voidtreckernet | Nebula 16

VIDEO|CW: ZOMBIE RELATED STUFF

Alright. Alright. One of those opinion posts.

[For those that don't know Murphy, the man on the screen outright just looks likes Voltaire wet dream, complete with red skin, Satan aesthetic, black suit with a red shirt and he's got the voice of a story-telling podcaster.]

Moral Quandary Time! Where do you draw the line in killing people? Are you a 'no, never' person? A 'only in self-defense person'? A 'the world'd be better without this person' person? Maybe even a 'You killed my father, prepare to die!' type. Or, maybe? All it would take is something that'll line your pockets.

Maybe the setting counts. Somewhere like my world, where billions of undead roam hungry and the living trample each other to survive. Definitely one where even the softest heart would be hard-pressed to stay their hand. Or you go to one of those colorful, magical places where the grass looks like astroturf and there are rainbows with no clouds. But you found out all the cute, adorable fuzzy things there were slowly going to cause the extinction of five other species.

This isn't just a question about murder philosophy. Missions are tough and some just want to help and some of us are desensitized. You might need someone who can easily do what you'd struggle with. Then again, you might need someone with a little more patience so you don't snap someone's neck.

[Murphy withholds the question about whether someone would rather him get information one way or the other if it came down to a choice. He'll wait on that one 'cause he's sure the initial answer would be, 'I would rather you do neither.]

Also hello to the new people! Hiiii. Yeah. You might get mindfucked. There's a lot of that recently. I'm sure someone else with a healthy dose of PTSD can fill you in on how that went.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So, what about soldiers or bodyguards? Technically that might be construed as 'self-defense' in a way, but it is a job they chose and trained for because they believed in someone or something.

Hey, I've absolutely killed. I've also absolutely given people the slip instead of provoking a fight.

[He's also made other people kill for him. Gonna... leave that one out, even if he'd absolutely argue that they deserved it.]

'Mindfucked'. Verb. Past tense. Means having your mind invaded and your reality twisted around to suit a particular need. Can be done therapeutically or as a hostile action or for entertainment. Therapeutic use commonly called 'hypnosis'.

PTSD. Abbreviation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A condition where people end up being driven into panic over reminders of past incidents, often reacting with fear and violence in safer situations because of survival instinct. And then you go and either worry or piss off everyone around you in the process. But I come from a place where it's all stress all the time, so...

Sometimes you don't get away from that one.

... I still try to knock them out and not kill them.

[He still doesn't understand a lot of those words, but he can get enough to have a basic idea.]

I'm supposed to either save or doom the world. I can't... go around killing people. I'm supposed to be ... I don't know. I don't want to say 'better than that', but I'm not... mortal. Not really. I should only kill if I really have no other choice.

Like... like if someone's hurting other people and you know they... won't stop. No matter what.

[He's not sure who he's trying to convince here anymore. His face is a little pale.]

So you're pretty practiced at disabling someone in a fight? Always a risk for permenant damage, but hey? They're alive, right?

So, we go into these missions at teams, right? Let's say in some mission we go into one and it's not a case of 'evil mystical sci-fi force' attack. It's just two sides in a war. One down-trodden and one deeply steeped in propaganda.

You might have to put-down some real people, but they're some real right-wing hateful bigot assholes. We're talking people that really get off on dominating people they see as 'lesser'. Would you rather take some people in to try and appeal to their leaders, or would you rather just take a hit squad. Or take one, and then the other if it doesn't work, but knowing in the time that you're convincing them people are going to be dying.

...Or would you rather not mess with that and just go liberate some PoWs?

I don't...

[Right. Just follow what he can.]

People who enjoy hurting other people are awful. Those people... if I couldn't convince them with words - them, not their leaders - then I would have to... to fight them. I've... fought someone who was like that before.

He tortured people. To try to find me. Innocent people. I didn't want to kill him but I... had to. Maybe that's why I lost control.

I wish I didn't kill the rest of the soldiers, though.

... I'd rather set people free, but if I had to choose I... would fight them. If they were really evil people like that.

[Welp, someone who learned about PTSD today does sure sound like he probably has some PTSD. Especially if he'd opt for the one path over the other.]

And if there was someone there that showed up, said they could stop them another way. And they're pretty confident of it. Would you take them up on it, let them try?

Or would you not want to give them the chance to backslide?

I think I'd let them try. I guess it depends on what they'd want to try to do.

I've seen a lotta things work. I've seen them not work, too. It's up in the air.

[Murphy's been the guy that's done the convincing, he's been the guy that's had to be convinced, he's been successfully swayed and he's outright refused. He knows it's very situational from all angles.]

You have people that have pulled it off?

... Not in that kind of situation, no. But there's a lot of different people here, really different from the sort of people I know.

See? That is exactly what I'm feeling like. We have all these other options we didn't have before. My world was a cesspit. Killing was necessary. But if people could be say, frozen, and then you run away? Oh I'd love that.

But what if there's a moment where you need information? Time is of the essence, the villain refuses to give his master plan speech, and the clock is ticking. If you can decide the guy is expendable, then I can get that information.

Nebula 16

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