"...I do trust you," Alastor said slowly, "but this threat from Valentino has made the situation far more complicated than you realize. I'm willing to let you take the lead but I have to be there. Even without this..." Alastor pulled out his watch and popped the case to show the picture of the group. "...I have Deals with Husk and Niffty. I keep my contracts simple to make the terms easy to keep track of, and I do so by doing what most Deal Makers don't:
"The bind goes both ways."
Husk had called it "mutually-assured destruction" though that wasn't quite the same concept: Just as his contractee could be directly compelled to uphold their end of the bargain, Alastor could be directly compelled by the contract to uphold his. It was also why he actually didn't have that many contractees who were as bound as tightly to him as Husk and Niffty. It kept things relatively simple, uncomplicated in his already messy afterlife.
He struggled for a moment, trying to explain. "Husk is partially deaf in his left ear, leftovers from when he was alive. Niffty is brilliant with a knife but only having one eye makes it difficult for her to focus on anything but what's in front of her."
When he, Husk, and Niffty went out to cause trouble together, they had a very particular formation: Alastor in the middle with Husk to his right and Niffty to his left. Most assumed it was just two people flanking their boss.
No, the arrangement put Niffty in easy reach of a free hand in case she needed to get yanked away from trouble while Alastor's sharp ears did the job of Husk's weak left one.
"Now that I'm aware that he's threatening them for something other than their own mistakes, their contracts will compel me to do everything in my power to allay the threat."
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"The bind goes both ways."
Husk had called it "mutually-assured destruction" though that wasn't quite the same concept: Just as his contractee could be directly compelled to uphold their end of the bargain, Alastor could be directly compelled by the contract to uphold his. It was also why he actually didn't have that many contractees who were as bound as tightly to him as Husk and Niffty. It kept things relatively simple, uncomplicated in his already messy afterlife.
He struggled for a moment, trying to explain. "Husk is partially deaf in his left ear, leftovers from when he was alive. Niffty is brilliant with a knife but only having one eye makes it difficult for her to focus on anything but what's in front of her."
When he, Husk, and Niffty went out to cause trouble together, they had a very particular formation: Alastor in the middle with Husk to his right and Niffty to his left. Most assumed it was just two people flanking their boss.
No, the arrangement put Niffty in easy reach of a free hand in case she needed to get yanked away from trouble while Alastor's sharp ears did the job of Husk's weak left one.
"Now that I'm aware that he's threatening them for something other than their own mistakes, their contracts will compel me to do everything in my power to allay the threat."