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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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For everybody who wants to cat the dress, remember the last time we did that to an inanimate object? The thing that used to Kyouko's spear basically died a horrific death due to misshaped organs due being PART SPEAR and you want us to do that to a dress the size of Walpurgisnacht?
 
It says something that it took me thirty seconds to realize that that sentence was for the wrong tab. The weirdness level is right in line with the rest of this quest's brain damage.

And yes, turning inanimate objects into cats sounds like an excellent idea which I think we should pursue. I bet that we could make the fuzziest grief-cat. An entire cat practically made of adorable fluff.
 
Onmur said:
Don't try to steal Sayaka's training session. We're here to help her improve, not take up time trying things ourselves.
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Sparring is not an exclusive thing; just because Sayaka is getting better at fighting doesn't mean we have to somehow actively not get better. This isn't a silly RPG system where we need to suppress XP gain or something; it is actually possible, in fact preferable, for us to actually try to increase our own skill level, even try new tactics, while sparring, even when the main goal is to make Sayaka a better fighter.
 
TheEyes said:
Sparring is not an exclusive thing; just because Sayaka is getting better at fighting doesn't mean we have to somehow actively not get better. This isn't a silly RPG system where we need to suppress XP gain or something; it is actually possible, in fact preferable, for us to actually try to increase our own skill level, even try new tactics, while sparring, even when the main goal is to make Sayaka a better fighter.
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I believe, and it seems to be consensus, that right now we need to take this spar seriously so we can push Sayaka. We need to take this seriously because Sayaka's better at melee than us, and Kyouko's trying to make a point here.

Do you believe we can take the time and concentration to experiment, and at the same time push Sayaka as best as we can?
Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Aug 31, 2017 at 1:38 AM, finished with 143 posts and 10 votes.
  • [x] Let Sayaka know that Kyouko's powers are a sore spot.
    [x] While traveling:
    -[x] Talk about Sayaka OPness.
    --[x] The power booster meguca and recursion: The Sayingularity?
    --[x] Suggest super learning powers.
    -[X] Ask Sayaka how she'd feel about being the police.
    -[x] Start forming gold for maximum fenceability
    [x] After meeting with Kyouko...
    - [X] Hang around, let Kyouko take charge.
    [x] During training:
    -[X] Watch what's happening along with Yuma. Chat casually.
    -[X] Contact Nakano Mika. Go over the public knowledge parts of Kyouko's situation, for context.
    --[X] Explain your uncertainty. Kyouko has mixed feelings about the building('s history), and its demolition. You're sorry for bothering her, and you're not certain what she can do, but even just knowing development plans for that land might help.
    --[x] Ask if she'd mind if you put Kyouko in touch with her.
    [x] Za Warudo
    - [x] Head back
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Adhoc vote count started by Firnagzen on Aug 31, 2017 at 1:39 AM, finished with 389 posts and 21 votes.
  • [X] Fight...
    -[X] Full force. Sayaka's better than you at this. Give fair warning, though.
    [X] After training...
    -[X] Cleansing. Give the Derrick Witch's Seed to Kyouko if necessary.
    -[X] Ask if Sayaka can copy Yuma's power.
    -[X] Check if Mika's available to talk with Kyouko; if she is, bring up the Nakano thing with Kyouko privately through telepathy and put them in touch.
    [x] Let Sayaka know that Kyouko's powers are a sore spot.
    [x] While traveling:
    -[x] Talk about Sayaka OPness.
    --[x] The power booster meguca and recursion: The Sayingularity?
    --[x] Suggest super learning powers.
    -[X] Ask Sayaka how she'd feel about being the police.
    -[x] Start forming gold for maximum fenceability
    [x] After meeting with Kyouko...
    - [X] Hang around, let Kyouko take charge.
    [x] During training:
    -[X] Watch what's happening along with Yuma. Chat casually.
    -[X] Contact Nakano Mika. Go over the public knowledge parts of Kyouko's situation, for context.
    --[X] Explain your uncertainty. Kyouko has mixed feelings about the building('s history), and its demolition. You're sorry for bothering her, and you're not certain what she can do, but even just knowing development plans for that land might help.
    --[x] Ask if she'd mind if you put Kyouko in touch with her.
    [X] Fight...
    -[X] Full force. Sayaka's better than you at this. Give fair warning, though.
    [X] After training...
    -[X] Cleansing. Give the Derrick Witch's Seed to Kyouko if necessary.
    -[X] Ask if Sayaka can copy Yuma's power.
    -[X] Note that the Pleiades are in town and friendlies. Drop details of Mami's reactions as casual conversation. Don't force it.
    [X] Head back. On the way, stop, make a Grief privacy sphere, have a talk with Sayaka:
    -[X] Ask if she can copy the privacy sphere with Kazumi's powers.
    -[X] Pad the opening of the conversation to try to avoid table-chan 2.0
    -[X] Tell her about your metaknowledge. It's part of what helped you get everyone to get along.
    -[X] Apologize for keeping it quiet initially, and let her know that Homura, Mami and Madoka already know. We haven't told Hitomi nor Kyouko.
    -[X] You actually admire Sayaka's drive for justice, when she's not being rash.
    -[X] Try and fit some Rebellion references into the talk to gauge her reactions.
    [X] Karaoke!
    - [x] Head back
    [X] Fight...
    -[X] Full force
    --[X] Swipe the Keychain
    [X] After training...
    -[X] Bring up the Nakano thing
    - [x] Head back
    [X] Karaoke!
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I don't really understand the disconnect that Onmur and others are pushing. Why is trying to give Sayaka a better challenge, via a stronger sparring opponent, somehow detrimental to her training? Its pretty commonly an issue (especially at low levels of practice) that if your opponent is somehow an easy match for you (shorter/lighter in grappling, for example) that you naturally take shortcuts and brute force manuevers without learning the technique, and I don't see why it wouldn't be the same issue here. If Sayaka can just easily ignore us in melee she isn't properly pressured while trying to switch powersets faster. And if she only has Sabrina's unchanging basic moves to get used to, she'll specialize tactics against it and not learn to deal with unfamiliar opponents (which the random and unpredictable-because-its-bad nature of experimentation mid-fight would provide).
 
