1510/NODE: City of Cycles - Questions

NODE: City of Cycles - Questions
Date of Scene:	06 February 2015
Location:	The Homeworld
Synopsis:	An unusually short Demon chats the group up while an Incubator pisses the other half off. Abstractum forever banned from apping an Incubator, too good at it.
Thanks to:	Abstractum and his ability to play an Incubator.
Cast of Characters:	2, 40, Vruasa Telash, Fiora O'Brien, 183, 253, 347, 570, Ayako Hasekawa
Tinyplot:	When They Return

---

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Entering the Witch Barrier Gate is simple and easy. One needs to be connected to Homura, of course, that's the means by which she can limit intrusion into her Node. A held hand or a hand on the shoulder works perfectly for the group to pass through with ease.

    Within, things are a bit of a different matter. The space is a strange one; it's Mitakihara, upside down. The stalagtite-like building structures above tick ominously, like giant clocks, while below, a sky full of stars shines. The Node Path, the structure which traditionally goes between a Node Gate and the Node itself, is a unique one this time. It's a massive arrow, held up by a titanic drawn-back bow. The huge wooden shaft of the arrow is ornate, with different designed viewed from each angle. It's thankfully wide enough that walking alongside it is easy, though. And it's high up enough that it runs close to some train tracks on the inverted Mitakihara above. That's where Mr. Speaks was, before. He's not here now.

    Exiting from the "barrier" that makes up the Node Path leads out to... A very normal-looking city. It's wide, expanding out great distances and expanding to the horizon, but it's still a rather normal-looking city. In fact, it looks a fair bit Mitakihara-ish. And not even in the horrible secretly-a-witch-barrier way, it seems pretty genuine.

    However, Homura and others who are capable of directly detecting the sort of things so associated with this sort of environment will know that there's a lot going on under the surface. The magical atmosphere is polluted in precisely the same ways that a town beset by combinations of witches and demons. However, it seems... Stale, as if isolated for a very long time, and condensed, as if built up in that same space for a similarly long time.

    The exit is in the center of town, high up on skyscraper where a radio broadcast tower rests. It gives a good view, and for those like magical girls, it makes for a good starting place to get moving in the city. It is MIDNIGHT of JULY 10th, according to all timekeeping mechanisms. There are no stars visible in the sky. Q promised to move to the Radio Tower when it is possible for them to at the beginning of each cycle, and as such, will personally approach those who are here to meet them shortly.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Having had some time to deal with the various issues, Homura seems slightly lest restless than last time, settling back into the pace of juggling university and hero-related obligations. This time, she is wearing her magical girl outfit straight up, due to what she intents to be handling here.

    Once everyone has arrived, appeared, or otherwise made their way in, she will (after the obligatory hellos that we'll skip over) drop the plan.

    "Two teams this time, unless you can think of something else you want to research. Half of us are going to stay here and wait for that Incubator to show up. And you're going to pin him, and shake him until answers to every important question comes out. The other half of us are going to the other end of the city to intercept the talking Demon. And possibly have to defend him. That's going to get hairy."

    She adds: "I'll be leading those of you who want to meet the Demon there, because I don't want to deal with an Incubator's round-about speeches. If you need inspiration for questions to ask, try things like asking about Pures, Abstractums, what wishes the four girls made, what he knows about the fourth girl, what their capabilities are, etc."

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Considering that the wounds accrued by those entering the tome of heaven have likely begun to scab over for most, Mizuki seems far less dejected upon entry this time around. In fact, she seems to exude an unusual air of confidence, though this is contrasted by a decidedly serious, even official look should anyone take notice of her expression. If anything, all this means is that she's intent to put this mood to use -- she's likely to better serve the group as an investigator if she's feeling more lucid. Perhaps for this very reason, she's come prepared: Fenestra, her personal record keeper, is accompanying her today with a massive tome in hand.

    Both of them would alight atop of the radio tower, Mizuki on the providence of her wings and Fenestra with the aid of absolutely nothing aside from willpower. Each would look to Homura almost immediately, the former placing a balled fist to her chin in contemplation.

    "If these things are truly as duplicitous as you say," She would start, "then it might be a better idea for me to play the more sedentary role again. I might like to say I could be helpful in the other group via my chronomancy, but you have that yourself, as well as a bevy of foreknowledge that I've none of. So I believe I'll try to use what other talents I have to navigate the verbal maze this creature conjures instead, presuming no others mind this arrangement."

    Fenestra wouldn't say a word, but should anyone make eye contact with her, she would likely return with a small, gentle wave of her hand and a smile. She looks every bit the small, bookish sort that she is.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Entering the Node is always an interesting experience for Ayako! The upside-down city with the stars below is something she simply doesn't get used to and she loves it! The atmosphere around the city, though? She still doesn't like it. After assorted cheerful hellos and setting up Water Bubble around everyone, she settles in comfortably. That is, she's lying down on her back on her floating broomstick.

    Once Homura drops the plan, she sits up straight and smiles cheerfully. "Alright! If it's defense that's needed, I'll do my best!" Her amber gaze moves off to the side as she scratches her cheek with her finger. "I... I'm not so good at pinning, shaking, or asking good questions..." She giggles a bit awkwardly and nervously.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    "I was planning on meeting the Demon, last time. I'll go with you. I think the incubator might respond better to a Puella Magi, but..." Kimiko shrugs. It should be fine. It's not like there isn't anyone else here with expereince in talking to Kyubey.

    She does look noticeably improved from last time, though again, that could just be the fact that 'work' is her primary coping mechanism for stuff that destroying her mind.

