[X] Redshirt Army



"I'll agree to this little spar of yours... on one condition."

"Name it?"

"If I win, you owe me a hug."

An eye tic.

"... Fine-"

"And no stabbing."

Yuki gaped, looking for all the world like an adorable little girl.

Sabrina's shoulders trembled with mirth. She couldn't supress a smile.

"Very well," sighed Yuki.



BAM!

The door flew open.

"Moe get up you need to see this!"

Moe yelped and fell off the couch.

"... Ow..." she glared -rather cutely- at Atsuko, who proceeded to ignore any and all complaints and bodily hauled the red eyed girl into her feet.

"Hey, stop-"

"Come on!" the metalbender impatiently dragged her friend by the arm, running back outside the room.

"What's-"

"HURRY!"

"Don't you yell at me!" screeched Moe, wrenching her arm out of Atusko's grip. "And explain."

The metalbender grit her teeth, visibly trying to not snap -further- before she very calmly did as her friend demanded:

"Yuki and Sabrina are throwing down in the danger room."

Moe blurred past Atsuko, running down a hallway and around the corner in a second.

"Hurry up!" she called back. "Witch girl's getting beat up, we can't miss it!"

"That's what- agh..." Atsuko pinched her nose.

After a moment, she ran after her friend.



"What did I miss?" she asked as she caught up.

"Nothing yet," shrugged Moe, fidgetting in her seat. "Haven't started," she nodded with her head through a large, magically reinfored glass, which overlooked a rather large room, which seemed, at the moment, to be entirely empty. Just plain gray walls and floor.

Empty except for the two Magical Girls standing a few metres apart, wrapping up their conversation as Atusko sat down to watch, laying a comforting hand on Moe's almost-shaking shoulder and receiving a half hearted glare for it.

"-you think we could get Nadia to put on a red bodysuit and helmet, like completely covering her head sans mouth and eyes?" asked Sabrina, rubbing her chin.

"If you paid well enough," Yuki shrugged. "But if we could proceed...?"

"Right, right," the white haired girl nodded, rolling her shoulders.

"If you'll allow me, then..." the younger-looking girl smirked. She then daintily pinched at her cloak and, as if it were a dress, curtsied very, very cutely. "Welcome to the danger room!" she entoned cheerfully.

As if having been waiting for it, the room itself shook into motion: Walls opened to reveal turrets; panels slid and reshaped into platforms; parts of the floor opened to give rise to new walls, some low, some high; columns descended from the ceiling, shining with an ominous light.

Sabrina hummed and nodded, watching the previously empty room become a maze of obstacles and -most certainly, of not visibly- traps.

"Oh, don't worry!" yelled Yuki with exaggerated sympathy, "I won't be using live ammunition, as we agreed, that would be rude."

"Quite," smiled Sabrina.

For all the walls, columns and -oddly enough- a giant pagoda that had popped up, a path remained between both girls, allowing line of sight between them.

After a moment, during which Sabrina didn't react any further, Yuki's expression turned serious.

"If you're ready..." she warned.

"You're getting so hugged."

The shorter girl twitched.

Sabrina smirked.

Up, in the 'stands', Atusko held her breath. Moe tapped her foot impatiently.

Yuki snarled.

"BEGIN!"

The building rumbled.

...

...

... But nothing happened.

Both girls watching the spectacle blinked, confused.

"... They're not... doing anything," frowned Moe, peering down at the combatants.

Sabrina and Yuki stood still, staring at each other with intensity... but not doing much else.

"No, wait!" said Atusko, getting up and walking closer until her nose rested on the magically reinforced glass. "Watch closely."

The red eyed girl shrugged impatiently and followed along.

Under the two girls' eyes, Sabrina and Yuki...

... Shook.

"See?"

Moe nodded quickly, bumping her forehead against the glass.

"So what are they doing?"

Yuki's trembling hands slowly clenched into white tight fists.

