Fandom Island Museum, Thursday Daytime

[hasaknightjob]

Among the many wonderful aspects of working in a museum was that it was cool inside even when the weather made one regret every life choice which led to ever being out of doors.

And Steven had been in deserts.

(All right technically just the one desert but still.)

Steven wasn't particularly looking forward to the walk home but for now he was behind the welcome desk and being grateful for whoever in this dimension had invented air conditioning.

[open!]

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[unusual_sith]

"Afternoon, Steven," Lana called as she came in. She waved. "How are you today?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Lana, hello!" Steven said. "Glad to be inside, I don't mind telling you. Yourself?"

[unusual_sith]

"Can't say I'm terribly fond of the heat, either," she answered. "I'm well, though. Thought I'd drop in and compare how our studies were going."

[hasaknightjob]

"It's cool in here so stay long as you'd like," Steven said. "Speaking of, how's your class going?"

[unusual_sith]

"I'm enjoying it, and I think the students are, too," Lana said. Possibly with the exception of Master Skywalker, but he didn't count.

"We're working on the Sith code, one line at a time. Have you read it yet?"

[hasaknightjob]

"That's the one about passion and peace, right?" Steven asked.

[unusual_sith]

"That's the one," Lana agreed. "First week was 'peace is a lie, there is only passion'. Last week was 'through passion I gain strength'. Tomorrow will be 'through strength I gain power'. We're having lovely debates about it all that would horrify most of my instructors at the Sith academy."

[hasaknightjob]

"I can imagine," Steven said. "I mean that first one right there about peace being a lie isn't true, is it? Maybe it doesn't last forever, but neither does passion."

[unusual_sith]

Lana grinned. "Most of the students are coming down on the side of balance. But peace really isn't a value to most Sith, no. On Earth it seems to depend on the individual person, from what I've seen?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Depends on how you mean peace, really," Steven said. "If it's something like inner peace there's religions that like it. Buddhist and such. But individuals as well, yeah. Unless peace means something different?"

[unusual_sith]

Lana thought about it. "That line of code is in reaction to the Jedi code's 'there is no emotion, there is peace'. So it definitely means inner peace. But there's probably a bit of the outer peace as well, given how commonplace battle is. I think I remember hearing about some Earth religions that were similar to the Jedi, or at least that a Jedi instructor of mine said sounded familiar, but nothing similar to the Sith."

Unless you counted militant capitalism.

[hasaknightjob]

"It's funny how those are the options, isn't it?" Steven said. "Peace or passion. Not, I don't know. Sense of humor? Nostalgia? Boredom? Plenty of emotions to choose from."

[unusual_sith]

"A sense of humour is sorely lacking in a lot of people on both sides," Lana answered dryly. Not that there was much call for humour in war. "What code would your religion be, then? If you were starting one."

[hasaknightjob]

"I mean I wouldn't, really," Steven said. "Hardly think I'm qualified. What's the saying? Wouldn't want to be in a religion that had me for a leader?"

[unusual_sith]

"I've never heard that one," Lana said. "Anyway, what makes you think you're any less qualified than anyone else? What sorts of qualifications do you need to start a religion?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Still not sure 'can't be worse than anyone else who did it' is enough of a qualification," Steven said. "Frankly I think trying to start a religion at all is a bit daft. I mean I've met gods and don't feel the need to pass out pamphlets about them at the airport."

Also Steven was satisfied with his current religion but that was a different matter.

[unusual_sith]

"Fair enough," Lana said, "though don't underestimate the 'not being worse than others' part. How many gods have you met?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Two properly," Steven said. "One sort of in passing? Well, not passing but not full introduction either, really."

Then there was also having been there when Marc dealt with the Ennead through their avatars but Steven left that off as not counting as him having met them for a number of reasons.

[unusual_sith]

"You talked about Konshu before," Lana said. "I don't remember if you've mentioned the other. What were they like?"

[hasaknightjob]

"There's Taweret," Steven said. "Goddess of mothers and children. She's lovely. Marc and I met her in the afterworld. Our friend Layla is her avatar now. Then Ammit who wasn't nice at all. We ended up having to imprison her because she wanted to kill so many people."

[unusual_sith]

"How do you imprison a god?" Lana asked.

[hasaknightjob]

"There's a ritual that traps them in their avatar," Steven explained. "Then once they're in there you can treat them same as any other human. In this case keep them somewhere safe they can't hurt anybody."

[unusual_sith]

"They don't keep their power once they're trapped?" Lana asked.

[hasaknightjob]

"Can't use it, apparently," Steven said. He shrugged. "Have to admit I don't know how it all works. But it did so she's not a problem anymore. Or her avatar, who was running a cult in her name. Sort of a two for one, there."

