Sayaka is angry. Not furious, perhaps, but... angry. Righteous, seething... There are plenty of adjectives to use, but little enough to encompass the anger worn openly on her face and balled fists.

And Homura.

Homura is unreadable, expression perfectly blank but for the corded tension of her muscles - and she's not moving, sitting statue-still and rigidly upright, staring down at the table in front of her. She's closed off, held tight under her own self-control.

[X] Rules: Do not reveal loops, do not witchbomb, do not potential bomb. Do not interrupt others, break update for vote if a response is required that is not covered by this vote. Sabrina's tone should be calm, thoughtful, conciliatory. No braindamage, full serious mode.

[X] Take a moment to calm down. Apologize to Sayaka. You had honestly been wanting to establish general process for handling future events, and didn't think about how manipulative it might look. Offer cleanses.
[X] Make it clear that you won't do anything different regarding O&K without express agreement from the entire group.
[X] Arrange for privacy for all four, by timestop or griefhax. If griefhax is used, employ grief fog to hunt down hidden Incubators within field.
[X] Establish your motives. Explain that you knew about O&K, just like the others. That your knowledge includes things that have been or could have been. Describe events feeding into Oriko's self-destructive approach to "heroism", and how your metaknowledge indicates she would only act if she thought it would be self-sacrificingly "heroic". Apparently whoever it was that gave you that knowledge made sure that you couldn't help but feel empathy for Oriko, despite her attacking you and your friends.
[X] Establish your position. House arrest keeps Oriko in place she found her father's body. Justice is one thing, that is something else. Your objections aren't over imprisonment or punishment, but that it be humane. House arrest also has only worked because Oriko has cooperated.
[X] Establish situation. The people involved, the limitations on our actions, our options for handling O&K, and the ramifications of those options. (See below the vote for details on this.) Don't delve into Homura's concerns, she knows them and doesn't want them brought up.
[X] Make proposal:
-[X] Change imprisonment location. Add electronic security to location.
-[X] Add mundane and magical tracking to O&K. Mami tracking ribbon and house arrest ankle tracker as concrete examples.
-[X] Scheduled outings with guard(s) -- prisoners get yard time, after all.
-[X] Bring up having a Sayaklone guard.
-[X] Continued community service.
-[X] Any anti-magic used on security measures, or other sort of break-out attempt, escalates our response and their punishment. Make this clear to O&K.
-[X] Make it clear you'd accept suggestions. This isn't "my way or the highway".
-[X] If proposal is insufficiently punishing, ask what would be sufficient.

*inhales*

*exhales*

Right, I do feel this is flawed. Where to start...

"I'm not saying let them go or anything like that," you repeat. You want that hammered in, because if anything, it's one of Homura's deepest fears and one of Sayaka's sticking points. "I'm saying give them limited rein. Trackers, mundane and magical, maybe surveillance, maybe escorts, something. I don't know what exactly, and I'm not gonna do it without your agreement."

Sayaka sits back, seemingly a touch mollified. "Fine. Why?"

Alright. All the current problems on Sayaka's end started when our response to this was to bullshit:

"Again, I don't want to punish them for the sake of punishment," you say, shaking your head. "They're under house arrest for what they did, fine. Let me put it to you, Sayaka: what do you want?"

"I want her to have no burned my house down," Sayaka hisses, eyes burning fierce blue.

"I know," you say. "But I can't change that. What would you accept? If they did community service under our guidance? If they paid you back?"

"How the hell is that practical?" Sayaka snaps, sweeping her hand out wide. "Suddenly money just drops magically on me?"

"Community service?" you ask. "They can do plenty of good work as extra hands when we need to leave the city."

"So like they've already been doing?" Sayaka asks, folding her arms.

The conversation lapses for a bit, Mami a warm presence at your side. She's worried, you can tell that much. So are you.

Sayaka is angry. Not furious, perhaps, but... angry. Righteous, seething... There are plenty of adjectives to use, but little enough to encompass the anger worn openly on her face and balled fists.

And Homura.

Homura is unreadable, expression perfectly blank but for the corded tension of her muscles - and she's not moving, sitting statue-still and rigidly upright, staring down at the table in front of her. She's closed off, held tight under her own self-control.

That was how we responded to Sayaka asking why we wanted to cancel the house arrest.

It's full of shit (as are most conversation segments that land us in hot water).

