[log] social skills 101 [closed]

[powersouls]

Characters: Zach, Tifa, Royce, Cloud, Sora
Location Building 100
Date: 116, after lockdown
Summary: A bunch of nerds get locked in a house together.
Warnings: None!

YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO

Comments

[bywolves]

[ Ughhhh! Sora, you're getting your Hero all over him! ] Please, spare me the lecture. Right and wrong are ridiculous concepts in a place like this.

[seekthelight]

Why? Because it's easier for you to just do bad stuff because you can blame it on this place? It's just a convenient excuse for you, isn't it? [He will drip his Heroisms all over you, Royce!]

[bywolves]

No - why do all of you make wild assumptions like that? [ First Zach, now Sora. ] Let me amend that: wrong and right are stupid concepts to begin with. Who decides which is which? Why is your interpretation better than mine?

[seekthelight]

Everyone decides them for themselves, but there's always common things! Killing people isn't right, even if they've done horrible things. Using people? That's not right either. Those are things everyone knows!

[bywolves]

So if I killed someone, what would you do to me?

[seekthelight]

Probably knock you out and detain you. [He doesn't kill people, Royce. God.]

[bywolves]

And knocking me out and locking me up is okay. According to your rules.

[seekthelight]

Yeah, it is. Everyone has a reason for doing what they do and everyone deserves a chance to explain themselves. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to let you walk around!

[bywolves]

And how long would you keep me locked up? The rest of my life? A few days?

[seekthelight]

[Sora shrugs.] That depends on you.

[bywolves]

I'm not going to change my mind. You'd lock me up and keep me locked up for potentially the rest of my life because my view doesn't match your own.

[seekthelight]

If it meant keeping other people safe, then yeah, I would. I wouldn't like it and I would keep trying to help you understand that you couldn't do those things. [His expression softens into something a little more thoughtful for a moment before he looks determined again.] But protecting people is what I'm suppose to do as a keyblade wielder so that's what I'd do!

[bywolves]

That I i>couldn't - who gave you the authority to decide what's right and wrong?

[ He actually sounds mad, now. ] I'll change the scenario. I kill someone. You lock me up. I tell you I killed that person out of self defense. Is that different to you?

[seekthelight]

We're all suppose to look out for one another! So the authority to decide belongs to all of us! And killing people isn't right!

[His determination is only growing now, Royce. You're screwed.] Killing is still killing, even out of self defense. There's always another way! Always!

[bywolves]

[ Maribor above, Royce is going to die from overexposure. ] Oh, I was unaware I was talking to someone who doesn't live in reality. My mistake.

You keep saying things like they're fact. It's annoying.

[seekthelight]

How do I not live in reality? Because I believe that you can avoid killing people unnecessarily? [Rude, Royce!]

Why? It's just the truth!

[bywolves]

When did I ever say it was unnecessary? I don't kill people unnecessarily.

[seekthelight]

Why kill people at all, though? Why not find some other way to solve the problem?

[bywolves]

Because there usually isn't another option that ends up without me being dead later as a result.

[seekthelight]

Then you aren't looking hard enough!

[bywolves]

[ Royce just stares up at Sora, expression icy. Ooh, that... struck a nerve, actually. ]

[seekthelight]

[He's just going to take that opportunity to keep going.]

If that's the only way out of a situation that you can see then you aren't seeing everything! You're stuck on one solution and won't let yourself veer from that path and that's not right! Every situation, every fight, every journey has different ways it can end and death doesn't have to be involved! Ever!

[bywolves]

[ Royce is going to get up in Sora's space again, and this time, he's not going to stop. He'll push Sora back if he has to. ]

Obviously you're not well acquainted with it. Death stalks. It waits. It's there, whenever you turn. In desperate men and women. In animals, being hunted. People, being hunted. You have never seen the rats, the dregs. You kill them, or they kill you, and there is no other choice.

You are naive. Life is not a fairy tale, and there is rarely a happy ending.

[seekthelight]

[Sora's not about to back down. Even when he's pushed he'll move right back into Royce's personal space.]

You don't think I know that! I've seen people get their hearts ripped out of their bodies! I've seen worlds destroyed by creatures--by people that didn't care about how much damage they were doing! And you know what I did? I found a way to fix it! I found a way to stop them because there's always another way!

[And this time Sora's the one shoving at Royce, glaring fiercely at him.]

If you want a happy ending you have to fight for it--but that doesn't mean you have to kill to get it!

[powersouls]

[Tifa has been in the other room, but it wasn't difficult to hear when the argument started to get heated. She's been in the hall for a minute or two, just keeping an eye out—she knows how quickly these things can escalate, and it isn't hard to imagine that happening here, when they're all so stressed. She's not going to get involved unless she has to, though.

It's when things get physical that she steps forward, closing the distance in a few quick strides. Royce is the one she goes for, reaching out to grab him by the bicep and pull him back. Tifa is slight but strong, and she grips his arm tightly. He's the one she's worried about, because she figures if Sora gets some space he'll deescalate.]

Duster.

[Her voice is sharp and firm, no-nonsense, and she gives his arm another quick little tug.]

That's enough. Both of you.