week 2 - magnus - saturday, post-trial

[completelycrazy]

[It's late when Newt spots Magnus hanging around outside of the movie theater. Ugh. This guy. Newt is so beyond not in the mood to talk to him right now.

But, well, he'd be lying if he tried to claim their last conversation hasn't been stuck in his head all night.]

Guess we're three for three on Reapers.

[And that's as much as his pride will let him admit defeat.]

Comments

[ruffboi]

Oh. I know Makoto. We fought, she nearly kicked my ass. She's all right.

But if you don't want me to talk to them, or, uh, rough him up a little, what do you want from me.

[completelycrazy]

[His eyebrows raise a bit. That's... both surprising and good to know.

But, hm. He's not sure what he wants, actually. He thinks for a moment, chewing on his lip.]

Why do you trust me all the sudden?

[ruffboi]

Who says I ever didn't? Just didn't like you! Doesn't mean I wouldn't help out if you think some guy's gonna kill you.

[completelycrazy]

Uh.

[Is... that better or worse?? Newt can't tell. Eh. At least he's used to people not liking him.]

Okay, so why did you trust me in the first place? There are seven of us running around trying to kill everyone. [...] I mean, I'm not a Reaper, but... Realistically? You have no way of knowing that I'm telling the truth.

[ruffboi]

[Honestly, it's not that bad. At least, he doesn't seem to be holding onto a grudge, the way he says it.]

Well, that's easy. [Crackling his knuckles, just enough to show off the muscles underneath his partially rolled up sleeves.] Even if you were a Reaper, if you came for me, I'd kick your ass.

Uh. Seriously, though? I don't like, y'know, manipulative shit. If I've got a problem with someone, I wanna punch 'em and work it out. If I wanna kill someone, I'll just kill 'em. I don't really care about hiding from the Reapers. I mean, I have to care some, because I have Taako, and because, uh, there's some really important things I have to do at home. But not enough to just not trust anyone just because they might try to kill me at some point.

[completelycrazy]

[Newt has not missed the muscles. It'd be hard to ignore that Magnus is basically the Hulk and could probably punch anyone here into dust. But.]

You're really that confident that you could take out a Reaper if one tried to kill you? They get, like, special weapons and stuff. And they get to set the stage for whatever they want to do to you. Plus, who knows how these things actually go down? The whole group could come for you at once. They have a definite advantage, dude.

[ruffboi]

Yeah? No, I figured all that? [He's pretty confident.] I mean, if they're going to set the stage for me, all I really ask is they see if Max will let them get a really big monster. It's been a while since I've fought just a real big monster.

[completelycrazy]

[Newt frowns, trying to decide if this is impressive or just stupid. Maybe a little of both, honestly? But, man. He can't even pretend he can't relate. Maybe not on the physical violence side of things, but when it comes to brains? He's pulled this shit before.]

So, it's not that you trust me when I say I'm not a Reaper. It's that you don't care if I am.

[ruffboi]

Mm, little of A, little of B? If I thought you were a Reaper, I'd still talk to you, but I'd tell you to your face what I think. But I don't have any reason to think you are, and that's why I don't care.

I don't even necessarily got a beef with Reapers. Like, fuck Junko, fuck Dahlia, but I dunno. Terra wasn't the worst. It's just that the way things are set up, it's us against them, and they're playing us versus them, so so am I?

[completelycrazy]

[Well. That certainly is an outlook.]

Uh... Okay, but "us versus them" is them trying to kill us. It's not like we're, I don't know, playing baseball or something. The stakes are too high to treat this like it's all in good fun, dude.

[ruffboi]

I mean, I promise I'm not having fun. I'm just saying! There's no special reason why they're better or worse than any other killer, except for the part where they were told they're playing a game where they kill us, and clearly they're rolling with it.

[completelycrazy]

Does it really matter, though? I mean, whether or not they're inherently evil people or whatever. From where I'm standing, the only thing that matters is that they're trying to kill us, and we need to kill them if we want to be brought back to life.

[ruffboi]

We're on the same page with that, buddy! I'm just saying, for me, it isn't personal.

[completelycrazy]

You know the Reapers are Reapers for a reason, right? I don't think they're just chosen randomly, which puts a pretty big damper on your theory that we're all roughly on the same footing morally.

[ruffboi]

...Okay. Look. Honesty time. I've kinda just been telling people this, about Reapers, to get it out there? Just in case. Doesn't mean it's not true, but -

[Pausing to gather his thoughts.]

Uh. I don't really care about moral equivalency? I've never understood why people think right and wrong are so complicated you have to debate over it. Junko and Dahlia seemed pretty bad, and everyone keeps saying Terra was a good guy, but, uh, he strangled someone who didn't hurt anybody and lied to all his friends. Seems bad to me!

But there's a lot of people here who keep saying it, right? Hey, Terra was a good guy. Reapers aren't so bad. Maybe the Reapers are being forced. Like, it's real important to them for us to know about it. So. I can't help but think, hey, do you know something? Got a buddy who told you something? Is it you? And, um, if they are trying to tell us something, I want it out there. I'm listening, now. Once you've killed somebody? I won't be listening anymore.

[completelycrazy]

Hm. Well, for what it's worth, I'm with you on the Terra thing. So, you're thinking the people stuck arguing on behalf of the Reapers either know something or are Reapers themselves? [It's... not the worst theory.]

Gathering more information is always going to be useful, even if it's coming from crazies like Junko or Dahlia. [...] What about the other murders, then? The ones that weren't done by a Reaper?