Ew.

It's... Complicated. 

'Complicated' is what you say when you know it's fucked but don't want to admit it.

There's a lot that's fucked up about it. That doesn't really make the situation entirely black and white - especially since so much of the pressure is social. 

Fuck that noise.

"You think it's straightforward?"

"I don't know shit about your society or whatever, but I do know that if I don't like what someone's telling me to do, I tell them to fuck off and walk away."

Hum. "The right to exit is important, in a lot of cases - but, hm. So a strong man has a stronger responsibility to refrain from violence than a weak child, which is a negative responsibility. A rich man has a stronger responsibility of charity than a poor child, which is a positive responsibility. Positive responsibilities are... More controversial, let's say, than negative ones. I would say they absolutely apply if you wish to not simply walk away - a rich man who remains in his community should provide for it. However, a rich man who wishes to fuck off to an uninhabited island in the uttermost West has only the universal negative responsibility of refraining from unprovoked violence."

(She didn't become a monk on leaving the Cloister, but... That was not due to a lack of moral conviction. (In some ways, the opposite.)

"What's that got to do with it?"

"Military service is a positive responsibility like giving charitably - to the extent the actions of the military benefit the community. And - I wanted to stay in my community."

"If military service is a positive responsibility, that's a shit society."

"The world's violent," she says, quietly. "There's very few places currently free from war, and none for long."

"Yeah? And how many fewer'd you guys start with compulsory service?"

She leans back, thinking. "It's hard to say, since the current system started hundreds of years ago in the aftermath of - what can best be called the end of the world. A plague wiped out ninety percent of the population - and that was before we were invaded from outside our world. And once that threat was turned back, a massive series of wars broke out over resources and over the power vacuum. And even before that... The world had been in a constant state of war between petty warlords. And before that, the world had been ruled by tyrants of nearly unimaginable power, though we cast them down in the end."

"There's less warfare now than there used to be, though. Actual room for trade and advancement, and the vast majority of people serve out their term and return home peacefully."

"I'm never taking a vacation to where you live."

She laughs. "I wouldn't recommend it, unless you're really into exotic food and fancy architecture."

"Not worth it."

"This world has been - very interesting, though."

"It's kind of a shithole too, being honest."

"A very different shithole."

"I guess variety's worth something."

"At least for a time."

"Got a plan for getting home?"

"Not yet."

"Think you'll be able to?"