Because he didn't think we could convince you. After all, the last time we tried to get out, you just wanted us to come back! And that was without reality altering imagination magic.
Exactly. You knew I'd have a problem with this, and you did it anyway. I don't expect you to care what I think, but I do expect you to have some of the same problems I do. I mean, isn't this the same thing, all over again? Why trust him this time?
--I was originally going to try and kill him when we got there. I knew that when we got to the Authority's dimension, Bill would try something or other to get past the Barge's power limits, and if we got out, I might be able to end him for good. And I knew he'd escape with me or without me sooner or later, so I thought if I stuck close I'd know when it was happening and how.
But then he told me the plan. Showed me the trump card. He could have lied to me about what the spell was for, or found somebody else to trick into doing it, but he knew that if he tried something like that, I'd immediately start working to stop him. He wanted me on his side.
So, we compromised. The spell will bring your imagination to life as long as you're inside, but nothing inside can kill you. Also, Bill's agreed not to kill anyone in that dimension who isn't one of the beings controlling us and the ship, so people outside the spell are safe, as well.
You believe that he won't harm people there, the innocent people who'll get caught up in his scheme.
[It occurs to him that, while he believes Bill to be improving, he's not as sure about Ford, actually. Which surprises him. Somehow, he'd thought Ford's relationship with Bill had been a good thing. A sort of reconciliation. He's no longer certain.]
I do. Bill might be a slippery fellow when it comes to wording and loopholes, but I believe he wants me on his team after we reach the other side enough not to try something we didn't agree on.
...and I confirmed he wasn't hiding anything else about the plan.
[Ford holds up a hand, wiggles his fingers, indicating where a ring would be. A ring that might not reveal objective truth but will pick up on intentional deception.]
He wants your help. We both do. It was partly the possibility of getting you to come with us that let me convince him to include the protections he did.
And I personally would feel better with you along.
[Ford opens his mouth, like he wants to say something -- something to deny it, or to make it better, anything. This isn't the way he'd wanted this conversation to go. Yes, he'd been planning to get Luke to help them, but he'd thought it'd be more....willingly than this.
Was he just party to forcing Luke into something Luke didn't want to do...? Can you manipulate someone by accident? Was it shitty, here, to essentially give Luke no choice?
Signs point to yes.
But there's nothing he can do about it now. All he can say is:]
[It's less that Luke doesn't want to do it, and more that he doesn't feel he had a choice. Which, for him, is a difference. It means that what he wants doesn't matter.
But does it ever?]
I do want to thank you. For making him look at what he was doing in a different way than... than he would have, otherwise. I get that was you, and it matters. [He just also wishes that Bill had cared, on his own.]
Ah, don't thank me for that. It wasn't for him. It was because...I've seen this happen before, and I wanted to make sure everyone who'd be affected would have more than just a fighting chance.
I know it isn't right to drag a dimension full of innocents into this. But Bill was going to get to their dimension sooner or later, and I can at least mitigate the damage.
[And Ford's expression softens. He's done a lot of harm for terrible reasons -- revenge, blind ambition, pure ruthlessness. Compared to throwing a settlement into chaos to get an ore he needed for his gun, then jumping into a wormhole, leaving the damage behind...]
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2019-03-21 03:23 pm (UTC)stupid pop up menus
Date: 2019-03-21 04:07 pm (UTC)I'm assuming you're the one he's talking about when he told me he'd recruited someone who actually cares about human life, or something.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-23 11:47 pm (UTC)So, he told you. If he did, that means it's too late to stop.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-24 05:15 am (UTC)Why didn't you?
no subject
Date: 2019-03-24 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 02:27 pm (UTC)It's complicated, Luke, I--
--I was originally going to try and kill him when we got there. I knew that when we got to the Authority's dimension, Bill would try something or other to get past the Barge's power limits, and if we got out, I might be able to end him for good. And I knew he'd escape with me or without me sooner or later, so I thought if I stuck close I'd know when it was happening and how.
But then he told me the plan. Showed me the trump card. He could have lied to me about what the spell was for, or found somebody else to trick into doing it, but he knew that if he tried something like that, I'd immediately start working to stop him. He wanted me on his side.
So, we compromised. The spell will bring your imagination to life as long as you're inside, but nothing inside can kill you. Also, Bill's agreed not to kill anyone in that dimension who isn't one of the beings controlling us and the ship, so people outside the spell are safe, as well.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 06:45 pm (UTC)[He needs to know this.]
You believe that he won't harm people there, the innocent people who'll get caught up in his scheme.
[It occurs to him that, while he believes Bill to be improving, he's not as sure about Ford, actually. Which surprises him. Somehow, he'd thought Ford's relationship with Bill had been a good thing. A sort of reconciliation. He's no longer certain.]
no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 07:43 pm (UTC)...and I confirmed he wasn't hiding anything else about the plan.
[Ford holds up a hand, wiggles his fingers, indicating where a ring would be. A ring that might not reveal objective truth but will pick up on intentional deception.]
no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 08:34 pm (UTC)Okay. I guess I should just feel grateful that Bill told me, at all.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 10:10 pm (UTC)And I personally would feel better with you along.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 10:46 pm (UTC)[He feels tired, suddenly. It's the feeling of knowing, suddenly, that he's been manipulated by them both.]
no subject
Date: 2019-03-26 03:17 am (UTC)Was he just party to forcing Luke into something Luke didn't want to do...? Can you manipulate someone by accident? Was it shitty, here, to essentially give Luke no choice?
Signs point to yes.
But there's nothing he can do about it now. All he can say is:]
Okay.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-26 05:16 am (UTC)But does it ever?]
I do want to thank you. For making him look at what he was doing in a different way than... than he would have, otherwise. I get that was you, and it matters. [He just also wishes that Bill had cared, on his own.]
no subject
Date: 2019-03-26 02:10 pm (UTC)I know it isn't right to drag a dimension full of innocents into this. But Bill was going to get to their dimension sooner or later, and I can at least mitigate the damage.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-26 06:28 pm (UTC)Bill's supposed to be getting better.]
No, I can see that logic. I get it. I just hope this doesn't blow up in our faces any more than it already has.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-30 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-10 11:07 pm (UTC)Bill has no concept of consequence. He has no idea that if everyone gets everything they want, no one gets anything.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-11 01:14 am (UTC)Well...I suppose we'll see, won't we.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-11 05:53 am (UTC)You understand I'm going to do my best to see this does the least harm.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-11 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-11 08:16 pm (UTC)