blood sweat tear

[imeanforever]

He's moving her to a different court to see if it'll improve her attitude. She's allowed to fly. It's been a long, long time since she was allowed to -

She is only allowed to fly to her destination, not anywhere else. She notices that she is not where she should be, that she cannot progress to where she was told to go, and she careens out of control when her wings won't flap anymore, and she crashes.

---

with Miles (kappa)

with Minus (kappa)

Comments

[imeanforever]

"Permissions are in general beneficial to my interests."

[eversomuchfun]

"But are you relying on me to reliably know that? Whose assessment of my assessment of your best interest is operative here?"

[imeanforever]

"Yours, because I can't very well oblige you to read my mind - reading my mind is not in my best interest, if there was confusion on that - but you can incorporate things I tell you, like 'permissions are in general beneficial to my best interests'. I wasn't expecting this to seem very complicated, I confess."

[eversomuchfun]

"Weren't you? But you have clearly observed that the entire system is new to me."

[imeanforever]

"The system isn't especially complicated. New orders take precedence over old ones, independent of source. Imperatives and permissions can be enforced, or not. None of the details like that have to do with whether you can figure out that I would rather be allowed to do things than not."

[eversomuchfun]

"It could have been the case that the words are decoration and only the intent of the speaker matters, or that your own definition of your interests was to some degree silently encoded in the phrase, either of which would have addressed my objection. Instead, apparently the burden of interpretation falls to me. What guarantees do you have that my assessment of your interests is going to be anything like what you expect? I'm not necessarily thinking about myself in particular, here - my genius is decidedly not of the interpersonal variety, but I get by - but if you'd thrown that instruction set at someone who happened to have a conflicting cultural background, or a patronizing authoritarian streak, or who was just very very bad at guessing what other people want, it could've ended poorly for you."

[imeanforever]

"I probably would have left it at the simple version if you didn't seem to have at least a passable set of defaults based on the last several hours."

[eversomuchfun]

"Fair enough. But it still doesn't sit right with me aesthetically."

[imeanforever]

She shrugs. "How about, 'never give me a non-permission order except as requested by me of my own uncommanded will'?"

[eversomuchfun]

"Eh, I'll think about it."

[imeanforever]

"Well, you've gone and made me nervous, so consider my original phrasing replaced by the more recent."

[eversomuchfun]

Snort.

[imeanforever]

"There's just the one bed, isn't there. Will there be some sort of horrible danger if I just go sleep in a tree outside instead of on the floor?"

[eversomuchfun]

"Oh, many sorts of horrible danger. Individual risks are fairly low, but they loom in aggregate; this is the sort of town where any random passerby might think you a fine target for their particular hazard, whether that leads to you being eaten, kidnapped, dissected, set on fire, pelted with rocks, sacrificed to dark gods, something entirely different, or any combination of the above."

[imeanforever]

"If somebody tries to eat me they won't get very far, but I suppose if you don't object I'll sleep indoors."

[eversomuchfun]

"They won't?"

[imeanforever]

"Vassals can't harm their masters."

[eversomuchfun]

"If I were you, I wouldn't rely on that holding for any given variety of demon until you actually see it demonstrated," he says.

[imeanforever]

"I suppose that makes sense."

[eversomuchfun]

"Anyway, you can sleep in my crypt or you can take your chances outside, whichever you prefer. And if you prefer bed to floor, feel free."

[imeanforever]

"You don't prefer bed to floor? It's your crypt."

[eversomuchfun]

"It's my crypt, but you're my guest. If you continue being my guest I suppose I might have to get a better-furnished crypt."

[imeanforever]

Promise looks at the bed, then says, "Thank you," and flutters into it and flomps.

She has learned to fall asleep quick when she has the chance.

[eversomuchfun]

Sherlock does not disturb her sleep. Nor is she interrupted by hungry demons of any kind.

[imeanforever]

Then she will sleep for ten and a half hours.