Hoo boy. I'm going to need to think about this, but in broad strokes we need to remember we're friend to all meguca, even the ones who do dumb things because of trauma or basic stupidity. I'd like us to focus on de-escalating this to the point where we can take her restraints off and settle this like proper girls: over tea and cake.
Ideally, we can resolve this quick enough that we can get back to Mitakihara before too long, leaving only an oversized hug pile and seven doting oneechan in our wake.
Though part of me wonders if we shouldn't try to get Hijiri out of town for a day or two instead. An extended lesson in "Sabrina is legit" too drive home the futility of crossing us that we're as good as we say.
[X] Act professionally and respectfully towards Hijiri
-[X] Calm her. We have no intent to hurt her.
-[X] Check her for clear seeds and remove the memory device and any seeds we find. -[X] By the way, we're taking our seed back. If she needs cleanses, we can clean her directly.
[X] If we find the clear seed, regroup with the full team sans Oriko and Kirika, who have leave to wander the commercial district for now - No lighting anything on fire this time, however.
[X] If not, continue search pattern, but us, Mami, Saki, and Sayaka are returning to base to contain Hijiri
-[X] Grab some steel and manufacture some mundane handcuffs.
[X] Sayaka really saved our bacon back there. We're glad we brought her along. -[X] If she can keep Hijiri bathed in Anti-magic, we'd appreciate it.
[X] Interrogation -[X] Hold on the heavy iterrogation until Kazumi gives the O.K. This is her realm and her criminal - subject to her rules and her punishment.
-[X] In the meantime, try to get Hijiri as calm as possible.
-[X] She is now in the hands of the Pleiades Saints - Mitakihara Quartet Alliance. She'll have the chance to argue her case once we get the okay from Kazumi.
E: Moved the "Taking the seed back line" to not implicate that we're meant to tell Oriko that. That's for Hijiri.
So our burgeoning... Federation? is pretty fuckheug at this point: We have the Mitakihara Quartet, Misami's Trio, the Ishinomaki Group plus one, and The Pleiades Saints, all of whom are relatively warm and friendly with each other and good candidates for grouping up when we write our Constitution. Thats...
4+3+7+1+7=22 Meguca likely to join The Hotel (name under development). Even if a few refuse, we still have other who are less likely but still might join, which could raise the number even higher.
22 people is a decent sized tribe for such a scarce food source, and that's not counting the immigrants, who are already going to probably push it to 24 and will probably only increase as Nadia spreads the word - speaking of, she may like a sort of Honorary Membership once we start codifing rules. Probably shouldn't count her though, since we don't know she's very likely to join.
Point is, we're reaching a point where we probably won't be able to coordinate efficiently as separate, allied groups, and where it becomes feasible to start specializing and relying on other people to cover skills you simply don't have the time to learn (or in this case, do useful things with their magic that your magic isn't suited for). Which means some sort of codification on what precisely each girl wants to do; it doesn't have to be a full-blown constitution at this stage, it could be just a verbal or even traditional set of social norms, but since we know the population is going to skyrocket in the next few months now might be a good time to sit everyone down to write up some "laws" that will give new Meguca in the society somewhere to start learning what they can and can't do as a member of this larger federate majoarchy.
I think before we leave we should bring this up to Kazumi - we'd like it if she'd be willing to join an official, on paper union between the Pleiades Saints and the Mitakihara Quartet, and whoever else we manage to get on board, and we'll probably call her sometime soon in the future - on a group call, likely - to send over a representative to represent the interests of the Pleiades Saints when we do create it.
We shouldn't force anyone to join the group, even to obtain Clear Seeds, but I do think we should have some official, governmental registry to keep track of them, and who they belong to. Our memory is great, but it isn't that insane.
Speaking of:
JUDICIARY
Sabrina - Well, duh. We should definitely NOT try to control the proceedings though; We really should take pains to make sure we only meddle to give important information or to stop fights (there'll definitely be fights. It's Politics).
REPRESENTATIVE QUARTET
Mami - If we need someone to represent the Mitakihara Quartet, Mami's the first draft pick. She's got the best Social, she's the most Neutral Good, and she's the second-most veteran in the group. The alternative is Homura, who's the second pick for representative, and she's got... Well, we'll see how she does with the Immigrants.
REPRESENTATIVE SAINTS (Kazumi, Saki, Niko? It's up to Kazumi...)
REPRESENTATIVE ISHINOMAKI (Up to them...)
REPRESENTATIVE WEST MITAKIHARA (please not Ono, please not Ono, please not Ono...)
REPRESENTATIVE FOR POTENTIALS
This is necessary, in my opinion, because we should have a system for identifying and at least tracking if not contacting Potential Magical Girls, if only to know when they contract so we can contact them.
