While a discussion of dealing with bureaucratic issues and building our own housing is not without merit, I think we should trust Hitomi's judgement on this matter. While buying or renting a luxury apartment for every magical girl who needs one would face issues of practicality in real life, one of the differences between our world and PMMM seems to be that their world has more spacious and extravagant architecture, even for relatively low budget buildings like an ordinary middle school.
What seem to us to be luxury apartments might be more modest in their world, or perhaps luxury apartments are just more common. Our metaknowledge doesn't cover the real estate market of this world, so we don't really know, but Hitomi would. Her family actually works in this world's real estate industry, so her understanding of it is probably more reliable than our own. If she says she can get luxury housing for homeless megucas, I'm inclined to believe her.
I'm pretty sure Hitomi recognized that as teasing. Though it would be fair turnabout for her to take our "don't you dare" as a serious threat after we assumed she was homophobic early on in the quest because we took her overly dramatic "girls can't love girls" teasing from the show seriously.
But you are correct that we have zero context for how the economics work in universe. We've previously postulated that the obscenely advanced curriculum of Mitakihara Middle School is a result of generations of girls wishing math was easier. It wouldn't be at all out of left field for wishes to have had significant impact on major sectors of the economy like real estate in a way that leaves it only superficially similar to our own understanding of how things work, similar to what we learned about the Idol industry.
Might be worth reminding our friends we've got blind spots like that so they can keep an eye out for when we say something weird due to us having zero experience in the world and our knowledge of history being even less reliable than our knowledge of Asunaro.
While a discussion of dealing with bureaucratic issues and building our own housing is not without merit, I think we should trust Hitomi's judgement on this matter. While buying or renting a luxury apartment for every magical girl who needs one would face issues of practicality in real life, one of the differences between our world and PMMM seems to be that their world has more spacious and extravagant architecture, even for relatively low budget buildings like an ordinary middle school.
What seem to us to be luxury apartments might be more modest in their world, or perhaps luxury apartments are just more common. Our metaknowledge doesn't cover the real estate market of this world, so we don't really know, but Hitomi would. Her family actually works in this world's real estate industry, so her understanding of it is probably more reliable than our own. If she says she can get luxury housing for homeless megucas, I'm inclined to believe her.
We should ensure that Hitomi feels involved and actually helpful if we want to go alternative routes for housing. She may be upset/uncomfortable as we're seeing in the latest update because she sees that as something she can do that none of our other, Mitakihara residents, can.
[X] During Lunch:
-[X] Update the others on our itinerary.
--[X] When I leave here, I'm going to visit the Iowa group leader
---[X] I want to know what she has to say before our meeting with Shin this evening to explain what happened to him and Nagisa.
--[X] After I'll get the cake we promised to bring to the meeting with the Kagoshima group tomorrow at 4
--[X] I'll find Kyoko and Yuma after that
---[X] Homura, do you think your hacker friend could sort out the paperwork to get Yuma into school? I'll float the idea to Kyoko and Yuma if so.
-[X] Make some calls
--[X] Ask if Rin is willing to help Niko with the Soujus victims
--[X] Contact the Murasaki Shrine Maidens and schedule a meeting for tomorrow
---[X] Decide whether to meet them on the way to the Kagoshima group meeting or on the way back.
[X] After Lunch
-[X] Planned timestop talk
--[X] Resist the urge to apologize again, Sabrina. I believe in you.
--[X] With Homura adding and dropping people as needed while we discuss what we can and should tell Madoka
---[X] Proposal: Bring Hitomi in on the Witchbomb since she's in no danger from it.
----[X] Tell Hitomi before moving on to other proposals if agreed to.
---[X] Proposal: We offer to tell Madoka everything if and only if the alternative is her making a contract in ignorance
----[X] Cosmic truths, personal traumas, things that aren't our story to tell, everything.
----[X] Obviously, this doesn't preclude us telling her other stuff if we're all agreed. This is about agreeing how to handle an emergency.
