[A pause on his end, one of careful deliberation. He doesn't want to die, either. He's come to value his life, to understand that there are people here who care about him and are hurt when he suffers.
But more than that, he values his free will. Sanity, choice, independence.]
Please don't misunderstand. I'd would also prefer to live.
[His voice is sincere, if resigned.]
Still, for me.....dying isn't the worst fate. Surviving in your place would be much more painful, and I've already been in that kind of situation before.
[ unofficial barghest or not, they weren't the best of friends, so she assumes he's not talking about having to live with her blood on his hands, or something dramatic like that ]
[ She continues to float a few feet off the ground, though in a sitting position herself. It's tantamount to sitting, anyway.
It makes her think of her own father--he was dead, too, wasn't he? That one wasn't her fault, but she still felt all of the raw pain from getting the news of his demise. She doesn't know what Jaguar's situation with his parents is like, but she can feel the broadest empathy anyway. ]
Even though it would be possible for me to come back? [ hard quest or not, she wouldn't be dead forever. relatively speaking. ]
To be given a choice in one's death is a luxury many cannot afford, I've found. [ in what she can remember of ruling the Netherworld, of visiting Hell ]
But I've existed for at least 700 years, you know. It's not selfish for a human to want to live, especially when I've done so several times over.
I'm going to offer my happiest memory. It's a very, very important one. Surviving this twisted excuse for a game will mean forgetting it completely.
Should that happen, I need you to come find me afterward and tell me....
[He has to pause, struggling a little. In many ways, that memory still feels more like a dream than a real past event, and now there's a high chance he'll lose it.]
...tell me that Sophia Lamb is dead. That I'm free.
It's an old fairytale. The princess of an underwater kingdom spots a prince on a ship, and saves him during a storm at sea. He doesn't know it was her, however, since the humans and mermaids can't co-exist, so she leaves before he wakes up.
She falls in love with him from afair, wishing she could be with him...it's quite sad, like most traditional fairytales are.
[ pause ]
The mermaid princess finds a sea witch willing to help her, to give her legs...for a price.
[His gaze shifts to those words with a frown. Feeling like he ought to speak up, ought to protest. But......it's too late for such things. The choice has been made, set in ink if not stone.
And, it was a choice she made freely. She could have picked any number of things; at least the loss of one's voice could be worked around.
So with a quiet sigh and a hand through his hair, Jaguar doesn't pursue his question.]
Well, the mermaid princess earned her legs, although it was a painful transformation. The sea witch gave her an ultimatum--she must get the prince to marry her, and if so, she would be able to live on land with him forever and obtain an immortal soul, something mermaids lacked, apparently. On the morning of his marriage to anyone else, she would dissolve into sea foam and cease to exist.
Things seemed to be going quite well, except when the queen arranged an engagement for her son with a princess from the neighboring kingdom. He said, "do not worry, the only one I could ever love besides you is the priestess who rescued me that day I almost drowned." Except, as it turned out, that priestess was the princess, who had lived at the temple for temporary training.
And so the prince married the priestess-princess, leaving the mermaid princess in the cold. She was resigned to her death, but was suddenly approached by her many older sisters. They'd given the sea witch their beautiful hair in exchange for a magic dagger--if the mermaid princess killed the prince with it, and let his blood splatter on her feet, she would turn into a mermaid again, and be able to live out the rest of her life with her family in the ocean.
She stood by his bed, but she could not bring herself to kill the one she still loved, even if he did not love her anymore. Just as she was about to die, however, she was lifted up into the heavens by many spectral beings. The Daughters of the Air, they said, were beings frozen in a sort of purgatory. Although they did not possess immortal souls, they showed the kindness and grace required to enter the kingdom of Heaven. So, if they kept this up, and helped mankind for 300 years, they would earn their peace.
The mermaid princess set off into the sky to begin her journey.
[ More bittersweet than sad, maybe, but what a fuckin' raw deal that poor girl got. Mermaids not having souls, pssshhh. ]
Fair enough, but consider this--in some retellings of the story, usually the ones where the mermaid princess's tongue was cut out, the prince wasn't quite so nice.
Walking on her new legs was sheer agony, but he asked her to dance for him despite it. He paraded her around more like a trophy, and when he realized who he was to marry, he left her in the dust without a second thought.
I don't think he deserves happiness in those cases, but.....it's easy, too easy, to say that someone unpleasant ought to be killed, especially if there's an injured party involved.
