If I had to choose between them, I'd pick Onmur's vote, but I maintain that Kai's course is the better one. Honestly? Rionna's so deep in the wrong now I really want to rub her face in it, not in the mere fact of being wrong, but in the fact that she could have been right and has been choosing not to be right for years.
 
@Kaizuki

I think that if she wants to leave, then we should let her leave (the privacy sphere at the very least), cause the only thing that will result in trying to keep her there at this point will result in a fight 100%. I have no problem with that per se, however this is a big consequence, and if we were to do some Sabrina justice, I would require hearing the opinions of our allies before making any commitments. I am on board with bringing Sayaka in on that discussion. I fully believe once they hear what she has been doing, both Mami and Sayaka will approve of stopping her.
But trying to force our will without letting the others in on it, or letting them know until after we got into a fight, is not the way to go.
 
[X]Onmur

I like the idea of breaking off on in a manner of our control, I also like not pushing toward a fight or escalating. I'm kinda reminded of my lethal force training [In the navy we stand sentry duty on the ship]. They have the lethal force triangle. Means - Opportunity - Intent. You need all three of those before you open fire on someone while on guard duty.

Intent is almost *always* the tricky one to establish. In the case of Rionna one can argue that she just wants to *leave* and thus you can't use lethal force as the hostile intent is not there (ok she's VERY hostile but not *that* sort of hostile). The other one argues that she tried to mindwammy us and thats enough to fight her. My issue with that line of thought is we have GM word she tried to mind control us not turn us into a shade so she did something but it was not lethal. I cannot shoot someone for taking a swing at me for example.

On the third hand... she's a known murderer and needs to be detained. On the finial... fourth hand this the sort of situation where you call for backup and make a plan rather then start it here and now.

So if Onmur's plan lets us disengage and get backup in a controlled manner I'm all for it. This has gone well past what should a single girls purview.
 
So, here are my issues with the votes as they stand:

@Muramasa : Excludes Sayaka from the timestop meeting,

We can't keep Rionna secret from Sayaka. Barring the fact that Sayaka knows that Rionna's arrived and is going to want to know what her status is, barring the fact that keeping secrets increases strain on group cohesion, barring the fact that Sayaka is a pretty valuable asset to have on call for dealing with Rionna on purely practical terms... it's still a shitty idea on moral grounds.

@Kaizuki : Pushes for Kirika's direct non-timestop involvement.

We can't communicate with Homura directly at the moment. Homura's not going to want to use Kirika, and we can't debate this with her. Moreover, Sayaka has a copy of Kirika's power, so in tactical terms this isn't necessary.

For now:

[x] Onmur
 
Please calm down a bit.
Your argument about "not basing our choices on the opinions of a child" is... it's literally comically stupid in the context of PMMM.
Can you think of a different way to phrase this?

It helps keep things cool if we don't use bolded, underlined words like 'stupid'.

I know you're stressed and going back and forth right now, but let's keep it as civil as possible?
If there is a productive discussion to be had, I think Riona has to initiate it. Sabinra told her a lot of very intriguing stuff in the past few minutes. Stuff that by rights should excite her curiosity and avarice. Only because Riona feels like she's under threat, she's just instinctively saying "no" to everything. Every response has been a stubborn refusal.

So I say, leave without any more demands. Let Riona brood about everything Sabrina offered, and I think the fly will come to the honey when the human is no longer around waving their hands at the fly. She'll call us.
I don't really agree given everything we've observed so far. I think Riona would just leave for Edinburg with her plane, as planned, keep doing her Punisher thing, and avoid us forever.

Even if she might get back at us at some point, chances are she'll kill someone in the meanwhile.
 
I would suggest -- and this is me being very serious, here -- that perhaps what is wrong with my posts, then, is my assumption that you are aware of the base material, Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

In that material, all of Madoka Kaname's friends get themselves killed, and this prompts her to sacrifice her presence in reality to become a metaphysical law with the power to do better by them.

Yeah, I watched the anime though I haven't read all of the side materials.

But frankly, I think you're blowing this way out of proportion. Some magical girl that Sayaka is hearing about second hand doing bad things is not to going to lead to to her marching off to her death. This Riona decision is not a quest-ending threat.

