dear_mun | (no subject)

I really hope you've got something better than that, Garak.

Do you doubt my ability to make a strong case?

Not at all. I just hope that wasn't it.

This is not the time to open with my strongest argument. It's time to establish a dialog.

I entirely agree, Garak. I'm just giving you a hard time.

I prefer it when you disagree. I do quite enjoy our debates.

Confirming something I've always suspected.

You always seem to suspect me of something. You were bound to be right eventually.

How very charitable of you.

So I am right, then? You often profess opinions you do not necessarily hold, for the pleasure of the debate?

What a ridiculous notion. We just happen to have opposing views on nearly everything.

We do come from very different cultures after all.

Ah. And that's why we get along so well? I see.

The fact my world is about to be plunged into war didn't stop mine from taking me here. Apparently it's not enough to make them change their minds.

How selfish of them.

The part that's cause for worry is that they are still, compared to some of the other muns, relatively merciful and kind.

That is indeed little comfort... and who knows when their 'relative mercy' might run out.

It is in all fairness I should warn you that muns can get you killed and bring you back to life. Repeatedly. And not in a cosmic, reincarnation cycle sense; you'll just wake up whole again remembering your death clearly.

Lovely. Aren't you just the bearer of good news.

Apologies. I'm a bit touchy since my universe is about to be destroyed by an entity known as Vaatu and my mun decided now would be the appropriate time to take me from it instead of letting me stay and help form a solution.

Well, if it helps any, I don't think you'll be missed.

[...she stops, thinks about that one for a moment. Yeah, not as reassuring as she'd meant it to sound.]

I mean... that's how these game things seem to work. You being gone doesn't make any difference to your timeline. If I were to guess, I'd say the timeline diverges somehow - one version ends up here and one stays where it oughtta be - but, um, temporal mechanics was never my best class at the Academy... however it works, uhm, you don't need to worry about the war. Just about the general awfulness that goes on in these so-called 'games'.

[Another pause, then, wry:]

Hope that helps.

Well, there's quite enough awfulness to go around in this 'game' of theirs.

It's not particularly comforting, no. There's a me being miserable here, and a me being miserable back on the station. How delightful.

Well, they do say a problem shared is a problem halved.

[She's pretty sure it'd be doubled in this case, but she'd rather be platitudinous than depressing.]

You could try... not being miserable? [Yes, A+ counselling there Ezri.] I mean, not all of the games are completely terrible. They might be better than the station is at the moment.

[Ezri is worth at least quadrupling the problem.]

You know, I hadn't considered not being miserable!

[Too much sarcasm? perhaps.]

I should enjoy being stuck on a mostly primitive planet, where there's currently a war, being fought with mostly primitive weapons and outdated Federation technology.

Now Garak, we don't even know if it's that outdated. It is a different timeline, after all--they could have advanced far faster than we think.

Ezri is trying to help, you really don't have to snap at her.

[You are being mean, stop it.]

I'm very skeptical about that.

She may be trying to help, but I'd honestly feel better if she wasn't.

Gee, thanks. I'll put that right at the top of my resumé next time I apply for a counselling position.

[One day, she will figure out whether these conversations are (relatively) friendly or not. It's difficult to tell, with Cardassians - Garak especially. For now, she'll just pretend to assume so until proven otherwise... it's easier all around.]

Perhaps you should stick to species that are psychologically and culturally similar to your own?

Sure, and while I'm at it I'll only counsel people who're exactly like me, because that's definitely a valid way of treating a whole station of people.

[She sighs, and pouts. Her facial structure and her size do not go very far towards making her not look like a toddler when she does it, but that doesn't stop her.]

Guess maybe centuries of experience isn't really much of a replacement for an actual qualification after all, huh?

[No such thing as too much sarcasm!]

...well, I'll admit it doesn't sound ideal.

[But Ezri's ability to juggle being insecure and anxious and constantly worried about everything with being stubbornly optimistic is not so easily compromised. Not even by logic.]

But every cloud has a silver lining, right? I mean, if it's mostly primitive weapons and outdated technology you have an advantage. Sort of. And, um, at least this war doesn't really matter as much to you as the one at home!

[Hm, yes, very reassuring. Even she doesn't sound convinced. She sighs, and relents a little.]

Okay, so maybe it's not great. At all. In any way, shape or form. But I just mean it... might not suck quite as badly as it could?

I suppose whether or not it matters as much as the war I left depends on whether or not all universes will be destroyed if we fail.

I'm skeptical, but I'm not prepared to risk it.

[Oh Ezri.]

That Federation optimism and determination to see the good in a situation is still going strong, I see.

Um - well, that's a difficult one to find a bright side to.

[She contemplates suggesting that at least if all the universes are destroyed there'll be no one around to care that they failed... she's pretty sure that Garak wouldn't find that particularly comforting, though, and there's only so far she can push this 'optimism' thing.]

I'm trying, at least. [Wry again, because, yeah, she really doesn't have the confidence to support this kind of optimism.] I'll let you know how it works out for me.

If you manage to find one, I'd love to hear it.

For now, I'll stick to what works for me.

Oh, sure. Good luck. [A beat and then, drily:] Try not to throw yourself out of any airlocks.

[Though he seems, somehow, to have gotten that under control. She's not sure the Cardassian 'disciplined mind' strategy is healthy - it's certainly not healthy for less reptilian species, but then, xenopsychology is a complicated business - but at least it seems to work. In the short term, anyway.]

Everyone says that, you know.

That you won't indulge, or that you don't have time?

The muns want to indulge, they don't really care if you do.