My concern is that once they realize that this thing may be part of the Captain to begin with... they won't be able to see past that. I can convince them that whatever's coming will be more of a threat than the man hiding in the bridge, but they're still going to want to deal with him. It's his fault they're here, whether or not he remembers why he started this in the first place.
I can't deny that it's a fair conclusion to draw from our situation, even though I'm heavily biased against it. But that's because I've had more chances to interact with the Captain without pretense, and I've come to know him independently from all of this. They aren't wrong to place the responsibility with him. It's the blame that worries me. Because many of them -- Clarke, Vance, and Natsuno at least -- put a heavy price on blame. And they're too young to know how to separate the two.
Hmm, you're not wrong there. The worst case scenario you're thinking of is that someone may try to use this piece of the captain as a means to destroy him outright, isn't it? Which would mean instant oblivion for all of us, almost certainly.
...I agree that the reasoning behind their anger is not at all unjustified. As I'm sure you've already been aware for some time, I still can't say I bear much fondness at all for the captain myself, on rather similar grounds. But I also cannot deny the objective fact that he does seem to be changing in some way, since the beginning of this voyage. And for my own part, a solution that kills us all is utterly unacceptable to me, so long as the possibility of alternative answers still exist.
It's certainly unfortunate, that younger or less objective minds are not yet in the habit or desire of viewing such angles.
[...He himself--does get along, better than not, with two of the three names on that list...which, naturally, is why Skulduggery is touching base to begin with. It's a sentiment that does lend some hesitation to the rest of Jade's response for a moment.
But this really is...shaping up to be quite the potential problem. Hm.
...Doubtless this will be coming back to bite him in some form later, but--]
Of that particular list, there, I don't have much familiarity at all with Vance. The young man with the large hair, isn't that one? [And that name seems to float around the arcade fairly often...? Well, anyway.] Out of them all, though, I could speak with the most certainty about Natsuno; he does not truly wish to resort to complete destruction, I don't think. ["It's not an option for me either", he'd said outright about the idea of vanishing, at a certain point last month. Quite the far cry from the person that had opted to blow himself up to avoid certain problems, back in October...] He's angry and frustrated, but no longer so nihilistic as he once was. Skepticism runs strong within him, however, and he's still geared towards assuming and expecting the worst of the captain.
He and Clarke are also very close. They value each other's opinions quite highly. Where one goes the other follows, I've observed...
That's why I appreciate your perspective. You may not like him, or respect him, or even particularly care about what happens to him once everyone else's futures are secured, but at least you're rational about it. That's something that I'm sorely lacking right now.
I used to think Natsuno was the more reasonable of the two of them, but then he blew himself up in October. Then again, compared to Clarke's fashion choices these days, that still seems more sensible than the alternative. I'll keep it in mind to negotiate with one over the other.
Well, I did tell you even before that excursion to the island all those months ago, now didn't I? If a critically objective eye is what you'd like to have, I certainly don't mind offering it, at least in regards to the captain in particular. You at least seem receptive to hearing it, as well, so I wouldn't sell yourself entirely too short just yet. It'd be quite more concerning if you weren't...and if you ever reach such a threshold, I could certainly try to let you know when you're being stupid too 🙂
October...was a very trying month all around, to say the least. The fact it started with so many explosions was truly a terrifically poor omen in retrospect. [Haha...ha....it's a bit easier to grimly joke about months later, isn't it?] If nothing else, though, I daresay the adverse reaction from all his friends did motivate him into properly examining the soundness of his line of logic there, after the fact. [Don't mind Jade over here framing this bit from an outside perspective as if he himself wasn't also one of those Very Upset friends or anything--] So, in one sense it has improved since. He's smart, within his means. But he's still quite young as well, and anger never helps with rational thinking; quite unfortunately, he's had a lot to be angry about on this overall voyage, and December is still a particularly sore bruise.
So, yes, you yourself may yet find it easier to negotiate with him than Clarke. What I also mean to outline here, however, is that anything Natsuno learns does pass to her--and vice-versa. Which can be both a good thing and a bad thing, dependent on the material. This can also apply in matters of persuasion, too...do you understand? Convince one, and the other is highly likely to follow in the end, at risk of quite the rift forming in a very close-knit friendship otherwise.
But, of course, the convincing is the particularly difficult part...
Likewise, whenever you start being stupid, I'll be right there to let you know.
