Absent a more compelling reason to change tone, I subscribe to the notion that Yui ought to speak softly and carry a comically oversized stick (because she's short). Her performance with Chizuka counts for plenty of stick-waving to make sure these folks know all about Yui's stick, so now she can speak softly. I don't think it's possible to be more bitingly acerbic than comparing a veteran meguca to Kyuubey anyway.

However, in absence of Yui planning to react to Maiko's take of the situation, it seems like a reasonable proposition that we should just ask her later so Yui can be a little more graceful. Versione finale?

[X] Invite further negotiations at a later time but mostly thank them for their time and move on.
-[X] Send Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
-[X] Ask Maiko to gather as much additional identifying information as she thinks appropriate, planning on looking up the Nerima girls later, before joining Minami.
-[X] Give them your contact information, ask for theirs but don't insist.
-[X] "I won't involve myself in your business if you don't involve yourselves in mine, or unless your business threatens to spill into Nagamioka. I'd appreciate it if you would inform me if such an incident began to develop."
-[X] "If you want to set up a more formal arrangement later we can do that. I'd honestly prefer it, but I won't force the issue"
[X] QBmail Chizuka: "Listen, you've seen that I can be reasonable. If you or your team get in over your heads, contact me and I'll be at least as reasonable with them as I was with you."
 
I agree, Yui can get away with being tiny znd adorable because she can also tank boulders with her face and counts as an artillery emplacement

So yeah, vote looks good
 
Ok so how does this built-in tallying work

EDIT: ...hunh, nice. Okay, not actually gonna close voting quite yet since it'll be another hour or two before I can start writing, so if you guys want to all switch to yet another version of the same vote that differs by like three words you still have time! :V
Adhoc vote count started by Echo on Jul 13, 2017 at 9:06 PM, finished with 120 posts and 19 votes.

  • [X] Invite further negotiations at a later time but mostly thank them for their time and move on.
    -[X] Send Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    -[X] Ask Maiko to gather as much additional identifying information as she thinks appropriate, planning on looking up the Nerima girls later, before joining Minami.
    -[X] Give them your contact information, ask for theirs but don't insist.
    -[X] "I won't involve myself in your business if you don't involve yourselves in mine, or unless your business threatens to spill into Nagamioka. I'd appreciate it if you would inform me if such an incident began to develop."
    -[X] "If you want to set up a more formal arrangement later we can do that. I'd honestly prefer it, but I won't force the issue"
    [X] QBmail Chizuka: "Listen, you've seen that I can be reasonable. If you or your team get in over your heads, contact me and I'll be at least as reasonable with them as I was with you."
    [x] Pout adorably. Alright then, I get it, you don't want to let the power of friendship flow through you. You're missing out! I make a great friend to people (who don't endanger my city's population or infrastructure), I think. If you change your minds, just contact me and we can meet up over ice cream or something like reasonable superpowered teenage girls.
    -[x] Oh, and? I'll be keeping an eye on my border all along Toyko. Please don't test me, alright? That won't be fun for anyone.
    --[x] Ask Maiko if you're forgetting anything important, if not, go look for the calligraphy girl. Have Minami switch her focus to monitoring the group until you either get close to where calligraphy girl is or they get far enough from your border, for now.
    [x] Continue attempts to negotiate with the Nerima girls in hopes of establishing some sort of agreement.
    -[x] Send Maiko and/or Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    -[x] Chizuka said they were worried about being attacked, offer to help with that?
    --[x] They probably don't trust you to watch their backs, or enter each other's territory, so set up communications, exchange phone numbers so you can talk without brainmail range, arrange to have free passage if they are passing through your territory on civilian business, prior warning/permission if you are passing through theirs on magical business and offer to share information on regional problems.
    ---[x] Would be nice to reciprocate fully, but not strictly necessary.
    [x] Continue attempts to negotiate with the Nerima girls in hopes of establishing some sort of agreement.
    - [x] Write-in Yuiplomacy: You guys wanna go get some ice cream? My treat.
    - [x] (In case of a 'no'): Look, it is unlikely for a teenage girl not to like ice cream, and it's completely impossible not to like me, so I'm not sure what's going on here.
    - [x] I'm getting the sense that you guys are not having a super easy time of things. And I get that, everybody has problems right? You know, invisible invaders or exploding buildings or whatever. But we can talk things out instead of trying to murder each other!
    - [x] So here's what I'm offering: you guys ever need a place to crash? You can come talk to me. I mean, if somebody comes in and attacks one of my girls I will totally beat them up and stick their not-corpse in my basement. But polite girls who aren't being mean are always welcome, at least temporarily! So don't be a stranger, okay?
    [x] Okay, this conversation's getting real boring. I feel like I'm the only one contributing! So when you guys feel like holding up your end of a conversation and, like, actually introducing yourselves and all, brainmail me and we'll talk, 'kay? Byyyye!
    - [x] Go look for the calligraphy girl
    -- [x] Keep searching until you find her or need to head home
    - [x] Be a little more aggressive with the "too powerful for them to ignore" angle
    -[x] Send Maiko and/or Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    [X] Invite further negotiations at a later time but mostly thank them for their time and move on.
    -[X] Ask for Maiko's read on the situation
    -[X] Send Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    -[X] Ask Maiko to try to get a look at the Nerima girls' soul gems, if she can do so while confidently remaining undetected, and then join Minami.
    -[X] "okay look, I actually was trying to do something before I got sidetracked here so I'll make this short: I'll leave you my contact information and with the promise that I will not interfere with your business if you don't interfere in mine."
    -[X] "If you want to set up a more formal arrangement later we can do that. I'd honestly prefer it, but I won't force the issue"
    [X] QBmail Chizuka: "Listen, you've seen that I can be reasonable. If you or your team get in over your heads, contact me and I'll be at least as reasonable with them as I was with you."
 
