vibrafinal | 18th moon [voice]

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18th moon [voice]

Rosa Farrell has left Luceti.

[It comes abruptly, harshly, flatly. Cecil does not sound in terrible pain as he did the last time he had to make such an announcement. In fact, he sounds very much as though he's forgotten how to inflect.]

...She's left roses and notes for everyone she's met here. Please come pick them up when you have the time.

[That's all he has the energy to say.]

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Their actions? Their whole manner of thinking, their very goal is despicable! The world would be better off if they'd just die-

[But that sounds too much like words he said months and months ago, and he stops.]

Cecil...

[Golbez squeezes his brother's shoulders tightly.]

No one could blame you for thinking that way. Not after what they've done, what they've proven of themselves. They have no care for us, they see everyone in this enclosure as a means to an end. Their arrogance is... unspeakable.

It's as if lives have no value to them beyond temporary uses! That sort of thinking is always unforgivable!

[He knows paladin are supposed to forgive, to accept, to protect. But right now he feels too angry to even think of that.]

[All the more reason for him to let it out in a safe environment. There's a lot of repression to deal with here.]

They have become so wrapped in their experiments, they have lost all sight of ethics, of restraint. For all their advanced abilities and technology, they are fools.

Fools? That would imply that they are not aware of what they've given up.

[He has trouble believing that.]

I meant more that they place less value on what they've abandoned than it deserves. Though... you're right, perhaps "foolish" isn't the correct word.

Once you give up on others, you give up on everything. If they chose to do so deliberately...

[He'd rather not imagine what that makes them.]

[He no longer has anything he can think to say. He just sits there, like a rock, holding his brother by the shoulders, letting him wear out his anger and frustration.]

[A rock is good to have at the moment, because Cecil pretty much slumps over in defeat.]

...Merely trying to understand them feels draining at best, unnatural at worst.

[He cannot see himself making the choices they made, committing the acts they commit. The fact that they could confuses him.]

That does not surprise me. It is said that one should try to understand the view of one's enemy, the better to know them and overcome them, but... there are times when that seems counterproductive, even self-harming.

... The fact that I can even follow as much of their logic as I can makes my skin crawl, at times.

That's understandable. Such logic was not meant to be understood by good people. You have no choice but to be disgusted by it.

[He considers mentioning that maybe the fact that he can understand it in the first place means he's not as good as Cecil thinks, but cuts himself off before he starts. This is no time for that argument.]

It at least explains the many times our fellow villagers ask for explanations of their actions over the journals... though some have been provided, they may just be unable to wrap their heads around them. Or accept them.

[A wise choice. The anger is still simmering, barely suppressed, and that would be more than enough to unleash it.]

Few wish to truly understand just how cruel people can be. Do you blame them for that denial?

[He shakes his head solemnly.] Of course not, how could I? It is a painful realization. The saying that the truth hurts is perfectly apt.

Especially for the children, or those that come from more peaceful worlds. They should not have to learn such lessons so quickly.

[He just nods, quiet and thoughtful.]

To think that our more tumultous history could prove such an odd boon... The universe is a strange place. But then, even we are not immune to their cruelty.