It had been a while since Tomoe Mami had dressed this well for something social. uniform was the black ornate dress of senior students with white shirt, a tradition that followed all grades of education around middle, high, and even college-level events.
It was easier to think of this as if she had moved into a new city, with a new school, rather than falling into another life of her own. Tomoe Mami took a deep breath.
"My education level... will remain roughly the same, I assume?"
First, you will have to take a placement test, Tomoe Mami-san. Please wait a couple of more minutes while we get things ready.
[One of the Infinity University Campus AIs said with a apologetic smile, her round blue holo-image bobbling in the air.]
Many, many people from many worlds and societies are arriving in Infinity every day, after all...
[And then, the AI's holo looked at Madoka for a bit, and then floated closer to Mami after Madoka gave her a nod.]
And just to make sure - Kaname Madoka-san has informed us that their is a number of people from your homeworld and the worlds close to your homeworld that you want to avoid meeting for the time being. Is this correct?
[The little blue holo of the AI seemed to sigh a bit, then.]
It will be possible for us to place you in different classes and courses from the people on this list and their alternate universe versions, but it will be well neigh impossible to avoid them entirely on other parts of the Infinity University Campus in City *****, I am afraid...
Tomoe Mami closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She would not break peoples' lives. In that same thought, she tried not to remember she was a replica to an already established group of friends.
"I understand." Mami barely moved as she spoke. "I do not intend to barge the lives they already have. It is for the best that we remain separate."
It was for the best if they did not see eachother.
"I will take the test to the best of my ability." Tomoe Mami tried to convince herself she was a good student. "I faced the same difficulties as many of the people here did in their respective worlds, but I did my best to study in spite of not having an afterschool group."
... then, saying this more to herself than to the A.I., she bowed. "I am ready for my test."
Very well, Tomoe Mami-san! First, we will start with the tests using our educational computer interfaces.
[The AI said, and then it showed her how to use the educational computer interface they were using.]
Please answer the questions to the best of your ability. We will try to avoid traumatic content, but sometimes, we cannot avoid it entirely, so please tell us if there is something in the questions that bother you.
...Ganbatte, Mami-san!
[Madoka said, and gave her an encouraging smile.]
- It wasn't that difficult in my case, except that it kept asking about all kinds of magical stuff I couldn't make head or tail of until later, when I learned more in some of the basic magic classes. Oh, and sometimes it tries to use some really unfamiliar Kanji and stuff.
[And then, she thought about this some more. She sometimes wondered what her homeworld - their homeworlds - would have been like, if the Incubators hadn't come at all. Would they still be living in caves, like one of the Kyubeys had said?]
[...The problem was, they may not be still have been stuck in caves, but Madoka herself had the strong feeling that her home world's Earth Humanity and indeed, the Earth in general would probably have been quite different from the Earth and Earth Humanity she knew if the Incubators hadn't found them at all - And that meant that just erasing the Incubators from Earth's history probably was not a good idea. She didn't want to risk throwing out the baby with the bath water, after all...]
[Madoka shook her head, then. Why in the world was she thinking about this, anyway? It wasn't like she had the power to erase the Incubators or anything, after all! She wasn't at all sure that even her Goddess self could just erase the Incubators, even if she wanted to, which she probably didn't.]
- But never mind that. Just do your best, Mami-san! I'll be waiting for you in the waiting room out there, OK?
Tomoe Mami remembered the digital classrooms of Hikarizawa to recall the similar interface. She was swift to get used to it, more by the year she was born in than an innate ability. She smiled to both Madoka and the A.I.
"It is no problem. I will be well."
There were many, many things that Mami had painful memories of. Things that, by now, they just lived with her like the shadow of death.
"I know well enough about physics, and I learned about the use of magic and its equivalence in my time. I will make my best use of it." She bowed, "I will see you around.
The room for the test was larger than Mami had imagined. Rows upon rows of students of many ages, races, genders, and worlds all performed their respective tests on digital terminals in nigh-silence, screens hovering in front of them with questions custom-tailored to prevent all hopes of getting even a glimpse of hope for a similar answer or a similar question between any of the potential students. As Mami walked around, she noticed they all had a time limit that was ticking down.
Mami held her soul gem. She went to her assigned seat, and sat down. Her poise straightened to let the photograph take her front and profile, she leaned both hands over the terminal for registry, typed as much relevant information as she could: Name, birthdate, blood type, former residence, livelihood, parents...
