- Location
- Illinois
Vote at bottom.
My issue with intervening right away is that they have literally said six (really five) sentences to each other.
So, just, from the perspective of anyone but us, what exactly is the full extent of the exchange here so far? Cutting out all the other junk,
There is a chance -- a real chance, maybe a slim chance, but a real chance -- that this is actually going where we want it to.
"Niko wanted to give herself another, better chance at life. But she didn't view herself as worthy of it. That's why she wished you into existence, Kanna Hijiri: so that you would live happily where she could not. Was that selfish? Yes. But... is wishing someone into existence so that they will have a happy life such a terrible thing?"
That is the first thing I would say to Hijiri about Niko.
Is this such a terrible thing for her to be saying? Yes, in context, because we suspect that Hijiri has some reason for which she doesn't fucking want to be living the way Niko set her up. But in response to Hijiri asking if she was just some fake, or a doll?
What else is the response supposed to be?
My concern here is that by intervening too soon and throwing around all these things that appear to most of the people around us as pointless tangents, we make ourselves sound like we're high.
"Shoot down the fake person idea." Well, what did Niko just start doing?
We're in a similar situation? How are we going to "convey" that before Niko snaps at us for getting involved when we are entering by saying what she just said?
"Step back and let them go another round." Our intervention with this vote will take about ten times as long as they've been conversing for so far. This isn't going to happen; Niko will tell us to butt out, Hijiri will probably buck Niko by asking who put her in charge of our involvement or some such, the whole thing goes up in fire.
Any intervention into an argument as heated as this has to be quick, precise, and efficient in order to avoid being subsumed into a talking point; or possess sufficient force to bludgeon the participants into silence (which would require force, I expect).
Given a vacuum, these are all good points that we could present. We are not in a vacuum and one will not exist until the argument is over.
This is why I want to wait.
We need an opening if we want to really nip this in the bud. We believe that we have the social weapon for it -- something along the lines of "Hijiri has a soul, you have no data whatsoever for the repercussions of subtracting the memories that you did from your personality, how do you know she was living happily."
It's not clear that we actually have that. It's more than possible that Niko routinely observed Hijiri -- note how she said that Hijiri "was gone" a few posts back, implying that she was able to quickly check on her and knew what her habits were, which is possibly within the bounds of "clone" but also possibly falls into "I watch her through a window every few days." Certainly you'd expect Niko would look at Hijiri's life occasionally, anyway. In this case Niko may know more than we expect; it's possible Hijiri is just really, really thrown by the whole "I'm fake" thing for reasons unknown.
Please note that after we intervene the first time, subsequent interventions will be much more difficult if the first doesn't go extremely well, similarly to our past conversations with Oriko.
So, to reiterate:
1) We need to get it right when we intervene
2) They've been through about five sentences so far
3) Niko hasn't said anything really extreme yet if you consider what Hijiri's immediate response to her was
Again, I will assert that we should delay. Not forever, maybe not even for very long. But we have no ground to stand on right now unless we want to try to insert a lecture into this thing, like, five to ten seconds after it's started. Won't work.
We need a target before we dive into this. I want, just as much as you, to go in there and throw a "you ever consider she might not want to do this??" in Niko's face. But Niko hasn't provided an opportunity for that yet. If we try to manufacture the opportunity ourselves -- that is, if we go in and ask her questions intended to lead up to throwing that in her face -- we will be derailed before we reach the point we want to get to.
I don't really agree with less words on this. Just telling Saki that the situation is toxic and nobody understands each other isn't sufficient or safe; she's liable to respond that Niko can handle herself. She's repeatedly demonstrated that she isn't thinking about Hijiri's well-being here whatsoever. I'm not really certain of how precisely to deal with that, but "it's toxic, they don't understand" isn't it. Might be that we "aren't leaving until we're sure Hijiri isn't going to grief spiral." I definitely don't agree with removing the target from the Shelley line; that should specifically go to Umika -- none of the other Pleiades are at all likely to understand it.
[X] Stand your ground, observe.
-[X] Calmly, out loud but quiet: Saki is not aware of the full context here. Certainly Niko can "handle herself," but Niko and Hijiri misunderstand each other in a way that makes this volatile and toxic. You're not leaving until you're certain that Hijiri isn't going to end up in a grief spiral.
-[X] Simultaneously, telepathy Umika and inquire whether she's read Mary Shelley, then give her the broad strokes of the situation -- Hijiri as an ensouled creation of Niko's wish, Niko wanting Hijiri to be a certain way, Hijiri not being that way. Don't imply malice on Niko's part.
