From Murder to Dust

ATE - 22 - Won't

I had stayed with Ink for a day under sixty-five years now. For the past ten years or so, candidates for the right hand position had all failed; Ink was still alone. Actually, he wasn't completely alone: I was there, I guess. Tomorrow was another choosing, and it was appropriate to say that nobody had tried this year; the past candidates couldn't find a way to capture my brother, and nobody else had any ideas on how to do it either, meaning that it was essentially pointless to try until a different task was chosen. Of course, in order for a different task to be brought forth and posed to the candidates, somebody would have had to capture my brother first; nobody could. It was currently night time, and Ink still had no idea who to pick; I had just returned from my visit with Error, and it was exciting! He had so much to talk about, and I loved to talk with him every year about just about everything! I was currently sitting on the floor in Ink's room, and he had just sat down to talk to me; he was the best. I held my Hope close. 

"How did your visit go, Dusty?" Ink asked. 

"It was great!" I replied. "He's so lonely, though.."

"Oh, he's lonely? That's such a shame.."

"Yeah.."

"Well, we can't fix that.."

"..."

"Hey, Dusty?"

"Yes?"

"You used to have determination, didn't you?" 

"Um..actually, I still do, it's just not..noticeable anymore.."

"I wonder if we could change that.."

"What do you mean?"

"Bring the determination back out, but for different reasons. In the past, what did you use it for? Be honest, nobody's judging."

"Resisting..mostly you.."

"I see. If we were to bring it back, how would you use it?"

"Any way you wanted me to."

"Hmm..I've never had determination before. What's it like when it works?"

"Well, first, the user picks a path; it doesn't matter what it is as long as determination is able to be used. Um..what should the path be?"

"Try painting pictures."

"Okay. The user decides to paint pictures for the rest of their life. Even if it's only a joke, and they didn't mean it, determination will start working. It's really hard to stop once you've started..almost like a drug. If the user tries to stop painting pictures and the determination doesn't give up, they'll be stuck doing it..for as long as it takes."

"How did yours stop?" Ink was taking notes.

"It was...opposed too much. If it's put under too much stress and can't hold on, it will give in..eventually."

"What's the best way to stop it that you know of?"

"I haven't done that much research, but in my experience, the best way to stop is to replace the determination with an intense emotion. In order to stop killing, I replaced my determination with love. If I love the people that I coexist with, why would I kill them?"

"That's interesting. Very interesting. What if you were to try to kill again?"

"I'd just have to say the word..it's too easy to start, and it's too hard to stop."