The immediate action by GW is as follows:

[X] Take a moment to calm down. Apologize to Sayaka. You had honestly been wanting to establish general process for handling future events, and didn't think about how manipulative it might look. Offer cleanses.

This goes to some very good and important points -- that... thing that we opened this conversation with was disgusting. However, we need to address, immediately, and without bullshitting further, the simple question Sayaka asked us:

"I'm not saying let them go or anything like that," you repeat. You want that hammered in, because if anything, it's one of Homura's deepest fears and one of Sayaka's sticking points. "I'm saying give them limited rein. Trackers, mundane and magical, maybe surveillance, maybe escorts, something. I don't know what exactly, and I'm not gonna do it without your agreement."

Sayaka sits back, seemingly a touch mollified. "Fine. Why?"

Instead the GW vote calls for us to first apologize for unrelated things and reassure everyone that we won't do anything without permission, as we just said five seconds ago:

"I'm not saying let them go or anything like that," you repeat. You want that hammered in, because if anything, it's one of Homura's deepest fears and one of Sayaka's sticking points. "I'm saying give them limited rein. Trackers, mundane and magical, maybe surveillance, maybe escorts, something. I don't know what exactly, and I'm not gonna do it without your agreement."

[X] Make it clear that you won't do anything different regarding O&K without express agreement from the entire group.

Now, I want to be clear, both of these opening lines on the GW vote are good things to do, they just need to not be taking precedence over addressing Sayaka's question, because we don't need to spend another ten paragraphs avoiding the question, however unintentionally. That's sort of been a recurring theme with Sayaka in my experience, we don't just honestly and swiftly address her questions and it results in crap ballooning for no reason. We should avoid that here.

So, what I think we should do first is this:

[] You're doing the thing where you fail to actually answer her question again, aren't you?

Immediately, let's acknowledge where it was that we most recently and significantly screwed up.

Second, let's hit the next part where we screwed up.

[] The full explanation for that is going to be a little long but needs to happen. There's a lot of background. Before that, apologize to Sayaka -- You had honestly been wanting to establish general process for handling future events, and didn't think about how manipulative it might look -- how manipulative it might be.

Third, let's get on the actual explanation. I dunno how much privacy is warranted here and I'm more than willing to leave that to other peoples' discretion. GW seems to think we want privacy for it, so on the basis that he's a smart cookie I'm stealing that line from him.

[] Arrange for privacy for all four, by timestop or griefhax. If griefhax is used, employ grief fog to hunt down hidden Incubators within field.

Now, Godwinson performs actual explanation with the following:

[X] Establish your motives. Explain that you knew about O&K, just like the others. That your knowledge includes things that have been or could have been. Describe events feeding into Oriko's self-destructive approach to "heroism", and how your metaknowledge indicates she would only act if she thought it would be self-sacrificingly "heroic". Apparently whoever it was that gave you that knowledge made sure that you couldn't help but feel empathy for Oriko, despite her attacking you and your friends.
[X] Establish your position. House arrest keeps Oriko in place she found her father's body. Justice is one thing, that is something else. Your objections aren't over imprisonment or punishment, but that it be humane. House arrest also has only worked because Oriko has cooperated.
[X] Establish situation. The people involved, the limitations on our actions, our options for handling O&K, and the ramifications of those options. (See below the vote for details on this.) Don't delve into Homura's concerns, she knows them and doesn't want them brought up.

There's a lot to like about this. The overall goal here is to establish that the house arrest is either/both extreme or unhealthy. I'm not sure why it can't be summed up as

[] Go over your metaknowledge of Oriko's pre-contracting background in detail. Cover all the traumas and their impacts on her. This might take a while but it needs to be done and it needs to be done thoroughly. Two goals: humanizing Oriko, making it clear that the house arrest is Not Good For Her. Also, cover the contents and context of her wish.

But I honestly don't mind the state it's in currently. I think it could be simpler or improved or what-have-you, but most things could and I don't think it's anything less than fine. also i never liked the word limit anyway

I think we could stand to go a bit further here, though, in pointing out that Oriko's actions, whatever the motives, were fucking stupid. It's a critical part of the whole argument we've found surrounding Oriko that her precognition was actively harmful to her in ways that shouldn't have manifested without interference -- that is, if her precog had been unbiased she should have found better options than she did. I think Godwinson tries to cover this with "... she would only act if she thought it would be self-sacrificingly 'heroic'", but I'd like to see a good bit more emphasis on that. The point is/was that her precog would show her only options that pitted her against us because her emotions were interfering with it. I believe we should be laying out for the group the entire body of beliefs concerning Oriko which we are running on. That will require discussing everything that lead up to On A Rail 31 and this is a pre-requisite in that. So, I'd like to add something like this...

