vrdantwind | IC Inbox

And it's definitely not like they don't have crime here. Team Rocket alone makes that obvious. I had at least one violent encounter while I was trying to help out at the shopping center, and another one that threatened to get violent before a friend intervened...and one death threat! So while I don't know if they'd have gone as far as trying to kill me - especially if it's known that murder doesn't really work around here - I do wonder at the idea of some kind of organized crime syndicate not having tried to, I don't know, 'disappear' people.

I mean, if I were a criminal with no concern for other people's well-being, especially one who wanted to intimidate people and pose a real threat, I'd absolutely explore just what kind of threats I could make and back up. So if anyone's already looked into those questions, it might be them. I'd love to get at any research they might've done...

Seriously? An actual death threat?

Oh, yeah, definitely unambiguous. Some gestures are universal, I guess!

I wonder if that means they're not a native here? I mean, natives would know that kind of threat is pointless. That, or they were just counting on me not knowing...which, to be fair, I didn't at the time! But I've received so many death threats and actual murder attempts by now that I don't think it left the impression they probably hoped. Just another Tuesday for me! I guess that doesn't narrow things down any after all, though.

Of course, the final possibility is that Team Rocket absolutely has figured out how to get around the restrictions on murdering people...though I'd have to consider that an unlikely scenario. If they knew how to kill people, I think their impact on the world would be felt a lot more, and their operations would be a lot more sinister than just harassing people while ripping off a shopping center. I wouldn't expect them to just disappear so few unremarkable people here and there that no one actually caught on that Team Rocket was somehow behind it.

I'd still like to get at their research, though. Even if they've come to the conclusion that they can't kill people, despite their best efforts, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they've tried! And I want to know what they tried, and how, and what happened. The ways this place works are so mysterious; I don't know if any amount of information will help me understand it, but I at least like knowing what there is to know! And like you said, it's not exactly the kind of experimentation I'd ever be willing to do myself. But if someone already has, whether or not I approve of it...there's no point in ignoring what was already learned.

[Oh. Right. His little slit throat gesture. He'd hardly meant it. If he'd really meant to kill Claude, if he'd meant to do anything but taunt him, he'd have had Acatl teleport with him to about a hundred feat up and then let go.

(He remembers forcing a Loyalist off a roof his first Hunt of the Leaves. He hadn't really gotten a chance to look at the body, what with all the cops getting in the way, but at least he'd gotten in and out of the man's location without being noticed.)

This Claude has an interesting mind. Such a pity he wasn't a real Rocket]

I'd like to see that research too.

[He wonders if Beta rank is enough to access it.]

A decent reason to investigate Team Rocket, then! Among all the other ones. It's probably dangerous to go poking around, but what are they going to do, kill me? We've established they probably can't!

Seriously, though, I'm curious about all kinds of things relating to Team Rocket. Someone at the shopping center mentioned they press-gang new people into their service, whether they like it or not - and I'm genuinely amazed that with that kind of practice, no one's simply crumbled the whole infrastructure from the inside yet. How on earth have their unwilling operatives not sold all their secrets out? How does Team Rocket know they won't?

[What.

Steven reads over Claude's reply once more, but it doesn't change.

What the fucking fuck?

Who the fuck is just... telling people that? Seriously? Seriously?

He's scowling as he types his own reply.]

I'd suspect they'd use both the carrot and the stick, whatever that may mean here.

Oh, I'm sure. All I'm saying is, the carrot must be massive. And with death for disobedience off the table, I really wonder how creative they've gotten with the stick, too...

That said, though, even with all the incentives and disincentives they can muster, I still don't know how Team Rocket can trust so readily that no one's going to betray them. I mean, when you're running any kind of organization where information warfare can be impactful, isn't it important to have unbreakable trust in higher command and careful security measures among the ground troops? And that's with groups where everyone joins by choice. Forcing people into your service who may not feel any good will towards your group or cause, and who especially may not feel those things when you're not giving them any choice in being in your service or being privy to some of your secrets...well, let's just say it doesn't exactly seem like best practices for a shadowy crime syndicate. In fact, it seems just a touch nuts?

Maybe we should find that relieving, though. If no one from within Team Rocket's felt compelled to come forward to stop them, then maybe no one they've recruited has found the moral conflict so polarizing that they felt like they had to take action. Certainly Team Rocket seems like more of a high-key nuisance than the kind of threat I've had to deal with back in my own world - the kind of threat people would put their lives on the line to stop. Even the good people shanghaied into Rocket service must never have felt their moral codes pushed that far, or it would've happened by now.

I'm not surprised you and Seteth didn't get along. But he's not nearly as bad as everyone always said he was. Meddlesome, but...he gives good advice. Like you.

