Scars are souvenirs you never lose ; Catch-All OTA

[moralabsolutism]

Who: Rorschach and you!
What: Catch-all for various stuff in the past month or so.
When: When the characters are interacting.
Where: Where the characters are interacting.

Content Warnings: Rorschach's far right-wing views, others as they come up



I. Patrolling

Rorschach needed a sense of purpose. No matter whether that was in NYC or stuck in a snowy hellscape, he needed to be doing something or he would go even crazier than he already was. To that end, he continued the patrols that he'd had for twenty years now. At least now it was a lot easier. He was able to patrol the entire thing from one end to the other in a single night instead of having to pick a single neighborhood as he would have back home.

Since he did (contrary to his own personal wishes) had to sleep occasionally, he usually reserved his patrols for the night. He'd wake up a few hours before dusk, do whatever he needed to for the day, and then start with guarding the town. He could often be found rapidly climbing up to a rooftop, where he'd stay watching the town from his perch, or descending just as fast to the ground. Oftentimes, he'd jump down while still a good ways off, landing in the snow on his feet. In lieu of having a building to climb, he'd make do with a tree instead.

He had no care for if he freaked anyone out climbing around or watching over them with the intensity of a stalker. Someone had to do this, so it might as well have been him.

II. Library

One also might have seen a curious sight regarding the strange masked man. He would wander into any home that hadn't already been claimed and be searching with a clear purpose. That became clear as he started hauling books back to one of the homes he'd claimed as his own. After being here for several months, he'd begun to realize in-between the struggle for survival, things were awful boring in town, especially without being able to use the TVs or radios for entertainment. To that end, he was beginning to organize a library.

The amount of literature varied greatly from house to house, given the previous occupants' tastes, so he was attempting to organize them all out in such a fashion that it would be easy to sort through them all quickly. Alas for himself, the most books had been found in the home of what he assumed had previously belonged to an old man, given he had owned approximately ninety volumes of Louis L'Amour cowboy stories. Determined to bolster up this literary "junk food" with other works, he was currently scouring another house to find anything that was worth reading.

III. Guilty Party

Rorschach immediately started to struggle when he woke up in such an ominous place. He'd been in the superheroing business long enough to know nothing good was going to come from here. His gaze snapped over to where the other person was when he heard them start to move around. He remained silent rather than engage in any sort of conversation, instead trying to figure out how to get them out of this situation.

When the jackal appeared, he remained stubbornly defiant. This person just screamed villain in that getup and with the weapon they were wielding. Well, he wasn't about to do play their little game, not even if they were carrying a scythe that looked wickedly sharp. What he had done in his past was for him to reckon with and him alone. No one was going to get him to talk unless he wanted to.

It would be in everyone's best interests if they convinced Rorschach to talk before he ended getting carved up like a Thanksgiving Day turkey.

IV. Off The Beaten Path

When Rorschach met the black dog, he went completely stiff. His hands immediately balled into fists and he looked supremely uncomfortable. It was clear he didn't find the creature cute or endearing. If asked why, he'd only say one thing. "Don't like dogs." For that reason, he wouldn't be following the dog no matter how insistent it was in trying to get the vigilante to go after it.

However, he was good for helping anyone else who had fallen for the dog's tricks, helping them get out of any perilous situations that may have befallen them. While he might not say anything directly to the person, he'd be judging them internally. Still, he was determined to help even if he thought the people around him were being morons.

V. Wildcard

[Want to do something different or a specific scenario? Poke me at Light_shade or .lightshade on Discord!]

Comments

[moralabsolutism]

Honestly, the irony of this whole situation was the man across from him confessing to many things that Rorschach had killed people for himself. Those who murdered others only for their own selfish gains had been reason enough in the past for him to decide it was time for them to stop breathing.

The jackal figure stood there for a moment, impassive as they listened to Edward's confession. Then it turned away from him and looked towards Rorschach. It was his turn. For a long period of time, maybe about two minutes, he still didn't say anything. It was in his nature to be a frightfully stubborn person and this was no exception. Still, the confession had been enough for the creature not to stab the pirate. Was it really that simple?

He'd hate to die here just because he was too bull-headed to do what needed to be done. If he died, this town would be down one protector. So he finally spit out a few sentences, his fury still clear at being forced to do this. "Been judge, jury, and executioner for a number of people. All of them deserved it. They were wicked and evil. And the number grows larger all the time." He waited to see if that confession, which honestly was more than he'd spoken to anyone at one time since he'd gotten here, was enough for him to escape the chopping block.

[jackdawvision]

It seems to be enough. The jackal moves then, from one heartbeat to the other, but instead of striking either of them it simply unlocks the bonds around their arms and moves away, back into the shadows from whence it came. Edward undoes the rest of the bonds on himself, then stands up and steps closer to Rorschach, holding his hands up.

"Let me get you free," he says. "I haven't been a pirate in a while, now." He doesn't mention that he's still an active Assassin, and his work is much like Rorschach's own—he acts as judge, jury, and executioner for people who deserve it. He's just sneakier about it. "I don't know where we are, but we can't be too far from town. Can you walk?"