[X] Short update; break at any point where Niko says or does something really not okay to Hijiri (or potentially vice versa)
[x] To Saki: Niko's attempting to run Hijiri's life for her. Having good intentions doesn't change that she's denying Hijiri's agency. And since that's exactly what Hijiri is having problems with...
[x] Interrupt.
-[x] Shoot down the "fake person" idea.
--[x] Don't give away any sensitive information, but convey that you're in a similar situation.
--[x] Also, no observable differences between "real" and "artificial", so why care in the first place?
-[x] Tell Niko that she's being overbearing. She has good intentions, but Hijiri's a person too.
[x] Step back and let them go another round.
The phrasing on "Hijiri is a person too" is important.
My issue with intervening right away is that they have literally said six (really five) sentences to each other.
Niko marches straight forward, and before you can shout a warning, slaps Hijiri across the face. The smack rings out across the roof, the force of the blow sending Hijiri spinning to the ground.
"You idiot," Niko snarls. "You were supposed to live happy and not... this!"
"What was I supposed to do?" Hijiri snarls right back. She doesn't stand, balanced in a crouch with one hand on the roof and one touching her reddened cheek. "What was I supposed to do when I found out I was just some- some fake? Am I just your doll to live through?"
"No!" Niko snaps. "You were supposed to live like I never could!"
So, just, from the perspective of anyone but us, what exactly is the full extent of the exchange here so far? Cutting out all the other junk,
"Please leave me alone! Please-" her eyes shift from Sayaka, to you, to Mami, frightened and desperate. "Please, please- I'll do anything-"
"Miss Hijiri?"
The girl starts, lifting tear-reddened eyes to meet yours. She looks exactly like Niko, right down to the shade of yellow her eyes are and the ridiculous twintails. "Please leave me alone," she whispers. "I'll do- I'll give the memory blocker back, anything."
"Will you lower the field, for starters?" you ask, leaning forward a little. You can't really approach more than a few meters - you don't exactly know where the memory field boundary stops, but you try to make yourself as unthreatening as possible. Open. "I'd like to cleanse your Soul Gem. I can't do that with it up."
"I can't," Hijiri says, expression twisting. "I don't know how. I only had enough time to figure out how to make it work."
"Look, I'm not going to hurt you," you say. "I promise. I'm here to help, not to... persecute."
"I don't- then let me go," Hijiri says. "Before she gets here."
"Niko?" you ask.
Hijiri flinches, straining back as far as she can in the double cocoon of paper and Grief you have her wrapped in.
"Right," you say, blowing out a slow breath. She's... she's afraid of Niko? You're not really sure. "Miss Hijiri, do you need to have your Soul Gem cleansed? You were burning quite a lot of magic there."
She bites her lip.
"Dammit, Hijiri, I'll use a pole if I have to," you say, folding your arms, struck for a moment by a mental image of yourself a Grief Seed taped to a stick and poking at Hijiri. "If I free one arm, will you drop the memory device?"
"Will you let me go?" Hijiri asks.
"I'll help you," you say.
Something flashes over Hijiri's face. "It's the only thing protecting me right now," she says. "Throw me a Grief Seed."
"Why don't you use the Clear Seed?" you ask.
"I- Throw me a Grief Seed," she insists. "I'll tell you after."
"Why did you attack Niko?" Saki asks, footsteps clacking sharply against the concrete of the roof. She pushes her glasses-monocle up her nose.
Hijiri flinches at the mention of Niko's name. "Give me a Grief Seed first."
Saki's attention shifts back to Hijiri. "Fine," she says, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a half-used Grief Seed. She holds it up. "How are we doing this?"
"Sayaka?" you call. "Free her arm? And, uh, where's your Soul Gem, Hijiri?"
"My neck," Hijiri says.
"Got it," Sayaka says, frowning and making a fist, which she flattens out. Sheets of paper grey and flake away as you shift your Grief to suit, freeing the blonde's left arm and exposing her Soul Gem.
Saki lobs the Grief Seed underarm at Hijiri, who nearly fumbles the catch.
"I'll want that back later," you warn. And you can't help the wince at how full her Soul Gem is, just from looking at it. It's not in the danger zone yet, but there's enough to dim the Gem's radiance. "It's nearly full, anyway."
Hijiri touches the Grief Seed to her Soul Gem, sighing quietly as the Grief drains away. "Thank you," she mutters, before flipping the Seed back towards Saki.
"Let me?" you ask, holding your hand out for the Seed. "I'll refresh it."
"Now talk," Saki says, wordlessly handing you the Grief Seed.