Racoras said:
I don't really understand the disconnect that Onmur and others are pushing. Why is trying to give Sayaka a better challenge, via a stronger sparring opponent, somehow detrimental to her training? Its pretty commonly an issue (especially at low levels of practice) that if your opponent is somehow an easy match for you (shorter/lighter in grappling, for example) that you naturally take shortcuts and brute force manuevers without learning the technique, and I don't see why it wouldn't be the same issue here. If Sayaka can just easily ignore us in melee she isn't properly pressured while trying to switch powersets faster. And if she only has Sabrina's unchanging basic moves to get used to, she'll specialize tactics against it and not learn to deal with unfamiliar opponents (which the random and unpredictable-because-its-bad nature of experimentation mid-fight would provide).
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The disconnect is phrasing.
Would we be challenging her with new and innovative techniques that teach her to expect the unexpected, while expanding our own experience?
Or would we be taking one of our lesser skills that we have little practise or training in, and trying random ideas in the hope that not only are they more effective, but that they work at all with no prior testing?

Pity the melee-enhancing harness probably counts as Grief stuff. That would be useful for both sides.
 
Onmur said:
Melee is not an important thing for us to train, since it's hella inferior to Grief Control.
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Melee is an important thing for everybody to train, because at any moment a hostile could suddenly be up in your face and training is how you develop the reflexes to react properly to defend yourself.

This idea that because we're not magically gifted in melee we may as well not try is not just self-defeating, it's also provably false, and Sabrina is dating the proof.

Mami was not automatically gifted with incredible prowess as a markswoman--muskets weren't even her original weapon--but she became one through hard work. Mami isn't a melee meguca at all, but she was able to spar with and beat Sayaka, who is, because she'd trained at it. She didn't say, "I have no need to practice melee because I can just shoot my opponents or summon ribbons at them." She cross-trained to make her skill set well-rounded.

