Island Serapis

[Sea]

Serapis #19
@Gambit ​

With the 3rd rounds go into a draw, Gambit was left in absolute confusion – he wasn’t sure what is reason for failure but Gambit has finally decided to leave his analytical mind set to simply engage in a game of chance as what he would presumed to be so. After all, why overthink when fate has supposedly determined the results? Just play till you win! The mind-set of the Prince has decided his next course of action. This would cause Gambit to play Scissors on the fourth round. But what he would see is yet another loss as the soul would played scissors. A draw. Is the Prince’s luck that bad? One would even have to consider if the Prince is actually the bad in Rocks Papers Scissors.

A loss – draw – loss – draw. Gambit has yet to win any rounds of the game but the beauty of the game after all, is that Thanatos never mentioned out of any rounds that the prince had to win in. Perhaps a mistake of Thanatos to not gave a limit to the rounds. Yet the situation for Gambit would not seem to change. The soul would not make any changes, no emotions – merely retracting its hand to the starting position. It would wait for Gambit to do so once more, and the next round would be played. Is there any way for Gambit to pull off a win? Is giving in to a game of chance truly the best way to win against Death itself?

In mere moments where Gambit would do the same, the soul would call out the timing to play the next round of rocks scissors papers.

 

[Gambit]

The battle continues. But for Gambit, his greatest nemesis is fate. This is his conclusion after his attempts to rely on data science failed four times.

He thought, Everytime I play 2, I always lost. And every even round, it's draw. Were they coincidence? No! It seems to be the patterned.

Whatever, I will continue to simply play it simple and plain.

With that in mind, Gambit on the cue, positioned his hand against the soul before playing rock.

 

[Sea]

Serapis #20
@Gambit ​

The 5th round of Rock Paper Scissors would continue, Gambit started to have doubts, a pattern is noticed, a coincidence? Gambit’s thoughts with the game continues to cloud his mind – yet he could only go with the only choice he knew – instincts and chance. The Prince would merely play Rock, but the results are likely either surprising or it is not. Paper. The soul merely defeats the Prince once more. Even from a statistical standpoint – it is likely impossible to achieve such results 5 times in a row in such precise manner, yet the game between the Prince and Death has shown to be anything but impossible.

Thanatos, in a glimpse – smiled, though a subtle one. Did Death enjoyed the battle of merely Rock Paper Scissors? Or did Thanatos have something else in mind? The Prince is slowly reaching the point where he either seems to caught on to something, or have no clue what Thanatos meant by games. Is the Prince going to truly lose his life over a simple game of Rock Paper Scissors? The soul did not wait long – only doing the same thing over and over, retracing his hands back and wait for the Prince.

 

[Gambit]

Gambit lost again. The standing is now 0-2-3. That is, even applying some deduction skills over the game.

His mind is clouded with thoughts once more.

I would have won the first round had I played Rock.

I would have won the second round had I played Paper.

Scissors on the third.

That is the same exact order of the RPS. In fact, in the fourth round, he would have won as well had he played Rock. But the result was quite different in the fifth round, and if the theory he is fashioning inside his head might be true, then Paper should have won in the last round but the soul drew Paper, too.

Something's not adding up., he continued thinking.

Huh?!

Could it be?

Suddenly, the prince drew a chart in his mind with the result of each round.

1st round result: Paper vs Scissors - lost
2nd round result: Rock vs Rock - tie
3rd round result: Rock vs Paper - lost
4th round result: Scissors vs Scissors - tie
5th round result: Rock vs Paper - lost​

If I played Rock in 1st, I would have won, and the soul would play the winning hand sign for the next. It's as evident in the 2nd round whereas Paper should be the winner, so he could use that for the 3rd. 3rd round was destined to be won by the Scissors and he played that in the 4th. 4th should be won by Rock.

He made another scenario.

1st round result: Rock vs Scissors - won
2nd round result: Rock vs Rock - tie
3rd round result: Scissors vs Paper - won
4th round result: Scissors vs Scissors - tie
5th round result: Scissors vs Paper - won​

And another scenario.

1st round result: Rock vs Scissors - won
2nd round result: Paper vs Rock - won
3rd round result: Scissors vs Paper - won
4th round result: Rock vs Scissors - won
5th round result: Scissors vs Paper - won​

With that in mind, Gambit reached a conclusion that the 5th round is the pattern changer. It always breaks the pattern in the 5th on all those scenarios. However, he also thought that it could be not.