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so if you guys want to all switch to yet another version of the same vote that differs by like three words you still have time! :V

Ah. Excellent. :V

[X] Invite further negotiations at a later time but mostly thank them for their time and move on.
-[X] Send Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate.
-[X] Ask Maiko to gather as much additional identifying information as she thinks appropriate, planning on looking up the Nerima girls later, before joining Minami.
-[X] Give them your contact information, ask for theirs but don't insist.
-[X] "I won't involve myself in your business if you don't involve yourselves in mine, or unless your business threatens to spill into Nagamioka. Like it just did. I'd appreciate it if you would inform me if such an incident began to develop."
-[X] "If you want to set up a more formal arrangement later we can do that. I'd honestly prefer it, but I won't force the issue."
[X] QBmail Chizuka: "Listen, you've seen that I can be reasonable. If you or your team get in over your heads, contact me and I'll be at least as reasonable with them as I was with you."

Now with 10% more sass.
 
Ah. Excellent. :V

[X] Invite further negotiations at a later time but mostly thank them for their time and move on.
-[X] Send Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate.
-[X] Ask Maiko to gather as much additional identifying information as she thinks appropriate, planning on looking up the Nerima girls later, before joining Minami.
-[X] Give them your contact information, ask for theirs but don't insist.
-[X] "I won't involve myself in your business if you don't involve yourselves in mine, or unless your business threatens to spill into Nagamioka. Like it just did. I'd appreciate it if you would inform me if such an incident began to develop."
-[X] "If you want to set up a more formal arrangement later we can do that. I'd honestly prefer it, but I won't force the issue."
[X] QBmail Chizuka: "Listen, you've seen that I can be reasonable. If you or your team get in over your heads, contact me and I'll be at least as reasonable with them as I was with you."

Now with 10% more sass.

Gee, I dunno... that differs by four words. That might be a bit too drastic. :V :V
 
[Q] In a transcendent moment of revelation, comprehend the power of sass. Master it. Bend it to your will.
-[Q] Sass the Nerima girls as they have never been sassed before. Drive them before you.
--[Q] Hear the lamentations of their Witches.
[Q] Ice cream.
 