"She told me to," Hijiri blurts. "I- I just wanted to run, to get away. She found me, told me you'd hunt me down. Told me I was some kind of... experiment."
"Who?" you ask, stomach going abruptly into freefall. You feel like you know the answer already.
"Yuuri," Hijiri says. "That's- that's what she said her name was."
"Who-" Saki's eyebrows all but meet in the center of her forehead as she realises. "Yuuri."
"That's her!" Hijiri says, suddenly eager to please. "She- we broke into her lab, and she let me have the memory device when I figured out what it was."
"... you don't have the Clear Seed, do you," you say, absently emptying out the Grief Seed. Just to a refreshed state, not to Clear Seed status.
"She took it. The special Grief Seed," Hijiri says. "It- I don't think it was what she was looking for, but she took it."
"What was she looking for?" Saki asks. There's fury on her face, lines slowly etching into deep anger.
"I don't know," Hijiri responds. "She didn't tell me. I... I don't think she found it, whatever she was looking for."
"Why did you even go along with that?" you ask.
"Wouldn't you?" Hijiri asks, and laughs bitterly. She waves down at herself, cocooned in paper and Grief. "She wasn't even wrong. You hunted me down, didn't you?"
"Can you tell us anything more about Yuuri?"
"Are you going to let me go?" Hijiri asks. "I just... want to leave. Find a peaceful life somewhere else."
"Like hell you get to attack us and just go!" Saki snaps, fists clenched.
"Hey," you say, stepping forward - between Saki and Hijiri. Of course, you're mindful of the probable boundary of the memory field. "Calm down, both of you. We'll get to the bottom of this."
You glance from Saki to Hijiri, making sure that Saki isn't about to do anything precipitous. "OK. Miss Hijiri, I'm sorry, but we can't let you go until this is solved. I'm sorry for that. And I'm sorry we scared you."
At the same time, you nod at Hijiri. "Look. We're not after you, specifically, we're after whomever attacked our friends."
"Where did she go?" Saki snaps, focusing on Hijiri.
"Anri? She- she went south-east," Hijiri says. "I think- I'm not sure she stayed in the city. She said something about laying low."
"Miss Hijiri," you say slowly as a thought occurs to you. "Can you put me through to Miss Yuuri, by telepathy? Since you've been contacted by her before."
"I can't," she admits. "I think - I think this memory field cuts me off from telepathy."
"That's convenient for you, isn't it," Sayaka mutters, half under her breath as she gives Hijiri a disgusted glare.
Saki seems to share the sentiment, if not the restraint. "Yeah, right," she scoffs derisively. "Isn't it perfect that we can't verify your claims?"
"It... sounds plausible," you say, biting back an aggrieved sigh. "I mean, if she's undetectable while inside the field..."
Niko marches straight forward, and before you can shout a warning, slaps Hijiri across the face. The smack rings out across the roof, the force of the blow sending Hijiri spinning to the ground.
"You idiot," Niko snarls. "You were supposed to live happy and not... this!"
"What was I supposed to do?" Hijiri snarls right back. She doesn't stand, balanced in a crouch with one hand on the roof and one touching her reddened cheek. "What was I supposed to do when I found out I was just some- some fake? Am I just your doll to live through?"
"No!" Niko snaps. "You were supposed to live like I never could!"
There is a chance -- a real chance, maybe a slim chance, but a real chance -- that this is actually going where we want it to.
"Niko wanted to give herself another, better chance at life. But she didn't view herself as worthy of it. That's why she wished you into existence, Kanna Hijiri: so that you would live happily where she could not. Was that selfish? Yes. But... is wishing someone into existence so that they will have a happy life such a terrible thing?"
That is the first thing I would say to Hijiri about Niko.
"No!" Niko snaps. "You were supposed to live like I never could!"
Is this such a terrible thing for her to be saying? Yes, in context, because we suspect that Hijiri has some reason for which she doesn't fucking want to be living the way Niko set her up. But in response to Hijiri asking if she was just some fake, or a doll?
What else is the response supposed to be?
My concern here is that by intervening too soon and throwing around all these things that appear to most of the people around us as pointless tangents, we make ourselves sound like we're high.
[x] To Saki: Niko's attempting to run Hijiri's life for her. Having good intentions doesn't change that she's denying Hijiri's agency. And since that's exactly what Hijiri is having problems with...
[x] Interrupt.
-[x] Shoot down the "fake person" idea.
--[x] Don't give away any sensitive information, but convey that you're in a similar situation.
--[x] Also, no observable differences between "real" and "artificial", so why care in the first place?
