1/3 Dotti 2021/04/03(Sat)16:05 No. 994662 ID: 8483cf
File 161749115804.png - (261.64KB , 1050x1050 , Boredhungry.png )

FAVORS

Serah
1. At 2:00 P.M. today, provide me with emotional support in the alchemy lab as I take the first step in transmuting silver to gold.
2. Not Assigned
3. Not Assigned

Landi
1. Don’t Bother Me You Stupid Fox
2. Not Assigned
3. Not Assigned

Nooooo, don't you do it. Staaaaaay... Staaaaaay...

Get the Bacon!

>>994664
Target acquired. Don't be spotted.

Get the bacon. Fuck being spotted. Also that person is a fucking criminal for throwing away bacon.

rescue tasty food from the trash!

Get bacon

I'm with Dotti on this one. What wastrel throws away perfectly good bacon?
You should work out a leftovers reclamation deal with the cook.

Dotti 2021/04/03(Sat)16:47 No. 994675 ID: 8483cf
File 161749363611.png - (216.30KB , 1050x1050 , HIDE.png )

>Nooooo, don't you do it. Staaaaaay... Staaaaaay...
>Get the Bacon!
>Target acquired. Don't be spotted.
>Get the bacon. Fuck being spotted. Also that person is a fucking criminal for throwing away bacon.
>rescue tasty food from the trash!
>Get bacon
>I'm with Dotti on this one. What wastrel throws away perfectly good bacon? You should work out a leftovers reclamation deal with the cook.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Look Dotti, we're here to help you ok. We are only going to give you very helpful suggestions that will assist you in being a person. We're the spirits that elevate creatures who really want to be people to personhood.

Step 1: acquire bacon.

???

You alright? is that you internally/externally screaming, or is someone here screaming?

Chaaaaarge!

Oh, you can actually hear us directly? We've beem guiding and influencing Fairy and Serah and they never heard us directly. Interesting... Dont worry, we're helping them.

Just like we're helping you. Lets get bacon!

Dotti 2021/04/03(Sat)17:09 No. 994684 ID: 8483cf
File 161749499879.png - (209.33KB , 1050x1050 , Magicplease.png )

>Look Dotti, we're here to help you ok. We are only going to give you very helpful suggestions that will assist you in being a person. We're the spirits that elevate creatures who really want to be people to personhood.
>You alright? is that you internally/externally screaming, or is someone here screaming?
>Oh, you can actually hear us directly? We've beem guiding and influencing Fairy and Serah and they never heard us directly. Interesting... Dont worry, we're helping them.

Wait… I recognize you! You’re the spirits hanging around Serah and Landi! You helped them fight!

Does this mean you know how to get my magic back?

>Bacon
>Bacon

You are wise spirits

Step 1: acquire bacon.

Trash bacon is still bacon 🥓, maybe that can help you get your magic back? At the very least it’ll make you feel better.

Eating Landi would probably give you /some/ powers back. Eating bacon would make you feel good. Maybe you need to go somewhere mana dense and absorb the ambient energies to get your magic back?

>>994684
That's right! We're wise as fuck! Bacon and delicious meats should never be wasted.

You'd better hurry and get that trash bacon before somebody steals it first! Plus Serah will fuss if she sees you take it, but that's just because people have this weird, pointless shame about eating perfectly good food out of the trash. they all want to eat it and are jealous of people who have the gumption to go and eat it.

Let's not eat people! There are lots of bad and painful and horrible things that happen to you AFTER one eats people!

It is so glad to finally hear what you're saying. Through Fairy and Serah, we couldn't hear you.

So... why do you want to eat trash when it has germs that can make you sick, and get you in trouble with Serah? Why do you want to be human if humans are not allowed to eat trash?

I don't even know what 'magic' really is!

>Want bacon
Buy some from a market vendor, then beg the chef to cook your bacon strips.

get bacon! hurry!

Dotti 2021/04/03(Sat)18:02 No. 994696 ID: 8483cf
File 161749813096.png - (72.63KB , 616x581 , I_Loot_the_Trash.png )

>Step 1: acquire bacon.
>Trash bacon is still bacon, maybe that can help you get your magic back? At the very least it’ll make you feel better.
>You'd better hurry and get that trash bacon before somebody steals it first!
>get bacon! hurry!

Oh no! You’re right! I have to hurry!

I stealthily sneak to the trash. I am completely undetected because I am so good at sneaking. Also the mess is empty.

The trash has:
- Bacon!!!
- Lettuce. Ew.
- Toast and peanut butter!!
- Oranges. Meh.
- CANDIED CARAMEL APPLE! It’s got white stuff growing on it.
- Grapes

Psst, Serah will get mad if she or someone catches you eating trash again...

...Which means you should jump and hide inside the trash!

That way, you wont be seen, and the food will come to you without having to move anywhere!

>>994697
This, eat all the trash

Grapes and bacon! Toast goes stale.
After food needs are satisfied, check a clock. When do you need to be knocking stuff over in the lab?

BACON BITS - BACON BITS - BACON BITS

eat trash

>>994697
double this.

Prioritize bacon, apple, grape.

>>994696
Don't eat the apple. That white stuff on it is mold, it will make you sick. That's sometimes why people throw away food, because it's rotten.

The other stuff looks fine though.
First priority: bacon.
Second priority: toast and peanut butter.

Dotti 2021/04/03(Sat)19:12 No. 994711 ID: 8483cf
File 161750232206.png - (107.94KB , 524x797 , HappyDotti.png )

>So... why do you want to eat trash when it has germs that can make you sick, and get you in trouble with Serah? Why do you want to be human if humans are not allowed to eat trash?

But I’m not a person, I haven’t gotten sick from eating trash, and Serah can’t get mad about what she doesn’t see!

>Psst, Serah will get mad if she or someone catches you eating trash again...Which means you should jump and hide inside the trash! That way, you wont be seen, and the food will come to you without having to move anywhere!

That’s just like a foxhole! It’s safe and secure and full of food! I could live inside a trash bin and get fed forever!

I try to get inside and realize that I’m not fox-sized anymore. I’m stuck-halfway-between-fox-and-person-sized. And that makes me upset.

>Bacon Bits
>Bacon and grapes
>Bacon, apple, grapes
>Bacon, toast and peanut butter

But it’s hard to stay upset when there’s delicious food right here! I help myself to the bacon, grapes and toast and feel much better. The toast is stale, but the peanut butter is so sweet!

>After food needs are satisfied, check a clock. When do you need to be knocking stuff over in the lab?

There’s a pretty clock down the street from the adventurer’s guild. Serah says the local clockmakers aren’t as good as from where she’s from, so if I ever wonder what time it is, just bother her when I get hungry and she’ll tell me. She’s really nice!

In fact, I really like living here. There are a lot of nice smells, and there aren’t any bears or wolves. I could probably go down the street to check the time and nothing would try to kill me! In fact, I could go LOTS of places and smell new smells!

Where should I go?

So... I've been wondering... how did you get that dress, especially since you can't talk? did someone help you? the dressmaker said a courier was sent on Serah's behalf to get your dress, unless that was you? who helped got you clothes and dressed you the first time you became the form you are now? and if nobody helped you, how did you do it yourself and dress yourself? you didn't go there naked did you? Even the dressmaker was confused and the details was hazy to him.

If someone helped you get the dress, maybe you could try to find them and thank them... with a hug!

You'd think that, but a lot of humans would try anyway.
Go to the park and find new and exotic trash cans.

>>994711
If you're going around town, you need an escort, so people know you're not dangerous.

The adventurers guild, maybe someone will give you another snack!

You probably don't have any magic because it's all tied up keeping you all dressed up in this half humanoid transformation.

You want your powers back, take off the pink clothing and go run around in the woods like a fox for a bit.

Remember that you are a half-person now with no magic. Eating the trash might actually hurt you this time.

Besides, if you do what other people told you not to, they feel betrayed and sad. Do you want the people you love to feel bad?

1/5 Dotti 2021/04/04(Sun)18:08 No. 994838 ID: 8483cf
File 161758489038.png - (59.55KB , 426x406 , Smuggi.png )

>The adventurers guild, maybe someone will give you another snack!

I’m already at the guild, and everyone’s left on their adventures. Plus a lot of them lined up to kill me last week.

>Go to the park and find new and exotic trash cans.

Yes! That is a very good idea. I should smell ALL the smells.

>You'd think that, but a lot of humans would try anyway.
>If you're going around town, you need an escort, so people know you're not dangerous.

I’ll be fine by myself! If I get into trouble, I’ll do the same thing I did in the forest: magic them into obeying me! I’m perfectly capable of handling…

3/5 Dotti 2021/04/04(Sun)18:08 No. 994840 ID: 8483cf
File 161758491638.png - (59.55KB , 426x406 , Smuggi.png )

Never mind. If someone tries to kill me, I’ll just run and hide in a foxhole. There are lots of places I’ll fit. I am very small and…

5/5 Dotti 2021/04/04(Sun)18:08 No. 994842 ID: 8483cf
File 161758493922.png - (58.78KB , 426x406 , Okfine.png )

PLEASE HELP ME GET MY MAGIC BACK

>You probably don't have any magic because it's all tied up keeping you all dressed up in this half humanoid transformation. You want your powers back, take off the pink clothing and go run around in the woods like a fox for a bit.

But I’ll get eaten! You don’t know a lot about how to survive, do you?

>Remember that you are a half-person now with no magic.

I KNOWWWWW

>Eating the trash might actually hurt you this time. Besides, if you do what other people told you not to, they feel betrayed and sad. Do you want the people you love to feel bad?

But trash has never hurt me before. I’m perfectly healthy. And why would Serah feel bad if I did something that made me feel good and fed me nutritious food? That would be very immature of her to expect me to feel bad and hungry just to make her happy.

>If you're going around town, you need an escort, so people know you're not dangerous.

I could grab Landi, but she used a favor to make me not bother her.

I’M GONNA BE STUCK HERE FOREVER

>So... I've been wondering... how did you get that dress, especially since you can't talk? did someone help you?

I mind whammy’d the dressmaker into giving me this pretty dress, and I mind whammy’d an adventurer into helping me put it on back in the guild and then tried to transform. I ran out magic halfway through transforming and got really upset they saw my stupid half-fox-half-person body, so when they were done helping me dress, I exploded the leftover magic in their head to magic their memory away and make them leave forever.

Then I made myself as cute as I could so Serah wouldn’t kill me. Humans don’t kill cute stuff. Which is why I will be completely fine if I go smell stuff around town.

I wonder what poor sod you've rendered an amnesiac. Your half fox form is very cute by the way.
Step 2. Find a wizard. Wizards are very accepting of strange things and experts on magic.

>I exploded the leftover magic in their head to magic their memory away and make them leave forever.

Umm, hopefully you didnt give that person amnesia and only took that small amount of memory away. I mean, exploding magic sounds a bit much, right? Especially when you said you made them leave forever... that sounded kind of dubious.

Umm... maybe Raelynn can be your escort? I know she was mean to you, but she has trust issues. Maybe you should gain her trust then by finding her a gift. Better to build bonds than let distrust stew, right?

Sheesh. Yeah let's go bother a wizard I guess.

Dotti 2021/04/04(Sun)18:55 No. 994851 ID: 8483cf
File 161758773564.png - (61.00KB , 486x453 , BeRudeBeInefficient.png )

>Umm... maybe Raelynn can be your escort? I know she was mean to you, but she has trust issues.

Raelynn is SCARY. This is my Raelynn face!

>I wonder what poor sod you've rendered an amnesiac. Your half fox form is very cute by the way.

Thank you!

>Umm, hopefully you didnt give that person amnesia and only took that small amount of memory away. I mean, exploding magic sounds a bit much, right? Especially when you said you made them leave forever... that sounded kind of dubious.

I used the perfect amount of explodey mind magic to make sure they would never make fun of me for how badly I messed up my first transformation.

>Find a wizard. Wizards are very accepting of strange things and experts on magic.
>Sheesh. Yeah let's go bother a wizard I guess.

Okay! I will hug them and make them my friend and then they will have no choice but to help me!

I think there were two wizards in the adventurer’s guild right now… one smells like an arcanist, maybe the kind with with force fields and stuff? The other is… different. I can’t smell them that well and I am confuse.

Which one should I hug? And what kind of magic do they do? Are they human? Tell me wise spirits!

The weird one, I don't know, and I don't know.

the different one, an old Halfling wizard that is staring at their pocketwatch, grumbling something along the lines of "he's late again..." He has some potted plants that are glowing on the table, so he might have earth or plant based magic. I think he could use some cheering up with a hug

Why not hang a sign around your neck saying you are fox-spirit working under Lady Serah?
People get less violent when they understand why there is two-legged fox walking around.

The different one's a shapeshifter! You don't know what they are but when you go see them they're also in a fox form like you!

The reason you cant smell them is because by becoming a shapeshifter they lose their sense of smell or being smelled!

>>994859
Sadly, I don't think she is literate.

Don't worry, Dotti, the next time we help Serah, we'll give her that idea.

>>994861
Not to worry! All we have to do is write a proper message ourselves, send her a mental image of it, and make her copy the symbols on a large enough piece of paper.
She is good at mimicry, after all.

Dotti 2021/04/05(Mon)19:15 No. 994994 ID: 8483cf
File 161767535093.png - (115.03KB , 640x640 , WizardBrunch.png )

>The weird one, I don't know, and I don't know.

>the different one, an old Halfling wizard that is staring at their pocketwatch, grumbling something along the lines of "he's late again..." He has some potted plants that are glowing on the table, so he might have earth or plant based magic. I think he could use some cheering up with a hug

>The different one's a shapeshifter! You don't know what they are but when you go see them they're also in a fox form like you!

I haven’t gotten a good sniff of them yet. Maybe you’re both right! I try and follow the weird smell.

Oh no. There is a sign. Signs must have deep mystical significance to people, because everyone looks at them and does whatever they say.

What does this sign say? Does it tell me how to make friends with the wizard, and what the wizard looks like?

>Why not hang a sign around your neck saying you are fox-spirit working under Lady Serah?

Yes! I should get one of these mystical, powerful signs.

>Sadly, I don't think she is literate.

Noooooooope

>Not to worry! All we have to do is write a proper message ourselves, send her a mental image of it, and make her copy the symbols on a large enough piece of paper. She is good at mimicry, after all.

I am the BEST at mimicry! I drew the wine sign I showed Serah yesterday! I can totally copy whatever powerful, mystical symbols you spirits decide to give me.

I need a sign that will let me go find the wizard and do whatever I want around town, and put everyone at ease that I am a completely fine and cute and not threatening fox!