    Or, no, she actually does seem better. This is as good as the expressionless magical girl gets. Calm and focused.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is here and has adopted a passive stance about the current series of events. His hands are placed in the pocket of his jacket and he is currently standing around somewhat blandly. He looks around and then listens to Homura's plan. In a somewhat bland tone, he says:

    "I will go with whichever group that you decide my skills and talents are best suited for. I have no present opinion on which group this is, and so will simply follow where necessary," He notes in a pretty deferring tone on the topic of what group he should be a part of.

    Across his back is his sword, Adjudicator. He is opting not to wear it in gauntlet form at the moment, despite the convenience and portability it offers him.

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
    FIORA IS HERE!!!
    Was there ever any doubt?

    Beyond the obvious doubts and half-existances, Fiora doesn't so much as arrive as simply oh-hey-look-hi's Homura, floating in a reclining posture while seated on Hecate. The smugbroom is there too, of course, piggybacking on her Concept quite neatly.

    I mean, it'd be really awkward if it couldn't.

    "So what you're telling me, Homura, is that you need me to nominally do what I usually do, and not talk to a cryptic cagey-ass fuck instead? Holy shit, progress made, we've reached glorious parity, this is the best division of labor."

Vruasa Telash has posed:
    As is ordinary for him, VRUASA appears rather abruptly. It isn't because he didn't join Homura properly on the way in, but because he fast forwarded through it so quickly that he hasn't been bodily perceptible even though he was very much present. He doesn't like these obnoxious preliminaries very much, whether it involves his own problems or somebody else's. So he arrives in the now with an expression of mute aggravation. That's because he needs to slow down enough to figure out what's going on and act accordingly, and as far as he's concerned they're still in 'obnoxious preliminaries' territory.

    That's fine, though. Even he wouldn't want to know what he's going to do before he does it all the time. Saving time certainly isn't worth the loss of agency that would entail.

    "I'll go with your team. If you think the duplicitious little shit will be too annoying for you, I'M not going to hold up any fucking better." Vruasa says to Homura, reclining lazily in the air. In other words, he'd probably turn Team Investigation into Team Murder. Or else, he would simply not contribute much. That's always a possibility with Team Defense, but it seems somewhat less likely. "Unless you want me to be on both teams. I could do that, but I'm not sure if I really want to be looped into this place like that." Evidently, despite having effectively infinite time in which to do things, Vruasa doesn't actually like devoting too overwhelming an amount of his time to "one" task.

    Given how quickly he loses interest in things, that's probably not too much of a surprise.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Both teams are headed straight for a cryptic cagey-ass fuck," Homura deadpans to Fiora, before adding: "Although, counting your broom, that'll be three present. Maybe your broom can translate for us."

    That'd be convenient.

    To Vruasa, she nods. "That's fine. This place sounds like a headache for you to look at, so being here twice probably isn't pleasant."

    She idly does a headcount and sighs.

    "Well. I guess I'll stay here and deal with the Incubator. Story of my life, dealing with those cats. Kimiko, you should already know where to take others," she says. Either the Demon's obvious or she provided Kimiko with the location they were given last time. Well, technically Kimiko is the one who got it in the first place, so that helps.

    "I should note I don't know that you'll have to defend the Demon. But we do know Miki is going to be showing up to kill it sometime soon, so... get what you can out of him before that happens, if possible."

    Then to Psyber: "You'll probably enjoy harassing the Operator-like Short Man more than trying to wring helpful words out of an annoying white cat, so up to you."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber thinks it over and then looks to Homura, "It seems that the Demon already has a substantial number of people moving to investigate it. Too many voices lending itself to that lead would simply dillute results."

    He thinks for another few moments, "I will stay to meet with the Incubator and see what results can be gained by aiding you and Mizuki in that issue," he finishes in a calm and fairly subdued tone.

    He reaches into his coat and pulls out a crumpled packet of cigarettes, taking one out and setting it in his mouth, lighting it a moment later, "I also do not feel too inclined to travel at the moment, and this will indulge my sedentary ambitions."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko gives a nod. "This way, then. We shouldn't waste any time. We don't know how long it will take, nor how long we have."

    She's already transformed, so dropping off the side of the building at a vertical run--as she's now done a few times before--is simple enough to start her on her path toward the city's edge, in the opposite direction of the Witch's labyrinth, as Miki had instructed.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    The INCUBATOR who darts between rooftops is as it was before: Wounded. This time, it's the other ear that managed to get torn off violently this time, leaving it with a stumpy sort of lopped-off thing dangling a little, as well as a chunk off of one of their legs. Leaping high through the air, eventually it does settle down atop the radio tower, sitting in its innocent way, on all fours, tilting a head curiously. "Homura Akemi." It says, in greeting. Mizuki and Fenestra are right next to it, one on each side.

    The others are stared at with its standard alien, inhuman perspective. It seems to not mind its wounds in the least.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Kimiko takes the group to the see Speaking Demon, and the path is clear. There's tension below, but local authorities are responding to the panic of the people with well-practiced ease, keeping them off the streets. Seeing no stars in the sky has everyone on edge, though, and there's more demons out tonight than usual. The humanoid, faceless white creatures with their robes and distorted faces stand tall and swipe and blast at the group, but while they're numerous, they won't pose a challenge while the group makes their way over the rooftop, and Ayako won't have any trouble healing the group of what few injuries they might sustain. It's many times more dense than your average city's Miasma, though...

