I don't believe that. And anyway, you should know I don't care a lot about how people were "made". I care about what people DO.
And it's not a game to me. It's not. It's one of the worst things I've ever had to do, over and over and over and it's ruined so much and I hate it. And if anything else happens to someone I love, I'm going to lose my mind. So I'm asking you nicely, please.
[It's a childish response and Koby knows it, and that just makes him more cranky.
Still. "Naturally" isn't a promise or a guarantee, but it's a note of consideration. That's something, for Set.]
Do you? Understand, I mean. And thank you. I don't care if your goal is to win. I'll forfeit or whatever right now, if you want it so badly. I don't care about winning. I just don't want to lose anyone else.
[ Text alone cannot convey the severity with which he would have audibly said it. ]
I am not unfamiliar with similar situations. Needing to keep my warriors alive against a difficult foe, having to study and formulate tactics in rapid succession to counter and surpass. This game is not unlike war, to me.
If only forfeit would work, I would accept the public submission of you and yours in exchange for leaving them be! For now, I could use your voting bloc. Or, if any of yours are willing to thin the rest of the herd...
That's not really what the problem is. It'd be simpler if it were, if this were all about strategy and making the best tactical choices. I could do that forever.
It's when you make those choices and people you care about get angry or hurt or say you're disloyal or betraying them or being stupid. Or they just don't say anything, which is worse.
I don't think the Straw Hats would surrender. That's not really Luffy's thing. And if you're planning on killing people, you'd have to ask directly. Besides. I think you have other things planned. You don't need me.
[ We'll skip the conversation about whether or not allowing the entity with nigh-infinite power to have free will is unfair or NECESSARY for now. And also pause about the Straw Hats and whether or not they can be seen as enemies to remove or allies to partner with. ]
Mm, I believe I see your issue: you do not know how to form an effective strategy.
For starters, no strategy should be endless. It has an end goal in mind. For example, mine is "to win the game". The given conditions of victory are "to have the most number of individuals on a team", and nothing else. No matter what tactics I utilize during the course of the game, my overarching strategy maintains this as my direct goal.
Secondly, you must learn to accept that you are going to be seen as disloyal and traitorous to others if your tactics include "ensuring everyone walks away happy with me". People have their own goals that are often mutually exclusive. You must be prepared to stand above your connections with others, and not use their favorable perception of you as a weight upon the scale of effectiveness.
Either they will forgive you, or they will not, but that is not a choice you make for them.
[Koby's about to argue, indignantly, but -- well. Isn't that the same problem Garp had pointed out? He thinks too much, he thinks and he worries and he makes himself sick over the possibilities, aims his mind to the potential of people being angry at him, hating him, leaving him. When does that go away? When does he stop lurching awake and reaching out to make sure he isn't still tucked alone into the corner of that dark, dank, damp hold?]
My goal is to keep as many people alive and safe as possible. I have to follow the rules of the game to do that. I have to assume that the visions are all real, or none of them are. So everyone named in a seer's vision needs to be voted a wolf. My crew's already at a disadvantage after last round, they need my vote.
It makes sense. It makes tactical sense to spread out the votes. Like we did.
[A pause, turning the rest of Set's words over and over in his head.]
It's about what I can live with. Not what I want, what I can endure.
You remind me of my commanding officer, you know. He thinks the same way.
The roles are real. Doctors have saved people, witches have revived the dead. If, after that, people are still hemming and hawing over a Seer's vision, they are only being willfully stupid.
It may make tactical sense to spread out the vote, but there is a also quantifiable limit to however many individuals can be voted out. Even if you have multiple people with an equal number of votes between them, there must be a tie-breaking element.
In the end, if your goal is to ensure your crew survives — that is impossible without making sacrifices of your own. You have to value the lives of your crew over the lives of others.
[ It's a brutalist view of things, but pretty accurate. Wringing one's hands over making someone else upset does nothing toward the goal. ]
Hah! Do I really? You do know that I am a military leader in my own right: Egypt's greatest general. I spent millennia defending my lands from would-be invaders and enemies, you pick up a thing or two when you do that!
Exactly. We only have the rules to go off of, and we know the Balfours love rules. And the house loves chaos -- it's like they're constantly fighting against each other. Or balancing each other? It's like a parasitic relationship, I think. The house keeps them safe and they feed it on us. Or something.
We've been lucky to not have a tie yet, you're right. I wonder if the Balfours will make the deciding vote? Or if there's another role not related -- the rules I found didn't mention a Witch. Only Seer, Doctor, Wolf and Villager. Perhaps there are more, outside the rules?
[There's a beat, because Koby sort of -- recognizes these points. Because he'd made them at the vote.]
Are you genuinely agreeing with me or are you trying to manipulate me towards something? I've already voted, I'm not much use to you.
Millennia? How old ARE you? Right, Egypt. I've read a little about it. The books here are pretty limited, you were right. I still made a list for you, if You know. You still want it.
Not really parasitic, in my eyes. Maat and isfet exist for one another, you cannot have order without chaos providing meaning to it. They are opposing, but also essential; to have one, and not the other, would unmake the world.
[ curious though ]
Very old. I precede humanity, for starters.
And I do. Still want the list. I enjoy recommendations, and learning new things is... a personal pleasure.
Parasitic is too harsh, I guess. Complimentary? Mutually beneficial? I'm not sure. Whatever it is, I don't believe the Balfours are innocent victims here. What do those words mean?
