greatmasterairplane

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"Yes, there's a startling lack of clarity here," Claudius says, and proceeds to prove himself an overthinker. "It's perhaps a limitation of mine that I can only think in terms of human motivation. If we were brought here by forces too inhuman to understand, their thinking is outside of my purview¹. If it were some ineffable plan of God's, I'd likewise have to give up, because God likes to tell jokes no one else can laugh at. But I think the forces at work here have a perverse fondness for us. Not intended as an insult, by the way, if they are listening." He gestures with his sake cup ceilingward, in case the forces are up there, before taking a drink. "It's only perverse because of the element of imprisonment. But songbirds are caged, and kept for entertainment. It's no coincidence, I think, that we all came from entertainments: plays, books, stories. Even ... Shen Yuan and yourself were in stories, before you arrived. A friend of mine used the words favorite character. In a strange set of circumstances like this one, I find it easy to wonder why it should happen to me, why not somebody else -- a typical lament to make at gods. We're not tormented, as if this were a hell for us, but our lives also aren't altogether frictionless, as if we were in heaven. They are some truly heroic people here, some villains like myself, and some people you would simply call interesting without ascribing a morality to them. But if we're known from our stories, the forces at work likely chose all their favorite characters, regardless of vice and virtue. I admit," he says, "I did find the idea flattering. Even if it's also disquieting." Again, he thinks at the mansion forces, that's not an insult, but you did create a disquieting situation. He'd say it out loud, but it's likely they can hear his thoughts, too².

¹ Like a Cthulhu thing. Claudius couldn't deal with a Cthulhu thing.
² Only the ones I write out, Claudius.