Atsuko shrugged. "I don't know- hey!" she clutched at her side, glaring at her friend.

"Look!" Moe pointed down before Atsuko could return the favour.

A bead of sweat trailed down the side of Sabrina's face, passing by her smirking, gritted teeth. Her breath shook, strained as that of the girl standing in front of her.

Yuki glared, her tiny form hunching slightly as if carrying a heavy burden, making a great effort...

Moe elbowed Atsuko again -"Stop that!"- and pointed at the turrets aligned along the walls of the danger room.

Atsuko watched too, and listened, as the guns clattered and shook in place...

"It's a tug of war!" she yelled.

"That's-"

"-BULLSHIT!" exploded Yuki. Her Soul Gem shone, illuminating her alone, casting her surroundings in darkness.

A horrible screech.

The turrets slowly, painstakingly inched to point at Sabrina... but stopped before drawing bead.

An exhilarated, nervous laugh escaped through Sabrina's teeth, the girl seeming to vibrate in place.

For a moment both girls shook with effort, anger, giddiness.

Then the light of Yuki's Soul dimmed.

"How...?!" she yelled, head bowed, "How are you doing this?!"

Sabrina's teeth clacked, maniacal grin paralyzed on her face, trembling as the rest of her body.

"... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

"Hnggggg..." Yuki grunted with effort, eyes clenched shut...

Then she collapsed.

Atsuko's and Moe's eyes widened. In a second, they were out of the observation room.

The trembling stopped.

Yuki took huge gulps of air, followed by Sabrina who let herself drop to a seat on the floor.

The purple haired girl watched her opponent, both of them breathing heavily. Sabrina bent forward, stretching her legs, before letting out a deep breath and relaxing, sitting back supporting herself on her hands.

The door slid open, admitting a rushing Atusko and Moe.

"Yuki!" they yelled, "you OK?" "Not hurt?" "Do you need me to beat up this b-?"

"I'm fine!" yelled Yuki, raising her hands.

The non-combatants passed by Sabrina with but a look -and a glare- kneeling down beside their leader.

"I'm OK," she insisted, fending off their worried questions, "just help me up- thanks."

Both girls happily -but carefully- hauled their friend into her feet.

Nodding to both, Yuki stared past them and sighed, an unenthusiastic, if sporting, smile on her lips. She approached Sabrina, who stood waiting, looking far more cheerful.

"It was... an unorthodox spar," Yuki nodded, "but it was quite... informative, to be sure."

"Quite," agreed Sabrina, smiling profusely. "As promised, I tried to not break anything, but I think you might want to check turret 3-A?"

Yuki blinked.

"... Quite," she sighed. "If you follow me," she started making her way out, "I believe we're short on time, so we should..."

She trailed off as Sabrina stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

"Miss Sabrina?"

"Witch girl?" added Moe, to which Sabrina snorted, amused. "... Is this girl bothering you, Yuki?" a red eye twitched.

"I believe you owe me something," explained Sabrina.

Silence.

Atsuko and Moe looked at Yuki.

The slim girl's face scrunched up in abhorrence, in anguish, annoyance. Her eyes glared with hatred and fear. Her lips twised into an unhappy scowl.

Sabrina's blue eyes widened, beholding the cutest glare ever directed at her own person.

Yuki sighed, eyes closed, posture crumbling in utter defeat.

"I'm as good as my word," she muttered...

The she smiled!

The small girl's eyes shone with happiness, she laughed cheefully, her voice uplifting the other girls' moods instantly. Yuki threw open her arms and ran into Sabrina, who hastily caught the girl, blinking in confusion at the sudden change.

Yuki squeezed Sabrina into a hug, giggling merrily as her feet dangled inches off the ground.

After a moment, Sabrina remembered to hug back.

A shutter sound went off, completely ignored by the hugging girls.

A few seconds later, Yuki and Sabrina separated, each one with a smile on her face.