And if you want call that comically stupid then you're welcome to your point of view. Not changing my vote, though.
 
I'm not sure why you threw this character at us, @Firnagzen . She's not willing to cooperate, she's not a threat to us, she's not sympathetic, not nearly as interesting as her powers should make her, she isn't creating any interesting conflict, and she hasn't done anything for the quest other than interrupt and cut short far more interesting and enjoyable parts of the quest, grind the quest to a halt for a long time, and frustrate the hell out of everyone. I'm sorely tempted to just gem her or let her go, because I hate how she's just slammed the quest to a halt and I really don't care about her at all anymore. I just want to move on already.
*sighs*

You know, I keep coming back to this. So I'm going to... break character a bit, as it were, and give a peek behind the GM screen. Rionna is, design-wise, a two-part character. She's got useful powers that you can't replicate. What is Sabrina willing or not willing to tolerate in the name of getting that power? The answer, it seems, is: Not this. And that's good. Sabrina isn't that kind of character.

The thing is... do you remember that quote on the front page? Villains act, heroes react, and all that? Apparently, Sabrina sits by and does nothing. Rionna is meant to be morally black. I should have foreshadowed this a lot better, with Nadia in particular. She's not absolutely reliable. But on the subject of Rionna, well, I don't particularly mind the notion to call a timestop council, to bring her friends in. It's something that I can see Sabrina doing.

Trying to redeem Rionna? Oh, yes, that's something I can see Sabrina trying.

But just... letting Rionna go? I, personally, am having a very hard time reconciling that with Sabrina's character, and yes, she does have one at this point. She's nowhere near flawless, but she's someone who tries.

Order of which happened first, the raising or the killing, was not clear from the quote itself, so this is an important clarification.
No, that isn't clear, and you don't know that.

I'm not sure if this is constructive to say and I know it won't be well received by some, but I do think the extent of Rionna's transgressions is being built on a tenuous foundation.

There was a tacit demand 'justify your actions or I'll end you'. That is frankly arrogant as hell for a newbie meguca who asked for her expertise, and a LOT of people myself included would not be inclined to respond further than 'make me'. Which is exactly what she did! Then people tried to backpedal the hard line and say 'oh but if you do I'll help you'. The latter might be true but in terms of dominance mechanics it's still demanding she roll over and show belly. So I think she does not WANT to justify her actions and will not do so no matter how people twist the demand.

There's a lot of people who think that violating free will and messing with souls just puts her over the line no matter the justification... To which I say 'meh'. Philosophy aside, you can put a long list of folks up who killed or raped others to whom I'd say 'puree their souls' just as easily as I'd give the death penalty. I can understand the contrary view, but let's all be clear this is not self-defense- if we kill her over it, we're playing judge, jury, and executioner without a day of investigation.
I'm going to ask you to take this argument elsewhere. It's simply something I'm not interested in seeing in the thread.

If you were addressing me, I genuinely have no idea what 'whataboutism' you are talking about. Trying to figure out what motivated Riona in the past isn't whataboutism, it doesn't excuse or justify her actions in any way. And it's just not what what-aboutism means.
Hrm. In retrospect, I'm not sure why you were included in that particular section. I retract that.

=====​

Now, with all that said, I'm going to weigh in on Kaizuki's post. Yes, it's aggressive. But I do not feel that it's over the line, and I'm going to ask that you engage with it rather than dismiss it on civility grounds.

On the other hand,
People don't have to justify their votes to you, but I will since I feel like it.
This is not acceptable behaviour. Not necessarily this post, but in general context of your posting in this thread, I consider it part of a wider context of problematic posting. You've been consistently civil, yes. But your posts, consistently, are an undercurrent of passive-aggressiveness nudging. I feel that your opinions and your actions are not a direction I want Sabrina or PMAS to go in, and I am issuing a threadban for two weeks for you, under Rule 4 - don't be disruptive. You can be perfectly polite, and express your opinions in a clear, cogent manner, but still be disruptive.

I don't like this option. I really hate having to use this. But ultimately, I'm exercising it because your particular brand of posting on this subject is unacceptable to me.
 
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Alright, here's an idea.

