SWITCHBOARD

[transmittable]

If you'd like to ask the Transmitter something over the phone, go right ahead! The Transmitter will answer the phone as soon as she's available. Leaving messages is impossible, given how old these phones are, but you should be able to reach her at almost all hours.

Comments are screened for privacy; all Patients are offered confidentiality, didn't you know?

Comments

[transmittable]

But you got it. All you need sometimes is one good piece of evidence or response.

[nachetanya]

I can't help but wonder if I would have gotten it sooner if I knew the man better. But... it's not like me to dwell on what-ifs.

[ As she well knows. ]

I actually wanted to ask you a question, if that's alright?

[transmittable]

Shoot. We may not be able to answer it, though. Keep that in mind.

[nachetanya]

Of course, we've discussed that before.

[ Exhale, ]

Of the four who have died so far, who are you most sympathetic towards?

[transmittable]

[ ...Oh. ]

That wasn't...what I was expecting. Why are you curious about that?

[nachetanya]

I want to know how you think... Or perhaps more importantly, how you feel.

[transmittable]

I guess...Beholden. I have some sympathy for all of them, however.

[nachetanya]

Beholden... Arietta? [ She nods ]

That's interesting, because I'd actually say Felicia.

[transmittable]

It's a hard choice between them for me.

[nachetanya]

Are you willing to explain why Arietta stands out to you? I could explain why Felicia does to me, if you don't already know.

[transmittable]

Unwavering, I assume, is because she holds the most...uh, innocence, in this whole mess. She was just trying to comfort a scared girl and protect the people close to her. I can respect that.

Beholden, for me... It's a few things. Her family motivations, for one. Her reaction to the...full rules. How she didn't quite realize what she was getting herself into.

Again, all of them hold some kind of... I can find a place for all. Systematic was trying to help someone she believed needed it. Diligent acted in memory of his fallen clan, those important to him.

[nachetanya]

I can appreciate the change Arietta had when she learned of the complete rules. It makes me wonder if she might've chosen not to act if she learned it would be twenty-nine instead of one. But that's a hypothetical.

[ She trails off a little here, mixing the lemon and water in silence for a moment. ]

To me... To me, both today's killer and her's motivations aren't something I can find myself respecting.

[transmittable]

You really aren't a fan of revenge, are you?

[nachetanya]

It isn't for any moral reason.

[ She has to know that, of course ]

It just seems too short-sighted, stuck in the past. You can't call that a goal or ambition. It's hardly even a duty, because you aren't serving anyone else but yourself and your memories of the fallen.

[transmittable]

Aren't memories important? Couldn't it be considered some kind of honor, or justice?

[nachetanya]

[ She shakes her head, which makes the phone slip - she hurriedly shift her head to catch the phone again. Oops. ]

If it can be called justice, then it's not as effective a justice as creating a better world or even a better life for yourself. For example, if me or my soldiers had acted with revenge against my father for that civil war her started, he would have died and the soldiers loyal to him would have been removed. That would have been a catastrophe for Piena. It was far more...

Prudent?

It was far better to keep him as a figurehead until he dies. He will eventually anyway, and the peaceful transfer of the throne to me is as better justice for the chaos he caused.

[transmittable]

That is true. But not every situation is as such. If you were in Diligent's, for example. You don't know all the details and I won't explain what I know more, but... What would you do?

If someone murdered everyone you cared about, and it was a coincidence that you didn't join them, can you surely say you wouldn't harbor any feelings of resentment or revenge?

[nachetanya]

I can't. [ . . . ] In fact, I'm certain I would feel a strong sense of resentment. But I would hope I could move past that, and find a new home to situate myself in. By the sound of it, he did.

[transmittable]

But those feelings never left. They still stayed in him. I don't say this to belittle or...insult his new life, but sometimes it's not easy to let go. It's admirable when you can, but...understandable when you can't.

That, I think, is where those feelings come from.

[nachetanya]

[ Mmm. ]

I still can't respect that. But you knew I would think that way.

[ . . . ]

I agree that they're all sympathetic, though. Every one of them showed compassion.

[transmittable]

That I did.

...Was I right, about Unwavering for you? Or did you have more there?

[nachetanya]

No, you're correct. I didn't know more about Felicia, so I can't say anything about her goals or hopes. But she was kind and was killed for it.

[transmittable]

I'm noticing... A lot about a person has to do with their goals for you, doesn't it? What you think of them, how you interact.

[nachetanya]

I believe that what goals, dreams, ambitions that someone holds in their heart can tell you more about someone than nearly anything else.

[transmittable]

More than the interactions you have with them? More than the actions they take to achieve those dreams?