borjafamily | Night 2 into Morning 3

[there's a flicker of something in her expression, not quite readable. she holds his gaze, unblinking -- like a predator looking for a weak spot. any hint whatsoever that he's anything less than sincere.

and then she relaxes, marginally.]

You are my Prime. There's nothing for me, other than put my faith in that promise. So long as that's your will, I'll carry it out perfectly.

[ Bergen's a lot of things, but insincere? absolutely not one of them. ]

An' for me, ain't nothin' but to live up to it. I'm beholden to all of you, same's you are to me.

[. . . .]

... If I may.

[ whoops, jolts a bit. he didn't see you. ]

-- 'Spera?

[finally breaking bergen's gaze to look over to him. she looks somewhat apprehensive]

Vespera...

[lightly!] Bergen speaks true of my thoughts.

Not to say I won't keep my blade sharp and aim true! We are already betraying all of them, after all.

You spoke of advantage. Betrayal only works should it be a surprise, and each and every family is brimming with readiness for it. We may play that game, but with all of them?

Edited 2014-10-15 00:34 (UTC)

[ letting Vespera say his piece for now ]

Everyone expects betrayal, but no one knows the form it comes in or the time it comes. That's where the advantage lies. If we don't betray them, they'll betray us. In order to win, we need to betray them first, and in a particular manner that they won't expect. They'll take precautions. We see those precautions and look for a gap. A weak point they've missed. That's the game. We simply have to be more vigilant and more clever than they are...

[she seems to be deep in thought, though. obviously considering something. sitting up with her legs tucked under her and tapping her fingers against her knees idly.]

We will surely need to. But universally, I want more advantages than vigilance.

... Consider our Governess. He could set terms of agreement to eliminate betrayal as an option entirely, 'til we are done with the match. Covering our backs, and leaving us open to an allegiance we can wholly trust in turn - and all the advantages that offers.

Especially when it is a family weaker than us.

Just put in something like -- the terms of the contract cannot be breached without advanced notice of a full day. And make sure there aren't any holes in the contract to be exploited.

Still. Betrayal allows for a clean sweep if we do it right. Open conflict -- we're almost guaranteed to get bloodied. It's fine as long as we all survive, but still.

[ firm ]

We ain't losin' nobody. S'a requirement no matter what the hell we do.

We've plenty of families to kill. One at a time, shall we? They will all be gunning for us soon, eager to subjugate our resource. To be certain one family is not gunning for us - I believe that will do us good, that is all.

Ching Shih is a game I am willing to play. Ichibei... I admit you are right, the thought of playing them as we were played is simply sour in my mouth. Delicate or not, that is my stance. Nothing I'd allow to cost my Family.

We need to keep them at bay if we're going to play that way. The closer we are at the end, the bloodier it will end up being. If we intend to fight fair we have to absolutely dominate every single season. Not just through deception, but by fulfilling every role perfectly.

As if that will be difficult.

Here I thought a clever betrayal would be bloody indeed. It should be no trouble at all to stay unattached.

What say you, Bergen? Thoughts?

[ hrrmmm, he thinks for a moment. arms folded loosely across his chest. ]

S'gonna be awful lonely if'n it's us against the world. But we all know what Achilles did t'us.

Betrayed us, as heartlessly as anyone would strive for.

[sour...]

...Twould not be lonely were it only family. I only wish to prevent that from happening again. Choose our final battle.

[to be honest she's mostly thinking about the best way to write up a contract that would allow them to betray ichibei without being betrayed by them

actually that's a really good idea. a lot better than fighting them straight up and probably even a little better than playing betrayal chicken.

-- but she decides that she probably should keep that thought to herself. worst case scenario she can work something out, strike on her own and take out ichibei herself somehow. better to act and apologize than ask permission.

she lies down again, curling up and looking up at them both, relaxed and maybe a little bit weary.]

No need to rush a contract of that nature. I say we start with a less stringent and see where it goes. In the mean time Eos and I can work out the precise language for such a contract in the event that we should actually want one.

[... glancing between them both...]

Yourselves and Bergen, that is. Make haste to finish it now; delay in this choice does not benefit us. We can relax once we've decided the temperature of Borja's blood.

Let me know, would you? I've made my contribution to this little chat, and retire myself from it now. My motivations are colored with ill favor, it would seem.

[turns to sass off to bed.]

Edited 2014-10-15 23:59 (UTC)

[ did we just get sassed. welp. just before he goes: ]

Thanks, Vespera.

[watching him walk away. she looks a little bit sad.

once he's out of earshot, quietly:]

My apologies. It wasn't my intention for him to hear that.

S'all right. We both had our blood up good.

You got a good plan with Eos there. An' if you're in charge of the terms, I surely do trust you t'make it good for us.

[huffs. SHE'S NOT HAPPY ABOUT VESPERA but business comes first. so she will just pine at him quietly across the room.]

We'll set it to our advantage. Chain's no fool but we know more than he does about the way of things. We can use that to give us an edge. In particular I think we should see about the possibility of writing up a contract that allows us to withhold information. Or make it up. Some sort of a loophole...

Withholdin's like to be simpler. An' less obvious why we're continuin' to get better scores.

The one thing I would say is -- if we have room to lie, we can make up tasks that are prohibitively difficult, and then say that we've managed to reach them by virtue of being superior. That would also explain how we're staying ahead.

Well, we might not make so much use of it, but it's worth trying to keep the option open.

Like I said. I trust you with figurin' an option what will benefit us most.

Night 2 into Morning 3

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