It's good to see this back! I was
bitterly resentful sad to think that it had died off, as it's my favorite PMMM quest on the board, bar none.
Funny thing is I'm vaguely tempted to start a second, low-effort quest of some sort just to have something to write while waiting for votes here.
There
is still an omake for this quest left sitting at part 1/2. You could write omakes all day between actual updates!
In any case. I have no strong opinion on Kaede and Naoko's fates except that I don't want Yui to both decide to kill them and have someone else do it for her, as that feels like it would be serious personal weakness and just opening her up to emotional problems without any of the accompanying hardening. Keeping herself clean but having a hatchetman is just not where I want Yui taken, even if her personality profile means that personally killing people is emotionally devastating. Leaving them alive in some fashion seems vaguely preferable simply from a point of practicality, on those grounds.
But I'm willing to let other people hash that out. There are other matters which can be addressed, like the fact that we're surrounded by sad people. I can ramble through a vote for that instead... and for some other things. It's overly wordy and probably not exactly one update's worth of rambling, but votes can always use some tweaking, so no matter.
[x] Talk about more stuff with Maiko, Minami, and Yumi.
-[x] Explain that it's becoming increasingly clear to you that forging a large number of girls who have magical superpowers, every reason to distrust one another, and diverse sets of uniquely heart-wrenching emotional issues into a tightly-knit set of friends who trust one another implicitly and can stand together against all that the world might throw at them while acting as each others' reliable emotional support will be harder than anime implies. Particularly when there's no time to give every teammate a character arc where you gradually discover their personal problems and help them become a happier person who also likes you more while giving them handy powerups.
--[x] You
need to get friendships, build personal loyalty, and create a sense of unity across your group in spite of its large numbers; practical reasons for cooperation and coexistence aren't enough. Today was a good demonstration of both why that's important by watching your opponent's group disintegrate and where we stand at the moment by the fact that we could get only about half the city's magical population to show up and actually help.
--[x] Your personal social superpowers of adorableness, optimism, and repression may not be enough to handle this on their own unless applied with delicacy, insight, and finesse. Therefore, you are delegating coming up with plans containing those qualities (sadly absent in your own skillset) to your loyal advisors. Maiko, Yumi, Minami, devise cunning schemes for short-term team-building and medium- to long-term happiness maintenance.
-[x] Explain to Yumi that Maiko and Minami combine to form our awesome intelligence team, though Asami helped a bit too, recently. In light of their incredible stalking powers, no secrets are safe! Except the ones belonging to people that don't have nearby trees tall enough to let someone see into their bedroom windows.
The point is, Yumi should tell them everything she knows about everyone she knows at some point soon. The files they gave you earlier today were fantastic and you want more of them before every fight.
--[x] You'll want to get information from the city's new residents, as well, but that can wait a bit.
[x] Brainmail Chou and let her know how the fight turned out.
-[x] No more than one plant pun every few sentences. You are a paragon of restraint.
-[x] Bring up the city's new potential residents. In particular, Kiyomi seemed pretty enthusiastic to hear that she was in town. Apparently they got along like... two peas in a pod?
[x] Brainmail Shinobu and let her know how the fight turned out.
-[x] If she has any interest in being introduced around, you can make arrangements.
-[x] Or you can talk about anime. You understand that she is a woman of discerning taste and keen insight in these matters.
[x] Brainmail Koharu and let her know how the fight turned out.
-[x] Mention that you can come by in person so that you can perform a full dramatization using appropriate sound effects and hand gestures if her parents could be wrangled into letting that happen. What are her thoughts on parent-wrangling?
