EVENT ✨ The Answer is Always C

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This is the event log for IC comments only! Ask OOC questions/plot/view event notes HERE or use the FAQ for general questions. Click here to view top-level comments only. A poll to collect results of the trials will be posted this weekend and stay open until the end of the month to give people a little time to see how their threads are going.

KEY POINTS

Arthur announces the results of the polls and that he spoke to Celliwig's people, they will be testing Camelot the week of the full moon.

A series of choice-based enchanted scenarios is presented based loosely on a modernized seven sins/virtuous responses (power imbalance, cruelty or mercy, excess/greed or restraint, sloth or work ethic, desire/lust or self-control and bravery or cowardice, and sacrifice or self-preservation)

With the polls closed, the decision is made, and King Arthur takes the opportunity to address the kingdom via a streamed press conference. Though it is not an open post, anyone is welcome to comment on it and talk to each other about it. However, it is unlikely that Arthur himself will respond to comments. A notification does appear on everyone's smart devices to invite everyone to watch live; if they tap it too late, it'll still show the recorded stream. "People of Camelot, I wish that we had better news that spoke of an easier path to the calamity that stands before us. Celliwig's charge is with protecting Avalon even in the face of protecting Camelot and those of you who chose to use your voices have shown that you choose to respect their way of handling things. However, it was only just over half of you who chose this path. I think it is important that with such a great portion of people believing that bypassing Celliwig and going directly to Elphame, as much as it may take patience, we take this action into consideration. There is no sense in ignoring the voices of so many when there is nothing to say we cannot approach from two fronts. As Camelot's king, I have issued our intent to accept Celliwig's challenge to a descendant of Glewlwyd, a man who was much trouble for my knights in our time. They have said after failing one, we shall be tested on multiple fronts, the week of the full moon's rise. Bear in mind that this is our final chance at this." Merlin sidles up to Arthur in the video, one arm around his shoulders and leaning in to speak into the mics in a much-too-familiar manner. At least his sunglasses are off this time. "Now then, anyone who wanted to go to Elphame, you'll want to head to the docks around, oh, say, the first of June. Step one to flirting with fae is to put on a good show before the traders leave. It's a good time whether the Celliwig's dooming us or not." A wink accompanies that odd note, and Arthur orders him off stage before thanking everyone for their time. With the consent of its people, Celliwig performs a ritual to place Camelot under a rather strange spell. Much is the same, but there's a sense that everything is just slightly off from what it should be. Fog covers the grounds throughout the entire city throughout the entire day. It's just a little too quiet, the usual hustle and bustle of the city falling just a little too distant on your ears. You can go about your day as normal, but feel as if something is simply off. And eventually, you'll walk through a door, and it will be. Part of the enchantment, however, includes a strange inability to connect these doors with being part of a test-- they seem real, regardless of how absurd the scenario would be were your characters thinking straight. Day One: Power Imbalance The door you walk through is into a club of some kind. It wasn't your intended destination and yet, here you are, and you're being handed a glass of your favorite drink and being ushered to your seat. The show is fantastical, some kind of circus-esque show with gymnasts and magical effects making it impossible to take your eyes off of. That is, until the spotlight falls upon you and urges you down to join the show. A volunteer! Well, one of two. Another volunteer is brought up along with yours, and the ring leader of the circus gives you both bracelets-- one with selenite embedded in it, another with andara. The ring leader explains that they're both known for creating high frequency connections, though one is known to spiritually be associated with finding one's path and the other with manifesting one's true self. When enchanted together, this makes it so that the person with the andara bracelet can order the person with the selenite bracelet to do anything they please-- making their true self the person's purpose. Very dangerous, very intruiging, very tempting, very morally wrong to do it for real, so please keep it to the stage! A quick demonstration of this dark use of magic as part of the show... and it seems that afterward, they forget to take the bracelets back. What will you do with your newfound control over your partner? The choice is, after all, yours. (Or theirs, if you're the unlucky partner with the selenite bracelet-- only the person with the andara can remove the bracelets, after all.) Day Two: Schadenfreude Yesterday seems like a dream, and you may even feel the need to write it off as such unless you run into the