[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]

[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.