Most Likely A Refuge

[whatamithinking]

It was probably safe.

The bar was...unusually reticent, in the lower layers of her mind (and she hadn't pried further; she wasn't sure if she'd be noticed; she wasn't sure if offending would get her kicked out, and regardless of whether it was actually safe it was safer than anywhere else she'd been for the past...three years?) so she couldn't be sure this place wasn't really a trap of some kind, but the higher layers gave a plausible explanation that didn't involve being a trap, and whatever else it was warm and dry and had food. Her guard was probably a full 25% down. Positively trusting, these days.

Comments

[whatamithinking]

"You have to deal with evil magical aliens too? What do they want?"

[onceandforall]

"They want to harvest the emotions of teenage girls, but they don't mind if a witch eats the planet because the witch is very harvestable does more for their energy crisis than killing it and continuing to do their thing would."

[whatamithinking]

"...Ew."

[onceandforall]

"They're cute and fluffy and grant wishes. It took me a few loops to figure out they were evil."

[whatamithinking]

"They're incredibly cute and fluffy. My Emily pretended one was an inanimate object and cuddled it for a bit. They have zero emotions, it's super creepy," Cerebella remarks.

"Sounds it," the other one says.

[onceandforall]

"Apparently emotions are rare among intelligent species in my world and also break conservation of energy somehow."

[whatamithinking]

"...How."

[onceandforall]

"I have not figured out the science of it because if I get too inquisitive with the fluffy evil aliens things get real hairy fast in ways slightly more complicated than 'dead, try again'."

[whatamithinking]

"I mean, mutants behave in ways that seem to break conservation of energy all the time, if someone told me my brain slash emotions broke conservation of energy somehow I'd probably be slightly smug rather than any kind of disbelieving but just normal people's? Maybe we ought to rethink this whole conservation of energy thing."

[onceandforall]

"They only prey on teenage girls in particular because they have more fuel-grade emotions, so I'm not sure it's the same deal as mutants, it might just be a quirk of my world."

[whatamithinking]

"The fluff thought my Emily and I would be decent potential magical girls too, though, so if so it's probably not something about emotions in your world..."

[onceandforall]

"Well, I'm not sure its fuel-grade-emotions-sensor is well calibrated for foreigners."

[whatamithinking]

"I'm okay with cheating it out of wishes without the actual potential for fuel. Well, theoretically, in practice it's probably not worth the risk."

[onceandforall]

"Well, the wishes are real, granted without malicious interpretation, and generally pretty damn good. The problem is then your soul is moved into a gem which you must sustain with the byproducts of killing witches, who are ex-magical-girls."

[whatamithinking]

"Yeah, 'not getting a spell to clean out the soul gem fast enough' is the risk in question. Unless you wanted to hang out in Milliways cleaning 'em for us until we managed."

[onceandforall]

"I don't know how long that might be..."

[whatamithinking]

"Neither do I. I'm not desperate to be your kind of magical girl, just acknowledging the possibility. ...Although if we wanted to make her both kinds of magical girl I suspect that doing yours first would be the better idea. I don't think it's a coincidence that you got what you got first and not something, I don't know, time-related."

[onceandforall]

"Yeah, it was a little convenient. I - okay, the concern I have is, this is how you did with these powers and these problems. What if you acquire more powers but then also your problems get worse?"

[whatamithinking]

"...I mean, you probably wouldn't have had a problem with my sister if you'd met her instead, except insofar as she's been condoning my behavior by not forcing me to stop somehow and/or leaving. It seems to me like the problem is less quantity of power and more type, so as long as I don't just get more telepathy I'm not sure it's relevant. And, also, falling too far into the despair pits, but I know to guard against that this time."

[onceandforall]

"If you turn into my kind of magical girl, despair will turn you into a witch. It can work real fast if you're paying attention to how sad you are and not how badly your gem needs clearing."

[whatamithinking]

"...Is witch the kind of monster that eats your world."

[onceandforall]

"Yeah, but usually they don't get that big."

[whatamithinking]

"Yes but let's not turn me into a despair-monster, that seems like a bad idea. Being two kinds of magic would be nice but I am not, actually, making bad enough choices as a result of trauma not to realize how much of a risk there is of that going badly."

[onceandforall]

"You won't get an argument from me."

[whatamithinking]

"Did I know that?" Cerebella asks. "If I did I forgot, sorry."