[Felix listens to Claude without interrupting, though he sort of tunes out the bit about lenses. He's not sure why you'd ever line up a bunch of pairs of glasses to shine light through them? But he knows that if he asks, he'll get way more of an explanation than he ever wanted, so he doesn't bother. He gets the point, and that's what matters.

By the time Claude finishes, Felix is giving him a thoughtful look.] Now you sound like my brother. He always said the same thing, that people should choose what they believe in and then live by that. [Or die by it. He falls silent briefly, thinking about Rodrigue.] I suppose, as disgusted with my father as I was, he never tried to force his beliefs or anyone else's onto us. I'm...grateful for that much.

[Then he shrugs.] I don't know whether I believe the Goddess is real or not, but I do know that the Church is stronger in Faerghus than anywhere else in Fodlan, and it shows. It's been embedded in the Kingdom's governance since the beginning. Technically, Dimitri could override Rhea's authority and go against the Church, but it's hardly ever happened and it wouldn't be pretty. The Archbishop is the one who coronates the king, after all. Bestowing the favor of the Goddess upon Her Holy Kingdom, and all that. I doubt Rhea would take it lying down.

the implication was there riegan
you wanted me to think about it :(

anyways you're too late -- i already bought an entire bucket worth of poke-puffs and claude kolach's alike. you're welcome!

ah, but do not lament your loss, dear friend. there are plenty of beautiful souls in the world.
such as... grant?
he's real cute. good kisser, too.
i think you'd like each other.

Hey Claude, sorry to bother you with this, but I feel like I should let you know I might be either a huge hypocrite or losing my mind, one or the other.

Related, I might have to apologize for that whole speech about not dating younger guys, depending.

Edited 2020-12-30 01:17 (UTC)

I mean, there's a hell of a lot of people in my world willing to do practically anything for a job with health insurance or a pension plan or any of that. Throw in vision or dental and that's a pretty big carrot in itself.

[Steven would say that even if he hadn't spent the last two months before Arceus snatched him up doing day labor, for lack of a legal identity.]

But honestly, I think you're right that it really might be that most of what Team Rocket does... isn't that awful, at least compared to the way that organized crime works back in most of our worlds. I think the worst thing they've done since I came to this world was try to steal Lapras from the wildlife sanctuary--and even then, they did it so incompetently that Armin was able to assemble a team to rescue them within *days*--and this with a concussion!

That does sound incredibly similar to the wyverns in my world - the size, the teeth, the claws, the growl. We have a bit more variety in horns and some are scaly but a few have fur, too. I wonder if there truly is a difference in temperament, or my world simply didn't manage to domesticate them because of its default approach to beasts.

[Aka: killing them.]

He was as excited to fly and prove himself as you were! Oh, what a wonderful partnership, a bond to be envied!

Where in this wide world can
man find nobility without pride,
friendship without envy or beauty
without vanity? Here, where
grace is laced with muscle, and
strength by gentleness confined.

He serves without servility; he has
fought without enmity. There is
nothing so powerful, nothing less
violent, there is nothing so quick,
nothing more patient.

Claude... are you saying it was your mother that gave you scars?

[It may say something about him that he reached that conclussion.]

Hey, talking to you is never a bother! Though I'm surprised anyone but me is awake at this hour.

So what's this about? Did you find a handsome young thing who's caught your eye?

Did I? ;)

Hah! Well, I guess I'll just have to resign myself to gluttony, then. You're definitely going to spoil my team, though.

Grant? I'll have to take your word on the good kisser thing. I tried it once to make up for missing the mistletoe opportunity, but he wasn't too receptive. Which was entirely my own fault, mind. I did it kind of out of nowhere, and also he'd just found out we're a handful of years younger than him and he was having a minor personal crisis over it. The kiss was meant to reassure him the age difference didn't mean anything to me - or you, as the other guy he'd kissed - but it didn't go over too well. Let it never be said I don't make miscalculations.

We're fine, mind you. I apologized and there's no hard feelings anywhere. But I'm not about to kiss him again unless he explicitly asks, and I don't think he'd ever ask!

That said, and all of that notwithstanding, he's not really my type. I tend to like more assertive guys~.

Well, I don't mind telling you that Rhea still hasn't been found as recently as my own point in time, so what she does or doesn't approve of right now is kind of a moot point. Who knows if she's even still alive...

[He looks up at the sky again.] That said, there's a big gap between deciding what to believe for yourself, and opposing the church's beliefs on the behalf of the entire Kingdom. Are you saying you think Dimitri should try to restrict or control the Church of Seiros' teachings within the Kingdom, using his authority as king?

