"You're not allowed to tell me the rules I'm going to be playing by." Now that he's calmed down somewhat, it's easy to slip back into the deadpan tone he uses a lot of the time. "That's great. So what's the standings right now? Are you just starting?"
"I am not. Think of it as... a compulsion, a very strong one." He does not seem to mind the deadpan tone, however, and gives a little smirk at it. But Mortimer continues, "SAGE has just won his qualifying match against PSYCHE. He will be moving on to Round One, against me. But there are other matches to attend to, first, among other Arcana."
"... That's dumb." All of this is so, so very dumb. "Right... so which would you like to see advance, ideally? And are they stronger opponents, or ones you know you'd defeat?"
"Indeed. But this round must be finished, one way or another."
Death thinks about it for a moment, before stating, "Of the current match-ups... Emperor. Chariot. Justice. Strength. Fool. Myself. I am not wholly sure which of Empress and Magician, or Sun and Priestess would be the most useful to our side if they won. But all of these I have listed are the ones least likely to harm you Travelers, for they are generally sympathetic to you. The ones I certainly do not want to win - Hanged Man. Tower. Devil. Thankfully Lovers has already lost. As for Moon... I am hesitant to say she would harm you, but she clearly wouldn't help you."
"I want a peaceful, natural conclusion to this journey. Finality, but with a chance for something new. A renaissance of a sort. But if I won, I personally would enjoy a sabbatical from all this. Perhaps a hot spring trip?" Mortimer smirks at the thought.
"How nice." He's clearly not impressed, but he's got more important things to worry about. "And if there are more people with other players... this isn't a case of 'kill the other team', is it? Just knock them out of the game?"
"No, goodness no." Death almost laughs, there, but manages to keep it to an amused smile. "Practically, I would only be making more work for myself, as I am responsible for keeping you all alive. No, what you are doing is completing Jaunts, as in the previous rounds - the other Travelers can explain that better than I can. The conclusion of each Jaunt determines the winner of the match, who then moves on to the next bracket."
Good to know, that he's supposed to keep them alive. "And no one cheats?" Because while he's glad they don't have to kill each other, he's also aware that not everyone sticks to the rules in games. ... Much to his frustration sometimes.
"A great many of us have cheated," he admits, "but mostly it was to gain Marks among the Travelers. I do not think it impossible for one of our number to cheat now, but... they would have to be remarkably, remarkably good at hiding it to escape our notice."
He frowns, grimly. "I can only think of one such, and she is damned hard to read. But as I said, I do not intend for any of you to truly die. You may experience death if your counterpart from another world dies, whether Investigating or Infiltrating, but you, physically, will be safe."
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Death thinks about it for a moment, before stating, "Of the current match-ups... Emperor. Chariot. Justice. Strength. Fool. Myself. I am not wholly sure which of Empress and Magician, or Sun and Priestess would be the most useful to our side if they won. But all of these I have listed are the ones least likely to harm you Travelers, for they are generally sympathetic to you. The ones I certainly do not want to win - Hanged Man. Tower. Devil. Thankfully Lovers has already lost. As for Moon... I am hesitant to say she would harm you, but she clearly wouldn't help you."
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He frowns, grimly. "I can only think of one such, and she is damned hard to read. But as I said, I do not intend for any of you to truly die. You may experience death if your counterpart from another world dies, whether Investigating or Infiltrating, but you, physically, will be safe."
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