I'd just like to point out that Homura is already feeling neglected, and also losing faith in us .

It may not be very nice to pull a timestop be-right-back right now, but it's not totally needless either.
 
Keep them, they make sense and the boone vote is worse for their absence ie: not actually saying anything. The boone and sereg objections...don't make much sense.

I'm afraid of making her feel more guilty. That's probably what resulted in the earlier breakdown.

You're going to have to explain to Mami why you're expecting a feather to nuke the whole goddamn area because what you're voting for is certainly not quiet.

I personally don't see half the precedent or justification for those protections or the active grief.

Mami won't be able to see what we're doing other than making a box. Sure, it'll feel like witch, but that'\s why I'm warning her and lots of what we do feels like witch. If she asks about the feather, we want to look at it. If she asks for further details, we don't know how it got there and we're curious. All that's true and normal for us. But we have to prepare for the unexpected when it comes to these feathers. It came from our barrier, meaning one of two things:

1. We have a lot less control over our powers than we thought.

2. This thing can hijack at least some of our abilities.

Both possibilities are pretty terrifying and advise extreme caution.
 
Except that the alternative is not saying anything at all, and we do need to be honest with Mami. What you're suggesting is frankly stalling- which isn't going to work.

Also the feather action is ill-advised. At best it's an overreaction, at worst it draws attention to it. Just deal with it and focus on what matters-ie: not the feather that's probably more or less harmless in and of itself.
 
I'm saying plenty in my vote.

As for drawing attention to the feather, you do have a point there. I just consider that to be less of a problem than what could possibly go wrong if we don't treat it with the caution it needs.

Hmmmm ... I suppose it is true that everything going utterly horribly in the short while we encase it in ordinary grief is unlikely, though Mami may notice us picking up the feather anyway. What if we only add those precautions if Mami notices us picking up the feather anyway?
 
@Sereg

[] Reassure Mami that you are here, you won't leave her alone, apologise to her and explain that you got to check something and it might feel witchy.

Far, far too little emphasis on Mami and too much on the SCIENCE and the wording's too...impersonal and vague. It's effectively blowing off Mami's trauma to go play with the feather.

For the suggestion: if Mami notices us picking up the feather, then there's no point in making it seem even stranger than it really is by acting like its a bomb. Basically, I feel the odds of it being OMG BAD END TRAUMA FOREVER are slim enouh that we really shouldn't make it any more attention getting than it already is. Just pick it up quietly and be done with it?
 
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Picnic time!

Hitomi: "Hello Madoka, Sayaka, Homura. Hello Mami and... Nagisa, right? It's nice to see you all but... where's Sabrina?"

Sayaka: "Oh, some birds flew all of a sudden, so she ran off under that bench over there. Yes, the one that looks like a bunker. No, it didn't look like a bunker earlier. We're... certain she'll come out soon, don't worry about her."

Hitomi: "... Is this normal?"

Sayaka: *Whisper* "Between you and me, she won't make Mami wait for long, so really don't worry about it."

Hitomi nods.
 
[X] Ugolino.
For Mami, it would be a question of going on a "shopping trip" before spending the rest of the evening with Sabrina, or skipping the "shopping trip" and just spending the rest of the evening with Sabrina. She would be spending the whole time with us in either case, so it's just a question of whether or not she wants to go mess with some yakuza, and I suspect that the answer is "no". But if the answer is "yes", then that's good too. She can come with.
A: It's not just about how much time she has to spend away from Sabrina, it's how much time Sabrina spends away from her. She worries for us, you know. Because of stuff like this.
B: Inviting Mami along on the shopping trip with Homura is very rude and she's already annoyed with us. We're smarter than this. We don't have to be bad at social.
 
Vote tally:
##### 3.21
[x] Compare feather to Homucifer's feathers.
No. of votes: 1
Torgamous

[X]Panic.
-[X]Panic
-[X]Realize panicking will only make Mami feel worse.
[X]Take the feather, look at it closely, store feather.
[X]Ask Mami what she wants to do.
[X]Mentally contact Oriko.
No. of votes: 1
universalperson

[X] Grab the feather and put it in your pocket.
[X] Ask Mami if she's still up for enchantment practice, or for meeting up with Megane.
[X] Telepathy Oriko. Tell her about the feather. Arrange for a meeting if need be. If possible, transmit a mental snapshot of the Feather you picked up.
[X] Telepath Homura. Confirm a meeting time, and inform Homura that there is something that we'd like her to see.
No. of votes: 1
Andmeuths

[X] Agent Whiskers
No. of votes: 9
JarringToaster, kanemi, MissingJimbo, defenestrator, noahgab1133, Guilop, NSMS, Crasian01, AuraTwilight

