<html><head><title>The Gadfly of Gensokyo</title><meta charset="UTF-8"><!--
Entweedle - Twine 2 Twee Export Story Format
Copyright (c) 2021 Michael McCollum
https://www.maximumverbosity.net/twine/Entweedle/
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DIOTIMA: *Our job is generally to make arguments that at times, provoke and at others, convince. For most, truth-seeking is secondary.*
DIOTIMA: *If all it takes is some empty rhetoric, and a few parlor tricks to convince people then why try? People confuse right from left, how can they tell right from wrong?*
DIOTIMA: *There are still a few of us who are insane enough to take on the burden of truth though.*
DIOTIMA: *Most of us have a kind of obsession to center their ideas around. Thales has water, Pythagoras has numbers, and then I have love.*
[continued]</tw-passagedata><tw-passagedata pid="4" name="TITLE" tags="" position="200,300" size="100,100">config.header.center: "This is a fan-made video game not affiliated with the original creators."
config.footer.center: "Touhou Project original concept, elements, etc. are property of ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice."
SOCRATES: Because ideas are arbitrary. If we disagree on how tall the Parthenon is, there is a fact in reality that we are pointing to.
SOCRATES: Ideas like justice and love cannot be measured the same way we measure with rulers. We can argue as much as we want but there is no physical thing we can use to resolve our argument.
inventory: ["Our senses can be doubted.", "Your argument is a sham and you are an idiot."]
--
DIOTIMA: Interesting point, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Thank you. Does that mean you agree?
DIOTIMA: No. It's interesting because of how wrong it is.
SOCRATES: Ah.
DIOTIMA: All material things cannot be doubted that might have been true if we were perfect beings. However, senses can betray us.
DIOTIMA: You recall the construction of the Parthenon, correct? Its pillars were refined to bend slightly to correct for what we call an optical illusion.
DIOTIMA: Two parallel lines, no matter the true straightness, seem to curve outwards when intersected by converging lines.
DIOTIMA: A bit of geometric trivia from your back alley Pythagoras.
DIOTIMA: That means we can, in fact, doubt material things given they rely on our imperfect senses.
SOCRATES: I see!
SOCRATES: I'm learning so much from your argument!
DIOTIMA: Is that right? Does that mean you're ready to accept you were in the wrong?
SOCRATES: Hold on, we're not quite there yet. [[My argument still holds.|SOCRATES 4]]
[align center]
~~LOST "People are naive and can be tricked."~~
Depictions are anachronistic, Socrates is largely based on his appearance in The Clouds, a satire, and Diotima did not in fact travel to Gensokyo. This is my warning to any nerds (pulls out locker to stuff you into).
DIOTIMA: Then if I believe that your argument is sham and I have wasted my time as a teacher then am I right?
SOCRATES: Ah.
DIOTIMA: I think it should be self-evident by now that this statement, as succinct and convincing as it sounds at first, is entirely self-defeating.
DIOTIMA: If all it takes is belief then my belief that man is not the measure of all things is a paradox. If my belief is true then the statement is false, if my belief is false then so is the statement.
A pause. In the distance is the buzz of the city's streets.
DIOTIMA: Did I go too hard on the kid?
SOCRATES: Brilliant! I'm so glad to be learning from you, priestess! That argument bothered me for days but I couldn't place why.
DIOTIMA: *Ah, that's the last thing about myself. I might call myself a philosopher but you don't exactly see a lot of women as philosophers.*
DIOTIMA: *I got it when I first arrived in Athens and a plague was spreading.*
DIOTIMA: *I advised the authorities to begin sacrifices to the appropriate Gods and the plague ended just as quickly as it began.*
DIOTIMA: *That got me in with a good standing with the citizens, but until another plague hits I'm stuck between jobs.*
DIOTIMA: *I'm probably still gonna stick with this though as it's been far more rewarding. I'll let those snobs deal with their disasters on their own. What happens to them happens.*
SOCRATES: Diomata? Are you alright?
DIOTIMA: Ah? Yes, yes I am. I was just thinking.
SOCRATES: So was I! I was just wondering that if we assume right and wrong are truths out there somehow, how we could arrive at them?
