The validation of his feelings helps a lot, because all he can really do is try to figure out how he feels and move on from there. He's still trying to see it as worth it, but he can't. Apokolips was crippled, yes, but not even entirely destroyed. They don't even know if the explosion killed the Herald. But being told he's allowed to think it was wrong, that his own personal takeaway is allowed to be "I'm not okay with this" helps. Because this isn't about judgment or him confronting anyone else about it, it's about him deciding how he feels and figuring out what kind of choices he wants to make in the future.
So he looks reassured when Robbie says it's understandable that he feels that way. There are times he's been willing to kill, too, but it still feels different to him. When he'd killed those mercenaries in Murderworld, during the road war, they weren't broken, mentally unhealthy people getting used by someone, they were trying to kill them for money. Big difference.
But apparently, it's okay to feel that way, to feel differently about broken people.
He also looks comforted when Robbie points out how their teammates aren't necessarily evil, they're just very used to fighting in wars and very much about survival. Us vs. them. It's hard to reconcile seeing something as wrong with knowing the people that chose it are good people, but it helps to remember how hard they've all had to fight to even survive up to this point.
"Kid Q thinks it's still safest for us here. Apparently, we could go to some UPgov bunker somewhere, but only Timber Wolf's son Cub was allowed to go into the special one with the president, because she's his grandma. And Brainy says the security on the other one is--"
He makes an iffy gesture with his hand.
"And they won't even let Merl and Valeria at either of them, because apparently they have them on some kind of government watch list so they're not allowed in secure areas near heads of state?"
He and Kid Q had a long talk about this, about where he and Mabel should go.
"And staying with one of the staffers is like no security at all, and considering the bad guys would probably love to come after us as a message or something..."
Yeah, that doesn't seem like a good idea to him. If anything that'd mean bringing bad guys down on some poor defenseless staffer's house, and...Dipper's brain is morbid. He could see the bad guys coming after them so they had kid's dead body to toss at the Legionnaires somewhere as a message.
"To get at us here, they have to go through at least some of you." He shakes his head. "But I'm not scared of that. I'm... I'm not anymore scared of the bad guys than I was before."
His decision to be honest and cut himself off from heroing hasn't been fear of the bad guys so much as wisdom. Knowing he can't mentally take many more hits like the ones he's taken.
"I'm more scared of bad things happening on any of the missions I can't go on. To the people who are still fighting. That I could help with if I was there. What if...what if not helping you guys means someone dies? When I could've stopped it if I was there?"
no subject
So he looks reassured when Robbie says it's understandable that he feels that way. There are times he's been willing to kill, too, but it still feels different to him. When he'd killed those mercenaries in Murderworld, during the road war, they weren't broken, mentally unhealthy people getting used by someone, they were trying to kill them for money. Big difference.
But apparently, it's okay to feel that way, to feel differently about broken people.
He also looks comforted when Robbie points out how their teammates aren't necessarily evil, they're just very used to fighting in wars and very much about survival. Us vs. them. It's hard to reconcile seeing something as wrong with knowing the people that chose it are good people, but it helps to remember how hard they've all had to fight to even survive up to this point.
"Kid Q thinks it's still safest for us here. Apparently, we could go to some UPgov bunker somewhere, but only Timber Wolf's son Cub was allowed to go into the special one with the president, because she's his grandma. And Brainy says the security on the other one is--"
He makes an iffy gesture with his hand.
"And they won't even let Merl and Valeria at either of them, because apparently they have them on some kind of government watch list so they're not allowed in secure areas near heads of state?"
He and Kid Q had a long talk about this, about where he and Mabel should go.
"And staying with one of the staffers is like no security at all, and considering the bad guys would probably love to come after us as a message or something..."
Yeah, that doesn't seem like a good idea to him. If anything that'd mean bringing bad guys down on some poor defenseless staffer's house, and...Dipper's brain is morbid. He could see the bad guys coming after them so they had kid's dead body to toss at the Legionnaires somewhere as a message.
"To get at us here, they have to go through at least some of you." He shakes his head. "But I'm not scared of that. I'm... I'm not anymore scared of the bad guys than I was before."
His decision to be honest and cut himself off from heroing hasn't been fear of the bad guys so much as wisdom. Knowing he can't mentally take many more hits like the ones he's taken.
"I'm more scared of bad things happening on any of the missions I can't go on. To the people who are still fighting. That I could help with if I was there. What if...what if not helping you guys means someone dies? When I could've stopped it if I was there?"