    One will stand out, though. Or, rather, won't. Roaming about near a fountain, the short one is not difficult to see from a distance. The group can approach from above, as the elegantly composed plaza with the fountain in the center isn't especially wide. It IS unusually short, but hasn't shown off how it speaks yet. The group can have the jump from their rooftop perspective.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki and Fenestra would each turn to face the Incubator as it lands, neither one adjusting their position. They seem rather cozy having the Incubator sandwiched in-between them like this, as though it might offer some psychological-kinesthetic boon to negotiation. Extremely unlikely, they both know, but the others -have- said that this one's behavior is suspiciously more emotive than that of other incarnations they've seen, so it's worth an examination. Fenestra would already be taking notes, starting with a sketch of Q's likeness, as well as a description of the direction it had come from if such a thing was clear. She also notes the missing ear, which Mizuki is most certainly quirking her brow at in kind.

    "Q, was it?" She would faintly incline her form a moment. "Hello... again. I have a few things I've been rather curious about, and I presume there is no purpose in pleasantry with you, so I'll get right down to it. May I?" She would nod her head affirmatively as if in answer to her own question before beginning. "Firstly," Fenestra would be writing the word of each inquiry nigh as quickly as she speaks, "is there any relationship that you can discern between the witch and the fourth magical girl that we have not met? This has been a niggling suspicion of mine that I should like very much to dispel if it is baseless. Secondly, it is your occupation to grant the wishes of magical girls, is it not?" Her arms would wander to her back, now. "Can you describe the manifest of the wishes made by any of the group? Especially as they pertain to the witch, or failing that, this situation more holistically."

    She would steal a glance back at Psyber and Homura after finishing her statement. "Pardon the boldness of that, if you will. I'm not interested in invading their privacy even if they are illusory forms -- rather, I think that their personal struggles will end up being pivotal to the overarching tale. I am certain you both could see why." Then, back to the Incubator. It's slightly unnerving for her to see something so... thoroughly unfeeling. It reminds her of Apathy, but then even she seems to keep something cloistered inside of herself. This... being, seems quite entirely empty. She doesn't quite know how to take that. With respect? With fear? Perhaps a little bit of both.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Fair enough," Homura answers Psyber.

    As the others leave and the Incubator finally appears, the black haired girl takes a few moments to rub her temples and steel herself for incredible bullshit. If anything, this is the one aspect that really did change for the better, they don't have to deal with Kyubey much anymore. His shifty ways, at any rate. He's up to something but as usual finding out what is difficult.

    "Incubator. What injured you this time around?"

    Might as well start with something easy.

    She turns to look at Mizuki and shrugs.

    "As far as I'm concerned you brought a lawyer to speak with an Incubator. That's a pretty good idea." Lawyer might be a bit of a stretch but Fenestra certainly has her way with words.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko is in a hurry. She'll dodge around each attack against her with an ease born of long practice, trusting her armor to take care of anything she misses. She's not in a rush to clear the Demons, here. That's not the top of the agenda. She's here to see the one that speaks.

    And there he--it?--is. She doesn't have a plan, and doesn't believe she needs one. She intends to just get down to where the short one can see her, and wait to hear it ask its question. If nothing else gets in the way, that's just what she'll do.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako glances down at the faceless white humanoids down on the streets. A slight shiver runs across her body. As a water spirit that tries so hard to look human, something that looks so... distorted makes her a bit uncomfortable. At least she can keep everyone else healed as they move towards their destination, though!

    Speaking of which, she has no idea who or what the short demon looks like. So Ayako just follows along with the group as she continues riding on her broomstick. Once Kimiko goes down, she follows right after her!

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber takes a long moment of silence and then says, rather flatly, "Incubator. If this world is templated off anything related to Homura Akemi you should have an inherent understanding of my personal stance towards your race."

    "If you do not, allow me to expound upon my prior stance: I believe your race is an unmitigated and detrimental force to the Universe as a whole. Despite this, you are a necessary existence. Do not take comfort in this fact, however, because your necessity is solely self-created by the very system you should be loathed for."

    He takes a deep breath and then continues, "Now that I have made my stance clear, please be aware of the validity of my threat when I tell you that if you do not give direct, clear, and easily understood answers, I will hit you so hard with this sword that the conceptual damage will resonate back and kill you several times before finally resolving the sum inflicted damage.

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
    Fiora sighs deeply at mention that BOTH paths deal with cryptic fuckasses, but she grins-and-bears it. "Sure. Well, at least maybe I'll be helpful." She grumbles, before they are OFF AND AWEIGH!

    As they approach the SHORT DEMON, something occurs to her, as she gets general noncommitalness about being sneaky, and the whole whiteroom thing seeming a bit contrite at this point in time. It's all destined stuff, and she didn't want to interfere with flow. If the Short Demon was to be attacked for things to progress cleanly, her getting in the way - even if she was quite adept at giving causality both birds - could be damaging to things. So, she just sort of floats down, following the point-peoples and thinking to herself. "It's curious that the Short Man, in this, is a 'Demon'. Perhaps it speaks to the level of agency a normal person has. While they tend to take supporting roles, maybe this is simply not a story of a city, but instead of the struggles on another level? I mean, we're literally dealing with a whole pile of fake people being inconvenienced, and only interacting with like three mages, one missing mage, a stupid talking ferret, and the stuff they usually fight..."

Vruasa Telash has posed:
    Vruasa is pretty much in a holding pattern, and playing back-up muscle. He swats away any demons that come near his group with his CLOCKHAND SPEAR, but otherwise simply cruises along in the air above Kimiko. He doesn't descend like the others, having no direct personal experience with the talking demon. Instead he simply shoulders his spear and floats there as aerial support, observing and waiting for Fiora to do her stuff. This doesn't really come to much of anything, because she decides not to put them in a whiteroom, so he simply ends up floating there watching in overwhelming indifference.

    He shifts his spear to the opposite arm (and shoulder), leaning against nothing in particular in mid-air. When you can float freely, it's pretty easy to simply assume whatever poses are comfortable. Vruasa shrugs and says, "The form probably doesn't fucking matter as much as the role, but I don't know. Haven't been in any node but this one for a while, and I don't know fuck all about Homura's world of origin, so most of this stuff is going right over my head. Something something eldritch abominations. It's like some asshole walked into Sburb and tried to wrap his head around it without actually playing it often enough to know what's going on."

