[not again] catchall for ogata

[fishingforcompliments]

Comments

[snyaiper]

[Looks at her for a long moment.]

You know you were far from the only one with an absurd age in that range.
[So like, no need to be embarrassed.]

[fishingforcompliments]

...I said, I am not confirming it! I have nothing to say on the matter, save that I do not believe we ought to be giving those scraps of paper more attention than we already have.

[snyaiper]

[Frankly, Ogata thinks that Flayn protesting so much just confirms it's true. And he wants to ask what the fuck it means for her to be that old. But he can't when she's still refusing to admit it. So he'll drop it, for now.

He looks away, out into the fog, mulling things over for a moment.]

Why do you think we're here?

[fishingforcompliments]

[Her expression falls.

Why, indeed...]

Because we are unlucky, I suppose.

[snyaiper]

[A soft noise of assent.]

I imagine you could make a case for some people here deserving it, whatever this is. But that doesn't strike me as true across the board. You, Arisato, and C-3PO, at the very least, seem to only be guilty of thinking too positively.

[fishingforcompliments]

[that



that first part sounded negative but that last part actually sounded kind of nice??

who are you and what did you do with ogata.]

[snyaiper]

[Squints!!!]

What's that look for?

[fishingforcompliments]

I think that may be the first time I have heard you acknowledge that there may be people who do not deserve bad things happening to them.

[


the words are so rude but her tone of voice is perfectly polite.]

[snyaiper]

[Ogata blinks as if even he is surprised. Perhaps he just didn't think of it that way. He huffs lightly.]

Just because I don't want anyone to be happy doesn't mean I don't understand some people are guiltier than others.
[That's a hell of a statement.]

[fishingforcompliments]

[That is indeed a hell of a statement.

Is he listening to himself? Flayn really wonders if Ogata really thinks about the words that come out of his mouth.]

Innocent. The word you are looking for is not "less guilty than others," it is innocent.

[She's not even touching the "I don't want anyone to be happy" part yet. They'll get there.]

[snyaiper]

[He does, it's just that his internal logic makes no fucking sense at all.]

Hm. But is anyone here truly innocent? I'm not sure it applies. Even you know how to fight.

[fishingforcompliments]

Knowing how to fight does not inherently make you guilty of anything. What does is how you make use of those skills.

[snyaiper]

How did you use them, then?

[The obvious follow up question.]

[fishingforcompliments]

...I was a healer. Primarily, I fought to defend myself so that I could care for the injured on the battlefield.

[snyaiper]

[Healer.... sounds vaguely magical, and Flayn's hair is green, so... But for the sake of not having to consider more magical bullshit he's just going to think of her as a field medic.]

Have you ever killed someone, Flayn?
[She probably saw this coming.]

[fishingforcompliments]

...

[well]

Yes.

[snyaiper]

[Gestures.]

There you are. Less guilty. Not innocent.

[fishingforcompliments]

Do you consider someone guilty when they take a life in defense of another, Ogata?

[snyaiper]

Is that what you think killing an enemy soldier is?

[fishingforcompliments]

...well... the soldiers in an army are fighting to defend people from their homelands, are they not? Though I suppose it is a little different if you are part of an invading force.

[snyaiper]

[Ogata is quiet for a lonng moment as he thinks about how Flayn’s logic would be applied to the war with Russia where both armies were arguably the invading force.]

Whenever I talk to you or Dimitri about war I can’t help but want to see if war in your world is truly as much of a noble and justified sacrifice as the two of you make it sound.
[It’s certainly not his experience.]

[fishingforcompliments]

...it would be better if there were no war at all. I do not know that it is noble or justified, in many cases. But... I really cannot fault those who fight against invaders, or who band together against rulers who are treating them poorly.

[snyaiper]

How about men who simply had no other option available to them than join the army? And they fight when and where they're told. Even when all they're fighting for is a piece of land neither army really aught to own?

[He didn't really mind going to war, but that doesn't mean he thought it was one worth fighting.]

I knew plenty of men like that. Men who were afraid to die, but needed to make money for their family. Men who were, conversely, far too excited to prove themselves in battle. To kill Russians. None who really cared much about what we were fighting over.

[fishingforcompliments]

...

[Flayn doesn't like thinking about this. In some cases - maybe. Those who fight simply to kill... well, obviously that's not noble. But to enlist because you needed to provide for your family...

That's a little different, isn't it? To choose between fighting and starving...]

I suppose in some cases it is... more complicated.

[snyaiper]

[Ogata seems satisfied with that, at least.]

Most things in life are. If people were more honest about how the world works, maybe that wouldn't have to be the case.
[Smoothing his hair back.]

You agree, don't you?