"Tavros, perhaps." He'd actually been thinking of Karkat, but there were simply a million of the little buggers.
Sirius shakes his head slightly at Eddie's prodding. He doesn't move away, but his gaze does drift inward.
"Weakness isn't quite the word I'd use. It's certainly a clear and brightly labeled trigger, but the bolt could fly in too many different, violent ways."
He looks at Eddie with earnest, honest eyes. Sirius didn't tend to lie very much, but he did muddy the truth with a lot of conversational flourish when the mood struck him. Here and now, though, he gave Eddie the full truth, with words chosen to clarify
"One of the reasons I'm taking an active interest in this is that this obsession with blood is very familiar. I've a lifetime of experience dealing with fools who think their blood is more pure than others', and they didn't even have the evidence of it being a different color to prove it. I was raised by those people, and that sort of fanaticism can be extremely difficult to pierce, especially if Gamzee and Eridan have invested a great deal of their self-identity in it."
He leans in a little as well, and talks with his hands, gesturing and pointing at the tabletop.
"Bellatrix is incapable of seeing herself and anyone she meets in terms other than the black and white pedigree she was spoon-fed as a child, even though we're in another world surrounded by a broad spectrum of people with amazing powers, because that pedigree means that she can do whatever she wants without repercussion. In her eyes, no one here is fit to judge her. She names me traitor for rejecting the entire pureblood concept for the tripe it is, but I am still a more worthy person than you in her eyes, simply because you've no magic. Yes, this makes her a rabid idiot, and it means that she underestimates muggles to a foolish degree, but it also means that she is beyond redemption, and feels not the slightest twinge of conscience at torturing or killing muggles, because you are not people to her. Gamzee and Eridan are still young, so perhaps there's some hope for him yet, but by the time I was their age I'd already drawn my line in the sand and there was a very short list of people whose opinions I considered important. Unless we can find someone they truly respect and listen to, these kids are going to keep on doing whatever the hell they want, and damn the rest of us."
no subject
Sirius shakes his head slightly at Eddie's prodding. He doesn't move away, but his gaze does drift inward.
"Weakness isn't quite the word I'd use. It's certainly a clear and brightly labeled trigger, but the bolt could fly in too many different, violent ways."
He looks at Eddie with earnest, honest eyes. Sirius didn't tend to lie very much, but he did muddy the truth with a lot of conversational flourish when the mood struck him. Here and now, though, he gave Eddie the full truth, with words chosen to clarify
"One of the reasons I'm taking an active interest in this is that this obsession with blood is very familiar. I've a lifetime of experience dealing with fools who think their blood is more pure than others', and they didn't even have the evidence of it being a different color to prove it. I was raised by those people, and that sort of fanaticism can be extremely difficult to pierce, especially if Gamzee and Eridan have invested a great deal of their self-identity in it."
He leans in a little as well, and talks with his hands, gesturing and pointing at the tabletop.
"Bellatrix is incapable of seeing herself and anyone she meets in terms other than the black and white pedigree she was spoon-fed as a child, even though we're in another world surrounded by a broad spectrum of people with amazing powers, because that pedigree means that she can do whatever she wants without repercussion. In her eyes, no one here is fit to judge her. She names me traitor for rejecting the entire pureblood concept for the tripe it is, but I am still a more worthy person than you in her eyes, simply because you've no magic. Yes, this makes her a rabid idiot, and it means that she underestimates muggles to a foolish degree, but it also means that she is beyond redemption, and feels not the slightest twinge of conscience at torturing or killing muggles, because you are not people to her. Gamzee and Eridan are still young, so perhaps there's some hope for him yet, but by the time I was their age I'd already drawn my line in the sand and there was a very short list of people whose opinions I considered important. Unless we can find someone they truly respect and listen to, these kids are going to keep on doing whatever the hell they want, and damn the rest of us."