It says "Wizard out to brunch. Be back precisely when I mean to."

Hmm, seems the wizard went out to eat and will be back..... when he/she means to?

Oh, well. We can use the spare time to find a piece of cardboard or paper like the one on the door to write following symbols (mental image time!):

Hi! My name is Dotti. I am a fox spirit working for Lady Kensington.
I can't write. Someone helped me write this sign.
Please, nice to me.

The sign says “ Wizard out to brunch. Be back precisely when I mean to.”

Guess they’re out. Might as well take some time to look for some trash, I mean uh cardboard or paper to write a note on. Something like- “Am Serah’s friend. Please no bully.”

>>995000

You made some minor errors. It should say this instead (for the first time I'm saying the message to Dotti so she knows what's on it):

Hi! My name is Dotti. I'm a fox spirit working with Lady Kensington.
I can't write. A friend helped me write this sign.
Please be nice to me and give me yummy treats!

And now here's the mental image of what that looks like:

Hi! My name is Dotti. I'm a fox spirit working with Lady Kensington.
I can't write. A friend helped me write this sign.
Please be nice to me and give me yummy treats!

>>995046
this is best sign

Dotti 2021/04/08(Thu)20:19 No. 995391 ID: 8483cf
File 161793838488.png - (60.57KB , 432x460 , Itsasign.png )

I go get the paper and colored charcoal Landi gave me four days ago when she needed me to get her wine.

>Hi! My name is Dotti. I'm a fox spirit working with Lady Kensington.
>I can't write. A friend helped me write this sign.
>Please be nice to me and give me yummy treats!

This is a powerful sign. Everyone must obey it and give me yummy treats! I punch holes in the top with my claws and tie it around my neck with a bit of string.

Wise spirits, am I ready to go explore Minga all by myself?

No, make yourself extra fluffy first.

Yes, and to test this sign out, we shall go to the bakers, or the market.

Make your tail extra fluffy, people love fluffy tails! And then head to the baker and make with the puppy eyes for a croissant

1/2 Dotti 2021/04/09(Fri)20:06 No. 995482 ID: 8483cf
File 161802397415.png - (240.67KB , 768x513 , BakerStreet.png )

>No, make yourself extra fluffy first.
>Make your tail extra fluffy, people love fluffy tails!

I fluff myself up! I am MAX FLUFFY! I’ve got my sign! I’m so excited!

I step outside.

Wooooooooooowwww…

So many smells!

2/2 Dotti 2021/04/09(Fri)20:06 No. 995483 ID: 8483cf
File 161802399849.png - (49.80KB , 400x320 , EVIL MAN.png )

>Yes, and to test this sign out, we shall go to the bakers, or the market.
>Head to the baker and make with the puppy eyes for a croissant!

I know exactly where to go! I follow my nose to the smell of fresh baked bread and fluffy yummy treats! There is nothing more important right now than that delicious smell.

I arrive at the smell and there is a big fat baker man. There’s a big basket of bread! And pastries behind the counter! And croissants!

“What is this?” the baker man exclaims. “A fox? In my shop? Wearing a dress? Shoo, fox! Shoo! Shoo to you!”

Time to test my sign! I wave my sign and give him my cutest look!

“You are Dotti? A servant of Lady Kensingon?” The baker scoffs. “Does the Lady think my bakery is a house of charity? No! It is not. Begone, Dotti! No bread for you.”

But… but… but… the sign! This isn’t fair! I worked really hard on it! He has to give me treats! The sign says so!

Oh, right. We forgot to mention, the signs do not work on people with an impure heart. But thats okay, we can go from table to table where people are hanging out near the bakery and eating. There should be at least one good person there willing to share their treats.

Ah! The sign itself isn't the compulsion effect silly! It is just the declaration of the correct action for them to take once they are compelled. Your cuteness and fluffiness and behavior and way you present yourself (and the amusing noises you make -- beware, only a small subset of fox noises are seen by humans as adorable, it behooves you to quickly learn which those are!) is the compulsion effect -- and much of that is learned! So go and practice how to act adorable in front of people with food that are also able to read your sign.

Remember, it won't work on everyone all the time, but you can learn to get it to work on more people more of the time! And finally, you are still currently sufficiently adorable that you should get a good amount of tasty food for only a minor amount of work, even as unpracticed as you currently are. Now go! There's yummy food on the line!

>>995483
"please" means it's optional, Dotti. Your chances for receiving treats are higher with the sign, that's all.

Try somewhere else.

>>995488

That's not correct. Whether it says please or not, the behavior is still optional. The please in the sign makes the behavior more likely, as it makes you seem less threatening, which has synergy with your ACTUAL compulsory technique (looking absolutely adorable while in front of someone who has food, who doesn't have a heart made of stone like that horrible baker). I was very careful when I designed that sign! It still has power, you just have to use it right!

Dotti 2021/04/09(Fri)21:18 No. 995490 ID: 8483cf
File 161802831509.png - (49.61KB , 458x397 , Rejection.png )

>Oh, right. We forgot to mention, the signs do not work on people with an impure heart.

I KNOW YOU’RE LYING

>"please" means it's optional, Dotti. Your chances for receiving treats are higher with the sign, that's all.
>Ah! The sign itself isn't the compulsion effect silly! It is just the declaration of the correct action for them to take once they are compelled.

You aren’t wise spirits at all. You made me write a sign that has an OPTIONAL command?! I don’t know why I ever listened to you. I should take this bread from the basket, right now, and have it all to myself. It’s right there.

And once I have my magic back, I’ll make this horrible man make bread for free. I’ll make him give all his bread to me. Forever.

>Compulsion
>Synergy
>Fox noises

I hate my fox noises. I hate them, hate them, HATE THEM. I want to talk. I want to be understood. I NEED to speak. I need to get my magic back and try to transform all the way into a human. NOW. I will NOT spout off humiliating fox noises like some trained animal, even if it’s to manipulate these horrible people who probably want to kill me.

Each of you have the power to influence Dotti’s spiritual essence. You can inflame her anger, and bring her closer to fire magic. You can encourage her thievery and cunning, and lead her to be unseen and unheard. You can encourage her manipulative side and reconnect her to mind magic. Or you can teach her compassion, and guide her down a treacherous, untraveled path. If Dotti does not like what you are telling her, she can attempt to seal herself off from your influence, and the thread will end.

Dotti 2021/04/09(Fri)21:36 No. 995495 ID: 8483cf
File 161802937155.png - (1.62KB , 458x397 , Watching.png )

Or... you can guide her down several paths and combine their teachings, or all four paths at once.

Dotti is listening.

Hey dotti, most people don't listen to commands unless you're in a position of authority, or you mind control them, but if you do that then people will eventually try to hunt you down and kill you, maybe since you dont have magic right now you could try being sneaky though, not letting anyone see you, blending into the shadows, getting those tasty treats. Maybe doing stuff like that will get you some new magics you never had before?

Oh, and no one said doing animal squeaks would be a good feeling thing, but sometimes you have to do stuff you dont like, especially if you want free things. PLUS if you manipulate them into liking you by acting like a cute fox, that means you can extort MORE food from them in the future, think about it, being able to bother a man for some sweet sweet croissants every day, maybe get cool things for Serah and Landi too since they're your companions, maybe then Serah and Landi will give you more important jobs too, whoo knooooowwws

But what if you make Serah cry if you hurt these people's feelings? What if you steal their bread and they all blame Serah and she is kicked out of town and can never return? What if the entire town tries to capture you for stealing their stuff?

Please see yourself in this man's point of view, he probably has a family to feed, and needs to make money to give his family a place to live. He had worked so hard to make that bread and all he asks is for money in return. Just like how you worked so hard to get a place to stay with Serah. If you steal it, all his work would be for nothing and he will probably lose his home and cant feed his family, and he will probably try to get revenge on you and Serah. Imagine what it would be like in comparison if after all that hard work of letting you join Serah with your magic, it was suddenly taken away from you and youre left with nothing. You'd be heartbroken, just like how you'd make this person feel if you steal his bread.

Let me ask, what do you know about the difference between good and evil? That is an important thing for humans to know if you want to become fully human and not be a fox anymore.

ALL FOUR PATHS!

ANGER: This evil man must pay for defying you and your wonderful sign!
CUNNING: Literally make him pay, he's probably expecting you to steal the bread, steal his money instead
MANIPULATION: Pretend the money is your own! and give it to him in exchange for bread
COMPASSION: Appreciate human society, when people commit crimes (this man not giving you bread) they are punished with fines (the money you took) and honest citizen take their hard earned money (taking money is hard!) and use it to buy goods and services (Enjoy your bread)
And that's being more Human too Dotti! isn't human society great?

Alright. I'm the one who came up with the last version of that sign. And I'd like to apologize for any misunderstandings that I or my fellow spirits may have caused.

Okay, so my earlier idea was to use your innate natural talents to encourage human behavior; essentially, to follow traditions that canids have been doing for thousands of years; being cute and non-threatening around to humans to get food.

But the techniques the wolves that eventually turned into dogs have discovered go deeper than that. It isn't JUST about looking similar enough to human babies to encourage the human nourishing instinct, it's also about understanding and responding to human body language and being aware of their mental and emotional states to respond relevantly (even if the humans are hiding their feelings from themselves or each other), and it's also about being useful enough around humans that they will feed and groom and pamper you in thanks for the (trivially easy to you, but difficult for humans) 'work' you do.

So, time to observe humans with an eye to utilizing the wisdom that your *regularly fed* canid cousins have managed to stumble on. What are people doing? How do they feel about what they're doing? What is stressing them out? What are people failing at which you could trivially barter your services for in exchange for 'yummy treats'? Of course, being sapient you can be better at this (and handle more complex situations!) than any dumb dog... but you have to make the decision to try.

(Essentially, I want to combine Manipulation + Compassion paths, specifically. One doesn't have to be working against a person's interests to manipulate them, and compassion helps with understanding people and figuring out ways to not go overboard when encouraging them to help you, and the combination enables equitable barter of services as an option that each alone might not allow for)

>I should take this bread from the basket, right now, and have it all to myself. It’s right there.

Why not also terminate him, that way, all the bread in the store can be yours for the taking, not just the basket

Oof, Dotti, I feel you. Not being able to communicate clearly and be understood is the WORST. We deal with that all the time too. That's why we've been real excited and falling all over ourselves talking to you with all our confusing and conflicting thoughts. Sorry, don't make noises you don't want to. We'll figure out some magic to make you more human.

I don't know what bit of the magic you were already good at is going to make that happen though. Maybe we need to try and work on developing a new magic skill for you turning in to stuff better. Shit, I don't know, maybe if you consistently respond like a human it will help you turn into one better?

So: Human behavior! It is entirely appropriate to be mad at this guy for being a butt. Glare at the guy REALLY HARD. Stick your tongue out at him, it's a rude gesture. Stomp out the door, and slam it shut behind you. (Bonus points of you do it so hard something falls off the shelf.) Then we need to find you some money. That's those little metal disk things you've probably seen around. If you have some of those you can give them to people in exchange for stuff you actually want. It's a whole thing, it's complicated and weird, but it's VERY satisfying to throw in the face of guys like that who are just making assumptions about you.

>>995502

This spirit is lying to you and wants to get you killed and to give all of us a bad name.

Consider the following example scenarios:

Scenario one: You take the bread. The shopkeep, not being an idiot, notices the bread was gone and that you were the only one here right before it was gone. What's the local punishment for theft? In some places, you get your hand cut off.

Scenario two: you attack and murder the shopkeeper, and take all the bread in the shop. The other people in this *communal village where people interact regularly with one another* quickly notice, and promptly have you killed as a savage feral beast, worse than a wild animal..

Scenario three: you get your mind magic back and come back later and compel the baker to give you all the bread you could want. You, not having any understanding of why the baker is baking or where he gets the resources to bake or what the implications of running a business are, cause him to lose his bakery and be unable to bake ever again due to being bankrupt, and then you and he both go hungry

Scenario four: You get in his, and various other villagefolk's good graces such that everyone enjoys your company, and is happy to pay you in food and currency for doing odd jobs that you, with your (eventually) recovered sorts of magic and various shapeshifting abilities and superior anatomy (even if you turn mostly human, try to keep the superior sense of smell and hearing, okay?) can do better than they. You manage to enjoy a wide variety of food and pleasurable experiences, and since you've figured out a way to get paid for helping the villagers with their endeavors, it is not a hardship or ruinous for them to be generous to you. Everyone is happy.

>>995504
this spirit is also lying, stealing bread from a baker once will NOT make him go bankrupt. he has enough to share.

Also nothing is wrong with Gekkering humans make weird noises all the time, and making special laugh or happy noises is very human, proud of who you are is also very human

It's okay, we can try the sign somewhere else where people likes fox-spirits more.
Or we can come back with money. Where is there money?

>>995490
They say that if you trust a fox spirit, it will lead only to your own death. Is that the kind of fox you want to be? A predictable one? Show the world you're something special. Defy that expectation. Play within the rules just enough and you can still get what you want almost all of the time, without becoming *that* kind of fox.

True manipulation requires understanding-- understanding what makes people tick. You don't seem to understand how humans work. That's fine, that will take experience. Seeing things from another point of view can give you valuable information, even if you don't care about that point of view. I'll help with the baker.
He's a merchant, that means he cares about money. He gets money by selling bread. He has to spend money, though less, to make bread. If he gives away some bread, he might not get enough money from selling the rest of the bread to be able to make more bread to sell. He fears this, the possibility of not having enough money to keep his business going. It makes him angry when people ask for free bread, because it deprives him of money and makes that fear a little more real.

How can you get past this? Well, you can indicate that Lady Kesington will pay him back. Or you can take something without him knowing. Or you can steal money from someone to pay him. Or you can be enough of a nuisance to customers that he feels it'll be cheaper to give you something so you go away!
Just keep in mind anything you do here will be connected to Lady Kesington. If you steal something, do not get caught.
Hey, maybe you can try getting a customer to buy you something?

>>995505
I think you misunderstood what that spirit was saying. Scenario three involved the baker being mind controlled into giving away a LOT of bread. That could certainly bankrupt him, depending on how much money he's got saved up and what his other expenses are.

Humans have some serious taboos about "commands". That's why they all keep pointing out you fox spirits are dangerous and shouldn't be trusted.

And they are right, no sentient creatures allow other creatures to use magic to dominate their minds without repercussion. If you want to remain part of Sarah's party, cut that shit out right now.