DIOTIMA: That is a good question. You see…
Diomata stumbles, seemingly slipping on nothing. Socrates moves to help her but she finds her footing.
SOCRATES: Are you alright?
DIOTIMA: Yes, yes. I've just been lightheaded recently.
DIOTIMA: [[As I was sayin—|INTERLUDE 1]]
[align center]
~~LOST "Your argument is a sham and you are an idiot."~~
[continued]</tw-passagedata><tw-passagedata pid="22" name="INTERLUDE 1" tags="" position="950,350" size="100,100">DIOTIMA: And then I found myself in what I have no reference to compare to. It was as if I was being pulled by a great thousands of storms, rushing, pulling, screaming in my ear.
DIOTIMA: Then, strange as it sounds, I felt one of the storms... staring at me. I was then hurtling into that particular storm then a quiet darkness surrounded me.
DIOTIMA: I opened my eyes, then I was [[here.|INTERLUDE 2]]
[continued]</tw-passagedata><tw-passagedata pid="23" name="SOCRATES LOSS" tags="" position="575,175" size="100,100">DIOTIMA: *Now wait a moment. I didn't say anything of that sort!*
</tw-passagedata><tw-passagedata pid="24" name="INTERLUDE 2" tags="" position="1000,500" size="100,100">REIMU: And also you're a ghost now.
REIMU: Didn't really need to know all that but if you've got that out of your system I'm gonna get back to drinking myself to an early death.
DIOTIMA: Ah, of course.
REIMU: I can show you tomorrow where the Yama go to judge people headed for the afterlife and you can ask them any questions you have. But this night festival isn't over until I'm out cold!
REIMU: Get something for yourself if you wanna hang around.
Diotima, now translucent and with an ectoplasmic tail where he legs used to be, floats over to an juicy, unclaimed skewer of grilled lamprey. Her hand passes straight through it. She's heartbroken.
Most of the partygoers appear to have either left or are fast asleep. The exception being the short, horned girl apparently called Suika, the festival's organizer, Reimu, and a white-haired girl sitting up against a tree that Diotima feels an odd kinship with.
DIOTIMA: *I am willing to bet ghosts have cool powers and use them to do amazing things. So I'm gonna use them to revive my old passion and figure out just what is love!*
As Diotima pumps her fists, a bolt of lightning comes flying out of her and into the sky. After a moment, it comes back down and strikes a boulder, slicing it cleanly in half.
DIOTIMA: *...and then when I'm done I am definitely gonna try and figure out the other side of these powers.*
action (answer1 == "Love on its own"): true
action (answer1 == "The act of loving"): true
--
[JavaScript]
// This is way more scuffed than it has to be but in my defense it's because I wanted to write a custom explanation for literally every combination but turn out that takes time.
if (!positive && !confident && !action){
// 000
write("DIOTIMA: Now I'm not entirely sure.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: But I think love is an idea. Actions of love are just manifestations of the true form of love.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: That form of love must be " + answer3 + ".</p>");
}
else if (!positive && !confident && action){
// 001
write("DIOTIMA: Now I'm not entirely sure.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: But I think love is an act. There cannot be love without people showing it, living in it.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: That means that love cannot be " + answer3 + ".</p>");
}
else if (!positive && confident && !action){
// 010
write("DIOTIMA: I'm sure of this. I can feel it to be right.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: Love is an idea. Actions of love are just manifestations of the true form of love.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: That form of love cannot be " + answer3 + ".</p>");
}
else if (!positive && confident && action){
// 011
write("DIOTIMA: I'm sure of this. I can feel it to be right.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: Love is an act. There cannot be love without people showing it, living in it.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: That means that love cannot be " + answer3 + ".</p>");
}
else if (positive && !confident && !action){
// 100
write("DIOTIMA: Now I'm not entirely sure.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: But I think love is an idea. Actions of love are just manifestations of the true form of love.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: That form of love must be " + answer3 + ".</p>");
}
else if (positive && !confident && action){
// 101
write("DIOTIMA: Now I'm not entirely sure.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: But I think love is an act. There cannot be love without people showing it, living in it.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: That means that love must be " + answer3 + ".</p>");
}
else if (positive && confident && !action){
// 110
write("DIOTIMA: I'm sure of this. I can feel it to be right.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: Love is an idea. Actions of love are just manifestations of the true form of love.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: That form of love must be " + answer3 + ".</p>");
}
else if (positive && confident && action){
// 111
write("DIOTIMA: I'm sure of this. I can feel it to be right.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: Love is an act. There cannot be love without people showing it, living in it.</p><p>");
write("DIOTIMA: That means that love must be " + answer3 + ".</p>");
[continued]</tw-passagedata><tw-passagedata pid="34" name="REIMU H 1" tags="" position="1250,250" size="100,100">Diotima focuses her ghostly energies on Reimu...
