You don't have to get so fired up

[doctor_scratch]

Who: Doc Scratch and Rose Lalonde
When: Friday
Where: Room 4D
Summary: Scratch's manipulation is put to the test in a Saw trap
Rating: PG-13 to R
Warnings: Puppet bodies and/or little girls possibly (but not likely) bursting into flame

Comments

[stubborn_throes]

[Okay, white ceiling.
You're on the floor for no inexplicable reason again.

...God dammit this is getting old. She arches her back up with her good arm and takes a fine gander at her surroundings.

...God dammit that is hilarious.]

A little tied up, aren't you?
I didn't know omnipotence was conditional upon the unrestraint of one's limbs.
Interesting.

[doctor_scratch]

Yes, you could say that.
And quite obviously omnipotence is conditional upon how much our captors wish to entertain themselves.

[Oh this wasn't going to be easy.]

Well, Rose, it seems like you're the only one who can save me. Care to be my hero, Seer of Light? We really haven't got all day.

[stubborn_throes]

[Part of her is sort of ready to begrudgingly relinquish the bonds on his limbs, but the other...

The other is recalling a recent conversation with Vriska.]

I could, such an act is clearly in my power at the moment. [She motions to the fact that she's free of any bonds. Spending a moment sizing up the flames, and then Scratch himself, she weighs her options. What if she left him? What if she let him burn? He's certainly not a virtuous person, and definitely not someone with her best interest in mind.

After all, he's the one who incited the descent into grimdarkness, the one who incited the act that sent their entire plan astray.

What would the result be?
There's this sickeningly gleeful feeling of power in watching him helpless. So much so that it almost bugs her a little.]

How about, before I make a decision regarding whether or not you'll be floating among the air molecules within a few minutes, you answer a few questions for me?

[doctor_scratch]

You know we really don't have that much time, a few minutes may cost me one or two limbs.

[He turns his cue ball head towards the flames, then back to her.]

Besides, you know that I am always willing to answer your questions, Ms. Lalonde. And I always answer truthfully. If you're looking for answers, perhaps it can wait until after I am no longer in peril, maybe over a nice cup of tea?

[stubborn_throes]

Duly noted, good Doctor. [A sadistic smirk.]

While that is certainly true, I myself find these circumstances to be far more advantageous, or at the very least provide a fitting ambiance.
Perhaps the warmth will leave you less inclined to beat around the bush as many fictional or otherwise omniscients often do.

[Cracking her knuckles, she approaches him and sits cross legged in front of him.]

Why did you goad me into asking the orb about the morality of the Horrorterrors? What beneficial denouement did my descent propagate for you?

[doctor_scratch]

I didn't goad you into anything, Ms. Lalonde. [He keeps cautiously turning his head towards the fire.] You are the one who wanted to ask it questions. In fact, I believe it was your friend Jade who wanted you to ask, hm?

[stubborn_throes]

[A scowl.] Don't obfuscate the fact that you manipulated the situation to turn out as it did. You knew what would transpire in a number of outcomes and you chose to prod her, as cue-balls do, into helping you encourage me to ask it.

My inquiry is simple, really. Why was that outcome a necessity? I'm not looking for jargon about fulfilling timelines and facilitating paradoxes. I want the reason I have to die.

[doctor_scratch]

Cue balls never do prodding, only directing. Cue sticks do the prodding.

[He unconsciously struggles against the thread a bit, as he's starting to get a little worried with those flames looking hungry.]

Now think, Rose, where did going Grimdark lead you? What was the path that the unquenchable thirst for revenge lead you down? You already know the answer, as it's clearly already happened to you. So will you please stop asking questions that you already know the answer to and untie me?

I'm no good to anyone as a pile of ashes, least of all to you.

[stubborn_throes]

Excuse me for defacing the shitty pool allegory you're always throwing around.

Revenge lead to my demise, yes. An incurable bloodlust incited by none other than yourself, Doctor. But the revenge that slipped through my bloody fingers on the battlefield isn't quite the same as the revenge kindling and crackling towards you. In this situation, I'm the one with the advantage. You could even call me the omnipotent in a sense, couldn't you?

[It's so hard not to go completely berserk on this guy in a position like this. It all flashes before her, seeing John die, being stabbed through the chest, waking up on Derse knowing she's going to have to give up her life for good. There's something...mad about her. A sadistic smirk compliments a look of slight mania in her lavender eyes. It's a look fit of being carried by the most nefarious of necromancers, the most sickening of serial killers. The look of someone not untouched by the blackdeath of the woegothics and the bloodeldtrich throes.]I wouldn't call it too acute a stretch of the mind. I

[doctor_scratch]

Rose, my dear, you seem to be forgetting something quite crucial about paradox space.

Everything has already happened. It was going to happen regardless of what I did, what you did, or what anyone did or was going to do. Inevitability is something that I accept, and I accept my role in it. You see I...

[He hesitates a moment before reluctantly going on.]

I am subordinate to paradox space itself. That's the price for being omniscient. Everything is going to happen the way it happens: I know everything I am going to do from the day I'm born until the day I die, and I know I can never do anything else. That's why I relish in what few surprises I do get, and try to take pleasure in what I will do.

It's really nothing personal. I orchestrate space and time the way it was meant to be. And as far as you are concerned, my master has nothing to do with your universe and never will.

Vengeance against inevitability is both foolish and futile.

[stubborn_throes]

I know that. [It's something she wants to scream at him, but she manages to keep the cap of her frustration screwed on.]

Even if everything in paradox space is predetermined, does that mean all actions are excused? Should I embellish a golden crown with fantastic jewels for for Jack because he acted as he was supposed to? You're proposing that I should see the murder of myself, my friends and my Mother with apathy? I'm not the same as you, and though I am a Seer I cannot see the world only as a sequence of events. I'm a being of emotion, and no amount of whispering from the Furthest Ring can change that. Trust that I understand the words you're saying, but I cannot resign myself, or my emotions, as cliché as it sounds, to fate's call only.

The inexcusable remains inexcusable in my eyes, however necessary paradox space deems them. [And she wonders about that last thing she said. If everything is necessary, should she really feel so guilty? So sick

[doctor_scratch]

[Doc Scratch swiftly gets to his feet and moves from the flames, which set the chair he was stitched to on fire. Scratch brushes himself off and straightens his bow tie, looking quite relieved.]

Aaah, much better. Thank you, Rose. In answer to your confusion, I don't believe in coincidences, and therefore all actions are pre-determined. However, I think the context is decided upon by those who carry out the actions. For instance, is someone were to kill another, I believe that would happen no matter what. However, whether or not it was out of necessity, anger, or if it was accidental is up to the nature of the killer.

I'm not sure if it's any comfort, but I do believe that even though destiny can not be swayed, the way we face it is our choice. [He gives her a very elegant bow.]

[stubborn_throes]

Okay. So does this mean you're capable of comprehending any emotional outburst I may have had at these catalysts and precedents of the will of Paradox Space?

[doctor_scratch]

Of course I can comprehend them. They are entirely understandable. After all, you are only human.

On the other hand, I am not empathetic. I am incapable of empathy for I am not human and my emotions are limited.