Who died in that sudden blur and scream of life and metal, blood pouring out of her, and the sheer realization in that darkened cage that she was going to die and didn't want to die at the time, taking any and all hopes--
She completed the data. It all compressed into a square that vanished beneath her picture as it moved to the left of the screen, followed by a long set of rules and legal standards she read quickly. She accepted and began the test.
There were simple questions in there, such as tests of mathematics, momentum, even economy, as well as things on natural sciences, music, chemistry, languages. Since it was the beginning of the test, there were only a few questions that Mami either failed to respond or didn't have enough knowledge to reply immediately enough. She went through questions on arcs, physics, temperature. One question asked about the approximate mass of titanium that would melt if the temperature around it rose a hundred degrees per second...
Invisible musketeers covered Mami as she desperately tried to follow the scream for help, avoiding the lakes of boiling fire the best she could, sweating by the sheer heat at which the metal fell in cascades around her and made her feel out of air. Only after moving and swinging on golden ropes and following the yells that she found the girl, looking up at her and begging for help against the witch that grabbed a pulley, and rose the fires around her...
A few rapid equations, and Mami typed in the solution, before going around the other questions, as silent as she had begun the test, eyes still focused on her task at hand, nothing else mattering. The nightmares were already old companions. Whatever images didn't dominate her, she tamed them.
Mami had lost her feeling of fear after surviving her own death. It all went in silence, and in obedience to her test, as she finalized the first section, and registered it as complete.
[The Infinity U AI's round cute holo floated up to Mami, then, round and smiling.]
...I see you have finished the first stage of your placement test! For the next stage, we will have you come into a room filled with various objects, and tell us what they are, and what they are supposed to be used for. Just guessing is fine too, if you are unfamiliar with any of the objects. Please come this way!
[The AI holo then takes her to a room filled with all kinds of objects - books, video games, pots and pans, etc etc etc.]
Some of the objects here are magitech, but none should be dangerous as long as they are not used improperly. Please tell us when you are ready to start.
[There is a music box which is glowing faintly with magic on a table in the middle of the room. It was created by an pair of Incubators who were neither normal nor sane by most Incubotor standards, and it's an experimental magitech unit to try and control Witches. If one puts a Grief Seed inside the music box thing, a mini version of the Witch, which would presumably much easier to control then a full sized one, would manifest right near it.]
[There are also a stack of magical items on another table. Some of would probably look a lot like some Magical Girl merchantise that Mami liked when she was younger, except that those things are high level magitech.]
Tomoe Mami instinctively smoothed out her uniform as she stood up. She believed she did well enough on the test for general knowledge, save for elements that required advanced knowledge that went beyond her own world. The next one... magic.
She took a deep breath, reminding herself she wouldn't see battle ever again. This was part of this world. Akin to the vials she would have to live the rest of her life with.
"I am ready for the test." Mami adopted the same smile, as she stepped forward into the room... taking a quick glance. "I didn't use much magic save for what I personally possessed, but I will perform with what I know."
Her hands hovered over the objects. Many of them resembled the weapons used by other magical girls she encountered. Either as companions she failed to recruit, or people that interpreted her gestures as invasion of their territories.
"Cellphone," Mami began with the simplest ones, "water purifier," the survival tasks, "personal pad," the ones she saw a lot, "computer." Soon, the objects turned different.
"Wave-magnifier." Mami recalled some of these instruments. Music had a special sort of magic in her world. "Rune wand." Others were more obvious to her eyes, seemingly capable of changing things. It was then when she found that odd... box.
Her soul gem seemed to react to the music box to her left. It did the same to many of the instruments Mami saw near that very table. She held her own soul gem in defense... and not knowing what it was, she continued walking.
"It's a music box," Mami gave a terse reply about the object, "I don't know what that is."
That is fine, Tomoe Mami. This test is over - Please come on to the final stage of your placement test.
[The AI holo said, smiling, and then took her over to yet another room.]
Please transform into your Puella Magi form and wait. The program will start tossing several different kinds of magical attacks you way. The magical attacks are designed to be flashy but not dangerous, but you can stop the program any time you want just by saying "Stop Program", none the less.
[Madoka, in the meanwhile, was waiting outside the room, seeing what was happening through a monitor holo window.]
...Go, go, Mami-san!
[She said happily - And that was when she realized that two Incubators were sitting right near her feet! One of them was mussy-fured and had red-brown eyes, while the other one was a cream color and had red-amber eyes.]
- Hello, Kaname Madoka. I see that the new Tomoe Mami has seen our music box thing!
