You did, but a lot of people in this temple probably say things they don't mean. [Just saying.]
But we did. And I plan to uphold my end of the bargain as best as I can. It's like this...you know how you had that dream this weekend? Think of it in reverse. Instead of dreaming that someone's dying, you'll get a heads up that someone's planning to go after him. Like...like prophetic dreaming. You'll know days before it happens, and you'll be able to take measures to protect him.
Problem is, because of the nature of the game...you'll have to find somebody to replace him. It was the best I could do.
Would it simply be a matter of me having to make the choice and letting their places be switched? Or is it more... manual?
If someone were to choose to shed his blood, and I decide to stop it, does that mean I would end up having to end someone's life to make up for the difference?
...it's exactly what it means. [It's calm and a little unnerving, but.] That's the price to pay for protection in this game, Guy. I'm sorry. If you want to really assure nothing will happen to him, I suggest making sure he's befriending the right people.
[YEAH IT'S UNNERVING... but Guy doesn't seem too horribly broken up about it. Not happy, sure... but he made this deal knowing the other shoe was gonna drop at some point, so it's not a surprise at all.]
As much as I'd love to, he's not as dependent on me as he used to be. I can disapprove and make him rethink things as much as I want, but I can't hold his hand all the time. [He trusts Luke to take care of himself as best as he can, but he was still just a kid that hated shedding blood. If Guy had to do it in his stead for a little bit... that would have to be fine for now.]
Thank you. I appreciate you didn't leave me in the dark about that.
[There's a long, lengthy pause...before there's a light snort.]
Kids grow up too fast. [It's mumbled to themselves, and maybe they don't entirely know the story between Luke and Guy but the gods know enough.]
The one thing everybody seems to forget is that even if it's not an answer they wanna hear, I'll give the real answers to questions people ask. I don't see the point in being coy or vague and not telling you what you're getting yourself into. What's the point in being at the whims of someone else without knowing the price you're paying?
Yeah. At least they deserve some time to do that. [Luke still had thirteen more years left until he was an adult, technically speaking.]
Mm. I'm sure there's nothing wrong in wanting to have faith that the other party has your best interest in mind. I'd just prefer to not leave it up to pure chance if I can help it. Just because you can live life that way doesn't make it smart.
Sucks when they don't get it. [There's a shrug though.]
This kind of thinking is exactly why I'm glad you came to your senses and switched. It's the kind of thinking I value in my followers, you know? People who take charge of their own destinies and don't leave things up to fate. That's not the way the world should run.
Yeah, well. You could say that relying on things like fate or destiny or a pre-written memory kind of made a huge mess back home, especially when it got into the heads of the wrong people.
Again, I'm not against it. But it's not really my cup of tea.
The thing about pre-written destinies or prophecies or whatever you'd wanna call them is that there's too high of a chance that they'll get misinterpreted and the people who know the truth won't bother saying so. That's more what I'm against than anything else.
[A beat.] I've never been a fan. That's not how I'm going to run my world either.
[There's an interested noise though.] What exactly happened back where you're from?
Kind of complicated to explain, but... [Well, people don't ask him to explain stuff in canon all the time for nothing. He sighs, thinking it over for a few moments.]
Basically, a saint in our past found a way to predict the future. She read it all, wrote it all out in advance and called it the Score. Over millenia, that brought various forms of religions formed around it, as well as plenty of wars for the sake of prophecy. Organizations were set up outside of public knowledge to make sure the Score would always come true, assuming it to be the best path for the entire world.
The average person dealt with it just fine. They didn't know any better. But a lot of people lost their lives for the sake of keeping the Score on track, and a lot more died when the entire system was eventually challenged by someone on the complete opposite side -- someone who had been hurt enough by the Score that they were willing to completely destroy the known world to unshackle mankind's future, including everyone who had originally lived in it. No original life, no original future left to follow.
[The fact that Cunning isn't moving means Guy has their rapt attention, and it's easy for them to follow along with the explanation. There's a moment's pause as they try to process everything that's been said.]
Sounds familiar enough. So what side of things are you and Luke on? Score, or Scoreless? Doesn't sound like much of a future anyway if it's written out for you.
There's something to be said about making your own future when your world's been conditioned to think otherwise. I definitely didn't know better for a while. Not until things started getting turned upside down. But while I empathize with the other extreme more than a lot of people on Auldrant, I couldn't agree with the absolute destruction that his ideals would bring about. How did Anise put it... That he hated the Score so much, he was shackled by it more than anyone else?
...
Just because there's a future written into the planet itself doesn't make it the only future. You can live outside the boundaries of fate without having to completely dismantle life.
You just have to actually live, and keep on living.
