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# Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

- Thread starter Firnagzen
- Start date May 19, 2014
- Tags
    bad decisions dating mami tomoe diabolical laughter friendship is the best ship handholding identity crises microwaving tea gets you put in the bad place names are important puella magi adfligo systema puella magi madoka magica the body is the fursona of the soul this is not the baked goods thread we don't talk about rionna what could possibly go wrong? who in the world is azure sanfrancisco?

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Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 29
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 15, 2014

- #3,628

You blink. That was not what you'd expected. "I... you deserve better. All of you do, Homura," you jerk your head to indicate Mami. "I know what you've been through, Homura, don't forget. I know what happened. And you, Homura..."
You smile at her. "You are kind of amazing, you know that? You did this, all of this, for Madoka. You've never given up, even after everything that's happened and everything you've learned. You made yourself better, and you keep going," you say, gesticulating to emphasize your point. "Homura, do you have any idea how few people would be able to do that? Pick themselves up and just... carry on?"
Homura looks taken aback. "I- For Madoka, it's worth it. Anything is." Her eyes are wide, and her expression is more unguarded than you've ever seen of her when she's awake.
"Perhaps so," you reply. "But the fact is that you do it. You keep going. And not just that. You still try to save the others. Mami, Sayaka, Kyouko... Oh, I'm sure you tell yourself that it's because Madoka cares about them. But after all's said and done? You still try! Perhaps you don't succeed. Perhaps you made mistakes. But you tried!" You pause to take a breath. "I care, Homura, because you deserve it. I know what you've been through."
"I- I..." she swallows heavily, and begins to loosen her hand on your shoulder. You've been expecting this, though, and lightning quick, you reach up and grab her hand clamping her hand down against your shoulder to prevent her from running away from this conversation.
You decide to take a chance. "And... You know what I think? I think that... no. I know if Madoka knew, she would be proud of you, Homura." Then you let go, and spread your arms wide, careful not to touch Mami. Take your shot, if I was out of line.
The time traveller squeezes her eyes shut, bowing her head slowly. Like this, she looks vulnerable, and you wonder: how long has it been since Homura's had positive contact with anyone not Madoka? Let alone anyone who understood what she'd gone through? How long has it been since someone cared about Homura as a person?
Has Homura ever been given the comfort that someone else supported her? That she wasn't simply madly charging at an unattainable goal, a modern day Sisyphus?
"Homura, you are one of, if not the strongest people I know." You carefully avoid the fact that, technically speaking, you know perhaps five people, seven if you include Oriko and Kirika. "But even the strongest people need help, sometimes, and that's no shame. Here's where your friends step in, Homura: I believe you can do it, and I want to help. I want everyone to make it through this, Homura, because you all deserve better." You hold out your hand to her with a smile, mindful of the short distance between the two of you- her arm is rather shorter than yours.
She hesitates, the hand not on your shoulder making a half aborted move. Then, seemingly steeling herself, she puts her hand in yours, and you close your hand around hers, clasping it firmly. Her hand is a bit cooler than yours is, you note as she releases your shoulder and steps back. "Thank you," she says quietly.
"I stand by what I said, Homura. You deserve it, every bit, and more," you reply. "So, are you sure you want to go on with the hunt alone? Be careful, if you do, and do remember to eat and rest."
"I," Homura flounders for a moment. "I'll do my bes- no. I will. May I have a cleanse, before I go?"
"That will do, then, and of course," you smile at her. You draw the corruption off her gem, leaving it sparkling, and then squeeze her hand again, to remind her of what you'd said. "Good luck."
You let g-
=====​
-o of her hand.
It is weird, being the subject of the time stop. It's like watching a movie which suddenly skipped a dozen frames- not even a flicker, but things change.
Homura's suddenly shifted to the side, and is holding on to your still outstretched hand.
"Hi, Homura," you say, after getting your bearings. "How goes the hunt?"
She shrugs minutely. "Searched around her school a bit more. Haven't found either of them." She doesn't specify who 'them' might be, nor does she need to. "Took another nap," she adds, an odd expression crossing her face - it takes you a moment to recognize it as self depreciation. It looks odd on her. "I... must admit I needed that."
"Good," you say firmly. "Cleanse?"
"If you would," Homura says, presenting her Soul Gem. You nod, and pull the filmy darkness away, once again leaving it the brilliant amethyst it should be, before collapsing the cloud of Grief into the familiar little spheres.
"Are you going to continue on?" you ask Homura.
"Yes, I think so," she replies. "Just one more run, I guess."
"Alright. Take care," you say. Her grip on your hand loosens, and-
=====​
"I found her. Her and Kirika."
"You what?" Somehow, you weren't expecting that. You shake your head, clearing off the initial fugue. Homura's actually looking pleased. "Is she dead?"
"I- no, not yet," Homura says. "I thought that you might like to come along?"
[] Go
- [] Bring Mami
- [] What do? (Write-in specifics)
[] "Just kill her." (Let Homura do it alone.)
[] Write-in
=====​
Well, well, well. The one roll that I rolled to decide where Homura would search, and she makes it with a 91 (on a d100). (Remember, I wasn't rolling for your search.)
One hundred sixty eight grief marbles, eight in your pocket.
Last edited: Jul 15, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 30
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 17, 2014

