"No, warn me when something's going to EXPLODE!"
<...oh, right. My bad.>
You kind of thought she'd be less surprised, given she used that exact same attack on you earlier, but perhaps she never realized exactly what caused that.
Between Sayaka's exploding swords and your renewed shatterword assault, the remaining familiars are cleared out before long, either dead or having managed to evacuate the premises. You look around at the various scattered corpses left behind, wondering if you should... er, indulge yourself. You're at least slightly injured and semi-low on magic due to that pointless illusion gambit, so you suppose it would make sense to do so... plus, you kind of feel like you have a right to some spoils of war after going through all that.
Yeah, you're gonna do it.
You descend into the cake pit, where the vast majority of the bodies ultimately ended up, and summon the now-familiar vortex into Novella before turning the book outwards. In an inversion of the tornado you summoned a few minutes ago, everything begins being sucked towards you, the lifeless familiars dissolving into formless streams of color that Novella silently absorbs as you float around the area. By the time you're finished, your minor wounds have healed and your magic feels almost fully replenished, though you still don't grow at all — apparently familiars simply lack whatever it is that causes that.
Floating back up to the bridge above, you idly wonder if you could have simplified all this by just subsuming the familiars when they first started charging at you. Though, you're not sure if that would have actually worked, as something tells you they needed to be... injured, first? No, that's not it. Weakened? The proper term doesn't really seem to be coming to mind...
You ponder it for a moment more before shrugging to yourself. Well, you'll test that later. Right now, you want to see if the witch's profile has any new information. This time you'll try to keep ALL of it in mind, rather than just the parts you happen to find most interesting.
You flip Novella open to the page you want, and find that it has indeed changed. There's a lot more filled out now, and even a picture, albeit an incomplete and still very indistinct one that looks like someone made a detailed sketch, only to erase half the lines afterwards. From what you can tell, part of the witch looks like a small figure with a sort of coat-like shape behind it, while the rest looks like a winding stream of either polka dots or bubbles. Weirdly, the two parts don't actually seem connected to each other in any fashion. Perhaps it's an illustration of some sort of weapon or attack, or the witch has disconnected body parts? Can't really rule anything out yet.
The sound of footfalls heading in your direction prompts you to look up from the entry. Sayaka is stalking across the bridge towards you, her mouth set in a hard line.
"So, here to eat the witch and its familiars the same way you ate me, huh?"
...oh, right, that subsequent conversation you couldn't imagine going well before. And most certainly can't now, for obvious reasons.
<I'm mostly here because I was concerned for you, actually.> you explain, already resigned to this ending poorly. <You were being rather... reckless, earlier.>
Sayaka briefly shudders for some reason, then resumes her defiant stance.
"I wasn't being reckless! Everything was going fine!"
<You were beating familiars into the floor while screaming loud enough to wake the dead.> you point out. <Not to mention you got your eye stabbed out trying to take on too many enemies at once.>
"It wasn't like it was my choice to fight in the middle of all of them like that! And I'd have made it out on my own even if you hadn't shown up!"
<Maybe you would have, but I was here, so there was no reason for me not to help.>
"How about because I said I didn't want your help?!" Sayaka shoots back. "You keep trying to convince me you care about me for some reason, but that went right out the window the moment you decided it was convenient, didn't it?!"
Yeah, this is going about as well as you thought it would.
<Sayaka, whether you believe it or not, I do actually care about you.> you reply. <I may not really know you, but I'd still rather you didn't end up dead.>
"Yeah, so you can keep me around as your walking, talking human puppet."
<Oh for- Sayaka, this entire endeavor was carried out with you in mind!> you protest. <We are in this barrier for YOUR sake!>
"How was any of this for me?!" Sayaka yells. "I didn't ask to be here! I didn't ask you to do this! In fact, the only thing I DID ask you to do, you totally ignored!"
...
You... don't actually have a retort for that. She's right — this isn't anything she actually asked for, or even necessarily needed. It was just your best guess at something that might help her feel a little better. Granted, Sayaka probably wouldn't have responded even if you had asked her what she thought would help instead, but you should have at least tried.
<...you're right.> you admit. <I'm sorry. I just... I thought it might help if I found another witch for you to defeat so you'd stop feeling so bad about yourself. I wasn't trying to force you to do something you didn't want to, I was just...>
You trail off, not sure what else to say.
