re-re-re-voicetesting

[judicatus]

I might ask if ever you'll cease such foolish attempts as this, but already I suspect the answer will be one I won't like to hear.

May your efforts be for naught. I've no intent of allowing myself to be caught in your weave, games though they may be, once again.

Comments

[sylvan]

Have you ever considered that you make it what it is? With an attitude like that, you're bound to only get the short end. If you have to fight for what you want, then do it. Being resigned to your fate is... it's so silly! Being alive means infinite possibilities -- for freedom, for happiness, for whatever it is you want. [ She feels like all of this is so obvious and it shows. Why does she even have to say any of this? ] Right now, your choices may be limited but you can't simply lay down and let it be as it is! I'm sure it would make someone very unhappy.

[ Kain Part II: Electric Boogaloo. I hear seventeen years on a mountain does wonders! ]

Honestly, what is it with the guys in scary helmets that are so content to wallow in their supposedly fated misery? Always accepting only one outcome?

[judicatus]

[He might be ready to prepare another depressing longwinded retort, but that last bit at the end makes him falter.]

I beg your pardon?

[Too bad this isn't one of his Dissidia selves or else he might actually know who that is.]

[sylvan]

[ Been there, done that, will gladly fire back and respond to those circling retorts forever. Possibly even while breaking down your defenses and chipping away (just slightly) at that armor. ]

All of the men with their intimidating armor and harsh, scary helmets! You're all the same, aren't you? [ Then Cecil takes his off and he's a princess? She's half-expecting long, braided hair and sparkles if he takes that thing off. ] You wallow in whatever, never thinking of those that care for you and want the best for you!

That's fine. If you really have no one that would mourn you, I'll do it.

[judicatus]

[No sparkles here, unfortunately. Bit of a shortage of that in Ivalice.

Still, he's left at something of a loss.]

I fail to recall ever asking for the pity of a stranger. [Because that's what mourning means in his book, obviously.]

[sylvan]

[ Eh, you've got the cutest moogles. It evens itself out! ]

Pity is useless. If anything, it just makes a situation worse. [ Either by annoying the one receiving it or making them dig deeper into the hole they've created for themselves. ] Empathy isn't the same as sympathy and there's no dishonor in accepting it.

[judicatus]

[These are perhaps things he should know logically, but any mention of honor or dishonor that falls outside what narrow definitions he's decided for himself might as well be static in his ears.]

Do not speak to me of honor. This path is mine alone to tread, and I'll not have its burden weigh upon the shoulders of another.

[sylvan]

[ It goes about as well as she imagined it would. For every Cecil there seems to be ten Kains -- which is unfortunate. He suffered so much and still is so caught-up in his own misery and loneliness. All he had to do was reach out. He mattered. ]

Therein lies your problem. No path is meant to be walked alone.

[judicatus]

[Nearly all he can do is frown, despite the fact that his face is masked.]

Had I the naivete of youth, I would declare this path was not meant to be walked at all, much less shared. Few are those upon whom I would wish such a fate.

[sylvan]

Maybe were I in your place I might think similarly, but I can't agree with that. I've witnessed change and I've witnessed -- and given -- forgiveness. Sometimes you just need to look at it from a different viewpoint.

[ She won't address the implication that she's young or naive. That subject just annoys her, sometimes to the point of anger. ]

What makes you so intent on being complacent? To accept things as they are or you think they are? Why not fight for something better?

[judicatus]

[He hadn't ever thought of it as being complacent. If anything...]

I've seen the way of this world for what it truly is. I've seen it well enough to know that the hope for something better lies beyond my grasp. [At this point, he's not even sure what something better might be.]

[sylvan]

[ Cynical? Bitter? Generally unhappy, really. She'd even go so far to say deluded. ]

If that's the case, how do you explain those that are content and those that have grown, fought, succeeded? [ She probably shouldn't push all of this. Stranger and all, you know? But it bothers her and she is invested. That's just how she's always been. ]

[judicatus]

[He gives a soft hmph, audible only in the way it echoes from his helm.]

I speak not for those others, nor would I measure their strife by my own. I would advise you to do the same.

[sylvan]

If that's what you'd like. [ She keeps her hands behind her back, teetering back and forth from heels to tip of her toes. ] You aren't used to having people be concerned for you, are you? That must be very lonely.

[judicatus]

[Truthfully, he's not used at all to anyone speaking to him at such length about this sort of thing. It vexes him.]

The office of Judge Magister leaves little room for the concern of others. [He's very pointedly not going to comment on the "lonely" part of it.]

[sylvan]

Hm, really? With a title like that, one would think that it would leave plenty of room... [ Then again, she is so used to noble, peaceful leaders concerned with the well-being of those around them first and foremost... and Edge. ]

Well, wherever it is that you may go, I hope it proves you wrong.

[judicatus]

[He makes another one of those hmph noises.]

I've some idea of where I'll be going, should the course set by this "mundane" remain true. [And that leaves him with too little hope for anything at all.]

I would thank you for your sentiment, but perhaps it would be more prudent of you to spend it on another.

[sylvan]

[ She doesn't even acknowledge it. ]

I see. I imagine it's a place where you fight for your life? You seem like the type a mundane would thrust into somewhere like that. [ Although she'd like a little more action, the whole death thing doesn't suit her. In the future, maybe, there will be more than baking cookies and making friends. ]

There's no reason it can't be spent on more than one person. [ Beside that, he really does remind her of Kain. No one should suffer alone like that -- or feel as if they're alone as he did. ]

[judicatus]

Aye, so it is. [Nothing he isn't used to, though the extent of it puts him on edge.

He needs a moment to think of how to refute her once again, for what can he do but refute her at this point?]

Regardless, I stand by my words.

[sylvan]

I wish you the best of luck, then. [ She doesn't say that if it's where Kain is she has to take that back. It goes without saying that she wants Kain to succeed and rise victorious, even if it is at the cost of another's life. She doesn't want to think how that must feel. ]

As do I. I guess we're both stubborn people.

[judicatus]

[Oh, she has no idea.]

I suspect I'll need no small amount of it. [Considering how hard he's pushed to avoid it until now, that's as close as he'll get to giving her a thank you.]

[sylvan]

Luck or stubbornness? [ She knows how that goes. Cecil was subtle like that and she'd learned long ago to read his minute gestures. Though clearly everyone was their own unique individual... she also wanted to see the best in everyone. It was easy to think it was something positive. ] A combination of the two can go a long way, if you ask me.

[judicatus]

[Truthfully, he doesn't like to think of himself as "stubborn"; determined, adamant, perhaps, but never quite stubborn. Still, he finds no cause to correct her.]

If I'm to survive this so-called game, I suppose such a combination would only serve me well.

[sylvan]

[ She doesn't know him well enough to argue if she stands corrected. However, she is willing to bet that she is correct -- though frankly more than content when proven wrong in situations like this. ]

That's the spirit! [ Not really the spirit of the season, though... ] I'm sure you're busy, aren't you? It's been wonderful talking to you and... I hope that maybe somewhere along the lines I'll have been helpful to you.

[judicatus]

[There's something in it all that still vexes him, and the fact that he can't quite pin it down only vexes him even more deeply. Even so...]

I suppose that only time will tell.

[sylvan]

I suppose so! [ How upbeat! Probably not the best way to respond to this, but certainly better than being resigned to pessimism. ] Do you have a name?