Of course, the fact that they share information with each other isn't lost on me; it's the same between Ava and myself. He knows things I would prefer Clarke not to, but I don't think I get a choice in his revealing those facts. At any rate, even with the information they do have, they're still thankfully under the same rules that keep us all powerless against the ship.
Hm... As much as I don't care about Clarke personally, I wouldn't want to sever a relationship that's keeping the two of them from fully committing to burning the place down around us.
Always appreciated, even if I'll likely be very cross about it at the time. Brutal honesty does go a long way...
I'm certainly not advocating that you should sever their friendship if it can be helped. In some ways they do moderate each other, even if it sometimes means being reckless in opposite directions. [He's not talking about the sunslime incident right now, but he is thinking about the sunslime incident right now. Anyway though...] But they do value each other's opinions highly, and will be most likely to listen to each other over most anyone else on this ship. If they one day mutually decide that burning the place down around us is for the best, then they will be undeterred in doing so; alternatively, if one were to decide to settle on an alternative route that won't involve burning things down after all, they could potentially convince the other to do the same.
In short: you may not need to actively sell your perspective to both of them at once. Successfully focusing upon one is just as likely to result in the idea passing to the other eventually in a more palatable form. In fact, if done through Natsuno, Rita's likely to end up having to consider it as well. Those two have also grown very close in recent months.
[And now, a moment taken to sigh at nothing in particular. ...Strategizing over reckless youths sure is a trying thing...]
You were worrying about us needing to somehow close this social rift in the ship before things begin truly falling apart. I'm aware I am failing to give you much of a silver bullet solution in regards to these particular three teenagers. This is only a proposal of one particular sort of angle, and I have no illusions that it's going to actually repair anything with much speed. In fact, I'm sure they're going to be plenty furious with me just telling you this much about their relationships in general, if this ever gets back to them somehow...
As things stand right now, I don't think I could convince them to become amenable to opinions that come from you just by claiming that I think they should. ...I could try filing off the metaphorical serial numbers before warning them about some details of our overarching impending problem, though I profess that I'm also trying not to fall into the same level of non-transparency that upset them in December, so this is something of a new balancing act for me.
They're already aware that a ghost of some form may try to consume us in the near future, at the least. Should anything more be conveyed at this time, you think?
Codependency does make things a bit easier, when one of the people involved is slightly easier to talk to... Then again, if Natsuno is "close" to Rita, maybe he has even less sense than I already imagined... 🤠But that's good. I'm glad. It means they've got something to lose if things go wrong, and it gives all three of them a reason to want to survive through this.
If it helps, I didn't need you to tell me that Clarke and Natsuno are close. They're always hanging around each other. And, concerning that transparency you're trying to maintain: you are welcome to tell them as much as you feel is right. They'll take the news better from you, and if you can throw me under the bus in the meantime, it'll help repair their trust in you. Believe me, after everything that's happened, I am hard pressed to tell anyone to lie to their "charges," for lack of a better word. Darcy's never going to properly forgive me for... well, any of it. It's better if we keep you out of a similar dog house.
Now now, let's not drag Natsuno's taste in strongly opinionated people into all this. Here I was trying to be tactful about it, and then you just go and say it outright 😤! [Sarcasm, yet again, just seeping through the text.....honestly, Jade isn't entirely sure when it truly Started becoming more of a thing between those two, or even how exactly that bonding ended up coming about like this--but he'll still joke, at least. Even if he is genuinely glad for them. Because it's true, that other bit...] Anyway, I agree it's good that they have each other. Complete isolation is difficult to achieve on this ship anyhow, but even if it were easier--it's for the better that none of them are trying to go things alone, here.
Even if the entire passenger body can't be necessarily united right now, I suppose there's at least the closer-knit smaller groups. If only we could manage not to collide into each other quite so poorly as we have been...
[But after that there's another bout of delay--typing and erasing and typing some more. In the end Skulduggery does end up pinning down the crux of Jade's hesitations in turn, and so it's something of a. Relief? Maybe? That frankness there. Hm.]
Well, throwing a person under a carriage certainly becomes easier when they're assuring you they truly wouldn't mind it. ...I do trust that you still have the best interests of all us passengers in mind, you know. Even if they do not believe the same. So, I'd prefer not to throw you down there with glee, at the very least...
