1-800-BUGGELOO | video | un: rin

[offinventory]

[ Green = Midoriya | Blue = Murderbot | None = Locals ]

Beasts can be people. I had to see if there was a person in there. That's why I used a Moon Drop on the Bugge.

Waste of a Moon Drop... Just kill it like we all do, Deku. [ The voice comes from a grizzled Hunter with their hand on their hilt. ]

[ Midoriya isn't filming this. He and a group of farmers are the subject of this onlooker's stream. A few Hunters are interspersed with them, identifiable by the badges that match Midoriya's own. They know him by his Hero name, Deku. His green Hero gear is lightly stained with his own warmblood. He's bruised and exhausted, but anyone familiar with him knows that he'd be much more injured if he actually came off worse in a fight. ]

If there's a chance I can save someone without killing, I have to try.

These are my crops! The blood of the Bugge enriches them, don't you understand? I have to feed my children! [ A farmer brandishes their harvesting sickle. ]

I--I'm sorry. If you need help, I--Please, let me help. There has to be another way. There are other ways to make the soil better, just--we can figure this out together--

[ Several people in the crowd push forward, and Midoriya flinches with a step back in time with them. He can feel several stabs of alarm in his head. It evokes multiple memories of a group of people ganging up on him, and he's not good at using words to defend himself. He wants nothing more than to wrap his arms around his head and not look at them, but these are people he wants to protect. He has to face them. ]

Congratulations, you are being streamed live to DeerNet. Don't do anything you'd regret.

[ The voice is flat and even, near emotionless but with a slight edge to it. If anyone looks at their relic, it is streaming with a one second delay. ]

[ OOC: replies will come from Murderbot and Midoriya ]

Comments

[wannasmash]

I've never known hunger like that.

[ He should preface with this. It's important to him that he be honest about not knowing things. ]

It's a terrible thing. [ This said softly. ] It's also terrible to kill someone over and over. I don't want either of those things. I don't want to pick who to save--I want to save everyone. I have to look for a way to do that before I just decide to kill.

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul sighs. He almost wishes he had the optimism and wide-eyed naivete of this kid. So his voice becomes a touch more gentle.]

My dear boy, let me share some wisdom with you. There's something I've learned from watching many of my friends who are good people agonize over this very thing: you can't save everyone no matter how hard you try.

[wannasmash]

Of course not everyone. Someone's probably in danger right now and I don't know about it. But everyone I can reach, I want to.

[survivalthroughhate]

Even when you can reach everyone, there will be a time when you cannot save them no matter what you do.

[He tries to think of a way he can put it.]

Let us say there are two people about to fall off a bridge. One is a young healthy woman with her whole life ahead of her but with no ties to family or friends. The other is an old frail man with not many years left but who is beloved by his large family and many friends. No matter what you do, no matter how fast or strong you are, one of them will die. How would you decide?

[wannasmash]

I had to answer a problem like this back home. Two of my classmates were in danger in a forest. I would save them both. And if I can't, because there are lots of things I can't do on my own, I make sure there is help.

I don't decide who is more worthy of being saved. Everyone should get a chance. That's what I mean when I say Heroes save everyone. Not all of them do, but they're supposed to.

[survivalthroughhate]

Your capacity for goodness is astounding.

[The words are said in a dry tone but with no real malice behind them. Maul is intrigued by someone who just so staunchly refuses to consider the possibility they will fail in the endeavor to save people.]

You should tell that often to some people around here. They could stand to have someone as full of light as you around them.

[wannasmash]

...Even if what you would do is different?

[ It's not a challenge. It's a small, tired voice. ]

[survivalthroughhate]

Especially if what I do is different. The way I think is.......different compared to many others here.

[And Maul is well-aware by now that is not always a good thing.]

[wannasmash]

Even if it's meddling? Gets in your way? If you wanted to kill someone, and I didn't want you to... I'd have to fight you.

[ He explains this in his usual unassuming manner, the way someone might explain why oil separates from water or why it's dangerous to cross the street without looking. Giving help unasked for is part of what makes a true Hero. His mentor All Might said that to him. This advice hasn't failed him yet. ]

[survivalthroughhate]

That would be your decision. You cannot control what others will do. If I try to kill someone, it is because I think I have good reason to. If you try to stop me, it is because you think there is a good reason to do so. And so you must face the consequences for your actions.

[That's a better answer than Maul would have given a year ago even if it still rings of a lot of stark black and white thinking. He's slowly catching up emotionally in learning about such concepts as actions having consequences the way he should have as a child but he still has a long way to go.]

[wannasmash]

Someone told me that once. People got in his way, and he killed them. He orphaned a little boy, broke my arm, and tried to kill my friends. He said it was fun.

If I had known more, maybe things would have been different. Or maybe not... But I can't just settle for fighting all the time.

[survivalthroughhate]

Sounds like he was a psychopath. Those are hard to predict the actions of.

[Maul should know, he's been called one about once a week since arriving in Deerington.]

Then that is what you have decided. Some others see the need to fight constantly.

[Also something Maul has decided.]

[wannasmash]

I feel like I have to fight all the time anyway... but there's got to be better ways...

[ He sighs. ]

It's not something I'm gonna figure out soon. That's frustrating.

[survivalthroughhate]

Perhaps there are. But those ways don't always work in a harsh place like this world.

[Again, Maul says this in a more gentle tone than the one he usually uses with people in conversations like this. He doesn't understand Deku but his optimism and capacity for goodness are admirable qualities.]

You're young. Give it another twenty years or so.

[Then again, Maul's in his late thirties and still hasn't figured things out, so there's no guarantee of that.]

[wannasmash]

Twenty years of something being wrong when I could do something about it, [ he mutters, but without acerbity. He will never be sour about someone with more experience offering genuine advice, however impatient he might be. ]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[survivalthroughhate]

Sometimes it just takes a very, very long time to convince everyone else to stop doing the same way things have always been done and to try something new.

[He grins a little.]

Good luck in avoiding angry farmers for the rest of the month.