audio

[idkmybffbloodwing]

So, most 'a you already know that a few of us did some exploring of the deeper parts of the ship last month, and found a painting that seemed dead set on stalking us through the hallways. Jaye put up pictures of the thing if you missed that somehow. If anyone with chemistry skills has some free time, I've got a bottle here with some of the paint, or whatever it is, that I flaked off of one instance of the painting, since we thought it might be helpful to know what exactly a moving mural is made of. Lemme know if you're interested.

Comments

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

[Coolly:]

No.

[voice]

[supfirehawk]

Yeah, that gives me a lot of faith in your abilities.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

I don't care about your faith. I have abilities, and they're undeniable. Whether or not you believe in them says something about you, not about me.

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

It says somethin' about you too, if make it sound like you're all impressive an' then won't say why. I think in a case like that, disbelief is pretty damn normal. 'Specially since you're the one who insists on evidence instead of takin' someone's word for it.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

Save that you're not asking for explanation of my abilities. You're asking for me, ultimately, to prove that I've - what was it? - suffered an injury "worse than a papercut." Which you have no right to speculate upon, let alone know about.

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

Look, hombre, I have no need to know any of that shit. You're the one makin' a big deal out of it. You stick to your world of chargin' people for things they don't deserve, an' I'll stick to mine.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

My good hombre - [He says that with sneering condescension - ] Let's review the facts. You were punished for attempted murder. Did you attempt murder?

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

Sure. But killin' someone's not always wrong. Not somethin' you get arrested for, anyway.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

Yes, it is.

[There is no irony there. There's no haughtiness, either. For just a moment, it's the unvarnished, earnest anger of an uncompromising idealist.]

Killing is always, always wrong. Without exception. To take a life is never acceptable.

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

[And now he's just trying not to laugh too hard, though there's a snicker that gets through.]

Really, your world's that easy, huh? Never a justification for anyone to kill someone, no matter how many lives they save in doin' so?

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

[And his jaw tightens, but - ]

If someone needs to be stopped, they'll be put in prison. That is how we save lives. [And, hot-tempered:] And I don't see how the matter of saving innocent lives is worthy of derisive laughter, sir.

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

Oh, I'm not laughing at saving lives, I'm laughing at you.

See, some places don't have prisons, 'cause those cost a lotta money to run. You gotta feed, house, clothe, an' clean up after all your prisoners, an' you gotta have guards watchin' 'em all the time, an' you gotta have the people who tell the guards what to do, an' pay 'em. And on and on. Sometimes if someone's enough of a problem, killing that person's the best solution for everyone, 'cause you sure can't keep him around.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

Right.

Or maybe the solution is to build a damned infrastructure so that people like you can't snivel on about your justifications for committing murder.

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

I'd love to see you try to build infrastructure on Pandora, I really would. I'd wish you the best. Takes time, though, if it's even possible. So what do you do until then?

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

Why, clearly you engage in mass slaughter unchecked on both sides, until the only ones left standing are those with the greatest facility for murder.

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

Well damn, aren't you a pessimist. It doesn't actually turn out that way, obviously.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

"Obviously." Oh, right. Apologies. I'm sure the outcome is much sunnier. Just, what, lynch mobs?

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

Nah, you get small towns setting up here an' there. Cooperation's critical to surviving on some'a the border worlds. They pay me to get rid of the ones that don't cooperate, an' I keep the lawless cannibal bandit population an' the dangerous native wildlife population down while I'm out traveling, so for the people who're actually, genuinely good people, they stay safe.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth scoffs viciously.]

"Genuinely good people" who ask you to kill.

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

Gonna criminalize the entire populations of several planets, huh? Good luck puttin' that many people in your prisons.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

My thanks.

[And that's sarcastic, but more directly - ]

If they call for death, or exchange money for it, they're not good. They're as culpable as you are, who pulled the trigger.

[voice]

[idkmybffbloodwing]

They're just looking out for their own survival. I didn't make the system the way it is today, an' I sure as hell don't have the power to change it. If for some reason you find yourself stuck in Sanctuary when all this is said an' done, an' you want to? Have at it. I might even help keep you alive. Unless all the people there decide you're too much trouble, heh.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

[Sharply:]

I would never want the help of a man who thinks that killing is permissible.

[voice]

[supfirehawk]

Your world must be a simple one if you can paint things black and white that easily.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

[Sarcastically:]

You're right. That's probably the explanation that Occam's razor would dictate. That my entire world is some magnificently simplistic construct, like nothing that's ever been seen before. That's probably more likely than "Miles Edgeworth might have a legitimate philosophy that differs from mine and which arises from having observed legitimate facts."