Plan feedback with vote commitments!
[X] Action Plan: Changing Minds
Word Count: TBD
Planned Length: 10 days
- Meet with Kagome and Mari.
- Clear communication no jutsu.
- Go over what happened during Fujisawa's visit.
- Explain that we are worried about Kagome.
- That twice in our first meeting with Kumokugo, a mispoken word nearly ended our life.
- Ask for Mari's help.
- Ask if she can think of an out-of-the-box way to leverage Kagome's strengths into social situations.
- Mechanically: stunt to allow Kagome to roll Cryptography/Sealing in place of a social skill when attempting to hold his tongue/not give away information.
Velorien nixed the stunt. I think that having this sort of interaction is very valuable - Kagome is going to be in a position where he needs to speak carefully very soon, if not at the end of the update. I think that asking for Mari's help and talking about the transferability of intelligence-analysis skills to social defenses (keeping quiet and thinking before you say something) would be a good idea. A quick Mari crash course in not getting eaten by a spider Empress seems like a good idea, at any rate.
Given that wordcount is available, I think it might be worthwhile to add something in like 'we're not upset - a lot of things went wrong there and most of them weren't in your control'.
- Mareo could possibly use the Yamanaka's help with his senility.
- Tell Kumafuwafuwa of the Yamanaka, their specialty of the mind, and Hazō's use of the Stability Jutsu.
- Ask Kumafuwafuwa if he consents to us seeking the Yamanaka's aid, and if he thinks we should ask for Mateo's consent ahead of time knowing that the Yamanaka might not be able to help.
- Ask for Mareo's consent if prompted.
- Skip remainder of section if either decline.
- Meet with Ino and Akane.
- Debrief on Mareo and his condition.
- Ask if there is anything the Yamanaka can do to help.
- In exchange, Hazō will share what he learns from Mareo with Ino.
- Hazō is willing to pass along offers that he believes won't damage his relationship with Mareo.
- Follow sealing SOP, research the easier seal:
- Chakra adhesion activated ARS.
- Two output seal ARS.
I think that asking Kumafuwafuwa if we should go behind Mareo's back will significantly damage our relationship with him. We should simply explain what we know and ask how he thinks we should proceed.
I further think that talking about going behind his back is pointless because eventually, we're going to have to explain this to Mareo, who has thus far demonstrated that he has no interest in being coddled or handled. 'Hey, we went and got you this jutsu - your friend the huge bear said we shouldn't ask you about it first'. I don't see that playing out well.
I'd also like to see a line in there where we temper expectations - 'this probably won't work, but it might and if it doesn't we don't think any harm will be done'.
Meeting with Ino and Akane seems...reasonable, I guess, although I don't know that Akane will have much to add. We should explain what's going on to Ino and ask if a) she consents to our teaching this guy the YSJ and under what conditions (e.g., can we explain who the Yamanaka are to him) and b) if she has any other advice. I worry the current wording will come across like Hazo asking either for secret techniques or 'hey, anyone can do this, can you explain to me how this works so I can take a shot at it'? Worst case, she's offended, best case, she laughs at us for supposing that we could meaningfully help with a condition this complex with zero training.
We should
not offer to share anything from Mareo, elderly and irritable ninja. Suggesting it to Kumafuwafuwa demonstrates such poor judgement (one does not share anything about a ninja to a ninja they've never met, even if you're all allies) that I expect he'll ban us from seeing Mareo ever again. Offering her some Goketsu resources for her help would be appropriate and might even put us in Mareo or Kumafuwafuwa's good graces.
I'd like to see sanity-checks with Mari and Cannai: Cannai can gut-check us on any strangeness with respect to talking to a Boss or their revered Summoner.
If you implement those changes I'll vote for your plan. I think that it can be done while leaving the spirit of the plan intact.
If there's word-count left over, I'd also really like to write Fujisawa a letter, as is laid out in my plan. A simple, low-pressure, and heartfelt apology seems like it could defuse a situation that could go backwards on us pretty easily.
[X] Enough is Enough!
Word Count: 291
- Prep with Mari/Akane
- Noburi
- Invite your brother for a spar, far away from listening ears.
- We can't go a week without some social calamity, eh?
- Yuno's been threatening your womanizing still, and neither of you seem happy about it. Hazou feels obligated to say something.
- When Akane dumped Hazou, he wasn't aware there was even an issue, because they failed to communicate.
- Noburi would know: are Noburi and Yuno communicating? Establishing boundaries and expectations? Can't just wait for resentment to build, or we'll have another social explosion for Hazou to fumble horribly.
- Hazou feels that Noburi and Yuno need to seek counseling. Not Mari if Yuno hates her, but a social specialist who can navigate things better than Hazou. Hire Kurenai for a B-Rank or something if necessary.
- Hazou supports them both. He just wants everyone to be happy.
- Yuno
- Ask Yuno to help Hazou cook family dinner.
- Hazou is concerned with Yuno constantly threatening Noburi. It isn't healthy for their relationship.
- Sometimes Noburi's behavior makes her unhappy, which Hazou also doesn't want. Could she describe exactly how it makes her feel?
- When Kei, Hazou, and Noburi were in Mist, they were outcasts in their own way. Years later, not all of that has healed fully. Sometimes still, Hazou is insecure about his ideas being valued, Kei is insecure about her self-worth, and Noburi remembers being constantly overlooked. Part of his behavior may stem from that neglect, to reassure himself he's loved and appreciated, desirable even.
- Fear can be a useful tool, but it can't make someone love you, and Yuno deserves to be loved.
- Hazou would like Yuno and Noburi to find someone that can help them talk to each other, so they can both be happier.
I wish that there was less that I liked in this plan so I could suggest cutting some of it and including more content. I'd love to see Ma and Pa suggested as counsellors - I actually think that might work (they're remarkably insightful when they put their minds to it and Yuno respects the hell out of Summons).
I actually think that the Yuno section could be cut or pared down. I don't think that we should actually suggest counselling to her - who knows what Isanese taboo we might step on by making relationship suggestions? (A bullet point about 'follow all Isanese customs' might be an idea, so we don't accidentally challenge her to a dance-off to the death because that's what cooking together means in Isan.)
I think that paring the Yuno section down to 'ask her to cook dinner together, ask her how Noburi's behaviour makes her feel, talk about how much we empathize with the struggle of integrating into an entirely different culture, and how much harder it must be for Yuno, where the divide is so much greater and she doesn't have anyone from her village around her' would be sufficient and much lower-risk while accomplishing pretty much the same thing. The rest of the wordcount could be put towards an Akane scene.
If you add some checks (Isanese customs, not overstepping when it comes to meddling in their relationship) you have my vote.