waitingforplayer2

i'm heading over.

[It doesn't take long for Niina to arrive. She's...looking, well. Uncomfortable. Her hoodie is irritating the burns on her chassis as she walks towards her. She told Wakaba that she needed food, that the guard will take care of things.

She didn't say she was meeting someone to help her hunt.]

Thanks. That fire really did a number.

[ Woah. The rainbow burns are indeed just barely visible at the neck of Niina's hoodie. Nanami's been waiting near the front of the arcade, busying herself with the prize counter until she saw Niina arrive; and then shrank down and flitted over to the door, growing back to normal to let the simulacrum in.

Her eyes can't really widen, compound as they are, but if they could have, they would have. Her friend doesn't look well. So Niina's not gonna get a chance to protest before the blue faerie's pulling her into a tight hug. ]

I'm really glad you're okay...

[If she could she would have wore more clothes. The burns are embarrassing at best and painful at worst. The coloring doesn't help--and at least the small streak of burned screen under where her 'eyes' are looks more like a streak of dirt at a distance. Niina does look like a wreck.

There's a small blinking emoticon before she gets pulled into a hug. There's a hiss that sounds like static before she relaxes.]

That's two of us... careful.

[It's the way she tenses that shows the true extent of the burns.]

Don't get burned. That's my advice.

Sorry...

[ She can tell that the hug hurts Niina, if unintentionally. Immediately her grip loosens, and the faerie steps away from Niina to give her a little space. ]

I won't... it sounds terrible...

[ Can the Fog heal scars? Can Mana? Things she wonders now. Niina doesn't deserve to be in this pain; didn't that happen a month ago? ]

You didn't just wake up, did you?... [ Shrink - flits back over to the prize counter - grows again and picks up a heavy box. ] I'll help you in a minute - these boxes just need to get into storage first...

Can't be helped, I guess.

[She's healing but the scars would likely remain even if the damage is gone. She shrugs.] It is but... I'm feeling better now.

[It definitely didn't help that when she died the Fog was at Her weakest.]

No, I woke up a while ago. The fog wasn't as strong as it normally was. Shit sucks but I'm healing.

[That's when she hears it. She goes over to the prize counter and grabs another box.] Let's get it done, then.

Oh-- thank you.

[ She was very quick to help, wasn't she? Nanami leads Niina towards the back of the arcade, and unlocks a door. There she places her box on the floor, and takes Niina's box from her too. ]

Sorry about the mess in here... [ There's clutter everywhere in the little room. Boxes on the floor, things half-unpacked; a pinball machine in the back with the glass taken off, which Nanami's been trying to work on in between fog weeks. She sighs. ] I really want this place to be more organized, but I never seem to have enough time...

Whatever... it doesn't bother me.

[She eyes the boxes, the pinball machine. She moves around as the fairy works. It's not much but is. Is she sorting the junk by size.]

It's not that hard to sort things once you get used to it.

[Niina what are you doing]

[ Nanami misses this at first - she's flitted towards the back, checking on the pinball machine while she's tiny. It's a totally different perspective, and it'll probably help her figure out what's not working with it - but even at this size, she can't quite figure it out...

She turns and climbs out of the machine, and finds-- her sim friend starting to organize things. ] Ah--? Oh, Niina-san! You don't have to do that, I'll get it later!

[She stops. There's a moment of straining gears as she thinks it over.] You said to do it, though.

[No... no, she didn't? Niina seems confused. Very confused. She glances at the work she's done then back at Nanami and back at the items.]

Did I?

[ Well now Nanami's confused. She flits back over to the sim, hovering in front of her. ]

I didn't think I did... I'm sorry! All I remember saying was that it'd be nice if it'd get done... but I just meant that I haven't had the time to do it yet, is all...

[Wasn't.... that an order? Niina stares.]

Isn't it fine for me to do it, then?

If... if you want to...

[ A small smile, just visible on her tiny buggy face. ] I don't mind the help, Niina-san. Do you want to?

I... if you want it done then I guess.

[She stops. There's a question mark on her screen.]

I... don't know why that'd mean I'd want to do it.

[ There's a small suspicion growing at the back of Nanami's mind - a mere hunch. She'd never put much stock in the mental changes that turning into a monster could have on you - until she became a faerie; until she became not only unable to lie, but constantly compelled to tell the truth. ]

Niina-san... [ The faerie has to break this very gently to her. She alights on a box on the shelf at eye(?)-level, and sits down. ] If I ask you to do something... is there a part of you that really wants to do it?

[She just sort of thinks about this for a while. Does she? Yes. Yes, she does now that she thinks about it. It feels... fine. Okay. Natural.]

