Tempestuous
Words are wind, so I write.
- Location
- CA
This is a better summary of my point than my actual point, so I have to stop and give you credit for that.
Subsumption (PMMM Faux-Quest) (Witch MC)
You know, we're 23 chapters in and I still can't tell where exactly the story is going. Or, I don't know if that's the right way to put it. It reminds me more of a web serial format or maybe a comic book as opposed to a novel where there's a central conflict recognized and you know when it's resolved the book is going to be over even if the adventures of the characters might continue.
(pulls hair) I'm probably still not saying this right.
So far it's been essentially about Ashtaroth learning more about her new life and trying to deal with things as they come. But I don't quite know what will mark the end of Subsumption, or at least the end of "Book 1". My best guess would be when she's accepted by those around her to some extent and has a place in the world? But perhaps I'm radically underestimating things, and the story will morph from a struggle for acceptance into something fundamentally changing the nature of the system. Or maybe it's more about Ashtaroth triumphing over her own witch nature, lurking in the background as the secret final boss?
Anyway, I feel like the resolution to this fight is going to resolve some of the uncertainty one way or another and maybe give a greater sense of where all this is going.
(pulls hair) I'm probably still not saying this right.
So far it's been essentially about Ashtaroth learning more about her new life and trying to deal with things as they come. But I don't quite know what will mark the end of Subsumption, or at least the end of "Book 1". My best guess would be when she's accepted by those around her to some extent and has a place in the world? But perhaps I'm radically underestimating things, and the story will morph from a struggle for acceptance into something fundamentally changing the nature of the system. Or maybe it's more about Ashtaroth triumphing over her own witch nature, lurking in the background as the secret final boss?
Anyway, I feel like the resolution to this fight is going to resolve some of the uncertainty one way or another and maybe give a greater sense of where all this is going.
Crusader Jerome
Subsisting on Supplication
- Location
- My home away from Rome
[-] Tell her to distract Mami...by litchbomb
[-] ...while you pretend to surrender.
If things get really desperate, Sayaka could directly attack Mami or Tira--she can heal pretty much any damage she gives them as long as they don't lose their Soul Gems or witch out.
[-] ...while you pretend to surrender.
If things get really desperate, Sayaka could directly attack Mami or Tira--she can heal pretty much any damage she gives them as long as they don't lose their Soul Gems or witch out.
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- Location
- Somewhere up the tree
As for strong and weak magical girls
Its actually been stated, word of god. That homura is the weakest magical girl in the main series
She simply has the lowest potential. Not that you'd know that by looking at her current state
Its actually been stated, word of god. That homura is the weakest magical girl in the main series
She simply has the lowest potential. Not that you'd know that by looking at her current state
Appletank
Acquire Cheese
There's stuff you can divine through context. Homura has basically zero magical abilities outside of her wish. Anything she has to get done, she has to use via mundane means. Guns, hand-making (or stealing) explosives, etc. Mami on the other hand seems to be able to do goddamn anything she puts her mind to, though that's partially because her wish magic is basically nothing. Madoka produces a divide by zero error.
Kalibrius
God of reflection
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
So Ashtaroth was socially inept before witching
Good yet a little sad to note and me thinks this ties into her unmashtart being little better than background prop either with her subconsciously viewing herself as such or viewing everyone not herself little better
Good yet a little sad to note and me thinks this ties into her unmashtart being little better than background prop either with her subconsciously viewing herself as such or viewing everyone not herself little better
hillo315
Intact but Tactless
- Location
- Somewhere. Somewhere else.
Speaking of which, everyone just abandoned Madoka and Hitomi. This would be a good time for Kyubey to pop out of nowhere and urge Madoka to contract to save her friends or whatever, especially if Homura isn't watching. Hitomi is smart, but she might be too timid and panicked to stop Madoka alone.
It doesn't need to be surprising, though? The conversation was emotionally taxing, so it must have had a negative effect. Chances are it even stopped her from fighting at peak performance and curb-stomping Ashy all by herself.
It's not just Kamihama; Mitama accidentally ruins pretty much everything she handles. This is played for comedy, no exceptions. (Remember that time when Mitama gave away those special candles?)
Also, Mitama enhances magical girls by deliberately using her power wrong, but her Magia and Connect suggest that her power is too inherently destructive to give benefits without additional sacrifices or drawbacks. (Incidentally, this neatly explains why Awakening a magical girl resets her to level one.)
Also, Mitama enhances magical girls by deliberately using her power wrong, but her Magia and Connect suggest that her power is too inherently destructive to give benefits without additional sacrifices or drawbacks. (Incidentally, this neatly explains why Awakening a magical girl resets her to level one.)
Witches technically don't need to be cursed, as shown in Rebellion, but they will only naturally manifest when magical girls... evolve into something else (which is always because of mood swings and character development, lol). Case in point, Homura and Sayaka both get to keep their witch powers.
Witches also have natures, but that's more personality than true instinct.
Neat! How true is the current character to the original SI?Heh... funny bit of trivia, Ashtaroth actually DID start out as an SI - sort of, at least. I originally made her as a sort of PMMM witch-sona for myself (as one does), but then I kept having ideas for how she would collide with the PMMM world at large. So, I ended up reworking her a bit, wrote down a whole bunch of the ideas I'd had in a big document, and then Subsumption happened. And here we are.
I'm in despair! My unquenched thirst for knowledge has left me in despair!
Why must you tantalize us like this?
Both tracks are fitting, but neither are perfect.
...I'll leave it at that until I have more time to seriously think about which I like more.
Don't adjust it too much, lest you throw all subtlety out the window in favor of meticulously explaining everything.
Mami's character development is a double-edged sword, true. It's easy to trigger, but hard to wield effectively. Getting herself eaten can prevent Mami from going full Tetris, but it's still a colossal problem.
