This is why we should really decide are we micromanaging our XP or not. Now we are in a situation where it is ambiguous whether people want to bank the XP for later or if they want the QMs to use the XP as they see fit. This sort of uncertainty leads to diminished player agency and the things that happen in the quest start to lose their meaningfulness.
What if eaglejarl wants to write a social confrontation into the next update, or the one after, that has a chance of outing us as missing-nin and the results depend on the social skills of the whole party. If that is the case then there's a big difference between our choices to either bank the XP for future or spend it now for survival.
If it is clear that we decided to bank the XP and trusted that our teammates current competence is enough, eaglejarl can just go ahead, write the scene and throw the dice. Whatever happens was our decision and if that ends up with all of us dead then so be it.
However, if there is ambiguity about whether we wanted to bank the XP or we just decided to leave it for the QMs this time, eaglejarl can't really go on and write that scene. If he writes the scene and we end up dead because Keiko didn't buy Deception 2, it will feel really unsatisfying for everyone and give the impression of blatant railroading.
Of course eaglejarl doesn't have to write a scene like that. He can just make it so that the only relevant roll is made by Hazou. But that decision can easily stretch the suspension of disbelief in the long run and make the teammates' stats seem superfluous. Does it matter what skills our teammates have if Hazou is the only one making the relevant rolls?
What I'm trying to say is that if we are not clear on what choices the players are supposed to be making the QMs can't really reward or penalize us for them. When we are making plans it should be crystal clear for everyone what are the things we should be deciding (in this case XP plan for teammates). If we then fail to make a decision about something, we suffer the consequences (here, under leveled teammates).
I'm a bit tired so I'm not sure if that rambling got the point across but I felt that I had to say something.
This is why we should really decide are we micromanaging our XP or not. Now we are in a situation where it is ambiguous whether people want to bank the XP for later or if they want the QMs to use the XP as they see fit. This sort of uncertainty leads to diminished player agency and the things that happen in the quest start to lose their meaningfulness.
What if eaglejarl wants to write a social confrontation into the next update, or the one after, that has a chance of outing us as missing-nin and the results depend on the social skills of the whole party. If that is the case then there's a big difference between our choices to either bank the XP for future or spend it now for survival.
If it is clear that we decided to bank the XP and trusted that our teammates current competence is enough, eaglejarl can just go ahead, write the scene and throw the dice. Whatever happens was our decision and if that ends up with all of us dead then so be it.
However, if there is ambiguity about whether we wanted to bank the XP or we just decided to leave it for the QMs this time, eaglejarl can't really go on and write that scene. If he writes the scene and we end up dead because Keiko didn't buy Deception 2, it will feel really unsatisfying for everyone and give the impression of blatant railroading.
Of course eaglejarl doesn't have to write a scene like that. He can just make it so that the only relevant roll is made by Hazou. But that decision can easily stretch the suspension of disbelief in the long run and make the teammates' stats seem superfluous. Does it matter what skills our teammates have if Hazou is the only one making the relevant rolls?
What I'm trying to say is that if we are not clear on what choices the players are supposed to be making the QMs can't really reward or penalize us for them. When we are making plans it should be crystal clear for everyone what are the things we should be deciding (in this case XP plan for teammates). If we then fail to make a decision about something, we suffer the consequences (here, under leveled teammates).
I'm a bit tired so I'm not sure if that rambling got the point across but I felt that I had to say something.
This is well-reasoned, but I think your tiredness is making you miss another option: deciding not to decide is a decision. If the players don't vote a plan for K&N, clearly they either didn't care or couldn't agree. If that's the case, then no one is justified in complaining regardless of what happens.
Said differently:
1) Before now, the GMs could either spend the XP for K&N or not spend it. Y'all had no agency but you were also not allowed to complain if we spent in a way you didn't like.
2) Now y'all have the option to decide. If you don't decide, clearly you (as a community) didn't care or didn't agree. Therefore, it reduces to case #1.
3) The GMs can and will overrule any vote that we think is inappropriate to the characters. Y'all aren't allowed to complain about this. This also reduces to case #1.
In short, you don't lose anything by voting for what K&N should do; it's strictly better to have the option.
