Clarice laughed awkwardly. The gentleman she'd just nearly brained was certainly taking it well--although he'd looked up so quickly it was if he suspected someone had tossed the book at him deliberately. "Still wasn't my intent to make you feel like an innocent bystander in a library brawl." Fortunately, her seat was pretty much right there, so she scooted into it quickly to let a few passengers by.
The man was watching her curiously, faint amusement tugging at his thin lips. He had the face of an ascetic, lean and angular, and steady, slightly sardonic eyes that speared through to the back of the head, like Lecter's, but without the edge of delighted cruelty to it. His eyes flicked to the cover of the book still cradled in her hands. "Interesting topic."
She felt a tug of self-consciousness. Not because of the controversiality of the issue; rather, because her reasons for reading it were a bit backwards. In his one, awkward attempt to comfort her after she'd blown Jame Gumb's guts all over the wall of his bedroom, he had said, "Clarice, bottom line, it was a mercy killing. He was miserable living and he liked to share."
All that had done was left her wondering whether there really was any such thing as "mercy killing". In the end, he knew he was just trying to help her through it; that didn't mean that he was telling the truth. She'd have done it again, of course; Gumb had placed her in a situation where it was him or her, period. But...did that make it right? Even with him being a sick, sick bastard and the world being better for him being removed from it...did it make killing him /right/?
/Arguing Euthanasia/ was one of half a dozen books she had read on the subject. The first one had been because of what Crawford had said. The rest...because of what the first book had reminded her of. "It's not bad. Not the best I've read on the subject, but good. Ah'm almost done with it if you're lacking reading for the flight," she invited a little shakily. Since she'd nearly whacked him on the head with it, it seemed only polite.
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timeasmymeasure
[Clarice] Mercy killing? (tag Methos)
Date: 2006-01-17 09:53 pm (UTC)The man was watching her curiously, faint amusement tugging at his thin lips. He had the face of an ascetic, lean and angular, and steady, slightly sardonic eyes that speared through to the back of the head, like Lecter's, but without the edge of delighted cruelty to it. His eyes flicked to the cover of the book still cradled in her hands. "Interesting topic."
She felt a tug of self-consciousness. Not because of the controversiality of the issue; rather, because her reasons for reading it were a bit backwards. In his one, awkward attempt to comfort her after she'd blown Jame Gumb's guts all over the wall of his bedroom, he had said, "Clarice, bottom line, it was a mercy killing. He was miserable living and he liked to share."
All that had done was left her wondering whether there really was any such thing as "mercy killing". In the end, he knew he was just trying to help her through it; that didn't mean that he was telling the truth. She'd have done it again, of course; Gumb had placed her in a situation where it was him or her, period. But...did that make it right? Even with him being a sick, sick bastard and the world being better for him being removed from it...did it make killing him /right/?
/Arguing Euthanasia/ was one of half a dozen books she had read on the subject. The first one had been because of what Crawford had said. The rest...because of what the first book had reminded her of. "It's not bad. Not the best I've read on the subject, but good. Ah'm almost done with it if you're lacking reading for the flight," she invited a little shakily. Since she'd nearly whacked him on the head with it, it seemed only polite.