In that case, Kyubey might not see any problem with appearing once Mami is out of the picture, because her whims are meaningless if she's dead. It would be different if Hitomi made the request, probably.
I'm hoping Homura never appears in person, just so that Ashy can surprise her at the very end by showing up out of nowhere, nomming Walpurgisnacht, and achieving her final form.
The lichbomb was all but delivered and summarily ignored. The witchbomb could be a lot more effective, though...
Only in terms of raw power.
Really? Going back a month in time sounds overpowered enough to require lots of potential. Also, her looping built up her potential afterward, which should come into effect when she witches.
So basically, a certain amount of potential is dedicated to granting the actual wish and stuff, and whatever's left is free room for growth or whatever. And even if the wish does something weird to the magical girl's capabilities, everything can still work out somehow.
Not as socially inept as she is now, though. Getting used to being a witch is making it even harder for her to hooman and meguca. Seriously, she didn't realize that "Why don't we solve my communication problem with my nifty psychic suicide weapon?" is a bad idea, and that wouldn't have been a problem for her as a magical girl.
Not to mention that she doesn't even know what kind of mental link witch kisses even give. It might be a form of telepathy, but it is more likely akin to that small insidious voice in the back of your mind that tells you how much of a loser you are. And that's terrible.
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Confrontation 24: Devour
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
> Tell her to free you from the ribbons, while you throw your shatterwords at Tira.
<-cut me loose! Quick!>
Sayaka doesn't respond, but a pair of swords appears in her hands. She rears back to throw them, but just then Tira finishes her lance, her peacock quickly approaching, so you launch your shatterwords at Tira while Sayaka releases her swords —
Tira's mount swoops low to evade as Mami forms another massive cannon —
Something long, black, and red suddenly springs out of the nearby grass —
Sayaka's swords impact, shredding through the ribbons restraining you —
Tira twists as the black and red thing lunges towards her, eyes widening —
You throw yourself to the right as Mami's cannon fires —
There's a loud, extremely audible crunch —
A shell the size of a wrecking ball goes sailing past you, smashing into and through a distant skyroad instead —
Sayaka screams as Tira's lance falls out of the air along with a severed arm and leg —
And the unknown entity crashes to the ground, flattening the grass beneath it. You whirl around, reeling from Tira's abrupt and rather brutal demise, and find yourself looking at what appears to be some sort of humongous, sharp-toothed worm thing. In contrast to its incredibly savage entrance, the creature is almost cartoonish in appearance, with a clown-like face and a multitude of colorful red polka dots covering its- wait, is that Charlotte?!
Your mind flashes back to the sketch-like outline that Novella provided you of the other witch. If you assume the "bubbles" in the image were the polka dots lining her side, and the weird cloud thing above them was the outline of her head… this has to be her; it fits too well not to be. But how did she- WHEN did she-
"Narumi... san?"
You spin back towards Mami, who seems no less shocked than you are. Her expression is outright thunderstruck; her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide as dinner plates as she stares at the spot Tira was just snatched out of the air. Slowly, her gaze pans to Charlotte, who pokes her tongue out of her mouth and licks some of the spattered paint and blood off her face, smiling goofily all the while.
Mami's face twists with simultaneous fury and anguish.
"TIRA!!!"
The magical girl's heartwrenching cry is accompanied by another enormous cannon forming in the air directly in front of her. You flinch away, but this one isn't aimed at you — it's aimed at the witch who just ambushed and killed her friend.
Jumping into the air with her cannon gun in tow, Mami rears back and immediately pulls the trigger. What comes out of the weapon this time isn't a shell, but a colossal laser, somehow emerging from a barrel less than half its actual width. It strikes Charlotte squarely through the middle, all but tearing the other witch in two, and for a moment you think that's the end of it… until a second Charlotte bursts out of the first one's dying mouth, looking completely undamaged. What the-?!
The new Charlotte dives back into the grass, worming her way into the undergrowth and attempting to vanish from sight. Mami refuses to let up however, her cannon fire unerringly tracking the witch through the overgrown foliage, searing away huge swathes of it as the force of her magic unconditionally devastates everything in its path. Scrambling away from the line of fire, you back up to the skyroad that Sayaka is still perched on, her expression very much like Mami's was a few seconds ago as she watches the proceedings in stunned disbelief.
Mami manages to steer Charlotte into a nearby clearing, completely removing the witch from cover, and blasts her through her midsection again. This only causes the witch to pull the exact same trick as before, another Charlotte emerging from the mouth of the previous one like a living Matryoshka doll. You find yourself wondering just how many bodies she even has as Charlotte number three quickly slithers up a nearby skyroad, briefly using it as cover from Mami's cannon before lunging towards the girl from above-
Dozens of ribbons spontaneously manifest from nothing, wrapping themselves around Charlotte while simultaneously tying themselves to the road she just leapt off of. The witch is suddenly yanked backwards, her momentum completely arrested as she's left swinging in the air like an oversized piñata. Charlotte strains, wriggling furiously against her deceptively tough bindings, but remains well and truly immobilized long enough for Mami to land from her extended jump, redirect her cannon, and this time fire it directly into the witch's mouth.
The brilliance of the resulting energy beam is enough to actually force Sayaka to look away from it. You instinctively look away too, before remembering that you no longer have eyes to damage and look back, just as the light begins to die away anyways.
...Charlotte has been utterly obliterated. What little remains of the witch is a mostly-charred husk, still swinging above the ground from a small cluster of somehow undestroyed ribbons. The vast majority of her head is missing, including everything below a small portion of the upper jaw, while the bottom half of her body is simply gone, by all appearances having been literally vaporized by Mami's supremely powerful magic.