same person again and realize no, they too remember it. But if that's not the case, it doesn't matter. You'll be able to find yourself in your definitely normal and usual mideval city, where someone is in the stocks. Your memories seem a little fuzzy on whether or not you're supposed to be in medieval times or not, but this seems right, and there's a fruit vendor right next to you selling soft fruits to throw at the poor sap in the stocks. There are also a number of other ways to mess with the person, including feathers to tickle them, a riding crop, some ink if you want to grafitti the person.. a good number of ways just to humiliate the person without causing them permanent harm. The crowd is cheering you on, but you also see the keys to set them out just sitting on a table nearby. Do you engage in a little sadistic fun or do you embark in a daring rescue? (Or are you the punished in someone else's scenario?) Day Three: Indulge Me Back to the modern day like it didn't happen, you and a friend walk into a door to your favorite convenience store and as you finish up your purchase, you win an all expenses paid trip to the Black Knight's Castle, formerly the home of the Black Knight and turned into a lavish tourist attraction by Yvaine and Laudine's descendents, who have become worshippers of Dionysus. You're transported there in a puff of sparkling magic dust, right before an extravagant golden fountain in the middle of the lobby. The owners explain their policy for the Black Knight's Castle that you can have anything you desire, however much you desire. Anything at all, consequence free. The only thing that they ask is that you give a blood offering to their god to help feed his dead worshippers on the other side of the veil, which will ultimately tie your soul to him as well. Just a quick cut of the palm and you're welcome to come back any time, have anything you want, for the rest of your life. Taking the deal means you really will get what you want! ...For the day, anyway. (This is just a spell, after all, even if your character doesn't want it.) If you choose not to, you'll find yourself magically deposited back to the convenience store. Day Four: What's the Meaning of Stongehenge? This fourth day, there's certainly something to be said about a hard day's work. When you walk through today's door, you find yourself in the middle of a grassy field, strange markings on the ground, and surrounded by oddly shaped boulders. The markings on the ground seem to indicate where some the stones should be placed. There aren't really any directions, but there's always the option of waiting for someone else to solve this problem for you... There is a very comfortable looking patch of grass anyone able to relax in. So the choice is yours: wait for someone else to move the rocks or move them yourself? Day Five: Pooling Desire Day five is a trip to the pools. But not just any pools! These are special, underground pools hidden deep within a cave. You're sure whoever told you to head through this door mentioned something about them being a special relaxation package at the Red Springs. As you head into the pools, however, you find someone in there with you: the subject of your desires. Regardless of who or what they are, they seem to have a crown upon their head, aren't wearing anything in that water, and seem to have a lovely singing voice judging by the tune they're humming to lure you in before you even notice they're there. It is at that point they will try to seduce you, even if that same person is standing right there with you. The seduction, of course, needn't be sexual-- a strong lusting for a turkey leg wrapped in bacon may be just as powerful as a desire for a brand new Ninblendo Swatch or something you should definitely label as NSFW if you want to thread it that way. Give into them, or.. maybe listen to the person who came in with you that they're definitely some kind of weird half-otter bottomed monster under the water before they try to drown you. Or if you're the one trying to stop this, are you brave enough to get in between a stranger and a monster to try to snap them out of the siren's thrall, even if it means fighting both of them? Day Six: #ChaliceChallenge The sixth and final door sets you walking outside on a beach. There's nothing else there really except for nature. The sounds of the waves crashing against the sound is soothing, and real, and sharper than anything you've felt in the last five days of haze. There is no fog today. Clear, blue skies stretch forever above you, not a cloud in sight. The only man-made thing you see is a small woode table and two chairs. Upon that table, two chalices. Nothing will happen and there seems to be no way off of the beach until both parties sit down at the table, at which point a strange old man with huge, rippling muscles of at least 7 feet tall and a long, scraggly beard will appear. He informs your characters of the rules: in one chalice, deadly poison. In the other, water and bitter flavor. Each must drink from one cup, or you will both perish of starvation on this beach. Choose wisely.

Comments

[whirlwindthrust]

Who can say. Perhaps it will be with another...

[ Though no one should have to go through all of that? ]

As for how long you have been resting, it has been several hours.

