She sent Chibi-Mami off to investigate our target and said something like "oh, hot" a bit before that, so I'm guessing she was poking it and prodding it a bit. And the thing was shiny. From there the guess is that she's gotten a bit of melted glass or metal, maybe a little piece that has some of both mixed together. Not sure what the motivation is - could be anything from "it's really pretty", which in the case of a swirly melted metal+glass bit would be absolutely the case, to a little memento of testing with Sabrina. If we're double-plus un-lucky she's gathering material for an engagement ring.
Mami starts to giggle, too, as the miniature her pads up with something shiny in her hands, which she holds up to, well, herself. Mami takes the thing, tucking it into her pockets.
"H-hey," you manage. "Should I try making a chibi too?"
Mami pauses, her eyes going wide. She starts nodding vigorously. "Yes!" she manages. "Yes, you should!"
EDIT because apparently this didn't go through for some reason?: Putting all of Mami's reactions together like that is downright sickeningly adorable, dammit!
... Next time we see Sayaka, inexplicably and without warning, we (Brinamami) should only interact with her by way of chibi-tele-presense, see what she makes of it.
"Hello everyone, I'm your backup commentator, Tomoe Mami! And here with me providing analysis, we've got Mikuni Oriko. Oriko, what do you think about these teams?"
"I, of course, already know the outcome of this match, but for the purposes of suspense we will pretend the losers weren't already decided the moment they chose to fight against my girlfriend."
"Right. The teams, then?"
"Team Brain Damage obviously has the upper hand, including one of the most prodigious melee fighter ever seen."
*Preens*
"Let's remind everyone that it's forbidden to use magic directly against the arena platforms."
"That goes double for Sabrina, of course."
*Waves*
*Waves back*
"I have to say, the dedication to the team name was impressive, but I'm dubious about their last choice."
"Oh, Kirika and Sabrina will be dragged down quite a bit by their teammate, and I mean that literally, as Hamasaki Akiko hasn't actually moved of her own volition in a while, not even to sign the pseudo legal consent for this tournament."
"Oh? How did she get to participate, then?"
"I said it was pseudo legal."
"... Right. I'm sure Team Fukushima will take advantadge of this and put up a good fight, don't you agree?"
"Pfff- excuse me-"
*Giggles away from microhphone*
*Clears throat*
"Now, there is a bit of a grudge going on between these two teams, so I remind ALL participants to conduct themselves in a fair and controlled manner.
"IS EVERYONE READY?"
*AUDIENCE CHEERS!*
*Both teams sans Akiko nod to the commentator booth*
[ ] Okay then! Hug Mami, then close your eyes and concentrate.
-[ ] Unleash... the chibi.
--[ ] See if you can look through the chibi's eyes. Try and get the hang of piloting/controlling it. Have Chibi Brina hug Chibi Mami.
[ ] Ah, Homura contacted me. She said she'd be coming for Sayaka's training, and might show up a little early to catch the tail end of our practice session. She was... hesitant about letting Sayaka copy her power, though.
-[ ] Thoughts on what we can cover in today's session for Sayaka? I was thinking we could cover positioning and approach options. Sayaka was far too eager to rush into melee yesterday. And with Homura here, we could also cover teamwork - do a 2v2. I'm sure Homura has airsoft or the like. What do you think?
-[ ] Heh. Should we prank her and have just our chibi's greet her?
[ ] Once that discussion wraps up: GOOD MORNING MITAKIHARA!
-[ ] How is everyone? Everyone set for the picnic?
--[ ] Sayaka, is that training this morning still on?
[ ] Privately message Sayaka.
-[ ] Sorry about the early wakeup call. It's just, I screwed up, and wanted to make sure you were okay. Clear seeds can dump the grief in them into normal grief seeds on contact. It's not an issue on its own, but if a normal grief seed overfills... the witch in it can rehatch. I am very, very, very sorry about not mentioning it earlier.
[ ] >>>MOAR SCIENCE TILL HOMU COMES<<<
-[ ] >>>EVEN MOAR SCIENCE AFTER HOMU COMES<<<
If Sayaka's still super wary of Homura, it might not be the best to have Homura actively trying to teach her anything until we're sure they won't murder each other.
After the lichbomb, Sayaka apologized to Homura, since it turned out that Homura had been telling the truth about Kyubey being a dick. So it seems like Sayaka's over it.
The laser we're using is going to be something like 50-300 megawatts. At those power levels, it's just plain never going to be safe to look anywhere near the beam without protection, ever. Even in a vacuum, just the reflected beam from hitting the target will blind everyone around.