What… even is this girl…
Looking strangely even more upset than before she did that, Mami dismisses both her cannon and her ribbons one after the other. Released from their bonds, Charlotte's remnants begin to fall to the ground, the witch looking to truly be dead for good this time.
…until the corpse's single still-intact eye bulges, and yet another fresh version of Charlotte explodes out of it like a jack-in-the-box, winding through the air with shocking speed to come face to face with Mami before the magical girl can even react. Mami's eyes widen as Charlotte grins wider, bloodstained teeth opening like a colossal bear trap-
And then the witch's neck is cut clean through by a sword the size of a car, Sayaka having finally broken out of her stupefied trance and decided to jump directly into the middle of things. Charlotte's severed head goes flying off into the grass from the force of the strike, though with the way things have been going you doubt that'll put her down for long. Meanwhile, as if in dismayed acceptance of the sweets witch's seeming immortality, Mami falls to her knees, looking utterly defeated despite having taken almost no actual damage thus far.
"Mami-san!" Sayaka cries, panic written large across her face as she drops her giant sword and runs over to the other girl's kneeling form.
Trembling, Mami slowly raises her head to look up at Sayaka. Tears are streaming from her eyes without restraint.
"I… I'm sorry…"
"This isn't your fault!" Sayaka says frantically, hands on the other girl's shoulders. "You don't need to be sorry!"
"I couldn't… protect you…"
You hear the distinct crack of breaking glass. Sayaka's gaze snaps up to Mami's flower-shaped hairpin, a jagged line running through the surface of the almost fully black gem at its center. Oh no, don't tell you she's about to-
"I couldn't… protect… anyone…"
"No, please, DON'T-!"
Sayaka doesn't even get to finish her sentence before Mami's soul gem erupts. The explosion of force created in the wake of her grief breaking free of its confines literally blasts Sayaka a good 30 or 40 feet backwards, sending her flying across the newly grassless ground in a wild, uncontrolled tumble. She rolls to a halt and scrambles back to her feet, eyes wide as she stares into the whirlwind of darkness that's formed around her friend's collapsed body.
"MAMI-SAN!!!" Sayaka shrieks as the now empty metal frame of Mami's soul gem rises into the air, twisting in on itself and reshaping into that of a grief seed. About half of the free-floating corruption begins to pour back into it as it does, while the remainder drapes itself around the seed like a shroud before streaming into the air and carrying it off towards the center of the barrier. You turn just in time to see the haze of black crash into Saar's section and all but carve it in twain, barren trees suddenly shunting themselves to the side in favor of smaller, greener ones that start growing out of the ground in perfect lines. Massive tea platters fade into existence, miniature rainbows forming to connect them, while a dark red liquid begins seeping up from below. The sky above the area shifts to an unsettlingly bleached-looking white, and a profusion of identical black clouds scatters throughout it before the shifting stops, your barrier quickly settling into its new state of being.
…perfect. Just perfect. You suppose that certainly ends the fight, but now what the hell are you supposed to do?!
Sayaka sprints back to Mami's corpse and begins desperately searching it for signs of life, while you're distracted by a swarm of small whirring things suddenly whizzing past on all sides of you. You almost move to defend yourself, before realizing that the things are actually Faas — roughly three dozen of them, in fact. Stretched between their fingertips are the same rough basins of interlaced vines you saw them using before, each one filled to the brim with purple liquid that can only have come from Saar's canals. Huh? What kind of visual non-sequitur…?
Without prompting, the familiars fly over to the edges of the clearing Mami's attack created, where a few small fires are still burning in the grass. Weaving around some of Tira's leftover attack birds, which are flying around in aimless circles with their master no longer present to direct them, the Faas begin pouring the contents of their makeshift containers on the flames- oh, so that's what they're doing. You suppose you're glad someone else is handling that, because somehow the fact that your barrier is currently on fire is one of the least of your worries at the-
…wait a second.
You look again. Tira's birds are still around? How? Magic worked by a magical girl usually immediately dispels itself when they die; you've seen that happen before, and you're almost certain that's how-
— you only saw an arm and a leg —
It's at this moment that Charlotte reemerges from the grass near Sayaka, having evidently brought herself back from death once again. Sayaka reacts to the witch's reappearance by immediately grabbing her discarded giant sword back up and placing herself in front of Mami's now-soulless body, swinging her weapon wildly in Charlotte's direction.
"GET BACK!" Sayaka screams furiously. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"
<Sayaka, stop!> you say, rushing over.
"STOP?!" Sayaka shrieks, not taking her eyes off Charlotte as the witch looms over her. "This thing BIT OFF that Tira girl's limbs, ATE her, and got Mami-san turned into a-!"
<That thing is Charlotte, and I think Narumi-san might still be alive!> you interrupt. <Help me!>
Before either Sayaka or Charlotte can react, you move around behind the latter and wrap your ribbons around her middle, holding her in as tight a grip as you can manage. The other witch twists her neck around and gives you an almost affronted look before immediately attempting to escape, the force behind her movements easily enough to forcibly tug you along with her. To counter this, you simply drop to the ground, crashing down and letting the full weight of Tome stop Charlotte in her tracks.
<Quick, grab her tail!> you mentally yell to Sayaka, trying to keep your captive from squirming away.
Sayaka just stands there, stupefied.
<NOW, Sayaka!>
Sayaka jolts, then runs forward and grabs hold of Charlotte's tail. Charlotte begins lashing her back end around wildly in response, nearly sending Sayaka flying into the air again until the magical girl manages to form a sword and shove it into the ground, planting her feet against it and digging her heels in to keep herself anchored.
<Good, now just hold her still!>
You have no idea if this will work, given that Charlotte just died and "rebirthed" herself like four separate times, but you have to try!
