Snippet: On Violence

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“Ren? Have you noticed how chill everyone in this world is with violence?” Lynn asked. I considered this as Lynn took a sip of her coffee. We sat in a cafe, called The Lady of Refreshment, just off the town square of Octavo City. Lynn and I had taken to meeting to discuss things we had noticed. We talked about the world of Ossedei and how it differed from Earth, where we had grown up.

“I don’t know,” I answered, “I heard a lot of screaming and panicking when I killed my father.”

Lynn nodded, “But when the deed was done, everyone accepted Leon’s judgment in our favor and moved on. You and your little team had killed the Baron and his brother, and the rest of the nobles accepted it. Nobody seemed traumatized. Nobody seemed to suffer from post traumatic stress. I haven’t had to deal with emotional damage from any nobles since I took power as Baroness.”

I took a sip of my tea, “I hadn’t noticed that at the time. But I don’t think you’re wrong. What are you thinking?”

“Well,” Lynn said, “My first thought is that this is another quirk of the game developers.”

“I mean, it doesn’t have to be that. People might be more acclimatized to violence. Monsters are a regular part of their normal lives. They deal with werewolves, and vampires, and giants, and more. People in Ossedei wake up every day in a world that is more dangerous than Earth. They’d probably go crazy if they didn’t acclimatize.”

“Either way,” Lynn said, “We have to account for that. Fiona and Vincent both killed people in the middle of the streets, and nobody panicked. They acted like jaded New Yorkers.”

“They did,” I nodded. “Those werewolves attacked us in front of Myrddhin House. They shattered the axle of our carriage. And nobody did more than get to a safe distance and start watching the fight.”

“And you can imagine how this could affect my job as Baroness.”

“I can,” I nodded and took another sip of tea. “I’m wondering why you wanted to discuss it with me?”

“We discuss things that are different from Earth. This is one of those things.”

“Yes, but usually we discuss things that impact both of us.”

“You are a spy for Leon in his capacity as Duke.” Lynn fussed with her engagement ring as she spoke. “You don’t think understanding this is important? You try to ferret out secrets and plots against the Duchy.”

I scrunched my face up, and then nodded. “You make a good point. I’ll keep it in mind. Was there anything else?”

Lynn frowned, and then looked away. “You don’t think-” Her voice trailed off.

“I don’t think what?”

“You don’t think this applies to our spouses do you?” Lynn looked at the floor, “You don’t think they’re jaded or cold by nature do you?”

I shook my head. “Fiona is jaded. But otherwise no. And Fiona is a trained and experienced Monster Hunter. If you want my best guess, I don’t think any single person is more jaded than people on Earth. I think this is crowd behavior, not individual behavior. it’s a survival mechanism. This is a dangerous world. I think this is how people cope on a communal level.”

“Does it bother you that Fiona is jaded?”

“Not really. She’s jaded regarding violence in general. But she’s not jaded about violence directed at myself or at Amy. The same applies to her attitude relating to any member of House Myrddhin. And I’ve not noticed any blunting of emotions off the battlefield. Are you worried that there’s a side to Leon you haven’t seen yet?”

“I think I have seen it. He can get scary when he’s commanding troops. He doesn’t seem mean or cruel, but he seems hard and calculating and, I don’t know, fearsome.”

“But is he ever that way to you? Remember when we rescued you from Wulfric’s safe house. He was in commander mode then. He had a whole company of marines with him and he was large and in charge. But I don’t remember him being anything but tender with you.”

Lynn blushed.

She nodded, “You are right about that.” 

“You’re still worried though,” I said.

Lynn frowned, but said nothing. We sat and sipped and said nothing for a long while.


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