Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

[EtchedSteel]

Hey guys, what's going on-

... this never gets old, does it?

[] Tone: Encouraging
-[] Telepathy Mami: Come on. They need you to be strong. You're the sempai they look up to, right? Sayaka is scared, and Madoka is lost. I can tell them, but you can show them.
[] Tone: Fondly teasing
-[] Madoka, you're not wimpy. But I know Homura appreciates your promise, anyway.
[] Tone: Comforting
-[] And Sayaka... We're always here to help you out if you need it. Even things like, say, trying to heal Kyousuke.
[] Allow discussion and wind-down

Going for this because:

1) Not going to vote for something that is hugging and comfort the mumi when we can use this chance to reassure the (now almost non-existant) cool big sis Mami is.
2) Not going to vote for anything that attempts talking down Madoka for reasons why she shouldn't contract like we were her fucking mentor, instead of her friend. We just made this whole convo awkward for everyone, lets not do it more than it already is. We're a meguca, metagaming knowledge doesn't makes us a therapist so please stop shadowrunning.

Edit: Eeerr... no. You know what? Abstaining. No vote is good right now, and I refuse to be part of whatever screw up the next update has for the winning vote.

 

['Lement]

It's not a bad vote - I like getting Mami up instead of making her lean on us - just that the last line from update:

Mami's hand trembles weakly in yours. Golden eyes, still bloodshot and puffy from crying, search your face, and you give her a warm, reassuring smile.

Click to shrink...

...She failed once already.

 

[Agent Whiskers]

Would just like to point out that I think Kinematic's analysis is spot on.

And Mami is already being hugged and consoled. By like three people. So voting for that feels more than a little redundant.

 

[SynchronizedWritersBlock]

@Kinematics

Agree that your analysis was spot on.

But your vote phrasing needs desperate work. Leading Mami with "Come on" is the equivalent of Sabrina is disappointed in you. Telling Madoka what she is or isn't doesn't address the core issue in your analysis post, and speaking for Homura downplays what the promise means between them, especially given the choice of tone. Sayaka... it isn't bad, but you very much drop the healing idea without preamble.

It kind of has this idea of trying to solve everything in one go and then smoothing things over and just moving on. I think we would benefit from taking things slower.

 

[Firnagzen]

Your hands tighten on Mami's, and you pull her into a hug again. She hangs limply in your arms as you stroke her hair, slowly and rhythmically, teasing your fingers through the strands. "I'm here," you murmur into her hair. "I'm here, Mami. We're here." Her rise slowly, as if in a trance, and hugs you back tightly with desperate strength.

Over Mami's head, you see Madoka turning back to watch you and Mami, her pink eyes wet with worried, pleading tears.

You nod minutely, careful not to disturb Mami as she leans into you. Your gaze slides across to Sayaka, sitting beside Madoka. She's staring down at her lap, hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. She glances up, looking at you, Mami, and finally Homura in turn, before clenching her teeth together and staring down at her hands again.

Homura watches Madoka, the weight of her silent, unending vigil almost a tangible thing.

Mami loosens her deathgrip on you, though her arms are still wrapped around you. "T-thank you, S-Sabrina," she whispers, eyes still closed and head leaning against you. "Thank you, s-so much."

You exhale. "For nothing, Mami," you say, equally softly.

Mami separates from the hug, one of her hands staying on yours. She half turns, facing Madoka and Sayaka, and half bows to them from her seating position. "I-I'm sorry. I'm s-sorry f-for t-trying to r-recruit you into b-being magical g-girls," she croaks.

Sayaka hunches in on herself, still watching the floor. "I-it's OK," she says. "You... it's Kyuubey's fault."

Madoka sniffles, scrubbing at her face with her sleeve. "I-I'm sorry I can't do anything."

Homura reaches out towards Madoka, but her hand halts in the air, and she pulls her hand back to her chest.