- #3,681

You nod. "Yes. I want to question her, first. Would you mind if we bring Mami?"
Homura hesitates. "She won't take well to the killing," she says. "And she doesn't know about our souls," she adds, raising her Soul Gem for emphasis.
"I... yeah. I know. But you know Mami... she'll take even less well to being left alone," you say with an unhappy grimace.
"It's your call," Homura says dubiously.
You frown. "Yes... I think it's for the best," you say firmly. As an afterthought, you ask, "Was Oriko doing anything strange? Anyone else around?"
Homura shakes her head, no. "No. Just Oriko and Kirika, hand in hand."
"Hmm. Well, let's bring in Mami, then," you say, and reach out a hand forthe blonde, still seated behind you, frozen.
When your hand touches her shoulder, colour blooms, her hair springing back to its proper golden colour.
"Good lu-" Mami breaks off, looking around in confusion and looking around. "Homura! Sabrina?"
"Homura's found Oriko," you explain. "We're going to go find her now."
"I... ah," Mami says, still looking mildly bewildered. "Um, right..." She looks around, and then presses her hands together, separating them with golden ribbon spooling between them. The ribbons animates itself, winding itself around all your waists.
Homura lets go of your hand, stepping backwards.
You squeeze Mami's shoulder once, and smile at her when she looks up at you. "Hopefully we can resolve this whole thing here and now, yeah?"
"I... yes. That would be nice," Mami says, returning a weak smile. "Um, good job, Homura."
Homura nods, half turning away while flipping her hair. You clap your hands over your eyes to avoid staring again, and when you lower your hand again, Homura is giving you a puzzled look. Motion out of the corner of your eye has you glancing at Mami, who's lifting one of her hair-drills and looking at it speculatively. Seeing you looking, she drops it, and smiles sheepishly at you.
"Shall we go?" the blonde suggests.
"Yeah, let's," you say. "Homura? Lead on."
The three of you leave by the window, Homura boosting up to the rooftop in a flash of purple light. Mami uses her ribbons to lift her to the roof, and then sends them down for you again.
"Anyway," you call as the three of you launch yourselves off the roof, "I think the first thing we need to do is to bind Oriko up with ribbons. Then we grab her Soul Gem?"
"That sounds like a good idea," Mami shouts back from just ahead of you. "Prevent her from using her magic."
Let's go with that, you think, landing and dropping into a shoulder roll. "Yeah. And the other thing is, we should try to separate her from Kirika, so that if she gets free, she can't bring Kirika in."
Mami's silent for a moment. "Probably for the best," she agrees at length.
Homura's been silent through all this, and you suspect that she just wants to kill Oriko and be done with it. Still... "I want to question Oriko. Find out why she thought 'all this was necessary'."
"Explain," Homura calls out as she lands and pushes off the roof again. Oh, right. You hadn't told her about the note, had you?
"That trap earlier? It had a note. 'This was, and remains, necessary.' I want to know what she meant," you reply.
"I see," Homura says evenly, tone saying otherwise. She'll probably go along with it, you think.
"In any case, I'm just thinking out loud," you offer, trying to mollify the time traveller. "We'll see how it looks when we get there, right?"
"Agreed."
The three of you are soon weaving through the rusting hulks of the industrial district. You sense the pair before they come into view- the dense forest of metal towers and factories limits line of sight, here.
You follow Homura as she leads you nearer to the river, and finally to a particularly tall tower - you think this is probably an old concrete mixing tower, a tall cylinder that tapers toba point below.
You land in a crouch behind Mami and Homura, who's pointing sideways and further away from the base of the tower. "There."
And there, indeed, they are. Oriko is holding Kirika's hand, fingers interlaced, and they're frozen mid leap in the air, aiming at a rusting gantry crane beside the river.
[] Carry out your plan
[] Ask for suggestions
[] Write-in
=====​
Homura can do an airstep; see the Walpurgis fights. Sabrina is arguably the least stylish of the trio.
Last edited: Jul 17, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 31
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 19, 2014