There's a long, protracted silence that lingers in the air for altogether far too long. At some point, Sayaka breaks it by looking down and slowly trailing her hand down the left side of her face, followed by a strangely abrupt heel-turn as she starts walking away from you.
<Where are you going?> you can't help but ask.
"To find the witch." Sayaka says, not breaking her stride. "I'm already here, so I might as well see this through to the end."
Oh. Well, that's... good that she at least wants to continue, you suppose.
<...guess I'll just go then.> you sigh, turning in the opposite direction.
"What, you're not gonna follow me?" Sayaka asks without turning around. "You're already in here, at this point you might as well just tag along. At least then I won't have to worry about you stalking me from behind the nearest corner."
You slowly rotate back around.
The tone made it sound like it was said in jest, but... could this possibly be an olive branch? It doesn't seem likely, given the way your conversation just ended, but...
<If you're actually okay with that...> you tentatively reply, drifting slightly closer.
Sayaka shudders again before stopping and looking back over her shoulder at you. "You know what? I've changed my mind; having words shoved directly into my head by your weird silent telepathy is way creepier than when you were imitating me. Go back to that."
Unable to tilt a head you don't have, you lean slightly to the side in an attempt to express the same sentiment.
<Wait, you're saying you want me to use your voice after all?>
Sayaka looks away. "I don't want you talking to me to begin with, but at least if you sound like me, I might be able to pretend my brain is just being annoyingly loud. So yeah, sure, let's go with that."
Without another word, she resumes walking. You fail to follow after for a moment, feeling slightly blindsided.
...huh. You... think you may have actually made some progress with her, somehow? You're not exactly sure how that happened given the way things were going a minute ago, but you'll accept it without question if it means Sayaka might eventually stop treating you like the enemy.
You quietly trail after the magical girl, not wanting to risk breaking the fragile peace between the two of you by talking. You use the time instead to look around and observe the far less haunting section of the barrier you've now found yourself in, free to do so at your leisure now that all the familiars are gone.
...hmm. Now that you really look at this place, it doesn't seem like all this should be able to fit within the cavern you saw outside. Sure, it was expansive, but not THIS expansive; there's at least ten stories worth of space between the floor and the ceiling in here. You don't think you're underground though, you went up at least as many staircases as you went down earlier... you guess this place is just bigger on the inside then? Space did go kind of screwy earlier, and that is how barriers generally work anyways. You suppose you're just not used to them having a visible "exterior" to compare their interiors to.
You eventually come to a sort of cliff leading off the side of the bridge network. Sayaka's feet sink into the ground as she steps onto it, the surface soft and pillowy like marshmallow.
There's only one way forward from here — a tall, winding staircase leading out from the edge of the cliff, its floating steps covered in haphazard splashes of melted chocolate. Streamers of what appears to be jelly, each one decorated with strawberries along the top, hang suspended in the air from nothing at all. More towering candles and some very tall medical equipment frame each side of the stairs, like enormous stalagmites stretching up from the floor, while at the top lies a series of patterned rings, leading into a gargantuan black and white spiral that's... strikingly reminiscent of your subsumption vortex, actually. You're unsure it really has anything to do with you, but the resemblance is rather startling all the same.
<…looks like the way to the witch to me.> you say, cautiously breaking the silence.
Sayaka merely nods and starts marching up the stairs, planting her feet securely with each step so as not to slip on any of the chocolate puddles. You, not having to walk, simply float along behind her.
Nothing interrupts your ascent to the top of the staircase, allowing Sayaka to reach the spiral and walk into it with seemingly no hesitation at all. You do the same not long after, the portal more than large enough for even you to fit without issue. When you emerge on the other side, you find yourself...
...back in the tunnels?
You look around. Same cramped quarters, same barely-there lighting, same nigh-omnipresent bandages stretched over dark gray walls. Yeah, it's the tunnels alright.
Sayaka moves off to your left as the implication sinks in. Did.. did you actually just go in a giant freaking circle? Did you seriously go through all that; beat back an entire army of familiars, just to somehow loop back around to the exact same area you started in?!
That's... THAT'S-!
"What is that?"
