-[X] Ultimately, the whole situation sucks, but unless someone wishes a goddess into existence that changes things for the better, we're stuck with it.
Combining the two votes, particularly because I think it's really important for Sayaka to realize that having to chose between doing what's right and dying is something other people have to make all the time, and that she (Sayaka) will ultimately have to recognize and make for herself, too.
...while adding one thing to (hopefully) plant the seeds for Madoka to use her godlike potential to bail the universe out of this Cosmic Horror Story in a way that doesn't involve sacrificing her own existence.
If things go wrong, we don't end up with Godoka. We end up with Gretchen. And that's bad. I'm against trying to plant those seeds in Madoka because the potential for things to go wrong are about the same as the potential for them to go right.
If things go wrong, we don't end up with Godoka. We end up with Gretchen. And that's bad. I'm against trying to plant those seeds in Madoka because the potential for things to go wrong are about the same as the potential for them to go right.
Indeed. Preventing Sayaka from imploding seems like the most important thing to put a stop to at the moment, followed closely behind by shipping. We may be eight, but we're gonna get big sis a girlfriend if it kills us.
I was trying to avoid outright metaknowledge abuse, and avoid "PMAS votes" as it were.
Adhoc vote count started by Godwinson on Aug 20, 2018 at 8:39 AM, finished with 40 posts and 19 votes.
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] She was just trying to help you, even if she was being dumb about it.
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
[X] Let Kyouko defend herself. --[X] But if either of those two start getting too angry again, turn on the waterworks and sob pitifully about how you just want everyone to get along. THAT'LL learn 'em!
[X] Defend Kyoko. How?
-[X] Kyoko has to support you too, and if you both run around chasing familiars all the time you'd get killed when you run out of grief seeds. She's just being a responsible Big Sister! Running out of magic makes everyone sad.
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] Bad Big Sis! She said last night that she wasn't trying to start a fight, and that means she was lying to you, and lying is bad.
-[x] There's nothing tough about it. You're just... trying to not die. She was trying to help, even if she was being dumb about it.
[X] Defend Kyoko
-[X] She shouldn't blame Big Sis for it. It's Yuma's fault.
-[X] Kazamino isn't like Mitakihara. There were barely enough witches to sustain one magical girl. And then when you contracted, it had to support two. If Big Sis had hunted down every single familiar, then both she and Yuma would have lost their magic. And without magic they would have been starving in the cold or worse. Yuma doesn't like letting the familiars go, but Big Sis comes first. And it's the same way for Big Sis. That's just the way things were.
-[X] Point out that Mitakihara is way bigger and has more witches than Kazamino, so hopefully it won't be necessary here, if she's willing to let us stay and not make a fight out of it. Which you don't want, no matter how grumpy Big Sis can be sometimes.
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] She was just trying to help you, even if she was being dumb about it.
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
-[X] Point out that Mitakihara is way bigger and has more witches than Kazamino, so hopefully it won't be necessary here, if she's willing to let us stay and not make a fight out of it. Which you don't want, no matter how grumpy Big Sis can be sometimes.
-[X] Ultimately, the whole situation sucks, but we're stuck with it. Dying in protest won't help anyone.
Eh? Why would you want to avoid PMAS votes? If I were a QM, my dream would be to write something my readers were invested enough in to leave detailed, scrupulously thought out, big stonkin' walls of text for every decision.
Eh? Why would you want to avoid PMAS votes? If I were a QM, my dream would be to write something my readers were invested enough in to leave detailed, scrupulously thought out, big stonkin' walls of text for every decision.
While that is absolutely true, may I offer a counterpoint?
5000+ pages
As a QM, I would absolutely love if every one of my players left me walls of text with detailed decision trees and well-thought-out reasons behind their decisions. But at the same time I recognize that past a certain point, information density and an overabundance of choices can just as easily serve as a gatekeeper, and it's important to be able to balance the engagement of current players with the ability to attract and retain new ones, meaning that trending towards PMAS isn't always a good thing.
Eh? Why would you want to avoid PMAS votes? If I were a QM, my dream would be to write something my readers were invested enough in to leave detailed, scrupulously thought out, big stonkin' walls of text for every decision.
