The Merriest and the Silenced speak about fate and fact.

-- forewarnedAbsolved [FA] began trolling abysmalAirspace [AA] at 17:28 --
FA: ...
FA: ...
-- abysmalAirspace [AA]  sits at the table with the Silenced, watching his closed-eyed enigmatic expression carefully. Her own expression is stoic, but not unkind. --
FA: Tell me.
FA: What do you know of fate?
AA: <\ I know that fate guides our actions. That we all have our own fates. />
FA: Indeed?
FA: Then is all that has and will happen set in stone?
-- abysmalAirspace [AA]  shakes her head. --
AA: <\ I try not to think about it. />
FA: I do not believe I have ever truly explained to you the nature of my abilities.
AA: <\ Go on. />
FA: I am a dealer of fate and fact.
FA: Fate is that which may happen and fact is that which will.
AA: <\ ... so fate is not a fact, you are saying. />
FA: Indeed.
FA: All fact was once fate, but fate is uncertain.
FA: Fate changes quickly.
FA: Fate cannot be trusted until it becomes fact.
FA: And indeed, fact is something that is surprisingly rare.
AA: <\ So what I think of as fate is called fact. />
FA: Not always.
FA: Fact does not exist until an event becomes certain.
FA: Fact does not dictate a path, it is the path that has already happened.
FA: Or will happen because our actions decide it.
AA: <\ ... I see. />
FA: If I may, an example might be in order.
AA: <\ Go ahead. />
FA: Imagine a situation in which two armies clash.
AA: <\ All right... />
FA: A soldier is struck down and injured. His survival is left to fate; he may die in the battle from any manner of additional injuries, but he may also survive.
FA: Whether he lives or dies is uncertain.
FA: Each possibility will result in a world slightly different, which may eventually become large differences, but his survival cannot be truly predicted.
FA: On the other hand, imagine the merriest are ambushed and an arrow is launched at Riskshot, which she has no ability to evade. You have the ability to intercept it.
FA: Your decision, assuming the previous event is certain and all variables which I am able to see remain constant, is fact.
AA: <\ ... I would take the arrow. And that can be predicted. Is that correct. />
FA: Yes.
FA: However, there are variables which must be determined before something can become fact.
FA: The ambush must become fact.
FA: Your interactions between yourself and Riskshot must become fact.
FA: Your position in relation to Riskshot and who is firing, in additional to your knowledge of such an attack must become fact.
FA: If they are not fact, the previous fact is still only fate, albeit a fate which is fact in that timeline.
AA: <\ You speak of that timeline as if there were many. />
FA: Has that event happened?
AA: <\ No. />
FA: Is it possible for that event to have happened, considering what has already occurred?
FA: Assuming that events went another way.
AA: <\ ... yes. />
FA: Then is a timeline, for it is a possibility.
FA: There are many timelines, where many is a word that contains an infinitely large, yet comparatively small number.
FA: However, timelines are not the same as fact and fate.
FA: One can have many facts, but at a certain time, a timeline may only have one fact.
AA: <\ ... only one fact, huh. />
FA: Fact in one timeline is not the same as fact in another.
FA: The ability to see the facts in irrelevant, for facts are obvious to all but those who delude themselves.
FA: The ability to see the fates is near useless without the ability to make one's own judgement based on the facts.
AA: <\ ... how complicated. />
FA: Indeed.
FA: But complications and complexity are the nature of the universe.
AA: <\ And you see this, fact and fate.  />
FA: See is most probably the incorrect verb, but it is close enough.
AA: <\ Sense it, then. />
FA: Again. Close enough.
AA: <\ All right. />
AA: <\ I believe I understand. />
FA: If you do, I am in awe of your ability to understand concepts which have not been explained, or have been simplified to a point when they are near irrelevant.
FA: If you understand, you have far surpassed my own ability.
-- abysmalAirspace [AA]  breathes out. --
AA: <\ ... what I mean to say is that I comprehend what has been put in front of me. />
AA: <\ You see what is, and what may be. What is certain and what is only possibility. />
AA: <\ Furthermore that there are many realms of this possibility, each with their own domains of truth and consequence. />
FA: An apt summary.
FA: There is a relevance of both fate and fact in your future. I would suggest examining your decisions carefully.
-- abysmalAirspace [AA]  raises a brow. --
AA: <\ ... I try to do this regardless of fact or fate. />
AA: <\ I will heed your warning, Silenced. />
-- abysmalAirspace [AA]  is silent for a moment as she listens to the nothing in the air. Except it isn't really nothing, is it, Silenced? Quietly, she adds: --
AA: <\ And you are welcome. />
-- abysmalAirspace [AA] gave up trolling forewarnedAbsolved [FA] at 18:55 --