[And there, in its entirety, lies most of the purpose of his wish.]
You've sort of stumbled right into what kind of world I'm designing. I'm not ready to make a world where people are bound by their destiny with zero escape, but rather a world that's fair and people can live their own lives. It's disappointing to know that there're multiple worlds this kind of thing's happening, but I'd make that stop.
Maybe a little of both. Out of anybody, I guess you could say Piety and I are polar opposites. [Bemused.] I don't necessarily agree with the ideas, and they don't agree with my methods...it's just another reason this game exists.
Funny how that works though, isn't it? The goals are pretty in-line, but nobody can agree on a solid set of rules.
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But we did. And I plan to uphold my end of the bargain as best as I can. It's like this...you know how you had that dream this weekend? Think of it in reverse. Instead of dreaming that someone's dying, you'll get a heads up that someone's planning to go after him. Like...like prophetic dreaming. You'll know days before it happens, and you'll be able to take measures to protect him.
Problem is, because of the nature of the game...you'll have to find somebody to replace him. It was the best I could do.
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He exhales slowly.]
Would it simply be a matter of me having to make the choice and letting their places be switched? Or is it more... manual?
If someone were to choose to shed his blood, and I decide to stop it, does that mean I would end up having to end someone's life to make up for the difference?
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As much as I'd love to, he's not as dependent on me as he used to be. I can disapprove and make him rethink things as much as I want, but I can't hold his hand all the time. [He trusts Luke to take care of himself as best as he can, but he was still just a kid that hated shedding blood. If Guy had to do it in his stead for a little bit... that would have to be fine for now.]
Thank you. I appreciate you didn't leave me in the dark about that.
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Kids grow up too fast. [It's mumbled to themselves, and maybe they don't entirely know the story between Luke and Guy but the gods know enough.]
The one thing everybody seems to forget is that even if it's not an answer they wanna hear, I'll give the real answers to questions people ask. I don't see the point in being coy or vague and not telling you what you're getting yourself into. What's the point in being at the whims of someone else without knowing the price you're paying?
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Mm. I'm sure there's nothing wrong in wanting to have faith that the other party has your best interest in mind. I'd just prefer to not leave it up to pure chance if I can help it. Just because you can live life that way doesn't make it smart.
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This kind of thinking is exactly why I'm glad you came to your senses and switched. It's the kind of thinking I value in my followers, you know? People who take charge of their own destinies and don't leave things up to fate. That's not the way the world should run.
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Yeah, well. You could say that relying on things like fate or destiny or a pre-written memory kind of made a huge mess back home, especially when it got into the heads of the wrong people.
Again, I'm not against it. But it's not really my cup of tea.
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[A beat.] I've never been a fan. That's not how I'm going to run my world either.
[There's an interested noise though.] What exactly happened back where you're from?
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Basically, a saint in our past found a way to predict the future. She read it all, wrote it all out in advance and called it the Score. Over millenia, that brought various forms of religions formed around it, as well as plenty of wars for the sake of prophecy. Organizations were set up outside of public knowledge to make sure the Score would always come true, assuming it to be the best path for the entire world.
The average person dealt with it just fine. They didn't know any better. But a lot of people lost their lives for the sake of keeping the Score on track, and a lot more died when the entire system was eventually challenged by someone on the complete opposite side -- someone who had been hurt enough by the Score that they were willing to completely destroy the known world to unshackle mankind's future, including everyone who had originally lived in it. No original life, no original future left to follow.
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Sounds familiar enough. So what side of things are you and Luke on? Score, or Scoreless? Doesn't sound like much of a future anyway if it's written out for you.
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There's something to be said about making your own future when your world's been conditioned to think otherwise. I definitely didn't know better for a while. Not until things started getting turned upside down. But while I empathize with the other extreme more than a lot of people on Auldrant, I couldn't agree with the absolute destruction that his ideals would bring about. How did Anise put it... That he hated the Score so much, he was shackled by it more than anyone else?
...
Just because there's a future written into the planet itself doesn't make it the only future. You can live outside the boundaries of fate without having to completely dismantle life.
You just have to actually live, and keep on living.
[And there, in its entirety, lies most of the purpose of his wish.]
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You've sort of stumbled right into what kind of world I'm designing. I'm not ready to make a world where people are bound by their destiny with zero escape, but rather a world that's fair and people can live their own lives. It's disappointing to know that there're multiple worlds this kind of thing's happening, but I'd make that stop.
That's ultimately why I want to win.
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I suppose their ideas might seem a little lukewarm to you, though, or yours extreme to them.
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Funny how that works though, isn't it? The goals are pretty in-line, but nobody can agree on a solid set of rules.