[X] Redshirt Army

Edit: FIRST VOTE!!!!!!1!11!!!!ONE!!!1!!
:V
 
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The differences between the votes, for the record:

[X] "Hey, don't be mean! Madoka's not nothing. She has the awesome power of kindness, which no magic can even comprehend!"
[X] Give Madoka a side-long hug.
[X] "And I'm not imaginary. Or, at least I don't think I'm imaginary. If I am imaginary, then it's a group-hallucination sort of thing. Though, Kyubey did say that my soul was strange..."
[X] "Anyway I wished for this power, so maybe your ability only works on collateral magic, rather than wished-for magic? I don't know, this is weird. I've got a few other theories, but no way to really rule any of them out."
[X] Frump and apologize to Sayaka for being too weird for even her magic to understand.


Break the mood with a joke that works against the unintended interpretation of Sayaka's statement, while also achieving our goal of Madoka-hugs.

[X] Express bafflement. "Huh, that's really weird."
-[X] "Kyubey said there was something strange about my soul when I contracted... maybe that's connected to this? Anyway, I don't think we're going to figure it out right now. Let's all think about it and see if anyone has an idea later."
-[X] Tell Sayaka that you'll call some of the other magical girls you've met and see if she can practice with them.
[X] But for now, witch hunting.
-[X] Time for Hitomi and Madoka to head home. This is too dangerous to take them along.

[X] "Hey, don't be mean! Madoka's not nothing. She has the awesome power of kindness, which no magic can even comprehend!"
-[X] Give Madoka a side-long hug, then get a bit more serious.


[X] "No, seriously though, that's really weird."
-[X] Kyubey said there was something strange about my soul when I contracted... maybe that's connected to this?
Or maybe since I wished for my power directly, that changes things? Anyway, I don't think we're going to figure it out without a bigger sample size to work with.

[X] Talk to Mami and Sayaka about contacting some of the magical girls you've met and seeing if she can practice with them
- plus, of course, Homura.
--[X] Maybe Sayaka can come along with us to Sendai on Sunday?
--[X] Or, even, I could contact Masami now? See if she's free? Mami, thoughts?

[X] Defer to Mami. If she wants to test/practice something else, go for it. If she wants to hunt a witch, that's fine too, but Madoka and Hitomi shouldn't stick around for that.

As should be obvious, my vote is mostly a frankenvote of Godwinson's and Briefvoices. My thought process:

Hugging Madoka is something we've put off too long and reaffirming her self-worth is always worth it. Cribbed from Godwinson.

Sharing the idea of gathering more data, as opposed to just shrugging and giving up, is a good move when dealing with Sayaka, since it's an actionable plan that makes her feel like she can progress. Cribbed from Briefvoice.

Bringing up Homura is kind of an obvious move - it ties the Mitakihara group further into a cohesive entity, and let's Sayaka feel like Homura is 'on her side'. Also, it really would be useful data, and if Sayaka can't copy grief cleansing, time-stop is a good runner up for 'most OP skillset'. Original by me.

Bringing up Sendai is useful as well - by showing her we're willing to involve her, it makes Sayaka feel more included in the magical girl events transpiring around her, which should put her in a better frame of mind for the Oriko-reveal. If she actually goes for the trip, that would be fantastic - an opportunity to reconcile with her after she's slept on it, and a chance for her to talk to people like the Uni Group that can tell her more about what we're doing from a source she's sure is unbiased. Original by me.

I thought bringing up Masami might be a good idea, since Mami's much more readily inclined to work with her than most others (she's the first name that sprang to mind for Mami's anti-Oriko alliance, and with far less reluctance than Koko.) Since we're working with her and meant to check in with her today anyway, I figured throwing the suggestion out couldn't hurt.

Mami should continue to take the lead - we absolutely shouldn't unilaterally declare practice over, when Mami probably still has several ideas left to try. If we do hunt, though, I agree with getting Madoka and Hitomi well away from the danger zone.
 
