Even if I accept that Mami can't truly help Homura without knowing the witchbomb, it's still pretty questionable if she can actually handle hearing it.
Like, if we frame it as "if you learn this awful secret you can help a friend" then Mami probably would agree that learning it is worth it, but that doesn't actually convince me that Mami won't commit suicide after hearing about it.
At best, if we already had fully established de-witching, my read on Mami is that we'd still be looking at a level of dependancy on Sabrina that would make the lichbomb/KB trauma look like a joke.
... What?
At best, if we already had fully established de-witching, my read on Mami is that we'd still be looking at a level of dependancy on Sabrina that would make the lichbomb/KB trauma look like a joke, and which would persist for the rest of the quest.
What?
Redshirt? If you think that Mami's dependency on Sabrina has been
reduced at any point in this entire quest... I honestly don't know what to say. It's such an obviously and totally false idea that I'm surprised to see you mentioning anything resembling it. The
exact opposite is what has occurred. In fact, Mami is perhaps
more dependent on Sabrina at this point in time than she has ever been.
What has
changed is that she is no longer freaking out over Sabrina potentially not wanting her / leaving her / not being her friend / not being real / not liking her / pulling away from her because she's romantically interested in her / being just a dream / not having her interests at heart / "being an excellent actress" /
etcetera. That is
it. She's less freaked out at school because she's more convinced that
Sabrina will be there when school ends.
You use the words "Lichbomb/KB trauma." In all honesty, much of the impact of that passed quite quickly, barring its resurgence when she's confronted with QB. The
problem was that she was left thinking that her only remaining "friend" (Sabrina) was only sticking around because Mami was a wreck who needed Sabrina's help.
I'm sorry. But this approach comes off as manipulation. And I can't approve of it.
Yeah, I can understand that. I've thought this through and I don't agree, but unlike certain other objections its an understandable one.
Secondly every time we bomb Mami, and she's clearly not ready for it, she is shattered every time. The last time we bombed her she barely survived it.
Sabrina was literally in ribbons with hints of imminent Tetris, if we failed the following vote.
I'm sick of bombing her in this manner. Mami deserves better than this.
...
...
...
This must be why I have to write essays every time.
Fact: there is a correlation between dropping bombs on Mami and Mami shattering. Fact: if you cause Mami to think that someone she feels extremely close to isn't actually her friend, Mami will shatter. Fact: we are two for two for doing that at the same time as "dropping bombs." Fact: the moment we told Mami that we weren't leaving when she shattered during the metabomb she recovered almost instantly from shattered to hurt.
You take another deep, shuddering breath. "I didn't expect you to make me so happy." A faint noise indicates that Mami's listening, at least. "And you do. I enjoy doing things with you, talking with you... you make every day brighter." Just the simple joy of getting to hug her is something you look forward to, all the time. "I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose you."
You raise your head to look her in the eye, finding golden eyes reddened with tears - but wide and startled as she looks back at you.
The
metabomb did not particularly hurt Mami. In all honesty, she gave roughly zero fucks about it: notice how she has never actually reacted badly to the knowledge contained therein outside a foreboding environment that was full of tension and stress and badness. Now, us making her think that we were going to
leave her...
"Y-you don't have to," Mami whispers, shaking her head. "S-sabrina, I, I- a-as l-long as you're h-here, I, I don't care."
"I want to," you respond, quiet and firm. "I, I want to be honest and open with you, Mami. You mean too much to me for me not to."
Mami shakes her head in mute disagreement.
That hurt her.
The lichbomb... Kyubey's betrayal was the worst part of it by far. Realizing that she'd been responsible for "deaths" in the past hurt her, but... not really that much, in all honesty. The guilt from helping to contract people was the worst part of that, but even that was pale by comparison to the utter
heartbreak of losing Kyubey.
The witchbomb does not have this element of personal loss to it: on the contrary, paired with the loops it is an interpersonal
gain.
Redshirt... not a word you said makes any sense. Keep in mind that Tetris was about the future, about her not wanting herself or her friends to become witches. Keep in mind that with or without dewitching, we can help souls by defeating their witches and clearing their seeds. Almost the
entirety of the witchbomb's trauma is going to be the guilt of her past actions. And that... that can be worked around, made to fade. At the end of the day we're going to work towards saving everyone who has and/or will become a witch, we're going to prevent future witchouts, and the chance of anyone close to us or Mami ever becoming a witch is going to approach zero as knowledge is carefully disseminated and our capabilities increase.
This isn't some unbearable sword of damocles. It's not some cataclysm of which speaking is to be taboo. It's not going to kill Mami; it's not even going to come
close to killing Mami...
Unless, of course,
it doesn't come from us.
...
Without disclosing the loops, of course, it remains largely pointless to discuss it with her. It would be
largely meaningless pain rather than
largely meaningful pain.