19th Trauma

[wondering_eye]

A friend of mine recently lent me a few books. Among them was a trilogy called "The Lord of the Rings." I've only read the first two books so far, but...I'm enjoying them. They raise a lot of interesting questions about morality and power

Comments

[walking_nuke]

[Balin is taken aback by that question for a bit.]

... I dunno. Before-

[-"Before the Bane invaded and slaughtered most of humanity"-]

-I'd seen an' read up on guys on both sides of things. But yanno, but it was somethin' I'd learned in church when I still went.

["Though maybe I should go again now that there's a church to go to. Ciel's here at least."]

Nobody's without sin. We all fuck up somehow, but we can do better.

[wondering_eye]

Of course the capacity for good and evil exists. But what I want to know is if humans have a particular calling to either one, in your opinion. Are humans more likely to gravitate toward sin or redemption? What do you think?

[walking_nuke]

["It's weird. She really doesn't sound anything like something that belongs in Hell. Demons wouldn't ask for a human's opinion, would they?"]

I guess-well, I dunno. I guess it depends on'a person? Depends on how much'ey care. ... Well, no, that ain't right either. Some people convince themselves'ey're doin'a right thing when'ey sure as hell aren't.

[wondering_eye]

Then, you're saying that people tend to do what they think is good, regardless of whether or not they're right?

...But then, who decides whether they're right or not?

[walking_nuke]

Tend to ... yeah, I guess. Some people, though? They'll do what they know is wrong anyway. For whatever reason.

[There's a pause when Satori asks her other question.]

Well, you said you live in Hell, don't you? You'd know. I mean, you don't sound like a demon or anything but hey, if'ere's talkin' nations out'ere, I'm open to anything at'is point. But if you live in Hell then you'd know what goes on upstairs, yeah?

["She was asking for my opinion, though ..."]

Anyway, uh-damn. Well, aside from'at, in human society we got rule of law.

["And this is where I regret never having taken a Philosophy class."]

[wondering_eye]

Oh, no, you misunderstand. While it's true where I live used to be where all the evil souls were sent, now we're nothing more than a glorified furnace. We've got some spirits lying around, yes, but ever since Hell was moved we haven't been especially significant.

...As for the rule of law, that only works if everyone agrees to follow it. I suppose one could argue that if you don't agree to follow the rule of law, that makes you evil, but that's an arbitrary set of rules set by people long dead.

[walking_nuke]

Oh ... Oh! So wait-you ain't a demon either? Huh ...

["If she's not a demon, then what is she?"]

Well, on'a rule of law-is'at what Mayfield says American government's like by any chance? I met'a kid who says'ey teach a pretty fucked up version'a history here.

[He briefly recalls his conversation with Crowe back in August. If Satori's picking up the mental image she might recognize it as being right next to her house.]