Hard work matters. You can become good at things that you aren't magically gifted at, but you have to actually make an effort.
 
The Narrator said:
Melee is an important thing for everybody to train, because at any moment a hostile could suddenly be up in your face and training is how you develop the reflexes to react properly to defend yourself.

This idea that because we're not magically gifted in melee we may as well not try is not just self-defeating, it's also provably false, and Sabrina is dating the proof.

Mami was not automatically gifted with incredible prowess as a markswoman--muskets weren't even her original weapon--but she became one through hard work. Mami isn't a melee meguca at all, but she was able to spar with and beat Sayaka, who is, because she'd trained at it. She didn't say, "I have no need to practice melee because I can just shoot my opponents or summon ribbons at them." She cross-trained to make her skill set well-rounded.

Hard work matters. You can become good at things that you aren't magically gifted at, but you have to actually make an effort.
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Opportunity cost. Every minute we spend refining our melee is a minute we didn't spend on our grief powers. The reactions we're training using melee? Are the wrong actions in a real fight, because we're not reacting with our grief powers. Melee fighting's only real utility for Sabrina is as either a training tool for others, or a bonding exercise with others. Which is how we're using it right now.

Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should.
 
Motile Mollusc said:
The disconnect is phrasing.
Would we be challenging her with new and innovative techniques that teach her to expect the unexpected, while expanding our own experience?
Or would we be taking one of our lesser skills that we have little practise or training in, and trying random ideas in the hope that not only are they more effective, but that they work at all with no prior testing?

Pity the melee-enhancing harness probably counts as Grief stuff. That would be useful for both sides.
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Yes, basically, the more commonly expected outcome of trying new things midcombat is not the shounen-style surprising and overcoming the opponent!

... But the more sensible flailing around and failing, pissing off everyone involved in the process.

The Narrator said:
Melee is an important thing for everybody to train, because at any moment a hostile could suddenly be up in your face and training is how you develop the reflexes to react properly to defend yourself.

This idea that because we're not magically gifted in melee we may as well not try is not just self-defeating, it's also provably false, and Sabrina is dating the proof.

Mami was not automatically gifted with incredible prowess as a markswoman--muskets weren't even her original weapon--but she became one through hard work. Mami isn't a melee meguca at all, but she was able to spar with and beat Sayaka, who is, because she'd trained at it. She didn't say, "I have no need to practice melee because I can just shoot my opponents or summon ribbons at them." She cross-trained to make her skill set well-rounded.

Hard work matters. You can become good at things that you aren't magically gifted at, but you have to actually make an effort.
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Mami, however, did not have the HAXs we have got. Namely, Grief HAX and Mami.

Furthermore, Mami was a loner by her inability to maintain partnerships, so she was required to improve her melee skills and be an all around fighter, since she had no one to cover for her most of the time.

And of course we need better reflexes! I have said this, too. However, those reflexes shouldn't be the reflexes used in swinging a hammer at someome, but the reflexes of perceiving threats and avoiding them. This way we may bring a far better weapon to bear, which of course is our Grief.

The only situation in which it would be better to have trained to 'dodge and hit something with our hammer' instead of having trained to 'dodge and hit something with our Grief' is quite a rare one, as it would require, and here I assume we are talking about a surprise attack on Sabrina while she's not combat-ready:

  • For us to not have Grief available to attack with, which hasn't happened since the start of the quest. Take into account we have our Grief available even in civillian wear.
  • For us to have our hammer in hand, which we do not usually have.
  • For our opponent to be in melee range, as otherwise our hammer would be useless by default.
  • For us to still have a chance to fend off this surprise attacker with our hammer, and for that to be easier than to fend them off Grief.
Of course, were we already in combat, our hammer would be as I said before, useful only insofar as we don't take the fight with complete seriousness.
 
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I am in favor of going all out in Melee and I'm confident that we'd have no need to be ashamed of our melee skill if we really try.