Sayaka's question manages to distract you from the minor mental fit you were about to have, allowing you to retain some relative semblance of calm as she walks through another set of needle stanchions and up to an ornate metal gate set into the wall, framed by a couple of gigantic cupcakes and ten-foot-tall crossed forks. The bars are rooted into the rock itself, and have a bright red sign above them reading "In Surgery" that's somehow lit up from behind. You're too tall to easily see inside the cell without shoving yourself into Tome again, but Sayaka leans over and peers in on her own, and through her perspective, you can see that behind the iron grating lies...
...a grief seed?
You blink through Sayaka's eyes, which she either doesn't notice or doesn't comment on, too busy watching the pulsing glow of the seed behind the bars.
"Okay, so we found it. Do we just wait around for it to hatch now?" Sayaka asks aloud.
Honestly, you're not entirely sure. It seems that despite the barrier and familiars having already long-since formed, the witch herself... somehow... hasn't done the same yet? Is that normal? You've never actually encountered a situation like this before. Is this just how rehatching grief seeds work?
Uh...
[-] Take it...?
[-] Subsume it...?
[-] Wait here until it hatches...?
[-] Write in...?
Credit to @hillo315, I was wondering if anyone would remember/mention this little detail before it actually appeared.
Also, hey, look what day it is! No, not Walpurgisnacht, the anniversary of this fic's rewrite! I do wish we'd moved along a little further plot-wise by now, but the fact that I'm still going at all is a pretty impressive accomplishment for me, so I'm going to go ahead and celebrate all the same.
Also, hey, look what day it is! No, not Walpurgisnacht, the anniversary of this fic's rewrite! I do wish we'd moved along a little further plot-wise by now, but the fact that I'm still going at all is a pretty impressive accomplishment for me, so I'm going to go ahead and celebrate all the same.
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Witch Profile: Charlotte (Incomplete)
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
Witch: Charlotte
Type: Sweets Witch
Nature: ______
Description: _________________________________. Though she is capable of creating ____________ any dessert she desires, she is unable to make the cheese ____________, and her familiars are remarkably poor at obtaining it. One could easily _________________ a piece of cheese _________________________________________ all else.
Familiars:
-Pyotr, whose duty is to search for cheese. Because their faces are eyeless stamps, they cannot truly see, and operate almost entirely by smell. As such, one shouldn't expect much from it.
-Polina, whose duty is to nurse the cheese. Since the witch so seldom acquires cheese, it is rare that they can perform their purpose. They instead spend much of their time looking after the Pyotr, who commonly hurt themselves charging blindly through the labyrinth.
Labyrinth:
-Layer 1: A dimly lit cavern, its walls patterned with bandages and bones. Oversized candy clutters the halls, and medical instruments are embedded in nearly every available surface. Numerous stairways and doorways lead both backwards and forwards through the corridors, with no obvious rhyme or reason to where they lead.
-Layer 2: A seemingly endless hall _________________________________________________ A distant fog _________________________ ______________________________________
-Layer 3: A network of bridges with red, traditional railings, lit by the flames of monolithic birthday candles. Sweets hang down on silk-thin strings from the dark, banner-covered ceiling, while Pyotr teem below in massive strawberry shortcake pits. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
-Layer 4: ____________________________________________________________________
Magic:
-Eat Dessert First: Creates enormous confections and pastries ________________________
-__________________________________________________________________
-_____________________________________________________________________
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
Heh, did we accidentally disrupt her existence by eating such a huge portion of her 'energy' in masses of familiars?
Metroidwave
Strength To Lean On
- Location
- Somewhere in Colorado
An update this soon? Sweet. Glad to see the quality didn't suffer as a result.
banjo2E
Has left the planet
- Location
- Mafia Town
Are you really complaining about geometric impossibilities in a Labyrinth?
Also, she could duck.
- Location
- Madison, AL
[X] Take it...?
Think at it as you hold it, "I will get you cheese."
[X] Subsume it...?
Why not try? How often do we get a near-hatching grief seed to nom?
Why not try? How often do we get a near-hatching grief seed to nom?
[X] Subsume it...?
Reading this, it sounds suspiciously like Ashy is vomiting Magic at them.
Does that mean Ashy can wish for something?
It's funny that Ashy has to warn her about her own Magic.
We also have to remember this for the next Time something explodes.
