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[knifemonopoly]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, PLAYER1. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 10.11.0.0.01 *** PLAYER1 has joined 10.11.0.0.01 <PLAYER1> If you're looking for someone you knew as Yugi before June, you've found him! It's Atem, leave a message.

Main handle: < Player1 > Anon: < turtleluck >, < actuallydied >, < burner >

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[improvking]

[ The Ring-Spirit is good with the current push/hold ratio, this works. ]

You can't have a flawless strategy in place for every possible scenario. Trying to have ~the perfect solution~ for an infinite number of might-happens doesn't help, it paralyzes - and you're still not listening.

Who still exists, Pharaoh?

You're so focused on not clearing with a perfect score that you're ignoring the fact you cleared.

[ Welcome to what winning looks like for Normal People, o Divine King. It's a very mixed bag. ]

[knifemonopoly]

[A long, long time ago, a boy was picked to be that Divine King, a boy who loved games and hid from before-dawn lessons in vases and fell asleep on his throne. He was supposed to be a figurehead, a child-king on the throne of the Great House, while the priests arranged things as they saw fit behind him, priests whose hands were already stained in blood, priests who told him he was a god on earth, and it was his very important solo job to preserve the magical order of the universe, so the world didn't fall into chaos.

And he swallowed so much of that kool-aid that when it came time to magically protect the universe, he didn't hesitate to rend his own soul, because it's up to him to have the solution, it's up to him to protect and preserve, against dark gods of destruction.

And to protect and preserve hearts. The people. The friends who matter. The people he thinks have been wronged.

He might not remember why he thinks this way, but these habits of thought are still in place, just colored by the magic he's been fused with. He's the only one who has to have the solution, it is his job to do this, to get it right. He's got to look out for Normal People, because that's what a friend does.

And, in the face of all of that, he answers the question.]

Ryou does.

[...and, his forehead drops onto the harpy's chest, resting heavily against a collarbone.]

I do.

[...it might be a little bit muffled by feathers.]

[improvking]

[ Part of the Ring-Spirit truly is a god - a dark, destructive one, but no less a god; human concerns... just, don't make a lot of sense sometimes. ...ok, a lot of times. The things little mortals tie themselves into knots over! Not getting what ya wanted sucks, yes, but that doesn't seem to be the actual issue here, so???

Part of the Ring-Spirit is a king who chose his crown - maybe a choice born out of injustice and enraged grief, but a choice all the same. No, more than a choice; he'd carved his own throne into existence through sheer spite. He understands aiming for 100%, not being willing to settle for anything less - but that's a reason to keep going, not to grind to a halt.

The Ring-Spirit, even if he knew the whys behind the Other Yugi's thought process, still wouldn't understand it. ]

Exactly. And that's what matters: because there is no downtime between rounds. Every moment spent reviewing is a moment of playtime lost.

[ This isn't about Ryslig, he's talking game theory for "life in general" here, try to keep up. ]

[knifemonopoly]

[...he thinks about a voice, similar but different, that told him that if he didn't take time to unwind and rest, he'd run the risk of making mistakes, of slipping up. That he couldn't keep going, all of the time, or his game would suffer.

What he's doing...hasn't been resting. It's been holding down the gas pedal while the car's in park, it's been letting the engine of his mind, restrained by its absence of direction, run and run and run without getting anywhere.

And that does no good to anybody.

He still exists. Ryou still exists. Even the pharaoh can't win every round; he can be okay with that, he's lost rounds before, because the game isn't over. He needs to make more deliberate use of his time: if he needs to rest, he should actually rest, not spin out uselessly in what-ifs.

Learn, adapt, play the game. Clear the levels. Don't let what happened in the last one penalize you in the next.

Don't let yourself be paralyzed, don't doubt, don't hesitate -- or you're dead.]

You're right. There's nothing useful about what I've been doing...it's important to rest sometimes, but it only helps if you're actually resting!

It's no good to waste time.

[Time spent getting real rest, time spent with friends...that's not a waste, that helps keep you sane. Time spent beating yourself up over past mistakes, though...that's inefficient.

Heh. He really wasn't expecting to get support here, from this guy. Man, Triffany is right, taking the time for human (or monster) contact is important.

But, he can't help but wonder...]

...

...

...how long are you going to hold me?

[dry as tomb-dust.]