Yuki coughed into her hand, regaining her serious composture.

"Are my friends invited, Sabrina?" she asked, nodding back to the two girls who were looking at Moe's phone held in her hand with awed expressions.

The Grief controller shrugged. "It's up to Sakura?"

"We shall ask her then," Yuki continued her way out, motioning for Sabrina to follow.

As the door slid closed behind the white and purple haired girls, the two remaining Fukushima mercenaries still watched the phone screen, showing their leader cheerfully holding onto their worst enemy in the past few weeks, who hugged her literally off the ground just as happily.

"... This is what I was supposed to be," whispered Moe.

Atusko laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, not getting glared for it this time.

"You know, it's a pity you took a photo, and not a video."

Red eyes blinked and looked up, as if coming out of trance.

"... Yuki would kill me. And then you. And then Sabrina. And herself. And-"

"I get it," Atusko shook Moe's shoulder lightly. "Come on, let's go," she followed after the other two girls.

"... I'm coming," muttered Moe, fiddling with her phone.

And she did.

After sending the picture to her inbox. And to Atsuko. And Shinobu. And A few other people... and to Yuki, too.

The completely not moe girl smirked to herself. Her leader was gonna get mad, but...

Worth it.
 
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"You scared the everliving shit out of them," she says, leading the way down the stairs. "And you hurt them. But these things happen when you're on the opposite sides of a conflict. That said, if you wish to meet them, we all live here. Moe and Atsuko are around today, though Sasami and Shinobu is out. I don't believe you've met the latter?"
By the way, typo and, more importantly:

The fifth member of the Fukushima group:

Do you all know where we met Yuki? The place she goes pray after accepting a mission?
"Tsuruya always prays at the shrine after accepting a mission,"

Ta-da:
"Fukushima City," Rin answers. "This is Mount Shinobu. We're just off the main path - we'll be meeting Miss Tsuruya at the observation deck. There shouldn't be any other people there right now."

What a coincidence, am I right?
 
This is the element of Social Sabrina rolls with buffs. I hope we can present both diplomatic and tactical intellect here. Yuki is presenting us with a good offer, but in an abnormal sequence. Be aware, gather information. Oh, also get pics for Mami!

[X] Redshirt Army


https://vebyast.github.io/pmas-discord-quotes/#/quote_id/417804962362556430

I wonder if Yuki has any Witches laying around for us to fight. She owns the city; if there're any witches around I'd imagine she can lead us right to them. If we're really lucky she'll even be able to tell us that the Witch hasn't abducted anyone yet and we can just nuke the entire interior of its barrier without a care in the world. Just fighting a Witch, or telling her that we can rend them, isn't a great demonstration, but we still haven't tried lasering a Witch without even stepping away from the entrance to the Labyrinth, and testing with an absolutely silly output setting would probably send a good message.

(...Huh. That might explain how her team survived to get so badass, now that I think about it. That's a fantastic power for keeping your team flush with seeds. As long as Kyubey doesn't try to starve you out, and being mercenaries probably makes you more useful to him alive (and causing trouble) than dead.)

So you had this sort of idea too? Much like my fantasy, where a battering ram / probe of Grief is the only thing Sabrina sends in, followed by a thermocouple a few seconds after she is done pulsing. Wait for the ambient to drop when the antechamber swaps over to the witch's stage, then irradiate once more. Thoroughly industrial pacification. Not going to see a safe application for such 'erg'-egious shenanigans, but still. Boom.
 
So we want a defense back to expand our arrangement with the girls since it would help our long term plans. But we have an intelligence gap on what *they* want. If they merely want a defensive pact thats fine but we need to ensure its clearly outline how that works ala NATO and Article 5. We also need to talk to Mami as she's the girl in charge of the turf, not us.

Also if we do this we need to work on dialogues with the other girls from that little war to ensure they don't view this as a shift in power thats bad for them - if anything expanding the defensive pacts might be useful if we expect to give out grief seeds to these cities first due to proximity.

