Ammokkx

Call To Action: Marginalized Groups Must Be Recognized In The Rules

I don't see why adding it in the rules should be a contentious topic.

@Nytem4re

I'm not contesting the suggestion. I'm contesting the motive. If you say "there's harassment and mods aren't acting on it" I'm willing to accept that, but not without proof. Otherwise it comes off as well, if I maybe a bit crude, drama baiting.

The other common argument I've seen is that "bad people will be bad", but at that point why does anyone have any laws passed in the real life? The constitution also says there are certain unalienable rights, but there was still the civil rights act among others that needed to be passed down the line, despite the constitution saying "all men are created equal". Sometimes things have to be outright stated, even if we are to assume common sense is common.

@Nytem4re

But bad people are going to be bad, and are going to be punished for being bad. Same here. Report the guys harassing and the mods will deal with it- unless you claim they won't, in which case, citation needed.

Saying that you have not seen any harassment towards marginalized groups is great, but I could easily say that I have seen people share some extremely bigoted views towards race and LGBT people on my time here, so I don't think that's also a good point to put across.

@Nytem4re

You could say that, and I'd like you to prove it.

If I haven't seen it, I can't give you any proof either because it doesn't exist for me. If you've seen it, then you can prove it too.

Then, once you have your motivation, we can discuss about whether or not the problem is widespread enough to be a problem. If it's people going out of their way to harass you over private DMs in discord then, well, yeah, you should probably screenshot that and forward it over to the mods so they can tell them cut it out or eat a ban.

Am I advocating for narcing? yes, yes I am. If you don't report a theft to the police, the police cannot get the chance to act on it.

And if you have reported it and they didn't act on it, then you should probably mention that incident.

I believe putting it in words makes sure there is no ambiguity in the guild's views on bigotry, and is a step forward in ensuring that better/more accountable moderation is put in place. The action taken to help marginalized groups feel safer can't just be the words added to the rules sure, because in the end those are just words. People have to enforce them, but having it in writing has little downside other than a more wordy rules section. Of course more needs to be done, but the guild should start taking the steps to do so.

@Nytem4re

Only if there is actually a problem in the first place. Sure, add it to the rules, but if it's the moderators being unwilling to enforce, then the problem isn't the rules, but the mods.

TLDR; citations or bust

EDIT: and, quite frankly, I already tire of this topic so I'm gonna head on out now. I really don't care enough if it's added or not either way.

Call To Action: Marginalized Groups Must Be Recognized In The Rules

Y'know I was about to quote

• Respect all members. Be pleasant to each other and treat people how you would like to be treated. Remember that respect comes in all forms and should be applied in everything that you do. When disagreements arise in discussion be sure to address them in good faith, ensuring that you avoid escalating them into any unnecessary conflict.

as being an anti-harassment rule but, as it turns out, this one is worded super lax. Still, I think the spirit of a rule called "respect all members" naturally umbrellas into "also respect the members of a more marginalized identity", don't you?

Otherwise I mostly agree with Dagger here; if there's harassment, I haven't seen it. If it's private enough, then I'm sure the members in question should be reported and dealt with accordingly. The mods on this site are pretty open folk; I really doubt it's a systemic problem. I'd also really like not to be stalked on this site; people can report me if my conduct is out of line (though most of my warnings come from the status bar, so I'm basically painting a target on myself, really)

I'm not ruling out the possibility of there being nasties on this site, but I really doubt they're ubiquitous enough to be much of a "root cause" problem.

Grimoiric Heart - A Magical Girl Adventure

Robin's arrow pierced clean through the titan's hand, yet that did not stop it from crashing down. Disbelief, shock and despair was on Robin's face, but it was only for a brief moment. She instinctively raised up her arms to protect herself and closed her eyes, bracing for the shine-shattering impact that was to follow ... except, that impact never came. Robin felt a shockwave for sure, but came from above her rather than on her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at what's shielded her from the blow, only...

"What... in the world...?" Robin muttered with disbelief and disgust. Large, boney wings had formed a barrier and prison around Robin. No, not just Robin. She looked to her side. "Boundless!" she yelled in concern. Robin scooted over to check on Kanata, but the younger girl was fine. What wasn't fine was their surroundings. Though any damage inside the barrier would not normally translate into the real world, Yuri's actions were still much too reckless. Part of the construction was torn down, the machinery knocked over and dented. Yuri was going completely out of control without any regard of what's around him.

"...Even if it's you..."

Robin raised her weapon upwards, somewhat towards the giant. She began to concentrate her energy again.

"I promised... to protect everyone. That no matter who I had to fight, I'd definitely..."

