GODLY AUDIENCES: LUKE FON FABRE

[divus]

Comments

[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.

[divus]

I mean, I think it'd be going better if Ambition wasn't in the lead.

[i hate that i gotta throw shade at my own gods but here we are]

[dupelicate]

...What's wrong with Ambition?

[rude]

[divus]

...

I mean, you've met her, haven't you?

[dupelicate]

Yeah.

I mean, sure, she's a little bit of a stuck-up princess type, but...

[he softens, and smiles.]

Her heart's in the right place—and I really think she's trying her best.

[divus]

[yeeeeeeikes. well then.]

With people like you around, I guess she actually stands a chance of getting better. She doesn't exactly surround herself with the best influences.

[dupelicate]

That's not surprising. Let me guess—people who say nice stuff, don't mean any of it, and then just use her?

[was he describing himself, or Ambition?]

It... seems like she just needs a friend. I don't think she minds being called out that much, as long as you're nice or funny about it.

[divus]

That and people who, like, feed into her worst traits. It's hard for her to be nice when she gets encouragement from other people when she's mean, you know?

[dupelicate]

Oh, yeah, I can see that. The kind of person who'd do anything for attention, if she wasn't getting it?

[She fit the bill, for sure.]

Still, that doesn't make her a bad person. It's more like... she's lonely, isn't it? Maybe she just needs more friends. Real friends.

[divus]

That's a possibility...

[and, like, he said it, so it has to be true]

You want to be her friend?

[dupelicate]

I mean... I kind of hope we already are—at least, a little.

[He was trapped in the Beauty Parlor for a long time you know]

Doesn't everyone just want friends?