5. Is it better to hurt others before they hurt you or let yourself be walked all over and hurt by others? edward sitting here like "okay, but there's a middle ground. you can be assertive and keep boundaries without being an asshole" but if he was put between those two choices only? yeah, he'd pick the former
(but edward is also someone who doesn't believe that people will Always end up hurting you. it happens, and it can happen a lot, but he sees the world as being inherently more mixed bag than all one thing or another)
15. Is lying to others to gain their approval more important than being genuine and hated? edward wouldn't say one is more important than the other. he has made his living for the past 219 years working for the same eccentric and flawed family -- he knows that sometimes, you lie through your teeth and suck it up
yes jack you can meet with the new hires even though there's a chance they'll see how nice your house is and get greedy. it's not a security risk at all
... but edward also knows that sometimes, you gotta speak your mind. sometimes it's the only way to get things done, and the best way to get things done
17. Have you ever gotten sheer joy out of hurting someone else, either physically or mentally? To whom and why? Did it scare you? excluding his Wild Youth here for a moment and focusing purely on adult edward, and even ghoul edward in particular...
yeah, yeah he has. he has definitely had some positive, happy emotions about scaring off or taking out some raiders or enemy mercenaries or what-have-you
there are times where some assholes make themselves huge pains in the neck and edward gets a personal satisfaction out of making them no longer a problem
he canonically has a line (hidden... somewhere, i can't remember where, and now i'll need to look it up after this) about how he doesn't like to kill unless he has to
... but there's a part of him deep down that is a bit of a savage. he doesn't like that part of him, but it doesn't really scare him. he's aware of it, so he takes steps to keep it from getting out of hand. but it's definitely there
7. You have the key to immortality in your hands. But not for free. If you want it, as a price, your worst enemy also gains immortality. Is it worth it? edward doesnt really haaave a worst enemy? not personally
buuuut, if he did... that person would either have to have a long, vested history of antagonism with edward, or would be a very big and immediate threat
immortality is not something he would seek out on purpose. he is age immortal, he has lived a very, very long time, and his bosses have lived twice as long as he has. he's seen the effects on a person firsthand and knows them very well
not dying is cool and all, and he doesn't have a deathwish? but he wouldn't mind passing up being 100% completely unable to die if it meant the biggest pain in his ass was guaranteed to become a permanent one
20. Are there people in this world who, no matter how much time and penitence is given, should never be forgiven? this one is fun given the whole like, barge Thing
in his view, people fuck up. it's a fact of life. some people are unrepentant assholes, and maybe those people need to be removed from everyone else they're threatening, one way or another
if that's through learning the errors of their ways and deciding to stop doing that, sure, he doesn't have a problem with that. if that's through being put in the ground... to edward? yeah, that's just how life goes sometimes
now -- over time, he starts to get into it more. he gets more personally invested through the inmates he meets and the things he learns about their lives
that said -- on the topic of FORGIVENESS, especially? edward thinks that, yeah, sometimes, someone shouldn't be forgiven. at least, not by whoever it is that they hurt
but he also sees that as a personal matter instead of like... "life/the world shouldnt forgive them/everyone else should judge and hate them forever" or what have you
though when i think about it, when he was much, much younger, and still lacking stability in himself and his surroundings? he'd be like "yeah, this concept makes sense"
back in those early days, his delinquincy and misbehavior wasn't with the intention of hurting other people before they hurt him. it was more about the stability he found with the wrong crowd, and the feeling of not having a place in the world, and so it was more out of -- apathy towards the world
edward sitting here like "okay, but there's a middle ground. you can be assertive and keep boundaries without being an asshole"
edward wouldn't say one is more important than the other. he has made his living for the past 219 years working for the same eccentric and flawed family -- he knows that sometimes, you lie through your teeth and suck it up
excluding his Wild Youth here for a moment and focusing purely on adult edward, and even ghoul edward in particular...
edward doesnt really haaave a worst enemy? not personally
this one is fun given the whole like, barge Thing
So is being an asshole, Edward. Live your best life