----[X] I think that's what we'd all do if we encountered that as an emergency. I want to make it explicit among us
----[X] I want us to tell Madoka that's how we feel about it.
---[X] Proposal: We tell Madoka about the risk that she specifically could/would end the world if she makes a contract
----[X] Madoka is a selfless person and would likely respond more strongly to a threat to others than if the threat was "just" to her own safety.
----[X] We can say it's because her potential is higher than Kyubey's system can safely handle if we're not comfortable telling her about Witches.
-----[X] Also, Kyubey knows and doesn't care because Madoka's contract would meet his quota for earth so he can write the planet off
---[X] Does anyone have any other ideas or thoughts?
--[X] With Madoka
---[X] Follow through with what we agreed on in the previous step.
---[X] Ask Madoka how she's feeling because we haven't had much chance to talk
----[X] Don't interupt. Listen.
The conversation lapses for a few minutes as everyone returns to eating properly, and to your surprise, it's Homura who next breaks the silence, neatly setting her chopsticks down on her lunchbox with a precise click that somehow draws your attention, amethyst eyes meeting yours steadily.
"Are the Soujus safe?" Homura murmurs quietly.
There's a slight edge to her words, the faintest emphasis on the last word of her question. And you get it: not safe as in protected from danger, but safe as in whether those glowing green rocks are radioactive or not. Safe, as in whether she should tolerate their continued existence in Mitakihara.
Safe, as in whether it's safe to allow them to exist even remotely near Madoka.
"... I think so," you say, nodding slowly. "I... as much as I am uncomfortable with the whole... angel thing, they do seem to genuinely mean it. So they'll listen to me."
Homura nods, apparently satisfied, and picks her chopsticks back up.
"Oh, also, Homura - we can talk after lunch, right?" you ask.
She nods again, and you beam at her.
"By the by," Hitomi asks after another moment of quiet eating. "On the subject of the Soujus, what are we doing with the Soujus? I believe you said they were staying with Miss Watanabe and Miss Saito?"
"Oh, yeah, they volunteered to take them in," you say with a wince. "It's... the Soujus are apparently completely happy to just stay as Soul Gems, so they're not taking extra room or anything, and... I think they'll be on their best behaviour because of, er, their attitude towards me. Though the specifics of that 'best behaviour' might need, uh, guidance. So I'd say that situation is stable, and I'll... step in if Miss Saito and Miss Watanabe can't handle it, I guess?"
"That seems appropriate, yes," Hitomi agrees.
"Does it really make you that uncomfortable?" Madoka asks curiously.
"It's..." you stuff some rice into your mouth, buying some time to think as you chew and swallow. "Look, I'm a really weird magical girl. But I'm just me. Calling me an angel is... it's putting me in a position I never earned, you know? A religious figure is... something distant, something you hold up in your mind and, and worship. I'm not. I'm here, with you and everyone else, fighting together for the same things."
Mami bumps her shoulder against yours, pressing closer to your side.
"That's rather Abrahamic-centric of you, Sabrina," Hitomi comments, amusement in her expression as she wags a finger at you. "I would contrast Shintoism, or indeed animistic religions in general, in terms of how, ah, interactive one might be, though I do suppose the concept of angels is mostly a Christian thing. So I'll concede the point."
You grin at her, amused. You were a little worried that she'd taken that jab about the luxury apartments to heart, but... no, there's no hesitance or dismay in her expression. It was just good-natured teasing, and she took it in the spirit it was intended - just as you'll take this teasing in the spirit it was intended.
"'sides, angels are the ones empowered to go out and do stuff, aren't they?" Sayaka notes. "So it's OK, no?"
"Ennnh," you say. "I'll grant both of you the argument, but just... it makes me uncomfortable. Rationally it's just neutral at most, some good things about it, some bad things, but just..." You wave your hand vaguely. "Bleh."
