marcato | (no subject)

(no subject)

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, SATURNSCHILD. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 001.00.653.90 * SATURNSCHILD has joined 001.00.653.90 <saturnschild> Hello. <saturnschild>** I'm listening.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

During torture, Fiddleford, the anticipation is essential. If you dole out your punishment all at once, it won't work.

That being said, I don't think you've earned my punishment. Have you? After all, we're on the same side.

Well that sure is big of you, waiting to pull the rug out from under me until you think I deserve it. There are some folks who'd say the fact that I'm fairly vocal about not liking you much is a good enough reason already.

Saying we're on the same side is like saying a Catholic and a Baptist are both still Christians. Technically true but you miss the nuance.

I'm sorry, Fiddleford. Would you like me to reveal your secret to the peninsula? I can't quite tell.

You and I both know the answer to that.

For what it's worth, smart comments aside, I think there are plenty of things we agree on. The spirit of things, if not the exact interpretation.

[He leans closer to the computer. If he had breath, it would fog up the screen.]

Stopping Elias. You agree with that, don't you?

I was thinking more along the lines of being grateful to the Fog for what she's given us, but sure, that too.

Of course.

[BORING]

You're still a member of the Haze, aren't you? It shouldn't surprise me to hear you're eschewing combat for maypoles and picnics.

I'm in charge of the Haze, yes.

I'm eschewing combat when it isn't necessary. Do you know how easy it is to get caught in a loop of revenge murder? I don't see the point to it. I'll fight when I need to, but I don't think killing Elias is the way to go. There's a chance the chunk of her power he stole dies with him. Do you want to gamble on permanently hobbling her because you can't think of a better solution?

Edited (fixed some redundancy and weird phrasing) 2020-07-23 10:11 (UTC)

I'm one of Her treasured priests. Do you really think I'd be so careless? That I'd cripple the Fog with my actions?

I owe Her everything. I love Her.

I know that you mean that. But I also think that you've already crippled her with your actions. The way you act pushes people away from her and right into the Arcade. You're doing a piss-poor job as a priest.

Do you know why She made me a priest? Would you like to know which act of mine placed me so keenly in Her favor?

Murder. Mass murder.

She knows what I am.

Sure, but that isn't my point.

Being a priest is about more than just getting yours. You're the face of this group. You know that, because you make sure everyone and their mother knows you are one. What you do directly changes the way people think about her, and what she stands for, and whether or not they think she really does love them or just wants to torture them for fun. You make her look like a liar, Aunamee.

[There's a pause, long and uncertain. It's the kind of pause that says more than the words that follow it.]

She needs us to be stronger than we are right now. Suffering is strength.

[This is where a lot of people would say 'that's bullshit, nobody should ever have to suffer'. Four years ago Fiddleford would have absolutely made that argument. It's just that he's on the other side of a lot of suffering and he's self-aware enough to know it's not that simple.]

I don't know if I'd put it that way exactly. The suffering itself knocks you down real low. It's healing afterward that's what makes you strong. If you knock someone down too far or too often and never let them heal, all you'll do is make them balk. That's how I was when I first showed up here. That's why it took me the better part of two years to climb up out of that hole, let go of pretending the Fourth God was going to help me and get on with my business. I came to her because I realized all she'd ever done was follow through on her promise to give me a good life, but I had to realize first that it could be a good life. Not everyone starts out thinking that way. A lot of them don't even want to admit that other people do, because if it's good for someone else the whole thing falls apart in their head.

[Ah. That got long.]

I understand what you mean, or at least I think I do. But if I have learned anything in this place it's that you can't force folks to agree with you. They have to come around on their own time if it's actually going to stick.

You know, Fiddleford, I think we're in agreement. Suffering works best when it's punctuated by moments of reprieve. People can't be forced to make the right decisions.

Would you like to know why I designed Fairwell? I promise you, it wasn't purely sadism.

Sure. Go ahead and walk me through it.

[It's not like Aunamee hasn't talked publicly before about exactly why he thought Fairwell was a good idea, twice. He already knows that Aunamee genuinely thought he was doing good work. He just disagrees that the way it was designed was actually optimal for what Aunamee claims to have been trying to do. That sure is growth in some direction.

Still. A proper explanation that isn't public network grandstanding might convince him better.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(no subject)

<saturnschild>

<teslacoils>

<saturnschild>

<teslacoils>

<saturnschild>

<teslacoils>

<saturnschild>

<teslacoils>

<saturnschild>

<teslacoils>

<saturnschild>

<teslacoils>

<saturnschild>

<teslacoils>

<saturnschild>

<teslacoils>