I am not in favor of going the extra mile and stretching the definition of melee to include untested enchantments boosting our melee skill or other similar tactics. That is how people get hurt in spars, and I don't want to hurt Sayaka.
 
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"We Don't Go To Asunaro..." pt. 11
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    • You close your eyes for a second, and then blow out a sharp breath before opening them again.

    "Then I am going to fight full force," you declare, and grin at Sayaka. "I'm not gonna come close to winning otherwise, and I'm... probably not going to win anyway."

    Sayaka chuckles, rubbing nervously at the back of her hair. "You sure about this?"

    "Yeah, I think so," you say, exhaling and reaching under your coat to pull out a hammer. "I doubt I'll hit you, but eh... I can pull my strikes, I think."

    Something pricks at your shoulder, and you jump, twisting around to spot Kyouko poking you with her spear.

    "You better be trying," she grumbles.

    "Yeah, yeah," you say. "Your cloak's still missing, Sayaka."

    "Eh? Oh!" Sayaka tilts her head to stare at her shoulder. Pure white cloth shimmers into place, extending from thin air with a faint blue glow. She grins at you, pulling a sword out from under her reformed cape and sweeping it up into a fencer's salute.

    "Drama queens," Kyouko mutters, not so softly that you can't hear it, and not so softly that you'd think you weren't supposed to hear it.

    "I resemble that remark," you say mildly.

    Kyouko rolls her eyes. "Yuma, you good?"

    "I'm good, big sis!" Yuma says. She waves her mace-scepter-thing, emerald green light washing over Sayaka, and then Kyouko. The younger girl beams and plops down on a nearby tree trunk, kicking her legs and savouring another skewer from her bag.

    "When you're ready, princess," Kyouko says, hooking her spear behind her shoulders once more and snagging some dango from Yuma. "Both of ya."

    "Right," you say, nodding and turning your attention to Sayaka. "Um-"

    Sayaka moves.

    You nearly trip over your feet trying to catch her. You just manage to swing your hammer out left in her way but she just goes over and there's a sharp boom of bladeshot echoing over your head and Sayaka's foot on your left shoulder as she prepares to spring over you-

    "Oi, are you even trying?"

    -but you're not taking that. You drop your shoulder. She's already pushing off, and she goes off balance. Just for a split second, just enough for you to grab her by the ankle and whip her into the ground-

    And try to whip her into the ground. She twists and lashes at your face with her other foot. You let go. You have to. Lightning wreathes the fist lashing at your face, crackling far too close to you. You duck that, weaving to her left, and as she follows, you sweep your hammer out, a swift, underhand swing.

    Steel chimes against steel, your hammer parried by a freshly summoned sword. Sayaka grins at you, bright and exhilarated - she's holding you back with one arm, and hard enough to make you strain. Fine. You spin away, darting around her. The sudden loss of resistance makes her stumble, and you drive your elbow into the back of her head.

    Sayaka barely notices it, springing forward for Kyouko - who isn't even behind you any more. She's perched on a tree branch, glaring down at you. Sayaka isn't aiming for her. She just needs space. Her hand's already diving for her hip, and you're already diving for her.

    You sweep her legs out from beneath her. She goes down with an oof, flailing her sword at you. You slap the flat of her blade, batting it away and stomping your foot on it as you scramble to your feet. She tugs, and then abandons it for a new one. But you're already up with hammer swinging down at her.

    She gets her sword up the barest sliver of a second before you pull the strike. Teeth bared, she shoves against you, and twists her entire body into a scissoring sweep with her legs. Your turn to go tumbling to the floor. Sayaka rolls aside, sword flicking out.

    You flinch from the sharp steel menacing your face. She doesn't even come close, though, roll carrying her away. Too far away. She has room to maneuver, and that gives her the choice between going for a new power or for going after Kyouko. You hurl your hammer at her, an ungainly toss.