"And there's nothing wrong with that!" Madoka says, twintails bouncing with her vigorous nod. "If they make you uncomfortable, then you don't need to address them personally! You don't have to do everything yourself, right?"
"Agreed," Mami says lightly. "Really, we have friends, and an entire alliance. Don't hoard all of the tough jobs for yourself, Sabrina."
"Right," you say, beaming at your friends. "I'm still gonna keep an eye on the situation and see if I do need to step in, and figure out where we can get all the resources we need, but... yeah. Thank you, everyone."
Sayaka snickers.
"Feels like we really do need that health care professional on board," she notes.
"Yeah... I might have to trouble you for that introduction sooner rather than later, Madoka," you say, sighing lightly.
"I'll be sure to ask papa," Madoka says. "And I'm sure he'll be happy to help."
"Thanks, Madoka," you say, beaming at her. "Can't help but feel that a personal connection might make this sort of thing easier to read in, but anyway, yeah."
You shake your head.
"Anyway!" you say. "Enough of that for now. What's your classes looking like this afternoon?"
"Literature, then PE at the end of the day!" Madoka says.
"PE at the end of the day," Hitomi echoes with an aggrieved sigh.
"I would presume you're still on light exercise, Hitomi?" Mami asks.
"I am," Hitomi says. "Which, I would argue, makes it worse - it's boring and tiresome."
"Ah, I see," Mami says, nodding and pursing her lips. "That's unfortunate."
"It is what it is, I suppose," Hitomi says. She shakes her head, then smiles. "I'd take it over actually having a still-healing wrist."
Mami chuckles, nodding again in agreement.
"If I recall correctly, you should be covering Lain in literature at about this time, right?" she asks.
"Yeah!" Madoka agrees. "It's rather bleak, but I can see why people hold it in such high esteem."
"Lain, as in Serial Experiments Lain?" you ask curiously.
"That's the one!" Madoka says. "It's classified as modern literature. What about you, Mami? What classes do you have after lunc-" Madoka blinks. "Oh, you'll be accompanying Sabrina still after lunch, Mami?"
"Definitely!" Mami says happily, nudging you in the side. "So what will we be doing after lunch, Sabrina?"
"Oh, yeah, I was wanting to update you guys on my plans for the day, yeah. Just to keep everyone in the loop," you say, smiling. "So, uh... right. Couple of things. I'll visiting the Kagoshima group tomorrow afternoon, and they wanted me to get a cake from some cafe in Shinmachi? So I'll be popping over, and if anyone knows that cafe and wants something from there I can pick it up?"
"Never heard of that place," Sayaka offers. "We don't really go down there all that often."
"I'd rather have something Mami baked," Madoka says. "Or you, Sabrina! Both of you are so good at baking... ooh. You should have a cook-off with my papa sometime."
You grin, and exchange a look with Mami, who snickers as she elbows you.
"We'll take that challenge anytime," you say. "But uh... yeah, I'm also going to pop off to Fukushima at some point to talk to the leader of the Iowa group."
"Captain, surely," Sayaka says.
"Captai... I guess?" you say. "I mean, I see your point, but it's not a proper maritime vessel, is it?"
"It is a ship, is it not?" Hitomi says thoughtfully, popping a grape into her mouth. "One of the most famous ships of the modern day, really. So I would tend to agree with Sayaka."
"It was magic," Homura mutters, the words almost seeming to be dragged out of her against her will.
"Yeah!" Madoka says, nodding vigorously. "It wasn't the real Iowa, right? Unless..."
"... as far as I know, it's just a magical construct that was, admittedly, modelled after the actual Iowa," you say. "I don't think she stole the actual Iowa and animated with magic or something like that. I think."
"But it was fully functional! I bet if you put it into the water it would float and, y'know, do all the proper boat-y things," Sayaka says, waggling her hands demonstratively as she warms up to the topic. "And that girl was in charge of it, so she's the captain. QED."