[The cream colored one said, looking up at her with it's red-amber eyes.]
...Hullo, Eight, Seven.
[Madoka said with a sigh - And then, she waved a finger at both of the critters, sternly. These strange AU Incubators weren't very much like the Kyubey she knew, but they still were Incubators, after all.]
- Well, I thought you two'd arrive sooner or later, but don't bother Mami-san for the time being, all right? And no, I don't care how much you want to talk to her and compare her to the other Mami-sans here!
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aboxfulloftea2222016-08-24 03:39 pm
no subject
It was easier to think of this as if she had moved into a new city, with a new school, rather than falling into another life of her own. Tomoe Mami took a deep breath.
"My education level... will remain roughly the same, I assume?"
no subject
[One of the Infinity University Campus AIs said with a apologetic smile, her round blue holo-image bobbling in the air.]
Many, many people from many worlds and societies are arriving in Infinity every day, after all...
[And then, the AI's holo looked at Madoka for a bit, and then floated closer to Mami after Madoka gave her a nod.]
And just to make sure - Kaname Madoka-san has informed us that their is a number of people from your homeworld and the worlds close to your homeworld that you want to avoid meeting for the time being. Is this correct?
[The little blue holo of the AI seemed to sigh a bit, then.]
It will be possible for us to place you in different classes and courses from the people on this list and their alternate universe versions, but it will be well neigh impossible to avoid them entirely on other parts of the Infinity University Campus in City *****, I am afraid...
no subject
"I understand." Mami barely moved as she spoke. "I do not intend to barge the lives they already have. It is for the best that we remain separate."
It was for the best if they did not see eachother.
"I will take the test to the best of my ability." Tomoe Mami tried to convince herself she was a good student. "I faced the same difficulties as many of the people here did in their respective worlds, but I did my best to study in spite of not having an afterschool group."
... then, saying this more to herself than to the A.I., she bowed. "I am ready for my test."
no subject
[The AI said, and then it showed her how to use the educational computer interface they were using.]
Please answer the questions to the best of your ability. We will try to avoid traumatic content, but sometimes, we cannot avoid it entirely, so please tell us if there is something in the questions that bother you.
...Ganbatte, Mami-san!
[Madoka said, and gave her an encouraging smile.]
- It wasn't that difficult in my case, except that it kept asking about all kinds of magical stuff I couldn't make head or tail of until later, when I learned more in some of the basic magic classes. Oh, and sometimes it tries to use some really unfamiliar Kanji and stuff.
[And then, she thought about this some more. She sometimes wondered what her homeworld - their homeworlds - would have been like, if the Incubators hadn't come at all. Would they still be living in caves, like one of the Kyubeys had said?]
[...The problem was, they may not be still have been stuck in caves, but Madoka herself had the strong feeling that her home world's Earth Humanity and indeed, the Earth in general would probably have been quite different from the Earth and Earth Humanity she knew if the Incubators hadn't found them at all - And that meant that just erasing the Incubators from Earth's history probably was not a good idea. She didn't want to risk throwing out the baby with the bath water, after all...]
[Madoka shook her head, then. Why in the world was she thinking about this, anyway? It wasn't like she had the power to erase the Incubators or anything, after all! She wasn't at all sure that even her Goddess self could just erase the Incubators, even if she wanted to, which she probably didn't.]
- But never mind that. Just do your best, Mami-san! I'll be waiting for you in the waiting room out there, OK?
no subject
"It is no problem. I will be well."
There were many, many things that Mami had painful memories of. Things that, by now, they just lived with her like the shadow of death.
"I know well enough about physics, and I learned about the use of magic and its equivalence in my time. I will make my best use of it." She bowed, "I will see you around.
The room for the test was larger than Mami had imagined. Rows upon rows of students of many ages, races, genders, and worlds all performed their respective tests on digital terminals in nigh-silence, screens hovering in front of them with questions custom-tailored to prevent all hopes of getting even a glimpse of hope for a similar answer or a similar question between any of the potential students. As Mami walked around, she noticed they all had a time limit that was ticking down.
Mami held her soul gem. She went to her assigned seat, and sat down. Her poise straightened to let the photograph take her front and profile, she leaned both hands over the terminal for registry, typed as much relevant information as she could: Name, birthdate, blood type, former residence, livelihood, parents...
Who died in that sudden blur and scream of life and metal, blood pouring out of her, and the sheer realization in that darkened cage that she was going to die and didn't want to die at the time, taking any and all hopes--
She completed the data. It all compressed into a square that vanished beneath her picture as it moved to the left of the screen, followed by a long set of rules and legal standards she read quickly. She accepted and began the test.