[] Cover what you believe about the (mal)function of Oriko's precognition, stemming from her traumas and background.

We could additionally make a case around Oriko's wish. I do think the natural path for Oriko to work out the purpose of her life would be to run around exploring tons of different things and then eventually realize that the only part of any of it that really matters to her is Kirika, and in that context it could definitely be said that the house arrest is actively contributing to her problems on that end. I'm not certain how necessary it is -- I think it depends on how much Godwinson's vote lays out a case for just relocating them as opposed to both relocating them and offering regular "away time." And... I'm not sure of that.

Then lastly GW hits the "options."

[X] Make proposal:
-[X] Change imprisonment location. Add electronic security to location.
-[X] Add mundane and magical tracking to O&K. Mami tracking ribbon and house arrest ankle tracker as concrete examples.
-[X] Scheduled outings with guard(s) -- prisoners get yard time, after all.
-[X] Bring up having a Sayaklone guard.
-[X] Continued community service.
-[X] Any anti-magic used on security measures, or other sort of break-out attempt, escalates our response and their punishment. Make this clear to O&K.
-[X] Make it clear you'd accept suggestions. This isn't "my way or the highway".
-[X] If proposal is insufficiently punishing, ask what would be sufficient.

I don't actually like ending here, with this. I think there's a lot we're leaving unsaid and a lot that should still be said.

For one thing, I don't think the Godwinson vote says anything about the events of On A Rail 31, which leaves Oriko's state open-ended. Which... isn't okay, I think, and I think @Godwinson should probably add something to his vote to cover that. Best not to leave things on "this is why she decided to burn down Sayaka's house" without clarifying that she has been given significant reason to stop that sort of behavior / thinking / etc. For that reason, I propose at this stage

[] Cover Kirika's wish, its results, what you said about it to Oriko in On A Rail 31, her reaction, and the implications involved in all of it.

I want to point out here that carrying out all of this will for the first time actually convey in full to the rest of the group our views on Oriko. This sort of thing has a history of working well and I don't think anything less is acceptable or intelligent -- O&K have caused enough internal strife that not actually laying out everything (minus restricted information) we're basing our actions towards them on for the group seems dumb when you think about it, in my opinion. On top of that, I think it will be good for Homura to get the whole view we're taking on this.

Lastly, we'll want to examine options. I think Godwinson does a good enough job of it and really, my main desire here is to see another round of full, honest, and accurate communication of information to the rest of our group. So I'm gonna steal that stuff from him and call it a post.

[X] Rules: Do not reveal loops, do not witchbomb, do not potential bomb. Do not interrupt others, break update for vote if a response is required that is not covered by this vote. Sabrina's tone should be calm, thoughtful, conciliatory. No braindamage, full serious mode.
[X] You're doing the thing where you fail to actually answer her question again, aren't you?
[X] The full explanation for that is going to be a little long but needs to happen. There's a lot of background. Before that, apologize to Sayaka -- You had honestly been wanting to establish general process for handling future events, and didn't think about how manipulative it might look.
[X] Arrange for privacy for all four, by timestop or griefhax. If griefhax is used, employ grief fog to hunt down hidden Incubators within field.
[X] Go over your metaknowledge of Oriko's pre-contracting background in detail. Cover all the traumas and their impacts on her. This might take a while but it needs to be done and it needs to be done thoroughly. Two goals: humanizing Oriko, making it clear that the house arrest is Not Good For Her. Also, cover the contents and context of her wish.
[X] Cover what you believe about the (mal)function of Oriko's precognition, stemming from her traumas and background.
[X] Cover Kirika's wish, its results, what you said about it to Oriko in On A Rail 31, her reaction, and the implications involved in all of it.
[X] Make proposal:
-[X] Change imprisonment location. Add electronic security to location.
-[X] Add mundane and magical tracking to O&K. Mami tracking ribbon and house arrest ankle tracker as concrete examples.
-[X] Scheduled outings with guard(s) -- prisoners get yard time, after all.
-[X] Bring up having a Sayaklone guard.
-[X] Continued community service.
-[X] Any anti-magic used on security measures, or other sort of break-out attempt, escalates our response and their punishment. Make this clear to O&K.
-[X] Make it clear you'd accept suggestions. This isn't "my way or the highway".
-[X] If proposal is insufficiently punishing, ask what would be sufficient.
 
