thisavrou | (no subject)

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[Niko has had a little bit of a confusing week. He didn't expect to be asked along on a diplomatic mission; usually not anything he's good at (in his mind). But he came along, figuring he was there as bodyguard more than anything else.]

[But now he's returned, and he wants to check in.]

Hey, ah.... So I just got back. I had to go with Thán for a mission and now he has a new boyfriend for peace purposes I guess. I am not really sure what happened there. Sort of like an arranged marriage? [He's actually kind of suspicious of this whole-matchmaking thing now. He's always disliked match-making on some level, but there is something deeply unsettling about it here. Just how mandatory and committing it seems.]

[He doesn't hate the match he was given, not at all. But he knows there might be people they're even better suited to.]

Look, I am a little nervous about this big business here. Capitalism is shit, government is shit, and is bad enough when taking advantage of lonely people. But I think we are going to have to be sure to be good to the new guy because we saw what happened the last time we fucked up diplomacy.

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A lot of people have to make a living off communism too and they fuck that up pretty well. Both of them know pretty good how to take advantage of people.

[He's used to being on the bottom rung of those ladders. No fondness for power structures there.]

I would much prefer systems that let us choose each other. Or at least one with more choice. It's not good to give out so much personal information, I don't think. [Whether it's in the guise of curing loneliness or not.]

So the moral of the story is, people will fuck anything up. Or everyone has to make a living. Or both.

[Something for everyone to agree on!]

Oh, I don't know - they haven't exactly forced me into marriage with the giant robot they matched me with. [Cue Varric softly praying 'robot' is the right word.] An arranged marriage for diplomacy is one thing, but forced marriage in the name of money hasn't happened yet.

[He sighs.] Now that I've said that, I'll wake up tomorrow with a pair of comically mismatched wedding rings, a date and a dress code in my inbox.

Here, it is almost mandatory to participate. But consider this, now they know everything about you. And I do not remember any restrictions about where that information can go later.

Capitalism, government, I do not know where you're from. But you let them go unchecked? It becomes bad enough that I have no favorable words for it. There is a business that blows up planets for money, and on such a scale it is legal for them to do this.

What do you think they can do with that information? The tests, the survey - if anyone even told the truth. That's a genuine question - I can still count on my hands how many days it's been since I understood...much of anything, as it happens.

[In Thedas, he could have confidently said there was nothing anyone could do with his information that would bother him, because the people who really wanted to know and would really cause him trouble...already knew. Beyond that, there was unsolicited junk mail and maybe the occasional "have you accepted the light of Andraste into your life" home call.

Here, the only thing he can say with confidence is that there's shit all he can say with any confidence.]

I can't say I understand how big business works when you pull out to a scale of 'blowing up planets for money', either. I work on the city level. Occasionally country-level when I get really lucky. Or unlucky, depending on your point of view.

[Varric: a lot of empty talk, but a lot of being very happy to admit he doesn't have any idea what the sodding hell you are talking about, ser.]