Week 3, post-execution; Hiro

[sylfied]

[ What a day. More precisely, what a couple of days, and Fie can't really think of a word to describe everything that's happened beyond "bad". But with so many deaths fresh on her mind, it's hardly the time to try and nap everything away. Instead, ice cream in hand, Fie takes to wandering in the off-chance that she'll either find a quiet spot to think or she'll come across someone she doesn't mind seeing.

It's the latter this time, when she spots Hiro, and her quiet sigh is pretty much inaudible as she approaches. ]

Hiro.

Comments

[sylfied]

Murder is murder.

... But I think there's always a reason for it. It might not always be a good reason, but it's never really black and white.

[zerotohiro]

Yeah I would agree with that. I never thought Jack had a good reason unless maybe Mello was attacking him first, but we still don't know what happened. Jack made it sound like Mello got in the way of Jack's job, but...we'll never know.

That's one of the problems this island has, I think. A lot of people see things in black and white but how do you tell people not to do that without making them even angrier?

[sylfied]

You don't.

[ simply. ]

They either figure it out themselves, or they condemn people to die without really thinking about it.

[zerotohiro]

You mean like what just happened? [Is he bitter? A little.] I really, really hope people start figuring it out or we're losing even more innocent people because nobody's thinking stuff through.

It's been almost four weeks now and we haven't successfully caught a killer. At what point does it become a problem with how we're operating instead of the killer doing a good job?

[sylfied]

It really might be both. There's still a lot we don't know.

... And either we trust each other or we don't, and either we die or don't. Again, it's not black or white.

[ ... ]

I mean, I guess we got a killer by accident.

[zerotohiro]

I can't say I'm not making things more difficult that way...there are still people I won't trust by principle of things, but it's people who've proven they can't be trustworthy, I suppose.

...do you trust people more now than you did?

[sylfied]

... Maybe a few.

[ Trust still comes slowly, and it's not like she was thrown into situations where trust means she'll stay alive a little longer or at least get a passing grade-- but Fie isn't the same entirely distrustful kid she was when she was first thrown into an orienteering exercise, either. ]

[zerotohiro]

Good. [There's a little nod.] I can't force people to trust anybody else, but I think...as long as you have some people to trust here you'll be okay? Just like the rest of us. It's all we can do otherwise we're going to tear ourselves apart.

[sylfied]

Which is what they'd probably want, anyway.

[zerotohiro]

I'd say "do you really think this group of people will give in to what the Chiefs want", but...we're not exactly the most organized group of people. Either way, the Chiefs are getting their way.

[sylfied]

...

[ yeah, she's just giving Hiro a rather flat stare. ]

[zerotohiro]

[A raised eyebrow.]

Am I wrong? We can't even follow basic instructions, dude.

[sylfied]

... You're not wrong. But people are always going to argue.

[zerotohiro]

I know. Back where you're from, how did you get people to stop fighting? [Is that a thing that even occurred?]

[sylfied]

... Well, it was more that we just worked on minimizing casualties.

[ NOT VERY WELL. ]

[zerotohiro]

Even that would work considering where we are. Anything you can think of we can apply here?

[sylfied]

... Threatening to beat them up?

[zerotohiro]

...do you think anybody would take us seriously if we did that? [No, kids.]

[sylfied]

Only if you followed through with it.

[zerotohiro]

We could try to follow through with it but there are a lot of tall people on the island. We'll think of something else.

[sylfied]

Size isn't everything.

[ did you not see her take on Jaffar, sometimes you just need a good shot at the crotch. ]

[zerotohiro]

Then how about I be the brains and you be the brawn of the operation? [Yes he absolutely did, but he's also used to outsmarting people instead of beating them up. Let him live.]

[sylfied]

... Sure. I can swing that.

[zerotohiro]

Then we've got a plan for the week. [There's a flash of a grin, but...]

...I'm not ready to head back yet. Are you?

[sylfied]

[ a pause-- and then she shakes her head. ]

Nope, not really.

[zerotohiro]

Cool. The oasis it is, then. [And he'll lead on so long as there are no objections. Everybody can mourn over what just happened. But hiding out for a while doesn't sound like a bad deal either.]