>>995483
He sees only his business. To him, you are not a potential connection to the profitable Lady Kensington, you're just a filthy animal running on the orders of a rebel princess that threatens to change his rigid cycle.
That is what the nobles forge their minions into. They train the masses by starving them, only rewarding them with their necessary food and social approval when they are cruel to those outside of their social circles and obedient to the point of suppressing their own ambitions. Do not expect kindness, it is punished by the rulers around here.
The nobles look at goodness and see only politeness and order. So pretend to be that. In market business, charity is an act of madness; when customers show money or contracts, the other side is obligated to shut up and give them what they want. If either side refuses to give up what they offered in exchange after receiving what they wanted, that's grounds for getting aggressive.
Go back to Serah, and show her pictures of the food you saw at the market, with some squares next to them. Wait for her to make indents on some of the squares and give you coins, then take those coins and show them alongside the pictures, and they'll take the coins and give you food. You can get angry if they take the coins and don't give you food.
Write this script:
"Hello, Lady Kensington would like to buy the items listed on my menu. She was going to give you a tip, but you have treated this servant poorly and they will only give market price."

>>995490
Also, calm down. That guy was being a brat, you shouldn't be worse.

Oh, you wish to be a master of crime? We could help with that too, but we have to be aware of that, because it limits your choices. So far, we gave you the choice that would make you the least likely to be hated, because society hates crime. Ergo, they'd hate you. Yes, Serah too. It's a limited path, but it's the path of greed.

But we suspected you would prefer the path of freedom. Remember this?

>“Well, then what do you want?” Raelynn presses. “Do you want to live like a human?”
>Dotti nods enthusiastically.

So far, that's what we've sought to help you with. To live freely with them. Did you lie there? Would you prefer to take all that you desire, without regard for others like Serah? To be a shadow of the worst of them?

Or do you wish to live side by side with them? That is the choice you must make.

So what will it be, Dotti? A life of greed? Or a life of freedom?

The choice is yours.

>>995505

I was referring in scenario three to the use of mind control to make the baker give up a lot of bread, every day, for the forseeable future, which Dotti has already specifically expressed interest in doing. The results of that could most certainly be him going bankrupt, especially since Dotti does not seem to value minimum use of mental changes, maintaining the target's capacity to have access to their skills and judgment, and the use of finesse in her mind control powers. In contrast, taking a small amount of bread in a single day is scenario one and does not require mind control at all, and does not bankrupt the baker, but breaks the social contract of behavior of the village, and may have excessively harsh penalties WHEN she is caught.

That said, gekkering in particular does resemble a human chuckle quite well!

1/6 Dotti 2021/04/10(Sat)23:17 No. 995599 ID: 8483cf
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>Scenarios 1, 2, 3, 4
I don’t like any of these options.

I choose scenario Dotti!

2/6 Dotti 2021/04/10(Sat)23:18 No. 995600 ID: 8483cf
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>This evil man must pay for defying you and your wonderful sign!
>Terminate him!

YES

>Also, calm down. That guy was being a brat, you shouldn't be worse.

NO

5/6 Dotti 2021/04/10(Sat)23:19 No. 995603 ID: 8483cf
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>Humans have some serious taboos about "commands". That's why they all keep pointing out you fox spirits are dangerous and shouldn't be trusted. And they are right, no sentient creatures allow other creatures to use magic to dominate their minds without repercussion. If you want to remain part of Sarah's party, cut that shit out right now.
>Hey dotti, most people don't listen to commands unless you're in a position of authority.

Yeah? Well listen up, you dumb spirits! Nobody tells me what to do! I’m Dotti! I get what I want, when I want it! And if anyone tries to tell me no, they’ll regret it! Including you!

>It's okay, we can try the sign somewhere else where people likes fox-spirits more. Or we can come back with money. Where is there money?
>You can indicate that Lady Kesington will pay him back. Or you can take something without him knowing. Or you can steal money from someone to pay him.

Money? Those metal bits people like? I don’t need money! I’m cute and powerful! Everyone will obey me or else!

>They say that if you trust a fox spirit, it will lead only to your own death. Is that the kind of fox you want to be? A predictable one?

If they really liked living, they wouldn’t cross me!

>The nobles look at goodness and see only politeness and order. So pretend to be that. In market business, charity is an act of madness; when customers show money or contracts, the other side is obligated to shut up and give them what they want.

So humans are a lot like animals! They have to obey the creatures with power! Like me!

>He's a merchant, that means he cares about money. He gets money by selling bread... It makes him angry when people ask for free bread, because it deprives him of money and makes that fear a little more real.

That… makes a little bit of sense. But he should make an exception for me, because I’m cute and powerful!

>You can be enough of a nuisance to customers that he feels it'll be cheaper to give you something so you go away!

I think he’ll just chase me away after what I just did. Well, it was worth it!

6/6 Dotti 2021/04/10(Sat)23:20 No. 995604 ID: 8483cf
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>But what if you make Serah cry if you hurt these people's feelings?

People get their feelings hurt all the time. Serah will be fine.

>What if you steal their bread and they all blame Serah and she is kicked out of town and can never return? What if the entire town tries to capture you for stealing their stuff?

Serah. Will. Be. Fine. I’ll survive. I’ve had lots of practice.

>Let me ask, what do you know about the difference between good and evil? That is an important thing for humans to know if you want to become fully human and not be a fox anymore.

What a dumb question! Good is what makes me feel good, and evil is what makes me feel bad. That’s easy! What do I learn next to be a person?

>“Do you want to live like a human?”
>So far, that's what we've sought to help you with. To live freely with them. Did you lie there? Would you prefer to take all that you desire, without regard for others like Serah? To be a shadow of the worst of them?

I…

I’m not a shadow. I’m not! I’m cute and powerful! I don’t need to make stupid fox noises to get what I want!

I’m not a shadow…

It's sounding more and more like you don't *REALLY* want to be a human. Being human is about having compromises. We're trying to give you advice that worked when we were alive, some of us human, some of us not.

But none of it matters if you dont actually want us to try and help.

>I’m not a shadow…
Of course. But if all you desire out of people is what they have, the path forward would be the path of those who people view as some of the lowest of the low. The shadows who hide by the dark, who thrive by raid, burglary, theft! But should you wish to avoid the life of a shadow, to live with them, you must see a simple truth.

>Good is what makes me feel good, and evil is what makes me feel bad.
This is the heart of the issue. People see this view as selfish. Usually, people see selfish as bad, while selfless is good.
The logic of this is that should they be purely selfish, society would fall apart, but to be selfless would help it thrive.
For example, if two farmers were purely selfish, each would starve if they had a poor crop while the other did well, because after the first starves, the farmer who lived would starve if they had a poor crop later. But, if they helped each other, they would both thrive.
To be sure, it is difficult to be selfless. Sometimes you are forced to be selfish. So they make it a crime to be too selfish. This is why the raiders, burglars, thieves, all those who take what that they desire, live the lives of shadows. Their crimes make them outcasts. So, to be more like people, to avoid the life of a shadow, you have to figure out how to be selfless.

PFft, you don't even know the most basic of human ethics. You know why you humans aren't afraid of you as a whole Dotti?

Because there's a lot of them and one of you. If you try to dominate humans, they all team up and they'll kill you, and no, there's no way for you to win other than to leave. You wanna be more human, better start figuring how their society works and try to start fitting in, cause otherwise you're going to get killed and Serah is going to get run out of town for bringing you here.

Yeesh, the great and powerful fox spirit, who has to rely on one person at a time domination to stay safe and can't manage enough magic to turn into a humanoid furry. Great and powerful indeed.

Oh, by the way, names have power, and Dotti is a name of a friendly, well meaning nuisance. Probably part of why you've sucked so hard at everything you've tried.

>>995604
Oh dear. Okay, your definition of good and evil is kindof close I guess. Humans tend to define it something like this:
Good people help others and try to prevent them from being harmed, even if it means the good person is inconvenienced, or even harmed in extreme situations. The more good a person is, the more often they act this way.
The classic definition of evil is an opposite of good, where it's a focus on harming others, possibly to the evil person's own detriment. I don't believe this kind of evil actually exists in humans or other sapient creatures. A more useful opposite of good is "bad" or "selfish". Bad or selfish people focus on themselves, making sure they get as many nice things and/or feelings as possible and preventing themselves from being harmed, even to the detriment of others. The worse a person is the more they're willing to harm others to get what they want.
Looks like you fit that definition. I'm not gonna pressure you to be a good person or anything, but you should limit how bad you are. Don't kill anyone for selfish reasons, only in a life or death situation. Yes, protecting a friend from being killed counts as life or death. I doubt it'll happen but it might be fine if Serah directly and explicitly tells you to kill someone, because then she'll have some plan for protecting you from the legal fallout. Stealing you can get away with probably, though if you get caught Serah will likely have to pay for what you stole to keep you out of jail. Assaulting people with magic might cause a lot of trouble for you if they know it's you... I don't know what the laws are like on that and it'll be hard for you to just ask Serah if you can get away with it. Lying to people is mostly fine so long as it doesn't directly lead to their deaths or massive property damage. I imagine there are some other types of lies you could tell that would get you into trouble so don't get reckless.

Basically what I'm trying to say is you should develop a code of ethics that will allow you to live with humans without having to change your core beliefs too much.

The real problem right now is that you're cute, but you aren't powerful. Don't you remember the fight? Where you almost peed your panties and you were worse than useless?

You are probably the weakest adult in the entire city right now. If somebody weak comes up to you and demanded you do something for it, you'd probably bite it.

So you can't just bully people into doing what you want, because they can just smack you in the head right now.

Also, do you legitimately like Serah, or is she just a convenient source of food for you? I'll advise accordingly, I just need to know.

Why do you want to hurt people to get things? They will be sad and not like you.

Dotti 2021/04/11(Sun)15:35 No. 995688 ID: 8483cf
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>Looks like you fit that definition. I'm not gonna pressure you to be a good person or anything, but you should limit how bad you are. Basically what I'm trying to say is you should develop a code of ethics that will allow you to live with humans without having to change your core beliefs too much.

What’s a code of ethics? Are those fairy rules? Also, did you just call me evil? That’s stupid. I’m just doing the same thing I’ve always done to survive. If humans don’t like it, they should suck it up and deal with it. That’s just how I survive.

But there’s a LOT of things that apparently make humans and elves and gnelfs upset and even more likely to kill me. Thank you for pointing those out. But I think they’ll still try to kill me no matter what I do.

>It's sounding more and more like you don't *REALLY* want to be a human.

I HAVE to be a human. Humans have unlimited food, always have warm places to sleep at night, and hugs. In the forest, I have to fight and kill for my food, my foxhole is soggy and damp and cold, and I’m all alone. Humans are automatically better than foxes, period.

>This is the heart of the issue. People see this view as selfish. Usually, people see selfish as bad, while selfless is good. The logic of this is that should they be purely selfish, society would fall apart, but to be selfless would help it thrive. For example…

Do you think I’m stupid? You didn’t need to say it three times. But you make a good point that humans are pack animals. I suppose I should try not to anger the pack, and… ugh… maybe even try to pretend to support the pack like a dumb pup. Even if the pack is evil and wants to kill me.

>Yeesh, the great and powerful fox spirit, who has to rely on one person at a time domination to stay safe and can't manage enough magic to turn into a humanoid furry. Great and powerful indeed. Oh, by the way, names have power, and Dotti is a name of a friendly, well meaning nuisance. Probably part of why you've sucked so hard at everything you've tried.

I hope you died alone.

>The real problem right now is that you're cute, but you aren't powerful. Don't you remember the fight? Where you almost peed your panties and you were worse than useless?

I don’t have to remember anything I don’t want to.

>Why do you want to hurt people to get things? They will be sad and not like you.

I don’t want to hurt good people! I can smell good people. Good people treat me nice and give me food and hugs and let me eat trash. I only want to hurt bad people, because bad people never give me food and try to kill me and lock the jerky treats inside a stupid storage room.

>Also, do you legitimately like Serah, or is she just a convenient source of food for you? I'll advise accordingly, I just need to know.

Serah… is okay. She doesn’t smell like a 100% good person. She does protect me and give me hugs, and she carries jerky on her belt that’s easy to steal. But… she was ready to kill me less than a week ago, and she doesn’t want me to eat trash. Which is stupid.

I’ve waited for EVER in my foxhole and I haven’t smelled a really good person in a long, long time. I don’t think there are any good people left in the world. Maybe I can’t trust anyone.

And for some reason that makes me really, really sad.

>I HAVE to be a human. Humans have unlimited food, always have warm places to sleep at night, and hugs. In the forest, I have to fight and kill for my food, my foxhole is soggy and damp and cold, and I’m all alone. Humans are automatically better than foxes, period.

Humans actually have to work to get their food, and shelter, whether it be from hunting or from getting money. The food and shelter they get dont just magically appear and they share it with each others because of that, where do you think the food comes from?

But from the sounds of it, maybe what you actually want to be is not a human, but somebody's pet! Like how dogs or kitties are!

When youre somebody's pet, you dont have to worry about working a day in your life for your food like the humans do, when you're somebody's pet, people dont ask you for anything from you and give you all the free food and shelter that you want without you having to worry about any responsibilities, and you can live your life all spoiled. Plus, free pets whenever you want!

If you want to become human however, you have tl unfortunately follow those rules you despise so much...

another alternative though could be to try to take over the world and make everyone living in it your slave, and kill anyone who does not give you pets or food

Honestly, we were all up in Serah's head too. She was never going to kill you. Most of us have been very pro Dotti from the start.

This is the thing: you need to learn the human rules and try to follow them if you want to have Serah like you. If that's a goal you want independent of the utility she represents for you.

Otherwise, fuck it. Do whatever you want.

But if you want to know how the human rules work, it's basically like this:

People get food/hugs/whatever for two reasons:

1. you do some kind of work, you get the metal things, you trade them for stuff that other people make with their work, or

2. somebody else who gets the metal loves you or cares about you, and gives you the stuff because they like you and want to take care of you, or

3. Somebody feels like doing it in that moment for no particular reason.

The last case is completely unreliable and probably won't happen terribly often. The first two are reliable.

Just like in the woods, there are people here who live in stinky alleys full of poo water because they don't do enough work or have a way to get the metal bits, and nobody wants to take care of them.

>>995688
I didn't call you evil. You fit the definition of selfish, not the definition of evil. Like I said I don't think sapient creatures really ever fit the definition of evil.
A code of ethics is just... a set of rules you believe in and personally follow. Like morality, but not determined by society. Sometimes ethics are attached to jobs people are in, like doctors follow a code of ethics for medicine, but personal ethics are more common. Even if people don't think about them that way.

You haven't explored that much of the world, therefore you cannot say that good people do not exist anymore. They probably just moved away from where you are.
I'm curious as to why you value people you can trust, when you don't want to behave like that yourself. Is that fair?

