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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Firnagzen said:
You grin proudly at Homura, holding out the now loaded pistols to her, grip first.
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What is it, this story's equivalent of "Take your daughter to work" day? If so, then I'm sold.

Firnagzen said:
You stare at the equally sawn down birch stock of the sawn down Mosin-Nagant rifle. A bolt action rifle converted to a pistol that fires 7.62mm rounds.
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Ah, and a present. A Russian obrez, even. This little thing can make a hole the size of an adult's head in a torso from close range. Or so I was told. I'm pretty sure they exaggerated... pretty sure.

Firnagzen said:
"Fingerprints," you explain with a shrug.
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No one even has your fingerprints, lady. Still, doesn't hurt to be careful.

Firnagzen said:
... just about exactly the same as the one you'd left behind, before you polished it.
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Homumom may or may not be slightly kleptomaniacal.

Firnagzen said:
... Heh. Quantum Ono; simultaneous superposition of Witch and meguca until observed.
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As long as she doesn't behave as both a Witch and a Meguca.
... Nope, that ship has sailed.

Firnagzen said:
Ono: I have not yet begun to bitch.
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This isn't even my bitchiest form!
Some people don't respond well to kind words.

Firnagzen said:
Hwee ahr noht a ghy-ant spi-dah and all.
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Ah. Let us have a minute to remember WitchQuest. It was gone before its time...

Firnagzen said:
... It's like talking to a hypothetical offspring of Homura and Sayaka and Akiko.
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Hey, Sabrina, that's not nice. Even Akiko had the decency to finally go catatonic instead of bitching around, to say nothing about Homumom and Blueberry.

Firnagzen said:
Oh. Well then.
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I was spoilered, and even then I didn't see it coming.

Firnagzen said:
Though speaking of memory wipes and people, Hitomi's reaction seemed a little odd. Muted. You're pretty sure Kyuubey agreed not to mindwipe her, and the fuzzy little bunnycat probably keeps its word, but still. Maybe she just doesn't care, or maybe she's just putting on a good face, but maybe it's something to look into later.
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I think you people got it wrong. Hitomi is just a bastion of emotional stability in the swirling sea of chaos that is the world of Meguca. Shocking, I know.


... Wait, Firnagzen. Are you naming your chapters after Half-Life levels? Shit. I've read halfway though and notice only now. And to be honest, no I don't remember what happened in Residue Processing, so I'd better hope that some clever chap did.

Firnagzen said:
Oriko stares up at Kirika for a moment, before a mirroring blush starts to suffuse her too-pale face.
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Lord of the Rings kinda ruined the whole "wedding ring" thingy for me. And Thomas Covenant... "shudder"... Let's not talk about that.

Firnagzen said:
... What.
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Indeed. What. I'm not sure I've covered Klein bottles. And I study engineering in a university. In a good university.
... Oh, wait, now I remember. First semester. Of the second fucking year. Then it's alright. Haha.
No, it isn't.

Firnagzen said:
"I could... try and distract Homura?" Mami offers hesitantly. "I could probably put a ribbon on her just in case."
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No, Mami. Bad idea. Very bad idea. "Make Madoka contract" level bad*.
*Because Rebellion. That's why it's bad. Fourth movie when?

Firnagzen said:
"Simple isn't the same as easy," you say with a shrug. "Lifting a car engine is simple. But it's not easy.'
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Harry Dresden called, Sabrina. He asked to return his trench coat.

Firnagzen said:
Hah. You could get Megane to be a moderator.
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Let's not.