You begin squeezing Charlotte from the bottom up, her body simultaneously firm yet malleable in a way that kind of reminds you of a piping bag. Charlotte begins thrashing even more in you and Sayaka's combined grasp, clearly not enjoying your less-than-tender ministrations as you wring her body like a wet towel. Come on-!
You thrust backwards, once, twice, thrice. Wring, thrust, wring, thrust, wring-
Charlotte opens her mouth to give a guttural, wet-sounding hack, and a bloody pile of rags and flesh only barely recognizable as Tira is expelled from between the witch's teeth. The magical girl's limp body plummets to the ground, landing with a loud *thump* and an extremely strained cry of pain. She is still alive!
Sayaka immediately lets go of Charlotte and runs over to where Tira just fell. You don't do the same however, uncertain that the other witch won't try to attack you once you let go — you just forced her to regurgitate her recent meal after all, and you can't imagine she's terribly thrilled about that. Surprisingly however, Charlotte's struggles seem to have virtually stopped. Was the process just that traumatic for her, or-
*hisssssssssssss*
With a noise akin to a punctured tire, Charlotte's body abruptly begins collapsing in on itself. Startled, you let go of her, and the other witch drops limply to the ground, her form rapidly smoothing and flattening out as if having somehow sprung a leak. Before you can even question it, a small lump becomes apparent beneath the swiftly emptying skin, which slowly starts making its way towards what remains of the witch's head. A few seconds later, Charlotte — the tiny, doll-like version from yesterday — stumbles out of the still-grinning mouth of her other form, looking somewhat dazed.
The diminished witch stares up at you again for a moment, a rather quizzical expression on her now much cuter face, then wanders off into a portion of the grass that the Faas just managed to extinguish. You don't try to stop her, unsure of exactly how to handle her right now. You can't say part of you isn't grateful that she basically saved you, but she also just… gah, you'll figure out what to do about her later!
You spin around and float to where Tira is now lying on the ground. Sayaka has already started trying to heal her, but you're not really sure how much good it's going to do: Tira's breathing is shallow and shuddering, and while her eyes are open, they're completely unfocused, staring up sightlessly into your barrier's sky. A sickly scent pervades the air around her, an unpleasant combination of sugar and iron, and the remnants of her right arm and leg are hard to even look at, jagged ends of bone sticking out freely where Charlotte chomped through the limbs. The magical girl's outfit hasn't come out of the experience any better, torn in various places and soaked through with her own blood, along with not a small amount of paint. Her tiny top hat is completely gone, probably still in Charlotte's stomach, exposing the alice band beneath, as well as the...
...as well as the swirl-shaped, orange-gold gem set into its fabric, which is rapidly being crept over by blackness even as you look at it. Oh hell no; you are not letting a SECOND new witch result from this catastrophe if you have any say in the matter whatsoever!
You plunge Novella down towards Tira even as the vortex is still forming on its pages. Sayaka falls backwards with a surprised yelp as you scoop the bloodied girl into your book, slamming it shut a moment later. The growth starts immediately as you slip into the increasingly familiar exultant trance, the branches and height you lost upon releasing Sayaka returning as your various wounds vanish like they never were. Excellent…
When you come out of your reverie, Sayaka is already objecting.
"Why did you do that?!" she cries. "I was healing her!"
<Healing wasn't going to be enough.> you reply. <Her soul gem was about to reach its limit; given another few seconds she'd have turned into a witch, and I really don't think we need another one of those in this barrier right now.>
"So you sucked her into yourself instead?!"
<Yes, I did, because this way there's no fight, and she stays both human and sane. Even you have to admit this was the preferable option here.>
Sayaka sputters, unable to deny it but unwilling to admit it. "At least let her back out then!"
<What, so we can deal with her freaking out alongside you?> you ask irritably.
"I'm NOT FREAKING OUT!" Sayaka screams, doing just about everything she can to make you believe otherwise. "I just- Mami-san turned into a witch, and Charlotte was a monster worm, and I- and YOU-!"
Sayaka grasps for words and fails to find them, gritting her teeth and looking down at the ground.
"You… weren't lying about where witches come from..." she whispers.
Well you're glad she's finally figured that out and all, but under the current circumstances you have rather more pressing issues to address. You're happy you're alive, but you doubt Madoka and Hitomi are going to be thrilled their friend/acquaintance just turned into a monster, no matter how understanding the latter has been thus far. Similarly, you doubt they'll be particularly pleased that you've put the girl who followed Mami inside in the exact same position as Sayaka, seeing as how it rather effectively undermines a lot of the things you claimed earlier. There are also now two other witches inhabiting your barrier, one of which pretty much directly caused the creation of the other (and whose cohabitation rights may need to be reexamined in light of recent events), complicating things even further. You honestly wonder if this could get any worse-
A portal tears open on the side of your barrier, and a moment later there's a dark-haired girl you've never seen inside, not seeming to have even stepped through it to enter. Oh what the hell, who is THIS now?!
Assuming this can't be anything good, you immediately begin pouring more shatterwords forth from Novella. Before you can do anything else however, the girl spots you towering over your surroundings, disappears, then instantly reappears a scant 20 feet away from you and Sayaka. You don't get the chance to be shocked that she just teleported, as a glance at her proper suddenly sends your senses reeling — the girl is weak, the pull only half as much as it was with Sayaka, yet she's also strong, massively strong, enough to dwarf your own power by several orders of magnitude. Something is affixed to her, a great many somethings in fact; you can't see them but you can feel them, binding her even as they strengthen her, bettering her even as they chain her; her magic, her power, it's... it's...
...overwhelming...
[-] ATTACK AND SUBSUME.
[-] Run! Run NOW!!!