[Q] In a transcendent moment of revelation, comprehend the power of sass. Master it. Bend it to your will.
-[Q] Sass the Nerima girls as they have never been sassed before. Drive them before you.
--[Q] Hear the lamentations of their Witches.
[Q] Ice cream.

Then a new meguca appears and schools us in the ways of sass.

"Oh, you think sass is your ally. You merely adopted the sass. I was born in it, molded by it! I didn't see sincerity until I was already contracted!"
 
Oh, and in other news--in case anyone hasn't noticed the occasional SUDDEN EXTREME PINK down below, the ad banner that was created approximately twenty forevers ago prior to the most recent hiatus is now live! Super double bonus deluxe thanks to @BunnyLord, @LostDeviljho, and @MobiusC for making it happen with--and this is the important bit--virtually no effort whatsoever on my part. Clearly, Yui inherited her amazing delegation skills from me. :V

Anyway, votes are closed. I won't have a huge amount of time to write today so update probably won't be until tomorrow, but I do want to get started.
Adhoc vote count started by Echo on Jul 13, 2017 at 11:50 PM, finished with 127 posts and 20 votes.

  • [X] Invite further negotiations at a later time but mostly thank them for their time and move on.
    -[X] Send Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    -[X] Ask Maiko to gather as much additional identifying information as she thinks appropriate, planning on looking up the Nerima girls later, before joining Minami.
    -[X] Give them your contact information, ask for theirs but don't insist.
    -[X] "I won't involve myself in your business if you don't involve yourselves in mine, or unless your business threatens to spill into Nagamioka. I'd appreciate it if you would inform me if such an incident began to develop."
    -[X] "If you want to set up a more formal arrangement later we can do that. I'd honestly prefer it, but I won't force the issue"
    [X] QBmail Chizuka: "Listen, you've seen that I can be reasonable. If you or your team get in over your heads, contact me and I'll be at least as reasonable with them as I was with you."
    [x] Continue attempts to negotiate with the Nerima girls in hopes of establishing some sort of agreement.
    -[x] Send Maiko and/or Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    -[x] Chizuka said they were worried about being attacked, offer to help with that?
    --[x] They probably don't trust you to watch their backs, or enter each other's territory, so set up communications, exchange phone numbers so you can talk without brainmail range, arrange to have free passage if they are passing through your territory on civilian business, prior warning/permission if you are passing through theirs on magical business and offer to share information on regional problems.
    ---[x] Would be nice to reciprocate fully, but not strictly necessary.
    [x] Continue attempts to negotiate with the Nerima girls in hopes of establishing some sort of agreement.
    - [x] Write-in Yuiplomacy: You guys wanna go get some ice cream? My treat.
    - [x] (In case of a 'no'): Look, it is unlikely for a teenage girl not to like ice cream, and it's completely impossible not to like me, so I'm not sure what's going on here.
    - [x] I'm getting the sense that you guys are not having a super easy time of things. And I get that, everybody has problems right? You know, invisible invaders or exploding buildings or whatever. But we can talk things out instead of trying to murder each other!
    - [x] So here's what I'm offering: you guys ever need a place to crash? You can come talk to me. I mean, if somebody comes in and attacks one of my girls I will totally beat them up and stick their not-corpse in my basement. But polite girls who aren't being mean are always welcome, at least temporarily! So don't be a stranger, okay?
    [x] Okay, this conversation's getting real boring. I feel like I'm the only one contributing! So when you guys feel like holding up your end of a conversation and, like, actually introducing yourselves and all, brainmail me and we'll talk, 'kay? Byyyye!
    - [x] Go look for the calligraphy girl
    -- [x] Keep searching until you find her or need to head home
    - [x] Be a little more aggressive with the "too powerful for them to ignore" angle
    -[x] Send Maiko and/or Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    [x] Pout adorably. Alright then, I get it, you don't want to let the power of friendship flow through you. You're missing out! I make a great friend to people (who don't endanger my city's population or infrastructure), I think. If you change your minds, just contact me and we can meet up over ice cream or something like reasonable superpowered teenage girls.
    -[x] Oh, and? I'll be keeping an eye on my border all along Toyko. Please don't test me, alright? That won't be fun for anyone.
    --[x] Ask Maiko if you're forgetting anything important, if not, go look for the calligraphy girl. Have Minami switch her focus to monitoring the group until you either get close to where calligraphy girl is or they get far enough from your border, for now.
    [X] Invite further negotiations at a later time but mostly thank them for their time and move on.
    -[X] Ask for Maiko's read on the situation
    -[X] Send Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    -[X] Ask Maiko to try to get a look at the Nerima girls' soul gems, if she can do so while confidently remaining undetected, and then join Minami.
    -[X] "okay look, I actually was trying to do something before I got sidetracked here so I'll make this short: I'll leave you my contact information and with the promise that I will not interfere with your business if you don't interfere in mine."
    -[X] "If you want to set up a more formal arrangement later we can do that. I'd honestly prefer it, but I won't force the issue"
    [X] QBmail Chizuka: "Listen, you've seen that I can be reasonable. If you or your team get in over your heads, contact me and I'll be at least as reasonable with them as I was with you."
    [X] Invite further negotiations at a later time but mostly thank them for their time and move on.
    -[X] Send Minami off to search for calligraphy girl while you negotiate
    -[X] Ask Maiko to gather as much additional identifying information as she thinks appropriate, planning on looking up the Nerima girls later, before joining Minami.
    -[X] Give them your contact information, ask for theirs but don't insist.
    -[X] "I won't involve myself in your business if you don't involve yourselves in mine, or unless your business threatens to spill into Nagamioka. Like it just did. I'd appreciate it if you would inform me if such an incident began to develop."
    -[X] "If you want to set up a more formal arrangement later we can do that. I'd honestly prefer it, but I won't force the issue"
    [X] QBmail Chizuka: "Listen, you've seen that I can be reasonable. If you or your team get in over your heads, contact me and I'll be at least as reasonable with them as I was with you."
 