Finished "Residue Processing".
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by Omniatrix on Nov 11, 2017 at 7:39 AM, finished with 128709 posts and 16 votes.
  • [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and discuss showing up for her parents and for school. Fly a clone home? Commit hard to upcoming reveal of magic to parents?
    [x] Propose bringing Hijiri along. You're not done asking questions.
    [x] Persuade Hijiri to connect you to Yuuri. Take the opportunity to affirm her personhood and agency.
    -[x] Choices have consequences, both good and bad. Her past actions have damaged everyone's ability to trust her. She can fix that by making different choices going forward.
    -[x] Reassure her by expressing your desire to help everyone, even after they make mistakes - if nothing else, people without problems don't cause problems for others.
    -[x] Give her an opportunity to help you help her: Drop the memory thing and help you deal with Yuuri.
    [x] Get information about Yuuri.
    [x] Proceed.
    -[x] If no cooperation: Break to vote.
    -[x] Otherwise: Ask the group to let you speak to Yuuri alone. She knows dangerous things and you don't want her having everyone's brainmail address.
    [X] Muramasa
    [x] Gently explain to Hijiri why she can't leave. Yes, she is a real person with all the rights thereof. And when real people steal stuff and attack people, they don't get to just leave until they've made things right.
    [x] Telepathy: Ask everyone to give you some room so you can try to talk her down.
    [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and ask how to handle her parents waking up soon. Fly back? Send clone? Text them claiming she had an early softball practice? What about school in a few hours? Call out sick?
    [x] Therapy-ize Hijiri a bit.
    -[x] Like any person, Hijiri's choices have consequences. What she did damaged people's ability to trust her. But it's still possible to win that trust back.
    -[x] Help her feel safer by expressing your desire to help everyone, including people that've made bad choices and interfered with other people's peaceful lives.
    -[x] Give her an easy opportunity, let her help you help her: Let go of the memory thing. It's not doing her any good now: everyone knows where she is and Niko's clearly immune to it. All it's doing is preventing you from helping her.
    -[x] If successful, ask about Yuuri and what exactly happened between them.
    [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and discuss showing up for her parents and for school. Fly a clone home? Commit hard to upcoming reveal of magic to parents?
    -[x] After that: Telepathy Kazumi about the lack of meguca in the city. If necessary, bring up outside knowledge suggesting there should be more.
    --[x] If she's evasive, namedrop the Freezer.
    [x] Propose bringing Hijiri along. You're not done asking questions.
    [x] Persuade Hijiri to connect you to Yuuri. Take the opportunity to affirm her personhood and agency.
    -[x] Choices have consequences, both good and bad. Her past actions have damaged everyone's ability to trust her. She can fix that by making different choices going forward.
    -[x] Reassure her by expressing your desire to help everyone, even after they make mistakes - if nothing else, people without problems don't cause problems for others.
    -[x] Give her an opportunity to help you help her: Drop the memory thing and help you deal with Yuuri.
    [x] Get information about Yuuri.
    [x] Proceed.
    -[x] If no cooperation: break the memory device
    -[x] Otherwise: Ask the group to let you speak to Yuuri alone. She knows dangerous things and you don't want her having everyone's brainmail address.
    [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and discuss her morning plans. Fly a clone home? Commit to revealing magic to parents?
    [x] Propose bringing Hijiri along. You're not done asking questions.
    -[x] Move discussion away from emotional overreactions to logical reasoning on an appropriate and rational punishment/response to Hijiri's actions.
    [x] Affirm Hiriji's personhood and agency.
    -[x] Literary quote: "No practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based."
    -[x] All choices have consequences. Hijiri's past actions have damaged everyone's ability to trust her. She can fix that by making different choices going forward.
    -[x] Reassure her by expressing your desire to help everyone, even after they make mistakes - if nothing else, people without problems cause fewer problems for others.
    -[x] Give her an opportunity to help you help her: Dropping the memory thing, and helping you deal with Yuuri.
    [x] Ask for information about Yuuri. What is her power, what are her goals, what is she like as a person? ... Why trust her?
    -[x] Ask for a telepathy link. Ask to speak alone due to infohazard. Regardless of result, break for voting.
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Firnagzen said:
Right," you say. "Then how do we disable the memory field?"

"You... don't," Niko says. "It's a prototype. It'll burn out in a day if you don't recharge it, or if you smash it."
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@Vebyast

Mmmrrrrrrr... This gonna derail.


[] Choices have consequences, both good and bad. Her past actions have damaged everyone's ability to trust her. She can fix that by making different choices going forward.

The second sentence Hijiri will interrupt with some attack on Niko. This sort of social needs to focus exclusively on "what you did was wrong and has consequences" and completely avoid any connection to Niko or the Pleiades. This should be more like

[] If Hijiri wanted to be "let go," she could and should have done that instead of going from contracting to home invasion and burglary. That is what is keeping her here.

The problem is with the second sentence; not the first or third.

