| abstract | - What could be more more Egregious than Cannot Spit It Out, you ask? There's a crisis and information is needed. There's someone, perhaps many someones, who have this information right on hand and it would simply take five minutes to explain. In fact, the hero outright asks for it. Politely. A lot. "You'll have to figure it out yourself." The problem is this isn't limited to villains or even the Ineffectual Loner, but characters who really shouldn't have any motives to keep this information secret from the character. Except to pad out the season, of course. Though they frequently claim that making the hero work through things by himself is a necessary learning experience. Commonly uttered by Time Travellers since solving people's problems for them would change history... except when it doesn't. Time Travel is funny that way. It's also a stock phrase for the All Powerful Bystander. The Trickster Mentor never says it, but you know he's thinking it; the Zen Survivor practically breathes in these. An Oracular Urchin will get out of de-cryptifying their Cryptic Conversation with the hero this way. Likewise heroes and super heroes with a Secret Legacy might be overjoyed to find out they're not the black sheep of their family, but wonder why mom and dad never helped out before. Used in almost exactly the same places and situations as "You Are Not Ready", with the implication that the act of working the information out is the only way to make yourself worthy of it. Often couched within a Cryptic Conversation. Example:
|
