[His mind is already barrelling down a track when she drops King Crimson like an anvil and derails it. Wide green eyes blink slowly, owlishly; his lips purse, thoughtful. There's little that compares to King Crimson?]
[Well, he would agree. But Doppio would not. Doppio doesn't see the terror of King Crimson, and that is a major division between them. Perhaps that would be a fitting punishment after all, for Doppio, to feel what they all felt, what Trish felt from King Crimson. In some other world with more opportunities, perhaps that's how he's being punished right now.]
Your perspective, or my perspective, on what our situation is or how much damage they can do here doesn't matter if the reality they perceive is different. The reality they perceived at home was very different, too. Diavolo doesn't have King Crimson here, it's true, but he does have Doppio, without whom I've come to realize he would be entirely helpless. And Doppio . . .
[He's quiet for a moment. When he speaks again, it's with quiet clarity. He's never sounded more certain of anything in his life.]
Doppio is an appendage.
I knew him for eight months before you and Fugo appeared. We worked together for most of that time. He was very close to admitting that he was wrong to participate in what was done to you. I saw in his eyes that he knew it was wrong to involve you when he attacked us on the beach. But with Diavolo here, he throws away the difficult work of thinking, of independent morality. He relinquishes his own free will. He fuses into Diavolo's being, like anglerfish — parasitic symbiosis.
All the work he's done, all the relationships he's built, no longer matter. If Diavolo told him to walk into my place of work and murder Dr. Pierce, he would do so. If Diavolo told him to throw Atem out into the sun, regardless of his kindness, Doppio would do that too. He will actively crush his own thoughts and feelings, and truly convince himself they don't exist, unless Diavolo tells him they do. That is what worries me. The fact that so many people fail to understand that they present the same amount of danger, because they are effectively one and the same.
no subject
[Well, he would agree. But Doppio would not. Doppio doesn't see the terror of King Crimson, and that is a major division between them. Perhaps that would be a fitting punishment after all, for Doppio, to feel what they all felt, what Trish felt from King Crimson. In some other world with more opportunities, perhaps that's how he's being punished right now.]
Your perspective, or my perspective, on what our situation is or how much damage they can do here doesn't matter if the reality they perceive is different. The reality they perceived at home was very different, too. Diavolo doesn't have King Crimson here, it's true, but he does have Doppio, without whom I've come to realize he would be entirely helpless. And Doppio . . .
[He's quiet for a moment. When he speaks again, it's with quiet clarity. He's never sounded more certain of anything in his life.]
Doppio is an appendage.
I knew him for eight months before you and Fugo appeared. We worked together for most of that time. He was very close to admitting that he was wrong to participate in what was done to you. I saw in his eyes that he knew it was wrong to involve you when he attacked us on the beach. But with Diavolo here, he throws away the difficult work of thinking, of independent morality. He relinquishes his own free will. He fuses into Diavolo's being, like anglerfish — parasitic symbiosis.
All the work he's done, all the relationships he's built, no longer matter. If Diavolo told him to walk into my place of work and murder Dr. Pierce, he would do so. If Diavolo told him to throw Atem out into the sun, regardless of his kindness, Doppio would do that too. He will actively crush his own thoughts and feelings, and truly convince himself they don't exist, unless Diavolo tells him they do. That is what worries me. The fact that so many people fail to understand that they present the same amount of danger, because they are effectively one and the same.