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We're just gonna be hopping bandwagons for the whole vote, aren't we?

[X] Kaizuki
Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Mar 30, 2018 at 11:41 PM, finished with 200 posts and 30 votes.

  • [X] Rules: Do not reveal loops, do not witchbomb, do not potential bomb. Do not interrupt others, break update for vote if a response is required that is not covered by this vote. Sabrina's tone should be calm, thoughtful, conciliatory. No braindamage, full serious mode.
    [X] Take a moment to calm down. Apologize to Sayaka. You had honestly been wanting to establish general process for handling future events, and didn't think about how manipulative it might look. Offer cleanses.
    [X] Make it clear that you won't do anything different regarding O&K without express agreement from the entire group.
    [X] Arrange for privacy for all four, by timestop or griefhax. If griefhax is used, employ grief fog to hunt down hidden Incubators within field.
    [X] Establish your motives. Explain that you knew about O&K, just like the others. That your knowledge includes things that have been or could have been. Describe events feeding into Oriko's self-destructive approach to "heroism", and how your metaknowledge indicates she would only act if she thought it would be self-sacrificingly "heroic". Apparently whoever it was that gave you that knowledge made sure that you couldn't help but feel empathy for Oriko, despite her attacking you and your friends.
    [X] Establish your position. House arrest keeps Oriko in place she found her father's body. Justice is one thing, that is something else. Your objections aren't over imprisonment or punishment, but that it be humane. House arrest also has only worked because Oriko has cooperated.
    [X] Establish situation. The people involved, the limitations on our actions, our options for handling O&K, and the ramifications of those options. (See below the vote for details on this.) Don't delve into Homura's concerns, she knows them and doesn't want them brought up.
    [X] Make proposal:
    -[X] Change imprisonment location. Add electronic security to location.
    -[X] Add mundane and magical tracking to O&K. Mami tracking ribbon and house arrest ankle tracker as concrete examples.
    -[X] Scheduled outings with guard(s) -- prisoners get yard time, after all.
    -[X] Bring up having a Sayaklone guard.
    -[X] Continued community service.
    -[X] Any anti-magic used on security measures, or other sort of break-out attempt, escalates our response and their punishment. Make this clear to O&K.
    -[X] Make it clear you'd accept suggestions. This isn't "my way or the highway".
    -[X] If proposal is insufficiently punishing, ask what would be sufficient.
    [X] OOC meta-note: Take as much screen-time as needed to fully detail Sabrina's motives, position, and thoughts on the matter, even if it takes multiple updates or requires a time-skip to preserve proper story flow. We've repeatedly run into issues where Sabrina breezed through things that votes had intended to go over more fully, or had Sabrina act in ways counter to the intent of the vote, due to the "150 words of vague direction" limitation. I'm utterly ignoring that limitation here, because I think it would do vastly more harm than good to try to play wordgames instead of actually addressing the update.
    [X] Rules: Do not reveal loops, do not witchbomb, do not potential bomb. Do not interrupt others, break update for vote if a response is required that is not covered by this vote. Sabrina's tone should be calm, thoughtful, conciliatory. No braindamage, full serious mode.
    [X] You're doing the thing where you fail to actually answer her question again, aren't you?
    [X] The full explanation for that is going to be a little long but needs to happen. There's a lot of background. Before that, apologize to Sayaka -- You had honestly been wanting to establish general process for handling future events, and didn't think about how manipulative it might look.
    [X] Arrange for privacy for all four, by timestop or griefhax. If griefhax is used, employ grief fog to hunt down hidden Incubators within field.
    [X] Go over your metaknowledge of Oriko's pre-contracting background in detail. Cover all the traumas and their impacts on her. This might take a while but it needs to be done and it needs to be done thoroughly. Two goals: humanizing Oriko, making it clear that the house arrest is Not Good For Her. Also, cover the contents and context of her wish.
    [X] Cover what you believe about the (mal)function of Oriko's precognition, stemming from her traumas and background.
    [X] Cover Kirika's wish, its results, what you said about it to Oriko in On A Rail 31, her reaction, and the implications involved in all of it.
    [X] Make proposal:
    -[X] Change imprisonment location. Add electronic security to location.
    -[X] Add mundane and magical tracking to O&K. Mami tracking ribbon and house arrest ankle tracker as concrete examples.
    -[X] Scheduled outings with guard(s) -- prisoners get yard time, after all.
    -[X] Bring up having a Sayaklone guard.
    -[X] Continued community service.
    -[X] Any anti-magic used on security measures, or other sort of break-out attempt, escalates our response and their punishment. Make this clear to O&K.
    -[X] Make it clear you'd accept suggestions. This isn't "my way or the highway".
