[ No, actually. Dokja's first instinct is to judge people based off of first impressions and to unkindly pigeonhole them into certain categories as if he knows them. As if he's clever enough to read them right off the bat, when truthfully, he doesn't understand people at all.
It's what happens when all he does is read about characters and their stories do all the work for him, telling him of their motives and ambitions and personalities.
He doesn't know what actual people are like. ]
Why else would you accept the Kenoma? If you don't believe in what the Regent says, you at least believe in the destruction of our worlds, don't you?
[ Even as he says this, his grip on the stone tightens. Eustace doesn't believe in what the Regent says...? Is he trying to fool Dokja here? ]
[ A part of him wants to be forthright, to yank the moral high ground towel from right underneath Dokja's feet. But after so many years spent as the Society's lap dog, he knows better than to hand out motivations willy-nilly, especially to a near stranger on the opposite side of a war. It's not like he has any moral high ground to speak of anyway.
A handful of seconds, deliberate and heavy, pass before he speaks up. ]
[ If only he were good with words... If only he knew what to say at a time like this. What would the others respond with? What would the people more noble and willing to try and sway those who had gone to the side of the Kenoma do?
Frustration lances through their connection with Dokja's internal struggle at how to answer too obvious to hide. Ultimately, it's the truth that comes out, and it's so incredibly simple. ]
I don't have any reason to believe you.
[ They're strangers. They haven't had any time to be more than that. ]
[ Maybe it's odd, but he feels a strange sense of relief at the reply. It's a reaffirmation of the line drawn between them, a reminder of how they should be viewing each other: as enemies first and foremost.
Even if there might have been the slim possibility of them ending up on the same side as a pair of bickering friends, it's gone now, snatched away as soon as he'd chosen to accept the Kenoma into him. Or so he tells himself; easier to carry out any mission assigned to him if he eliminates any possible distraction. ]
[ Now why does Eustace have to go and say complicated things like that to make him doubt?? Better for everyone? How?
No. As much as he hates to admit it, this is some bullshit that Dokja would say. ]
Better for just you, you mean.
[ It's convenient, isn't it, Eustace? To have people turn their backs, to have it so they won't have any expectations, no disappointments. It isn't possible to let down someone who already knows to be let down. ]
[ If Dokja is hoping to get any sort of rise with that barb, he'll have to settle for disappointment. There's no change in feeling on the other end, cool indifference still rooted in the atmospheric spacetime between them. Mostly because Dokja isn't wrong; Eustace knows full well that he's a bastard most days, and he's lived long enough with the weight of foolish past decisions balanced on his shoulders. ]
That makes two of us then.
[ Agree to disagree or agree to agree, it doesn't matter. There's clearly nothing to be gained from continuing this conversation. If anything, he's learned the valuable lesson of being stricter with where his thoughts go while he's still conscious. ]
[ Haah, what a fucked up move this had been from Eustace. Here Dokja had been ready to settle into the night with only his depression for company, and now he has to deal with whatever the hell this is as well. Nevermind that it had momentarily distracted him from his loneliness, it's still annoying.
Still confusing.
His restlessness ripples through to the other side, something fatigued and wary. He hasn't slept properly in days, doesn't think he will for longer than that, and he can't wrap his mind around what it is he's learned about Eustace tonight.
Without any parting words, Dokja simply ends their communion, tucking his shard back into place while the book he'd started on falls to the side. It's going to be another long night with just him and his thoughts. ]
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NAUR
It's what happens when all he does is read about characters and their stories do all the work for him, telling him of their motives and ambitions and personalities.
He doesn't know what actual people are like. ]
Why else would you accept the Kenoma? If you don't believe in what the Regent says, you at least believe in the destruction of our worlds, don't you?
[ Even as he says this, his grip on the stone tightens. Eustace doesn't believe in what the Regent says...? Is he trying to fool Dokja here? ]
Tell me that I'm wrong.
no subject
A handful of seconds, deliberate and heavy, pass before he speaks up. ]
Would you believe me even if I did?
[ Not that it'll really matter, in the end. ]
no subject
Frustration lances through their connection with Dokja's internal struggle at how to answer too obvious to hide. Ultimately, it's the truth that comes out, and it's so incredibly simple. ]
I don't have any reason to believe you.
[ They're strangers. They haven't had any time to be more than that. ]
no subject
Even if there might have been the slim possibility of them ending up on the same side as a pair of bickering friends, it's gone now, snatched away as soon as he'd chosen to accept the Kenoma into him. Or so he tells himself; easier to carry out any mission assigned to him if he eliminates any possible distraction. ]
Keep it that way. It'll be better for everyone.
[ Will it though? (Yes.) ]
no subject
No. As much as he hates to admit it, this is some bullshit that Dokja would say. ]
Better for just you, you mean.
[ It's convenient, isn't it, Eustace? To have people turn their backs, to have it so they won't have any expectations, no disappointments. It isn't possible to let down someone who already knows to be let down. ]
You really are a stupid bastard.
no subject
That makes two of us then.
[ Agree to disagree or agree to agree, it doesn't matter. There's clearly nothing to be gained from continuing this conversation. If anything, he's learned the valuable lesson of being stricter with where his thoughts go while he's still conscious. ]
no subject
Still confusing.
His restlessness ripples through to the other side, something fatigued and wary. He hasn't slept properly in days, doesn't think he will for longer than that, and he can't wrap his mind around what it is he's learned about Eustace tonight.
Without any parting words, Dokja simply ends their communion, tucking his shard back into place while the book he'd started on falls to the side. It's going to be another long night with just him and his thoughts. ]