The movement doesn't escape Madoka, and she reaches out her own hand towards Homura, a small, tentative smile on her soft face despite the unshed tears.

Homura's gaze drops, and she closes her eyes, swallowing.

You shake your head, yourself reaching out to lay your hand on Homura's shoulder, Mami's hand tightening on yours as you're forced to lean away from her a little. Tired amethyst eyes slide open, meeting yours, and you smile softly at her. You gently take her hand, and present it to Madoka.

Madoka's hands close on Homura's, holding it tightly. "I-I'm s-sorry," Madoka whispers. "I-it really h-hurts to to see you suffering so much, and n-not be able to do anything about it."

"N-no!" Homura says, her iron veneer cracking. "M-madoka, j-just let me protect you...."

"Homura..." Madoka whispers, clutching Homura's hand.

You blow out a breath. "Madoka, not contracting needlessly isn't cowardice, it's wisdom." You meet and hold her eyes. "There are other ways to help. You're braver than you give yourself credit for, Madoka," you say with a thin, ironic smile. "Believe me. But you're also smarter than that. The cost is too high. Not just for you, but for everyone who cares about you."

"I-I don't u-understand," Madoka says.

"You don't have to," Homura says. "J-just please-"

"I w-won't," Madoka says.

Silence falls again, Homura's head bowed over her hands, clutched in Madoka's. Sayaka seems uncomfortable, glancing at you, then Madoka and then back again.

"Sayaka," you say. The bluenette looks up at you, frustration evident in her frown and the way her hands are still fisted in her lap. "You were thinking of using your Wish to heal Kyousuke, right?"

She looks away. "Y-yeah," she admits. "I guess that's o-out of the question, huh."

"We can still heal him, though," you say.

"Y-yeah," she repeats, still looking away, shoulders hunched and head dipped so that her fringe shadows her eyes.

[] Write-in

=====​

Poor sad... well, everyone, really.

 

['Lement]

So I finally found where the "her Brain damage is acting up again" Kyoko comes from.

Madokami, this is all your fault!

Though that is cute too....

 

[Sailor Midgard]

Okay, SNAFU, but could be worse
Things to consider
A) Try to get Madoka away from feeling useless, perhaps playing up her support role for us, ESPECIALLY for Homur
B) Emphasize that re: Kyosuke the most important thing is to get hin healed, not who does it.
C) Let Kyuubey take the blame, far better it than Mami.

 

[SynchronizedWritersBlock]

I don't know how we pulled it off, but we managed an "I don't understand" out of the most understanding person in the series...

 

[CompassJimbo]

Alright, umm, rough outline here.
[] Bring the plan to heal Kyosuke back up. We don't need specialized healers for minor injuries, after all.
[] Start exploring ways to have Madoka and Sayaka be able to help without contracting.
[] Wonder where Kyuubey is. This seems like the exact kind of time for him to show up.

I may add more as discussion continues.

 

[Cannongerbil]

Okay, SNAFU, but could be worse

Click to shrink...

SNAFU? Really? This is practically proceeding as planned.

Of course, this isn't exactly a glowing reflection of the quality of our plans, but still....

[] Start exploring ways to have Madoka and Sayaka be able to help without contracting.

Click to shrink...

A) Try to get Madoka away from feeling useless, perhaps playing up her support role for us, ESPECIALLY for Homura

Click to shrink...

Guys, would you lay off this issue already? Seriously, she knows enough that she won't contract unless the situation goes off the deep end. That's enough. All we have to do now is make sure that the situation doesn't turn to shit, and this is something that we are actually good at, for a change.

We don't need nor do we have the capacity to fix all of her psychological issues, and finding shit for her to do will just get them needlessly more involved in the meguca system. Exactly what Homura was afraid of when we brought up this whole issue to begin with.

Seriously, stop treating her like a fucking lemming who'd go make a contract at the drop of a hat.

[] Wonder where Kyuubey is. This seems like the exact kind of time for him to show up.