Robin took a deep breath. She took aim at her target. One thought raced through her mind, just a split second before she settled on her decision.

'I'm sorry.'

Robin's arrow fired, right towards Yuri's back.

Grimoiric Heart - A Magical Girl Adventure

One, two, three- each time a Pageless was knocked back from the mochi, Robin's arrow pierced through them shortly after. The mission was going smoothly, but then Yuri made his entrance. Immediately apparent was that there was something very, very wrong with Yuri today. The aura oozing around him- it wasn't the usual warmth of his grimoire. It was cold, heartless and empty, much like the Pageless they were fighting. Even worse; Yuri was going on a rampage. And he was not helping the situation.

"Monarch, slow down!" Robin shouted towards her ally, but it fell on deaf ears. The Pageless, the humans, his teammates- everything in front of Yuri was just a nuisance. Robin had to watch as he started to turn the Pageless on her master. In fact, he was getting in the way of Robin's arrows. She tried to warn him: "I said- stop that!" she said, but then her voice started to trail off. "You'll get yourself... hurt..."

Robin's mind went blank for just a moment as she witnessed Yuri's butterflies take a hold of normal people and possess them. "Y-Yuri!" she yelled, completely disregarding his codename. "Stop that, Yuri! You're hurting those people-!" she yelled in vain. The boy wasn't listening. A new threat emerged and started sweeping aside Yuri's troops. Robin's legs moved on their own. Those humans would be unable to run in their zombie'd state and Robin knew this. She had to save them, in some way, no matter what. Strategy, tactics and her team be damned- she needed to save those people!

"Watch out!" she yelled as she managed to tackle one, and only one human out of the way. She'd be much, much too late to save another. What's even worse is that Yuzu's tackle, though it got the human to safety (and seemed to have dispelled Yuri's curse), had caused Robin to lay prone. Her mind was panicked, flustered. Spread across her knees, she aimed her bow upwards at the giant's hand. Robin focused, as hard as she could, to gather as much magical energy as possible into her arrow.

"Please... please work!" she desperately begged, firing off a much larger-than-usual projectile, but it seemed far from enough to stop the hand from crashing down.

Grimoiric Heart - A Magical Girl Adventure

"Well said, Boundless!"

As the mochi rabbits spaced the small fry away from the construction workers, flashes of light would follow soon after in pursuit. Before the Pageless had the time to recover from the recoil they'd already been pierced by a particular magical girl's arrows. Robin stood dramatically on top of a nearby building, the rain crashing down around her. After she'd announced her presence with the initial volley, Robin jumped off and twirled in the air to land next to Kanata.

"Shadows are cast by the light that shines beside them... wherever you pageless threaten our peace, we will be there to protect it!"

Robin looked around, trying to find Yuri and Ayaka.

'Please leave the smaller ones to me and Kanata. Ayaka, Yuri- try to corner their leader!'

She drew her bow back and took aim again. The rain was obscuring her vision, but the bright mochi rabbits sticking to the Pageless made for an excellent target to aim at. This way, even if their shadowy figures were obscured by the downpour, Robin could still use her ally's power to make up for that weakness.

Secundi Lux

---

---

The hallway was empty, deserted, save for Chie's shambling figure. She kept her hand against the wall for support, inching forward step by exhausting step. Chie was in no real condition to be allowed a discharge from the infirmary, especially not without some kind of support or guidance. Despite that, with nothing but the tight bandages wrapped underneath her clothes, she continued to make her way to the cafeteria. Chie wasn't very assertive, but she could put up a brave front. Only when nobody was looking would she let show just how much of a wreck her figure was. As long as the girl could keep straight and still be half aware of her surroundings, that was good enough for her.

When people began to come into view, Chie pushed herself up straighter and began to walk without support. It made her dizzy to try, and the gash in her back still made her ever-so-tempted to flinch from the flashes of pain. Still, she greeted the hall monitors with a smile, signalling nothing wrong to the outside. The only clue would be her pale, pale face.

The cafeteria she arrived at was, as expected, already filled to the brim with chatter. Most students had already long-since began eating and socializing- which was not entirely unexpected, seeing as Chie was meant to have arrived there several minutes prior. The first thing Chie needed to secure was a spot to sit, but as luck would have it, she noticed her group of friends were eating together with a spot left open. She didn't know if it was a coincidence, or if they'd left it open for her. Either one was fine, really.

A little bit later, having walked unsteady with her tray, Chie managed to secure that open spot. She greeted the group with "Good evening, everyone." Chie then noticed a mildly-familiar face among them. "Oh, you're... Aoife, right?" she said, having remembered the girl from earlier in the day. "I didn't get to tell you back in the city, but... thank you for helping us."

