<debating who to summon next>
Aleph: Oh, Rathan. On the one hand, solo time with Mama. On the other, babysitting.
Aleph: Of course, he could make the entirely logical point that if she summons Calesco (whose turn it probably is next), she's almost certainly going to end up fighting with him.
EarthScorpion: Hee. Keris is really starting to see the power of having people to outsource things too - especially now her souls are coming online as assistants.
Aleph: Yes. Hmm. Calesco would give Keris Ranged support.
EarthScorpion: Vali doesn't believe in ranged support. He believes about closing and face punching. Of course, he brings crafting and repair to the table as well as fighting.
EarthScorpion: And honestly, both of them are harder to control than Rathan. Rathan is the easy mode one because he's lazy and obedient
Aleph: Indeed.
EarthScorpion: Of course, heh, Keris is reminded that she split her negotiating side between Haneyl and Rathan, and Rathan got the side that thinks of more than personal profit.
Aleph: Hee
...
Aleph: Hmm. Does Keris need to deal with Kazem directly? I'd like her to at least meet him for Szoreny, but she has a deal in mind with giving the horses (and healing) to the Lionesses to basically buy them outright, so all she needs for that is a nice location to negotiate with them. Kazem and Orange Blossom... hmm. What does she need from them? Possibly help getting the Baishans settled; that's something she's not willing to spend her favour on but which they're well-placed to do and which might be worth a quick service. She doesn't want to slow herself down, though - she's eager to be back on the move. So, mm. She's splitting a fair chunk of the Beik treasure up between the Baishans as their Fresh Start care packages, she wants the 100 Fine Horses for the Lionesses... what else does she have to offer? Are there other horses in her herd? They won't be the cream of the crop she's saving for her mercenaries, but a bunch of horses is still a bunch of horses.
Aleph: ... actually, I guess she could just trade the saffron straight to Orange Blossom's estate and negotiate for the money to be funnelled into the Baishans. So that's a reason to trade with him straight away.
EarthScorpion: Well, remember, she is planning to move the Lionesses to the south west, so fine horses are not the most useful thing. I assumed she was planning to sell them and use the money for that.
Aleph: Hmm. I'd certainly like to keep at least a few back, because a quarter of them are trained scout cavalry, and while landlocked tactics don't work as well in the Southwest, mounted opponents still enjoy a significant advantage - horseback patrols of Maza, for instance, if they were subjugating it.
Aleph: See also: Kuha.
EarthScorpion: She does need to slow down a bit if she plans this kind of stuff, because she need negotiations and for them to think about such things. This isn't the work of days.
EarthScorpion: She also may want to see if Orange Blossom's man knows someone for drawing up these contracts
Aleph: Yeah, you've definitely convinced me to deal with him. I'm just considering the exact details.
Aleph: I think she'll, hmm. Propose converting the entire saffron haul into hanging value to be spent on startup funds for the Baishans and some quiet direction and help for them - the kind of suggesting names or places and dropping words in someone's ear that doesn't cost money, but which requires a wide network of contacts. Plus a promise to more or less leave them alone after that.
Aleph: Then the horses, she may decide to... well, basically, under the contracts and diplomacy and negotiation, she'll be making her buyout pitch to the Lionesses in healing and horses/cash, allowing them to choose which to take - so they might decide to take twenty of the best horses between their own and Keris's to mount a fifth of their cavalry on the larger islands and then convert the rest into cash. Which will mean Keris is dual-negotiating that between them and the Sceptred Leaf, and yeah, this'll probably take enough time that she can offer a minor personal service to make up any effort-cost.
Aleph: This results in Kazem (and Orange Blossom) getting a large herd of fine horses (since the Lionesses likely won't take them all if they agree, knowing they'll be travelling so far to an island region), a massive saffron haul and a few days of personal favours from a 3CD-tier assassin/healer/silversmith/whatever else they can think of to ask Keris for that she can accomplish pretty easily, in return for a lot of money and some networking.
Aleph: I am certain that Kazem will use those favours for the good of his mistress and not for anything that advantages his own personal gain as much as or more than Orange Blossom's.
Aleph: Hmm. Keris can spam the fuck out of PoEU, throw around some Hidden Depths Temptress and Beauty-Over-Truth and lean on Rathan as a sweet-faced socialite to hold her own, but she's still somewhat out-Bureaucracy'd by everyone in this affair. She's basically going to be relying on knowing the exact value of what she's giving and getting, and being too moe uguu darling to cheat.
