Nia and Ben, the Dysfunctional Duo

[Geh, I couldn't get the kill...] Nia puffed her cheeks. [I would have nailed it, if it wasn't for that meddling dragon form.]

With the target out of reach, Nia had no choice but to leave the lane empty-handed. And, on the way out, she was shot by criticism.

"Do you mind explaining what exactly were you doing?" Yuel demanded.

"G-Gufu..."

"That's not an answer."

[Geh, so I'm not gonna wiggle my way out of this one, am I?] Nia grumped. [Well, of course not. It's Yuel we're talking about...]

She was half-prepared for this outcome all along. It was obvious as day that Yuel will chew her out in case she fails to deliver results.

[I thought I'll dodge all of this if I score a kill, but no dice. Gufu...]

"So?" Yuel asked again. "What was this play supposed to be?"

"A gank, duh." Nia played dumb.

"Yes, it was a gank. Or at least, it was something that vaguely resembled a gank."

"Why 'vaguely'?" Nia made a face. "Didn't you see how I snuck up to him? He didn't see it coming at all."

"Yes, and neither did Ben. You didn't bother to inform him or anybody about that little plan of yours."

"That's..." Nia had no retort against this. The sense of guilt has been needling her the entire time. She knew all along that it wasn't ideal to keep hush about this play, but she believed that the end justified the means in this case.

"Since you kept quiet about the gank," Yuel continued. "Ben couldn't get there in time to help you secure the kill."

"I-I'm very sorry," Ben apologized. "If only I realized what was happening sooner..."

"It wasn't your fault," Yuel said. "Nia was supposed to give you a heads up about her plans."

"But, I'm on her team, so I can see her position at any time," Ben argued. "I was supposed to notice her approaching and respond accordingly..."

"That's just how Nia is." Yuel sighed.

At this point, Yuel had no choice but to come to terms with the fact that Nia was almost supernaturally good at erasing her presence. So good, that even her teammates sometimes forgot about her.

[Even I'm a little guilty of it this time.] Yuel thought. [I was so preoccupied in the lane that I couldn't spare a thought to Nia's position. That's how I only noticed her rotation when it was already too late.]

It was a truly peculiar situation. With any other Jungler, the teammates were expected to be aware of the Jungler's position almost 100% of the time. However, when it came to Nia, failing to notice her plans was par for the course. She erased her presence from the minds of both allies and enemies alike.

Yuel was usually able to keep tabs on Nia at all times, but the rest of the team wasn't as proficient at that. Therefore, Yuel made it clear that Nia always had to inform the team whenever she was planning to gank. But...

"Why didn't you tell anybody about this gank?" Yuel demanded.

"I..." Nia opened her mouth and then closed it.

"You found a great opportunity there," Yuel continued. "You two could've converted it into a kill if we planned this gank properly. You just had to say the word."

"I thought the gank might fail if I say something..."

"That makes no sense. Why would you think such a thing?"

"Because..." Nia threw an awkward glance at Ben. And, to make things even more awkward, Ben happened to look at Nia at the time.

"Ack!" Nia averted her eyes. [This has just become a hundred times more awkward...]

"Was it my fault?" Ben asked. "It's because I'm not very good at setting up ganks, isn't it?"

"Well, kinda..." Nia squirmed. She felt uncomfortable criticizing Ben. It's not like he did any of it on purpose, yet there Nia was, bashing the guy like a bully. Gufu...

"So, let me get this straight," Yuel summarized. "You decided to keep quiet because you were afraid that Ben will ruin the opportunity?"

"Yeah..." Nia couldn't hide it anymore. "It was a rare opportunity. I've been waiting the entire game for this moment, so I had to make it count."

"And, what exactly made you think that Ben will be unreliable?" Yuel asked. "You didn't seem to have a problem ganking his lane during club practice."

"Yeah, I usually try to cooperate," Nia said. "And, that's how I know that things often go wrong."

