People like him. Psychopathy, sociopathy, they've had a lot of words for it over the years. Some of them can be "functional". Find a job that scratches their itches, blend in, maybe even actually try to compensate for their impaired empathy. Some of them only ever stay small. Petty crimes, anti-social behaviour.
I did not know what it was... we do not have these words where I come from. I thought him... he reminded me of courtiers, at home. They deceive, you see, say vile things one minute, then pretty things the next. You never know what it is they truly want.
I just never thought... I thought... that was all it would be... that he would do John's work... for some power bid. Not... not... this.
If you had military, or jobs with some kind of remove, maybe things that most wouldn't have a stomach for, people like him probably ended up there. Politics, too, but they need to have some understanding of emotions in order to emulate and manipulate them, and a reason to put in the effort.
[Like worming into Quentin's life. His heart.]
That's probably what you saw. Him swapping masks when he realised one wasn't working on you.
There is one... I knew well who... who behaved that way, is all. One moment he was charming, the most beautiful and loving man you had ever met. He was named He Whom The Sea Smiles With, because to be in his presence when he was glad was like the whole world smiled with him.
But when we were alone, he... he would change, and if I corrected certain matters, he would grow furious with me. [ Frown, picking at a thread. ] Sometimes it would just be to belittle me for it. Other times, he would strike me when it set him into a rage.
I can't psychoanalyse someone from anecdotes. I can't tell you if he was like Danny, or something else. There's a hundred other conditions and disorders that can lead to people acting that way. Or he could've just been a dick.
But I'm sorry. No one should have to go through that.
The human mind's a tapestry of everything we've experienced, everyone we've ever known, all layered over whatever chemistry we were born with, any injuries or illnesses that might've changed that along the way. He'd need to be unpicked, bit by bit, all the way back to the start, then put back together. And there's no guarantee that whatever makes him this way isn't just in the threads themselves.
I'm not going to talk justice with you, Gilia. My world's nothing like yours, yours is nothing like here, and none of us can go against what the local system decides without starting something worse.
But what he did to Quentin was more than blood, and more blood won't fix it.
Forgive me, I meant not to pry upon your thoughts nor expect an answer from you like there could ever be one that is simple or easy.
I only long to understand, so I may be better of use to those whom I love and wish to help. I have been sheltered from much and - the context was far different, but I always thought better to... to say that I do not know, and to ask what I can hope to learn.
Even if the fault is mine for speaking so plainly as to cause such division, but perhaps that is the clearest lesson I can have.
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And then, sometimes, you get the ones like him.
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[ She frowns, rubs her head. ]
I did not know what it was... we do not have these words where I come from. I thought him... he reminded me of courtiers, at home. They deceive, you see, say vile things one minute, then pretty things the next. You never know what it is they truly want.
I just never thought... I thought... that was all it would be... that he would do John's work... for some power bid. Not... not... this.
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[Like worming into Quentin's life. His heart.]
That's probably what you saw. Him swapping masks when he realised one wasn't working on you.
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she hates that a lot. ]
Do... do they not like it... to be wrong... and if you need to correct them...?
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But when we were alone, he... he would change, and if I corrected certain matters, he would grow furious with me. [ Frown, picking at a thread. ] Sometimes it would just be to belittle me for it. Other times, he would strike me when it set him into a rage.
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But I'm sorry. No one should have to go through that.
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[She cleared her throat, as best she could to put on her tone of a removed noble woman. ]
We are a powerful family, if nothing else, I must suspect that most of all.
I ask because... because is there... is there truly no hope for Danny? Nothing at all could be done for him?
[ all her damning words, her high judgement of a queen, but without the pressure, she is still who she is, one who always hoped for better. ]
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It does not change what he has done. Quentin and Felipe were still murdered.
The blood is still blood.
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But what he did to Quentin was more than blood, and more blood won't fix it.
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I only long to understand, so I may be better of use to those whom I love and wish to help. I have been sheltered from much and - the context was far different, but I always thought better to... to say that I do not know, and to ask what I can hope to learn.
Even if the fault is mine for speaking so plainly as to cause such division, but perhaps that is the clearest lesson I can have.
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You just said they are always about us. I fear that hope is not one I can believe, as of now.