- #3,748

You look at the frozen tableau, thinking. You have an idea... but it doesn't quite appeal. "Any ideas?" you ask out loud. "Other than ribboning Oriko to pull her away from Kirika?"
Mami shakes her head, looking unhappy.
"Any contact with Oriko will bring Kirika into the loop," Homura notes.
"Yeah, that's a problem," you say. "We'll need to separate them quickly, before Kirika can pull anything."
Homura nods in agreement, and her eyes flick over to glance at Mami. She opens her mouth, before closing it again, seemingly thinking better of it, before resting her violet eyes on yours, with a slightly raised eyebrow.
You can agree with Homura's unspoken sentiment, and move over to Mami, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Mami, we'll get to the bottom of this and end this here, OK?"
The blonde sighs. "I hope so, Sabrina. But..." her eyes harden. "She threatened my home, my friends, and you, Sabrina. I... I'm ready for this."
You can tell she's saying that as much for herself as she is for you, psyching herself up for what may end with cold blooded murder. You give her an encouraging smile, and squeeze her on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's get this done," you say.
A metallic clacking noise, echoing in the timestop, brings you out of your reverie. Homura's now hefting with both hands a meter-plus long slab of steel you recognize as a Rheinmetall MG3 with a double drum magazine. "I'm ready," she says simply, racking a round into the chamber.
Mami nods resolutely, straightening. She spreads her hands, and a veritable forest of ribbons springs into existence, winding around the duo, but not yet making contact. She hesitates for a moment, and four of her signature muskets form, balancing impossibly on their muzzles on the bare metal of the concrete mixer tower you're standing on. "I'm ready, too," she says.
You raise your hand, and draw the corruption from their Soul Gems, pulling it into a cloud that you hold ready, halfway between you and the duo in midair. Following the others' lead, you summon one of your warhammers to your hand, holding it loosely at your side. "Ready," you say. "Mami? On three, grab and separate them?"
"OK," Mami replies.
"Three." You feel surprisingly calm, right now.
"Two." Hopefully you'll finally get some answers.
"One." And hopefully you really can end this.
Mami brings her right hand across in a single cutting gesture, and the all the ribbons move at once, like a single mass of striking snakes. Ribbons lash out, winding around Oriko's waist, hands, and feet, a crawling wave of yellow that spins itself into a cocoon around the seer's body.
Colour blooms across Oriko... and Kirika, across their joined hands. You can see the precog's eyes go wide from here, as Mami brings her hand back in another sharp gesture, and the ribbons bunch and haul backwards. Kirika's hands slip as her momentum carries her forward while Oriko is yanked backwards.
A scream from Oriko. "Kirika, no!"
Too little, too late.
You can feel the pulse emanating from Kirika with your other senses, a zone of deadness that screams wrong wrong wrong. You stagger to the side, planting your warhammer against the metal of the tower to stay standing with an enormous clang. Tears sting your eyes.
Mami's ribbons go limp, losing their animation.
Oriko seizes one of the ribbons as her bindings fall away.
Kirika's hand slips fully from Oriko's grasp, and the seer gasps in shock, hands flailing futilely as she tries to hang on.
The pulse from Kirika reaches the three of you. Mami winces as it hits her, but seems otherwise unaffected.
A shriek of clashing gears and flying sparks from Homura's shield.
Time restarts, colour spinning back into the world as Homura looks at her shield in shock. Even through the tears in your eyes, you can see some of the gears glowing red hot and the shield vibrating madly on her arm.
The pulse tears the control of the Grief cloud away from you, and the cloud dissipates.
With her momentum neither forward or backwards, Oriko plummets.
"Oriko!" you can hear Kirika shrieking. She slams into the side of the gantry crane feet first, before pushing off, directly downwards. You can feel the zone of deadness -antimagic- blossoming out from her again, a tidal wave of disruption slamming down on you.
A thundercrack of noise as Homura opens up with the MG3, directly downwards at white-clad seer. But with the shield juddering on her arm, her aim's off and she misses Oriko.
Mami sweeps her foot across, kicking her four muskets into the air, and, without hesitation, dives off the tower, following them down. She grabs one of her rifles out of mid air, aiming it at the white-clad seer.
Oriko lands on the tarmac with an ugly crunching noise, and even from up here, you can see that when she staggers to her feet, one of her arms is hanging limp, blood already beginning to stain the sleeve of her white dress crimson. Even with her hand set in a rictus of pain, she manages to gesture sharply up at Mami with her good hand, sending a swarm of spheres shooting up at the falling blonde.
Mami tries to twist out of the way, but something seems to go wrong, and some of the spheres hit her anyway. You can hear dull thuds as they slam into her body, and Mami lets out a choked scream. Her graceful fall turns into an uncontrolled tumble, but you can see her fighting to grab one of the rifles.
Kirika lands on her feet with a heavy cracking noise, shattering concrete underfoot, and begins to charge towards Oriko. Somewhere along the fall, she's manifested a set of ugly, jagged claws that are attached to the back of her hands, three a side.
It's barely been seconds since you'd counted off 'One.'
[] Write-in
=====​
I did not, by the way, make a mistake with Oriko being able to summon her spheres even in Kirika's anti-magic field.
Last edited: Jul 19, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 32
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 20, 2014

