2238/Time Loops: Amy

Time Loops: Amy
Date of Scene:	15 January 2025
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	During the time loop, Hinoiri encountered Amy and shared quite a bit of her 'looping' issues with her... as well as allowed the other girl to experience a few things free of the consequences of reality. However, during this she learns a bit more about the other girl than she'd ever realized.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Amanda Faust
Tinyplot:	Hinoiri's Endless Loop

---

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
First Day Loop:

It had been a nice enough day, early in the loop. Sun was shining, no rain. And Hinoiri had heard of a small shop with really good food that a lot of people were raving about. So she was, admittedly, pretty excited for it...

She was a lot less excited when she came across a witch's barrier on the way to said shop. One henshin later and Equivalence was running into it...

Unfortunately, it was some weird candyland witch. Lots of little candy cane soldiers, ginger bread men. Ugh...

It took her a while to find out the trick, and then just cheating across the board to find gingerbread castle, with the candyland queen witch...

She wasn't the first one there, though.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy heard of it too! People were raving about it so much she decided to actually try and get in during lunch!

    But she's ended up in more than she bargained for.

    This is the second time a barrier's snuck up on her, and this time she wasn't one of a number of people going to the same place so help may not be coming.

    Just as her fear is getting to her, she hears someone screaming for help as a familiar chases them, and after she of course blows it away, well... she's got to try! She tells the humans trapped here to hide from the monsters while she finds the Witch, but...

    As she wanders through candyland, she has to face that since the beginning, there's never been a sure method to it. The Witch always just eventually shows up, or is stumbled upon. They've never found a way to reach it faster.

    The best she can do is approach anything interesting, go whichever way feels the most like it'd be 'next' in a videogame; charging towards interesting scenery and fighting monsters. It's frustrating not knowing when it'll happen, but if anything she tries helps, it's better than wasting magic...

    The Witch appeared when she had stopped to rest and think. Just, bam, giant candy monster!

    She's just one Puella Magi, but she's experienced and she has a whole soul gem and some grief seed left; she can wear down the Witch and see how much magic it takes.

    She's not sure how many minutes it's been. She runs, she dodges, she rocket-jumps across the arena, so far avoiding any heavy direct hits; conjuring, firing, and dismissing the artillery cannon to dodge again.

    It feels like a boss battle that she's too low level for but that she can maybe win if she plays well enough.

    But this isn't a game, and she has no save point to go back to. She has no choice but to keep trying, hoping that she's chipping away at a healthbar she can't see...

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
It had been in the middle of this fight that Equivalence had appeared, rushing in and offering Amy some cover. She, admittedly, wasn't that strong in comparison to some of the magical girls... But it was much harder to fight two, than one. Especially when one was a short range combatent and the other was a long range.

But defeating the witch wasn't that hard...

And afterwards, she'd head off, dashing away, before joining Ami at the small market to have lunch with her, as Hinoiri!

But then the loops happened. It wasn't long before she was joining Amy in the fight as it started, and even guiding her a bit. Helping her through it... but each time she'd get a bit more curt... A bit rougher...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Oh man, am I glad to see you!" Amy's a little wary of fully trusting Equivalence after the fight with the helicopter youma, but everyone knows Witches are bad, so anyone is welcome to help! And with two the Witch is so much easier to fight. It's a shame Equivalence always runs off. Amy thinks of all the mysterious mahou who then became her friends this past year and a half. Could Equivalence be a friend too...?

    As time loops, the advice is welcome, at first. Amy thinks nothing of tactical suggestions...

    But in later loops, even Amy can pick up on Equivalence's frustration. She knows that tone, that attitude; she's been the guy trying to help someone with a very complicated videogame and getting exasperated. It was so cool that that convention had a Steel Battalion setup, she spent hours with it and then tried to help others! But it's like the people sitting down to play didn't even want to be mecha pilots!

    Now that she's on the other end of it she kinda gets why they all got so annoyed. After the fight, or even during, she snaps back at Hinoiri, "Alright already! You may have fought this Witch before but most of the time that doesn't happen! If you're so good at beating it, how come it's back?! ...Sorry, I got a bit snippy there."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Mid Loops:

On the upside, there were some extra benefits to repeating the same day. And it was a few hours after the witch encounter, when Equivalence had, admittedly, kind of been a jerk. When she knocked on Amy's door, and just...

