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[indentcision]

[ The lighting isn't good, but it's clear enough that Harvey Dent is recognizable in the frame. Who else could that be, really? He looks surly, but on his good side his mouth almost seems to be smirking. ]

Do you want to know one of the reasons I'm glad I quit being a lawyer?

Human nature. Has its good sides and its bad sides, but they aren't even. Because good and bad people alike always pretend like they're innocent. People seize upon weakness to drag out skeletons that have been hidden under the porch, but sometimes they were already buried.

[ He sneers. ]

I hope whoever tried to call the law on me without evidence remembers that every story has two sides. My record's clean and so are my hands.

Comments

[indentcision]

They already tried me for that one. Ever heard of double-jeopardy?

[toolongdidntrejoice]

I am vaguely familiar.

I am sure you will be kind enough to enlighten me.

[indentcision]

A person can't be tried twice for the same crime.

Like I said: My record's clean.

[toolongdidntrejoice]

Ah, but are you accused of the same crime, or of something new?

[indentcision]

I was accused of something I'm not guilty of.

Why should I put up with that?

[toolongdidntrejoice]

You said yourself: both good and bad people pretend -- or perhaps pretending isn't the right term. Perhaps it's a matter of skewed perspective.

[ Then, after a beat: ]

You didn't answer the question. [ Don't think he didn't notice. ]

[indentcision]

Skewed on which side?

[ He pauses and narrows his eye. ]

... Something new. What difference does it make?

[toolongdidntrejoice]

Could it not be both? Very few people see themselves as a villain, Mister Dent; everyone is a hero in their own mind.

Then again, by the rules of this place, one would think only true heroes are summoned here.

[ A quirk of his lips ]

The difference it makes, Mister Dent, is your double-jeopardy becomes irrelevant.

[indentcision]

Not everyone. Some people get that good and bad aren't only mutually exclusive. "True" heroes don't exist. Not like that.

[ Impatiently: ]

It isn't irrelevant when it comes to people bringing up why I should be locked up for an old crime, and it'd only be irrelevant now if I was guilty.

[toolongdidntrejoice]

Then I take it you are not inspired by the words of our new, gracious hosts.

[ Kirei just smiles. ]

And you're not, in fact, guilty. Of course.

[indentcision]

Same old rhetoric even when it's in a different wrapping. No, but I don't take to inspiration I can't hold in my own hand.

[ He sneers. ]

Do I seem like the shy type to you?

[toolongdidntrejoice]

Well, it's hard to say.

It's common for men with such disfigurements to be bashful about appearance.

[indentcision]

Short-sighted if you ask me. A man needs to put his best face forward, scars and all.

So I won't take you calling me ugly just now personally.

[toolongdidntrejoice]

As you shouldn't. It was merely an observation, not an attack on you personally.

But I don't blame you; being defensive is common as well.

[indentcision]

I never used the word "attack." Observation does go both ways.

Can't a guy just speak his mind?

[toolongdidntrejoice]

He can.

But he has to face the consequences.

[indentcision]

What makes you think he doesn't?

[toolongdidntrejoice]

Most think the right to speak their mind means they cannot be held responsible for it.

But you're a better man than that, are you not, mister Dent?

[indentcision]

I like to think so, but it's nothing to do with being better. Just knowing better.

[toolongdidntrejoice]

Now, why be modest?

After all, is there much difference?

[indentcision]

There is.

Being and knowing aren't the same at all.

[toolongdidntrejoice]

Then, despite your claims to know better, you don't act on it?

Many would consider that darker than someone more deluded, who thinks their wrong actions are pure and justified. To know the better course of action, and then still choose wrong? It's a fully conscious descent.

[ this is speaking of very personal experience. ]

[indentcision]

I can't help but speak my mind. Why bother, if it's all going to come out anyway?

You can't have right without wrong. Neither's pure on their own; they bleed, one into the other. I never said choice had anything to do with it.

[toolongdidntrejoice]

Then do you believe that extends to human nature? That there's no escaping the evils within our nature?

Have you never met someone pure?

[indentcision]

[ He goes quiet to contemplate that. It's not an easy thing to find an answer for. ]

No. The evil's always there, difference is only how much and how well it's hidden.

[ Maybe Gilda would have been the exception. But it's too late now to think about her. ]

Have you?