- #3,829

Fighting through the screaming sense of wrongness, you toss yourself over the edge, diving after Mami. No time to suffer, not when Mami needs you.
The antimagic dissipates as you fall like a thunderbolt, arms by your side in as streamlined a position as you can achieve, and you can feel another tidal wave of disruption gathering on Kirika's position. Without pause, you pull another hammer from the aether and spin in midair in stark defiance of the laws of physics. You whip your already existing hammer in a circle, and let it fly at Oriko, head first.
She's already sidestepping the hammer throw, but you can see her face contort in pain as the movement jolts her broken arm.
A pulse of magic below and to your left - Mami rights herself, regaining control of her graceless tumble. You can see that none of the spheres seem to have actually broken skin, but not more than that from this distance. She finally snatches a muskets out of midair and fires it at Oriko.
Oriko starts to shift aside, but it's already too late - the shot clips her side, sending a spray of blood splattering across the ground. She remains standing, though, and summons another swarm of spheres she fires at Mami. This time, the blonde manages to evade it, twisting adroitly in mid air with a burst of magic.
"Oriko!" Kirika screams.
The nauseating pulse of antimagic ripples out from Kirika, bearing down on you again, and you let out a scream - of rage, of fear, of defiance.
Mami lands clumsily on her feet, tarmac cracking underfoot, a short distance from Oriko. Without pause, she snatches another of her muskets before it even hits the ground, the others landing with clatters. Her movements are perhaps a little pained, a little less sure than they usually are - broken ribs? Mami levels the musket and fires, but one of Oriko's ivy-patterned spheres smashes into the musket, knocking it out of line.
A moment behind Mami, you also land on your feet, shattering the ground and sending chips of concrete flying. You take stock of the situation - Kirika, at a bounding sprint and seconds away, Oriko, broken arm, growing red stains both in her side and her sleeve.
Oriko's eyes widen. "Kirik-"
A thundercrack of noise above you, the buzzing chatter of a machine gun firing on full auto, and another scream as Kirika's forced to duck behind cover. Looking up, you can see Homura firing the MG3 one handed, braced against her shoulder and over a railing.
You take the moment to send your hand diving into your bag, and pull out a handful of marbles to toss at where Kirika had ducked behind a metal support beam.
"What was all this for?" you snarl as you round back on Oriko, trusting Homura to cover your back and keep Kirika suppressed. "How was this necessary?"
Mami snatches up her last two rifles, leveling one at the white clad seer, who freezes, panting and looking between the two of you.
"Ever since I met you, you've done nothing but antagonize us," you roar at her as you stalk closer, coat billowing out around you. As you pass the hammer you'd thrown earlier, still embedded head first into the ground, you snatch it up by the handle with your free hand. "You set their homes on fire, and you've brought pain, suffering, and maybe even death to dozens! How was any of that necessary?"
You stop, just out of reach of the seer. The wind gusts, setting your coat flapping out to the side. "Do you even realize what you're doing? What was the point of it all? No matter how I look at it, that's the actions of a villain, Oriko!"
"Watch ou-!" Mami.
You spin, just in time to see Kirika launch herself at you from behind the fallen beam. Homura's machine gun chatters out its deadly bursts with unerring accuracy.
Bright red arterial blood gouts again, splattering across the ground, but Kirika, eyes wide and manic, charges through the hail of gunfire, which ceases as she closes with you. She's been hit at least once in the torso and once in her leg, you notice, as you bring both your hammers up to meet her charge.
The gunfire shifts to Oriko as Kirika gets too close to you, but Oriko's already taking the momentary distraction to duck behind cover, pursued by Mami.
The pulsing, unnatural deadness fades, and you can feel Kirika gathering another one.
The Grief marbles scattered across the ground explode into motion, lurching into the air before lancing directly at Kirika's back like arrows loosed from a bow.
"Duck!" Oriko, again.
"No you don't," you snarl. You swing a heavy, overhand blow at the black-haired berseker, which she meets with a single blocking hand. One of the claws cracks under the power of your blow even as Kirika shifts under your blow, slicing at you with her claws.
Searing lines of fire sear themselves across you as she effortlessly shears through cloth and flesh alike, raking deep cuts across your lower ribs and abdomen. You snarl, spinning away from the deadly claws.
Your improvised Grief bullets bite home into her back, just as Kirika releases the antimagic pulse.
Kirika screams. Not all the marbles hit, and all but one not very deeply, but you can already see the blood staining the tails of her coat, dark red on black. The one grief marble that did make a clean hit, however, tears an exit wound through her torso, just under her ribs.
You stagger from the nauseating, greasy sensation of the antimagic rippling out, but manage to take advantage, bringing up your other hammer in an arcing blow.
An ugly, cracking noise as you connect with her knee, and her leg bends sideways in a way that legs really shouldn't. Kirika screams again, falling to the ground. She pushes off the ground with her three working limbs in a convulsive burst of motion, just in time to avoid your follow up swing.
"Kirika, we need t-" Oriko's frantic voice echoes out from somewhere you can't see, before she's interrupted by the distinctive single crack of Mami's muskets. Above, you can see Homura leaping for the next tower over, MG3 resting effortlessly against one shoulder.
When you look back again, Kirika's springing at you again. You swing a hammer up at her, only to hit air as she halts impossibly in midair and flings her hands at you, loosing both sets of claws at you like throwing knives. You dodge to the side, biting back a scream as one sinks into your meat of your thigh.
Not actually an issue, as you let the pain wash away, and you lunge, hammer coming up in a flashing arc.
Kirika's already dancing away, scrambling on three limbs. She skitters away, remarkably fast as you give chase.
A thundercrack of noise - Homura opening up again, out of sight.
Following Kirika, you round the corner, around the rusting hulk of some enormous machine, and see - Kirika, still scrambling away at top speed, chasing after the elusive white form of Oriko some distance away. Mami's leaning against a wall, panting and cradling a broken left arm. Around her are the spent forms of several muskets.
The anti-magic pulse fades, and you can again sense Kirika gathering another.
Oriko's getting away, juking and weaving to evade Homura's fire, Kirika similarly ducking shots, though Homura's mainly firing at the white-clad seer.
[] Write-in
=====​
This entire fight, such as it is, lasted maybe a minute or so. Meguca fights are fast.
Last edited: Jul 20, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 33
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 21, 2014

