synthedick | 💘 ic inbox for hadriel

Bad things don't have to happen, kid. And it's not our place to make them happen if they do. Saying that makes you sound like a goon.

So you don't want to protect Rey like she would protect you?

[Rey might not be what one would call a good person, necessarily; and she has her issues with the concept of family. But from what he has observed, there and here, makes him absolutely certain that as reluctant as she may be to admit it, Rey will be a reliable ally to those whom she cares about. And he knows that she cares about Nick.]

[Sorry, Muscovy. Nick doesn't play the guilt-trip game, intentional or not.]

Protecting her doesn't mean taking away her choice in this. How do you think she'd feel if your "friendly warning" made Bianca decide she wasn't worth the trouble? If you chased her off without Rey getting so much as a say in it?

Bianca isn't my cup of tea either, but this isn't our place to step in.

Bianca isn't a person who would be chased off by a warning or even a threat. [That seems like a rather pointless objection to him. He gets the feeling that telling her not to date Rey (which is absolutely not his plan) would actually make her more intent on doing exactly that.]

And she's nice, just a bit silly. You should invite her for dinner so you'll know her better, yes? [She's not Muscovy's most favourite person in the city, if just because there's a few that he just likes a lot, but she's part of his household and Firo cares about her. So that are two important reasons to approve of this relationship.]

Now there's an idea I can get behind. I'll see if I can't set something up.

But no "friendly warnings," Muscovy. The point isn't that Bianca could be chased away, but that you might stir up trouble where it's not needed. Intimidation is not how we do things. Got it?

[Not that he thinks the kid actually would be intimidating to Bianca, but the fact of the matter is that it's a bad line of thinking Nick would rather not see him fall into. Too many people rely on it as it is.]

She would not be intimidated by me.

[So there is obviously no issue there. As much as he wouldn't change his plans if he would believe that she'd be intimidated by him telling her that he will have Rey's back without compromise. Because they're more than allies or housemates. They're family, even if Rey is still coming around.]

If that's the case, then you have no reason to have this talk, especially not the way you're suggesting doing it.

Because that is the case, I have to have it, because if I was intimidating, she would not need a warning because she would already know that she would have a problem with me, too, if she hurts Rey, yes?

No warnings. No telling people that they're going to have a problem with you if they hurt someone else. That's intimidation, Muscovy, and it's not what we do.

It is not what you do, and that is very silly.

It means that things will escalate that would not have to escalate.

[Knowing that attacking someone would call allies, or that someone is strong enough alone to effectively cause issues to an attacker and their village can keep the balance in an area effectively and force people to play nice, preventing more death and destruction than necessary. It does of course not hold up forever, but what does?]

Only because you're making a threat. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it, and not a moment before.

[And even then, he wouldn't be keen on it.]

You conflate a threat and a warning, and that will get you in trouble one day. A warning is when you support something not happening by laying out consequences. A threat is when you make someone so scared or angry that they will attack you. They are very different.

I know what I'm talking about, Muscovy.

The answer is no.

It would be better, but I cannot make you.

[He would need to be a lot stronger for that.]

Until we talk again.

💘 ic inbox for hadriel

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