<-cut me loose! Quick!>
Sayaka doesn't respond, but a pair of swords appears in her hands. She rears back to throw them, but just then Tira finishes her lance, her peacock quickly approaching, so you launch your shatterwords at Tira while Sayaka releases her swords —
Tira's mount swoops low to evade as Mami forms another massive cannon —
Something long, black, and red suddenly springs out of the nearby grass —
Sayaka's swords impact, shredding through the ribbons restraining you —
Tira twists as the black and red thing lunges towards her, eyes widening —
You throw yourself to the right as Mami's cannon fires —
There's a loud, extremely audible crunch —
A shell the size of a wrecking ball goes sailing past you, smashing into and through a distant skyroad instead —
Sayaka screams as Tira's lance falls out of the air along with a severed arm and leg —
And the unknown entity crashes to the ground, flattening the grass beneath it. You whirl around, reeling from Tira's abrupt and rather brutal demise, and find yourself looking at what appears to be some sort of humongous, sharp-toothed worm thing. In contrast to its incredibly savage entrance, the creature is almost cartoonish in appearance, with a clown-like face and a multitude of colorful red polka dots covering its- wait, is that Charlotte?!
Your mind flashes back to the sketch-like outline that Novella provided you of the other witch. If you assume the "bubbles" in the image were the polka dots lining her side, and the weird cloud thing above them was the outline of her head… this has to be her; it fits too well not to be. But how did she- WHEN did she-
"Narumi... san?"
You spin back towards Mami, who seems no less shocked than you are. Her expression is outright thunderstruck; her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide as dinner plates as she stares at the spot Tira was just snatched out of the air. Slowly, her gaze pans to Charlotte, who pokes her tongue out of her mouth and licks some of the spattered paint and blood off her face, smiling goofily all the while.
Mami's face twists with simultaneous fury and anguish.
"TIRA!!!"
The magical girl's heartwrenching cry is accompanied by another enormous cannon forming in the air directly in front of her. You flinch away, but this one isn't aimed at you — it's aimed at the witch who just ambushed and killed her friend.
Jumping into the air with her cannon gun in tow, Mami rears back and immediately pulls the trigger. What comes out of the weapon this time isn't a shell, but a colossal laser, somehow emerging from a barrel less than half its actual width. It strikes Charlotte squarely through the middle, all but tearing the other witch in two, and for a moment you think that's the end of it… until a second Charlotte bursts out of the first one's dying mouth, looking completely undamaged. What the-?!
The new Charlotte dives back into the grass, worming her way into the undergrowth and attempting to vanish from sight. Mami refuses to let up however, her cannon fire unerringly tracking the witch through the overgrown foliage, searing away huge swathes of it as the force of her magic unconditionally devastates everything in its path. Scrambling away from the line of fire, you back up to the skyroad that Sayaka is still perched on, her expression very much like Mami's was a few seconds ago as she watches the proceedings in stunned disbelief.
Mami manages to steer Charlotte into a nearby clearing, completely removing the witch from cover, and blasts her through her midsection again. This only causes the witch to pull the exact same trick as before, another Charlotte emerging from the mouth of the previous one like a living Matryoshka doll. You find yourself wondering just how many bodies she even has as Charlotte number three quickly slithers up a nearby skyroad, briefly using it as cover from Mami's cannon before lunging towards the girl from above-
Dozens of ribbons spontaneously manifest from nothing, wrapping themselves around Charlotte while simultaneously tying themselves to the road she just leapt off of. The witch is suddenly yanked backwards, her momentum completely arrested as she's left swinging in the air like an oversized piñata. Charlotte strains, wriggling furiously against her deceptively tough bindings, but remains well and truly immobilized long enough for Mami to land from her extended jump, redirect her cannon, and this time fire it directly into the witch's mouth.
The brilliance of the resulting energy beam is enough to actually force Sayaka to look away from it. You instinctively look away too, before remembering that you no longer have eyes to damage and look back, just as the light begins to die away anyways.
...Charlotte has been utterly obliterated. What little remains of the witch is a mostly-charred husk, still swinging above the ground from a small cluster of somehow undestroyed ribbons. The vast majority of her head is missing, including everything below a small portion of the upper jaw, while the bottom half of her body is simply gone, by all appearances having been literally vaporized by Mami's supremely powerful magic.
What… even is this girl…
Looking strangely even more upset than before she did that, Mami dismisses both her cannon and her ribbons one after the other. Released from their bonds, Charlotte's remnants begin to fall to the ground, the witch looking to truly be dead for good this time.
…until the corpse's single still-intact eye bulges, and yet another fresh version of Charlotte explodes out of it like a jack-in-the-box, winding through the air with shocking speed to come face to face with Mami before the magical girl can even react. Mami's eyes widen as Charlotte grins wider, bloodstained teeth opening like a colossal bear trap-
And then the witch's neck is cut clean through by a sword the size of a car, Sayaka having finally broken out of her stupefied trance and decided to jump directly into the middle of things. Charlotte's severed head goes flying off into the grass from the force of the strike, though with the way things have been going you doubt that'll put her down for long. Meanwhile, as if in dismayed acceptance of the sweets witch's seeming immortality, Mami falls to her knees, looking utterly defeated despite having taken almost no actual damage thus far.
"Mami-san!" Sayaka cries, panic written large across her face as she drops her giant sword and runs over to the other girl's kneeling form.
Trembling, Mami slowly raises her head to look up at Sayaka. Tears are streaming from her eyes without restraint.
"I… I'm sorry…"
"This isn't your fault!" Sayaka says frantically, hands on the other girl's shoulders. "You don't need to be sorry!"
"I couldn't… protect you…"
You hear the distinct crack of breaking glass. Sayaka's gaze snaps up to Mami's flower-shaped hairpin, a jagged line running through the surface of the almost fully black gem at its center. Oh no, don't tell you she's about to-
"I couldn't… protect… anyone…"
"No, please, DON'T-!"