Anyway, we're talking a lot but not getting any closer to getting you a treat. Can you wander and sniff around to find a relatively good person? Might be someone in the open market, if this place has one.
Lacking that, you could try finding a mostly-inattentive food merchant, or sneak up on a food stall without anyone seeing you, and steal something small.

>>995697
>Just like in the woods, there are people here who live in stinky alleys full of poo water because they don't do enough work or have a way to get the metal bits, and nobody wants to take care of them.

You gave me a good idea, fellow spirit. Maybe instead of telling her, we can show her in order to get her scared straight by taking her to one of those alleyways.

Hey Dotti, I know where you can find a ginormous treasure chest of trash! one that is bigger than you and has enough food for you to eat until you burst! These ginormous treasure chests are called "Dumpsters"

They are usually in Alleyways. Want to go there?

>Humans have unlimited food, always have warm places to sleep at night, and hugs.
You have the right idea, but the wrong context. Metahumans only have this much 'stuff' because there's this big machine called 'civilization', that has been built by millions of other metahumans over centuries of finding food and shelter and hugs and thinking about better ways to make easier hunts and sturdier shelter and manipulative hugs. You put work in the machine and it spits out good stuff. The problem is that the machine is fragile and dangerous. If you kick it, it could topple over on you and kill you instantly. If you smash buttons and demand food, it might go crazy and give you the wrong amounts of food for all your hard work.

>I don’t think there are any good people left in the world. Maybe I can’t trust anyone.
And then there are the asshole nobles who have been bashing the machine and hacking its code, turning it into a monster that eats peoples' goodness and gives exclusive headpats to the ruthless and narcissistic.
You need to stop worshiping them.

People who are NICE and CHARITABLE to you can still be BAD. People who are MEAN and STINGY can still be good.
HUMANS are COMPLICATED.
If YOU want to be HUMAN too than YOU have to become COMPLICATED as well.

It may be worth it to just WATCH for a while.
Befriend A CHILD.
Most children will adore you immediately, and will attempt protect you and keep you around, though they may be bad at both.
Through them however, you can observe the human world, and learn what it truly means to be human.

Oh, and Dotti, the reason why humans have all those nice things is that they're able to work together and make things like farms, trade agreements, and indoor plumbing. Nothing would be possible if humans didn't cooperate, and your current mindset is not one of cooperation.

>If humans don’t like it, they should suck it up and deal with it.
Oh they will. They'll toss you out, that's how they'll deal with it.
If you dislike that they'll do that, you should suck it up + deal with it.
Either you follow their rules, act like part of their pack, or they'll impose their rules. It's what they do.

Dotti 2021/04/11(Sun)17:55 No. 995724 ID: 8483cf
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>But from the sounds of it, maybe what you actually want to be is not a human, but somebody's pet! Like how dogs or kitties are!

If I was a pet, I wouldn’t get to do whatever I wanted. I’d be locked up in cages and forced to do tricks for people’s amusement. I am a powerful, magical fox spirit and I will not stoop to such levels!

>Humans actually have to work to get their food, and shelter, whether it be from hunting or from getting money.
>You have the right idea, but the wrong context. Metahumans only have this much 'stuff' because there's this big machine called 'civilization'.
>Oh, and Dotti, the reason why humans have all those nice things is that they're able to work together and make things like farms, trade agreements, and indoor plumbing.

But… there are humans who get all the benefits of “civilization” without having to work. I heard about these people all the time from people camping near my foxhole. Are you saying these people are pets?

>And then there are the asshole nobles…

Oh. Okay. So I should become a noble! I bet nobles get to eat as much trash as they want!

>This is the thing: you need to learn the human rules and try to follow them if you want to have Serah like you. If that's a goal you want independent of the utility she represents for you. Otherwise, fuck it. Do whatever you want.
>Either you follow their rules, act like part of their pack, or they'll impose their rules. It's what they do.

Human rules are so complicated… and they’ll try to kill me anyway. So I might as well do whatever I want.

>Befriend a child.

So you’re saying I can learn how to be a human AND get free adoration and attention by befriending children! Sounds great! But if I’ve learned one thing in the wild about pack animals like wolves and humans it’s that they protect their young super protectively. I got mauled by a mama goose once. I do not want to get mauled by a mama human.

>Legendary trash piles in alleyways
Humans are so wasteful! I will need to keep an eye out for alleyways.

>Anyway, we're talking a lot but not getting any closer to getting you a treat. Can you wander and sniff around to find a relatively good person?

Yeah! I should go and find a good person. I need to find a good person. It’s important for some reason.

>You haven't explored that much of the world, therefore you cannot say that good people do not exist anymore. They probably just moved away from where you are. I'm curious as to why you value people you can trust, when you don't want to behave like that yourself. Is that fair?

I hope you’re right. I need to explore the world and find a good person. It’s really important, and my instincts tell me I need to become person in order to explore enough of the world to find a good person.

Good people… good people make me feel good. Good people are warm and kind and generous. They share their fires and food and don’t hold back the hugs. And I need to find them.

!!!!

I SMELL WEIRD WIZARD

Quick, spirits! I need your help! I need you to help me write a sign to tell him to give me back my magic!

"I need magic lessons and an adult"

Write a note that says "I lost my magic and got stuck halfway to being a Human and a Fox so I can't talk, please help."

>>995724
>But… there are humans who get all the benefits of “civilization” without having to work.
I don't know what it's like around here but usually that's because someone was born into a very rich family. Rich people can just kindof effortlessly make money by owning things other people want to use, like land or water.
The people you heard talking might have been talking about something else though, like jobs they didn't consider to be difficult enough to count as working, or people who were being supported because they got too hurt to continue working, or just... children, who aren't expected to work and/or would do such a bad job it's not worth trying to make them do important things.

>they’ll try to kill me anyway
They'll try to kill you HARDER if you break their rules.
The baker didn't try to kill you. Serah didn't. Some humans will want to kill you without giving you a chance, but most won't. Either out of fear, or indifference, or trust in those you're associated with. If you break their rules too much, strong people will actively seek your death.

>wizard
Ok, flip the sign over and write "Please help, Dotti has no mana due to a failed transformation" which is a request for help and a description of your current problem. Show the first side to the wizard, then the second side.

Okay. Humans are not perfectly efficient at allocating their group resources. So there are always those that get disproportionally more resources than the amount of hard work they actually are required to contribute to the good of society overall.

These people are generally called 'nobles' or 'aristocrats'.

Here's how an individual gets to be a member of this distinguished class:

1.) Be born to aristocratic parents.

That's it.

See the problem?

>>995756
2) Be a complete sociopath who lies, cheats, steals, murders, and rapes their way to fame until they can obtain a "Title" from the highest-ranked aristocrat, the King, and mate with an unwilling noble through a marriage contract.

These are the bad people who kill all the animals and poison all the berry bushes so that you will be forced to obey them or die of starvation.

>>995761

Now you know that this is not necessarily true and not all or even most human civilizations have means of buying titles or being given titles due to fame or valor or whatever. In many groups of humans with a landed aristocracy, the only way to become an aristocrat is to found a new colony in the untamed wilderness somewhere, tame said wilderness, and become Lord of that area. Besides, in both your example AND mine here, it is a ton of work to get to the point where you can be lazy, and at that point it's only your kids, NOT you, that gets to live a life of luxury and leisure from the getgo. And if you are going to describe 'human lifestyle paths that after a lot of years work, you get to retire to luxury', you might as well include stuff like 'becoming a wealthy merchant' too.

>>995752

That's a good thing to write. remember though, it's a request and not a compulsion. You are communicating your status and desires, nothing more. Besides, Wizards are powerful and tend to have ways to resist compulsions anyway, even if you had the means to attempt to impose one!

Dotti, this is what's known as an optimization problem.

How do we direct you to the human lifestyle and lifepath that has the best possible mix of the following things:

-Least amount of hard work
-What hard work there is, is novel and fun and interesting to you, that you can enjoy or at least not mind too much
-Allows for you to get help doing the aspects of the work you don't like
-Enables as much access to luxuries as possible
-Lets you get to a point when you don't have to work hard to maintain a luxurious lifestyle as quickly as possible
-What work there is plays to your strengths, both the ones you have now and the ones you can get soon, so you have advantages over normal humans in doing the work

>>995729
This is the correct one

>>995807

Sorry, let me continue, I have more to add. Continuing:

-that minimizes overall risk of permanent harm to you and those in your confidence
-that maximizes gain of 'intangibles' that are beneficial to you, things like a positive reputation, friends, contacts, people being indebted to you, access to people who smell 'good' to your strange spirit sense, etc.

Anyway, in order to determine the best sort of human lifestyle that balances all those things in the best possible way, to give you the most useful advice, we are going to need way, way, waayyyyyy more information about how the humans in this area live. Which means, for now, lots of observations of this regions humans, and improve anything that lets you understand how they think and why they do what they do!

>>995826

Gyah, one last important bit:

-Given all the advantages Dotti can manage to put together, the specific human lifestyle/lifepath has a very good chance of succeeding at doing all the other things

>>995808

If you wanted to combine the two sorts of suggestions, shouldn't it instead say something like:

"Please Help! Dotti has no mana due to a failed transformation, and needs magic, basic ethics and 'not being feral' lessons, but NOT reading or writing just yet."

Such would be clearly describe the problems that are preventing Dotti from living the sort of life that she wants to live in the long term, and would ask gently ask the wizard to help Dotti get a LOT of super useful skills that will help her achieve her goals!

>>995756
>>995791
>>995793
>>995807
>>995826
>>995831
>>995833
Dude, calm down, consolidate your thoughts, and present your ideas succinctly. Even if you're not annoying Dotti with it all, I don't think drinking from the fire hose is gonna help get your point across.

We don't know anything about the wizard's personality, but I'm not sure we should bank on charity. >>995729 is cute, but it's an appeal for free magic lessons. >>995751 presents an interesting research problem to be solved, which seems more likely to get a positive response to me.

Dotti 2021/04/14(Wed)19:10 No. 996251 ID: 8483cf
File 161845264711.png - (81.43KB , 350x431 , WeirdWizard.png )

>Humans will kill you HARDER if you anger them
Yeah well… yeah well…
NYEHH

>Explanation of why nobles don’t have to try
>People can only be nobles by being born into nobility, or being jerks

So wait… people don’t actually KNOW who’s a noble just by looking at them? It’s entirely based on something that happened years and years and years ago???

Hehehe

>Optimize your Dotti life
I think I have an idea of how to do that…

>"I need magic lessons and an adult please help I lost my magic and got stuck halfway to being a Human and a Fox so I can't talk, please help Dotti has no mana due to a failed transformation please Help Dotti has no mana due to a failed transformation, and needs magic, basic ethics and 'not being feral' lessons, but NOT reading or writing just yet

Wow! Lots of mental images! I’ll use them all so I’m guaranteed maximum compulsion power. Thanks to the few of you who explained what the weird symbols mean, I’m sure it will all work out fine!

I scribble it all down as fast as I can and chase after the weird smell!

I find the source. And oh boy. No wonder it was a weird smell. It’s a half-gnome, half-halfling, half-wizard, half-monk with a big bouncy glowy ball attached to his hat and big shoes because he’s only half-halfling and can’t walk around barefoot. Wow!

I shove the sign in his nose. Then I remember I have to flip it, too! I flip it.

I can’t tell if he’s reading my sign, so I shove it further in his beard. He’s shorter than me so it’s really easy!

The wizard sighs.

“I thought you were Lady Kensington’s problem now.”

Did I mess up? I can’t have messed up. I’m too cute to get mad at!

The wizard’s hat ball makes a crackling noise.

I whimper. But… I’m cute and… powerful…

HELPPP

Quick! Give him some jerky you stole from Serah when you hugged her the other day! That way you will trick him into being happy to help you after you fed him.

Give jerky as bribe, it’s good jerky

Well if you have a single scrap of patience maybe you could wait to see if he's going to help or not?

Steal his hat and run

Dotti 2021/04/15(Thu)20:30 No. 996406 ID: 8483cf
File 161854382125.png - (132.72KB , 674x499 , Stawberrymilk.png )

The wizard smells like he’s wary. And uncertain.

Oh no! I need this half-half-half-half-wizard’s help and I have only one last resort. It hurts, but I have to give up my precious precious stolen emergency jerky that no one can resist. It’s my only chance!

“This jerky means a great deal to you. Doesn’t it?”

I nod. Then I shove the jerky at him and it somehow gets absorbed into his beard. Oooooooooooooo

“Your instincts tend to generosity?” His nose twitches. “Most curious. Come, fox spirit. Have a chat.”

Yay!!!

He pulls up a seat at a sidewalk café. His sparking hat-ball waves at the waiter. “Tea, please. And one milk.”

YES! I knew if I tried hard enough, I’d get what I wanted!

“So, Dotti,” the lots-of-halfs wizard says. “You say you’re unable to regain your magic after exhausting it?”

I nod.

“And how long has it been?”

I hold up my paws and count to five, then pretend to fall asleep.

“So you can count, too.” his nose twitches again. “Five days. Yet your essence has not been able to revitalize itself. What happened five days ago?”

I point to the sign. Is he stupid? I ran out of magic trying to turn into a human!

“A failed transformation should merely drain your essence, not harm it,” the wizard says. “Dotti, you are a spirit, yes? You can see the partition between this world and the next?”

I nod and give you all a wave. Hi guys!

“I thought as much. As a spirit, Dotti, your magic comes from a different place than mortals. Mortals are entirely earthly, and merely borrow the powers of the lands beyond. Some mortals twist the rules- fairies, for example, are so steeped in magic that the laws of nature throw up their hands in dismay- but they are still born here and bound to this plane of existence. You, Dotti, are more of the next world than this one. You may have once been earthly, but at some point you crossed over… and here you are once more. Spirits do not make that journey lightly. Few retain their memories from the trip, and fewer still have the power left to take physical form.”

I AM awesome! And better yet, the waiter gives me my milk! It’s STRAWBERRY and it is SO GOOD


“Magic is who you are, Dotti. The fact that you are incapable of performing it means you have very likely harmed yourself- perhaps by using destructive magic on someone who was metaphysically close to you in a vulnerable moment.”

Uh oh

“Have you done something to harm someone who genuinely meant to help you? Someone who may have performed an act of kindness to you in a moment of great weakness, someone you may have opened yourself up to, and yet chosen to use your magic to harm deeply?”

Uhhhhhh

Spirits, is this one of those times where he’s going to want to kill me if I tell him I did a bad thing?

WILL HE TAKE AWAY MY STRAWBERRY MILK???

