#s190

lmao, of course Dirk would see himself as a puppetmaster, rather than a chessmaster...

...and I doubt it's ever occurred to him that he might be a puppet himself.

TT: There's a lot of give to that ass, you may say. TT: Might like to settle in. Make myself comfortable. Start a family. TT: Bounce a coin off that ass, you'll demand of visitors. It's not going anywhere. TT: Bet that coin'll take a good nap there. TT: It's a gamble you win every goddamn time. TT: Yeah.

Anyway, I'm enjoying Dirk's schtick a lot. Like I said before, his spiels aren't dissimilar to Dave's patented rambles, but they're still different enough that they feel fresh.

Plus, it's oddly hilarious to hear Dave's comedic style relayed through perfect grammar and syntax. Who says humans don't have typing quirks?

TT: Jane, soon you'll believe what I've told you. […] TT: It's just a shame that believing will take something so coarse as seeing, for a girl as sharp as you. TT: Critical thought can lead one to accept the unlikely, just as much as dismiss the impossible. TT: I can help with this too. Would you like me to program a Jane Crocker responder for you? TT: I only require a simple captcha of your brain.

So the Responder is, essentially, Dirk's Brain in a Jar. That's pretty much what I thought was going on, and it's certainly easier than programming a sentient AI from scratch.

It also means that Dirk is absolutely, unambiguously aware that the AR is sentient, which makes it even more fucked-up that he's keeping it as a captive secretary. That's you, dude!

Damn. These bots will certainly be helpful when it's time to fight Underlings - unless Dirk thinks doing so would deprive his friends of valuable combat experience. He seems like the type.

pffffft

TT: Jane, one more thing. TT: I'm sure you must be aware by now that you'll be the leader of our group, as you will be the first to enter the session. […] GG: This is news to me. I never gathered that "team leader" was a thing for this game. [...] GG: I believe as a group we will have the temerity to succeed, without my having to order people around like an insufferable bossypants. TT: That's why you're our leader, Jane. […] TT: Optimism through stalwart skepticism is an affect not everyone is plucky enough to be graced with.

Dirk's compliment to Jane scans as a lot more ominous than Rose's almost-identical description of John - mostly because, unlike Rose, Dirk does not describe his friend as 'lucky'.

No one in this timeline is lucky - and Dirk knows it.

TT: You're not our leader, you're our FRIEND, right? GG: Precisely! GG: There is a BIG difference! TT: And statements like that are also why you're our leader. TT: But only in name and in spirit. Less so, functionally. TT: If it puts your mind at ease, I'll be the one pulling the strings here.

Jane might be the nominal leader, but Dirk is the real driving force behind the session, which is perhaps the least surprising thing I've heard all week. Jane's more of a symbolic leader, similar to John - although her personality differs from John's in several key ways, so I think she'll be a different kind of figurehead.

The biggest difference, if you'll pardon the pun, is that Jane's a lot less flighty than John.

I wouldn't exactly call him obstinate, but he does consistently ignore any instructions that he's not really feeling. John's a free bird, and I'm increasingly convinced that freedom is the core of Breath, especially in light of what we've learned about the Summoner.

John Egbert is always on the move. He was the first Player to enter his session, the first Player to ascend to the God Tier, and - technically - the first Player to behold a Denizen in the flesh. He's the one who collected the Tumor from the core of the Battlefield, and his meandering even led him to the Veil, to set all of this into motion in the first place.

John's not the leader because he instructs people - he's the leader because he's physically in the lead. He's a scout.

Looks like he's taking the grounding seriously this time.

Jane, however, has not exhibited the same 'flightiness' as her predecessor. She's a Life Player, not a Breath Player, and we have no idea how a Life leader operates.

...um, slight correction.

Uh oh, Lil Seb's acting out again.

Well, that's not a good sign.

Perhaps the Auto Responder's just spinning too many plates. If he were a truly artificial AI, he'd probably be beyond such limitations - but he was derived from a human brain, and may have inherited a human's limited ability to multitask.

Does Dad know about the bunny, actually? If not, he probably thinks Jane just hit puberty.

You've been climbing your echeladder very gradually for various minor accomplishments here and there since you were 13. That was such a sweet textbook HAT POF, it earned you just enough to clear the next rung, FEDORAFLEDGLING.

Heh. This makes one of my old theories a lot funnier in retrospect.

I previously assumed that the Echeladder was a Sburb mechanic - so when Nannasprite mentioned climbing the Echeladder in her childhood, I took it as evidence that she used to be a Player herself, meaning that Sburb existed in, like, the 1920s.

Turns out, she is a Player - but that's not why she has Echelevels, because Echelevels, like the Sylladex, are apparently a property of the universe itself.

In other words: I used the wrong formula, here, but I still managed to arrive at the correct answer. Kind of.

Also...