"OK, OK." You snap your fingers. "I have an argument to make but before we get into it properly, last thing on my after-lunch agenda is that I'm planning to go hunt down Kyouko and Yuma, and I bring that up because: does anyone want me to bring anything up with them or whatever? Looking at you, Sayaka."
"Uhhhh," Sayaka says. "No, I don't think so? Buy them a couple of anpan on me, I guess?"
"Sure, I can do that," you say, nodding. "Also, while we're on the subject, Mami, Sayaka, do you think Kyouko would want Yuma in school? I think Yuma would like to, and we've got the resources to make it happen, between Miss Inoue and our own resources. So... yeah."
"Inoue?" Hitomi asks.
"Magical girl hacker in Ishinomaki, I think I've mentioned her before? She got me my passport and official papers, so getting Yuma into school should be trivial," you say. And Yuuki's also how Homura got Walpurgisnacht into the forecast as a storm, you don't say out loud. "So. I... I just don't get Kyouko that well."
Sayaka makes a long, wordless noise of vague thoughtfulness, tugging on a lock of her hair.
"I dunno," she admits. "Like, listen, she talks a big talk about practical learning 'on the streets' and all, but that's all talk. She doesn't believe herself half the time."
"I think it's worth making the offer," Mami says, then chuckles softly. "She's not actually going to stab you, Sabrina. Especially not over an offer of help made in earnest."
"I don't know," you say doubtfully. "For the record, I don't think she'd actually stab me, but I seem to particularly annoy her, so I'm a little leery of being the one to ask."
"Trust me, Sabrina," Mami says, patting your hand gently. "And besides, I'll be there with you."
"Always," you say, smiling. You take a deep breath. "Alright. Now, back to the actual important topics at hand, look, Sayaka. She's not, as far as we know, a part of any form of uniformed service with an official rank system to hold said rank absent of an actual command. Yeah? And since we took her ship, one of us gets to be the captain now."
You snap your fingers, focusing for a moment and letting your costume twist to add a cap to your head, flat-topped in white and trimmed in gold, with a short, black brim pulled over your eyes.
"But you don't have a ship, either," Sayaka points out, setting her lunchbox aside. "Also, gimme that."
"Well, if that counts, neither does Parró, so she's not a captain now is she?" you say with a grin, leaning back and out of the way of Sayaka's grabbing hand.
"Did she ever formally surrender?" Hitomi asks.
You're too busy trying to fend off Sayaka's flailing arms without leaving your seat beside Mami to respond.
"Not that I recall," Mami says thoughtfully. "As such... right of conquest, perhaps?"
"I'm not sure that applies here, you don't claim a title directly by conquest, and we didn't claim the property in question," Madoka says, giving you a doubtful look while ignoring the way you have your hand on Sayaka's face, relying on your superior reach to keep her away.
"So we're in agreement, then!" you say around Sayaka. "Not captain."
"Aha," Sayaka proclaims triumphantly, one foot planted on the bench to give her just enough reach to snatch the cap from your head. She backs off and grins, settling the cap on her head at a jaunty angle. "Who's the captain now?"
"No one is, we just went over this," Hitomi says reprovingly. "Do try to keep up, Sayaka."
[X] After Lunch
-[X] Planned timestop talk --[X] Resist the urge to apologize again
-- [] Propose to bring Hitomi in on the Witchbomb
-- [] Propose a contingency to tell Madoka everything in the event of her being about to make a contract
-- [] Propose to now tell Madoka that she might end the world if she contracts
--- [] How do you address Homura's fear?
[x] Make some calls
-[X] Ask if Rin is willing to help Niko with the Soujus victims
-[X] Contact the Murasaki Shrine Maidens and schedule a meeting for tomorrow
--[X] Decide whether to meet them on the way to the Kagoshima group meeting or on the way back.
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
-[X] Make some calls
--[X] Ask if Rin is willing to help Niko with the Soujus victims
--[X] Contact the Murasaki Shrine Maidens and schedule a meeting for tomorrow
---[X] Decide whether to meet them on the way to the Kagoshima group meeting or on the way back.