So Ashy can feed on other Witches to recharge her Magic.
Given that the Familiars are made out of Grief, I wonder if Ashy could survive on just the Grief from Magical Girls she subsumed if she gets enough of them.
Destabilized maybe? They are made out of Grief and dissolve into Streams of Colors if they get subsumed.
It's a Spoiler! Charlottes first and her final Form!
Dealing with Ashys Telepathy seems hard.
Ashys egocentric Nature strikes again!
Can't she just form floating Question Marks?
More Hints about Nagisa's Backstory. Given the Sign, being a Grief Seed is probably just as bad as being a Witch.
We probably want to talk with Sayaka about whatever we do before we do it.
[X] Write in...?
-[X] Ask Sayaka if she actually wants to fight the Witch.
--[X] If Yes, just wait until she hatches. Maybe talk with Sayaka about some Witches you fought until then. Or show her the Witchs Entry in Novella?
--[X] If No, you could just subsume the Grief Seed. Or maybe experiment with it?
---[X] If you could just subsume the Grief inside, you could maybe clean it so that Magical Girls could use it to get rid of Grief without the Risk of the Witch coming back?
-[X] How did the Grief Seed end up here anyway?
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
[X] Write in...?
-[X] Ask Sayaka if she actually wants to fight the Witch.
--[X] If Yes, wait until she hatches. Maybe talk with Sayaka about some Witches you fought until then, or show her the Witch's Entry in Novella.
--[X] If No, subsume the Grief Seed. See if it works differently than with a beaten Witch.
-[X] Ask Sayaka if she actually wants to fight the Witch.
--[X] If Yes, wait until she hatches. Maybe talk with Sayaka about some Witches you fought until then, or show her the Witch's Entry in Novella.
--[X] If No, subsume the Grief Seed. See if it works differently than with a beaten Witch.
- Location
- Maybe?
[X] Write in...?
-[X] Ask Sayaka if she actually wants to fight the Witch.
--[X] If Yes, just wait until she hatches. Maybe talk with Sayaka about some Witches you fought until then. Or show her the Witchs Entry in Novella?
--[X] If No, you could just subsume the Grief Seed. Or maybe experiment with it?
---[X] If you could just subsume the Grief inside, you could maybe clean it so that Magical Girls could use it to get rid of Grief without the Risk of the Witch coming back?
-[X] How did the Grief Seed end up here anyway?
-[X] Ask Sayaka if she actually wants to fight the Witch.
--[X] If Yes, just wait until she hatches. Maybe talk with Sayaka about some Witches you fought until then. Or show her the Witchs Entry in Novella?
--[X] If No, you could just subsume the Grief Seed. Or maybe experiment with it?
---[X] If you could just subsume the Grief inside, you could maybe clean it so that Magical Girls could use it to get rid of Grief without the Risk of the Witch coming back?
-[X] How did the Grief Seed end up here anyway?
hillo315
Intact but Tactless
- Location
- Somewhere. Somewhere else.
How costly is Tearful Storm? Because it's very useful in combat. In fact, it deals more damage than Ashy's own attacks.
Yay, teamwork!
What Ashy is trying to say is that she needs to push their HP into the red and inflict status effects.
She knows how to use Sayaka's powers better than Sayaka does. :lol
I love that Ashy is actually helping out her teammate. This is the most helpful and least annoying thing she has ever done for Sayaka.
I was half-hoping she would instead offer help as a disconnected narrator, but that's cracky omake material.
Ashtaroth: <Before Sayaka wasted her swords, she remembered that she could do a cooler and more efficient version of this attack by launching the blade from the hilt as an exploding projectile. All she had to do was press the button on the hilt.>
Sayaka: "Alright, I get it! Stop giving me hints."
So Ashy uses Tearful Storm by inverting the vortex head thingie? It's literally just reversed polarity?
It means the witch is a lot more dangerous than she first appears, though this shouldn't be apparent until Ashy meets her. Fortunately, Ashy correctly guessed that it's an attack or physiological oddity of some sort.
Somewhere in the back of my mind was the nagging suspicion that this would eventually happen. At some point, Ashy would have to eat Charlotte, no matter what happens. Sayaka can have a good time killing witches for justice or whatever, but Ashy is the only one who can get some sort of tangible reward from it.