One thing is for sure though, the soul is.

He's not repeating any hand sign in a row. And therefore, he will play Rock next.

1st round result: Rock vs Scissors - won
2nd round result: Paper vs Rock - won
3rd round result: Scissors vs Paper - won
4th round result: Rock vs Scissors - won
5th round result: Scissors vs Paper - won
6th round result: Paper vs Rock - won​

You son of a bitch!

At last, he readied his hand against the soul. The soul was quiet which means that the cue doesn't have anything to do with the game. Gambit lost for a reason. The next round should give more clarity on it.

PAPER!

@Ichimonji @Sea

 

[Sea]

Serapis #21
@Gambit ​

The 5th round ended in a loss, Gambit could only speculate the results – he started thinking towards the possibilities, each results and the hypothetical situations of different scenarios played. The Prince has finally started thinking about the game but he unexpectedly continues to think about the results of the Rock Paper Scissors, his thinking that something has to be off. His deductive reasoning has started to veer off from statistics, his gameplay has changed into the conclusion of ‘something else is wrong’. A hypothesis has formed in the back of the Prince’s mind: There is a trick. But what kind of trick did Gambit hypothesize? As the Prince played paper, he would find out quickly that his hypothesis is once again wrong – the soul played paper. Thankfully, his mind set has changed – he wasn’t looking as much into the results of the game anymore, his looking for the reason – his looking at the bigger picture, even if he has not yet to achieve it. But to the Prince it is the first step. Once more Gambit has gotten a tie. The pattern that he has thought about did not break, but instead continued in such a predictable pattern.

With a record of 0-3-3, Gambit has not yet won. This is not just a game about Rock Paper Scissors – there must be a catch. But to the Prince, he has just taken the first step into the game – the mind games that Thanatos has set up for and would he ultimately prevail against Thanatos’s games? This is merely the first out of the four games Thanatos has concocted up after all. The soul has retracted its arms once more, Thanatos remains patient – only quietly observing the battle between Gambit and the soul. The soul would await Gambit, and when he is ready – the 7th round of Rock Paper Scissors would be played. The soul would cue the start of the next round this time round, in the same ghastly voice.

 

[Gambit]

The 6th round was wrapped. The prince drew a tie in playing Paper. It was technically his 6th failed attempt to analyze the situation. He remained calm, thinking.

His first theory of probability and ratio failed. The second theory of compound experience also failed. Playing just the way he wanted it and let the luck prevail also failed. Last round, he came to a conclusion that the soul never repeats his call also failed. It was also not true, that the soul plays the exact hand sign of the would-be winner of the previous round.

Still staring out of space with his fist clenched as it's held against the ground, Gambit recalled all the four cues, the ghost announced pre-round.

Rock Paper Scissors was cued loudly for the 1st round; I lost to Scissors but Rock should have killed it.
Rock Paper Scissors was cued loudly for the 2nd round; a tie between Rocks; Paper should have killed him.
Scissors Rock Paper 3rd round was cued loudly; I lost to Paper but Scissors would have won.
Paper Scissors Rock 4th round was cued loudly; it was another tie between two Scissors.
He stopped on the 5th. Why?

1. The same order of the first cue, if followed would have given me three consecutive wins.
2. The same order of the second cue would be the subsequent plays the ghost did for the 2nd to 4th rounds.
3. The same order of the third cue was played by him for the 1st to 3rd rounds.
4. Every even round gave a tie.

1st round result: Paper vs Scissors - lost
2nd round result: Rock vs Rock - tie
3rd round result: Rock vs Paper - lost
4th round result: Scissors vs Scissors - tie
5th round result: Rock vs Paper - lost
6th round result: Paper vs Paper - tie

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! I am losing patience in this game. Why?! Why?! What is going on?!!

I have been trying to decipher this game or if there's any pattern or hint, but none of them made sense!!!

Huff. Huff. Huff.

What if?!

I am destined to tie every even round. Because I played all the hand signs on all those meetings. If he intended for me to lose, he would've given me a tie.

I also played Rock twice on odd rounds, but I lost. I once played Paper, yet I lost, too. Scissors!!!