[X] After Lunch
-[X] Planned timestop talk
--[X] Resist the urge to apologize again, Sabrina. I believe in you.
--[X] With Homura adding and dropping people as needed while we discuss what we can and should tell Madoka
---[X] Proposal: Bring Hitomi in on the Witchbomb since she's in no danger from it.
----[X] Tell Hitomi before moving on to other proposals if agreed to.
---[X] Proposal: We offer to tell Madoka everything if and only if the alternative is her making a contract in ignorance
----[X] Cosmic truths, personal traumas, things that aren't our story to tell, everything.
----[X] Obviously, this doesn't preclude us telling her other stuff if we're all agreed. This is about agreeing how to handle an emergency.
----[X] I think that's what we'd all do if we encountered that as an emergency. I want to make it explicit among us
----[X] I want us to tell Madoka that's how we feel about it.
---[X] Proposal: We tell Madoka about the risk that she specifically could/would end the world if she makes a contract
----[X] Madoka is a selfless person and would likely respond more strongly to a threat to others than if the threat was "just" to her own safety.
----[X] We can say it's because her potential is higher than Kyubey's system can safely handle if we're not comfortable telling her about Witches.
-----[X] Also, Kyubey knows and doesn't care because Madoka's contract would meet his quota for earth so he can write the planet off
---[X] Does anyone have any other ideas or thoughts?
--[X] With Madoka
---[X] Follow through with what we agreed on in the previous step.
---[X] Ask Madoka how she's feeling because we haven't had much chance to talk
----[X] Don't interupt. Listen.
=====
Bah, apologies for the late update and the relative brevity. The timestop talk should happen next post, and it's gonna be a big one, but this vote is for two things: first, to make sure that I've understood what was intended, as per the new vote, and second, to offer any specific proposition to address Homura's concerns. She is not rational about Madoka's safety, or the possibility of her contracting. I can autopilot Sabrina talking to Homura about it, but if you have any specific suggestions, now's the time.
Also, I'm bad about enforcing the word count limits, but seriously, this is a bit much.
Bah, apologies for the late update and the relative brevity. The timestop talk should happen next post, and it's gonna be a big one, but this vote is for two things: first, to make sure that I've understood what was intended, as per the new vote, and second, to offer any specific proposition to address Homura's concerns. She is not rational about Madoka's safety, or the possibility of her contracting. I can autopilot Sabrina talking to Homura about it, but if you have any specific suggestions, now's the time.
Also, I'm bad about enforcing the word count limits, but seriously, this is a bit much.
I really wish we had already witchbombed Mami here. It would be a direct rebuttal of one of Homura's deepest held assumptions and evidence that telling people important secrets can achieve good results. The consequences of holding back secrets.
[X] After Lunch
-[X] Planned timestop talk --[X] Resist the urge to apologize again
-- [X] Propose to bring Hitomi in on the Witchbomb
----[X] Hitomi is in no danger from the witchbomb, she's also very level headed and sensible. We know for a fact that if she had potential and Kyubey tried to contract her, she'd tell him to go away. Between that and her sensible nature, we're fairly certain that if she had the situation explained to her, she'd agree that Madoka shouldn't contract. She's actually a natural ally for Homura, with strengths in areas where Homura is weak. She's very good at social, and has been friends with Madoka for years, meaning she understands her and is trusted by her.
-- [X] Propose a contingency to tell Madoka everything in the event of her being about to make a contract
-- [X] Propose to now tell Madoka that she might end the world if she contracts
--- [X] How do you address Homura's fear? ----[X] Many of the problems Homura faced when telling people major secrets were caused by the circumstances. If the circumstances were different, and many are now, explaining things to people can achieve good results, see lichbombing Mami, Sayaka not caring about the lichbomb, loopbombing Mami, etc. Also, we don't think she's ever actually told Madoka her contract could destroy the world. Madoka is very selfless and will be more convinced by an argument that contracting will make things worse for other people than an argument for self interest.
