{VOICE OTA}

[rootandbranch]

[Today you feel a few strange pulses in your signets before you hear anything over Qri's network. It's fairly pleasant, exactly as the signet communications tend to be, and fortunately doesn't at all resemble the strange fluctuations that plagued everyone back on days 103-105. It's more like someone poking at the network to be sure it's stable and not going to do any more of that before they speak. They seem to conclude it's safe after all.]

Hello? Oh, hi-- hi, everybody. It's Geir. If you don't know me, I'm the dragon.

[He's very matter of fact about it. He's the dragon. You're probably aware, his tone seems to say.]

Listen, I don't actually care if you know me, you should just help me and Nines out! He knows all kinds of technology things, so I asked him what we could find out about the Hub with them. But the question is really, what does everyone want to find out? There's been a lot of weird to chew on!

Chew...on? [9S echoes this thought quizzically, for an instant quite distracted. But right, right, the matter at hand—] Er, anyway, like Geir said we’re lacking data on our surroundings. And to know what we’re dealing with, gathering more would be best, so I was thinking I can probably scrape enough parts together to build a pod for that job, once we know what kind of information it should collect. I mean, unless we want everything...

[Geir's tone is still bright and interested. he loves hearing about this, even if part of him is still skeptical.]

Nines isn't even the only person who knows how to build... robots. I know a bunch of you build stuff. Who wants to help?

[9S clears his throat, quietly tacking a little disclaimer on:]

...Not that pods should be mistaken for machines or anything.

[When your kind’s fought machines for millennia certain lines get drawn. Thin, confusing grey lines. (Geir doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just lets it stand.)]


((both 9S and Geir may reply to your toplevels, and also feel free to jump each other! this is the start of a player plot to get a little more technology on the island. ♥ more details here!))

Comments

[rootandbranch]

Huh-- really?

[that's the first time that anyone has pointed out anything like that to Geir. in general, when he's asked a question someone hasn't liked, it's because they didn't want him asking about that topic at all -- not because of the form in which it came.]

Why would the way that someone asks make you not want to help them? Isn't that really stingy?

[on one hand, it's an honest question: Geir would like this idea explained to him. on the other hand, that doesn't help, Geir.]

[drizzle]

Yes, really.

[Although she is still speaking with some attitude, her voice does soften a tiny bit, it may be easy to miss though...]

Because you're taking away someone's right to decide to help or not. Stripping them of their free will. No one will respond to someone demanding to be helped. It kinda defeats the whole purpose of it being known as that.

[She was the queen of sting though. Reason she doesn't respond to that part of his question. It wouldn't be the first time someone calls her a moral absolutist or worse, really.]

Honestly, it just comes off as condescending.

[rootandbranch]

[if there's one thing that Geir is familiar with, it's whether someone has free will in any situation or not, and whether or not they have the power to make a decision. he's spent most of his life without power over what he'll ultimately do or where his life was going except in the most minor details, and really, his last few months in the coven have been one long headache of trying to figure out whether he has the power to make any decision for himself at all. the heartache of it is familiar to him. but even more than that, he has a keen sense of the power dynamics of a situation -- and how throwing power over others around works.

he may have been forthright, but he knows that's not what he did, and he's both hurt and confused by the accusation. even more than that, he's wary; this unknown coven member is jumping on an innocent request in a dramatic way that's designed to make him back down and search his soul for something he hasn't done, and he doesn't know what motive she has for deliberately throwing him off his balance like that. his voice, previously friendly and interested, chills to something cooler.]

Uh, no. You heard my voice over Qri's thing, saying you really should help. You should! We're trying to do something cool. I'm not threatening you. I'm not saying you have to. I'm not taking away your ability to decide at all. If I had, you'd be helping already, and we wouldn't be talking about this.

If I said it in a way you didn't like, I'll apologize, maybe! But I'm not going to pretend I did something I didn't.

[drizzle]

I never denied about Nines' ideas being cool or not because I bet they are.

[His apology will help placate her initial irritation. Only a tiny bit. It was clear they were sincere about their words.]

I'm simply pointing out that your wording in asking for help needs work. Never mentioned about there being a threat neither or else this conversation would be a whole lot worse.

[The moment he said the word "should", the tone of the message changed to a pretty demanding one. She had expected that type of language from her captures, but other coven members -- it was a surprise. That isn't a proper way to rally people to help out. Not to mention it reminds her of the way a certain world king demanded her to make it rain and forcefully had her leave her country for it in the name of marriage. His tone doesn't scare her in the least bit. His voice doesn't hold much in comparison to the voice of the sky when it unleashes its fury through powerful storms.]

I doubt it. Scare tactics don't do much for me in way of motivation.

[Nor do they get her to back down, even if her life is at stake. Too bad none of the religious assassins of her world were around to vouch for her. Or her fiance. Or her family. Or Neil. Or the palace soldiers. Or the thieves of the city in the Sun Kingdom. Or other princesses. Or Bardwin.]

[rootandbranch]

[there's been no threat in Geir's tone throughout the conversation, so it would be very strange for Nike to be frightened by it. now that she's continuing to explain herself, his voice is mildly suspicious and simply unimpressed with her strategy for, apparently, telling him that he was being rude. he's had too many problems developing a sense of agency to even begin to see an offputting tone and agency's removal as the same thing. without even a little implied force being brought to the discussion, one can simply say no to a request, however it's phrased.]

Using wrong words and taking away someone's free will are two different things. Condescending to someone and taking away their power aren't the same at all. If you're mad about one, don't make it about the other.

[he sighs slightly, bemused, exasperated, and puzzled by the conversation all at once, but certain after Nike's response that he's not going to understand whatever her take is on this more by pursuing it. instead, he just moves on. when he speaks again, his tone is mostly tired. he's trying not to let this make his head hurt.]

I'm not making you help. Do you want to? Is that better...? I wasn't trying to do whatever this is.