    "Eventually it'll stick, but I've got no idea what the fuck is going on half the time. At least this guy is kind of familiar." He gripes.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Q seems to have no objection to being surrounded, but then again, its completely inhuman thought processes might make it immune to that sort of manipulation. "Q is what the magical girls decided to call me. Their culture hasn't developed the phonetic inclinations necessary to conveniently pronounce my name. Some people called me Kyubey, some people called me Q, but my name is Incubator!" Of course, to distinguish it from the proper Kyubey, it will be referred to here as Q. "The witch at the docks seems to be a high-energy state of one of the girls who lived here before. It's fascinating to me! Normally, magical girls terminate high-energy states on their own. I've never had a chance to see one like her so close without interruption. But there's more important things going on!" No mention of whether it was connected to that specific girl, though, just a girl...?

    "Incubator rules about wishes are humane. The privacy of magical girls is important." Q tilts its head. "You could ask them. Or you could tell me why you need to know. I'm not sure why that matters, though! Their emotions are energy states. Are there any risks I can help you deal with in their emotional disorders?"

    The Incubator then looks down to Homura. "Something in the cycles is hunting me down! I think it has something to do with the barrier, since I'm the only one here whose memory is stored outside the barrier. It might also be a magical girl. I'm prioritizing fleeing." Q tilts its head and gives a sort of "^_^" look. "Don't worry about me! I'm not like my co-worker you met before. He was focused on making contact, not escaping. When an Incubator is trying not to be found, it's very difficult to find them!" Some minor knowledge of the other Incubators? And the word, "co-worker", is an extremely rough translation of a word that isn't telepathically broadcasted in japanese, but some alien language.

    Adjudicator flares up with a crimson fire for a moment, to accentuate Psyber's threat, though it seems falteringly uncertain. That's an unusual approach for him. Q stares for a while. "We always provide easily understood answers." Q says, almost innocently. "I'll answer any questions you have that aren't bound by other humane rules. You're here to help, aren't you?" :3

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber slowly turns his head towards Homura and asks in a relatively bland tone, "Do you believe that, at some point, it would be fruitful for your iteration and this iteration to make contact?" He pauses, "It is possible that the one which follows you around would be better equipped to question and bring answers out of this creature by knowing the questions to ask to get a fuller account of the facts."

    His head then slowly turns away from Homura and back towards the small creature, "Good. I am glad that you understand the consequences of deception and are willing to give straight answers. Yes, I am here to lend help wherever I can and to attempt to help this world where possible."

    He takes a slow, deep breath. It's clearly taking some effort for him to remain calm and collected while he addresses the creature, "Can you tell me the present location of Sakae Takenaka? If so, please do so."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Kimiko gets down to the ground, right in front of the unusual runt of a Demon. And she, and those who follow, find it's... It's like the Short Man in other iterations of the Nodes. It's wearing a /costume/. The distortion at its face is very literally some kind of mask, the skin coloration is some kind of makeup, and the baldness comes from a baldcap. And yet, he FEELS like a Demon. Kimiko's Magical Girl Senses won't say it's a human in any capacity. And yet, there he is, looking for the world to see like a Demon cosplayer.

    Fiora's quiet discussion gets a response from Hecate. "The city is a backdrop. In fact, I can say with confidence that the mundane humans exist only in as much capacity as you're looking at them particularly hard at any given moment. But that's the Node, not the natural state of things. You'll find at the end of this that things might be different. And there are many demons of the same nature. But the most important part of deciding who he is in the worlds we visit is this: What role lets him wear an interesting mask?"

     The Speaking Demon does speak up as he approaches Kimiko, tilting his head. It seems to speak in distorted tones, with some of the words 'blocked out' by the typical distorted noises made by Demons as if he's trying to suppress an accent, but it's all coherent. "Oh, hello miss. Have you seen a tall witch around here?" It approaches, as do several Demons surrounding and ignoring it.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki's eye would twitch. The extent of what she got from that was essentially that 'the witch was a girl who lived here'. Not whether it spawned from one of the puella magi she had met, not whether it had any relation to any of them if not, and certainly not whether the wishes had anything to do with the overarching narrative. -Nothing-. It had let fly two, perhaps three paragraphs worth of monologue, yet she had learned nothing. This sheer invalidation of her curiosity annoys her far more than it ought to, and any pretense of civility would die immediately for any sufficiently emotive being that may notice the murderous intent in her eyes.

    This is like looking in a mirror.

    One of those carnival mirrors that makes you look more fat.

    Yeah.

    "Let us try another line of inquiry, then." A breath is drawn. "What is the -name- of the fourth magical girl? Certainly this would not violate their privacy to ask." Perhaps these Nodes are merciful enough to incorporate the meaning of names into the narrative, somehow. Perhaps if the kanji of her name mean something like 'star', or 'jealous one', she could begin to get a rough impression of her backstory's likeness. She doubts very much that this will reveal anything of consequence, but she needs something to serve as filler while she shakes off her not-so-limited irritation.

    "What are you running from?" That one comes fairly sudden and instinctively. They completely shrugged off Homura's question, so maybe her parsing it differently will get a bit more reaction in kind. "And why does it wish to do you harm? Have you wronged them somehow? Elsewise, do you know something that would make you dangerous? If it is the latter, then you could both divert attention from yourself and expedite this conundrum's solution if you were to share that information with us, now." She's -really- in brute force mode right now, which might be good. Or it might lock her out from getting anything at all. Guess we'll see. "Ah, and -- why are you the only one who seems to retain their memories through each 'reset'? Does this pertain to either of the above inquiries? Does it relate to the 'collective' nature of your race's cognition in any way, or are you entirely cut off from that here?"