- #3,920

You're not letting them get away. Not here, when you're so close to ending this. You break into a sprint after the black-haired magical, who's loping over the ground at a fast, limping three legged gait, coiling and jacknifing with her entire body into long bounds that are more animalistic than anything, if animals could leap four meters into the air.
You, in turn, shift into a long, bounding gait that takes full advantage of your enhanced strength, pushing hard off the ground. You snatch up the marbles of Grief scattered across the ground with your magic, and fling them forward in a vicious hail that carves rents into metal and sends chips of concrete flying. Only a few hit her, though, and at that, only on her broken leg, getting a bubbling snarl from the girl.
You feel a pang at leaving Mami behind. "Mami! Are you OK?"
"S-she caught me in an ambush and broke my arm," Mami replies, her mental voice shaky. "I'll be OK. Are you?" You can see her tracking you as you sprint after Kirika.
"Yeah," you reply. "Just flesh wounds." And it's true, even - you've got a bladed claw in your leg, and some deep cuts across your stomach, and that's it. "I'm going after Kirika, she's rejoining Oriko."
"Be careful, Sabrina," Mami calls.
"Yeah. But this ends here," you reply as you put on another burst of speed, eyes fixed on the form of the black-haired magical girl, not that far ahead of you, but ducking behind a crumbling old wall. She's leaving behind a trail of blood as she moves, blood splattering across the ground every time she lands, every time she pushes off the ground.
You can sense the nauseating wave of antimagic building up again, and you tense in preparation. The pulse rolls out, and you barrel right through it, fighting the stinging pain it brings to your eyes. As your foot crashes to the ground, you coil your entire body, and launch yourself past Kirika as she touches against the ground with her three good limbs.
Her head snaps to you, and you can see her eyes go wide with shock as you pass her. And then you lash out with your hammer, slamming into the back of her elbow. Kirika's prepared for this, though, and moves fluidly with the blow, preventing you from breaking her elbow. You shift the hammer, hooking the head of the hammer behind her elbow and the haft of the hammer across her arm.
Off in the distance, you can hear Oriko scream again, and the rasp of the MG3 as Homura looses another streamer of bullets.
You grind one foot into the ground ahead of you and pivot about it, hauling the girl off her feet and whipping her bodily in a tight orbit around you. Her elbow, supporting her entire body weight, snaps with a sickening little crackle, and you slam her into the old brick wall.
She falls to the ground, dazed, and broken masonry showers down on her unmoving form.
The unnatural deadness of the antimagic field fades.
Kirika... doesn't seem to be building up for another, and you let out a sigh of relief. Just to be sure, though...
Dropping one of your warhammers, you dip your hand into your miraculously surviving bag of grief, still unscathed through all this battle. The strap came alarmingly close to being severed by Kirika, but other than a few bloodstains, it survived untouched. You pull a handful of marbles out, and press them together in your hands, letting the Grief flow like soft clay.
Holding the mass of Grief in one hand, just in case, you cautiously approach the fallen magical girl. She doesn't react, even when you pull both her arms behind her back and manacle them together with bands of Grief, loose enough to not cut into her flesh, but tight enough that she can't slide her hands free.
"Oriko down," comes Homura's telepathic voice. She sounds happy.
"Dead?" you ask urgently, icy premonition siezing you. Leaving Kirika behind -you'll be able to sense her doing anything, with the Grief manacle on her- you lope over to where Oriko and Homura are.
