Second chance

[treefiddie]

SECOND CHANCES meme Everyone might deserve a second chance, yet few receive one. Would you try again if you were one of the lucky ones? What would you repeat until you get it right? ◙ comment with your character and what they'd take a second chance on, if given the opportunity.

Comments

Paul Atreides | Dune

[desertpowered]

There are many things I’d handle differently, given the chance to start over.

I should have pushed back harder. Made my own fate. But I don’t know if a second chance would make things better. I might make the same mistakes as before, or even worse ones.

[sisterimperator]

[ Sister Imperator watched him quietly for a moment. ]

You know there is no other way.

The only way you'd have an actual second chance was if you were not the -

[ The word came to her, foreign and difficult to pronounce, but it came. ]

Kwisatz Haderach.

[desertpowered]

Yes, I know. What I am changes the calculus.

[A heavy sigh.]

In that sense, my path may well have been set from the day I was born. But maybe…

[Paul still wonders, and she’ll see his throat work before he talks again.]

It’s not something I’d wish on anyone.

[sisterimperator]

[ Time was a funny thing. Sister Imperator knew that. Despite the many gifts that Lucifer had given her, she'd never been able to manipulate it and had always remained a plaything of its whimsies.

But to now find a younger Paul was interesting, to say the least. His face was simultaneously smoother with youth but darker with fear. The sight of him stirred something in her, and she laid a hand on her womb. She realized it was a mother's empathy. ]

The world is heavy on a Messiah's shoulders, Paul.

[ A sharp sigh. ]

Where is your mother?

[desertpowered]

[For his part, this Paul doesn't recognize her, but he's not afraid of her either. She's not Fremen, but he can't place her accent either. The way she identifies him makes him start.]

I'm not...

[His throat constricts again. The question's been eating at him, clearly. This woman knows what he could be.]

She's away. Who are you? You know who I am?

[sisterimperator]

[ Her brows knit together. Based on what she'd understood about Paul's abilities, he should be able to see her down the streams of time...

Unless he was still too young for that and his own prescience was not yet developed. Another possible answer was that she appeared in his timeline after his death, so perhaps that part of it was still sealed off to him.

Regardless... ]

I am Sister Imperator. I do, in fact, know who you are. But it will be a while yet before you catch up with the you at that point in time where we know each other.

[ Her brows furrowed once again. ] She's away?

[desertpowered]

[Paul nods. This stranger doesn't seem to mean him any harm. He has his prescience, but only in snatches. While still wary, he decides to trust her.

By the time the Paul Sister knows meets her in the sixties, the Water of Life's effect on Paul's powers and his personality will have been neutralized somewhat. This Paul is before he took the Water and he fully changed.]

I'm Paul-Muad'Dib. It's good to meet you.

[He cautiously offers her a hand clasp.]

[sisterimperator]

[ Sister Imperator smiled wryly, reaching over to clasp his hand in turn. Her impression was that this boy was barely a teenager, and yet already bearing the weight of prophecy. ]

Why don't you tell me more about yourself, Paul-Muad'Dib.

Harry | All of Us Strangers | M/M | here be spoilers!

[familyedge]

Shucks... my life? I'd like a second chance to make things right. Dealing with my feelings of being alone better.


...

Not finishing that bottle of whiskey alone.

Warren | Bloody Shadows

[badlucklady]

Isn't it always love that haunts us?

Yami Marik | Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

[thetombcreeper]

I would endure the Ritual of the Seal of Memories over and over again if it meant I could kill Odion the night I killed our father!

[That's... not how this meme is meant to work, Marik.]

Arpad Kovacs, American Arcadia

[sciencealwaysfindsaway]

I wish I could have saved my best friend from himself.

oliver quick | saltburn

[ilovedhim]

If I got to do it again, I wouldn't leave my mobile sitting around in the bathroom.

Chopt | Soulsborne PCOC

[slewmyfear]

[She's lived a long time, so there's no shortage of turbulent moments in her life. But all the same...]

I should have escorted that girl... no, both of them, to Oedon Chapel.

[Actually, how much of a difference would that have been? Chopt doesn't know, considering how things worsened as the night had dragged on. But it's an easy thing to look at and wish it would've gone better.]

Viluy || Sailor Moon || ota

[vientist]

...Maybe I would choose who I side with more carefully.

Re: Viluy || Sailor Moon || ota

[legitlessgrump]

Sometimes, what we think is the better side with the better deal is the worst one to deal with.

[vientist]

[she wasn't expecting someone to respond to her. clenching her fists, she whirls around to face the other]

I don't need to hear that from you!

[legitlessgrump]

[He simply stared back, unflinching at the young woman's outburst.]

Then what do you think you need for a second chance?

[vientist]

[Viluy opens her mouth, then closes it. she was preparing to snap back at him but then scowls, and lowers her head. her pride is on the line]

...How should I know? If my calculations had been correct the first time, I wouldn't be needing a second chance.

[legitlessgrump]

[Apart from the anger and possible shame, she almost sounded like a Contractor.]

Even the most solid plans can be disrupted by the smallest thing, or who we sided with. Or even just our stubbornness.