Is that it?!

It's worth a try. Nothing's gonna change anyway.

SCISSORS!

 

[Sea]

Serapis #22
@Gambit ​

Gambit continues to theorize the reason for his loss, his scientific mind has been an incredible boon to how the Prince sees and interact with the world, but in this case his scientific mind has been nothing but a problem in the mind games that Thanatos has set. Despite the deductions and theories that the Prince has come up with. His decision to play scissors after all the speculations has come up to be the incorrect decision as the Prince would gestured Scissors as his choice, but the soul merely played Rock, giving yet another loss to the Prince. The 7th round as resulted in the continuous pattern of loss followed by a tie, yet another implausible result. Seven games, no wins. The Prince is losing patience, as every single theory has proven to be wrong, and whether Gambit will finally reach the last theory, the only one which should fit all that Gambit subconsciously might have been thinking about – is dependent on how Gambit chooses the next approach.

True to what Thanatos have stated before, Gambit did not understand the game, not just with Rocks Paper Scissors. The scientific mind of Gambit would need to change, the prince needed to change the way he thinks and approach through obstacles, or else the Prince would find himself unable to truly beat Thanatos. The Prince would likely continue his next assumptions, his next approach – but the soul has long already been prepared, only to retract and wait for Gambit to do so, before making another cue to play the 8th round of game. Will Gambit finally make the correct draw the next round? Or will he succumb to the mind games of Thanatos, and even potentially lose his life over something ridiculous?

“ROCKSSS PAPERRRRR SCISSSSSORSSS!”

 

[Gambit]

Every theory failed. None of those worked in his favor. Did he keep on overthinking it? This is not a scientific experiment and yet, it's like it was. But out of all the assumptions he made, only one thing remained certain, uncertainty.

The 1st round was the benchmark: Paper vs Scissors.
2nd round: Rock vs Rock, ghost picked the sign that wins against his previous pick OR loses against Gambit's previous pick.
3rd round: Rock vs Paper - ghost picked the one that wins against both their previous picks.
4th round: Scissors vs Scissors - same case as the first.
5th round: Rock vs Paper - ghost picked the one that loses against both their previous picks.
6th round: Paper vs Paper - ghost picked the one that ties against his previous pick OR the wins against Gambit's previous pick.
7th round: Scissors vs Rock - ghost picked the one that loses against their previous pick.

Based on the above, there are two patterns the ghost picked in all six rounds after the first in respect of our previous picks.

Against my previous picks: L W L L W L
Against his previous picks: W W W L T L

The first pattern is the only truth on all those occasions. Therefore, from 8th to 10th rounds, it will be L W L.

8th round: he would play what loses to my previous pick (Scissors) - Paper, so I should pick Scissors.
9th round: he would pick what would win against Scissors - Rock. I should play Paper then.
10th round: he would play what loses to Paper - Scissors. I should pick Rock.

3 wins! Bingo!

On that note and after the cue, Gambit finally had something in mind. It's still drawn by an analysis but a pattern has been made. Will he finally now? Or keep on losing his cool and eventually resort into violence?

Scissors!

 

[Sea]

Serapis #23
@Gambit ​

The Prince continued to speculate the reason for failure in regards to the Rock Paper Scissors game, using scientific and statistic data to try and figure out the trick once more. The Prince focused on the how the soul and him choose their draws, their probability – the order which the soul has used. Gambit focused on the fact that the trick of how the Prince is losing is based on the draws, and there the Prince continues to theorize what could be it. But unfortunately the Prince did not think through what is required of him, but of course there is no reason for Thanatos to give any hints, the Prince has to figure out on his own – it is important that the Prince figure out the best way to approach any of the games – not just for this set of games but it would definitely help the Prince later when dealing with any obstacles.

From here, Gambit would finally play his next draw – Scissors but he would find his theory to be proven wrong once more, as the soul merely plays Scissors as well, leading to yet another draw in the record. Gambit is clearly losing patience but Thanatos kept his silence, his eyes gaze into the situation at hand, quietly but only staring at Gambit’s predicament. The 8th round is over, but has Gambit achieve some clarity? The soul wouldn’t care about Gambit, but it would wait for the 9th round to start as with Gambit, the cue for the 9th round would be spoke, and Gambit would soon have to play the next draw.