Click to shrink...

Please don't.

 

[Baroque]

I don't know how we pulled it off, but we managed an "I don't understand" out of the most understanding person in the series...

Click to shrink...

If we 'succeeded' any harder, Madoka might have spontaneously grown rings around her twintails.

That said, I think it should be brought up to Madoka that one of the most helpful things she can do is to keep on as she's been -- being a good friend. It might be horrendously campy and/or cliche, but when our job description boils down to 'See exotic pocket realms! Fight the unnatural, horrible natives! Slay the boss at the end of the dungeon! Oh, and try not to die' it's nice to have someone we can come back to who's just a friend. When your life is full of the magical and fantastic out to mulch you, it's nice to have some normal to come back to.0

If that's not enough, though, there's always the possibility of cooking up some form of no-contract-needed role Madoka could be capable of that would actually help. Now that I think about it, though, on that note . . . if we're trying to science our way to breaking the system to help people out, what about getting Madoka in on that as an assistant? One behind a fuckton of blast shielding, of course, or just keeping notes, or the like. We'd have to run this by both her AND Homura, though, all things considered, and that's if we even go down this route (considering this is one of those just-in-case ideas rather than the go-to one as far as I'm concerned . . . though it is an APPEALING just-in-case, not gonna lie).

 

[theauthor]

Random relevant thought :
How fast mami will witchout if kyubey drop the witchbomb? If not fast enough I fail to see kyubey to get anything productive by suddenly showing up, considering he knew our power

 

[Cannongerbil]

If we 'succeeded' any harder, Madoka might have spontaneously grown rings around her twintails.

That said, I think it should be brought up to Madoka that one of the most helpful things she can do is to keep on as she's been -- being a good friend. It might be horrendously campy and/or cliche, but when our job description boils down to 'See exotic pocket realms! Fight the unnatural, horrible natives! Slay the boss at the end of the dungeon! Oh, and try not to die' it's nice to have someone we can come back to who's just a friend. When your life is full of the magical and fantastic out to mulch you, it's nice to have some normal to come back to.0

If that's not enough, though, there's always the possibility of cooking up some form of no-contract-needed role Madoka could be capable of that would actually help. Now that I think about it, though, on that note . . . if we're trying to science our way to breaking the system to help people out, what about getting Madoka in on that as an assistant? One behind a fuckton of blast shielding, of course, or just keeping notes, or the like. We'd have to run this by both her AND Homura, though, all things considered, and that's if we even go down this route (considering this is one of those just-in-case ideas rather than the go-to one as far as I'm concerned . . . though it is an APPEALING just-in-case, not gonna lie).

Click to shrink...

Guys, would you lay off this issue already? Seriously, she knows enough that she won't contract unless the situation goes off the deep end. That's enough. All we have to do now is make sure that the situation doesn't turn to shit, and this is something that we are actually good at, for a change.

We don't need nor do we have the capacity to fix all of her psychological issues, and finding shit for her to do will just get them needlessly more involved in the meguca system. Exactly what Homura was afraid of when we brought up this whole issue to begin with.

Seriously, stop treating her like a fucking lemming who'd go make a contract at the drop of a hat.

Click to shrink...

 

[Sailor Midgard]

As you said, even if our plans work the situation is still decidedly sub optimal.

SNAFU? Really? This is practically proceeding as planned.

Of course, this isn't exactly a glowing reflection of the quality of our plans, but still....




Guys, would you lay off this issue already? Seriously, she knows enough that she won't contract unless the situation goes off the deep end. That's enough. All we have to do now is make sure that the situation doesn't turn to shit, and this is something that we are actually good at, for a change.

We don't need nor do we have the capacity to fix all of her psychological issues, and finding shit for her to do will just get them needlessly more involved in the meguca system. Exactly what Homura was afraid of when we brought up this whole issue to begin with.

Seriously, stop treating her like a fucking lemming who'd go make a contract at the drop of a hat.