This particular update is an exception to the above because you weren't given a lot of notice. As a result, I've spent some of K&N's points for Diplomacy and Deception but kept a good number of them banked.
This particular update is an exception to the above because you weren't given a lot of notice. As a result, I've spent some of K&N's points for Diplomacy and Deception but kept a good number of them banked.
Yes that was exactly what I was after. I just wanted a solid decision about the XP micromanagement one way or the other. It would be great if in the future it would be clear to everyone whether we should be voting for the teammate XP or not. Maybe you could make a note of it in the future vote options? "Teammates character sheets are up to date, please vote for their XP expenditure or else..."
Yes that was exactly what I was after. I just wanted a solid decision about the XP micromanagement one way or the other. It would be great if in the future it would be clear to everyone whether we should be voting for the teammate XP or not. Maybe you could make a note of it in the future vote options? "Teammates character sheets are up to date, please vote for their XP expenditure or else..."
RULES NOTE: The Quest Rules doc has been updated to reflect the new affinities rules, as have the character sheets. Please read it and make sure you understand it; we made an additional change (in your favor) after the prior announcement.
I believe he means that it would be preferable if it were "officially" announced, just so that everyone knows where they stand. I understand the feeling.
RULES NOTE: The Quest Rules doc has been updated to reflect the new affinities rules, as have the character sheets. Please read it and make sure you understand it; we made an additional change (in your favor) after the prior announcement.
Aw yiss. We have an elemental nature mastery. If an element isn't completely mastered, but has X amount of points, is there a certain penalty for learning or using jutsu of that element?
Aw yiss. We have an elemental nature mastery. If an element isn't completely mastered, but has X amount of points, is there a certain penalty for learning or using jutsu of that element?
Aw yiss. We have an elemental nature mastery. If an element isn't completely mastered, but has X amount of points, is there a certain penalty for learning or using jutsu of that element?
If you count "not being able to use jutsu of that element whatsoever" as a penalty, then yes. There's also no upside to going above 10. It's basically just a point wall that represents the work ninja put in when learning an element.
It's like, super expensive, but on the other hand learning a new element is supposed to take months in canon so i am totally okay with it. Also, it is pretty good that we already have one elemental attribute trained. Only question is how Nobbys Suiton techniques are attribute limited now. I think they used to be Water affinity linked before...
It's also strictly better to have the option to vote what Inoue should do too. Or any villager we talk to. Or the whole of Iron Country. Sorry for being fastidious but I thought rationally dealing with teenage team mates of varying headstrongness was part of this quest.
It's also strictly better to have the option to vote what Inoue should do too. Or any villager we talk to. Or the whole of Iron Country. Sorry for being fastidious but I thought rationally dealing with teenage team mates of varying headstrongness was part of this quest.
We don't, and shouldn't, have control over their actions. If a training choice is completely out of character, the GM's won't do it.
And saying that, I realize that Noburi, as he is now, will not want to be a support spec. He thinks he wants to be leader, and is still jealous of us, which is a shame because I had thought "We Are A Team" had alleviated that. These issues do need to be addressed, as they are the primary source of team friction.
In general, I think him getting water clone to 10 is something we want, and something he would be excited to push. It is powerful, versatile, lets him be effective on the front line, and act as support the same time.
In general, I think him getting water clone to 10 is something we want, and something he would be excited to push. It is powerful, versatile, lets him be effective on the front line, and act as support the same time.
Aside from turning Noburi into Naruto expy, this looks like a good suggestion.
However, we should prepare a long-term plan for dealing with teen drama, or die.
Look what teen drama did to Naruto and Sasuke. We don't want something like that.
We will either solve our little team cohesion issue or have to deal with Noburi's sudden but inevitable betrayal.
My ideas so far:
Explain situation to Inoue and ask for help (also known as Plan "I didn't know! I didn't know!");
Talk to teammates. I am unsure how it will help, but we should at least try the moderate option before resorting to drastic measures. Probably Inoue will help. Teambuilding excersise with Inoue sounds nice.
Drastic measure: put Noburi in place. Bad idea, low chance of working, does not solve an issue.