“ROCKSSS PAPERRRRR SCISSSSSORSSS!”

 

[Gambit]

Gambit drew another tie. But at that moment, he seemed to have drawn something true.

It appears that everything has been set the moment we played. And that's, no matter what I do, even rounds are meant to be a tie. Regardless of the pick. And I just have to accept that.

The prince stared at the soul before turning his gaze at Thanatos. He is emotionless, not showing any sign of hopelessness anymore. He began to ask himself.

But what is required for me to pull a win? If I finally break the momentum then I will certainly win this game. I already figured out the secret.

The only thing I need to do and yet to do is play Paper everytime or after every tie. That's the only way to win this game.

With that in mind, Gambit retracted his hand, wait for the cue before swinging his hand.

Paper.

 

[Sea]

Serapis #24
@Gambit ​

Gambit is starting to think beyond the Rock Paper Scissors game, it is an important step to take even if the Prince is wrong with his ideas. But adapting his mind set is what is required should he wish to outsmart Thanatos in any of the mind games. The Prince kept the results of the game in mind, but speculated something beyond what his scientific mind set and that he would accept the tie to be true for every even rounds. This led to Gambit decidedly choose to play Paper in each round, or at least every other round, it is his strategy for winning after figuring out the secret, or at the very least what Gambit thinks to be the catch for this game. This led him to play paper or the 9th game.

True to his thinking, Gambit played paper – but perhaps to no one’s surprise yet again, the soul played scissors, forcing Gambit into another loss. But perhaps unlike before, Gambit might start to gain even better clarity, no longer would the loss affects him – he only need to figure out a way to win. Three wins for an infinite rounds of Rock Paper Scissors game. The number of loss does not matter, only the wins does. After all, failure is the mother of success right? With that, Gambit would likely formulate his thoughts further, the Prince seems to taking each step closer to solving this game out. The soul would continue onwards to the 10th round, retracting its hand for the next round. Once Gambit is ready, the cue would be spoke as the game reached 2 digits in rounds.

 

[Gambit]

The 9th round had passed. Gambit lost again.

What?! I-I lost again?!

I thought that I already figured out what went wrong, but it seems that I got it all wrong once again.

What in the world was happening?!

As he talked to himself, he began to realize how absolutely predictable his throws were. How easily the ghost was reading each and every movement of his palms were. That there's no way he could win if continues to play like that.

He remembered the rule, "no cheating is allowed" and what Thanatos commented about, "Thy do not understand this game."

When he remembered that, he also recalled what T-Bag once told him, "Pretty, if you use the 'Rock first' rule and make their hands come out farther, then it's easier to see their movement. So with good eyes, you can win most of the time using this method. It's not cheating but almost."

He spoke to himself, Then that means that on the first round, and on the second round, and on the subsequent rounds, the two of them were cheating on me.

That's how fast he's able to see through my movements. But how can I be certain that he wouldn't see through me again?

Huh?!

Suddenly, Gambit remembered the time that KG mopped the floor with him in the same game to decide who's gonna cook dinner for every in the crew.

KG revealed, "There's no guarantee that we play rock, paper, scissors, with just our right hand. Even after Tee revealed the juice, it's not that easy if everyone knows this. Keep in mind, you have to be strategic. You gonna keep your cool. It's just a game, after all, dawg. You feel me?"

This information was revealed even after knowing that in this game, there's a secret to winning. After all, T-Bag and KG were former athletes. A Rodeo Cowboy and a Pro Basketball Player.

Gambit smirked, retracted his right fist. He would wait for the ghost to do the same when he was ready.

I will take control of the game, henceforth.

Landayan Morrow's voice would boom across the hall, it could even sunder the soul's attention.

"ROCKSSSS PAPERRRRR SCISSORSSSSS!"​

 

[Sea]

Serapis #25
@Gambit ​

The Prince continued to think, adapting his mind set further as he starts to think about the rules of the actual game. This time he started to look for tricks, and went for the reaction speed of the soul as the trick to the game, a start. Here Gambit would find himself and the soul waiting for each other, the prince would shout the cue on his own this time round, and the game will be played – but the Prince would find the soul would not move unless the Prince himself does. Since that’s the case, what would the Prince actually play? Or is this an attempt for something else?