Click to shrink...

On the Madoka issue, well, I do not think a contract is the issue here, but, aside from humanitarian concerns, a happier Madoka is a happier Homura...

 

[Drox]

While healing Kyousuke is good, remember that Sayaka already feels bad about being unable to pay Hitomi back. Now she's likely to feel the same way about Sabrina for healing violin boy.

Any ideas for how Sayaka to "pay us back" so she doesn't do anything she'll end up regretting? (And maybe cursing the world, spreading despair, the usual)

 

[UberJJK]

Spoiler: SynchronizedWritersBlock Response

Grief dissipation: pretty sure most of this had been mentioned but the magical reserve idea is very interesting. The problem though is that magic itself isn't controllable beyond 100m, so we'd have to be able to preprogram it, and that would require considerably more skill with magic than we have at present. Better get Mami to tutor us and practice a lot more.

Click to shrink...

Well we don't know it would take considerably more skill. It could just be as simple as pumping a bunch of magic into the construct. A slightly more complicated approach would be dumping a bunch of mana into the construct and hooking that into the same tendril that connects to our Soul Gem.

It's really something we'll need to test. But I wouldn't the least bit surprised if it does take a bunch of practice with enchanting.

Hmm. I wonder if it's simply a question of willing the grief to last longer. We tried to make it permanent but if grief consumes magic to hold it together that would be flat out impossible which would explain the headache. Willing it to last longer however should be possible.

Grief manufacturing: plenty of ideas along these lines in addition to yours. My personal favorite is grief lenses and mirrors to form light beams. If you can come up with a nonlethal ranged weapon that both is more effective because of our grief and can hit past our range, I'm interested.

Click to shrink...

Someone brought it up earlier but sonic cannons would be pretty effective. We could heal any hearing damage that occurs and it's really just a matter of creating a giant grief speaker**, one of the easiest things I can think of. Given that the primary foe we'd want to go non-lethal against is other magical girls we should look into high frequency sonic weapons since they are incredibly annoying* and can't be heard be people over 20.

*I've messed around with them when I was younger and in addition to just been painful I've actually had them cause rather painful headaches.

**Basically just make a large cone of solid grief that vibrates backwards and forwards at the desired frequency and distance (sound).

Clones were definitely operable beyond 100m. We need to have a good look at that girl's magic, I think.

Click to shrink...

Yes we do. If they do work past 100m I have to wonder if there is communication between the cloner and the clone. Because they could just be creating a large reserve of magic to power a clone with it's own brain. Or basically pre-programmed magical robots.

Invisibility is pretty cool but in any real combat we would have to combine it with grief decoys, because every dangerous opponent can sense grief even invisible. Grief decoys are fortunately, easy.

Click to shrink...

How practical it is in Puella on Puella combat is definitely unknown. Decoys and saturating the area with grief might work or it might not. It's still guaranteed to work on mundanes and depending upon what senses they have may work on witches.

Spoiler: Lement Response

@grief dissipation:
Few other thoughts:

Grief may be aligned to source and try to imitiate it's initial one.
Nature spirits.

Click to shrink...

Not quite sure what your trying to say here.

@range/magic:
I think we're going to need better enchanting skills for that. Can we boostrap our way to enchanting?

Click to shrink...

We might. Or it could just be a matter of wanting the grief matter to last longer as I mentioned in my response to SWB.

Sadly I don't think there is an easy way to bootstrap our way to enchanting. However I would suggest working on solid grief rather then random rocks/objects. It's less likely to explode and even if it does we can just reform it. I also suspect it may be a bit easier since it's already infused with our magic.

My primary thoughts have been to cover the entire world in Sabrina portal/barrier network tbh. Thank you, Sakura.

Click to shrink...

Now if only there was a Puella version of Doormaker from Worm.

@range/combat: Ion cannon messes with atmosphere and may light fires, I think?
Otherwise not that bad of an idea to test out.