Chie cast her eyes down, back at the food in front of her. She was a pretty slow eater normally, but right now she hadn't so much as even touched it. She didn't particularly look okay, but aside from the lack of appetite, Chie tried to not let it show too much. She thought to start some conversation so nobody would get a chance to ask, either.

"Earlier, they told me I cleared my test. I'm... no, we're Ars Magi now. It's almost a little surreal how fast it all went." Chie remarked. "I'm still having trouble accepting it."

A pause.

"...いただきます," she muttered to herself, finally digging into her food.

Grimoiric Heart - A Magical Girl Adventure

"Ah- thank you!" Yuzu said as she accepted the book. She gently held it in one hand and double-checked the list again. "Mmm, let's see. Sei-i-run... Seirun... Seyrun..." Yuzu mumbled to herself, trying to practice her senior's name a little. She wrote down the book's return date and then gathered everything together to put it all back to its proper place. She folded her arms over the list and book both, clutching it to her chest. When Yuzu looked back to the other girl, she was looking at the window where Scheherazade had decided to perch himself.

"The wind in this city... it's a very gentle one, isn't it?" the older girl said. Yuzu looked in the same direction.

"It is, right? The people here, too. I really love this city," she replied. Even though Scheherazade was blocking her view, Yuzu looked straight through them. Contemplating her hometown like this made the tension lift off her shoulders for just a little bit- until Yuri brought her back down to earth.

"If anyone needs me, I will be sorting books or something."
"Ah- Yuri?"

Yuzu calling out to him was in vain, the boy having already retreated further in. It's not like Yuzu didn't understand how he felt, but... that wasn't a reason to act out like this, was it? Yuzu turned back to Seyrun, an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry... he's not usually like this. Thank you again for returning the book!"

With that, Yuzu followed after Yuri. He'd already begun picking up some of the books that other students had brought back and Yuzu noticed how large the pile had gotten. "Oh... we've really been neglecting our duties, huh?" Yuzu commented. She was still holding onto the book Seyrun had returned. Yuzu looked at her friend and said "It's a little too much for one person, isn't it? It'll be quicker with two of us, so let me help you out."

Thus- whether Yuri wanted it or not- Yuzu took a small stack of books herself to then return to the various bookshelves scattered about. "You don't have to do everything by yourself, you know?" she told him with a knowing wink.

Grimoiric Heart - A Magical Girl Adventure

Yuzu opened the door to the school's library, finding herself being the second on-scene after Scheherazade. It wasn't a surprise to find the familiar sitting there; after all, he didn't have any classes to worry about like Yuzu and the others. Yuzu didn't sit down quite yet, though. She wanted to wait and greet the others as they arrived... and there was still an awkward silence between her and Scheherazade. Yuzu greeted Yuri, then Ayaka when the two arrived shortly after she had. Just one more needed to join them now.

"Ah, Kanata!" Yuzu said as the youngest and newest among them joined in the meeting room. Kanata hadn't been on the team for long; in truth, yesterday was meant to be her first mission. "Right... yesterday..." Yuzu thought to herself. She felt her mind wander back to the day before.

---

"I won't let you get away!"

Robin's bow was drawn at Harlequin, the jester making her escape with the new grimoire in hand. She had a clean shot; all Robin needed to do was take it. The arena around her, however, was crumbling. If Robin took the shot, she'd have endanger Kanata. Stop the escape or save her friend; Robin didn't have any time to think about what the right decision to make was.

*snap*

Kanata's rope had snapped. She'd gone into freefall. "Watch out!" Robin shouted and, just barely, managed to catch the younger girl. Carrying her like a groom would their bride, Robin gave Kanata a reassuring smile. Forgoing the use of codenames, as the enemy had already fled, Robin- no, Yuzu had asked "Are you alright, Kanata?"

Kanata nodded her head and let out a quick "Mhm," before following it up with "What about the others?"

With the reassurance she was okay, Yuzu let Kanata down onto her feet. "Don't worry. Yuri and Ayaka are tough. Let's go check up on them," Yuzu told Kanata and grabbed her hand, positively pulling her along back downstairs to meet up with the rest of the team.

---

Thinking back, Yuzu didn't regret her choice of saving Kanata. Even if it meant letting the enemy go, her friends were more important. Maybe that's why Yuzu, unbeknownst to herself, gave the other girl a soft, reassuring smile. 'It's okay,' that smile said, something Yuzu didn't have the chance to tell her the day prior. Not that many words could've been exchanged in the moment either, with Scheherazade not waiting long after everyone's arrival to explain his mysterious silence on matters. Those two girls- the Darkkeepers- were under his guidance once. Now, however, they were corrupted by the forces they fought against.