 

[Gambit]

The Gambit formulates an idea that something was really wrong. That there has been a trick and a pattern. The pattern is that every even round, the ghost will play whatever the prince will. And that's not just it. The ghost might have been capitalizing on his reaction speed, something Gambit would have known if he just paid attention to it. As the pirate readied his hand and yelled the cue out, the ghost on the other hand seemed to have waited before doing anything else.

With that in mind and knowing that the 10th round would just be another tie, Gambit said, "I will play rock this 10th round. And I know for a fact that you'd do the same."

"Rock!", he shouted for the first time.

And after that, knowing that this would be a draw, Gambit immediately retracted his right hand, swung it across the ghost while saying, "Rocks Papers Scissors!!!"

"This time, I will play Rock again!", he told the ghost.

But Gambit had something prepared, just as soon as the ghost would pick a hand sign, he would gaze into it and using his unmatched eye, just like how he anticipates punches (not by the use haki by the way but the use of mere reaction speed), he would either switch to paper if the ghost would not do any movements in respect of his fist. He would then quickly switch to scissors if the ghost seemed like opening up his palm widely. Or maybe, just stay with rocks if the ghost would appear to be throwing just his index and middle fingers. This is easy to see because Gambit has been dealing with powerful people before. And this game is still a battle that he has to win - at all cost.

 

[Sea]

Serapis #26
@Gambit ​

The Prince thought of an idea to beat the soul in a game of Rock Paper Scissors – he is starting to figure out the catch of the game. With his plan in mind – Gambit confidently said he would play Rock, and that the soul would do the same. This sentence from the Prince as he spoke would trigger a devious but subtle smile from Thanatos – a surprise for someone whom been silent the whole time of the game started. Gambit attempts to use his reaction speed to catch the soul off-guard, and even before that he would retract his arm to ‘re-draw’ though in such circumstances nothing seems to be an issue. But the soul has no hesitation – as if it is less of a soul, even with Gambit retracting the arm the soul would only extend its arm out on the second draw as Gambit boldly proclaim to play rock once more.

Regardless of how Gambit would choose, the soul only has a closed fist – its hand did not change in accordance at all. Presumably with this, Gambit would change at last second into paper and that the soul would simply do the same. Regardless of how Gambit choose to play at the final second the soul would seem to follow what Gambit does in terms of what the Prince would play down to the tee. A new perspective into what the Prince is now seeing. Gambit would find his answer to quite literally result in a tie, but now he has something to work on – he is getting close to the answer, very close. The soul would retract its arm – the 10th round is done. The 11th round – based on what Gambit has predict would be another loss, how would the Prince now work to his victory? He has seen the shenanigans the soul has done in the previous round; will he manage to locate the secret? The Prince has quite essentially about to claw his way into a victory.

 

[Gambit]

"Hahahahahaha!", Gambit laughed out loud.

"You got me there, soul."

The prince pulled his losing hand sign - the right fist across his face, staring at it as he formulate another idea.

11 rounds. That's how much it took for me to figure out something more viable. How could I be so foolish? But anyway, it seems that the ghost is not merely playing it randomly. He also dealt with my last millisecond change.

Suddenly, as he thought of that, the pirate prince took a different stance, as if he is no longer facing the ghost. His body is perpendicular to the other. The ghost would be facing Gambit's right shoulder then.

In the 12th round, he positioned his arm against the other while his other arm is hiding. He would tell the soul, "This time, I don't care if it's gonna be a tie, but I will be playing Paper. You ready?"

Gambit finally does the swing while yelling, "Rocks Papers Scissors!"

The prince rolled Scissors instead.

Did he win? Or did the never-ending pattern of a tie every even round persist?

 

[Sea]

Serapis #27
@Gambit ​

A tie once again, but this time Gambit’s mind set has adapted – rather than the feeling of frustration the Prince adopted a different idea. It is however, based on a pattern in which the next draw should be one to guarantee a loss, and with the next round – the Prince called for Paper as he stood in a different stance – but he would intend to use Scissors instead, prompting him to do so. But what is at the hand of the soul is a closed fist instead – prompting another loss as it continues the patterns of win and loss over and over again. Gambit’s idea was sounds to be a good idea of changing things up. But from what the Prince has gathered, perhaps the catch isn’t physical in any way.

