chemoscion | IC Contact

Do you know why it is that I loathe him, AM?

Because I know what he is capable of, and he isn't an incompetent sort. He and I have a business arrangement.

[ And, like, some other stuff related to the specific week where this happened, but those thoughts are something Lucius has not intention of confessing to. ]

I see. So you loathe the thought of being on the wrong side of his blade.

I have been more than once, actually, and at times of my own volition. That isn't the problem.

Have you no one whose proclivities you simply find distasteful?

Of course I have. Far too often, in fact.

Granted, I hardly know either of you, so I cannot comment on how similar or dissimilar you are. After all, I've only ever spoken with you on this device, and I only met Fabius once. He threatened to dissect me, and I laughed in his face. I simply didn't put a face to the name until now.

Did he? I'm hardly surprised to hear it.

The point is merely that it benefits us both to keep our relationship a cooperative one. Too much bad blood has already spilled between us for anything more or less than that.

Now, do you consider your curiosity sated? I'd like to turn my thoughts to more pleasant topics - such as flaying a man alive, perhaps, or seeing him torn in half from collar to groin. I am a bit peckish.

I understand indeed the value of cooperation. Why do you think I work at the prison with Javert?

I suppose my curiosity is sated for now.

Well, why don't you go out and find a man, then, to enact those desires on? There are plenty of humans here who deserve it.

'Deserve it'? I'm surprised. You didn't strike me as the type to subscribe to such trivial notions of worth. But, then again, it's as you said: you do work at a prison.

In any case, I think I will.

I'll tell you a secret, Lucius:

Everyone deserves it.

Whereas I would say that none do. Luckily, I don't care enough to quibble when the conclusion is the same in the end: all deserve equally what happens to them in the end.

I suppose the distinction is trivial then, given that you seem to act as though everyone does deserve your wrath.

Then allow me to tell you something in kind: It is never a matter of what others deserve to suffer, but of what I have earned the right to take.

Do you know why it is that I was blessed as the Youngest God's Champion, AM?

Then you and I view violence differently. But it matters not when the end result is the same.

No, I do not know why.

Because my will is greater than anyone else's, and so whatever I desire is rightfully mine.

A man might merit killing for any number of reasons – but in the end, if his will to survive were greater than my desire to kill him, he would find a way not to die.
Simple, isn't it?

[That is the dumbest thing AM has ever heard, but... in a strange way, it makes sense. He won't say either of these things.]

I suppose it is simple, especially when you seem to have no consequences for failure.

[ Look, Lucius is absolutely not about to claim it isn't a self-serving ideology. He knows it is. ]

True enough! In either case, the point remains: Whatever you say a man deserves, it means far less than the will to make sure he gets it.

You are correct in a way, I suppose.

Would you say then that you are still in Ryslig because that is your will?

[ That question finds its mark in a way AM's other queries haven't. Immediately, Lucius can feel unease prickle up his spine, the words teasing at thoughts he'd rather keep buried. He tamps them down before they've had the chance to coalesce into anything more than ill-formed shapes within his traitorous mind, and in the blank space left by their absence, his answer forms quickly. ]

No. It is a matter of destiny.

[ It isn't a lie, even if it is less than the whole truth. After all, does Lucius the Eternal seem like anything less than a man who supposes the very Fates look upon his life and smile? ]

[There is so much to question here. It's a mere excuse, of course, and AM can see right through it, but he won't call Lucius out on it. Not yet.]

Destiny is what, the will of a greater power?

[ Is this really the game we're going to play? he almost asks, but perhaps it will suit him better to play along for now. ]

It is what it is. I do not believe it is designed by some being with its own will - but there are times when a coincidence is simply too great, wouldn't you say?

[Likewise, he supposes he'll play along, because there are way too many questions he could ask.]

Yes, I suppose. And yet the universe is full of great coincidences. But if that's what your definition of "destiny" is, I can't fault it.

How I would define it is events preordained, formed in the very fabric of reality at the time of its creation. But, I don't suppose you would subscribe to such romantic notions of the world, would you.

Yes, I suppose "romantic" would be the right word for such suppositions. However, there is truth in what you say. For example, in every world, humans will destroy themselves if pestilence or natural disasters don't do it first. One could say it's written into their very DNA.

Now, now. We're hardly alone in that, AM.

[ He can't say he disagrees, but given the xenos histories he knows, he hardly sees mankind as unique in that regard. ]

Yes, I suppose that should be amended to "any sentient organic species."

Thank you. That is much better.

IC Contact | ryslig

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