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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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I kind of get why she blew us off, even if you don't include that her darkening gem might've affected her thinking too.

Consider the day from her perspective
  • She just learned telepathy. Which means any meguca she knows can easily bug her from her thoughts any time of the day. It's like your phone automatically answers any calls that get to it, and there's no bloody 'block this caller' feature. You can't even slam the damn thing if the person on the other end is annoying you
  • ... and we just proceeded to contact her by telepathy several times a day. She tried being cold and indifferent to subtly tried to tell us to bugger off, but this dense idiot can't seem to take a hint.
  • But that's okay! It's justified seeing as they keep telling us about training us a meguca and fighting witches. This is important stuff, and they're concerned enough that they gave us a seed for free.
  • ...But it seems that it wasn't *that* important since they postponed the meeting. Again. If it wasn't that important, then you'd appreciate it if they'd stop calling you.
  • It's 9 pm! It's a school night! I just broke my goddamn toenail! I am too pissed off! No more nice little miss Ono! Stop fucking calling me!
 
I went back to check to see if there were any clues in the text to see if Ono has gotten worse since we talked to her last:
Firnagzen said:
You reach out telepathically. "Miss Ono?"

"Miss Sabrina," the magical girl responds, tone neutral.

"Apologies, but something's come up. We won't be able to meet right now - would later or tonight be acceptable? Perhaps a join Witch hunt?" you say, watching Sayaka flex an arm, grinning. She's... actually quite toned, it turns out.

There's a short pause before Megane replies. "That is acceptable," she says, tone frosty. "I will be waiting on your pleasure."

You don't quite raise an eyebrow on that.

"We're aiming to be able to meet up today," you say, hoping that will mollify her. "How are you doing?"

"I am doing fine," she says, voice just as chilly as it was earlier.
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Judging by the words alone, Ono was fine with the rescheduling. But judging by the tone...

Firnagzen said:
"If there's nothing else, I have matters to attend to," Megane replies, voice hovering somewhere south of arctic. "As I'm sure you have, with your busy schedule."

... Definitely trying to blow you off, with a side order of 'being bitchy as hell'.
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Yeah. It looks like Ono was seriously offended when we blew her off earlier. Her tone went immediately from "neutral" to "frosty" and stayed that way. Right now we're planning on going directly against Ono's stated wishes (and probably breaking into her house to do so), so talking is not going to be productive. So I'd really rather take care of what we need to do from within timestop. Ono will probably still notice that we were there, but at least we won't have to deal with her in person. That's not a strategy I would normally recommend for dealing with a friend, but "friends" probably isn't going to happen with Ono at this point.
 
I think she's reasonably unlikely to be in immediate danger, but that's beside the point. She's working off a lack of information that's dangerous now, and will probably get her killed one way or another in the near future if not corrected. She wants a cleanse, okay, but in order that we not end up repeating anything like this clusterfuck down the line, she needs to know various things.
Lichbomb; magic, and how it's slowly killing you; witches, and the hunting thereof; bunnycats, and their backstabbing ways; telepathy, and how it is not to be trusted; parties, phenomena or circumstances unknown are making witches act weirdly. Anything else?
 
FlatlineAskari said:
I think she's reasonably unlikely to be in immediate danger, but that's beside the point. She's working off a lack of information that's dangerous now, and will probably get her killed one way or another in the near future if not corrected. She wants a cleanse, okay, but in order that we not end up repeating anything like this clusterfuck down the line, she needs to know various things.
Lichbomb; magic, and how it's slowly killing you; witches, and the hunting thereof; bunnycats, and their backstabbing ways; telepathy, and how it is not to be trusted; parties, phenomena or circumstances unknown are making witches act weirdly. Anything else?
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These are things that we could talk to Ono about in the context of a cordial meeting like the one we were planning on having after school today. But that conversation is not going to happen when Ono is actively angry at us. And also note that Ono doesn't want a cleanse. She explicitly turned us down when we offered. We're en-route to see her because we think that she needs a cleanse regardless of what she says.
 
boonerunner said:
These are things that we could talk to Ono about in the context of a cordial meeting like the one we were planning on having after school today. But that conversation is not going to happen when Ono is actively angry at us. And also note that Ono doesn't want a cleanse. She explicitly turned us down when we offered. We're en-route to see her because we think that she needs a cleanse regardless of what she says.
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She isn't going to be happy with us until she knows why we won't leave her alone. Luckily, she doesn't need to be happy to be told these things; she just needs to sit down and shut up for five uninterrupted minutes. 'If you don't listen, you will in all likelihood die as a result' should deliver that outcome.