[x] Make some calls
-[X] Ask if Rin is willing to help Niko with the Soujus victims
-[X] Contact the Murasaki Shrine Maidens and schedule a meeting for tomorrow
--[X] Decide whether to meet them on the way to the Kagoshima group meeting or on the way back.
-[X] Vote in abeyance
Things that are different in PMAS from the world we're familiar with presumably as a long term consequence of wishes but really who knows:
What we might consider 'otaku media' has all been shuffled - Lain is modern literature instead of an anime, Saya no Uta is a kids cartoon instead of an adult visual novel, etc (Reason unclear. Sabrina could investigate and see if there's a pattern by looking up lots of media she's familiar with to see what's different in this world)
The idol industry is okay instead of a hellhole (This changed at a distinct point in the semi-recent past so it's almost certainly the result of a wish for reform)
Japan has a bunch of extra cities (Reason unclear. Maybe a first step in investigating this would be to check how different geography is from what Sabrina remembers in the rest of the world to see if it's a local phenomenon)
Humans have a much wider variety of naturally occurring hair and eye colors (Probably the result of a wish in the distant past? If so is there a distinct point in the human genetic record where it changed? Do ancient cultures have myths about it? Maybe worth reading up on anthropology to see if this is something that's been studied in-universe)
Schools teach much more advanced material (Probably the cumulative result of many generations of kids wishing for school to be easier and schools ramping up their curriculums in response. If this really happened it should be visible in the history of test scores, the history of school curriculums, teachers writing about kids getting smarter each generation, etc)
Architecture is extremely spacious and ornate, everyone has lots of space in land-starved japan, schools are built like castles, etc (Probably the cumulative result of many generations of kids wishing for more space. Should be visible in the history of architecture. Also worth investigating how localized it is - do cities on the other side of the world look like this too?)
We don't have any evidence that history is substantially different yet (except for some extremely weird events surrounding Jeanne d'Arc being a magical girl) but it would be surprising if it weren't
In general Sabrina can't trust her knowledge of history, geography, biology, or culture to be accurate beyond the broad strokes. This is not really an urgent problem but in the long term she really needs to commit to spending a bunch of time reading about how things actually work in this universe in case her bad assumptions lead her to making a critical mistake. (As a sidenote it's weird from an in-universe perspective that her background knowledge is for a world without wishes. She was created by the wish of a girl from this universe so where did her knowledge even come from?)
"OK, OK." You snap your fingers. "I have an argument to make but before we get into it properly, last thing on my after-lunch agenda is that I'm planning to go hunt down Kyouko and Yuma, and I bring that up because: does anyone want me to bring anything up with them or whatever? Looking at you, Sayaka."
So this afternoon we're going to talk to Parró and then Kyouko and Yuma. Something else to consider if we end up having spare time is a while back we discussed asking Oriko to use her clairvoyance to verify the current status of a long list of people (most importantly Hijiri Kanna to make sure she's doing okay and not getting ready to try to kill Niko again, but also every potential magical girl from the extended Madoka side material who we haven't yet run into to check if she's made a contract, and if she can manage it the girls from Homura's list of witches who haven't yet fallen to despair). Even if we don't get to it today I think we should make sure to put that on our todo list
I'm not sure this is really all that much of a mystery, tbh. Like... Complete with her remembering this world as an anime with manga spinoffs, it's entirely plausible that the wish just reframed all knowledge about their world in whatever way achieves what was wished for, or more specifically, a person with not only the knowledge, but the perspective and personality necessary to ensure the wish is properly granted. In example, by framing it as fiction, while also setting up knowledge of the Isekai genre, it could potentially soften the eventual 'probably did not exist before the wish' revelation so that an 'i'm not even a real person!' breakdown is less likely to occur.