My views on most WOT votes aside, I really don't like uber-metaknowledge dependent votes. A quest is a narrative, the votes should flow along with the current point of the narrative and not be dependent on what might happen 1000 updates from now. Like, I wish questers lived in the moment a bit more sometimes rather than trying to cheat code their way through things. I think it's slightly excusable in PMAS- especially at the start- due to the nature of Sabrina. I like it a lot less as a general practice.
So with that in mind, how would Yuma logically approach this? Godwinson's vote isn't bad, but what I don't like is that it feels like Yuma's tone has this weird moral superiority feel to it, and regardless of my own views of Kyouko's system, it's kind of a weird shift from how she's been... this entire quest really.
But as I'm writing this, that makes a kind of sense. Kyouko is Yuma's family, and in many respects she's going to pick up Kyouko's worldview about these things, because it's kind of what she knows and from somebody she deeply cares about and respects. It initially bothered me because it's basically the Hard Women Making Hard Decisions speech Kyouko would make if she spoke less in cliché, but... that really makes total sense? In many ways Kyouko is Yuma's guide and idol, and just like Madoka and (especially) Sayaka picked up a lot of ideals about MGdom from Mami, she's going to pick up a lot from her.
I think that no matter how we approach things, there will be times that Yuma comes off as something a little odd, and I think that's to be expected since none of us are eight-year-old girls and finding that perfect voice is going to be difficult. We've just got to try and make the most of what we're able to, and hope that the QM can take what we give them and turn it into something that feels more natural.
I think that no matter how we approach things, there will be times that Yuma comes off as something a little odd, and I think that's to be expected since none of us are eight-year-old girls and finding that perfect voice is going to be difficult. We've just got to try and make the most of what we're able to, and hope that the QM can take what we give them and turn it into something that feels more natural.
I mean... I'm not caring so much about sophistication of word choice or anything as tone and content and how it seems to fit the character, and it felt a little wonky when I first looked at it, but looking at it again I could see it making sense so doesn't really matter.
I mean... I'm not caring so much about sophistication of word choice or anything as tone and content and how it seems to fit the character, and it felt a little wonky when I first looked at it, but looking at it again I could see it making sense so doesn't really matter.
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] She was just trying to help you, even if she was being dumb about it.
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
Adhoc vote count started by Conjured Blade on Aug 20, 2018 at 9:24 AM, finished with 41 posts and 19 votes.
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] She was just trying to help you, even if she was being dumb about it.
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
[X] Let Kyouko defend herself. --[X] But if either of those two start getting too angry again, turn on the waterworks and sob pitifully about how you just want everyone to get along. THAT'LL learn 'em!
[X] Defend Kyoko. How?
-[X] Kyoko has to support you too, and if you both run around chasing familiars all the time you'd get killed when you run out of grief seeds. She's just being a responsible Big Sister! Running out of magic makes everyone sad.
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] Bad Big Sis! She said last night that she wasn't trying to start a fight, and that means she was lying to you, and lying is bad.
-[x] There's nothing tough about it. You're just... trying to not die. She was trying to help, even if she was being dumb about it.
[X] Defend Kyoko
-[X] She shouldn't blame Big Sis for it. It's Yuma's fault.
-[X] Kazamino isn't like Mitakihara. There were barely enough witches to sustain one magical girl. And then when you contracted, it had to support two. If Big Sis had hunted down every single familiar, then both she and Yuma would have lost their magic. And without magic they would have been starving in the cold or worse. Yuma doesn't like letting the familiars go, but Big Sis comes first. And it's the same way for Big Sis. That's just the way things were.
-[X] Point out that Mitakihara is way bigger and has more witches than Kazamino, so hopefully it won't be necessary here, if she's willing to let us stay and not make a fight out of it. Which you don't want, no matter how grumpy Big Sis can be sometimes.
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] She was just trying to help you, even if she was being dumb about it.
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
-[X] Point out that Mitakihara is way bigger and has more witches than Kazamino, so hopefully it won't be necessary here, if she's willing to let us stay and not make a fight out of it. Which you don't want, no matter how grumpy Big Sis can be sometimes.