Okay, it's not perfect, but it beats the absolute shit out of trying to take responsibility for her safety and failing because we're incapable of babysitting her 24/7 and we haven't told her anything because she went all frowny whenever we tried.
 
FlatlineAskari said:
She isn't going to be happy with us until she knows why we won't leave her alone. Luckily, she doesn't need to be happy to be told these things; she just needs to sit down and shut up for five uninterrupted minutes. 'If you don't listen, you will in all likelihood die as a result' should deliver that outcome.
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Hmmm. I had thought we had already told her about that, but a closer examination shows that the following is what was actually said:
Firnagzen said:
Mami purses her lips lightly in consideration. "Miss Ono, if I may," she says slowly. "When we found you, your Soul Gem was dangerously dark. Do you require aid?"

"No, of course not," the girl answers immediately, the words seeming snapped out on reflex. Rehearsed, almost.
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Firnagzen said:
"Miss Ono," you say slowly, carefully considering your words. You don't want to sound condescending, if it's pride that drives her, and you want to tiptoe around... certain facts of life as a puella magi. The girl's eyes flick back to you, centered somewhere around your nose.

Not meeting your eyes?

"After a certain level, Grief in your Soul Gem affects how you feel and think. It's... sensible to keep a Grief Seed on hand," you say, watching her reaction carefully. The girl blinks, her lips tightening slightly and eyes flicking up to yours for a moment before dipping back to your somewhere around your nose again. "And so," you continue with gentle emphasis, "I'd feel a lot better knowing that my new teammate had a safety net. Please take it?"
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We did issue a very clear warning about the dangers of grief corruption (and Ono appears to be ignoring those warnings), but we didn't actually explain that the failure condition was death. It is imperative that Ono be told about this danger (and about all of the other things that being a meguca involves), but I worry (under the current circumstances) that she won't be willing to listen to anything that we have to say. "Five uninterrupted minutes" is a luxury that we probably don't have right now, especially since we're acting against her clearly stated wishes and barging in on her private affairs.
 
Torgamous said:
Worst comes to worst Mami can hang her from the ceiling while we give her the safety overview and not let her down until she passes the quiz.
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Or we go full Witch mode* and... appropriate her surroundings with witchy grief. Probably the most extreme way to take control of the situation short of putting her in our Barrier.

Probably too much, at that. :p

*not witching out.
 
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It would be hilarious, but right now, even if Ono is not grief spiralling, she is in a huge heap of trouble from a lack of information, and a high grief level in all likely hood, both of which need to be addressed right away if we don't want to lose her.
 
OK, about them votes.

Homura seems like she's got something to say.
Does this sound ridiculous?
Seriously, I don't think apologizing any further will help at all.
Imperative, being the operative word.
3 strikes?
No nonsense. Not overbearing, but we've already apologized too much...

[X] To Homura: "Thoughts?" Prod her to talk if she seems she wants to say something, but not too much.
[X] Ask Mami if she minds us doing this personally, or she wants to be the one explaining things to Ono, since she was the one to do the introductions.
[X] When you find her, remotely check Ono's Gem and Seed's grief levels; if they are critical,
-[X] Ono didn't care for explanations or apologies; as soon as you find her, cordially ask her to meet you outside.
-[X] If she refuses, remind her she's quite ignorant about the dangers of the Magical Girl life and that it is imperative that we see her right now.
-[X] If she still refuses, give her a few seconds warning that you are about to break into her house or whereever she is. If she doesn't come out quickly, do so.
--[X] Cleanse Ono's Gem and Seed, inform her that Grief accumulation's got an exponential quality to go along the mind alteration effects, the magical depression; also inform her that complete Soul Gem corruption results in death. Be no-nonsense about it.

Other possible points to cover: Telepathing Oriko about Ono's state; asking Homura for time-stop, though she does seem already annoyed by this whole matter; we should totally telepathy Sayaka right now, so we can possibly deal with two clusterfucks at the same time.
 
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Onmur said:
OK, about them votes.

Homura seems like she's got something to say.
Does this sound ridiculous?
Seriously, I don't think apologizing any further will help at all.
Imperative, being the operative word.
3 strikes?
No nonsense. Not overbearing, but we've already apologized too much...