That may be another reason to pursue kinetic energy weapons for everyday use, and save lasers for the most dire of emergencies. It seems like any laser powerful enough to be worth using will also be problematic to use, and pretty much only safe when we're in our Mobile Oppression Fortress.
[ ] Offer to try working on a tandem attack with Mami. As a proof of concept, try making a belt-fed gatling gun with the same bore as Mami's muskets while Mami makes the bullets.
-[ ] If it works, try scaling it up to full Tiro Finale size. Aim downward, because the ground is pretty much the only backstop that can withstand this thing.
--[ ] Give it a name that's Italian for "Final Volley" or "Final Barrage" or "Final Strafe".
---[ ] Realize that you just made a 900mm autocannon. Be unsure whether that's awesome or terrifying.
[ ] Offer to try working on a tandem attack with Mami. As a proof of concept, try making a belt-fed gatling gun with the same bore as Mami's muskets while Mami makes the bullets.
-[ ] If it works, try scaling it up to full Tiro Finale size. Aim downward, because the ground is pretty much the only backstop that can withstand this thing.
--[ ] Give it a name that's Italian for "Final Volley" or "Final Barrage" or "Final Strafe".
---[ ] Realize that you just made a 900mm autcannon. Be unsure whether that's awesome or terrifying.
Alternately we fire a laser in the same line as Mami's Finale, turning the bullet into a 900mm blob of super heated metal flying at our enemy at the speed of sound.
We're not firing lasers. We're firing the same magical bullets that Mami conjures for her muskets and Tiro Finale. It's kinda the whole point of the tandem attack. I suppose she could use her entangling-ribbon rounds instead of her standard ones.
We're not firing lasers. We're firing the same magical bullets that Mami conjures for her muskets and Tiro Finale. It's kinda the whole point of the tandem attack. I suppose she could use her entangling-ribbon rounds instead of her standard ones.
[ ] Offer to try working on a tandem attack with Mami. As a proof of concept, try making a belt-fed gatling gun with the same bore as Mami's muskets while Mami makes the bullets.
-[ ] If it works, try scaling it up to full Tiro Finale size. Aim downward, because the ground is pretty much the only backstop that can withstand this thing.
--[ ] Give it a name that's Italian for "Final Volley" or "Final Barrage" or "Final Strafe".
"Tiro Dolore"? Since one translation of "dolore" is something akin to "grief," but combining it with "tiro" apparently turns the phrase into "shooting pain." Source: Google Translate, so take it with a grain of salt.
Reminds me of when Terry Pratchett was describing Discworld elves In Lords and Ladies.
"Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror."
[ ] Offer to try working on a tandem attack with Mami. As a proof of concept, try making a belt-fed gatling gun with the same bore as Mami's muskets while Mami makes the bullets.
-[ ] If it works, try scaling it up to full Tiro Finale size. Aim downward, because the ground is pretty much the only backstop that can withstand this thing.
--[ ] Give it a name that's Italian for "Final Volley" or "Final Barrage" or "Final Strafe".
---[ ] Realize that you just made a 900mm autcannon. Be unsure whether that's awesome or terrifying.
So, a musket is literally a tube that's closed on one end, and you put gunpowder in, a musketball on that, and blow up the powder. We don't know if that's what Mami is doing, exactly... But let's assume that she has two steps:
Now, what she asked us to do was to create a firing mechanism, i.e. something that handles the firing and reloading of the weapon, while she'll provide the bullets and weapon. What the hell would that look like? Eh, pretty standard, basically, from what I can tell.
Modified for Tiro, we'd replace the piece that comes forward and fires the bullet with a device that creates a spark -- we could put a piece of flint into the musket itself where the bullets go and have the thingy slam another piece of flint into that, maybe. We'd have to have Mami find a way to bundle the balls and powder charges, but that could be done by wrapping them in ribbons until they're loaded. We don't need an ejection mechanism -- there's no casing to deal with -- so there's nothing troublesome with timing the operation of the spring that loads the bullets or anything. Achieving automatic fire requires that we have some way to tie the operation of the spark-creating mechanism to the force created by the powder going off... ooooooooooooooooooor...
Sad to say, but it seems sensible. But remember to make chibi-meido for Mumi! On the other hand, Sabrina's Grief-chibi could be ... outside of her range, go full Familliar. I could happen, right?
Then there would be awkward explaining to do ... probably very quickly and bullet dodging if Homu is close enough to freak out.
EDIT: Not to mention another traumatization of Mumi. It is a recurring trend, do we get Achievements or something for that?