[] Mood: Perfectly polite, bury the anger and disgust.
-[] "What time is your flight tomorrow?"
-[] "It's pretty clear that you're tired right now, we can pick this up tomorrow morning after you've had a chance to sleep."
-[] Do not dissipate the privacy bubble until she tells you when her flight is and agrees to meet tomorrow.
-[] Once out privacy sphere, call Homura, Sayaka, and Oriko, you need a timestop meeting to discuss the results of your talks.

Not x-ing it just yet, but it's a thought? Opinions?

EDIT: Nevermind, didn't see Firn's post before this one, I am no longer contemplating this course of action as particularly viable.
 
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Now, with all that said, I'm going to weigh in on Kaizuki's post. Yes, it's aggressive. But I do not feel that it's over the line, and I'm going to ask that you engage with it rather than dismiss it on civility grounds.

Yeah, I need to apologize for that post, though. It got out of line.

I'm gonna recuse myself for the next while.
 
[X] There are/were options. Just as an example, she could have cut a deal with a potential, that she would fulfill their wish and some in exchange for them using their wish to bring back her sister. Somebody somewhere would go for it. Healing is a common enough wish, and not difficult to provide.
[X] Talk to her:
-[X] Argue that the only thing she's accomplished with her current track has been to inflict pain on others and deny herself any hope of getting what she actually wants.
-[X] Argue that the incubator tries to provoke isolation and infighting for a reason: less cooperation means less chance of people getting what they want, and thus better rates of witching.

What is the end goal of this argument?
To try to get Rionna to cooperate? Or just to make our stance more explicit so that she would make her disagreement more explicit and we could attack her?

If it's the former, it's bad. People have likely been telling her this stuff for years, and she's been telling them to fuck off. This doesn't look like the kind of speech that could finally convince her.

If it's the latter, well, you could be more clear about it.
 
But frankly, I think you're blowing this way out of proportion. Some magical girl that Sayaka is hearing about second hand doing bad things is not to going to lead to to her marching off to her death.

Okay, so. Sayaka has a tendency to overreact to what she sees as a moral outrage, to her own detriment. This is why she's so dead-set against Homura in most timelines, and this trait of hers gets her killed with a high degree of regularity.

In this scenario in particular, Oriko foresaw Sayaka getting killed, literally tonight, in a way that claimed her soul without leaving a mark on her body. So based on both a more general reading of her character and on specific evidence regarding Rionna, it seems quite plausible to me that Sayaka may go running off to her death... if we play this exceptionally poorly.

Let's put the moral arguments aside for a second. On purely cold cost/benefit calculus, Sayaka is worth infinitely more to us then Rionna is. Sayaka is far more likely to contribute in a positive way towards our goals, has a close friendship with Madoka that makes her invaluable in that regard, and can copy Rionna and thus grant access to her power anyway.

If Sayaka can't be dissuaded from attacking Rionna, then the only logical course of action is for Sabrina to assist Sayaka in the attack, because Sayaka is more valuable then Rionna.
 
The thing is... do you remember that quote on the front page? Villains act, heroes react, and all that? Apparently, Sabrina sits by and does nothing. Rionna is meant to be morally black

Well... Honestly? I see her as tragic more than anything. She's definitely a monster, but with the way you write her it really feels like she made bad decisions under even worse circumstances.

She seems like a character who we should regret killing or gemming, even though that is likely to be necessary in order to deal with her in an acceptable manner.
 
We can't communicate with Homura directly at the moment. Homura's not going to want to use Kirika, and we can't debate this with her. Moreover, Sayaka has a copy of Kirika's power, so in tactical terms this isn't necessary.
I do want to get Anti Magic Cuffs before engaging, though...

I know Homura won't like it, but I'm hoping after Sabrina talks with Mami, Homura and Sayaka, we can swing by Oriko's to get those Anti Magic Cuffs, which would be really useful in restraining Riona.

(I would hope we can get the AM Cuffs while explaining, but I don't think Homu would like that?)

Also, I haven't clarified getting Sayaka in on this...


[X] Agree to end the meeting soon.
-[X] Tell Riona you regret that she wasn't able to find what she was searching for here. Maybe scratch this and instead:
-[???] What would Kai say to Riona, if Kai had to say one thing instead of arguing?

[X] Release the Field.