[X] To Homura: "Thoughts?" Prod her to talk if she seems she wants to say something, but not too much.
[X] Ask Mami if she minds us doing this personally, or she wants to be the one explaining things to Ono, since she was the one to do the introductions.
[X] Ono didn't care for explanations or apologies; as soon as you find her, cordially ask her to meet you outside.
-[X] If she refuses, remind her she's quite ignorant about the dangers of the Magical Girl life and that it is imperative that we see her right now.
-[X] If she still refuses, give her a few seconds warning that you are about to break into her house or whereever she is. If she doesn't come out quickly, do so.
[X] Cleanse Ono's Gem and Seed, inform her that Grief accumulation's got an exponential quality to go along the mind alteration effects, the magical depression; also inform her that complete Soul Gem corruption results in death. Be no-nonsense about it.

Other possible points to cover: Telepathing Oriko about Ono's state; asking Homura for time-stop, though she does seem already annoyed by this whole matter; we should totally telepathy Sayaka right now, so we can possibly deal with two clusterfucks at the same time.
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Couldn't we just sense how much grief is in her gem, if we're curious about whether or not she needs to be cleansed? Why break into her house, other than for the lolz? We have a pretty big range, you know... and we never did ask Mami to clarify what she meant about us having a 100M range being unusual.
 
chocolote12 said:
Couldn't we just sense how much grief is in her gem, if we're curious about whether or not she needs to be cleansed? Why break into her house, other than for the lolz? We have a pretty big range, you know... and we never did ask Mami to clarify what she meant about us having a 100M range being unusual.
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I guess I didn't even really consider she might not need cleansing. OK, measures only should be taken if grief levels are critical.

What do we do if she's fine, grief-wise? Just leave?

We could ask Mami about the 100m thing, but it's kind of out of the blue.
 
Torgamous said:
Grab some marshmallows and camp out with Mami?
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No... We're not staying, are we? If she doesn't need cleansing, Ono doesn't even need to know we were here.

It's awkward, but we can simply apologize to Mami and Homura for wasting their time, and go home. Ask about the 100m thing on the way back, and help Mami with her homework, and cajole Homura into sleeping over.

EDIT: Hilarious, we could ask Homura if she's got a tent in her shield.
 
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Onmur said:
No... We're not staying, are we? If she doesn't need cleansing, Ono doesn't even need to know we were here.

It's awkward, but we can simply apologize to Mami and Homura for wasting their time, and go home. Ask about the 100m thing on the way back, and help Mami with her homework, and cajole Homura into sleeping over.

EDIT: Hilarious, we could ask Homura if she's got a tent in her shield.
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That typo that was there before was hilarious. Still, Torgamus is probably correct, we would need to ask them to be sure though.
 
Lordsservent said:
That typo that was there before was hilarious. Still, Torgamus is probably correct, we would need to ask them to be sure though.
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Yes, we'll ask Mami if she's got a tent in her shield, and Homura if she can teach us how to make our hair in drills, to pass the time. We should ask both things quickly in quick succesion.

Best outcome, both of them will be become confused and Homura will nod before understanding what she's agreeing to. I bet she knows how to do the Mami drills.
 
Onmur said:
Yes, we'll ask Mami if she's got a tent in her shield, and Homura if she can teach us how to make our hair in drills, to pass the time. We should ask both things quickly in quick succesion.

Best outcome, both of them will be become confused and Homura will nod before understanding what she's agreeing to. I bet she knows how to do the Mami drills.
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I was saying that the only way to confirm that Mami has a ribbon tent, and Homura has a normal one in her shield is to ask them.
 
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Maybe the line we need to get her to pay attention is something like:

"I'm not postponing this meeting because I care more about keeping you alive than keeping you happy with me"

?
 
Lordsservent said:
I was saying that the only way to confirm that Mami has a ribbon tent, and Homura has a normal one in her sheiks is to ask them.
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And he was making a joke about how we could trick Momura into teaching us how to do Mami's drill Hair, so that we can make it rotate around when we want to be dramatic or summat.
Sereg said:
Maybe the line we need to get her to pay attention is something like:

"I'm not postponing this meeting because I care more about keeping you alive than keeping you happy with me"

?
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Won't she slap us down if she doesn't wait to hear the reason we postponed the meeting if we say this? "Oh, so it's a matter of life and death... unless it's not convenient for you?"
 
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