Click to shrink...

Messing with the atmosphere isn't really a problem since it's not like we're talking about massive amounts of energy. Let's say we have an airflow into the device of 1m^3/s. Air has a density of 1.225kg/m^3 and a heat capacity of 1.012J/g/k. So we would need 1239.7J per degree of temperature increase. Air turns into a plasma around 175,000C so from 25C that is a 174,975C increase for an energy requirement of 216,916,507.5J (217MJ) per second.

217MW may seem like a lot but that's basically the power consumption of two 747s (280MW) and that's for a pretty powerful beam. We can easily dial the yield by adjusting the airflow.

But it's basically a plasma beam. It's not going to do nice things to anything in it's way.

@witch bodies: Eh, I abandoned it lest Homura thought we'd be weird with Hildegirl tagging along. Still want to try, just not now now. Though that would perhaps be one way to avert tetris.

Click to shrink...

Given Homura's reaction to the idea of de-witchifying someone I think she'll accept the weirdness. Especially since this technique could be used to save Madoka should the worst come about and she contracts and somehow witches out.

@grief Sabrinas: That's somewhat a version of the witch bodies above. Make grief give you sense output.

Click to shrink...

This actually ties into something I was pondering. We know that Sayaka and Sabrina don't experience anything while their Soul Gems are disconnected and there is a bunch of evidence for that applying to every Puella. The question is why?

There are hints that everything important about a Puella, including their memories, are stored in their gem so why wouldn't they remember? Especially if they have senses that don't depend upon their body like Sabrina.

My theory is that QB was quite accurate when he compared our bodies to hardware. A Puella's soul is stored in their soul gem but it can't actually do anything without a body to run on. But if you think about it the only thing Sabrina really needs to live is her brain. Sensory input can be provided by her grief sense, she just needs her brain to process it.

So what about creating grief brains to run Sabrina on? We keep them up in the sky and invisible so they are unlikely to be hit by an attack. Not only would this boost Sabrina's brain power, letting her fight to her full extend in a confusing battle, but should something happen to our body we can continue running off the grief brains and then use our grief healing to heal our body ASAP.

@equipment: I want conceptual stuff myself.

Maybe info-based conceptual stuff. Satori's eye would have helped with Akiko, for example.

Click to shrink...

Eh. It really depends upon how conceptual we can get with grief constructs and given how crazy useful conceptual stuff can be I doubt we can go too far.

I disagree with that counting of marbles, we had around two thousand or so after emptying Hildegirl.

Click to shrink...

Where exactly did you get the idea we had around two thousand? Because I don't remember anything that would imply that.

@Microwaved Tea:

That...seems possible?

Tea might be witchy, though.

Still a worthwhile experiment.

Anyway, heating tea in any way really easily messes with it. You can heat tea without ruining taste - by few degrees. Getting it past body temperature makes it taste more awful than black tea left to sit for a hour.

Click to shrink...

Grief Magic.

I don't care if it's witchy, after all that wouldn't harm Sabrina!, we could drink microwaved tea! And have it taste good!

 

[Baroque]

Seriously, stop treating her like a fucking lemming who'd go make a contract at the drop of a hat.

Click to shrink...

Sorry if my musings came across as that, but really -- even if it's not an immediate concern to vote-on, it's worth our time to at least consider the possibilities of how we can lift her spirits; while she's no longer likely to contract, giving her an outlet with which to channel her (un)natural tendency to help others may make this status ironclad -- even if it's just by letting her know that her being the same ol' friend she's been for us so far has been a stellar job of helping already. Besides, a happier Madoka is always a goal to strive for; 4 out of 5 alternate-timeline Homuras agree, and the 5th was too busy fighting Walpurgisnacht to chime in.

Any ideas for how Sayaka to "pay us back" so she doesn't do anything she'll end up regretting? (And maybe cursing the world, spreading despair, the usual)

Click to shrink...

