It doesn't sound like the not stripping was your problem then, was it?
[He just holds his spoon in place without stirring or eating. Looking across at her.]
Maybe next time, don't call the cavalry in before you try a bit of negotiation. It's not that I don't think it shouldn't be done. It's that it's dangerous to let a few of you start getting the idea it's okay to lead the rest of us around in what to do. Especially if you think you can use force when someone doesn't comply.
One of these weeks, you might be the one with dirty hands. But which one of these rolled over pups are going to question you when you've put yourself in charge? And you've got friends watching your back? I'm just cautious. It's easy to root me out; no one knows me, so no one has a reason to take up for me. It's the people here who know each other who can slip by.
Not being thorough, bending the rules at times, wasting time arguing. That was the problem.
[she meets his eye contact right back.]
Agree. I do not believe I or anyone ought to be in charge or above questioning. I do not desire pups who will roll over for me. The projection of authority is a tool I possess and I will use it where I see fit, and discard it where it is of no evident use. Likewise, I agree those of us in large contingents are more dangerous. Which is why I do not believe exceptions should be made for anyone.
You do have people watching your back, however. Believe me when I say you have defenders, who have made themselves known over the past day. [...] I think you are reckless, and possibly a bit stupid, and you have chosen to adopt a survival strategy that is bad. I do not think you are inherently a threat any more than all of us are a threat to one another. I do not even dislike you.
There is no reason you need to be without allies, unless you continue to make choices aimed at destroying any such alliances. I am not speaking of blind trust, obedience, loyalty, even necessarily friendship. But I do recognize your particular obstinance in insisting on your utter independence, it is very familiar to me, and I suggest you consider how much it is actually helping you.
[The idea that people are taking up for him makes him laugh dryly.] Then they're a little stupid, [is all he squeezes in there until she's finished.]
There are only a few people I trust, and none of them are here. I'm not really interested in working with anyone until I know more about how this place operates under the surface. I'm not talking about trials. I mean in general.
People are going to have to prove to me I can trust them. Just like they're going to have to see whether they can trust me, too.
No one else finds me funny, so I just have to find myself funny sometimes.
Can't help you with the first one yet until this place gives us some better movies besides the one we were forced to watch today. Not sure if I can help you with the second one either other than telling you he can be kind of a dick when he's working for someone dressed like a bat.
For what it's worth, I think you can be a lot more reasonable than he can, at least. I do appreciate the guts to actually come talk to me despite the fact you probably wouldn't mind punching me instead.
[He puts down the spoon and sits back.]
You're from the space hell camp, right? With Lup. You know Royce, too, then.
[She isn't wrong. He looks at her for a long moment without any particular expression, but his eyes sort of jump back and forth to study her face. He is quiet for so long, debating.
[i mean listen she cared about him but also he was mostly down to feed them all to a furby so her concern has qualifications...
but she still makes a bit of an unhappy face and nods.]
I'm certain the Royce I knew was somewhat different than the one you knew. He was...I do not think the role of staff or Avatar was one that came easy to him. He preferred to keep his distance from all of us.
After a few of us met a shadow of his daughter, he was a little more forthcoming. I would not want to see him come to harm, not when the man I met had earned a chance to be reunited with his family.
Yes, dustpan...got some, as you say. He had a wife and a young daughter, Mercy. He was very devoted to both of them. The wife had died, but he managed to fix that by the end, I think.
[Surprisingly, he looks visibly shocked at the last part. Like he's been struck by something icy.] She... died? [His expression is very no, no, no, no, but in his eyes it's very easy to see the same kind of feral anger from the trial start to bubble up.
It probably wasn’t the same Royce. But perhaps your Royce found another way to save her?
[otherwise it is sad.]
I know little about her, it obviously was difficult to speak of. And at the time, I could not speak of my own losses due to the aforementioned tampering with portions of my brain. But I think we understood one another somewhat all the same.
He did indeed have balls. [she says this so drily.] He didn't necessarily have good intentions for all of us, but he was rather upfront about that from the start, which I appreciate.
[a pause, and then.] You did not get along with those who were...what Lup calls NPCs? She said you became alarmed when you learned she had been one.
[He laughs, once and dry. Yeah. Sounds like Royce. Then he shrugs one shoulder.]
We only had one host. Two if you count The Judge, but you didn’t meet her until you died. I liked Ivan fine. Wanted to help her even.
I was surprised because I didn’t expect someone like that here. And also Lup lead in with how she didn’t pay attention in trials because she already knew all the killers. She said she ran her game before she explained.
Ivan didn’t run ours really. It was like this one. The Judge kept Ivan as a host, taking her freedom and her former identity.
Perhaps she has already explained, but that isn't the case. She was forced into her position by the creature that was the actual source of our problems, and ultimately helped us destroy it. As you can see, none of us bear any distrust or ill will towards her. I consider her a friend.
Yeah. She said something had taken her brother. Ivan had her life taken essentially. Guess being a host isn't all it's cracked up to be.
[RIP.]
Why? Just curious. She was ready to throw you guys into the fire, but you forgave her? Because she realized she could help you and win, or just because she helped you?
