I dreamed of a world so far from here that's not on the map

[matchbreaker]

To my Fellows,

What is "good" and what is "evil" is something that can be debated for longer than most of you will ever live, as is the nature of men. These debates are without meaning in my eyes. Despite that man's belief, men are not born to be good or evil, and what flaws they have in personality or character are things that can be overcome through their choices. Both for better and, as we've seen, for worse.

Life is not without suffering, but I should hope that every one of you is loved by someone. Loves someone. Many of you probably know that some of those loved ones are entering into an experience similar to our own. The terror of that is an undeniable sword which hangs above our heads.

Do not isolate yourselves, and hold onto what belief will best inspire you. And if you wish to join us for another one of these gatherings, meet us in the dining hall at 8PM.

Sincerely yours,
Elda Marker

PS: Those who can taste will once more provide food.

[ Well that sure is a lot of words which is being put under your doors, put on the fridge, and generally distributed around. It... uh, sure is a letter? It's in the same impossibly perfect cursive as last week, and is written with an almost angry bravado. Because even if she was vindicated at the end there, she was vindicated by a (by his own admission) evil priest. So. That feels bad.

Anyway, with some effort, the dining hall (which now has a lot of candles at Cabanela's little shrine, even with adding the two more here) is filled with food: Susan's got the booze as usual but also a big pot of mac and cheese. Adelina's done her noble best with some finger sandwiches. Yuri's brought some sweets that Estelle might've made. As for Elda, well, she still basically can't cook, so what she provides instead is:

A few board games including a Settlers of Catan, Sorry, and Candyland knock off. I guess we're playing games. Or at least she's suggesting it, who knew? ]

Comments

[bloodisthicker]

[...oh, right, someone was speaking to him.]

...Oh. Hello, Princess.

[aw, shit. he said he would be fine with talking about it.

...

hopefully he doesn't chicken out.]

[bloodbiter]

You can call me Adelina. [That's followed by a small pause, before—] Addie, actually, if you like.

[She doesn't want to rush into this with him seeming so preoccupied, so she'll wait for the conversation to feel natural first.]

[bloodisthicker]

...

Right, of course. Yes.

[well, she's never really seemed like a stickler for that sort of thing, so eh.]

There was something you wanted to talk about, right?

[bloodbiter]

Yes, if now is a good time.

[It seemed like that trial weighed on him, after all.]

I was just wondering why you spoke up when you did. It seemed something had struck a chord with you.

[bloodisthicker]

...mmm. Well. I was thinking about how it could be important to get to the heart of things to seal the deal, and...

[...fuck it. trying to sweep things under the rug will just make things worse, won't it?]

I remembered a similar situation recently, I suppose, where I lashed out at someone who didn't deserve it. Thankfully I didn't kill anyone, but... I guess it just gave me some perspective on the "why."

[bloodbiter]

...I am glad you did not go as far as he did.

[But...]

I understand if you do not wish to speak of it, but - would you tell me more about the situation?

[She can't properly make him feel better if she doesn't know what happened!!]

[bloodisthicker]

Well... I suppose I should be honest about myself, since not being honest with myself and others got me into more trouble than anything else back home.

So... back home, I basically took a "the ends justify the means" approach to things. I knew a lot of things I did weren't exactly ethical, but I thought that as long as I was doing it for the benefit of Republic City, it was fine. Of course, that line of thinking eventually leads to you thinking whatever's best for you is what's best for everyone, and... well.

The Avatar, who... well, is a powerful figure in my world physically, spiritually, and technically politically, eventually called me out on it, comparing me to the sorts of people I was trying to fight. I didn't want to face up to how bad I'd gotten, so... I started a physical altercation.

[bloodbiter]

[She pauses as he speaks, listening to all of what he says and then giving it the proper thought it deserves. It's... concerning, to say the least. But in the end, it comes down to one thing for her.]

It sounds as though you know now that it was the wrong path to take.

[bloodisthicker]

...yes. I know now, but I spent so long justifying things to myself because I thought it was for the greater good. None of this is what I wanted to be, but I ended up doing it anyway.