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“Human Resources” Shouldn’t Be This Literal: A PMMM/ProjectMoon Quest

Would you Distort or manifest EGO?

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Having thought it over, I'm mote inclined to put Sayaka through training before considering EGO stuff. But I'm not particularly sold on X or Geburah doing the training. Geburah is a great fighter, obviously, and X is basically copying her. And that's really the problem. I have no idea if Geburah is even half way decent as a teacher, or if anything she could teach would be useful to Sayaka. And X while we've only seen X trying to teach Kyoko, that didn't go particularly well. I don't see them imparting any kind of great skill to Sayaka from what context I have.
 
There's a lot of people inside Angela's Library who are suitable to be Sayaka's teacher.

From Malkuth's feeling of not being good enough.

To Hokma's wisdom and understanding of how to train someone in mastering themselves (he has the most knowledge on the virtue system).

Any of them will be fine really. They are trust worthy people.

And if anything is wrong, Angela and Roland are there to take over for us.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Lepidoptera on May 7, 2023 at 2:53 AM, finished with 41 posts and 20 votes.
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Training arc go!
 
All in all, it's a good thing X isn't even gonna try the E.G.O route.

I wasn't kidding when I made it seems like Carmen would like it very much if X attempted to help Sayaka manifest E.G.O.

E.G.O is something the person themselves will have to face on their own.

That is what the Knowing I was all about.

: Sayaka's time will come one day. No need to rush things too hard.
 
diplomacy said:
To be honest, I prefer the abnormality E.G.O option, but we sadly don't have much in the way of suitable E.G.O at the moment.
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Out of our stock, we actually have two that would resonate well with Sayaka. Army in Black parallels Sayaka's downfall in the main series perhaps a little too much. Knight of Despair shares a common thread of justice and protection, also the name. Though using Aleph and Waw EGOs brings a distinct risk of corrosion for Sayaka as she is now. Going by Kali's story however, that could be a suitable scaffolding if the intent was to bring out her personal EGO.

Also I was reviewing our EGO list and saw this:
Lepidoptera said:
Sound of a Star
[...]
Event Horizon: An ability revealed under immense mental strain. Releases a pulse of burning light over a wide area. Interferes with both gravity and sound.
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Wait did we actually use Blue Star's vacuum cleaner during the NT incident? Or did it become available in the aftermath? I'm trying to think of the mental stressor that caused this, perhaps the shell breaking? Either way, this could prove useful in the future.
 
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2.2.15 - And The Days Go On
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 111 - And The Days Go On

    "How much have I told you," you begin, "about my time as Manager of the Facility?"

    Sayaka looks up at you, pain replaced by confusion. "Not a lot? I know you were in charge of dealing with Abnormalities, and that you were really high-ranking but didn't actually get to make many decisions. You don't talk much about it."

    "Those are all true statements. Though they undersell exactly how horrible the Facility was." you continue. Your expression remains unchanged, and yet you can feel the mood darken in concert with your thoughts.

    "It was designed as a meat grinder, more or less. Employees would be brought in, they would be sent to placate the Abnormalities, and most of the time they would die. And every time, I would sit in my office, completely safe, and watch. I would note down what happened, and then adjust my approach. And after a very, very long time, things got better.

    Not by a lot. Even if I could keep my Agents alive, there were also those I couldn't command. They died every day, and I watched it happen. Year after year, I wanted to do something to change it.

    I asked for weapons several times. Asked to lead my Agents on the field, instead of from behind a screen. Stupid idea, obviously. I had no idea how to fight. I'd have gotten myself killed in seconds."

    "So how'd you learn?" Sayaka interrupts. "How did you learn how to fight?"

    "Actually, I didn't." you say with a slight chuckle, breaking the dour mood. "That came later. On that note, I do not recommend dying and being reborn as a civilization-destroying monster as a way to get stronger. There are far less stressful routes to self-improvement."

    Sayaka and Kyoko chuckle a bit at the joke, but the mood is clearly still dark. Still, you've relieved as much tension as you can without getting too far off-topic.