The logical proceeding would then be to move to "if you can convince us you're not going to go around being a criminal, you will be free to go. At worst, blah blah blah, no cruel unusual punishment, etc." But I don't think that would actually be productive...

What...

Wait a minute. None of this makes any fucking sense.

Firnagzen said:
She told me to," Hijiri blurts. "I- I just wanted to run, to get away. She found me, told me you'd hunt me down. Told me I was some kind of... experiment."
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Firnagzen said:
That's her!" Hijiri says, suddenly eager to please. "She- we broke into her lab, and she let me have the memory device when I figured out what it was."
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Firnagzen said:
"Why did you even go along with that?" you ask.

"Wouldn't you?" Hijiri asks, and laughs bitterly. She waves down at herself, cocooned in paper and Grief. "She wasn't even wrong. You hunted me down, didn't you?"
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Just, this is a load of BS. What the fuck? Just, everybody think about this for a second.

There's still no actual decent motivation given here.

"Airi told me I was an experiment! So, so, we broke into Niko's lab! Because she was going to hunt me down if I tried to leave, so we broke into her lab! And when I figured out what the memory device was, Airi let me have it! We broke into the lab because it was a great idea somehow for reasons, yep, great idea, I took one thing that I didn't even know was there before we broke into the lab and then I tried to book it but you guys hunted me down, just like she said you would!"

Why did Hijiri do this, again?

"It was a good idea!"

...
 
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Onmur said:
Current theory (I think) is that Hijiri's manipulating Yuuri, just like in canon.
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Then why are we doing any of this?

Point A: Firn rewards us for picking these things out

Point B: We need to poke at Hijiri either now or later

Point C: If Hijiri is being influenced by magic, everyone will write off whatever as mind control

Point D: If Hijiri is doing the influencing, poking holes in her story sooner is better

Point E: Our priority should either be poking holes in Hijiri's story or capturing Airi, given that there is either UMI or Hijiri is currently a badguy

Point F: We're currently lecturing slash talking to Hijiri instead of pursuing point E.

blast flame said:
The other way around you mean?
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No, see bottom of my previous post. Hijiri is either mind controlled or spewing bullshit.
 
Kaizuki said:
Then why are we doing any of this?
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Because the one thing the badguy never expects is for the Hero to use the same dirty, underhanded tactics he's using. Especially not when we're so outspokenly Good.

Personally, I'm looking forward with quite a bit of eagerness when we stab Hijiri in the back and turn her own trap against her. The look on her face will be priceless when she not only digs her own grave but the grave of her villainous allies as well.

*cough* I'm not saying this as a supervillain, because I'm not one. A supervillain, that is. I'm not a supervillain.
 
I mean, resolving the Niko/Hijiri drama needs to happen anyway. We absolutely should poke at her story, though, and we can and should pursue Anri at the same time because that bitch is antagonistic regardless.
 
What we're doing is trying diplomacy before we resort to anything else. If Hijiri is as she seems, then it might work. If she isn't as she seems, then we might make her doubt what she's doing, or we might learn something about what she's really up to from what lies she chooses to tell.

The alternative is to jump straight to "yank gem and sort it out later" and I think we'd like to at least try talking it out first.
 
