☤ thirty-four

[as_damaged]

[Voice]

It's an E.

I don't know why, and I don't really care.

Comments

[worksmart]

Because it's useful.

[worksmart]

Why not? I've seen you be all three.

[as_damaged]

If it was something nice, I wouldn't be compelled to share it.

[worksmart]

Really? That's funny, I didn't know you were consulted on curse protocol.

[as_damaged]

It would be immodest. Why would a curse focusing on positive character attributes encourage you to boast?

[worksmart]

Maybe that's the point. Commending us for a positive trait while compelling us to display another? That might actually be clever.

What do you think J means?

[as_damaged]

Jack-of-all-trades? Jingoistic? I'm not sure about jubilant or jovial, though you've made a strong case for reading it that way.

I could see it standing for jerk. I don't think you are, but as a curse-induced attempt to shame you, it makes sense.

[worksmart]

Jingoistic? Why, because I correct House when he summarily moves me across the globe?

...You don't think I've been a jerk.

[as_damaged]

I couldn't think of that many j's offhand.

You've been a jerk. I don't think you are a jerk. Trying to sum someone up with a single word is a ridiculous task to begin with; just because you have the capacity to be a jerk doesn't mean that's the fundamental nature of your character.

[worksmart]

Hester had been an adultress, it wasn't the defining point of her nature. I'm not ashamed of having been something I'm fairly sure can be ascribed to everyone at some point.

[as_damaged]

I'm not saying you should be. But they marked Hester in order to shame her; presumably the City intends to shame us in a similar fashion. Whether or not we agree with whatever arbitrary 'sin' it chooses... it doesn't mean that it couldn't be applied to us.

[worksmart]

And you're worried you're a sinner.

[as_damaged]

I'm an atheist, I'm not concerned about the state of my soul. I wouldn't have even mentioned it if I could have helped it.

[worksmart]

That's lucky, because I can reliably inform you as far as that goes you've already got several stains on your...

Oh.

[as_damaged]

If we're approaching it from that angle, isn't being an atheist frowned upon to begin with?

[worksmart]

It's not a sin. You're just a conversion in waiting.

Then again, not sure your E is a sin, either, directly.