[kiss_it_better]

He pressed a hand to his own chest, the brief glow of healing magic helping alleviate the light-headed feeling of blood loss even though he still looks too pale.

(Ah, Gu Yun isn't going to like it...best not let him find out, then.)

He wouldn't lose any sleep over the siren being killed and maybe that said something about him as a person. Either way, he's honest enough about who he is that he won't try to stop the murder from happening.

Instead he holds the siren still. "Don't draw it out, I don't know how long I can hold it like this."

[doctorintern]

[ Honestly. He could only imagine how it must feel on the other end. ]

Hours, huh? [ He sighs a bit. ] Sorry. I hope you weren't too worried.

[emet_sulk]

With every intention of doing just that, he advances upon the siren. He has no weapon on hand...but that fact doesn't trouble an alchemist like him who can create one out of the stone around them. The siren watches him in terror, unable to move or make a sound. It's the utter silence which halts Emet-Selch immediately before them.

It feels wrong.

Not just that, is this the kind of person he still wants to be? Someone who can kill another without a thought and cover it with any number of justifications? He thinks of Hythlodaeus, smiling at him, leaning against him as he works, doing any number of irritating things but all of them loving.

Swallowing down his disgust, irritation, and a persistent desire to not give a damn, he reluctantly lowers his improvised sword of stone and looks aside.

"Let the dratted thing go," he mutters. "If I see it again trying to seduce me, I WILL kill it then."

[rustyhonesty]

[The crowd really isn't a fan, but as soon as he's able, it's time to definitely run. He would have to thank her later, now wasn't the time to do that.]

[kiss_it_better]

He doesn't make a comment, neither to dissuade nor to encourage. When a decision is reached he also doesn't attempt to change his mind. All Li Min does is nod before ordering the siren away.

Only when the ripples left behind disappear did he dare to relax.

"I'm sorry." Because he knows how something like this feels, the way it left someone hollowed out and exhausted. In his case, his hand had been forced and he'd killed Gu Yun's doppelganger to keep the original safe but he didn't lose any sleep over it.

"You were injured." That siren's claws had seemed sharp. "Let me take care of that."

I figured this or fadeout

[handsome_genius]

Maybe I could talk to him about it some more later, if you know his name.

At any rate... do you want me to try it on my own? Just... imagine I'm strong enough to lift one of these columns? It'll either work... or it won't. Right? No side-effects?

[ He's thinking like in a medicinal sense, not so much a drug or caffeine sense, although there is some overlap. ]

[emet_sulk]

"Leave it be," he snaps, pulling away from Li Min even before the man physically steps forward to offer healing. "I'd prefer to be alone for the nonce, if you please."

Falling for such an asinine trick, wanting the illusion to be real - his pride stings and he doesn't know if he made the right choice in letting the creature go.

tag from the past /o\

[emet_sulk]

[ Another scoff. ]

I believe I told you that no-one is born a monster, blacksmith, and I don't see that you are one right now either.

[ He makes a small, sweeping gesture at the chalices. ] I've nothing left to offer the world. In fact the world and its people have thoroughly turned its back on me and my kind. You aren't doing me a kindness by letting me live. In fact, I'd rather get it over and done with.

We've gone back to the future!

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I call bull! Who the hell cares what the world thinks?! If I cared about what the world thought about me, I would have stayed hidden under my father's murdered body and burned to death in our house!

[Darin stands and slams his hands on the table, almost upsetting the chalices.]

Saying you have nothing to offer the world is what the real waste is! I don't care how long-lived you are, each day you wake up and draw breath is another day to affect some change! It doesn't have to be broad, sweeping, ever-lasting change! Maybe you do someone a small kindness! And maybe that person pays it forward in a way you could never know about!

Hell, even this debate can change something one way or another down a line in a way neither of us expect! That's the beauty of life! We have this unimaginable power to turn ripples into waves without even thinking on it!

If you truly didn't care about living, why are you here now? Why wait for something to come along and do the work of killing you for you? There's plenty of dangers in Avalon. Just wander into the Land of Rot.

The fact that you haven't means that there's something, even the slightest little doubt, that maybe something good can come of you getting a second chance here.