I addressed this line of reasoning way back in the first analysis post I made after the update. For ease of reading:
Vebyast said:
The "human experimentation" thread seems to have gone away entirely. I'm not sure if that's Hijiri freaking out or being duplicitous. If Hijiri-H's goal is to just be a manipulative shit, "deal with it later" is an excellent place for her to be in and she's at exactly the right level for it. I can easily see her picking up on threads that develop actual fights and then moderating her responses to keep the argument at the proper level. This makes me want to keep her with us - Hijiri-H could almost certainly cause serious trouble for a smallish guard, but if we keep her with us she's pretty much hosed. In fact, her only chance at that point would be to get us into a fight with Yuuri where she can try to backstab us. And I'm reaaaaaaally not sure that she and Yuuri are hardcore enough to make that work. Sabrina and Mami could probably take them even after suffering a surprise round.
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Say that we're in a Hijiri-H universe. We have a few major options:
  • Gem her (or put her in the Freezer)
  • Leave her somewhere with a small guard.
  • Take her with us while we hunt down Yuuri.
As I said back before I even composed the first draft of my vote, I believe that our best choice is the last. Leaving her with a small guard ends badly. I believe it likely that Hijiri-H would take the opportunity to try to coordinate with Yuuri to ambush us. In the small guard case this is a disaster. In the taking-her-with-us case this is perfect, because it shortcuts the entire hard part of dealing with Yuuri - she would come to us. And I'm going to say that Yuuri and Hijiri-H can't beat us even in an unfair fight. Especially in an unfair fight where we have the upper hand - tell Sayaka and Mami to be on the lookout for exactly that move and preparing a counterattack and Yuuri and Hijiri-H won't have a chance. The negative outcome would be Hijiri-H feeding Yuuri position updates so she can escape from us, and I think that we can deal with that both by being way the hell faster than her and by keeping Hijiri-H distracted with social. Finally, this is legitimately the best course of action to take for Hijiri-A - leaving her with a small guard is at best neutral, gemming her is right out, and this option gives us a chance to social and therapy-ize Hijiri-A. This means, furthermore, that we wouldn't be giving away to Hijiri-H that we're on to her.

Let me try to rewrite my vote to make all of this more explicit. Bleh.
 
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New plan. Get everybody to back off by citing the possibility of mind control as a cause for Hijiri's story making zero sense. Question her further while looking for Airi. Sink the whole "can I leave" thing by reasoning which has zilch to do with Niko and which Hijiri can't argue against without coming off as a crook.


[X] Telepathy everyone present except Hijiri. Going over it, Hijiri's actions and stated motives are about as compatible with each other as 2 + 2 = 7. Provide relevant details; either a lot of important stuff is being glossed over or there's some sort of mental influence involved. Best to not make judgements before that possibility is ruled out.
[X] Out loud: We need to get after Airi. Hijiri is making a mistake in her reasoning: she is not free to go because she has gone from contract to home invasion and burglary in what sounds like a space of days. She will have ample opportunity to convince people that she isn't a thug, and you're sure that if she succeeds she will be able to leave. Meanwhile, you will guarantee her safety, as you would for anyone else.
[X] Question Hijiri on the chain of events leading to Niko's lab and her motives during it while searching for Airi. Point out any & all inconsistencies. See post for observed inconsistencies so far.

Inconsistencies said:
Wait a minute. None of this makes any fucking sense.

Firnagzen said:
She told me to," Hijiri blurts. "I- I just wanted to run, to get away. She found me, told me you'd hunt me down. Told me I was some kind of... experiment."
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Firnagzen said:
That's her!" Hijiri says, suddenly eager to please. "She- we broke into her lab, and she let me have the memory device when I figured out what it was."
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Firnagzen said:
"Why did you even go along with that?" you ask.

"Wouldn't you?" Hijiri asks, and laughs bitterly. She waves down at herself, cocooned in paper and Grief. "She wasn't even wrong. You hunted me down, didn't you?"
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Just, this is a load of BS. What the fuck? Just, everybody think about this for a second.

There's still no actual decent motivation given here.

"Airi told me I was an experiment! So, so, we broke into Niko's lab! Because she was going to hunt me down if I tried to leave, so we broke into her lab! And when I figured out what the memory device was, Airi let me have it! We broke into the lab because it was a great idea somehow for reasons, yep, great idea, I took one thing that I didn't even know was there before we broke into the lab and then I tried to book it but you guys hunted me down, just like she said you would!"

Why did Hijiri do this, again?

"It was a good idea!"

...
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Kaizuki said:
[X] Telepathy everyone present except Hijiri. Going over it, Hijiri's actions and stated motives are about as compatible with each other as 2 + 2 = 7. Provide relevant details; either a lot of important stuff is being glossed over or there's some sort of mental influence involved. Best to not make judgements before that possibility is ruled out.
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The Pleiades would interpret this as Hijiri being a hostile liar, not as a suggestion of potential mind-control. They are not so omnibenevolent as we are.
 
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Vebyast said:
The Pleiades would interpret this as Hijiri being a hostile liar, not as a suggestion of potential mind-control.
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Do I need to word it more strongly? Because the point is to suggest the potential of mind control. I was kind of hoping the reactions from Mami and Sayaka would drive the point home.

