Ah... To be clear, if Kyouko is going to tell us that what'd make her happy at this point would be to do something for us, then my plan is that we're going to tell her that Mami has abandonment issues the size of Mount Everest, that that's why she fought Kyouko and wouldn't do so lethally, that up until a few weeks ago she had no friends, and that if she wanted to do something for us... She could think about all of that.
People have this idea that we should put Mami and Kyouko in a room together.
It's a really, really bad idea, for a huge number of reasons. So many reasons I'm actually going to start by pointing out how contact with the Pleiades went, first. Asunaro was very clear-cut -- visit, do stuff together, promise to do it all again... Everyone was super positive about it the entire time on both ends. This was literally the start of the conversation:
-- Red letter day 23.5
That was great. We put Mami in a space with one of her lost friends, and Michiru (Kazusa) reached right out and embraced her.
I need everyone here to just stop for a moment, and consider what would have happened if that hadn't gone that way.
Picture... Disinterest, first. Then, eh, annoyance. Discomfort. Move up the list. Picture what happens if the person we're encouraging Mami to reach out to reacts like that.
... Picture what happens if we coax Mami into reaching out, and the reaction isn't entirely positive.
Do you really think that Kyouko would be an entirely positive encounter? Because it wouldn't be. Not as-is. Kyouko would push her and she'd just fall apart, because Kyouko would be demonstrating, one way or another, that she wasn't keen on having anything to do with Mami. Because as-is, she's not. And that... It would be torture.
I understand that people want to reunite Mami and Kyouko. I certainly do. But this is not the right way. If we want to put them in the same room we had bloody well better make sure that Kyouko is going in there with a major predisposition towards telling Mami that, at minimum, she doesn't hate her... And that's a helluva low minimum to be considering.
So, to restate this: we are not going to ask Kyouko to meet with Mami without first changing Kyouko's perspective on Mami, because it would amount to shelling Mami's psyche.
I'm totally down with working to accomplish that change.
One major argument I've seen on this topic, historically, has been that we should be letting these people tell each other these things -- that Mami should hear from Kyouko why Kyouko pushed her away, e.g.
I'm actually behind that direction -- Mami really should hear that from Kyouko rather than from us. More... Real, that way. And Kyouko is going to want to hear Mami's motives from Mami, and that's fine. But Kyouko is going to need to hear Mami's side of events from someone else, first, because where Mami would be totally happy to reconcile with Kyouko, Kyouko is not currently even considering that, and exposing Mami to a Kyouko not even considering reconciliation is a great way to further traumatize her.
Asking Kyouko to talk with Mami is, well,
expecting their first talk in years to be rough, because it's hard to imagine it being otherwise.
Like, I would hope for Kyouko and Mami to say hi, awkwardly try to make talk for a couple of minutes and say goodbye. (It's important that we have the 'no starting shit clause' with Kyouko.)
It's true that it can go badly. I just find it difficult to imagine something better.
(Call me guilty of not hoping things can go better, I guess.
)
If we tell Kyouko to try and reconcile with Mami, I think she might blow up. And going on about how Mami's lonely and needs help with her abandonement issues, or how neither Mami (nor Kyouko) reaaaally wanted to break up... does amount to that. It feels dangerous.
I wouldn't know how to go about it.
I'm not sure I actually addressed what you were saying in your post, but these are my thoughts right now.
... Thinking on this, what I can come up with, is that if we ask Kyouko to have a talk with Mami, maybe not only ask her to no start shit, but be a taaaaad more detailed.
If I might break this in parts,
what I would add:
[X] If Kyouko persists in needing to treat this as a debt owed, then ask her to have a talk with Mami as a favor to you. Not asking her to be friendly or to reconcile, just to have an honest talk without trying to start shit up. If she doesn't want to do that, then that's fine, you're not wanting her to treat this as a debt to repay to begin with.
[ ] If Kyouko insists on repaying us, she can do so by having a talk with Mami.
-[ ] Clarify: You would really
like if she and Mami could become friends again...
--[ ] ... But
you're under no delusions that you can just brush away the past, or force the issue.
-[ ] What you're asking is for them to talk a few minutes. Catch up, without trying to start any shit.
--[ ] It would do Mami a lot of good.
-[ ] If she doesn't want to, that's fine. She doesn't owe us anything.*
This seems kind of obvious, I know, and would usually not mention it, but maybe it would do good to be as explicit as possible with Kyouko?
* Mind, after telling her about this, I feel saying she can back out and not owe us might feel a little manipulative? (I'm uncertain about this sort of thing, not accusing, just asking).
EDIT:
[] Admit she's right. There
are things you want from her.
[] Explain your
Goal: To fix things, to help people, to give everyone a chance to have normal lives.
-[] And honestly, you consider them friends. You care more about them than any random meguca out there.
-[]
If needed, without overstepping, go in detail about everything wrong with Kyouko's and Yuma's life, and how you want it fixed, how they deserve better.
[] If it makes things easier on Kyouko? She can pay you back by having a talk with Mami.
-[] Clarify: You know you can't brush away the past, or force people to be friends, as much as you'd like them to be.
-[] You're asking her just to
talk with Mami, catch up for a bit. Honestly, without trying to start shit up.
-[] It would do Mami a lot of good.
-[] Again, she doesn't owe you. But, please?