    It's enough. Sayaka's forced to sidestep, and even if her hand's going to her hip, that's enough time for you to lurch to your feet and barrel into her. Your shoulder check misses. That's fine. All you need to do is pressure her. Keep her attention on you, keep her from switching powers. Keep her from attacking Kyouko.

    Sayaka slashes at you. A step back buys you a heartbeat of space, time enough for you to draw a fresh hammer for a desperate parry. Her sword blurs, every blow powerful enough to bend your arms behind the block. You lurch backwards, every step a hazard since you can't spare a glance backwards and you can't use your Grief and-

    Your feet hit roots, and your back hits a tree trunk. Sayaka grins bright and fierce as she slams another strike at you with both hands. The sound of your parry echoes off the trees. Creaking above you is Kyouko, leaping to the tree you're backed up against. Sayaka leans forward, pressing her advantage, and you strain to hold her back.

    The pressure lessens- her hand. She reaches for the dangling ring of power gems, but that's a mistake, it's all you needed to push off and forward and knee her in the gut. The breath leaves her in an explosive gasp, and she stumbles backwards, sword sweeping up with electricity crackling along the blade and reflected in blue eyes.

    You have a heartbeat to make a decision. Sayaka swings, lightning sizzling from her blade. Kyouko's trick. A half-turning strike embeds your hammer into the tree and you leap awa-

    Too late, too slow. White fire sears a choked scream from your throat, and you land badly. Your leg spasms and nearly collapses under you, unable to support your weight.

    "Sabrina!" Sayaka's eyes are wide with horror, the sword falling from slack fingers.

    You force yourself to stay standing, magic flooding down your leg to reinforce it and suppress the pain.

    "I'm fine," you bite out. You can smell your leg, faintly. "I'm- fine."

    "Sabrina!" This time it's Yuma, bounding over the leafy undergrowth. She holds her scepter up high, bright emerald light flashing out to bathe your body in a warm, soothing sensation that washes away the dull ache of suppressed pain.

    More rustling is Kyouko leaping down from the tree, boots crunching into the forest floor debris.

    "That was pathetic," Kyouko snaps. "Both of you."

    "Well excuse me for being a squishy caster," you say, rolling your eyes. "I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for asking. And thank you for the heal, Yuma."

    "The fff-" Kyouko grimaces, swallowing the expletive. "What does that mean? Never mind. Thanks for making my point, anyway."

    "What point?" Sayaka asks, scowling. "That I can hurt someone?"

    "No," Kyouko snaps. "That you have trouble with more than one goal at a time."

    Sayaka's scowl deepens.

    "Like I said earlier - your power is to switch powers," Kyouko says, slipping a hand into the pocket of her costume and somehow pulling a perfectly intact cookie out. She bites into it with a crunch. "But you can't. You couldn't handle another goal on top of that, either. 'part from that first shot you took at me, you didn't even try."

    "... Fine," Sayaka says, grudging acknowledgement in her features. "What am I supposed to do about that?"

    "Of course, if you're fighting in a group, it'd be easier," you supply.

    "Yeah, fighting in a group," Kyouko snorts. "And that happens all the time, because Witches and other magical girls fight fair. No, princess, y' gotta practice. You need to have those powers of yours instantly to hand."

    "Right. No fighting fair," Sayaka says, expression setting hard.

    "And one more thing I noticed," Kyouko says, polishing off the cookie. "You're very reactive in your fighting. 's not a bad thing, but it's not a good thing either. It's a thing."

    "... Uh?" Sayaka says. "What do you mean?"

    "I fight one way, 'brina there fights another," Kyouko says, shrugging. "You react. You fight like whoever you're fighting. The only time you fight like you're your own thing is when you're messing around with your powers."

    "Well, like you said," Sayaka says, grimacing again. "My power is to be able to copy and use powers. Of course I fight best when I can use them."

    "Uh huh," Kyouko says, glancing sidelong at you. "Remind me what she's here to learn again? Never mind, I already know." She matches scowl for scowl. "Y' want to learn to fight or no? You gotta know what you can do. You fight reactively? Sure, whatever. Not what I'd do, but whatever. You need to learn to fight well enough to be able to switch your powers."

