driftfleet | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Windrose crew and friends!
Broadcast: Nope
Action: All Windrose, all the time
When: In the general August area

[We may be sad to leave the beautiful planet behind, but we still have each other!]

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[He at least has the grace to look abashed at that.]

It's seemed more important of late.

Because you feel guilty and unsure.

But your course of action isn't going to benefit others, much less yourself.

[That's the crux of it.]

Actively harming them isn't an improvement.

Do you want to actively harm someone?

If the answer is no, then it is.

Of course not. That doesn't stop it from happening.

It'll happen. With or without your consent or help. People are always going to hurt each other. I've certainly hurt people. We don't live our lives in a void where everything is peaceful and serene.

What makes someone better is how they answer to their hurts. Do they blame the world? Blame themselves?

Or do they choose to rise above it and give that responsibility to those they've hurt?

[ And Charles is getting tired. There's only so much he's willing to endure. ]

It's your choice.

[He exhales, looking beaten.]

Very well. I'll think on it.

[He doesn't need to think on it. He already knows what the right thing to do is - he's known it for some time - but that doesn't make the prospect anything less than an unpleasant chore.

it's not the mood he wants to leave Charles with, though, so he scoops his fluff slug out of the aquarium once more to help soothe both of them. They really are effective like that.]

I appreciate the advice, in any case.

[ He smiles tiredly, but no less real. ]

You're welcome to it.

[In a few hours, he'll undoubtedly feel guilty for putting Charles through the emotional blender, but there aren't enough other people that could bully him into doing the right thing. Steve, the usual moral center, would probably not be sympathetic at all to someone who had chosen the other side of the argument.]

It does make me feel grateful the slugs have the ability they do, regardless. It's good to know they don't care about that kind of conflict.

[ He's used to it. ]

Why would they?

Oh, they shouldn't. It's the simplicity I appreciate; few things are so uncomplicated as a slug who wants to be a friend.

Or a slug who chooses to live uncomplicated. It's not as hard as it looks.

[The fluffball snuggles into the crook of his elbow.]

Ah, but the slug does not perceive that it is responsible for protecting the world on a large scale.

Is . . . Is he now.

[It's a figure of speech, Charles, gawd.]

A simple life would cause me too much guilt, I'm afraid.

[ Look, there's deep and there's . . . whatever this is. ]

I've never known life, even on a smaller scale to be simple in any form.

[Being a literal two-year-old?]

I suppose not, if you can sense the complexity in it. I realize I shouldn't complain overly much, as it's part of what I find so intriguing.

I suppose complaining is a valid part of life.

[He shakes his head and smiles ever so slightly.]

You're probably right.

Oh, I'm usually right.

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