#it’s just a bad deal and homura would not have it so she tried again and again and again

[paperglader]

mmmmm… so, the show about the pink-haired girl with the magic powers is actually about a 14-year-old girl that sacrificed herself for humanity and the girl that loved her the most, who was left behind and never got over it

[lightweaving]

KakaKarin for #7 (extra points if it’s crackfic heh)

i tried. i really, really tried to make it crack. But this one seized me by the heart and refused to let go, so buckle in for angst! (also the brainrot was v real so i posted it here and i'm definitely going to continue it)

Walls

Length: 1.9k

Prompt: “Are you this touchy with all your friends?” “...No.”

Summary: Karin needs some help passing her psych eval.

“In the last 6 months, how often have you felt restless, agitated, frantic, or tense?” 

“All the time!” Karin snapped. “I had no idea what Sasuke’s plan was, I had no idea what that Madara fellow wanted from him, from us, the world was going to shit – what’s the point of all these questions anyway?” 

Kakashi sighed, lowering his clipboard. He wished he could be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Being in a meeting with those wizened old crones, Homura and Koharu, sounded more appealing. “It’s important,” he repeated. It felt as if he aged ten years every time he repeated that phrase. It was important. Sakura was right. If there was one thing they had all learned from the Fourth war, it was that shinobi could not simply shrug off their emotional wounds and go about their lives.  This was necessary. 

He just wished it could be someone else dealing with Karin. 

His shoulders sagged as she continued her tirade about how they were all wasting her time – how she had places to go, people she needed to meet. He was never going to trust Sakura or Shikamaru again. They’d given him an innocuous looking proposal about shinobi mental health to sign, and hadn’t bothered telling him about the all-important clause: that in the event a suitable counselor could not be matched to the shinobi, the Hokage themselves would be required to take on the case. 

He sighed again and rolled his shoulders. “Unfortunately,” he said, cutting her off, “if you want your clearance back, you have to pass this evaluation. And you’re going to need to continue attending these sessions until you’re fit to pass.” 

With a hiss, she leapt over his desk and landed on him, straddling his lap. Her hands twisted in his ceremonial robes. Kakashi gulped, relieved that he hadn’t sent his ANBU guard off an errand to find him a highly specific stone or some other nonsense today. At least he’d have a witness in case someone walked in to find Karin on top of him like this. “Then just say I’m fit!” she bellowed. “It’s not like you want to be here either. I can feel it. Your chakra’s flickering so much it’s giving me a damn headache.”

“Sakura will never let me hear the end of it if I just let you off,” he replied. It was true, but wasn’t the entire truth. He could have revoked the clause that required him to do this duty. He would have, if Sakura hadn’t fixed him with a look and told him that Karin had no one else in the world who cared. That if she was in danger of hurting herself, there was nobody who could catch the signs. “Well, it doesn’t have to be that bad,” he tried. 

“Doesn’t have to be that bad? I have to answer all these questions about my feelings and about my eating and my sleeping and,” she leaned back to wrench the bundle of papers Kakashi had been referring to and shook them in his face, “my sexual activity! I’m not talking about these things to some old pervert like you!”

Kakashi would probably have been more offended if he didn’t have the case notes from all her other previous assigned counselors documenting that she’d called them all perverts too. “Sakura insisted,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. 

“Are you the Hokage or not?” she shrieked. “Just tell her I cried about what a shitty childhood I had and I’m all better now. Or order her off your back, send her on a six-month mission or something!” 

He wasn’t going to bother explaining to Karin why it was a bad idea to send one of Konoha’s most eminent medics out on a six month-long mission. But it did give him an idea. 

“We’ll do it this way,” he said. “Just meet me to train. Once a week. After some time, I’ll tell Sakura that you’re provisionally cleared to resume your duties. Then from there, we’ll give it some more time, and then I’ll clear you fully. That sound good?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Once a week,” she repeated. “And how many of these… sessions do I have to go through before I get even that provisional clearance?” 

He shrugged. “Hard to say. It does have to be good enough for me to get Sakura off my back. But if you show up properly and on time, I should be able to get that for you after about four weeks?” Obito would have laughed himself silly watching this scene. At how Kakashi was setting expectations about punctuality after all his years forcing people to wait on him. At how Kakashi was the one trying to make someone confront their emotions. Karin sniffed. 

“Fine,” she said. “But you’d better not try anything funny, pervert!” 

Kakashi wondered how she possessed the audacity to say that while she was still on his lap. It wasn’t just Obito – Rin, Kushina-sama, and Minato-sensei were surely laughing their heads off too. 

—

It had been two hours, and she hadn’t shown up. 

Kakashi shrugged, snapping the 10th anniversary edition of Icha Icha Paradise shut. He’d kept Shikamaru waiting long enough, he supposed. He should probably go discuss that tax proposal with him. 

He’d tried. If Karin didn’t show up, that wasn’t his fault. 

She has no one else in the world. 

He was just assuming that she had chosen not to show up. What if she was injured, or unwell? She’d been put on suspension from her hospital duties too, until she got her clearance. Nobody would be expecting her to show up anywhere. It could be days, weeks, before anyone noticed that something was wrong. 

Hatake Sakumo’s corpse had lain cooling in their living room for three days before someone had bothered to come check on them. And that was only because their neighbor had been worried that she hadn’t seen Kakashi out and about. 

Karin didn’t even have children. Who would bother to check on her? 

With a groan, he dragged himself to go looking for her. 

—

She was lying on her kitchen floor, staring at the ceiling. She was still breathing, and he’d noticed her tensing when he’d begun fiddling with the lock on her window, before she forced herself to relax. She was alive and conscious of what was going on around her. She was fine, and he had gone above and beyond what was required of him. He could go. 

But something about that sight – of her lying so still in the dark – made him stop in his tracks.

He’d just go in and get a few words out of her. That would be all. Then he could put in his report that he’d spoken to her and that she’d been unresponsive and he could call it a day. Sakura probably wouldn’t even lambast him too much. She knew well what Karin was like. 

“What do you want?” Karin grumbled as he entered. 

“You didn’t show up to our meeting,” he replied. 

“Yeah, because you wanted to train. It’s not like I’m even a real shinobi,” she scoffed. “What good’s training going to do for me? What, you’re going to teach me to smash trees and the ground? I’m already a medic, right? Might as well make me into Sakura 2.0!”

“That’s not what I –” he began. 

“Isn’t it? She’s dating Sasuke, I used to be on Sasuke’s team. She’s a healer, I’m a healer. Sort of. Her hair’s pink, mine’s red. Go on! Tell me how I’m so much like her, only worse!” 

Something within Kakashi stilled. “Who said that to you?” he asked quietly. 

She sat up, looking at him sharply. “I don’t want your pity,” she snarled. “Get the fuck out of my house. Get out.” 

But she made no move to actually get rid of him. “It’s not pity,” he tried. “I’m just worried –”

“Bullshit!” A can of tuna came flying at him. He plucked it out of the air and set it carefully on the ground. She didn’t qualify for much of a stipend, given that her status was equivalent to a genin’s. A genin who didn’t go on missions, at that. 

“Karin,” he started, before another can flew out at him. Beans, this time. 

“Stop looking at me like that!” she screamed. “Get out, get out, get out!” 

A certainty grew within Kakashi, one he disliked. He flung himself on top of her, pinning her wrists to the floor. “It’s no wonder you don’t have any friends, if you treat them all this way,” he said cruelly. 

Sure enough, her body relaxed. “I have plenty of friends! More than you, but not like that’s real hard. You just haven’t met them because you’re such a shut-in.” 

He somehow kept his sympathy and horror off his face. It would not be well-received. “Prove it.” 

“Huh?” 

“Prove to me that you can make and keep a friend. Be one to me. If you can fulfill this task to my satisfaction, I’ll give you back your clearance. I’ll overrule anyone who says you aren’t fit for duty.”

Her eyes narrowed, as she sifted through his possible motives. “Why you?” she challenged. “Why not literally anyone else in the village?” 

“Because unlike you, I don’t have a built-in lie detector. You should be flattered.” She’d say anything to get out of what she viewed as pity. That was for certain. And unfortunately, any sort of compassion — even of the sort normal humans showed one another — appeared to qualify. 

Her entire face scrunched up. Kakashi absently found himself thinking that her expression looked rather like Pakkun, back when he’d still been young and adorable. “You don’t trust me,” she wailed. 

“I don’t,” he said, keeping his expression as bland as possible. “Training grounds tomorrow, at 3pm. Don’t be late.” As she opened her mouth, he pressed her lips shut with his thumb and forefinger, trusting that she was no longer going to try to fling something at him. “I’m no healer either,” he said. “I’m not going to bother training you in something I can’t do. But you’re of no use to me in the hospital. I want you out in the field. This way, I kill two birds with one stone.” 

She nodded slowly. This was something she could understand, and accept. Overtures of friendship from someone who viewed her as an asset, rather than as a person. It had taken Gai to break through those barriers for him through all those years in ANBU, and afterward. 

But Kakashi wasn’t Gai, and Karin wasn’t Kakashi. He couldn’t bulldoze through those walls with a thumbs up and a smile. He could only go along with them, and let her at least get a sense of independence back. 

Her shoulders sagged further, and Kakashi started to withdraw, knowing that she would no longer protest. 

“You said you wanted me to be a friend to you,” she said slowly. “Are you this touchy with all your friends?” 

‘You started it’ was hardly a befitting response for a Hokage. Neither was ‘it was either that or muzzle you so you’d stop talking’. His face heated, and he was thankful for the mask that would conceal the flush that was surely spreading across his face. “...No,” he said finally. 

“I knew it!” she shrieked. “Fucking pervert!” 

[ros-sauce]

MadoHomu MizuEna.

Or MizuMafu-

Do you see my vision???

Mizuki who doesn't really know what they want in life other than the peace that they already have. (A part of them wants to wish that they were 'born a girl', but they can't stop clinging to the care that their sister gave them and their journey of identity makes up a big part of who they are)

Mafuyu honestly fits Homura better personality wise (but MizuEna is more popular even though these last English Niigo Events make Mizuki look whipped asf), they've been doing this so long that they don't even know who they are anymore- struggling and struggling and struggling again. They KNOW it's useless, that it's futile, but Mizuki was the only thing they had repeat after repeat.

The scene opens up like Madoka Magica did, but it's Mizuki and their sister (maybe on the phone instead of in person, so it's got that extra longing while maintaining the comfort) encouraging Mizuki to be a little flashy.

Mafuyu enters coldly just like Homura did, but they don't have the same steadfast, forward approach that Homura used. Instead, it's just Mizuki being drawn to the person that they saw in their dreams, and Mafuyu trying to keep up their walls hoping for safety.

Now, I think Kanade and Ena would be Sayaka and Kyouko which doesn't make /too/ much sense at first, but hear me out because

Kanade and Sayaka have a LOT of parallels and similarities, especially in dealing with their own selflessness. Kanade has the same route with music that got her dad into the hospital (even though it was so far from her fault that happened bruh), and she takes comfort in music, just like Sayaka.

Again, like Sayaka, she uses her wish to heal her dad, but it doesn't work. He goes back to being the same unstable song writer that he was before he hospitalized himself and Kanade has to deal with the aftermath (and the formath, you know when her father is following the same line as Souske (was that his name?) did)

Kanade realizes that her music can't save the people closest to her and she throws herself into being a magical girl.

Ena and Kyouko is the biggest stretch (also because I watched the show ages ago and don't remember them expanding much on her backstory other than implying that her wish was just to live and also that she stole food?) Ena definitely isn't as territorial as Kyouko, but she wants to keep living so, of course, she tries to chase Kanade out because she needs to be able to have those Grief Seeds.

Similarly, she scoffs at Kanade's obsessive selflessness, but comes to eventually wish that she had someone like Kanade (unlike Ena who jumps at the idea of being saved- I know they'll get their moment, but I'm not sure how)

Only, in this version, Mami wouldn't exist, so it would be much more of a slow burn, and also we wouldn't overlook the fact that Hitomi canonically wants to die. (I thought about replacing her with Rui, since Hitomi doesn't become a magical girl and is mostly off screen when shit starts to really go down- but I would feel bad not giving Rui more of an important role, since it was sad that Hitomi ended up SO sidelined)

Do you see my vision or am I crazy?? Do you see the vision anyways??? (I am crazy)

I can't decide if it goes down more similarly to Sekai (Mizuki and Kanade watch Mafuyu mostly from afar without seeing through their persona- only to find their true self when they're maybe battling a witch?) or more similarly to Madoka (wherein Mafuyu firmly plants themself as the antagonist in the same way that Homura does and the sins of the Magical world are slowly revealed).

But you know. I mostly just have been rotating 'ha, Mizuki, Madoka' in my head seeing all the Madoka fan art and wrote this entire thing down frantically in one sitting after seeing you reblog a Madoka picture.

OUGH. this is excellent i'm rotating it in my brain forever

[starlit-seadragon]

Day 25 - Perpetuity

In which the young Estelle de Borel, daughter of the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords and Lord Commander of Ishgard, and the esteemed Warrior of Light and Lady de Borel, jumps off a roof.

CW: panic attack, abandonment trauma, uhhhh adoption? Ishgard sure is A Place.

Submitting unfinished for the deadline but I would like to finish it sjdjffnfjfhf

My FFXIV Write Masterpost here.

When she was first born, Elouan had thought his baby sister perfect.

Round button nose with a single scale on the bridge, dark and wispy curls, hands so small that even his thumb was larger than her fist.

Four years later, the only thing he thought perfect about her was how perfect a brat she was.

"Estelle," he hissed in the loudest whisper he could manage, "get off the damned roof!"

Far above, his baby sister gasped. “El said a bad word! Bad El! Stel will tell Mama and Papa!”

"You're one to talk," he grumbled under his breath. He was a son of House Borel; he was not going to argue with a toddler.

"Estelle," Elouan tried again. "Please. Before you get hurt. I will come up there if I must."

He was not quite sure how he would accomplish this—he was not even sure how Estelle had managed it—but he knew that keeping his word was important, and regardless, he intended to try.

He just wished that it had not been the top of the manor that she had chosen to perch and that he were not out in the middle of the godsforsaken street, where anyone passing by could witness them.

Ere she had left, his aunt had promised to return shortly. “Not even a full bell,” she had said. She had forgotten something essential to dinner, and the trip to the Jeweled Crozier was a quick one. Elouan had acquiesced, saying he would keep an eye on Estelle, thinking it could not be very difficult. She was, after all, still so small. What mischief could a child of four get up to that a boy of twelve could not handle?

Evidently, a great deal.

She was gone in the blink of an eye. Elouan had been studying, looking into his book for but a moment. And then it was suddenly too quiet, and Estelle was gone. If not for her coat, hastily abandoned outside the manor walls, Elouan might never have known where to find her.

His sister gave no response. Was she hurt, or just ignoring him? Gritting his teeth, Elouan looked around. He had to get onto that roof.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure approaching, and his shoulders sagged with relief. Aunt Homura was back, and she could help him. Everything would be okay.

He did a double-take, and his blood turned to ice.

“M-mother!”

Lady de Borel stopped beside him. A leather sack hung off her shoulder.

“Elouan?” she asked, brow knit. “What are you doing outside?”

He scrambled for an answer but could find none, mouth flapping like that of a fish. He couldn’t lie to her. He wouldn’t. No matter what it cost him.

His mother looked down at the ground, gaze falling on Estelle's shed coat. Elouan froze. His mother looked upwards, towards the roof of the manor. Her mouth set into a firm line, eyes hardening. Elouan swallowed.”

This was it. This was the end. He was dead. She knew now that he could not be trusted, that he had let little Estelle run wild and put herself in danger.

“Elouan,” she began, voice flinty. “Where is your Aunt Homura?”

“Th-the Jeweled Crozier. She said... she said she'd be right back.”

“I see.”

Elouan tried to memorize the outside of the manor. He would carry the image of it with him to the Fury’s hallowed halls.

“Play along,” his mother whispered before pitching her voice loudly towards the roof. “Elouan, my light! I am so happy to see you!”

He stared at her. She nodded her head towards the roof. Confused, he replied in the same volume, “As I am you, Mother.”

A startled gasp of “Mama!” came from above.

“Have you seen your sister?” his mother asked. “I have gifts for you both, and I should so like to present them together.”

Heart sinking, Elouan looked to the ground. Was she truly going to make him admit his failure like a mummer in a play? The cruelty seemed unlike her.

Before he could answer, however, a voice rang out from the roof.

“Dum da dummm! Behol! Stel, the Azoor Dragon!” shouted Estelle. With a branch in hand, she struck a pose.

“Estelle, my star, what are you doing up there? And without your coat?”

Estelle slumped.

“Mama,” she whined, “Dragons need no coats!”

“Estelle.” Their mother’s voice was firmer now. “You know you cannot go out without a coat.”

“Stel did go with coat! Then took it off.”

Their mother paused. Irritation creased her features for but a moment, and then called, “Estelle? Pray wait there. I’ll be right up to get you.”

“Dragons need no coats!” Estelle repeated. “And dragons need no help to fly!”

She backed away from the edge.

Elouan felt his pulse gallop.

She wouldn’t.

“Estelle?” their mother called hoarsely. Frantic, she looked around for a way up.

Estelle leapt from the rooftop.

Heart in his throat, Elouan brought his hands to his mouth. He was worse than dead, he would be disowned. Everything, gone in an instant, and he would be sent back—

Miraculously, a pair of leathery blue wings sprouted from his baby sister’s back. Instead of falling, she glided gently downwards, landing in their mother’s outstretched arms. The wings detached, revealing themselves to be those of a cobalt dragonet’s.

The creature chortled. “We'll make a dragon of you yet, little one!”

Estelle squealed in delight.

“Kal Myhk,” greeted their mother with a tight smile. “Pray remember that man ages by year and not by experience. I would ask to to refrain from aiding my daughter in flight until she is much older.”

The little dragonet seemed to consider this, then looped backwards through the air.

“Far be it from me to disrespect a mother’s wishes. My apologies, Shirayume. Know that I would have let no ill befall her.”

“I know, Kal Myhk. Thank you.”

Just then, another figure approached them, bag in hand and waving brightly.

“Oh, Nami, you’re home early! Hi!”

Elouan’s aunt Homura took in the scene before her: the three Borels standing outside, the dragonet hovering nearby, Estelle’s shed coat, and the tight grip their mother held onto Estelle’s waist. The smile fell from Aunt Homura’s lips.

Flatly, and with a light blush, she said, “Oh... Estelle got onto the roof again, didn’t she.”

Their mother went so still that Elouan flinched.

“Again?” Her tone was frost incarnate. Aunt Homura withered under his mother’s countenance. Elouan couldn’t blame her.

