[It is grand strategy. Everything is. It's just a matter of what the stakes are.
Funnily, Atem might not have paid this much attention to the machinations of the gods if he weren't so sure the place was a game. If he were just thrown into having to live something that was clearly just a life, without direction....he might have paid about as much mind to the Fog and the Fourth as he did to politicians back home, which is to say, barely a thought.
But these gods exist for a purpose that's directly relevant to the monster player-characters. They exist to empower, and to motivate, and to divide. And, with Elias's recent use of EMPs to slow monster transformations, and the Fog faction's response....Atem smells escalation. He thinks Elias is testing his anti-Fog powers. Even though Atem doesn't think the guy is particularly competent, the EMPs were the biggest move Atem's seen Elias make.
He thinks more is coming. That's what Atem would do, if he were on the losing side of a war. He'd increase his arsenal, and he'd recruit.
But that doesn't matter right now. Right now, the picture is smaller than that, just him and Mukuro, in apartment 806, talking about something difficult.]
Just one thing.
[He doesn't ask like he's demanding an answer. But she asked, "is there anything else you want to know," and the truth of the matter is...]
Junko Enoshima...
[His brows furrow.]
...I want to know -- if she treated you well.
[She should have. Atem would have. Yugi would have. If he had one person whose whole world he was, a protector who was his strongest ally, he'd have held them close to his heart, kept them his with love, trusting their loyalty instead of testing it...
...but his experiences taught him different lessons than Junko's did.]
no subject
Funnily, Atem might not have paid this much attention to the machinations of the gods if he weren't so sure the place was a game. If he were just thrown into having to live something that was clearly just a life, without direction....he might have paid about as much mind to the Fog and the Fourth as he did to politicians back home, which is to say, barely a thought.
But these gods exist for a purpose that's directly relevant to the monster player-characters. They exist to empower, and to motivate, and to divide. And, with Elias's recent use of EMPs to slow monster transformations, and the Fog faction's response....Atem smells escalation. He thinks Elias is testing his anti-Fog powers. Even though Atem doesn't think the guy is particularly competent, the EMPs were the biggest move Atem's seen Elias make.
He thinks more is coming. That's what Atem would do, if he were on the losing side of a war. He'd increase his arsenal, and he'd recruit.
But that doesn't matter right now. Right now, the picture is smaller than that, just him and Mukuro, in apartment 806, talking about something difficult.]
Just one thing.
[He doesn't ask like he's demanding an answer. But she asked, "is there anything else you want to know," and the truth of the matter is...]
Junko Enoshima...
[His brows furrow.]
...I want to know -- if she treated you well.
[She should have. Atem would have. Yugi would have. If he had one person whose whole world he was, a protector who was his strongest ally, he'd have held them close to his heart, kept them his with love, trusting their loyalty instead of testing it...
...but his experiences taught him different lessons than Junko's did.]