    "No, I never got my wish. Instead, I started examining my role more carefully. Finding what loopholes I could, asking my colleagues what they could do, pushing the boundaries of my role. I couldn't defend the people I cared about in person, but I still could keep them safe."

    "So where does that leave me? What can I do?" Sayaka asks again.

    "You can learn. I know for a fact Mami would absolutely love to teach you more about being a Magical Girl. Frankly, she could use a few more reasons not to regret her decision to make a Contract herself. You can ask Kyoko too, since she's got nearly as much experience."

    Your most recently-acquired daughter freezes at the recommendation, staring in surprise before flinching. "I don't think that's a good idea. I wouldn't be a good example for anybody to follow."

    "Really?" Sayaka says, incredulous. "But Mami said so many great things about you! You must've been an amazing Magical Girl!"

    Kyoko shakes her head. "Just trust me, you don't want to be a Magical Girl like me."

    Sayaka still seems doubtful, but nods her head. "If you say so." Kyoko's self-loathing will take more than one conversation to unravel, though every little assurance helps. Hopefully you'll be able to cure Kyoko soon, though you're not optimistic about the near future.

    That can come later, though. For now, you have one last offer to make.

    "Of course, there's also the basic issue of training. There aren't exactly an abundance of sword-wielders in our little group, and I'm not really teacher material. But! I do know somebody who is!"

    Sayaka visibly perks up at the energy in your voice, looking very much like a small child waiting for somebody to tell her a story.

    "If you want to get stronger, the simplest way is training! I've already scheduled some sessions with an old friend, and I don't think they'd mind you joining in." You would have to be blind to miss the anticipation on Sayaka's face.

    "However!" you say loudly, cutting off any further conversation. "It is very late right now, and you parents will likely be wanting you back. Kyoko and I meanwhile, need to get home before Mami decides she should be the one cooking again."

    —————————

    You do not, in fact, get home before Mami has started cooking. On the bright side, the Kanames sent Mami a cake and you some wine before Mami left. You can't actually get drunk, but it's the thought that counts.

    ———————————————

    Night falls…
    [] Training/Experimentation
    -[] With what?
    [] Hunt Witches/Abnormalities
    [] Investigate Kamihama City
    [] Attend to business in the Library

    ———————————————

    Der Freischütz's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
    Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
    CENSORED's Sapling - Observation Level EXPUNGED/REDACTED

    Day 2 is wrapping up, and the proper plot and conflicts of Act 3 have been established. So it continues.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Lepidoptera said:
    Your most recently-acquired daughter freezes at the recommendation, staring in surprise before flinching. "I don't think that's a good idea. I wouldn't be a good example for anybody to follow."
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    None of that! You are a great person, you are not responsible for the death of your family, that one's on Kyubey, you are not responsible for what NT did, that one's on, well, NT, and you are not responsible for every students of Mami leaving her, that one's on Kyubey again.

    Lepidoptera said:
    [] Attend to business in the Library
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    New abnormality wrangling session with Sis?
     
    I see then.

    We have a variety of contacts as of the end of day 2.

    First, Argalia/Leonia. Second, the Kanama family. And the next day if everything went right, we would be meeting up with Hitomi's family.

    One thing I want to do before returning to the Library.

    Check up on Argalia and Leonia first, if things went bad, we are taking custody of the kid. Which was what I promised I would vote for when we left Leonia with Argalia for the day.

    It also serves as a chance to talk to him more about what to do with the AWTLies now that we have sorted out all our current major plans with the kids. He did promise he'll help us out with that.

    After that...visiting Angela again to check up on other abnormalities would be interesting. We still need to inform Geb of the fact that we will be bringing Sayaka to the training sessions and inform Roland and Angela of Argalia's plans will be so we can have more opinions on it.

    ...And that should be it I think. We already made a plan on what to do tomorrow with Hitomis' parents, and Sayaka's parents will have their own meeting tomorrow if possible too so there's not much planning on that other front either...

    So this should be the plan for now.