[]Telepathy everyone present except Hijiri. Going over it, Hijiri's actions and stated motives are about as compatible with each other as 2 + 2 = 7. Provide relevant details; it calls to mind that some sort of mental influence might be involved. Best to not make judgements before that possibility is ruled out.
 
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Vebyast said:
Can you make a contract while mind-controlled? If not, would the Pleiades know or notice that?
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Nothing saying she had to have. Most of the Pleiades would be okay with "she contracted planning to leave and got ambushed by Airi and mind controlled, the poor girl!" Niko wouldn't be happy but the rest wouldn't condemn Hijiri over that.
 
I think veB vote is fine, for the record.

We can poke holes into Hijiri's story later, once we've made our case for 'caring about all meguca even the silly bad ones (coughijiricough)'.
 
Vebyast said:
Why would Hijiri have contracted in the first place? Or would this have been continued Yuuri keikaku, she convinced Hijiri to contract normally and then whacked her right after that?
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Any/or. One hypothetical scenario, Airi convinces Hijiri she's an experiment and can't leave without Niko dragging her back, Hijiri wishes to be able to get away from it, Airi whammies her.
 
[x] Kaizuki

Onmur said:
We can poke holes into Hijiri's story later, once we've made our case for 'caring about all meguca even the silly bad ones (coughijiricough)'.
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I would agree with this if we weren't on two time limits. On one hand, we need to still be able to catch up to Anri before she can do anything, and on the other hand, we still want to get back before the new girls arrive. If we have prioritize one hypothetical Hijiri over the other, then we should go with the one that's most likely to cause serious problems in the short to middle term, especially since that one is looking the most likely.

Speaking of, @Kaizuki, I think your vote is the best for dealing with the immediate problem, but I feel like we should also address some of the other problems that have been brought up - such as the low number of meguca in the city compared to canon and Sayaka not being at home in the morning.
 
[] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and discuss her morning plans. Fly a clone home? Commit to revealing magic to parents?
[] Simultaneously: Telepathy allies. Hypothesize mind-controlled Hijiri? Note discrepancies in her reasoning and changing explanations.

[] Propose bringing Hijiri along. You think that she can help deal with Yuuri.

[] Talk to Hijiri.
-[] Conversation goals:
--[] Affirm Hijiri's agency and support her.
--[] Make her feel safe enough to let go of the memory device.
--[] Keep the Pleiades from feeling you're being too soft.
--[] Convince Hijiri to connect you to Yuuri.
--[] If Hijiri is planning an ambush, let her keep thinking she has the upper hand.
-[] Useful specifics:
--[] Hijiri is acting out because she's desperate for control. Drawing attention to her choices' negative outcomes will support her and placate the Pleiades.
--[] Promise to keep Hijiri safe.
--[] You want to help everyone. If nothing else, people without problems don't cause more problems.

[] Ask for information about Yuuri. What is her power, what are her goals, what is she like as a person? ...Why trust her?

[] Ask for a telepathy link to Yuuri. Ask to speak alone due to infohazards. Regardless of result, break for voting.

188 words. I'm joining in Kaizuki's idea about mind control not because I think it's possibly correct - does Yuuri even have access to any mind-control? - but because it will distract the Pleiades while we negotiate with Hijiri, giving us slightly more leeway in being visibly supportive. Moved to a fully intent-based Hijiri conversation so I can stop having to deal with continual reading comprehension failures, even if it means I'm trusting Brinapilot to pull off the complex doublespeak that I was previously handling manually.