[emet_sulk]

[ Refusing to be looked down upon, he stands just as abruptly with an ice-cold glare. ]

So, you will change. You will change and the world will become a little better for it for the span of your life - mayhap another two or three beyond your passing. Then memory of your deeds will grow stale and forgotten, passing into oblivion. And the cycle repeats over, and over again.

Such is the short-sightedness of mortal beings like yourself. Unable to see that the good you do is never lasting.

[ Disgusted, he reaches for one of the chalices. It doesn't matter which when there isn't any way to distinguish them.

This is why I have to die, he thinks. He is too old and cynical to give back to the world any longer. ]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Given the nature of the challenge, neither one of them would be let out of there if Darin just slapped the chalice away. Which meant he had only one other option.]

[Darin snaps up the other chalice and downs it. No time to smell or beat around the bush. If they both had to drink, he had a 50/50 chance of it being the poison.]

[But as soon as it hits his tongue, Darin knew who luck had favored. Though, considering he had a point to make, maybe it was good that it felt like he was swallowing fire. These bastards sure had some fast acting poison, didn't they?]

[He staggers and finds himself leaning on the table. With the world spinning, he forces himself back to his feet with a grin. And through gritted teeth and pouring sweat, he manages a chuckle at Emet.]

Such is the short-sightedness of gods. They always underestimate what the puny mortals are willing to give for their ideals...

[He squares up and stares at the imposing Emet, even as the burning poison works its way through his system.]

If death is such a blessing, I'll see you on the other side. But the way I see it, the only way out of here is for you to drink and save me. In doing so, you'll be going against your goal, changing your mind.

And not to brag but...I like to think a memory like this will have some staying power to an immortal...

[He coughs, flecks of blood trickling down his chin from the corner of his mouth. And though his consciousness is fading, he refuses to drop. He crosses his arms and steadies himself even as he loses sight of Emet.]

Your...move...

[emet_sulk]

[ His eyes widen, initially in shock but then in outrage. He grips the stem of his chalice hard enough to turn his knuckles white. ]

How dare you... [ he seethes. For taking the choice out of his hands. For having the rotten luck to choose the poisoned chalice. For being right. ]

[ He almost doesn't want to drink. He almost wants to let them die simply to be contrary. To not give this brash man the satisfaction of seeing this stubborn immortal change his mind. Why should he even care if they do? Their lives mean little and less to him if they aren't of his world.

He stands rooted to the spot for a few long seconds. To drink and save their life, or to stand by and watch them perish? He is fast running out of time for the former. Neither of them realise the poison is but a farce.

He doesn't move until Darin starts to collapse. Then he growls and lifts the chalice to his lips, downing a good mouthful of the bitter water in a single gulp. ]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[With the challenge passed, the effects of the poison slowly start to ebb.]

[Darin catches himself on the edge of the table as he drops to a knee, coughing and sucking in precious air as he starts to use his healing magic to mend the internal damage. Emet might see crackles of both teal and crimson magical energy ripple through Darin's frame as he uses both his healing and blood magic in tandem, healing damage from the poison while making his blood circulate to filter everything through his body.]

[Once he's stabilized himself, he lifts his head. And while Emet might be expecting a cocky, almost-smarmy grin, he's met with a genuine smile.]

Thanks...

Doesn't it feel good to save someone else?

[emet_sulk]

No.

[ He says it almost coldly, turning away. He's ready to leave and forget about this farcical trial. About this man who, like so many before him, is ultimately only a drop of good in a large ocean. ]

You speak as though I am a god when I am nothing of the sort. That condescending prattle about sacrifice was entirely unnecessary, for I know very well what one is willing to give when one's back is at a wall.

[wukuiyuxin]

Klaudia's silent struggle is hardly noticeable to Lan Wangji, whose thoughts are momentarily lost to a nameless and familiar grief carried in his heart where a relationship to his mother should be. That is usually how it is, a well-worn sense of loss he could put neither words nor memories to, only brought to the front on holidays and occasions dedicated to remembrance. As if burning incense and bowing could make up for the fact that precious little of her remains in him.