Now that you mention this, this makes bringing up the notion that Madoka & Sayaka are helping us out just by being themselves even more appealing; they're normal enough but still in-the-loop, they're the Alfred to our Batman . . . or, in Madoka's case, the Lois Lane to Homura's Superman, not that we'll be spilling that within earshot of either if we want to not get punched into last week. Oh wait, so THAT'S how we ended up the way we were at the start . . .

 

[theauthor]

Well we don't know it would take considerably more skill. It could just be as simple as pumping a bunch of magic into the construct. A slightly more complicated approach would be dumping a bunch of mana into the construct and hooking that into the same tendril that connects to our Soul Gem.

It's really something we'll need to test. But I wouldn't the least bit surprised if it does take a bunch of practice with enchanting.

Hmm. I wonder if it's simply a question of willing the grief to last longer. We tried to make it permanent but if grief consumes magic to hold it together that would be flat out impossible which would explain the headache. Willing it to last longer however should be possible.



Someone brought it up earlier but sonic cannons would be pretty effective. We could heal any hearing damage that occurs and it's really just a matter of creating a giant grief speaker**, one of the easiest things I can think of. Given that the primary foe we'd want to go non-lethal against is other magical girls we should look into high frequency sonic weapons since they are incredibly annoying* and can't be heard be people over 20.

*I've messed around with them when I was younger and in addition to just been painful I've actually had them cause rather painful headaches.

**Basically just make a large cone of solid grief that vibrates backwards and forwards at the desired frequency and distance (sound).


Yes we do. If they do work past 100m I have to wonder if there is communication between the cloner and the clone. Because they could just be creating a large reserve of magic to power a clone with it's own brain. Or basically pre-programmed magical robots.



How practical it is in Puella on Puella combat is definitely unknown. Decoys and saturating the area with grief might work or it might not. It's still guaranteed to work on mundanes and depending upon what senses they have may work on witches.



Not quite sure what your trying to say here.



We might. Or it could just be a matter of wanting the grief matter to last longer as I mentioned above.

Sadly I don't think there is an easy way to bootstrap our way to enchanting. However I would suggest working on solid grief rather then random rocks/objects. It's less likely to explode and even if it does we can just reform it. I also suspect it may be a bit easier since it's already infused with our magic.



Now if only there was a Puella version of Doormaker from Worm.



Messing with the atmosphere isn't really a problem since it's not like we're talking about massive amounts of energy. Let's say we have an airflow into the device of 1m^3/s. Air has a density of 1.225kg/m^3 and a heat capacity of 1.012J/g/k. So we would need 1239.7J per degree of temperature increase. Air turns into a plasma around 175,000C so from 25C that is a 174,975C increase for an energy requirement of 216,916,507.5J (217MJ) per second.

217MW may seem like a lot but that's basically the power consumption of two 747s (280MW) and that's for a pretty powerful beam. We can easily dial the yield by adjusting the airflow.

But it's basically a plasma beam. It's not going to do nice things to anything in it's way.



Given Homura's reaction to the idea of de-witchifying someone I think she'll accept the weirdness. Especially since this technique could be used to save Madoka should the worst come about and she contracts and somehow witches out.



This actually ties into something I was pondering. We know that Sayaka and Sabrina don't experience anything while their Soul Gems are disconnected and there is a bunch of evidence for that applying to every Puella. The question is why?

There are hints that everything important about a Puella, including their memories, are stored in their gem so why wouldn't they remember? Especially if they have senses that don't depend upon their body like Sabrina.

My theory is that QB was quite accurate when he compared our bodies to hardware. A Puella's soul is stored in their soul gem but it can't actually do anything without a body to run on. But if you think about it the only thing Sabrina really needs to live is her brain. Sensory input can be provided by her grief sense, she just needs her brain to process it.

