Is it just me or is our relationship with Mami still ambiguous?
There isn't a snowball's chance in hell. We haven't gone out and said anything but I do believe our hint was warmly and clearly received.
And that kiss was d'aww-tastic.
I'm going to take this chance to repost my essay on flirting.
Also, frankly... I'm actually increasingly content with continuing without getting any advice from anyone on this.
Eventually either Mami will stabilize significantly or somebody will call us girlfriends in public.
We only actually have problems if/when we decide to be shy about things. The junkyard gaslighting scene, for instance. Because she's afraid of major change in the relationship (and always will be until she's more stable, whether or not we confess to her) Mami will happily not say anything about it directly under any circumstances unless somebody else broaches the topic. But not saying things directly doesn't change the nature of how things are particularly.
We don't need somebody to advise us that it's okay to be girlfriends with Mami because we can do that without doing the exact thing that we're afraid of. And she will probably end up reciprocating.
Kirika told us to love her. Just do it. Don't shy away from "flirting" or the like. Hell, kissing people on the cheek can be considered platonic (somebody check that in terms of Japanese culture for me, though), we can do that, especially (I won't vote for it otherwise!) if we ask her if it's okay first.
Part of the point of flirting is to escalate responses on both sides. To elicit positive or negative reactions which help each side measure the other's interest. Flirting is okay in normal life.
People have argued in the past that flirting with Mami, because of her current condition, is wrong. But that argument misses the point completely. Even in this situation... The thing is that Mami's trauma doesn't eliminate the positive / negative reactions to things. The line isn't invisible. Sabrina is capable of telling when Mami is comfortable with things or not. People argue in here that because Mami can't say no, it's immoral. But you aren't supposed to have to say no to convey that you're uncomfortable with something, especially if the other party involved knows you fairly well. There are tics, tells, body language, stutters, hesitations... And Mami is pretty transparent when we suggest something that she doesn't fully agree with. And our response is universally to pry it out of her (the right thing to do).
Pay attention to her, make note of what makes her uncomfortable if anything. If she isn't comfortable with something, stop doing it. Otherwise, stop holding Sabrina back on the slow-burn romance. Hug Mami. Praise Mami. Blush around Mami. Tell her what we like about her. Tell her when she does things we like seeing her do. Ask her if we can kiss her on the cheek. She's never going to feel obligated to ask us to be her girlfriend if we don't press her to do or agree to things she's not comfortable with. We won't get immoral results if we avoid doing immoral things. And if we end up becoming girlfriends with her de facto, there will come a point where it will end up official.
And if in the process we happen to be doing, you know, exactly what you should do when supporting an emotionally traumatized person, by complimenting her, caring for her, etcetera? Well, it would almost seem that loving somebody is a good way to help them with trauma. Gee, I wonder how that could possibly work.
What I'd like to note here is that this
Arms still around her waist, you lean forward and brush your lips against her cheek.
Her face lights up, a bright, bright blush.
Mami's mouth works soundlessly, hand coming up to touch her cheek.
Is
exactly the sort of reaction that you expect to see from someone crushing
hopelessly IRL. Like, not just by the book, by the goddamn
textbook. It is also very very very much
emphatically not a reaction you would expect to see from someone who "isn't interested in that way." The blushing has
never been the mark of someone uninterested, but that last line... One of the reactions, maybe, two, unlikely, all three, lol.
Now the question is, where the hell do we go from here?
We can try to drop hints. This is probably difficult given the sheer level of Mami's denial and her inhibitive fear of changing the status quo negatively. Like, we could, for example, watch anime involving a lesbian relationship and comment on it -- and this would probably raise her hopes. But that's the sort of drastic action that would be necessary if we wanted to get through to her by dropping hints, and we'd probably have to do it a few times.
We can try to get someone else to say it -- and really this will probably happen eventually on its own. Or, it would probably happen, but Firn might just not because, well, yeah. But we could try to push it along.
We could get someone to ask Mami for us. This is probably standard shy teenager tactics?
Now, there
is an existing Plan for Asunaro with regards to Mami, and part of it
basically involves asking her on a date. Specifically, to dinner at some Italian place Monday night, not calling it a date. Frankly if it was talked about
at all I'd fully expect Sayaka to call it a date. If we could engineer that, in any situation -- just Mami there and Sayaka calling it a date, us and Mami there and Sayaka calling it a date... Any such situation would be effective. It would either directly put us in a critical position or it would get our friends going "???" as to our status with Mami.
Anyways.
Regarding the vote...
[X] Continue to be very affectionate toward Mami, because you'll need to be more professional when dealing with Bennouna, so you want to get in enough Mami-snuggles to tide you over through the meeting. Tell Mami as much.
[X] When meeting Bennouna, present yourself as someone who wants to help others. Sure, you're a bit of a dork and a ditz at times, but your drive to help people is who you are.
-[X] Be polite, be efficient, have a plan to befriend every magical girl you meet: At some point, offer to refresh any grief seeds Bennouna might be carrying, with a standing offer to do so whenever she comes through. Also offer to empty out a grief seed for her, and tell her about how long you think a single clear seed ought to last, if she accepts the offer.
[X] Ask Bennouna about any magical girls who could do similar things to what we can do, such as girls who can manipulate soul gems. Also ask about the largest magical girl group she's met in her travels -- we want to get an idea for just how organized people are so far.
[X] If/when the subject of Bennouna telling other magical girls about our ability comes up, ask her to make it clear to anyone who asks her about us, or anyone she tells about us, that we're more than willing to clean soul gems and grief seeds for free, and that the only string attached is that violence or coercion in Mitakihara will not be tolerated.
-[X] Ask Bennouna to only tell people about us who she thinks would be reasonable, but that if even unreasonable people ask about us, to make that clear. We know word is going to get out, but we really don't want there to be fights and conflict due to it.
-[X] Explain your reasoning to Bennouna. That you want to help people, but you know it's not that easy.
--[X] You've foreseen lots of problems with infinite cleansing - abuse, people rejecting it because it's "too good to be true", upsetting power structures, general making-things-worse - and you're necessarily leaving it up to her how best to proceed in any given situation.
I'm going to dissent slightly, here.
... But I actually don't have the time right now to write out everything LOL. Will post when I can.