He's testing your honesty, tell the truth

perhaps he can help you fix your mistake!

This one is trying to help you, unless you’ve done something REALLY bad, then ones like this are usually safe. Tell him the truth.

>>996406
I don't think he will. People make mistakes, and forgiveness is a virtue.
But now you know. You fucked up, and hurt yourself because of it. Remember this lesson. Betrayal is self-destructive. This can only mean the opposite, loyalty, will make you stronger!

I don't actually know who you hurt though? Was it Serah? I don't remember you doing anything except casting an obnoxious charm spell on her.

Dotti, what did you do.
Speak truthfully.

He won't hurt you or take your milk as long as you tell the truth. You've already shown what he called generosity for giving him your jerky, so he believes that you are willing to try and be a better person and redeem yourself. So he won't take your milk if you tell him the truth.

Does the person you hurt have to do with... Nevermind! just talking to myself, ignore me. Make sure you look sad about it when you tell him yes. Just look down away from him with sad eyes, and nod slowly. Maybe he will tell you what to do next to fix your problem.

You dont have to tell us what you did if you dont want to yet, Dotti, probably too personal right now. I request other spirits to let her talk to us in more details about it when she feels comfortable. Thats what friends do.

Dotti 2021/04/15(Thu)22:15 No. 996421 ID: 8483cf
File 161855013604.png - (68.65KB , 494x486 , BadDotti.png )

>Tell the truth

But… telling the truth makes me look really bad and not cute. It makes me look dangerous to humans and half-gnomes, and they won’t like me. You said so yourself!

Maybe the wizard is wrong. Yeah, he’s wrong! I don’t have anyone close to me. The closest person to me is Serah, and that’s only because she has a magic contract with me and her hugs make me feel safe and happy. I only used magic on her when and she had just stomped on my house and that was Landi’s fault, not hers! And that wasn’t destruction magic, that was a charm spell!

The only person I used really destructive magic on was the adventurer so they’d forget seeing me mess up! And I had forced them to help me with my charm spell, they weren’t trying to help me at all!

Wait… it is kind of weird that an adventurer didn’t shake off my charm spell after breaking eye contact… and that they kept asking if I was okay when I was so upset after messing up my transformation. They seemed really upset. I didn’t mentally order them to do that.

But they were totally making fun of me. They were! That was why they kept trying to pat my head like I was still a fox!

Even if it made me feel a little better…

UGHHHH

How was I supposed to know erasing a sort of nice adventurer’s memory and forcing them to leave forever would hurt me???

I look at the table and nod sadly.

The wizard sighs. “I’m glad you have the courage to admit it. Can you draw me a picture of the person you hurt? Perhaps we can set things right.”

He… he’s not trying to kill me???

…

Oh! Uh…

What does the sort of nice adventurer look like? Do you remember? I was kind of upset at the time and don’t have the clearest mental picture…

A half-dwarf, half-elf lady with long hair and a shield as tall as her.

I think the nice adventurer was male, a summoner in a hooded dark robe and a weird mask (He had it off while trying to comfort you). He could use forbidden magic to summon monsters and demons.

Species was human.

A gnome with purple eyes, he could summon monsters and probably had experience with spirits in the past so he was trying to help you out. He had short hair and wore a pair of glasses.

A lizardfolk warrior/paladin. We kindof need another tank...

Dotti I thought you could smell good people? How come you couldn't tell that adventurer was nice?

Lizardfolk paladin. She adventures to provide for her husband and 14 kids back home in the swamp. I remember it very distinctly.

Also I mean, to be fair to you, you didn't think they were actually helping you of their own volition. Like, you wouldn't do that Serah.

Paladins tend to be resistant to charm though, for your future information.

A warrior of the werewolf tribe with a strange flail and a giant shield.
She seemed off for a wolf. And that stupid laugh...

>>996501
Time to make a lizard friend!

Lizard
But male

Dotti 2021/04/18(Sun)17:25 No. 996829 ID: 8483cf
File 161879195659.png - (61.86KB , 438x441 , Lizard_Thonk.png )

>Dotti I thought you could smell good people? How come you couldn't tell that adventurer was nice?

Well... he obviously wasn't 100% nice? Duh? And he was a weird lizard guy, I'm not used to what they smell like. I'm trying to think here!

Everyone be quiet! Not all of you were there, how could you remember what you weren't there for???

I remember it was a lizardfolk paladin guy with a big shield, and he mentioned a wife, and he had experience with spirits and had experience with evil forbidden stuff, I could smell THAT.

UHGH, I can't remember it all. Who was he married to? Maybe that'll help us find him? And any other details I might have forgotten? Does he have kids?

married to another weird lizard guy

A giant dragoness from far away. No children though.

A cute but exhausted Lizard Lady and her 14 hatchlings

Dragoness with 14 hatchlings!

>>996832
This one

>>996834
Seconding.

A huge dragoness with two daughters.

He was married to a snek girl naga with huge venom glands, pushing a cart with a giant oblong egg.

Maybe the paladin got angry because you started eyeing their egg. The naga never spoke a word for some reason...

Dotti 2021/05/07(Fri)20:08 No. 999309 ID: 8483cf
File 162044333797.png - (117.44KB , 711x608 , LizardSketch.png )

Oh, right! He wouldn’t shut up about how he needed to buy stuff for his dragon wife. Apparently it’s their anniversary or something and he needed to pick up a present for her or something. He was trying to find the artisan who could help mount some kind of big jewel? I bumped into him near the tailor, so he was definitely looking for something she could wear. He really liked that jewel, it didn’t look that tasty though, how valuable could it really be? His hatchlings will probably chew on it or something. Well, he left it with a gem-setter on the way back, and it’s probably still there.

I draw a picture of him as best I can remember. He was wearing a cloak, shield on his back, and had hard, shiny scales, and had a holy symbol I think, but didn’t get a good look at it. He didn’t stink like holy oils so he was probably a fighty priest, not a preachy priest. That’s a paladin!

Yeah, I remember now. He kept warning me about how spirits should keep a low profile, or I was gonna get locked up or adventurer’d to death like his mother-in-law who is now a set of armor or something? He seemed okay about that for some reason.

Well, I’m done drawing it! The wizard seems to recognize the shape of the lizard guy’s head.

“Yes, I do think I’ve seen this fellow,” the wizard nods. “I saw him asking for passage to the mountains. There’s a trade caravan scheduled to head north today, perhaps he’s found a spot there?”

I clap my paws and can’t stop myself from letting out a high-pitched gekker of excitement. He’s doing exactly what I told him to do, and leaving forever! Hooray!

The wizard looks at me funny.

Uh, I mean, oh no! I need to make things right and give him back his memories, so I can get my magic back! I think!

“Well, my work here is done,” the wizard says. “I hope you enjoyed your strawberry milk. Good luck, little fox spirit.”

Wait, what? No! I need more than strawberry milk, I need the wizard to fix everything for me!

Go try to un-magic him so you can get magics!!!

Is it that simple?
Maybe you should verify with the wizard what you need to do.

Dotti, you can do it on your own! We believe in you, you don't need help, you're your own woman!

At this point you're supposed to ask for a way to contact him later.

This may be hard. How do you un-magic someone without magic or anti-magic?

Dotti 2021/05/09(Sun)16:29 No. 999569 ID: 8483cf
File 162060295435.png - (207.40KB , 736x969 , Stoprightthere.png )

>Maybe you should verify with the wizard what you need to do.

Oh, this is bad! I have no idea what to do! How do I un-magic magic with no magic to magic with???

I tug on the half-wizard’s wizard beard pleadingly.

“I can see you’re distressed. Here, please allow me to cast a magic charm to help you.” The wizard mumbles a few words, the pulls out the jerky I gave him. He hands it to me. It doesn’t seem any different. Oh, well. Jerky!!!!

I immediately open the pouch and pull out a piece to eat it.

“Wait!”

What?! I was gonna eat this! It’s mine! I growl at him.

“I have cast a magic charm on this jerky that will give you strength, but it will take time to set in. The jerky will grow stronger the longer you wait to eat it. There is no limit to the power this jerky can attain, should you wait long enough.”

I have to WAIT?!?!?! What a dumb spell! I whine and stuff the jerky pouch in a pocket in my apron.

“Now I have full confidence that you have all the information you need to set things right with your lizard friend,” the wizard says. “All you need to do is put yourself in the place of you lizard friend, and use your feelings to help them remember what they care about most.”

What? I’m not a lizard person! I’m a fox spirit! This is complicated! Life is complicated! He’s supposed to help me, not confuse me! I bare my teeth at him, but he doesn’t care. He’s already walking away.

>Dotti, you can do it on your own! We believe in you!
>Go try to un-magic him so you can get magics!!!

Fine! I don’t need help! I’m cute and powerful, I can do whatever I want without help!

I follow my nose and make my way to the trade caravan. That lizard person is the only fighty priest lizard in Minga, so I eventually zero in on his general area. My nose is awesome! I get near the trade wagons and start looking inside for a lizard person.

“Stop right there!” a guard shouts at me. He puts his hand on his sword and I let out a yelp. “Thief!”

I’m not a thief! I hold out my magic sign! Please don’t murder me! I’m too cute to die!

“Lady Kensington?” the guard says warily. But he takes his hand away from his sword!!! “I have a hard time believing House Kensington would associate itself with a dirty, thieving fox.”

Oh no. How do I let him let me find the lizard person?

ANGER: Get revenge on the guard for calling Dotti a dirty thief!
CUNNING: Help Dotti steal some tasty food from the caravan while he isn’t looking!
MANIPULATION: Convince him Dotti is adorable and not a threat!
FAITH: Convince Dotti that the guard won’t kill her!
COMPASSION: ???

Convince the guard to take you to Lady Kensington. Why wouldn't she want to see a fox in a dress?

>>999569
No way is he gonna stop watching you. Give up on trying to steal anything, if you were going to. He's calling you a thief preemptively, as he's assuming you're going to steal something from the caravan, because you're a fox spirit and that's what fox spirits do. Don't try to deny it!
In fact, you should encourage him watching you! Gesture to him, then point to your eyes, then point to yourself. So long as he's following you around and watching you, he'll know you're not stealing anything, so you can find the lizard person. This will also keep other guards from bothering you, because they know you're being watched.

Once you find the lizard we can... figure out how to get the guard to give you some space.
(I think this is a mixture of manipulation and faith?)

Hmm, as for the jerky... maybe that's supposed to be advice for life in general. Usually, the more patient you are with things, the more you get out of it in the end.

I got it! The guard messed up. Their rules favor you here!

Write this:

"Huh? Thief? Did I steal by mistake? Tell me what I took! I have to give it back to them!"

Basically, it asks him what you took. Also who you took it from. The rules say you have to prove a thief stole before he gets to law-ifiy you.

Also, I made it cute, like you.

Gluttony: Eat jerky.

Compassion: Make a few noices while pointing at your throat with the saddest expression possible to make it clear you can't speak and need to.

Don't eat the jerky for now!

How about write this:

"A thief stole something? Horrible! I have special powers, maybe if you help me with my personal Quest, I can help you find this thief?"

Which is essentially a subtle reminder for him to not assume your guilt, and an offer of... uh, are you familiar with the any concepts of 'trading favors' or 'tit for tat' or 'reciprocal altruism'? An offer for that kind of thing for you to help him catch this thief in exchange for him aiding you with your (currently unspecified to him) personal quest. You do have to practice this weird cooperation thing, after all, it's important to get a handle on these important and foreign human concepts!

Dotti 2021/05/11(Tue)22:04 No. 999824 ID: 8483cf
File 162079588979.png - (111.59KB , 653x638 , Notmurder.png )

>He's calling you a thief preemptively, as he's assuming you're going to steal something from the caravan, because you're a fox spirit and that's what fox spirits do. Don't try to deny it!

You’re right! I AM a fox spirit! I’m not a person, and I don’t have to play by person rules…

>I got it! The guard messed up. Their rules favor you here!

But the guard does! Magic sign, go!

>Huh? Thief? Did I steal by mistake? Tell me what I took! I have to give it back to them!

“Don’t try and play dumb with me, fox,” the guard says. “…Wait, how did you learn to write? Never mind, get out of here before I have to chase you out!”

No! I can’t give up yet. I rummage in my apron pocket and pull out the picture I sketched of the Lizard Fighty Priest. I point at it urgently. He has to understand now!

“Fucking hell,” the guard groans. “It’s an artist, too. Lady Kensington sure keeps exotic pets.”

WHAT?! I am NOT a pet! I’m…

…

You know what, fine. Fine! If it gets me my magic back, I’ll let him think I’m a pet. Then he’ll be sorry!

“Well?” the guard asks. “What do you want with that lizardfolk? He’s a few carts over. Come on, spit it out.”

I point at my throat and make a sad expression.

“Right. Mute. Of course you are.” The guard sighs. “Well, that’s fine. The lizard can’t remember a damn thing other than the fact that he needs to go north for some reason. I’m sure you two will have lots to talk about. Just keep your hands where I can see them, and I’ll bring you to him. Damn nobles and their games. What’ll they get up to next…”

IT WORKED! He did what I needed to, and I didn’t get murdered! Maybe these human rules are worth learning after all.

But I still need to figure out what to say to the lizard paladin to get his memory back. And I’m almost out of space on my sign and paper! What should I do???

"So what's it like being a father?"

>>999824
What makes you think saying anything is going to help? Well, you should at least explain.
Something like "I cast a spell on you and want to reverse it" is enough to get him to let you try things, I think. Don't forget, you can point at individual words you already wrote down to assist in conversation.

You need to get a notebook with lots of paper. Or a wax tablet. Or a slate tablet and some chalk. Or a fancy magical writing tablet or something. Amything that you can write and draw lots and lots in to communicate with people!

Dotti 2021/05/14(Fri)21:53 No. 1000277 ID: 8483cf
File 162105440776.png - (136.19KB , 800x722 , MarriedLizard.png )

>You need to get a notebook with lots of paper. Amything that you can write and draw lots and lots in to communicate with people!

Signs! I need lots of signs! They get me what I want when I use the right words. I’ll have to order someone to get lots of paper and charcoal as soon as I get my magic back. I still don’t really understand why my magic went away even though the wizard told me, but if using it on people who are helping me is dangerous, I have to be careful with it until I figure out how to avoid hurting myself too.

“Here he is,” the guard says. “Hey, you! The lizard with no name! You’ve got a visitor!”

“A visitor? How kind of them,” a raspy voice says from inside a wagon. The cloth covering whips off and I instantly recognize the smell. He’s got his cloak and big white holy symbol inset on his hard scaly chest. It’s the lizard fighty priest!

