seventh fusion - audio

[beholdmydemons]

[Walter starts talking almost immediately after turning on the recording, sounding tired but as though his message was prepared ahead of time.]

You're the king of a country, and you hold a great contest - or a game. One man who comes to participate is very tall, and strong. Would you let him compete as any other, or bar him from the game to even those others' chances?

A man comes to a remote village, one that's remained as it is for a thousand years. He brings with him technology that would change life as the people know it, bringing them comfort and luxury. Should the village send that man away, or accept his gifts?

The person you love is gravely ill, doomed to sleep and never wake...you've tried every remedy you can imagine, and there's nothing left at your disposal. Would you tend to them for the rest of your life, or let them die naturally?

[He goes quiet, not sure what to follow that up with. The radio, playing tinnily in the background, switches to a holiday song that's been on at least five times already today.

...Yeah, that bears asking about. In just as tired a voice, but a much less rehearsed one:]

What the hell is Christmas?

[[ooc: canon update to end of first route split, complete!]]

Comments

[ardent]

[...uh.]

...how do you not know what Christmas is?

[beholdmydemons]

[You know what, fuck it. Three points to law in the spirit of things.]

How do you suppose? [He sounds a wee bit aggravated with the question.

...sigh.]

What's so valuable about tradition that you'd choose it over bettering people's lives?

[ardent]

[...as though he'd be anything else.

That said, that last question is confusing him a little, hang on.]

I just said that it should be valued, not that it's more valuable than anything else - obviously, what's best for people should be considered and taken into account. But at the same time, the village has been just fine without the technology being brought forth, and something that's only going to bring luxury is a pointless venture.

[beholdmydemons]

[It sounds nice and reasonable, but Walter sees the question in a much more personal light, and he can't really sympathize with the lawful perspective. There's one part of that that he's most inclined to argue, though;]

I can't see the value of tradition to begin with. What but itself does it serve?

[ardent]

[What the hell kind of question is that - ]

If it served no purpose at all, it wouldn't have become tradition in the first place!

[beholdmydemons]

[...what the hell kind of question is that?!]

Are you serious?

[ardent]

[Not a question, technically!]

...Yes?

[beholdmydemons]

[...PRETEND IT WAS]

What's the purpose in doing something simply because it's always been done? It's mindless!

[ardent]

[...what the gently caress has gotten into you today]

I'm telling you that there's presumably a reason it's always been done!

[beholdmydemons]

[Oh, you'd have a conniption fit if you knew the half of it.]

So you say, but what reason's served by a rule with no clear aim? When it's understood - we don't call it "tradition", we call it "common sense"!

[ardent]

And why do they have to be mutually exclusive?!

[beholdmydemons]

Why value tradition at all?!

[this is so stupid]

[ardent]

Why are you so adamant that one shouldn't?!

[beholdmydemons]

[......fk] -It's never done anyone any damned good - name one that's anything more than a fetter!

[ardent]

[...]

A fetter?

[beholdmydemons]

[....]

Y-yes...?

[ardent]

Well, I have to wonder what sort of traditions you're referring to that could be considered a fetter...do you have any examples of this, because that's something of a strong word!

[dear god you can practically hear the "... :|a " in his speech]

[beholdmydemons]

[oooohhhh boy does he ever] Say it's customary to take up your father's trade when you're grown. So much so that not a thought's spared to doing anything but, and in a thousand years nothing's changed and men still while away their lives working to no end, nothing in their heads but living out the next day.

[His voice is dripping with bitterness.]

[ardent]

[...Oh.]

I...I don't know. I can't give a fair opinion on that.

[beholdmydemons]

[And just like that, Walter's momentum trips and falls on its face. He's quiet for a moment, prepared to keep going but blindsided by the sudden lack of resistance.]

...If the technology does cause disaster somehow...better to have failed and learned than to have never taken the chance, and remain safe but simple. [He sounds awkward, like he's not sure how forceful to be about that.] That's...that's what I think.

[ardent]

...Maybe, but is that really a decision that anyone has the right to make on their own? There's a difference between a choice like the one you referred to - something like taking up your family's line of work or not, despite it not being something you'd want to do - and something that might impact a lot of people who were living peacefully before a major change was made.

[beholdmydemons]

In...in the best of worlds, perhaps. In others, you'd not know the choice existed until someone came and showed you what could be.

[ardent]

Then I'd have to ask why that someone was showing that village what could be. New options aren't always for the best; even hopeful-seeming options aren't always for the best.

[beholdmydemons]

If "the best" deprives the people of knowledge and wisdom, is it really "the best" after all?

[ardent]

...That depends on whether there's a toll taken for that knowledge and wisdom.