Okay so ask in a general way what the tax is. The question currently being voted for is incredibly leading.
Puella Magi Adfligo Systema
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It's NOT unlikely to be the Witchbomb. I think it's very likely. Inquiring about Chika seems quite dangerous. Can we ask by telepathy?
[x]Crasian01
I currently support this vote. Though I would prefer if Sabrina sounds less accusatory about the "tax". It kinda sounds like leading the witness. Maybe something like:
[] And why did you agree to such a "tax"? Were you offered any services in return? (Like priority for healing or something like that)
I'd reserve the accusations for later. Preferably once we can paint a convincing picture for Rin and the other Sendai girls and undermine Akiko's support. Otherwise, I fear that Sendai will become defensive and will side with Akiko in an "us vs them" mindset.
I currently support this vote. Though I would prefer if Sabrina sounds less accusatory about the "tax". It kinda sounds like leading the witness. Maybe something like:
[] And why did you agree to such a "tax"? Were you offered any services in return? (Like priority for healing or something like that)
I'd reserve the accusations for later. Preferably once we can paint a convincing picture for Rin and the other Sendai girls and undermine Akiko's support. Otherwise, I fear that Sendai will become defensive and will side with Akiko in an "us vs them" mindset.
Crasian01
Insane Incubator
Hmm, can we get a consensus on an alternate wording for the Tax Question? There's now two or three different ones. I'll take a look myself as well obviously.
EDIT:
Okay, did my own edits to both of the Tax Related Questions. What they were edited from and what they were edited to are under the spoiler.
What's this about the witchbomb?
EDIT:
Okay, did my own edits to both of the Tax Related Questions. What they were edited from and what they were edited to are under the spoiler.
What's this about the witchbomb?
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Krecart
Not for throwing.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Best Friend Kirika continues to be the best.
I second this. It's safer to ask via telepathy.
Still very leading and accusatory. And honestly it makes us look kind of dumb - there's no reason, in character, to think it might refer to the medical fees.
[x] Crasian01
Maybe that was the point of Akiko's tax: to pressure all newbie MGs in Sendai to just leave the city without a fight.
It's definitely much more cost-effective than trying to run them off. Either Akiko gets a pile of seeds from taxing them until they witch out, they leave the city to free up their previously occupied hunting grounds, or they band with other desperate girls to fight back. Last case means Akiko just needs to withdraw from the group's treasury to hire other mercenary groups to help put down anyone who gets too uppity.
Also: the other two Sendai girls? Minami and the other one? I'm thinking they ran off to get reinforcements.
....Shit, I think they went off to gather more than one group.
Maybe that was the point of Akiko's tax: to pressure all newbie MGs in Sendai to just leave the city without a fight.
It's definitely much more cost-effective than trying to run them off. Either Akiko gets a pile of seeds from taxing them until they witch out, they leave the city to free up their previously occupied hunting grounds, or they band with other desperate girls to fight back. Last case means Akiko just needs to withdraw from the group's treasury to hire other mercenary groups to help put down anyone who gets too uppity.
Also: the other two Sendai girls? Minami and the other one? I'm thinking they ran off to get reinforcements.
....Shit, I think they went off to gather more than one group.
Cannongerbil
I came here to nep at you
- Location
- Soviet Lunar Base
We know that she died, she died under possibly witchbomb-related reasons. That's really all we need to proceed.
1) ಠ_ಠ
2) The situation we came here to fix is the extortion/ massive war issue, to which Chika's death is only tangentially related. How and why she died isn't really important to the negotiations other than the fact that she died. Anything further just falls under "Nice to know, but doesn't directly help with the negotiation" category
3) It doesn't "does no harm" to ask the question. In fact, if the answer turns out to be witchbomb related, it does ALOT of harm. Tetris levels of harm, even, if we can't handle it properly.
Yep, I agree. Makes us look stupid and is far too leading for fact finding.
We could privately ask one of the other girls by telepathy while maintaining our conversation with Chouko out loud. We can multitask that much, right?