But I appreciate that you'd understand. Objectively, you're not wrong that it'd help my case of late. ...I shall think about how to turn the phrasing, I suppose. But in that case I'll tell them in your stead in some way, yes.
Interpersonal conflict is the source of most of our troubles. Unfortunately, I don't see an easy way to end it.
I'm glad you still know where I stand, even given everything we've been through. As frustrating as I find most of the other passengers at this point, they're still victims, and they still deserve my help. Even if they take it for granted when it's offered and refuse to give my relationship the benefit of the doubt...
Anyway. I don't care what they think of me at this point. We just need to make sure everyone is on as similar a page as possible. Even if that means they blame me for it happening.
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come_sailaway
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My concern is that once they realize that this thing may be part of the Captain to begin with... they won't be able to see past that. I can convince them that whatever's coming will be more of a threat than the man hiding in the bridge, but they're still going to want to deal with him. It's his fault they're here, whether or not he remembers why he started this in the first place.
I can't deny that it's a fair conclusion to draw from our situation, even though I'm heavily biased against it. But that's because I've had more chances to interact with the Captain without pretense, and I've come to know him independently from all of this. They aren't wrong to place the responsibility with him. It's the blame that worries me. Because many of them -- Clarke, Vance, and Natsuno at least -- put a heavy price on blame. And they're too young to know how to separate the two.
no subject
...I agree that the reasoning behind their anger is not at all unjustified. As I'm sure you've already been aware for some time, I still can't say I bear much fondness at all for the captain myself, on rather similar grounds. But I also cannot deny the objective fact that he does seem to be changing in some way, since the beginning of this voyage. And for my own part, a solution that kills us all is utterly unacceptable to me, so long as the possibility of alternative answers still exist.
It's certainly unfortunate, that younger or less objective minds are not yet in the habit or desire of viewing such angles.
[...He himself--does get along, better than not, with two of the three names on that list...which, naturally, is why Skulduggery is touching base to begin with. It's a sentiment that does lend some hesitation to the rest of Jade's response for a moment.
But this really is...shaping up to be quite the potential problem. Hm.
...Doubtless this will be coming back to bite him in some form later, but--]
Of that particular list, there, I don't have much familiarity at all with Vance. The young man with the large hair, isn't that one? [And that name seems to float around the arcade fairly often...? Well, anyway.] Out of them all, though, I could speak with the most certainty about Natsuno; he does not truly wish to resort to complete destruction, I don't think. ["It's not an option for me either", he'd said outright about the idea of vanishing, at a certain point last month. Quite the far cry from the person that had opted to blow himself up to avoid certain problems, back in October...] He's angry and frustrated, but no longer so nihilistic as he once was. Skepticism runs strong within him, however, and he's still geared towards assuming and expecting the worst of the captain.
He and Clarke are also very close. They value each other's opinions quite highly. Where one goes the other follows, I've observed...
no subject
That's why I appreciate your perspective. You may not like him, or respect him, or even particularly care about what happens to him once everyone else's futures are secured, but at least you're rational about it. That's something that I'm sorely lacking right now.
I used to think Natsuno was the more reasonable of the two of them, but then he blew himself up in October. Then again, compared to Clarke's fashion choices these days, that still seems more sensible than the alternative. I'll keep it in mind to negotiate with one over the other.
no subject
October...was a very trying month all around, to say the least. The fact it started with so many explosions was truly a terrifically poor omen in retrospect. [Haha...ha....it's a bit easier to grimly joke about months later, isn't it?] If nothing else, though, I daresay the adverse reaction from all his friends did motivate him into properly examining the soundness of his line of logic there, after the fact. [Don't mind Jade over here framing this bit from an outside perspective as if he himself wasn't also one of those Very Upset friends or anything--] So, in one sense it has improved since. He's smart, within his means. But he's still quite young as well, and anger never helps with rational thinking; quite unfortunately, he's had a lot to be angry about on this overall voyage, and December is still a particularly sore bruise.
So, yes, you yourself may yet find it easier to negotiate with him than Clarke. What I also mean to outline here, however, is that anything Natsuno learns does pass to her--and vice-versa. Which can be both a good thing and a bad thing, dependent on the material. This can also apply in matters of persuasion, too...do you understand? Convince one, and the other is highly likely to follow in the end, at risk of quite the rift forming in a very close-knit friendship otherwise.
But, of course, the convincing is the particularly difficult part...
no subject
Likewise, whenever you start being stupid, I'll be right there to let you know.
