Her description of Skulduggery gets a bit of a nod. "Skulduggery seems...not like he's playing defense, the way you are, but like he doesn't assume that anyone he meets is going to be a potential ally or even a player in the same game. He's almost astringent on the first meeting, to see how put-off someone is by it, and flippant about the circumstances around him. He seems like someone who's lost good faith in the average person. As for the Captain and rules..."

There's a pause. Shiroe pushes his glasses up his nose, and there's just a way they catch the light and gleam that makes him look shrewd and malevolent for a moment before it passes and he continues speaking.

"Knowing that something is bound by rules is useful, especially if you can discern what their rules are. When the natural laws of a reality are created instead of actually natural, that means they can be manipulated and exploited. It's a matter of learning the systems involved."