>Well... it's an evocative image, but we've seen what happens to
>retired witches (at least in Britannia) both in OWaW and one of the
>manga series, and it's... not that. One of the stories in The Sky
>That Connects Us (the manga set between the first and second TV
>series, which as far as I know is still canon, unlike Maidens in
>the Sky) involves Wilma visiting Lynne in Paris not long after the
>first series, and it's pretty strongly implied that when she retired
>from combat the RFAF just sort of... kicked her out.

Ah, right. I'm not at all familiar with the Strike Witches canon beyond UF's version of it, so I wasn't aware there was actual proof of "what happens next", so to speak. Apologies for the error and for the unnecessary bleakness. You're right, too: the stuff with Wilma being married off to a RFAF officer to blast out the next generation of trouser-averse child soldiery for the next Neuroi War or whatever is extremely Yikes.

>I could see something like you describe happening to witches
>who had to retire prematurely because of some line-of-duty injury,
>probably extending to the kind of thing that happened to Mio in
>Strike Witches II (where the last of her magic was wrung out of
>her in the most traumatic fashion possible by the Operation Mars
>Yamato refit's core), but it doesn't seem like it would be the
>usual approach taken with those who had to hang it up because of slow
>burnout.

Yeah, that makes a lot more sense if you wanted to include a setting like the one I described. If anything, it's even bleaker if you use it as an institution for witches who have been seriously injured, which makes the escape angle a lot more convincing. It also has some serious stakes - these witches might be experienced and battle-tested, but it's been a long time since they've used their powers, and stuff might go seriously wrong if they burn out their magic again. It also makes the villains of the piece (the home operators and nurses) at least a little sympathetic, though now I have the image of the hospice administrator funding the place by using it as a marriage arrangement agency for rich industrialists and/or military bigwigs to find young and biddable wives and now I made myself really angry.

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's barren too, // "She's not worth feed or hay, // "But I'll give her this," - he blew smoke at me - // "She was something in her day." -- Garnet Rogers, Small Victory

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