[unusual_sith]

"I realise you're hesitant to use violence, but wouldn't killing her have been better?" Lana asked. "In my experience, powerful beings rarely put up with having their power taken away."

[hasaknightjob]

"Maybe," Steven said. "But people can change, right? Just because someone's done bad things or things that could seem bad for a certain point of view doesn't mean that's all they'll ever do."

Not that Steven was thinking of anyone in particular here or anything.

[unusual_sith]

"People can certainly change," Lana agreed. "But there's a point at which you have to weigh giving them another chance versus what happens if you're wrong and they don't change." She shrugged. "Maybe I don't know enough about your world or situation to make that judgement. You were the one there."

[hasaknightjob]

"Well it's not letting them run about and do as they like," Steven said. "In Ammit's case she is locked away. Has to show she wants to change if she's to get another go of it. But at least she can do that. The option's there, I mean."

[unusual_sith]

"Just so long as her jailers are being careful," Lana said. "But things seem to be going well for you at home, so I'm guessing it was a good decision." At least so far. Call Lana paranoid Sith.

[hasaknightjob]

"No problem at all," Steven assured her. "Everyone is safe as houses."

Which in reality was only true in that Konshu had made sure everyone remotely involved was now dead, so yes everyone now was safe since there was no one left to kill. But Steven didn't know that part.

"Death is so very final, is the problem I think," Steven said. "Reminds me a bit of that conversation you and I had when we met? I believe it was? The idea that even the most selfish should be able to see that the living are a resource?"

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded. "But death is also an occasional necessity," she said. "Whether that's the product of being Sith or simply of growing up in wartime...probably a bit of both, honestly. If I defeated an enemy and they were at my mercy, I might let the foot soldiers go, or keep them to work for me, depending. I'd be more likely to kill the leader outright."

She smiled wryly. "Then again, the former Emperor my Alliance was formed against is now a member of it, so you never know, I suppose."

She had argued for killing him, but then she'd trusted Senya and the Commander, and so far Arcann seemed truly reformed.

[hasaknightjob]

"Ah, but doesn't it being sometimes needed - if we say for the sake of it that yeah, it's sometimes needed - mean we should fight harder for those times when it isn't?" Steven asked. He wasn't asking from the point of trying to start an argument by any means. Instead he asked in a manner similar to their first conversation, where the two of them had an enjoyable debate about the philosophy behind it all.

[unusual_sith]

If there was one thing Lana loved, it was a philosophical debate.

"Try to change each opportunity into one that doesn't require it, you mean?" she asked.

[hasaknightjob]

"If we can, yeah," Steven said. "And wouldn't doing that sort of shore up the idea that sometimes killing is the only option? If it's only done when it is the only option?"

[unusual_sith]

Lana tapped her fingers, thinking about it. "Kill too many people, and it becomes a sort of business as usual. If you're going to be killed for any little thing, you might as well do whatever you please. Keep it as a last resort, and it's more of an actual threat."

That was what you were going for, right, Steven?

[hasaknightjob]

Not exactly where Steven had been going but it was close enough he could follow the conversation. "Might make people bolder as well. Better hung for a sheep than a lamb and all that, yeah? Meanwhile if mercy and second chances are on the table it gives people something to strive for. Something better."

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded decisively. That much, she understood. "There are ways to get and keep loyalty, and killing anybody that spills a drink on you isn't it. Terror only keeps people in line when they know they'll be caught, and is as liable to make them want to spite you as anything."

[hasaknightjob]

A shadowed look crossed Steven's face, though he quickly tried to dismiss it. "Punishment should never be the way. Not as - as a constant. If they do something wrong, yeah, maybe. But not forever."

[unusual_sith]

Well, that was curious.

"My instructors at the Sith academy would argue that avoiding punishment makes you stronger, and hatred of the ones who dole it out is empowering." She held up a hand to stall any disagreement. "And there's a reason for both the academy's high fatality rate and my own hatred of the overseers."

[hasaknightjob]

"Yeah, those instructors are full of bollocks," Steven said, with something that was probably as close to an undercurrent of anger as Lana had ever seen in him. "The academy was children, yeah? Not that it works for adults either. But children makes it worse."

[unusual_sith]

Lana shrugged. "Children, adults - every age. It all depends on when you're discovered to be Force-sensitive. I was sent there when I was a child; the Commander was university age. And you have to understand - from their point of view it does work. They get strong Sith out of it; the ones who fail were never worthy. That's the culture the Emperor built. There were only a few who were starting to see it wasn't sustainable long-term. Though perhaps with him gone, they'll break free more quickly."

[hasaknightjob]

"The ones who failed died, right?" Steven asked. He was pretty sure he remembered Lana mentioning that at some point.

[unusual_sith]

"Yes," Lana answered. "There is no passing or failing. You survive, or you don't."