Was he cruel down to his core, or just a spoiled young man? It's a distinction that should be considered. Because usually, death means the end of all potential for change or redemption — killing him would be simpler than forgiveness, but I can't say whether or not it would be the correct choice.
The mermaid would have to judge that for herself, and she did.
I don't disagree. Would it not be better for him to learn of what his misdeeds caused? To say that his poor companion saved him from drowning, and then sacrificed nearly everything to be with him--only for him to reject her at the last moment, condemning her to death. Even then, she still loved him and wished for his happiness. Would that not be the best lesson for him, to have to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life? Atonement is always a choice, and the mermaid princess was not completely damned.
also he drove a ship into a giant sea witch, that checks off at least some criteria for "keeper" material]
That sounds like the more reasonable path to take. Although.....granted, I don't know how I would have reacted if it was me, without the buffer of the story being fiction.
[The words “We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.” appear on the ground before you in glowing green, bursting into a magic circle which engulfs you both in light. Whatever you chose to sacrifice is gone (unless you stipulated that you would do it yourself, in which case the necessary implements will appear before you), and if it was a body part the circle isn’t kind enough to make it painless, even if it does make sure you don’t bleed out.]
[Once it’s done, a glowing portal appears before you, letting you finally leave the book.]
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formaliteas) wrote2015-09-17 11:06 pm
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...hmm.
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Another cruel Echo's twisted excuse for a game. Figures. But he won't lose control; he won't give them that satisfaction.]
...well then, Andromeda-san, what would you prefer to do?
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...I'd rather not die again, but that's obvious, isn't it?
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[A pause on his end, one of careful deliberation. He doesn't want to die, either. He's come to value his life, to understand that there are people here who care about him and are hurt when he suffers.
But more than that, he values his free will. Sanity, choice, independence.]
....mm, I can take on the role of the one to die.
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That doesn't mean I want you to die, either. What makes you offer that?
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[His voice is sincere, if resigned.]
Still, for me.....dying isn't the worst fate. Surviving in your place would be much more painful, and I've already been in that kind of situation before.
[A crooked half-smile.]
Besides, I can still bargain for my life.
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[ unofficial barghest or not, they weren't the best of friends, so she assumes he's not talking about having to live with her blood on his hands, or something dramatic like that ]
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My death would be my choice, or as much of one that this situation can allow. But to live would come at your expense, Andromeda-san.
That happened with my parents. I don't want it to happen with you, too.
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It makes her think of her own father--he was dead, too, wasn't he? That one wasn't her fault, but she still felt all of the raw pain from getting the news of his demise. She doesn't know what Jaguar's situation with his parents is like, but she can feel the broadest empathy anyway. ]
Even though it would be possible for me to come back? [ hard quest or not, she wouldn't be dead forever. relatively speaking. ]
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Yes. To me, a death is a death. Revival doesn't cheapen that.
The burden would be the same.
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But I've existed for at least 700 years, you know. It's not selfish for a human to want to live, especially when I've done so several times over.
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It's not, but this is still what I would prefer to do. How many times you've lived....that doesn't change my mind.
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If you're certain, then, I...won't disrespect your choice.
[ She feels like she should be putting up more of a fight, but then, she really doesn't want to die. ]
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Thank you.
....however, I do need to ask a favor, for when this is over.
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Should that happen, I need you to come find me afterward and tell me....
[He has to pause, struggling a little. In many ways, that memory still feels more like a dream than a real past event, and now there's a high chance he'll lose it.]
...tell me that Sophia Lamb is dead. That I'm free.
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Of course.
[ ... ]
Would you prefer I offer something up as well? I do not mind...
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I....don't have any objections. It would be yours to give.
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Picking up the quill to write down his offer and their roles, then offering it to her.]
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Become the mermaid. ]
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A mermaid?
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Aha, it was a joke, but I probably shouldn't do that here, right? It sort of slipped out.
[ she crosses it out and start writing her actual answer ]
Have you ever read "The Little Mermaid"?
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[Headtilt, thinking back. He didn't grow up with much in the way of fairytales. The name isn't familiar.]
No, I can't say I have. What's it about?
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She falls in love with him from afair, wishing she could be with him...it's quite sad, like most traditional fairytales are.
[ pause ]
The mermaid princess finds a sea witch willing to help her, to give her legs...for a price.