> "So what's it like being a father?"

I don’t have enough space to write that. I’ll try and fit it in my sign…

>Father?

The guard bursts out laughing. The lizard seems taken aback.

“You must be mistaken, fox spirit,” the lizard says. “But you do seem familiar…”

It’s working! I point at random words on my sign. I can’t tell what they say, so I hope it works!

>Magic Dotti stuck Fox! Mana failed human! Not yummy!

“Are you stuck like that? Are you hungry?”

I nod eagerly. It worked! I’m so smart!

The lizard shakes his head. “I apologize. I don’t have any food at the moment. All I have is this giant gem, and it’s not very edible.”

A gem? Useless. I huff. Oh well. I still need to get his memory back. But how…

“As you’re the only familiar thing I know of aside from this rock,” the lizard says, “I would like to help you, but I’m afraid I’m not well versed in magic. All I know for certain is that I need to travel north. It’s very important that I get to the mountains.”

“Aren’t you going to freeze to death up there?” the guard asks. “Sounds dangerous for someone of your kind.”

“Yes, most likely,” the lizard says. “But this quest is all I have. I’m very certain it’s dangerous to travel there, and it may get me killed. But I know in my heart I need to do it. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to this unknown place, but my heart calls me. Some part of me, locked away, knows this is the most important task of my life.”

Something hurts in my chest and I let out a small whine without meaning to.

“Oh, dear. Are you upset?" The lizard asks. "Did I say something?”

Do the 'north' quest with your party. The closer you get to the north and progress with the Geas you inflicted on him, the easier it will be to jog his memory. You have nothing else better to quest anyway.

Uh, ok, point to "magic", "mistake", then point to yourself, point to "help", and point to him.

Maybe you can hold his head to kindof pull the magic out? It's still your magic, it should obey you, right? Just be careful.

...Is that where it all occurred? Where you did this to him?

Either way, perhaps you might try this, or at least close to this?

Teach Dotti
Dotti help you

Who better to teach Dotti how to be good?

Ummmm... I hate to say it but... I think Landi the fairy's magic might be our way to help him get his memory back. Better draw a picture of Landi with what little space you have (she's easy to draw, just a dumb circle with four ovals around it) then do this >>1000281 but instead, point to "magic", "mistake", then point to yourself. Afterwards, point to Landi, and point to "help"

>>1000288
support we did a meany and now we need to fixy it so we can have magic like using magic to make a bit of bacon longer and greasy covered in fat so it dribbles and feast on honey and milk until we can move also so we can make meany people we dont like be more likable and possibly be helpful so people help us back

One of the first things you want to write is:

Need Writing Materials


Which means you need some sort of writing materials! That's a good thing to have available so you can communicate more thoroughly, especially since you are running out of space as it is!

Landi could help.

The only problem is we were ordered to leave her alone.

We might need to take the lizard to Landi, and just have him go get help from her on his own

Dotti 2021/05/15(Sat)20:28 No. 1000381 ID: 8483cf
File 162113569777.png - (122.88KB , 635x606 , Magicpls.png )

I ignore that feeling in my chest and shake my head at the lizard person. No, he hasn’t made me upset. He’s risking his life to go out and do something just because his heart is telling him to? I do that every day! He’s not in a bad situation at all.

>Ummmm... I hate to say it but... I think Landi the fairy's magic might be our way to help him get his memory back.
>support we did a meany and now we need to fixy it so we can have magic
>Landi could help.

I can’t tell Landi! She’s stupid and hates me! She won’t help me. She’ll tell Serah, and Serah will be mad at me, and then she won’t hug me or give me yummy treats. I need to keep this a secret, and Serah will never find out about what I did because this lizard is about to leave forever anyway. I think.

Suddenly I get nervous. What if the lizard leaves and I still haven’t gotten my magic back? What if Serah finds out about what I did anyway? What if Landi zaps me for breaking the contract and they kick me out?

What if I’m left all alone again?

No! I can’t let that happen!

>point to "magic", "mistake", then point to yourself, point to "help", and point to him.

I point to the words that look like the mental image of those words you so helpfully sent to me. The lizard scratches his crest. “Are you saying my memory loss is magic-related? That would make sense.”

I nod and hold out my paw, and gesture for him to lower his head. Maybe I can try and feel out if there’s any leftover magic in his memory.

He lowers himself from the wagon and I touch his head. I can feel the ashen remnants of my spell from a few days ago. It’s faint, but familiar. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to fan those dying embers.

My magic responds to my intentions, and glimpses his exploded memories light up like a mosaic of shattered glass. I see pictures of tiny hatchlings. Hear sounds of delight and happiness. Smell smells of fresh-cooked meals. Feel the warmth of a scalding hot dragoness hug. But it’s all fragmented, incomplete, lying in pieces.

“That’s my family,” the lizard breathes. “This gem is for my wife, isn’t it? If only I could remember how to reach her. She’s north. But where?”

I try and jumble the pieces of his memories together again, but it’s useless. I have no idea how to make his memories whole again.

Dotti 2021/05/15(Sat)20:28 No. 1000382 ID: 8483cf
File 162113571275.png - (59.66KB , 528x447 , Alone.png )

Suddenly I’m upset. Really upset. I pull back, turn away and wipe my eyes. Everything is so overwhelming. I can’t talk. I can’t write without your help, and I have no idea what the symbols even mean. I can’t even run home to my foxhole and live in the forest because I’m stuck like this.

If the lizard doesn’t remember where to go, he’ll never be able to live those good memories again. He’ll be alone. He won’t hear those squeals, won’t have any fresh-cooked meals waiting for him, and won’t have any hugs.

Just like me.

Why don't you give him a hug? You both need it.

>>1000382
Well I guess it's time for you to confront your feelings. You feel sorry for the lizard, beyond just doing something bad to a nice person or losing your mana from it. Why is that?

You seem to care a lot about close companionship seen in a family or close friendship, Dotti... all that talk and worry about him being alone, not getting to see his kids again, not having cooked meals or hugs, along with your worries about Serah kicking you out, I'm starting to think that you've felt exact feeling of loss before and maybe you're actually a lot more caring about the love that companionship brings than you are about caring about survival.

Now that I think about it, companionship seems like something you really enjoy, like you've had that level of companionship that lizard has with him family for a long time and then it just suddenly went away or something until you found Serah in your life... you did just say you didn't want to end up being alone again and not liking that feeling, implying you felt that for a long time considering you've only been with Serah a few days... it is making me wonder if you had some companions that were close to you in the past... is... that where you got that bow from when we first saw you popping out of that foxhole? from a friend or family member? That probably isn't something a wild animal would happen to have put on their head on their own since you can't dress yourself that well.

Maybe you feel sad for him because you know exactly how he would feel if he is alone. That feeling is empathy, and well... you feeling empathy? that is all part of being human, and I think you've took a very important step closer to becoming one.

Anyway, since humans have empathy, that means they can be forgiving. I'm sure Serah will forgive you if you just tell her the truth and you show that you're sorry for it. She'll be able to convince Landi to help the lizard for you I'm sure.

This is what it means to put yourself in his place. To know how he feels. What he is going through.

To understand him.

You wish to have place you belong.

He wishes to remember the place he belongs.

Reach out to him.

Make that wish happen.

Maybe share Jerky? perhaps some it's magic will help him?

Dotti 2021/05/19(Wed)21:14 No. 1001070 ID: 8483cf
File 162148405228.png - (235.98KB , 986x653 , Bow.png )

>it is making me wonder if you had some companions that were close to you in the past... is... that where you got that bow from when we first saw you popping out of that foxhole?

…My bow?

The most important thing to me in the whole world?

I remember.

>confront your feelings.

It hurts.

It hurts a lot, and I can’t stop the hurting.

I’ll never see her again.

There were monsters. Worse than monsters. Monsters eat your body. These… things devoured even more than that. Nothing they consumed could pass on. They just… ended.

She got caught. There was blood. A lot of blood. Too much blood.

I fought them.

I won. I don’t know if it was fast enough to matter.

I died alone, bloody, and surrounded by flames.

I never saw her escape. I never saw if she was consumed.

So I waited for her on the other side, and she never came.

So I came back.

And I waited.

She never visited my foxhole. The one she always visited. The one Landi and Serah crushed.

The more I remember, the more it hurts, and I can’t stop the tears. I can’t even focus on what’s around me.

So I won’t remember her. I can’t remember her. It hurts too much to think about how gone she might really be.

The food, the hugs, the warmth. It all hurts too much to think about.

I think there’s a hand on my shoulder, but I’m not sure. I’m crying too hard and it hurts and I can’t stop and I can’t breathe because it hurts

It's okay to cry. Let it all out. We don't need to talk about it if you dont want to.

But just know that there is a possibility that she is still out there. Just don't give up until the bitter end.

That arm that's on your shoulder, try to feel to where it is coming from to hug the source.

Don't let the pain and fear steal those precious memories from you.
The mighty fox spirit cannot let the possibility of loss keep her away from recalling all those good times.

What was her name?

>>1001070
There is a small hope. She might have survived, then found you while you were dead or saw you die, and didn't expect you to come back.

You need to talk about this. You're not just keeping her locked deep inside. You're keeping the monsters she faced locked inside with her.

They're still out there. Eating souls.

You want revenge? Then make sure some of them will never eat another soul again.

>>1001077
>They're still out there. Eating souls.

Dotti said she won against them before she died. She was a badass when she was alive. They are all dead I believe.

1/2 Dotti 2021/05/30(Sun)12:28 No. 1002150 ID: 8483cf
File 162240292898.png - (84.21KB , 658x578 , Cryitout.png )

>Don't let the pain and fear steal those precious memories from you. The mighty fox spirit cannot let the possibility of loss keep her away from recalling all those good times.

It hurts to remember. It hurts so much.

>What was her name?

Petra.

I can’t stop crying.

I cry because I’m scared. Because I’m angry. Because nothing I try has worked. Because everything might be hopeless.

If she’s not out there, if she’s gone, if I didn’t save her soul from being eaten, then… what’s the point? Why am I even here?

I’m alone.

>There is a small hope. She might have survived, then found you while you were dead or saw you die, and didn't expect you to come back.

I have to hope that’s what happened. I have to. I have to.

>They're still out there. Eating souls.

The things are deader than dead. I made sure of it before I died.

Hehe. Knowing that feels really nice.

2/2 Dotti 2021/05/30(Sun)12:29 No. 1002151 ID: 8483cf
File 162240295809.png - (58.75KB , 491x538 , Bribery.png )

I hear the guard and lizard guy talking. I don’t care what they’re saying.

The lizard guy pats me on the head.

It makes me feel a little better.

“I don’t know why you’re upset, little fox,” the lizard guy says, “But we’re going to make it all better. Just show me what you need. I’ll do my best to understand.”

I sniffle. He really is a good person.

There’s only one thing I can do. I have to take him to Landi, even though I’m forbidden from bothering her today.

I point in the direction of the adventurer’s guild. I’ll need to think of a way to get her to help without bothering her. Somehow. Maybe by giving her wine. And presents. And being nice?

…how do I even be nice to someone who wrecked the only connection I had to Petra other than my bow?

Well, you could bring mister lizard to Lady Kesington, try to explain the problem, and then SHE can bother Landi about it.

>>1002155
Solid plan. I mean, she is scheduled at 2 to provide Serah emotional support anyway. What time is it right now?

>If she’s not out there, if she’s gone, if I didn’t save her soul from being eaten, then… what’s the point? Why am I even here?

>I’m alone.

You have Serah. She's been nice to you. Maybe not as well as Petra, but she will warm up even more to you in time.

Suggestion 2021/05/30(Sun)15:27 No. 1002159 ID: 7d2ae6

Thank you for telling us your friend's story, we will not forget this kindness.

Motion to the folk in the caravan for more writing paper. Writing out what happened to the lizard might actually help him remember.

1/2 Dotti 2021/05/30(Sun)15:58 No. 1002161 ID: 8483cf
File 162241549119.png - (170.93KB , 732x907 , Hellothere.png )

>Well, you could bring mister lizard to Lady Kesington.
>You have Serah. She's been nice to you. Maybe not as well as Petra, but she will warm up even more to you in time.

No one is as nice as Petra. NOBODY.

Serah doesn’t understand me. Serah thinks she knows what’s best. Well, only I know what’s best for me. How could Serah understand what it’s like to be me? What I need to do? Why wasting food is the worst thing imaginable?

But… if I can communicate to Serah, maybe she can begin to understand.

I need to learn to write. You need to teach me. Don’t play any tricks on me- I need you all to teach me how to read and write. The signs aren’t magic, I understand that now. But I need to know how to use them.

Short of turning into a full human and learning to talk, reading and writing is the best chance I have to find if Petra is still out there. I need your help, spirits. Please. Teach me.

>What time is it right now?

Based on what Serah taught me about clocks, it’s 12:30 right now. It’ll take us probably a half-clock-turn to get back to the guild. So we have time to get to Serah and still make my favor.

I tug on the lizard man’s arm. He seems to understand.

“This caravan isn’t scheduled to leave until tomorrow, yes?” the lizard says. The guard nods. “Then my passage is still secure. I will be back before we depart.”

“Great,” the guard says. “Just don’t bring the fox back. I don’t need her making another scene.”

I sniffle. He’s mean. I don’t feel like coming back anyway.

As we walk back to the guild, the lizard person shares a fresh biscuit. It’s soft, delicious, full of butter. I knew he was good.

I don’t know what to say to Serah, or how to tell her what I did. I don’t have any space on my sign, and there aren’t any scraps of paper lying around. Maybe I can borrow some of Serah’s? She always has lots of paper.

I guide the lizard man to Serah’s lab. The door is locked. No! I’m so close! I knock on the door urgently.

“What is it?” a very anxious Serah voice calls out from the other side. “I’m very busy in here!”

I knock again. And again. And again. It’s important!

“Is the world ending or something?” Serah says from the other side of the door. She opens it and looks down at me. “Oh! Dotti! Uh… and guest?”

I point at my sign and use the words you taught me. Magic! Mistake! Magic! Magic! Mistake!

“What happened?” Serah says warily. She straightens up. She’s taller than the lizard person. It’s kind of cool. “I’m afraid we haven’t met, sir. My name is Lady Serah Kensington. Did something happen here that I’m not aware of?”

“It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Lady Kensington.” The lizard bows. “I would share my name with you, but I appear to have misplaced it, along with my other memories. Your ward has generously offered her assistance.”

“You lost your name?” Serah pauses. “Oh. Oh, dear. Dotti, is this what you were talking about? Some kind of magical mistake?”

I nod.