As long as we don't suggest copying Homura's powers before checking with her first (it's a little unclear in the current vote):

[X] Redshirt Army
 
As long as we don't suggest copying Homura's powers before checking with her first (it's a little unclear in the current vote):

[X] Redshirt Army

Yes, the intension was to ask her first. I'd be more than happy to clear that up upon revision. Ugo raised an argument against the Masami line in PMs with me, too. I think it's fine as is, but I'll post the message so the hivemind can pick at it.

Just going to note that taking Mami and Sayaka to meet Masami, a girl who genuinely despises her for reasons that'll hit Mami right in the guilt and qb issues when they inevitably come up, doesn't seem like it'd go well and that bringing it up to Mami in front of Sayaka almost certainly wouldn't cause anything but heartache for her to no benefit.

Masami does have reasons to hate Mami, it's true, but Mami is still far more willing to work with her than Koko, as I've stated. Beyond that, we're on decent terms with Masami, and I don't think it's actually inevitable that the trauma button gets pushed - and in the meanwhile, getting Sayaka some experience talking to other meguca is probably going to be quite useful. In the end, I think the risks are worth it, especially since I explicitly give Mami an opening to decline.
 
[x] Redshirt Army

[q] Ask a grief book why Sayaka couldn't copy your powers.
 
Masami does have reasons to hate Mami, it's true, but Mami is still far more willing to work with her than Koko, as I've stated. Beyond that, we're on decent terms with Masami, and I don't think it's actually inevitable that the trauma button gets pushed - and in the meanwhile, getting Sayaka some experience talking to other meguca is probably going to be quite useful.

That doesn't answer his concern. How Mami reacts to the suggestion is irrelevant to how Masami feels about or treats her in any future interaction. And you're right, we're on decent terms with Masami. That is most definitely not the case with Mami.
 
That doesn't answer his concern. How Mami reacts to the suggestion is irrelevant to how Masami feels about or treats her in any future interaction. And you're right, we're on decent terms with Masami. That is most definitely not the case with Mami.

So should I remove that line? I kinda doubt Masami will blow up at Mami in this context, but if you feel the risk is too great, I'm willing to drop it.
 
Are we sure about that?

Magic = Expressions of the soul's emotional content in the form of causality-fuckery.

Sayaka's Power Copying = An ability to understands, copies, and emulates someone else's magic.

Ergo, Sayaka's magic needs to be able to scan and understand someone else's soul. You can't have an emulator run a program without reading its code.
 
Ergo, Sayaka's magic needs to be able to scan and understand someone else's soul. You can't have an emulator run a program without reading its code.
That's not actually true. Reading the output should suffice.

In other ways, her power clould work by reading hypothetical magic emissions, or literally predicting the magical powers, instead of directly scanning the soul.
 
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That's not actually true. Reading the output should suffice.

In other ways, her power clould work by reading hypothetical magic emissions, instead of directly scanning the soul.

So why the physical contact instead of proximity? How does she perform magic that isn't currently manifesting?

Additionally, Firn rated a post as Insightful when it cited Kyubey calling our soul strange in reference to this issue.
 
That's not actually true. Reading the output should suffice.

In other ways, her power clould work by reading hypothetical magic emissions, instead of directly scanning the soul.

Yeah, but then instead of copying magic, she'd just be templating her own magic to give a best approximation of observed outcomes. That would be trivial to disprove by having her copy a power that hasn't been used in front of her.
 
Yeah, but then instead of copying magic, she'd just be templating her own magic to give a best approximation of observed outcomes. That would be trivial to disprove by having her copy a power that hasn't been used in front of her.
A perfect approximation is indistinguishable from the real thing, by definition. Her powers work by magic, infering if they directly interact with the soul is a guess, not a fact.

So why the physical contact instead of proximity? How does she perform magic that isn't currently manifesting?
Without knowing how magic works, we cannot predict what magic requires to work. Simulating a magnetic north pole requires simulating a magnetic south pole, even if the latter was not spotted.

Additionally, Firn rated a post as Insightful when it cited Kyubey calling our soul strange in reference to this issue.
This is harder evidence, much more telling that a hypothetical mechanism in sayaka's magic.
 
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