As for the spar - thats fine with me. We keep collateral down, maybe tell Mami or Homura before it starts so SOMEONE can check on us if shit goes pear shaped. But the overall logic of 'if we are getting a defense pact I want to see what you can do' makes sense - its like NATO with the 2% GDP goals. Your making sure you can back your side of the agreement.

But as I said we don't know why they want the pact - so Spar for now, hold off the pact to talk to Mami and co in person (maybe when we get the anti-magic items made) to get time to work out the angles.
 
What are the Rules going to be, indeed?

Omake time again!

Sabrina waited for a reply from the expressive leader of the Fukushima mercenary group. By asking in a probing manner what sort of spar Yuki was really asking for, she hoped to get in a position to make the best deal and open the right future for everyone connected to her. The phrase she expected would communicate best with Yuki was 'rules of nature,' a sort of shorthand for what Sabrina thought she understood the mercenary believed in. Anyway, this was sparring, and she had recently been through much worse. Given that Sabrina had made a point not to pay in advance, what could go wrong?

The girl in green leaned forward and smirked, taking Sabrina's left hand with her right, and pulling her along into the corridor said "Baka! Are you the philanthropist here? We shouldn't try to hurt one another, I said I want to see your measure! Take a look at what I have set up!"

Energetically striding up to heavy, exterior double doors not suited to the office building hallway they were part of, the fortress girl pushed through with a rush of low pressure air from the space beyond. The dark and sizable cavity didn't seem to radiate any specific magic. It seems the theme was 'size.' The ceiling being easily two stories above, few large sodium lamps, and the paradoxical two hundred by 50 foot lacquered wood board floor were furnished by a few more doors of similar size, a pair of small crates near them, and a wheeled pipe rack. Yuki let her hand away, and they made for the items. Bass vibrations, very soft and irregular, as well as some white noise type of sound leaked in from the space beyond the doors. Sabrina eyed the costumes on the rack, colorful dresses for stage performance, with ruffles, reflective accents and bright colors. As quick as that glance was, Yuki was already back, pushing stuff into her hands. Papers, supporting fingerless gloves of satin with puffed taffeta cuffs in purple, and atop those, a wireless handheld... microphone? "Oh, what in the..." already had started to parade out of her mouth automatically, when she saw Yuki wasn't done yet, not without securing a four inch tall witches hat in Sabrina's hair at a playful eccentric angle.

The mercenary in green spoke, barely holding down her excitement "Get ready by reading that. We have five minutes before the match starts, and I don't want you to hold anything back! Look out from here, I think you will agree you have never faced off in a better prepared match. I pride myself on it!" She then began to pin a large, luxurious velvet bow complimenting her cloak on the neck of her armor, and pulling her own gloves up to her elbows. Curiosity was impelling Sabrina to open one of the opposing doors, and she did push the strike bar just enough to peek out. The noise spiked way up. It was a vast backstage, from the side. Curtains of glittering polymer and reflective bangles screened the view of an enormous stage, scaffolding upon it supporting complex platforms and walkways, and projections decorating everything with holographic motion, often in mid-air. There must have been thousands, tens of thousands of seated people in the multiple decks she could see a sliver of. Pulling her face into a restrained disapproving pout, she pulled back and let the door close as she made a owlish blink. In her hands she flicked the edges of the pack of sheet music she held, noting carefully the time signatures, and counting the bars from page to page. The microphone she held as if a spine for the documents, noting how clean the black and polished the chrome were.

"Un, Miss Tsuruya, how is this going to be a competition? I grok your whole idol raising theme here, but this is clearly over ten minutes of music I've never seen. In my conflicts to date, I cut stuff, make explosions and fly." Sabrina gave her the are you kidding me eyebrow, "We go live in four?"

