"Once upon a time, there was a yeti, and a boy. (Willump noises) But this time I get to be the yeti! Roar!" (Willump laughs.)~ Nunu and Willump, The Boy and his Yeti (WE WINDOWSSSS)
I hope conversations like this make characters seem alive. The story feels alive if characters have conversations were they are actively arguing about something or just joking. A conversation doesn't need to be a way of continuing the story. It is not a game where every conversation is just an information dump.
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The unwrapped spear sat in front of him vibrating at a high frequency.
Gregori listened to it calmly as the curious eyes of his children watched from behind.
"The chance of death is always present Caalyx. Fearing death whenever you do something will make your life meaningless." Gregori spoke cutting off the vibrating spear.
"You went to face an army alone!" Caalyx shot back. "Just because there is chance you could die doesn't mean you can test the odds." Caalyx stopped for a moment, "Tell me this Gregori.... are you a gambling man?"
The question hung in the air for a moment before Gregori answered. "No."
"Then why must you try to gamble your life away? Why are you trying to gamble with the future of your children? I have told you this before. Your life is not yours to do as you please with it..... it belongs to them."
Without hesitation, Gregori countered, "But I need to be prepared. I am still not at my peak."
"Your peak?" Caalyx asked, his voice taking a disgusted tone. "Your physical peak can be developed at any moment."
"My in-"
"Your instincts are never gone. They are second nature to you... always hidden in wait. In times of danger it will awaken on its own. Chasing it puts your life in danger. And let me tell you this Gregori. The you currently? He is strong. Stronger than the past you. You can become better yes but stronger? No." Caalyx paused as he took on a different tone. One Gregori used to teach his own children. "This is your ceiling. Your peak. The highest form of strength humanity can attain without Ascension. You are stronger than the Iceborn. When empowered by me you can face down Darkin. DARKIN. The only thing you need to do is refine what you have. That is it."
Gregori wouldn't back down, "But the battle was necessary. I couldn't afford to have them reach Rakelstake. My children are here."
"Great excuse dumb fuck."
"It is not an excuse."
"Fuck its not." Caalyx was not having it. "You could have planned better. Taken a group with you. At least three people. But no! Gregori wanted to face them all alone. Gregori wanted to prove that he could fight them all alone. Alone!"
"I was prepared and I did plan."
"Plan?" The spear scoffed. "You call laying traps a plan? Your missions in the Noxian army were stealth missions. It was a death squad for fucks sake. You went in and assassinated the general to give your army an advantage. The only time you needed to face your enemies was when you had to fight your way out of the situation you put yourself in."
"There was a plan. I observed my surroundings and planned an attack. They did not plan, react or adapt to me."
"That is the thing. THEY DID NOT. You know your entire plan hinges on them not realizing. That is a shit plan."
"There was nothing to worry about. I had it handled."
"Nothing to worry about? What state were you found in? Are you delusional? Do you think it becomes night time whenever you close your eyes? Are you fucking stupid? A plan involves contingencies. Something for when the plan falls through. Where was that? You could have brought me just to be safe. You would be in a bad situation but you would guarantee your life!" Caalyx was quite fed up with Gregori's behavior.
"Their reliance on honor led to me winning."
"Oh you are beyond stupid. Just ignore my entire previous statement would you?"
"It is not a conversation between adults when all you are doing in insulting me."
"The only adult here is me! You know what adults do? They think about the consequences of their actions. They think about how they can keep themselves and their family alive. You cannot consider yourself an adult when you willfully ignore the responsibilities thrust upon you." Caalyx was pleading at this point. "Why cannot you understand this?"
Gregori sat in silence.
"Fine. I'm done trying to get you to listen. You do whatever you see fit." With those words the spear stopped vibrating and went still.
After a few seconds of silence, Gregori reached for the cloth and began wrapping the spear. He understood Caalyx's words but he felt it necessary for him to do this. He had to face a battle alone. It was the mental conditioning that he needed. He had spent close to a decade without battle.
Caalyx was an Darkin and before that, he was an Ascended. His memories varied from Gregori's. Battle, for them was second nature. But Gregori was still human. The instinct that he wanted required constant battle. That moment in battle where he had thought of closing his wounds shut with magic? That was a result of the instinct reawakening. A split second decision that broke through all thought processes was the reason he lived.
There was no looking down on the fact that it was quite necessary.
His eyes landed on the spear. "I do not expect you to understand why I had to do what I had to but that will not stop me from continuing." The words were spoken as he finished wrapping the spear, not giving Caalyx a chance to speak back.
"Daddy?"
Gregori had already felt the eyes of his children bore into his back but Briar's call had him turn around to see them.
They all looked at him with various degrees of interest. Only Briar looked at him in concern.
"Was Caalyx right?" She asked.
Ah. He had forgotten. Briar could hear their conversation. The blood magic experiments on the girl had her gain that ability. And if she had heard the conversation.... then the look of concern made more sense.
"Briar. My daughter." He walked to her and knelt in front of her. "Caalyx is different from us. He has lived for longer than the entirety of Noxus itself. He sees things differently. He doesn't remember his days as a mortal. As one of us. The risk that I had to take? He doesn't remember taking the same risks. He doesn't remember making the same choices. He is right in his point of view. It is not his fault. But I had to do it. I had to fight. So it is not my fault either."
Briar looked confused at his words. The other kids were just as confused, having not heard the conversation.
"Sometimes, there are many different correct decisions. And people will make those different decisions. And eventually, they will argue over who made the correct decision. But in the end they all made correct decisions. It is just how the world works. So.... to answer your question..... Caalyx was right. But so was I. Itis just a difference of opinion."
After a few seconds, Briar nodded. He could see her try to process his words slowly and found that cute. She was usually quite disinterested in things like this but the seriousness of the conversation that had just happened had seemingly affected her. This was good. He was starting to fear for her mental development but she was trying. Trying to empathize. Concern was something he had never seen in her and seeing her concerned for him made him feel better.
Made him feel good. Good enough to completely over shadow his pervious conversation.
"What did you two talk about? Briar refused to tell us." Sydell asked. The others stood silently but they were interested in the conversation. They wanted to know but they were afraid to ask. Gregori liked that in Sydell. If he wanted to know something, he would ask it regardless of what would happen. It showed his courage. He was proud of the boy's growth. Gone was the standoffish, distrustful and almost hateful boy. All that remained was a child who got all the love and affection he deserved.
The two had talked one night. Gregori had clearly stated that Sydell did not need to call him father or daddy or anything of that sort. The boy still had fond memories of his own father and Gregori did not want to replace that. Sydell had nodded but eventually, even he started to call him dad.
"Just a conversation between two people how believe that their decision was right. Standard adult conversations. Do not worry about things like this." His words had lightened the expressions on the children but it did not fully convince them.
Children were quite preceptive that way.
"Now..... what do you want for dinner?"