Of course, out of character we know that we're where a lot of Sabrina's knowledge and actions are sourced from, but in-universe, 'the wish reframed it' is an entirely plausible conclusion.
Of course, out of character we know that we're where a lot of Sabrina's knowledge and actions are sourced from, but in-universe, 'the wish reframed it' is an entirely plausible conclusion.
Yeah, when you really get into "reality itself is altered to match desires" things like backstories and causality are secondary concerns.
You don't have to actually make a star to have starlight flowing, if you just wish and get your spontaneously generated photons instead.
Sabrina having knowledge of what the world would be like without the meguca system also kinda works as Madoka's rebuttal to Kyubey's argument about how much humanity has benefited from the Incubators.
Sabrina knows with 100% certainty that Kyubey's "you'd probably still be living in caves" claim is either a misleading technicality or just Kyubey wildly underestimating what humanity could do without the Incubators.
It's possible they're treating the manga form as modern literature. Japan is a lot less dismissive of comics and graphic novels as legitimate storytelling media than the West.
In general Sabrina can't trust her knowledge of history, geography, biology, or culture to be accurate beyond the broad strokes. This is not really an urgent problem but in the long term she really needs to commit to spending a bunch of time reading about how things actually work in this universe in case her bad assumptions lead her to making a critical mistake. (As a sidenote it's weird from an in-universe perspective that her background knowledge is for a world without wishes. She was created by the wish of a girl from this universe so where did her knowledge even come from?)
Simple: To prevent any transcendent being from interfering, to make Sabrina's actions be immune to further wishes, or to older wishes(as created Madokami and Homucifer), Sabrina's mind was linked to a reality where there are no wishes, no Wraiths or Witches, where we can act through her to make it possible, indeed, for everything to be capable of being fixed. We're still not going to succeed at fixing everything, but it's made possible by using an outside source.
Oh, right. In unrelated musings, did we ever consider the possibility that we're in a Homura Tamura or MagiReco type situation, where Madokami chose not to intervene in a timeline because a 'solution' (Sabrina) was already being attempted? Like... We had that session with Oriko and the Kazumi Magica girls, and we know out of character that MagiReco isn't canon to this... And that Tamura probably isn't, due to being a parody...
But it would be a way to reconcile Homura and Madoka existing independently from their divine selves.
The explanation I made up is that Madoka's wish needed to put together a person that's inclined to be sympathetic towards magical girls, that had the knowledge necessary to help Homura and that's especially well-informed about the magical girl system. None of these things are possible in a world that's been visited by the Incubators - so, the wish had to go look for a timeline where there was simultaneously accurate information about the PMMM universe and also no Incubator presence.
The explanation I made up is that Madoka's wish needed to put together a person that's inclined to be sympathetic towards magical girls, that had the knowledge necessary to help Homura and that's especially well-informed about the magical girl system. None of these things are possible in a world that's been visited by the Incubators - so, the wish had to go look for a timeline where these criteria could be met, which would be a world where that information is freely available as fiction.
See, the thing is, there's no requirement that the information actually existed prior to the wish. It's entirely possible that Sabrina's knowledge of our world is, in-universe, knowledge of a place that never existed, a timeline that never happened, a fiction created by the wish solely as setup to the wish being successfully granted.
"... as far as I know, it's just a magical construct that was, admittedly, modelled after the actual Iowa," you say. "I don't think she stole the actual Iowa and animated with magic or something like that. I think."
I think we might be best if we start by making sure Homura hasn't already tried this. She only learned about Madoka's world ending potential in the timeline after the mercy kill (which we should NOT bring up), and so she'd already settled on not telling Madoka things by that point, so it's unlikely she's tried this before. But we've been wrong about what she's tried before.
After that, we cover the main thesis of why we think this is a good idea. That is, Madoka is selfless. Risks to otehrs will motivate her in ways risks to herself just plain won't.
