After staring at the ceiling for a while, Luke finally continued laying out his thoughts "As much as I like them, in the end, memes are memes. I feel that lucky Game 2 was something like a one-in-a-thousand thing. I doubt I'm ever gonna be able to reproduce that success."
"You never know!" Vincent insisted. "You made it happen once, so you can make it happen again! Think about it. Right now, you're the worst you'll ever be. You will only keep improving from here on out."
"Hmm. True, I guess."
"As such, if you keep polishing your art and tapping into the Meme Force, one day, you will become the Meme Master!"
"Yeah, lessgo!" Lars hyped it up. "The Meme Master is gonna destroy the Leopards, word!"
"Huh." Luke was astonished. "That's unexpected. You guys really didn't come here to convince me to drop my memes."
"Of course not!" Vincent said. "Why would we ever do such a thing!? You are the Meme Jedi, destined to be granted the rank of a Master!"
"I see." Luke smiled wryly. Was this relief? Or, disappointed? Did he want to be reassured that memeing was fine? Or, did he want them to convince him to drop memeing?
The fact that I don't know which scenario I prefer is a problem in itself. Luke sighed. I mean, of course I wanna keep on memeing, but is there any future there?
Will Luke ever reach a level where his memes will be viable in the competitive scene? Or, will he forever be a gimmicky player, destined to crash and burn in every serious game?
It's kinda dumb that I'm even asking myself this. Luke chuckled dryly. I mean, a memer shouldn't even care so much about winning games in the first place, that's kinda the whole point of it. If I wanted to win so badly, I would've just used meta classes.
No matter how much the trio discussed the topic, Luke wasn't able to rid himself of that existential contradiction. He wanted to play on his own terms, but he also wanted to win. What a greedy mf!
"I don't see anything wrong with that, tho," Lars said. "Ya wanna win, and ya wanna do it your own way. That's totally cool, dude! I also did that in basketball." He explained how he practiced his court-wide three-pointers to perfection to not deal with opponents who ganged up on him.
"Masterful indeed, I witnessed the results of that in action!" Vincent exclaimed. "It was genuine art! To think that somebody in real life could master the High Projectile Three technique!"
"Damn, that does sound hella cool!" Luke admitted. "And that actually worked out for you, huh. Though, it's the kind of crazy result that only natural talent can get you."
"Nay, the word 'talent' is often exaggerated," Vincent argued. "I know that better than most, for I'm the Arbiter of Talents."
"What do you mean 'exaggerated'? Talent is talent, man."
"People often think talent is some sort of sorcery," Vincent explained. "However, look at Lars. He was not born with the 'talent' to score three-pointers, or the 'talent' to land headshots with Gunslinger. These are all individual skills he nurtured via hard work."
"Yeah, but not everybody can get to that level with practice," Luke said. "That kind of shit is unreal. It requires insane talent."
"True, Lars does possess higher athletic aptitude than the average person. It definitely helped him master these skills faster."
"Right? So, it's all about talent, in the end."
"My argument is that talent comes in many flavors," Vincent explained. "For example, take your intense desire to make memes work on the competitive scene. Few would be able to stick to such an uncertain ideal and bring it to fruition against the strongest team in the region. Isn't that also a talent? At least, I regard it as such: the Meme Jedi talent!"
"You seriously gonna call that a 'talent'?" Luke smiled wryly. "That's a huge stretch if I ever heard one. It's not like I was born a memer."
"True, it is not a genetic aptitude," Vincent said. "It's something you nurtured thanks to your environment and experiences. Nonetheless, the fact remains that you developed this great skill for playing memes, one that other players do not possess. They simply cannot make memes work competitively the way you do."
"Yeah, totally!" Lars agreed. "Like, I also think memes are cool and all, but no way I'd ever be able to play them at that level. It's superhuman, yo!"
"You seriously think that?" Luke asked. "With your talent, you'd master any meme in a jiffy, I guarantee it. You just gotta practice a little, that's all."
"Sure, I'll improve if I practice a lot," Lars said. "But, sticking with these classes for a long time is mentally draining, ya know? Like, every now and then I'm gonna wake up in the morning and ask myself, 'Why do this to myself?', ya feel me?"
"Heh. Yeah, I know that question all too well."
"So yep, I'd be tempted to play a good class instead and drop the meme for sure."
"Heh, typical meta slave." Luke chuckled. "That kind of mindset is why we can't have nice things."
"Indeed," Vincent said. "Yet, you are able to depart from this common conception in order to stick to memes through hell and high water. Does that not sound like a bona fide talent to you?"
"Well, when you put it that way…" Luke chuckled awkwardly.
The way Vincent phrased it made memeing sound like some awesome superpower. It was the ability to reject society and return to the truest form of fun!
And, Luke was one of the few rare specimens with the willpower to stick with memes despite the struggle. No matter how many times he stumbled, no matter how many times he got his ass whooped, he always stood up and brandished his memes once more!
But, if that's my "talent", then I might be running out of gas. Luke smiled wryly. I lost so much of the drive I've had until now…
With that said, Vincent's hype speech was gradually reigniting the flame. All that nonsense about "talent" was clearly exaggerated, but there was some truth behind it. Luke really was a rare kind of madman who brought his memeing all the way to the competitive scene, and he even beat the regional champions with it!
"You should totally keep going hard with yo memes, dude!" Lars said. "You can beat anybody if ya put your mind to it, believe it!"
"Indeed, I believe so, too," Vincent said. "Your playstyle might run into a wall if you play at the very pinnacle of the pro scene, but we're far from there. Therefore, as far as our competitive scene is concerned, I'm confident your hard work, combined with your talent as the Meme Jedi, will carry you to victory!"
"For sure, dude!" Lars hyped things up some more.
"You guys…" Luke awkwardly scratched his cheek, which was a bit flushed. Like seriously, these bros were dropping some hella cheesy lines right now!
But, maybe they're right. Luke thought. Memeing in competitive games is a struggle, I always knew that. It was obvious all along, but I still practiced hard in the hope I could win on my own terms.
And, he actually did it. Luke screwed the Leoaprds with his Dark Knight! For one game, he proved that memes weren't dreams!
So what if I lost terribly in the next game? I mean, I've lost a billion games with memes in Ranked, it ain't anything new. Leo just showed they can clap my meme if I let them adapt, that's all.
That was a weak reason to stop playing. The fact remained that Luke DESTROYED these mofos with MEMES and LULZ. He made them sweat like crazy and work their butts off to adapt. Yes, a memer did all that to the regional champions. Shit was crazy.
"You're right, guys!" Luke exclaimed. "Let's heckin' do this! They can keep adapting to my memes all they want. I'll just keep bringing spicier memes to the table until these guys choke!"
"Indeed! Let the world tremble at the sight of your memes!"
"Go rek them, yooooo!"
With that, Luke's internal dilemma was all but gone. At least, for now.
In truth, the woes of athletes never end as long as they keep chasing higher highs. No matter how many defeats they suffer along the way, losing games won't ever get less frustrating.
Sugarcoating every defeat with "I was memeing, bruh." could only go so far. In the end, dropping games hurt; there was no two ways about it.
So, what was the solution? What should Luke do when he loses and feels like shit? Welp, he should just meme some more! Because ain't nobody got time to mop around. If he had any spare time to be depressed, he was better off using that time to work on the next juicy meme that'll knock the competition off their feet!
And, it just so happened that a few dudes from said competition were nearby and overheard this particular conversation...