An argument followed in quick, quiet Doman. While Elouan had been learning his mother’s native tongue, they spoke too quickly for him to follow. He caught only snippets, words that sounded like “irresponsible” and “send home.”

Dread crept over him. They really were going to send him back.

Elouan could not help himself; he ran. He ran past the front door, up the stairs, and into his room, tears falling in his wake. Upon the soft down of his bed, he wept, grieving all he was to lose. A roof over his head. A warm, dry place to sleep. Hot, regular meals. A loving mother and father. Estelle.

“Elouan?” a voice called into his—well, what would no longer be his—room. He looked up through bleary eyes.

“Lady de Borel,” he croaked. He rubbed his eyes. The tears could not be hidden, but he could at least look a little more presentable. Though it mattered little, he thought glumly. “Is your daughter well?”

His former mother looked at him strangely.

“Estelle is with Aunt Hilda.”

“Aunt Hilda is here?”

Good, he could say goodbye to her, too, then.

“Fortunately,” she answered, syllables clipped. Her features returned to that strange puzzlement. “Elouan, is something the matter?”

He could not meet her gaze. “No, my lady.”

“Then why the formality? You haven't spoken to me so since—” She stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening. Alarmed, she stared at him. “Elouan, you can't possibly think—”

“I'm sorry, my lady, for failing you. This was a happy home for me, while it lasted.” His voice broke on the last few words. He hated that weakness. Tears welled in his eyes, and he blinked them furiously away.

Lady de Borel knelt before him, voice a whisper. “Elouan... failing me in what?”

“I did not protect your trueborn daughter.”

Finally, he looked into her eyes. She met his determined stare with soft, shimmering pain.

“Elouan, my light. You have failed no one, and even had you, you would not be going anywhere. You are not going anywhere. This is your home.”

“B-but I—” He could not stop the tears. “I messed up.”

“You did nothing of the sort,” she told him as she ran a hand through his hair.

“P-papa always says I must watch out for Estelle.”

"Because you are the eldest, sweetling. Not because she has greater import. You are both our children.”

He let himself fall into her arms then and weep. She held him tightly, whispering words of comfort and rubbing small circles against his back. The thought of losing this sent him into wracking sobs all over again.

He had no idea how long they stood like that, but Elouan only knew he was happy to be home.

[takerfoxx]

So long as I'm getting caught up on all my stuff, here's the next installment of the Walpurgis Nights girls watch The Rebellion Story, this time stretching from Homura shooting herself in the head to her talk with Sayaka the vague-poster!

Reminder:

G=Gretchen

H=Homulilly

Op=Ophelia

Ok=Oktavia

Ca=Candeloro/Mami

Ch=Charlotte

...

=still screaming=

G: Turn it off, TURN IT OFF!

Ok, panicking: I got it, I got it! Off!

=TV winks out=

Ch: Sweet Christ!

=long pause, and then Gretchen gets up and runs off. Homulilly quickly follows=

Ch: This was a mistake.

Op: What. The fuck?

Ca: I should have known. I should have known it would go this way.

Ch: Candy, there’s no way you could have-

Ca: No! There was! I knew how bad it could get! I knew how far we could have fallen! I shouldn’t have let you guys see any of this.

Ok: It’s not your fault.

Ca: I still should have known. I should have at least screened this!

Ch: Yeah, one of us probably should have.

=another long pause=

Ok: So, uh, are we, like, done?

=suddenly Gretchen reenters the room, followed by Homulilly. They silently return to their seats=

G: Okay. Play it.

Op: Gretch, are you sure?

G: I need to know. I need to know what happens to her. I need to know if we turn out okay. Play it.

=everyone exchanges uncomfortable glances, and then look to Homulilly, who slowly nods=

Ok: Okay, if you say so…

Op: We’d better ease it with the commentary. I mean, this isn’t something we can-

G: No! Please, no. The talking…and the jokes…well, it makes it easier.

Op: Sure.

Ch: It’ll be kind of hard to find anything funny about this.

Ca: We can try to do what we can.

=they start the movie, and silently watch as Homura falls in slow motion, blood and brains spewing out. And then…=

Op: Wait, hold up! How is she still moving?

Ca: As I said, something like that won’t kill her. You would need to destroy her soul gem.

Op: So she can straight up just blow her own head off and walk it off?

Ca: So long as the act of healing didn’t use up too much magic, yes.

H: Okay, but why? Why would I do something like that?

Ca: Let’s find out.

…

Ok: Uh…Ooooh.

H: Oh. Really?

G: What’s going on?

H: I couldn’t get rid of the ribbon on my ankle. Every time I tried to shoot it off, Mami would just grow it back. So I tried shocking her so badly that she wouldn’t think to regenerate the ribbon long enough for her to be caught in the time-stop.

Op: By shooting yourself in the head?!

H: Clearly, I have a considerable amount of emotional issues.

Ch: You know, it’s really starting to concern me how you keep referring to her as yourself just now.

H: I apologize. I will try to differentiate between my alternate selves.

Ok: Oh great, now I’ve gone cross-eyed.

…

Ch: So…this is really uncomfortable. Again.

G: Is she going to shoot Cand-I mean, Mami?

Ca: I mean, there’s clearly a moral struggle.

H: Well. At least I didn’t turn out as a complete sociopath.

Ok: This is seriously gross. Can we just skip this part?

Ca: No.

Ok: But-

Ca: No.

Ok: Okay.

…

Op: In the leg. Well, I guess that’s not as-

Ok: HOLY!

G: What’s happening? What’s going on?

Op: Sweet flames, she’s…a ribbon monster? The fuck?

=pause, and then Charlotte starts laughing hard while Candeloro just sighs=

Ok: Charlotte! Explain! Now!

Ch: She did it! She actually did it!

Ok: Did what?!

Ch: You’ll see!

H: Wow, I am…I mean, she is just all tied up now.

G: Wait, Mami’s there? But I thought…then what was…

Ca: Oh, good grief.

Ok: Wait. Wait a second, you can clone yourself?!

Ca: It’s…not so much a clone as it is a puppet.

Ok: Since when could you do that?!

Ca: Um, well, I had figured it out a short time before our, um, deaths. I was training with Kyo…with Ophelia, and we were practicing with her illusion magic. You know, the duplicates?

Op: Uh-huh.

Ca: Well, she suggested that perhaps I could do something similar with my ribbons, since I could use my ribbons to form other objects. And, well…it worked.

Op: Ooooh. Okay, that’s actually kind of awesome.

H: I was fighting a copy the whole time?! How is that fair?

Ch: You can literally freeze time!

H: Hey, wait. How do you know that she could do that, Charlotte?

Ch: How do you think?

Ca: Like we said: our therapist suggested building positive associations around my change. We had to get creative.

Op: Oh, come on, that’s not fair!

Ok: Wait, you were the one betting on her!

Op: I’m not talking about that! When I do my duplicate trick all I can do with them is give Tavi a show! It’s not like she can touch any of them!

Ok: Babe. Relax. It’s honestly fine.

Op: All I’m saying I should be able to give you a lap dance while the striptease is going on.

G: TMI! TMI!

Ch: You, uh, do know that you can give her the lap dance and let your illusions handle the striptease, right?

Op: Do you know how hard it is to handle two kinds of dancing at the same time when you’re horny?

G: Please, I am begging you to stop!

…

Ch: So…I think someone owes me and Fee-Fee some talents.

Ok: Fight’s not over yet!

Ch: It clearly is…

G: You don’t know that! Maybe Homura will drop a hand-grenade to blow the ribbons up! Or maybe Kyoko will come to save her.

Op: Look, if other-me tags in, that’s an automatic forfeit. This is supposed to be one-on-one, and that clone trick is stretching things as it is.

H: Wait, wait, shut up. Wraiths? What are wraiths?

Ok: Dunno.

Ch: Did we miss something? I get that that nightmares replaced the witches, but what are wraiths?

G: Maybe…after I erased witches, wraiths are what replaced them!

Op: We should’ve just watched the damn show first.

Ch: Do you really think it’ll make things make more sense?

Op: Probably not, but at least we’d know about half of these names!

Ch: Jesus Christ, the fuck is that?

Ok: The sky wants to eat that giant walnut, apparently.

Ch: I can see that, but what does it mean?!

G: I think that’s an eye, actually.

Ok: An eye with teeth.

Ch: None of that answers any of my questions.

Op: Nope, this would still be just as weird even if we watched the show.

…

Ch: And here comes the rescue! Via…fire extinguisher for some reason. Sorry girls, Mami takes this.

Ok: Fine, fine. Thanks a lot, Homulilly.

H: Not my fault. None of us knew about the duplicate thing. I had her beat until then.

Ok: Wait, is that a sword?

Op: Guess it ain’t me with the steel chair, then!

G: Well, of course not. It’s a sword.

Op: That’s not…never mind.

Ok: It’s me! I’m coming in to save you!

H: I’m touched. But…why?

Ok: Because I had fifty talents riding on you, and you let me down.

H: Oh, don’t start.

Op: Wait. That ain’t your voice, Tavi.

Ok: Who else has a sword?!

G: Um, who is that?

Ch: Some kind of kid. Candy, do you recognize her back from before?

Ca: No, I really don’t…

Op: Wait, BEBE?!

Ch: Excuse me?!

H: Um…this is…a turn.

Ca: Don’t look at me, I’m as bewildered as you are.

Ch: Oh, so first I’m a creepy idiot doll, and now I’m a fucking child?!

Op: What is this, some kind of alternate universe bullshit?

Ok: I mean, basically. Uh, you okay over there, Charlotte.

Ch: Nope!

Ok: Wanna take a break?

Ch: Yes!

…

=everyone returns after half-an-hour=

Ch: I think I’ve figured it out.

H: Oh?

Ch: Butterfly effect. Like, okay, in this universe, Madoka somehow erased all witches, right? I mean, made it so magical girls don’t turn into witches anymore, right? And did it all through history, right?

H: Presumably.

Ch: So that means that there has to be major repercussions! Like, like, this girl doesn’t turn into a witch fifty years ago, so she doesn’t eat some random passerby, and that rando goes and marries someone that would have married someone else in the original timeline, so they have a completely different set of kids, so the kids they would have had originally don’t get born! So somewhere down the line, things got all screwy and I ended up being born a few years later!

G: Wow, that actually makes a lot of sense.

Op: I guess we’re all super-lucky that we got born at all. And that the rest of us ended up more-or-less the same. Um, no offense.

Ch: Right. That’s all it is. Different timeline, things happened differently, and I’m a little girl in this world. That’s it.

Ok: So…are you okay with this then?

Ch: Oh, absolutely not! But I can at least deal with it now!

Op: Bet’cha anything that good ol’ Bebe here still has a major crush on Mami.

Ch: Oh, God! Don’t even go there!

Op: I’m just sayin’…

Ca: Ophelia…

Op: Stopping, stopping.

H: Shall we continue?

Ch: Yeah, I guess. I’m gonna need major therapy after all this is over, though.

G: We all will.

…

Ok: Okay, I know this is probably a bad time to point this out, but Sayaka has style!

Op: I mean, you’re not wrong. Look at you, being all effortlessly cool! Not that you aren’t already.

Ok: Nice save there.

Ch: Haha, Sayaka’s got it right! Taking on Mami was a dumb idea. Speaking of which…

Ok: Oh, come on! That clone trick was dirty and you know it!

Ch: Oh, I’m sorry. Are you upset that she so happened to have something that counters Homura’s extremely unfair timestop power?

Op: She’s got a point. A bet’s a bet.

G: All right, I guess it’s official. Mami won.

=Candeloro smirks=

H; You don’t have to be all smug about it.

Ca: True. I don’t.

…

G: Wait…

Op: So, what, Sayaka knows what’s going on?

Ok: Of course I do! I mean, I’m the brains of the bunch!

=Homulilly coughs=

Ok: I heard that.

H: I didn’t say anything.

Ch: Well, finally some exposition!

G: I do sort of wish that she’d just tell Homura what is going on without being so vague about it.

Ok: Look, I’ve been pretty much on the wayside this whole movie. Let me have my monologue.

Ch: What’s she getting at though?

H: Oh.

Ch: Huh?

H: I think…Never mind.

G: What is it?

H: I just had sort of a realization, but I’d rather not say it now.

Op: Eh?

H: Hang on. Let’s just watch a bit more.

…

Op: Jesus, Tavi! No need to show Homura up like that!

Ok: Let! Me! Have! This!

Ch: That was pretty cool, though. Shwing! Stopped her cold!

G: Wait, so one of us is the…

=voice trails off=

G: Is it me?

H: Um…

Op: Oh.

Ok: Oh.

Ch: What? Oh, okay. I get it now.

Ca: I sort of put it together too.

G: What? What are…Oh.

=everyone looks at Homulilly=

H: Well, it only makes sense. I guess.

Ch: You don’t seem all that upset about it.

H: Well, at least I get to become my best self in this movie.

G: But…how though? I thought I erased witches or whatever!

Ok: Let’s find out.

Ch: If your other self can ever get to the point.

Ok: Shhh…

…

Ca: Wait, I’m the witch? Is that what she’s implying?

Ch: Pretty sure that’s just a red herring.

Ok: You know, it’s nice that Sayaka is actually being all sympathetic toward witches. I mean, it’s kind of fucked up, isn’t it? That even the magical girls that know the score still hunt down witches instead of trying to help them.

G: I mean, it can’t really be helped, can it?

Ok: I know, I just like that I’m saying it.

G: The Law of Cycles? What’s that?

Op: Probably whatever trippy business you replaced the witch stuff with.

H: Oh, now I’m finally just saying it out loud! Madoka erased witches. Took us long enough to get to that point.

Op: Wait, sacrificed herself? Only Homura remembers her? What?

Ch: Pretty sure this was all explained in the show.

Op: Well, that’s what we get for watching this first. Should we go back and-

Everyone: No.

Op: Cool.

…

Op: Oh, freaky!

Ok: Wait, so I’m the witch now?

Ch: Could mean that in this timeline you turned into a witch before Madoka did her un-witching…thing.

Ca: That is what you looked like. Right before you became one with Charlotte, I mean.

Ch: Er…

Ok: Phrasing…

Ca: Oh, for Heaven’s sake. It is literally what happened. You turned into a witch while we were fighting Charlotte, and then the two of you fused. Then I became a witch and fused with that witch. And then Ophelia became a witch and we all fused together.

Ok: Yeah, but the way you said it…

…

H: Where’d she go?

Ok: Clumsy? You have the gall to call me clumsy? Who just saved who’s ass, just now!

H: Cut me some slack, it’s been a long evening.

Ch: Y’know you still got blood and brains all over your cheek, right?

H: I am certain that Homura does not care.

Op: I am certain that Homura is about to blow the brains out of the first punk-ass that looks at her wrong right about now.

Ok: Headshots for everybody!

H: Except Madoka.

Ok: Except Madoka. She can be the token un-brain-slushee.

G: Gee. Thanks.

Ca: I’d like to just point out that Homura came very close to turning me into a brain-slushee, but changed her mind.

Op: I doubt she’ll let you off so easy a second time.

Ch: Easy. Hey, may I remind you who won that fight?

H: You’re not going to let that go, are you?

Op: Tell yah what. Losing party treats the winners to dinner at the Tradewinds. Fair?

H: Fair.

Ch: Seriously? With the prices they have down there it’ll be cheaper just to cough up the fifty talents.

G: Yeah, but onion volcanoes!

Ch: Hard to argue with that logic.

Ok: So…on a scale of one to ten, how badly is Homura going to flip out when she realized that she’s the witch.

H: I will accept nothing less than a massacre.

Ok: Cool. Just so long as it’s not of us.

Op: I don’t know. The way this movie is going I wouldn’t be surprised if this turned into a straight-up snuff film.

[shepard-ram]

Part 2 of Echo’s Madoka AU

-This is just gonna be me explaining my reasoning behind why I assigned some people certain roles.

-Also this is important but in this AU everyone is around the age of 16-17 because it makes things easier. Okay? Okay!

🚫TW/CW for death, violence, angst, also Spoiler for Madoka Magica🚫

-Anyways I put reader as Madoka because yeah...no reason other than they the protag. Just saying it now, Reader doesn’t become a magical girl until the very end of the AU.

-Tommy is Sayaka because I feel like making you all suffer with Tommy angst. That’s not the only reason but I gotta explain more actual character stuff. In the show Sayaka is best friends with two girls, Madoka and Hitomi. Sayaka wants to become a magical girl for two reasons. Reason one, one of the first magical girls she meets is Mami, and Sayaka looks up to Mami. The second reason is that she wants to use her wish Kyubey will grant to heal her crush, Kyosuke. Kyosuke used to play the violin but he permanently damaged his hands so he can no longer play. After Mami dies Sayaka decides to use her wish to heal Kyosuke and becomes a magical girl. Sayaka gains a rival named Sakura and they almost kill each other on several occasions. Sayaka’s friend Hitomi confesses to Kyosuke that she likes him and he accepts her feelings. The despair this causes Sayaka causes her to turn into a witch.

-So, in this case scenario the reader, Tommy, and Tubbo are all good friends. Tubbo likes to play the piano in this AU so after he permanently damaged his hands he becomes depressed that he can no longer play. Tommy uses his wish to heal Tubbo’s hands so he can play again. Tommy is happy to see Tubbo happy until Tubbo starts slowly leaving him behind and making new friends. Specifically with this new transfer student named Ranboo. Tommy already had to go through the grief of losing Wilbur, having to deal with Techno, and finding out the truth of the soul gems, this was seemingly the final straw. He felt all alone after Tubbo left and almost regrets wishing for his hands to be fixed. His soul gem breaks and he becomes a witch.

-Wilbur is Mami because they are both good with their words, they think things through, they are wise, brave, and strong. Mami in the show saves Sayaka and Madoka then they become friends. Kyubey and Mami think that the two girls have potential to become strong magical girls. Mami is seen as the perfect magical girl in almost everyone’s eyes. She fights for justice and the people of the city.

-This is where I think Wilbur’s character in the AU would be slightly different. At one point in time Wilbur did believe in those things. At one point he fought for the benefit of the people. That was until he had a major falling out with a close friend of his. His friend had very different beliefs to his on how they should be taking down the witches. One of the biggest reasons why magical users fight witches is for the grief seeds used to keep their soul gems clean. A witch that has killed more people is more likely to drop a grief seed. Wilbur’s friend thought it was better to let the witches kill a few people before hunting them down. Wilbur didn’t agree with that and they fought. Neither sides won the fight and they split up. After the whole situation Wilbur kind of stopped caring about justice and fighting for the people. He grew tired of it all, that was until he met the Reader and Tommy. He could tell they both had a lot of potential and he could use them to make his job easier. The whole fighting for justice thing was something he was on you really saying to make himself look better in front of the pair. He honestly didn’t care about the two of them that much...at first. He found himself getting happy when he got to spend time with them. Sure Tommy was hella annoying but he enjoyed having him around. Wilbur had fun teaching them about what it meant to be a magic user. Reader confesses that they see Wilbur as a real hero and they want to be like him. Wilbur breaks and confesses that this whole time he hasn’t been honest about really caring about justice. He was just fighting because it was the only thing keeping him alive. He fought because at this point he had no other choice. But now he feels like he actually wants to try and fight for justice with the reader and Tommy by his side. He wants to change for the better and his sudden urge of motivation drives him to be reckless and that’s what leads to his end.