"Time loop, no, you can't fix it, yes, you know, we've had this talk before, we're on episode seven of stein's gate."

"... Oh, right, since we talked about it before. Is there anything you want to try while the loop is going so I can tell you the results of, later?" she asked.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy stares at Hinoiri for a moment, each next thing running over her brain before she can process the last. "Wait, technically I don't know-- oh I'd've said that last time-- and that too, fuck. Wait, really? Oh sorry I probably said that before-- and that too, fuck! I'm sorry you must be tired of-- sorry."

    She needs a moment to process, including asking "I'm sorry, I have to ask: Really?" and to hear another tidbit.

    Thinking about the revelation that this timeline won't continue. This 'her' won't continue, but it's okay, she's the same her, because she's already considered similar problems but then one day she had a medical procedure with the anaesthesia that keeps you awake but stops you forming new memories and she was the same herself after; she's told Hinori this on some loop or other.

    After some discussion and back and forth, the things she eventually comes up with are talking to her parents, and coming out at school.

    She's pretty scared of both, but forces herself.

    So, it turns out her parents remember Mallory but magic or something is steering their minds away from what he's up to now. Which is sad, but... "It's... alright. You guys are my family now, anyway. And... I got to talk to them when I saved Christmas the first time. And see them."

    As for the other thing: It's Radiant Heart Academy. Nobody really cares that she's trans. Which was to be expected but it's still terrifying to let a cat out of a bag she can't put back, you know?

    But there is one other thing: "What about you? Is there anything you... Is there anything you need? Do you ever... have you ever just taken a loop off? Taken a break, taken some time for yourself? Relaxed?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"What do you think this is?" she'd ask. "You ask me that a lot, though. It's fine. But... yeah, I've taken a few loops off. Just chilled. Gotten to know a few people. Had some fun with it. Still working out what's causing it."

Of course... one thing was bound to lead to another. As she got more and more focused...

"Come on, Amy, we're going to go kick Otto's flank," she said. "Attempt number thirteen."

Yeah, it wasn't easy to just... beat people up in Obsidian, okay? And she was taking no chances.

... Weird how she got Riventon to help her, though, as he mumbled something about 'This only works once'.

Of course, the fight to Otto was not an easy one... It took hard work, fighting, a lot of running... And now...

"A-Amy? What... what's..."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    They caught him out. Time looping made it possible to find a way into Obsidian tower at this moment, on this day; not the circumstances they would've chose but the ones they could get, and because of that, towards the end the fight has spilled out across Obsidian offices, endangering civilian employees. And as Otto's cares little for whether people beneath him are threatened by his attacks, Amy interrupted his final attack with everything she had.

    She was going to say "Take what we learned to the next loop. Don't let this happen again." Maybe something about how her sacrifice will save them in a future loop. But, those were thoughts born from hope.

    Hope is something she can no longer feel.

    Amy collapses to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "We were fools. Doomed from the moment we contracted to this fate." She turns and looks up at Hinoiri. "Every Puella Magi... dies in despair."

    And her body collapses, nothing but an empty shell, as the blackened soul gem floats into the air and shatters into the heart of a Witch and immense energy is released.

Amanda Faust has posed:


    A signpost, a cartoonishly out-of-place pixel art wooden signpost, announces where you are in Witch runes. And around it...

    The Witch's Labyrinth is a deserted cyberpunk city with piles of scrap in the streets. The city is made of early-2000s 3D graphics, with all the subtle wrongness of lacking the details and fidelity objects and structures in reality should have. The skybox is in retro, high-res pixel art, showing that this city is in some massive underground cavern, with fire and brimstone in the distance.

    Aside from a signpost by Hinoiri's arrival, there are no words, even witch-runes, on the signs on the buildings, no clear images, and yet there's a clear sense that they are advertising something salacious.

    Not that there's a lot of time to think about that, because so much is happening at once.

    Most immediately, albeit the least of anyone's problems as far as imminent survival goes, the physical sex and appearance of all intruders in the Labyrinth is changed. Anime logic applies, everyone is beautiful, cute, or handsome and there's usually a significant change in height, outfits are replaced by something that fits the new body, often gendered but usually incorporating some element of the wearer's taste or personality, like a favorite color scheme or accessory.