Besides, what is Ashy supposed to do with all these labyrinths in her barrier if she doesn't eat the witches? The witches may fight to defend and expand their territory, but they can't do that if they're eaten. Even if Sayaka kills the witches all by herself, they can't demanifest, and we don't know if they'll eventually revive if they're left alone for too long. With the implausible exception of a really nice witch who wouldn't cause Ashy any problems at all, subsumption is the only practical option.
Actually, it was. Sayaka could have run away and called for backup. Though a bit cowardly, it's definitely preferable to getting gored through the eye.
Sayaka does have a point here, but pointing it out doesn't really help in any way. She's just venting her frustration all over again.
I'm imagining Ashy raising a ribbon in protest, then slowly lowering it.
Woah! Just one honest line from Ashy about her intentions triggered some serious character development in Sayaka. Sayaka is now a lot more willing to trust Ashy despite the problems between them, because she knows that Ashy isn't trying to make her life miserable. This is really touching! Have a hug.
Okay, I did not see that coming.Well, it's magic. With enough magic, you can fuck with the multiverse at will. Magic, by definition, doesn't give a fuck about the laws of physics.
It's interesting that different labyrinths warp in different ways, though.
It could be a different area that looks the same as the previous tunnels. Or maybe this path appeared after Ashy's first pass through the tunnels.
But if these really are the same exact tunnels and this path is somehow only accessible from the cavern, this labyrinth is seriously mind-screwy.
Hard to say. It could be that too much grief was used up forming a detailed labyrinth and lots of familiars, requiring the witch herself to wait longer to hatch.
And to be fair, we don't know how long Ashy took to hatch, either.
Aw, thanks! Uh, which little detail was that, again?
Witches are significantly weaker outside of their own little worlds. If we're not going to subsume Charlotte immediately, let's at least take her outside.
Also, I still want to satisfy Sayaka with the experience and of defeating a witch, even if she can't do it completely alone.
[X] Write in...?
-[X] Ask Sayaka if she actually wants to fight the Witch.
--[X] If Yes, take the grief seed outside, then wait until she hatches. Maybe talk with Sayaka about some Witches you fought until then, or show her the Witch's Entry in Novella.
--[X] If No, subsume the Grief Seed. See if it works differently than with a beaten Witch.
Or sneezing. I will never look at Saar the same way again.
DISCLAMER: Charlotte does not take responsibility for any wishes granted through use of this product. Charlotte's Magical Birthday Candles™ does not grant additional magical powers. For best results, apply fuel to the wick. By using this product, you agree that all your cheese are belong to us. Do not throw souls at Charlotte's Magical Birthday Candles™. Keep out of reach of children.
Ashy's total reserves will always be finite. But by using magical girls enough, she should be able to recharge her magic just as fast as she spends it! She's a Perpetual Curse Witch!
Not a total spoiler. It's foreshadowing.
What, and waste magic?
Grief seeds don't do much by themselves, so it's safe to assume the witch is just sort of resting inside. However, it would make sense that soaking up grief is just as painful as it is for magical girls...
Ashy lacks the control she needs to experiment with souls, and I doubt that will ever change. When she tried messing around with Sayaka's soul, she subsumed it on impulse.
You mean at the hospital? I don't know how it ended up stuck in a wall, but I do know it all started with a cabbit...
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[X] Leave it up to Sayaka. She's feeling very much not in control right now, so giving her the opportunity to actually decide things might make her feel better.
- Location
- Elsewhere
<Also, my experience suggest something is about to explode.>
"What thing?"
<Smart money is on all the things.>
Or conversely, she can pretend the loud voices in her head are the witch and not her common sense!
Shadowhisker
Asylum Escapee
- Location
- Dawn of Fold Refugee Camp
- Pronouns
- She/Her
X] Write in...?
-[X] Ask Sayaka if she actually wants to fight the Witch.
--[X] If Yes, wait until she hatches. Maybe talk with Sayaka about some Witches you fought until then, or show her the Witch's Entry in Novella.
--[X] If No, subsume the Grief Seed. See if it works differently than with a beaten Witch.
-[X] Ask Sayaka if she actually wants to fight the Witch.
--[X] If Yes, wait until she hatches. Maybe talk with Sayaka about some Witches you fought until then, or show her the Witch's Entry in Novella.