-Techno is Kyoko because they are both strong, powerful, they can be kinda rude, and maybe a bit selfish, but they have soft sides to them.

-In the AU the friend Wilbur had a falling out with was Techno. After their fight Techno leaves to a different city to hunt for witches somewhere where he wouldn’t be bothered. He only came back to the main city after hearing Wilbur kicked the bucket. He felt a little sad but acted like it didn’t affect him. He was so confident that he would be able to easily control the area until Tommy showed up. Tommy had the same idealism as Wilbur. Fight for the people, not for yourself. Techno tried to kill off Tommy after their first encounter but it failed. Afterwards he would often taunt Tommy and even threatened to kill Tubbo at one point. Tommy got pissed at Techno so they fought on a bridge over a highway. The reader and Karl interrupted though and it caused Tommy’s soul gem to fall onto a moving truck. This is when they all find out about half the truth of soul gems. (Soul gems can only be a certain distance away from the users body for else the body will die. They can be brought back though if the soul gem is still intact)Techno feels bad for what he did when looking back on it. When he looks at Tommy he sees Wilbur but he also sees a old version of him. Someone who made their wish for someone else and it backfired. Techno tries to reach out to Tommy but it fails. After Tommy becomes a witch he goes into denial asking for the reader to help him turn Tommy back to a human even though it’s not possible. The reader almost dies until Karl saves them. Techno ends up killing Tommy’s witch by sacrificing himself to let Karl and Reader escape. Techno knew he could have escaped too but he rather die with Tommy then let him be alone.

-Karl is Homura because time magic go brr.

-Homura is seen as a cold, mysterious person but in reality she’s not. She’s seen so much suffering and so much pain that it made her act the way she does. Who was it that was suffering? It was Madoka. Homura was weak and alone till she met Madoka. Madoka brought color and hope into her life when she saved her from a witch. Madoka always said she was her friend. Then a terrible witch named walpurgisnacht appeared and destroyed the entire city. While protecting Homura, Madoka died. Homura blamed herself for what happened and wished to be able to go back in time to protect Madoka. Her wish was granted and she was given time magic. In countless timelines she watched Madoka die but she continued. She repeated the same time of events again and again. She eventually found out the truth behind the soul gems and Kyubey’s existence and so she made it her goal to prevent Madoka from ever becoming a magical girl and to kill walpurgisnacht.

-In this AU Karl grows very attached to the reader. They were the first person who showed interest in his hobbies and encouraged him to be himself. He never felt that loved until then. Then in the blink of an eye it was all gone, you were gone. He watched as you sacrificed yourself for himself for him as screamed and begged for you not to go. He only had one wish to protect you from this fate. He didn’t care how many times it took he was determined to create a timeline where you could live happily with your friends and family. He would do anything to keep you safe even if it meant it made you hate him at the end of it all. Your the only friend he has in this god forsaken world and he won’t let you go so easily.

And that’s all I got. If anyone wants to add onto this AU or write about it then feel free too just credit me for the idea :p (also sorry if my writing is bad I don’t really write stuff like this)

GOD DAMN THIS IS GOOD-

Again not exactly my thing but,,,,, the emotional drag you can feel on all the characters is just- You can really get a sense of just how cruel and grueling life is for them

[themonotonysyndrome]

The Holy Quintet in Twisted Wonderland!

While I was having a writer’s block for ‘A Modern Fairytale’, I complained to my friend and we chatted on Discord. I told her about TW and she asked me if TW ever gonna have an anime adaptation since Magia Record:PMMM had an anime after the game is released. We love the Madoka Magica series and since they’re some similarities between the two, I thought why not have the main girls (I haven’t watch Magia Record yet though I’m aware of the existence of Doppels) react to the world of TW? 

For those who don’t know about Puella Magi Madoka Magica, here’s a brief summary: It’s basically an anime about cute magical girls fighting evils where absolutely nothing bad ever happened. Like, ever. 

Anyway, hopefully by the time I’m done with this, I can get my flow back for my previous writings...  

*Since the First-Years are 16, I aged up the Holy Quintet just to match. 

Homura could’ve unleashed a thousand bombs and grenades onto the wretched white rat the moment she realise that they were no longer in Mitakihara City or even on Earth! 

Her day has been going on so well, too.

Morning arrives with the same monotonous routine. It’s a new day and a new timeline which means a whole new planning she needed to do before the fated day. But that can wait after school.

The teachers and students followed their scripts perfectly. Homura deftly ignore the hallway where the History teacher would request her help carrying the journals for the woman’s next class, spin around before the clumsy girl from the class next door would spill her water bottle onto her and even freezing time to whisper into Hitomi Shizuki’s ear who is lingering outside their shared class; how she had been neglecting her dear friend Sayaka lately in favour of Kyousuke Kamijou, how unfair her treatment of Sayaka has been lately. 

By the time recess roll by, Madoka is alone just like Homura planned. Sayaka is pulled away by Hitomi. It wasn’t hard to wait quietly in her seat before the other girl spotted her and asked if they could have lunch together. 

Homura accepts without hesitation. 

She let the hours went by at their own pace until the moon is high in the sky. There’s a Witch that has been causing quite a ruckus near the shopping district. One that Homura would have no problem killing on her own, but Kyouko found it first and not even a day later, Mami caught wind of it as well. 

As the clock is about to strike midnight, the Holy Quintet are standing in front of the Witch’s Labyrinth; the back door of a luxurious shoe shop. Homura ponder on what was the connection of the shop and the Witch, before Kyouko suddenly declare to kill the Witch herself. 

“Hey, I was the one who found it first! This kill is my right!” The redhead Magical Girl announced with a Pocky stick pointing sternly at them to back off.

“Shouldn’t we work together to stop the Witch? Tomoe-san mentioned that it’s strong...” Madoka softly countered. Kyouko’s loud voice didn’t scare her but since the prize is a Grief Seed, everyone wanted it. Madoka wouldn’t dream of rebuking her friends of it. Not when they dearly need it for their magic. 

“I don’t want to add more to the fire, but if we work together, who’s going to claim the grief Seed?” Sayaka interjects, her hand up in the air as if they were in class. They haven’t transform for battle yet; it’d be a waste of magic to transform only to have half of them returning home later or search out for another Witch all night long if Kyouko won’t budge from this one. 

Madoka, Sayaka and Kyouko all turn to Mami when she remains silent for too long. 

“It can’t be help then.” Mami shrugs. “If Kyouko is adamant to kill this Witch, then we should leave it to her. She was the one to discover it after all.” 

When Kyouko whoop and cheer, Sayaka went ahead to scold her. But their relationship had progress to a stage where they could banter easily with no hard feelings involve, so Madoka is at ease. 

Homura, however, is not as it slightly deter from the script but she wisely keeps it to herself. 

Homura’s day went wrong when Madoka sweetly offer, “I still have some Grief Seeds on me, so I’m more than happy to help Sakura-san out!” 

“Madoka - ” Homura automatically begin, she would rather have Madoka reserve her magic but luckily Kyouko beats her to it. 

“Aww, it’s fine Kaname-san. I’m a big girl, ya know? I can’t handle one Witch.” Kyouko assured her with a bright smile that’s enough to dissipate Madoka’s worries. “Beside, you guys have been working hard these past few nights hunting Witches. You guys deserve a break for once.” 

“I can’t argue with that...” Mami ruefully reply. The girls all decide to leave this Witch to Kyouko’s capable hands and was about to make their way home (with Mami escorting them back even if she didn’t have to) when the door to the Witch’s Labyrinth suddenly flings open. Light, colours, myriad of voices and music flood out from the shop. 

“D-Did the Witch realised we’re here already!?” Sayaka said through gritted teeth. The corrupted Magic that’s spilling from the door is overwhelming, trying to pull the girls inside. 

“That can’t be!” Kyouko retort with her spear already in hand and stab to the ground to anchor her. Her other hand is gripping Sayaka’s to hold her steady in place. “A Witch only have absolute reign in its Labyrinth. Not in the real world!”

The Magic then began to slowly drag their feet towards the door. Madoka, who is the closest to Homura, touch her Soul Gem. Homura didn’t want her to fight, she’d rather deal with the Witch herself. 

“Madoka, wait!” Homura shouted and lunge to grab her. Her Shield is already on her arm despite that she’s still in her school uniform. She just needed to freeze time and then  - 

“Now this is interesting. This doesn’t feel like a Witch’s magic at all.” Perch on top of the many lamp post and unbothered by the overwhelming magic is Kyuubey. The Incubator blink its pink, beady eyes before jumping down and landed beside Homura. 

“You - You’re not needed here!” Homura hissed viciously.

“Look carefully through the door there, Akemi Homura. Doesn’t that look like a mirror?” Kyuubey instruct in a pleasant tone that irked the girl. 

“What are you - ”

“Akemi-san, look! There’s a mirror!” Mami’s urgent voice snapped Homura to attention. 

Indeed. There’s a black mirror inside the shop, floating in air. 

“Is that how the Witch noticed us!?” Kyouko is already brandishing her spear to throw it straight through the mirror.

Before any of the Magical Girls could do anything, the mirror forcefully yank them towards it and swallow them whole. Silence descend on the streets. 

Homura fought to stay awake but the magic lull her to close her eyes and sleep. 

-

“Did.. did a mirror just appear from the ceiling and spat out... girls?” An unfamiliar, incredulous voice was what stirred Homura up. Something feels off.  

When Homura open her eyes and realise that she and her friends are surrounded by people in strange robes staring at them as if they were aliens, a man wearing a mask and a mirror with a green face floating in it, she immediately went for the offence. 

She withdraws a gun from her Shield and aim straight at the masked man standing beside the mirror, her eyes never waver away from the crowd in robes in front of her. With a quick glance underneath her, Madoka and the rest are still unconscious before focusing on the enigma of this world and something in her whisper that she should hold the masked man accountable. 

“Where are we?” Homura demanded in the calmest voice she could muster, her finger is light as a feather against the trigger. The scripts has gone completely off the rail. “Who are you people?”

“Well now, I think that would be my question!” The masked man rebuked. Homura’s ears picked up the dumbstruck and lividness in his tone. “Really... a mirror suddenly summoned in the middle of the dorm sorting ceremony and you girls interrupted it!” 

A bullet wheeze past by the masked man’s head, only grazing a lock of his hair. Just like that, the crowd is silent. Finally realise the strange and uneasy atmosphere that curtains them, courtesy of one Magical Girl.

“I won’t ask again.” She threatens. Her eyes narrowed when a few of the people in front of her shifted. A short boy with red hair and a bespectacled boy with a beauty mark on his lower lip. She studied them warily and they did the same towards her. The fingers twitch to a small... pen? The red and grey gems will become her targets if they so much as move. 

“Geez... the situation suddenly turn dangerous.” A voice said through a floating tablet. He sounds meek and scared. 

Murmurs follow soon after. She's losing control on the situation. 

“Well?” Homura pressed and this time, she aims the gun right between the masked man’s eyes. Adults in strange coloured clothings that stood behind the mirror with the green face slowly tried to separate Homura from the crowd. Their expressions severe and cautious. 

They don’t feel like familiars. This strange room doesn’t feel like a product of a Witch’s magic. What’s worse, Kyuubey is nowhere in sight. 

“Young Miss, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here but you’re in the prestigious Night Raven College. Did you and your friends forcefully unlock your coffins?” The masked man asked, with his hands on his hips like a scolding parent yet tentative when addressing Homura after her warning shot. 

“Night Raven... College? Coffins?” Homura repeated, growing confused by the minute. She’s never heard such institution before! 

Her gun lowered slightly when she caught pieces of conversations floating from the crowd. 

“... a mistake? Night Raven College is an all-boys school after all.” 

“We woken up every first year students before coming here. There’s no way we could missed them!”

“So they somehow broke out from the coffins on their own earlier?” 

“...that in her hand? It looks some kind of weapon but I’ve never seen anything like it...” That came from the floating tablet. 

“It happened so fast that headmaster couldn’t even react! Whatever that thing is, it’s dangerous.” The short redhead boy added, his fingers nearly brushing his red gem now. 

“Where is Mitakihara City?” Homura asked instead.

The masked man titled his head at her question. “Mita... what? There’s no such city with a name like that. Did the mirror where you came from malfuction? And what’s with your clothing, Young Lady? Is that supposed to be a school uniform?” 

This is bad. Nothing makes sense. “Students of this college would already be wearing their ceremonial robes the moment they step out of their coffins.” The masked man continued, oblivious to Homura’s concern. The other Magical Girls remain sleeping. It’s up to her to get them out safely or try to figure out what’s going on. 

This couldn’t be the incubator’s game. 

Homura pulls her gun back and relax her shoulders just a little. Enough to show that she’s calm and not going to attack any time soon. “A college you say? My friends and I were forcefully pulled in through a mirror and then I woke up here. Tell me, are we even on Earth?” 

Now the masked man is perplexed. “Earth? I’ve never heard such a word before! Why, this is Twisted Wonderland!”

Homura bit her lower lip to prevent herself from calling the masked man out as a liar. She doesn’t have any prove or any information that the man is joking after all. 

Homura comfort herself by tugging on her magic and grip her gun. Good. She still has her full arsenals and useful items as well as her magic is in its peak form. 

Her mind is racing now. If one wants information, one must offer their piece first, yes? 

“I believe there’s been a... mishap. My friends and I aren’t from here. We came from a place call Mitakihara City. Twisted Wonderland doesn’t exist for us.” Homura begins. That should suffice for now. 

The floating tablet floated near Homura although there is still some distance between them. “A-Are you serious!? A bunch of girls literally isekai’ed into Night Raven College!? I can’t believe this is actually happening! My manga is a reality!” 

Homura is taken aback at the sudden enthusiastic voice. Truly not expecting a 180 from his previous meek tone. 

“Eh? Another world? Did you and your friends came from another world!?” A white haired boy with ruby eyes intervenes. Despite how odd the situation is now that he said it out loud, he’s excited about the notion. 

“It would seem so...” Homura murmus. If this is meant to be a college then the crowd must be students and adults here are their teachers. There’s magic lingering in the air. It’s unfamiliar to Homura but it’s magic nonetheless. 

“The sorting ceremony must continue on.” The mirror with the face boomed. Its voice deep and unsettling. The masked man react accordingly to it. 

“Yes, yes, we musn’t dawdle! Now then Young Miss, if you’d be so kind to help bring your unconscious friends here beside me so that the others students could - ”

“Step forth you who have mastered time and space.” The mirror with the face ordered. 

Another silence descend the room before the white haired boy with red eyes shattered it. 

“So they ARE students! This is so exciting, isn’t it Jamil? We never had students from another world before!” The boy exclaim with a beaming smile. Somehow, his smile reminded Homura of Madoka’s when she’s in a really good mood. 

“We still don’t know what’s really going on, Kalim.” A boy with complex, braided hair chastise him. Though it doesn’t deter his friend’s excitement at all. “After all, she was willing to attack the headmaster.” 

“I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding! Won’t you be confused and scared too if you’re suddenly teleported to a strange land, Jamil?” The white haired boy countered before shooing Homura to the mirror behind her. “Go see what the Mirror of Darkness has to say! Maybe it could help you.” 

The masked man sigh. “I guess it can’t be help. Young Miss, please address the mirror properly.” 

Homura tucked the gun back into her Shield and slowly turn around. The mirror with the face doesn’t strike fear in her like Kyuubey or Walpurgisnacht do, so she slowly padded towards it. 

And thus begin the Holy Quintet role as students in the world of Twisted Wonderland right after each one of the girls has been sorted. 

-

The next continuation will be dorm sorting! It was a little tough trying to sort 5 of them when there are 7 dorms but I have a idea how to get around this. Hope I did Homura justice and you guys enjoyed this piece. I adore crossovers! 

A big shoutout to @twsted-caramel​ (I hope it’s ok to tag you here) for giving me the big inspiration. Please check out their crossover of KNY and TW pieces! It’s amazing!)              

[eevee-miscellaneous]

Homura and her Demons

CW: Strong Language and Swearing

I tend to find myself a difference of opinion when it comes to this topic in the Madoka Magica. The most popular pairing (Be it platonic or often romantic), Madoka and Homura, is the best thing that came from the original series and that the third movie effectively demonizes the love between them. However that’s not a good or accurate outlook on these two. It’s time to take a step back and look at the whole picture without the shipping goggles.

So let’s start off with the obvious jumping off point that everybody’s mad about, the twist of REBELLION. Homura removing Madoka from the system that she made to save everyone and basically rewrote the entire universe. Everyone hated this twist when it first came. No shortage of outrage and criticism on this plot point. I should know. I used to be one of the people. But after years of thinking, looking at other works in the franchise, and growing, my outlook has shifted. If anything, I prefer the twist and mad that they didn’t do much with it afterwards. 

The most common criticism I’ve heard is that it’s either out of character or worse it demonizes Lesbian love by turning Homura is basically the Devil. Now I find this interesting because both aren’t true when you look at the series as a whole. Let’s tackle the first one, and put a pin in the other. Homura is sadly one of those characters. Where they have the larger fan base but those fans make more misinterpretations then the most of the fandom as a whole.

Homura is often portrayed as a savior trying to save Madoka, that’s misunderstood by everyone, who just wants what’s best for Madoka, is a good person against the world, and the true protagonist. If you actually read or watch most of the works in the series (and actually pay attention), you’d know that none of the above actually applies to her. Yes she does become a Protagonist in both Wraith Arc and Rebellion, she’s not the protagonist in the Original series. 

Remember the whole conflict about the Witch/Magical System was solved by Madoka, not Homura. Homura didn’t care for the system, and only tried to stop it ‘for Madoka’. And even then she didn’t want to fight the system, she just wanted Madoka to not become a magical girl. 

The whole “misunderstood and against the world” angel is also faulty. A lot of people that say this refer to when Homura tries to tell the other about how the magic system they’re in actually works, and they don’t believe her. Pushing her to work alone because no one will accept the truth. This one hits a few snags. 