Sayaka doesn't even get to finish her sentence before Mami's soul gem erupts. The explosion of force created in the wake of her grief breaking free of its confines literally blasts Sayaka a good 30 or 40 feet backwards, sending her flying across the newly grassless ground in a wild, uncontrolled tumble. She rolls to a halt and scrambles back to her feet, eyes wide as she stares into the whirlwind of darkness that's formed around her friend's collapsed body.
"MAMI-SAN!!!" Sayaka shrieks as the now empty metal frame of Mami's soul gem rises into the air, twisting in on itself and reshaping into that of a grief seed. About half of the free-floating corruption begins to pour back into it as it does, while the remainder drapes itself around the seed like a shroud before streaming into the air and carrying it off towards the center of the barrier. You turn just in time to see the haze of black crash into Saar's section and all but carve it in twain, barren trees suddenly shunting themselves to the side in favor of smaller, greener ones that start growing out of the ground in perfect lines. Massive tea platters fade into existence, miniature rainbows forming to connect them, while a dark red liquid begins seeping up from below. The sky above the area shifts to an unsettlingly bleached-looking white, and a profusion of identical black clouds scatters throughout it before the shifting stops, your barrier quickly settling into its new state of being.
…perfect. Just perfect. You suppose that certainly ends the fight, but now what the hell are you supposed to do?!
Sayaka sprints back to Mami's corpse and begins desperately searching it for signs of life, while you're distracted by a swarm of small whirring things suddenly whizzing past on all sides of you. You almost move to defend yourself, before realizing that the things are actually Faas — roughly three dozen of them, in fact. Stretched between their fingertips are the same rough basins of interlaced vines you saw them using before, each one filled to the brim with purple liquid that can only have come from Saar's canals. Huh? What kind of visual non-sequitur…?
Without prompting, the familiars fly over to the edges of the clearing Mami's attack created, where a few small fires are still burning in the grass. Weaving around some of Tira's leftover attack birds, which are flying around in aimless circles with their master no longer present to direct them, the Faas begin pouring the contents of their makeshift containers on the flames- oh, so that's what they're doing. You suppose you're glad someone else is handling that, because somehow the fact that your barrier is currently on fire is one of the least of your worries at the-
…wait a second.
You look again. Tira's birds are still around? How? Magic worked by a magical girl usually immediately dispels itself when they die; you've seen that happen before, and you're almost certain that's how-
— you only saw an arm and a leg —
It's at this moment that Charlotte reemerges from the grass near Sayaka, having evidently brought herself back from death once again. Sayaka reacts to the witch's reappearance by immediately grabbing her discarded giant sword back up and placing herself in front of Mami's now-soulless body, swinging her weapon wildly in Charlotte's direction.
"GET BACK!" Sayaka screams furiously. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"
<Sayaka, stop!> you say, rushing over.
"STOP?!" Sayaka shrieks, not taking her eyes off Charlotte as the witch looms over her. "This thing BIT OFF that Tira girl's limbs, ATE her, and got Mami-san turned into a-!"
<That thing is Charlotte, and I think Narumi-san might still be alive!> you interrupt. <Help me!>
Before either Sayaka or Charlotte can react, you move around behind the latter and wrap your ribbons around her middle, holding her in as tight a grip as you can manage. The other witch twists her neck around and gives you an almost affronted look before immediately attempting to escape, the force behind her movements easily enough to forcibly tug you along with her. To counter this, you simply drop to the ground, crashing down and letting the full weight of Tome stop Charlotte in her tracks.
<Quick, grab her tail!> you mentally yell to Sayaka, trying to keep your captive from squirming away.
Sayaka just stands there, stupefied.
<NOW, Sayaka!>
Sayaka jolts, then runs forward and grabs hold of Charlotte's tail. Charlotte begins lashing her back end around wildly in response, nearly sending Sayaka flying into the air again until the magical girl manages to form a sword and shove it into the ground, planting her feet against it and digging her heels in to keep herself anchored.
<Good, now just hold her still!>
You have no idea if this will work, given that Charlotte just died and "rebirthed" herself like four separate times, but you have to try!
You begin squeezing Charlotte from the bottom up, her body simultaneously firm yet malleable in a way that kind of reminds you of a piping bag. Charlotte begins thrashing even more in you and Sayaka's combined grasp, clearly not enjoying your less-than-tender ministrations as you wring her body like a wet towel. Come on-!
You thrust backwards, once, twice, thrice. Wring, thrust, wring, thrust, wring-
Charlotte opens her mouth to give a guttural, wet-sounding hack, and a bloody pile of rags and flesh only barely recognizable as Tira is expelled from between the witch's teeth. The magical girl's limp body plummets to the ground, landing with a loud *thump* and an extremely strained cry of pain. She is still alive!
Sayaka immediately lets go of Charlotte and runs over to where Tira just fell. You don't do the same however, uncertain that the other witch won't try to attack you once you let go — you just forced her to regurgitate her recent meal after all, and you can't imagine she's terribly thrilled about that. Surprisingly however, Charlotte's struggles seem to have virtually stopped. Was the process just that traumatic for her, or-
*hisssssssssssss*
With a noise akin to a punctured tire, Charlotte's body abruptly begins collapsing in on itself. Startled, you let go of her, and the other witch drops limply to the ground, her form rapidly smoothing and flattening out as if having somehow sprung a leak. Before you can even question it, a small lump becomes apparent beneath the swiftly emptying skin, which slowly starts making its way towards what remains of the witch's head. A few seconds later, Charlotte — the tiny, doll-like version from yesterday — stumbles out of the still-grinning mouth of her other form, looking somewhat dazed.