    "Hey, Kyouko," you say, raising a finger. "Uh, lemme clarify something for you? Sayaka can actually hold multiple powers at once for extended periods, it's just a drain on her Soul Gem."

    "Which means you don't hold any powers normally, right?" Kyouko directs the question at Sayaka.

    "Well... yeah," Sayaka concedes.

    "There you go," Kyouko says with a snort.

    You nod, sidling over to Yuma as Kyouko continues to dispense criticism and advice. "Was she like this when training you?"

    "Nuh-uh," Yuma says, shaking her head. "She just taught Yuma how to fight properly!"

    "Huh," you say, rubbing your chin. "Well then."

    "Um... Is your leg OK?" Yuma blinks up at you.

    "Yeah," you say, beaming at her. "Thanks for the heal, Yuma."

    "And begin," Kyouko barks.

    There's another sharp clang of metal, and they're sparring again. Sayaka's strike rings off Kyouko's spear before being forced back by a flurry of jabs. You watch, chatting quietly with Yuma. The fighting is much less... vicious now, a lot slower with Kyouko snapping admonishments at Sayaka every few exchanges.

    You know, you can't help but muse on what Kyouko said. Sayaka's power is to switch powers, yes, and she can't if she's being pressed in melee. Doesn't that apply to Homura, too? You know that Homura needs to turn her shield to activate her timestop, and you remember with memories-that-aren't that she can be taken out with ambush, or with melee. You kind of wonder if it'd be worth it to get Homura to try improving her melee, too.

    Then again, you have doubts about your ability to convince Homura to come along. She's like a cat, that girl. Hmm. You also have vague mental images of Homura as a catgirl, somehow. You're not sure why.

    Eventually, they wind down. Sayaka's panting, leaning on her sword for support, whereas Kyouko looks fresh and completely unruffled. You're pretty sure that magic is involved there.

    "... anyway, I think time's up," Kyouko says, propping her spear against her shoulder. "'brina, I think you owe me something."

    "Yep," you say, checking your phone for the time. "Right, so... I've given Yuma the money. You've got the ring, yeah? It's twenty grams of pure gold, so..." You wrinkle your nose. "Should be a bit above ninety thousand yen in terms of raw gold value, but I don't know how you'd sell it off."

    "Ninety thousand..." Sayaka's eyebrows go up.

    "Right," Kyouko says. "And the other part of my payment?"

    "Cleansing, yup," you say, smiling. "Soul Gems, Grief Seeds?"

    Yuma beams, and pulls out the Grief Seed you can sense with her, holding her Soul Gem out with her other hand. Kyouko, on the other hand, just tips her head back so that you have a clearer line of sight to her Soul Gem.

    A wave of your hand and a touch of will draws forth rippling clouds Grief. Not just from Kyouko and Yuma and the Grief Seed, but Sayaka and yourself, too. It's always good to stay clean, after all. You exhale, a clench of your fist imploding Grief into marbles.

    "There," you murmur, smiling. "The Grief Seed is fresh, now - do remember to hang on to it."

    "Yeah, yeah," Kyouko says, waving a dismissive hand. "Got it the first time."

    "Are we headed back, Sabrina?" Sayaka asks, dismissing her sword.

    "Yep," you confirm. "Uh, gimme a sec? And then I might need a word with Kyouko."

    "Uh, sure," Sayaka agrees, plonking herself down on a convenient root with a sigh.

    Dusky red eyes flicker over to you, quizzical and annoyed. "Yeah?"

    "Telepathy," you say, grinning, and reach out for Mika. "Hey, Miss Nakano?"

    "Heya! Hope you're not expecting me to have gotten the plans or anything yet. 'asn't even been an hour... right, fine, just over an hour," Mika responds, amiably amused.

    "Nah, but are you free to talk to Kyouko right now? Sakura Kyouko," you say.

