Audience: Ookurikara

[gatonina]

Comments

[gatonina]

[they sniff, petting their bun.]

You're welcome.

[unfriendliest]

[ he wasn't thanking winter, but no use correcting them. it's whatever. time to get to business. ]

Why were we split into factions? And why keep them secret?

[ the unasked question: why is he with winter specifically. ]

[gatonina]

Because it's a game, champ. Think about it this way: People from the other teams might not want to help you score points if they knew who you were with. If you keep it a secret, then no one's actively excluding each other or sorting themselves into cliques.

[unfriendliest]

My name is Ookurikara.

[ don't call him "champ" :/ ]

That will still happen. [ the cliques, he means. it doesn't matter what teams they're assigned to; they'll stick with those they care about first. ] What good will scoring points do? What's the goal of this game of yours?

[gatonina]

I know.

[be nicer and they'll consider it.]

Didn't we already cover this...? It's something to do so you don't go stir crazy while we fix whatever brought you here.

[unfriendliest]

That still doesn't explain why you gave us magic - let alone why some of these abilities are made for violence when you insist you're against it.

[gatonina]

Because it's what I could impart...? If you think violence is the only way to use them, you seriously need to take a step out of the box.

[...that's not how the saying goes, but ok.]

[unfriendliest]

What else would you use poison for, if not to kill someone?

[gatonina]

Ever heard of pest control? Not all kinds of poison are deadly, either. There's a long history of medical applications.

[unfriendliest]

You gave me poison magic to kill bugs for you?

[gatonina]

[they wiggle their hand back and forth-- kind of?]

I gave you what I could impart because I knew you would only put it to good use. If you want to kill bugs, sure? But like I said, you can help your friends with it, too.

[unfriendliest]

I've never seen a poison used to help - only to kill. I'd rather use my sword for that, if I have to fight.

[gatonina]

Everything's bad in huge amounts, dude. Doesn't mean some toxins aren't medicinal if you, like, use really small doses.

[unfriendliest]

I don't know enough about medicines for that to be useful. If that's what you wanted, you should have given this power to someone else. Why me?

[gatonina]

Even if you don't know now, you can learn. That's easy to fix. What was most important to me was, um... making sure it went to someone with a good head on their shoulders.

[unfriendliest]

[ bold you to assume kara has enough braincells for that. ]

How would you know enough about me to make that kind of decision?

[gatonina]

Same way we knew you were coming. We're connected.

[unfriendliest]

What is that supposed to mean?Connected how?

[gatonina]

Hmm... It's not easy to explain. But we just know stuff? That kind of connection.

[unfriendliest]

[ well that's uncomfortable. ]

...What kind of stuff, exactly?

[gatonina]

Mm, I don't know your whole life story. But you could say I have the study guide edition up here.

[they tap their temple with a gloved hand.]

[unfriendliest]

A... study guide.

[ well. never hear dof it, but he can guess what that might mean? ]

Then why not give us magic similar to our old ones? We wouldn't have to relearn it all.

[gatonina]

Sorry. I'd love to, but I could only give you what I could impart.

[unfriendliest]

One of the others couldn't do something similar?

...How were these factions decided, anyway?

[gatonina]

You're on my team, buster.

[a huff.]

Mm, we sorted you guys ourselves. It wasn't complicated.