[ text ] un: aragaki; like 4 am

[petsthedog]

[It comes on the network like an intrusive thought -- because it is. Because Shinjiro can't sleep, even with all the talk of distracting activities like movies and pumpkin carving and costume parties. (Where do you even get costumes on a spaceship, anyway?)

Because he can't stop thinking about what Olexa said in that building, at the end. Would you die trying to get that stone back? Cheri's motivations were selfish, but then, aren't theirs too? So-Yeon's hadn't been, and while she'd surrendered the orb, what if she hadn't? What about the next mission?]

do you think the orb is worth killing people for

Comments

Text. un:Kirigan

[cruelyethuman]

That is a very good question.

[petsthedog]

don't suppose you got an answer?

[cruelyethuman]

Is that actually a yes or no question. We have already killed for the orbs, in battle and in the rush of things, yes. But they died because of us.

Isn't the question more along the line of - how many people would you be willing to kill to see this through? Or, what kind of people would you be willing to sacrifice to undo your regret.

[petsthedog]

that's my point
it worth continuing like this?

[cruelyethuman]

What do you think? You seem to have thought about this, what are your thoughts?

[petsthedog]

that it's obnoxious to answer a question with a question

[:V!!!]

[cruelyethuman]

Someone already answered that we have all killed for the orb before. Or, most have.

Doesn't that answer your question?

[petsthedog]

if you mean the "monsters" in gyeongje -- that's different
we didn't know

[cruelyethuman]

And the soldiers, fighting for the Lady and Lord? We killed those as well, in the battle before we retrieved the orb.

I should hope that everyone were very aware of the fact that we were attacking a city filled with innocents and members of an army who had little choice in defending their positions. But perhaps I was mistaken.

[petsthedog]

we didn't attack them, they attacked us
because the lord was desperate to make his crimes go away and we found out too much
not everyone decided to kill people just to defend themselves before so-yeon stopped the fighting

but i guess that is an answer now, yeah

[cruelyethuman]

We came to the gates of their city. Of course, we had a good reason to, and we needed the orb after all.
Did YOU decide to kill to keep our fellow orbers safe? Would you want to risk our lives, in case of another fight, to follow a principle of killing people is always wrong?

[petsthedog]

[He'd argue that was So-Yeon and her people's decision more than theirs, but it's quibbling details. That's not even the point.]

it ain't even about right or wrong though
dead is dead
we ain't got any more right to walk away breathin than they do
so if your answer's "it's us or them" you coulda saved us both some time by sayin it upfront
i ain't here to talk you out of it

[cruelyethuman]

That was far from my point. I'm saying that the question is moot since we've already killed.

A far better question would be, where do we draw the line. Is there even a line that we would not, or should not, cross?

[petsthedog]

[He'd like to, again, point out that not everyone did, but he's not in the mood for a circular argument. Instead:]

is it? we get new people all the time
anyway
if you're already askin "is there even one", pretty sure you already know you ain't gonna find one
every time you reach that line there'll be an excuse to push it further
especially if it's true we can't go back to the station without the orb