Firstly, she couldn’t explain how or why when they pushed further than that. She didn’t learn more and there’s no evidence that she bothered to learn more about the why. So it clearly looked like she was lying and was trying to fuck with them. Secondly, did everyone simultaneously forget how Homura was acting both before the twist and what kind of world we were dealing with? It was safe to assume before Magia Record even came out that yes, backstabbing and betrayal is more common than we think. Homura was not making it easier for people to trust and work with her because of her demeanor and seclusion. If anything it alienated her even more. That wouldn’t have been an issue but her entire goal would have benefited from being able to work with at least Mami and Kyoko. Not to mention her entire belief of “no one will accept the truth” is an assumption from limited data. She has been shown only tried it once in the entire franchise as a whole. We can assume or imply all we like, but the fact that she goes cute and well-intentioned to what we see in the present; and we don’t see anything close to an in-between of the events. She never shown us her approaching the problem from a different angle or direction. If anything the only one to make absolutely sure that she never finds out about the truth is Mami. Sayaka and Kyouko tend to handle it better by sheer circumstance. 

The last one is the utmost important to clear up and is by far the most inaccurate. A savior trying to save Madoka, who just wants what’s best for Madoka. Almost everything that the series has produced has contradicted this sentiment, from spinoffs games and comics, to the original show, to the notorious REBELLION film. Homura is not a good person and isn’t doing what’s best for Madoka. She’s doing what she thinks is best for Madoka. That may seem like a small difference, but it makes a huge change.

In Episode 8 of the original series when Madoka is worried sick about Sayaka, Homura attempts to genuinely help (only once passive aggressively in the whole series I made add), she attempted to kill Sayaka when Sayaka saw through her. Because “She didn’t want Madoka to see her like this”. Sayaka is a childhood friend to Madoka and losing her best friend would effectively be worse for her than losing Mami. In ORIKO MAGICA, when the whole school was trapped in a labyrinth, Homura takes only Madoka to save her. When Madoka confronts her for not saving the others when she had the chance and power, Homura is actually surprised that the friend who she herself regarded as incredibly selfless, was mad that she abandoned their friends for her own selfishness. This is the timeline after she saw Madoka break down when Sayaka turned into a witch. She didn’t think that Madoka was at all upset that she just lost her friend. 

In Magia Record, when Kei confronts her about not knowing someone other than herself, all the things she says in response just prove their point. All the things she thinks Madoka wants, are more aligned with what she wants. For someone who is said both by fans and some of the writers to be Madoka’s best friend, Homura really doesn’t know her friend. 

And again a lot of Homura’s treatment towards Madoka and her friends isn’t healthy. A lot of fans hate Madoka for not doing anything, but praise Homura. But that’s strange because whenever Madoka does try to help, Homura comes in at the last minute just to stop her. It’s hating a character for something that the other character is causing. Homura is constantly making Madoka feel worthless by pushing her away from everything. 

Madoka goes from a strong capable magical girl to someone more timid and weak over the time Homura tries to protect her. And when someone other than her takes Madoka’s attention, she acts antagonistic towards them. When Madoka doesn’t do what Homura wants her to do, she guilt trips and gets mad at her. And one question I must ask, and this one is important. If Mami, Sayaka, and Kyouko all died, but Homura succeeded with saving Madoka, would she have gone back to save them? Even if not doing so would cost Madoka’s mental and emotional health. Cause with everything I’ve listed, the answer is no. 

Now I can’t blame the fans entirely on this misinterpretation. Since if you look at only the original series, it’s a little muddled with how they treat her actions. On the one hand, they’re not afraid to show her as a bad person, but on the other they don't fully acknowledge this. The final scene the two have together is what everyone remembers but many forget the attempt to murder Sayaka. 

That’s why I’ve softened to the Rebellion twist but it’s unapologetically showing this front and center. A lot of the things that happen aren’t just Kyubey’s fault. The infamous fight between her and Mami is literally because Homura had an idea on what was going on but didn’t think fully through. And not along after is called out by the one that she tried to hurt more times in the course of the series. From what seen in Wraith arc and the end credit scene of the series, it’s safe to assume that she was able to be caught by the incubators cause she was alone and not keeping herself sane. The entire climatic witch fight is not from Kyubey’s plan to catch Madoka, but Homura trying to self destruct to save Madoka. Even though we all know it would cause more harm than good. 

Watch the tearing in half scene again and pay attention to how Madoka is reacting to the act. That’s the brazen display of what kind of person Homura is. The only place you could find that is spin off mangas, and not many fans bother with them. If I were to hazard a guess on why the two endings are vastly different, I’d say that Gen Urobuchi likely didn’t notice the abusive element between the two until the higher ups wanted to make a franchise. I’d say that point since the original ending idea for Rebellion seems closer to what happened in the Original series, and Urobuchi has admitted to liking the ending they did go with. 

It might sound like I hate these but seeing how it’s framed as a bad thing and there’s actually consequences in-universe, I love it. I love selfish characters that aren’t always good. I love it when they do bad things and those things actually have some form of consequence. A lot of things that are staple Homura behavior are compelling and have potential for interesting character work. It’s just on who’s writing and how they frame her that becomes an issue. She’s like a lot of characters that have this kind of discourse. Interesting design but it relies a lot more on framing and writing than some other characters. 

Remember the second point I made about the criticisms? The thing the ending is demonizing is not lesbianism like many claim, it’s demonizing Homura’s creepy abuse. If they had gone with the original ending, they’d effectively be making the same mistake they made with the Original. All the things I listed for what they did in Rebellion would’ve been framed completely differently. 

I would love to see Homura’s Rebellion direction go to cool interesting routes. Seeing how we have a majority of human antagonists that aren’t….the best design, I’d like to see what kind of villain she’d become. We don’t need a morally complex antagonist like Oriko, just a well written one that does her role well. If they do go the route of redemption, all I’d ask for is not to repeat the mistakes of the worst antagonists we’ve had (y’all Magia Record fans know who). I do have faith in Gen Urobuchi on making a compelling and interesting story, but he’s human and so it’s a toss up. 

I know I’ve been really harsh on the fans of Homura and her, and I wanna make something clear. I don’t hate you for liking a character. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy Homura as a character, but I am saying that if you do you have to understand that she is a bad person. And that’s ok. You can understand why and how she is the way she is, and that’s great, but you can’t act like Homura is a good person cause that’s just a disrespect to the story and the character. Characters that are bad or just not good aren’t inherently badly written. It’s perfectly allowed to like a character like that. If that wasn’t true, villains and antagonists wouldn’t be as popular as they are. 

[whiskas-pandastar]

Comfort

Shicca Week 2020

Day 1 - Day 3 -  Day 4

Day 2: Prompt: Comfort

Rating: K+

Word Count: 1386

Genre: Romance/Humor

Shiki shuffled into the dark room and closed the door as silently as he could. He tiptoed towards the bed and managed to hit his knee against a piece of furniture and he grunts in pain. At the disturbance, Rebecca's eyes open groggily, "Hmm?" she stares the figure in front of her. "Shiki?" she calls out in recognition.

"Rebecca." Shiki replied back in a hushed tone, aware that Happy was still fast asleep beside her.

"Shiki, what's wrong?" she wakes up, feeling slightly worried.

"No- it's nothing. I'm sorry to wake you up-" he says guiltily.

"Why are you here?" she asked him, trying to gauge out his expression in the darkness. He hesitated and seemed reluctant to answer. "I-I couldn't sleep."

"What happened? Was it a bad dream?" Rebecca pressed. He was acting really weird, being all hesitant and quiet. "Answer me, Shiki." she questioned sternly.

"T-There's a bug in my room. " Shiki finally let out and whimpered sadly. He absolutely hated bugs of any kind. While he wasn't completely foreign to bugs back on Granbell, he made it a rule to avoid them.

Rebecca grumbles as she flops back into her bed, "Shiki! It's not that big of a deal!" she shoos him away. "Go back to your room, it won't do anything to you."

"Please Rebecca, let me sleep here!" Shiki pleads helplessly. "I can't sleep in there knowing that there is a bug infestation under my bed!" he shuddered comically, drawing his arms around himself.

Rebecca can't believe that they were having this conversation at this hour of the night. "Absolutely-" she glances in worry as Happy moves a little in sleep and then settles. She lowers her volume and hisses, "Absolutely not!"

"But Rebecca-!"

"No buts! Why don't you go to Weisz's room? I'm sure he won't mind sharing his room for a night." she remarks as softly and sternly as she could.

"I tried but he refused to open his door." Shiki grunts and pouts slightly like a child. "Please Rebecca? Only for tonight." he begs once again.

Rebecca feels like she's walking into a trap as she eyes his resigned and exhausted stature. And he was making that sad and insanely adorable puppy face, which always successfully melted her heart. She trusted him enough to be sure that he wouldn't try any underhand tricks and she knew about his terrible phobia of bugs. She would drive away the bug for him but she was simply too sleepy to wake up from the comfort of her bed. Furthermore, she does not want to come off as completely uncaring, even though he was the one guilt-tripping her right now.

She sighs as she relents and scoots over. "Okay, fine. Just for tonight."

She doesn't need to see his face to understand how delighted Shiki is, and she pushes the flood of second thoughts coming her way, the sleep already getting the better of her.

Shiki quickly slips into the bed like a happy kid and she warns him, poking him in the chest, "You stick to your side of the bed, alright? And don't touch me or try anything weird. Got it? Happy is right here beside me." she added menacingly. "And also no snoring!"

But Shiki is simply too overjoyed to care, "Ok-ay!" he accepts in a sing-song manner. They lay in silence, only the sound of breathing echoing softly and the ticking sound of a clock somewhere in room. Shiki closes his eyes and attempts to fall asleep but somehow, all the sleep in him had disappeared somewhere.

He tries to use a sleep technique Homura had told him about that helped her to sleep. He started counting backwards.

"100,99,98,96,93,92..."

Rebecca's scent was so good.

"91,80,no it was 89, 88..."

Her long, soft hair pricked his arm slightly.

"76...75,73,72,71..."

She was just an arm's length away from him.

"68,65...59,58,57"

Suddenly a light snore sounds in the room.

Shiki had to stop himself from bursting out laughing as he realizes that Rebecca was the one who was snoring.

He has already lost track of the counting and his thoughts drift over to the ash blonde girl sleeping beside him. He thinks of her kindness, her strength, bravery and intelligence, the times when she goes berserk against her enemies, her crazy love for food and dedication to her blog. The sheer confidence she carried herself. Shiki felt drawn to her day by day. He didn't know what he was feeling, but he knew that he wanted to be with her as much as possible, be it for an adventure in some corner of the cosmos or simply shooting a crazy video.

All his thoughts lose focus as he feels arms wrap around his torso. He jumps slightly on the contact and finds Rebecca clinging to him. "Rebecca?" he whispers, heart pounding in his chest. But she doesn't stir or reply. She was fast asleep.

Shiki sighs, keeping his hands off her as he promised. The last thing her wanted was to be sent back to his room. With the bit of the moonlight that poured through the blinds, he stares down at her features; the soft fluttering of her eyelashes, the way her nose scrunched, the curl of her lips. Gingerly, Shiki extends out a hand and pushes away a stray strand of hair that fell over her face, behind her ear.

He freezes as she stirs in her sleep. It seemed like she was seeing a dream. With bated breath, he waits and then she mutters, "Hmm... double cheese burst pizza... " She licks her lips.

Once again, Shiki struggled to stop himself from bursting out laughing at her.

Shaking his head, he closes his eyes and sleep finally comes back his way. Maybe it's because of how comfortable the bed is or how her scent relaxes him and how amazing her arms feel around him.

-x

Homura knocks lightly on Rebecca's door. "Good morning, Rebecca! Breakfast is ready!"

When she doesn't hear an answer, she pushes the button to open the automated door. She leaves the door open as she strides in. With the sunlight streaming in through the blinds, she sees a lump on the bed.

"Wake up, Rebecca. Everyone is waiting." She calls out as there is a movement.

"Hey, have you seen Shiki? Apparently, he's not in his room." Weisz stands at the doorway, still yawning. “I think he was knocking at my door last night. I was too tired to wake up.”

"I can't say I have." Homura replies and then turns to wake up Rebecca again. "Rebecca, we're going to arrive at Blue Garden soon. Hurry up."

Rebecca stirs beneath the blankets, "Five more minutes..." she mutters hoarsely.

Beside her, Happy pulls himself off the tangle of blankets. "Good morning, Weisz, Homura!" The android cat greets them cheerfully. "Rebecca is as usual, not a very morning person." he sighs shaking his head.

A mischievous grin works up on Weisz's face as he walks to the foot of her bed. "Becky~ wakey wakey!" He grabs the blanket and pulls it over, but nothing prepares them for the sight before them.

Homura, Weisz and Happy gawk as they stare, Shiki and Rebecca lying on the same bed pressed against each other, limbs tangled together.

After a moment, Rebecca grumbles and sits up drowsily. "Weisz!" She frowns at their expressions and the feeling of something clinging to her waist, "What is-" and then her eyes fall on Shiki's sleeping figure beside her, arms wrapped around her waist.

"Kyaa!" Rebecca pushes Shiki off the bed, and he falls on the floor with an 'oof'. "Wait a second! It's not what you think!" she splutters, blushing madly as Shiki shoots everyone a look of confusion, sleep still clouding his mind.

Homura recovers, a blush heating up her own cheeks, "I-Its fine, Rebecca. We're sorry for barging in! At your age it's fine to-"

Rebecca howls in embarrassment, "It's not that! Oh my God, it's not what it looks like, I swear!"

"Ugh, honestly I didn't know Shiki had it in him." Weisz turns away, running a hand through his hair, a blush rising up his neck too.

"That's not it!!!" Rebecca screeches loudly, in an ear splitting voice, driving away any possible signs of morning drowsiness among the Eden’s Zero crew effectively.

-x

A/N: Thank your likes on the previous post :D  a house tour video by Rebecca is long due! I need to see more of the Eden's zero ship and their daily lives :D Anyway, did you guys read the new manga update? I wonder who Weisz's important person is!

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Episode 7

*Finishes re-rewatching Treasure Planet* Ah, what a good movie. That and I,Robot and Terminator 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Star Wars and- Wait, why did I start watching all these movies again? I remember it had something to do with Transhumanism. Something about contracts and a Bunny-cat being a dick and girls who were actually lichs… Oh crap, the thread! That is a very big moon.

Sayaka’s slowly walking back to her apartment, her face shadowed and… what, seriously? Madoka isn’t there? What the heck, Madoka? You just let your friend leave on her own after that whammy? She’s entered her apartment now, not being very quiet about closing the door. Does she live on her own? If it turns out she’s an orphan too I’m going to snap. Lights on, Sayaka tosses her Soul Gem (which is actually herself, what the heck) onto the table KYUBEY. GET OUT. BACK TO THE LIST CORNER WITH YOU. “You tricked us, didn’t you?” She didn’t even have to turn around and see he was there, did she? It’s obvious that the little jerk would waltz in uninvited. Oh you are such an asshole! “I just didn’t explain exactly what form you’d be taking to do that”? Oh yeah, that’s such a minor detail, not worth mentioning, really! “Because you never asked.” Because they never asked?! Informed consent, Bunny-cat! Learn it! Aw HELL no. You don’t get to use “even Mami never noticed to the very end” as an excuse. Ever think that maybe if she knew the risks she wouldn’t have worn her literal soul as a hairpin?! The little jerk keep on listing the advantages of Soul Gems. He really doesn’t see anything wrong with what he’s done, does he? Kyubey? What are you doing with Sayaka’s Soul Gem? What the hell is wrong with you, Bunny-cat? You want to show how relatively fragile a human body is to pain? Fine, there are plenty of other ways to show that without inflicting Sayaka with enough pain to make her collapse! WHY ARE YOU STILL DOING IT?! We get it, Soul Gems dampen pain reception between the mind and body! Stop torturing Sayaka! Please, she’s crying! Friggen finally. Sayaka, you need to get up, grab that little demon, and chuck him out the window. And never let him get close to your Gem, alright? As Sayaka recovers, Kyubey is rambling about how Magical Girls can control the degree of pain reception on their own, but he doesn’t recommend it at it lowers reaction time. ...wow, ok. Even I can see that manipulation at work there. You inflict Sayaka with severe pain, and then ‘offhandedly mention’ that she can make it so she feels no pain at all? Real subtle, Bunny-cat. Because why worry about the well-being of these girls when you can make them that much more aggressive in getting you food? And then he uses the “I’ve granted the Wish that you (unintentionally) sold your soul for” card. Yep, I just saw the show’s familiar torture one of the main characters, manipulate her into unlocking a pain-free fighting style (who needs the warnings that a body part is damaged, anyway?) and claim that she owes him for services rendered. So of course, we go into the bright and poppy Intro of Lies! Ugh. Get out of Madoka’s room, you jerk. And get away from Mami, too! Episode 7: Can you face your true feelings? It’s school the next day, seems that Sayaka skipped out. Wonder if the attendance office would accept a “I was tricked out of my soul by a Bunny-cat” as an excused absence. Aw. Looks like she’s been curled up under her blankets since last night, she didn’t even change her clothes. But hey, why worry about what you meat-puppet is wearing, right? On Fancy Rooftop now, Madoka’s meeting with Homura. Hey, that’s right, she knew about the “MGs are actually inside the Soul Gem” thing, right? Why didn’t you say anything, Homura? Damn! Madoka’s actually calling Homura out on it, asking if she really did know… but she says she tried telling others in the past. And nobody ever believed her. Ouch. I mean… yeah, it’s a really farfetched story. And I guess the only way to prove it would be for her to purposefully get far away from her Soul Gem. And that’s way too big a risk to take. Now they’re talking about how Kyubey doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong. Interesting how Homura’s calling him an it now, saying it cannot comprehend human values. I’ll be using that for Bunny-cat from now on, matches the clinical detachment. Sure, it insists that “a (short) lifetime of fighting Witches to feed me” is equal to “granting a single Wish”. Yup, Madoka’s not agreeing to the exchange rate. Healing one person’s non-fatal injuries does not equal service as a Magical Lunch Lady. But Homura’s simply saying that it was a miracle, something impossible made possible. ...oh stop being so moody, Homura. You can’t know that medical science would never be able to heal his hands. The guy’s still in middle school, for crying out loud, he has his whole life ahead of him! Just because current science isn’t able to do it, doesn’t mean you should assume that it never will. I will concede that a miracle, a proper miracle, is a Big Deal. I’m a little more iffy on whether it is of greater value that an entire human life. But you will NOT convince me that healing one person’s hands is equal to the life of a Magical Girl. Ooh, good point Madoka! For all of Homura’s “give up on her” talk, if she hadn’t become a Magical Girl then Madoka, Hitomi, and all the other people in that factory would have died! (Urgh, I’m am so torn between my I WAS RIGHT from that episode and my understanding now of what becoming a Magical Girl does) Oh. “Don’t confuse gratitude with responsibility.” That’s… that’s pretty heavy. Homura’s hammering home the point that Madoka is just a human, who has no ability to save Sayaka Miki. She shouldn’t try to ‘repay’ Sayaka to alleviate her sense of guilt. ...wow. That is… wow. Somewhere the ghost of Thomas Hobbes is applauding Homura’s self-interest philosophy. Well, ok. I guess one’s sense of morality can be slightly affected by being an undead magic user. It’s a lot easier to justify self-interest when the Muggles you know die of old age and your associates keep getting killed by these monsters. Why stay constrained by human ethics when you see yourself as no longer human? So does that make Mami a Pro-Human Transhuman, then? Sayaka’s still in her bed… Oh. Oh DAMN. That’s… Um. I mean, it’s, uh, not really that bad? I mean, just because your soul now fits in your pocket that doesn’t mean you can’t still date and… Damn. That’s something I didn’t even consider. The basis of Sayaka making the Contract was to heal Kamijo, and we have to admit there was a degree of “I can get his affection” in that Wish. But with the realization of how she relates to her former body now? Not to mention the whole “eternally young” thing. Damn it, Bunny-cat. The hell? Who just spoke? Kyoko? She wants to talk? Sayaka’s dressed and following Kyoko through the park now, who’s busy chomping down apples. Huh, she says she’s ok with the whole zombie thing. Well, you can’t deny that the powers of a Magical Girl can be useful, I suppose if you focus enough on the benefits you can rationalize the whole lich thing. Sayaka calls her out on her “you get what you pay for” attitude. Although I’m suddenly wondering if she paid of all the food she’s been eating. Having MG powers probably makes it easier to get five-finger discounts. Kyoko cheerfully agrees. Huh. “And if you live only to benefit yourself, you’ve got to pay for your own mistakes too.” And suddenly you’ve made self-interest sound noble. If you don’t involve others, then you don’t- *Suddenly remembers that Kyoko has advocated letting Familiars kill bystanders in order to get more Grief Seeds* Nope, never mind, still hate you. The sun’s sinking lower as the two girls reach some sort of old building, which Kyoko kicks down the door of. Broken stained glass? So is this an old church or art gallery or something? Well, whatever this place is, it’s certainly seen better days.