Then we move on to offering up ways this is not a full disclosure, so Homura's specific fears relating to the witchbomb and the loopbomb at least aren't necessarily included in this.
[X] After Lunch
-[X] Planned timestop talk --[X] Resist the urge to apologize again
--- [X] It's okay, Sabrina. We'll keep working on it together.
-- [X] Propose to bring Hitomi in on the Witchbomb
-- [X] Propose a contingency to tell Madoka everything in the event of her being about to make a contract
-- [X] Propose to now tell Madoka that she might end the world if she contracts
--- [X] How do you address Homura's fear?
---- [X] Ask if Homura has tried telling Madoka about this before. We think she hasn't, but we should confirm.
---- [X] Homura understands Madoka is a selfless person. Risks to herself will be less motivating to Madoka than risks to other people would be.
---- [X] We don't have to reveal the witchbomb to tell her this is a risk and can instead explain this as the Madoka specific risk it is.
---- [X] We don't have to reveal the loops if Homura's not ready to talk about that, and we can say it's from Sabrina's metaknowledge.
[x] Make some calls
-[X] Ask if Rin is willing to help Niko with the Soujus victims
-[X] Contact the Murasaki Shrine Maidens and schedule a meeting for tomorrow
--[X] Decide whether to meet them on the way to the Kagoshima group meeting or on the way back.
Hey, question. Is now a good time to bring up telling Homura about the potential pumping? It's a bright sunny day in the middle of the afternoon, Mami knows about homura's time stop and can help smooth things over, and it's been our biggest weak point for the incubator to strike at. So it feels to me like the best time for it.
Also, we've talked about how a huge chunk of Homura's doubt's and fears come a lack of confidence, how she feels like she has failed Madoka over and over again. And telling her about the potential is like a huge conformation of those fears. The world slipping in a life to confirm her worst thoughts about her self.
Thing is, it's a lie. Because the truth is Homura has saved Madoka a countless amount of times. Saved her from walpetgisnatch, saved her from witching out, and saved her from the fate of a magical girl so many times she's lot count.
Because remember, madoka wasn't necessarily anything special in the beginning. Yes she took down the biggest witch in the world, but in the grand scheme of things that's a blip to the incubators plans. And the world would laugh at the idea of Madoka being anything other than above average.
But Homura didn't believe that. She told the world that Madoka was the most precious and beautiful thing in the world, and that she deserved to be protected. And then she took the worlds own rules, " all things fall to time and pressure." And wrapped it like a garrotte wire around its neck and pulled. And no matter how the world bucked and fought she heals on and protected Madoka, proved what she believed right, and in doing so set off the dominos to topple a system of oppression that had been put in place since the dawn of man.
She started the process that saves every magical girl in the world. And anything we accomplish we owe to her.
And I'm realizing that, Homura's can't hear this from us. Because we were born to fix things right or wrong. And even if we mean everything we say, we can't be the ones to say it. Because we would say it anyways, see it like that anyways, right or wrong.
But Mami can, Mami can say something that Homura has never heard before. " thank you for saving my life, for giveing me the love of my life, and fighting for a life worth living."
(also, can we talk about how Homura has officially repaid Madoka? The world said that there was nothing worth wile about Homura Akemi, and Madoka said " nope!" And proved with the death of the greatest witch on record. Then Homura learned that the word thought Madoka was nothing special and went "No!" And then proved it with the dissolving of the Maguda System. These girls are made for each other huh!)
Wait, I thought it was that the gem exists in hammerspace and meatspace simultaneously? If Sabrina looked at her soul gem with her meatspace eyes, and had a chibi in hammerspace looking at the soul gem with her eyes, they'd both see the gem. If meatspace Sabrina moved her soul gem around in meat space using her hands, chibi Sabrina would see the soul gem being jerked around hammer space by seemingly nothing. I think.
I think. I don't remember this as clearly as the basic answer and finding the post without any more specific keywords than "soul gem" and "Mami" would take a while.
