lastvoyages Inbox

[forensicks]

[Walter has recorded a video message from the point of view of someone who has just come through the door into his cabin and sees Walter at his desk in the chair turned around to face the viewer. He gives a little salute-wave.]

Didn't get me. But nice try.

Comments

[forensicks]

No— that's not what I'm saying. If you're twisted enough to want to do something transgressive in the first place, and you no longer care about getting caught, and no one prevents you from doing it, then you're going to do it. And that's what happens here. All the time.

[abrightboy]

That's why consequences have to be meaningful enough to quell the urge to do those things. They have to untwist the people so they don't want to.

[forensicks]

Well, did the taste thing do any untwisting?

[abrightboy]

I don't know, Walter. I'm not allowed to talk to her.

[forensicks]

But like... No, right?

[abrightboy]

I can't know that without talking to her. I'd like to be unkind and say 'no'. I'd like to be unkind and slap her right across the face. But honestly? It might have had an effect that was just... too small to stop this particular impulse. Or it might have had no effect at all except to breed resentment in her. Hard to say without talking to her.

[forensicks]

So it's almost like there's some kind of reason societies have objective laws instead...

[abrightboy]

Y’think?

[forensicks]

Yeah, you know, "lawless" and "no justice" are terms with very negative connotations.

[abrightboy]

And quite rightly so, in my opinion.

[forensicks]

So, you know, a social experiment where prisoners are detained both with extremely short sentences and with cruel and unusual punishments... would be problematic?

[It's not the first time he's used this exact framing.]

[abrightboy]

If it were meant to be a justice system, absolutely.

[forensicks]

[LOUD SIGH OF FRUSTRATION]

[abrightboy]

I understand that it frustrates you that this isn't as simple as "you did X, so your punishment is Y", because that would mean you would know what you have to do or how long you have to wait to go home. But look at it this way: this is meant to be a journey of self-discovery, so that you can learn what brings you misery and what brings you genuine joy and you can go back to your life in a way that makes living it more satisfying than it was the first time. And there's not a set amount of time or a set 'punishment' that can make you learn that. You can resist looking into yourself and I think you largely have, because you consider it drinking the Kool-Aid, but you're the one prolonging your time here, in that case.

[forensicks]

[Longer, more frustrated sigh.]

Yeah. I am a bad person. I am the problem. Is that what you want to hear? Because "criminal gets to just move on and live a satisfying life" is drinking the Kool-Aid. I know that because... Whatever. I obviously don't know anything.

[abrightboy]

You're not a bad person. You wouldn't be here if you were a bad person. And 'the problem' is... problematic, because you're not the problem, but a problem you have is your choice of perspective. So tell me how you know 'that'.

[forensicks]

There are no bad people here? Citation needed.


But you don't actually want to hear it, do you? You'll just be like, Walter you're mean, wrong, hurting my feelings on purpose, and generally unable to think about anyone but yourself.

[abrightboy]

There are people here who have done bad things. Very bad things. Unforgivable by some metrics. But they don't take people who are unredeemable.

I find your interpretation of my reaction to things you've done and said pretty fascinating. Tell me. Because I do want to hear it.

[forensicks]

[He is still mad about Walter "weaponizing" things!! Walter doesn't think of it that way. He thinks being deceptive and manipulative are different. Well, it's still a good lesson for him to learn that those things are bad.]

Because people who have killed twenty three people for fun don't get better. They don't look inward and figure out what's wrong with them together. Don't you remember? I don't see the line from point A to point B. [tiny pause] Ideally more detail than "I just want to help people" would be nice.

[abrightboy]

That's why I'm pretty reasonably sure my dad would never end up here. He's an irredeemable monster and he's right where he belongs. He killed people for fun and he's not sorry. And I don't want to be him. Is that the sort of detail you were looking for? But you're not him, either. And you are redeemable. And we're going to get you there, however long it takes. Because while I do want to help people, I specifically want to help you, whether that makes sense to you or not.

[forensicks]

[He gapes like a fish. It indeed does not make sense to him. Why? Is this how they get you? By accepting you even though they also make it clear you're a burden? Then, brattishly:]

Collins has killed practically twenty three people for fun here and he graduated like last week.

[abrightboy]

Has he? Keeping a tally is helping you how? Is looking at everyone else giving you any useful information about graduation? Or is it just a way to avoid looking at yourself?

[forensicks]

I figure we can have two problems. We can have an adorkable antihero viewpoint character who occasionally resorts to problematically depraved displays of violence and a supporting cast of maniacs. Am I supposed to just ignore this? Because that's what I've been doing to get through the day.

[abrightboy]

First of all: you take everything I say to an extreme. I'm not saying to ignore everything. But second of all? You don't ignore anything. How many years back have you read through the network to connect the dots of what you think you know?

[forensicks]

You can kill half a dozen people on a murder spree here and go home is an extreme position.