...
<first meeting with Kazem, seeing his office>
Aleph: ... yeah so Keris is just going to stunt-learn Envious Heart on the spot, then.
EarthScorpion: Oh Keris.
EarthScorpion: Meanwhile in An Teng Haneyl has a sudden flare up of MINE.
Aleph: Keris: "... I could still kill everything in this room by myself."
Aleph: Sigh. Of course Envious Heart gets split between Haneyl and Rathan. Not only does Haneyl get the hot burning envy and Rathan the cold sapping kind; Haneyl gets the STUFF envy and Rathan gets the ATTENTION envy.
EarthScorpion: Yeah, Kazem is basically a super gay, super wealthy sorcerer and demonologist whose life's work has been getting enough money to be able to indulge in his vices whenever he wants.
Aleph: Keris: "... I can understand that goal. But I still hate you for having more bling than me."
EarthScorpion: Of course he's more complicated than that, but that side of him is one that's not a lie.
Aleph: Keris: "Also, seriously;
girls. They're so soft and pretty and they have curves and smell nice!"
EarthScorpion: Keris has almost never seen neomah so broad chested and muscular.
EarthScorpion: So, are you going to try to justify learning Envious Heart here and now, or are you planning to leave and stew over it overnight and come back the next day with it?
Aleph: Hmm. Well, does that initial surge of HATE-ENVY work as a valid stunt, as Keris gets hit by the combo of DB LIEUTENANT and SORCERER and SWEET PAD and LOTS OF BLING and I COULD DO IT BETTER all at once?
EarthScorpion: I was just wondering if you wanted to have nightmare/dreams of the Silver Forest or something to represent initiating into a new Yozi (as possibly the first to do so).
Aleph: Hmm. Well she was the first to initiate into Oramus, and didn't get any from that... but, hah. That was only his body tree. Not the mind. While this is Szoreny's personality root. So yeah, sure. Totally. They might be a reaction to learning it, rather than a process, but we'll call it bought by the end of the session.
Aleph: Heh. So either someone
just barely beat Keris to the first Oramus purchase, possibly by only a few days, or bought several Charms from him and thus the brunt of the attention while Keris only got one from his body tree.
Aleph: (If it was someone who beat her to it by only a few days or hours, I'm headcanoning that it was Testolagh, who needs some Unquestionable-attention that isn't being annoyed at him for not liking them
)
EarthScorpion: Or just Szoreny is more the personable type, while Oramus don't give a shit.
...
Aleph: Hmm. If Keris ever did just go from 0 to totemic anima and Join Battle in the middle of a city and have a fullscale battle, what would the aftermath look like?
Aleph: Hmm
- WWI ash where entire buildings have been burnt down or there are gaping holes in the street that she's used to control the environment
- slowly-withering patches of toxic Devil-Weed, ditto
- blown-up bits from Racing Vitaris activation Knockdown
- scars from cataclysmic omen weather, as well as anima-flowers and sour water and the various other environmental effects of her going totemic
- shitloads of busted scenery that she cut through, used as projectiles or which got hit when the intended target dodged/deflected
- trails of absolute slashed-to-pieces devastation from SIHW use
EarthScorpion: Especially, sigh SIHW mixed with WWI.
Aleph: DB Jr Investigator: "... one woman did
this?"
DB Sr Investigator: "One Anathema, son."
Aleph: god, it literally looks like a warzone
Aleph: sometimes there are corpses that have just had half their body bitten off in one go by a massive set of jaws
...
EarthScorpion: Heh. Oh yes, in case you didn't notice, Orange Blossom has Well Reputed Grotto.
Aleph: I did.
EarthScorpion: That means, yes, she can hide things from Keris.
Aleph: She is ahead of Keris in Kimbery Stuff.
EarthScorpion: ... is Keris fully aware that she's ahead of her in Kimbery in both trees? At least with regards to, sigh, Ichor Flux Tendrils.
Aleph: Hmm. Yes, probably.
EarthScorpion: Great, Keris. Just great. Not only is she your ex, she's your consentacles ex.
EarthScorpion: ... honestly, at the moment Keris is probably just glad that Orange Blossom isn't here.
...
Aleph: Hmm. How much saffron does she have by weight, roughly?
"$2,000/pound in larger quantities"
Aleph: She's got, what, Res 3? Res 4?
EarthScorpion: Yeah, I'm just looking at how much land you need to grow saffron. Apparently it's about 1 acre/pound, and 100 man-hours per acre.
