Stone frowns. "Not sure if I should be offended or not that you decided I ought to be part of the 'standing apart' business." And yet, he can't exactly deny that he's done that for a large chunk of the past couple centuries. "All right, what do you need me for? From what I hear, you people are pretty powerful yourselves."
"Yeah, not all that helpful. Since I don't know the things you idea-people can't do, I can't fill in the cracks. Even if I wanted to," Stone adds. "Not really sure yet why I'd want to, since you all kidnapped me from my court without even asking first."
She actually looks down at that, dismayed. "He didn't want to," she says, quietly. "He's the only one of us who didn't want to."
The wolf yips, and she stops, turning to face him again, then back to Stone.
"We're not good at influencing mortal behavior," she says carefully. "That's what we need you for. What he wants... is to make everyone stop and think. Will you help with that?"
"I tend to spend most of my time trying to do that, already," Stone grouses, which could be interpreted as a yes, he'll help with that, if you're feeling generous about interpretations. "That's just common sense. What do you mean, he didn't want to? He did, didn't he? You did, didn't you?" he adds, directly at SAGE.
"That isn't an answer. Everyone tries to leave something they don't want to be involved in." Stone fixes the wolf with a narrow-eyed look. "Why didn't you want to play? Just because you'd rather be alone? Or something else?"
"So does that mean you aren't going to tell me what the 'more' is?" Stone guesses irritably. "I'm not likely to work for you very well if I don't understand what it is you actually want."
"If you want understanding that comes from outside, you should talk to the monkey, not the organ-grinder," she says, brightly, and then frowns. "They don't really grind organs, do they?"
The wolf yips, once. She startles, and looks back at stone. "He says, you don't need his guidance to see the shortcomings of the game as it's played now."
"I don't know what a monkey is, and the only organ-grinding I know about is for food, and Raksura don't bother with it, we just eat things as they come."
He eyes them both, looking from one to the other. "I can see shortcomings. I've only been here a few days, I think, and I can see plenty. But I wouldn't know that's why you didn't want to play unless you tell me. Or, for that matter, if the shortcomings you see are the same as the ones I see. So the question had to be asked."
"Hmm." Stone considers that thoughtfully. "I can see where you're coming from, there. Don't agree in all cases-- I've got some idiot descendants who need their answers given to them, sometimes. But I can see it. So you don't like this game as it is, maybe for the same reasons I don't, maybe for your own reasons. If you win, how will you fix it? Or will you stop it altogether?"
She pauses, looks at the wolf, frowns at Stone, frowns back at the wolf.
"He says, victory is an emergent condition from which the solution must be derived," she says. "I know what he means by it, too. Not sure if you could."
"Sounds to me like he's saying he won't know until he actually wins," Stone says, sounding grouchy. "That's not very helpful for those of us stuck in this flawed game of yours, but it's a start, I guess." He pauses, and looks fully at ROSE now. "What about you? What are you here trying to get out of this? IF you're like him, you're trying to win, too, and you probably have your own goals."
"Listen, Chuckles," she says. "You seem like you'd be lots of fun at parties, and I like talking about what's going to happen when I come in first, but this is not the appropriate venue for telling you what I'll do when I beat the pants off my brother here. My role is strictly intermediary."
Stone snorts, himself. "I hate parties. Even when I was young and pretty, I hated parties." He glances back at SAGE, and says, "I just want to know if others of you idea-people see these shortcomings, too, and want to do something about them, or if we're alone with SAGE here on our side. If he even is. Since you're here, you're the one probably most likely to agree with him."
"Sorry, Charlie," she says, not sounding particularly sorry. "I'm here because I talk as much as he doesn't. I'm his ally. So are others. We have things in common. But 'an agenda' isn't one of them, unless you define it pretty broadly."
So much for that tactic. Apparently she doesn't share any of SAGE's misgivings about this whole game thing-- at least it's better to know than to not know. Looks back at SAGE, Stone asks, "Did you not tell her my name, or does she do this to everybody?"
Apparently antagonizing him means she likes him. Stone can't help a bit of a grin. "Not so different from a Raksura, after all." He shakes his head. Back to business. "All right, so I try to make people stop and think, and you try to fix this game of yours. What happens to the rest of us, once it's over?"
"That will depend on the victor," ROSE says with a solemnity entirely due to fidelity of translation. "ROSE, Sol, myself - and some others - will be considerate or generous in our treatment of Travelers. Others - will reward you according to their particular idiom."
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The wolf yips, and she stops, turning to face him again, then back to Stone.
"We're not good at influencing mortal behavior," she says carefully. "That's what we need you for. What he wants... is to make everyone stop and think. Will you help with that?"
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"He left the game," ROSE says, softly. "He got messed up for it - then dragged back."
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"He preferred not to play." She shrugs, almost apologetically, at the spareness of the answer.
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"Something more," she offers, in correction.
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The wolf yips, once. She startles, and looks back at stone. "He says, you don't need his guidance to see the shortcomings of the game as it's played now."
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He eyes them both, looking from one to the other. "I can see shortcomings. I've only been here a few days, I think, and I can see plenty. But I wouldn't know that's why you didn't want to play unless you tell me. Or, for that matter, if the shortcomings you see are the same as the ones I see. So the question had to be asked."
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"He says, victory is an emergent condition from which the solution must be derived," she says. "I know what he means by it, too. Not sure if you could."
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"Listen, Chuckles," she says. "You seem like you'd be lots of fun at parties, and I like talking about what's going to happen when I come in first, but this is not the appropriate venue for telling you what I'll do when I beat the pants off my brother here. My role is strictly intermediary."
The wolf huffs, a sound of obvious amusement.
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