Drastic measure: let Noburi lead. Bad idea, dying to prove Noburi is unfit to be leader is a bit excessive.
Far-fetched idea: Explain requirements for leadership. Strongest ninja is not a good leader. Ninja with the most jutsus is not a good leader. The most charismatic ninja is not a good leader. Leader is the ninja who can make good plans and have them reach fruition. Keiko, were she capable of making plans herself, would be the awesome leader for our party. Propose that every time we need to plan, Noburi and Hazou present their plans to Mori and Inoue, and winning plan is implemented. Whoever gets more sane plans out of next 5, gets to be a leader.
Leader is the ninja who can make good plans and have them reach fruition. Keiko, were she capable of making plans herself, would be the awesome leader for our party.
Actually that isn't necessarily true either. The planner and the leader can be separate characters as long as the leader knows that the planner is better at planning than him. But the planner can't lead if he doesn't also have the ability to inspire respect and confidence in his followers. A good leader is one that both knows when to listen to more competent people in any given subject and who can convince everyone that his decisions are in their interest.
Actually that isn't necessarily true either. The planner and the leader can be separate characters as long as the leader knows that the planner is better at planning than him. But the planner can't lead if he doesn't also have the ability to inspire respect and confidence in his followers. A good leader is one that both knows when to listen to more competent people in any given subject and who can convince everyone that his decisions are in their interest.
Let's use separate words for charismatic inspirer of the masses (like figurehead), the one strong enough to force others to comply (like chieftain, or alpha) and the one who has the best plans (like planner)
Wakahisa is more suitable than Hazou to be figurehead, but figureheads are only effective when inspiring big groups. In a group of 3 people there is not much point.
Forcing compliance by force won't actually work for a group of missing-nin such as ours. This is just asking for sudden but inevitable betrayal.
What matters most for us is survival. The way to maximize survival is making and following the best plans.
I propose to establish chain of planning in this way:
Inoue is the most competent of us in every regard. Her plans are likely better than ours. We do what she tells us to do.
Mori cannot make plans, but her ability to improve plans is extremely valuable. We never ask her to plan, but we always ask her to correct and augment whatever plan we have.
If Inoue is unavailable, Hazou and Wakahisa will propose plans, and Mori will choose which plan to implement.
We should make a plan for split-second decisions. I propose that every time we go on a mission, we choose whose split-second decisions we follow. For example, when fighting Hazou gets to lead, when socially interacting, Noburi gets to lead.
Seriously, we aren't a genin team. We are missing-nin, partners in crime. Having rigid military structure just doesn't make sense.
I like the fact that we are thinking how to better plan for things in-game. Let me try to poke some holes in to Catnip's ideas in a constructive manner.
Inoue will force her ideas on us when she wants. When she doesn't, we should just work on our own plans and not worry about it. Also it's totally okay to tell her that her ideas suck, if we think they do.
Mori cannot make plans, but her ability to improve plans is extremely valuable. We never ask her to plan, but we always ask her to correct and augment whatever plan we have.
If Inoue is unavailable, Hazou and Wakahisa will propose plans, and Mori will choose which plan to implement.
This is not really an efficient way to plan things between three people. It's better to have a three-way discussion where we pitch ideas and ponder their feasibility together than come up with separate plans. Keiko can definitely come up with some ideas and work as a tiebreaker for more controversial parts.
We should make a plan for split-second decisions. I propose that every time we go on a mission, we choose whose split-second decisions we follow. For example, when fighting Hazou gets to lead, when socially interacting, Noburi gets to lead.
I guess this is a good idea for the beginning before we have truly ironed out our teamwork. Our long term goal however should be to know each others strengths, weaknesses and methods so well that anyone in the group can suddenly take charge of the situation and pursue opportunities they spot. This should be totally doable with just three people but it does require lots of trust and experience.
For the team cohesion thing we should really just talk to both Keiko and Nobur, first separately and then together. It might not fix things immediately but it will give us an idea where things stand and what we could do next. We should work these talky sessions into our next plan somehow.
