[ the thirty-fouth ] / [voice]

[enigmaestro]

[His drawl is casual, idle even.]

Scenario: your daughter is a sadistic psychopath with a history of, oh I don't know, brutal homicide and savors a penchant for torturing people. She's ruined countless lives during her reign of terror, and finally the law has caught up with her. She's sentenced to a rather deserved death. But oh, your sickly

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voice

[gallitrap]

The second.

voice

[enigmaestro]

And why the second?

[gallitrap]

Just because I love someone doesn't mean I'm willing to let them do something like that. If she hurt anyone else, it'd be my fault. Well, more my fault.

I think I'd much prefer being hated to that.

[enigmaestro]

One guilt is easier to suffer than a different kind?

[gallitrap]

Yes. Especially since it means, in the long term, I'll be the only one left to suffer. At least as far as the daughter is concerned, nobody else will be killed or hurt by her, so those families can go on as they would. The ones of the people she's already hurt will have closure.

Every other choice is selfish.

[enigmaestro]

Every other choice is selfish? [Beat.] Is avoidance of guilt, especially the easier guilt to suffer, lacking in selfish motivation?

[gallitrap]

Too selfish, then. The first one is the avoidance of being hated, and doing a kindness to people you love, at the cost of lives. So's the fourth.

The third one is mostly the same as the first, but assuming you're successful, nobody else dies except the daughter, who's really the only person in this scenario that deserves it. It's still acting in favor of the people you love instead of what's right.

The second has its guilt, too. I think there are some who would feel more guilty about betraying their family, than they would about protecting strangers and ideals.

[enigmaestro]

The third is successful. She wouldn't see it coming, the girl, it's a betrayal of trust. It's actually quite similar to the second, except one is a hidden betrayal and the other is overt.

What's easier, hurting people openly or in a manner where they may never know?

[gallitrap]

I don't know. I try to avoid getting mixed up, in situations like that. I can only really guess.

Besides, even if you say it's successful, I don't know if I'd be able to do it. So... I guess the second is selfish, too, compared to that, because it means I don't have to hurt her with action. Direct action, I mean.

[enigmaestro]

[Spoken somewhat gently. For Eddie.]

There is no way to win, Ruka. There isn't meant to be a winning answer.

[gallitrap]

I thought so.

You're usually not the type for questions like this, though. Are you?

[enigmaestro]

I used to have quite the soft spot, for dilemmas.

[gallitrap]

Oh?

[enigmaestro]

Is it not fascinating? How people react to the same given set of variables.

[gallitrap]

Yeah. You know the sorts of things I ask. They're not... as difficult or hypothetical as this, but it's the same sort of principle.

Do you know your answer?

[enigmaestro]

I do, but I wouldn't want to bias people's opinions so early in the game. I think it's the rather predictable answer, for me.