-[X] Ultimately, the whole situation sucks, but we're stuck with it. Dying in protest won't help anyone.
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] She was just trying to help you, even if she was being dumb about it.
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
-[X] Point out that Mitakihara is way bigger and has more witches than Kazamino, so hopefully it won't be necessary here, if she's willing to let us stay and not make a fight out of it. Which you don't want, no matter how grumpy Big Sis can be some times.
-[X] Ultimately, the whole situation sucks, but we're stuck with it. Dying in protest won't help anyone.
Yuma has to make sure everybody knows Big Sis is best sis, and since she can be a bit of a jerk(Yuma's words) at times then she has to make sure Big Sis in appropiate behavior. *nods*
"And that's enough about me!" says Kyoko as she wraps her hand around your mouth, "So then, Homura, what can you tell us about- eugh, did you just lick my hand?"
You have indeed done just that, and you use the moment of opportunity to shout what you were trying to say.
[X] Defend Kyouko
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
-[X] Point out that Mitakihara is way bigger and has more witches than Kazamino, so hopefully it won't be necessary here, if she's willing to let us stay and not make a fight out of it. Which you don't want, no matter how grumpy Big Sis can be some times.
-[X] Ultimately, the whole situation sucks, but we're stuck with it. Dying in protest won't help anyone.
-[X] But if either of those two start getting too angry again, turn on the waterworks and sob pitifully about how you just want everyone to get along. THAT'LL learn 'em!
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] She was just trying to help you, even if she was being dumb about it.
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
-[X] Point out that Mitakihara is way bigger and has more witches than Kazamino, so hopefully it won't be necessary here, if she's willing to let us stay and not make a fight out of it. Which you don't want, no matter how grumpy Big Sis can be some times.
-[X] Ultimately, the whole situation sucks, but we're stuck with it. Dying in protest won't help anyone.
[X] Let Kyouko defend herself.
--[X] But if either of those two start getting too angry again, turn on the waterworks and sob pitifully about how you just want everyone to get along. THAT'LL learn 'em!
[x] Defend Kyouko
-[x] She was just trying to help you, even if she was being dumb about it.
-[x] Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing so we can eat. You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you. We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches so that you don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds.
"Big Sis Kyoko isn't evil!" you say. "She was just trying to help you!"
"Help me?" says Sayaka. "She wasn't trying to help me, she was trying to get me to let innocent people die so that I can have more grief seeds!"
"She was trying to make you look out for yourself! No one wants you to go murder people, just to not get yourself killed trying to save everyone!"
"Oh, bullshit. Letting familiars go is just plain wrong, and I can't believe you can defend someone who does something so awful!"
"Letting familiars go is wrong, but so is breaking into hotels so we can sleep in a bed, or stealing food so we can eat."
"Like you're saying, it's wrong," says Sayaka. "So why the hell do you do it?" Does she seriously not get what you're saying?
"You've never had to pick between doing what's right and dying, and I hope you don't ever have to, but we're not as lucky as you."
"Dying? Says Sayaka. "Okay, what are you talking abou-" she snaps her head up, eyes widening. "Those weren't just random examples, were they… You… actually have to steal food to survive?"
You nod your head, face somber as you pull your legs to your chest and hug them tight.
"We don't have families who care about us, or a big territory we got from someone else that has enough witches that we don't have to pick between letting familiars go or not having enough grief seeds," you say. "Kyoko and I… we have to look after ourselves. Because no one else ever has." You feel tears prickling at the corner of your eyes, and you sniffle. "Because no one else ever will."
Big Sis puts her arm around your shoulders, pulling you into a one-armed hug. You lean against her and rub at your eyes, trying not to cry.
The other three girls are speechless, though all have different expressions on their faces. Sayaka's eyes are wide, mouth opening and closing without a sound, as if she wants to say something but doesn't know what. Madoka is covering her mouth with her hands, and you see a bit of wetness in the corner of her eyes.
Homura, on the other hand, maintains her usual mask of apathy. You're not sure if she's shocked and doing what she knows best, or if she truly doesn't care, but you really do hope it's the former.