We're at the dilapidated stained-glass building, I'm thinking it's a church of some sort as the camera's looking at an altar sort of thing in front of where the biggest window would be.

Sayaka's asking why Kyoko had her come out here, Kyoko says it's a long story and tosses her an apple. Huh, is this like when she offered Homura pocky, a sign of trust?

Ooh, but Sayaka just tossed it to the ground. I don’t mean to nitpick, Sayaka, but it looks like Kyoko’s extending an olive branch here. You don’t have to like the hard-line MG, but maybe a truce could

WHOA ok Kyoko did not like that, she rushed forward and his lifting Sayaka off the ground. And that is a gruesome crackling sound, I really hope that’s just her uniform.

“Don’t ever waste food. I’ll kill you if you do.” Don’t waste food around Kyoko, got it.

Yup, Kyoko is bodily lifting Sayaka by the collar, until she calms down and lets her drop. Then she picks up the apple, dusts it off and puts it back in the bag.

Ooh, new music? Backstory for Kyoko? I still hate her for the whole “letting Familiars go” thing, but after my Homura rage was shown to be a little excessive and Kyubey proved to be a dick I’m willing to hear this story out.

“See… this was my dad’s church.” Aha, it is a church! Wait, ‘was’?

Aw, paper-cutout stick puppets! That’s adorable. We see Kyoko’s pastor dad get passed by two smaller cutouts… little sister? Aw dammit, this is another “How a MG became an orphan” story, isn’t it?

“He thought that in order to save a new generation, we needed to have a new religion.” Well, hopefully without sparking any religious debate, that sounds pretty good to me. Not quite sure about the “preaching stuff that wasn’t in the Bible” part, but he seems earnest at least.

So people stopped attending the church, and he got excommunicated by the overall Church? Harsh.

“From the outside, he probably looked like some raving cultist.” Good to see that Kyoko recognizes that while she believes (believed?) in what he taught she understands it could be seen as radical. Although was it really necessary to dump water on the guy, random person? Yes he’s preaching at your house, but that doesn’t mean you should treat him like that.

Side note: dumping water out a window? Do people still do that, now? Or is this Backstory set in a time when it was more common? After all, with the whole meat puppet thing, I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to place this way back when.

“It got to the point where our entire family didn’t even have food to eat.” Oh, explanation for why she always has food! Nice touch, show!

...damn it, this show’s making my sympathize with the character who argued for Muggles as Monster Chow by showing how her family was starving… ok, fine, Kyoko. You can have a cushion for your chair.

Nice art style here! Showing Kyoko playing with these paper stick puppets while the girls’ art style stands out against the background.

Little Girl Kyoko just couldn't understand why all this was happening. Why people couldn’t just hear her father out and see that he was right.

And then she met Kyubey.

“And so I asked Kyubey to make everyone listen seriously to what my dad said.”

Oh. Oh no.

The very next day the church was packed full of people again. And each of their paper cutouts has red eyes and an image of Kyoko’s Soul Gem on their chest.

Damn it, Kyubey. She asked for people to listen to her dad, not get mind-controlled by him.

Bunny-Cat Jerk: “What’s the difference? They’re hearing the same words either way.”

It must have seemed so perfect. Her dad’s church is doing well, and she’s got cool new superpowers and monsters to fight. Her dad got to preach to the world, and she took care of the Witches. So she threw herself into Witch-hunting. Because between the two of them, they could save the world.

Hey, cutout of a taller woman holding hands with them! Wasn’t sure there was a mom in the picture until now.

But then her dad found out. And when he found out that the people were compelled to come by magic rather than belief, he “flipped out”. He called Kyoko “a witch who tainted people’s hearts”. WOW. Ok, in any magical setting that would be some harsh words, but when the demons are called Witches…when she hunted real Witches every night...

Oh no.

Yup. Orphan story.

Damn it. This doesn’t excuse her letting innocents die, but when it resulted in her father killing the rest of the family and then committing suicide…

I’ll be right back, going to get Kyoko some pocky to snack on.

“My wish destroyed my whole family.” Kyoko says that because she went and made a wish for someone else, without really knowing what he wanted, it brought everyone misfortune.

“Right then, I vowed in my heart never to use magic to help anyone else again.” Ouch. So Kyoko’s self-interest stems from the results of her Wish. If helping others only ends up in misfortune, then it is best to use if for your sake and yours alone.

This show seems to really be stressing a philosophy of ‘equal and opposite reaction’. Is karma the right term? “If you wish for hope, an equal amount of despair will be rained down upon you, too”. Seems that’s what Kyoko believes now, seeing it as preserving the world’s balance.

Sayaka asks Kyoko why she told her all of this. Huh, Kyoko really is trying to teach Sayaka, isn’t she? Like Homura’s trying to keep Madoka from making a contract and losing her soul, Kyoko’s trying to get Sayaka to, from her perspective, stop wasting her energy on helping others when whatever good she does will be countered by despair… I don’t think that Sayaka’s going to really approve of this philosophy.

Sayaka questions where “teaching others about how the world sucks” falls in a self-interest philosophy, Kyoko says that she’s trying to stop Sayaka from a life that will bring more regrets. You’ve already “paid your dues”, time to get your money’s worth! (Unintentionally) sold your soul? Then live it up on earth!

“I was really wrong about you.” Sayaka?

Oh! She’s apologizing for her initial opinion of Kyoko. But she still doesn’t regret making her wish for someone else’s sake. Go Sayaka!

“I’ve decided that I’ll never regret anything. Ever.” Um. Go Sayaka? I mean, good words, but I’m not sure that anyone could live up to that.

Huh. You don’t think you paid too high a price? We are still talking about your soul here, right?

“Because, depending on how we use it, this magic can be used for wonderful things.” Alright! Ally of Justice, everyone! Screw how dark this show’s gotten, we can still turn this around! Right?

Right?

Oh dear. She wants to know where Kyoko got her apples from.

Aw crap. Just when I get all excited about Sayaka not getting turned away from being a Hero, she goes full-on Paladin. And not the Paladin that you want in your party, either, but the “Almighty Babysitter” type a DM would use to keep the players in check. Yes, you want the rogue to exercise some self-control, but nobody likes partying with a Lawful Stupid character.

Sayaka. Kyoko just told you her Tragic Backstory in the ruins of her father’s church. Are you really going to chastise her about where she stole a bag of apples? Yes, yes you are. *sigh*

Kyoko is not happy about her advice getting so totally rejected, angrily eats an apple while Sayaka walks away.

Well this is just great. I can admire Sayaka not regretting her choice, but you do remember your last ‘fight’ with the more-experienced MG? It did not end well. What makes you think you could do better next time?

Sayaka’s walking to school now, I assume the next day. Hey, Madoka and NPC, I mean Hitomi! All three are walking along, Sayaka claims she was feeling sick the day before-

Hey, Kamijo! Oh. Kamijo. And Sayaka didn’t know he was going back to school

In class Kamijo’s the center of attention, chatting about he’s aiming to set aside the crutches next week. Madoka suggests that Sayaka go talk with him, but she says that she’s fine.

Closeup of Hitomi?

Wait, why are they at Fancy Food Court again? And it’s just Sayaka and Hitomi.

“About love.” Wait. Wait, no. No no no NO.

Hitomi has a crush on Kamijo.

Hitomi, please stop. This is…

Hitomi. You have no idea what damage you are causing right now. I understand from your perspective you are just expressing your intent to a friend of yours in an attempt to prevent any bad feelings. That’s commendable, really, a proper thing to do. Good manners.

But this is the boy that Sayaka, while unintentionally, sold her soul to heal.

I am begging you, do not do this.

Great, a deadline. Hitomi’s waiting until after school the next day to confess her feelings to Kamijo, so Sayaka has a chance to.

Well, great.

Later that night, at Sayaka’s apartment complex…

KYUBEY. SCREW YOU.

Bunny-Cat Jerk: “Ah, whatever. Time for my magical lunch ladies to get me more food!”

Madoka’s waiting for Sayaka again. What a good friend. And after the wtfery of the last few days, from listening to Kyoko’s Tragic Backstory to Hitomi’s deadline, Sayaka starts crying. She had a moment that day where she almost regretted something…

Sayaka, it’s ok to regret things. Nobody is perfect-

WOW OK. That’s a little different, thinking “If only I hadn’t saved Hitomi that time…”

Let me try that again. Sayaka, there are things that it is ok to regret, but succeeding in saving a life is not one of them. By all means, never regret that. And stop trying to hold yourself up to Mami’s level, you are at most a few weeks into the job, if not days. You’ll become a worthy Magical Girl in your own time, there’s no shame in that.

And I’m sorry about the Hitomi situation, that you feel that it’s inevitable and there’s nothing you can do because you’re “already dead”. Please, Sayaka. It sucks that your life is now this because of Bunny-Cat’s dick move, and I can’t see a painless way to get out of this. But please, talk with Madoka. Be a good example to Kyoko and Homura. Don’t let the problems of today weigh you down. You are Sayaka Miki, student of Mami Tomoe. You will be a glorious Magical Girl, a hero. Just stay strong.

Sayaka’s doing a little better after Madoka give a shoulder to cry on. Keep being a good friend, Madoka. Now, let’s go save the Muggles!

In what looks like an old construction site…

Kyoko’s there, chomping on a popsicle as she looks at a labyrinth. Are the others in there already?

Oh hey, Homura! She questions why Kyoko is on the sidelines right now, Kyoko says that Sayaka’s fighting a full-fledged Witch tonight. So since it’s sure to drop a Grief Seed, no reason to let the Familiar go to eat more people. As for why she’s letting someone else fight the ‘prey’? She doesn’t answer. Hmm, did Sayaka’s response leave an impact?

Inside the labyrinth, the art style seems to be black silhouettes against a white background.

Hey, this is Sayaka’s theme, isn’t it?

Sayaka’s charging the Witch, but keeps getting blocked by these dragon-head things. She almost reaches the… bonsai tree? But a branch grows and traps her. Madoka runs forward- oh hey, Kyoko’s here and cut her loose! She scoffs about Sayaka’s performance and gets ready to atta- nope, Sayaka tells her to get out of the way, that she’ll do this alone. Are you sure about that, Sayaka? This is a Witch, after all.

Ouch, that’s got to hurt. Good thing she can heal, though.

Wait. Is she laughing?

Um. She’s not dodging anymore, just charging. And now she’s slashing wildly at the Witch while still laughing.

“It’s really true! If I just detach myself…”

Oh no.

Ranubis said:As Sayaka recovers, Kyubey is rambling about how Magical Girls can control the degree of pain reception on their own, but he doesn’t recommend it at it lowers reaction time. ...wow, ok. Even I can see that manipulation at work there. You inflict Sayaka with severe pain, and then ‘offhandedly mention’ that she can make it so she feels no pain at all? Real subtle, Bunny-cat. Because why worry about the well-being of these girls when you can make them that much more aggressive in getting you food?

Well, this is just GREAT. Sayaka’s gone and turned into a Berserker Paladin, hasn’t she?

“...I really don’t feel any pain! *crazed laughter*”

Sayaka. Sayaka, please. Don’t do this. Going into a Berserker Rage never helps.

Can’t you hear Madoka begging you to stop?!

Well. That was certainly a cheery point to end the episode. Last time we discovered that the girls were lichs. Now Sayaka’s gone and started fighting in Berserker Mode. What’ll happen next, Madoka’s Mom gets killed by a Witch?!

Ugh. This show, you guys.

After Credits Picture! And adorable image of Kyoko, Sayaka and Madoka snacking on fish treats, while Sayaka yanks Kyubey away from the bag. If only this was the show that we had…

“I’m going to be a different kind of magical girl from all of you...That’s what I’ve decided...I don’t need thanks or recompense. I’ll be the one magical girl who won’t use her magic for herself.”

Well, that’s a good Hero Statement. Good for you Saya-

Episode 8: I Was Stupid… So Stupid

...what. No. NO. THAT IS A HORRIBLE EPISODE TITLE, WHY WOULD YOU-

[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Session 42 (Epilogue)

No Driver’s License was a Madoka Magica game I ran for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It followed five magical girls as they dealt with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They figured out what was going on, who they could trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

This is the last in a series of session recaps I’ve been keeping, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 41]

Last time on No Driver’s License, the team got together to discuss their plans for the future. The Devil showed up to throw a wrench into the gears, though, and they found themselves reconsidering their plans and exploring other options. With their immediate foes dealt with, there were so many ways they had available to make something out of the future.

This time, we step away from Magical Burst in favor of something a little more zoomed-out: a simple homebrewed system built to resolve complicated plots.

How it works is: we start out with a description of the Darkest Timeline. If our heroes were to just give up entirely, what’s the worst that could happen? Because that’s what’s going to happen, if they do. To not give up, each player has five Hope points- plus two for each Hope Burst they banked during the campaign. To change the dark future, players can propose things that could happen, and bid Hope points to make them so (point costs set by the GM). 

On my end, apart from setting the costs of interventions, I had 13 Chaos points. Whenever anyone made a bid of Hope to change the future, I could spend equivalent Chaos to twist the outcome- add some complication that messes up the tidy little bow they’ve tied on their problems. My objective with Chaos is to keep the setting interesting, ensuring that the players don’t just create a boring utopia.

Each player also has 3 Chaos points, which they can either use the same way as me- or spend, handing me Chaos in exchange for extra Hope, one to one. A little insurance for if someone feels like the GM’s point prices are unfair- the players can put their money where their mouth is.

So! What did our players do to the world? Let’s find out.

First off: the dark future they hope to avert.

Sakura: Your mundane life becomes yet more intolerable. Your classmates reject you, your aunt is unable to meet your emotional needs, your team dismisses you, and magic becomes your only outlet. The world of magic is no kinder, though, and your attempts to brighten it backfire. Happy endings hastily grasped shatter in your too-large hands, and everything is your fault, until... 

Yukari: You succumb to the darkness. You were never the kind of person who could have a happy ending. She who fights with monsters might take care lest she become a monster, and somewhere in the storm of conflict you find it expedient to throw away your morality and humanity for an increasingly distant greater good. Some hero finds the means to slay you. 

Seina: You and those around you lose faith. After many failures to pull your friends back from the brink, your team falls apart. Cho comes to label you another deceiver, and is she wrong? There was so much you could have done, but you missed your opportunity. You fade and wither and accomplish nothing, until...

Makoto: Your inexperience causes your life to crumble. Civilization can only do so much to bring a stranger into the fold, and you can't find a place in it where you can thrive. The world of magic is dangerous and stressful and lonely and it's all you have left, until... 

Ibara: The boot comes down. Authority tries to keep you from doing good again, and your power reacts in kind. The world- even your magical friends- begin to forget your existence whenever they disagree with you. You become a ghost- unnecessary, unloved, unknown, capable only of scaring the living, until... 

The world: Until... word gets out about the grief sink, turning Tokyo into a hotspot battleground between all the worst of the worst from around the world. It gives out in the midst of this conflict, leaving those worst of the worst to fight each other for survival. Worst of all, the fight claims the lives of civilians, including Joshuya Junko and/or Kaname Tomohisa. The Devil despairs and leaves the world, and the subsequent disappearance of Grief power causes the Incubators to become desperate. They invade Earth, unstoppably, and attempt to recreate the machinery of Grief on their own, turning the world into an entirely fruitless torture factory. Life in the universe collapses and eventually fades away. 

This... is bad. When dealing with forces like these, the worst-case scenario is extremely worst. What’s it going to take to turn this fate away?

Well... let’s start with the big ones. First: Sakura would like to colonize Mars, building a self-sufficient cityscape for magical girls to call home. That’s a whole three Hope points to do- could be more, but magic can do a lot, and it’s not like anybody is opposing her bid. Mars is colonized, no Chaos opposition.

That pairs well with- and reduces the cost of- Yukari’s plan to colonize Earth. That is- she’d like to build an MSY, a magical girl government that applies some structure to the magical world. No more disconnected vigilantes murdering each other all over the planet- an actual organization that can unite megucakind against the Incubators. It only costs her two, with Mars as a base of operations, but this is very much something I’d like to spend Chaos to twist.

See- the problem with establishing a magical government is that there are rivals. All around the world, cannibal warlords like Kimiko and Honoka have been trying to crush their rivals and become the most powerful, and that presence hasn’t just disappeared. For two chaos, this government- Pleroma- becomes embroiled in a long-running war against the monsters that rule the roost. You can imagine plenty of adventures where magical girls are tasked by the government to go into cities ruled by supercannibals to take them down. 

Yukari also spends a few points to stabilize some things. She uses her riches to ensure the team is provided with homes, and also devotes time and resources to ensuring Homura’s plan to bring Madoka back into the world goes successfully.

