004. [ANON TEXT]

[nullorvoid]

So once in a while we get this flashmob of people that show up and post all sorts of anonymous ethics stuff to the network and then they just kind of run off and then a couple months later it happens again, and I don't know if this place just has a revolving door of really inquisitive people or if it's the same people being really inquisitive on a schedule or what, so I'll just throw this out there to answer some of the questions you guys tend to throw out there if you really want to know.

1. Morality exists. "Good" and "evil" do not. I can try to explain this to you if you don't get it but people can't be truly good or evil, it's not something that happens. If you're wondering whether you're either, you're not.

2. People can't be broken either. I don't care what people say, on a fundamental level people can't be broken and you probably aren't either and if you're saying you are it's probably an excuse for not doing what you know you should be doing.

3. Everyone gets held responsible for their crap in the end. All of it, whether you meant to do it or not. Stuff you did that was bad, stuff that you did that you don't think was bad but hurt someone anyway, and all the good stuff too – you're going to get all that held up against you someday, either while you're alive or afterwards. So stop being a jackass and go make amends, you'll thank me later.

4. No one can judge the living. While you're still alive, you can change almost anything about your fate, so stop being stupid and go change stuff if you're not happy with the idea of dying tomorrow. Always make sure you'd be okay if you died tomorrow, just as a basic rule.

You can say whatever you want to any of that, I guess you can ask questions if you've got any, just know that I've got all of this stuff on good authority if you're bothered by any of this stuff or the answers you get. It weirds me out how many people don't know this sort of thing but it's something everyone kind of already knows back where I came from so I guess that's what's going on there. Do whatever you guys want with it or ignore it and go play with your fuzzy animals for a while, I don't really care.

[...Well, okay then.

Look, he's not used to actually talking to living people about this sort of thing. It's a little obvious, but there was an...attempt or something.]

Comments

[stonebones]

Someone who's killed vs a killer you mean?

[That made sense... Didn't make him feel at ease, but... Better.]

How come you know this stuff? You said it's something everyone knows back where you're from?

[nullorvoid]

Yeah, exactly.

And I know this stuff because people like me have to know. I decide what happens to people's souls after they die, it's in the job description.

[stonebones]

That sounds like a really hard job... Definitely not something I could do. I mean, I couldn't judge anyone.

[nullorvoid]

Why not?

[It takes him a moment to realize that was probably a weird as hell question; normally he wouldn't care, but you know what, it's not like elaborating's gonna kill him, either.]

It's not something I've really thought about, whether people would be good for it or not, because it's something that I was specifically made to do and I don't know if I was created to like it or if it's a personal choice but the fact is that I do like it and I don't really get why someone wouldn't.

[...jesus somebody needs to teach this man how commas actually work one day]

[stonebones]

I was made to be a weapon.

[And this guy probably didn't need Emil to spell it out for him that it wasn't something he liked.]

Maybe if doing your job was something I did from the start that'd be okay? But with how I've lived I don't know enough about the world or other people. Besides, I'm guilty of plenty of stuff myself. I had my reasons, and I'm sure most people have good reasons for what they do too.

Or at least that's what I'd like to think...

[nullorvoid]

Everyone's got reasons, at least. Whether you think they're good reasons or not is up for debate but pretty much everyone operates under the thought that whatever they're doing is the best course of action at the time. If they didn't think that they wouldn't do it.

With you it sounds like you didn't have too much of a choice either way though, is that it?

[stonebones]

That would just make that judging stuff even harder. I mean even if I can decide for myself if I think a reason's good or not, I can't use that to decide a person's life! Or afterlife I guess.

I could have stopped. [Most recently, anyway. He'd wanted to, even when he didn't know that he was going to go out of control. The times before were...a little fuzzy.] I didn't want my friends to be hurt but there was probably another way.

I don't regret helping my friends, I just wish all those people didn't have to die because of what I did.

[nullorvoid]

See, that's the sort of thing that I'm saying makes a difference between people. Some would be convinced that helping their friends was worth the toll, others would feel like what they did wasn't worth it in the first place.

It says a lot about someone if they can look back at what they did and stand by it and still regret the result, it's not something we get a lot of.

[stonebones]

I'd ask if that's a good thing but I don't know if I actually want to know. That's probably like cheating anyway.

[nullorvoid]

I don't know how much it can be considered cheating or not given how this place works.

[stonebones]

What do you mean?

[nullorvoid]

It's not like you're going to remember it anyway, once all's said and done.

[stonebones]

What?

[...and then he remembers that this is a text conversation and he needs to actually reply.]

Why do you say that?