The diminished witch stares up at you again for a moment, a rather quizzical expression on her now much cuter face, then wanders off into a portion of the grass that the Faas just managed to extinguish. You don't try to stop her, unsure of exactly how to handle her right now. You can't say part of you isn't grateful that she basically saved you, but she also just… gah, you'll figure out what to do about her later!
You spin around and float to where Tira is now lying on the ground. Sayaka has already started trying to heal her, but you're not really sure how much good it's going to do: Tira's breathing is shallow and shuddering, and while her eyes are open, they're completely unfocused, staring up sightlessly into your barrier's sky. A sickly scent pervades the air around her, an unpleasant combination of sugar and iron, and the remnants of her right arm and leg are hard to even look at, jagged ends of bone sticking out freely where Charlotte chomped through the limbs. The magical girl's outfit hasn't come out of the experience any better, torn in various places and soaked through with her own blood, along with not a small amount of paint. Her tiny top hat is completely gone, probably still in Charlotte's stomach, exposing the alice band beneath, as well as the...
...as well as the swirl-shaped, orange-gold gem set into its fabric, which is rapidly being crept over by blackness even as you look at it. Oh hell no; you are not letting a SECOND new witch result from this catastrophe if you have any say in the matter whatsoever!
You plunge Novella down towards Tira even as the vortex is still forming on its pages. Sayaka falls backwards with a surprised yelp as you scoop the bloodied girl into your book, slamming it shut a moment later. The growth starts immediately as you slip into the increasingly familiar exultant trance, the branches and height you lost upon releasing Sayaka returning as your various wounds vanish like they never were. Excellent…
When you come out of your reverie, Sayaka is already objecting.
"Why did you do that?!" she cries. "I was healing her!"
<Healing wasn't going to be enough.> you reply. <Her soul gem was about to reach its limit; given another few seconds she'd have turned into a witch, and I really don't think we need another one of those in this barrier right now.>
"So you sucked her into yourself instead?!"
<Yes, I did, because this way there's no fight, and she stays both human and sane. Even you have to admit this was the preferable option here.>
Sayaka sputters, unable to deny it but unwilling to admit it. "At least let her back out then!"
<What, so we can deal with her freaking out alongside you?> you ask irritably.
"I'm NOT FREAKING OUT!" Sayaka screams, doing just about everything she can to make you believe otherwise. "I just- Mami-san turned into a witch, and Charlotte was a monster worm, and I- and YOU-!"
Sayaka grasps for words and fails to find them, gritting her teeth and looking down at the ground.
"You… weren't lying about where witches come from..." she whispers.
Well you're glad she's finally figured that out and all, but under the current circumstances you have rather more pressing issues to address. You're happy you're alive, but you doubt Madoka and Hitomi are going to be thrilled their friend/acquaintance just turned into a monster, no matter how understanding the latter has been thus far. Similarly, you doubt they'll be particularly pleased that you've put the girl who followed Mami inside in the exact same position as Sayaka, seeing as how it rather effectively undermines a lot of the things you claimed earlier. There are also now two other witches inhabiting your barrier, one of which pretty much directly caused the creation of the other (and whose cohabitation rights may need to be reexamined in light of recent events), complicating things even further. You honestly wonder if this could get any worse-
A portal tears open on the side of your barrier, and a moment later there's a dark-haired girl you've never seen inside, not seeming to have even stepped through it to enter. Oh what the hell, who is THIS now?!
Assuming this can't be anything good, you immediately begin pouring more shatterwords forth from Novella. Before you can do anything else however, the girl spots you towering over your surroundings, disappears, then instantly reappears a scant 20 feet away from you and Sayaka. You don't get the chance to be shocked that she just teleported, as a glance at her proper suddenly sends your senses reeling — the girl is weak, the pull only half as much as it was with Sayaka, yet she's also strong, massively strong, enough to dwarf your own power by several orders of magnitude. Something is affixed to her, a great many somethings in fact; you can't see them but you can feel them, binding her even as they strengthen her, bettering her even as they chain her; her magic, her power, it's... it's...
...overwhelming...
[-] ATTACK AND SUBSUME.
[-] Run! Run NOW!!!
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Puella Magi Profile: Tira Narumi
Flairina
Least Omnipotent Goddess
- Location
- The next infinity over
Puella Magi: Tira Narumi
Wish: "I wish to be able to create art on par with that of the great masters."
Soul Gem: Amber swirl attached to her alice band, hidden beneath the miniature top hat.
Description: A fifteen year old girl whose time as a puella magi has ground most of her pride away. Though formerly somewhat conceited, repeated near-death battles have grown her caution in tandem with her anxiety, causing her to withdraw even from those she would have once looked down upon. Finding little solace in the result of her wish, she curses her past self for being so foolish as to believe that it would ever bring her happiness.
Weapon: Combination fountain pen and paintbrush. Low creation cost. A necessary conduit for most of the puella magi's abilities. Capable of utilizing any color of ink or paint, and has an unending supply of both.
Magic:
-Forgery: Uses her weapon to create three-dimensional facsimiles of other works of art. Properties and actions of such art will vary depending on the piece's nature.
-Ink Slinging: Spills a fountain of caustic ink from her weapon at variable levels of pressure.
-Peerless Edge: Transforms her weapon into a blade, capable of overcoming any other weapon it clashes against.
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Nuew
“Mankind, be vigilant. We loved you.”—Julius Fučík
- Location
- hiding in ∅
- Pronouns
- She/They
[x] Run! Run NOW!!!
Wait, I forgot writeins had to be explicitly permitted. My bad.