    -[X] If proposal is insufficiently punishing, ask what would be sufficient.
    [X] Since we have limited resources and people to handle this, and imprisoning meguca is expensive and difficult, meguca justice has to be about preventing further harm, not punishment. We applied that principle in Sendai, and it worked well. Like with Sendai, we don't have to like it, but it has to work, and it has proven itself so far.
    -[X] Emphasize to Sayaka the harm Sendai group caused over the years, and how light their "punishment" was. But the outcome was successful.
    -[X] Explain to Sayaka that, as misguided and wrong as Oriko's actions were, they were done with the intention of saving Sayaka's life from a threat she didn't understand and couldn't figure out how to deal with. One that Sayaka should already know is real and dangerous--it nearly killed her just before she contracted, after all.
    [X] To mollify Homura's concerns, propose making a robust Grief Lie Detector construct, and testing it yourselves. Propose using it to question Oriko and Kirika.
    [X] O&K suffering real harm right now. Meguca more vulnerable to emotional harm than anyone. Accommodations must be made, for their health.
    [X] Tone: Weary. Tired of fighting over this, and getting nowhere, over and over.
    [X] Walpurgisnacht is coming. There is a very real chance some of us will get hurt or die defending the city. Are Sayaka and Homura willing to let O&K help?
    [X] If so, then we'll owe them something for it, more than just locking them out of sight and throwing away the key.
    [X] But until that time, you're done talking about this. And sorry for bringing it up in the first place.
    [X] Ask Sayaka, as a personal favour, to give some thought to what she wants from Oriko. Actual thought and deliberation, and not a snap judgement made in anger. She might not see it, but this is for her own sake as well.
    [X] Thank them for listening to you. An additional, smaller thanks to Homura via telepathy.
    [X] Lean on Mami and rest. It's been a long day.
    [X] Proposal: exile the Kures to a desert island somewhere, maybe under a nondetection field.
    -[X] Oriko seemed to think something would assassinate her if she didn't stay close to us, but maybe the nondetection field would prevent that.
    [X] Proposal: send the Kures to Fukushima as prisoners.
    [X] Proposal: gem the Kures, hold their soul gems, store them (maybe in hammerspace?) until after Walpurgisnacht.
    -[X] Arguably this is their best chance of surviving the month.
    [X] Proposal: Sayaka, would beating them up make you feel better? We don't really like violence, but if this would solve the problem...
    [X] If none of this seems to work, back down and apologize.
    [x] Request timestop. Sayaka wants to decide when Oriko has been sufficiently punished? She gets to decide.
    [x] Lay out every fact you have.
    -[x] Explain the format of your metaknowledge: Pasts and futures that never happened and cannot happen, but that illustrate how people behave.
    --[x] Take care to communicate to Homura that you are not discussing her loops. Not every alternate past or future is about her.
    -[x] Oriko's history. The possible alternate Orikos and their stories.
    --[x] When you get to the part where Oriko killed Madoka, let Homura confirm that Madoka contracting would be game-over and refuse to explain further.
    -[x] All of your hypotheses about Oriko's psychology, how she was trying to commit honorable suicide, and how you're pretty sure the house arrest was the best her power could find for that after you captured her.
    -[x] The hole you've dug for yourself by not letting Homura execute her on the spot, why you need to resolve this before it tears the Mitakihara group apart and ruins everything.
    -[x] All of the possible courses of action you have for dealing with Oriko and mitigating this catastrophe. Exile, relocation, chaperones, whatever.
    [x] Leave nothing out. If it takes six hours, if Firnagzen has to write the quest's first material timeskip, so be it, we have timestop and we've fucked this up too often by trying to be open and honest while shouting through a 150-word-long garden hose.
    [x] So, Sayaka. What do you want to do?
    [X] Mami:
    -[X] Ask if she could track O&K like she did Anri. Homura or Sayaka could hold the other end?
    [X] Homura:
    -[X] Ask to talk privately.
    -[X] Take a moment.
    -[X] I understand I'm pushing but how much? I can't help but think that if we go around detaining people indefinitely without at least a coherent policy on when do so, we're just as bad as any of the more exploitive magical girl groups out there. Is the line Arson? Assault? Things the media would call an act of terrorism? How much does intent matter?
    -[X] Talk about Oriko?
    --[X] Is there a middle ground between indefinite detention/execution and full liberty you can tolerate? Take her answer into account as much as possible.
    --[X] Ask if there's anything you can do, to help Homura trust you with this.
    ---[X] Tracking measures? If Homura could know where O&K are all the time?
    ---[X] Explain your views of Oriko? At length?
    --[X] Mention the problems with the house arrest. Psychological harm, long term viabilty, death by stir-crazyness induce gem blackening and subsequent cleanup not fitting the crime...
    --[X] Apologize for needing to put her through this.
    --[X] Ask her to consider it.
    [X] abstain
 
