PSL / MEME CONTINUATION

[abandonhumanity]

I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine
and rage the likes of which you would not believe.
If I cannot satisfy the one,
I will indulge the other.

Comments

[abandonhumanity]

You could say so, yeah.

[What's he gonna do? Deny it?]

[invalidvalue]

And what terrible, horrible, no-good very-traumatizing things have made you so? [See, forget the B-movie. This is the riveting stuff.]

[abandonhumanity]

[There's a very subtle shift in expression, but a shift all the same; does he look irritated or perplexed? Perhaps both?]

Don't be cute.

What reason would I have to share any of that with you? You must think you're funny.

[It's not that he's particularly opposed to sharing the basics, but he doesn't like this girl's attitude.]

[invalidvalue]

Aw, you think I’m cute? [With a wink and a hand under her chin, for good measure. It’s all a joke, of course.] I think I’m hilarious.

It’s true, you have no good reason. No moral one, either. [Get it?] But you’ve indulged my curiosity [nosiness, more like] this far, as I have yours! We can trade tragic backstories too, if you’d like.

[abandonhumanity]

I don't feel like getting into a competition about who has the worse life, thanks.

[He'd win though (or so he thinks).]

[invalidvalue]

Who said it was a competition?

[He would win, though. He’s got quite the life to speak of, clearly!]

[Still. His interest in this conversation may be flagging. Not good!] Of course, if you insist on keeping your life near and dear to your heart, I won’t pry. [Lie of the century!] Or we can rewind to that teeny thing you said about “profit”! Your call.

[abandonhumanity]

What about it?

[invalidvalue]

[Rewind it is, then!]

“Some would value loyalty over profit.” [This is said about as deadpan as she can manage. It’s a semi-intentional mockery.] I think even the most hardline utilitarian would be reluctant to call saving a thousand people profit, as if weighing lives is a money game.

[abandonhumanity]

It's a moral profit.

The question is hypothetical. No one's saving anyone. But they'll say they are if it makes them look good. Get it?

[invalidvalue]

Actually, now that you mention it— Let’s run with the hypothetical again, shall we? You wouldn’t phrase it as ‘saving’ the one or the thousand, only killing, is that right?

[abandonhumanity]

[His eyes narrow, a suspicious sort of look, although he's not sure what toward.]

Either, depending.

To save one, you condemn the other. That's the nature of the question.

[invalidvalue]

[She gets looks like that a lot.]

Hm! Indeed it is. And it’s the kind of question that usually gets asked by someone picking apart morals. Morals, values, what have you; all flimsy little ideas, as I think we’ve agreed.

But it’s a false premise. If we really want to save people, we find whoever tied them to the tracks. No?

[abandonhumanity]

Assuming there's one enemy.

Assuming that enemy isn't complex.

Assuming you have the time.

[invalidvalue]

[For someone whose default expression is some kind of ingenuine grin, that will earn a very intrigued smirk.]

This isn’t a hypothetical to you, is it?

[abandonhumanity]

[At Val's smirk, Eren's apathetic expression only grows more so; colder, emptier, more dead.]

Where I come from?

No. It isn't.

[invalidvalue]

[Val might as well have won the lottery. It’s no tragic backstory, but! Ha! Who needs file privileges to figure people out?]

Wonderful. [As ever, not a trace of sarcasm there. She claps her hands together with the word.] Well, not for everyone on your home’s metaphorical tracks. But it sounds like an awfully complex place, with too many moving parts to count! [You know, as states of existence should be.]

If I may, one last question. [A name? Tempting. But there are bigger matters at hand.] Who are you: the friend on the tracks, one of the faceless thousand, or the one at the lever? Or perhaps… [And this, she thinks, is the most intriguing option of all:] the one laying the tracks?

[abandonhumanity]

[The answer is simple enough, but something about her question gives him pause, makes his eyes narrow a bit.]

There's no one lying on the tracks in this scenario. Only the loved one and the thousand - bound to them.

[invalidvalue]

Oh. Well, they all die, then. [That is a shame. She was hoping for something a little more difficult, here.]

But where [with extra emphasis] are you?

[abandonhumanity]

I'm pulling the lever.

[invalidvalue]

[ . . .  ]

[Wow. He did not even counter everyone dying, friend and all.]

You’re quite the character, sir. [Sir Lever-puller. Hmm. She’ll figure out something better later.]

[A small, insincere salute, to concoude with gravitas. (That raised more questions, of course, but on occasion Valerie is a gal of her word.)] Lovely talk! May we never share a track.

[abandonhumanity]

[A simple nod in way of a parting greeting.]

We'll hope not for your sake.