imeeji_frontstage | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: avante
Where: avante
When: Day 101, evening

[Cardigan texts everyone to let them know they're making dinner and to invite whoever they want!!

They also note that they purchased tickets to the ball for avante.

If you are close with anyone on avante you can assume Cardigan texted you to come over.]

Unit dorm:
The unit dorm is decorated in pseudo-Medieval style, with stone walls and floors, and tapestries in gold and white hanging from the ceiling. The table is a long banquet table, and all the chairs are ornate wooden chairs. The TV looks like a big tapestry of knights engaged in battle when not being used.

Each bedroom has a small nook with a single large gothic cathedral-styled window, with thick velvet curtains that can be drawn to cover the alcove itself. As for the common area, two stained glass windows adorn the entrance, hemming in the doorway. Depicted on each is a knight standing vigil. On the lefthand and righthand walls are two more windows, both depicting knights slaying a dragon. All the stained-glass windows are hinged, to allow them to open.

Patio:
Appended to the dorm is a half-covered outdoor area, with banners fluttering in the breeze and a rustic hewn stone floor pairing the patio to the same aesthetic that the dormitory indoors have. Patio lounge chairs and gliders are made of wrought-iron, with tapestry fabric cushions to relax comfortably on top. There's a portable antique bronze firepit that can be used during the colder months or at night, or put away if they want. From the stone archways, they get an excellent view— perks of living on the highest floor.

Arcade:
Welcome to the dungeon! Branching off from the hallway leading to the bedrooms is a dark, narrow stairwell that leads into a large stone chamber illuminated only by lit wrought iron braziers lining the walls and and the hazy neon glow of the arcade machines that populate the room. Every single game is something competitive, and most are combat-oriented. Set into the walls between each brazier is a small alcove with a pair of manacles hewn onto the wall, presumably for leaving losers to rot for the rest of eternity. On the far end of the dungeon, disguised as a podium, is a minifridge.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Alright. How did the game go?

...It wasn't all bad. But we didn't win, and I ended up... having some rough conversations.

Anything you want to talk about?

...Maybe.

Were you in that dream game? Where we went into people's minds?

No. I'm aware of it, though.

I was in Joker's, among others. And I killed part of him. Silk came to confess she was angry at me for it.

Do you think she's right to be angry?

I wouldn't say "right," but I think it's reasonable for her to be angry. I made my choice, but she can think it was a bad one.

It wasn't just that, though. She didn't... really understand my reasons for it, so she acted like I was just being spiteful. She said I was unwilling to compromise, that I was awful to argue with, that Joker was just bending over backwards to appease me all the time...

...She's my friend.

I see. I don't have much experience with Silk, but she struck me as a bit inflexible herself.

It sounds like she's just worried about Joker and taking it out on you.

Probably. But Joker ran off to get possessed by a demon without telling me while I was turning gray and losing my memories, and every time I try to tell her how terrifying and how much of a breach of trust that was, she gets on me about making it all about me when he didn't tell anyone and everyone was theoretically in danger.

That was definitely the worst thing that has ever happened to me, and she doesn't seem at all worried about that.

Playing compare and contrast with stuff like that never works out well, anyway.

Does Joker seem very effected by what you did?

...He doesn't remember it. Summoning Asmodeus, and the trial, and all of that.

That is pretty serious.

I knew that was going to happen. The aspect of his mind I killed said so. But it felt really strongly in there that he'd do the same thing again, and stopping that was more serious.

If he can't remember it he can't really avoid doing it again.

Yes, I know that. I'm not an idiot. I told him what he did and why I did what I did right after.

Before, he was already devastated and apologetic and he promised me he was going to do better, and he would still have done it again. I wasn't trying to remove his memories. That was a side effect. I was trying to remove the part of him that thought that was a good idea.

That's a pretty dramatic modification. Do you know if it worked?

It was a pretty dramatic situation.

...I did kill the 'Shadow' that acted like him when he was smug and demon-brainwashed. The Shadow that was more really 'him' also had us guillotine three other shadows, including himself, to power him up, or something? It was all based around what he does in people's heads back in his world.

He seemed alright when I talked to him after. Better? Calmer. But he probably needed a while for everything to sink in. I haven't talked to him since.

I can't say I really blame Silk for being mad in this case. If you need Joker to change that much, it's better off to just leave him be. He needs to be able to do what he thinks is right, even if what he thinks is right is stupid.

[Maki's voice starts rising in anger and distress.]

He does not. Joker does not need to be able to just do whatever he wants. Not when it means abandoning me to lose my memories and slowly fade away alone, or getting his whole unit's free will yanked away by a demon, or telling me to go crawling back to Taisho to play along like a good girl, or running a trial where he judges everyone else and kills half the units here! How come that's him "doing what he thinks is right," but me doing what I think is the best way to stop that from happening again is so terrible?!

[whoa, Cardigan holds up a hand.]

Maki—Hold on, I didn't say anything about it being terrible. I do think you were doing what you thought was right, and I trust your judgement a lot more than I trust Joker's.

You just said you thought it was better to leave him alone and let him do whatever he wants.

I don't think changing his ability to make decisions is fair to him. It would be like Joker taking away your ability to kill. Personally, if someone did that to me I'd find it... frightening.

If you thought Joker would make another catastrophic decision like that—I believe you.

But every decision has consequences. No matter what other people feel, you need to be able to stand by your own decisions. It doesn't sound like Joker was doing that anyway, and I'm not going to tell you what you did wasn't worth it, or that Joker didn't bring it on himself. But the fact remains that his ability to do that has been compromised. Silk has a right to be mad.

I said it was reasonable for her to be mad. It's fine if other people are angry, and I stand by my decision anyway. That's not the part I have a problem with.

The part I have a problem with is that she was acting like this was part of a pattern, like I always do this kind of thing, or I just did it on a whim, or something. I didn't kill part of his mind because I was upset he broke a promise, or ignored me and hit on someone else, or something, even though he did do plenty of that. I talked through all of that and tried to compromise and tried to get him to change. It's not like I don't know it's a scary and extreme move to just unilaterally decide to kill part of someone. I don't need you or Silk to tell me that.

But it's also scary and extreme to unilaterally decide to summon a demon and do whatever it wants to try to fix things. And I was terrified and alone and he betrayed my trust and didn't tell me anything. And he knew it was the worst thing he could have possibly done, from my perspective, and he was overwrought and apologetic afterward, and apparently that still wasn't enough to change his mind on doing it again. So that's why I did it anyway.

Edited 2019-04-05 16:27 (UTC)

Like I said—I trust your judgement.

I may not be the best source of advice for this; I think a lot of the people here are shortsighted and unreasonable. I haven't figured out a good strategy for dealing with that.

I don't know Silk's background, but sometimes I think... my own background just makes me think about things very differently from other people, and the same might be true of you as well.