[ Ben hears the venom in that word, and his heart sinks a little further. Pratt is in so much pain. He might not be sobbing or wailing, but Ben knows pain doesn't always look like that. Sometimes it looks like this. His friend, with his eyes glued to the ground, forcing himself to speak even though the words are like blows, pulling away from any contact, any comfort. In a way, this is a kind of pain that Ben understands better than any sort of healthy release of it.
When Pratt reveals that he'd helped Jacob to torture and condition other people, Ben feels more than a little sick. Ben doesn't tell him not to worry about it, that he should forgive himself, that it wasn't a bad thing to do. He knows well enough that words like that will do more harm than good. All he says, instead, voice rough with conviction, is: ]
You were under duress. It wasn't your fault, Pratt. Okay?
[ Nothing Pratt tells Ben is going to convince him otherwise. There are a lot of moral grey areas, but literal torture and brainwashing aren't one of them. There's a reason they've got a word for it, after all. It wasn't like peer pressure or social expectations or some bullshit. Pratt had literally not been able to refuse. That makes him a victim, in Ben's eyes. ]
Jacob's word clearly doesn't count for shit. Even if this Eli's thing didn't work - there could be something. There could be ways. I'm gonna- I'm gonna research and see if I can find a way. So this can be over. So you don't have to ever worry about hearing that song again.
[ There is so much Ben cannot fix. He can't go back in time like Five, can't make it so Pratt was never tortured and turned into a weapon against his will. But he can and will do everything he can to give him his power back, now. To give him back a shred of feeling safe and in control again.
Ben's mind is spinning, suggesting a million things - some unhelpful, but others... ]
And you could talk to Peter or Qubit or one of those guys. See if they can make you, like, just the biggest pair of fuck-off noise cancelling headphones that all this futuristic nonsense tech can device, and you can carry those with you, everywhere, and that way if you ever - start to hear it again, you just pop those suckers on and you call me, right away, day or night.
no subject
When Pratt reveals that he'd helped Jacob to torture and condition other people, Ben feels more than a little sick. Ben doesn't tell him not to worry about it, that he should forgive himself, that it wasn't a bad thing to do. He knows well enough that words like that will do more harm than good. All he says, instead, voice rough with conviction, is: ]
You were under duress. It wasn't your fault, Pratt. Okay?
[ Nothing Pratt tells Ben is going to convince him otherwise. There are a lot of moral grey areas, but literal torture and brainwashing aren't one of them. There's a reason they've got a word for it, after all. It wasn't like peer pressure or social expectations or some bullshit. Pratt had literally not been able to refuse. That makes him a victim, in Ben's eyes. ]
Jacob's word clearly doesn't count for shit. Even if this Eli's thing didn't work - there could be something. There could be ways. I'm gonna- I'm gonna research and see if I can find a way. So this can be over. So you don't have to ever worry about hearing that song again.
[ There is so much Ben cannot fix. He can't go back in time like Five, can't make it so Pratt was never tortured and turned into a weapon against his will. But he can and will do everything he can to give him his power back, now. To give him back a shred of feeling safe and in control again.
Ben's mind is spinning, suggesting a million things - some unhelpful, but others... ]
And you could talk to Peter or Qubit or one of those guys. See if they can make you, like, just the biggest pair of fuck-off noise cancelling headphones that all this futuristic nonsense tech can device, and you can carry those with you, everywhere, and that way if you ever - start to hear it again, you just pop those suckers on and you call me, right away, day or night.