NIETZSCHE; DEAD PHILOSOPHERS' INBOX

[explosivecombat]

[TEXT; LOCKED TO doitrockapella]

The offer for conversation is always open, should you desire to take me up on it; I can't guarantee that I'll respond immediately, nor will it necessarily be the response you want, but I'll always respond in some way.

In the name of enlightened discourse.

Comments

[doitrockapella]

To say nothing of the fact that if you did, I'd be showing up for your head as opposed to the funeral.

Had you heard that one before?

[explosivecombat]

Ah, but the point would be that you would show up at all.

As for your question, however? No, I hadn't.

[doitrockapella]

It's still a lot of trouble to go to when offering me opera tickets would've worked just as well.

They call that particular puzzle the Sociopath's Riddle, you know.

[explosivecombat]

I see - then the point of the riddle, I'm assuming, would be that those that aren't sociopaths (and hadn't heard it before, of course) would either not have a response, guess incorrectly the first time, or require further questions or a series of prompts to find the answer. Is that about the gist of it?

[doitrockapella]

Essentially. The implication is that the average person wouldn't arrive so quickly at murder as the means to an end — particularly not when it involved one's own family, and over something as trivial as a pretty face.

[explosivecombat]

Really, that particular setup just makes me wonder how the murderer in question managed to survive in the world long enough for this to become an issue in the first place.

[doitrockapella]

Don't take all the fun out of it.

[explosivecombat]

All right, all right.

Well, now that I'm sure I've sated your curiosity at least somewhat when it comes to my mental state, was there another reason you contacted me? Or is it just a good day for riddles?

[doitrockapella]

What sort of reason were you hoping for?

[explosivecombat]

[...LOCKE IF THAT ISN'T THE THIRSTIEST THING HE'S HEARD IN A WHILE]

Oh, come now. If you want me to stroke your ego you're going to have to work a little harder than that.

[doitrockapella]

[HEY LEAVE HER ALONE NO ONE EVER SAID SHE WAS SUBTLE.]

I don't want you to stroke my ego; just to alleviate my boredom. It's ninety degrees, my room's air conditioner is broken, my companions are otherwise occupied, and my choice of available reading material is limited to a magazine about gardening or an urban fantasy about a shiny half-Zubat lad falling in love with an accident-prone Lass. Entertain me.

[explosivecombat]

[...WELL THEN.]

Goodness, you are in a mood today - not that I blame you, given the heat. Dare I ask what sort of entertainment you're looking for?

[doitrockapella]

It's not the heat in and of itself that I mind. It's the general feeling of sluggishness that always seems to accompany it. Lying around idle with nothing to do gets tedious before long.

I could throw another few riddles at you, if you like.

[explosivecombat]

I'd like that; I've needed something to pass the time myself - the Legion of Evil isn't meeting today, it looks like.

[doitrockapella]

Is that what you're calling yourselves now?

[Says the woman who founded the Villain's International League of Evil.]

You didn't ask how I did on the first one. Was that intentional?

[explosivecombat]

Well, someone suggested "Phalanx of Villainy," but I thought that was a little over-the-top.

And it was at the time, but now I'm curious, since you're bringing it up.

[doitrockapella]

So are some of your members.

The omission was glaring; it's the natural thing to ask, when dealing with an exercise that's also supposedly a form of psychological profiling.

[explosivecombat]

True enough, but you've given me more than enough reason to doubt any claims to sociopathy on your part.

[doitrockapella]

That's right. Which means it begs the question of whether or not the riddle really proves what someone is, or if it simply illustrates how creatively one is able to think.

[explosivecombat]

Of course it doesn't prove what someone is - psychological profiling as a whole often proves nothing, just because it doesn't weed out the dangerous; it simply weeds out the stupid.

[doitrockapella]

Not to mention that in this particular instance, I had the benefit of knowing it was a riddle to begin with. I knew from the start I should be looking for unusual solutions, simply by virtue of knowing the system that was presenting me the problem.

[explosivecombat]

Hence it really wasn't necessary for me to ask you anything, regarding how you may have done with regards to that question.

[doitrockapella]

True. But I don't like it when people aren't interested in me.

[explosivecombat]

Do you really think I would still be talking to you if I were disinterested?

[doitrockapella]

Occasionally you fall short of my exacting standards.