Something like "I'd like to ask about Chika, and what happened to her. But I am not sure if it would be safe to ask out loud."
Making my own write-in, with my preferred wording for the tax question and no Chika question (if it's important, it'll come up in response to the "what else has she done" question)
[x] Please don't ask for help yet. Let me try to stop this whole conflict first, and yes that includes Akiko's "tax". It's best if neither group escalates anymore; Akiko's got plenty of favors to call, so she'll match you girl for girl.
[x] This 'tax'... How exactly does it work? Were you offered anything in exchange, and how did she approach you to demand it? I've heard about some of it from others, but I'd like to get your perspective.
[x] Does Hamasaki just want you all out of Sendai? What did it take for Fukui to leave? Was she wore down by Akiko's... Policies, or was there a breaking point, too?
[x] What else has Hamasaki done?
[x] Once that's done, ask if they would be able to talk their minds with Akiko at the table. In addition, would they be willing to discuss things with other members of Hamasaki's group there? Mind that any agreements will hold more weight if it's done in person and not through an intermediate.
[x] Please don't ask for help yet. Let me try to stop this whole conflict first, and yes that includes Akiko's "tax". It's best if neither group escalates anymore; Akiko's got plenty of favors to call, so she'll match you girl for girl.
[x] This 'tax'... How exactly does it work? Were you offered anything in exchange, and how did she approach you to demand it? I've heard about some of it from others, but I'd like to get your perspective.
[x] Does Hamasaki just want you all out of Sendai? What did it take for Fukui to leave? Was she wore down by Akiko's... Policies, or was there a breaking point, too?
[x] What else has Hamasaki done?
[x] Once that's done, ask if they would be able to talk their minds with Akiko at the table. In addition, would they be willing to discuss things with other members of Hamasaki's group there? Mind that any agreements will hold more weight if it's done in person and not through an intermediate.
Dirtnap
Kanmusu Affecionado
Actually there is. Rin was on a 'healing circuit'.
What does that have to do with the thing we've heard called a "rental fee"?
Anyway, even if we did think that was what it is, it's still too leading.
Which we already know isn't the same as the extortion the university group us under. What's the point in deliberately misunderstanding? If it's actually the medical tax, the other questions well clarify it anyway
Crasian01
Insane Incubator
Was off getting breakfast, sorry for "long" response time. I can copypaste your preferred wording in if you'd like, but I'd prefer more general agreement.
Re: Possible Witchbomb: Is there consensus on this issue? I get the impression that we don't want that in the dialogue, just in case? Is some variation of Onmur's wording up there acceptable?
Cannongerbil
I came here to nep at you
- Location
- Soviet Lunar Base
I personally think that we shouldn't go out of our way to pry into the issue, and if we think that the reason is important enough to the negotiations for us to ask, then we do so using telepathy, preferably without Mami being present to notice our lapse in attention.
[x]Random832
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I think the benefit of making it clear that people should avoid talking about the witchbomb is outweighed by the risk of letting them know that it is an issue (along with risk of Mami asking what we're talking about, the possibility that they don't know and bringing it up witchbombs them, etc)
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PhantomFractions
I can (not) type fast enough
- Location
- Australia
Throwing in my two cents Re: the tax question:
we know that there was a tax and it was bad enough to 'push them to the brink' but I'd like to be given some sort of numerical value of seeds/month owed to Akiko and an estimate of how many witches Uni group hunts/month and of those witches - what approx. percentage drop a grief seed.
I think this information might give us an idea on the meguca/witch activity in the area - a large number of witches dropping grief seeds might indicate that the area is a hotspot of incubator activity and has a high rate of independent noob witchouts/familiar activity and vice versa. Mami and the Ishinomaki group and Kyoko (and Masami?) can also give us estimates of their areas if we ask nicely - which will allow us to identify any troublesome areas in our local region.
Beyond that, I'm not sure what we could do with this information (maybe ask around to restructure territory borders to give more active areas to larger groups to stop out more witches/familiars to protect normal, or something) but I'm sure someone could come up with a use for it.
