*blush* Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome. So, since it's okay, on the topic of what to do next... Last chapter ended on this note:
"You can't help me," Rionna says, shaking her head. "Go back to your girl, go back to your friends. Y' don't want this fight, neither do I."
So, my question is, and I apologise if this has been raised and debunked as a bad idea before, but... What if we did like she asked? Meaning, return to Mami and leave? I know this might break Sabrina's winning streak, but hear me out, I do have my reasons for suggesting this. Though, again, if I missed anything, please let me know (it's a long quest and an even longer thread, I'm bound to have dropped something here or there).
Let's be fair here, Sabrina and the others weren't really prepared for this meeting. We knew it was coming, true, but we didn't know anything about Rionna beyond that. Then we meet her and she turns out to be very hostile, dismissive and above all
dangerous. It only took like three or four updates for her to torpedo Sabrina's composure (and the audience's), which in-universe is like, what, a matter of minutes? The revelations about her shades and that she's, ehm, to put it diplomatically,
morally questionable at best and the implied "I would have killed you and taken your soul already if I could have" certainly don't help. We're getting worked up and emotional, which is never a good thing for diplomacy, plus we're fighting an uphill battle because Rionna is already convinced this trip was wasted.
So,
let her, I say.
Let her think what she wants for now, leave and let her take the first flight back to Edinburgh. It is my opinion that as it is,
right now, we don't have the coolness of head, the time and
especially the information to deal with her. Unless the Quest Master says that we have to deal with her now or never again, I think it'd be best. I'm not saying she
shouldn't be dealt with or that what she does with people's souls is a situation that can stand, it can't, but, as hard as it is for me to say this, don't we already have enough on our plate right now? Shouldn't our primary focus be to gear ourselves up, fortify Mitakihari the best we can and get ready for and defeat Walpurgisnacht? I get that Rionna would probably be a very powerful ally to have against Walpurgisnacht, but to be quite frank, even if she would agree to help,
I don't trust her and I find it way too risky to have her in the city until then. I also understand that de-witching is an important goal of ours and is something Rionna could help with, possibly, but I think we can all agree that this is a long-term goal and that Walpurgisnacht should come first.
So again, I say, just leave and let her go back to her home city. That way, we have several advantages: we won't have to worry about a dangerous magical girl while Walpurgisnacht is coming, for starters. Second, it gives us time to do research and reconnaicance on the situation in Edinburgh (it was Edinburgh, right?), meaning that when we do finally have time to give the Rionna problem our full time and attention, the next meeting with her will be on
our terms, or at the very least we will be much better prepared. We were basically caught with our pants down, but now we know what she's like and that something's afoot. Let's not rush it! I really think this situation is very delicate and requires a careful approach, one that requires
time and proper preparation. So let's take a step back to be able to do just that. Right now, I just don't feel safe talking to her, it would be much better if we could talk to her on a field of our chosing, or with all our forces and powers ready should things go south (*cough* anti-magic Kirika and/or Sayaka *cough*). At the moment, we're just too vulnerable to risk clipping the wrong wire in the bomb and having it go off, so to speak.
Another point to consider is something another user has voiced before (I apologise to that someone, I don't remember exactly who it was), namely that Rionna right now might not be taking us serious or be very dismissive of our opinion due to the fact that Sabrina is still basically a no-name newbie. She's kind of right, long as this story is from a reader's perspective, in-universe it's been less than a month, right? So returning to her and her situation
after Walpurgisnacht might just be in our favour there! The word of "Sabrina the Newbie" might not be worth much, but the word of "Sabrina, of the Team that beat the Queen of all Witches" just might. Heck, if she hears of our exploits against Walpurgisnacht, Rionna might just come back or demand another meeting by herself. Just saying, putting this all on the backburner lets us build some rep and credit, so to speak.
Again, I understand Rionna's important and that the situation with the Shades
needs to be adressed, but I think we should wait. Let's focus on Walpurgisnacht first. One city-threatening magical threat at a time, yes?
That's not to say I'm saying we just leave and take it on good faith that she'll do the same and go back to her home. Heck no, I don't trust her. I'd suggest that we agree with her for now, she wants us to leave thinking we can't help her, so let's just go "alright, if that's what you want", drop the privacy bubble, take Mami, say our goodbyes and leave the hotelroom.
The moment we're out of that privacy bubble, I think we should contact Homura and ask her to be at ready to activate her timestop. Once we're out of Rionna's sight, activate that timestop, have Homura come and get us, then go and bring in the rest of the troops to brief them on the situation.
Stay away from Rionna at all costs and let's just observe her through Sayaka's animals like we've been doing with Oriko, making sure that Rionna just goes back to the airport, boards a plane and leaves. Then breathe a sigh of relief.
The reason I suggest a timestop escape is because I'm afraid she'd try something like a sneak attack the moment our back is turned. I know she said neither of us wants this fight, but I'm not convinced she wouldn't roll the dice still if the odds were in her favour. So let's just leave and observe. If she peacefully leaves the country like she came into it, great! We can then focus on Walpurgisnacht, do our research and information gathering on Rionna and her city, then come back to it once Walpurgisnacht has been dealt with. If she doesn't leave peacefully and goes on, I don't know, a soul-gathering harvest spree or something equally disastrous, well, then our course of action should be obvious, no? Then she's the aggressor and we can deal with her appropriately.
So, ehm, yeah, that's what I was thinking following the latest developments. To summarise:
- Agree with her request to leave, for the following reasons:
1. We're getting worked up, emotion is no good for diplomacy and she's basically already clammed up and ended negotiations anyway.
2. We're unprepared to have this discussion right now. We simply know too little of her and her situation. Let her leave the country so we can do proper reconnaicance first, then deal with her at a later date when we know what we're doing and are up against.
3. Walpurgisnacht is coming and should be our priority, even if she offers to help, it is too dangerous or risky to accept her help and have her in the city before or during Walpurgisnacht (unless she can provide a
really convincing argument).
4. Adding to the above is that our plate's full as it is, let's ensure Mitakihari is safe first before we start looking into the safety of another city on the other side of the world, yes?
5. Taking care of Walpurgisnacht first will give us some rep and credibility, hopefully, lending our words more weight. She might be more open to listen then.
- Leave, then get in timestop once out of sight. Brief everyone on the situation. Use Sayaka's animals for surveillances, ensure that Rionna goes back to the airport the next day and catches a flight back home.
- If she
doesn't leave peacefully but hangs around or does something harmful, well, then that'd be another vote discussion to have, I'm sure?
That's my two cents for now. I hope I explained my reasoning for why I think this in enough depth? And again, I'm really, really sorry if this has been opted and voted away before and I just wasted everyone's time. >.<
You may now shoot my argument full of holes with irrefutable counterpoints.