Aleph: yikes
EarthScorpion: So, yeah, probably about Resources 4 because it's the (heavy) taxes taken from an area, given those costs. She has about 50kg worth - though some is older and worth less.
Aleph: wow
EarthScorpion: That's how the Beiks could afford their mercenaries and why they were keeping the towns under such tight control.
Aleph: yeah
Aleph: geez
EarthScorpion: And Iran makes 90% of the saffron in the world these days.
"In 2014, 250 t (250,000 kg) were produced worldwide.[47] Iran is responsible for around 90–93% of global production, and much of their produce is exported."
...
<Rathan talking about his 'Greater Self'>
Aleph: ... rathan you canny little bastard
EarthScorpion: oh keris
EarthScorpion: she's almost speechless at first
EarthScorpion: and barely answers
EarthScorpion: because this is reminding her in a way that hurts that Rathan is Rat's son
Aleph: yes
Aleph: that's such a Rat-like move that it almost knocks her blind with it
EarthScorpion: poor keris
Aleph: (that said, once she's gotten over the painful, painful nostalgia, she's going to be gleefully delighted at his cleverness and guile)
Aleph: (he may get picked up and twirled)
Aleph: and, sigh
Aleph: this is really showcasing to Keris how
useful having a 2CD backing her up is
EarthScorpion: Yes, especially if they're a scammer.
Aleph: Hee. If Orange Blossom ever gets the memory or exact words and description of that scene and manages to put it together, she's gonna be pissed : D
Aleph: (And possibly reluctantly amused.)
Aleph: Hee
Aleph: I am back-developing Rat a bit, and it's looking like Keris may have had a dual-inheritance on her personal lying style, because while it may run in the family, she
learned Mendaciloquent Maverick from him.
Aleph: That sort of "implying powerful friends and allies and backers without ever actually lying" was totally how he made it easier for them on the streets and got such good deals. Rat's favourite trick was always to get his target to fill in the details of a cover or the holes in his story or paint allies for him in the shadows, without even noticing they were doing it.
Aleph: Oh, Rat. Such an Eclipsoid.
Aleph: With, of course, the fatal flaw that his favourite trick doesn't work when someone just goes "damn the consequences" and Joins Battle.
EarthScorpion: Dammit Keris, you knew his fatal weak spot.
Aleph: That was, in fact, what Keris was for. When someone called his bluffs, she knifed them.
Aleph: Heh. Honestly, as an Abyssal he probably missed having a similarly-levelled partner who was independent enough not to need instructions, extremely quick to react and who synergised with him well enough that they could read a tiny "make a distraction" nod from across a crowded market square.
Aleph: Like, "damn, I know she's only a mortal still, but a Day-caste Keris would be really fucking useful right about now."
Aleph: Oh, Rathan. I wonder what lessons he's taking from this?
Aleph: Heh. And I didn't directly reference anything, but his style of bluffing and lying is, I like to think, not out-of-character for the Szorenyn "Trump" tree.
EarthScorpion: Well, not fully - Szoreny just lies to your face if he can get away with it.
Aleph: Not so much the way he did it, as much as pretending to be far more important and better-connected and more dangerous to cross than he actually was.
Aleph: That was counterbalanced by Keris's instinct to never make a threat she can't back up - which is good when she has to do it, but it means that on the streets she often didn't have a retort, because she wouldn't threaten someone she didn't think she could take in a fight in case they called her on it.
Aleph: And as Rat always used to say, you can't climb a ladder if you never take your feet off the ground for fear of falling.
Aleph: (Nowadays, of course, "people Keris couldn't take in a fight" is a much shorter list - but she's still super-careful about attracting the attention of polities like the Realm or the Unquestionable, where Rat would probably be a lot more willing to take a risk to try and intimidate an enemy off without a fight.)
Aleph: (It was one of those things they had polarising views on that both had fail-states - and Keris's newfound power hasn't actually removed the fail-state of hers; it's just made her powerful enough that you don't see it very often.)
Aleph: Hah. Yes, that's it. Keris prefers to be underestimated, because it means that when someone challenges her she can be sure that she'll win. Rat preferred to be overestimated, because it meant that he could get away with a lot more without people trying to stop him.
Aleph: But Rat's tactic meant that when he was challenged, he couldn't back it up - and Keris's means that she limits herself to playing at a lower level than she's capable of.
EarthScorpion: and that's why keris is the one who's still alive
Aleph: Well, yes.
