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[exsecutus]

[Scathingly, in a tone that might better suit a teenager--]

Really.

[Congratulations, he hates the answer.]

[rathercommon]

Yeah.

[ She gnaws on the inside of her lip. ]

I mean - Okay. What is it that you want to see in the world? What would it need to get to for you to be content? Hypothetically.

[exsecutus]

To never again be asked a question so useless and inane. Tell me what you mean plainly, don't try to take my hand and dance me around it.

[rathercommon]

[ A sigh - ] It's not an inane question, or a useless one. We're not fighting just for the purpose of fighting. And we're not fighting just to create chaos. We're fighting because we want to see change done. I mean -

[ She takes a breath, and thinks a moment, then hesitantly articulates - ]

What I care about is - justice. Seeing that everyone's got the same basic opportunities as everyone else, whether they're elf or mage or human, born from a noble line or a common one. And freedom, too - 'cause justice is no good if no one has opportunities. So I've got to think, then - does violence on that scale build that world I imagine? Or will it just slow the progress?

[exsecutus]

Where will you be building your world? Over the top of the one that always exists?

[Sarcasm doesn't last long. The pendulum swings back to furious passion a moment later. If they were speaking in person, Nikos would be leaned across the table toward her.]

You must level what exists. What justice can there ever be before that is done? They'll take your intentions and they'll pat you on the head and tell you that you've done well, and with their other hand they'll conduct their business as usual. They will twist what you intend and continue to play by their rules, behind curtains and closed doors, and you will never see it until it is too late. You need to fucking destroy what has come before, burn it to the ground and lay down salt and bury the rich and the powerful beneath so much lime they never resurrect. And then you can build.

Can you think of a peaceful way to get a king to set down his crown? Will he do it if you are very nice? If you yap at him, day and night?

[rathercommon]

[ A small shrug. Matter-of-factly: ]

Could just cut his throat and his throat alone. Don't get me wrong, I'd never suggest that you can win a better world politely. But -

[ She tilts her head to the side. ]

Can you ever bury the rich and powerful that deep? Can you ever really wipe them out? I mean - the Chantry started out as a group of rebels trying to resist the wickedness of the Tevinter Empire, didn't they. And look at what they are now.

[exsecutus]

Fuck off, [Nikos snaps, first. His failed regicide is a wound that still festers, and even if that's not what Kitty is referring to, the words bite like flies inside that old wound. Because it's so easy, to cut the throat of a king. They ruin that, too. Maybe he should say that. Instead he takes a big swig of wine.]

Everything grows rotten. Some things faster than others. If I have a peach and it turns black, I throw it away and I get a new peach. I don't resign myself to the rotten peach, and I don't vow to never eat a peach again. People should feel that same way of kings, earls, banns, dutchesses--anyone they would elect to lead them. When they stop working for you, you eliminate them. You start again.

If I had my way, the people would rule. And then that would fail, eventually, because people are fucking greedy, because they will never truly do what is right for them, because they cannot choose what is hard, what will hurt them even if it is for the greater good. So I would hope on that day, there would be someone like me, who would burn it all down again.

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty starts to protest Nikos' snarl - but then she remembers his personal history with attempted-murder-of-kings. For a moment, she starts to apologize - and then she decides that an apology would probably just make it worse. So she doesn't say anything.

Instead: ]

But what if people weren't greedy and selfish?

[exsecutus]

[He laughs. It's a pretty unkind laugh.]

Yes. What if. Are there any other implausibilities you'd like to impose on this setting, before we discuss it.

[rathercommon]

[ A disapproving sniff. ]

No. That's the only one, since it's the one that matters. Look - I would contend that people are awful because they learn to be awful.

[exsecutus]

[Nikos grips so hard at his cup that his knuckles turn white. He stares down into the depth of wine still in there.

He wants to contest that statement. He wants to be cruel. Chide her for thinking idealistically, for thinking that people could be good if given a chance. Make her define awful. He wants to wreck this conversation instead of admit what he next admits, which is--]

And I want to believe that. But I don't.

[rathercommon]

[ That's - unexpected. She was fully braced for him sneering at her - was even mentally preparing her retort - and so that admission altogether takes the wind out of her sails.

Well. A moment of recovery. Then, a little cautiously: ]

Well...Maybe that's good. [ A little firmer - ] I think people work together best when they disagree. So - you be the skeptic, and I'll be the optimist. And we can disagree and be the better for it.

[ Then, before he can take too much offense to that - ]

The key to stopping it - if people aren't awful in their hearts - would be to disrupt that cycle that teaches the next generation to be dreadful.

[exsecutus]

[He's already throwing up in his mouth over that, on a stomach already turned by having admitting some feelings--but Kitty's quick save prevents any true bile.

Sort of.]

By tearing down the institutions that reinforce the cycle.

[rathercommon]

But violence is a part of that cycle. That's the issue. A hundred revolutions a hundred times before, and we're still here, steeped in all this awfulness.

[ She lets out a long, pensive breath. ]

If we could find a way to build a different sort of revolution...That might disrupt it.

[exsecutus]

[excuse he's already off of this wagon]

How.

[rathercommon]

If I had the answer to that, don't you think I'd be out there doing it?

[ A shake of her head. ]

I'm reading on it. I've been reading on it. As much as I can.

[exsecutus]

No. I don't think that you would be doing it, because I can't imagine it in any workable way. What are you reading? What books are written about this?

[rathercommon]

None. Who with the power to write and publish would want to encourage something like this?

Books of history. That's what I'm reading. There are patterns out there that you can see when you look for them - the same old things that drag us back down into violence and hatred.

[exsecutus]

Which you've already said. Acknowledging it over and over again does not makes a fart of a difference to anyone.

I would agree. There are patterns. Violence often plays a part in those patterns. One king is killed, another man puts on the hat and sits on the chair and starts playing the part, and nothing changes. What about the patterns that have no violence? The transition of power is paid for in coin and favors, more often than it is paid in blood.

[rathercommon]

It wouldn't be like that if there were a transition to - to representative democracy.

[exsecutus]

No. It would be worse.

Perhaps not at first, but eventually. How do you correct human greed?

[rathercommon]

In the long term - by de-emphasizing material wealth as evidence of success. Teaching people not to seek out competition, but cooperation.

[exsecutus]

How about this. I'll burn down a ruling body and raze the earth and you can move in after that and see if you can teach whoever's left to de-emphasize material wealth.

You might be right. It might be possible, to teach, eventually. But not under current circumstances. Not to those who rule, now. Try telling them to give up their riches so the lower classes can begin to seek cooperation.

[rathercommon]

Maybe you're right.

[ But she can't let that stand for too long. ]

But haven't we got to try? At the very least? To at least think about ways to make real, honest change?

[exsecutus]

Think all you want. I won't let it get in my way. Not when there is real action that can be taken, now, to make an immediate difference.

I would hope you'd see the same.

[Hope is a big word to use here, but he says it dryly and bitterly enough to denote its real meaning.]