So what about creating grief brains to run Sabrina on? We keep them up in the sky and invisible so they are unlikely to be hit by an attack. Not only would this boost Sabrina's brain power, letting her fight to her full extend in a confusing battle, but should something happen to our body we can continue running off the grief brains and then use our grief healing to heal our body ASAP.



Eh. It really depends upon how conceptual we can get with grief constructs and given how crazy useful conceptual stuff can be I doubt we can go too far.



Where exactly did you get the idea we had around two thousand? Because I don't remember anything that would imply that.



Grief Magic.

I don't care if it's witchy, after all that wouldn't harm Sabrina!, we could drink microwaved tea! And have it taste good!

Click to shrink...

Can you at least put it on spoiler?

 

[UberJJK]

Can you at least put it on spoiler?

Click to shrink...

It's not that long it's only 1.3k words. I've seen votes longer then that

Still spoilered. I'll try to remember that PMAS doesn't like 3k+ discussion posts.

 

[SynchronizedWritersBlock]

Your hands tighten on Mami's, and you pull her into a hug again. She hangs limply in your arms as you stroke her hair, slowly and rhythmically, teasing your fingers through the strands. "I'm here," you murmur into her hair. "I'm here, Mami. We're here." Her rise slowly, as if in a trance, and hugs you back tightly with desperate strength.

Over Mami's head, you see Madoka turning back to watch you and Mami, her pink eyes wet with worried, pleading tears.

Click to shrink...

Body language shouting help me fix this. Looking to us for solutions.

You nod minutely, careful not to disturb Mami as she leans into you. Your gaze slides across to Sayaka, sitting beside Madoka. She's staring down at her lap, hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. She glances up, looking at you, Mami, and finally Homura in turn, before clenching her teeth together and staring down at her hands again.

Homura watches Madoka, the weight of her silent, unending vigil almost a tangible thing.

Mami loosens her deathgrip on you, though her arms are still wrapped around you. "T-thank you, S-Sabrina," she whispers, eyes still closed and head leaning against you. "Thank you, s-so much."

You exhale. "For nothing, Mami," you say, equally softly.

Mami separates from the hug, one of her hands staying on yours. She half turns, facing Madoka and Sayaka, and half bows to them from her seating position. "I-I'm sorry. I'm s-sorry f-for t-trying to r-recruit you into b-being magical g-girls," she croaks.

Sayaka hunches in on herself, still watching the floor. "I-it's OK," she says. "You... it's Kyuubey's fault."

Madoka sniffles, scrubbing at her face with her sleeve. "I-I'm sorry I can't do anything."

Click to shrink...

I think that's about as good a recovery as we could have gotten from Mami. Obviously not good to have her beating herself up, but having people other than us both supporting and understanding her means a lot. Status: needs work.

Homura reaches out towards Madoka, but her hand halts in the air, and she pulls her hand back to her chest.

The movement doesn't escape Madoka, and she reaches out her own hand towards Homura, a small, tentative smile on her soft face despite the unshed tears.

Homura's gaze drops, and she closes her eyes, swallowing.

You shake your head, yourself reaching out to lay your hand on Homura's shoulder, Mami's hand tightening on yours as you're forced to lean away from her a little. Tired amethyst eyes slide open, meeting yours, and you smile softly at her. You gently take her hand, and present it to Madoka.

Madoka's hands close on Homura's, holding it tightly. "I-I'm s-sorry," Madoka whispers. "I-it really h-hurts to to see you suffering so much, and n-not be able to do anything about it."

"N-no!" Homura says, her iron veneer cracking. "M-madoka, j-just let me protect you...."

"Homura..." Madoka whispers, clutching Homura's hand.

Click to shrink...

Homura frames everything through her own lens here. I'm glad they're interacting, but being stuck in that I Must Protect You mindset isn't helping. It's even more evident later when her response is 'you don't need to understand'. That is pretty much the opposite of what Madoka needs.