A truly viscous grin took over the Master of Fukushima's visage. "Not a problem if you have talent! We will go over there and compete by Rules of Macross!"

#######


......The phrase she expected would communicate best with Yuki was 'rules of nature,' a neat shorthand for what Sabrina thought she understood the mercenary believed in. Anyway, this was sparring, and she had recently been through much worse. Given that Sabrina had made a point not to pay in advance, what could go wrong?

The girl in green leaned forward and smirked, taking Sabrina's left hand with her right, going around to the next office over. The room wasn't an office, to her surprise, but a storage and laundry closet combined. "I want us to spar in a way that will show off our abilities to the fullest! So I have arranged a set of handicaps we both must endure. Here," she said. She tiptoed up to reach inside the upper drawer of a sad old metal filing cabinet, not disturbing a sleepy cat on its top. "We will wear these. AND these." Always a good sport, Sabrina changed clothes along with her into the stiff, new black three piece suits. The black domino masks were much nicer, suited to visibility and a hefty elastic far beyond a party mask in utility held them firm. "Our prepared location is across town, and we will go by car. This room lets me enter the garage directly, like .." Yuki struck a mounted ironing board folded into a niche with a casual elbow strike. "This! jump, it's enchanted!" Her hop onto the waist high board was followed by her springing off it right into the cavity from where it hung on the wall, and she did somehow enter the niche and slide down out of sight. Sabrina thought to herself about how this wasn't supposed to be a funhouse, but maybe the oldest magical girls get a bit - strange? She followed.

After a short drive, they pulled in a back lot of a three story Dim Sum palace. Sabrina had to ask her "Is this going to be an eating contest?" in a light tone. Yuki replied "like no lunch you ever had, I bet!" Her dimples inflected and her eyes sparkled behind the mask, as she crowded Sabrina in through the back door, and then rushed them both right through the working kitchen. At the swinging door to the dining room, the disguised leader of Fukushima motioned Sabrina to run forward pushing the cart she quickly mounted. They barreled into the huge pillared dining area, targeting a 30 foot long table laden with servingwear and dishes, and fully populated with young ladies dining on the small plated delicacies. Yuki slid off the cart, half way along the table, plowing food and ceramics, water, teapots and metal servers onto all and sundry. She fixed Sabrina with a wicked grin, as flashes of light, much like strobes at a press conference, went off all around them. Magical Girl transformation flashes. She shouted "Numerical Rules!! Call your score!! Why bust up my place when this one is so easy to visit!?!" As Sabrina had tons of Magical Girl aggo piled upon her by the roomful of motivated hostiles, she snapped back "You just skipped the whole test, and now you're going to force your enemies to fight me! Just when do I get a say in any of this!!" Yuki chortled out "I DON'T KNOW!" And went into her first melee attack.


Only in slapstick comedy would Yuki be a super villain, right? An appropriate Dr. Doom omake inspiration has yet to arrive, anyone else is welcome to pursue that too.
 
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[X]Agree to the Spar
-[X] Establish rules, unless the intention is to level the area of course. Rules should err on avoiding collateral damage.
-[X] Inside the agree upon rules don't hold back
-[X] Tell Homura or Mami your about to spar in case its a trap or something.
[X] Defense Pact - Your Interested
-[X] Clarify what enemies she expects
-[X] Point out you can't make the deal here, thats Mami's call really
[X] Prison Contract Deal
-[X] Agree to provide the anti-magic
-[X] Also offer cash haggle but be generous. We're trying to start off a good business relationship here.
- [X] Suggest the defense pact can be finalized when she comes to Mitakihara to get the anti-magic items
--[X] Get Kirika to make the anti-magic items to not work on you as well - if it can be done discreetly.
--[X] Provide Clear Seed - it's not contingent on the rest of the deal. Explain details,

because we need more voting options!!
 