Aleph: Ironically because he underestimated her dangerous side and she overestimated his ability to get out of a bad situation.
Aleph: Almost poetic, that.
Aleph: Sigh. Rathan is on Keris's side in the under/overestimation thing, at least where combat power goes. He's quite happy to let people think he's a pure socialite who can't fight at all and wouldn't dirty his hands with a weapon anyway.
EarthScorpion: Heh. Amusingly enough, it's her Sasi souls who swagger.
Aleph: Lol
Aleph: ...
Aleph: Goddammit.
Aleph: Now I am imagining Sasi as a kitty poofing up all her fur to try and look big and threatening.
EarthScorpion: Sasikitty is a house cat.
Aleph: Purr purr.
Aleph: Keriskitty is an alleycat who has been cleaned up a lot but will still scratch the shit out of you.
EarthScorpion: Testolaghkitty is a big tom who acts like he doesn't like you, but still sits on your lap.
...
Aleph: .... lol.
Aleph: "I found a giant pile of money piled up randomly and just assumed Eko had done it."
Aleph: "But on closer inspection none of it is melted so it's probably something else."
EarthScorpion: Kerisland logic in action.
Aleph: It is a very strange place.
EarthScorpion: "Are you sure it's not Vali? Oh wait, he'd have made a dragon."
Aleph: : P
EarthScorpion: Vali: "Excuse me! I wouldn't have made something
vaguely like a dragon! It would have clearly and obviously been a dragon!"
EarthScorpion: Vali: "Because dragons are. The. Best."
...
<Rathan wants to go out>
Aleph: ... goddammit I think she's too low on willpower and general mental stability to throw him off this time.
EarthScorpion: She does have her social perfect, you know.
Aleph: Yes, but I play that as being an associated mechanic - she's aware that it's a thing she can do to immerse herself in Adorjan's mindset so that attempts of people to influence her just seem funny - what fool tries to give orders to a killing wind?
Aleph: And that means that sometimes she doesn't use it if she doesn't think of something as being a person she should defend against (or indeed go into that mindset around).
EarthScorpion: Technically speaking what he's asking for is to go out and look around, do note. So if she chooses to give in, she doesn't have to let him go out unescorted by that Compulsion.
Aleph: Hmm. Well, taking the - heh - demon's advocate position, if I let him out completely unescorted, the worst realistic outcomes are:
a) he gets exposed - not impossible, but I would categorise it as at most highly unlikely
b) someone offends him and he goes vengeful on them - again, not likely, and everyone would see his response as justified anyway
c) most likely, he goes after a pretty boy or girl, which leads into a plotline about moderating-his-behaviour.
Aleph: ... on the other hand, Keris may want to cling to her supportive son.
Aleph: I shall roll principles to decide whether she is clingy enough to stick with him while he explores.
EarthScorpion: o keris
Aleph: ... she r feelin very clingy. And also doesn't want to stay here and be taunted by Orange Blossom's stupid luxurious beds.
Aleph: Heh. Rathan isn't Haneyl or Zanara and may have had other plans for this expedition, but he's hardly going to say no to "we're going to art-critic our way around the fanciest places in the city and also maybe get something that will lead to Keris telling that super-pretty Lilunu lady that Rathan was very helpful and got her a present".
...
<Malran spaaaaaaaaaah!>
Aleph: Heh. Lost that social contest, but I'm not too bothered about it - and I'm not willing to go to the effort of getting him out of it to get a loyal servant, though Theft As Release would let me sever his ties to Malra if I "stole" his loyalty.
Aleph: Are any of the ones who ran going past or near Keris?
EarthScorpion: Yes, one of them, a woman with darker skin and signs of more western heritage much like Keris.
Aleph: Hmm. Is tripping her a Compassion violation? The shahbanu has a reputation for brutality, but she's proven herself a spy here on business for a power that Keris has heard equally bad things about... and those from Salma, who she's on good-ish terms with now.
EarthScorpion: Hmm. Why would Keris be tripping her?
Aleph: I'm not necessarily intending to if it's not a Compassion-violation; but if it isn't then I might at least consider doing something minor that I can wave at the shahbanu's forces if I ever get looked at hard.
EarthScorpion: Hmm. It's probably dubious if not necessary an outright violation, because you're handing a spy over to people known for brutality.
Aleph: Yeah, thought so. Nvm then.
EarthScorpion: I honestly thought initially you were wondering if you could grab her yourself and ask some questions privately. But then again, Keris isn't very set up for actual interrogations compared to Sasi.