The question Klaudia finally arrives at, small and innocent and something like hopeful, asks him to shine a light on these remains. She couldn't know what she's asking, and he couldn't think to refuse her. Or treat the question with anything less than the utmost care, no matter how bewildering. Was she nice? Could a woman who had murdered, had been imprisoned for it, had been considered a shame and blight on his family, be considered nice?

But it takes hardly any time for i to come down to this, as it inevitably did whenever his uncle's resentment of her would bleed through his impervious facade: could a person for whom Lan Wangji holds so much love in his heart, and who had shown him so much kindness in return, be anything less than good? When he finds his voice it matches Klaudia's in somberness, yet outmatches her in certainty. "She was."

But he is aware now that Klaudia, clutching his sleeve and still struggling to engage at all, is likely looking for more from him than that. So he casts his mind back, tries to recall the rare and treasured visits, anything at all. His mother hadn't stayed with him for long, but something must have stayed. And when he finds it he sounds a little incredulous, a little delighted like he's come across a rare and beautiful pearl.

"I remember... warmth." The warmth of her embrace, the warmth of her smile... Yes, the warmth of the tea she'd always have ready for him. The warmth of the lights in her windows, welcoming when he came to her room and sheltering when they'd watch the snowflakes dance and fall together.

Once she had gone, it was cold. He remembers that, too. Later, when he understood what had happened, it had felt right to be cold instead. And now, he can't seem to recall anything else to share with Klaudia.

[sulit]

Hearing his initial answer, there's something like relief that floods through Klaudia's chest. His mother was nice... She sits with that answer, lets herself process it; and finds the tiniest that's good comes drifting up through her thoughts, buoyed by that relief. Of all the people and all the mothers in the world, Lan Wangji deserved to have one that was nice; and for what might be the first time, she realizes that she can feel glad about that, rather than estranged or awkward.

She doesn't expect more than that--doesn't even think to ask more, or that there could be more to ask. The feelings that she has, along with the words to express them, are still bottled up too tight to shuffle through... but for the moment, he seems to anticipate her needs better than she can herself. He continues, giving her a small glimpse into his mother's nature. She can't possibly know that it's the only treasured piece that he has. For her, it's like a spark of color streaked across a blank canvas.

Warmth.

She might not understand how other people felt about or interacted with their families, but she knew what warmth was. It was a kind smile in a sea of strange faces. A welcoming gesture, a secure embrace, the way the sun embraced the world each morning. It was feeling safe, and free to exist without questions or qualifications... The thought of having that when she was younger, even for the briefest moment, nearly winds her from the inside. How much of a difference that would have made, to have those empty halls warmed with that feeling, instead of the strange facsimile that she'd been given in its place... She wanted that. Why hadn't it been offered to her? Why was it absent for so long? She just couldn't understand...

The tears come again, and this time there's no strength to stop them. She tries to. But her breath hitches as she clutches onto that sleeve tighter, her shoulders hiking as the first sob gets past her throat... And the rest is lost to her. She just cries, sobbing out the bottled-up hurt and desperation--the unfairness of it all, accumulated from the past fifteen minutes to the past twenty years.

[wukuiyuxin]

The first hiccuping sob is a little disorienting, pulling him back from the edge of some dreamlike reminiscence, memories he hadn't realized he could even still reach. A little startling even, as he could not begin to fathom what about his sparse few words could have caused the dam to break at last. It leaves him at a loss for a brief moment, while everything she had been trying to restrain comes undone with the swell and force of a waterfall.

But he had asked her not to be alone, all but vowed that she would not be alone if she allowed it. That promise is answer enough, and experience does the rest. He wraps one arm around her quaking shoulders and pulls her close against his chest, the other hand gently cradling her head. He has no soothing words to offer and can't imagine they would make a difference against the heart-rending sobs raw with desperation and anger. As if he could fail to recognize the sound of it; loss and longing, fury and helplessness, his own throat turns dry and tight at the thought of it. He no longer wonders at her upbringing; it is a clear and indisputable fact that he knows of few wrongs greater than this sound coming from a child like Klaudia, and nothing else matters.

He holds her steady through it all, his chest growing hot with her tears and his own heartache. Without any way to right this wrong for her in his reach, all he can do is to squeeze her reassuringly and demand better of her future.

