neverjoinyou | lastvoyages IC Inbox

"I CHOSE TO KILL HIM. I'D HAVE KILLED HIM WHETHER OR NOT PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD OR CARED WHY."

Bill shifts. Okay, so, what's a good metaphor...

"YOUR DAD NEEDED THE EMPEROR DEAD TO BE FREE. IF YOU WANT TO THINK OF IT LIKE THAT, GO AHEAD.

Luke waves away the metaphor--he doesn't need to think about dad. And it's not the same thing.

"It's not the same thing," he says. "Let me start with this--you say you chose to kill him, but did you? Can you be sure? If your theory was correct, how do you know you chose to kill him?"

"BECAUSE HE WOULDN'T HAVE WANTED TO DIE."

Easy one. The guy wasn't the kind to set up long cons that his death would benefit, wasn't suicidal, had stuff to look forward to.

Wings is really still sitting, huh.

Bill reluctantly floats down lower, near the tops of the grass.

Try to be patient with him, Bill--Luke is trying to use logic.

"Okay, so he wouldn't want to die. What allowed you to kill him, then, if he controls you? I mean, just the fact he didn't expect you to be real and in his universe? Because... it seems like if you had the free will to do what you did--get into his universe, take an action he could not control--you also have the free will to have gone about this a different way."

Does that make sense?, his expectant expression asks.

"THE BARGE."

He does have an answer for that one.

"THIS PLACE - "

Bill gestures up to the ship looming back the way they came.

"THIS ISN'T HIS DOMAIN. I'D NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PULL THIS OFF WORKING OUT OF GRAVITY FALLS, HE MADE SURE OF THAT!"

"Fine," he says, conceding the point, for what it's worth. "But that sort of proves my point. You had an opportunity, and you took it. So far, so good, and I can't imagine faulting you for it. But what you did with that opportunity. Is it the only possible course of action you could have taken?"

"NO," Bill admits.

"IT'S THE ONE I WANTED TO TAKE. I WANTED TO DO THIS."

He looks over at Luke, finally.

"IS THAT BETTER? OR WORSE?"

Is that what you wanted? Bill is pretty sure it's 'worse.'

Luke steels himself. It's what he expected, more or less, so he's not surprised. And in fact, he thinks it's a good thing, this conversation. Getting Bill to admit what he actually did. If Luke shows anger now, it may be interpreted as another reason not to talk to him.

"Let's forget that for the moment," he says. "I'm not your jury or executioner, here. Most of the people on the Barge have killed someone." Well, he doesn't have the actual statistics on that, but it's close enough. "For me, anyway, it's not about a list of actions you did or did not do, totaling up to 'good' or 'bad.' It's about the context. Do we do these things because we feel there's no choice, or out of self-defense, or some other overpowering factor? Or do we take pleasure in the cruelty and suffering of others?"

He watches Bill.

"I don't think either extreme is true, for you. You did what you wanted to do, because it felt good but also because it was one method of overthrowing a power he had over you, and a man is dead. You would do it again, I'm guessing, if you could tweak a few of the things that went wrong. And now you're upset because people don't understand, and are treating you in a way you don't like. Does that sound accurate, so far?"

Bill watches all this, his expression neutral.

"YEAH..."

Where's the catch? is what that tone means.

Bill knows he's smart enough to create choices, but also knows that there are hard limits to what he's able to accomplish. One of those hard limits had, previously, been his showrunner. Bill wants to be free, and doesn't have any qualms about going the direct route to get there.

There was an element of revenge, in this, but it was cold. Almost scientific: the man in question had to be made to fight against Bill and fail in order for Bill to be certain that the scales of power had tipped.

Deep breath.

"Okay. So you took a course of action, chose one branch of many possible. You weren't backed into a corner, so there was some discretion about how you handled it." Luke gestures between them with a hand, then sort of to the wider world. "Now, people have different opinions about it. Some question your motives, some question your means, and some question the amount you took their needs and wishes into account. Don't you think that's fair, given that you've just admitted yours wasn't the only possible course of action?"