You should've seen the one for when we metabombed Mami. We must've passed the bandwagon around dozens of times.

You spin me right round, baby right round~
Like a record baby right round, right round~
Dunno why this song came all of a sudden, though I heavily suspect...
Mumi.

Oh, and I'm voting for Godwinson now? At least their vote looks legit.

Let's make it more legally binding ( as much as you can make legally binding a vote in the fanfic quest, at least )

[X] Godwinson
 
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you'd accept suggestions

Can we have "you'd really appreciate suggestions" here or something similar? Because it seems that saying we'd accept suggestions is leaning into... seeming like Homura and Sayaka negotiating concessions from us. Which is not at all what we want to say, but I had a recent experience that makes it clear that is entirely a way "you'd accept suggestions" can come across, from someone even a little overbearing, especially in a tense situation, and if your brain latches onto the possibility, it's enough to be kinda rather upsetting. Also, honestly I think we really are at the point where we do kind of really really want Sayaka and Homura to give us suggestions so we have any hint of direction going forward.

Also, is there a way we could keep the OOC meta-note or some variation, because I think explicitly voting 'yes we need to spend time on this' would be a good thing to ensure we actually do so?

edited for formatting and clarity
 
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So, two things:

a) Forget the word limit if you need to. I had it in this post basically as boilerplate, but if you need the extra wordcount for specific phrasing and such, by all means. @Godwinson, you're clear for that vote if you want, though this kind of thing is for special occasions. :p
b) I probably won't be doing anything for April Fool's today (and I'm posting this on the 31st :p) as I'm currently out of town for the Easter holidays. I'll probably be trying for a regular update, though (if the vote settles, anyway).

@Firnagzen is there word of god that we have only this one loop, and failure is quest end? Or is that an unanswerable question?
I'm not answering that either way.
 
So, two things:

a) Forget the word limit if you need to. I had it in this post basically as boilerplate, but if you need the extra wordcount for specific phrasing and such, by all means. @Godwinson, you're clear for that vote if you want, though this kind of thing is for special occasions. :p
b) I probably won't be doing anything for April Fool's today (and I'm posting this on the 31st :p) as I'm currently out of town for the Easter holidays. I'll probably be trying for a regular update, though (if the vote settles, anyway).


I'm not answering that either way.
Never tip your hand, you glorious bastard; I salute you.
 
OMAKE:

BRINA GRABS MAMI SAYAKA KYOUKO HOMURA MADOKA AND A PAIR OF SMALL CHILDREN, ALL THE KAZUMIS AND GOES BACK IN TIME FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES AND NOTHING BAD HAPPENS EVER

THE END

funding for this propaganda segment provided by the mumi dont die foundation
 
There was an awful lot of assurances that went nowhere in this one. I felt like I was re-reading the same line a dozen times over, just stated differently each time.

Just spit it out Sabrina.

Actually, that's really common in this quest. This one was just especially irritating because we effectively got nowhere during it.

How about, instead of bothering with assurances, Sabrina just presents a solid, logical argument that shouldn't need assurance... then assure everyone anyway, but after the logic has been made. Not during.
Oh, honestly it did go somewhere. It's why you're not looking at Table-chan 3.0 and also why Sayaka's still here. She's impulsive and emotional and prone to jumping to conclusions.
 
I'm not answering that either way.