I would nominate Madoka for this position. She has a level head on her shoulders, enough Social-fu to make sure Potentials don't get chumped, and to be honest really needs to feel and be important, which she's not getting right now. I think nominating her for this position would make her feel honored, and it would give her something important to do that isn't remotely dangerous and thus is Homu friendly.
Again, this is a major out on making sure Madoka feels like she's part of the group without contracting. Kill two birds with one stone, or at least kill one bird, knock the other bird out for a few moments. I also still cast my vote for -President- I mean, First Magi Madoka, just because she seems like she'd make an amazing George Washington. She's way to nice to be a tyrant, but also too smart to make for a completely inept leader, and too good with people not to be popular.
REPRESENTATIVE FOR BENEFACTORS
Just as Potentials should have some sort of representation, at least at the start, so too should non-magicals in the know. Especially the ones providing most of our funding through Meguca-friendly business. I imagine this might also cover the rights of Parents under this new system - I don't know if they should recieve a separate representative, both for reasons outlined below and because to be completely honest their vote will be moot in about a decade after the Meguca start breeding among themselves (or rather, by bringing in other "Benefactors").
For this, I think one of the Shizuki's would work. If Mrs. Shizuki is okay with it, I'd prefer Hitomi to be the representative; Mrs. Shizuki's sheer age over every other girl there would give her words weight they don't really deserve, not to mention she has experience with this where the younger girls don't. Hitomi on the other hand is clever enough to vouch for the Shizuki's operations on her own without lending her words undue weight, and would probably be more subtle in the room then the fourty-year-old sitting in the corner grinning like a madwoman.
Again, this is also the safest place for Hitomi while still letting her support and be near her friends. I think she'd like to represent the Burghers of the Hotel at its founding.
Any thoughts on the roster? I'm sure I missed some group or person - I'll probably keep this post around and fiddle with it as new groups become apparent.
Obviously, this has little impact now, but if we're going to do something like this soon, and we should, we should let Kazumi know we're at least considering it before we leave.
And while it's possible she's genuinely panicking and being sympathetic, it's also possible that it's a trick, and she's trying to get us to lower our guard around her. We need to be very careful.
This. It's important to remember that Kanna faked being Niko for days so she could be in position to backstab the Saints. She's a talented actress. We shouldn't be too trusting of whatever she tells us.
So our burgeoning... Federation? is pretty fuckheug at this point: We have the Mitakihara Quartet, Misami's Trio, the Ishinomaki Group plus one, and The Pleiades Saints, all of whom are relatively warm and friendly with each other and good candidates for grouping up when we write our Constitution. Thats...
4+3+7+1+7=22 Meguca likely to join The Hotel (name under development). Even if a few refuse, we still have other who are less likely but still might join, which could raise the number even higher.
Are we friendly enough with them to reasonably expect them to want to join? I admit, my memory of Sendai is a bit foggy - and I haven't gotten there yet on my reread (I just finished Oriko's interrogation).
Adhoc vote count started by defenestrator on Oct 29, 2017 at 11:20 PM, finished with 127662 posts and 11 votes.
[x] Telepathy the group. Suspect captured. It looks like Hijiri, she's very distraught. You'll try to calm her down. Request antimagic on standby from Sayaka.
[X] Be empathetic Sabrina, if confused by her choice of actions.
-[X] Promise Hijiri you won't hurt her. Ask her to drop the memory field so you can discuss this without shouting. Let her calm down. Be careful.
--[X] Ask her to willingly turn over what she took. Whatever she thinks she needs it for, there's certainly a better solution than theft.
[X] Acknowledge everyone's good work. Nod to Sayaka.
-[X] Offer Grief cleansing all around, including Hijiri. If she hasn't dropped the interference field, ask again, so you can help her.
[X] Wait for the others to get here. If Hijiri is cooperating, ask Kazumi and the Pleiades to go easy on her. Step aside for now and allow the Pleiades to take over.
[X] Stay out of range of the Memory Device, even if deactivated.
[X] Confirm Hijiri's capture. She's scared.
[X] Be empathetic Sabrina.
-[X] Promise Hijiri you won't hurt her. Give her enough time and space to calm down.
[X] Acknowledge everyone's good work. Nod to Sayaka.
[X] Offer Grief cleansing all around, including Hijiri.
[X] Introductions.
-[X] Ask Hijiri to cooperate, and return what she stole; reassure her everything will be fine if she does. -[X] Use Grief to handle the Device and keep it away from everyone.
-[X] You regret what's happened. You hoped to meet under happier circumstances.
[X] Try to get her side of things. She hasn't hurt anybody. Be understanding; offer help if she cooperates.
[X] Explain how her actions hurt Niko.
