Perfect with You

Chapter 43 - Now They Only Praise the Moon

She tried to keep a cold expression as she took a sip, to seem like she enjoyed the taste but it was useless as even though she only took a small sip, per Chloe's request, the alcohol still forced her face into a grimace. It must have been because her young body was unaccustomed to drinking and her taste buds in the past were still sensitive.

"I can't believe you refused to answer that question" Chloe whispered while pulling her lips into a smirk and looking at Max with eyes that were partially disappointed, partially curious.

After intensely blowing out air while flicking her tongue around in an exasperated attempt to get the taste out, Max placed the bottle of wine back on the ground between them.
"Stop asking such saucy questions and I might answer" Leaning back on her hands, Max began wondering what she should ask Chloe. She had only asked her two questions, no dares, as to ease her into the actual questions she wanted an answer to. And luckily, it seemed Chloe's fearlessness what still somewhat present as she had answered both questions so far. Or it might be that she just really didn't want to drink.

"Alright, my turn" Max let out with looking up at the ceiling.
"If you could take one bad thing away from the world, what would it be?"

Chloe rolled her eyes while taking a breath, apparently hoping the questions would be more light-hearted. "Well, rather than taking something away, I would replace prison sentences with like... a place where the criminals had to stay, but it would be less depressing, and with daily counseling and psychiatric help. I think locking people up just make them more prone to commit crimes again and it doesn't do any good. Rather than having a society that relishes in the twisted enjoyment of what they call "justice" by watching a mentally disturbed man rot in a cell, I think we should help them"

Max went quiet for a second, having imagined Chloe's answer would be closer to "Animal cruelty" or "Raisins in cookies". But it was true that Chloe had some very abstruse opinions about justice that she was apparently keen on sharing.

"Elaborate, please" Max requested, not exactly certain if she got Chloe's point as surely, murderers and rapists had to suffer to some extent.

"It's just... every time I see someone on the internet discussing the legal justice system, they're so... inhumane. There is no justice in burdening or worsening people's lives even though they've done the same. It helps no one to harass a guy that have killed a kitten for fun. It helps no one to ruin a life. Justice is not fucking up a person's life because he fucked up someone else's. That is revenge, and it serves no purpose other than making uninvolved, good-for-nothing people on the internet feel better about themselves, while all they've done is helped the horrors in the world to spread. It's about stopping the source of terror, not punishing the criminals after it has already happened"

If it was anyone other than Chloe, Max wouldn't have been bothered to consider the words in any kind of serious way, but watching her friend looking so passionate about her opinion, actually made her take a mental step back and consider it.

"I mean, I can understand the people actually involved, the people that had a family member murdered or something would want to see the guilty one suffer, but they would have to set aside their hate to make the world a better place"

And she really did understand Chloe's point-of-view, but the flaws in her logic were also quick to show themselves.
"But then, wouldn't people just be more likely to commit crimes, since the punishment isn't that harsh? And if I killed a kitten for fun, wouldn't you be mad at me?" Max asked before continuing to think about it; more than willing to make Chloe work for her stance.

"I would make sure you got help, so you didn't do it again. I would be mad, yes, but the madness doesn't benefit anyone. And I don't think people would be more likely to commit crimes, no. Most people don't do bad things because they don't want to. You shouldn't abstain from criminality because you fear the punishment. You shouldn't be a criminal because... it's bad" In the short pause, Max sensed that Chloe was close to running low on convincing-fuel, but she was still somewhat surprised, if not perturbed about the words Chloe used to share her opinions and beliefs, as it was done so well; not sounding like it came from such a young girl, but more like it came from someone else entirely.
"Okay, kind of fell apart there, but you know what I'm saying"