the truth serum meme.

[batmotif]

The Truth Serum Meme
The cliche and tired trope used to create conflict or acts of realization.

And congrats, now your character is inflicted by such a trope! Be it magic, drugs, or other means. Regardless of how, your character has lost the ability to lie or be dishonest.

Are you going to tell your childhood crush how you really feel? Or maybe tell your best friend about the double life you live? Perhaps this is a good time to admit to murder... hm.

Leave your character's name in the comment section.

Characters ask you a question, you must reply truthfully.

Have fun, no lying.

Comments

[batmotif]

It's not a poor opinion. It's an uninformed one, a problem that I'm trying to clear right this moment.

[snaphiss]

That's also something I don't care much about.

[batmotif]

Really? I wouldn't have guessed.

Is your reluctance a matter of distrust towards me?

[snaphiss]

Is that what this is about? Look, don't take it personally. People with our skillset have to be cautious. You've been better to work with than most.

[batmotif]

I understand that. I just want to be sure there's not a lingering issue that might become a problem during future missions. If we're on the same page, then, I won't ask further.

[snaphiss]

If you wanted to know if I trusted you, you should have just asked that.

[batmotif]

I got around to it, didn't I?

[snaphiss]

After sorting around for information irrelevant to your so-called intentions. If you want me to 'trust' you, this isn't the way to do it.

[batmotif]

Just because I have a question about something specific doesn't mean I'm not also curious about something else. I'm sure you'll get over it.

[snaphiss]

I'll get over it. But don't give me that line about wanting to strengthen a partnership if you'll use any opportunity to get leverage.

[batmotif]

Leverage is a strong word. Besides, you're telling me you wouldn't have done the same?

[snaphiss]

I would have done the same, but I wouldn't have tried to justify it as being for your own good, Bruce.

[batmotif]

Familiarity may eventually, slowly, lead to the smallest sense of comraderie between two people. So I disagree. Even the smallest of advantages is worth trying for.

[snaphiss]

I'm told camaraderie is born of trust, not information pilfered under duress.

But let's try it your way. Why would someone waste their time fighting criminals as an outside agent, rather than enlisting or working to build up preexisting structures. I doubt your planet lacks a police force.

[batmotif]

[But Mara, someone has to put in the effort]

Isn't the answer obvious enough? The outside structures are teeming with corruption, lead by all the wrong people. I can get more done as one man in a single night than the police can in months. They're too busy tied up in red tape.

[snaphiss]

You don't seem very fond of the men and women giving their lives to do the job legally. Not much of a patriot?

[batmotif]

Did I say that? I respect the honest ones, the people who actually give their all to protect innocents, including risking their own lives. But there's only so much they can do within constraints of the law before they reach an impasse. And that impasse will come; Gotham is an unforgiving city.

[snaphiss]

And you have no intention of trying to make it better? That's what patriotism is.

[batmotif]

I'm making it better in the way that I'm able. Others are more equipped to handle change from the inside. [Harvey, for instance, for all the effort he had been putting into it.]

[snaphiss]

All things being fair, I've known men for whom that was the genuine truth. The majority of the Empire's 'vigilantes', though, were truly motivated by fame and the thrill of subverting the law. Undermining Imperial rule while pretending to hold it up.

Can you truly tell me that isn't the case for you?

[batmotif]

[At that, he actually does scoff. There's hardly anything humorous about it.]

Do I look like someone who's motivated by fame? A thrill-seeker? If I wanted, I could have all of that and not even bother being a vigilante.

I do what I do because I can. Because Gotham is my home, and its people need protecting.

[snaphiss]

Hm. Then it seems you're truly one of the rare ones worth leaving intact. But have you really never questioned these things in yourself?

[batmotif]

[Something actually resembling sarcasm ekes out a bit.]

No, I have other people to do that for me. Do you ever question your own motivations?

[snaphiss]

Yes. Not here, but... at home. We're at war. Anyone who doesn't seriously interrogate why they're on the side they're on is a fool.

It's been my experience that if you don't question why you're doing something risky and potentially dangerous, you can't really be sure you're doing it for the right reasons.

[batmotif]

And what made you believe that you had made the right decision?

I've made my choice because I know it's worth it. I want people to be able to sleep at night, knowing that their families can feel safe. Even if I have to give up everything of my own, I need to see it through to the end.

[Yes, it's borderline obsession. Perhaps full blown obsession. But it had become his purpose, and that's all that mattered in the end.]