Dictation - 6 [Text]

[drabsolutelynot]

[Rosen has now been in the cave going on 7 months. He's marked out the time on his laptop,  little digits scribbled here and there between his thoughts and observations. 7 long months and as he scrolls through his records, inconsistent as they are due to the lapses in his mental capacity over the past few months, he finds certain reoccurring issues. Most are to be expected, issues of loneliness, fear, and an overwhelming sense of uselessness. However, there are others. Ones that keep him awake late into the night. One's that linger in the way he chews at the corner of his mouth or the way he uncomfortably flexes his fingers.

Prominent among those that he can't help but pick at like an annoying scab is the question of killing. A question that has always dogged him in his very specific line of work and now weighs heavily on his thoughts once again. It is not a coincidence that only a few days earlier a certain friend of his appeared in the clinic wounded and that this same friend subsequently posted to the network asking about the procurement of more bullets for his gun, a weapon that had been implicated as part of the problem in the events that lead to his injuries. 

Lee also hasn't forgotten a certain conversation he had with this same friend weeks earlier, a conversation during which Lee had hoped to convince them to use an alternative and less deadly form of self-defense. Rosen's hopes had inevitably been dashed and though he's tried to let that go, the thoughts that had driven him then are still festering now. 

So now he types out a question, having decided to pose it to the cave as a whole.] 

 

Under what circumstances do you think taking a life is justified? 

Comments

[bythewaves]

I have fought in many wars, and although I have killed again and again, the deaths of many still weigh on me, and likely always will. Mind, I have no such issues with killing orcs. So I suppose you could say that I think it might be necessary, at times, but not usually justified.

[drabsolutelynot]

That is a very interesting distinction you have made.

[And it piques Rosen's curiosity, perhaps as it hits very close to his personal hangups over this issue]

Could you elaborate?

[bythewaves]

A wise Man once said it far better than I - that "War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend". If the Enemy stands before me, and I can do something, then is it not my duty to do so? But to take a life is a grievous thing, and it deals hurts to a soul that are not easily mended.

[drabsolutelynot]

Do you believe that hurt can ever actually be mended?

go not to the elves for they will say both yes and no... sorry Rosen

[bythewaves]

I do not know. [ he says slowly ]

The scars on my own soul are far crueler than those of a war that must be fought, although those also I have known. I think those obtained from necessity can heal. Whether they will or not, is another question

[drabsolutelynot]

If they could heal, would you want them to?

[bythewaves]

[ His eyes are very old and tired ]

I do not deserve to have my injuries healed.