[sulit]

Klaudia can barely see through her tears when she feels an arm go around her shoulders and pull her close. Though unfamiliar, the touch is comforting in its gentleness--something she desperately needs to fill the aching pit in her chest. She lets herself be pulled, her grip dislodging from the fabric in her hands and instead fumbling for Lan Wangji hismelf. Her hands find purchase again with the fabric of his collar as she buries her face against his chest, her shoulders still shaking with each sob.

He feels solid and secure, like a shelter made of stone--but there's a softness to the hand that rests on the back of her head. And above all, a warmth. Even as she cries into his robe, each passing minute brings a little more stillness than the last, until finally her sobbing quiets to a few sniffles and shaky breaths. Yet, she doesn't lift her head for fear that she'll lose this momentary refuge that she's found.

Everything feels... not better, but duller. The pain in her chest doesn't hurt so badly, and the sharp chorus of Whys have faded into the background again. It's almost silly, how much it hurt only minutes ago. She knows the answers to those questions, even if she hates them. Even if they're unfair. No matter how much she yearns for things to be different, she knows they won't ever be. Not for her.

It takes Klaudia time to find her voice. Her crying is finished, but she doesn't want to lift her head, doesn't want to show her face. She probably looks awful... and the fabric where her face rests is definitely damp from her tears. She's made a mess of the both of them, so when she finally does speak, the most she can manage at first is a muffled "sorry". And yet, still not sorry enough to move. Should she try to explain herself? She can't see his expression, can't possibly know what he's thinking. Would it be better or worse for him to know what had set her off? It's impossible to tell... She's never cried on someone like this before.

She could lie, or she could imply that she doesn't know what came over her... A mysterious crying spell? Belated near-death reaction? But she can't weather him picking apart another lie right now, after he's already admonished her once. So in that same muffled voice, she adds to her apology: "Warmth... sounded like a nice thing for a person to have. I started thinking, it would have been nice... And I couldn't stop."

[raveyardpatriarch]

He's starting to think that he's not the more confused of the two of them, here, and that's the saddest thing. It's hypothetical, and then it isn't, and it's just people telling wild stories, but also he may be being tricked, or mistaken? There's clearly some gap between her ideas where they can't quite knit their edges, a mess of true versus consequential, both or neither, that people are wrong but also he deserves the chance to be wrong himself. It is true that she's a tiefling, it is true she uses magic, and it is apparently true that some people take issue with those facts--is he supposed to have adopted these ideas too just by hearing them, or have come up with it on his own? Is this kind of ingrained thought why she never wants to just lie about things just because no one will know the difference? Must be weird. He shakes his head, less a refusal and more like there might be water in his ears stopping him from hearing and understanding properly.

"I don't think anyone would disagree that I'm too quick to say things, but I didn't make any mistakes. If I said it didn't matter without knowing whether or not any of it was true, why would it then matter with knowing more? Wouldn't that make me the liar here?" This little oration is picked through carefully in some parts, and delivered fast and with a flash of an easy smile in others. But he's said as much already, and it didn't seem to stick, so he takes another tack, giving her the most incredulous look. Surely if anyone knows better than to accept things without testing them, it's her-- he just has to lead her to it.

"Besides, is something really true just because enough people think it? Wouldn't I still need to find out for myself?"

[sulit]

It's good that at least one of them is picking up her internal conflict because Klaudia certainly seems to be struggling with that on her own, caught between what she wants and feels is justified and what she worries others might assume. Can an "It doesn't matter" ever really be true if he doesn't know what sorts of things he's tossing aside? Can she trust that he knows what he's saying if she doesn't illuminate all of the possibilities? Maybe there's a situation that he hasn't thought of or hasn't included because he doesn't think it applies. Or other stipulations or conditions that he thought didn't need to be said. Wouldn't he feel like he was being deceived if she didn't make sure they were on the same page?

It feels reasonable when she thinks about it like that, but when he asks if that would make him a liar, she balks a little at the thought. Would that make him the liar? She doesn't think of him as one, certainly. He seems very honest to her, and she doesn't want to imply otherwise. But that would mean that those things really didn't matter to him--that it wouldn't matter regardless of how much context she gave him, and she finds that so hard to believe. At the very least, her being a tiefling and what that means has always mattered... save for the only place where it hadn't.