[X] Before letting her be, call her out and get concessions in exchange for her actions, without pissing her off too badly:
-[X] Priority: Arrange a new meeting before she leaves.
-[X] Priority: She does not attack nor use magic against anyone in Mitakihara.
-[X] She'll answer all our questions next meeting.

[X] Go. Once you're away:
-[X] Timestop meeting. Include Sayaka.
-[X] Explain everything. Avoid social bombs. Don't take sides, be impartial.



[ ] If we were still doing super long votes for multiple updates' worth of content. In timestop meeting:
-[ ] Try to argue you need to talk again with Riona, try to get information.
--[ ] If friends decide to gank Riona right now, get some Anti Magic Cuffs from Kirika first, and start the (hopefully very short) fight by making a Magic Booster for Kirika and having her Anti-Magic Riona and all her surrounding area.
--[ ] If friends agree, get those Anti Magic Cuffs anyway, for after you're done with Riona tomorrow.
---[ ] Ask Homura to watch Riona tonight.
 
Okay, so. Sayaka has a tendency to overreact to what she sees as a moral outrage, to her own detriment. This is why she's so dead-set against Homura in most timelines, and this trait of hers gets her killed with a high degree of regularity.

In this scenario in particular, Oriko foresaw Sayaka getting killed, literally tonight, in a way that claimed her soul without leaving a mark on her body. So based on both a more general reading of her character and on specific evidence regarding Rionna, it seems quite plausible to me that Sayaka may go running off to her death... if we play this exceptionally poorly.

Let's put the moral arguments aside for a second. On purely cold cost/benefit calculus, Sayaka is worth infinitely more to us then Rionna is. Sayaka is far more likely to contribute in a positive way towards our goals, has a close friendship with Madoka that makes her invaluable in that regard, and can copy Rionna and thus grant access to her power anyway.

If Sayaka can't be dissuaded from attacking Rionna, then the only logical course of action is for Sabrina to assist Sayaka in the attack, because Sayaka is more valuable then Rionna.

Thank you, this is what I've been trying to say, grounded in the reality that the anime basically implies this happens all the damn time. Sorry, leaving again, popped in to say that.
 
I do want to get Anti Magic Cuffs before engaging, though...

I know Homura won't like it, but I'm hoping after Sabrina talks with Mami, Homura and Sayaka, we can swing by Oriko's to get those Anti Magic Cuffs, which would be really useful in restraining Riona.

Oh, I'm 100% fine with that, but I'm reading Kai's vote as literally requesting Kirika to be on overwatch outside while we talk, which is... less reasonable.
 
Anyways, I'm actually inclined to drop a one-liner and just Gem her now, we've already made several plans on how to do it. The only reason I wouldn't is to talk with the others so that all of them can weigh in on it rather than acting unilaterally without their permission.

Griefmessage Mami for an immediate timestop, lay out the situation for Homura and Mami, if we can explain to Homura why Rionna's powers are dangerous I think she'd probably agree to bring Kirika along as insurance because she is nothing if not pragmatic and practical at heart.

Also we need to include Sayaka for powercopying.
 
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Oh, I'm 100% fine with that, but I'm reading Kai's vote as literally requesting Kirika to be on overwatch outside while we talk, which is... less reasonable.

I've been trying to cater to the desires of people who want more security or something.

Take this:

[-] Mami: clandestinely communicate that you want her to get Kirika and Sayaka over here, and fall back to a point within visual range of a point within 100 meters of you, but as far from Rionna as possible. Homura should stay farther away.
[X] Ask Rionna if you may cleanse her.
[X] Don't allow her to leave. Don't allow her to harm you. Don't allow her to harm herself. Use all means necessary, but start with minimal force. What can be accomplished with words instead of force should be.
[X] There are/were options. Just as an example, she could have cut a deal with a potential, that she would fulfill their wish and some in exchange for them using their wish to bring back her sister. Somebody somewhere would go for it. Healing is a common enough wish, and not difficult to provide.
[X] Talk to her:
-[X] Argue that the only thing she's accomplished with her current track has been to inflict pain on others and deny herself any hope of getting what she actually wants.
-[X] Argue that the incubator tries to provoke isolation and infighting for a reason: less cooperation means less chance of people getting what they want, and thus better rates of witching.

