text ↪ un: dostoevsky

[dissemblance]

Can we all take a moment to admire the fact that 2801 technology still supports emoji functionality? 🤩 👍 🕷 💁 🩰 💫 🍆 🧊 💅 👁‍🗨 🎯 🤡 🔋 🐈 💲 🧙‍♀️ 🐦💋 🐜 👽 🕶 ⚡ 🕵🏻‍♀️ 💦 💦 💦

It seems like they're pretty set on calling us 'Hatchlings', so... hello, fellow Hatchlings, I'd like to play a game.

Two truths and a lie. I'll start.

  ① Starbucks makes the best lattes.
  ② I've never watched All Dogs Go To Heaven all the way through.
  ③ My birthdate is May 21st. What year? Every year. 😉😉😉 But my party in 2018 was 🔥🔥🔥.

Comments

[sunmon]

I don't know how to ride a horse.
I've met the King of Ravka.
I served in the army.

[dissemblance]

（ she already knows alina served in the army, and doesn't feel the need to push for more.

riding a horse is almost certainly the lie, it's too artfully mundane to be anything else. but natasha isn't terribly interested in the circumstances that lead to her knowing dressage (hah) so — ）

2. Not many places still have royal families these days.

[sunmon]

Maybe in your days.
That one's true.
What do you have instead of a royal family? Kerch has a merchant council, I think, but I don't know much about how it works.

[dissemblance]

Presidents, prime ministers, a few dictators for fun and flavor.

From what I know about the rest of the universe, that's pretty par for the course. But then, I'm from Earth, like the Adamant's survivors.

[sunmon]

Fjerda has a king. Shu Han has a queen. Ravka has a king.

If you don't have a royal family, how do you decide who's next in line to rule?

[dissemblance]

How much time do you have? Because if I get into the fundamental concepts behind democracy, we could be here a while.

[sunmon]

How about the simplest version?
Five minutes.

[dissemblance]

（ and so roy doesn't have to mail tifa a giant sugar free gummi dick, natasha does in fact give a diligent five minute info-dump on direct versus representative democracy, the fundamental ethics of democratic responsibility, and all the fucking rest of it.

this handy little (written) speech, when spoken aloud, would clock in at around 4:54 seconds.

ya fuckin' welcome.

don't get her started on communism, alina. don't do it. ）

I FORGOT TO WRITE A REAL TAG TO THIS

[sunmon]

That sounds unstable.
I mean, even the Adamant has Captain Childe.

[dissemblance]

It can be.

I don't think there is a perfect system.

Power goes to people's heads, especially when they have it over other lives. It takes a rare person not to turn that into an abuse.

[sunmon]

[ oh too real ]

There must be some way to prevent it.
People don't always have a choice in the power they have.

[dissemblance]

It's not something you can prevent. It's a choice, and whether or not the person makes that choice is going to come down to how they were raised, what they believe and how power speaks to them.

It's not as easy as just putting out a PSA.

[sunmon]

You make it sound like people can't change. Like it's fate.

[dissemblance]

Oh, I happen to have it on very good authority that people can change.

But change generally comes about from a catalyst. Staying as you are is the easiest path. Power becomes comfortable the longer you have it, and the more comfortable you become with something the more you're likely to turn a blind eye to the ways it can be abused.

I'm not saying it's hopeless. I'm just saying you need to be mindful.

[sunmon]

You as in the rhetorical you. Obviously.

[ she'd never said anything about having power, but she can't help feeling like this person has narrowed their gaze on her anyway. ]

[dissemblance]

Obviously.