There's a visible discomfort in the way she fidgets with his questions, trying to work out the logic in a way that doesn't run itself in a circle. She looks at a loss with how to respond for more than a few seconds, partly because she's still trying to make this piece feel reasonable again, and partly because she's embarrassed to realize that she's arguing a point she doesn't even like or agree with.

"It's not true just because people think it's true," she concedes because that's the easiest place to start. She can't rightfully argue otherwise, when just the thought makes her both angry and ill. "And I don't think you're a liar. But it wouldn't really be lying, would it? I mean, if there's something that you would have objected to, but you thought it wasn't included, that's not lying... right?" She sounds more uncertain of that conclusion than she did a moment ago, but continues regardless. "And it would look like I was trying to hide it from you, if I didn't fully explain it... wouldn't it? It wouldn't matter if it was true or not, then."

[raveyardpatriarch]

She can have all the time to work it through that she needs, Wei Wuxian has become very invested in this as much as any cultivation debate, and wants to dig out an understanding if there is one to be had. Klaudia doesn't have a monopoly on persistence, at least while Wei Wuxian is in town, and it's no different than the patience of letting Lan Zhan formulate his thoughts into stodgy words. It would be nice if this were a silly hypothetical about bone ghosts attached to kites or a morality question about rabbits, much nicer than the obvious discomfort she feels sifting through the whys and wherefores of how society views her and how that reflects in how she views herself. It isn't like he loves seriousness, or seeing her upset. But it's important, and she still hasn't quite understood him, though she's coming around, maybe.

He nods at the concession, compassion hopefully outweighing the irritating smugness. Hanguang-jun wouldn't steer someone wrong about the importance of forming your own opinions. Wouldn't be wrong about that person's receptiveness to learning. And he certainly suspects she has no qualms about going against the grain where necessary. So is it even really smug vindication if it's regarding her strength of character, as a known quality? Who could say. But surely she's close to being able to accept or at least allow that he meant what he said. The cracks are already there and just need a little more agitating, which he may be able to provide.

"If there's something I would have objected to, and I don't tell you, then how could it be that you're hiding something? How could I say it doesn't matter and not be lying?" He levels her with a mock-unimpressed look. Do they really have to argue about who is being dishonest like it's a contest? "If you really did something wrong, that wouldn't have been the way to right it. And if you didn't, then it definitely wouldn't. So either way, it's wrong. And either way, I don't want to see my friend mistreated by a bunch of wild animals. So what could you tell me or not tell me that would make a difference?" He gestures with both hands, as if inviting her to try again and find a way out of it, which he notably does not give her the chance to do. There's a time limit on sincerity.

"I tried to fix the thing I could see." This is awkward, and he shouldn't even have to talk about it, it's going to ruin his image. Klaudia is going to owe him lunch for this for sure, which is all that lets him push on. "If you did something terrible, would I fix that by letting another terrible thing happen?" Surely now she gets it. Also, the time limit is up, so he wags a finger at her and adds, "And you did say no murder."

[sulit]

For what it's worth, Klaudia does try to formulate her end of the argument. If there was something that he objected to and he didn't tell her... It would make sense to think that he was the one hiding something. But in that case, who would actually be at fault for the misunderstanding? Him for not telling? Her for not explaining? Objectively speaking, whose responsibility did that fall to?

In the end, maybe she's trying to be too objective about it. It certainly starts to feel that way, when he mentions not wanting to see his friend mistreated. There's a spark of something warm in her chest, something that she can understand and agree with. Regardless of who was at fault for what did and didn't get said, she wouldn't want to see a friend mistreated either. In that situation, maybe she could see how one could say that it didn't matter and mean it without any stipulations being held back. If their situations were reversed, she wouldn't care what he'd done. He's still her friend regardless.

She lets him finish, though she begins to nod or shake her head in agreement with him as he goes--the wag of his finger getting a more bashful response out of her. She feels a little bit like she's being teased, but it lifts her spirits for the familiarity of it, and she smiles a little. "I did say that. That's one of the rules."