There were simple questions in there, such as tests of mathematics, momentum, even economy, as well as things on natural sciences, music, chemistry, languages. Since it was the beginning of the test, there were only a few questions that Mami either failed to respond or didn't have enough knowledge to reply immediately enough. She went through questions on arcs, physics, temperature. One question asked about the approximate mass of titanium that would melt if the temperature around it rose a hundred degrees per second...
Invisible musketeers covered Mami as she desperately tried to follow the scream for help, avoiding the lakes of boiling fire the best she could, sweating by the sheer heat at which the metal fell in cascades around her and made her feel out of air. Only after moving and swinging on golden ropes and following the yells that she found the girl, looking up at her and begging for help against the witch that grabbed a pulley, and rose the fires around her...
A few rapid equations, and Mami typed in the solution, before going around the other questions, as silent as she had begun the test, eyes still focused on her task at hand, nothing else mattering. The nightmares were already old companions. Whatever images didn't dominate her, she tamed them.
Mami had lost her feeling of fear after surviving her own death. It all went in silence, and in obedience to her test, as she finalized the first section, and registered it as complete.
no subject
...I see you have finished the first stage of your placement test! For the next stage, we will have you come into a room filled with various objects, and tell us what they are, and what they are supposed to be used for. Just guessing is fine too, if you are unfamiliar with any of the objects. Please come this way!
[The AI holo then takes her to a room filled with all kinds of objects - books, video games, pots and pans, etc etc etc.]
Some of the objects here are magitech, but none should be dangerous as long as they are not used improperly. Please tell us when you are ready to start.
[There is a music box which is glowing faintly with magic on a table in the middle of the room. It was created by an pair of Incubators who were neither normal nor sane by most Incubotor standards, and it's an experimental magitech unit to try and control Witches. If one puts a Grief Seed inside the music box thing, a mini version of the Witch, which would presumably much easier to control then a full sized one, would manifest right near it.]
[There are also a stack of magical items on another table. Some of would probably look a lot like some Magical Girl merchantise that Mami liked when she was younger, except that those things are high level magitech.]
no subject
She took a deep breath, reminding herself she wouldn't see battle ever again. This was part of this world. Akin to the vials she would have to live the rest of her life with.
"I am ready for the test." Mami adopted the same smile, as she stepped forward into the room... taking a quick glance. "I didn't use much magic save for what I personally possessed, but I will perform with what I know."
Her hands hovered over the objects. Many of them resembled the weapons used by other magical girls she encountered. Either as companions she failed to recruit, or people that interpreted her gestures as invasion of their territories.
"Cellphone," Mami began with the simplest ones, "water purifier," the survival tasks, "personal pad," the ones she saw a lot, "computer." Soon, the objects turned different.
"Wave-magnifier." Mami recalled some of these instruments. Music had a special sort of magic in her world. "Rune wand." Others were more obvious to her eyes, seemingly capable of changing things. It was then when she found that odd... box.
Her soul gem seemed to react to the music box to her left. It did the same to many of the instruments Mami saw near that very table. She held her own soul gem in defense... and not knowing what it was, she continued walking.
"It's a music box," Mami gave a terse reply about the object, "I don't know what that is."
no subject
[The AI holo said, smiling, and then took her over to yet another room.]
Please transform into your Puella Magi form and wait. The program will start tossing several different kinds of magical attacks you way. The magical attacks are designed to be flashy but not dangerous, but you can stop the program any time you want just by saying "Stop Program", none the less.
[Madoka, in the meanwhile, was waiting outside the room, seeing what was happening through a monitor holo window.]
...Go, go, Mami-san!
[She said happily - And that was when she realized that two Incubators were sitting right near her feet! One of them was mussy-fured and had red-brown eyes, while the other one was a cream color and had red-amber eyes.]
- Hello, Kaname Madoka. I see that the new Tomoe Mami has seen our music box thing!
[The cream colored one said, looking up at her with it's red-amber eyes.]
...Hullo, Eight, Seven.
[Madoka said with a sigh - And then, she waved a finger at both of the critters, sternly. These strange AU Incubators weren't very much like the Kyubey she knew, but they still were Incubators, after all.]
- Well, I thought you two'd arrive sooner or later, but don't bother Mami-san for the time being, all right? And no, I don't care how much you want to talk to her and compare her to the other Mami-sans here!