[x] DO NOT ATTACK HOMURA
- [x] IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM SHOULD YOU ATTACK HOMURA
- [x] ABSOLUTELY DO NOT ATTACK OR OTHERWISE HARM HOMURA
[x] Move your body as far away as possible from Homura
[x] Try to explain via Sayaka
[x] When practical, let Tira out
[x] Maybe consider subsuming witch!Mami ASAP. Best case scenario, some of her mind still exists!
Wait, I forgot writeins had to be explicitly permitted. My bad.
- [x] IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM SHOULD YOU ATTACK HOMURA
- [x] ABSOLUTELY DO NOT ATTACK OR OTHERWISE HARM HOMURA
[x] Move your body as far away as possible from Homura
[x] Try to explain via Sayaka
[x] When practical, let Tira out
[x] Maybe consider subsuming witch!Mami ASAP. Best case scenario, some of her mind still exists!
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Metroidwave
Strength To Lean On
- Location
- Somewhere in Colorado
Well this can only end in tears. I think it's pretty clear what the next thing happening is given the sheer size difference in 'votes'. Damn you, witchstincts.
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
The tone shift of the last few updates is pretty unpleasant, honestly. Not really enjoying the way things are going. Just constant bad decisions and escalation does not make for a fun story in my opinion.
You think it's tough here, I watched the original Madoka Magica as the episodes came out!
- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
Honestly this is how any attempt with diploing the Mami was ever going to turn out.
The moment a 'smart' witch was found out it only end in someone dying horribly.
The moment a 'smart' witch was found out it only end in someone dying horribly.
I got a "brilliant" idea...
We subsume Mami's Witch and Mami's body. That puts her back together again, right?
We subsume Mami's Witch and Mami's body. That puts her back together again, right?
Shadowhisker
Asylum Escapee
- Location
- Dawn of Fold Refugee Camp
- Pronouns
- She/Her
oh god madokami oh fuck
[X] Run! Run NOW!!!
[X] Run! Run NOW!!!
- Location
- St. Petersburg
The most pressing thought on my mind as I read the update was...
NOOOOOO! Not Charlotte!!
...I am glad she's doing better.
I don't know, the resolution felt pretty satisfying. From the moment Mami went on her night hunt and throughout our short yet eventful acquaintance she didn't give me a reason to think that we could co-exist in the same city. Given the power disparity this could only have ended in so many ways, although I expected a more canonical ending with us subsuming her in Tira's place after Charlotte was done with her. Two witches in the barrier certainly complicate matters, but on the bright side we got the city to ourselves... at least until the news get out.
Maybe we should pre-empt it and claim Mitakihara for our witch-girl team! Start patrolling the city, absorbing the witches and scaring off stray magical girls who'd think the turf is occupied. Then level the town in the final battle with Walpurgis, Godzilla vs Kong style.
NOOOOOO! Not Charlotte!!
...I am glad she's doing better.
We are NOT evicting her! She is a perfect line of defense and, most importantly, has the best cakes in Mitakihara!
I don't know, the resolution felt pretty satisfying. From the moment Mami went on her night hunt and throughout our short yet eventful acquaintance she didn't give me a reason to think that we could co-exist in the same city. Given the power disparity this could only have ended in so many ways, although I expected a more canonical ending with us subsuming her in Tira's place after Charlotte was done with her. Two witches in the barrier certainly complicate matters, but on the bright side we got the city to ourselves... at least until the news get out.
Maybe we should pre-empt it and claim Mitakihara for our witch-girl team! Start patrolling the city, absorbing the witches and scaring off stray magical girls who'd think the turf is occupied. Then level the town in the final battle with Walpurgis, Godzilla vs Kong style.
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Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
That went from zero to sixty in seconds. Like wow, I think I'm in shock. I appove mind, because oh boy the drama this is going to start is palpable. And the things they had to do to get Tira out of Charlotte, that is disgusting. And Mami's barrier spilt Saar's? I guess that kinda makes sense with themes, new growth overtaking the old.
I need a lot more time to process all this. Because Things Happened this update. Very, very interesting things, but it's a lot all at once. Oh, and Homura. That's just the piss icing on the shit cake. Damn.
[X] Run! Run NOW!!!
Well, on the bright side for Mami, Tira can't ever get away from her now.
I need a lot more time to process all this. Because Things Happened this update. Very, very interesting things, but it's a lot all at once. Oh, and Homura. That's just the piss icing on the shit cake. Damn.
[X] Run! Run NOW!!!
It... might? At best I think it'd be putting her insane witch in her human body, and I can't say if that would help or hurt anything.
Well, on the bright side for Mami, Tira can't ever get away from her now.
- Location
- UK
Well, at least nobody died...?
Looks like it's gonna be down to Sayaka doing some diplomacy with transfer student next update if there's any chance of deescalating.
Sayaka diplomancing Homura, ha, yeah we screwed.
Looks like it's gonna be down to Sayaka doing some diplomacy with transfer student next update if there's any chance of deescalating.
Sayaka diplomancing Homura, ha, yeah we screwed.
- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
[x] Run! Run NOW!!!
Yes abort.
Yes abort.
- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
Frank we wouldnt be able to, Homura has survived Wally a multiple number of times, short of instant killing her we are not really going to be able to do anything else to her.
Kalibrius
God of reflection
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
Well
At least Mami/candeloro is a benign witch at the very least, and very tiny actually
I don't know whether to hope she's like Ashtaroth or not because she is either blissfully insane or will be a sobbing and self destructive mess when we find her
PS is she tries to go back it will be the equivalent of squishing sediment together except instead of rocks it will be souls, it would be horrifying
At least Mami/candeloro is a benign witch at the very least, and very tiny actually
I don't know whether to hope she's like Ashtaroth or not because she is either blissfully insane or will be a sobbing and self destructive mess when we find her
PS is she tries to go back it will be the equivalent of squishing sediment together except instead of rocks it will be souls, it would be horrifying
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