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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Muramasa said:
This is a very strange tangent to me.

Parro didn't hesitate to try an execute the Myanmar girls (And Sabrina herself!) as the battle went increasingly bad and worse for her. She didn't even hesitate to fire her gun. Out of spite, because I can't for the life of me see why she'd do that otherwise.

Not to mention all the missing girl reports that were talked about before the start of that fight.

I don't think Sabrina has to actually see her do it to know weather or not Parro has killed before.
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I mean, pretty sure she has but we could always make a witch contruct to find out.
 
Wutnhammer said:
The attack was instigated by their scrying spell and she should have been able to figure that out. I think she's fishing for more information on our capabilities.
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She probably did figure that out, given that they cut off the spell and started arguing with each other as soon as Mami got a lock on them. I think she changed her mind when she realized that we actually cared about the Myanmar girls because she just can't wrap her head around the idea that someone as obviously powerful as Sabrina, who doesn't act like some wet-behind-the-ears rookie, would actually give a damn about people she'd never even met before. And to be fair, meguca life is rough enough that it's an easy conclusion to jump to even if you aren't a horrible person. Look at what Homura said to Madoka in canon: "A person becomes naive if they're too kind. Careless if they're too bold. And no matter how hard you try to protect others, there's no gratitude. Those who can't comprehend such things aren't fit to be magical girls."
 
Firnagzen said:
"You know, this wouldn't be a problem if you'd let me get you a smartphone," Mami says, amused as she hooks her arm through yours.
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Firnagzen said:
A quick stop to pick up something you'd missed the opportunity to, you'd said. Fortunately, the short queues smooth your way, and Mami slides in to pay with an insistent nudge and a sweet smile, just for you, that has your defenses and feeble protests crumbling all but instantly.

The largest amount of time was spent on arguing over which phone to get, of course, but you cut it off early and concede in the interests of time.
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Did that after arranging to talk with Shin. Sounds like Mami had all her demands met, so we should have a pretty good phone now.
DataSnake said:
She probably did figure that out, given that they cut off the spell and started arguing with each other as soon as Mami got a lock on them. I think she changed her mind when she realized that we actually cared about the Myanmar girls because she just can't wrap her head around the idea that someone as obviously powerful as Sabrina, who doesn't act like some wet-behind-the-ears rookie, would actually give a damn about people she'd never even met before. And to be fair, meguca life is rough enough that it's an easy conclusion to jump to even if you aren't a horrible person. Look at what Homura said to Madoka in canon: "A person becomes naive if they're too kind. Careless if they're too bold. And no matter how hard you try to protect others, there's no gratitude. Those who can't comprehend such things aren't fit to be magical girls."
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And this is why I want to ask her perspective and have a conversation about it instead of quickly correcting her and jumping into the court spiel.
 
Firnagzen said:
"Picture frames!" you say. "And maybe a camera? It'd be nice to have a record of our shenanigans."

"That sounds... wonderful, Sabrina," Mami says. There's a hitch in her voice, her eyes wide and terribly vulnerable.
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I'm glad I put this in the plan and surprised it took this long for the idea to make it into the story. Maybe I should be pushing for Sabrina to act on other ideas like this?

Also, can I assume that Sabrina will use the camera whenever appropriate without needing the thread's input all the time?

Firnagzen said:
Still, she recovers soon enough, the two of you spending more than a few minutes lingering by the display racks of photo frames as you both try to figure out which ones would look better at home. Ultimately, you load five of them into your shopping basket, resolving to come back for more when you fill them up.
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Photo frames are simple enough, Sabrina can just make more from recycled junk once we run out.

Firnagzen said:
Body wash, too, and as Mami grabs the herbal scented brand Kyouko apparently prefers, she offers to let you have one you don't have to share with her. But truth be told, you sort of like it, so Mami just gets an extra large instead with a blushing smile.
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Heh.

Firnagzen said:
Her answering sigh comes through loud and clear, tinged with amusement, even as you feel her attention settle upon you, the sense of her magic awakening from the structure around you.
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Man, Yuki's powers are so convenient. I'd like to put some time towards expanding her network of claimed buildings.

Firnagzen said:
"Nonsense," Yuki says. "If anything, you're doing us a favour - Parró has refused to speak to me any further than requesting a meeting with you, and frankly, it would set my mind at ease to know a little more of who I'm playing warden to. So please, take all the precautions you like - I do not believe she will do anything, but it doesn't hurt to be sure."
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I hope this is our last interaction with the Iowa prisoners for a while. I'm okay with this visit since I'd like to know a bit more about why they came after us, but afterwards I think Sabrina has better things to be doing with her time.