    [X] Plan: Summing things up
    -[X] Contact Argalia, he promises that if you ever look for him, it won't take long for him to find you. Discuss the plans to deal with the Adult.
    --[X] Convince Argalia to let Leonia stays with us.
    -[X] Attend to Business in the Library. Inform Angela and Roland about what Argalia told you. Tell Geburah that Sayaka will be joining you in the training sessions.
     
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    questioningmeme said:
    [X] Plan: Summing things up
    -[X] Contact Argalia, he promises that if you ever look for him, it won't take long for him to find you. Discuss the plans to deal with the Adult.
    --[X] If his treatment of Leonia is terrible. Take custody of her.
    -[X] Attend to Business in the Library. Inform Angela and Roland about what Argalia told you. Tell Geburah that Sayaka will be joining you in the training sessions
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    I personally prefer a different phrasing for Leonia, because I do want to adopt her and this one is too restrictive, there is way too much range before we act in just saying *if he treats her terribly*, at the end of the day, we benefits from getting the both of them closer to us so that we can keep an eye on Argalia, and he's likely to follow if we adopt his curent source of hiding spots:

    [X] Plan: Finding a way
    -[X] Contact Argalia, he promises that if you ever look for him, it won't take long for him to find you. Discuss the plans to deal with the Adult.
    --[X] Discuss adopting Leonia with her and Argalia, her discussing with our other distorted daughters ought to be good for her psyche, uses the fact that Argalia had is troupe before to explain that she should socialize.
    -[X] Attend to Business in the Library. Inform Angela and Roland about what Argalia told you. Tell Geburah that Sayaka will be joining you in the training sessions

    We'll probably cut to vote about adopting Leonia anyway, I hope to get to helping her more in depths.
     
    Nyarky said:
    [X] Plan: Finding a way
    -[X] Contact Argalia, he promises that if you ever look for him, it won't take long for him to find you. Discuss the plans to deal with the Adult.
    --[X] Discuss adopting Leonia with her and Argalia, her discussing with our other distorted daughters ought to be good for her psyche, uses the fact that Argalia had is troupe before to explain that she should socialize.
    -[X] Attend to Business in the Library. Inform Angela and Roland about what Argalia told you. Tell Geburah that Sayaka will be joining you in the training sessions
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    A bit too wordy. So I'll just edit my vote to be less restrictive.

    And as you said, we are going to adopt her anyway.
    [X] Plan: Summing things up
    -[X] Contact Argalia, he promises that if you ever look for him, it won't take long for him to find you. Discuss the plans to deal with the Adult.
    --[X] Convince Argalia to let Leonia stays with us for her own mental health. Discuss where he'll be staying without Leonia's ability.
    -[X] Attend to Business in the Library. Inform Angela and Roland about what Argalia told you. Tell Geburah that Sayaka will be joining you in the training sessions.

    We also should probably tell him to keep in contact afterward. Without Leonia's ability, he can't teleport all over the place instantly like he can with Leonia.
     
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    Maybe it is just me, but this veers way too hard into protagonist-centered morality. By all accounts and purposes, Argalia is good to Leonie here. Trying so hard to take her away because 'we' know better is not something I like.

    I do like the meeting itself, though.

    [X] See about contacting Argalia and compare notes, check on Leonie
    -[X] Then attend business in the Library; share any useful intel Argalia might have had and ask Gebura if she minds another student
     
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    You do raise a good point too...just taking the kid feels like cradle robbing.

    But Nyarky does have the correct take that Leonia should socialize with people her age more.

    Maybe something like this would be better?

    [X] Plan: More Adult Talk
    -[X] Contact Argalia, he promises that if you ever look for him, it won't take long for him to find you. Discuss the plans to deal with the Adult.
    --[X] Bring up the matter of letting Leonia interact with your own children more.
    -[X] Attend to Business in the Library. Inform Angela and Roland about what Argalia told you. Tell Geburah that Sayaka will be joining you in the training sessions.

    It's less overbearing at least. But being stuck with Argalia only isn't exactly healthy for Leonia's social abilities.

    You can't exactly replace social interactions with kids of the same age with just talking to 1 adult.
     
