Then I suggest coming up with something. So far my plan is hoping it goes right to being a S
I did, everytime I try to make a discussion about negotiating, everyone goes right the heck back to *how to fight*, just look at the last comments if you don't believe me: the ones closest to discussing it immediately say we can't discuss it and drop the subject. THAT'S what makes me mad, we CAN discuss it, I DID come up with ideas and I'd like to have a discussion about them instead of an Nieme debate on how to fight.
As for what I think we can discuss:
As I said earlier, this part:
each Soul Gem gleaming untarnished within the monster's clutch. The abnormality pushed its will into the brilliant stones, relishing the chorus of voices that cried out within it.
Don't really shows NT as sadistic so much as it shows NT enjoying the fact that NT's hearing people, and that NT doesn't even understand that some could think of it as *bad*. Thing is, NT wants to be human above all else, and idolize us, as shown by this:
"Oh, you don't know about Manager either, do you? They're great! Everyone always trusted and believed in them so much! They'd always make sure I had somebody to talk to! In fact, it's thanks to them I got to come here at all!"
Oh, of course they will! I've been holding this line so they can have some peace and quiet, I'm sure they'll be so happy to see me!
Meaning that if we promise NT to explain how to be more human, and that what NT's doing is not something humans tends to consider *good*, there's a pretty good chance NT'll listen.
From there, we can begin to talk about other things related to this, like the fact that we do seem to have a way to look human without going for the *made of human* part with our EGO and that it should be worth a try to see if NT can learn how to do it.
We can also explain that being human is less about look and more about mindset, and NT could learn more about said mindset with a teacher, like us.
Also, and this is extremely important, while it is most likely that the time we felt several magical girls who were seemingly in horrible agony was due to NT's shell,
we have no direct confirmation of this. It is not impossible, even if unlikely, that this was done by another abnormality and as such, for all we know, the MG that NT use might not be in constant agony. We should check that before accusing NT of inflicting fate worse than deaths and other nonsense.
Ok, continuing from if the magical girls are in horrible agony (because it unfortunately is the most likely case):
So, this is likely to be the sticking point, however, we do have definitive proof that NT think we are a kind person, and that NT trust us implicitly, NT's attitude is more likely to be one of a child showing you something they did and asking if we are proud of them than one of a serial killer showing you how they killed your family and reveling in your anguish about it. If we explain things in a non violent way, without constantly going for calling NT an *abomination* or a *monster* or worse *inhumane* (seriously, this term is forbidden in a radius of several kilometers around NT, it is probably one of the biggest triggers for a fight we could ever press) then we can begin negotiating in earnest and ask NT questions, like:
What is NT preferred pronoun? (Thanks to
@Eternal_0bserver for reminding me of this, it can make a nice segway in humanizing NT and it's a very non agressive beginning)
Can NT maintain NT current shell without keeping the gems?
If NT can't, what would make NT willing to part with them? No, *others gems to replace these ones* is not an answer, the goal is to substitute them for a better situation.
And that's just some ideas I have, the conversation branch too much from there for me to go in depths right now, this post is not short already.
As a conclusion, I want to empathize what I said about mindsets:
The problem I have with the current attitude is that it is agressive and/or pessimistic, always talking about the fight and not how to avert it, yes fighting is plan B, but it is
plan B, not plan A, if we enter the discussion with only ideas on how to win a fight in our head, we are more likely to let something slip and ends up with said fight, which we are all agreeing is not what we want because NT is a very intimidating opponent to fight.
We should treat the situation as if we were facing a young child with a deadman switch paired with a nuclear detonator who is currently playing on the border of the roof of a skyscraper, not as if we were going to face Hannibal Lecter, NT's mindset seems closer to the first than the second.