wilywars_archive (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mosaic_archive) wrote2010-01-23 12:57 pm
mosaic_archive) wrote2010-01-23 12:57 pm
Blues answers a question about altruism
[Below is an archived version of one thread response to a LiveJournal post here, because LiveJournal became hard to impossible for me to access. Icons and threading not preserved, nor are other peoples' replies.]
[Finitevus the Echidna (inverse_chaos@livejournal.com)]
Suddenly, a dimensional portal opens, encircled in a golden ring. Finitevus the Echidna, the Dark Legion's ex-medical doctor, stumbles backward through, as if on the receiving end of a punch to the face. The warp ring magically shrinks back down to size and falls to the ground, completely inert, with a metallic "thunk".
"That was convenient," he says with a sigh, clasping his bandaged hands together. He takes a moment to gather himself before finally asking:
"Would you willingly sacrifice your life for someone else?"
[Finitevus the Echidna (inverse_chaos@livejournal.com)]
Suddenly, a dimensional portal opens, encircled in a golden ring. Finitevus the Echidna, the Dark Legion's ex-medical doctor, stumbles backward through, as if on the receiving end of a punch to the face. The warp ring magically shrinks back down to size and falls to the ground, completely inert, with a metallic "thunk".
"That was convenient," he says with a sigh, clasping his bandaged hands together. He takes a moment to gather himself before finally asking:
"Would you willingly sacrifice your life for someone else?"
Blues' Reply
"Under certain circumstances I might." This from someone sitting in a tree, and not caring if anyone thinks he looks too old to be climbing trees.
[Finitevus the Echidna (inverse_chaos@livejournal.com)]
"Do elaborate. I'm very interested."
[Blues (1st_mistake@livejournal.com)]
"Had a younger sibling go berserk once due to a nasty virus. He stood a very good chance of killing most of the rest of my family, or spreading the virus to them, unless he was stopped. And the odds for that weren't good unless his weapon copy ability was disabled to make him at least a little easier to take down. Doing that meant getting up close and personal with someone who was in a mood to dismember anything they got their hands on."
"I'd developed some power issues and, while I was looking into solutions before all hell broke loose, I'd just run out of time. It was going to knock me out of combat anyway. So I took a good look at the situation and decided I was expendable. Better one of us down than two, or everyone, and I had no interest in outliving my family just to probably end up dead anyway."
"Now, actually surviving that was a much longer story."
[Finitevus the Echidna (inverse_chaos@livejournal.com)]
What an atypical answer, he thought. Altruism as a survival mechanism; things were now starting to come together more clearly. "Do you merely consider it a logical choice, or could there be something more to it?"
[Blues (1st_mistake@livejournal.com)]
"I'm the oldest. Pulling the kids out of messes they can't handle on their own has just been part of being a big brother sometimes. Though I've put some effort into making sure they never get too dependent on me."