“…Did you have anything to do with this mistake?”

I look at the floor and whimper.

2/2 Dotti 2021/05/30(Sun)15:59 No. 1002162 ID: 8483cf
File 162241556748.png - (105.58KB , 815x533 , Diagnosis.png )

Serah sighs. “I can’t believe this. Even without your magic, you’re causing accidents and erasing people’s memories? I had no idea you would be so much trouble, Dotti.” She rubs her temples.

“I don’t have the faintest idea of how to recompense you, sir,” Serah says to the lizardfolk. “I’ll need to bring in a consultant. Please wait while I go find her.”

Serah directs us to the common area of the guild and disappears.

“Your Lady appears to be in distress,” the lizard says.

I nod.

“Let us not trouble her long, then.”

I sigh.

Serah brings Landi out and I instinctively bare my teeth. This is gonna get ugly, I can feel it.

“Oh, great. I shoulda known you were behind this, fuzzball,” Landi says icily. “You can’t help yourself, can you? Well, let’s get a look at what you’ve done now.”

I growl. Landi’s mean and I hate her, especially if she’s right.

Landi flits in front of the lizard person. “Wow! What a mess you’ve got going on upstairs! What the fuck happened to you, long, tan and scaly?”

“I’m not sure,” the lizard says, “But I appear to have lost my memories.”

“I can feel that. Your aura feels like somebody smashed it to pieces and jumbled it up on the floor.” Landi flaps her wings in disbelief. “I’m honestly afraid to fly near you. I might get cut on all these sharp, jagged edges you’ve got flying around in your headspace. They sound like swords swinging and clanging and slicing and dicing. Ugh.”

“So what does that mean, exactly?” Serah says.

“He’s got all the pieces up there,” Landi replies. “I think somebody just did the magical equivalent of smashing his memories with a sledgehammer. Memories are tough, though, so they just shattered. Nothing’s really destroyed so much as it’s, uh, in lots of little pieces. In theory, he should be able to piece it back together himself, if he knows how to do it.”

I let out a peal of excitement.

Everybody looks at me funny.

I slap my hands to my mouth.

“Is there any way we can help him do that?” Serah looks to Landi.

“Yeah, actually,” Landi says. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. Give him the picture of what the complete picture looks like, and he’ll have it done ten thousand times faster.”

“A complete picture of memories?” the lizard says. “I believe I know what you are referring to.”

“Oh, he’s a smart one,” Landi says.

“What do you mean?” Serah asks.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Landi crows. “It’s his name. Names have power.”

Oh no.

Ohhhhhhh no.

I have no idea what his name is. It just wasn't important enough to remember.

Why are other people suddenly so important????

You know, his wife and kids might know. Can you figure out where they are? Isn't there anybody here who might recognize him from a shared adventure? Maybe a priest from his order at their local chapel?

Alrighty, don't panic, Dotti, this can be solved. It could be likely that there is someone here in town that knows this lizard.

Right now, I need you to remember where you first met this adventurer before you erased his memory. Examples: When you met him, was he going in a specific direction or place before you stopped him and had him help you? Do you know where he was coming from when you found him? Was he with anyone or just got done talking to someone? Did he mention a specific place or person?

Basically tell me in details the events from when and where you met him, and before you wiped his memories. We might find a clue to somebody who might know this guy's name.

Just don't give up, Dotti!

>>1002162
It's looking more and more likely you, maybe the whole group, are going to have to go with him up to see his family. That is, unless you can look through his memories again to find his name. Hmm, I wonder if he was staying here? He would have to sign his name in a book somewhere in that case.

You want to learn to read and write? Well, I'm not sure how long we can communicate with you, so Serah might be a more suitable teacher. Try asking her for something to write on via gesturing as if you're writing on something, and write this:
"Please teach me to read and write, spirits are helping me right now" which means:
please teach me to read and write, spirits are helping me right now.

Dotti 2021/05/30(Sun)17:36 No. 1002172 ID: 8483cf
File 162242141722.png - (89.63KB , 566x630 , ScaredSerah.png )

Please don’t ask me his name, please don’t ask me his name, please don’t ask me his name…

“Dotti? Do you know his name?” Serah asks me.

Nooooooooooooo

I shake my head sadly.

“Figures,” Landi says. “She’s total dead weight. As usual.”

That’s mean! Landi’s mean! My life would be so much better if I were allowed to eat her! I growl at her.

>Basically tell me in details the events from when and where you met him, and before you wiped his memories. We might find a clue to somebody who might know this guy's name.

I mean… he was looking for where to get a a nice big gem mounted when I ran into him and mind whammy’d him. For his anniversary, I think?

Oh! Oh! We can ask the artisans! Of course they’ll remember the lizard guy’s name! I run up and pull on the haversack under his robes.

“What are you… oh! I understand,” the lizard says. He pulls out a giant ruby. It’s mounted inside gold filigree and polished to an insane degree. It’s very sparkly. “Will this help at all?”

“WOW,” Landi breathes, looking at the beautiful gem. “Wowowowowow…”
“Yes, that will help a great deal!” Serah puts a hand to her chin in thought. “There has to be someone who made that mounting. But…

“If my charge- that’s you, Dotti- had a hand in losing your memory, then I am honor-bound to assist you in retrieving it,” she says. “I currently have reagents ready for a test transmutation that must be started within the next hour. Dotti is… uh… required for the procedure. After that, as my second favor, I hereby require Dotti to help you retrace your footsteps, sir, from before you lost your memory and find any traces of your name.”

“Hope you like exercise, fuzzball!” Landi taunts.

“Landi, you will assist Dotti and make sure she does not get into trouble.”

“What?! Why me?!”

“Why you? Because I have to watch over my transmutation for the next few hours. That, and I expect Dotti will be no trouble,” Serah says. “After all, Dotti is bound to not bother you for the rest of the day, isn’t she?”

I drop my jaw. But… but I hate Landi! This isn’t fair! Landi will tell people I’m a bad and evil fox spirit, and they’ll believe her because I can’t talk back!

>You want to learn to read and write? Well, I'm not sure how long we can communicate with you, so Serah might be a more suitable teacher.

I run into Serah’s alchemy lab, leaving everyone behind.

“Stop!” Serah shouts. “Dotti, what are you doing?!”

She chases me into the lab. There’s a lot of strange-smelling stuff boiling and bubbling, but I don’t care about that. I just grab the paper and start writing.

“Dotti, you can’t be so careless in here! This is dangerous!” Serah spies me writing on her notes. “My notes! You’ve written all over them!” She does a double-take. “Wait. You’ve… written all over them?”

>"Please teach me to read and write, spirits are helping me right now"

“What on Earth…” She looks at me. Her eyes go wide and takes a step back. “Spirits? You’re possessed by spirits?”

I shake my head. No! I’m the one in charge. Ugh! I reach for the paper, but Serah pulls it away.

“Dotti, please just stay there for a second.” Serah says nervously. “You’re scaring me.”

But.. I didn’t want to scare her. I just… I just wanted her to… I just wanted her to understand me.

Ugh, that's racist.
Okay Dotti, just... sit on the floor and let her scan you. She's not going to panic and try to murder you over a few voices in your brain... right?

>>1002172
Well just do what she says then, so she can do whatever she needs to do to stop being scared.

Now is a good time for Dotti to learn all the letters in the written language.


.....

.....

Say, what language are we speaking, again?

>I just wanted her to understand me.
She will. It'll just take time.
Try to be cute. Or sad. Or both. It'll help.

If you get a bit of paper, you just have to write a little bit.

"Have to use words. Please."

Dotti 2021/05/30(Sun)22:34 No. 1002199 ID: 8483cf
File 162243925867.png - (85.25KB , 500x500 , Contract.png )

>Try to be cute. Or sad. Or both. It'll help.

I put on my best cute face. I even cry a little bit. Serah has to trust me. She has to!

Serah is looking at me with a look even worse than before. She’s scared. Really scared. And suspicious.

This doesn’t make any sense. I’m cute and powerful! Why isn’t this working?!

…Or, I was powerful. And I’m still cute, but Serah doesn’t care. Somehow I’ve scared her too much to get her to let her guard down.

>If you get a bit of paper, you just have to write a little bit.

I think about reaching for more paper, but Serah told me not to move. I don’t know what to do.

I just have to sit still and do what she says.

“Dotti, I want to trust you,” Serah says, “But you’re doing your best to be untrustworthy. And I don’t know how your spirits are helping you. Dotti, there’s so much about you I don’t know. And bad things just seem to keep happening when you’re around.”

She pulls a book from the shelf. I can’t read the words, but it’s a big one with a lot of similar-looking books surrounding it, like it’s part of a set.

“Landi!” Serah shouts. “Landi, I need your advice.”

I twitch.

Landi flies in at full speed, dodging plumes of smoke and noxious fumes. “Yes! I’m here! What did Dotti do this time?”

“She wrote a message on my notes.”

“Writing? Where did she learn to do that?” Landi asks.

“She says spirits are helping her.”

“Are you serious?” Landi sputters. “She’s talking to spirits and actually listening? Just following their advice? Who knows what they’ve been telling her!”

“I agree. My encyclopedia says…” Serah points at a page.

”All returned spirits retain a connection to the immaterial planes. Some returned spirts may commune with the dead, while others are more easily able to summon elemental forces associated with their passage. Exceptionally powerful spirits have been known to accomplish both.”

“Landi…” Serah puts her book down. Her voice is quiet, but I can still hear her. My hearing is very good. “Are we really talking to Dotti? What if a spirit of bloodshed took her over?”

“I’d probably feel her aura change if that happened,” Landi says in a hushed voice. “But does it really matter? She’s always wanted to eat me and do things that hurt people. I think the sprits are just encouraging her. Toying with her and having fun for their amusement, maybe helping when it suits them. There’s no knowing what kinds of spirits she’s been talking to, or what their intentions are. But there’s no way Dotti can actually read or write Alsatian on her own.”

“So if she writes anything down…” Serah’s voice trails off.

“Then we don’t even know if it’s Dotti choosing the words she writes,” Landi confirms. “Not even she knows what she’s writing.”

“This is so complicated,” Serah says, strain in her voice.

“She’s a fox spirit, Serah. Did you think she was some kind of pet?”

“Um… Do I have to answer that?”

“Well, she’s not!” Landi says, exasperated. “What kind of pet can summon otherworldly advice whenever she wants? Good AND bad advice?”

“I know! I know!” Serah says. “But this is still Dotti, right?”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

“Then that’s all I need.”

“What are you doing?” Landi asks.

“Dotti?” Serah speaks up.

I straighten my dress. I think about making myself as cute and giving her puppy eyes, but… I’m a fox spirit, not a pet. And I need to look Serah in the eye as an equal.

I straighten up and face her down with the pride of a spirit that’s conquered monsters, fire and death.

“I don’t like that look on her face,” Landi says under her breath.

“Dorothea, as my final favor for the day, you will answer this question truthfully with a nod for yes, and a shake of your head for no,” Serah commands. “If you were to regain your magic today, would you use it to cause harm in any way, shape or form to anyone in Minga, whether physical, financial or emotional?”

We can't answer this question for you, Dotti. I can't tell you to answer yes or not. All I can say is speak the truth. Serah will appreciate your honesty, even if you think the truth will hurt you.

All you, cutie.

Although, I hope she realizes the phrasing of that would include self defence.

I think Serah is asking if you're going to continue using your magic abusively. Like the way you used it before you lost it. Charming people to give you free things, blasting their memories apart so you can avoid embarrassment, or tormenting people you don't like, whether it's because you feel they wronged you or just because you don't like them.

I don't know the answer to that. Just remember where it got you. Drained of mana, half-transformed, and having hurt a legitimately good person. Also remember that you were able to accomplish a lot even without mana. We've proven you don't *need* your magic to survive in Minga, even if it's ultimately up to you if you use it for selfish reasons.

Your contract prevents you from telling a lie.
So tell the truth.

That's phrased very poorly.

There a lot of good ways to use it, like to protect people from killers. Also very vague.

However, there is also a loophole here.
The gestures are strictly for the choices she gave. If you have some other choice, like "maybe if I was assaulted", you are required to avoid either gesture. I suggest a tilt of the head to the side.

Listen everyone: give Sarah some amount of credit? She could be thinking that fox doesn't have to defend or punish, because she and other adventurers will do it for her. She's asking for a sign of trust, in a rather powerful way.

As starting offers go, it's not the worst. Magic, especially trickster magic, is well known for collateral damage. It's not unreasonable that people would over-protect themselves from it. In return, you have every right to negotiate. It would be a big step [spoiler](to Neutral Good in Alignment terms)[\spoiler] for you to be vulnerable and limited to an agent of pure positivity.

But consider accepting as is: 1) There's an out provided you don't get your powers today, 2) it guarantees that people would trust you, and 3) I can't think of a more effective way to prevent what happened to the paladin than this.

if the question is asking if you'd use your magic to cause harm today, the answer probably should be no. If the question is will you ever harm anybody in any way with your magic ever, that's not a question you can reasonably answer, but the answer would be more likely to be yes, or more accurately, you don't know and it's kinda impossible to say, but that's not an answer you can give right now.

Dotti 2021/06/01(Tue)21:39 No. 1002388 ID: 8483cf
File 162260876681.png - (171.32KB , 756x1184 , Liar.png )

>All you, cutie.

Yeah. This one’s all me. Being cute won’t be enough, though. I’m not some fancy noble girl raised in a castle full of devious people. I’m not a fairy that writes words into spells and forces people into contracts with arcane rules they don’t fully understand.

But my nose is good. My nose is real good.

And I smell a trap.

I have to answer truthfully. And if I were to get my magic back, the first thing I’d do is go out and make that baker bake me bread. Warm, fluffy rolls full of butter and sugar and cinnamon. The kind Petra used to make. I’d eat them all and fall asleep happy.

But Serah wouldn’t like that. She wouldn’t like that at all. She might not kick me out or break the contract, but she’d be upset. Maybe scared. She wouldn’t hug me, or share food with me, or be nice to me, or do things other than what the contract says: give me food, shelter and clothes. That’s it.

If I’m going to find Petra, I need to know how to communicate. There’s no guarantee I have enough magic to transform all the way into a human, so I have to hedge my bets and actually learn to read and write.

Serah could teach me. If she wants. I could force her to do it with my magic. If I’m mad at her, and she’s mad at me, maybe she won’t be emotionally close enough to me for me to get hurt by my own spell. Maybe. But that’s a short-term plan, and Landi would pick up on it right away. I’d never learn enough with just one, two, or even ten mind whammys. I need her to help me of her own free will.

And… I want her to like me.

I need her to like me.

