text; un: beatrix [1]

[fiendennor]

Do you believe in magic?
If so, what do you know about it?

Comments

[fiendennor]

[Diana fights the urge to roll her eyes.]

If you think it hypnotism, I'm happy to repeat my actions from before.

[winecasks]

[ He's been told before that he's utterly impossible, so rolling of the eyes is to be expected. Grantaire doesn’t mind, or he’s grown oblivious to it. He smiles that same bleary-eyed smile from before, resting his chin on his hand. ]

Do you really think it can be repeated, after one is aware of it?

[ Grantaire, please. ]

[fiendennor]

I know that I can repeat it as many times as you would like.

Though honestly, more than once ought to be more than enough.

[winecasks]

[ Truth be told, it made him pretty uneasy the first time, but he’s still somewhat intrigued. ]

I don’t believe that hypnotism can be fully effective after the victim has been made aware of it.

[ That’s…clearly the story he’s sticking with. ]

But I welcome you to try again, my friend, should our paths cross once more.

[fiendennor]

The ability of the human mind to rationalize something it doesn't want to accept is quite remarkable, though somewhat frustrating. Regardless of what spells I demonstrate, you're going to assume it's merely a clouding of your perception, aren't you? You'd ignore the own evidence of your eyes.

[winecasks]

[ He contemplates this for a moment, or appears to, his gaze drifting somewhere above the screen of the communicator. This has been a lot for him to handle at once, and he’s doing his hardest to fight back against it by doing exactly what Diana suggests: rationalizing what he doesn’t want to accept.

Worst of all, he’s a stubborn man. He can do this all day. ]

My eyes are often weary, more so now that they have been denied eternal slumber, and weary eyes so often deceive their owners.

[ He could learn to tone down on the drama. ]

A second opinion, perhaps.

[fiendennor]

[Yeah dude.

You don't need to talk like you're giving a speech all the time.] They could just as easily be lying to you.

Frankly, if you cannot trust your own perception, then what can you trust?

[winecasks]

[ Listen, he talks a lot. He has two settings: talking and black out drunk. He has to fill the silence somehow. ]

I trust only one person who is currently awake enough not to lie to me on this matter.

[ Because he seems to hate that Grantaire wastes his life and all his potential on bottles of wine. ]

That is that I can trust.

[fiendennor]

You trust this person more than yourself?

[winecasks]

I do.

[ Wholeheartedly. It's his only true belief. ]

[fiendennor]

You don't have much faith in your own ability, do you. [Not spoken as a question.]

[winecasks]

[ Not really. He's a bit self-loathing. ]

I believe in few things, and I prefer to place what little faith I have in other things.

[fiendennor]

What, other than this mystery person, do you place your faith in?

[winecasks]

[ He’s silent for a long moment, genuinely considering his answer before he responds. His answer is honest, and far shorter than most things he normally has to say, but spoken without a single hint of doubt. ]

Nothing and no one.

[fiendennor]

So instead of "few things" and "little faith," you should have said "no things" and "no faith," then.

That's a sorry way to live.

[winecasks]

You judge me harshly.

[ But not incorrectly by any means. ]

I’m a brute, often incapable of eloquent language. [ Wow. ] But does my faith in one person not act as a reprieve from “no things”?

[fiendennor]

Is "one" scarcely so different than "none"?

[winecasks]

In most cases, it hardly makes the difference at all. But in this? Yes. It is as different as day and night.

[fiendennor]

I suppose the difference between "mostly cynical" and "completely cynical" is worth distinguishing, yes. What about this one individual makes them so unique?