And even after the explanation was finished did the party not get a moment's rest. An older girl approached the group, asking about returning a book. Yuri sprang up as the first to answer, but...

"You know there's a return slot at the return desk you could've just slid it in there, but no worries. What's your name?"

"Y-Yuri, that's a little..." Yuzu tried to interrupt, but she couldn't quite bring herself to finish the sentence with "crude" or even "unrefined". Yuzu was quite a bit more timid when she wasn't busy fighting monsters. While Yuri was a boy, his straightforwardness was still a bit... out of place. "I'm actually the, um, club president. Checking books in and out when the librarian isn't here is actually my task... err, I'll go get the list!"

Yuzu did as she said she would, gone for only about a minute as she searched for pen and paper. When she returned, Yuzu diligently compared the name of the book in the mysterious girl's arms to the ones on the list. "Let's see... It's this one, right?" Yuzu pointed at the spot she was looking at with her pen. Yuzu tried saying the name written down aloud, but it was clearly a foreign name. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. "The one under the name, um... Leviathan See-run?"

Secundi Lux

---

"S-Selma?!" Chie yelled out in surprise and worry as the giant among them crashed into the pavement. Chie's increased gravity was still in effect, meaning Selma crashed into the floor harder than she had any right to. This prompted Chie to hurriedly try and reverse the effects, which took a moment. She wanted to rush over and check to see if her friend was okay, but the girl's knees were giving out and buckled under the exhaustion. Chie's transformation became undone, the now-mundane girl having to rest her hands onto the ground for support as to not completely collapse on the spot.

She needed a moment to catch her breath, that much was certain. Chie was content with letting Rivka take the lead in talking to the two new people, occasionally glancing Selma's direction to make sure nothing was wrong. The latter still seemed lively enough, so her ars magi form must've been sturdy enough to withstand most of the blow. It was an admittedly small relief, but a relief nonetheless. One of the two new arrivals- one Noel Nilsson- seemed to take notice of Chie.

“Hey, you don’t look so good.” Noel said. She gave Chie an offer that was hard to refuse, going: “You need help getting back? I can give you a hand.”
"M... mhm. That'd be nice," Chie replied back. She lifted herself up using Noel's outstretched arm, then used Noel's shoulders as a support to be able to walk steady. Chie couldn't really tell, but she looked pretty pale. Her wound was still open, so she must've been bleeding the entire time. It was a small miracle she could stand at all.

The walk back was slow, but that was for the best. Chie was pretty weakened. She was getting a little sick of gritting her teeth to ignore the pain, so as to try distracting herself some other way, the normally-quiet girl took a moment to go out of her usual character and start up a conversation by herself.

"That... void that attacked us," she began her talk, "it was stronger, right? Why do you think it showed up?" Chie asked to nobody in particular. "And..." she continued, "could an even stronger one have come out back there?"

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

"You're a Commander, aren't you?"

Rui, at the town square, was stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a voice call out from behind her. She turned around, finding the source to be a girl around her age, or maybe just a little younger. Rui raised up Lumia's card to show it to her would-be challenger. "Mhm. I've been looking for some others." she said. The slightly younger girl had a confident grin on her face, but Rui's was placid. Rui followed the other girl, out of the public's sight. They found themselves standing in a small side street not many people pass through.

"Open."

---

Memories

A thick fog set in around the two girls, obscuring their surroundings. No sooner than it had arrived was it gone again, the duo transported to the battlefield. A sea of yellow mist was continuously shifting below Rui's feet, some of it making it onto her platform and tickling her leg.

"So it's this place again..." Rui muttered to herself. When she went to look for Sora, Rui was made to watch from the sidelines. Now she stood on her own platform. The girl was almost indifferent as she calmly looked around, eyes lazily scanning from one end to the next. Rui's two coins appeared above her head, three for her opponent. Somehow, in this battlefield, Rui felt at ease. The reason why... she just couldn't place it. She turned her head down to the table in front of her. There, for the first time, she saw her Avatar in their own body. Lumia was standing proudly, outside of the card Rui always carried around. Rui gave her a soft smile and said: "Lumia. Can I count on you?"

Lumia turned hear head over her shoulder and smiled back. "Leave it to me!" was all the confirmation needed between the two of them. The hands of the massive clock above their heads turned to yellow, signifying Rui got the head start.