Do whatever you have to do with the first line

and I'll vote for it or whatever

Really leaving this time, I mean it, I swear
 
Well... Honestly? I see her as tragic more than anything. She's definitely a monster, but with the way you write her it really feels like she made bad decisions under even worse circumstances.

She seems like a character who we should regret killing or gemming, even though that is likely to be necessary in order to deal with her in an acceptable manner.
As I said - trying to redeem Rionna is something that's absolutely within Sabrina's character. Just because someone's tragic doesn't mean they aren't a monster, yeah?
 
Given that Firn's literally weighed in and said that Rionna's meant to be morally black, I'm not sure that trying to discuss things with her yet again tommorow makes much sense.

I still think that Onmur's vote is a pretty reasonable plan of action for the most part - I just don't think we should push to continue talking, when we discuss things with our friends.

Going out of our way to avoid making unilateral decisions when it comes to stuff like gemming is honestly just good precedent in general. In this particular case it looks like it's gonna be pretty black-and-white, but that won't always be the case.
 
[X] Mami: clandestinely communicate to contact Homura for a time stop ASAP
[X] Buy some time until Homura arrives. Firmly discuss that, once the isolation field is down, Rionna will not be leaving her hotel room until she leaves for her flight. Any hostile actions on Mitakihara's residents will not be tolerated.
- [X] Be prepared to defend yourself. Do not let Rionna leave the isolation field. Prioritise protecting yourself and Mami over Non-lethal methods.
[X] Once in timestop: Hug Mami and Homura, then break to voting.
 
Oh, I'm 100% fine with that, but I'm reading Kai's vote as literally requesting Kirika to be on overwatch outside while we talk, which is... less reasonable.
I wonder how Homu'd react if we actually try to give Kirika a magic booster for the starting attack against Riona? :thonk:


*Finishes making Magic Gem*

"OK, Homura, I know you're not gonna like this, but- Homura?"

*Looks around, eyes follows rope attached to waist and extending all the way to the top of a skyscraper far in the distance*

*Feels Homura tugging on the rope*

*Interprets morse code:

'You can't see me. However, I am giving you a thumbs up.'*

"She really didn't like it when you broke her shield..."

*Playing with Magic Gem*

"I broke her what?"




Conclussion, we should get the Anti Magic Cuffs from Kirika, but have Sayaka use the Magic Gem for the opening Anti Magic attack. :V
 
Given that Firn's literally weighed in and said that Rionna's meant to be morally black, I'm not sure that trying to discuss things with her yet again tommorow makes much sense.
I'm not certain trying to keep discussing things tomorrow would help, also. Not because Firnpost, but because of Riona's Wish and its implications.

Still want to get all the info we can out of her. About our Soul, Oriko's Soul rejection, Aurora and Hildegarde... How the flying fuck is her name spelled, ffs, NAMES ARE IMPORTANT!

:V

Really, I'd also want to know if anything's gonna blow up in Edinburgh once Riona's taken down and Anti-Magicked, though I don't know how how we could go about asking that without raising Riona's suspicions.
 
The closest thing to True Resurrection that we've seen in Madoka Magica's materials is in The Different Story, where Madoka wishes in a way (exact wording unknown) that brings Sayaka back from the dead. That being said, the resurrected Sayaka has false memories, as she doesn't remember turning into a Witch and believes that the reason she's alive now is because Madoka saved her from a Witch. This calls into question whether the resurrected Sayaka is even the true Sayaka.

I think that's because memories of turning into a witch might drive someone to grief and turn into a witch relatively quickly*. So I think it was true Sayaka but following the intent of the wish by not having her witch out immediately.

*Not something we have to necessarily worry about in our dewitching because of infinite cleansing.
 
OK OK

question then for all the vote crafters and people who theory craft more then me. Given its both in character for Sabrina to 1) not let Rionna go and 2) try to redeem/reform her, 3) not want to die

... how do we do that?

Edit:

Like I'm all *for* stopping her *now* but not *right now* I really don't want to start shit without allies. I know Firn wants us to act and not react but.... given timestop I don't see why we can't take time to call allies, get everyone on the same page and THEN act. Its an effective force multiplier.
 
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