"I found several options for employment," Mori said. "Given our disguises as mercenaries we are not eligible for most civilian jobs, and many of those are controlled by the guilds in any case. We are, however, able to pursue bodyguard work, caravan protection, escort duty, bouncing at various bars and clubs, messenger work, supply runs, and illegal pit fighting."
Hazō's eyebrows went up. "Pit fighting?"
"All right!" Wakahisa said. "We will absolutely demolish any pansy-ass civilian. Candy from babies! Where do we sign up?"
"That might be risky," Hazō said carefully. "We'd lose our disguise the minute we hit the opponent."
"Also, it would be clear that we were ninja," Mori said. "No civilian would fight the way we do. On the other hand, I investigated some of the fights; the more popular ones have a great deal of money moving around. Unfortunately, they are all run by the Yakuza."
"Ah," said Hazō, momentarily flashing back to a conversation with a man covered in tattoos who had just placed a hammer gently on the table. "That...might be unwise."
Wakahisa opened his mouth to say something, then shot a glance at Mori and closed it again.
"We could talk to them about it," he said. "There's no organized ninja presence in Iron, but there are ninja. That means many of them are missing-nin like us—maybe even most of them. If so, maybe we could just go to the Yak and ask them for work. We're a lot better than most genin and there can't be that many ninja available; we could probably get good rates."
"That's...actually a really interesting idea," Hazō said slowly. "We'd be breaking cover as ninja, but the Yak would undoubtedly love to have us, and having an in with them would make a lot of things easier. Mori, what do you think?"
Mori said nothing for long seconds; her face had the blank, distant expression that the boys had seen only once before: when she'd gone deep into her bloodline to ensure Wakahisa's safety during the ninjutsu experiments.
"I think...," she said, her voice very far away, "...I think that this is a balance point. There are hazards on both sides. Speaking directly with the Yakuza carries significant short term risks, but not speaking to them carries steadily increasing risks as time goes on. If we continue to operate in Yuni the probability of them identifying us as unaligned ninja approaches unity. Once they discover us and determine that we have been operating here without their approval they will assume we are hostile, especially since we will likely have disrupted some of their businesses. They have the resources to employ other ninja and might well send them after us. We could mitigate those risks by not returning to Yuni, but this is the main center of trade and population in Iron; our resources and options would be severely constrained if we were not able to come here."
She fell silent and stood still. Her eyes were pointed at a knot in the wall near the ceiling, but Hazō was absolutely certain that she was not seeing it.
"Mori?" Wakahisa said. "Mori?" He reached out and tapped her arm gently. When that got no response he took hold of her shoulders and shook her lightly. "Mori! Hey! Wake up, Keiko!"
Mori blinked very slowly; her head pivoted slightly, her eyes passing across his face and slowly coming back into focus.
"Wakahisa?" she said, confused. She stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn't caught her and helped her to sit down on the edge of the bed.
"What just happened?" Hazō asked.
Mori blinked several times like someone just waking up from a heavy sleep. "Nothing," she said. "I am fine. I merely went a little too deep. It is difficult to analyze things with so many variables."
"Yeaaaah, how about you never do that again?" Wakahisa said, trying to sound casual and failing. It was at this point that Mori finished waking up, or whatever the term was, registered Wakahisa's hand on her shoulder, and moved away so fast it could have been a chakra-enhanced leap.
"Let's leave the Yak alone until Inoue-sensei comes back," Hazō said. "We should talk about it with her."
"Definitely," Wakahisa said. Mori nodded dreamily.
"Wakahisa, what about you? Did you find anything useful?" Hazō asked.
Wakahisa shot him an annoyed look. "Of course!" he said. "What, you think I was slacking?"
"No! I just...." Hazō sighed, then tried again. "No," he said. "That came out wrong. What I should have said was 'what did you find?'" He gritted his teeth a little and forced himself to finish without sounding sullen. "I'm sorry for the mistake—I wasn't trying to be insulting."
"Good," Wakahisa said. Like Hazō , he took a breath and clearly forced himself to be calm. "Sorry, didn't mean to snap. I'm a little stressed about all this."
"I think we all are," Hazō said, grateful to have defused things. "Anyway, trying again: what did you find?"
