alldoomnogloom | PC: bald

Sorry, I don't mean to cause alarm. It's really nothing so concerning.

... I suppose the quandary is this. I am presented with an opportunity to perhaps obtain the reward I am in need of, but it would require certain actions be taken.

Actions against a person who currently bears the face of a friend. I suppose I am trying to decide if I am letting my desperation run rough-shod over the morality of such of a decision.

[ so ive decided to ask my two best friends: the tiefling and the vampire on my shoulders. ]

One the one hand, it is callous and violent and there could still be a world in which she is able to be helped, and instead we will chose knives. On the other, she presents a very clear danger ... she has already killed one of our friends. And will likely feel compelled to kill more, if not immediately then very soon.

Edited 2024-07-01 19:24 (UTC)

[it's not concerning, he says, and then is like anyway let's murder someone]

Not on your own you're not. Not - at all, preferably.

Edited 2024-07-01 19:26 (UTC)

[ holding up his hands!!! ]

I do understand the precaution, and I would not be acting on my own with a butcher's knife, and very preferably not on a Thursday. It just can't be ... public.

[her tail flicks back and forth violently.]

... I don't want you to. Maybe she can be saved. Didn't you just say yesterday that we shouldn't be violent at her?

[ he's just going to be quite quiet during all this. ]

Astarion ... ?

[ ... he sighs. ]

For once, I'm struggling to advocate one hundred per cent for the stab now, ask questions later option. [ and that awful, who is he. ]

I'm aware she's struggling. And I'm aware she's beating herself up incredibly hard over things that weren't in her control.

I know. I understand. But I also know she is still not in control.

[ he does not exactly find himself on board with it either, hence the asking. ]

But if the answer is no, the answer is no.

Mm. I talked to War about it.

[ he's aware of the limitations. ]

... [ he sighs. ] It's quite hard not to see myself in her shoes, based on things that have happened in the past. I'm not sure I can give you the exact kind of counsel you want, Gale. But if you took the opportunity I wouldn't be angry about it.

[ he can't really condone or condemn the topic.

a pause. ]

Well, I would be if you got yourself killed.

Edited 2024-07-01 20:00 (UTC)

The exact counsel I want is your honest opinion, not exactly whatever it is I want to hear. Argue it though I may.

[ he just kinda presses his hand to his forehead, like he's trying to push away a headache.

gale didn't have to come and talk to them, but he did. because he doesn't want to do something they don't all agree on. and he can understand that's quite the choice, because if he'd wanted to he could've just... gone for it. it's his life, after all.

ultimately, what he and karlach want doesn't matter. if they all make it through this, they'll be fine. it's just... unfortunate that this is regarding one of the few people he can't give a definitive answer for, and that is purely selfish on his part. ]

... Have we ever asked about what happens after the end of all this? Assuming we all make it out.

[ well just going for it is what had landed him in the Mess to begin with, hadn't it? not sharing the thoughts he was having about doing something kinda terrible? ]

It is my impression that time cannot be rolled backwards, and that they do not know what my state will be. Likely exactly as I left it.

[ netherese mist. ]

[ :aaaaaaa: ]

Even though right now you're like this?

[ he taps a knuckle against gale's arm. solid and alive. ]

[ completely solid and he doesn't turn into bubbles at all. ]

I believe Death's exact words were along the lines of I could risk seeing if I stay in my current state, but they did not expect it to be the case.

[ ... ]

If they could bring you here in one piece, it should be well within their means to leave you in one piece at the end of it all.

(no subject)

alldoomnogloom - 2024-07-01 21:51 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

haematocritical - 2024-07-01 21:59 (UTC) - Expand

It would be my preference not to. But it is a decent enough point that--

[ someone brought up that she could likely go after one of them next, and he didn't like that idea at all. ]

I don't know. I worry.

[... yeah. she gets it, but. she's like visibly struggling here, because it does make sense, but. camille is her friend. and she hates being in this position.]

What if she hurts you? What if she kills you? What have you got to fight her with? [starts with that, even though her baby heart just really does not want to discuss killing someone "innocent" at all.]

Edited 2024-07-01 19:35 (UTC)

She is my friend, but - she won't hurt or kill me. She won't. And I can figure out a solution to the fighting.

But what if she hurts or kills you or Astarion and I did nothing. I waited.

She's not going to be able to get at me, what the fuck is she going to do. She can barely reach.

Besides, she's my friend too, Gale, what makes you different?

... Don't. That's my answer. [he doesn't have to listen to her, but she doesn't want this to happen. she's going to let her heart talk instead of her practicality.]

She killed Cloud.

[ she is pretty capable. ]

If not me, it is going to be someone else. But I asked for a reason, and it is that I wanted your counsel.

Edited 2024-07-01 19:54 (UTC)

[she's really, really conflicted, because - yeah. someone else is going to do it, if he doesn't.]

I just. [...] I want to try to save one person.

[but she knows that's not probably going to be possible. a deep breath.]

We'll find something for you, okay? Promise. It doesn't have to be this.

What will we do then, to try and save her? She will not be saved by leaving her be.

[ maybe it's the effect of week, of every one of his worst impulses alight and on fire. little barbs and needles and biting retorts spring to his mouth `can that one person not be me?` but he takes a deep breath and lets it out. true neutral is a strange place to be. choosing to attempt the better path is hard. a cut through reality with an obsidian blade, calling an echo. an ever-folding mirror of endless possibility, of a path not taken. ]

... I am very frightened, Karlach.

It's not going to be by killing her, that's not - saving, it's --

[mercy. is what it is. it's mercy. she stops, breathing in, and exhaling sharply. she watches him for a second, and then reaches for his hands.]

I know. [she's scared too.] I know, Gale.

[she falters, and then:] If you do, please don't go alone. Take me or fangs with you. I don't want you to, I don't want you to risk yourself, but I can't let you go alone.

[ it's mercy but it's also a trade. her life for his. it's ugly, at the bones of it, and he'd hesitated for days for this reason exactly. but he doesn't know if there is another elegant solution at all.

he will let her have his hands. his nails are chewed all to hell by the way, and they're a bit ink-splattered. ]

I don't intend to act against the both of your direct wishes. If the answer is you do not want it, then I will not do it. The point of this was so that I did not feel duplicitous.

[normally she would just be quiet about this but alpha week makes her blurt it out:]

Gale, you understand this is a shit thing to ask me, yeah? Make me tell you no, I don't want you to do something that'd save you?

[her tail flicks anxiously. she holds his hands tightly.]

The fucking impossibility of this. Like I'm snatching it out of your hands. Both choices are fucking rubbish.