Ted's IC Inbox
Oct. 6th, 2014 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
youfoolThese are necessary, I discovered! Any private message to Ted's communicator will go here, if you please, so I may treasure it forever.
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Theodore (Ted) Satchel
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Re: action
Date: 2016-08-14 05:41 pm (UTC)[He shook his head]
That's close. Truthfully I've grown cyncial about politicians, mayors and Guardians. I simply believe punishment and blame should fall on the right heads, rather than scapegoats. The mayor there is, in all likelihood, completely worthless, but that doesn't mean he was in his right mind, or even his own mind at all, when the house of cards went down.
action
Date: 2016-08-14 05:58 pm (UTC)Re: action
Date: 2016-08-14 08:30 pm (UTC)What do I want?
Every man, woman, and child converted to the faith. The barrier being powered by something nobler than fear, like, say, charity. Mercy and justice for all. A populace that trusted and loved one another, rather than cowering in mutual anxiety. A city where no one's diet need mean the death of any living thing. A place free from the influence of black magic and vile sorceries. In a word, I'd like a perfect city, if it's not too much trouble.
For the mayor I'd like to see him treated as he deserves, though it's not a hill to die on. Seeing him put away quietly wouldn't be so terrible.
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Date: 2016-08-14 08:50 pm (UTC)Think yer gonna hafta open a sub-arch or whatever if y' wanna find that. An' y' picked Everglade as yer start? Shit, y'd have better luck here in Nova, an' that's sayin' somethin'!
[At least... he's not laughing?]
Anyway, 's gonna be a tall order gettin' everyone on board t' commit suicide an' eat only salt. Ain't some kinda genius or nothin' but I taught a biology lesson or two an' I'mma tell y' right off, that part a yer dream ain't gonna happen. People die if all they eat's salt. Dries up all the cells. So what the hell's people s'posed t' eat if we're tryna not kill any livin' thing?
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-14 09:29 pm (UTC)[He shook his head, smilling plaintively]
No; subarchways are worlds of illusion. Besides, they're based off of memories, and I doubt whether any have memories of something so utopic.
Heh, you think Everglade so hopeless? An obvious temptation, true. But I'm not ready for despair, yet. Sometimes even the darkest city gets sick of itself, and looks to repent. There may yet be some righteousness within, waiting to be cultivated. It's worth trying, at least.
Ever the biologist, eh? Admittedly that one's pretty dreamy. But there are some people who go farther than these fish; those who insist on eating the flesh of other sentient people and drink their blood. Parasites, practically. That, at least ,must not persist.
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Date: 2016-08-14 10:09 pm (UTC)Think fish ain't sentient? Jus' cuz a human can't hear their voices don't mean they ain't got 'em. Hear 'em jus' fine if y's me. We're all parasites when y' get right down t' it. Like, what the hell're y' gonna do with all the vampires an' shit? Tell 'em t' starve for the rest a eternity cuz y' don't like what their bodies is made t' eat?
[He slips the fish behind his teeth, then reaches for one of the bottles of rum. Something tells him he's going to need some alcohol in his brain before too long.]
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-14 10:29 pm (UTC)[And there's the equivocation. He'd ask whether the fish could create art or become priests or any other signature of man, but figured Namur wouldn't appreciate metaphysical gossip like that. To say nothing of Adam's dominion over the beasts and all that implied.]
There's only three things for them. Death, charity, or a miracle.
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Date: 2016-08-14 10:39 pm (UTC)Got the means t' make their miracle happen d' y'? Cuz what I know a vampires is they already had t' make that choice once an' that's how they wound up bein' what they is, since their miracle didn't show up on time.
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-14 10:46 pm (UTC)[Ted chuckled and smiled. He couldn't say whether this was hopeful or hopeless.]
Not yet; that's usually the job of the hierophants. Someone vampires are loathe to see, I'm told. But I'm working on it. How about you, Namur? Any miracles you'd like to see while I'm dabbling in them?
action
Date: 2016-08-14 11:18 pm (UTC)[Namur shrugs, swinging his hands out wide, and clicks his tongue.]
Since that's kinda the opposite a yer's, I won't be holdin' my breath. Sheheheheh!
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-15 12:11 am (UTC)"Hah, a futile understanding. For one, we're made in God's image. I'm afraid you'll have to make peace with the idea that we're the most important people in the universe. As for living free, well, if freedom means egotism, I think I'd prefer slavery. I sometimes wonder if freedom isn't best when freely forfeit." [For no reason he can pinpoint, somehow he feels more at ease half-joking like this, and he's back to the fish.]
I wonder, Namur, did your fishmen ever conceive of the romance of slavery? Were they ever able to find anything good in it?
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Date: 2016-08-15 01:31 am (UTC)Know what, asshole? How 'bout y' don't talk 'bout somethin' y' don't know nothin' 'bout? Slavery's shit! An' I'mma wreck every damn bastard thinks otherwise!
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-15 01:51 am (UTC)[Away he goes! Ted nearly flew out of the window he might've entered with. He's rubbing his jaw, sucking in air. That was shocking both physically and mentally! He's just gonna take stock of the situation, for a moment, eyes steadily on Namur.
He should be mad. But it's a hard emotion for The Fool to muster, when he's so used to blissful oblivion. He'd just told his hopes and dreams in the span of ten minutes. All that gravity off his chest left a surplus of levity, and he could only speak from that.]