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    Naron said:
    Maybe it is just me, but this veers way too hard into protagonist-centered morality. By all accounts and purposes, Argalia is good to Leonie here. Trying so hard to take her away because 'we' know better is not something I like.
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    If she was with an unknown person, I would agree, but it's Argalia, and X does know about him and his Ensemble, I do not trust him to help her mentally because of precedents, 9 or 11 of them, depending on how you count Bremen.

    He'll have to show that he became actually reasonable to earn our trust, and his mentions about us bringing a new age for humanity isn't helping right now. He's an ally of convenience but under scrutiny.

    I have no doubts she would tells us that he isn't treating her horribly if we asked, both because of her lack of self-worth and because of his charisma, which is precisely why I didn't want to make it the condition.
     
    Nyarky said:
    I do not trust him to help her mentally because of precedents, 9 or 11 of them, depending on how you count Bremen.
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    Tbh, the precedent he set is that he made 9 or 11 of them happy to work alongside each other even though they should be ripping each other apart due to opposing ideologies.

    He didn't treat any of his friends (genuine in this story it seems given how he felt killing Elena back in the side story) badly at all and was nice enough to them to the point they all trusted in him.

    I do agree that we should get her to socialize with people her age more though.
     
    I have a question. When the observation on [CENSORED]'s Sapling advances, will we see a change in the progress thingy via the [EXPUNGED] changing into a different word
     
    questioningmeme said:
    Tbh, the precedent he set is that he made 9 or 11 of them happy to work alongside each other even though they should be ripping each other apart due to opposing ideologies.

    He didn't treat any of his friends (genuine in this story it seems given how he felt killing Elena back in the side story) badly at all and was nice enough to them to the point they all trusted in him.

    I do agree that we should get her to socialize with people her age more though.
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    He brainwashed them all into his cult, great for reducing internal tensions, not so great to make people able to get out of the problems they are having.

    The Ensemble working despite outright opposing philosophy is not a good sign when you realize the holders of said opposite philosophy don't seem to realize this is the case, if they remarked on it, talked about the contrasts between themselves or all that, I would consider it simply a close knit group with a globally common goal and some disagreements on the means and the exact form of it, but they're all constantly referencing Argalia's vision, following Argalia's directions, or even praising Argalia.

    He can see them as his friends and still be manipulating them, and getting someone's trust and not mistreating them at first glance is not always a good indicator of an healthy relationship.

    Argalia is explicitly delusional, his goal is trampling on the choices of everyone in the name of giving them freedom, and his idea of a good joke is *let's show my brother-in-law the puppet made from his wife's corpse, his face ought to be hilarious*, not really painting a picture of someone we should let alone with a very impressionable child.

    Would you let your child with a known convinced cult leader that didn't even go to prison? Even if he told he was reformed (which Argalia never implied, in fact, he basically said the opposite, he just changed the target of his admiration), you would want to check for more than one conversation, yes? You would not let them alone before you got an outside trusted point of view, yes?
     
    [X] Plan: More Adult Talk
    -[X] Contact Argalia, he promises that if you ever look for him, it won't take long for him to find you. Discuss the plans to deal with the Adult.
    --[X] Bring up the matter of letting Leonia interact with your own children more.
    -[X] Attend to Business in the Library. Inform Angela and Roland about what Argalia told you. Tell Geburah that Sayaka will be joining you in the training sessions.

    We are setting up a playdate with Argalia's "kid".
    Truly strange times that we are living in.
     
    JmonsterNEO said:
    I have a question. When the observation on [CENSORED]'s Sapling advances, will we see a change in the progress thingy via the [EXPUNGED] changing into a different word
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    Sapling Observation increases based on emotional connection with and understanding of certain traits belonging to an Abnormality, which allows a "blueprint" for its EGO to be formed. Censored's whole thing is "incomprehensibility", which makes reaching an understanding of its associated concepts or even realizing what those concepts are... challenging. To get to the point, Censored's Sapling will work completely differently than any other Abnormalities and will require special attention to complete.
     
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