I'm honestly not following any of that first paragraph! I think whatever those things are that you're talking about, my world doesn't have them at all. (Well, I mean, I know what vision and dental mean, but it sounds like you're using them in a different way than I understand those words to work.)

You know, "Team Rocket hasn't been stopped or undermined because they're generally not that dangerous or competent" wasn't the conclusion I was expecting to come to from this conversation, but it's oddly reassuring. Not because I was worried about them for my own sake - I've dealt with actually dangerous assassins who could kill me - but more because I was worried about the people they've recruited, and kind of upset about them ruining the holiday market like that. Also, I hate to think of them stealing pokémon from people when trainers get so attached to theirs here. But it sounds like none of that needs to be stressed about too much.

At this point, I doubt it. What would be the point of hiding all this time? Or keeping her captive without using her as leverage?

[Felix shrugs.] I was speaking hypothetically. It's not like we don't benefit from the Church's presence. Even now--without Garreg Mach as a base and the support of the Knights of Seiros, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere in the war. We tried leading an invasion of Fhirdiad from Fraldarius before and failed. Maybe Dimitri's presence would have changed things enough, but I doubt it.

All I'm saying is that the Church is a major part of the problem and has been since the beginning.

Ha, normally I wouldn't be. I've just been thinking.

Oh, boy, thank you for phrasing it like that before I could mention that it's someone you know, I might have to reconsider now

[Claude's brains aren't for nothing. In this, they lance right through the possibilities to land on the answer.]

Wait, this is about Dimitri?

[Oh, wow.]

That was incredibly fast. Yes, and I'm also sorry for how weird this probably sounds

Well, I don't know how to put this any less baldly, but you don't seem like the homewrecker type, and Sylvain and Felix already have each other. And if it was me, I think I'd have some inkling already.

I have to admit, I knew you guys were close, but I didn't expect this! I wouldn't say it sounds weird, though. Dimitri's a great guy, handsome...and like I said, you guys get along well. Pretty tempting for anyone. But what's prompted you to reconsider your age concerns all of a sudden? That's the main reason this is coming out of the blue for me.

It sounds like your only use for the church is the Knights of Seiros and the military might they represent, not the actual religion. [Claude looks amused.] Which, I mean, I'm not judging, but also that's a very shallow form of 'benefiting from the church'. Even I'll allow that the church's beliefs and teachings - in moderation, and specifically certain parts of them as opposed to other parts - can be good for people looking for some greater thing to place their faith in and for guidance in how to best live their lives, but do you not think it's even worth that much?

That said, it really does seem like the Church of Seiros has maybe too much influence over Fodlan. I know it's largely behind the Crest system, for instance, and the elevation of Crested nobility, and that's certainly at the root of any number of problems. And Edelgard is clearly of the opinion that the Church of Seiros needs to be completely eliminated for a better future for Fodlan, considering she declared war on it directly as emperor and Garreg Mach was her first military target of the war...

Personally, I agree the Church of Seiros definitely has its problems and secrets, but getting rid of it entirely feels like going way too far. Telling people what they can and can't believe, or even declaring war on them for it...even if you say it's for the greater good, that's the sort of thing that turns bad fast. The line between savior and dictator is so thin you'll never even notice you've crossed it. I'll admit that I don't know if there's some easier, more diplomatic way to extract the worst parts of the church from its followers' beliefs, to loosen how tightly it's bound up with Faerghus, or to get the kind of world Edelgard wants with it gone...but I do know that, as far as I'm aware, no one's actually tried yet. Definitely not Edelgard. So I can't agree with Edelgard's just deciding she needed to go for ramming change through by force as her opening move.

The strength to protect our people and fight back a tyrant isn't 'shallow.' If people want to pray to the Goddess and seek guidance from the Church, that's their affair, but I personally have no use for that. I don't need a stranger's guidance and the ideals of an absent Goddess to tell me how to live. I have beliefs and passions to live for that are mine alone.

[Felix grunts his agreement with Claude's talk about Edelgard.] And the war would have been bad enough without the repugnant dark magic. Forcing people to turn against each other, transforming them into demonic beasts...even if I did agree wholeheartedly with her cause, and even if war were necessary, I could never follow someone who would condone such abhorrent methods.

...but it's true that I would like to see a world where Crests didn't matter. [For Sylvain's sake, and that of people like him. People like Miklan, for what he was driven to do. Felix will never forgive what Sylvain's brother did to him, but he can recognize that the problem is much bigger than one disowned and murderous heir.] And I don't see the Church allowing that kind of world anytime soon.

I don't know what the answer is. I'm not a big picture kind of guy, like you and Dimitri. [He doesn't sound like he minds this--it's just a fact.]

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text; backdated to probably a few days after the Cave Talk with dimitri, sent late at night

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