"Body killed," Homura replies, as you sense her leaping down from her perch.
Swerving around the corner, you take in the scene. Oriko's body, collapsed in a bloody pile on the ground. She's been virtually decapitated, and her left arm is simply gone below the shoulder. You spy the silvery blue gleam of her Soul Gem, still intact, but rapidly swirling into abyssal darkness.
Homura's approaching the fallen seer, MG3 held out cautiously, but when she hears your footfalls approaching, she looks up at you, and smiles at you. The smile is twitchy and uncertain, but if feels all the more genuine for its lack of polish. Her shield, on her arm, has stopped its violent shuddering, and the gears are still, if blackened.
You can sense the last moving magical presence in your zone -Mami-, moving laboriously towards you and Homura.
[] Write-in
=====​
You let Homura go after Oriko by herself. And, well, Homu gonna Homu.
Last edited: Jul 21, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 34
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 23, 2014

- #4,114

You hiss out a breath, mind whirling as you try to figure out what to do.
You don't want Oriko to die. Not yet, anyway.
You grab and pull the enormous, malignant mass of Grief free of Oriko's gem, leaving it sparkling again. The Grief comes free in ropy, syrup-like streamers that drift aimlessly in the air, before slowly dissipating into the more familiar billowing vapour of your Grief clouds. A lot of it.
Pythia
Homura's tentative smile morphs into a puzzled frown, but you hold up a hand to stall her objections for a moment. She holds her peace for now.
"Mami!" you call.
"Sabrina? What's happening?" she replies.
"It's over. We're OK, and Oriko and Kirika are down for the count," you inform her.
"Oh, thank goodness," Mami says in relief. You can sense her stopping to lean against something for a moment.
"No need to push yourself, Mami," you tell her. "We'll be with you as soon as we can, OK?"
"Alright," Mami says. Nevertheless, your senses tell you that she's pushed herself off, and is continuing to make her way over.
You look at Homura. "Nicely done, Homura. I want answers from Oriko, first, and Mami isn't going to deal well with all of this," you say, gesturing at the nearly beheaded corpse of Oriko. There's a pool of blood, gleaming crimson under the starlight, slowly spreading out from it, and her neck as well as most of her fac- you look away, hastily. "Could you... use your timestop?"
Homura's lips tighten. "We'll talk." She sets her MG3 down beside her, and grabs the edge of the shield with her free hand. She tries turning it, but her hands simply slip across the surface, shield stubbornly refusing to turn. Her frown deepens, and she grips it more firmly, before giving it a sharp yank.
With a crunching noise, the shield turns, gears grating over each other. Instead of the expected discontinuity of timestop, though, shattered cogwheels rain out of the mechanism, pinging over the ground as Homura stares in consternation. She cranks it back into the neutral position again.
Her hands are shaking.
Homura moves her hand slowly across her shield, the purple light of her magic trailing after it, and the entire shield becomes limned with a dim glow, St. Elmo's fire cast in purple. Hesitantly, Homura turns it aga-
-in. Homura's got her arm on your shoulder, and the world is in the grey hues of the timestop. You breathe out a sigh of relief, before you catch sight of Homura's rather displeased expression.
"We went through all this trouble to kill Oriko," Homura states, frowning heavily at you. "And you want to bring her back?"
[] Write-in
=====​
Homura has certain misgivings.
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 35
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 25, 2014

