kaz brekker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
steler) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
futurology2017-02-01 09:57 am
steler) wrote in futurology2017-02-01 09:57 am
video | un: kazbrekker
[ kaz has been here for awhile now, but hasn't managed to actually post to the network. until now. the video opens with kaz and nami, sitting next to each other. kaz looks the perfect picture of an adult businessman ready to offer a deal. ]
Good Afternoon, Audentes. Here in Woodhurst, there are opportunities available to us that weren't in Perdition's Rest. [he means it in a general way - business, taking advantage of resources - but jesper picks a pretty great time to walk past in HIDEOUS colors. so that too.] But those opportunities cost money, and the meager budget ALASTAIR gave us won't last for very long.
[ if kaz is the very image of a businessman, nami is his perfect opposite: the miniskirt she wears is certainly not appropriate for any legal job... she picks up the sales pitch with ease and enthusiasm, though.] You could always work long hours to support yourself and any supplies we might need for this mission to really succeed... or you could let us help you!
["""help"""]
As it just so happens, we're feeling generous about a recent acquisition, and are willing to lend out some extra money to help with your ventures. The money can be repaid in interest or via favors of equivalent value.
[ kaz nods towards nami, who they've agreed between them that she can take care of the interest aspect. he could do it himself, of course, but he'd rather let her feel like shes contributing something here. ]
[ she hmphs, clearly there's been some disagreement here... ] Yes, really generous! Too generous, in my opinion. Anyway, the longer you take to pay us back, the more you'll owe us, so keep that in mind! [ pausing, she points imperiously at their so-far imaginary audience. ] Ah, and if you die, then we get the right to confiscate anything we want from your belongings, to pay for your debt! It's just fair, don't you think?
[ even death won't save you from this particular debt collector... ]
Moreover [ and clearly, more importantly ] Ghezen frowns on deals made in bad faith. We'll hold up our end of the bargain if you hold up yours. Feel free to contact us here or either of us privately if you wish to discuss.
Good Afternoon, Audentes. Here in Woodhurst, there are opportunities available to us that weren't in Perdition's Rest. [he means it in a general way - business, taking advantage of resources - but jesper picks a pretty great time to walk past in HIDEOUS colors. so that too.] But those opportunities cost money, and the meager budget ALASTAIR gave us won't last for very long.
[ if kaz is the very image of a businessman, nami is his perfect opposite: the miniskirt she wears is certainly not appropriate for any legal job... she picks up the sales pitch with ease and enthusiasm, though.] You could always work long hours to support yourself and any supplies we might need for this mission to really succeed... or you could let us help you!
["""help"""]
As it just so happens, we're feeling generous about a recent acquisition, and are willing to lend out some extra money to help with your ventures. The money can be repaid in interest or via favors of equivalent value.
[ kaz nods towards nami, who they've agreed between them that she can take care of the interest aspect. he could do it himself, of course, but he'd rather let her feel like shes contributing something here. ]
[ she hmphs, clearly there's been some disagreement here... ] Yes, really generous! Too generous, in my opinion. Anyway, the longer you take to pay us back, the more you'll owe us, so keep that in mind! [ pausing, she points imperiously at their so-far imaginary audience. ] Ah, and if you die, then we get the right to confiscate anything we want from your belongings, to pay for your debt! It's just fair, don't you think?
[ even death won't save you from this particular debt collector... ]
Moreover [ and clearly, more importantly ] Ghezen frowns on deals made in bad faith. We'll hold up our end of the bargain if you hold up yours. Feel free to contact us here or either of us privately if you wish to discuss.
no subject
Tell me, what have you done to help so far? Have you found a cure? Have you found any information that would help us? Have you done anything but run around aimlessly while trying to do something useful? I've collected us money, offered to share it with those who would then use it to help find a cure, a method to keep the infected from harming others or themselves, the things I know I can't do. I've done what I know I can, to further the chances of this mission succeeding... of the people to be saved.
When you've done the same, then feel free to criticize me all you want — but when all you have is to tell me I want people to suffer? The one thing I'm working to avoid at all costs? I know there's someone here who doesn't understand the meaning of team, and that isn't me.
no subject
[Keith isn't going to list of what he's been doing. Creating a network of information via delivery service is basically it, and he's trying. He's doing his part. And he has his teammates—his friends—to back him up.]
You know what you could've done? Is tell people you have money to help them. To make it so that they can investigate instead of working. You could be charitable. But that isn't what you're doing. I just see an arrangement where you're doing stuff to get something in return, while claiming it's for the good of the team. No matter how much you say the right thing after the fact, you've done nothing to change how you're handling this. At least not from what I've seen.
[Plus ... plus ... from where he's standing, she's manipulated his teammate from back home. It's an extra bad move.]
no subject
[ she fixes him with a look when he speaks of being charitable — to her, it sounds painfully naive. ]
Charity? I've found there's no such thing when it comes to money. [ her voice is ice cold. ] Do you know I worked ten years as a thief, stealing from pirates? I was eight years old when I started. The pirates who killed my mother and took control of my village told me I would only have to give them a hundred million beli to free everyone in the village. I never kept any of the money for myself — everything I had, everything I collected, it was always for the village. And after I was almost done, after my village was nearly free... the marines, the people who are supposed to protect the people, the innocent, they searched my house and took all the money for themselves.
They didn't care what the pirates were doing. They didn't care that the villagers were practically slaves. They didn't care about anything but the money.
If I told everyone now that I've got money to help them, that I'm willing to give away what I have for nothing, how many would be satisfied with it? How many would use it to help others instead of their own gain? How can I tell no one would come to me and tell me to get them more? There are many of us here. Many I've never spoken to. I don't know whether I can trust them all. And I will never, never give away what I've earned just like that again.
[ sorry keith you probably didn't ask for this tragic background story but it's what you got... so really, her reasoning comes less from outright greed and more from a deep-set trauma that revolves around giving money to others. ]
no subject
[There's a quaver in his voice. He's long past the point where he's shouted down Pidge for wanting to leave the team, for trying to force someone to play along, but he's still ... so frustrated.]
What you're saying is that you decided the team would act one way, and you never gave them a chance to do anything else. From the looks of it, it sounds like a whole lot of people don't trust you.
That's on you to deal with. Not me. Not anyone else. We need to work together and set aside who we are to save the timeline. To save the people here.
no subject
[ she sighs, forces herself to calm down, try to get him to see. ] I'm not telling you that to make you sympathetic! If you think I'm a demon or a selfish witch, fine! Go right ahead. My friends from home have had lives far more difficult than I did, anyway, I know that I had it easy compared to a lot of people.
But it's not an issue of people not trusting me, it's about me not trusting everyone! I could have collected all this money and told no one about it, couldn't I? That would have been selfish, not helping anyone but myself. This is me, giving everyone here a chance.
What you're doing is expect everyone to put aside whatever they've learned at home, whatever they consider important just because we've all suddenly been kidnapped here and forced into a team with others we don't even know well! You're asking me to trust virtual strangers... well, I refuse to do that! But that doesn't mean I won't work towards saving the people here, or the timeline. I'll do everything I can to make sure no one dies... and if it comes to giving away money for nothing? Yes, even that. But right now, no one's life is on the line yet. If you think I'm a horrible person for wanting to be sure everyone on this team is trustworthy, then I guess I am!
no subject
Keith knows he's still angry with her. There's no way around it. But between the abrupt way he ended his conversation with Lance, her unneeded backstory (his perspective), and their shared trust issues, he doesn't want to keep talking about this.]
I have trust issues. But unlike you, I understand that there's something bigger than me to worry about. [Condescending and presumptuous. Keith isn't really even aware of that.]
If you can't be charitable because you don't trust people, then don't team up with someone and act like you're doing everyone a service. That you're trying to make it better. You're just trying to make us prove ourselves to you.
no subject
[ exhibit a: this entire conversation so far. ]
You know why I'm teaming up with Kaz? Because I trust him. [ sure, Kaz is not a good person, Kaz is greedy, Kaz doesn't care about the civilians... but Kaz will also have her back and she knows if she ends up in a fight, she can count on him. that's more than she can say for most. ]
Besides... all you're doing here is tell me I shouldn't do something because it's not the way you think things should be done. Well, news flash: as long as you hold everyone to the same standard you hold yourself to, you'll never truly understand others. People are different, and we need to learn to work together through the differences. The only thing you're showing to me right now is inability to accept this fact, and the inability to work with others who are different from you. Tell me, how does that make you a good member of the team? There's eighty of us here, eighty different people. Not eighty of you.
no subject
Believing in him is one thing. That belief being true is another.]
What right do you have to tell me that I think I want a whole team of people like me when I'm telling you to get over your stuff and give the team a chance? Being a part of a team is hard. But from where I'm standing, you're not even trying. Telling you to cut out messing with us doesn't help anything. It just gets more stuff about how we should understand why you're doing this.
Well, maybe I don't want to understand you.
[Harsh and definitely, definitely too far. Keith is close to cutting the conversation, but doesn't do it. Not yet.
Even now, he doesn't always know when to quit.]
no subject
[ and maybe if she was someone else, someone who hadn't had to close off everyone's harsh comments, who hadn't had to live with the thought that her entire village hated her for turning against them, who hadn't had to hold on to the image of a heartless witch ever since she was but a child, she'd care more about his blunt, angry dismissal.
(well, no, that's a lie — it does sting a little. is there truth to what he's saying? should she just trust everyone, without question, because they're a team? it's what Lance had seemed to think, anyway, and Lance's words hold more meaning to her than Keith's do. but the fact they're the same...) ]
Fine, then don't! I'm being a part of this team the way I know how — if that's not good enough for you, then too bad! At least I am a part of this team. That's more than can be said for some others.
no subject
Some part of him has to remain certain that he's right here, at least in some way, so that he can try to keep her wounds from festering. He struggled to talk to everyone about the disc. He struggled to work with anyone in the aftermath, in part because he hadn't trusted a whole lot of people after just some of their reactions. Keith knows he's hypocritical to even say any of this to her, and yet ...
He still has to, again, be right. That's what his gut tells him. That will be his armor here.]
At least one good thing can be said for this. I know your true colors now.
[It's a harsh dismissal, one that's followed by him ending the conversation. He doesn't know when to quit ... but to him, this is just setting himself up for holding to that belief for as long as he wants. That's the very definition of not quitting.
(Even if he knows, deep down, that he should.)]
no subject
[ it's alright, as she's someone who can't keep herself from responding one final time before he cuts the feed — it's true, though, she does feel sorry for him. sorry that he has limited his own view of the world to encompass only what he sees to be right or true... when the world isn't right, or true, most of the time.
the world is cruel, and you have to do all you can not to fall victim to it. it's the one truth she's learned...
... but maybe, maybe like his truths aren't absolutes, hers aren't either. or shouldn't be. ]