Currently I’m reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I’m enjoying it, but apparently it’s making a bigger impact on me than I realized – last night I dreamed about it.
Just before bed I read a chapter that ended with Locke and Calo walking through the night, being stalked by a flying creature, although it flew off after simply following them around. I dreamed a different ending for the chapter: instead of flying off, a person in a cape shoots Calo with a crossbow from the roof of a building. Locke runs into the temple hideout where he and his gang live, and is very upset; but he sends Calo’s twin brother Galdo out to fetch the body. Even in my dream, it seemed like a rather cruel thing to do. I think there was a revised ending after that, where it turns out Calo isn’t dead, merely mostly dead. I guess my subconscious couldn’t deal with dealing out death.
The first major plot point deals with a scam that Locke and his gang of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards, are pulling on one of the local minor nobles. I have found that I’m a little uncomfortable with this part of the plot – the idea of them stealing money or jewelry by pickpocketing or breaking and entering doesn’t seem so bad, but pulling a con job on somebody makes me uncomfortable.
This is a recurring theme for me. Brian and I play computer role-playing games, such as Morrowind and Oblivion. Invariably, we end up playing a lawful good character; even going so far as to quit pursuing advancement in a faction if they want us to do something that is, well, squinky. I mean, like stealing something from somebody who is not actively trying to do something bad to us or the people we’re working for is something we just won’t do. We only join the Thieve’s Guild to get regular access to lockpicks, which we then proceed to use only on locked items in ruins or owned by bandits and other bad guys. We’ve never pursued going higher in the Guild because we just can’t bring ourselves to steal from regular people.
Recently we’ve started playing Fallout 3. As part of the opening sequence, you establish your character by growing up and certain events give you the chance to determine what your character is like. One of the things is taking the G.O.A.T. – the Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test. We took the test – it’s multiple choice, and as the instructor tells the class, there are no wrong answers. But when we turned the test in and got our results from the teacher, he tells us that we’re in line to be the next Vault Chaplain. Sigh.
Actually, it’s not as bad as it sounds – it means that our highest skill is Barter. Guess the God in Fallout 3 is open to negotiating.
At any rate, I think my issue with the con job in Locke Lamora is that it’s fooling someone, and making them look stupid. I always felt embarrassed when watching I Love Lucy, because Lucy was always embarrassing herself; and listening to Mark & Brian when they are doing something that embarrasses somebody makes me turn the dial. On the other hand, I loved the movie The Sting – I think it was OK because they were getting revenge on a guy who had done something nasty to them.
- “Little Miss Goody Two-Shoes”