- #4,154

"Because, Homura," you hiss, meeting her eyes with a steely gaze of your own, "I want to stop her."
That takes Homura by surprise. "What?" she asks blankly.
You snort. "If she wanted to kill Madoka? Madoka would be dead," you say.
Homura's eyes harden. Before you can respond, she snarls in your face "I- she has!" She leans forward in the greatest display of emotion you've ever seen from her. Separated as you are by a single arm length, she's nearly shouting in your face. "She has k-killed Madoka! And you want to bring her back?"
"Yes, she did!" you snap back. "After she'd been driven into a corner, after she lost Kirika, after she lost everything! Do you want to see what she has left now? What traps she set up in event of her death? She said she was hiring someone - maybe she left instructions 'in event of my death'?"
"And I'll stop-"
"I'm not done," you snap. "And Sayaka. If she wanted Sayaka dead? Sayaka would be dead. She wouldn't have used a fire, or left some note justifying it. Maybe we have to kill her, and Kirika too. I don't want to have to do that. But if it comes down to it? I'll... help you with it. But the big question is - why? She must have a reason, and I'm not supporting her, but there must be a reason! If we know that, then we can stop whatever she has planned."
"Homura, please, trust me," you plead. "Yes, Oriko killed Madoka, once. If it comes down to it, if they're a danger to those we... know... I'll help you. But before it comes to that, I want to try, Homura."
Homura sighs, anger seeming to fade somewhat. "Kindness and idealism have no reward. You know what's happened, so you know that," she says tiredly, closing her eyes. Just as you're about to protest, though, she holds up a hand, and you bite back any comments you might have made. "I... I've trusted you this far, and..." she swallows hard, "you've done better than I have, so far. I, we'll try this your way."
[] Say something
[] Get Kirika's Soul Gem
[] Start healing Oriko
[] Write-in
=====​
Hmmm. Homura has a modicum of trust for you. How odd.
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 36
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 26, 2014

- #4,182

You blink. You can only guess how much it cost for Homura to say that. You open your mouth to speak, but have to swallow the lump in your throat first. "Thanks, Homura," you say. "I... well. Thanks for trusting me."
Homura looks away, eyes sliding down to the floor. "You've said it before, I haven't had much success doing things my way."
You shake your head ruefuly. "You'll succeed eventually, Homura. I'd just like it to be this time," you say, reaching up to grab her hand on your shoulder and give it a light squeeze.
Homura doesn't meet your eyes. "Give me a moment," she says, withdrawing her ha-
-nd from your shoulder.
You shake your head, clearing the disorientation away. Homura's bound a short length of rope around her waist, and she's holding the other end of the rope to your hand. You close your hand, grabbing the rope, before tying it around your own waist.
"These aren't Mami's ribbons," Homura notes. "We'll have to stick close, since it won't magically extend."
"Mmm," you agree. "It should be safe to leave Kirika alone, right?"
"Yes. She didn't do anything until we freed her from the timestop," Homura nods.
"OK, then. Nothing for it," you say, and walk over to Oriko's fallen body. You carefully kneel down beside her, putting your knee on an unbloodied patch of ground, and gingerly reach out to put a tentative finger against her Soul Gem. Colour blooms, in vivid crimson stains across white silken cloth, to no reaction at all from the seer. Not that you'd really expected any, you suppose.
You pull her Soul Gem off its collar mounting, wincing at the way her head, barely attached by scraps of skin and flesh, flops around. What remains of her head, anyway - it looks like Homura scored a hit that passed right through her jaw and out her neck.
"Ugh," you say as the Soul Gem comes free, cringing a little at the blood staining your fingers. "Here, Homura. I think you should hold this."
Homura, looming behind you, takes the Soul Gem wordlessly.
"We need to get Oriko to at least a 'not obviously dead' state, for Mami's sake if nothing else," you muse out loud. "She'll still be her when healed, right?"
"She should," Homura says tonelessly, eyes going distant. "Miki Sayaka once healed Mami back from something similar."
"But Sayaka is, was, a dedicated healer," you say. "We're not."
"She should," the time traveller repeats.
You shake your head. "Point taken."
You arrange Oriko's head so that it more or less aligns with where it should be, and dredge your instincts. Intent becomes knowledge, and you summon a gentle glow to your hands that you apply to the void where there should be a neck. Homura's hand joins your own, purple and white light working together to repair the grevious damage.
It's fascinating, if slightly stomach churning to watch the healing process. Shards of bone from her shattered jaw and spine move of their own volition, drifting back to their proper places and fusing back in, ossiferous fibers weaving agonizingly slowly across the gaps to reform vertebra. Over top, muscle and connective tissue knit together with agonizing slowness.
After a while, you rock back on your heels, feeling your joints pop as you ease from the fixed position. You're nowhere near done yet, but you'd estimate that perhaps half an hour, perhaps more, has passed. Opposite you, Homura similarly ceases her healing, the healing light fading.
"Cleanse?" you offer.
Homura nods silently, and offers you the back of her hand. You reach for the corruption in her Gem as well as yours and pull it free. You purse your lips as you consider how much corruption there was in Homura's Soul Gem - there's perhaps a little more than you'd expected from Homura, before looking at the tremendous cloud of Grief you'd removed from Oriko, stationary in the time stop, but still pulsing malignantly in your 'ordinary' puella magi senses.
Homura follows your gaze. "Maybe you should get rid of that," she suggests.
"Yeah, probably for the better," you say. This is the biggest free floating cloud of Grief you've ever had - the few times you tore apart Witch Barriers and Witches themselves, you'd instinctively formed your wings of corruption. You shake your head, and gesture at the cloud, reaching out with your powers to compress it down into marbles.
... There are a lot of marbles, now.
[] Continue with the healing
- [] All the way
- [] To a 'not dead' state
- [] To a 'not visibly dead' state
[] Talk to Homura
- [] Write-in topic
[] Write-in
=====​
Two hundred sixty three grief marbles, eight in your pocket, seventeen scattered over the ground.
The distinction between 'not dead' and 'not visibly dead' is in the little things like heartbeat and brain activity.
Last edited: Jul 26, 2014
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 37
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 27, 2014

