Night 2: Gray Morality

Ah, chapter 2. A rather important one because it introduces our deuteragonist — even moreso than Jack — in Graymalk. I enjoy this chapter because I like Gray, in part because I’m more of a cat person than a dog person, but also because it’s vitally important as this first interaction between Snuff and another participant in the Game (though it hasn’t actually been mentioned yet). The true strength of this first interaction is that it sets the tone for what kind of competition this is; even a point where Snuff and Gray could be enemies, they act civilly towards each other because the Game is just business. Playing it well means you have to be willing to scrounge for every advantage you can or risk falling behind. And, in another sense, even if you are enemies, there’s no need to be rude about it. Likewise, there’s also a few good includes in the dialogue that go a long way. Even though they’re only mentioned offhand, Nightwind and Quicklime are introduced as active participants in this chapter — and by extension their respective Masters in Morris and MacCab and Rastov, respectively. Jill is also mentioned briefly, though her importance relative to the other three means this isn’t really that much of an introduction proper. It is rather interesting to not a few bits of politics in the minor attacks mentioned in this chapter, but it’s still early yet and we can talk about foreshadowing later.