(Untitled)

[prince_organa]

Enter one confused blond teenager, stage left. Luke, meet sign. Sign, Luke.

Well then. Why the hell not?

"Is there any difference between retaliation and revenge?" He looks around. "And since when does this base have extra dimensions?"

Comments

[drbashir]

"Yes, but it's not an easy one to discern. Revenge is seeking retribution, or evening the score, for something done. Retaliation is an immedate action taken for injury.... Or so I'd define it.

"And in a likelihood you've accidentally found one of the many portals connected to this place. They seem to be randomly located throughout time, space and dimensions."

[gammagammahey]

Heyyyy...aren't you the cute doc that was handing out drinks the other night?

[drbashir]

"Me? Er- I was handing around a bottle of kanar, yes. That would have been me."

[prince_organa]

"So I've gathered. I've already found a few people from my dimension." He looks grim. "If that's how we're defining it, then I'm seeking revenge."

[jaegermonster]

Re-taliashun iz like vhen the or der used to come down that "People over there iz messing vith people from our city, so ve iz going to make sure that never happen again."

Revenge iz vhat I vants to do to that demn cheater because I ended up vith rope on neck for two days.

[prince_organa]

Blinkblinkwhuh? "Why would someone put a rope around your neck?"

[jaegermonster]

Vell, ve vas being hanged. Iz kind of execution; humanz does it all the time, to break necks or suffocate and schtuff. I thinks the reazon vas for "being Jaegermonsters and getting caught." Miss Clay cut us down. Vas all goot. But iz principle. And I hates rope burn. Vazn't any time then, but he better hope ve not see him vhen there iz.

[prince_organa]

"Humans don't execute people like that where I'm from. Not that I'm aware of." Given that option, he'd rather be 'terminated' or whatever the current Imperial euphemism is for 'shot dead.' "Revenge sounds appropriate in your case."

[gammagammahey]

Yes, there is a big difference between revenge and retaliation. Want to know what it is?

Let's say you have a man. Let's say he's made himself the bane of your existence at times, just to make this interesting.

Let's say this man had - "had" in the past tense, this is important - a bad habit of going into the kitchen and completely ignoring the HUGE note on the half gallon jar of creamy Jif that says "This is She-Hulk's. If you eat, you die," and eating it anyway. The final insult? Leaving the jar open with a spoon sticking inside of it. Double dipping, as it were, a felony.

Retaliation is taking his peanut butter, and taking his jelly.

Revenge is filling his quiver halfway full of chunky peanut butter, spooning it generously in his fancy purple boots, smearing it all over his clean sheets, and superglueing the spoon on his forehead while he sleeps.

Got it?

[prince_organa]

"...after a fashion." He smiles a little. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I've never heard an interstellar war put in quite that way before."

And after a moment's careful consideration: "What's peanut butter?"

[morphtastic]

... I think I'm in love with you for your devious mind, now.

I mean, sure - you're amazingly hot. But you are devious too!

[alexa_parker]

Retaliation is a reaction. Revenge is what keeps you up at night long after whatever started it happened.

[prince_organa]

"That's what everyone else has said." He sighs. "What about a middle ground?"

[alexa_parker]

That's probably common sense. If someone hurts you, you want to make sure it doesn't happen again. You take what precautions you can and stay away from the other guy if at all possible.

[prince_organa]

"Heh. The person in question is a galactic empire. I'll have a hard time avoiding it."

[feline_casanova]

Retaliation is just revenge that people have tried to put a pretty face on. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with revenge.

[prince_organa]

"Then is there anything wrong with wanting revenge against the people who destroyed your world?"

[feline_casanova]

Uh, no, I'd say that's pretty good justification for vengeance.

[prince_organa]

"That's what I thought. I'm just leading other people, so things are more complicated than I would like."