Crystals | OTA

[aforethought]

FORM: Crystals
SENDER: Melys
RECIPIENT: Everyone!
WHAT: IC Would-you-rather
WHEN: Now-ish
WHERE: ~Everywhere~
NOTES: Threadjack like mad, please.

[ without preamble, ]

So here’s what: You make up two choices. Maybe they’re both shit, or maybe they’re both alright, but you say them — then you gotta say which one you’d pick, if you had to.

And maybe why. And then everyone else’s gotta answer too. Like this, 

Would you rather not be able t'lie, or only be able to? 

— And no one gives a damn for who you’re fucking or who fucked you over, so don’t go dragging that mess in here or I’ll puke on your shoes.

Comments

[faithlikeaseed]

But if you can only tell lies, can't someone bait you into giving them the truth anyway? If they know you're stuck telling lies.

I'd pick only truth, though. I can always shut up [no you can't myr] if it's something I'd rather lie about.

Would you rather be chased by one dragon-sized nugg or a hundred nugg-sized dragons?

[aforethought]

That'd be real obvious too, wouldn't it? You goin' quiet all the sudden.

[ and wouldn't that be a crying shame, ]

One dragon-sized nug. Th'fuck's a nug gonna do? Don't matter how big it is, ain't like they got horns or nothing.

[ no one tell her ]

[faithlikeaseed]

Fair, [laughingly.]

They've got teeth, though. Sharp little teeth. Sharp big teeth if they're the size of a dragon. Not worried about getting bitten in half?

[aforethought]

Shit, if they got that kind of precision, they're welcome to it.

The day I start worrying on nugs is the day they lower me onto the pyre. You'd really pick dragons?

[faithlikeaseed]

Nugs have those creepy little hands. I don't want to imagine them as creepy giant hands.

Sure, I'd pick dragons. Anything starts chasing me with serious intent I'm fucked anyway if I try to run; they'd be easier to fight off.

Besides, what if I could catch one and sell it?

[aforethought]

They're only creepy because they're little. You make them big, they're just hands.

Miniature dragons, [ a snort — somehow, for once, the derision isn't aimed at him — ] Who'd be dumb enough t'keep one of those?

[ you could do a thriving trade in orlais ]

[faithlikeaseed]

Still creepy. They're shaped wrong.

Don't know. [Cheerful.] There's got to be someone, though, who'd be willing to pay for one.

D'you have another question?

[aforethought]

Maybe yours're wrong. They're exactly how the Maker made them.

Rather be rich and anonymous, or poor and famous?

[faithlikeaseed]

[Quiet laugh.] Point. Now I'm thinking of nugs worrying over us and our wrong-shaped hands.

Rich and anonymous. Mages don't get famous for good reasons--and there's always good causes out there that need more money behind them.

[aforethought]

Ain't that the truth.

[ the mage bit. never been anywhere near them until ostagar (the maisley kid don't count, the fucking dalish don't count), and it's not like her part had anything to do with theirs. lots of big, well-fed folks in armor around them; more money on their shoulders than she'd seen in her life. wasn't going to risk pissing in the captain's water to get close enough for an eyeful.

you used to hear about mages, it was this: rich folks, or a story, or some bad shit going down and the chantry come in to fix it. but the stories get grim when you get stuck in them — anyone in south reach ought to know — and the things that sound like wonder start feeling a whole lot more like threats.

rich folks dying too, now; chantry can't fix it when the chantry's gone half-mad. all sorts of maisleys out there without no one to know what to do, and the danger doesn't only come from the trees any more.

she misses the mystery, sometimes. it was safer then. but myr's been... tolerable, and so she blunts it now, grudges; ]

Don't know that no one gets famous for good. Even Andraste, you know? Holy or not, don't think no one sets out to be a martyr.

I love everything I'm learning about Melys through this. so great this character

[faithlikeaseed]

[The laugh's quieter still this time, and without much humor.]

Hers was the best of reasons, though. In the end, she died, but look at what's been made of her death, and look at all the good she did before it.

Would that I could do a tenth as much.

[pause, then:]

And you? Rich and anonymous, too?

[youwonscience]

I think either one would catch me, but the dragon-sized nug is more likely to leave me alive?

[faithlikeaseed]

I've heard they'll eat just about anything they can catch, so I don't know about that.

[youwonscience]

Screwed by a giant omnivore, should've known.

On the other hand, at least it won't set me on fire?

[aforethought]

A giant what-now.

[ what the fuck is an omnivore it sounds inappropriate ]

[youwonscience]

Oh! An omnivore is a creature that eats both plants and animals. Most people are omnivores, unless they specifically choose to avoid meat.

...I mean, I guess it's possible a person could also try to live on only meat, but I can't endorse that from a health standpoint.

[aforethought]

Works for dragons alright. [ she isn't actually so dim as to assume that carries — she knows her way around animals — but she's got a reputation to uphold ] Why wouldn't you eat meat? Aside from being broke.

[youwonscience]

Lots of reasons where I'm from. It's part of some people's religious beliefs, and some people think it's healthier not to. I think the way we produce meat where I'm from isn't ethical, so I don't participate in it.

[In Thedas, she supposes she doesn't know enough about it say, but by now she's also just out of the habit of eating meat.]

[aforethought]

Reckon I could deal with the Chantry banning meat. Be more of it for th'unholy lot of us.

[ like she'd get anywhere near meat if they did ]

Participate as in you don't got a farm, or?

[youwonscience]

Yeah, my world's gotten into large scale industrial farming, so very few people are growing or raising any of their own food. Quantity has been prioritized over everything, with some pretty gnarly results as far as animal welfare and the environment is concerned.