[moralabsolutism]

"So you say." There was suspicion in his tone, staring upwards at Edward, though he didn't object to a helping hand to get him untied. Rorschach didn't believe anyone ever really changed, especially the people who committed the evil deeds of the world. If this man had been a pirate once, he was still a pirate at heart. This meant he might have to start keeping a closer eye on this man...

"Yes," Rorschach said gruffly in response to the question. He'd already shown far too much of his inner self during that little confession and wasn't keen on having to spend anymore time with Edward than he needed to. The man was a murderer and a thief. Under different circumstances, Rorschach would already be plotting a way to kill him.

[jackdawvision]

Edward shook his head, and said, "I mean it. It's been decades since I took the pardon. What would I gain from falling back into it?" Which was true, he hadn't been a pirate in years. But he was still a killer, same as Rorschach, and that was something he hadn't confessed to the jackal because some secrets weren't his to tell, not really. Some secrets were bigger than the two of them.

Still, he'd have to keep a wary eye on the man now, he supposed. Just to make sure the fellow didn't decide to kill him for all the piracy.

"Don't try to stab me, I'm trying to help you," he warned him, before he flicked out the hidden blade from underneath his arm and went to work undoing Rorschach's bonds. "How'd you start out being judge, jury and executioner, anyway?" he asked while doing so, as curious as ever. Nobody who became an Assassin, or something like one, came to the life without some kind of damage.

[moralabsolutism]

"Evil is like an addiction. Easy to fall back into old patterns no matter how long it has been." Fortunately for Edward, Rorschach didn't keep any weapons on him. Not that it had ever kept him from improving with anything and everything that happened to be around him. He observed the hidden blade that had popped out. How curious. He'd have to remember that in any future encounters with this man.

Rorschach had lapsed back into silence as Edward sawed at his bonds. He remained quiet after being asked the question and his voice remained low when he finally answered. "Someone had to." The words sounded serious and heavy in the air, a whole lifetime of trauma behind them. The police were too soft and let people live. Rorschach had seen a need that had to be met and fulfilled it. After he'd started killing, there was no going back to the way things were before.

[jackdawvision]

Edward paused for a moment, eyes downcast, then resumed sawing at the bonds. Nothing is true, the Creed went—good and evil were, ultimately, subjective to some degree, but everyone owed each other some level of responsibility and kindness, or else they'd be little more than animals scrapping over a bit of territory. "Evil's not anything but the harm you do to someone else," he said. "And anyone can do that, mate."

But he didn't judge. Wouldn't. After all, he still killed people, just not because they'd gotten in the way of his prize anymore.

"Why d'you think somebody had to?" he asked, although he figured he could probably guess at why, himself. And it would be—similar enough, to why he kept being an Assassin after he'd left a life of piracy behind him.

[moralabsolutism]

"Some more prone to it than others. Like a reoccurring disease," Rorschach argued as he got up from the chair. Criminals didn't reform. They just got smarter, better at hiding what they did.

There was a long pause as Rorschach tried to gather his thoughts together enough to put them in a form so that he'd make the pirate understand. It wasn't easy, not with how stunted his verbal skills had become. Still, he got enough of it out that he thought Edward would be able to understand his point-of-view. "The police protect people from those they don't understand. Can never hope to understand. I protect police and civilians both from things they will never understand. Some men don't need a trial. Just need to be killed, put down like the savage wild animals they have turned into." That honestly might have been the longest amount of sentences that Rorschach had spoken in a row to anyone in Milton

[jackdawvision]

“I’ve seen disease,” said Edward, who’d been a sailor in the 18th century, and had seen more than his fair share of outbreaks of scurvy and syphilis and other illnesses that could ravage a ship. “It isn’t like that at all. A man may strive to follow the law, to be good and do what’s right, and he might still find himself pushed to the point where he’d do evil. It’s a choice, aye—but I’ve seen it most often made by those in desperate times.”

Not all the time, but so many of the pirates of Nassau had started out privateers, sailing under the King’s blessing. And then the peace had come and they’d all been cut loose so easily, and with no money coming in…well.

But he listened to what Rorschach had to say, and recognized all the similarities between his words and Edward’s own thoughts. The difference was Edward hadn’t thought of those he killed as wild animals—they were people. They deserved that much dignity, even in death. “Some people have to die first,” he said, softly, “before they can do more harm to those around them. That don’t mean they’re little more than animals. Just means you make it quick and painless.”

[moralabsolutism]

"Then they've lost their way. If you're weak enough to lose your morals, don't deserve to live. Evil is still a choice. Better to die a good person than live as one who has harmed others." Of course, Rorschach was a massive hypocrite. He'd harmed plenty of people with his actions and many might consider him to be an evil man given he murdered people without pity or hesitation. But he justified by telling himself he only went after those who were already irredeemably evil in nature.

Rorschach refused to be swayed from his position on killing. "Seen some forms of evil that no normal man could ever commit. No better than dogs in what they do. With a dog, nothing to do but put it down if it won't stop attacking people." It was a mindset he couldn't adjust. If he did, if he saw those he killed as actual people, it would literally drive him insane. At least more than he already was, to a place Rorschach would never be able to come back from.