- #4,284

You roll your neck, feeling your vertebra crackle, and a vague, irreverent thought strikes you - Oriko would probably be wary of doing that for a while. You chuckle out loud, drawing a questioning look from Homura.
"Just a funny thought," you say, shaking your head.
Homura raises an eyebrow at you, but lets it pass when you don't elaborate.
"We should probably get back to healing," you say instead, and crack your knuckles before leaning forward again. You're already calling the healing light to your hands to apply to Oriko's body. Homura huffs out a sigh, switches the seer's Soul Gem to her other hand, and similarly reaches out to continue the healing process.
"So anyway, Homura," you say, after spending a few minutes healing - there's only so long you can be fascinated with watching flesh knit itself together with agonizing slowness. After the first few minutes of fascination, it's all the glorious anticipation of watching paint dry, all the stomach-churning tenseness of watching grass grow, combined with the scintillating visuals of watching a dentist at work.
She looks up at you, her hand still scanning methodically across broken flesh.
"I was wondering, do you have any favourite foods?" you ask.
She looks at you blankly. "No," she replies shortly.
"No, come on, Homura," you admonish. "Let's just talk about something that's not related to meguca for once."
"Meguca?" Homura asks, brows creasing slightly in perplexity.
You blink, puzzled yourself, and shrug. "Dunno. Just a short form that seems to fit. Maybe I picked it up from... before? But no changing the subject. Favourite food, Akemi Homura?" you grin encouragingly at her.
She frowns at you. "What does it matter?"
[] Write-in
=====​
Short update, but I'm thinking that you should answer this.
Threadmarks Direct Intervention pt. 38
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#### Firnagzen

Operator

- Jul 27, 2014

- #4,304

You shrug fractionally, maintaining the flow of magic to your own hands with careful precision. "I'm just curious. It can't hurt to talk about it, right?" you say nonchalantly. "Certainly better than just sitting here in silence."
As if to prove you wrong, Homura maintains a stony silence and a blistering glare at you.
You roll your eyes. "There is method to my madness, Homura. Answer me this. Do you consider spending time with Madoka an acceptable goal? I know, I know, you want to protect her first. My question remains."
Homura maintains her glare. At least you know she's listening to you.
"So, well. If we, well, Mami and I, invite her over again, then we can also invite you. And it'd be nice to know, for example, what kind of food you like - you know as well as I do that Mami would be delighted to prepare it for you," you say. "So one more time, Akemi Homura: What's your favourite food?"
Silence, as Homura just frowns at you. You can tell she's listening; she's just not convinced.
[] Write-in
=====​
Yeah, really short update, but Homura's favourite debating tactic, apparently, is stonewalling. And that doesn't exactly make for scintillating debate. Also, for the record, it'd be nice if the next vote gave me more points for Sabrina to debate with. Doesn't have to be full conversation, just points.
Last edited: Jul 27, 2014
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