    "Oh, oh gosh, um, sure," Mika says. "Sooner than I expected! Sure."

    "You sure?" you ask skeptically.

    "Yeah, I'm sure," Mika responds. "Put me through."

    "Alright, one moment," you say, and meet Kyouko's eyes. You beckon, picking your way between the trees. She follows, boots clomping through the undergrowth.

    "What is it?" she asks, glaring at you.

    "Kyouko, I recently met a magical girl in Ishinomaki, Nakano Mika," you say, and wait a heartbeat for that to sink in. "Yeah. She's related to the Nakano corporation, but she's not in the line of decisionmaking. She's willing to talk to you, do you want to talk to her?"

    You watch her expression freeze, setting hard.

    "Fuck," she hisses under her breath. Yuma peers around the trees, peeking at her in worry. She pads over to throw her arms around Kyouko's waist in a hug. "The fuck do you expect me to do?"

    "I don't know what you want," you say, folding your arms. "But she's friendly, and she's willing to talk. I don't know what she can do, either, but she's a closer link. Are you willing to talk to her?"

    Kyouko slams a fist against a tree, hissing out a breath. "Fine. Put me through."

    "Alright," you say, checking her Soul Gem. She's fine there. Angrier than she is upset, you suspect. "I'll put you through, and I'll leave you to it."

    "Right," she grits out. "Later."

    "Oh," Yuma says. "Um... see you later?"

    "I'm just... putting Kyouko in touch with someone it would be helpful for her to know." You smile at Yuma, ruffling her hair gently as you reach out to connect Kyouko and Mika. "Hey, Miss Nakano? Here's Kyouko. Sakura Kyouko, Nakano Mika, Mika Nakano, Sakura Kyouko. I'll leave you two to it."

    You drop from the connection, smiling and nodding at Kyouko. You... you'd love to stay and listen in, and maybe moderate the conversation, but this is between them. You've been trying not to micromanage so much, so you'll let go. You can check in on Kyouko and Mika later, anyway.

    "Right. See you later. Thank you for agreeing to the training, Kyouko," you say, waving. Yuma waves back as you head over to where Sayaka's waiting, Grief already sweeping in from the canopy to build a flight platform. "Good training?"

    "Yeah," Sayaka mutters, flopping back on the Grief as soon as there's enough to flop on. "Ow. Kinda sore."

    "I'm not surprised," you say, smirking at her. "Though as magical girls, I'm not absolutely sure we have to feel tired..."

    Sayaka shrugs, relaxing and spreading out as you add more surface area to the platform. You snicker quietly, and you're airborne a few minutes later, Sayaka still sprawled out behind you.

    "Sorry about the whole... lightning thing earlier, by the way," Sayaka says, sitting up.

    "Don't worry about it," you say, shaking your head. "I was too slow, and hey, Yuma healed me right up."

    "Still," Sayaka says, shaking her head. "I- agh, I should have copied her power. Next time."

    "Damn," you say, snapping your fingers. "I thought of that, too, but I forgot to remind you. You'll have plenty of time for it, anyway, and hey. We're not gonna get into a big fight before Wednesday, anyway."

    "Jinx," Sayaka says, lifting an arm to point at you.

    You laugh, and let the conversation lapse as you soar back towards Mitakihara. Towards Mami. Towards your friends, and probably towards karaoke.

    ... can you even sing? You're not terribly sure.

    You know how to sing, but you're not actually certain you can sing. You'll get to find out, though!

    "Hey, Sabrina?" Sayaka murmurs quietly.

    "Yep?" you ask, tilting your head back to glance at Sayaka.

    "Was Kyouko right?" she asks.

    "About?" you ask.

    "She... I dunno," Sayaka says. "I know you said that fighting isn't everything, but... ugh. I made my Wish so I could stand with you, you know?"

    Voting opens
    [] What to say to Sayaka?
    [] Back at Mitakihara...
    - [] How do you greet Mami?
    - [] What do you tell them about the training session?
    - [] Karaoke? Karaoke.
    [] What comes after?
    [] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)

    =====​

    Ah, insecurity. It's almost a running theme. Also, no, nothing will be on fire yet when you get back.
     