"Yuma, I, I don't I didn't-"
Madoka cuts her off, getting up off her chair and walking around the table. Once she's reached you, she leans down and wraps her arms around you.
"It's okay," she says, holding you tight. "It'll be okay."
You sniffle and wrap an arm around her shoulder. Sayaka gets up too, cautiously walking over to the growing hug pile. You motion towards yourself with your remaining arm, and she reaches over to hug you.
You notice that Homura is the only one not in the pile, a problem that should be remedied immediately. Regrettably, your arms are wrapped around Madoka and Kyoko, so you can't grab her sleeve.
Madoka, bless her heart, seems to be thinking on a similar wavelength to you.
"Homura, why don't you join us?" says Madoka.
Homura shakes her head, and you sigh. Well, three out of four isn't that bad.
To your surprise, you feel an arm lay on your shoulder. You look up to see that Homura has reluctantly joined the pile, with her other arm wrapped around Madoka.
She's got one of Madoka's arms around her shoulders as well, and you smile to yourself. You had promised she would be hugged by Madoka, and you like to keep your promises.
A thought suddenly occurs to you, and you begin to giggle.
"Yuma?" says Madoka. "What is it?"
"Oh, it's just-" you continue giggling, almost unable to get a full sentence out. "I-I'm Homura!"
"What?" Homura says, tilting her head. "What on earth do you mean?"
"Be-because I'm in a hug pile!"
The other stare at you, blank expressions on their faces.
Madoka starts giggling first, and sets off a chain reaction. She takes her hand off your shoulder and puts it over her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter.
Big Sis is next to fall, not bothering to hide her snickers. She leans on you, and by extension everyone else in the pile, causing you all to be pushed back a bit.
Sayaka comes next, shaking her head as she chuckles.
Homura remains passive, though you think you see a hint of betrayal on her face.
It's not even that funny a joke, but combined with the sheer absurdity of the situation it's enough to break the whole bunch of you out of your depressed stupor.
You all extract yourself from the group hug and return to your seats, and Sayaka clears her throat.
"So Yuma, Kyoko," she says. "About that whole familiar thing, I'm not- I'm not sure what to think. Just, I'll get back to you on that in a bit."
"That's okay," you say. "Just try not to get into fights with Big Sis, okay?"
"I'm not making any promises," says Sayaka. "But on a different topic, how can you guys afford to pay for this get-together if you're so poor?"
Oh.
Right.
Restaurants cost money.
That maaaay have been a detail you forgot in your amazing plan.
"You forgot you'd have to pay, didn't you?" says Sayaka. Madoka giggles, and Homura just sighs.
"Well, you may or may not be right," you say. "And Yuma isn't saying you are, just that you might be."
"If you truly aren't able to pay for the meal, I suppose I could cover the cost," says Homura "That goes for the two of you as well, Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki."
"You'd do that?" you say. "But paying for five people might be pretty expensive…"
"No need to worry," says Homura. "When my parents died, they left me quite a large sum of money. Quite honestly, it's the nicest thing they ever did for me."
That's a depressing as it is useful, but you'll take what you can get.
The five of your finally open your menus, and spend the time waiting for your food to arrive in complete silence. No one's entirely sure what to say after your speech and Homura offer, so there's a few minutes of awkward silence as you wait for the ramen to arrive. Once it does, everyone's too busy stuffing their faces to chat, you and Kyoko especially.
After the food is eaten and the bill paid, you look around at the others. They all seem about ready to go home and think, but maybe you should suggest a team-building activity? Something light-hearted, like a trip to the arcade, would be good at getting everyone's mind off of the more dreary elements of the earlier conversation; but four magical girls, all together and needing to work with one another? That just begs for a cooperative witch hunt.
It wouldn't be light-hearted, but you know from experience that hunting a witch with a teammate is a great way to bond. After you and Big Sis hunted your first witch together, it was like… it wasn't that you liked each other more, but you trusted her a lot more. It was easier to open up to her once the two of you had fought together against something so horrible, and it would certainly make the four of you better at working together.
What do you do?
