"Is that what we do?" ROSE answers, now sounding positively amused. "I wondered... but hey, if you can build it, go for it. I put the chairs up to give me a little more room for this next bit."
"It's a theory, albeit one that requires further investigation. I know better than to ask you how you do your magic, and it's more fun to guess anyway," she says, grinning.
"And what is the 'next bit'?" she wonders. "Will this be the secretive war room from which you watch your machinations in the next Jaunt unfold, cackling at the incomprehension of your pawns as your opponent falls to your subtle gambits?"
"Close, Goldie, super close," ROSE tells her encouragingly. "Except I like it better when my pawns catch on. The Honorable Opposition's pawns can stumble around in the dark, but mine should twig."
"Hmhm, that's good!" she says. "As befits you. Leading us along the quest is a part of your archetype, right?"
She thinks again for a moment. "So what I know before seeing the game board is this: the board is probably the Grid, based on what my compatriots have divined from Liminal Space, or somewhere else in its universe, just as we've apparently been to three different points on the Earth where that horrible cat-bug-demon rules an empire. The Grid is where you made your grand debut of rule-breaking for the sake of your reclusive canine associate - he's no longer secluded on that world, but I don't see him having an interest in returning there off-turn, so he's unlikely to be participating. Unless I've miscounted, the only ones of your number who haven't had a turn this round are yourself and the Empress, although I don't know your rules for wildcards and if I was running this, I'd be tempted to pit you against Lovers in a rematch."
That was a fair bit of talking without getting to a point even for her, so she pulls out her pipe and lights it to pause for a moment. "Am I on a reasonable path so far?"
"One mistake, but it's canceled out by something you don't know about, so you are absolutely walking the reasonable path," ROSE says, eyes shining in delight, grim narrow and knowing. "Me and Mei on the Network. I'd rather have faced her in a later round, but doing it this way, I get an advantage."
On the N--oh, right, that word can mean electrical wires too. Thorne set one up. Beatrice catches herself before sounding too stupid about modern technology.
"It's a territory you're intimately familiar with, and I don't imagine little electricity people have much in the way of maternal tradition...although I suppose they could still have matriarchs," she observes. "Mei's a sly one, though, behind her tearful cookie-baking nursemaid side. I would be extremely surprised if she didn't have some sort of counter against your home-field advantage prepared."
"I wouldn't want anything less from her," ROSE asserts. "And anyway, everyone is making very sure we don't have an uneven contest this time around. Everyone who's allowed to, anyway."
"I imagine you in particular are being watched carefully by the other players," Beatrice says in a faintly sympathetic tone. Then she looks around. "Probably even here. Liminal Space is hell for paranoia."
"Out of curiosity, can you tell me who's not allowed to referee this contest? None of you ever hand out rules lists, so I don't know for sure what I can and can't ask, either."
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"And what is the 'next bit'?" she wonders. "Will this be the secretive war room from which you watch your machinations in the next Jaunt unfold, cackling at the incomprehension of your pawns as your opponent falls to your subtle gambits?"
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She thinks again for a moment. "So what I know before seeing the game board is this: the board is probably the Grid, based on what my compatriots have divined from Liminal Space, or somewhere else in its universe, just as we've apparently been to three different points on the Earth where that horrible cat-bug-demon rules an empire. The Grid is where you made your grand debut of rule-breaking for the sake of your reclusive canine associate - he's no longer secluded on that world, but I don't see him having an interest in returning there off-turn, so he's unlikely to be participating. Unless I've miscounted, the only ones of your number who haven't had a turn this round are yourself and the Empress, although I don't know your rules for wildcards and if I was running this, I'd be tempted to pit you against Lovers in a rematch."
That was a fair bit of talking without getting to a point even for her, so she pulls out her pipe and lights it to pause for a moment. "Am I on a reasonable path so far?"
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"It's a territory you're intimately familiar with, and I don't imagine little electricity people have much in the way of maternal tradition...although I suppose they could still have matriarchs," she observes. "Mei's a sly one, though, behind her tearful cookie-baking nursemaid side. I would be extremely surprised if she didn't have some sort of counter against your home-field advantage prepared."
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"Out of curiosity, can you tell me who's not allowed to referee this contest? None of you ever hand out rules lists, so I don't know for sure what I can and can't ask, either."