-[x] Tell Niko that she's being overbearing. She has good intentions, but Hijiri's a person too.
[x] Step back and let them go another round.
The phrasing on "Hijiri is a person too" is important.
"Shoot down the fake person idea." Well, what did Niko just start doing?
"What was I supposed to do?" Hijiri snarls right back. She doesn't stand, balanced in a crouch with one hand on the roof and one touching her reddened cheek. "What was I supposed to do when I found out I was just some- some fake? Am I just your doll to live through?"
"No!" Niko snaps. "You were supposed to live like I never could!"
We're in a similar situation? How are we going to "convey" that before Niko snaps at us for getting involved when we are entering by saying what she just said?
"Step back and let them go another round." Our intervention with this vote will take about ten times as long as they've been conversing for so far. This isn't going to happen; Niko will tell us to butt out, Hijiri will probably buck Niko by asking who put her in charge of our involvement or some such, the whole thing goes up in fire.
Any intervention into an argument as heated as this has to be quick, precise, and efficient in order to avoid being subsumed into a talking point; or possess sufficient force to bludgeon the participants into silence (which would require force, I expect).
Given a vacuum, these are all good points that we could present. We are not in a vacuum and one will not exist until the argument is over.
This is why I want to wait.
We need an opening if we want to really nip this in the bud. We believe that we have the social weapon for it -- something along the lines of "Hijiri has a soul, you have no data whatsoever for the repercussions of subtracting the memories that you did from your personality, how do you know she was living happily."
It's not clear that we actually have that. It's more than possible that Niko routinely observed Hijiri -- note how she said that Hijiri "was gone" a few posts back, implying that she was able to quickly check on her and knew what her habits were, which is possibly within the bounds of "clone" but also possibly falls into "I watch her through a window every few days." Certainly you'd expect Niko would look at Hijiri's life occasionally, anyway. In this case Niko may know more than we expect; it's possible Hijiri is just really, really thrown by the whole "I'm fake" thing for reasons unknown.
Please note that after we intervene the first time, subsequent interventions will be much more difficult if the first doesn't go extremely well, similarly to our past conversations with Oriko.
So, to reiterate:
1) We need to get it right when we intervene
2) They've been through about five sentences so far
3) Niko hasn't said anything really extreme yet if you consider what Hijiri's immediate response to her was
Again, I will assert that we should delay. Not forever, maybe not even for very long. But we have no ground to stand on right now unless we want to try to insert a lecture into this thing, like, five to ten seconds after it's started. Won't work.
We need a target before we dive into this. I want, just as much as you, to go in there and throw a "you ever consider she might not want to do this??" in Niko's face. But Niko hasn't provided an opportunity for that yet. If we try to manufacture the opportunity ourselves -- that is, if we go in and ask her questions intended to lead up to throwing that in her face -- we will be derailed before we reach the point we want to get to.
Less words?
[ ] Respond calmly through telepathy: Agree, but the situation is toxic, nobody understands each other.
-[ ] You'll interfere if it's necessary.
... Actually,
[?] She should, too. Neither Niko nor Kanna are in a good state of mind.
-[ ] Niko is reacting poorly to her Wish not working like she expected. Make an analogy to Mary Shelley.
[ ] Wait and observe.
-[ ] Intervene if necessary.
I don't really agree with less words on this. Just telling Saki that the situation is toxic and nobody understands each other isn't sufficient or safe; she's liable to respond that Niko can handle herself. She's repeatedly demonstrated that she isn't thinking about Hijiri's well-being here whatsoever. I'm not really certain of how precisely to deal with that, but "it's toxic, they don't understand" isn't it. Might be that we "aren't leaving until we're sure Hijiri isn't going to grief spiral." I definitely don't agree with removing the target from the Shelley line; that should specifically go to Umika -- none of the other Pleiades are at all likely to understand it.
[X] Stand your ground, observe.
-[X] Calmly, out loud but quiet: Saki is not aware of the full context here. Certainly Niko can "handle herself," but Niko and Hijiri misunderstand each other in a way that makes this volatile and toxic. You're not leaving until you're certain that Hijiri isn't going to end up in a grief spiral.
-[X] Simultaneously, telepathy Umika and inquire whether she's read Mary Shelley, then give her the broad strokes of the situation -- Hijiri as an ensouled creation of Niko's wish, Niko wanting Hijiri to be a certain way, Hijiri not being that way. Don't imply malice on Niko's part.
[X] Short update; break at any point where Niko says or does something really not okay to Hijiri (or potentially vice versa)