Wakahisa dug in his pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of notepaper; upon opening it, it was revealed to be covered in incomprehensible notes. Hazō wasn't quite sure whether Wakahisa had great skill in cryptography or terrible skill in penmanship.
"Okay, I found everything we were looking for," Wakahisa said, his eyes skimming over the paper. "It looks like this place has whatever we're likely to need for the foreseeable future, so that's good. High-quality paper wasn't too bad, and there's plenty of it. I sighed and looked put-upon, told the guy I was a local factor for a hill daimyo with pretensions to being a poet. The guy laughed and didn't bat an eye when I told him how much I needed. The paper was only middling expensive and the inkstones weren't too bad. The copper kettles were moderately spendy, but I talked the guy down to practically nothing. The bread, raisins, and honey weren't too bad, but the chocolate is insane. A pound of the stuff starts at ten thousand ryō and goes up; the most expensive I saw was twenty-eight thousand, and I have no idea how to judge the quality. Personally, I say we just steal it."
Hazō and Wakahisa reflexively glanced at Mori, having gotten used to her assessing any plan they came up with. She was still sitting passively and staring at her fingers as they twined nervously back and forth in her lap. The two boys looked back at each other and silently agreed that they weren't going to push.
"Did you—" Hazō caught himself. "What sort of prices were you able to get?"
"I had them set stuff aside for us," Wakahisa said. "The kettle we can get for basically nothing, the bread, raisins, honey and tea aren't too bad, but the chocolate is going to cost. A LOT. Assuming we go for the middle of the range on the chocolate, we're looking at about thirty thousand ryō for everything together.
Hazō winced. "That's a lot," he said.
"Hey, you want to try beating decent prices for things you don't know squat about out of grabby merchants while you have to be careful not to sound like a foreigner, you go for it," Wakahisa said angrily.
Hazō held up both hands placatingly. "I wasn't criticizing," he said. "Just noticing. Mori, what kind of money are we looking at for those various jobs?"
"Highly skilled bodyguards with excellent references command up to eight hundred ryō an hour," Mori said. She was sounding less out of it, but her voice was shaking slightly in exchange. "Although it is highly variable, and I suspect that most clients simply negotiate a retainer with significant discount built in. Given that we are new in town and have no references, I suspect we could only earn two hundred at most. Assuming we could find employment in the first place. Also, bodyguard work tends to mostly be long-term and paid on salary, although there are a few jobs where someone needs a bodyguard for a few hours or a day while traveling to an event or a nearby town. The other jobs are extremely variable in their payment, and caravan work does not fit our timeframe."
"Suppose we give ourselves references that are actually us, under different disguises?" Wakahisa suggested.
"Stop," Hazō said quickly. "Mori, don't analyze that just yet; wait until you've recovered first. Wakahisa, that sounds like a great idea to me, but let's wait until she's a little more together before we decide on it, okay?"
Wakahisa nodded, staring at Mori and looking stricken. "Right. Sorry, Mori."
"I am fine," she said. She looked down at her shoulder where Wakahisa had touched it and shuddered. Wakahisa flinched.
rolz.org (retroactive said:
Hazō, Awareness (for simplicity, one roll for the entire time):
sum 9 1D100 => 34 ; 94 ; 79 ; 46 ; 18 ; 90 ; 7 ; 64 ; 42 ; total=474
Hazō hurried to fill the awkward silence. "Wakahisa, great job with the prices. I think I've got some good news; there's a lot of craps games in this town, which is something I'm pretty good at. Most of them are low stakes—say, fifty ryō a bet—but I found twelve just in a couple of hours. There's also a couple of casinos with higher stakes; I didn't do any betting, but I saw some craps games with a hundred ryō minimums and five hundred table max."
"What do you mean you're 'good at craps'?" Wakahisa asked suspiciously.
"I cheat," Hazō said blandly. "But nobody's going to spot me cheating; it's a bloodline trick. Also, I memorized the probabilities when I was nine and I don't bet emotionally."
"People would still notice if we won too consistently," Mori said.
Hazō shrugged. "Yeah. Also, the casinos work on a chip system. You play with chips, then you cash out at the end. It makes it easy for them to track how much you're actually winning. The private games you can win some, lose some, and as long as you're careful you can clean people out without them noticing."