--[X] If No, subsume the Grief Seed. See if it works differently than with a beaten Witch.
Powerofmind
In Madness Fallen
- Location
- United States
Sayaka's common sense is curled up in a ball and whimpering at her continual stupidity, it's not loud enough to be noticed.
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
I AM trying to speed up a little.
Unfortunately her birthday was yesterday, so it would be a little late.
In fairness, most magical girl powers don't seem to be particularly instinctual besides transforming and summoning a weapon. If they were easier to figure out, the survival rate would probably be higher for new contractees.
Certainly somewhat discomfiting at the very least. Depending on the person, it could be hard to tell it's even telepathy and not just one's own thoughts, assuming they're not too out of sync.
That's a lot of work for the equivalent of a half second gesture.
Hard to give an exact measurement here, but it's not the kind of attack you'd generally want to spam. The damage is more from the surrounding surfaces than the wind itself though, so the circumstances it's useful in vary a lot.
Well of course she does. She got the cheat sheet.
Annnnnd that gets you a funny.
So Ashy uses Tearful Storm by inverting the vortex head thingie? It's literally just reversed polarity?
Nah, not literally. The two abilities originate from different places after all.
As mentioned above, having words/concepts/etc psychically whispered into your head probably feels pretty creepy.
Aw, thanks! Uh, which little detail was that, again?
The fact that grief seeds do NOT immediately form the witches themselves upon hatching, taking an indeterminate amount of time even after the barrier and familiars form to fully emerge. It's a detail most people tend to overlook/forget about due to the reveal of magical girls becoming witches themselves later on, but it's an important one here, as the end of this update wouldn't really make much sense otherwise.
It would be amusing if there were multiple wish-granting entities in the PMMM world, especially if it was witches since Kyubey would have ended up creating his own competition. Like, he ends up having to barter with his targets and make a better deal than the witch of birthdays, or the witch of desires or what have you, in order to snag the contract. Though considering how good he is at making things sound good by way of tactful omission and subtle word choice while never actually lying, he'd likely end up dominating the market anyways.
(Where's that picture of Kyubey with the glasses and business suit?)
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
Reminder we're still checking for witches that might sane enough to hold a conversation with. If Sayaka isn't in the mood to indulge this venture fine, but we should point that out.
[X] Tell Sayaka we're checking for other witches like us. Not witch and magic girl absorbing things, but can talk and think and don't attack on sight. We want to wait for the seed to hatch and see how rational she is.
-[X] If she's okay with waiting, find something to do while waiting. Maybe show Sayaka she page in novella and practice her abilities?
-[X] If she doesn't want to risk it right now, subsume the seed. We don't have another way of disarming the thing. Maybe Kyubey could get rid of it, but we're pretty sure everyone present is on team 'Fuck Kyubey'. Then do same as above, unless Sayaka has a better idea.
For the record, I still say this way the best thing that could be done, even if Sayaka disagrees. She's a doer, mopping around would've had this whole thing drag out way longer then would be reasonable and she'd still be upset by the time we checked in with Hitomi.
[X] Tell Sayaka we're checking for other witches like us. Not witch and magic girl absorbing things, but can talk and think and don't attack on sight. We want to wait for the seed to hatch and see how rational she is.
-[X] If she's okay with waiting, find something to do while waiting. Maybe show Sayaka she page in novella and practice her abilities?
-[X] If she doesn't want to risk it right now, subsume the seed. We don't have another way of disarming the thing. Maybe Kyubey could get rid of it, but we're pretty sure everyone present is on team 'Fuck Kyubey'. Then do same as above, unless Sayaka has a better idea.
It's more then that. Note how Sayaka was touching the side of her face that was down one eye a bit ago? Ash told her she had healing magic and then went to buy time while she figured out how it worked. Combine that with Ash admitting she screwed up with the witch hunting business has gotten her to realize that Ash really is trying to help her for the sake of helping her. She's not faking it and she's not using her. She's just really, really bad at helping. And now she's even letting Ash use her voice for thoughtspeech. She's turning tsundere on us!
For the record, I still say this way the best thing that could be done, even if Sayaka disagrees. She's a doer, mopping around would've had this whole thing drag out way longer then would be reasonable and she'd still be upset by the time we checked in with Hitomi.