crankycave | Murphy's Law Strikes Again

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Murphy's Law Strikes Again

[On the Plains of Spite, there is plenty of room to pit yourself against whatever is chasing you down. Celes has been doing this for nearly an hour, sending herself on sprint drills followed by sets of push-ups as close to the lake as she can manage without (probably) having to draw her sword. She finishes a sprint and pauses to heal the ankle she just strained.]

[A shadow falls over her and she looks up warily, to see something alarmingly like a tentacle hovering over her.]

"Fuck."

[She draws her sword]

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I'd ask you to go easy, but...

[meanwhile, making giant tako sashimi. did it occur to nobody to try to negotiate first? sheesh, protagonists.]

[this tentacle seems oddly...less than aggressive, but, well, that just makes this easy.]

[The tentacle squeals and flails when the fire hits it, and that makes it easy to swat at with the sword and watch it fall away. The rest retreats back into the lake.]

...That seems....easy enough. [wary]

... It might be going for reinforcements. We shouldn't let up just yet.

[also, you know, that was fun.]

Agreed. [keeping her sword out] Well, I came out here looking for a workout. Guess I found one.

Are you all right? [I have no idea if cure spells work on mechanical beings...]

[looking quite spirited, actually. leaning down on one knee with his eye on the lake]

I'm fine. How are you?

I'm fine. It didn't get me.

[looks into the lake, curious to see if anything is visible beneath its surface]

[settles down onto the ground and looking quite like he's enjoying the entire thing]

I don't think it's as eager to see us as we are to see it.

I'm not entirely sure if that's a relief or a disappointment.

[settles down nearby] Thanks for your help.

[exhales lightly, amused, and tilting his head over to look at her]

It's no problem. I was happy to help.

You're pretty good with those swords. Did you have formal training?

[pausing, musing over what to say]

... I learned the art from a dear friend. He's a better teacher than I am a student.

[something almost like a wry smile] I had one of those. He was my mentor in the army. I learned fighting arts well enough from him, but...there were other things I think he'd have preferred me to learn.

[... gentle laugh]

Yes, I think that was the case for me as well. I'm not a very good listener, it seems. I don't think I entirely understand him, even now.

I wish I could have lived up to his expectations. I don't think he would have....followed some of the orders I did.

[turning his head away, staring straight at the lake]

... I don't know him, but I don't think he expected more from you than you could give. Everyone makes mistakes, especially when it's difficult to see the truth of what's going on.

And everyone deserves a second chance.

[there really is something very fascinating about that lake. and it has nothing to do with not being sure how conversations happen. nope.]

Yeah. When you grow up surrounded by something, it's hard to see that it's fucked up.

[tips head] I thought I had mine, but then I wound up here. Maybe that's another kind of second chance.

[maybe if we will really hard the tentacle monster will take mercy on us and come back and we can battle and not talk at all. like soldiers. A+]

[boy my lap is really interesting. especially the back of my hands. so interesting.]

I don't think that you can run out of second chances. At least, that's what I hope.

[A+ indeed, words are so much harder than fighting]

[that lake is interesting--did I just see a shadow--false alarm. Damn.]

It would be alarming indeed to think I have already used up all of mine. Atonement is a difficult business.

[goes quiet for a little while, then softly]

... I'm not sure that something like that is possible. I don't think any amount of will could ever change the past. But it's possible to change the future.

If will could change the past...well. That would be something worth pursuing.

How do you change the future, when you're here [waves her shield-hand vaguely to indicate the plains and general environs] instead of where you wronged...whomever you wronged?

[words what are they]

I want to feel like everything happens for a reason, but it's certainly a dangerously alluring prospect. The idea of being able to know better, I mean. But I also know my past makes me who I am now, and that's something I don't want to so casually throw away.

... and I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that.

[exhaling, half in amusement and half in some sort of uncomfortable understanding]

[Is there something wrong with me, that I find a robot easier to relate to than people? There probably is. They didn't breed me for social skills.]

I knew someone who relied entirely on fate to decide everything. He came with me--with us--to fight the greatest military power in the world on the strength of a coin toss. It seems chaotic to me--but i wouldn't be who I am if my life had been otherwise, I guess.

[Humans expect physical contact when they talk like this, don't they? That's what Edgar said, but. Well. Edgar. Do robots expect that?]

[f it helps any, depending on who you ask, this guy's social skills aren't really the best. being that they're mostly really awkward proclamations of stubborn ideals than "skills."]

I don't know about fate either, but being able to believe in something--anything--is an incredibly powerful thing.

[if she's moving closer, he's picked up on it but hasn't expressed anything but slight, resigned sheepishness which may as well be his default expression anyway]

Celes...?

[clasping her hands in her lap] I'm sorry--did I say something wrong?

[she is sitting awkwardly, like she cannot figure out which way she is supposed to move. Because in fact she is very unsure.]

[very quietly] I always believed in the Empire, to the point that I never questioned my orders, but now I'm not sure what to believe in.

[oh. oh. sort of getting the clue, shifting over as unobtrusively as he can, being a giant robot and all, and laying his hand on the ground softly next to her]

... I willingly fought and killed innocents and soldiers alike in a war I thought would bring me justice. Vengeance. Meaning.

Because I believed that I was worth nothing more than that to anyone who saw me, but I was wrong.

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