"What does security look like at the casinos?" Wakahisa asked.
"Varies a lot," Hazō said. "I checked three different casinos. They all had civilian guards floating around, armed both nonlethal and lethal. On top of that, the first casino had a ninja prowling around out in the open, plus another one blending into the crowd. The second had another ninja, also hiding. The third place was the most upscale, but I didn't see anything but civilians guarding it. It did have a bunch of seals scattered around the ceiling and the tables, disguised as patterns in the wood or whatever."
"Seals?" Wakahisa said dubiously. "That doesn't sound good."
"Yeah, I know," Hazō said. "On the other hand, they had a lot of money. There was one table with a table minimum of two thousand ryō. We could go in there and make our bank in just a few minutes."
"We do not have the table minimum," Mori pointed out. "In fact, we have almost no money whatsoever."
"Oh, right," Wakahisa said. "I also talked about selling the stuff we've got. The meat isn't worth much at all; about four hundred ryō for all of it. The steelback bristles I couldn't sell at all; none of the smiths I talked to had heard of them so they figured I was just a scam artist. Fortunately, I was using a disposable disguise when I talked to them, so it shouldn't be an issue. Anyway, sell all the meat and combine it with the two hundred that we've got left after paying for the room and we've got almost nothing in terms of spending power."
"I can win us plenty in craps," Hazō said confidently.
"Hang on," Wakahisa said. "What's this trick of yours? If we're talking about gambling as our money-making strategy, that sounds like a losing proposition."
"I used to gamble back in Mist, to help my momma pay the bills," Hazō said, his voice catching. He swallowed before continuing. "I got so good that I got banned from a lot of games. I'm pretty sure that I got sent on this mission because I pissed off some Yakuza casino owners."
"That was a seriously dumbass move," Wakahisa said.
Hazō's lips tightened, but Mori broke in before he could respond.
"Please do not fight," she said, her voice still far away.
Hazō swallowed the angry retort he'd been planning to make and took a breath. "In retrospect, yes. There were good reasons at the time and I've learned from the mistake. Let's move on."
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Wakahisa said. "We need thirty thousand ryō, and we need it fast. The bodyguard work is a possibility but a difficult one, talking to the Yak could get us a lot of money but is risky, gambling has some major risks, and the other stuff sounds pretty uncertain."
Mori sat silent, hands folded in her lap. Hazō pondered.
"I think first we should get some lunch," he said. "Personally, I'm hungry. Wakahisa, could you give me a hand carrying? Mori, why don't you see if you can sleep a bit, get yourself back together; Wakahisa and I can bring something back"—he turned quickly to Wakahisa—"that is, if you don't mind helping me carry stuff?"
"Hm," Mori said, not looking at him.
Wakahisa looked at her, clearly torn, but shook his head. "Sure," he said, and followed Hazō out the door.
The two boys found a noodle shop and ordered some ramen to go; it was the cheapest food they could find, but it was still forty ryō a bowl.
While they waited, Hazō turned to Wakahisa. "Can we talk?" he said. "There's some tension between us, and I'd like to get rid of it if we can."
Wakahisa looked surprised, but nodded. "Okay," he said. "Talk."
"You and I have been striking sparks on each other, and it's getting worse," Hazō said. "You're a smart guy with good ideas, and we're living in a dangerous situation. We can't afford to have problems in the team, so I'd like to know what to do about it. How can we work together better?"
Wakahisa blinked. "Well, for one thing, you could stop assuming you're the leader and we all need to do what you say," he said. "Shikigami-sensei didn't know us from a hole in the ground. He chose you as leader pretty much at random, and I don't see why that should still hold true."
"Okay," Hazō said. "I can work on that. Do you have a specific problem with my leadership?"
"You miss things," Wakahisa said. "Like when you proposed fighting the steelback hand-to-hand. That was s—" He cut himself off, then continued more diplomatically. "I don't think that was the best approach."
Hazō nodded. "True, it wasn't. And you pointed that out and I changed the plan. Personally, I'd say that leaders don't have to be right all the time, they just need to be able to get everyone moving in a good direction and then not be too proud to take suggestions from people who have better ideas. Is that fair?"