Oh, and in other news--in case anyone hasn't noticed the occasional SUDDEN EXTREME PINK down below, the ad banner that was created approximately twenty forevers ago prior to the most recent hiatus is now live! Super double bonus deluxe thanks to @BunnyLord, @LostDeviljho, and @MobiusC for making it happen with--and this is the important bit--virtually no effort whatsoever on my part. Clearly, Yui inherited her amazing delegation skills from me. :V

Anyway, votes are closed. I won't have a huge amount of time to write today so update probably won't be until tomorrow, but I do want to get started.
You're welcome.
 
So, two thoughts occur vis a vis the Naoko situation, and the resolving thereof in a manner that doesn't involve either murder or her becoming a recurring villain.

First, assuming that this will prevent her corpse from rotting and thus leave it viable to stuff her back into if we come up with a better way to deal with things in the future, we bury her corpse in concrete (maybe somewhere in Chou's garden?) and keep the Soul Gem stored somewhere. We can always dig her out and reanimated her later.

Second, we see if the fact that we can see magic and currently have the power of life and death over her allows us to stuff her soul back into her body, turning her back into a normal non-magical girl. After which we leave her in a hospital somewhere to get what (sadly minimal) help Japan's attitude towards mental health care can provide.
 
First, assuming that this will prevent her corpse from rotting and thus leave it viable to stuff her back into if we come up with a better way to deal with things in the future, we bury her corpse in concrete (maybe somewhere in Chou's garden?) and keep the Soul Gem stored somewhere. We can always dig her out and reanimated her later.
It doesn't. At least not enough. It'll keep a body from rotting away to nothing, but it'll be semi-decomposed and partially mummified, and given enough time even that might not hold. It's not a state you want to put it in if you hope to use it again. Besides, aren't we already preserving it with magic?

Looked it up just now, I didn't just happen to know this.
 
Making her back into a normal girl somehow is ideal, I was thinking that over at the point in my catchup where Maiko started telling us our powerset seemed broadly applicable.

(Power over her powers? Well, we proved we can do something a little like that earlier...)

Problem is doing it in a few days and without ongoing cost.

