>"Warships don't stay in port because it's raining!" she had declared with her
>usual indefatigable good cheer, and out she went, her only concessions to the
>weather a poncho and a pair of galoshes.
>

I would be very surprised if/when Mogami and Miyafuji interact if they don't become nearly instantaneous friends.

>"Does Alice know you're getting so chummy with strangers nowadays, Shanghai?"
>Marisa teased, taking a seat on the next bollard along. Shanghai rolled her
>eyes as if to say she wasn't going to dignify that remark with a reply.
>

That's a lot of personality in a small magical construct. I sort of wonder if the two special dolls aren't Alice's equivalent of the more typical witch's familiar.

>"In training. At the age of five."
>"From birth, more or less. She was just a baby when her parents pledged her to
>the shrine. She never knew them. It's part of the deal. All we know is that her
>mother had to have been a military witch, because they always are."
>Gryphon sat back in his chair, frowning thoughtfully. "Far be it from me to
>criticize an ancient custom," he said, "but that seems a bit..."
>"Barbaric? Tell me about it," said Marisa.
>

This immediately makes me think of old school Jedi BS. Do they still pull that in their UF incarnation?

>"I was looking for a more diplomatic word, but that'll do. So if her
>predecessor died when she was five, who raised her?"
>Marisa shrugged again. "Who knows? Nobody. Wolves."
>

I mean, she does sometimes have the abrasiveness for that to be believable. And she responds to learning who is actually top dog. Which all may be, consciously or not, why Marisa went for that cliche.

>"I mean, I don't know if you get this, but when word gets out into the general
>public that there's a way to avoid the Witch's Fate, there's gonna be an
>almighty shitstorm. People are gonna be lookin' for you with pitchforks and
>torches."
>At his curious look, she went on, "A lot of folks only accept the special
>privileges witches get because they know it won't last. If we're gonna turn
>into ordinary girls when we hit 20, they reckon, what's the harm? Eventually
>we'll lose our magic and have to learn our place to make it through the rest of
>our lives. You go ahead and short-circuit that, and hoooly crap, that's gonna
>piss some people off."
>

I hadn't considered this angle until now. In part because everyone you see in the canon Witches materials, at least the animated ones I've found, seems to nearly revere the witches. On reflection though, most of the non-witches that get screen time are either military personnel or civilians who are somewhere in the process of being saved/defended/aided by witches. I think this mostly holds true for OWaW, with the arguable exception of Gallian civilians, but since the witches only very recently returned their homeland to them I expect they might also have a more favorable than average view of the ladies.

>Although drawn to the lounge, he managed to stay out of the card game, which
>was just as well, since—as he had predicted—Shizuka ran the table, keelhauling
>virtually all comers with a combination of luck, skill, and a flinty deadpan
>that was a direct copy of Mio Sakamoto's samurai game face.
>

This is not a character trait I'd expected to see Shizuka develop. In the Strike Witches movie at least she seems to have almost the opposite of a poker face. I guess repeated, massive shocks to her understanding of the world have had some side effects.

This does also lead me to quickly realizing the witch I'd least like to face at a card table, or any place bluffing was involved, would probably be Gundula Rall (who I don't believe has turned up on OWaW in any meaningful way.)

>"Sure. For about 24 hours," Reimu replied with a laugh. "Next morning she was
>back with—I kid you not—a fish."
>"A fish?"
>"A fish. A skipjack tuna, to be precise."
>

We know it didn't go down this way, but this just makes me picture Marisa walking up and slapping Reimu in the face with the broadside of as large fish.

>She blinked, seeming to realize for the first time how long she'd been talking.
>"Oh wow. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to tell you the entire story of my
>life."
>"That happens sometimes," said Gryphon philosophically. "I'm used to it."
>"Is this a manifestation of your 'Force'?" Reimu asked mischievously.
>"I don't think so. If it is, it's not a conscious one. It's been happening
>since long before I found myself on that path. I think it's just part of my
>dharma."
>

I do like that characters are picking up that G's 'great listener' aura is atypical, rather than acting like it is just the natural order of the world. Particularly Reimu, since Marisa doesn't seem the sort to really be that bothered about keeping her general past secret, but Reimu very much does seem the type to open up slowly and rarely most of the time.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "This Space For Rent."