Of course, the fact that they share information with each other isn't lost on me; it's the same between Ava and myself. He knows things I would prefer Clarke not to, but I don't think I get a choice in his revealing those facts. At any rate, even with the information they do have, they're still thankfully under the same rules that keep us all powerless against the ship.
Hm... As much as I don't care about Clarke personally, I wouldn't want to sever a relationship that's keeping the two of them from fully committing to burning the place down around us.
no subject
I'm certainly not advocating that you should sever their friendship if it can be helped. In some ways they do moderate each other, even if it sometimes means being reckless in opposite directions. [He's not talking about the sunslime incident right now, but he is thinking about the sunslime incident right now. Anyway though...] But they do value each other's opinions highly, and will be most likely to listen to each other over most anyone else on this ship. If they one day mutually decide that burning the place down around us is for the best, then they will be undeterred in doing so; alternatively, if one were to decide to settle on an alternative route that won't involve burning things down after all, they could potentially convince the other to do the same.
In short: you may not need to actively sell your perspective to both of them at once. Successfully focusing upon one is just as likely to result in the idea passing to the other eventually in a more palatable form. In fact, if done through Natsuno, Rita's likely to end up having to consider it as well. Those two have also grown very close in recent months.
[And now, a moment taken to sigh at nothing in particular. ...Strategizing over reckless youths sure is a trying thing...]
You were worrying about us needing to somehow close this social rift in the ship before things begin truly falling apart. I'm aware I am failing to give you much of a silver bullet solution in regards to these particular three teenagers. This is only a proposal of one particular sort of angle, and I have no illusions that it's going to actually repair anything with much speed. In fact, I'm sure they're going to be plenty furious with me just telling you this much about their relationships in general, if this ever gets back to them somehow...
As things stand right now, I don't think I could convince them to become amenable to opinions that come from you just by claiming that I think they should. ...I could try filing off the metaphorical serial numbers before warning them about some details of our overarching impending problem, though I profess that I'm also trying not to fall into the same level of non-transparency that upset them in December, so this is something of a new balancing act for me.
They're already aware that a ghost of some form may try to consume us in the near future, at the least. Should anything more be conveyed at this time, you think?
no subject
Codependency does make things a bit easier, when one of the people involved is slightly easier to talk to... Then again, if Natsuno is "close" to Rita, maybe he has even less sense than I already imagined... 🤠But that's good. I'm glad. It means they've got something to lose if things go wrong, and it gives all three of them a reason to want to survive through this.
If it helps, I didn't need you to tell me that Clarke and Natsuno are close. They're always hanging around each other. And, concerning that transparency you're trying to maintain: you are welcome to tell them as much as you feel is right. They'll take the news better from you, and if you can throw me under the bus in the meantime, it'll help repair their trust in you. Believe me, after everything that's happened, I am hard pressed to tell anyone to lie to their "charges," for lack of a better word. Darcy's never going to properly forgive me for... well, any of it. It's better if we keep you out of a similar dog house.
no subject
Even if the entire passenger body can't be necessarily united right now, I suppose there's at least the closer-knit smaller groups. If only we could manage not to collide into each other quite so poorly as we have been...
[But after that there's another bout of delay--typing and erasing and typing some more. In the end Skulduggery does end up pinning down the crux of Jade's hesitations in turn, and so it's something of a. Relief? Maybe? That frankness there. Hm.]
Well, throwing a person under a carriage certainly becomes easier when they're assuring you they truly wouldn't mind it. ...I do trust that you still have the best interests of all us passengers in mind, you know. Even if they do not believe the same. So, I'd prefer not to throw you down there with glee, at the very least...
But I appreciate that you'd understand. Objectively, you're not wrong that it'd help my case of late. ...I shall think about how to turn the phrasing, I suppose. But in that case I'll tell them in your stead in some way, yes.
no subject
Interpersonal conflict is the source of most of our troubles. Unfortunately, I don't see an easy way to end it.
I'm glad you still know where I stand, even given everything we've been through. As frustrating as I find most of the other passengers at this point, they're still victims, and they still deserve my help. Even if they take it for granted when it's offered and refuse to give my relationship the benefit of the doubt...
Anyway. I don't care what they think of me at this point. We just need to make sure everyone is on as similar a page as possible. Even if that means they blame me for it happening.