If we can in fact turn MGs back into not-MGs then we'd solve a lot of problems, I just don't think it would be nearly easy enough to meet our deadline. Likely more something of months or years than days. Longer term preservation doesn't seem to be on the cards if Maiko can't do it, either.
 
First, assuming that this will prevent her corpse from rotting and thus leave it viable to stuff her back into if we come up with a better way to deal with things in the future, we bury her corpse in concrete

I think getting the corpse back after sealing it tightly enough in concrete that it won't rot is the bigger problem. We're strong enough to break concrete, but we probably stand a decent chance of accidentally breaking Naoko's body beyond even her ability to repair.

Fake edit: :ninja:

Second, we see if the fact that we can see magic and currently have the power of life and death over her allows us to stuff her soul back into her body, turning her back into a normal non-magical girl.

Given comments that Echo's made saying that, for all of Yui's power, she can't bypass the system, I would assume that if we could do this, the Grief cost would be so exorbitant that we never would.

Good tries, but I'm not certain that you've hit upon a workable solution yet.

Looked it up just now, I didn't just happen to know this.

Erm, you're not on a watchlist or anything now, are you?
 
Pretty sure Echo said for the purposes of this quest there is no way to turn an MG back into a normal girl. I'm on mobile or I'd get the quote; it was after the April Fool's update when someone asked if Yumi's wish were possible.

Edit: Correction. He said only a significantly powerful wish could turn an MG back. So probably not something we can do reliably, given it requires us to have a girl of significant potential who is willing to make a wish and become an MG knowing what it entails, but not having anything to wish for themselves. So basically Madoka now that I think about it. Huh.
 
Last edited:
Pretty sure Echo said for the purposes of this quest there is no way to turn an MG back into a normal girl. I'm on mobile or I'd get the quote; it was after the April Fool's update when someone asked if Yumi's wish were possible.

Found it.

Don't worry, they can't. :V

At least not by any means Kyubey is capable of. A sufficiently powerful wish could, if nothing else.

From the sound of that, it seems like we might have been able to do that if that was what we wished for in the first place. As it stands, though, we have no ability to do so now, even if we could have then.
 
So, two thoughts occur vis a vis the Naoko situation, and the resolving thereof in a manner that doesn't involve either murder or her becoming a recurring villain.
At the moment, I'm of the opinion that we should keep her on ice until we have our own situation stabilized enough to spare the time and energy to give her therapy personally or at least get new powersets available that change our option set. Killing her hits Yui's morals and sending her away hits them almost as hard because she's well aware that will end up in Naoko dying, killing, and/or being a huge bitch to everyone to the point that they're killed indirectly. Recruitment sort of ends up as the only reasonable option when the others are eliminated, and she does have nice powers.

Fortunately, we have a new powerset which should shortly become available and change our option set- Shinobu. Yes, having your become-a-nice-person therapy lean heavily on mind control to ensure its effectiveness is a little cheap and debatably ethical, but weighing our options, I don't think I actually care. I'm pretty sure we can get Yui's personality to back it without qualms, at the very least, and while Shinobu herself is likely to be more of a problem it's also possible that Naoko will make a great test case for "can I use my powers for good".

I am hoping that we can also lean on Minami for this- she literally wished for memory alteration that helps people get over their problems, so expecting her to have memory wish magic that can help people get over their problems seems eminently reasonable, and we know that Naoko is a bitch because of deep-seated personal issues- but word from Echo thus far seems to indicate that Minami's powers are basically useless for therapy purposes. Still, it's worth a shot- maybe she can push them farther than she thinks she can.

Basically, as with everything else, Yui can take point on the social/combat parts of the problem while relying heavily on her backup team to do enough otherwise to bring success. It's just a matter of putting together a Magical Mind Control Therapy Team and finding the time and energy to approach and thoroughly solve the problem.
 
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it's also possibly that Naoko will make a great test case for "can I use my powers for good".

In theory, you could argue that there's not really any way to make Naoko worse, so if we can get Shinobu to, like, actually accept her powers, then it's a reasonable argument.