    Predictibly, there's a lot of chaos as villains and civilian employees alike ensnared in the Labyrinth's formation react to the circumstances.

    And then it gets worse because SHE is here:



    She's about 20 to 25 feet tall, a metal humanoid body composed of boxy segments and invisible joints, like a crude 3D model used to demonstrate 3D animations. There is just enough low-poly suggestion of curves to the torso and pelvis segments to imply femininity, and a few nonmetal features: The boxy, faceless 'head' has little curved black horns atop it, small (relatively) black bat wings are attached to her back, as is a long, whiplike black tail ending in a spade. After a split second of anticipation, seamless, flush panels all over her body open so that all manner of technological weapons can pop out -- gatling guns, missile launchers, artillery canons, unfolding armblades/claws -- unloading on the defenders as what's left of Amy screams in frustration and exasperation.

    Familiars join the fight too, the haughty silhouettes of magical girls -- projecting the aura of an ideal impossible for one to reach -- harrying the assembled mahou with the silhouettes of magic attacks.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Running in search of an exit does not find one. The city is endless. In a parking lot(?) off one of the main streets, Hinoiri comes upon a lost and scared office worker; he holds out a hand, pleading; "You used to work here, right? That hair..." he lifts a hand to the side of his face as if to indicate something, and surprise and disappointment flicker across his face. "Do you know what's going on? Where are--"

    Before Hinoiri can answer, a masculine silhouette leaps out of an alley and stabs the worker with a knife. He's simultaneously reverted to his, or rather her, pre-labyrinth appearance -- that of some office lady Hinoiri might've seen sometimes around Obsidian, perhaps manning the front desk or delivering paperwork -- and starts to collapse, as if the body were but empty inflatable skin and the knife just let the air out.

    If not retaliated against, the silhouette steps into the collapsing skin -- there's a slit up the back or something -- and it somehow fully encloses the larger silhouette with a zipping sound and then there's just what looks like the office lady, picking up the knife with a menacing grin. At the same time Hinoiri hears the synthesized camera shutter sound of a phone taking a picture off to one side, and if she looks there she is, her normal, out-of-this-labyrinth appearance, holding a phone, grinning as if she got the better of the real Hinoiri somehow.

    And then there's a lot of light and sound off in the distance as finishers are unleashed -- Hinoiri can't see directly, there are buildings in the way, but the reflection of bright sparkly lights flickers off the taller buildings in view, and off stalactites hanging from the cavern ceiling. The disguised familiars turn to look that way, and then run towards the commotion.

    And then there's a distant confused murmur, and a young man's voice clearly shouting -- their voice louder than they probably intended -- something like 'We killed the Witch! Didn't we?! Why are we still here?!' And then a pile of junk filling much of the parking lot stirs.

    From underneath the pile, the Witch stands up. She looks at Hinoiri, and screams as she deploys weapons and fires.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
And the soul gem shattered. Equivalence stared, her mouth falling open. "What? No, they--"

But it was too late. There was screaming. There was... death. HE was... confused. How... why...

And then... someone was killed in front of him. And he froze, unable to speak. Why... this wasn't... this... this couldn't... this wasn't...

He couldn't really move, all he could do was... stare... as the familiar...

Wearing the person.

And then there was *her*. Hinoiri. HER body... just...

"Huh?" she asked, before she realized... the witch wasn't--

The witch rose. Equivalence turned, opened his mouth...

And there was light. So much light, and burning.

Then it was over. Hinoiri sat up in her bed, hands shaking, pushing over her, checking... she... she was okay.

======

It was early in the morning, as Amy was heading out for school... and suddenly Amy would be almost tackle hugged by Hinoiri. The strange girl just... hugging her. Full on.

"Amy... you will not die in despair. You are not doomed. None of us will ever let you go like that. You are our *friend* and we *care* about you... okay? I know you're scared, and I know you're confused and I know you don't understand a lot of things... but that's okay. It doesn't change you're one of us. It will *never* change the fact you're one of us. And you belong here."

It was... likely a little bit confusing to the poor girl.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Hinoiri is hugging her.

    Amy loves hugs! And she would love for Hinoiri to be able to enjoy them! But it's kind of surprising, isn't it? Almost... out of character?