[x] Comfort Mami
[x] Apologize for scaring her, and promise to be more careful in the future
[x] Do you want to go home? Somewhere else?
[x] Contact Homura and ask if Mami can come with us on the heist.
-[x]If yes, tell Mami about Homura's planned supply run and ask if she would like to go
-[x]If yes, great finalize those plans and do something lighthearted with Mami in the meantime.
-[x]If no, cancel with Homura and apologize, saying that we still wish to talk, but we can't leave Mami at this time.​
-[x]If no, apologize and say we still need to talk, but we can't leave Mami at this time. Spend a lighthearted evening in with Mami.
No. of votes: 1
sopchoppy

[x] Discreetly encase the feather in solid grief and move it among the other masses of grief, without bothering Mami.
[x] Apologize for worrying Mami, be close and hug her or talk if she wants, otherwise be silent for a minute as she recovers her composure.
[x] Mami was excited about practicing magic earlier, and you want to encourage her, so ask if she would still like to practice magic, maybe show you how to do some of the things she mentioned yesterday.
-[x] If Mami still wants to practice magic, then practice.
[x] Play some music.
[x] If Mami looks like she is feeling better, mention the possibility of meeting up with Ono Megane, possibly to do a witch hunt.
-[x] If Mami doesn't look like she's better, or if she doesn't want to meet Ono, then telepathy Homura and tell her that we're worried about Ono and Mami and ask if she could check up on Ono and possibly pass her a grief seed for us.
[x] Ask if Mami wants to go on the excursion with Homura.
[x] Ask if there's anything that Mami wants to do, if not then fly home, drink tea, eat dinner.
[x] When Homura comes by (and Mami isn't present), show her the feather and tell her where we found it. Discuss the feather, then ask to go see Oriko together.
No. of votes: 7
boonerunner, moonstne, BeaconHill, MrLZRS, AnonymousRabbit, 'Lement, Jakinbandw

[X] Don't panic! at least externally
[X] Reassure Mami that you are here, you won't leave her alone, apologise to her and explain that you got to check something and it might feel witchy.
[X] full range scan, see if any witches or meguca are near
-[X] if its a witch, mark for later extermination
-[X] if its a meguca, try contacting
[X] Examine the feather, grief senses magic senses, the works
[X] Lift feather with grief and wrap in box
-[x]Box is to be filled with argon.
-[x]Inside layer of box is to be surgical steel.
-[x] After that, layers of medical silver, adamatium, diamond, lead and cold iron. Cold iron will be the outermost layer.
--[x] That feather is not keeping us from Mami and it will keep for later.
[x]Continue to comfort Mami.
-[x]Mami, I'm not going to leave you. You are more special to me than you realise
--[x] Create grief locket shaped like a heart.
--[x] If you were to open my heart, you'd find a space that only you can fill.
---[x]Open locket to reveal indentation shaped like Mami's face. Inside indentation is a picture of Mami.
-[x] And nothing is going to take me away from you. I'd like to see them try!
--[x] Put on grief!boxing gloves and lift fists.
-[x] Let gloves disolve
--[x]But their are more important things than my power. I don't think you realise what being with you has meant for me. You took me into your home when I was a stranger. You put up with me at my silliest and most irresponsible, you gave me your voice when I didn't know what to say and have supported me in my most ridiculous endeavors. You've also kept me rooted and stopped me from flying too close to the Sun. I need you to be part of my life and that isn't going to change.
-[x]But I've worried you far too much. Now it's the time for you. I want to do what you want, because making you happy makes me happy and spending time with you is always time well spent.

[x] Ask where she would like to go next.
No. of votes: 1
Sereg

[X]Agent whiskets
No. of votes: 1
o3o

[X] Discreetly encase the feather in solid grief and move it among the other masses of grief, without bothering Mami.
[X] Hug her and apologize for worrying her, again. Keep reassuring and supporting her.
[X]Ask her what she wants to do. If she doesn't mention anything, ask if she wants to go home.
[X]If she does want to go home then...
-[x]Put the kettle on with a few grief marbles without leaving Mami's side
-[x]Ask Mami if she wants to talk. Listen if she does.
-[x]Otherwise, ask if she wants to do something like watch a movie, anything else, or just sit there.
No. of votes: 1
Agent Whiskers

[X] Discreetly encase the feather in solid grief and move it among the other masses of grief, without bothering Mami.
[X] Hug her and apologize for worrying her, again.
-[X]I...I've been an awful friend, haven't I? I keep hurting you, and it doesn't matter that I didn't mean to.
-[X]Mami, I'd never leave you unless you wanted me to. You don't need to be scared of being alone.
[X]Ask her what she wants to do. If she doesn't mention anything, ask if she wants to go home.
[X]If she does want to go home then...
-[x]Put the kettle on with a few grief marbles without leaving Mami's side
-[x]Ask Mami if she wants to talk. Listen if she does.
-[x]Otherwise, ask if she wants to do something like watch a movie, anything else, or just sit there.
No. of votes: 10
Ugolino, TyrantYuyuka, aeqnai, Dirtnap, EtchedSteel, Onmur, techsy730, Gadjo, Muramasa, Ruisu

I don't like the approach to Mami in the boone vote, but what really makes it a bad idea to me is the whole "inviting Mami along for the trip" thing. That's a big faux pas with normal people, with normal boundaries. Homura is not a normal person, and has much less forgiving boundaries, and she's already lost some trust in us. It's a very bad idea to invite Mami along without asking.