    She figures that, if she asks every bloody thing that pops into her head, she'll at least get -something- in return. After all, they're bad at being straight with people -- not parsing massive quantities of information at once.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Psyber, if you suggest he should meet Kyubey again, I'll reach up there and drag you out of this Node by the ear," Homura frowns, jesting, although obviously aggravated by the idea of dealing with not one but two Incubators. And, possibly worse, having to endure them talking to another because one of them is disconnected. Do they act like shady jackasses to one another? She really doesn't want to know that much. "But I will acknowledge it could bring results."

    She listens to Psyber and Mizuki questioning the cat, and how it dodges most of the questions. It doesn't seem to know what's hunting it, which is fair... but worth pressing into a bit. Which Mizuki does! So Homura will address another matter altogether.

    "Their privacy is irrelevant in the face of this mess. You wish this fixed so that you can continue collecting for your quota? What's revealing four wishes going to change in the long term for you? It might help us tremendeously. But if you are so adamant on refusing, how about telling us why are you researching Pures instead, and how many you have seen?"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes slowly once she gets a better look at the Short Demon. It's... it's a costume?! But at the same time, it's a good costume. But then... that voice! She winces slightly at the distorted words from the Short Demon. It seems... Ayako is not a fan of distorted human-like things.

    As a result... it seems she's not really in the mood to talk to the Short Demon at like... all.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko eyes the other Demons. They were attacked on the way here, and it was possible to deal with it quickly because they were on the move. They are no longer on the move. This may make things more difficult.

    She's going to wait as long as she can before starting a fight.

    "We've seen a Witch. It may have been tall. What does the Tall Witch look like?"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    The Incubator's tail swishes several times. "Sakae Takenaka isn't at a location I can identify. I'm also unable to locate Chiyo Yamauchi. Mio Takenaka is patrolling the industrial district and Miki Mizushima is patrolling the higher class residential districts. At least, last I saw! We only know so much. Spending too much energy on collecting extraneous information is something I need to avoid. The barrier's up, so I only have a limited amount of energy!"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "The fourth magical girl in the particular group I'm acting Incubator for is Takenaka Sakae." It says, jumping up onto Mizuki's shoulder and speaking from there. "I'm unable to determine what is hunting me. It began trying to kill me every cycle beginning right after the barrier went up. I think whatever put the barrier up wants to make sure I won't be able to stop whatever it wants from the people here! That's why I wanted you all to help me breach the barrier. This is a major risk to humanity and to our energy quota!" It jumps back down, this time to the other side.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I understand," Psyber says to Homura in an even inflection. He looks from her to the Incubator, and then back to her, "I am beginning to suspect that Sakae Takenaka is in possession of a Pure. She may not be the core Pure User of this Node, however."

    Psyber speaks to Homura very simply, "I am unsure how to phrase this in a non-accusatory fashion, so please bear with me."

    "Due to the cyclical nature of this Node, the dual nature of your powerset, the antithetical relationship of Pure and Abstractum, as well as the hunting of the Incubator..." Psyber takes a long pause, "I believe that you are the antagonist of your own Node. Or if not you, then a reasonable facsimile of yourself."

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
    Fiora, from atop Hecate, looks at the demons. "A backdrop. Yeah. Like the extras in a movie. Interesting, but there to set a stage, not to be part of the story. Like props." She muses.

    "At least in my node when the show stops the extras are extras. It's actually..."

    Fiora pauses, a thoughtful look on her face. "My node is an obvious fake. It is honest about its fakeness. Well played, Network. Well fucking played." She murmurs, appreciatevely, before gesturing Vruasa down towards the Demons.

    "Now, let me just ask a question. Assume I know nothing. This Tall Witch. Is that a human thing, or a giant black jagged obsidian-spitting type?"

Vruasa Telash has posed:
    "You have to be fucking kidding me. You think /that thing/ is the tall woman?" Vruasa demands of Fiora, floating down next to her and setting the end of his spear against the ground with a light clatter. He doesn't seem to know what to make of all of this, and remains woefully ignorant of all of the things Kimiko and Homura are really wary about. He isn't even really certain what the significance is of a demon that can speak. Is this guy supposed to be one of those weird things that tried to charge at him a while ago? At least they know who he's supposed to be, though.

    Come to think of it...

    "Hey. Ulixes. Boot up and gimme a look at this guy's timeline." The Knight prompts his Abstractum, morbid curiosity overwhelming his better judgement. This is probably going to hurt.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki's head would jolt back somewhat when Kyubey lands on her shoulder, but she would collect herself before long. Not before glaring daggers at Fenestra for giggling at her predicament, though. -Stare-. "Is that so." She's quickly losing confidence that speaking with this glorified plush toy will elucidate anything, but she is still going to do everything in her power to get info from it. Well, everything short of throttling it. She'll let Psyber or Homura do the throttling.

    "Do you think this could be a risk in any other manner -outside- meeting the energy quota? Take into consideration that this inquiry considers any damage to the infrastructure of this city - or rather, inside the barrier - as a significant risk. Additionally, how would you rate the energy output of this witch? Is there anything aberrant about this particular witch that you've not witnessed before?" It really is like talking to a brick wall. Or, rather, a very cuddly, ivory wall, but still. Point stands.

    She would steal a glance to Fenestra to be sure that she's still writing in good clip which, of course, she is. If only there were more for her to actually be writing. To be fair, though, there may be more revealed later when she re-reads the incubator's responses, word for word, for any pertinent mentionings that might've been undersold in the Incubator's discourse.

