waitingforplayer2

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.

Yeah, yeah. We can start with Wakaba-san, or maybe the teens... hmm...

[ She taps her pen against the paper, and then starts writing down some categories: "Orders," "Requests," "Suggestions," "Idle Thoughts." ]

Is that a good way to organize it...?

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