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

[snaphiss]

That is one of the scenarios where it would be very close.

But, of course, I'd need motivation. I have no intention of harming you, Bruce.

[batmotif]

I wasn't asking because I was worried, Mara. I just like to cover all my bases.

[snaphiss]

Hm. Do you think you could defeat me? Kill me? In your preferred scenario, of course.

Do you think you'd ever have a reason to?

[batmotif]

I don't think it would be easy, but I think I could defeat you if I needed to. But I wouldn't kill you. [Or... anyone.]

You haven't given me a reason to think that it'll come to that. However, none of us actually know what the next mission will bring. What the next day might lead to. I like to be prepared.

[snaphiss]

[Wait.]

Why wouldn't you kill me?

[batmotif]

Because I don't kill people.

[snaphiss]

[uuuUUUGH]

Why?

[batmotif]

[don't you UUUGGGH me]

Because there's a line I refuse to cross.

[snaphiss]

[UUUGHS LOUDER]

Why? Why this line, on this particular thing? I know it's an ugly business, but it solves problems. Definitively.

[batmotif]

Because it's a point of no return. I'm not going to become the thing I'm fighting. I won't perpetuate more killing when it's what- [he pauses. ugh.] When it's already too prevalent.

[snaphiss]

Are you trying to stop crime or killing? It seems like your net is rather wide.

[batmotif]

Then I guess I'll just have to continue being diligent.

How many people have you killed, Mara?

[snaphiss]

I don't count. It's a disgusting habit I won't take part in.

[batmotif]

Fair enough, but not that comforting to hear. Do you feel remorse for any of those deaths?

[snaphiss]

...Some of them, yes. But I do my utmost only to kill when absolutely necessary, when it's the only way to ensure madmen and criminals won't strike again.

[batmotif]

Then define "absolutely necessary" for me.

[snaphiss]

There was a man who'd been driven mad by a scientific experiment. He was very powerful, capable of turning men and women into puppets, controlling their minds to make a 'perfect world' where people lived harmoniously, but without any choice in their actions. He was attempting to make an 'apprentice' out of a friend of mine, to twist the man until their goals aligned. He was too far gone to feel remorse for his actions or change. I wanted to end it, but my friend stayed my hand.

[batmotif]

[He quirks a brow.] This friend of yours must have been very persuasive. How did they convince you?

[snaphiss]

I needed his help. And then, when the madman came back and nearly kidnapped him, his sister, his infant niece and nephew to bring them into a life of slavery, after I drove a saber into the madman's heart- I could say 'I told you so'.

[batmotif]

[This is always a particularly tricky subject. His own decision on the matter is absolute, always. But perhaps it's less morality than most believe, and simply because there's that small sliver of fear of what he could become if he ever went down that route.

Given that he doesn't have to say as much unless directly asked, he certainly won't offer it openly. And so:]

You don't think there could have been any other way to handle the situation?

[snaphiss]

No. He would have hunted us to the ends of the galaxy, ruined countless minds in the process, enslaved people to achieve his ends.

[batmotif]

Then maybe you weren't looking hard enough.

[snaphiss]

He was going to kidnap and lobotomize infants, and I didn't kill him on sight both times I met him. I tried precisely as hard as he deserved.

[batmotif]

But where do you draw the line, Mara? Would you kill a man who had committed only slightly less atrocities? Or someone whose crimes were exceedingly less, but cruel and calculating regardless? What makes one man deserve execution, and the other mercy?

[snaphiss]

I don't have the patience for sophism. I would kill anyone who shows no remorse when harming innocents, and a serious desire to continue doing so.

I cannot spare everyone just because I doubt my ability to reason. If I must make mistakes, I won't make them out of inaction.