Welcome to Gaia! ::

If Clarice's glare could shoot laser beams then Before would be a head shorter at this point. The doctor practically purred, "Oh yes, but sadly she refuses to learn the really pleasurable lessons. Her loss," he sighed, "...and yours of course. Tsktsk, terrible girl. Now tell us all about the pendants, as I am perfectly willing to be educated in any number of ways."

This was where the assistant's best and most reliable defense technique came into play: just ignore him. He probably won't go away, but it's better not to give H anything more to work with. "Inside the box are a matched set of pendants. They are identical. They are an improved version of what you used, because back then we didn't really understand that they were basically a type of contract between to the two pendant bearers."

The doctor made a face at her. It was ridiculous and thus ignored.

"Like I said earlier, the cost of regular runes is both time and focus. Which is enough to make runes that are capable of conducting and transforming FEAR energy for long amounts of time. That sort of thing doesn't have a very high cost. But something like compulsion, is another thing all together. It's not just about a user, a rune, and FEAR. It's a balancing act between two users with the pendant acting as their fulcrum. The reason why the pendant nature began to switch and become increasingly unstable, was because the cost of time and focus was quickly exceeded by the compelled actions. In short, the balance of debt shifted, and so did the control. Any questions so far?"

The doctor easily raised his hand.

Ignored.

The doctor snorted softly, "If that were so, most hunters wouldnt be able to use them."

The blonde gave him a quick glare and returned her attention to Before, "No, it the price you pay to begin with. You know how they say time is money? Well it is a kind of currency. And focus acts as a kind of multiplier on the value of your time. The more you focus on what you're doing, the more your time is worth. The same holds true with most things you do, from making a sandwich, to building a chair, to running a business. Only with runes it has a very literal value."

She picked up one of the normal pendants and one of the control pendants, "When these are made they have a fixed value, depending on the time and focus used to create them. For the regular pendant, they're created with a distinct purpose, with the value of time/focus balanced against the price of what it's supposed to do. However, with the control pendants, the price of what you're asking the controlled person to do can vary greatly. It's completely unpredictable, because part of that price is determined by the other person's willingness to comply. Compelling someone against their will is expensive. It can, and in the Gym did, create a debt. Once the value of time/focus is used up, control switches hands when one goes into debt toward the other, and can continue doing so until one party or the other gives up or...well...dies."

She sighed and carefully placed the pendants back, "In short, it was a big unpredictable mess. The newer ones simply destroy the contract within the runeset once the value of time and focus is used up. Personally? I really hate them, still. They're useful, but they tread too closely to...well, the Dark Side."

The doctor's shoulder's shook and the assistant gave him a suspicious look. He burst out laughing, and Clarice couldn't help but flush a bit before powering on, "So if you ever, for any reason, find yourself on the controlled side of the equation? You can break the pendant by fighting it off long enough, and hard enough, for the pendant's contract to get used up. Understand? There's a weakness in them, one that keeps them from being so easily abused as they were during your test."