[x] Telepathy the group. Suspect captured. It looks like Hijiri, she's hysterical. You'll try to calm her down.
[X] Be empathetic Sabrina, if confused by her choice of actions.
-[X] Promise Hijiri you won't hurt her. Ask her to drop the memory field so you can discuss this without shouting. Let her calm down.
--[X] Ask her to willingly turn over what she took. Whatever she thinks she needs it for, there's certainly a better solution than theft.
[X] Acknowledge everyone's good work. Nod to Sayaka.
-[X] Offer Grief cleansing all around, including Hijiri. If she hasn't yet dropped the interference field, ask her to so you can help her.
[X] Wait for the others to get here. If Hijiri is cooperating thus far ask Kazumi and the Pleides to go easy on her. Step aside for now and allow the Pleides to take over.
[X] Act professionally and respectfully towards Hijiri
-[X] Calm her. We have no intent to hurt her.
-[X] Check her for clear seeds and remove the memory device and any seeds we find.
[X] If we find the clear seed, regroup with the full team sans Oriko and Kirika, who have leave to wander the commercial district for now - No lighting anything on fire this time, however. -[X] By the way, we're taking our seed back. If she needs cleanses, we can clean her directly.
[X] If not, continue search pattern, but us, Mami, Saki, and Sayaka are returning to base to contain Hijiri
-[X] Grab some steel and manufacture some mundane handcuffs.
[X] Sayaka really saved our bacon back there. We're glad we brought her along. -[X] If she can keep Hijiri bathed in Anti-magic, we'd appreciate it.
[X] Interrogation -[X] Hold on the heavy iterrogation until Kazumi gives the O.K. This is her realm and her criminal - subject to her rules and her punishment. -[X] In the meantime, try to get Hijiri as calm as possible. -[X] She is now in the hands of the Pleiades Saints - Mitakihara Quartet Alliance. She'll have the chance to argue her case once we get the okay from Kazumi.
Wrong. The only reason we found her in the first place is because she panicked and basically broadcasted her position by firing a beam of antimagic at us. Sayaka is right there and she still can't actually feel her with her paper.
Wrong. The only reason we found her in the first place is because she panicked and basically broadcasted her position by firing a beam of antimagic at us. Sayaka is right there and she still can't actually feel her with her paper.
You're ignoring several critically important differences in the situations. First, we now know who we are after and can seek her out remotely. For example, call hackerguca and get her cell phone. Or have Niko do some Science to find her own clone. Second, she's standing right fucking there, we don't need to find her again if she tries to run. Unless you're assuming she can ohko all four of us at once and break contact, which is totally and completely insane, we just follow her again. If she were magically super invisible we wouldn't be talking to her right now. And if we can see and hear her to talk to her, we can follow her exactly like we just did.
Sabrina should actually ask Hijiri why she attacked Niko.
Because, and bear in mind that I think this a really low probability, she might say, "What? I didn't attack Niko. I've spent the last 24 hours running away from Cruella De Villainous Magical Girl."
Or something.
I mean, yes, probably she's the actual and only culprit. But we would feel awfully bad if it turned out that we were missing key facts and there's another troublemaker out there that we're ignoring because we jumped on the first shady person we met and blamed her for everything wrong, when she might only be responsible for 50% of what's wrong.
Sabrina should actually ask Hijiri why she attacked Niko.
Because, and bear in mind that I think this a really low probability, she might say, "What? I didn't attack Niko. I've spent the last 24 hours running away from Cruella De Villainous Magical Girl."
Or something.
I mean, yes, probably she's the actual and only culprit. But we would feel awfully bad if it turned out that we were missing key facts and there's another troublemaker out there that we're ignoring because we jumped on the first shady person we met and blamed her for everything wrong, when she might only be responsible for 50% of what's wrong.
It would still bring the question of why she has the memory device and most likely the clear seed. Even if on the extremely low chance she didn't do anything to Nico, she was there when it happened.
JUDICIARY
Sabrina - Well, duh. We should definitely NOT try to control the proceedings though; We really should take pains to make sure we only meddle to give important information or to stop fights (there'll definitely be fights. It's Politics).
It would still bring the question of why she has the memory device and most likely the clear seed. Even if on the extremely low chance she didn't do anything to Nico, she was there when it happened.
We're already dressed up to start throwing tea into Tokyo harbor and issue a declaration of independence from Japan. Our outfit is very revolutionary (it has pants!)
But more seriously, I think that would make the most since both in-universe and out of universe. We brought all these girls together because they trust us to be fair - and we want to minimize our ability to step all over people. Being the Judge for disputes and instead leaving the proposal and vetting process to Mami lets us do that without removing us from the action in a way that's narratively unsatisfying.
