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]

Being a kept pet that is trapped is better than being a dead one, don't you think?

[judicatus]

The bounds of oblivion seem a kinder prison than that which my so-called master would happily use to keep me.

[sylvan]

Is it truly so bad? Maybe if you were to take a different attitude with them you might come to a compromise? Even if it's a prison, there's always a chance of escape.

[judicatus]

Long have I walked this path, long enough to know that any hope for escape is futile. Even if my escape should come to pass, it matters not, for all ways in which my fate could possibly unfold lead only to the same end: leaving me as a plaything, a hound to be used at my master's beck and call.

[ way to be even more of a debbie downer than originally anticipated gabranth, womp womp. ]

[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.

[unkindly]

Good luck with that. Hard to avoid the "weave" once they set their minds on things.

[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.

[judicatus]

[He sighs, and the sound of it rattles in his helm.]

So I have long ago learned.

[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?

[unkindly]

Yeah, we all learn that eventually, I think.

[leveilleur]

[ A frown reaches the boy's face once he sees this man. This fellow reminds him a little bit too much like the Imperial Legatus, Gaius von Baeslar. It's the armor and the muffled voice that brings such a scowl to Alphinaud's face. ]

And yet you've already been caught.

[judicatus]

Caught, perhaps. But I'll not allow myself to be used so easily.

[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.]

[judicatus]

[Hmm.]

And how have you come to live with that?

[leveilleur]

Is that so?

[ He's all but beckoning this man to continue. ]

How shall you sever your chains when they're invisible? I am most curious to know.

[ There's a slight hint of sarcasm in his tone. Just a small bit. ]

[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.

[judicatus]

[Hmmph.]

Your words give me little cause to believe that your curiosity is genuine.

[unkindly]

I don't like it. Never did. It's not easy.