“I don’t think you have to be a good person to be reconciled to the heroine and maybe also a war hero. War heroes don’t have to be good people.”

"But by force of narrative I would have to stop being a villainess, no?"

“You would have to stop being the villainess of the story we’re being shoved into, i.e. a romantic rival to the heroine. Which would require also taking Yuri Heroine if you wanted to keep your fiancé, so Naomi would have to bribe you two flaws’ worth.”

She turns to the angel for confirmation. "What is the nature of Good Ending, in fact?"

The angel purses her lips. “The thing about stories is that they end. The thing about real life is that it doesn’t. If you take Good End, that doesn’t guarantee a genuine redemption, but it does imply being able to fake enough of one that a heroine who objects to nonconsensual skin adventures will adopt a friendly stance towards you for long enough that the ‘story’ ends before your ruse does.”

"Hmm. Potentially acceptable."

“I feel like that is not a sincere meditation on to what extent each of us is actually redeemable,” Didyme comments to Naomi.

"I mean, to be fair, I also wouldn't be thrilled to end up mind-controlled out of my favourite hobbies. But, I don't know... I think everyone deserves a chance, you know?"

“Mind control is also not on my list of things that qualify as a sincere exploration of who can be redeemed!”

"Then how would you explore this no doubt fascinating question?"

“Normal human interaction that has no mind control and gives you the correct answer at the end instead of snipping off the bit where it was a ruse! —I mean, I GUESS there can be mind control, just not the kind where you’re supposed to equate ‘actually redeemed,’ and ‘mind controlled to be good.’”

"I would expect any redemption arc you tried to inflict on me to end in either my betrayal or my destruction, whether by mind control or some other means. Though I suppose I shouldn't be telling you that, in case it ever comes up."

"See, I don't actually think that's true! I think it's possible! Mind you, I have no idea how to do it, but why should I let that stop me?"

"It remains the case that if she takes Good Ending there has to be a 'canonical' answer, and frankly I trust the people writing the story to come up with a legitimate redemption for her than I do you."

"Do you truly doubt that if I set my mind to it I could convince her to change?"

"I'd like to see you try. But I don't think that, even if you succeeded, you could write it as a functioning story."

"--Less, I meant to say I trust them less than you. You I buy can do it. Them I'm skeptical of."

"That makes more sense."

"Then, unless we want to write it ourselves, which I for one do not, perhaps this endeavour should be laid to rest."

"Aww, c'mon, not even a little tempted by the thought of me seducing you to the side of Good and then writing a book about it?"

"...well, all right, when you put it like that... but how do you know I won't seduce you to my side instead?"

"My own hubris, mostly."

“Her own hubris did sort of break the hair system.”

"I'm very powerful."

"And yet, your task here is not to defeat me, it's to come up with a story of my redemption that I find plausible and compelling. I think that's harder."