solnet | GAME START!

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GAME START!

[For a kid who's pretty much constantly sauntering about shooting people creepy grins and running off their mouth, Chara seems fairly relaxed, this feed. Could be the fact that they're in the library. Or perhaps it's just a nice day outside.]

Would you like to play a game, fellow foot soldiers?

[Or maybe it's the fact that they're making a mildly off-kilter Saw joke, whatever.]

The past few weeks, I've noticed when talking to others that even the most unassuming words can have significantly different meaning; mark me curious. So here's the rules;

Each of us will have our turn in choosing a word. Perhaps this word has no real meaning to us, or perhaps it does.

The receiver of said word goes on to define it; either in a social...or personal context. Then they also pick a word to be defined. And thus the cycle continues until one of us gets bored.

[A bright smile, and the camera swings wildly askew as it's holder reaches over the side of the lounge for another book.]

I'll even start it off. Your word, is 'monster'.

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That gnawing, empty feeling after you've lost someone. Revenge.

Ensuring that others pay for their sins.

Mountain.

Land that rises to a peak. Some of them used to be volcanoes. Does mountain mean something special where you come from?

[Compared to all the other words they've thrown at her, this one seems really... straightforward.]

Not really. But my world does have mountains with a lot of superstition and legend attached to them, so I suppose it depends on the mountain itself.

We did have legends about volcanoes. There was one about two warring states. A commander was in love with the princess, but to end the war, the princess was supposed to marry the son of the enemy general. Instead of letting it happen, the commander rode her dragon into battle and burned the enemy nation to the ground. But then, feeling the dishonor of what she had done, she ended her life by leaping into a volcano.

[Zuko you have that slightly wrong, both women were in love with the general's son-- but whatever. At least she remembers more of this story than Uncle's favorite tea joke.]

[To be fair, this is a much more interesting version. One fraught with the love of two women destined to be apart by duty, one who makes the ultimate sacrifice for another. While the style of love differs, they can relate.]

And the princess? What did she do, after the loss of her beloved?

No one talks about her much. I think she refused to marry anyone else. After the death of her father, she ruled the nation alone.

She did her duty, then.

[Isn't that nice?]

She did. People tell me that's not really enough.

[Supposedly there are things besides duty.]

Then they have no concept of how the world really works.

Sometimes, duty is the only thing that matters. The needs of the many must come before the needs of the one. What is the point of trying to dodge one's responsibilities when it ensures the continued suffering of the populace?

It's not about avoiding your responsibilities to be selfish. But I think being right with yourself, being a more fulfilled person, can help you serve others better. I did the worst things in my life when I didn't understand what I really needed or wanted. I thought I was doing what I was meant to.

Sometimes, being more 'fulfilled' isn't possible.

There are your duties, and there are people. There are people who would suffer significantly for hesitation, who already have suffered. It's well and good to spend time doing some soul searching, but it doesn't change what must be done.

[It doesn't stop good intentions from paving the road to hell, either, but sometimes that's the only direction you have. Down.]

Sometimes, it does change it. What's right or wrong isn't always obvious. Sometimes you think you're doing what's best for your people, but there's another path you should be following.

I see.

But please, if you'd humor me for a moment- consider the hard choices one must make for their people. Sometimes, it is that black and white. There is a trial, and there is one way forward. It demands that one place it on the backs of others, that lives are lost to achieve what has been taken.

There is no such thing as another path. There is simply going forward, or staying there. Waiting further, as the suffering continues, as more lives are lost.

I would argue that sometimes, attempting to discover alternate paths is simply delaying the inevitable. Being a ruler should mean being capable of taking whatever hard options come your way.

Edited 2016-05-19 02:38 (UTC)

You may be right that there are times like that. I think we've had different experiences. For me, the alternate path was the hardest choice. It meant defying my father, and fighting my own people. We were the ones people needed to be saved from.

That depends on your definition of different experiences.

I have another game for you, if you'd like.

It's called Choices. I'll give you a scenario and two options. You decide which option should be taken.

[Well, this sounds like a fun, carefree game with no possible negative consequences.

Not.

But she's not going to back down from it.]

All right.

A carriage holding a dozen soldiers loses a wheel, careening out of control. The horses are frightened, and racing towards the docks. If they reach it, all of those men, in their heavy armor, will likely die.

You have the opportunity to redirect the horses- however, there are people in the way who will not be capable of moving off the path in time.

What do you do?

Edited 2016-05-21 21:12 (UTC)

[Thankfully horses have already been explained to Zuko.]

It's the soldiers' duty to protect their people. I couldn't save them at the expense of civilian lives. But I'd do everything else in my power to help them.

[They did their best to accommodate her lack of technological understanding.

Usually, this story is about a runaway tram, and a lever.]

Too bad. The carriage hits the water, and the soldiers die. The civilians were saved, but the soldiers lost. Technically, there would have been less loss if you had redirected the horses; however, they were still civilians.

Making a choice in such a scenario doesn't really make a difference. Someone dies, be it by action or inaction. You still had to make a choice. It doesn't change the fact that there was never a right answer.

Sometimes, there isn't such a thing as a change of character. You have death, or death. Consider the moral reasonings behind such a choice as much as you like, but somebody still dies. That's all there is to it.

[That is duty.]

That's not all there is to it. You just wouldn't have time to think about it in the moment. Each person who lives will make their own decisions in the future, and you'll never know the full impact of your choice. It's complicated.

[...]

Consider it in another context.

You choose, as you must, who lives or dies. You have the time to make the decision. No horses. No carriage. Simply an impossible decision. Someone will die either way. There is no avoiding it; inaction will also cause loss. So you make your choice.

And your choice will create a butterfly affect. People will look back at what you've done and they will make decisions based upon it. Good decisions. Terrible decisions. As the years pass, your one action in that moment will change an entire civilization.

Each person who lives will make their own decisions in the future, but each decision is based upon the outcome of your own. What you have reaped. What you have taught.

What then?

Do you consider yourself above the consequences? Or is it still free will?

You aren't above consequences. But that doesn't make every person's bad choice your fault. Think about the choices you make. Even if there's one terrible, or wonderful, thing that someone else chose for you... It's not the only thing there is. It's had a huge impact on my life, I think about it a lot when I make certain choices. But he doesn't make those choices for me. A lot of other things and other people have had their influence, too. To think otherwise is to make him more powerful than he was. To think it of my own decisions is arrogant.

[They almost break their phone.

And when it finally dawns to them that she's probably waiting for a response, their first, bitter thought is: pick a he. Which influence would she like to hear about? The adoptive father who declared war on Chara's own species and acted like he'd never had a second child? The sibling who'd finally found the friend he always wanted? How about the skeleton who would rather give up than even try to be anything of worth, outside of judge, jury, and executioner?

Or.]

I stand corrected.

We have had very different experiences.

Edited 2016-05-23 14:49 (UTC)

[Which part makes them say that?]

You don't feel like you can make your own choices?

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achievementhunter - 2016-05-27 10:06 (UTC) - Expand

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daughterofursa - 2016-05-27 13:20 (UTC) - Expand

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