"I think, you are surprised by the 'you' in another cosmos. Before you saw him with your own eyes, you didn't have a good impression of him. You thought he would be stubborn, solemn, suspicious, even manic, but he's much calmer than you imagined, isn't he?"
There's always a certain soothing cadence to Morbid's tone, with each word landing clearly on the ground. The lingering echo seems as though the sentence is unwilling to leave the listener's mind.
Perfect for hypnosis and brainwashing. Bruce thought. It's instinctive, flawless, and it makes everyone else seem like a restless sparrow.
"What do you think is the biggest conflict between you and Schiller? Your mental illness? The inconsistency in your personality?"
Morbid continued to question, unusually, he didn't wait for Bruce's reply, instead he answered his own question: "Actually, it's not. Your greatest contradiction lies in the age gap and the different phases of life."
"The pain and struggle brought about by mental illness, and the contradiction arising from inconsistent principles are not the main problems. The frequent conflicts between you two, is mainly because you are young, your character is unstable, impulsive, and aggressive. In simple terms, you are not mature enough."
"Of course, this isn't a criticism. From a societal perspective, no one expects a university student to be overly mature. Boys will undergo a long process of self-discovery and then finally become stable."
"The 'you' that you saw, is not without pain, nor is he without contradictions, but the extra calm he possesses comes from his stability and maturity."
"He has long since passed the self-exploration phase, whether his personality is healthy or not, whether his logic is consistent or not, the keen, fragile, and susceptible spirituality of his youth will eventually be worn away. Although this results in losing much inspiration, he gains calmness, dignity, and ease, in other words, maturity acknowledged by sociology."
"Is this a good thing?" Bruce asked, "To accept an answer, just for the sake of the answer, regardless of right or wrong?"
"They're just two different paths." Morbid gave an answer that surprised Bruce. Detecting Bruce's reaction, Morbid smiled, "Did you think I would sharply blame him for doing it wrong?"
"But in reality, it's completely irrelevant to sympathize with the difficulties of others if you have not experienced those difficulties himself, you cannot encourage kindness, or even endurance, as long as one can accept the consequences, there is no right or wrong."
"Difficult circumstances make people yearn for stability and maturity, they will actively end their self-exploration phase to gain stronger abilities to handle affairs and integrate into society. There's nothing to blame about this."
"It's more like the ones who can rebel at their leisure and explore all possibilities of self for a long time, commit all the wrongs and fall into all the traps, are truly rare. They are the enviable lucky ones."
"During their self-reflection, most people realize they don't have the luxury to indulge in frivolous fantasies. They can only break free forcibly and force themselves to face the pressures of reality."
Bruce sat silently in the chair. He realized that he should adopt a different perspective to see the other him.
After realizing his mental health was worrisome, Bruce didn't hold much hope for another version of him in a different cosmos. He could easily imagine that his troublesome mental condition must cause tremendous headaches in the later stages.
He also couldn't wait to see how this highly skilled mad scientist would confront such a deeply tormented Crazy Batman.
Bruce had to admit, he inherited some traits from the professor. There was some unspeakable anticipation in watching another version of him face hardship.
But now he realized, the conflict between the mature Batman and the professor didn't seem to be that intense.
However, this was also a common phenomenon. People of the same age or life stage are more likely to understand each other. Even if they don't, they won't adopt an aggressive approach to resolving all issues.
Just like "we are all adults" can sum up most social interactions. It's not that conflicts do not exist. But instead of clashing to the point of bleeding, the confrontation will be more hidden, more refined, like certain undercurrents flowing in the abyss.
"You have to learn to save face, for yourself and others."
Morbid's deep, slow echo resonated again, the sermonizing intent mixed in his tone was completely covered up by his calm and gentle manner, like a knife swathed in honey.
"Hatred can make a boy grow up prematurely into a man, teaching him not anger and violence, but patience and restraint."
"Only by concentrating all the heated blood and retracting all the power in his fists, can a knife be ground in his heart, which could strike the enemy fatally when necessary, and he goes unharmed, still maintaining grace. He achieves the most dignified victory, mentally and physically...
"...instead of mutually hurting each other, don't you think?"
Bruce turned his head to look into Morbid's eyes and said, "So in your eyes, Arrogance is also a boy?"
Morbid shook his head and said, "Are you referring to the process where you two hurt each other? He only behaves like that when he's dealing with you."