And it fails miserably. Reimu's still too buzzed to notice but it appears her spiritual powers prevent Diotima from possessing her. It's like blowing bubbles inside of a hurricane; you're not gonna achieve anything by trying.
DIOTIMA: I could tell you were listening in for a little while now.
DIOTIMA: Like me, you are but an observer of this world. A guest not a resident.
DIOTIMA: Just the same, I was never a citizen of Athens. Even if I wanted to, the best I could become would be the wife of a man of higher standing. Even then, I'd still be more lowly than even the most crapulent, conniving, catastrophic citizen.
DIOTIMA: I had personal love too, once. My own eros. But that turned sour as quickly as it sweetened.
DIOTIMA: We didn't agree on as many things as I initially thought. Some of those things were dealbreakers.
DIOTIMA: I don't regret it though. With all the earthly pains that love can bring comes all its pleasures. Not pleasure of the body mind you, but those of the soul.
DIOTIMA: I loved but I did not understand it until it tore me apart. I won't rest until I truly can comprehend it.
Her hands still passes through the skewer. She is slightly more solid now however so rather than it passing through harmlessly she knocks the skewer over and it falls onto the ground.
}</tw-passagedata><tw-passagedata pid="42" name="REIMU 2c" tags="" position="2225,800" size="100,100">DIOTIMA: I think we have similar lines of thinking.
REIMU: Really?
DIOTIMA: Yes, I had my own theory regarding love. I compared it to a ladder one has to climb. Carnal affections were at the lowest rungs and ascending past that is an important step.
REIMU: That does sound interesting. You sure you haven't figured it out yet?
DIOTIMA: I recognize its flaws. It was less an explanation of what is love and more of the process to understanding love.
DIOTIMA: Even so, I think I did pretty good with that one.
[continued]</tw-passagedata><tw-passagedata pid="47" name="HUB LOSS" tags="" position="1375,425" size="100,100">DIOTIMA: *Now wait a moment. I didn't say anything of that sort!*
Diotima sighs.
DIOTIMA: *I think we've gotten a bit muddled on our way here. Let me try and retrace my steps again.*
DIOTIMA: *We'll at least skip ahead a bit though.*
DIOTIMA: Reimu, I do agree with you on many things regarding love.
DIOTIMA: But I believe Suika raised a good point when I spoke with her.
REIMU: What's that?
DIOTIMA: Love is a wild, ultimately transient state.
DIOTIMA: To choose to love a person, to open up to them is a continous risk. It means being vulnerable around them.
DIOTIMA: You said yourself that love can appear in many different ways. You understood love at its highest form as the kind of respite found in friendship.
DIOTIMA: But even friendships can be fickle things and betrayal is hardly unheard of.
REIMU: Are you saying love is just chaos?
DIOTIMA: I am not. I am simply pointing out that trying to rank different manifestations of love over each other is still just giving different examples of love.
DIOTIMA: To understand love, we'd need something more robust as simple examples always have exceptions.
REIMU: ...hm. You have a point.
REIMU: I'm not fully convinced but you did prove me wrong. I probably won't think too hard on it though.
REIMU: But thanks anyways. That was interesting.
[[Return.|HUB]]
~~You've gained credibility.~~
~~GAINED "Examples of love cannot explain what is love."~~
~~LOST "Love is a wild, ultimately transient state."~~