"I see." Yuel frowned. "I'm aware that Ben needs to work on his acting skills when there's an incoming gank, but I didn't know it bothered you this much."

Ben was a little too obvious with his actions on the lane when an ally was rotating in for a gank.

Sometimes, he advanced toward the enemy in order to be ready to CC them the moment the gank begins. That often had the opposite effect and made the enemy retreat early, effectively killing the gank in its infancy.

Other times, Ben retreated from the middle of the lane in an obvious attempt to lure the enemy in. Against more seasoned opponents, this was a red flag that made them consider the possibility of an incoming gank. And so, instead of getting baited, they retreated and dodged the gank.

Yuel noticed this problem after Luke and Nia voiced their complaints. And so, Ben was tasked with improving on this aspect during practice.

But, there were also many other aspects on which Ben had to work, so Yuel couldn't pay close attention to all of them equally. Therefore, as far as Yuel was concerned, Ben's subpar coordination with incoming ganks was only at "medium priority" for now.

[But, it looks like Nia disagrees.] Yuel realized. [It makes sense since this problem affects her much more than others. I should've realized that sooner.]

Nia was a natural assassin. Her entire playstyle revolved around lying low and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Therefore, anything that could give her away was a fatal problem.

[She should've said something if it bothered her that much, but it looks like she felt uncomfortable discussing it.] Yuel reasoned. [Besides, even if I turned this problem into a "top priority", it's not like we had that much time to work on it before this scrim.]

Until just recently, Ben had been missing a lot of practice due to the circumstances with his "friends". So, it was only about a month ago that he started regularly showing up to practice. As a result, his presence in the club grew tenfold.

Naturally, this also meant that Ben started participating in more practice games than before. Therefore, Nia had substantially more opportunities to play as a Jungler in the games where Ben was Top. That's probably how this discord started.

Perhaps Nia was aware of Ben's issue from day 1, but she ignored it because they didn't get to play together that often. However, once that paradigm changed, the consequences of Ben's problem grew exponentially for Nia.

Out of consideration, Nia forced herself to play along during club practice. But, it seemed like she was hating on it internally the entire time.

"I understand," Yuel said. "Yes, Ben really isn't the best when it comes to keeping ganks under wrappers."

"Right?" Nia nodded.

"But, is he so unreliable that you rather go for a solo play the way you did? Surely, you must've known that you won't be able to get a kill there by yourself."

"Well, I..." Nia twisted her lips. "I hoped maybe I'll get it. But yeah, it was a long shot."

"A VERY long shot," Yuel corrected. "I didn't know you were such an optimist."

"An optimist? No way," Nia said. "I thought both approaches were sus."

"And, you still decided to act alone instead of asking for Ben's help?" Yuel asked. "Do you really consider him so unreliable that you'd rather go for a solo play that had practically zero chance of success?"

"Well, normally I wouldn't do that, I guess. But, in this game..."

"What about it?"

"Well..." Nia threw a glance at Ben before continuing. "He looks a little on edge. Like, he's all shaking and stuff. Scary."

"I-I'm sorry!" Ben interjected with an apology. "I-I'll try my best to calm down!" Yet, despite what he just said, his voice sounded even shakier than before.

"It's your first game here, right?" Nia asked. "I know the feel. I also had a bit of trouble during the debut game."

[A "bit" is an understatement.] Yuel retorted. [You were shaking like a leaf and wanted to run away at the first opportunity.]

"Anyway," Nia continued. "I know firsthand that the first game can make you mess up, and Ben seemed super nervous, so..."

"I see." Yuel nodded.

In short, Nia projected the bitter experiences of her debut game on Ben. And, it was perfectly justified in this case, seeing as Ben was a mess ever since he set foot on the stage. He already lacked self-confidence and being on the stage here only further escalated the issue.

However, as logical as all of this sounded, there was still one problem in Nia's arguments that she failed to notice. It seemed like Ben wasn't the only one here who was cracking under pressure...