text post; un: peerless_cucumber

[xiaoxiuya]

It seems that several of us have already located the keys to "our" personal safety deposit boxes, and found items of a very personal nature contained therein. Likewise many of you may also have discovered that these objects carry a curse most peculiar, which compels the person who recognizes them to speak of the circumstances surrounding these objects which weigh most heavily on their memory.

This one would like to take this time to remind everyone that we exist now in a new world, subject to no laws but those we make ourselves. It strikes this one as nonsensical to persecute each other for things we may or may not have done elsewhere, especially when those with shameful memories may struggle to convey the full context which lay behind their remembered actions. This is said not to justify or apologize for the crimes some of us may have committed in another world, but simply to promote harmony in this one. We have no allies here but each other; shall we allow our mysterious captors to turn us against each other so easily?

[no shen yuan doesn't have a guilty conscious shut the fuck up]

Comments

@star.lord | text

[nostalgiabomb]

[ A more cultured, erudite person might say, "The lady doth protest too much."

What Peter Quill says is, ]

so who did you kill

[xiaoxiuya]

NOBODY!!!

...I might have sent someone to a fate worse than death, though...

Anyway who did YOU kill, huh, that that's your first response??

[nostalgiabomb]

a lot of people, probably. don't really have an exact number. nameless henchmen and lackeys kind of blur together after a while

[ Also, there's the small fact that at one point, he had a hand in fucking up a plan that devastated half of the universe for the span of about five years, but that's a long story. ]

so what'd you do?

audio; un: loveless

[limbical]

You sound awfully defensive.

[xiaoxiuya]

How wonderful, someone who can read tone from a text post. You'll go far in life with a skill like that, that's for certain.

[limbical]

It's a shame I ended up as a doctor instead. So much wasted potential.

text; un: archon

[onlythans]

is that your theory, then

some manner of curse to bring our sins into the light
and offer us up to public scrutiny?

text post; un: peerless_cucumber

[xiaoxiuya]

That is my theory precisely. One wouldn't want the rats in their maze to get too comfortable, now would they? They might start unionizing against you.

text | @stray

[kampfgeist]

are you telling us this because someone did that
or because you did something you don't want to be judged for

text post; un: peerless_cucumber

[xiaoxiuya]

Do I seem like someone with a guilty conscience to you?

[kampfgeist]

...yeah

text | un: AbyssalBlade

[alloriginalheavenlypillar]

Laoshi, you can rest easy.

I haven't seen anyone fighting.

private text message

[xiaoxiuya]

Is Binghe not going to ask what I found?

[alloriginalheavenlypillar]

Not here, where our captors can see.

[He'd like the illusion of privacy.]

I'll be home soon, and laoshi can show me, alright?

un: stratos

[lockingout]

Okay, I'll grant you that moral codes may differ between worlds. I'll also grant you that there are circumstances that are hard to convey without going real in-depth on the history of your specific world. Useful stuff to keep in mind.

But now you've made me curious: what would you do if someone confessed something to you that you find utterly abhorrent and unforgivable?

[xiaoxiuya]

I would want to know why they did it; if there were other options, and how likely they are to do it again. A one-time murderer, for instance, is rather different from someone who makes a habit out of it, and different as well from someone who killed in self-defense but simply feels bad about it.

What would you do?

[lockingout]

You're a pretty patient type, huh?

Let's say it's someone who's done something you cannot forgive and they don't regret it. Might even do it here.

Personally, I'd love to see them incarcerated or even dead depending on the severity of the crime, but... Do we even have a way of achieving as much? Killing punishes the killer as well and doesn't hold. Imprisoning someone would likely be punished as kidnapping or something.

Meaningfully turning onto each other is gonna be pretty difficult even if we tried.

un: DocHolliday, text

[ihavecharacter]

Yes. I have noticed that particular curse. It does seem unusual.

A lawless country. That is perhaps as dangerous as ones with laws. Though, I cannot truly judge someone for crimes they have committed when I committed enough of my own. Unless that crime is shooting someone in the back.

[xiaoxiuya]

But what if one person shoots another in the back because there was a gun held to their own head? Are they still morally culpable?

Just because there are no laws here does not mean we don't have a moral obligation to treat each other kindly, in the spirit of mutual aid and cooperation. To do otherwise would be to allow our ad hoc society to descend into true anarchy and create needless suffering; I see no point in hurting each other when our captors are clearly perfectly capable of hurting us themselves.

It would be better, I think, to let past crimes remain in the past, and to judge each other on the merits of our behavior since arriving in this city. To treat each other as fresh slates, as it were. With so many people from so many different worlds, it's not as though we have any basis for judging each other's past other than possibly-unreliable self-incrimination, anyway.

[ihavecharacter]

There is always a way even with a gun pointed at your head. I would find a way.

I have a code I follow and that is far more important to me than most laws. But it is bendier as well.

It is possible we may not be able to run from what came before because inevitably, what has happened will still shape how we act, will it not?

text, un: displayname

[strongroots]

[ Well, shit, star.lord up there stole what he wanted to say.

But: ] are you really gonna trust anyone who shows up here just because we got trapped together

text post; un: peerless_cucumber

[xiaoxiuya]

At least as far as I would trust any random person I passed in the street of a large city, and quite a bit more if I think it may improve our shared circumstances.

And why shouldn't I? As you said, we're all trapped here together.

[strongroots]

people dont do whats in their best interest even without being kidnapped to an empty city. getting caged makes people do stupid stuff. some dont need an excuse

idk. feels like theres too many of us with different backgrounds to really trust or think were gonna work together

text, un: duomaxwell

[heeroics]

[ well then. someone's been up to some shit, from the sound of it ]

are you speaking to all of us

or one of us?

text post; un: peerless_cucumber

[xiaoxiuya]

It was a general announcement meant for everyone's benefit, I assure you.

[Sure, Jan.]