"If" is the problem, though. This isn't a problem we can solve by being tiny and adorable at, or at least not fast enough to make a difference when it comes to Naoko. (We only have a few days at most, after all.) I feel like you're being overly optimistic about our ability to change such an entrenched viewpoint so quickly. Say what you will about Chou, she's easily bribed if you have a garden to give her. Shinobu doesn't have such an easy lever. She hates her powers, she hates being a magical girl, and she hates even talking about the fact that she hates those things. Shinobu is a long-term project, and Naoko just won't wait for Shinobu to be ready.
 
In theory, you could argue that there's not really any way to make Naoko worse, so if we can get Shinobu to, like, actually accept her powers, then it's a reasonable argument.

"If" is the problem, though. This isn't a problem we can solve by being tiny and adorable at, or at least not fast enough to make a difference when it comes to Naoko. (We only have a few days at most, after all.) I feel like you're being overly optimistic about our ability to change such an entrenched viewpoint so quickly. Say what you will about Chou, she's easily bribed if you have a garden to give her. Shinobu doesn't have such an easy lever. She hates her powers, she hates being a magical girl, and she hates even talking about the fact that she hates those things. Shinobu is a long-term project, and Naoko just won't wait for Shinobu to be ready.
My understanding is that the Naoko timeline can be extended by recharging the magical freezer gizmo that we're using right now on an as-needed basis. Maiko didn't present it as a permanent solution because it's not a permanent solution, just a stalling measure, but I am pretty sure we can use it to stall for quite some time if we need to. Admittedly, I could be wrong on this.

In any case, there is no entrenched viewpoint here. Yes, Shinobu hates all of this- but she's only been a magical girl for a matter of days. She hasn't had enough time for her newfound opinions to really sink into her personality yet, and she just got zapped by Minami's wish softening all her personal problems. There is plenty of room there for Yui to hit her with a social offensive, as long as we can find the time to actually execute one and don't leave her to stew on her problems. I believe that she's only a long-term project if we approach her as such, and if we make her an actual priority we could induct her into our circle of friends surprisingly quickly. Getting her to fight/use her powers on our behalf will likely take a bit longer, but it'll come as long as we get her to associate with us, and that much we can definitely manage.
 
If we can get Shinobu on board, I would consider therapy a nice thing to do, but not a prerequisite for anything. Some sort of good-behavior geas to let us take her out of the freezer and start making use of her would be an acceptable starting point in my mind. Yes, that wouldn't fix her issues, but it would still get her out of the freezer. Long-term, we want to improve her mental health, but we have to do that anyway for practical reasons, so I'd feel no guilt at all over putting her to work before we're ready to do anything more comprehensive. It wouldn't be any worse than what she had with her old team, and before too long we could actually get her some help.

However, to do that we need Shinobu. Also, we really need Shinobu to not witch out, because I remember that her witch is kind of awful a city-scale disaster. Like, a magical girl could be satisfied with her achievements if she did nothing more than keep Shinobu from witching... out... Maiko would totally assassinate Shinobu before letting that happen.
Shinobu's Witch would delegate a slightly weakened form of her compulsion to her very numerous familiars. So... not impossible to defeat, but would be a disaster of the "too big for mundane people to ignore" variety.
Yeah... specifically, she has a crapton of unruly familiars prone to wandering off, some of which have a time-limited version of her compulsion effect. It may last as little as a few minutes, but even so that's who knows how many familiars running around ordering people to do random (and probably self-destructive) things. With a distinct possibility of some growing up into additional copies of the Tower Witch.

So, Shinobu! Are we moving her to the top of Yui's to-do list? Or near it?
 
Sounds good to me.

Shinobu's power, if she can be helped enough that she can start using it, is even better for therapy than just "Obey your parole". In my experience, a lot of it boils down to "remember that this isn't the person you want to be and you have coping strategies that you can use". If Shinobu's powers are sufficiently effective, she should be able to bypass the "remember" bit, which is the hardest part by far: Once you've remembered that you have a coping strategy it's not too hard to apply it, but you have to remember it in the first place, often when you're in the worst possible situation for remembering things like that. She's basically cognitive behavioral therapy in a box.
 
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