Edit: Hell, frankly it's a bad idea to ask. Again, it would be very rude.
 
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...I like the Ugo vote in terms of comforting Mami, but I do think we need to try and encourage her not to shut down completely from this. Distract her with something fun, something she's good at. And yeah, I'm mildly concerned about Ono too, but... I'm not willing to irritate Homura on the chance of Ono witching out. I feel like we would have gotten more clues if Ono was in imminent danger of that.

[X] Discreetly encase the feather in solid grief and move it among the other masses of grief, without bothering Mami.
[X] Hug her and apologize for worrying her, again.
-[X]I...I've been an awful friend, haven't I? I keep hurting you, and it doesn't matter that I didn't mean to.
-[X]Mami, I'd never leave you unless you wanted me to. You don't need to be scared of being alone.
[X] Ask her what she wants to do. If she doesn't mention anything, ask if she'd maybe like to try enchantment practice. She was excited about it earlier. We promise to try and use no grief, only magic.
-[X] If she's hesitating like she doesn't think that's a good idea, ask if she'd prefer to go home instead.
[X]If she does want to go home then...
-[x]Put the kettle on with a few grief marbles without leaving Mami's side
-[x]Ask Mami if she wants to talk. Listen if she does.
-[x]Otherwise, ask if she wants to do something like watch a movie, anything else, or just sit there.
 
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I'm mildly concerned about Ono too, but... I'm not willing to irritate Homura on the chance of Ono witching out. I feel like we would have gotten more clues if Ono was in imminent danger of that.
But we have gotten clues. We know that Ono would have witched out without our intervention (so we know that she is currently grief spiralling). We know that she used a grief seed this morning but she had not used a grief seed when we talked to her after school, and yet she still claimed that she was doing "fine". We know that a meguca can witchout in as short a time as an hour and a half (or less). And the intense discussion that we have had on the topic lets Firnagzen know that we did not miss these clues.

I don't like the approach to Mami in the boone vote, but what really makes it a bad idea to me is the whole "inviting Mami along for the trip" thing. That's a big faux pas with normal people, with normal boundaries. Homura is not a normal person, and has much less forgiving boundaries, and she's already lost some trust in us. It's a very bad idea to invite Mami along without asking.

Edit: Hell, frankly it's a bad idea to ask. Again, it would be very rude.
Personally, I don't think it's rude. Bringing Mami along would be a possible change of plans that would involve both Mami and Homura so the discussion would need to involve both of them, but I don't think that the order in which we talk to them matters very much, and I think it makes logical sense to ask Mami first since we're right there with her. However, if other people do want to talk to Homura about the possibility before talking to Mami, then I am willing to adjust the vote.

Also remember that we're not Mami's only friend. Homura also cares about her. Homura was seriously worried about Mami earlier today, so if Mami coming on the trip can help with her wellbeing, then Homura should be all for it.

Also, it was mentioned earlier, but I would like to point out again that the following line is extremely insensitive about Mami's feelings:
-[] I...I've been an awful friend, haven't I? I keep hurting you, and it doesn't matter that I didn't mean to.
If we tell Mami this, she will probably blame herself, and even if she doesn't, the line is still going to make her feel worse about the pain that Sabrina is feeling. If we must talk at Mami, can we at least not say things that are practically guaranteed to make her feel worse?
 
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I just realized a small silver lining to our recent dark clouds. Falling into a trance when creating our barrier this time at least proves that the "Let there be light" witch runes in the vote last time were not what caused us to burn so much time creating a barrier. That means using witch runes as a programming language is probably safe.
 
I just realized a small silver lining to our recent dark clouds. Falling into a trance when creating our barrier this time at least proves that the "Let there be light" witch runes in the vote last time were not what caused us to burn so much time creating a barrier. That means using witch runes as a programming language is probably safe.
True, but we probably want to take this as a warning about going overboard with undirected, frivolous SCIENCE. The fact this was the first explicit sign of our main antagonist is probably a good hint that grief is not a toy.
 
I just realized a small silver lining to our recent dark clouds. Falling into a trance when creating our barrier this time at least proves that the "Let there be light" witch runes in the vote last time were not what caused us to burn so much time creating a barrier. That means using witch runes as a programming language is probably safe.


may also be the means to communicate with witches and might help with bewitching them.

if witches are a magical in a constant state of pure despair breaking that might change them back

or not

we have to try though
 
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