(ARNE and FRODE are feasting in the banquet hall.)
ARNE: You're always defending him.
FRODE: Saying somebody has been through a lot is not the same thing as defending them.
ARNE: What does it matter what he's been through? He's a monster.
FRODE: I'm not comfortable with you throwing that word around.
ARNE: Do you not see what he did to this banquet hall?
FRODE: It needed redecorating anyway--and a good scrub. The place smelled awful.
ARNE: I better not find out you've been hanging out with him.
FRODE: I'll spend time with who I like, Arne. You're not the boss of me.
ARNE: I'll report you to the king.
FRODE: You wouldn't dare.
ARNE: See if I don't.
FRODE: You have no compassion. That's your trouble.
ARNE: Your trouble is you're a softie.
FRODE: I like to understand people's motivations. That's all.
ARNE: His motivation is he's hungry and wants to eat the lot of us.
FRODE: Did you see anyone being eaten?
ARNE: He ate Sven's arm!
FRODE: An arm is not a whole person. That was just to prove a point.
ARNE: Sven is missing an arm!
FRODE: When did Sven ever use that arm?
ARNE: All you do is make excuses.
FRODE: If you knew Grendel's mother, you'd understand where he was coming from.
ARNE: We've all had rotten mothers, Frode.
FRODE: Are you saying my mother is rotten?
ARNE: No, your mother is lovely.
FRODE: I was going to say.
ARNE: She's better than my own mother.
FRODE: Your mother isn't so bad, Arne.
ARNE: She's not bad, but she's not good.
FRODE: No, I can't say she's good, but she's not bad.
ARNE: She just isn't tender the way a mother should be, you know?
FRODE: And it's the same for Grendel.
ARNE: She didn't read him stories when he was a little goblin?
FRODE: She didn't.
ARNE: Did she hold him on cold nights so he could feel the warmth of her affection?
FRODE: She didn't do any such thing.
ARNE: And did she look at him everyday and say 'You are my most prized possession?'
FRODE: He was lucky if she ever even glanced at him.
ARNE: Well, I'll tell you--THAT'S STILL NO EXCUSE!
FRODE: You're an unfeeling man. That's what you are.
ARNE: I feel many things! I feel a pain in my shoulder where that thing threw a table at me.
FRODE: He was throwing a table at the wall. You just happened to be standing in front of the wall.
ARNE: He took off Gorzo's head!
FORDE: Gorzo had the worst breath.
ARNE: What does that have to do with his head?
FORDE: Well, where does his breath come from?
ARNE: You must own up to what happened!
FORDE: But I did nothing!
ARNE: But you're defending the thing that did the thing.
FORDE: I find it better to look at from all sides.
ARNE: So you can see my side then?
FORDE: Yes, I can see your side.
ARNE: And will you be arguing with Grendel about what it's done from my side of things?
FORDE: I...Well.
ARNE: Ahhhhh.
FORDE: Grendel doesn't listen to me when I bring complaints to his lair.
ARNE: So you've decided to spend all your time harassing me instead?
FORDE: The alternative would be to say nothing, and you know, I don't believe in that.
ARNE: I know that about you.
FORDE: My mother told me to always speak up when something is wrong.
ARNE: And what do you see as being wrong?
FORDE: It's all wrong. Grendel, you all, Gorzo--
ARNE: GORZO HAS NO HEAD!
FORDE: But when he had a head, he was a lot of trouble.
ARNE: I'm going to do my eating alongside someone else moving forward, Forde.
FORDE: I see.
ARNE: I think it'll be for the best.
FORDE: Well then, it's a shame, isn't it?
ARNE: What is?
FORDE: Seeing how we're all so polarized these days.
ARNE: That is a way of looking at it.
FORDE: Just wish we could all learn not to make such a big deal out of the little things.
ARNE: Like murder and decapitation.
FORDE: Well...Among other things.
ARNE: Ahh.
FORDE: It's really all in how you look at it.
End of Play
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