Aleph: Yeah, and I don't think she's ever going to get truth-detection Charmtech beyond hearing microtells.
Aleph: Keris as a character is more interesting - both as a protagonist and as a Revyesque "Chang" figure to younger Exalts - if she can be lied to and tricked and fooled.
EarthScorpion: Heh. Yes.
Aleph: (and it's also a cost of killing Rat)
Aleph: (because he would definitely have had it and been set up for interrogations - and unlike Sasi, he'd stick close to Keris and would always be there to do them)
Aleph: (whereas Sasi as a partner is a lot less glued-at-the-hip and has her own things going on)
...
<"Prince Rathan" and his very drunk friends>
Aleph: Man. Clearly he has been studying Keris's lying style.
"One person is drunkenly slurring about how they should, they should, they should just sign on and and and just defeat Princess Eko once an' for all and then they'll get their own land and it'll be amazing."
Aleph: guys please no eko would murder you all and laugh
Aleph: I hope you're happy with how hard I'm now giggling.
Aleph: ... heh. Since he said exiled prince, the assumption may be that she's his governess or something.
Aleph: And lol, he's also just defused some of Keris's mad by accident.
Aleph: (Rat had the same complaints about common harder spirits; he hated bitter tastes)
Aleph: (not in an Ekoan love-of-sweet-things way, he just liked delicate flavours more)
EarthScorpion: Same as the wine earlier. He's basically just a bit of a lightweight.
Aleph: hee
EarthScorpion: Quite unlike Vali and Haneyl, sigh.
EarthScorpion: Dammit you two stop having drinking contests.
...
<second meeting with Kazem>
EarthScorpion: He's done the impossible, and actually managed to offend Keris' sense of colour coordination and aesthetic non-tackiness.
Aleph: Part of it is that his tastes are very stereotypically masculine-coded - there's lots of leather and dark woods and cigar smoke and so on, and... well, Keris's aesthetic tastes are shifted noticeably femme-wards.
"Darkly, Keris notes to herself that somehow Orange Blossom might have found a servant who gets under her skin even worse than she does."
Aleph: A legitimately impressive achievement given how much bitch comes out to play when those two meet.
EarthScorpion: Well, the bitch is personal between them.
Aleph: indeed
EarthScorpion: Also, there's no sexual attraction in with him, from either side.
Aleph: Heh. It's probably for the best that "masculine" traits in the Hui Cha are ones that Keris actually shares quite a lot in common with, and the cultural aesthetics are different enough that there's not likely to be a general understanding of "Little River won't actually kick you out of the family if you enjoy a very masculine style for your personal spaces, but it's probably a good idea not to invite her into them if you do".
...
<SZORENY NIGHTMARES and silver blood>
Aleph: god
Aleph: this means she inducted herself into both trees simultaneously
Aleph: no wonder she got Szoreny's attention
Aleph: Hmm. So Rathan's dreams... Szoreny's viewpoint for the first part, and... sigh. Scrapping with Haneyl for the Charm and splitting it down the middle.
EarthScorpion: poor rathan had non consensual soul surgery happen to him, and also got in a fight with Haneyl who also had nightmares and may have woken up with her bed on fire.
Aleph: >_<
Aleph: ... that can be Sasi's problem to deal with.
...
<Oula's maturation>
EarthScorpion: Huh.
Aleph: Hmm?
EarthScorpion: This means that Oula is the first adult kerub.
Aleph: Unless any of Eko's szelkeruby have quietly gone szilf offscreen, yeah.
EarthScorpion: Eko shakes her head, smirking, as she drags a szilfa in from off-screen.
Aleph: but, hmm
Aleph: then again
Aleph: Oula
does have Mentor: Keris. Hee. Rounen is Keris's Familiar, but Keris is Oula's Mentor.
Oula: "Background-wise, I'm clearly winning."
EarthScorpion: Heh, yes. And more importantly, Keris doesn't have the Elloge that Eko needs. All adult keruby
need the influence of the second Yozi.
Aleph: : D
Aleph: ... hah, more specifically, they need the second Yozi and the presence of their patron-soul. Elly is ready to evolve, she just can't while Haneyl is away - while Oula's been put in an evolution pressure-cooker here.
EarthScorpion: ... oh man. Eko is going to be
super nettled about how her keruby aren't growing up.
EarthScorpion: She may actually get vaguely abusive about it, getting groups together and shouting at them to
just grow up, it can't be hard, Rathan's managed it and he's stupid!
