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> NAME: DUMPLING

Dumpling seems grateful that you finally named her- you can detect a hint of impatience, but you can’t quite tell, since she can’t speak yet.

Right after you name her, a NOTE automatically pops up, much like the one you got when you first spawned Windy. It reads:

“You've come very far, and your kitties have grown to be a true team and family! Please treat your last cat with love and respect, and go forth towards your goals. To celebrate your team, you are encouraged to create a TEAM OUTFIT. Keep some elements in common- consider it like a battle flag!

You're also encouraged to add motif synergy to your weapons...who knows what that could do? “

Dumpling expresses some curiosity towards the NOTE, until the other TCPs approach her. She seems defensive at first, but Windy immediately starts teaching her how to communicate. She starts to open up a bit, and thanks Windy for taking initiative like that, speaking in a low bubbling rumble.

You tell Windy to go ahead and teach Dumpling whatever other skills they feel she may need for their trip; Windy agrees to do so. In the meantime, you think you need to call Wax back, since he told you to call once you spawned your last TCP.

FROG-CRIMES: Wax, we made our final TCP. She’s a Chicken Soup-type. We figured we needed a healer, and we felt something nice and hearty would do the trick.
WAX: Oh! Nicely done, I think that’s the first strategic type you’ve made all game.
WAX: so, now that you’ve got her and she’s named, you should have gotten a note, right?
FROG-CRIMES: Yeah, it said something about creating a Team Outfit.
WAX: right, so, you can, and should, do that.
WAX: basically just design some clothes for each TCP on your team, make them share colors… design some specialized weapons for each TCP as well, and if you personalize them for the TCPs you give them to, they’ll be more powerful in different ways.
FROG-CRIMES: huh… alright. We haven’t been planning on making any weapons, though, since we aren’t going to have our TCPs fight.
WAX: suit yourself. Hope you’re prepared for them to get hurt with no way to defend themselves.

WAX: Anyway. I see you haven’t allied anyone yet.
FROG-CRIMES: yeah- we barely got any time to talk to anyone, we only just talked to Marzu, and, she confirmed that we’re not going to be able to ally with Grind, at least not right now.
WAX: that’s fair. You haven’t talked to the other team then?
FROG-CRIMES: Not yet. We’d like to talk to them soon… we know Macaron would be open to a peaceful game, and Rein too. If they’re still open to allying us, maybe they can help us stop the game from turning violent.
WAX: wait, you think Rein doesn’t make its TCPs fight when the game turns violent?
WAX: because I can tell you, maybe a tenth of the games Rein has won were peaceful games.
WAX: and it won a LOT of games.
FROG-CRIMES: … give us a minute.





You need to think for a bit. This knowledge could possibly change your plans entirely, but you’re not sure… you can’t keep track of what you’re going to do. There’s so many voices in your heads, coming up with different strategies, arguing about what you do and do not know… you’ve gotten distracted from taking care of your TCPs.

You ask for their attention for a moment, and let them know you’re about to teach them some new things; since Windy and Fennel know how to Teach, they can teach each other TCP what they’ve learned.
They agree to this idea, it’s fun to Teach other TCPs new things- Dumpling learned Reading, Writing, Ambition, and Empathy earlier, and she's ready to learn more now.

> TEACH DIPLOMACY - WINDY
> TEACH RHETORIC - WINDY
> TEACH MANIPULATION - WINDY
> TEACH SUBVERSION - WINDY

> TEACH LOVE - FENNEL
> TEACH PEACE - FENNEL
> TEACH FREEDOM - FENNEL
> TEACH RAINBOWS - FENNEL

> TEACH MUSCLE GROWTH - DUMPLING

Windy seems to pause for a moment, thinking over the knowledge you’ve given them. They understand they’ve been given the tools they and their friends will need in order to prevent any future conflict between them and the other TCPs in this world.

Fennel feels its hope renewed once more, just a little bit. It’s been given a clearer understanding of what its mission is, the ideals it needs to uphold and protect, and the beauty of the colorful world it lives in. It eagerly shares what it learned with the other TCPs.

Dumpling doesn’t understand the purpose of fixating on muscle growth, as TCPs do not traditionally have muscles, but she thanks you. You want her to know how to get strong, and she appreciates the sentiment.

(Windy, Tubes, and Dumpling have learned about Love, Peace, Freedom, and Rainbows)
(Fennel, Tubes, and Dumpling have learned about Diplomacy and Rhetoric)

You also quickly let the TCPs know, you’ll be making new outfits for them soon- actually personalized outfits, unlike the Halloween costumes. They seem intrigued.

Alright. You can’t keep Wax on hold much more.

FROG-CRIMES: Okay, Wax, listen. We can’t betray our cats by sending them into battle. We’ve told them time and time again that we’re trying to keep them safe, we can’t betray their trust.
FROG-CRIMES: and honestly, we don’t want to hurt any of the other cats either, they just don’t deserve it.
WAX: I can see where you’re coming from. they are awfully endearing- though, i’m definitely biased.
WAX: and having to go back on a promise could bring your cats closer to going rogue...
WAX: but listen, you can’t sit at your base all game. I won’t let you cause a stalemate.
FROG-CRIMES: well… we’d be lying if we said we weren’t wondering if that’s an option, but we had a different plan in mind.
FROG-CRIMES: There’s a way to win the game, without hurting any cats, and without turning it to a stalemate, we’re sure of it.
FROG-CRIMES: If we can have our TCPs convince every other team to go rogue, then the win condition can be met without any TCP casualties, right?

WAX: …
WAX: you know what.
WAX: telling you this is a terrible idea, but… that is an actual strategy.
WAX: it’s not at all an easy one, especially since none of your TCPs are suited to the task, but it’s technically possible.
FROG-CRIMES: Wait, really? You were hassling us over trying to “circumvent the games rules” earlier, now you’re okay with this?
WAX: This is something that you can do within the game’s mechanics.
WAX: must I remind you what you were planning earlier?
WAX: you were trying to tell other players to ally with each other when they’d made it abundantly clear that they won’t do it
WAX: and you started planning to create a nonviolent competition of some sort that would allow the players of the game to win or lose without harming their TCPs, without making a full alliance… you can’t do that, you can’t just change the win condition of the game.
WAX: you realize if you had tried to do that, you would have ended up telling the losing TCPs to allow themselves to be killed by the winning team just so the game could actually end?
FROG-CRIMES: ...no, we hadn’t realized that.
WAX: exactly.
WAX: i will say I appreciate the spirit of it. Perhaps in a different game, it could have worked.
WAX: the only way this game is going to end is in bloodshed.
WAX: … if your plan doesn’t work, I mean.

Something seems to suddenly catch Wax’s attention… you can’t tell what it is, but he starts looking around in his communicator space.

WAX: … give me a second.
WAX:
WAX:
WAX: okay, this isn’t your fault, directly, but I’m getting pulled into another session because of you.
FROG-CRIMES: wh-what?! Wait, are you leaving?
WAX: no, I can multitask pretty well, I’m just not especially happy about it.
WAX: so, what’ll it be. You wanna ally with me? It’s honestly your best chance at winning this game.




(Also, here’s the lineup of your TCPs so you can draw outfits on them.)

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