[ ] Suggest that you all go hunt a witch.
[ ] Suggest that you all go for a trip to the arcade, or something similarly lighthearted.
[ ] Say goodbye and go home with Kyoko.
--[ ] What do you say to her?
[ ] Write-In
Adhoc vote count started by Lord Chungus on Sep 6, 2018 at 11:25 AM, finished with 31 posts and 17 votes.
[X] About Walpurgisnacht… --[X] Put it off for later. [X] Ask Kyoko and Homura if you could invite Sayaka and Madoka. --[x] Invite Sayaka --[x] Invite Madoka [X] How do you approach the subject of making a team? --[x] All of you need to be friends, and be a close-knit team --[X] Include crayon diagrams and charts. Those are all kinds of official, right? [X] Appeal to Kyouko's vanity and very, veeeeery deeply hidden sense of altruism. The Seykuu girl is going to get herself killed without her wise mentorship. And that would be a shame, because you clearly remember Kyouko calling her "cute". [X] As for Homura, invoke cold-headed pragmatism in your idea: if everyone is invested in helping each other and working together, you would have more of a chance to fight whatever comes your way, like Walugimart or whatever. -[X] Madoka needs to be here, because she's already involved. Her best friend is a Magical Girl and she has a crush on you and your hair, if you haven't noticed. Cutting her off from the loop would only increase her sense of helplessness and desire to matter, to be helpful. At the very least, she deserves to know more in order to make informed decisions. You speak from experience.
[X] About Walpurgisnacht… -[x] Agree with Kyoko about not fighting Walpurgisnacht. [X] Ask Kyoko and Homura if you could invite Sayaka and Madoka. --[x] Invite Sayaka --[x] Invite Madoka [X] How do you approach the subject of making a team? --[x] All of you need to be friends, and be a close-knit team
[X] About Walpurgisnacht… --[X] Try to convince Kyoko to fight Walpurgisnacht. ---[X] It can't be that tough, right? ----[X] Upon finding out that it totally can, note that we kinda need this city to keep standing [X] Ask Kyoko and Homura if you could invite Sayaka and Madoka. --[x] Invite Sayaka --[x] Invite Madoka [X] How do you approach the subject of making a team? --[x] All of you need to be friends, and be a close-knit team
[X] About Walpurgisnacht… --[X] Try to convince Kyoko to fight Walpurgisnacht. [X] Ask Kyoko and Homura if you could invite Sayaka and Madoka. --[x] Invite Sayaka [X] How do you approach the subject of making a team? --[x] All of you need to be friends, and be a close-knit team
[X] About Walpurgisnacht… --[X] Agree with Kyoko about not fighting Walpurgisnacht [X] Ask Kyoko and Homura if you could invite Sayaka and Madoka. --[x] Invite Sayaka --[x] Invite Madoka [X] How do you approach the subject of making a team? --[x] All of you need to be friends, and be a close-knit team
[X] About Walpurgisnacht… --[X] Try to convince Kyoko to fight Walpurgisnacht. ---[X] It can't be that tough, right? ----[X] Upon finding out that it totally can, note that we kinda need this city to keep standing [X] Ask Kyoko and Homura if you could invite Sayaka and Madoka. --[x] Invite Sayaka --[x] Invite Madoka [X] How do you approach the subject of making a team? --[x] All of you need to be friends, and be a close-knit team --[X] Include crayon diagrams and charts. Those are all kinds of official, right?
[X] About Walpurgisnacht… --[X] Put it off for later. [X] Ask Kyoko and Homura if you could invite Sayaka and Madoka. --[x] Invite Sayaka --[x] Invite Madoka [X] How do you approach the subject of making a team? --[x] All of you need to be friends, and be a close-knit team
[X] About Walpurgisnacht… -[X] Appreciate Homura being upfront and honest. -[X] Put it off for later. [X] Ask Kyoko and Homura if you could invite Sayaka and Madoka. -[X] Invite Sayaka [X] How do you approach the subject of making a team? -[X] You should fight together, but not much more than that.
![Green[734]](/data/avatar/1534730845/25394-m.jpg){kind=avatar}