... Yes.

[...]

... Wait here.

[ The faerie zips out of the storage room for a moment. She isn't gone long. Her stuff isn't with her, but her bag's behind the food counter. She's back with the guidebook in seconds.

Then she's sitting on the same box again, and flipping to the relevant page. She reads quietly. She knows the passage, almost by heart, but she suspects that a simulacrum like Niina will prefer more concrete proof than memory alone. ]

"It has been my observation that certain simulacra on the peninsula are particularly susceptible to suggestion. Some find it difficult to say no; one particular acquaintance even frequently takes suggestions as orders to be followed, especially among those closer to him."

[ She pauses for a moment, and looks up at her friend. ]

Simulacra were a fairly new type of monster around the time that Spengler was writing... and yet he was already noticing a pattern.

[Niina doesn't move a fraction of an inch. She waits, counting the seconds as Nanami returns with the book. She listens.

It's true. She knows it is. It's... something that she's known for a bit, unconsciously, that she's become a lot more agreeable to certain things.]

...It's hard to say no. I know that. It's easier on the network or with people I don't like. [She... knows it's true. It's hard to say it but she knows it. It's like admitting you chew your fingernails.]

[ She closes the book, keeping one of her many thumbs in it. It occurs to her that if Niina wants to see proof, she'll have to grow the book to full-size along with herself to show her. Oh well. ]

It's more than that though. You see that, right? If I ask you to do something, or suggest it... anybody could have that power over you.

[ She hesitates, and peeks at the passage again. ] Well, maybe it's more likely for your friends to be able to... but we don't know unless we test things out.

You know that I can't lie as a faerie, right?... It's kind of like that. I've had to learn things.

[She does. She sees it clear. Whether she wants to admit it? She turns her head slightly. There's... that's a robot blush.]

Faeries can't lie, I know that. So... you want to test out how this goes? I know you wouldn't ask anything too much.

[...But that idea Is scary. What if she gets a friend who'd abuse it?]

[ She's thinking hard, and fast. The priorities: to make this fun, like a game; because it is interesting, and doesn't have to be scary. To do something rigorous, so that they can think of all the different possible options. And to do so in a way that doesn't make her dear friend uncomfortable.

And there's a pretty simple solution to all of those, when she puts it together in that way. She smiles. ]

Kind of. Niina-san... you think about things really logically. What if you came up with a series of tests, and I executed them for you? We'd have to account for all the different variations of ways someone could ask you to do something - an order, a suggestion, an idle wish - and maybe even friends of different types too, like your friends at the school, compared to just anybody on the network; plus different types of suggestions, easy ones or really dangerous ones; there's all sorts of different factors... but I feel like you'd be able to think of more variations than me. And that way, it's not really me asking you to do any of it, either; it's you putting together the plan, and I'm just helping you with it.

[ She pauses, and thinks back about what she just said. ] Although-- well, I suppose even that suggestion could come across as an order, just like when I suggested cleaning this room by mistake... so, just to clarify! It's not something that I want to do or don't want to do. ... I mean, it would be cool, but it's also something that I could try out just as easily when I change into a simulacrum, too! So... if it's something that you want to do, Niina-san... then maybe I could help you, if you wanted.

[ Her brain is starting to hurt a little bit, but she thinks she covered her bases? Man, being a simulacrum is more complicated than she thought. ]

[You can hear the gears whirring in her head. That... that all makes sense. They could work on it together. She nods.]

Honestly? I like it. Having a test... it makes this feel scientific. If we figure out things we could help new monsters, too. So they don't have to go through this.

[She likes that idea.]

A real experiment needs controls.

It is scientific! That's exactly right!

[ The faerie claps two sets of hands together. ] It's a game, but it's also fun because we're learning things! I've never tried this sort of thing before...

[ Now that she's through the difficult part, the little faerie's excitement is bubbling over again. ]

We could even put a section about it in the new Guide! Let me see if I can find a pen and paper...

[ And she's shooting back out of the closet again. No order this time (Nanami was careful with her wording); Niina's free to stay or follow the faerie as she pleases. ]

[Niina is just going to sit down, then. This is all so... weird even if it's exciting now.]

...I'd rather we leave my name out, though. I'm not exactly proud of being like this, you know?

[Tsun, tsun!]

Of course! We can keep it anonymous. I'm only putting monsters' names in if they want to be credited...

[ She says this as she's returning with the paper and pen; and she sits down next to Niina, laying out the paper in front of her. ]

Okay. How should we organize this?

Good.

[She pauses, thinking about this for a few moments.]

Maybe we should make a list of 'questions' that are actually orders? Then give them to some people we trust.

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