"Yeah," Wakahisa said. "It's fair."
"Okay," Hazō said. "I'm guessing you'd like to be leader?"
"Uh...." Wakahisa paused, clearly not wanting to sound arrogant by answering 'yes'. "I think I'd be good at it," he said instead.
"What exactly would it look like, for you to be the leader?" Hazō said. "How would it work in practice?"
"Well, I'd propose plans and we'd do them," Wakahisa said.
"You'd take input from us, right?" Hazō asked. "After all, I don't think either of us is as good at spotting holes in plans as Mori is." He flashed Wakahisa a grin—a perfect grin, the same one that he'd once given to a friend in school when they'd agreed on a wicked prank. "That's not on us, though—she cheats like crazy with that bloodline of hers, though."
Wakahisa laughed. "Yeah, true," he said. "And yeah, I'd ask you guys for input."
"Okay," Hazō said. "So you being in charge would be you proposing plans, the three of us talking about them, and then—assuming we all agree that the plan is good—we do them. Right?"
"Yeah," Wakahisa said.
"What's stopping you?" Hazō said.
"What?" Wakahisa said.
"You're welcome to propose plans," Hazō said. "If I think they're good, I'm certainly not going to vote against them. I really doubt Mori would either."
"Yeah, but—" Wakahisa stopped, then tried again. "You're always pushing your plans out first," he said.
Hazō nodded. "Okay. I'll slow down, give you a chance to get yours in first. You don't mind if I suggest plans, I assume? You did say that you'd take input."
"Yeah, that's fine," Wakahisa said.
"Okay, good," Hazō said. "Do you mind if I make a suggestion now?"
"Go ahead," Wakahisa said.
"If you want to lead, you need to be focused on more than just whether we take the bodyguard job or the escort job," Hazō said. "You need to think more long-term, think about things that could get in the way. Things like bad team dynamics."
Wakahisa's lips thinned as he saw the trap. "Thanks for the suggestion," he said tightly.
Hazō nodded, the point made. "Anyway, what do you think we should do for money, O fearless leader?" He said it lightly, smiling widely and inviting Wakahisa to be part of the joke.
Wakahisa smiled back, then glanced around and lowered his voice. "You really can win at craps?" he said. "Reliably?"
Hazō nodded. "You know how craps works—the shooter rolls two dice and whatever number comes up with is the point. If he rolls two, three, or twelve then he craps out and loses his bet. Seven or eleven, he wins immediately. Otherwise he keeps rolling until he get the point again, but he loses if he rolls a seven before rolling the point. Once he loses, he passes the dice to the left." He waited until Wakahisa nodded, because Hazō actually had no confidence that the boy knew how to play craps.
"Anyway," Hazō said. "Because of my bloodline I can roll any number that I've rolled before with that pair of dice. I'll lose a few in the beginning until I learn how to roll seven and one of the good point numbers, but after that the dice will do whatever I tell them to. The only problem is if they switch dice on me."
Wakahisa nodded his understanding. "That's a pretty cool bloodline," he noted. "But that dice-switching thing sounds bad."
"Yeah, seriously," Hazō said. "It won't happen in the private games, though—well, not unless someone's cheating. The problem is that the casinos switch the dice periodically and they give you a choice of four pairs at the start of each round. I'd need to be able to tell the difference, and they might start to notice if I always chose the same set, so I'd have to learn all the pairs in each set. We'd lose a few bets here and there, but in general I can make as much as I want, as long as I'm careful to lose some too."
"Probably smart if you lose your entire stake and Mori and I do the winning," he said.
"Yeah, good plan," Hazō said, just as the chef set three bowls of ramen in front of them, packaged for take-out. "C'mon, let's get back to Mori and figure out what we're doing."
When I saw the ninja stealth rolls I flipped the fuck out since I thought it was happening right then and there. Give me a fuckin heart attack, why don't you.
@eaglejarl@AugSphere Did Wakahisa ask where we could go to get cheaper chocolate?
There are only a couple of people in town who carry it; it's a very rare commodity, since cacao isn't exactly local. Those were the best prices he found.
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