War for the Crown Gameplay Part 2

Continuation of https://critical-scumble.forumotion.com/t29-war-for-the-crown-gameplay-part-1

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"It ain't about the power. It makes it so 'steada cuttin' folks, it just causes pain. Here, watch." Corey pulls the glaive back and shifts his grip so it's in one hand, before bring the blade down hard on his other arm. His face contorts with pain, but when he pulls the weapon back, there's no mark there. "See? Don't even hurt that bad, but a couple hits puttin' mah back inta it'll knock a fella out from the shock."

"Why are you so adverse to bloodshed? Empires are born on blood, and it's not as though Taldor is any different," Momo responds, cocking her head. "I understand, it's a lovely sentiment, wanting to win without any death, but it doesn't strike me as a realistic proposition. Oftentimes I personally find myself wishing the powers I'd been granted were significantly more lethal than they are."

"Well, Ah s'pose that's a difference 'tween us, then," Corey shrugs, taking off the belts he uses to stow his glaive when not in use as he talks. "Ah figure yer probably right, lotta people are gonna die a'fore this is over, but if anythin' that just makes it more important to avoid it as best Ah can. The bodies are gonna pile awful high without me addin' to it, and that's just senseless. 'sides, Ah can't remember if it's come up but I was raised a good, Shelyn-lovin' boy, and we ain't big on the whole killin' thing ta begin with."

Momo sighs. "So long as your ideals don't wind up biting us, then it should be of no concern, yes? There again, we'll see how that conviction holds when faced with the truly repugnant..." Momo tuts, a short, clipped tone.

"Ah can't say Ah'll hold back fer some folks," Corey admits. "If ya put the Prince in front a me right now, Ah can't say what Ah'd do, but it ain't gonna be nothin' the Maiden'd approve of. But Ah can always try. Can't ask no more of mahself, and Ah don't think anyone else can either." He shrugs and leans back. "As fer not bitin' us, that's part a what the glaive's for, so Ah can fight well without havin' ta worry about it."

"Yes, but living people leave loose ends. They're raised stones that we could again trip over in the road to conquest," Momo explains. "Who's to say Wyssilka won't come back again to be a hassle since we chose not to kill her there? She seemed confident enough that she'd be back, after all."

"Ah dunno," Corey shrugs. "But that don't make it right to kill her just cuz she might be a problem in the future."

"Right strikes me as something you can chase and never truly find," Momo responds, and, lilting adds. "What's right for you may not hold up for someone else. It's subjective."

"Well you and Ah are gonna have ta disagree on that," Corey counters, eyes narrowing. "Ah think there's plenty that everyone can agree ain't right. Even so, Ah ain't about to push mah beliefs where they don't belong. Where they do belong is in how we all act as a group, though."

"Sure, but that's law." Momo says, rolling her eyes and responding, "law exists for the purpose of creating a collective that doesn't devolve to anarchy. But law isn't always 'right' either, there are laws in Katapesh that allow for slavery." Momo stretches upwards now, ready to proffer all she had learned from Professor Sabinus' philosophy courses, tiring as they were. "Indeed, one might argue that to claim one's position as morally superior is ontologically queer. When one is unable to detect any such faculties as 'good, wrong, or fair' objectively, that must mean that they can't exist in scrutiny. Hence, all statements that assert or presuppose their existence, are, indeed, false! Perhaps it's only the conditioning that we've been subjected to by society that determines what is right and wrong, when in reality, all the concepts might be is 'what drives society forwards' or 'what drives society backwards'."

"... okay Ah'll be honest, Ah only got maybe one bit outta three there." Corey's face scrunches up a bit. "But if Ah'm gettin' what yer sayin', then it ain't just about what society says is right or wrong, cuz the same rules are true no matter where yer at. Ah bet back in Tian Xia most normal folks'll agree murder is wrong, and Ah know the same's true fer them magpies over in Qadira. Hell, Ah'll bet if ya went into the Mwangi jungle ye'd find tribes a savages who'll agree with ya that ya shouldn't go stabbin' yer neighbor or stealin' his bananas or whatever the heck they have worth stealin' down there. All Ah'm sayin' is, some things are clearly universal. Ya can argue that some things are relative, but it sure as heck ain't everythin'."

Adelaide raises an eyebrow and her mug of coffee when she finds Josie's note in the morning. "Suppose that was at least part of what was at her?" she mutters to herself, walking back out. The young woman wonders for a moment if she should have given her parents an update at some point. Adelaide tilts her head, considering. "Eh, Aunt Gloriana probably did it," she decides before going to get her third cup of coffee.