How do people feel about this vote? I'd change my vote to it but I currently own the bandwagon and don't want to pull the rug out from under anyone.
Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Nov 12, 2017 at 7:51 AM, finished with 128730 posts and 16 votes.
  • [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and discuss showing up for her parents and for school. Fly a clone home? Commit hard to upcoming reveal of magic to parents?
    [x] Propose bringing Hijiri along. You're not done asking questions.
    [x] Persuade Hijiri to connect you to Yuuri. Take the opportunity to affirm her personhood and agency.
    -[x] Choices have consequences, both good and bad. Her past actions have damaged everyone's ability to trust her. She can fix that by making different choices going forward.
    -[x] Reassure her by expressing your desire to help everyone, even after they make mistakes - if nothing else, people without problems don't cause problems for others.
    -[x] Give her an opportunity to help you help her: Drop the memory thing and help you deal with Yuuri.
    [x] Get information about Yuuri.
    [x] Proceed.
    -[x] If no cooperation: Break to vote.
    -[x] Otherwise: Ask the group to let you speak to Yuuri alone. She knows dangerous things and you don't want her having everyone's brainmail address.
    [x] Gently explain to Hijiri why she can't leave. Yes, she is a real person with all the rights thereof. And when real people steal stuff and attack people, they don't get to just leave until they've made things right.
    [x] Telepathy: Ask everyone to give you some room so you can try to talk her down.
    [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and ask how to handle her parents waking up soon. Fly back? Send clone? Text them claiming she had an early softball practice? What about school in a few hours? Call out sick?
    [x] Therapy-ize Hijiri a bit.
    -[x] Like any person, Hijiri's choices have consequences. What she did damaged people's ability to trust her. But it's still possible to win that trust back.
    -[x] Help her feel safer by expressing your desire to help everyone, including people that've made bad choices and interfered with other people's peaceful lives.
    -[x] Give her an easy opportunity, let her help you help her: Let go of the memory thing. It's not doing her any good now: everyone knows where she is and Niko's clearly immune to it. All it's doing is preventing you from helping her.
    -[x] If successful, ask about Yuuri and what exactly happened between them.
    [X] Muramasa
    [X] Telepathy everyone present except Hijiri. Going over it, Hijiri's actions and stated motives are about as compatible with each other as 2 + 2 = 7. Provide relevant details; either a lot of important stuff is being glossed over or there's some sort of mental influence involved. Best to not make judgements before that possibility is ruled out.
    [X] Out loud: We need to get after Airi. Hijiri is making a mistake in her reasoning: she is not free to go because she has gone from contract to home invasion and burglary in what sounds like a space of days. She will have ample opportunity to convince people that she isn't a thug, and you're sure that if she succeeds she will be able to leave. Meanwhile, you will guarantee her safety, as you would for anyone else.
    [X] Question Hijiri on the chain of events leading to Niko's lab and her motives during it while searching for Airi. Point out any & all inconsistencies. See post for observed inconsistencies so far.
    [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and discuss her morning plans. Fly a clone home? Commit to revealing magic to parents?
    [x] Propose bringing Hijiri along. You're not done asking questions.
    -[x] Move discussion away from emotional overreactions to logical reasoning on an appropriate and rational punishment/response to Hijiri's actions.
    [x] Affirm Hiriji's personhood and agency.
    -[x] Literary quote: "No practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based."
    -[x] All choices have consequences. Hijiri's past actions have damaged everyone's ability to trust her. She can fix that by making different choices going forward.
    -[x] Reassure her by expressing your desire to help everyone, even after they make mistakes - if nothing else, people without problems cause fewer problems for others.
    -[x] Give her an opportunity to help you help her: Dropping the memory thing, and helping you deal with Yuuri.
    [x] Ask for information about Yuuri. What is her power, what are her goals, what is she like as a person? ... Why trust her?
    -[x] Ask for a telepathy link. Ask to speak alone due to infohazard. Regardless of result, break for voting.
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Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Nov 12, 2017 at 7:52 AM, finished with 128764 posts and 23 votes.
  • [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy the Pleiades + Mami + Sayaka. Note discrepancies in Hijiri's stated motives. Panic, malice? Uncertain, you'll work on it.
    [x] Propose bringing Hijiri along.
    [x] Talk to Hijiri.
    -[x] Conversation goals:
    --[x] Affirm Hijiri's agency and support her.
    --[x] Make her feel safe enough to let go of the memory device.
    --[x] Convince Hijiri to connect you to Yuuri.
    --[x] If Hijiri is planning an ambush, let her think she has the upper hand.