"Well, I don't know about my salvation, but my parentage is legitimate. Will you spare me for that, then?" [Yep, he's basically goading him into another hit. He'll try the old evade-counterattack, by leaping and jump-kicking him in the head. Should be an easy target.]
action
Date: 2016-08-15 02:14 am (UTC)[It is an easy target. Namur has a moment's worth of precognitive ability in these situations, so in the midst of his charge, he suddenly stops and twists, grabbing Ted's foot with his hand. He lifts him up high, nearly face to face- only Ted would be upside down.]
The hell kinda person looks another in the eye an' tells 'em slavery's good, huh Ted? Yer parents teach y' that? Yer human god?
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-15 02:46 am (UTC)[You know, cause ya called him a damn bastard? If only he could explain jokes in the heat of battle. The Fool became The Hanged Man, seeing Namur from a whole new perspective. He was enjoying this more than sanity permits; he seemed to have tapped into a deep reservoir of moral outrage. He wondered if Namur wasn't a very good person.]
"You're lecturing me about manners, after sucker punching your dinner guest, no less! Who taught you hospitality, Atilla the Hun?"
[Thanks to his flexibility, he can try and clip Namur on his jaw, hopefully making them even.]
action
Date: 2016-08-15 09:48 pm (UTC)[Ted might wish to rethink that punch, though. Namur's teeth are fully bared, and he's feeling rather snappish.]
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-15 10:18 pm (UTC)[More of a leg man, but that does get him a little out of his violent gaiety. Ted spoke plaintively.]
"I'm sorry, Namur. I had no idea. That's not in the least what I meant; why would you think it was?"
action
Date: 2016-08-20 03:38 am (UTC)Cuz that's what happens t' slaves. Every slave. Every damn time. 'Less someone comes 'long an' stops it, or they manage t' escape 'fore they're dead.
[He grips his left forearm with his right hand, and if Ted's being observant, he may notice a sliver of tattoo showing below the cuff of Namur's long-sleeved tee.]
Once y' escape y' ain't really free, either, since that makes y' a criminal the world over, an' hell knows what sorta shit y' had t' pull in order t' get 'way. All cuz y' happened t' be born with gills? Whaleshit.
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-20 05:02 am (UTC)This seemed to be something particular to his original world. Ted wants to explain himself, but knows that Namur should come first.
He lands with less-than-catlike reflexes, but composes himself, trying to listen sympathetically.]
Is that what you had to do? Escape?
action
Date: 2016-08-22 04:28 pm (UTC)Naw, not me. Lotta people I care 'bout, yeah, they had t' go through some pretty messed up shit, an' I seen 'em doin' lots more t' others.
[He pats his chest with his fingertips. If fire could be made of water, there'd be a tsunami in his eyes.]
I'm the one doin' the stoppin'.
Lotta people got shit t' worry 'bout. Families, jobs, whatever. But that weren't the direction my current flowed, an' I found me a family strong 'nuff t' deal with the armies a the world, so it ain't like there's shit the Celestial Dragons can do t' me. Means I'm in a good position t' bloody up their nose an' take back what they stole. So that's what I done. 'S what I'm always gonna do, no matter where I go. If there's slavery, I'mma do my damnedest t' wreck it.
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-22 10:37 pm (UTC)You'd try and take apart the practice no matter what, then? Even if it were accepted by all and sundry? Even if people swore to you up and down not to judge, not to say 'boo' to something that a whole society more or less enjoyed?
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Date: 2016-08-22 10:57 pm (UTC)Re: action
Date: 2016-08-22 11:31 pm (UTC)[Boy would Namur be surprised to learn that slavery was in vogue in Everglade still. That and necromancy, which of course was the allusion he was making, and exactly the way Ted thought and felt. A universally wrong practice, full of evil for all its participants, willing or not. It was not as conventional as slavery; doubtless Namur would find more allies for his cause than Ted. But otherwise...the comparisons were irresistibly easy. He wondered if Namur caught on to the game.]
[Ted grew a smile, burning fiercely under a cover of courtesy.]
Oh Namur, I could love you like a brother. You are speaking with the same tongue, the same language, but about another subject. How much I hate that even now, for the sake of truth, I might endanger that.
I hope it's apparent that I was not speaking of slavery of the flesh, but of the spirit. You see...I believe, in some form or another, everyone's spirit is enslaved to something. To sin, or nature, or to the self--it hardly matters which, in the end-- on the one hand, and on the other...to righteousness. The latter master is one not many have chosen, imagining themselves "free" in the bondage of the former. With all my heart I should like to put upon them the yoke of God, but it is something they shall have to wear on their own. If they've any freedom, any liberty, it must be used only to give it up to the right One.
And now you see the terrible dilemma. Here you are, fishman after my own heart, and yet I do not know whether our beliefs will make us allies or enemies.
action
Date: 2016-08-25 01:15 am (UTC)That ain't the same thing at all, y' schoolie dumbass! Can't choose yer master if yer a slave. Maybe a servant. Maybe somethin' else, like a fanboy or a monk or some shit. But that's the freedom slaves is deprived. Don't getta choose who breeds on 'em, can't choose who beats 'em or buys 'em at auction. Jus' now yer talkin' 'bout people that's free t' choose what they'll follow, an' it ain't even a thing y' even could force on a person. Might make 'em pretend one way or the other, but y' can't guarantee that someone ain't followin' all yer god's rules jus' t' save their life, catch me?
Re: action
Date: 2016-08-25 02:45 am (UTC)"That's the goodness of my Master; he can always be chosen, no matter how destitute the slave.
So you're saying then, that no matter what the thoughts of The World, you would fight against evil?"
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