Basically what I expected. Well, I had to ask.

He already did. Firn confirms that Homura's Revenge is canon for mechanics, characterization, etc. but "didn't happen."

Good to know, must've missed that. Citation for reference?

Oh, honestly it did go somewhere. It's why you're not looking at Table-chan 3.0 and also why Sayaka's still here. She's impulsive and emotional and prone to jumping to conclusions.

Thank you for confirming this. Thread disagreement over how we should interpret the result of our vote/Sabrina's actions/other characters' reactions seems to frequently be the item splitting our decision about how we proceed at any given turn...
 
[X] Rules: Do not reveal loops, do not witchbomb, do not potential bomb. Do not interrupt others, break update for vote if a response is required that is not covered by this vote. Sabrina's tone should be calm, thoughtful, conciliatory. No braindamage, full serious mode.
[X] You're doing the thing where you fail to actually answer her question again, aren't you?
[X] The full explanation for that is going to be a little long but needs to happen. There's a lot of background. Before that, apologize to Sayaka -- You had honestly been wanting to establish general process for handling future events, and didn't think about how manipulative it might look -- how manipulative it might be.
[X] Arrange for privacy for all four, by timestop or griefhax. If griefhax is used, employ grief fog to hunt down hidden Incubators within field.
[X] Go over your metaknowledge of Oriko's pre-contracting background in detail. Cover all the traumas and their impacts on her. This might take a while but it needs to be done and it needs to be done thoroughly. Two goals: humanizing Oriko, making it clear that the house arrest is Not Good For Her. Also, cover the contents and context of her wish.
[X] Cover what you believe about the (mal)function of Oriko's precognition, stemming from her traumas and background.
[X] Cover Kirika's wish, its results, what you said about it to Oriko in On A Rail 31, her reaction, and the implications involved in all of it.
[X] Make proposal:
-[X] Change imprisonment location. Add electronic security to location.
-[X] Add mundane and magical tracking to O&K. Mami tracking ribbon and house arrest ankle tracker as concrete examples.
-[X] Scheduled outings with guard(s) -- prisoners get yard time, after all.
-[X] Bring up having a Sayaklone guard.
-[X] Continued community service.
-[X] Any anti-magic used on security measures, or other sort of break-out attempt, escalates our response and their punishment. Make this clear to O&K.
-[X] Make it clear you'd accept suggestions. This isn't "my way or the highway".
-[X] If proposal is insufficiently punishing, ask what would be sufficient.

I also feel that we should say something to Homura before going through all of this... thisness. I just have absolutely no idea what. I imagine that's why GW vote reiterates the point about not doing anything without permission, but...

Hm.

Oh! Hey, @AuraTwilight, get me that thing where Oriko's dad killed her mom, would you? I feel like that should go in here under one of the existing lines.
 
[X] Rules: Do not reveal loops, do not witchbomb, do not potential bomb. Do not interrupt others, break update for vote if a response is required that is not covered by this vote. Sabrina's tone should be calm, thoughtful, conciliatory. No braindamage, full serious mode.
[X] You're doing the thing where you fail to actually answer her question again, aren't you?
[X] The full explanation for that is going to be a little long but needs to happen. There's a lot of background. Before that, apologize to Sayaka -- You had honestly been wanting to establish general process for handling future events, and didn't think about how manipulative it might look -- how manipulative it might be.
[X] Arrange for privacy for all four, by timestop or griefhax. If griefhax is used, employ grief fog to hunt down hidden Incubators within field.
[X] Go over your metaknowledge of Oriko's pre-contracting background in detail. Cover all the traumas and their impacts on her. This might take a while but it needs to be done and it needs to be done thoroughly. Two goals: humanizing Oriko, making it clear that the house arrest is Not Good For Her. Also, cover the contents and context of her wish.
[X] Cover what you believe about the (mal)function of Oriko's precognition, stemming from her traumas and background.
[X] Cover Kirika's wish, its results, what you said about it to Oriko in On A Rail 31, her reaction, and the implications involved in all of it.
[X] Make proposal:
-[X] Change imprisonment location. Add electronic security to location.
-[X] Add mundane and magical tracking to O&K. Mami tracking ribbon and house arrest ankle tracker as concrete examples.
-[X] Scheduled outings with guard(s) -- prisoners get yard time, after all.
-[X] Bring up having a Sayaklone guard.
-[X] Continued community service.
-[X] Any anti-magic used on security measures, or other sort of break-out attempt, escalates our response and their punishment. Make this clear to O&K.
-[X] Make it clear you'd accept suggestions. This isn't "my way or the highway".
-[X] If proposal is insufficiently punishing, ask what would be sufficient.