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[He just holds his spoon in place without stirring or eating. Looking across at her.]
Maybe next time, don't call the cavalry in before you try a bit of negotiation. It's not that I don't think it shouldn't be done. It's that it's dangerous to let a few of you start getting the idea it's okay to lead the rest of us around in what to do. Especially if you think you can use force when someone doesn't comply.
One of these weeks, you might be the one with dirty hands. But which one of these rolled over pups are going to question you when you've put yourself in charge? And you've got friends watching your back? I'm just cautious. It's easy to root me out; no one knows me, so no one has a reason to take up for me. It's the people here who know each other who can slip by.
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[she meets his eye contact right back.]
Agree. I do not believe I or anyone ought to be in charge or above questioning. I do not desire pups who will roll over for me. The projection of authority is a tool I possess and I will use it where I see fit, and discard it where it is of no evident use. Likewise, I agree those of us in large contingents are more dangerous. Which is why I do not believe exceptions should be made for anyone.
You do have people watching your back, however. Believe me when I say you have defenders, who have made themselves known over the past day. [...] I think you are reckless, and possibly a bit stupid, and you have chosen to adopt a survival strategy that is bad. I do not think you are inherently a threat any more than all of us are a threat to one another. I do not even dislike you.
There is no reason you need to be without allies, unless you continue to make choices aimed at destroying any such alliances. I am not speaking of blind trust, obedience, loyalty, even necessarily friendship. But I do recognize your particular obstinance in insisting on your utter independence, it is very familiar to me, and I suggest you consider how much it is actually helping you.
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There are only a few people I trust, and none of them are here. I'm not really interested in working with anyone until I know more about how this place operates under the surface. I'm not talking about trials. I mean in general.
People are going to have to prove to me I can trust them. Just like they're going to have to see whether they can trust me, too.
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[she doesn't disagree that they're probably a little stupid.]
Very well. You remain stubborn, and I am unsurprised, but that is nonetheless acceptable.
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Thanks for your very Batman-like approach to reconciliation. It almost made me homesick for a second.
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Can't help you with the first one yet until this place gives us some better movies besides the one we were forced to watch today. Not sure if I can help you with the second one either other than telling you he can be kind of a dick when he's working for someone dressed like a bat.
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[a sigh.]
I suppose I cannot protest the comparison, either to the being a dick or to the dressing up like a bat.
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[He puts down the spoon and sits back.]
You're from the space hell camp, right? With Lup. You know Royce, too, then.
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[but the question does surprise her a little.]
...Yes, I know Royce.
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So do I. We were on the island together.
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[well she can he wouldn't have brought it up to be like 'oh you know this guy? i hate him']
Personally, I was fond of him.
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Then he glances away.]
That's who they took for me.
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[i mean listen she cared about him but also he was mostly down to feed them all to a furby so her concern has qualifications...
but she still makes a bit of an unhappy face and nods.]
I'm certain the Royce I knew was somewhat different than the one you knew. He was...I do not think the role of staff or Avatar was one that came easy to him. He preferred to keep his distance from all of us.
After a few of us met a shadow of his daughter, he was a little more forthcoming. I would not want to see him come to harm, not when the man I met had earned a chance to be reunited with his family.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Back up, back up— Daughter? Seriously? Ol’ Dustpan got some?!
[His Royce is definitely not her Royce, very funny.]
Holy shit!
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Yes, dustpan...got some, as you say. He had a wife and a young daughter, Mercy. He was very devoted to both of them. The wife had died, but he managed to fix that by the end, I think.
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He hears the addendum, but still.]
What the fuck? Gwen?
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[...]
Oh dear, I have brought up a troubling subject.
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[This is angrily astounded rather than just angry. Thankfully.]
You said he fixed it? But--that-- I don't know if that's the same Royce.
[Royce, NOOOOOOO. YOUR WIFE.]
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[otherwise it is sad.]
I know little about her, it obviously was difficult to speak of. And at the time, I could not speak of my own losses due to the aforementioned tampering with portions of my brain. But I think we understood one another somewhat all the same.
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Sounds like Royce. He was the only one who voted for an actual person at our very first trial. The rest of us abstained. He had balls.
I think we only started getting along after I tased him when he attacked me.
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[a pause, and then.] You did not get along with those who were...what Lup calls NPCs? She said you became alarmed when you learned she had been one.
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We only had one host. Two if you count The Judge, but you didn’t meet her until you died. I liked Ivan fine. Wanted to help her even.
I was surprised because I didn’t expect someone like that here. And also Lup lead in with how she didn’t pay attention in trials because she already knew all the killers. She said she ran her game before she explained.
Ivan didn’t run ours really. It was like this one. The Judge kept Ivan as a host, taking her freedom and her former identity.
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[she chews on her lip.]
Perhaps she has already explained, but that isn't the case. She was forced into her position by the creature that was the actual source of our problems, and ultimately helped us destroy it. As you can see, none of us bear any distrust or ill will towards her. I consider her a friend.
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[RIP.]
Why? Just curious. She was ready to throw you guys into the fire, but you forgave her? Because she realized she could help you and win, or just because she helped you?
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