no but AUUUUGHG ABADDON DOESN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT MERCY ISSSSS!!!!!!
THEY CAAAAN'T THEY CAN'T UNDERSTAND IT. MERCY MEANS NOTHING TO THEM. THEY DON'T FEEL EMPATHY OR GUILT. THEY DON'T FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN THEY SEE SOMETHING SUFFERING. TO THEM, MERCY IS JUST A "SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE" REASON TO HURT PEOPLE. A "MERCY KILL" IS A "SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE" KILL. THAT'S ALL THE WORD MEANS TO THEM.
so what would it mean, for them to tell dust he was being merciful??? oh my god. it doesn't mean "i think you did the morally right thing" because abaddon doesn't care about that. they can't understand why anyone would. it means "based on the context i think what you did can't be considered immoral". those are totally different things. they don't care about morality, they care about how other people think about them because people hating them makes their life harder!!
they're not telling dust "i think you're a good person". they're saying "don't worry, i think what you did is above reproach in the public eye"!
oh my god. that IS them trying to be empathetic with him. they're TRYING!! they don't know how normal people think!! they don't know why dust is upset about what happened to him! they genuinely just cannot understand, cannot imagine being upset about killing a town full of loved ones because they've never loved anybody in their damn life. at most, they can imagine it as a town full of fond pets, but even then, animals die. abaddon grew up on a farm surrounded by constant animal death. they don't feel grief; i don't even know if they can.
god. what's worse, here?? knowing that even the most amoral person on the team agrees that you did "right", or knowing that even the most amoral person on the team agrees that you did "right"??
poor, poor dust, man. oh my god.
abaddon is probably the only person on the team incentivized to act more immoral the more he likes you. the more he likes you and wants you to like him back, the more he has reasons to lie to you and manipulate you, to keep you from realizing who and what and how he is. so i don't know why he isn't hiding his ASPD from the pantheon as hard as he usually hides it. is it because he's stuck there forever and knows he'll eventually slip? is it because he's tired? is he just too lazy? is it just because he knows none of them will do anything about it?
does he want to see if they can like him for who he truly is??
think about what the pantheon is — a group of monsters, creatures normally made of love, hope and compassion, pushed into sadistic, murderous roles. abaddon has met humans and he's met monsters but he's never met anyone that blends the line between monstrous love and humane cruelty. if there's anyone in the multiverse who can like him for who he truly is, i figure he thinks it has to be these guys.
i don't think i've said this before, but abaddon does love the idea of relationships. he's like an asexual person that loves sex in fiction but hates it in reality — he creates these perfect, agreeable, hygienic, intelligent yes-men in his head, wants relationships with them, and is constantly disappointed and angered by how people actually are. to him, monsters are cute, but annoyingly naive. humans are unintelligent, disgusting animals. there is no real, living person that has ever been able to meet his idealizations well enough for him to get attached to them in reality. the pantheon is the closest he's ever gotten — not as naive as a monster, not as stupid or gross as a human.
to abaddon, the pantheon is probably the one chance he's ever thought he had to form actual relationships with people. but still — imagine his surprise when he actually starts getting attached — and then imagine his surprise still when they start being annoying or gross or dumb in their own ways and the attachment doesn't go away!
abaddon has never experienced this before. he's flying totally blind.
so YES, oh my GOD — i think that IS him trying to be empathetic. he just doesn't know how. this isn't a game he's played before, not a role he's ever learned to take. in a sick way, this is him being vulnerable.
vulnerable with dust, THE MOST MORAL PERSON ON THE TEAM.