The last big world obstacle to overcome is... the incubators. No one feels like making an effort to stay hidden- if they’re going to do anything about magic, it’s going to raise some alarm bells with the resident galactic overlords. Becoming strong enough to take on the civilization that rules the universe and created magic itself... that’s expensive. Just resisting them, making humanity enough of a threat to not be worth crushing outright, is six points- too much for any one player to afford. They pool their resources, though- Yukari spending her Chaos, and Makoto and Ibara contributing the rest. As a result, humanity is able to reverse-engineer Incubator technology and make themselves a little too dangerous to risk trying to stomp.

For six chaos, though, the incubators are pretty upset about losing Earth, which was pretty productive. They’ve never had a rival power in the universe before, and they’re not really sure how to handle it. While they can’t actively take over the Earth again, they do continue to show up on Earth in secret, offering the standard deal with a modified Hell Engine repurposed from one of their less productive worlds. Oldtype magical girls continue to be contracted, though it’s of course illegal and not really a smart move- they have to be very careful about who they select, and offer them more power. A shadow war against the Incubators’ new secret servants threatens to destabilize Earth and Pleroma.

Lastly, for five hope and chaos, we get a twist on... an attempt to harness “Hope”, the strange magical power that allowed Sakura and Makoto to save the Hell Engine. While they’re able to establish a Hope-based magic system not built on suffering... 

Well, hope, the new power source of positivity and determination and love and all that, isn’t actually a fundamental force of the universe like whatever the hell the Devil is tapping into to power things with Grief. It’s not clear exactly what Hope is, only how to access it and use it, and for some reason the Devil hates it when you use Hope. If pushed, she’ll tell you- not based on anything but a hunch and a horrible wrenching feeling in her existence- that it’s destroying what’s left of Her. That has to be it, right? You really can’t convince her that Hope is anything other than the burning of Godoka’s corpse. Eventually- not immediately, but far in the future, if people continue to use Hope- she will flee the timeline to get away from the pain, and Grief will no longer function.

So... that’s the general shape of things. Earth and Mars unified under one magical banner, the Incubators more or less driven off, and Hope supplanting Grief as a source of power. That’s pretty great! But what happens to the characters?

However, Yukari, Seina, and Makoto don’t spend any of their points on keeping themselves from falling apart. Makoto, in particular, looks at her worst-case scenario and accepts it, more or less. She doesn’t really find a place in the mundane world- instead, she throws herself into dealing with the various magic stuff that crops up.

Cool, cool...

Standard stuff. As for the rest of her situation...

Makoto also ends up spending points to help make sure Seina ends up okay. Specifically, she intervenes in a brewing crisis wherein Cho attempted to start her old cult again, this time using magic as a recruitment tool. She talks Cho down, gets Seina out of the fire, and settles down out in the countryside- living with Cho, actually.

Sakura, meanwhile, takes it upon herself to make sure Yukari doesn’t go off the rails. She makes sure to stick close, keeping Yukari from throwing herself into unnecessary self-destructive conflicts and keeping her alive during the necessary ones.

So... what does Seina do with all those points she’s not spending on herself? Turns out it’s R&D, mostly. She spearheads the investigation of Hope magic along with Sakura and Ibara, and also throws in... oh, y’know. Solving world hunger, disease, aging, climate change, human wars... all that good stuff. Somebody’s gotta do it, right? Come on, she’s magic, and all those problems are right there!

Sakura... she spends her last couple points of Chaos to recruit some allies. Earth isn’t the only world Incubators have enslaved as a Grief source- for two points, she gets in contact with a race of nautiloids on a nearby planet, and they’re drawn into the resistance movement. They provide some useful technology that reduces the cost of the war, and also... it is specified that through genetic engineering, Nautiloids can, in fact, breed with humans. I... decided not to ask too many questions about that. There are things about tentacles I’d rather not know.

Ibara, meanwhile, has a couple people she wants to help out. Sokoko, for instance, didn’t seem super stable even after they fought the crazy out of her, and Ibara made sure she was taken care of.

Also... remember that time Ibara witched in the Hell Engine and created a twenty-foot-tall imprint of herself on a demon? And then that demon tried to destroy the Hell Engine and got crushed and trapped under the rubble she created? Ibara would like to... not leave her hanging.

Is something I said, which Ibara decided was bullshit and worked around. She pumped Hope into the problem, severing the demon IBARA from the Devil and imbuing it with humanity. G...great??? Two points.

So! That’s... pretty much it for the PCs! Seina and Makoto work to make the world a better place, Yukari and Sakura go around building a space empire, and Ibara pitches in on all that and also kind of becomes a mom.

Before I get into the solo epilogue sections written by the players, here’s the skinny on the NPCs. First, Orino, who gets to embody the party’s mistakes:

THAT’S WHAT YOU GET! THAT’S WHAT YOU ALL GET FOR GOING TO THE MOON SO GODDAMN MUCH! IF YOU CAN USE THE MOON TO HURT ME, I GET TO USE THE MOON TO HURT YOU!!! RAAAAAAAAAA

...anyway. As for Tama-chan and the other fake Incubators...

Did Tama-chan ever actually tell any of you what it meant to become an Incubator? Her fakes... what they did to them was much the same as what the real Incubators did to Orino. They took people who'd had their entire ability to be dissatisfied burned away, and gave them something to be dissatisfied with- something to push them forward to action. What they gave them wasn't anything they designed themselves- none of these mere humans were capable of that. Instead, they gave them something prepackaged, the same thing that'd been given to Kyubey. The same thing given to anyone in Kyubey's line of work. A motive, an intrinsic part of their psychology that told them what their highest priority was. That priority... was to maximize grief production.

A magical girl with no Trauma Tracks is driven only by the very basics of their nature. Whatever they're inclined to do when totally satisfied with their circumstances- a state of being typically inaccessible to magical girls- that's what they do. Miyaichi Masumi's basic inclination was to look for beauty in the world, and so she floated around observing the beauty her magic unthinkingly created.

Fukuda Fumiko's basic inclination was to hang around her friends, finding and attacking weaknesses in other people. With the incubator imperative, she hung around her friends, finding and attacking weaknesses in other people, and tried to interfere with their operations so the impact of their grief sequestering ways would be reduced, improving the efficiency of grief production. The cannibals tell you, in time, what role Fumi-chan played in their activites before you showed up. She made herself much like Nishi-chan meant to be, an antagonistic force which got in their way all the time. Not that she'd stop claiming to be their friend, nor would she stop acting insulted that they no longer trusted her.

This was the basic profile of all of Tama-chan and Nishi's Incubators. The perfect worker is one who doesn't truly care about anything but the cause, who can't be upset by anything except problems with the bottom line. While they may have seemed human, may have been easy to get along with... ultimately, that was all they had.

When you began engineering a new hope-based magic system with the intention of cancelling grief production, this became something of a sticking point.

Tama-chan moved quickly upon realizing what was happening, but not quickly enough. She was able to trick a number of her former loyal lieutenants into having their core motives removed, including Ritsushima Ran, the fake in charge of monitoring and censoring the internet. Amai Asa, the agent assigned to watch over Masumi, was also rescued.

Those who had their motives removed largely reverted to a state much like Masumi's- capricious, impossible to dissuade from a course of action. (This was thanks both to their unbounded magical power, and their inability to be dissatisfied with what they were doing.) A few, whose natural inclinations were useful and predictable, were able to continue to serve roles in Pleroma's structure- but the rest became... well, they were certainly happy, but they were dangerous liabilities until their magic eventually ran out, and considerable Pleroma resources were dedicated to keeping them contained.

Those who did not have their motives removed... became even greater liabilities. Fumi-chan, Hatsu-chan, the nameless one you named Nagato-chan, and many others- they all retained their programming, and when war arrived with the true Incubators, they had little trouble picking sides. Without Tama-chan's operation actively facilitating their respawning, their impact was limited, but they made themselves a significant obstacle. Those who didn't outright die in the war were accepted into the Incubators' ranks, and were eventually forced to flee alongside their masters. You have no way of knowing how well they adapted to Incubator culture.

Fumi-chan was one of those who died in the war. She led a hasty attack on the Martian city of Teppelin, and her ranks were broken by its Princess in her flagship mecha, Seelenfaust. The Princesses of Teppelin and New Candyopolis personally fought in that battle, alongside the field captain of the Pleroma Combat Division's foremost strike unit, Golden Scepter. Reports are mixed as to which of them ended up dealing the fatal blow to the Incubators' cruelest agent, but Makoto- whatever Yoshe is to you, the captain of Golden Scepter remained her first priority. When she visited after that battle, Yoshe was drying her tears for days. 

How about the non-Incubator girls?

Hasebe Hekima... she was the sort of person who had trouble being happy. She wasn't depressed, just... she was suspicious of the whole business. Being happy was an awful lot like being complacent, and she'd fought for her life far too long to be comfortable with that. Much like Yukari, she threw herself into work, spearheading several critical operations against the Incubators during the war in her role in the Pleroma Intelligence Division. Her career in xenopsychological espionage came to an end, however, when she worked with other mind mages in her division to try to extract what was left of her fallen friends from her psyche. She was... successful, in a manner of speaking, but the homunculi she made exhibited only the parts of her friends that could hurt, and the resultant horror at what she'd done drove her to witch faster than her teammates could get to her with hope-based grief healing. Afterwards, she became a Masumi-type, which as horrible fates go isn't as horrible as it could be. Her inclination to seek and draw out the innermost thoughts of others made her a pretty effective therapist until she mysteriously disappeared one day.

Rikimaru Reiko renounced magical girling and got into real estate, working for a struggling property management business and eventually climbing the corporate ladder until she became head of operations. She proceeded to turn it into a rather successful property management business, being one of the first to take the industry to Mars. She occasionally visits her mother in prison to gloat.

Akagi Anzu attempted to follow in Makoto's footsteps and become a heroic magical girl who saved people, which... what with her social anxiety, didn't go very well, at first. She had a pretty significant breakdown after a somewhat public failure where the person she was trying to protect ended up in the hospital, which led with her witching. She was rescued pretty quickly, though, and she kind of did a 180 after that Trauma Track was cleared. Later, when the Devil canceled Grief and the war started, she ended up second-in-command in one of the Pleroma Support Division's Earth orbital patrols, putting together a heroic defense that saved countless lives. After that, she fell in love and ended up a housewife? Apparently that was something she'd been wanting, go figure.

Chigusa Cho never lost faith. She, uh... Makoto had to kind of talk her down from trying to rebuild what she had, as far as the specific cult organizational practices went, but she continued to believe in Ikebana-no-Uzume. And... continued to get annoyed with Ikebana-no-Uzume, who, rather than embark on a mission of brainwashing humanity into universal love and caring, went about wasting her time with pointless crap. World peace? Ending world hunger? Eradicating all disease?! Those were all just band-aids on the fundamental problem, which is that people weren't all united with a single all-loving purpose! She... didn't really do much but complain, though, because she trusted that Seina would get around to it eventually. Makoto and Yoshe just had to put up with her complaining every time the subject came up.

Olivia Gumm struggled to find a mass audience for her work for a while, but... when the masquerade dropped, and real-life magical girls became the hot new thing, she was ahead of the curve and the first on the scene with a breakout hit. Certain parties put pressure on her publisher to give her a better deal, after that, and with that money- plus the backing from a certain niece who was now one of the most powerful and influential people on Ear- I mean, Mars- she was able to start a self-published online manga with a less punishing schedule. 

So... after all that was worked out, I had each of the players write an epilogue for themselves, in keeping what what had been established during play. Here’s what they came up with:

From @koito-yuu​:

Seina got tired of fighting pretty quickly. With everyone else's firepower, there wasn't much need for her in actual combat, provided she kept making healing items.  (For some reason, they never stopped being cat-themed, even after the ears wore off.) She started working on larger problems. Global warming and famine were pretty easy with near-infinite magic plants. Disease was harder, but she eventually figured out how to grow plants that would heal almost anything. The next thing she tried was ending war. Luckily, Yukari's new world government took care of most of it. She ended up discreetly using her emotion magic on some of the more aggressive factions. She barely managed to stop Cho setting up a new cult. Eventually, she started working on magic itself, figuring out how to keep it going after the Devil turned off the grief system. And that was about enough. She retired to Mars. Space was still cool, after all.  

From @thera-prickle, whose google doc I’m just going to link because I’m running up against Tumblr’s new paragraph limit:

How I Met Your Nuther

From @kohotli​:

The sun shines on a stone building on the outskirts of town. In a small barn next to it sits Makoto on a stool, tending to a small flock of chickens. She’s older these days. Her hair is speckled with grey and her skin isn’t as smooth as it used to be. The harvest has been good this year, she shouldn’t need to go back into Tokyo for supplies for a while yet. Cho lives there too. At the end of everything nobody else could really understand what they’d gone through. Makoto tried to fit in with normal society but she was just too different. The adjustment was too difficult. Eventually she made a small farm for herself just far enough from wider society that people didn’t usually stumble on her. 

There was a period where Makoto was more involved with what was going on in magical society. Her powers lead to several advancements in genetic modifications, including making changes so that humans could practically leave the Earth and go elsewhere. The pressure built and built until she eventually bid magical society farewell. 

That night, Makoto tosses and turns in her bed. She’s dreaming of her captivity, then of the constant fights for her and her friends’ lives. She still struggles to feel safe, but between Cho, Sakura, and Yoshe, Makoto has managed to form some happiness for herself. Yoshe leans over to Makoto and gently shakes her. “Makoto, it’s alright,” Yoshe says quietly to her. “It’s just a nightmare.” This kind of thing helps make nights easier. Makoto opens her eyes gently and pulls Yoshe into a hug. 

Sometimes things end up going okay. 

From @eternalfarnham​, again in a google doc:

Goodnight

an excerpt:

Shibu shrugs. “You know, no matter how many times I say it, ‘Martian princess Illuminati’ makes you sound like an even more half-baked conspiracy theory than you already are. You and your magic vampire team running a secret government. Probably with some lizardmen involved somewhere.”

“Found some magical vampires a while back.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Some German girl wished for her own vampire cult --”

“No, no -- shut the fuck up, that’s not even funny at this point, it’s been years --” Setsuna is trying hard not to laugh.

And from @drazelic​, who didn’t use a google doc so I’m gonna paste it into one:

Yukari’s epilogue

Which concludes:

She retires to a convenience store inside Mitakihara. On school-day afternoons, Homura and Madoka come by and purchase various snacks and cute things from her shop; Yukari always makes sure to keep their favorite foods in stock.

Sometimes, other team members will drop by- not every day, but most days. It's kind of on-and-off. Yukari hasn't asked, but it seems the world's doing fine for itself, for the most part, without her needing to micromanage every little thing.

So she sits back behind the counter, legs folded next to the cash register, and idly reads a manga published by Olivia Gumm. Sakura'd- Yukari still can't believe Sakura actually went and decided to make herself the Princess of Mars after everything was over- Sakura had gotten it for her, last time she'd visited, 'to keep her from being too bored'.

It includes a comically unrealistic adaptation of herself, as a cameo. Yukari appreciates it. Once, upon a time, she would not have appreciated it. She supposes she's softened, in that regard.

And as she flips through the pages, she thinks to herself:

Yeah, this is good.

This is good.

And that’s... that’s it. It’s finally over. Thanks to my players for making this possible, and thanks to you for reading.

- NO DRIVER’S LICENSE: END -

[angewrites]

Operation: Playmaker

Title: Operation: Playmaker

Anime: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

Words: 3,335 (or somewhere around there lmao) 

Summary: Two months after Takeru and Flame find out the Cyberse has been invaded and desolated, they are approached by a man, not much older than Takeru, who asks for a very peculiar favor, one involving Playmaker.

Notes: SHE LIVES!!! AND SHE HAS A NEW FIC (a one-shot, as usual lmao)!! 

This is my first ever VRAINS fic, so hurray for milestone fics lmao. Honestly, this is just a fanfic version of the “my son Takeru and Ryoken are working together, and Ryoken told Takeru to watch Yusaku b/c Yusaku is a mess” theory I came up with as a result of the “BRING REVOLVER BACK” and anti-Soulburner sentiment on Twitter so lmao there’s that.  

I tried a narration experiment with this, but I don’t know how effective it is, so any thoughts on that is much appreciated. Either way, happy reading, pals, and I hope you enjoy it! :D

[FFN] 

[AO3]

Off the Coast of Den City: Kogami Island

Takeru glanced with uncertainty at Flame, who had taken its place inside his Duel disk, as he followed the man who had approached him only hours before. He couldn’t care less what happens to him, but, if Flame was hurt in any way and it caused him to disappear, Takeru wouldn’t forgive himself. It almost happened before. He wouldn’t let it happen again.  

But, Flame could never know he thought that at all.  

Quickly, Takeru’s eyes shifted to the man in front of him. The man didn’t seem to be a threat when they first met, but there’s something . . . something off. His energy’s full of unbelievable tension as if burdened by some grand fate, yet he remained calm on the exterior. It didn’t make any sense, but Takeru wasn’t about to inquire.  

As intimidating as he seemed, white-haired man also gave off a familiar vibe, as if they had crossed paths before. That was weird. They’ve never met before today . . . right?  

“Of course not, Takeru. That’s ridiculous,” he muttered under his breath. He let out a small gasp, realizing he’d been thinking out loud.

The man stopped. Takeru - and his heartbeat - also stopped. Oh god I’ve never prayed to before today, did he hear me? They were in front of what seemingly appeared to be a dead end in the dark cavern.  

“We’re here,” the man said, giving no indication that he heard nor cared about Takeru randomly mumbling to himself. Good news on that end for Takeru, but the fact that they were "here" created a whole new set of problems.  

“Here?” Takeru repeated, his voice trembling a bit. He hadn’t mentioned anything about a final destination or where they were headed before. He tightly clenched a fist to keep his nerves from spiraling tornado-style inside of him.  

The man acted as though he didn’t hear the question and, after inserting a code on a screen, what was a dead end turned into an entry way to a room, brighter than the dark space that they were in. Takeru forced his jaw to remain shut, but it was hard. There was just so many machines he had never seen before, especially not back home. He was no machine guy, but the room was certainly impressive, even if it did make Takeru shiver a bit.  

The man in front of him sighed, placing a hand on his hip. “Spectre, we’re here.”

Takeru blinked. Why is this guy speaking to a ghost? Once Takeru accepted that possibility, he felt his stomach churn. He was not in the mood to deal with the supernatural.

The individual Takeru presumed to be Spectre walked in, even though it really looked like he teleported, from the right. Spectre's light blue eyes felt as though they were piercing Takeru's soul. Takeru felt a shudder slide down his back. Forget whoever guided him here. This guy was especially frightening, almost as frightening as a ghost, a specter, if you will. Didn't help that he was wearing all white. Was this guy even human?