We gotta specify there we're talking both about her psychological well being and her soulgem problems (and the possibility of grief spiraling, and her thinking she will die).
 
For context: A 7-5-3 is a japanese rite of passage for kids; for boys it's performed when they're 3 and when they're 5, while for girls it's when they're 3 and 7.

(Oh, that's why I assumed Oriko's mom had died when Oriko was three, in my sleep addled state.)

In this panel:
Oriko bumps into her uncle (her father's brother) and confirms they haven't seen each other since her mom died, eight years before.

Assuming Oriko's age at around 15, this means her mom died when she was 7.

Near the end of the volume three, while Oriko's freaking out over her visions, Kirika finds Hisaomi's journal. The pages she opens contain notes about Oriko's 7-5-3 and about picking up Yurako (his wife, Oriko's mom)'s parents at a station.


Then, what follows after the two next pages showing Oriko freaking out in despair:



... Kirika declaring Hisaomi as 'Oriko enemy'.

For a manga that likes to drop subtle hints all around the place, this is pretty damn blatant.
 
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Also for fuck's sake, I just realized Oriko also has an aunt (called Sumi) on her father's side.

An aunt. Not distant family, an aunt.

And guess what, she also cut off connection not only with Oriko, but with Kimihide (Oriko's uncle) after Hisaomi's death... because it would've been bad for them to be seen together after Hisaomi's scandal.

She's shown catching up with Kimihide during the events of Oriko's side story:

The more I re-read this thing, the more I realize Oriko's family needs to burn in hell.
 
For context: A 7-5-3 is a japanese rite of passage for celebration kids; for boys it's performed when they're 3 and when they're 5, while for girls it's when they're 3 and 7.

(Oh, that's why I assumed Oriko's mom had died when Oriko was three, in my sleep addled state.)

In this panel:
Oriko bumps into her uncle (her father's brother) and confirms they haven't seen each other since her mom died, eight years before.

Assuming Oriko's age at around 15, this means her mom died when she was 7.

Near the end of the volume three, while Oriko's freaking out over her visions, Kirika finds Hisaomi's journal. One of the page only two pages shown, shows a note Hisaomi made about contacting Yurako (his wife, Oriko's mom)'s parents and meeting at a station, in preparation for Oriko's 7-5-3 day.


Then, what follows after the showing pages Oriko freaking out in despair:



... Kirika declaring Hisaomi as 'Oriko enemy'.

For a manga that likes to drop subtle hints all around the place, this is pretty damn blatant.

Hooooooly fuuuuuuuuuuck.

I'm gonna say we should include this stuff. It furthers the goal of humanizing her, I think.
 
I would be 100% for Kaizuki, if it weren't for the

how manipulative it might be.

line.

Opening with the general cases and questions of talking to adults was not manipulative. It could reasonably have come off as manipulative, as it appears to have, but it was entirely sincere and was placed where it was in the conversation for reasons that (at least as far as I was aware, perhaps I was misreading intentions) didn't even include getting Sayaka to agree to something in the general sense and then trying to apply it to Oriko.

There are arguments to be made that any attempt to plan a conversation to the degree that we do could be considered manipulative. However, Sayaka doesn't seem to be in the mood to examine nuanced distinctions in this situation, and I worry that saying that it was manipulative is going to leave her thinking it was a considerably more calculated action of manipulation that it actually was. The conversation was ordered based on general thoughts about it flowing better and being a good way to lead into a discussion, not based on getting Sayaka to follow a particular line of thinking that influenced her opinion. It was structured in such a way that it seemed like were were trying to manipulate her, which we absolutely should apologize for, we should have noticed that and done something different. But we weren't trying to manipulate her, and we shouldn't be apologizing for something we weren't doing, especially when it's going to make her sure we were doing it.

It's the difference between bumping into someone and apologizing for not seeing them versus apologizing for shoulder-checking them. Despite actually hitting them, if you apologize for shoulder-checking them, it's going to come off as entirely more intentional. No matter how much remorse you show, you'll still come off as more of a dick for intentionally wanting to hit them and only repenting after being called out as opposed to being careless and inattentive in the first place.
 
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