HOMOPHONIC 🌺 KAVEH

[piteous]

oh the baby girl

Comments

[ohthehumanities]

[I heavily debated whether he'd misinterpret and be scandalized or not but I've decided he's too focused right now. Tch.]

We might as well try. They've been rather clear about what they can't, or won't, tell us.

[piteous]

It kind of makes me want to rip up their employee contracts, but I imagine they're getting something out of this...

[ Right? ]

[ohthehumanities]

Besides payment, you mean?

[Since they keep calling it a job and all...]

[piteous]

I don't think any amount of money would get me to work this job.

[ But Vash doesn't care about money. Payment can be anything, but in No Man's Land it is definitely money money money. ]

[ohthehumanities]

Mm. I feel the same way.

[Kaveh cares because he has to--but a large part of the reason he's still so deeply in debt is because he's chronically incapable of not giving to other people in one form or another.]

Ruby mentioned having reasons for doing it, but I didn't ask her what they were.

[piteous]

Same. When I had asked about how they were getting paid, they were very vague about it and said it was worth the job.

[ Stroking his chin. ]

I wonder if it's something bigger than what we'd get from winning.

[ohthehumanities]

[He tilts his head slightly.]

Like what? Their own chance at revival?

[piteous]

Seeing that this gamemaster is so powerful, anything is on the ballpark. Maybe even creating a perfect world, I don't know. Bringing back the dead at home? Changing an event that had already happened?

[ohthehumanities]

[It's so clear from Kaveh's face that he never even thought about things like that.]

I guess things like that would be a strong incentive. [He's quiet for a moment, considering.] Would you want something like that?

[piteous]

... If I could change an event in the past?

[ He thinks about it. ]

It's something beyond me to consider, even though a number of events pop up in my mind. There were many days where it was tough, but they were tender, too.

I don't know if I'd be able to give those up.

[ohthehumanities]

Mm. I feel the same way.

[He turns his gaze upward, looking at the sky.]

There are so many things I would love to change. Things here, things in the past... not just for myself, but for other people. But... I don't know. The idea of going back and undoing them--it doesn't feel right.

[Even if it could bring his father back, and undo the pain he inflicted on his mother. Even if it meant taking back words spoken in the heat of anger.]

It's not that I think we shouldn't accept support or use tools that make things easier for us. But something like that--it's too close to the Akademiya's sins, in my opinion.

[piteous]

[ ??? ]

The school let you change the past?!

[ohthehumanities]

What? [????] Oh--no, nothing like that. Rather--it's what's set up to prevent things like that from happening. They're the founding principles of the Akademiya--the three virtues and the six sins. It's what serves as our basis for what constitutes crimes, or which areas of research are forbidden. Tampering with life and death is one of them.

[piteous]

[ whew. Vash lets out a relieved exhale because he wouldn't know what to think if that's all possible. ]

That's pretty smart of you scholars over there... [ He's sure a bunch of people in NML are doing whatever, but he doesn't think there's any power that can take them back to the past. ] What's done is done, even if I have some regrets. I think I can clear those here.

[ohthehumanities]

[Wouldn't it be funny if Kaveh was like "haha yeah actually we fuck around with space-time and evolution all the time!" But no. It's fine.

Kaveh's quiet for a little while, taking that in. Eventually, he reaches over, gently squeezing Vash's wrist. It might shock him, but that's alright.]

Just stay safe. Please.