Really? Then why are you Like you are? [Deeply offensive, Kobert.]
I'll bring you them. Guns, Germs and Steel is good, a good overview, but The Wretched of the Earth was pretty eye-opening too. About this world, at least.
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text; un: koby
[Did you think your smug smirking escaped the nosiest bitch in Salt, Set.]
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[ that's not something to be nosy about that's his FACE ]
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I was very loud.
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Are you planning something?
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You did see David Collins and Daemon Targaryen LITERALLY dueling before our eyes, yes?
And yes, naturally. I am always planning SOMETHING. Were I not, I would likely cease to exist!
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I don't care what you say about my crew, but don't do anything to hurt them. Any of them.
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I have no intentions of hurting them, Koby. When this is over, I will not even remember our grievances. I am playing the game, is all.
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And it's not a game to me. It's not. It's one of the worst things I've ever had to do, over and over and over and it's ruined so much and I hate it.
And if anything else happens to someone I love, I'm going to lose my mind.
So I'm asking you nicely, please.
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[ this is an explanation as much as an apology as much as a warning ]
"Nice" is not worth much to me.
I understand your strain, but — I really do need to win. There is a way for me to do so without bringing harm to your crew, naturally.
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[It's a childish response and Koby knows it, and that just makes him more cranky.
Still. "Naturally" isn't a promise or a guarantee, but it's a note of consideration. That's something, for Set.]
Do you? Understand, I mean.
And thank you. I don't care if your goal is to win. I'll forfeit or whatever right now, if you want it so badly. I don't care about winning. I just don't want to lose anyone else.
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[ Text alone cannot convey the severity with which he would have audibly said it. ]
I am not unfamiliar with similar situations. Needing to keep my warriors alive against a difficult foe, having to study and formulate tactics in rapid succession to counter and surpass. This game is not unlike war, to me.
If only forfeit would work, I would accept the public submission of you and yours in exchange for leaving them be! For now, I could use your voting bloc. Or, if any of yours are willing to thin the rest of the herd...
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That's stupid. And unfair.
[Therefore!!! Rejected.]
That's not really what the problem is. It'd be simpler if it were, if this were all about strategy and making the best tactical choices. I could do that forever.
It's when you make those choices and people you care about get angry or hurt or say you're disloyal or betraying them or being stupid. Or they just don't say anything, which is worse.
I don't think the Straw Hats would surrender. That's not really Luffy's thing. And if you're planning on killing people, you'd have to ask directly.
Besides. I think you have other things planned. You don't need me.
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Mm, I believe I see your issue: you do not know how to form an effective strategy.
For starters, no strategy should be endless. It has an end goal in mind. For example, mine is "to win the game". The given conditions of victory are "to have the most number of individuals on a team", and nothing else. No matter what tactics I utilize during the course of the game, my overarching strategy maintains this as my direct goal.
Secondly, you must learn to accept that you are going to be seen as disloyal and traitorous to others if your tactics include "ensuring everyone walks away happy with me". People have their own goals that are often mutually exclusive. You must be prepared to stand above your connections with others, and not use their favorable perception of you as a weight upon the scale of effectiveness.
Either they will forgive you, or they will not, but that is not a choice you make for them.
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My goal is to keep as many people alive and safe as possible. I have to follow the rules of the game to do that. I have to assume that the visions are all real, or none of them are. So everyone named in a seer's vision needs to be voted a wolf. My crew's already at a disadvantage after last round, they need my vote.
It makes sense. It makes tactical sense to spread out the votes. Like we did.
[A pause, turning the rest of Set's words over and over in his head.]
It's about what I can live with. Not what I want, what I can endure.
You remind me of my commanding officer, you know. He thinks the same way.
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It may make tactical sense to spread out the vote, but there is a also quantifiable limit to however many individuals can be voted out. Even if you have multiple people with an equal number of votes between them, there must be a tie-breaking element.
In the end, if your goal is to ensure your crew survives — that is impossible without making sacrifices of your own. You have to value the lives of your crew over the lives of others.
[ It's a brutalist view of things, but pretty accurate. Wringing one's hands over making someone else upset does nothing toward the goal. ]
Hah! Do I really? You do know that I am a military leader in my own right: Egypt's greatest general. I spent millennia defending my lands from would-be invaders and enemies, you pick up a thing or two when you do that!
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Or something.
We've been lucky to not have a tie yet, you're right. I wonder if the Balfours will make the deciding vote? Or if there's another role not related -- the rules I found didn't mention a Witch. Only Seer, Doctor, Wolf and Villager. Perhaps there are more, outside the rules?
[There's a beat, because Koby sort of -- recognizes these points. Because he'd made them at the vote.]
Are you genuinely agreeing with me or are you trying to manipulate me towards something? I've already voted, I'm not much use to you.
Millennia? How old ARE you?
Right, Egypt. I've read a little about it. The books here are pretty limited, you were right. I still made a list for you, if
You know.
You still want it.
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[ curious though ]
Very old. I precede humanity, for starters.
And I do. Still want the list. I enjoy recommendations, and learning new things is... a personal pleasure.
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What do those words mean?
Really? Then why are you
Like you are? [Deeply offensive, Kobert.]
I'll bring you them. Guns, Germs and Steel is good, a good overview, but The Wretched of the Earth was pretty eye-opening too. About this world, at least.