[x] Contact your team.
-[x] Fukushima proposes a mutual defense agreement. This affects all of us. Discuss?
-[x] Should Yuki come in person to ratify (and fulfill) the contract?
-[x] Excuse yourself during sparring.

[x] Spar: Agree.
-[x] Clarify appropriate levels of force. Free cleansing aside, you don't want to destroy anything valuable.
-[x] Unambiguously follow agreed rules. Escalate responsibly, don't risk civilians.
-[x] Beyond that, don't hold back. Flight, armor, feints. Abuse nanofog, energy emissions.

[X] Defense Pact: You're interested.
-[X] Who's likely to attack?
--[X] You'd like to attempt diplomacy with attackers, either after fighting settles or preempting it entirely. You want to help all magical girls.
-[X] What other groups are in the area?
-[X] Share that you're conferring with Tomoe Mami. Share your friends' comments/concerns. If no/negative groupchat consensus, break to voting.

[X] Payment:
-[X] Agree to provide antimagic.
-[X] Haggle, erring on the side of generosity.
-[X] Provisionally agree, invite Yuki to Mitakihara for ratification by Mami, tailored antimagic, and Airi.
--[X] Provide Clear Seed - it's not contingent on the rest of the deal. Usual safety warnings.

Edits.
184 words.
 
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It would be immensely cool, but I'm not rectonning for that. :p
Yet another of your subtle manipulations, Firn!

See everybody? This Firn is playing us, as he's always been!

Look at this 'message'. If you check carefully, you'll notice it doesn't say anything. Not only the reply chain is disjointed, but 'rectonning' isn't actually a word!

That's right, that was a deliberate typo.

And the worst of it is that this doesn't mean anything either, it just doesn't mean anything at all!

Firn is just playing with our emotions. Making us overthink simple issues, distracting us from where our attention should be focused on.

Be aware everyone.

 
Wasn't there an omake earlier about Brazil turning into a magical girl by someone's wish?

I suspect that was a reference to an old webcomic called Miracle of Science.

In MoS Mars is colonized by humanity but that colony ends up as a hive mind. One of the characters is told that Mars (the hive mind) likes them and replies "That's like saying Brazil thinks you're cute". Brazil thinks you're cute sorta kinda became a meme.
 
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I wonder if our utility fog can seep through this building? Should we try to retrieve our grief before we say anything that sounds like "sure, name your time and place"?
 
[x] Contact your team.
-[x] Fukushima proposes a mutual defense agreement. This affects all of us. Discuss?
-[x] Permission to mutually disclose powersets?
-[x] Should Yuki come in person to ratify (and fulfill) the contract?
-[x] Excuse yourself during sparring.

[x] Spar: Agree.
-[x] Clarify appropriate levels of force. Free cleansing aside, you don't want to destroy anything valuable.
-[x] Unambiguously follow agreed rules. Escalate responsibly, don't risk civilians.
-[x] Beyond that, don't hold back. Flight, armor, feints. Abuse nanofog, energy emissions.

[X] Defense Pact: You're interested.
-[X] Who's likely to attack?
--[X] You'd prefer attempting diplomacy with attackers, either after fighting settles or preempting it entirely. You want to help all magical girls.
-[X] What other groups are in the area?
-[X] Mutually disclosure team powers.
-[X] Share that you're conferring with Tomoe Mami. Share your friends' comments/concerns. If no/negative groupchat consensus, break to voting.

[X] Payment:
-[X] Agree to provide antimagic.
-[X] Haggle, erring on the side of generosity.
-[X] Provisionally agree, invite Yuki to Mitakihara for ratification by Mami, tailored antimagic, and Airi.
--[X] Provide Clear Seed - it's not contingent on the rest of the deal. Usual safety warnings.

194 words. Mutually disclosing powersets is in our best interests - our teams are well above the curve, and that both increases the value of a mutual defense pact, and decreases the burden of risk WPN would place on her team. And QB is already sharing Homura's power with randoms anyway.
 
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