“My apologies, Revolver-sama,” he began. “We were just prepping for you and – ” Spectre peered over the man’s shoulder, making eye contact with Takeru, “ – the honored guest’s arrival.”

The man in front of him emitted a guttural noise, most likely of disapproval. “Spectre!”

But, if he wanted his identity hidden, it was too late. Takeru couldn’t hold in the gasp that escaped from his mouth. This guy . . . was Revolver? The guy who threatened to destroy Link VRAINS? Come to think of it, he never did introduce himself. That. That was why!  

“Hey, hey, hey hey hey,” Takeru broke in, his voice gradually becoming lower pitched with his growing anger. “You didn’t say anything about being that Revolver! You said you needed help with Link VRAINS, even though you’re the one who tried to destroy it?  Give me a break!”

Spectre and the apparent ringleader and Takeru’s personal escort Revolver-sama allowed a moment of silence for this apparent unfortunate turn of events Spectre had created. Revolver glanced at Spectre, shook his head, and turned to face Takeru again. At that moment, Takeru noticed another man walking in, one with suspiciously green hair and a grin that reminded him of an evil goblin.

This Revolver-sama guy sure hung out with a creepy crowd.  

“Revolver, sorry I’m late -” he began but stopped when he saw Takeru. “Oh-ho, pardon my interruption. Is something really important going on here?”

Takeru didn’t break his gaze with Revolver and he let a “tch.” escape through his teeth. He was trying hard to appear tough, but he could feel his legs wobbling a little. Pathetic. Flame would hardcore judge him if he saw him then.  

“That’s enough,” the white-haired young man commanded. “Dr. Genome, wasn’t Dr. Aso with you?”  

“He’ll be here momentarily, Revolver.” The goblin green-haired man pushed up his glasses and made his way toward Takeru, sending a shiver down his spine. “He says to start without him.”

Revolver sighed and made his way over to what appeared to be a circular screen built within the ground, Takeru’s eyes following him.  

“Not going to answer my question, are you? Why should I help you?” Takeru had the courage to say. It tasted awful, coming from him. He hadn’t been this combative since . . . since he confronted that gang back home. But, he needed answers, and this Revolver guy was just dodging the point.

“Show some respect for Revolver-sama, you little -” Spectre started to say, but the white haired-man raised an arm to cut him off.  

“That‘s enough, Spectre.”  

Spectre crossed his right hand over to his heart and bowed ever so slightly to acknowledge the reprimand.  

Takeru could feel beads of sweat forming in the back of his neck.  

“Homura Takeru,” Revolver said, “I understand your concern well. I haven’t exactly displayed myself as someone trustworthy, especially to someone with an Ignis.”

He knew?!?! Takeru dug his nails into his palm and glanced at his Duel Disk. “How did you know -” Takeru started to ask.

“- that you had an Ignis?” Revolver finished. “It’s not a talent I’m particularly fond of, but it can’t be helped. I sense those who were in the Lost Incident and the AI created from them . . . or from their data, I should say.”

Takeru raised an eyebrow. Sensing people specifically from the Lost Incident? That’s seems a little far-fetched. It’s not like the Lost Incident people have a specific smell to them or anything like, so what did he mean? And how does he know about the Lost Incident anyway? Still, if Takeru valued his life, he wasn’t about to ask any of these questions out loud.  

Revolver continued, “But, even though my destiny is to destroy what my father, Dr. Kogami, has created and also tried to destroy, a greater risk has appeared, and it goes beyond the Ignis threat to Link VRAINS.”

Supposed Ignis threat. Takeru added mentally. “Greater risk?” he asked aloud.

Revolver nodded. “Recently, there was a SOL Technology function unveiling the new and improved Link VRAINS before its release to the general public. Ironically, even though I aided in its initial destruction, I was invited to this function. It was there that I met them.”

“Them?” Takeru asked.  

Spectre chimed in almost immediately, “The Harbingers of the New Era, right?”

Quite a name.  

“Exactly. They’re an elite data robbery group that used to work with my father, but they couldn’t come up with an agreement on the creation of the AI. Since SOL Technology came for my father for the Lost Incident, I suppose their opposition is how they got invited.”  

Spectre clapped his hands. “Then the group leader was asked to give a speech since they actually helped to upgrade Link VRAINS. Isn’t that right, Revolver-sama?”

Takeru couldn’t understand why Spectre kept interrupting, so he asked, “Well, were you there too?”

Spectre glared at Takeru for a second before “humph”ing and retorting, “Someone had to manage Revolver-sama's data concealer. He wanted to be at this party without anyone noticing.”

“If you say so,” Takeru returned. Wasn’t he invited though?

Revolver cleared his throat. “They did give a speech. And it was cryptic at best, shady at worst. There was much talk about the future of Link VRAINS but, strangely enough, the future they spoke of, even without any mention of AI, would even make my father concerned. Link VRAINS as being a space for winners, a space where businesses can make a profit. Players being trained to ward off the next imminent attack. That kind of thing. If SOL Technology and this group continue to do business with each other, I’m afraid Link VRAINS will be in greater danger than ever before.”

Takeru shrugged. “Bad news, but what’s that got to do with me?”

“If this group has their way,” Revolver replied, “Link VRAINS and your Ignis will be in grave danger. The technology this group wants to implement in Link VRAINS to create ‘faster and better duels’ . . .  This technology? Equipped with viruses designed to get rid of AIs not registered in a system.”

Takeru gasped, but then shook his head. He had to be careful. What if Revolver was lying to him just to get Flame? Wasn't he just bashing AIs earlier? He couldn’t let his guard down.

“So, how do I know what you’re saying is true? And what’s my role in all of this? How do I know you’re not just saying all this to get my Ignis?” he asked.

“I can’t make you believe me, Homura, but I will tell you that not only Link VRAINS is in danger, but so is your hero.”

Takeru cocked his head to the side, placing his thumb and pointer finger and on his chin. “Which one?”

Revolver stared at him. “It’s Playmaker.”

Oh, duh. Who else would it be? “Playmaker?! But why?!”

“That I haven’t figured out. I just know he’s being targeted,” Revolver continued. “SOL Technology might be after Playmaker’s Ignis, but this group appears to have no interest in that. It’s quite possible Playmaker’s life is in danger. And it could have a drastic impact on Link VRAINS.”

Well, this is weird. Takeru thought. I thought Revolver was his sworn enemy, but he’s concerned about his life? Better just play along, though.  

“So, what am I supposed to do, Revolver-san?” Takeru inquired.

“-sama.” Spectre corrected.  

Revolver closed his eyes and crossed his arms. “Kogami.”

“Eh?”

“We’re not in Link VRAINS. It’s Kogami.” The man cut in, tapping his fingers on his forearm.

“O-okay, Kogami, so what’s my role in all of this?” Takeru repeated.  

“Your task is to watch over Playmaker, make sure this group doesn’t get to him,” Kogami explained. “Both in Link VRAINS and outside. I can't take care of the outside arrangements, but I'm sure one of my associates can help you with that."

Takeru raised an eyebrow. "What arrangements are we talkin' here?"

"He's saying you gotta go to school, kid, as much as you probably don't want to" Spectre yawned. "We don't know when these guys will strike, so it's best to guard Playmaker no matter where he is. I'll take care of the whole school thing, I suppose."

Takeru tried to shoot daggers in Spectre direction with his eyes, but Spectre seemed blissfully unaware of the ill intent coming from the fiery teen. Takeru did calm down once he realized that he had to go to school again, though.  

Unfortunately, Spectre was right. That was certainly a tall order. Never mind that this was the guy who tried to destroy Link VRAINS and challenged Playmaker who’s asking Takeru to watch him. An inexperienced Link VRAINS duelist like him? Protecting Playmaker? And he had to go to school to do it?  There’s just no way. But, there was something about Kogami’s expression that sparked a sense of confidence in Takeru. Yeah, Kogami did threaten Link VRAINS, but . . . he also acknowledged Playmaker’s abilities, didn’t he?  

It’s not the same as working alongside his heroes, but working alongside the rivals of one of his heroes was close enough, right?

“You can count on me!” Takeru announced, pointing a thumbs-up to himself. But, he realized he was missing one key piece of information. “Although . . . how am I supposed to know who Playmaker is outside of Link VRAINS?”

Kogami gave a small laugh. “That’s what your Ignis is for, isn’t it?”  

Takeru looked at his Duel disk. “Flame’ll tell me, huh? And how long am I supposed to keep this up for?”

“I have . . . business to tend to in the meantime, so I can’t give a definitive answer. But, this shouldn’t take too long, I hope,” Kogami replied, making his way toward where they first came in.  

“Business?”

“Getting one of our own out of jail, finding more info on this new group, you know. The usual,” Spectre spoke up, shrugging his shoulders and letting an obnoxious smirk show on his face. “Don’t screw this up for Revolver-sama, kid.”

“Kid?” Takeru repeated accusingly.  

“Uh, Spectre, aren’t you the same age as him?” Genome – was it? - broke in and asked.  

“Don’t compare me to him.”

“Enough!” Kogami said. “We don’t have time for this nonsense. Spectre, Genome, be sure to bring our guest back to Den City. And leave his Ignis alone. Got it?”

“Yes, sir!” Spectre and Genome replied in unison, causing Takeru’s eyebrow to twitch a little. What kind of organization was Kogami running here? Could he really be trusted since one of his own is apparently in jail?  

Well, he’s gonna have to fake the trust if he wants to live.  

“That’s it. I’m counting on you . . .” Kogami smirked, closing his eyes, “Soulburner.”  

Takeru stared incredulously at his initial escort. “Wait, I’ve never stepped foot in Link VRAINS before. How did -”

“Come on, kid, let’s go,” Spectre interrupted with a smile that caused Takeru to slightly shiver, grabbing Takeru by the forearm. “Revolver-sama is very busy.”

So why does he get to call him Revolver? This isn’t the Link VRAINS space. Takeru thought. But, he knew better than to question this guy. He wasn't going to let the kid comment slide, though.

“Stop calling me ‘kid,’” Takeru retorted.

“Okay, okay, kids. That’s enough. We’re going to get you back now, Homura,” Genome intruded, pushing Spectre away from Takeru. “This mission is very important, though, so do your best to not make any careless mistakes.”

“Yeah, sure.”  

At least Takeru wouldn’t have to be stuck with Spectre during his mission. Just having Flame make fun of him was enough.  

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

?????

“So, you really believe him, huh?” Flame inquired as Takeru continued to stare at his deck. Takeru closed his eyes and sighed, leaning back in his chair, letting his bangs fall away from his forehead.

“I don’t know what to believe at this point anymore,” he said, eyes still closed. “But, if it’s part of my path to get over my past, I’ll do it. No use questioning it too much.”

“Funny. You seemed to have a lot of questions when we first met, and I wasn’t even trying to hurt you,” Flame countered.

“You sure?”

Silence.

“I’m just kidding, Flame. But, taking over every electronic device I looked at? Come on now.”  

Flame crossed his arms. “I needed to get your attention. But, the point is, if you couldn’t trust me, how can you trust this Revolver guy? He caused so much trouble for Link VRAINS and you’re willing to believe him? Just because he mentioned Playmaker?”  

Takeru glanced at Flame and then back at the ceiling. He should probably replace the ceiling soon.  

“Sure, he did all that, but . . . there’s something that bothers me about him in a not-suspicious kind of way.”

“Yeah, ‘cause that makes a lot of sense, Takeru.”

Takeru sat straight up in his chair. “I’m serious! I just don’t see any reason to not believe him. He could just let Link VRAINS and you AI and Playmaker perish for all he cares. But, despite all that, he asked me to help save them. When he’s got other people who could do the job just fine, except,” Takeru contorted his face in disgust, “that Spectre guy, maybe. He creeps me out.”

Flame closed its eyes. “You really are too nice, Takeru.”  

"Too nice, huh?" The teen glanced at the clock. He decided he should probably be getting to bed soon to get used to the whole school thing again. He still had tomorrow to himself, but he needed to mentally prepare, if only for a couple of months. Imagine. Him going to school. Grandpa and Kiku would be super shocked if they knew. Not that he wanted to go, but a mission was a mission.  

But, there was one piece of info he needed before he could hit the hay for the night.  

"Flame."

"…."

"Flame, I know you don't sleep."

"Yes, Oh Chosen One, how may I be of service to you at this late hour?"

Takeru sighed. Flame was such a handful. "….That's a bit much, don't you think?"

"I asked you first."

"Revol-I mean, Kogami mentioned you know who Playmaker is. Is that tru-?"

"Fujiki Yusaku."

Takeru took a step back. "Eh?"

"That's who Playmaker is. Around your age, goes to Den City High School, where you'll be," Flame continued.  

"That's . . . That's amazing, Flame!" Takeru exclaimed, barely containing his excitement. Finding out his idols' true identities was not something he expected, but if anything can make going to school tomorrow worth it, it's that.  "Anything else?"

"Well . . . not to douse your fiery passion or anything, but he's also a Lost Incident victim. Like you," the AI continued. It reverted back to its eyeball state in Takeru's Duel disk. "You've seen his Link VRAINS form, but just so you don't go chasing after the wrong guy, here's what he looks like in the human world."  

Takeru looked at the image of Yusaku. It was strange. He had been told there were others – five others, to be exact – who were locked up as well, but he was never told of who they were or what they looked like. For his idol, the one who saved Link VRAINS, to be one of the six, it was surreal.  

But, at least Takeru knew that someone else would understand. The weight he had to carry.  

"Fujiki . . . Yusaku, huh?" The teen sounded. "This should be entertaining, keeping an eye on this guy. Right, Flame?"

The eyeball in Takeru's Duel disk blinked slowly once, as if to acknowledge Takeru's statement. "One more thing. Revolver said nothing about this, but I figure you need to know this."

Takeru raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"

"The one who goes by Blue Angel in Link VRAINS also goes to Den City High School," Flame continued. "She's Zaizen Aoi." The AI projected an image of the girl from the Duel disk. "Not a victim of the Lost Incident, but she hasn't been so lucky in her Link VRAINS endeavors, let's say."

But Takeru wasn't paying much attention to what Flame was saying. Two VRAINS celebrities go to his new school? Just his luck! Finding that out made going back to school almost worth it.  

Almost.

"Takeru?"

"What is it?"

"Are you sure you're up to this? You haven't even stepped into Link VRAINS before."

There's definitely a lot at stake with this mission, but Takeru had a feeling it'll work out somehow. It always did.  

"Sure am. I'm not gonna get a chance like this again, so I'm just gonna go for it," Takeru said, turning off the lights. "I'll be fine."

At least, he sure hoped so.  

"Also, how are you going to introduce yourself to this Yusaku anyway -"

"Good night, Flame."  

[bootlickerhawks]

I just watched Madoka Magica Rebellion, and now I finally get why it was such a big deal lol

first i'll go over the non spoiler stuff and then i'll put the important spoiler stuff under the read-more. (btw this isn't a review i finished watching it an hour ago and i've barely gotten the time to fully process it but i wanted to give my "raw" impressions)

- First off, the animation is fucking gorgeous and I'm really happy they brought back the original "aesthetic". At the end of the series when I saw the designs of the wraiths I was worried that this movie would use those, imo, boring designs, but thankfully they brought back the cool aesthetic. Overall the visuals were stunning and the movie was chock-full of interesting visual metaphors which helped grab viewer attention (like the Owls with Homura, ect).

- It was really nice to see all 5 girls interacting with one another and not trying to kill each other. Despite it being very clear from the get go that something is wrong I really appreciated that we got to see them relax, have fun and kicking ass together as friends.

- The transformation sequence and the opening song really captured the iconic Madoka vibe which is cutesy shit with a dash of dark and disturbing visuals lol. Something I noticed in the transformation sequence (notably Mami and Kyoko/Sayaka(?)) was the imagery of ripping > Mami rips her body apart to fully transform and Kyoko/Sayaka rip apart the "screen" during their sequence. The opening song does a great job of both subverting our expectations (much like the opening in the anime) and foreshadowing the upcoming events.

- Bebe was fucking adorable, too bad my subtitles stopped working halfway through the movie, so I didn't know what Bebe was saying during some key scenes ^^'.

Now it's time for the fun stuff and the meat of the discussion. /!\ Turn back now if you don't want to get spoiled, Rebellion is a movie that I really recommend watching without knowing any spoilers /!\

- not gonna lie that lil fucker Kyubey had me in the first half. It was acting so cute and then of course it had to open its stupid mouth again and i wanted to choke it all over again.

- The Mami and Homura fight was stunning. And it was really moving when Mami jumped to stop Homura from shooting herself (only for it to turn out that she had kinda predicted that Homura would trick her)

- Sayaka and Homura's conversation was sooooo good. By that point it was kinda obvious that Homura was the one behind the fake world but seeing Homura's internal conflict and Sayaka unknowingly(?) calling her out on her hypocrisy was so fucking good.

- Sayaka and Kyoko's moment of closure was great and I'm really glad both characters got a chance to let the other know how much they mean to each other.

- Homura's transformation into a witch was predictable but it still broke my heart. And it was during the fight when everyone tries to save Homura that I started crying (btw Sayaka and Bebe turning into witches too during the fight was so badass)

And now for the ultimate gut punch, the emotional bitch slap that was the plot twist of the movie. The story did a great job of making it seem like the (predictable) plot twist was Homura being a witch and the mastermind behind the labyrinth. And despite me knowing beforehand that this movie was controversial I really believed we were gonna get a happy ending and a nice implicit message abt the value of moving on and learning to accept help from loved ones BUT NOPE.

Noooooo nono no what we get instead is Homura giving a giant Fuck You to both the universe and everyone else around her and rewrites the entire universe for her own selfish desire. Homura became the anti-Madoka in this scene.

Honestly I can understand why fans would be pissed by this ending but personally I think I really loved it. Gen Urobuchi is known for writing nihilistic and tragic stories so I can't say I'm surprised he chose to end it this way. And as sad as it is to say Homura's devotion to Madoka was already unhealthy in the og anime I'm not surprised her love became so toxic and lead to this tragic turn of events.

I do think there's probably some fair criticism to make about the kind of message Urobuchi is sending given that his writing can be pretty sexist (*cough* looking at you Fate/Zero novel) and he seems to find great enjoyment in making female characters suffer. And I think it's fair to have skepticism about how he chose to portray a queer/wlw romance as extremely toxic.