You blow out a breath. "Madoka, not contracting needlessly isn't cowardice, it's wisdom." You meet and hold her eyes. "There are other ways to help. You're braver than you give yourself credit for, Madoka," you say with a thin, ironic smile. "Believe me. But you're also smarter than that. The cost is too high. Not just for you, but for everyone who cares about you."

"I-I don't u-understand," Madoka says.

"You don't have to," Homura says. "J-just please-"

"I w-won't," Madoka says.

Click to shrink...

Helplessness status: still powerless. Sees no way out still. This is practically opening the door for Kyubey to suggest improving the lives of her friends as a wish when we aren't around.

Powerless depression is what led to the end of series wish. If you think this is ok you need to reconsider.

Silence falls again, Homura's head bowed over her hands, clutched in Madoka's. Sayaka seems uncomfortable, glancing at you, then Madoka and then back again.

"Sayaka," you say. The bluenette looks up at you, frustration evident in her frown and the way her hands are still fisted in her lap. "You were thinking of using your Wish to heal Kyousuke, right?"

She looks away. "Y-yeah," she admits. "I guess that's o-out of the question, huh."

"We can still heal him, though," you say.

"Y-yeah," she repeats, still looking away, shoulders hunched and head dipped so that her fringe shadows her eyes.

Click to shrink...

Beating herself up over the selfish fantasy of being the one to heal her crush? D
reams of heroism: crushed? Or the repaying favors issue?







I was going to say this before the update, but you can boil down the issues of each of our four friends to varying forms of helplessness or powerlessness.

 

[Sailor Midgard]

Sorry if my musings came across as that, but really -- even if it's not an immediate concern to vote-on, it's worth our time to at least consider the possibilities of how we can lift her spirits; while she's no longer likely to contract, giving her an outlet with which to channel her (un)natural tendency to help others may make this status ironclad -- even if it's just by letting her know that her being the same ol' friend she's been for us so far has been a stellar job of helping already. Besides, a happier Madoka is always a goal to strive for; 4 out of 5 alternate-timeline Homuras agree, and the 5th was too busy fighting Walpurgisnacht to chime in.


Now that you mention this, this makes bringing up the notion that Madoka & Sayaka are helping us out just by being themselves even more appealing; they're normal enough but still in-the-loop, they're the Alfred to our Batman . . . or, in Madoka's case, the Lois Lane to Homura's Superman, not that we'll be spilling that within earshot of either if we want to not get punched into last week. Oh wait, so THAT'S how we ended up the way we were at the start . . .

Click to shrink...

Lkie I said, only argued better...
Guys, Stop them from contracting NAO should not be the sole thing we should take in consideration now; these are good people and they are hurting- you do not have to have a messiah complex like Madoka to want to help...

 

[Ugolino]

Can't stick around and am probably going to be out of contact for a while, but we can and should deal with Madoka's issues.

 

[Muramasa]

Hmm... so now what? I'm at a bit of a loss on where to go from here.


[] Try to work on lightening the mood. Get a pot of tea going.

 

[Cannongerbil]

Hmm... so now what? I'm at a bit of a loss on where to go from here.

[] Try to work on lightening the mood. Get a pot of tea going.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, we're kinda done here, really. Unless we REALLY want to seriously discuss healing Kyousuke, all that's left is the wrap up. Tea, reassure Mami that being a Meguca isn't the end of the world, some light hearted stuff to get away from the depressing mood, and drop Madoka and Sayaka a telepathic line about giving Mami their support as they are leaving.

 

[SynchronizedWritersBlock]

Yeah, we're kinda done here, really. Unless we REALLY want to seriously discuss healing Kyousuke, all that's left is the wrap up. Tea, reassure Mami that being a Meguca isn't the end of the world, some light hearted stuff to get away from the depressing mood, and drop Madoka and Sayaka a telepathic line about giving Mami their support as they are leaving.

Click to shrink...

It's hard to describe how horrified I am at the idea of leaving things as is.