GODLY AUDIENCES: LUKE FON FABRE

[divus]

Comments

[dupelicate]

[No, he doesn't. But he nods along, nonetheless.]

...We've never talked, so I thought... it would be good if we did. So I can... get to know everyone.

[It seems too simple to be true, but there's nothing else behind his words except an honest face.]

[divus]

...

[the god seems to be scrutinizing him for a moment, before shrugging]

Well, better late than never, I always say.

[dupelicate]

I'm sorry about the wait. I just assumed...

[...that talking to your god was the only way to do it? That there was no point, or that it was cheating to talk to the others? That he wasn't going to switch, so why bother?]

...that it would bug you guys. Well, and I wasn't sure what to give.

But I do want to know a little more about you!

[divus]

Can't speak for the others, but me? I always enjoy company.

[He nudges the buffet table.]

Grab a bite and figure out what you want to ask me. I'm an open book! ...mostly.

[dupelicate]

[he takes a few chicken nugget-looking things, to be polite, and perches himself on one of the cushions—which sags awkwardly as he puts weight to it.

Struggling to stay sitting upright, he considers his first question.]

Uh... so, what's your goal?

[divus]

I want to make a world where the people who live in it can be true to who they really are. Like, where I came from? It was such a drag. It was always, grow up and stop wasting time liking this, or for the love of god stop dressing up like that. Super uncool!

[Sincerity sighs.]

But the world I make won't be like that.

[dupelicate]

So... what will you make it like?

[Why did all the gods want to make a world like something, anyway?]

[divus]

I guess it'd be similar to the world I came from, on the surface. Big cities, bright lights, fashion as far as the eye can see -

But kinder, and more honest.

[dupelicate]

How do you make something more honest? Doesn't that mean you have to change how people think?

[divus]

Well... there aren't any people in this world yet. Just us, and you guys, but if you all go home...

[he shrugs]

I'll give them an environment that will help them to grow up honest.

[dupelicate]

[He considers it.]

...What would help make people more... honest?

[it's a genuine question.]

[divus]

For one thing, I'm gonna lead by example. No lies from me, no lies from them, you dig?

[dupelicate]

I dig? [his inflection makes it a question.]

So, telling lies would be against the rules?

[divus]

Yeah, you dig.

[i hate this]

Dunno about rules, per se, but if everyone they interact with - gods and all - only tell the truth, where are they going to learn about lying from?

[dupelicate]

I dig... [he doesn't, but now he's wondering if he should. dig.]

Well... what if they do something wrong? Even if they've never lied before, if it hurt to tell the truth all the time, wouldn't someone eventually... try?

[he frowns, furrowing his brow. it's genuinely hard for him to wrap his head around this one. people lied, even little lies, every day. everything he'd known had been built on lies. it was practically baked-in... wasn't it?]

What then?

[divus]

[inb4 luke asks someone for a shovel]

The world's not going to be set up to reward people who lie. But, like, I can make it so that good things happen for people who tell the truth. If the benefits of being honest outweigh the benefits of being dishonest, why would anyone lie?

[dupelicate]

So they don't hurt their friends with the truth.

[it's the first thing he thinks of, and immediately regrets it. he adds, in a bad attempt at obfuscation:]

...Or a bunch of other reasons.

[divus]

[uhhh]

But why would the truth hurt their friends? The truth is the truth.

[dupelicate]

What if...

[...]

What if, one day, you went to the doctor, and the doctor said, "hey, you're going to die. You don't have more than a couple of day left, maybe only a couple of hours. There's nothing anyone can do."

What would you say to your friends? Would you tell them, even though you know it's only going to make them suffer, because you have to be honest? Or would you keep it a secret, and spend the last of your life feeling normal?

[he sighs.]

...I think honesty is the right choice, by the way. But it's... not an easy choice. And some people might find it really hard to make.

[divus]

...

[well,]

I mean, if I was the friend, I'd want to know so I could make sure to make the time I had left with you really count.

[dupelicate]

You're right. [they would.]

But if you were that person, not that friend—could you do it, every time? To every friend?

Could everyone in the world?

[divus]

...I mean, if I make the world right, they won't have to.

[sincerity you can't just make a world without disease]

[dupelicate]

So no one ever dies? So no one ever suffers?

Can you really make that?

Can anyone?

[divus]

The only way to find out is to try. If I don't even bother just because it sounds hard, I've already lost!

[dupelicate]

[Luke can't keep the doubt off his face.

Still, it wasn't like he was here to convince gods their ideas were bad... just to... talk about them.]

...Okay.

[...]

What do you think, so far? Of the competition, I mean.