Function (2) - Anonymous Text / Action for Violet City

[ladywithnovoice]

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What do you think is worse:

Someone who hurts other people for their own selfish reasons and admits it?

Or

Someone who hurts other people but says it's for a good cause?


- Starly

Action/

[It's been a long treck to get here, and one can find Red by Sprout Tower just sitting by the water and tossing bread out to the local Duckletts. Two Growlithe and an Electrike are napping around her. They've just finished a long journey so they're allowed to relax.]

[It's a rather peaceful scene, if you can ignore the Kricketot that might suddenly run up to you with its antennae clicking together.]

Comments

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[islandshore]

It's a tough call. Option A's dangerous because they know exactly what they're doing, and they don't care. They do it anyway, which means they're probably messed up. Sociopaths, maybe.

But option B's not much better. People like that are often delusional, but I guess that depends on how they're hurting people and what they're planning. Armies supposedly fight for a good cause, but they're still taking lives. But on the other hand, you've got people who, say, fight Team Rocket. Sometimes you can't avoid hurting others, and sometimes it's actually justified.

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[ladywithnovoice]

You're the second person to say one's not much better than the other sometimes. Another armchair philosopher or just experience?

- Starly

[islandshore]

More of the latter, honestly. Been here long enough to see just how sick and twisted people can get. You might not see it at first-- the locals make the place out to be some peaceful, sunny world where every problem can be resolved through battles.

But I'd be lying if I said there wasn't some speculation thrown in. Fact is, I don't have as much experience with hard conflicts as some of the other people here. People from worlds that are constantly at war, who deal with both types of people on a regular basis.

[ladywithnovoice]

It does seem like they would know best.

I think it's important to get thoughts from people like you too. It helps get a wider range of ideas and reasons. Just listening to one group of people doesn't always show you the whole picture.

[islandshore]

Ha, yeah. But it's easy to ignore those other perspectives and stick to what you know. Sometimes trying to see the other side feels... threatening, because there's a chance you might be wrong.

And in my experience, admitting and accepting that's one of the hardest things you can do.

[ladywithnovoice]

I've found there are scarier things than trying to understand people.

Losing them is one thing that comes to mind.

[islandshore]

[...oof. Well, this conversation just took a turn for the depressing. Not that it wasn't slightly morose before.]

Right. And that loss doesn't even have to be death. Broken friendships are just as painful, especially when there's no chance of patching things up.

When that happens, you're stuck dealing with regret. At least, that's what I'd guess.

[Fortunately, he's yet to experience something that painful. Yet.]

[ladywithnovoice]

[It's not exactly sunshine and rainbows, no. Not fitting for the current weather. Give it a week.]

Sometimes anger, depending on how things go, but sometimes it's just something to mask up the pain and regret.

"Where'd things go wrong"? I guess that's something we always ask ourselves even when it's not our fault.

[islandshore]

Exactly. "Where'd things go wrong?" "Could I have done something better?" "Will it ever be the same?"

And when people leave here, you're stuck wondering if they'll be okay back home or what the future holds.

[ladywithnovoice]

There have to be people who know what waits for them back home, doesn't there?

[islandshore]

Depends on what they were doing when they left and if they've got any friends from the future.

If someone got ripped out of their world during some kind of battle, there's no telling what they're in for when they get back. And even if they weren't, people's lives can change at the drop of a hat.

One minute, you're working on a raft. The next, your world gets swallowed by darkness.

[ladywithnovoice]

It's scary how things can change like that. Especially when it's not by any choice of your own. Someone makes the decision for you, before you even had a chance of knowing.

[islandshore]

And I can't think of a better example than this place. People sucked here against their will. People leave against their will. Think most people's problems with this world would go away if we could choose when to come and go.

[ladywithnovoice]

Do you think someone is responsible for all of this?

[islandshore]

If not someone, then definitely something. We just don't know what that is.

Could be a legendary Pokémon. Could be a machine. Could be something completely random. In all the years I've been here, we've never come close to the truth.

[ladywithnovoice]

Yikes.

[islandshore]

That's one way of putting it.

By the way, what brought up this question in the first place? Kind of a heavy subject, don't you think?

[ladywithnovoice]

There's a lot of time to think here.