    God it's great when you have legit police records.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Homura gets that ":3" turning around on her again. It somehow seems... More focused. "The Pure is what she called it before." It tilts its head. "Do you know what it is? We detected high-energy states from its owner that don't obey the Law of Cycles, something that could fill the entire quota of this planet multiple times! I've only seen one, but not been able to find it since. Explain more to me, please."

    Seeming to decide that maybe Homura will be more willing to explain if it trades its own information in turn, it continues. "The wishes the girls made were simple. Mio wished for her family to always be protected. Miki wished to be able to see through the lies friends were telling her. Chiyo wished to not be destitute anymore. Sakae told me never to tell anyone what her wish was."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Do you mean a situation like Kirito's where he is the 'raid boss' and the Pures are guiding the 'players', making me the narrative antagonist, or do you mean the Pure here is basically me but using it to ruin everything instead of saving someone?" Homura asks Psyber, since the statement really could be taken both ways and it wouldn't make more or less sense for it to be either.

    Then she listens to the Incubator.
    She frowns.


    "No. Pures are weapons, Incubator. To use them would breach your so-called oaths to give humans "fair treatment". To use them would be counterintuitive to your goal. Those who use Pures are roped into a battle with for only goal to end existence. If you are honest about doing the attrocities you do for the good of the Universe you will keep those paws miles away from any Pure you encounter."

    He won't. Of course he won't.
    But she had to try.

    "Who had one? Sakae?"

    The wishes don't go over here head-- the significance of Miki being able to tell when her friends are lying is especially big. It means when she said they weren't lying, they weren't. Unless the powers are failing, anyway.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Oh, she's got a lot of blue, but with red hair, an' a bunch of construction paper themes on her. Not that big, oughta have a labyrinth, looks like a bunch of mirrors I think?" The other demons -- well, at this size they're Slaves more likely -- but they approach more rapidly now, intending to swipe and blast at the group. Easy enough to deal with, but clearly showing contrast with the Speaking Demon. Who... Honestly doesn't act like a demon at all. Nor will he react in the LEAST to his compatriots dying. He has the posture of a tourist and it's uncanny. He's approaching too, but it's more of a social approach.

    Vruasa will find that it's even worse now. "Alright, booting up." Ulixes says. "I'm getting some analysis capabilities back here, but this isn't gonna be pretty." And Vruasa gets hit with an eyefull of timeline. Oh my god it's even worse now. Not only is his timeline /still/ fucked up as bad as his timeline on the other nodes, but now the local timeline-fucking has compounded it into a recursively awful chronology.

    Fiora gets a response as he looks up. "You'd call her human-ish I guess? She sure as hell got no obsidian though, last I checked. I'm not into fightin' that witch, only the other Demons are getting their robes in a twist about that."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I believe it is the latter. The Node is playing a macabre recreation of your origin story and if all parts of it are taken for symbology," Psyber begins in a simmple tone and explains pretty robustly:

    "The overwriting of personalities could be representative of your repeated attempts to save multiple individuals and an overt symbolic statement that you were not reversing them, merely overwriting their existences repeatedly. The existence of a large Witch sealed off from the city, which is placed behind a barrier to forestall but which inevitably breaks through is rather simple as well. Likewise present are a wish for a family, a wish for ones friends, a wish for stability and an unknown wish. What is missing is the individual with the wish to repeat a sequence of events. This is either the unknown wish, likely represented as 'a wish to always be together' manifesting forward into the Witch and the repeated resetting, or there is an unknown entity operating within the city with a similar motive to yours."

    He stops for a few moments and takes a deep breath, "However, this is based solely on a number of hypotheticals and is a theory of questionable validity, so I would not take it as anything but an initial guess."

    He blinks a few times and adds, "It is possible, or likely, that I am incorrect."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako eeps softly when the not-short demons start to swipe and blast. Of course, they're not exactly threatening and seem to more emphasize that the Short Demon prefers to talk. She still flies a bit higher than usual to avoid them all the same.

    Still wincing at the voice of the Short Demon and rubbing her ears gently. "That... Hmm... Maybe the others have an idea of what to make of this...?"

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Well, at least they got here ahead of anyone trying to kill Mr. Demon. That's one less thing that's going wrong.

    "Excuse me a moment, please." Kimiko says this, to be polite, as she takes a step back and brandishes trident that hadn't been there a moment prior. She takes a pose that might look at home in the Olympics, then tosses it for the neck of the nearest Slave, trailing a silver flash even without whatever Koishin can give her. Another step back, and a boar spear follows the trident, on a different target. Another step, another thrown weapon. She doesn't wait to confirm each kill before beginning the next attack.

    "I don't think they'll target him," she says, "but just in case--we don't want any accidents, here. Keep a lookout for stray attacks." For direct attacks, Kimiko has more direct options.

Vruasa Telash has posed:
    Gazing into a time abyss is pretty obnoxious, and Vruasa just stands there staring at the Short Demon for a pretty long while. Unfortunately this means that this particular Vruasa isn't prepared to fight, and gets peppered with attacks to seemingly no effect. He has to be helped out by himself, which is fine because it's something he's pretty good at. A couple of different iterations of him zip into the fray briefly, shamelessly ignoring all attempts at defense in favor of simply filling the air with explosive spears and peppering the Slaves right back with them.

    This only lasts for a few seconds before the current iteration of VRUASA is the only one left, standing amidst the carnage with a rather dumb look on his face. He shakes it off, privately instructing Ulixes to return to normal vision mode. So far he hasn't gained anything by looking closely at the Short Man's timeline, and the Short Demon is no exception. For once he decides to just ask, "How the fuck do you keep all of this straight in your head? Do you have multiple bodies or something? I already know you're definitely not what you seem like on the surface."