Her new headband was helping her brain focus even more than usual, and thus, Adelaide finds herself inspired to study. She twirls her hair into a bun on the top of her head, unconcerned about any stray hairs, pushes her headband in place to keep hair out of her face, and grabs a pair of glasses she doesn't normally need. With that, and the right books handy, she reads aloud as she focuses on the material, letting the gishvits soak in the information. "You know, I feel like you three would be more useful purposed out in some way," she comments to them. "Also, names, since you already said you don't mind being called stuff. I wonder what historical figures would work..." Well, history wasn't the study of the moment, so she goes back to reading aloud choice passages.

It's fairly late in the afternoon by the time she feels satisfied, so she puts the book back and grabs another. Adelaide stands up and stretches before going to find Momo. She's a little amused to find her apparently in a philosophy debate with Corey, and the young woman leans in a doorway while listening rather than interrupting.

Momo blinks thrice and bluntly comments, "for someone so concerned with morality, you're quick to judge other cultures. I understand I'm performing ad hominem right now. Anyways, you can't prove such a thing as right or wrong. That's the point I'm trying to argue."

"Ah think Pharasma'd beg ta differ," Corey rebuts. "Bad folks ta onea the bad places, good folks go ta onea the good places, ain't that how it works? If right and wrong ain't real things, then how's Pharasma s'posed ta judge em?"

"There is an argument to be made that right and wrong are too subtle for mortals to properly judge, however, in which case it's not possible for any of us to prove it absolutely," Adelaide adds, smiling. "Unless you're Pharasma in disguise, I suppose, but you'd be in a rather odd form if that was the case."

"Cato!" Josie practically leaps out of the carriage and gives the older man a tight hug. With an impish smirk, Josie remarks, "I can't believe it, but somehow you've gotten even more grey in the past few days. Did my brief absence really age you that much, old man?" She giggles and continues, "Getting out of that nonsense was a real pain in the ass, but some others and I made it out alright. Mostly due to some luck, but I'll tell you the full of it later."

Cato returns that tight hug with a grin, "And I see you haven't learned much about respecting your elders," he jokes back. "You will have to tell me all about your daring escape later though, presently I ought take you back inside. Your mother was worried sick, and we've all spent the last day or so waiting for you to send word." As he speaks, he starts walking towards the family manor, waving the carriage driver off.

Josie nods, following behind him. "I suppose I might have been able to send a letter a bit sooner than I was able to leave for home, but it wouldn't have made too much of a difference in the overall timing, I think. Plus, this way, you get to see my smiling face again!" She uses the tips of her fingers to push the corners of her mouth into a comical smile. Still holding the look, she continues, "Don't you feel lucky?"

Corey jumps slightly, too engrossed in the conversation to have noticed Adelaide earlier. "Oh, Addy, hi. Sorry, didn't notice ya there." He thinks for a second. "Ah s'pose even if that is true, we should still be tryin', shouldn't we? Ta figure what the right thing ta do is, and then do it?"

"I'd feel luckier if you never tried to make that expression again," Cato replies drily, raising a grey, bushy eyebrow. "I am glad to see you though," he adds, pushing the main manor door open. "I believe your mother should be in the library right now, and your brother in his study."

Giving him a real smile this time, Josie replies, "I'm glad to see you too. I'll come find you later and we can catch up." Giving him a small wave, she walks towards the library. Sighing softly as she comes to the door, she pushes it open and announces, "Mother? I'm home and alright."

Josie's mother, a woman in her 50s with hawkish, angular features and hair dyed to be as black as it was in her youth rises from a cushioned seat across from the door, setting a novel down. "Josephine!" her face splits into a relieved smile. "When I heard about the incident at the Exaltation Gala, I was so worried! For once you were out behaving as a proper young noblewoman, and then that happens! Gods above it must have been terrifying."

Josie suppresses a wince at the backhanded compliment, and replies, "It was quite awful. Luckily, there were safeguards on those old badges we had to wear, and we were transported to relative safety after the worst of it started." With a small smile, she adds, "It's good to see you again, Mother."

"It's good to see you too, Josephine," Josie's mother replies with a similar expression. "And it's good to hear the benefactor who brought you to the gala was looking out for your safety as well."

Josie nods. "I am very grateful for all they've done so far. They were also impressed by how I handled the situation, so I may have future opportunities through them later." Thinking for a bit, Josie holds back a smirk as she recalls, "Oh, that reminds me! I met Grand Duke Nestor Delriddia at the Gala, and may be receiving a gift from him. I'm afraid I haven't heard if he managed to make it away from the events of the night."