[text]

[waywardboy]

I knew this place was full of some kind of magic. People acted like I was crazy.

Memory loss? And trees and plants everywhere. Magic always causes problems. We're all lucky it wasn't something much worse.

Comments

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

That will change here. No one is purely good. But there are plenty of people who want to be good and don't let the evil in them come out. When they can help it.

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

Do you know how to do that? To keep the evil from coming out?

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

It is... a long and difficult process. It isn't something you can complete and lay aside. You have to keep working on it.

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

I want to learn.

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

[There's a quickly stifled noise of surprise, followed by a long pause on the other end of the line.]

I'm learning how, and I'm not a bard. I don't teach others often.

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

Do you know who can teach me, then?

... I want to know how to keep from becoming a monster. Like my father.

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

I might. Let me talk with my friends, and I will see if I can find you some teachers.

That's a good goal - and a good step in the right direction, I think.

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

Thanks.

[There's a long, thoughtful pause, and when he speaks again, he sounds a touch more timid, uncertain.]

Do you think anyone can learn? Even if they were born as something evil?

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

That is a hard question with no easy answer. I don't know anyone who was born evil. Gods don't count. Everyone I know is a mix, even if one overbalances the other.

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

[There's a long, long pause before he responds.]

Vampires are evil. Where I'm from. Demonic creatures without souls. Both of my parents are vampires. I'm not sure what that makes me... but it can't be anything good.

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

Vam-pires. [It's a strange word in her mouth, and she spends a moment playing with it before answering.] I don't know the word. I don't think we had them at home. [Not strictly true, but she'd never met a Dearg-due before, and he certainly didn't look like a blood-sucking maiden.]

But even if your parents were of lesser blood, [Tactful. That's what she is.] you are trying to make more of yourself - and that means you must be better than them already. I think there is hope.

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

[He has no problem accepting the "lesser blood" part. Even if Angel's circumstances are special, Connor has his own ideas about how that whole "vampire with a soul" thing works, and none of them are very flattering.]

I hadn't thought of it that way.

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

Every new day is a chance to start the fight afresh - if today was a failure, tomorrow you learn from your mistakes and do better.

That's what Caedmon says anyway. [She means Souji, but she won't use anyone's true name before knowing if they've given it freely.]

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

[There's another long pause, and his voice sounds unstable when he finally answers.]

That sounds like something my father would have said.

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

Then he was probably on the right track, even if he couldn't do it himself.

[She's completely serene about this notion, even if she can tell that he's not, entirely.]

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

Maybe he tried. He lied a lot. That's all I know. Most of what I know about him is from stories.

[Audio]

[coimiceoir]

[Softly, matter-of-fact.] He wasn't lying about that. It has worked so far.

[Audio]

[waywardboy]

... I'll remember that.