Firnagzen said:
"It's, ah, a bit uncanny," Mami says, determinedly keeping her attention on you. "It looks like you, but I can tell it's not."
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Not quite the reaction I expected from her, but it's really cute that Mami is so perceptive when the subject is Sabrina.

...Kind of want to know what would happen if a genuine Sabrina clone came along.

Firnagzen said:
"She has been a... model prisoner," Yuki allows. "And she seems glad that the rest of her group have been treated well - I do allow them to mingle. It would be cruel not to."
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Hopefully letting them mingle wasn't a mistake, we don't really understand their relationship with each other.

Firnagzen said:
"What do you want, Miss Parró?" you ask, responding in English.

"Well... I wanted to apologise, first of all. I'm really sorry about attacking your friends in Myanmar. It wasn't personal, and... we didn't know," she says. "And I wanted to look you in the eye. I've heard you're quite the hero. Not that you didn't put up quite the show when we fought, but I wanted to take your measure in a friendlier scenario."
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Please tell me Parró isn't flirting with Sabrina like that other Iowa girl did... The fake friendliness makes me uncomfortable and she's apologizing to the wrong person.

[X] Interesting. You mind telling me what you think happened? I'll tell you my perspective after.

I guess I'm a little interested in learning their story.

Firnagzen said:
Also, while you're here, shoutout to this fantastic piece of art! Go drop some likes there (just further up this page, but still)!
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I was pretty nervous about sharing it, so I'm glad so many people are enjoying the commission! ^_^

My desire for more PMAS fanart is satisfied for now, but I'm open to getting more done in the future. Maybe an illustration of the planned date on the moon?
 
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StellarMonarch said:
I was pretty nervous about sharing it, so I'm glad so many people are enjoying the commission! ^_^
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There's no reason to be ashamed of fanart, I'm pretty sure everyone loves it whenever there's new fanart posted to the thread. There's no shame in unabashedly liking the things you like, anyone who tells you otherwise isn't worth your time.
 
Alright, the big question here is what Parró wants and I do not feel the slightest need to correct her on any point until that's established. Not that I anticipate her posing a threat to us again in the future at this stage, but I feel it may be prudent to let her continue labouring under whatever delusions she has about us until we've established what she wants from us at least. No need to lie to her, there's just no need to correct her until after she tips her hand either.

I suspect she's about to try bargaining. What she wants and what she thinks she can do with it are all important insights here. I say we let her run her mouth for a bit. We can always correct her after we know for sure.
 
Recurrence said:
Alright, the big question here is what Parró wants and I do not feel the slightest need to correct her on any point until that's established. Not that I anticipate her posing a threat to us again in the future at this stage, but I feel it may be prudent to let her continue labouring under whatever delusions she has about us until we've established what she wants from us at least. No need to lie to her, there's just no need to correct her until after she tips her hand either.

I suspect she's about to try bargaining. What she wants and what she thinks she can do with it are all important insights here. I say we let her run her mouth for a bit. We can always correct her after we know for sure.
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I agree with this as far as it goes, but we should still be building up a plan for how exactly to pull the rug out from under her. Maybe "they weren't my friends before you started attacking" segueing into international law about how pirates and slavers are hostis humani generis, thus to continue as she was before but staying out of our way / paying tribute to the bigger monster isn't on the table, actual reform will be necessary to end up on the right side of history?

edited to add: Three Panel Soul - Post-Fight
 
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One of the things I love about this quest is how I'm learning new words/concepts/things like every other update, it's amazing.

Found two mistakes, hope it helps.
Firnagzen said:
You also pick up a good-sized wedge of nice parmesan and some mandarins for Mr. Momoe and Nagisa - the latter isn't exactly a conventional gift, but you're sure Nagisa at least will enjoy it.
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Firnagzen said:
the store proprietor seeming to assume you're doing it for a school photographh club when you inform him you don't need the actual equipment, just the chemicals.
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Firnagzen said:
A few minutes later, Mami marches back out of the store, dinosaur plushie tucked under her arm and a smile on her face.
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*Sudden otherworldly sounds of a nefarious curse being cast upon the quest*
Huh, that was weird... Must've been the wind.

[x] Interesting. You mind telling me what you think happened? I'll tell you my perspective after.
 
