When I reread PMAS before joining in, what I perceived as Mami's increasing upward spiral was something I specifically found endearing about roughly the latter third of it.
That is exactly why I pushed for it
I came in pretty much around the metabomb and just... I had no prior exposure to PMMM at all, but Mami was just such a compelling character and I just -- I just could see it, that if we pushed here and there, said this and that, then... Then it didn't have to be that Mami's traumas were wholly unsolvable within quest scope.
It didn't -- things didn't need to stay like they were. There were better ways than Sabrina resigning herself to Mami being depressed for the rest of the quest.
And, um, well, I'm glad you're as happy about what's transpired as I am
However, I remain concerned that we might have failed to adequately warn Mami about Kyouko's bluster. As far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong) this might be something Kyouko has seriously intensified since they last knew each other well. That seems like important context. Thus:
So -- let me open with, *yeah*, I think it's like a 35-40% chance we will see something problematic along those lines, and *yeah*, I think Kyouko's bluster has gotten worse since she and Mami last met. However, I don't know what specific intensity and tack you're thinking of as far as "Ways Kyouko could aggressively or defensively ("Tsunderily") try to fuck this up." I have little ability to guarantee that my reading of "bluster" is the same one you intend, here.
That said, I've been thinking about this in general since before I wrote my current vote, which is why I've tried to embed a stopping block against generally similar issues in the peptalk:
If you don't know what to say, if you're scared, if you're hurt: tell her so.
That is me going, "How do we catch the possibility that Kyouko will end up verbally attacking her, in whatever way, for whatever reason?" And deciding that the best response to that is probably Mami demonstrating (verbally, ideally) that it's hurting her, which we can be fairly certain Kyouko doesn't want and will back away from. (If things go that route and Kyouko doesn't back away from that... Either Mami falls back on last chapter's advice, that she needs to tell Kyouko she still cares about her, or otherwise we end up having to intervene. I don't think Mami is up for having Kyouko go after her verbally and I don't think it's something we're going to allow.)
There is also the guidance we gave Mami last post, which is *really* good guidance and something to keep in mind.
For those reasons, I'm not *majorly* concerned by what I'm viewing as likely to come out of Kyouko's mouth, but if you can give me a more exact example, I do way better with those ><
There's two arguments on this one. One is, I think we're supposed to be keeping the peace, at least according to our agreement with Kyouko, so maybe were supposed to stay transformed for that?
The other is, detransformed is way more casual and definitely preferable. I think I -am- going to add this to my vote, because ngl I uh... I kind of forgot to include it lmao.
since they last knew each other well.
I've kept a copy of The Different Story, chapter one next to my desktop for like the last year exactly so that I can reference the canon material on that -- though, not entirely intentionally, I saw it in a bookstore one day and just grabbed it. You should be able to find it in an E-format on the web somewhere if you want.
Well, I should confess that the other part of my feelings about Kyouko right now is that I want to hug her and tell her to knock it off. Has Sabrina ever hugged Kyouko?
The tyranny of the majority is that Sabrina can't hug Kyouko, make a sarcastic remark, hug Mami, raise an eyebrow, stand off to one side, hold Mami's hand, sigh, remain silent, manage the encounter and let Mami handle it.
*Hugs*
[x] Squeeze Mami's hand.
-[x] Via telepathy, to Mami:
--[x] "**Reach out** with both hands and don't look back. If you don't know what to say, if you're scared, if you're hurt: tell her so. I'll catch you if you fall, I'll be here when you come back."
-[x] Move to the side.
--[x]
Detransform.
--[x] Let Mami handle it.