TL;DR: the opportunity is there to pick up some info about the state of this region in regards to witch-to-muggle population density that could allow for more effective allocation of patrol routes to keep more muggles safe, thus reducing the numbers of 'wish or die' contractees and perhaps curbing the number of familiars in the region too. Possibility to foster more cooperation and communication between neighbouring regions and more backup for tougher witches, leading to lower death toll.
Nothing terribly helpful for negotiations right now, but good for future planning. Thoughts?
we know that there was a tax and it was bad enough to 'push them to the brink' but I'd like to be given some sort of numerical value of seeds/month owed to Akiko and an estimate of how many witches Uni group hunts/month and of those witches - what approx. percentage drop a grief seed.
I think this information might give us an idea on the meguca/witch activity in the area - a large number of witches dropping grief seeds might indicate that the area is a hotspot of incubator activity and has a high rate of independent noob witchouts/familiar activity and vice versa. Mami and the Ishinomaki group and Kyoko (and Masami?) can also give us estimates of their areas if we ask nicely - which will allow us to identify any troublesome areas in our local region.
Beyond that, I'm not sure what we could do with this information (maybe ask around to restructure territory borders to give more active areas to larger groups to stop out more witches/familiars to protect normal, or something) but I'm sure someone could come up with a use for it.
TL;DR: the opportunity is there to pick up some info about the state of this region in regards to witch-to-muggle population density that could allow for more effective allocation of patrol routes to keep more muggles safe, thus reducing the numbers of 'wish or die' contractees and perhaps curbing the number of familiars in the region too. Possibility to foster more cooperation and communication between neighbouring regions and more backup for tougher witches, leading to lower death toll.
Nothing terribly helpful for negotiations right now, but good for future planning. Thoughts?
Crasian01
Insane Incubator
How would you word that sort of statement? My inclination would be to avoid the topic altogether, since even bringing it up opens the risk of accidentally a witchbomb.
---
I actually disagree. It's incredibly helpful for negotiations now. If it turns out that such a tax is the only way for five megucas to survive due to a dearth of witches, then it's clear that the number of megucas in Sendai is Too Damn High. Sabrina's net worth in negotiations will go through the roof in such a case, and it's entirely possible that a huge swath of the conflict can be defused in a single sentence.
On the other hand, if such a tax is blatantly unnecessary, and the witch density in Sendai is actually very high, then it becomes very very difficult to justify such a tax other than "I'm more powerful than you". This makes it more likely for the University Group to retrench in their position and clogs up the negotiation process with animosity.
That's what I'm saying. It's other people that are trying to come up with some statement that ensures that witchbombs are discussed via telepathy, which I am saying is a bad idea to try to do.
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Crasian01
Insane Incubator
Oh I see. Er, then, other people, what would be your plan?
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Since Akiko was hesitant to talk about Chika's "death", I think the witchbomb is quite likely here. We should either not ask at all or in private via telepathy. If we ask about Chika it should be more general, like whose fault it was she died etc.
Do we want to ask Rin about Kato Setsuko here or do that later, when/if things calmed down a bit.
That the other two Sendai girls are nowhere to be seen, make me kind of paranoid. I hope Akiko isn't planning something stupid like calling in more teams or conspiring with the Fukushima group.
Edit: on further thought, bringing up a dead teammate of theirs on our own in their current state of mind, may seriously mess with their heads right now and make them even more of an emotional mess. We should postpone that line of thought for now.
Do we want to ask Rin about Kato Setsuko here or do that later, when/if things calmed down a bit.
That the other two Sendai girls are nowhere to be seen, make me kind of paranoid. I hope Akiko isn't planning something stupid like calling in more teams or conspiring with the Fukushima group.
Edit: on further thought, bringing up a dead teammate of theirs on our own in their current state of mind, may seriously mess with their heads right now and make them even more of an emotional mess. We should postpone that line of thought for now.
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I really think the truth is going to end up being something along the lines of "Akiko needs lots of extra grief seeds for something big" - that would also explain the overcharging for healing - and that we're not going to find out until we talk to her.