Wait one goddamn second... Parró should know this isn't why we came after her. We only went after Iowa because her dumbass storm wizard had the bright idea of scrying our city. Otherwise we wouldn't have cleaned them up until much later. Did she not know what her scryer was doing, not know we were in Mitakihara or is she testing us?
 
Recurrence said:
Wait one goddamn second... Parró should know this isn't why we came after her. We only went after Iowa because her dumbass storm wizard had the bright idea of scrying our city. Otherwise we wouldn't have cleaned them up until much later. Did she not know what her scryer was doing, not know we were in Mitakihara or is she testing us?
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She's playing dumb because admitting that we came after their asses in response to them scoping out our city would be unwise. If we didn't already know they'd done that for whatever reason, admitting to the scrying would be incriminating them.

There are ways we might not know, such as if Constellation had poor internal communication so the one who figured out the scrying didn't explain the details and instead just pointed Sabrina at the problem like a weapon. Another way we might not know is if the timing was coincidental, and we had not actually been successful in backtracing their scrying. This would plant a seed of doubt that maybe there was another group responsible for the scrying we detected.

Parro does not know what we do and do not know, and part of what she's doing is trying to tease that out.

By this point, she will have figured out that she and her crew are not going to win by force of arms. They've had time to think about exactly how that fight went and how many of the little flourishes were done purely because we could and not because they were strictly necessary. And they've had time to test the walls and bars of the cell they're being kept in.

So, the next most logical means of escape will be the social engineering angle. Sabrina was an obvious enough choice to try and speak to from the perspective of an outsider. Grief benders have a nasty reputation, which would indicate Sabrina might be less strongly attached to the alliance. Sabrina's different racial features and english fluency is also likely to contribute to the idea that Sabrina might be easier to peel away than any of the other members of the alliance, especially given Iowa's origin within the anglosphere. If Sabrina wasn't in the loop for whatever reason, Parro could take advantage and try to play us against the others.

Iowa targeted Mitakihara in the first place in order to acquire Sabrina's services one way or the other, be it by directly shanghaing her, by threatening civilians to ensure our cooperation, or by swooping in to play hero rescuing us from an abusive situation where the people around us are just using us. She is likely leaning in to that original plan to see if she can still make it work.

That isn't to say they've underestimated us exactly. They may well realize trying something like that is a long shot, but given they have no other real option, slim chances are better than no chances.

Of course, this is all just wild speculation on my part. We'll know more as the conversation progresses.
 
Torgamous said:
Did that after arranging to talk with Shin. Sounds like Mami had all her demands met, so we should have a pretty good phone now.

And this is why I want to ask her perspective and have a conversation about it instead of quickly correcting her and jumping into the court spiel.
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Bah, right you are. I keep thinking of Sabrina having that old flip phone. I'll correct that.
Recurrence said:
Wait one goddamn second... Parró should know this isn't why we came after her. We only went after Iowa because her dumbass storm wizard had the bright idea of scrying our city. Otherwise we wouldn't have cleaned them up until much later. Did she not know what her scryer was doing, not know we were in Mitakihara or is she testing us?
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This, on the other hand, isn't a continuity error.
 
Nerevar said:
Parro does not know what we do and do not know, and part of what she's doing is trying to tease that out.
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In that case, how about asking her to explain her own perspective on what happened that day, in chronological order, and exactly which parts of it she's apologizing for? Could be framed as sympathetic, "getting both sides of the story." Even if not, it's a reasonable enough request that pushing back would look terrible... but the more details she admits to before Sabrina gives any more meaningful reply, the less wiggle-room there is for tailored distortions or omissions.
 
Check if one of the Iowa girls is using their magic.

Or if any kind of unauthorized magic is in use.

It's possible some kind of mental tampering is in play.
 
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strange_person said:
In that case, how about asking her to explain her own perspective on what happened that day, in chronological order, and exactly which parts of it she's apologizing for? Could be framed as sympathetic, "getting both sides of the story." Even if not, it's a reasonable enough request that pushing back would look terrible... but the more details she admits to before Sabrina gives any more meaningful reply, the less wiggle-room there is for tailored distortions or omissions.
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Really should have debriefed them earlier.

... well, never to late: What Would Columbo Do?
 
[X] Torgamous

I agree with Nerevar's perspective on Iowa's thought process but still... If they think this has even 1% chance of working they either failed the whole "Intelligence gathering" thing badly or cripplingly stupid. And first is obviously much more likely but weird nonetheless. Did they never bother to learn Sabrina's personality and instead got info on her capabilities only and called it a day?
 
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