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    • Poor Sayaka. She probably didn't like seeing us paying so dearly for the training either. Even though money means little to us. We should remind her that she is just a rookie, and that Kyoko tends to go a lot harder on people like her. And besides, if not pushed super hard one on one, she's already a great utility member of the team, with all those powers available for reasonably quick access.
     
    You guys need to get her some live fire experience, nothing like the threat of total ceasation of existence to get you fighting... Or let her hunt...
     
    Onmur said:
    The only situation in which it would be better to have trained to 'dodge and hit something with our hammer' instead of having trained to 'dodge and hit something with our Grief' is quite a rare one, as it would require, and here I assume we are talking about a surprise attack on Sabrina while she's not combat-ready:

    • For us to not have Grief available to attack with, which hasn't happened since the start of the quest. Take into account we have our Grief available even in civillian wear.
    • For us to have our hammer in hand, which we do not usually have.
    • For our opponent to be in melee range, as otherwise our hammer would be useless by default.
    • For us to still have a chance to fend off this surprise attacker with our hammer, and for that to be easier than to fend them off Grief.
    Of course, were we already in combat, our hammer would be as I said before, useful only insofar as we don't take the fight with complete seriousness.
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    You mean like when we fought Kirika and couldn't use our Griefbending and had to use the hammer to defend ourselves and ultimately disable her? She's not the only person to ever wish for power-nullification, and there's a soulguca on her way here and a power-copier hunting our houseguests. We could very easily wind up in the same situation again. Overspecialization is a weakness that's easy to exploit.

    Additionally, developing good hand-to-hand skills will provide the foundation for developing better combat awareness. It'll teach Sabrina how recognize the signs that an attack is coming and respond instinctively. It'll teach her to keep better track of her surroundings. It'll teach her when it's possible to evade and when it's necessary to block, and how to best unbalance, restrain and disable an opponent.

    Lone Courier 6 said:
    You guys need to get her some live fire experience, nothing like the threat of total ceasation of existence to get you fighting... Or let her hunt...
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    She's already been with us on two witch hunts, with another planned for tonight. Her performance in the first one was why we decided to push for more situational awareness training.
     
    The Narrator said:
    You mean like when we fought Kirika and couldn't use our Griefbending and had to use the hammer to defend ourselves and ultimately disable her? She's not the only person to ever wish for power-nullification, and there's a soulguca on her way here and a power-copier hunting our houseguests. We could very easily wind up in the same situation again. Overspecialization is a weakness that's easy to exploit.

    Additionally, developing good hand-to-hand skills will provide the foundation for developing better combat awareness. It'll teach Sabrina how recognize the signs that an attack is coming and respond instinctively. It'll teach her to keep better track of her surroundings. It'll teach her when it's possible to evade and when it's necessary to block, and how to best unbalance, restrain and disable an opponent.
    Click to expand...
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    Eh. Said it before and I'll say it again- it's just not worth the time investment. We could develop lots of skills better than melee. Like, we clearly already start with a huge disadvantage. Sayaka already kicks our ass without too much trouble and she's greener than a salad. If we're actually using our grief, and we really know how (we're much better at using grief than we used to be) we're far more of a threat. Even in melee, the right answer is almost always to use grief. Kirika's a special case, but honestly the amount of training it would probably require to get us just to baseline starting melee guca level just doesn't seem worth it for the very low utility.
    Lone Courier 6 said:
    You guys need to get her some live fire experience, nothing like the threat of total ceasation of existence to get you fighting... Or let her hunt...
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    There's a reason people in real life don't tend to train fighters by putting them in mortal danger- cool as that sounds, it leads to dead assets that could have been developed far beyond where we let them fall. Witch hunt sure, not other meguca unless we have to.

    Also, we're talking about a human being, and one of sabrina's friends. That is not how you train a friend that you want to live.
     
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