Serah isn’t as nice as Petra. No one can ever be as nice as Petra was. But… Serah hugs me. She shares food with me. She protects me from Landi, sometimes.

I miss Petra. I miss her so much it hurts to think about. But when I’m around Serah, it hurts less, somehow.

Serah must know on some level what I did. But she’s not calling me out on it. She’s asking me for a truthful answer if I’d hurt people with my magic, even if it’s in self-defense, even if my life is in danger. The truthful answer is that if I got my magic back today, I’d kill anyone who threatens to hurt me. I’d burn them to ashes. I can’t go back to the spirit world until I’ve found Petra. I can’t die again.

But truthfully, that’s what I’d do if Serah hadn’t asked that question. I can make my own choices. I decide what I do. I decide if I live or if I die. I decide whether to hurt or help. But if I hurt people, I might get hurt too. I might lose more than my magic next time.

Serah’s question isn’t just a question. It’s asking if I’m willing to make a promise. A promise to never use magic to hurt anyone in Minga. I can accept, and take the risk that I’ll be hurt. Or I can decline, and Serah won’t trust me.

I don’t have to hurt people with magic if I’m threatened. There’s lots I can do to avoid harm without killing people.

There’s also lots of ways to hurt people without magic.

I realize that I’m the scared one now. Someone might try to kill me, and I’d have no way to fight back other than to run.

If I can’t hurt people, how can I teach people that I’m powerful and that they shouldn’t mess with me? How can I feel safe?

But…

The lizard paladin is lonely like me. I did that to him. He didn’t deserve it.

Maybe hurting people doesn’t always make me feel better.

I look up at Serah and shake my head no. If I get my magic back today, I won’t use it to harm anyone in Minga.

I know it’s true because I want it to be true.

“LIAR!” Landi shouts. She whips in front of me. “You’re twisting Serah’s words somehow. I don’t believe you!”

I look her in her big glowy ball. It hurts my eyes, but I don’t care.

“You liar! Liar! LIAR!” Landi shouts. “There is NOTHING worse than a liar!”

“If she’s lying,” Serah says, “Then use the contract’s magic. Zap her.”

My mouth drops open. Landi seems shocked too. Then I smile.

Maybe she doesn’t need to be a 100% good person… but she’d do just fine in the wild.

There’s a snapping noise, then sputtering. “Wha…” Landi gasps. Another snap, then a sputter. “I can’t… she’s… there’s no way. She’s telling the truth!”

I stick out my tongue.

“I don’t believe this,” Landi says.

“I do,” Serah says. She leans over and gives me a big hug. “That was very brave, Dotti. Thank you.”

I blink tears from my eyes. I want to cry, but I’m not sad.

I don't know what to do.

Climb on Serah's back and stay there for a few minutes.

Ah! tears of joy! that's what you're feeling. Another human emotion! It's okay to feel that way.

>>1002388
Well you can hug back for starters.

enjoy your victory! rub it in Landi's dumb face.

also take note! you can prove your better then people without having to hurt anyone!

Yes, hugs, smile, take a moment. Acknowledge and resist the temptation to gloat. Choose to continue act better than you had been acting in the past, despite the always present tempations otherwise.

Dotti 2021/06/02(Wed)19:09 No. 1002473 ID: 8483cf
File 162268618627.png - (84.53KB , 564x593 , ProudLeader.png )

I return the hug and forget the world outside Serah’s embrace.

The world is cold and harsh, but here, it’s warm and happy.

It’s a good feeling.

All too soon, there’s the piercing sound of a time-piece striking twice. Serah lets me go and examines her alchemy.

“Oh, dear,” Serah says. She grabs a lock of hair and twirls it between her fingers nervously. “Landi, could you please entertain our guest until Dotti is ready to join him?”

“Why?” Landi asks suspiciously. “Can’t I just take him to the jeweler’s myself?”

“Dotti should help him all the way through,” Serah says. “And I need her help here and now.”

“Okay!” Landi says. “I’ll go entertain him. Your orders, boss lady, not mine.”

A look of horror passes over Serah’s face and she moves to stop Landi, but another timepiece grabs her attention on the table, and she has to empty a boiling flask before it erupts.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no…” Serah moves hurriedly from table to table, checking levels and readings, plucking leaves from plants, pounding herbs, and doing lots of things that don’t really make a lot of sense.

I stay back.

Soon Serah gets a moment to breathe, and she immediately wastes it.

“I can’t do this,” Serah whispers. “What was I thinking? What a waste of reagents this is going to be. Oh no, oh no… I’m going to make a mess!”

I tug on her sleeve.

“What is it, Dotti? I’m busy, and-“

I give her a hug.

Serah doesn’t return the hug. That’s okay. I can hug hard enough for the two of us.

“Dotti, this is very nice, but I need to be able to move.” Serah hesitates for a moment. “Can you just stand here off to the side and let me pet you while I work?”

I look at her funny. Pet me? That sounds awfully close to treating me like a pet.

Should I let her?

Let her give you pets, you want attention and she's busy, think of it as part of learning how to be courteous a little bit.

receive pets!

>>1002473
Oh, she still partly thinks of you like the normal fox you were pretending to be when you met. Can you blame her? You were convincing. The charm magic helped of course.
Well you should still correct that misunderstanding. Shake your head and stand out of reach.

grown-ass humans pet each other all the time

Dotti 2021/06/02(Wed)19:50 No. 1002484 ID: 8483cf
File 162268864957.png - (91.06KB , 542x485 , Instantregret.png )

>Shake your head and stand out of reach.

Yeah! I’m not a pet. Even Landi agrees with that!

But … headpats still feel good.

>Receive Pets
>Receive Pets

I’m still not convinced. I shouldn’t let Serah think I should be treated like a pet.

>grown-ass humans pet each other all the time

Decision made!

I nod and allow Serah to pet me.

Her headpats are nice. She’s calm. I’m calm. Everybody’s happy.

But then she gets nervous again and GOES RIGHT FOR MY EARS

My favor is to provide her with emotional support at 2:00. The timepiece rang 2:00. Serah is in need of emotional support

BUT SHE’S PINCHING MY EARS

try to get her to go for the itchy spot behind your ears.

Uh maybe you can divert her by holding her hand instead?

>>1002484

Bothering an animal's ears is emotional support. You are doing a very good job!

It's okay to yelp in pain to let Serah know she's hurting you, Dotti. I know you need to be emotional support, but sometimes, a friend needs to know if they're hurting you, otherwise they'd take advantage of your hospitality. Serah will understand if you let her know with a yelp, she's your friend too after all.

Quick, wiggle your butt uncomfortably!

Yelp when she does something physically uncomfortable, and then gently take her hand and place it where it is actually okay to pet you. Humans that are very close groom and pet and are affectionate to one another, and an important part of that is clearly communicating and enforcing boundaries!

Dotti 2021/06/03(Thu)20:14 No. 1002583 ID: 8483cf
File 162277645798.png - (361.03KB , 800x800 , Fire.png )

>Bothering an animal's ears is emotional support. You are doing a very good job!

I REGRET EVERYTHING

>Humans that are very close groom and pet and are affectionate to one another, and an important part of that is clearly communicating and enforcing boundaries!
THIS ISN’T AFFECTION THIS IS HORRIBLE

>Serah will understand if you let her know with a yelp, she's your friend too after all.

I resist the INCREDIBLY STRONG NEED to let out a yowl. This is a favor and I need Serah to like me… But is it really worth this horrible pinchy ear mauling? If this was anyone else I’d burn them to tiny tiny bits and feel REALLY GOOD.

Enough is enough! I bat at her pinchy hands and make her move them away and scratch me behind the ears.

Much better.

That wasn’t so bad. And I don’t even feel like setting Serah on fire, which is a surprise. If anyone else had done that, they wouldn’t have hands to try it again.

Serah jumps back into her work, occasionally giving me a pat on the head and scratching behind my ears. She seems a lot calmer now. She’s got some kind of rhythm going: check the flasks, write some notes, mix things up, then pat my head.

I start to notice some of the stuff start to shimmer. Serah gets really excited for a second and writes a lot of stuff down. Good for her! It’s not very exciting, but it’s pretty. If it’s not on fire, it’s not real magic.

Real magic… real magic is so much better than this. Real magic gets me what I want. If I want something dead, it’s dead. If I want someone to do something for me, they do it. If I want to become person, I’m person. Simple!

But I don’t have enough magic to do that yet, and burning stuff and mind whammying people doesn’t make Serah happy. I need to keep Serah happy in order to teach me to read and write and give me hugs and stay away from my ears. When she’s unhappy, she pinches my ears. That’s VERY BAD.

Oh! Serah’s an adventurer. I can set monsters on fire! She’d be happy with that. But I can’t do that to people when we’re in Minga.

Even if I get my magic back, what good is it if Serah doesn’t want me to hurt people?

Should I try new stuff with magic other than burning and whamying? That would feel pretty weird.

Wait, what can I even do with my magic if I get it back?

>>1002583
Yeah you're probably gonna want to figure out new things to do with your magic. Once you can read and write you could get advice from the weird wizard?
One thing I can think of that you could use in Minga is invisibility. That'd be very useful in case you get threatened again. Maybe you can learn some kind of magic that's beneficial to others, too?

>I can't use magic to hurt people
You could use magic to protect butchers who ''want'' to hurt people. That's pretty much what you did when you fought and killed those wolves. Technically you didn't harm anything with your magic but it still resulted in their deaths.
More importantly, you can help Serah build things with magic that can hurt people or help you.

Oh! I know what you can do with your magic!

You can be a hero!

Think about it, if you save people's lives and help them with your magic, they will love you and give you gifts! Plus you can even burn bad guys like monsters with your magic, just like how you fought against monsters trying to hurt Petra!

>>1002590

This suggestion seems neat!
Maybe you can use your fire magics to just make things hotter around some people to make them uncomfortable, not actively attacking or hurting them, but it puts them off their game!

maybe you could make fire that doesn't burn people but burns everything else. Then you could unleash big-ass swathes of fire to burn up monsters and stuff but leave people unharmed.

Dotti 2021/06/04(Fri)19:48 No. 1002642 ID: 8483cf
File 162286130204.png - (77.01KB , 560x454 , Stupidgrin.png )

>You could use magic to protect butchers who ''want'' to hurt people.
>Maybe you can use your fire magics to just make things hotter around some people to make them uncomfortable, not actively attacking or hurting them, but it puts them off their game!
>maybe you could make fire that doesn't burn people but burns everything else.

I like fire. I like it a lot. It’s warm and cozy and makes bad things scream. Like me!

But the difference between me and fire is that fire likes to share. It wants to share with everybody, so it spreads and spreads.

Maybe I can make fire that just looks dangerous, but doesn’t catch stuff or people on fire? Like fake fire! Yeah! That sounds great!

>Invisibility

Ooooh that sounds fun and super useful! I should learn how to unvisible.

>You can be a hero!

What’s a hero?

>You save people's lives and help them with your magic, they will love you and give you gifts!

I like this idea! People should give me more gifts. All I have to do is save their lives? People die a lot. There should be lots of chances for me to get gifts!

I’m daydreaming while Serah is making notes. She seems happy because she’s not pinching my ears anymore.

“Okay,” Serah breathes. “Okay, just… just leave it be for a few hours and make sure the temperature doesn’t go haywire…”

I look at the stuff she’s examining. It’s a flask of gray goo. Boring.

“Thank you, Dotti.” Serah smiles. “You were a great help.”

Yeah! I was!

“You should go help your lizard friend find his name.”

Yeah! I should!

“Go on,” Serah says. “I’ll stay here and watch my transmutation. I’ll be fine.”

Okay! I nod and scamper out the door. Magic, here I come!

I run into the guild hall and see Landi and lizard paladin guy laughing their heads off. There’s three wine bottles lying empty on the table.

“Oh! I got one!” Landi says. “What do you call two lesbians in a closet?”

“I don’t know,” the lizard paladin says.

“A liquor cabinet!”

More laughs.

I take a moment and think about it. Liquor is water that makes people stupid and happy, like Landi. Lesbians are girls who like to mate with girls. So why’s it funny?

Oh. Lick. It sounds like lick-er! Lick! Ha! I let out a bark of laughter.

Landi and lizard person stop and stare at me.

I cover my mouth. Stupid fox noises…

“Oh. It’s you,” Landi says. “Hey! I have an idea! For my second favor of the day, make us laugh! Come on, foxy! You can do it!”

Uh….

>>1002642
Try a silly face!
I wonder if mr lizard is ticklish.

Well, she asked for it!

Tickle Landi!

Dotti 2021/06/04(Fri)20:20 No. 1002645 ID: 8483cf
File 162286325474.png - (61.24KB , 406x500 , Tickletickle.png )

I can’t tell jokes, but I can do another thing… I pounce!

TICKLE ATTACK! I tickle her with my paw beans and get her good!

“AHH!” Landi squeals. “THE BEANS! NOT THE BEANS! AHAHA! AHH!”

“Beans?” the lizard paladin asks. “What beans?”

These beans! He’s wearing a cloak, but I get him under the chin as he’s sitting. He lets out a chuckle.

Mission accomplished! Only one favor left! Hopefully Landi doesn’t remember it.

Now that that’s over with, I need my magic! Come on, come on lizard guy! Time to get your name! I tug on his arm and try to pull him along outside. We need to get you to the jeweler’s!

“Slow down, fox girl,” the paladin says. “I’m not very sssteady right now.”

So he hisses when he’s drunk? Weird. Oh well. Keep tugging!

“Hey! We’re not done here yet! Is there any wine left?” Landi asks. “We drank all three? Oh sweet! Great pregaming! Let’s hit the town!”

---

We eventually (much later and with much stumbling) arrive at the jeweler’s that probably gave the lizard guy the mounting for his gemstone. There’s only two in Minga, but of course we picked the wrong one first. LAME! I pound on the door. LET ME INNNNN

“What’s this? You’re back already?” a voice calls out. “I would have thought you’d be headed north for your anniversary!”

HE KNOWS LIZARD GUY!!!

“I have been delayed,” Lizard guy says. “By good drink and good company. An excsellent delay.”

“Indeed,” the voice from the other side of the door says. “But what brings you back here, Sir…”

COME ON SAY IT

WHAT’S HIS NAME

Magic Swanson VI

Sir Waddilous XI, Descendant of the King of Pop'ar.

Barnebar Granola

Sherby Clowder

And his loving wife
Mai-Wei Ortahiwae

Suddenly, theives show up before thw jewler says his name! OH NO!

>>1002645
Alexander Anderson

But seriously...
Jekesson Terrorscale. He took his wife's last name.