    At first, for a second or two, she's stunned. Then she slowly returns the hug. And one hand moves up, a light touch at the back of the collar before moving back down to pat her back.

----

It was hidden behind the familiar-wearing-person's long hair, but Equivalence could see it, just for an instant, as the impersonated office lady turned in a hurry to run off, the zipper--

----

    Amy's mind eventually pauses thinking through magical scenarios to explain Hinoiri acting weirdly and processes what she's saying before it's out of her brain's audio processing buffer. "Like... what? I'm not..." she's not sure where the bit about being doomed, or any of this really, came from, but then...

    One of us.

    You belong here.

    Amy tenses up a bit. Those words hit deep, but she can't just relax and cry, something is clearly going on.

    "What..." Amy finds her voice a bit shaky, though. "What's going on? You're not... like this."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was silent for a moment, not letting her go. "Time loop," she said, before, slowly, pulling back. "We fought... Otto. It was... it didn't go well. You got... you got so, so hurt, Amy... We.... we need to talk. Because... I think... I think you may be one of the single most dence people I have *ever* met," she said before wiping at her eyes.

"Because you seem to *refuse* to realize that... that you're a part of this world... you're a part of *us*. You belong with *us*. You seem so tartarus bent on being... on being some kind of outsider because that was how it was before. And you don't seem to realize you're the only one who sees yourself that way. Nobody sees you as what you were, only what you *are*."

Finally, Hinoiri let her go and sighed. "I don't know what the future is goin to entail... I don't know what your future will be. I don't know how close all of us will be, once magic fades. But... that doesn't change this fact. Who you are now... is who you are. And you don't need to earn it, or fight for it, or argue over it. You just... are."

"... And you're also a huge dork, and that's okay."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Time loop. What. We fought Otto. What?! You got so hurt...

    You're Jigoku-bent on being some kind of outsider. "I... I..." Her throat tightens.

    The future is unknown. Will we even be close when magic fades. But you don't need to earn it or fight for it, you just are.

    "But..."

    And you're also a huge dork, and that's okay.

    Amy lets out a breath, relaxing unsteadily. "Well, yeah, that's for sure..."

    She breathes in, out, trying to keep her voice controlled. Opens mouth. Closes mouth. Breathes again. "But, I don't know how--" Crud, her voice is breaking and her eyes are watering. She leans back against the hallway wall, looking away, looking down, then finally up at Hinoiri, letting the words continue even if her voice breaks a little, "I don't know how to be... this."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara took a slow, deep breath... before pulling out her phone. For a few moments, she just typed, before finally, she showed it.

It was a... online ordering site. Showing dozens upon dozens of books. Self-help books. Hundreds of them. She then turned the phone off.

"Nobody does, Amy. That's the secret. Nobody knows. Nobody just innately gets it. And it's always changing, every day. What you went through now will be so much different from what you went through before. Applying those metrics just won't work. Because everyone's experiences are different. There's no guide book, no simple explanation that makes it all clear. there's no cheat codes. It just is. We all exist, we're all here, and we're all... trying our best. And that's okay. You don't have to know how to be you, now. Because that's something we all have to find out, in our own way."

"It's not easy. It's not going to make sense suddenly and all fall into place. You'll make mistakes, the same as everyone else. And that's okay. You just need to be willing to accept that you make mistakes, that others make mistakes... because, if you can? It's hard, difficult, confusing... but it's so, so, so much easier if we do it together."

"... Okay?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy cocks her head curiously to the side at the phone... and then sees the screen and the point Hinoiri is trying to make. She looks away, nervously fidgeting with her arm. "Well..." She listens. And at the end of Hinoiri's speech, she hugs her back, and nods. "I'll try. Minds don't change in just a day, though. And..." She hesitates, and then shakes her head before stepping back. "Thank you."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
The next day:

There were a few things that Hinoiri needed to do, once the loops were over... And one of them were deal with Amy. Tell her wha she learned about her. But also... well...

Give her permission to just 'be'. She, at least, could understand that, sometimes, you needed permission... for what you never should have to.

She would, of course, ask Amy to not tell anyone, yet. She needed a bit of time to figure out, well... how to explain what happened to everyone.