Aleph: ekoooo
Aleph: ... this clearly means it finally happens when one of them decides to be helpful and makes herself an eko-mask out of ribbons to continue shouting when Eko gets bored and runs off.
EarthScorpion: eko is bad at communicating
EarthScorpion: she understands how to do it
EarthScorpion: why can't they?
EarthScorpion: why is she surrounded by idiots?
Aleph: poor eko
Aleph: poor szelkeruby
Aleph: : (
Aleph: oh, keris
Aleph: the beauty-trip was for Oula's benefit so that she'd have the
best introduction ever to her new body
Aleph: it just so happens that it also accidentally happens to be moments before Rathan walks in and sees her.
Aleph: also lol, they just switched stress-places. From Oula having a panic attack while Keris stayed calm and tried to help her out of it to the other way round.
...
Aleph: Oh, and my GSheet has a note on it saying that I started training Persuasion 4 a while back.
Aleph: So given that it's been a month downriver and Keris has been doing all sorts of talky stuff, I'll add that.
EarthScorpion: Sure, yep! Certainly been using it on the river stuff.
Aleph: heh
EarthScorpion: It helps a lot to have that kind of downtime.
Aleph: It does.
EarthScorpion: You can also have learned other charms you want on the ship.
Aleph: Hmm. I actually think I'm good, for now. Though, hee - Kuha, Rounen and Oula are all now masters of Friagem Serpent Style.
...
Aleph: Incidentally, I'm tempted to put "Lady Scorpion" down on Keris's list of sobriquets, because that's totally a title she's going to get from
someone.
EarthScorpion: Heh. That's very much an assassin name.
Aleph: It really fits her.
Aleph: Venomous sting, scorpion-braids, armoured carapace.
Aleph: Usually an ambush predator, too.
...
EarthScorpion: Oh, moon wives.
EarthScorpion: A literal race of waifus.
EarthScorpion: Unfortunately not actually obedient.
Aleph: Who look pretty human for demons at first, too.
Aleph: Like, at first they're just "seashell-coloured demon babes with horns".
Aleph: And then one of them reaches down and opens up their fucking ribcage. Or you find out that their hair drips toxic mercury. And you suddenly go "oh right, demons".
EarthScorpion: Meanwhile, in Kerisland, the moon has started to drip mercury. The Undersea is forming.
Aleph: joy of joys
Aleph: I'm sure that's alarming nobody at all
EarthScorpion: Well, honestly, people haven't noticed yet. At the moment they're more looking at the silver veins on its surface.
Aleph: ... actually the depressing thing is that... yeah. Even when they do, they may not actually be that alarmed. It's just another weird thing in the Krisity environment. Moon bleeding silver? Sure, why not?
...
EarthScorpion: Notice how much quieter the voices in Keris' head have got now she's got NPCs to Do Stuff With.
Aleph: yes : P
EarthScorpion: ... well, also because there isn't a Haneyl asserting herself into everything.
Aleph: : V
EarthScorpion: Even Calesco tends to sit back more and make sarcastic comments.
...
EarthScorpion: How did you feel that session's progress was?
Aleph: We got a lot done. I had fun. I think there were a couple of places where we stalled a little, but on the whole I'm glad we took the time to fit various things in.
EarthScorpion: Yeah, it was basically a giant cleanup session.
EarthScorpion: I think I really stumbled with the first dream bit, so the reset to waking up again was basically the core of Szoreny's envy.
Aleph: Heh. It worked.
EarthScorpion: Hmm. How are you liking Rathan? This is probably the most dedicated screen time he's ever had.
Aleph: I'm liking him, yeah. I love his lying-with-the-truth, his whininess and blame-shifting is a genuine character flaw that's fun to interact with, and he's really filling a lot of the role that Rat used to fill for Keris.
EarthScorpion: Such a brat.
Aleph: He's also showing how powerful socialite-2CD backup can be.
EarthScorpion: Yes, he really is useful to Keris as a sidekick. Possibly the most useful because the bits where he gets distracted and pushes his own goals usually involve getting people to like him.
Aleph: Hee.
EarthScorpion: Haneyl's fighting for the same slot, and she's more wilful and more likely to get distracted in ways that hurt your success.
Aleph: But makes up for it by being far more of a generalist with broad "second-best" competencies.
EarthScorpion: And more willing to anger people in the name of success.
EarthScorpion: I guess Zanara is the third one fighting for that slot, but they have their own drawbacks.