    This has nothing to do with the local node at all. He's probably forgetting some exchange or another that they had months ago now, which may have answered this question.

    They're involved with Burden... but Burden isn't interested in dealing with them. Why?

    Vruasa decides that his vengeance for being subjected to this will be to be needlessly cryptic with some other plucky youths in the future, frustrating their efforts to understand his involvement and reasons for helping them purely out of spite directed at a completely different group of people.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Of course it's a risk to the humans! The humans here are suffering under the barrier so much that they're building up miasma so rapidly our magical girls can't deal with it, especially since they're only operating at fifty percent efficiency. And if the miasmic pressure builds enough, it could be a huge risk to humanity itself. I promise you, Mizuki! You don't want this barrier up more than I do!" Thanks for the dozens of verbal gaps in that phrasing, Q. It paces around the radio tower a bit while it says this.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "I can never understand you humans. Self-destruction seems to be the source of all the energy you make, but you say it's bad." Q's tone doesn't change, but it takes a confused, almost frustrated posture. "We do a mutually beneficial exchange. We put tools in your hands and you give us energy in return. But then you blame us for what you do with what we give you. Homura Akemi, we gave you your magic. You're the one who fills it with human weapons. I'm to investigate every energy-gathering method I can, at least."

    Then, a cute little head-tilt and another "^_^". "Don't worry! The Incubators won't do anything that isn't good." Well, by their standards, anyway.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Adjudicator peers over Psyber's shoulder, at its User. This way of talking is a bit unusual for him. The blade squints a bit, as if staring at something confusing, but keeps itself quiet.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Well how do /you/ keep it all straight? Answer sounds pretty obvious if you're asking me." Hearing a demon talk so casually back to Vruasa, especially after several Slaves were dealt with, is a little surreal. "Besides, it's not so difficult if you try, and don't do anything dumb."

    With Vruasa and Kimiko both in combat with the Demon-spawn, they'll be dealt with shortly, leaving the area clear of demons with the exception of the Speaking Demon. He remains looking somewhat expectantly for an answer at Kimiko.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki massages her forehead, studying Q. "I don't suppose you would care to define precisely what fifty-percent efficiency means? Are some of them wounded, are some of them not participating in battle, et cetera? If we knew, we'd likely be able to find ways to consolidate the whole group's power into something that would be more likely to destroy the barrier." Yeah, she's going to latch on to the obvious thing here. She's at a loss otherwise -- brute forcing this conversation got her absolutely nothing, and now she's at a conversational dead end. If he doesn't give her any more subjects to pursue after this she's likely going to get pissy again and start throwing out question bombs as though she were a ninja who had had too much coffee.

    Or maybe she'll just take Fenestra and go sulk in a corner. Kyubey-senpai is just too much for her, and he -- she? They? It? -- has left her in despair.

    She might steal annoyed glances at Psyber and Homura before folding her arms defiantly. /Huff/. And she was so confident in her detectivating when she came in, too!

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Hn. Homura listens to Psyber, fitting the pieces together to the best they're presented. It would make sense. He's on to something, at the very least. She offers: "I am still trying to decide whom I think is the culprit. Though the Witch has the power to rewind time, I... think it might be possible that Mio or Chiyo have something to do with her state. There is something going on with them that even Miki is having doubts about. As obvious a guess as it might be that the Witch is the fourth girl, utilizing a Pure, and going out of control..."

    Homura sighs. Too many directions right now.

    She turns back to glare at Q, focusing her dislike for how open a scenario this is onto a being that completely deserves it. "Don't lecture me, Incubator! A child asks an adult for a loaded gun and the adult hands it to them, who is to blame? You will not convince me that you are blameless, even if there's truth in your words."

    Angrymura takes a moment to recompose herself, glancing towards Mizuki as she asks the good question, regarding what fifty percent is supposed to mean exactly. She decides to take another angle for now. "You never answered. Who told you about Pures? Who had one? And when did you last see Sakae?"

Vruasa Telash has posed:
    "Go with the flow and don't think about it too much. So you're saying it's only complicated because I'm looking at it from too broad a perspective. Guess I'll take a look at myself sometime and see what kind of nonsense my timeline is." Truthfully, Vruasa barely has to do this to know that his own timeline is a horrifying tumbleweed. Time loops themselves don't make much sense, particularly in the context of ectobiology. The creation of Ulixes was, after all, a self-generating event born from a time loop rather than anything that could be made substantial sense of.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "One half!" Q says, to Mizuki. Wow, thanks, Incubator. No, it does elucidate a bit. "Two of the magical girls are still fighting to save humans! Two can't be found!" The incubator shakes its head. "I can't breach the barrier myself, or with the magical girls here. I think your group has the best chance of breaking it open! Especially Psyber. I detected his output in the docks all the way from the other side of town! He could handle a lot of the problem himself."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Once the other Demons are wrapped up, Kimiko returns to the short one, letting her final blades disappear with an absent-minded flourish.

    "We have not seen her. But I expect we will look for her, now. Would you help us look? Perhaps your presence would assist, when we find the Tall Witch. I do not know what our meeting would be like, otherwise." If the Tall Witch is like the Short Demon, it /won't/ be a fight, but... Kimiko can't really imagine a meeting with a Witch not being a fight. It's just too alien, even with something that her senses are /telling/ her is a Demon, talking to her.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber nods his head to Homura, "There are numerous suspects and it will likely take a division of forces if we wish to cover all possible avenues without exhausting whatever limited number of cycles are remaining," He advises to her.