Something is wrong indeed, but what would Gambit conclude? His ideas are in the right direction. But as the Prince would slowly find things are a lot more difficult to understand with a scientific mind, not everything is scientific after all, especially in the realm of the dead. Yet it seems that the Prince is starting to get it, and that is what is more important. The Soul, having won the round would retract its hands once more, waiting for Gambit to play the 12th round, where it should result in a tie as per the pattern of results which Gambit has experienced.

 

[Gambit]

​

"You have a good reaction, ghost.", he commended the opponent as he took another Loss after a Tie.

"I literally said I would play Papers and I changed that hand sign intentionally, so that, I could see whether you'd call the bluff or not. And yet you did. Listen to me ass freak, I will play Rock this time, I won't change it."

And with that, Gambit positioned his hand against the other, still standing perpendicular to the ghost. And in the next round, the prince didn't call the cue, he just waited for the foe before swinging his right hand.

He really played Rock this time. And if by any means, this is true to be just another tie, Gambit would not way long before he progressed to play the 13th round.

"I will play Rock once again, I won't be changing it. You ready for the 13th round?"

And with that, the prince swung his hand for the 13th round, called the cue this time, "Rocks Papers Scissors!"

He did not change his right fist's movement. And if the ghost is only paying attention to the right fist, the ghost would of course be only playing Paper for an absolute win. But he would not notice how Gambit actually played a different fist and hand sign this time. His left hand drew a sign that would defeat the Paper.

Left Hand played the round with Iron Scissors!

 

[Sea]

Serapis #28
@Gambit ​

Gambit loss would have prompted him to mention about the reaction speed in regards to how fast the soul has moved. Gambit however continues to figure out the trick, prompting him to try the same trick this time, but with different intentions. Believing that it is impossible to overcome the tie rounds, Gambit took the tie fairly quick as the results of the next round would prove to be what Gambit thought out to be – a tie. However, Gambit has another plan of action, calling his next plan of action to be playing rock but behind this plan was a secondary draw. Making use of what seems to be set in stone to lose, Gambit played a paradox against Thanatos and the soul, a really smart idea to do so on the 13th round, ensuring what that he would win one way or another.

As Gambit and the Soul played the round – it is as Gambit would expect, the soul would draw paper, thus ensuring the Soul to win. But whether with or without Gambit to show his other hand – the soul would raise its other hand, a Rock is played – or whichever that would beat Gambit’s current draw on his left hand before he would show it. Even should Gambit change his draw mid-way he would find the soul changing the second draw to fit it, just like what he experienced prior on the 11th round. At this time, the Prince must have seen the problem. And likely this very round would solidify the trick in the game. The Soul kept its emotion-less state, only to retract its hand back to the starting position as its other hand would simply put down onto its side.

With a new, and likely the biggest clue he could have garnered from the 13th rounds of the game, the Prince should have theorized what is truly going on, and figure out the way to beat Thanatos. The 14th round is about to begin, a round that should result in a tie. Once Gambit is readied, or whatsoever – the very same cue would signal the next round.

 

[Gambit]

Gambit fashioned idea after idea. Theory after theory. Tactic after tactic. Trick after trick. Not of those worked. But he concluded after witnessing how inevitable it had been to win no matter how he changed his hand the last moment during odd rounds, there's just no winning against the soul. He commented at last.

"For I am fated to lose those rounds. But are you letting me tie in even rounds?"

"If I kept on bluffing, should I win? If I keep on changing hands to fit in, should I win?"

"This idea has been bugging me for quite a while and I thought I could be right."

"Listen, Soul and Thanatos, in this 14th round, I shall play Rock."

And if what Gambit has theorized that his losses have always been fated, inevitable, then the even rounds have always been the giveaway. For they could have simply made him lose 13 times in a row. To think that the very first thing he thought out and left out might have been the answer all this time might change not only the way the prince thinks of the game but his life decisions as well.

My life has been full of misery since I was born in this world. Too many obstacles, too many puzzles, and yet after having told of my origin and fate, why do I still feel incomplete?

The prince drew Paper hoping that the Soul would follow suit his bluff to pick Rock just to do the tie. But Gambit has been set to break this tie. If everything is fated for him, he has also been given the free will to change the course of the game.