my bf's great-aunt is a highly advanced sneaky lady. I have not talked to her much, but today she asked me why we did not consider X.
X was never on the table before and it would be something to discuss with the bf in detail. I would like X maybe, but he surely did not. I told her and she said that she knew that and that she told me so I could suggest X to the bf as a hypothetical scenario. and then I could go back to her and report how he liked hypothetical X.
so basically she had an elaborate priming plan ready to discuss. it was textbook manipulation stuff