    Looking over towards Mizuki when she huffs at him, Psyber says, "You should not be distressed. It was solely through this line of questioning that I was able to reach a valid theory. Without your inquiries along with Homura's, my theory would not have been able to form. You contributed the pieces, I merely was able to weave a narrative from the parts you supplied. You deserve more credit for my theory than I do. As does Homura."

    Psyber then looks towards Q, "Yes. I am capable of a large amount of force output. I could attempt to breach the barrier, but the consequences for such an action are presently unknown."

    Psyber looks to the sword on his shoulder when it squints at him and gives it a simple thumbs up.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Q tilts its head curiously. "I will never understand humans. All these rules about when consent counts. We solved enough scientific challenge to unlock the power of granting wishes but even we can't make contract law as complex as you humans seem to think it should be. Sakae thought the same way too. It's so strange." No anger. Just confusion!

    "Sakae was the one who owned the Pure when I saw it!" The Incubator nods intently. "But I don't know what happened to it. She didn't have it when she left last time. But I don't think she was able to use it the same way as she did before."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "We're not breaking the barrier until we've fixed the problem that's currently contained inside the barrier. At least... for now, that seems like a bad idea," Homura answers Q, after he answers Mizuki, shaking her head. "When we're ready to, we'll get to it."

    So two are missing...

    And Sakae had the Pure. HAD.

    Maybe she gave it to Chiyo or Mio? Can Pures be given like that?

    "How did she 'use it' last time? Why would you believe she would be unable to use it like that a second time? And what did it look like?"

    Yes, she decides not to try to debate morality with the Incubator again. It was kind of stupid to bother in the first place, in retrospect.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    The response Mizuki gives this time isn't to the words directed to her, but rather those directed at Homura. "And I," She would speak every bit as evenly as Kyubey himself, though her eyes betray her emotion somewhat, "could never comprehend what value you creatures see in living when you have no medium through which to enjoy it. When you are just a cog, an algorithm, a machine -- you have no appropriate metric, in my mind, by which to judge the worth of the world you save. You claim that your actions are 'good', that you would never do anything 'bad', but your every motion is something invested in self-preservation, for its own sake." She would deepen her forming scowl just a moment before concluding, "There is less sense in that than there is in our self-destruction. Perhaps that elucidates the human perspective somewhat? You are as incomprehensible to us as we to you, and we happen to have feelings - anger, fear - that stem from things that seem foreign."

    She exhales. Is she... fidgeting? Just a bit, maybe. Seems Kyubey tripped a philosophy button.

    Again, her hand would move to her forehead. She would put some distance between herself and Q, facing away from the group a moment. When again she speaks, she has her head half-aimed in Psyber's direction. After a breath, she says, "... thank you. That does make me feel a bit less... extraneous." She turns around more fully some moments later, nodding to Homura. "Indeed. In our own, good time."

    No more questions from her, for the moment. She needs a bit to cool down.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Don't recommend it." Ulixes says, dryly, to Vruasa. "Believe me. Not fun to look at. For your eyes or for your eye-nerves."

    Kimiko gets a head-tilting look from the man in the Demon costume, and a smile. "I think she'll be here. She was supposed t'meet me 'round midnight. I'll be waiting here for her to meet me again around the next midnight, I guess?" But, of course, Miki Beta will kill him in the evening! Hmmm. Vruasa gets a nod though. "Don't stress out 'bout these things. Just go with it."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber folds his hands together in front of himself and nods at Homura's agreement with his general ideal, "Yes, I agree. Collapsing the barrier pre-maturely could compromise the entire Node. In theory, if we collapse the containment on this Node, we may allow it to cross Contaminate any other Node on the Homeworld, in theory."

    He gives a nod to Mizuki, "It was never my intention to make you feel extraneous in your contributions. I am not, by nature, someone who is prone to great plans or to asking the correct questions to apply intellectual leverage. My skillset is far more focused on a physical nature, with an emotional element that allows me to piece together puzzles. I was only able to do this due to yours and Homura's contribution. It was a group effort to reach a conclusion."

    He doesn't have much else to say, so he simply turns and looks out over the city for a bit.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako does a quick fly-by healing to everyone once the demons are cleaned up. She still winces whenever she hears the way the Short Demon talks, but... she nods her head once while rubbing her ears again. "Then... we should try to figure out some way to get the two of them to meet!" She smiles cheerfully. "We got to try different things to find out different stuff after all, right?"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "I don't understand the need for these delays." Q says, shaking its head. One loppy ear swings as it does, looking awkward. "I told you. She sustained high-energy states. I've not been able to gather more data. Mio tended to kill my current body each time I tried to gather data after she became aware of it. I know it's something that the Law of Cycles is supposed to prevent, but we don't understand the high-energy state or the Law of Cycles well enough. I can't tell you why I don't think she can use it anymore, she told me not to tell anyone. She did look a big skeleton with primitive display cells though!"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    It was previously MIDNIGHT of JULY 10TH. Various TRAVEL and WAITING TIMES, as well as assorted HUNTING and DISCUSSION TIMES, have pushed the time to MORNING of JULY 11TH, soon to be NOON of JULY 11TH.

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
    As the cryptobroom exposits for people, Fiora had been thinking. Maybe the Tall Woman was the fourth magical girl, and also had been corrupted, or something.

    But she dismisses these thoughts. It wouldn't be usual. It was better to keep things simple. The Tall Woman was a Witch because Witches were a thing. A setting element at the forefront. An element with some Agency. The Short Man, and the Tall Woman, were never antagonist figures. They were never pures.

    Which left questions. Was the Reset Witch /really/ a Pure? If not, that turned everything on its head. And there were other mysteries too - the mystery wish, for example.

    Unfortunately, Fiora didn't really have the context, or the puzzle pieces, to set out the jigsaw. But, thankfully, Hecate handled the edge pieces.