    -[x] Useful specifics:
    --[x] Promise to ensure that Hijiri is treated fairly. No human experimentation, for example.
    --[x] Hijiri is acting out because she's desperate for control. She wants a sense of agency.
    ---[x] Phrase things as choices and consequences that she can choose.
    ---[x] Be careful! "I don't need you to defend me" was a response to Sabrina taking control away.
    --[x] You want to help everyone. If nothing else, people without problems don't cause more problems.
    [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and discuss her morning plans. Fly a clone home? Commit to revealing magic to parents?
    [x] Ask for information about Yuuri. What is her power, what are her goals, what is she like as a person? ... Why trust her?
    [x] Ask for a telepathy link to Yuuri. Ask to speak alone due to infohazards. Regardless of result, break for voting.
    [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy the Pleiades + Mami + Sayaka. Note discrepancies in Hijiri's stated motives. Panic, malice? Uncertain, you'll work on it.
    [x] Propose bringing Hijiri along.
    [x] Talk to Hijiri.
    -[x] Conversation goals:
    --[x] Affirm Hijiri's agency and support her.
    --[x] Make her feel safe enough to let go of the memory device.
    --[x] Convince Hijiri to connect you to Yuuri.
    --[x] If Hijiri is planning an ambush, let her think she has the upper hand.
    -[x] Useful specifics:
    --[x] Promise to ensure that Hijiri is treated fairly. No human experimentation, for example.
    --[x] Hijiri is acting out because she's desperate for control. She wants a sense of agency.
    ---[x] Phrase things as choices and consequences that she can choose.
    ---[x] Be careful! "I don't need you to defend me" was a response to Sabrina taking control away.
    --[x] You want to help everyone. If nothing else, people without problems don't cause more problems.
    --[x] Start dropping hints that Hijiri isn't alone in being wishborn.
    [x] Simultaneously: Telepathy Sayaka and discuss her morning plans. Fly a clone home? Commit to revealing magic to parents?
    [x] Ask for information about Yuuri. What is her power, what are her goals, what is she like as a person? ... Why trust her?
    [x] Ask for a telepathy link to Yuuri. Ask to speak alone due to infohazards. Regardless of result, break for voting.
    [x] Explain why we can't let her go yet. When this is over, we'd very much like to see her obtain that peaceful life she desires, and maybe help her obtain it if necessary. We are not at all against her wanting to live her life as she see's fit, as long as she has no intention of harming others.
    [x] Ask her to come with us willingly as we try and stop Yuuri and if she'll drop the memory device. Make it clear that both are also requests. Thank her if she does.
    [x] Request that Hijiri connect you to Yuuri. That's not a demand, but we'd sincerely appreciate the help if she's willing to give it.
    [x] If she doesn't cooperate at all, accept that, and simply ask Hijiri if she'd rather come with us as we try and stop Yuuri or if she'd prefer to sit things out under guard until we've stopped her from doing harm. Get the Saints input but don't treat it as binding.
    [x] When you have a moment remind Sayaka about her parents waking up soon, and school. Probably a good idea to contact them soon and maybe think of a good cover story.
    [X] Telepathy everyone present except Hijiri. Going over it, Hijiri's actions and stated motives are about as compatible with each other as 2 + 2 = 7. Provide relevant details; either a lot of important stuff is being glossed over or there's some sort of mental influence involved. Best to not make judgements before that possibility is ruled out.
    [X] Out loud: We need to get after Airi. Hijiri is making a mistake in her reasoning: she is not free to go because she has gone from contract to home invasion and burglary in what sounds like a space of days. She will have ample opportunity to convince people that she isn't a thug, and you're sure that if she succeeds she will be able to leave. Meanwhile, you will guarantee her safety, as you would for anyone else.
    [X] Question Hijiri on the chain of events leading to Niko's lab and her motives during it while searching for Airi. Point out any & all inconsistencies. See post for observed inconsistencies so far.
    [x] VebVebVebVebyast
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Vebyast said:
You think that she can help deal with Yuuri.
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"You think doing so can help deal with Yuuri" is a more neutral phrasing.

Vebyast said:
Promise to keep Hijiri safe.
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"Promise to treat her fairly" has less connotations of keeping her safe from the rightful consequences of her own actions.

Vebyast said:
[] Simultaneously: Telepathy allies. Hypothesize mind-controlled Hijiri? Note discrepancies in her reasoning and changing explanations.
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And finally, the big one - I think jumping to "mind control" based on discrepancies will make us out to be incredibly naive, instead of just assuming malice. That makes us lose credibility, which will make it harder to push for our preferred (peaceful) resolution.

I very much don't like it.
 
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