Bill huffs.

"YEAH."

But it's complicated, isn't it?

"So basically, you're mad because there are social consequences to your actions and you don't like it."

He lets that hang there.

"I'M MAD FOR A LOT OF REASONS!

NOBODY CARES THAT I KILLED AL. THEY CARE THAT I CAST THAT SPELL AND MADE A PORTAL. BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU ASKED!"

Luke shrugs.

"What I asked isn't really the point," he says. "I'm trying to get you to understand why people are reacting this way. Because this is part of living in a society and having free will. You sort of have to deal with the consequences. Am I wrong?"

"I DO, BUT - "

Bill is having trouble articulating and makes little fists in frustration.

"LISTEN! I DIDN'T HAVE OTHER OPTIONS FOR BUILDING THE PORTAL. NOBODY BELIEVED ME WHEN I BROUGHT IT UP - NOBODY EVEN BELIEVES ME NOW!"

"I think you need to stop making so many assumptions," Luke offers. "About your options. About what people believe, or feel. About what they want. You're so used to being the only one who knows anything, the only one with any power. But that's not sustainable, as we know. You can't go around just deciding things for everyone else and then expecting them to accept it when they haven't been asked, and it hasn't been explained, and you just keep yelling at them over and over!"

"THEY DON'T LISTEN!"

"Is it that they don't listen? Or that they don't understand, or don't agree, and you're just saying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?"

Edited 2019-05-14 21:08 (UTC)

Bill huffs - it sounds like radio static instead of air, but the emotion is clear enough.

"FINE. THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND, AND THEY DON'T BELIEVE ME, AND THEY NEVER HAVE."

Luke just stares at him for a moment.

"I believe you," he says quietly.

"HHGH, THANKS..."

That's sincere. It matters. It does. But the amount of people that don't can easily make both of their lives much much harder.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY LIKE ME! IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER IF THEY THINK I'M RIGHT. I WASN'T. BUT IT DOES MATTER THAT THEY DON'T CARE IF I WAS RIGHT OR NOT."

His point hadn't just been about himself--it was about how if you actually tried, instead of just yelling, maybe you'd get somewhere. But he gives this latest issue some thought, because yeah, that does sound frustrating.

"I don't know that they don't care," he says slowly. "I think it might be that... you distracted the message with a whole bunch of other stuff they cared about more. The problem wasn't that you tried to solve a problem that concerned your, and maybe everyone's, existence. It's that you did it in a way that affected other people negatively and didn't tell them and expect them to be grateful. They're not gonna be grateful, because all they know is that you messed up the ship and gave them some scary memories and couldn't be stopped until someone killed your warden."

Bill huffs.

"THAT'S NOT ALL THEY KNOW! I TOLD THEM THE REST, SO DID FORD!"

Why Doesn't Everyone Prioritize The Same Things As Me

Luke sighs.

"I know," he says, with admirable patience. "But you don't control how people hear it, or what they're coming into it with, or how they react. You can only put it out there, as best you can. I don't expect everyone to understand why I saved Anakin Skywalker. Maybe they all should believe me, side with me, but that's just not how things work. People have to be allowed to think differently than you, or soon, you're back to lording over a domain of one. That's what I'm trying to get you to understand. This was never going to end in a parade with everyone thinking you were right. Even if you were."

"I DON'T... WANT TO LORD OVER A DOMAIN."

Grumble grumble. (Yes you do, Bill, don't fucking lie.)

Luke has a point.

"BUT I'M ALLOWED TO BE MAD AT THEM, TOO. AND I DON'T HAVE TO ADMIT THEY'RE RIGHT, EITHER, IF THEY'RE NOT GONNA DO THE SAME FOR ME."

Edited 2019-05-15 23:08 (UTC)

lastvoyages IC Inbox

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

i spy a boy 👀

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject