Iomedae and Alfirin get relationship counseling
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In that case she'll look at Alfirin. "It is good to know that. I think it was true in several different ways that we shouldn't be dating, so most of my regrets were around not identifying that sooner or conveying it better, not around deciding not to date, and it makes sense you reached the same conclusion."

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"Mhm. I - regret that it hurt you." Alfirin glances back to Ramona. "Is that a sufficient amount of detail? I'm worried that if I recount those conversations in any more detail I'll be making things up as much as remembering them. It was some time ago."

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"Yes, that's enough detail about the conversations themselves, probably."

"I guess I'm just surprised that the topic was only out in the open for one day before the two of you stopped exploring it. It has been known to take more than a day to solve a thorny problem."

Especially if the conversations are emotional ones.

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"I - was under the impression, maybe the incorrect one, that Alfirin did not want to talk about it with me, and that if I pressed her further on it I would be encouraging her to make what she regarded as a mistake."

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"I - imagined for some reason that I was being subtle, that Iomedae did not confidently know that I would seek immortality or what I would be willing to pay for it, and - continuing under false pretenses seemed intolerable, and speaking openly of it seemed - intolerably dangerous -"

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"I - you could have told me confidentially."

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"I know that now."

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"So wait... let me just check. Does this mean that even on the day the topic came out, you still didn't really explore it carefully?"

"Have the two of you ever actually tried to solve this problem?"

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"Which problem, exactly? The problem where I am willing and likely to commit significant selfish evils and Iomedae - intends to become the goddess of defeating evil - No. That one seems rather unsolvable. The problem of immortality without great evil I have worked on, though not with Iomedae."

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"I also looked into that one, in case it took me a long time to secure permission of the other gods to ascend.

 

...it does seem like perhaps at some point we should have spent a day on the first one."

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"Yes, we probably should have."

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"Should we do that... now?"

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"...probably."

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"I don't think we have a day here but apart from that it seems like a good idea."

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Ramona's mind is racing with the direction she wants to go from here. She can see a viable path for the two of them to be together. That path is absolutely littered with obstacles, and there might be other paths, separate paths, that would be better for these clients to walk. She will do her best not to pressure her clients into anything in particular. Even so, she is now sorely tempted to show them that the together-path does, at least, exist.

One step at a time, though. She can't just lay the whole thing out in one go, it's too complicated, she needs to build up to it. And any one of those obstacles might be so large that the couple should not walk the together-path, and if that's going to be the result, she'd rather not dangle false hope in front of them.

 

Where to begin?

Sigh. At the beginning, of course.

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"All right. Let's look at that question together. What if it is true that Alfirin is willing and likely to commit significant selfish evils and also true that Iomedae intends to become the goddess of defeating evil. Let's figure out all relevant implications of those two things both being true."

"What actually goes wrong? At what moment does it all fall apart? Not just theoretically, when you think about the future, but in the real world."

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"Hmmm. I guess it falls apart when ...Alfirin becomes an evil lich? I'm...not sure if that's the kind of answer you're looking for."

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"At the very latest it falls apart when Iomedae ascends, though that's true almost regardless of what kind of god she ascends into and whether or not I am evil... But before that, it seems like it would be a problem insofar as I would be inclined to conceal things from Iomedae in the present in order to keep them from the god Iomedae."

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"That doesn't seem like a big problem, I could just plan to not act on them to protect your privacy - I imagined you might want that anyway, really -"

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"I had not expected you to be willing to make commitments that would bind you as a god. You've been reluctant to make those promises for other people before."

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"I think there are some good arguments against doing that in general, where it's avoidable. And I don't - want to, I suppose? I find the idea upsetting, But I would absolutely be willing to figure out how to do it acceptably for you."

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"I -" wouldn't ask for that, but that's a bit beside the point now, isn't it. "- suppose that would do it, then."

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"I do think I would have some difficulty around - either withholding myself from helping you where I could do so, or being helpful to you with accumulating resources to do something I would stop you from if I could."

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"That... seems like a reasonable problem to expect to have. I...

...can I have your promise of confidentiality, now?"

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By long habit she pauses a moment before answering that, even though the answer seems obvious. "Yes."

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