But yeah to conclude while I did have a whirlwind of emotions after watching this movie I can pretty confidently say that I liked the ending and I kinda wish there was a sequel exploring the aftermath, but I doubt we'll get one 😔

[clarafell]

                                                    @tirosta​​​  — ♥

The familiar blonde must have approached without making a sound. The delicate voice catches her off guard and yet she didn’t catch any of the words. Just her voice. The tone of her voice is gentle and oh so familiar. Sweet like honey. Her eyelids start to flutter as she soon opens her eyes and looks up at the blonde. The two are on the rooftop as pretty little snowflakes fall from the cloudy sky. With a book in her hands instead of a lunch, Homura looks up at Mami Tomoe. The ravenette’s expression is blank and her stomach starts to twist up. She tastes a bitterness in her mouth as she tries to form words. She has not officially met Mami yet. She has kept her distance in this newly written universe. Kept her distance away from everyone. All alone, she reverts back to her old weak self. Her emotions and thoughts are harder to deal with when she is alone. She tries to be something she is not and wonders what would happen if she stopped. (But who are you again? When you look at your reflection in the mirror, what do you really see? Can you even recognize yourself right now?)

The sound of giggling rings in her mind thanks to the earring with the purple diamond shaped gemstone. The laughter belongs to fourteen walking, talking dolls. She’s quite sure that they are mocking her like they always do. They don’t help her at times like this. But at least they aren’t throwing tomatoes at her horrible little performances. (According to the doll children, Mistress Good-for-Nothing is horrible at acting. Tomatoes are meant for bad actors like her.) Beyond her facade, she feels uneasy at the sight of Mami. Unwanted memories of the past (good and bad) flood back to her mind and she tries to push them away. To focus on the present and not the past. She can still remember first meeting Mami. She can still remember how Mami and Madoka both saved her life. She can still remember befriending both of them. Still remember being friends. She can still remember...

No, no, no. Stay focused. That’s all in the past. Everything is different now. She tells her mentally and reminds herself that she should be alone. She is meant to be a force known as evil now, right? Right? With each passing month, she starts to doubt herself over and over. All she knows how to do is breathe and even that is hard to do nowadays. A shiver runs up her spine as cold air kisses her exposed flesh. Winter has arrived to Japan with a light unexpected snowfall. Everything has been quiet and peaceful in this brand new world. It has been lonely for Homura. But everyone is happy and excited for the snow. Closing her now forgotten book and placing it aside, Homura finds her voice:

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you... Did you say something?” She asks quietly as she tries to keep pesky emotions in check. She is prepared for anything or so she keeps telling herself every single day. She is prepared to see Mami’s sharp glare and prepared to face her anger. (Mami has every right to be angry.) Homura is prepared to alter memories just like how she altered Sayaka Miki’s memory. But what she isn’t prepared for is a simple little conversation. She isn’t prepared to see gentleness and smiles once again. “Do you maybe need something?” She looks tired (from yet another long restless night) as snowflakes decorate her long black hair.

[entamewitchlulu]

Homura’s Top 15 GX Characters

And next, my favorite GX characters!!!  Under the cut so that it doesn’t take up too much of everyone’s dashes cause it’s loooong lol

15. Ryo Marufuji “Kaiser”

I hate him but I love him tbh haha.  He’s not the best brother and his whole Hell Kaiser thing actually made me a little less interested in him as a character, but I still like him a lot for his aggressive presence and his interesting character arc, which is really out of the norm for a lot of character arcs in general.  You don’t often see the kind of change that we get to see in Ryo.  I also still do always remember that moment where he decided he would rather surrender than watch Shou get hurt during his duel against Camula, and that more than anything endears me to him.  Despite his harsh demeanor, I think in the end he really does care.

14. Daichi Misawa

It’s my nerd son ;w;  What I love the most about Misawa is just how amazingly analytical he is, but he’s still a lovable person who seems to get along with others easily.  Most of the time, math nerd characters like him are shown as completely socially inept, but Misawa was almost always shown as someone who was really easy to get along with, and everyone liked him (at least until ignoring him became a running gag... ;w; he deserved better).  He’s a cute little nerd.

13. Fubuki Tenjoin

God look at this fucking nerd.  My favorite thing about Fubuki is that he’s just...so dorky??  And this right on the heels of his first appearance as Darkness, when we’ve been waiting for a significant amount of episodes to find/meet the cool Asuka’s missing big brother...and we find out he’s a fucking NERD.  Just surfing around with his hawaiian top and his ukelele and stealing all of the girls’ hearts while dealing out stupid love guru advice.  He’s just downright fun to watch because he’s so dorky!

12. Rei Saotome

Rei is just...cute okay?  I don’t really have many deep reasons why I like her because she doesn’t really have much of a character on screen, which I do mourn often ;w;  But I’m the kind of person that attaches to the female characters for better or worse, and I just find Rei an interesting potential for character if nothing else.  I actually don’t mind that her driving force tends to be romance, and I like that she takes initiative to find what she wants.  I also love what a mom friend she is with Martin, and how she’s a little almost aggressive with it XD

11. Takuma Saiou

Yeah, he’s definitely a divisive character, but I can’t help but care about him.  He’s a misguided soul that falls off the path because of an unfortunate string of events, but I don’t feel like he ever tried to act like he never did anything wrong.  He was willing to take the consequences for his actions and fight to right them alongside Edo, and I’ll admit that most of my love for him comes from his interactions with Edo, especially when they’re children.  He’s a tragic sort of character who fought hard but ended up falling prey to evil in the end anyway.  And yet, in the end, he does manage to come back to himself; and that’s often why I choose to ignore his final appearance in season 4, cause it just feels like a regression of his character.

10. Haou

I guess this character is basically Judai, but I suppose for these purposes I’m considering him separately.  Idk I just find him to be the kind of villain that I tend to like; he’s dark, looming, quiet, and eerie, even beyond the fact that he’s Judai, our protagonist, become the villain.  He’s absolutely merciless and for the short time that he’s an antagonist, he’s legitimately frightening for the characters that have to face him.

9. Shou Marufuji

what a precious boy??????  Shou Marufuji deserves the world, honestly.  I love him for how he overcomes his vulnerabilities and anxieties, and he becomes honestly one of the strongest characters in the series courage-wise.  I love his character arc and his growth, and he’s just such a sweet, precious boy and I love watching him grow up.

8. Yubel

Yubel is fucking cool okay??  Her design is amazing and I love the way that her voice changes in the middle of sentences to make her truly androgynous.  I also adore her for her fascinating character motivation; we’ve certainly never seen this before or again in Yu-Gi-Oh where the villain’s motivation is undying, obsessive love with the protagonist.  She brought GX into a really fascinating time for story telling, and even after she’s defeated and assimilated into Judai, the few bits we get of her paint her as an amazingly sassy spirit partner that I wish we had gotten to know more about.

7. Jim Crocodile Cook

God I’m such a sucker for this guy.  He’s just a fun dude, and I love his almost Steven Irwin kind of look/personality.  His interactions with Karen are a joy to watch, and I love his laid-back, adventurous personality, and his immense loyalty to his friends and his unwillingness to back down or give up.

6. Austin O’Brien

This precious, precious dude, I love him so much it hurts sometimes ;w; O’Brien is just...great???  He doesn’t get as much screen time has he deserves, but what we do get I think is so great.  He’s just so incredibly human.  I love his arc, when he first appeared I thought I wouldn’t like him, but his enflamed passion from dueling with Judai, and seeing him decide to take his own path outside of the job given to him really endeared him to me.  Watching him overcome his own fear in order to sacrifice himself to save Judai and everyone from Haou was a really powerful moment, and I was so glad to see him come back and be Judai’s bff/info specialist.

5. Jun Manjoume

God, what is there not to love about Manjoume?  His character arc is actually one of the best in the series; I love watching his internal and external struggles and coming out on top in the end every time.  One of my favorite things about GX in general is how he and Judai seem to have an inverse relationship from usual shonen series; while Judai ends up being a quiet individual who fades from the scene, Manjoume ends up taking on the role of being the face of Duel Academia and the pro that everyone knows about.  I just love him for how multifaceted he is; he has his serious side, his irritable side, his downright dorky side, and his legitimately caring side.  My favorite scenes with him are his arc with Edo, where we get to see what kind of person he’s going to be as an adult, and I just felt so proud of him in those moments seeing how much he had grown since the beginning.

4. Asuka Tenjoin

What an absolute bae tbh.  I love Asuka’s tough personality and her take-no-shit attitude.  She’s a strong girl who sets an example for others, and takes good care of the people who look up to her, even when she’s under the brainwashing of the Society of Light.  Her determination and self-confidence are really a joy to watch on screen and almost all of her duels are just so cool!

3. Judai Yuki

Judai is honestly one of the most dynamic protagonists in Yu-Gi-Oh.  He starts out as this typical, laid-back shonen protag who just floats through life and gets by with his incredible luck, but circumstances force him to deal with his own buried insecurities and I think he’s one of the most fascinating depictions of a legitimately depressed character in shonen media.  His growth is great to watch and I love how out of the ordinary it is for a shonen show.  His duels are fun and his confidence + vulnerabilities are incredibly fascinating to watch him as he goes along on his character journey.

2. Edo Phoenix

I’m straight for Edo tbh like damn son, what a pretty person you are???  But beyond that, he’s also a fascinatingly fun character to watch on screen.  I love him for his superior attitude and his smug confidence, but also for his rare moments of letting his actual kind heart show through.  He’s a precious child that I loved getting the back story on which really sealed the deal for me loving him.

1. Johan Andersen

god i love him so goddamn much ;w;  Johan is just so incredibly earnest and sincere.  I love how strong he is in his convictions and how excitable about life he is.  He’s legitimately cheerful about almost everything, and gets excited about things even when the situation looks dire.  He’s strong in his beliefs and is more than willing to lay his life down for others, and in fact, it was his hope and dream that he could do something with his life to help other people, even at the cost of himself.  I love him for his devotion to his spirits, and in fact all spirits in general, and how badly he wants to protect everyone.  He’s also fucking adorable and I love how smiley and happy he is no matter how bad things get.  He always believes, in himself, in others, and in that the world is a fundamentally good place.

[jyushimatsu-falls-in-love]

steven universe/crystal gem(atsu)s au

Alternative post title: ‘In which Nature tries to make a silly Matsu AU out of something she hasn’t actually watched but because it’s so prevalent on Tumblr she picked up a lot about it and is now trying to make a silly Matsu AU out of what she knows’

I’m going to get hate for this aren’t I

So yeah, as mentioned above, I don’t actually watch Steven Universe (I think it’s mostly because the fandom scares me orz); however I do love some of the concepts it has, like the Gems themselves, and fusions, and some of the lore surrounding the Gems. Oh, and the songs! I’ve listened to some of SU’s songs and they’re absolutely lovely :D

I was talking with @chororine yesterday about the recent SU episodes, and she linked me a couple of Gem!Matsu AUs that are really cool! And then it got me thinking of ideas for a Gem!Matsu AU which I kinda feel bad thinking up of since I haven’t watched the show orz 

Perhaps those who watch SU can tell me if this makes sense as a Matsu AU-slash-SU adaptation or not? XD;; Feel free to correct me on certain things, or even share ideas! This AU’s actually kinda really fun :’D

Anyway, all of it under the cut! (It’s very long orz) Content warnings for suicide mentions and pregnancy, but that’s all there is to it I think.

So, as always when it comes to these Crystal Gem AUs, the Matsuno brothers are a set of six similar-but-different Gems. Tbh I have no idea what kind of Gems they would be; some AUs make them the same type of gem, some make them different kinds of gems. I still want them to be “brothers”/“sextuplets”, in a way; is there a way to strike a balance? (This person’s AU has all six be a kind of gem that can be dyed different colors; that’s a good idea, but I feel like if I applied that here I’d be ripping them off...) But either way, they’re Gems. (I have no clue what their roles in Homeworld would be, either...)

The thing about the Gem!Matsus is that they’re not part of Rose Quartz’s rebellion - but at the same time, they’re not totally loyal to Homeworld either. If anything, the boys’ true loyalties are to themselves and to each other (for the most part). So they’re neutral parties in the Gem War - but they do consider Homeworld, well, home, and can’t imagine home being anywhere else.

Then one fateful day, the Gem!Matsus end up becoming displaced from Homeworld. Maybe it’s because of the Gem War, maybe they were running away from someone/something, or maybe they were dicking around in space and then they crashed their space ship, I dunno. Either way, the Gem!Matsus lose their way home, and they find themselves stuck on Earth - specifically, they find themselves stuck in a small coastal town somewhere in Japan.

With no means or even any idea on how to get home, the Gem!Matsus settle down on Earth. They assume - some of them (e.g. Choro), hope - it’s a temporary thing; after all, Homeworld is home, and even the shittiest Gem would want nothing more than to be home, right? So they stay there and wait for help, or anything to come their way that can bring them home. (Meanwhile, maybe they can fight corrupted Gems that they come across? Assuming there are corrupted Gems in other places besides Beach City. And maybe the boys don’t even know they’re corrupted Gems at all...)

Years pass, and the Gem!Matsus are still stuck, but still trying to make the most of their time in that Japanese coastal town. They observe the humans going about their daily lives, but never really interact with them and kinda look down on them the same way the Crystal Gems initially looked down on humans. And then one day, a certain yellow Gem strays far from the Gem!Matsu’s main base to a part of the beach he hasn’t explored yet - and there he sees a pretty human girl with freckles on her face, standing at the top of a really high cliff facing the ocean...

Because Jyushi is a Gem here and not human, I don’t know if he’ll be able to pick up on or understand Homura’s suicidal tendencies like he did in Ososan canon; but either way he distracts-slash-talks her out of jumping off the cliff. He does notice that this pretty human girl is very sad though, which isn’t good! Humans are cute and nice when they’re laughing and smiling! So in true Jyushi fashion, he does whatever he can to make her smile and laugh. Through her, he also gets to understand humans more, and thus be able to empathize with her (and by extension other people) better. Perhaps he also learns her backstory, and surely tries to assure her of her worth despite it.

The other Gem!Matsus don’t understand why Jyushi’s so enamored with this Homura person. Oso and Kara shrug it off and say, hey Jyushi’s having fun, let him have fun with his human friend as long as she doesn’t hurt him (and soon enough they end up befriending Homura too); Choro and Totty are more worried about it, why is Jyushi fraternizing with a human, what if she gets him (and by extension us) into trouble? (although maybe they warm up to her eventually); and Ichi is rather irritated that this dumb human girl is taking all of his best friend’s attention, but seeing as Jyushi’s very happy with her, he tries to suck it up as much as he can (although he’s still rather prickly, if civil, towards Homura).

Of course, it leads to Jyushi and Homura falling in love with each other, as well as Jyushi falling in love with the planet Earth itself and with human beings (and baseball!). After everything, he realizes he doesn’t want to return to Homeworld; instead he wants to stay here on Earth, so he can be with Homura and make other human friends and play baseball! This gets... mixed to negative reactions from the other Gem!Matsus. (Oso and Kara are torn, Choro and Totty are upset, Ichi is fucking pissed.) They all probably argue about it for the next couple of years - not that it really matters, as they’re still stuck on Earth whether or not anyone wants to stay or leave.

And then things get worse when said couple of years later, Homura finds out that she’s... pregnant. With Jyushi’s child. This causes yet another stir among the Gem!Matsus, as they never knew humans and Gems can have create children together; however it also causes more issues and more arguing between them over what to do now that this baby’s a thing. Half the team still want to go back home, after all.

Then another bad thing happens - around the time Jyushi’s baby is about to be born, Jyushi ends up having to give up his physical form for it. I’m not sure how or for what reason exactly, but it has to happen and there’s no escaping his fate. 

This leaves the other Gem!Matsus incredibly upset. I mean sure, Jyushi's no Rose Quartz; he isn’t a major figurehead in any wars or rebellions, he doesn’t have a huge legacy to follow. Hell, he isn’t even the leader of the Gem!Matsus. But for the brothers, losing any one of them can be just as devastating as losing a major figurehead - especially since the one they’ve lost was the sunshine of the group. This leaves Homura extremely devastated too, not to mention that the poor woman is now left to be an unmarried single mother.

The Gem!Matsus figure that there’s no point returning home now that Jyushi is gone, so they reluctantly decide to stay with Homura to help her watch over her child. Imagine their surprise when they see that the baby (who I decided would be a little girl, mostly because the idea of the Matsus trying to raise a little girl together is funnier) is half-Gem, half-human! She has her dad’s exact same gem somewhere on her body, all shiny and yellow. The boys come to the conclusion that part of Jyushi is still there, so resolve to stay on Earth so that they can help raise the girl as well as train her in order to be a good half-human, half-Gem. They may or may not have a plan to bring her along with them back to Homeworld once they deem her ready, so they can finally be home and complete...

Homura names her daughter Aiko (”child of love”; because tbh Homura would be a sap when it comes to naming children :P). She, Aiko and the Gem!Matsus move to a house that a relative used to own, and Homura takes a stay-at-home job as a translator (like Yotsuba’s dad from Yotsuba&!). (She can’t bring herself to work outside of the house, as she’s still ashamed of some parts of her past; that and she wants to be able to raise as well as home-school Aiko by herself and watch over the Gem!Matsus. Maybe Gem technology can provide free fast WiFi? :P) The Gem!Matsus are once again NEETs, doing nothing but staying around the house all day; their only job is training Aiko in the ways of being a Gem, so training her to fight and shapeshift and fuse with other Gems and stuff like that. Also getting her in trouble.

So begins Aiko and The Gems, the adventures of a little girl, her single mother and her five Space Rock Dads. Hilarity (and some angst, but mostly hilarity) ensues.

so yeah it’s basically Rose and Greg’s backstory ==> Steven’s story but with Matsus and Homura and a fanchild instead how original right

Compared to canon SU, this AU might be less... serious? I mean, there’s still a lot of sad things, all the Gem!Matsus + Homura have serious issues they need to deal with, and there’s still a lot of room for character + relationship development; but at the same time, the Gem!Matsus don’t have as much pressure on them to keep fighting off anything and/or preserve a rebellion’s legacy as the Crystal Gems do? They’re neutral parties who just want get home-slash-want to take care of a kid. Unless there’s something I missed and the boys could very well still be in trouble with the Diamonds...

(Also it’s probably not as serious as SU because the Gem!Matsus are, well, Matsus. :P)

Honestly though this AU idea is a lot of fun!! :’D I have a few more ideas based on it; I’ll get to writing a post about those soon (later?). Um, so tell me what you think, I guess? :’D

Also, please: if you have ideas for this AU too, please tell me!! Building AUs with others is fun c’: (That and I’m not an expert on SU anyway, as mentioned above; maybe you guys know better than me XD)

(P. S. @chororine​ @irkimatsu​ @risuquest​ you guys like SU, right? You guys might like this, hopefully :’D)

(P. P. S. Not Gem!Matsu related, but still Gems - even though I don’t watch SU yet, for some reason I thought that Phillipa Soo could be a guest star VA on it - and I would love that. I’d gladly watch for her :P)