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Mm, I see. What did the sea witch ask for?
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[Wait. WAIT.]
—that's what you offered?
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It was in turn for the sea witch using her own blood and brewing her strongest potion. Not for anything practical, I believe--payment is payment.
[ She doesn't answer. But he can see her offer written down, anyway. ]
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And, it was a choice she made freely. She could have picked any number of things; at least the loss of one's voice could be worked around.
So with a quiet sigh and a hand through his hair, Jaguar doesn't pursue his question.]
....what happened next?
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[A wry half-smile.]
One more can't hurt me.
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[ clearing her throat ]
Well, the mermaid princess earned her legs, although it was a painful transformation. The sea witch gave her an ultimatum--she must get the prince to marry her, and if so, she would be able to live on land with him forever and obtain an immortal soul, something mermaids lacked, apparently. On the morning of his marriage to anyone else, she would dissolve into sea foam and cease to exist.
Things seemed to be going quite well, except when the queen arranged an engagement for her son with a princess from the neighboring kingdom. He said, "do not worry, the only one I could ever love besides you is the priestess who rescued me that day I almost drowned." Except, as it turned out, that priestess was the princess, who had lived at the temple for temporary training.
And so the prince married the priestess-princess, leaving the mermaid princess in the cold. She was resigned to her death, but was suddenly approached by her many older sisters. They'd given the sea witch their beautiful hair in exchange for a magic dagger--if the mermaid princess killed the prince with it, and let his blood splatter on her feet, she would turn into a mermaid again, and be able to live out the rest of her life with her family in the ocean.
She stood by his bed, but she could not bring herself to kill the one she still loved, even if he did not love her anymore. Just as she was about to die, however, she was lifted up into the heavens by many spectral beings. The Daughters of the Air, they said, were beings frozen in a sort of purgatory. Although they did not possess immortal souls, they showed the kindness and grace required to enter the kingdom of Heaven. So, if they kept this up, and helped mankind for 300 years, they would earn their peace.
The mermaid princess set off into the sky to begin her journey.
[ More bittersweet than sad, maybe, but what a fuckin' raw deal that poor girl got. Mermaids not having souls, pssshhh. ]
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.....I think she did the right thing.
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Even eclipsing the possibility of returning to her family?
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Of course family is important, but the prince was an innocent person.
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Walking on her new legs was sheer agony, but he asked her to dance for him despite it. He paraded her around more like a trophy, and when he realized who he was to marry, he left her in the dust without a second thought.
Would that still be the correct choice?
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I don't think he deserves happiness in those cases, but.....it's easy, too easy, to say that someone unpleasant ought to be killed, especially if there's an injured party involved.
Was he cruel down to his core, or just a spoiled young man? It's a distinction that should be considered. Because usually, death means the end of all potential for change or redemption — killing him would be simpler than forgiveness, but I can't say whether or not it would be the correct choice.
The mermaid would have to judge that for herself, and she did.
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I don't disagree. Would it not be better for him to learn of what his misdeeds caused? To say that his poor companion saved him from drowning, and then sacrificed nearly everything to be with him--only for him to reject her at the last moment, condemning her to death. Even then, she still loved him and wished for his happiness. Would that not be the best lesson for him, to have to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life? Atonement is always a choice, and the mermaid princess was not completely damned.
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also he drove a ship into a giant sea witch, that checks off at least some criteria for "keeper" material]
That sounds like the more reasonable path to take. Although.....granted, I don't know how I would have reacted if it was me, without the buffer of the story being fiction.
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[ nor did she promise jag her undying love, but you know ]
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I suppose not.
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[ or should she sing an opera while she still has her vocal chords ]
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Would you like to do something to pass the time?
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There's always the usual guessing game, I suppose. We each think of an object and try to figure out what it is.
DECISION
ANDROMEDA will live.
Jaguar offers HIS HAPPIEST MEMORY (TRIUMPH OVER SOPHIA LAMB) | 10
Andromeda offers HER VOICE | 6
Re: DECISION
[The words “We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.” appear on the ground before you in glowing green, bursting into a magic circle which engulfs you both in light. Whatever you chose to sacrifice is gone (unless you stipulated that you would do it yourself, in which case the necessary implements will appear before you), and if it was a body part the circle isn’t kind enough to make it painless, even if it does make sure you don’t bleed out.]
[Once it’s done, a glowing portal appears before you, letting you finally leave the book.]