Viridian ⋙ 梵天 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aberdevine) wrote2011-02-02 12:36 pm
aberdevine) wrote2011-02-02 12:36 pm
Entry tags:
[ESSAY] Three of Three Trauma Game
[KER-SKEWERED]
okay god where to start
I think Bonten's thought process on how he played the game is pretty evident from the thread itself, so I won't talk too much about that. He easily accepted that there was no getting out of the game and that there was the potential for real injury to occur. That much was obvious from the description. So, for him, there were only really two options: whether to play to win, or to play to minimize damage to everyone. It wasn't a difficult decision. Even in canon at his most BITTER SO BITTER he doesn't like hurting people. He goes from trying to kill Ginshu to protecting her from another ayakashi in no time flat, he intervenes in Imayou's quest for vengeance, and his whole original plan for using Toki basically boils down to STOPPING TEITEN FROM HURTING MORE PEOPLE. Sure, he slaps Susutake and Toki around, but that's comedic tsundere violence. And he has no reason to want to hurt any of the other teams. Aleph annoyed the fuck out of him, yeah, but that was no reason to try to actually injure Turquoise. So the moment he realized that they could minimize damage dealt by negating their own attack points, he suggested it. It was a risky gamble, since they were losing their chances to actually protect other teams, but it seemed the best option.
SO. What does this mean? In a lot of ways, the way he approached the game was sort of like a microcosm of his approach to canon. In the face of being forced into doing something harmful by a higher power, he doesn't actively fight it. He realizes the futility of doing that. Instead, he works within the rules to minimize damage and wait for an opportunity to act. We see this in his approach to Teiten. Instead of going Ginshu's route and actively challenging Teiten, Bonten plays nice until Toki arrives. He doesn't attack the humans, as much as other ayakashi might want him to, but he doesn't overtly move against Teiten, either. He takes a larger view of things and doesn't necessarily begrudge people for acting according to Heaven's Net. This feeds into what he told Ginger during the game: if everyone keeps in mind that they're just doing what they have to, it won't cause splintering amongst the teams. Viridian's a little more optimistic in general than canon Bonten, because he doesn't yet have the Byakuroku/Ginshu incident memories, but still.
Even saying that, if Emerald hadn't been rewarded for their kindness, he might have been a little bitter about the way the second round ended up, because holy crap thirty-three points. Not very bitter -- he talked to Hisoka about the numbers afterwards, which basically confirmed his thoughts on "there's no way to win this, we just have to do what we can to minimize damage" -- but still annoyed. As it is, his anger is directed firmly at the Personae. What possible reason could they have had for allowing this to happen?
He's not very negatively affected by the game because he already had a memory full of pain and agony, and everyone healed afterwards anyway. So he himself is fine. It's just cemented his feelings of loyalty and caring for his team, made it more obvious to him that the teams need to remember that they're all in this together (harmless competition aside), and really made him want to yell at the Personae a lot. HE DOESN'T TRUST THEM AT ALL AT THIS POINT. He's worried about how Ginger is going to deal -- or uh not deal -- with the fallout, but he's reasonably sure that Knife and Touchy will be fine. HOW DOES I TAKE CARE OF TEAMMATE? (Hint: memories won't help with this one. Clearly the proper way to deal with Tsuyu's trauma is to never tell him what happened and let him blame me for everything!!1!) As I said in the memory post, this game and his memory has strengthened in him the idea that working towards making things right, even if the future is uncertain, is the way to go. He is a very determined bird.
I... THINK THAT'S IT? If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.
okay god where to start
I think Bonten's thought process on how he played the game is pretty evident from the thread itself, so I won't talk too much about that. He easily accepted that there was no getting out of the game and that there was the potential for real injury to occur. That much was obvious from the description. So, for him, there were only really two options: whether to play to win, or to play to minimize damage to everyone. It wasn't a difficult decision. Even in canon at his most BITTER SO BITTER he doesn't like hurting people. He goes from trying to kill Ginshu to protecting her from another ayakashi in no time flat, he intervenes in Imayou's quest for vengeance, and his whole original plan for using Toki basically boils down to STOPPING TEITEN FROM HURTING MORE PEOPLE. Sure, he slaps Susutake and Toki around, but that's comedic tsundere violence. And he has no reason to want to hurt any of the other teams. Aleph annoyed the fuck out of him, yeah, but that was no reason to try to actually injure Turquoise. So the moment he realized that they could minimize damage dealt by negating their own attack points, he suggested it. It was a risky gamble, since they were losing their chances to actually protect other teams, but it seemed the best option.
SO. What does this mean? In a lot of ways, the way he approached the game was sort of like a microcosm of his approach to canon. In the face of being forced into doing something harmful by a higher power, he doesn't actively fight it. He realizes the futility of doing that. Instead, he works within the rules to minimize damage and wait for an opportunity to act. We see this in his approach to Teiten. Instead of going Ginshu's route and actively challenging Teiten, Bonten plays nice until Toki arrives. He doesn't attack the humans, as much as other ayakashi might want him to, but he doesn't overtly move against Teiten, either. He takes a larger view of things and doesn't necessarily begrudge people for acting according to Heaven's Net. This feeds into what he told Ginger during the game: if everyone keeps in mind that they're just doing what they have to, it won't cause splintering amongst the teams. Viridian's a little more optimistic in general than canon Bonten, because he doesn't yet have the Byakuroku/Ginshu incident memories, but still.
Even saying that, if Emerald hadn't been rewarded for their kindness, he might have been a little bitter about the way the second round ended up, because holy crap thirty-three points. Not very bitter -- he talked to Hisoka about the numbers afterwards, which basically confirmed his thoughts on "there's no way to win this, we just have to do what we can to minimize damage" -- but still annoyed. As it is, his anger is directed firmly at the Personae. What possible reason could they have had for allowing this to happen?
He's not very negatively affected by the game because he already had a memory full of pain and agony, and everyone healed afterwards anyway. So he himself is fine. It's just cemented his feelings of loyalty and caring for his team, made it more obvious to him that the teams need to remember that they're all in this together (harmless competition aside), and really made him want to yell at the Personae a lot. HE DOESN'T TRUST THEM AT ALL AT THIS POINT. He's worried about how Ginger is going to deal -- or uh not deal -- with the fallout, but he's reasonably sure that Knife and Touchy will be fine. HOW DOES I TAKE CARE OF TEAMMATE? (Hint: memories won't help with this one. Clearly the proper way to deal with Tsuyu's trauma is to never tell him what happened and let him blame me for everything!!1!) As I said in the memory post, this game and his memory has strengthened in him the idea that working towards making things right, even if the future is uncertain, is the way to go. He is a very determined bird.
I... THINK THAT'S IT? If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.
no subject
BARREL ROLLRELATIONSHIP THINGER.I mean, no, that makes sense. I think in a lot of ways Bonten is nicer than Ginshu.
no subject
It's funny, because Bonten tries SO HARD to portray himself as not a nice guy! But as we see in recent chapters when Toki tops him, no, it's just because he's been hurt so badly in the past that he acts like that. And Viridian doesn't have those same reasons for hiding his feelings (other than his innate tsundereness), so.
no subject
Hi I am spamming you forever.
no subject
GINSHUSPAM IS THE BEST SPAM. I might actually do relationship stuff at some point, when I stop feeling so lazy. WHO KNOWS.