After her Color Charge, Rui wasted no time in calling forth an attacker. The turn passed to her opponent, who's own attacker forced Rui to reveal a card in her hand. As the battle went on, Rui's hand and deck were slowly chipped away at. Her cards were shaved off one at a time. Rui's situation looked desperate at a glance, but in actuality none of the cards discarded were hindering her plans. Rui remained calm and managed to easily play through it, even turning around the effects on her opponent's head with a well-timed Trap card.

"W-what's wrong with this girl?" Rui's opponent nervously began to murmur. "I've been doing nothing but attacking her this whole time, but she remains so calm...!"
"She's... looking past us," the girl's Avatar, draped in a cleric's robe, chimed in. "It's like we're not even on her mind..."

"Cherub's effect lets me use two yellow to set Angel's Strike back from the Trash onto the field," Rui calmly ignored the duo. She set up her counter to their strategies, ensuring her own safety. Rui looked up from her board. "You've won before, right?" she suddenly asked of her opponent.

"What's it to you?" the girl bit back at Rui. Their Avatar worriedly looked up to her Commander.

"What kind of opponent were they?" Rui asked.
"Nee-chan?" Lumia looked back to Rui, who didn't answer her. The face of the opponent on the other side of the field darkened.
"That's not your business," their answer sounded, "and you should be more worried about yourself. You only have-"
"...two coins. And my brother only one." Rui interrupted and finished the opponent's sentence for her. "Someone took advantage of him in his first battle. He trusted that person, yet they betrayed that trust..." she mused to herself. "One of us risks losing something precious each time we enter this field... my brother, me and you..."

Rui threw her head back and looked up, being met with the endless black void up above. "Back then, I was really angry about that. But somehow... now that I'm here, none of that seems to matter to me."

Rui's opponent was unnerved by her. But it wasn't just them: Lumia, too, could feel something was wrong. She didn't want to say anything, but the musing Rui had something cold and unfeeling in her eyes. They were like that Haruto's eyes. Lumia turned back and put her gaze towards the floor. "I think... we'll win in just two turns, Nee-chan," she told her commander, focusing back on the battle to get her mind off of the situation. Rui moved her gaze down again to look at Lumia and paused. She closed her eyes.

"...No. It's over by the next one," she said with absolute certainty.
"Aren't you confident?" the girl on the other side snippily said back. She shored up her defenses, seemingly an attempt to avoid Rui's prediction. When the next turn came around, Rui only briefly looked at her drawn cards.

"I think I understand it a little now..." she whispered under her breath, "what it means to fight for a wish." Rui raised up her head and threw forward her hand. "I'm using two Incantations: Colour boost and Heaven's Gate. The first gives me another Colour to use this turn... the second sends your field to the Trash."

Rui's yellow colour gathered and spiralled together, up and away from her table. Its collective light pierced through the three cards on the other girl's field. "N-No... you didn't have those cards earlier! They weren't in your life, or your hand..."

"...Nee-chan drew them," Lumia answered in Rui's stead. She closed her eyes for a little while. 'It's like she said. It'll be over now. But she couldn't have known that she'd draw Heaven's Gate...' Lumia pondered to herself.

"You have a wish worth fighting for, right?" Rui asked her opponent. "What is it?"

The other girl went quiet. "That's... not your business," she curtly replied.

"I... guess not. Full attack."

---

Rui shuffled along the road back home, one hand holding Lumia and the other her now-three coins. Lumia was fast asleep, exhausted after the ordeal. Even if Rui wanted to talk to Lumia, her voice would never reach the Avatar. Even so, Rui whispered "Thank you." to her.

Rui looked back at her three coins. She watched one of the other girl's turn black before her eyes, which meant Rui must have taken a memory of hers. It left her conflicted, but she didn't have a choice. Everyone was fighting for something, but Rui still didn't know about anyone's wish. The only ones she knew about were hers, and...

"Sora?" she muttered to herself when she thought to hear a familiar voice. There, on the other side of the road, was her brother. Rui stood still for a second, frozen with both Lumia and her coins in hand. Sora seemed to have noticed her at the same time she had him, since the boy was staring at her equally puzzled. Rui closed her palm so the coins would vanish and rushed on over to him with a smile. She was closer to their house than he was, but Rui didn't care too much- she just ran right past it.

"Sora! I thought you'd be home already... no, nevermind that! I went to the card shop, like I said. I put aside the ones I think your deck could maybe use! Here, let me look through my bag for you..." she excitedly began to share with him. Instead of waiting to show them to him inside, Rui eagerly started rummaging through her bag to find the cards she'd bought for the two of them.