unus

[nos_servabit]

[The camera starts recording, showing the interior of what looks to be a cabin, only illuminated by the glow of an oil lamp standing on the table. A (currently hatless) man is sitting in front of a large loom where part of a large tapestry hangs, using his knife to spread the threads so he can use them to weave them into knots and such.]

[He finally turns to the camera, calm blue eyes creased in a benevolent expression.]

You know, it's rather interesting. Some people believe their lives are governed by fate, and others say that they're free to do what they want. Some say it's futile to do anything, and others disagree, saying your can change your future as much as you want to.

[He turns towards his loom again, cutting out a troublesome thread, before speaking again.]

But what most everyone agrees on is that life is made of choices. You are where you are now because you decided to go a certain way, talk to a certain person, see a certain thing...

I believe everyone has a choice. It just depends on how you use it.

[And he smiles at the camera.] So, I'm curious, people of Vatheon...what sort of choices have you experienced in your lives?

Comments

[nightknighted.livejournal.com]

Hnnn~ What an invasive question~

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

Not particularly. I'm not forcing anyone to answer.

[nightknighted.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I suppose not. How considerate of you.

I don't mind answering~ I made a choice a long time ago that has drastically altered my life. Changed my very species because of it. Is that the sort of thing you wanted to know~?

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I'm not going to ask what exactly the choice was, but...did you feel like you were forced to make it, or did you see all the options clearly?

[angelphones.livejournal.com]

There's... some pretty big choices I had to make recently.

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

Really? What sort of choices?

[angelphones.livejournal.com]

Like how to save and best lead the human race.

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

That is certainly a burdensome decision.

Do you think you chose wisely?

[messianic]

[...It is interesting to hear his own life's philosophy repeated right back to him.

Interesting, and he has to comment, but alas, he can't speak. And so he nods quietly, mime hat unmoving, and turns to text.]

I agree. Choices are very important.

But I'm curious. Do you believe life is governed by fate?

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

[messianic]

I see.

I agree. I was just curious to know what you think.

Vid. /// if he starts getting personal, can you lock it?

[thehawks-eye.livejournal.com]

None which I regret. [That's a lie, but it's a lie to fool herself and keep from asking the what ifs.]

Video /// Sure! No problemo. :)

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

[A questioning look.]

Are you sure about that, Riza?

Video

[thehawks-eye.livejournal.com]

Of course.

[TEXT]

[bethehugejerk]

[Jacob may have started with video, but Karkat's sticking to text because he's not someone he wants to go showing the hat he's been stuck with this week. That being a grey, cat-eared one. Let's just hope he doesn't slip any meows in, shall we?]

CHOICES ARE SOMETHING THAT HAPPEN, AND TEREZI COULD RAMBLE AT YOU INTO FOREVER ABOUT ALL HER WEIRD SEER OF MIND SHIT ABOUT HOW THEY DIRECT STUFF
BUT THERE'S A FUCKTON THAT'S ULTIMATELY UNAVOIDABLE.
CERTAIN THINGS ARE FUCKING DESTINED TO HAPPEN, AND THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS HOW IT GETS THERE
BECAUSE IF IT DOESN'T, YOU'RE FUCKED SIX WAYS FROM SUNDAY WITH A RUSTY CHAINSAW
AND SO IS EVERYONE YOU KNOW.
DOOMED TIMELINES ARE FUN FOR NO ONE, AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT.
SO I COULD GO ON ABOUT CHOICES I'VE MADE
BUT THEY'RE MOSTLY STUFF I DON'T WANT TO ACTUALLY GO INTO.

[Video]

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

We may have destinies, Karkat, but along the way there are always choices to be made. If you think everything is inevitable, then how come we're given the chance to make a choice in the first place? Life isn't a set path- it's one that changes all the time, as shown by the existence of those doomed timelines of yours.

[TEXT]

[bethehugejerk]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME.
DOOMED TIMELINES PROVE ONE THING ONLY:
YOU MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE, OR YOU'RE FUCKED.
FUCKED AS IN YOU AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW ARE GOING TO DIE, AND THERE'S JACK SHIT YOU CAN DO UNLESS THE DOOMED TIMELINE IS SOMEHOW ESSENTIALLY TO THE ALPHA IN WAYS THAT ARE TOO FUCKING WEIRD TO FIGURE OUT.
DON'T ASK ME, I WASN'T THE TIME GUY IN MY SESSION.

video BECAUSE HEYYOOO

[effier.livejournal.com]

[Well, this wasn't an everyday question.]

Life and death.

video HEY GURL

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

[But Jacob isn't an average man.]

That's a choice which not many people have the chance of getting. You're rather unique.

video I HAVE MISSED THREADING WITH YOU OGM

[effier.livejournal.com]

So are you.

And everyone else here.

[But it was her own life, not someone else's.]

[Video] omg this will be fun. <3

[oh-neku-dear.livejournal.com]

[Oh, yes, thank God, somebody who wants to talk philosophy. Joshua has been bored, and this is a nice way to pass the time.]

I've made choices that are regretful, but I learned from them. At the same time, there are choices I don't regret, and some that I'm not necessarily proud of.

What about you and your choices? In the end, if you're fated to pick a certain choice, then did you really have a choice to begin with?

[Video]

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

[Hi Jesus, nice to have someone to talk to. - God/Jacob]

No necessarily. "Fated" doesn't equal "inevitable". You can change your fate, and really, it's up to the person to decide where he wants to go in life. It could be as simple as turning left instead of right- and that choice could make all the difference.

[glorious-mercy.livejournal.com]

[This question is something of a loaded gun one might say for the general, until a certain event had changed his outlook, he hadn't really made any personal choices about his actions. Of course could it be said he'd made the choice to allow the company to govern his actions, but when you were raised and groomed to be more of a weapon than an actual person, would you even be aware of having made that choice until well after it'd already been made? Regardless, he had begun to make his own choices about his actions once he'd been questioned about his reasons for them.

However, he's actually thinking now about what he was told by his mother and the truth about how he was brought into this world. It's those thoughts which prompt the question he actually gives the man.]

What about actions taken toward you before you were born, that affected how you came into the world?

[nos-servabit.livejournal.com]

Then you had no control over them. Simple as that. It were other people's decisions that held control over you.

But it what happens after you are born where your choices play a major role.

[glorious-mercy.livejournal.com]

What if their choices affected what I did after I was born?

[He says 'did', but he's actually thinking 'what he was'. Is a child actually held responsible for allowing the authority figures in its life to dictate its actions? Was it possible to have grown up different than he had if he had exhibited more self-assertiveness? Even if he had been effectively kicked down the one time he had attempted to assert himself as a person, perhaps it had been wrong to allow that to affect his following years. He wasn't sure.]

When a child is deprived of the choice to make his own choices...what then?