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[slipperysoul]

[ Angel’s lingering by the angled late-day sunlight coming in through a dusty window of an abandoned warehouse when he turns on his NV, looking about as calm as can be for what he’s about to say. ]

Should have apologized weeks ago for what I did. Nobody should have been killed, I never wanted that to happen. Not here.

But how do you forgive part of who you are when you’re already condemned to hell. Absolution isn’t something i’m looking for anymore when there’s already nothing I can to do to stop the inevitable.

Saving the world doesn’t do anything when you’ve spent a few hundred years doing much worse. [ a beat, while he glances out towards the fading light. ] So what else is there?

Comments

video.

[slipperysoul]

[ Most of all, he wants to know how you know so much about all of this, kidlet. And he's left looking somewhere between guilty, apologetic, and just sad. For you, for himself, for all sorts of things. Just... sad. ]

I know what that's like. To want to feel something, just because everything's always so cold. But apologizing can only get you so far, it can only do so much. Has to be enough, though.

[ Only a second before -- ] Why were you supposed to be in hell already?

video.

[faking]

[One-shouldered shrug.] I was supposed to die in a little while, or something, I guess, but I'm here instead and am pretty alive for it. But I - I've seen people who had a lot to apologize for. They had a lot, and... they just tried to make sure that another person didn't have to feel like they did.

video.

[slipperysoul]

There's a lot of people I wouldn't want to feel like I do.

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[faking]

Then either you're a good person, or you're not like a grown-up.

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[slipperysoul]

What are most of the grown-ups you know like?

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[faking]

Stupid. They measure everything in years. Too old for this, too young for that. They don't know. If they measured themselves by worth, they'd hate themselves too much to go on. I don't know, though. I don't know what they're thinking. I'll never understand.

video.

[slipperysoul]

I think when you're a grown-up, sometimes you forget that age doesn't always play a part in how much you know and how much you don't. Numbers don't define you, but your actions do.

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[faking]

I think they just have no idea what they're doing half the time.

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[slipperysoul]

There's that too. Adults like to just pretend they know everything.

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[faking]

I've come of age already, but I don't want to grow into that.

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[slipperysoul]

Then grow into something better.

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[faking]

[His giggle is almost sympathetic.]

You said you can't do anything to stop the inevitable, right? That's the same for most anyone. If I grow into stinging nettles, that's that.

Anyway, I don't even want to get old. Gross, gross.

video.

[slipperysoul]

Gonna stay young forever?

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[faking]

Sounds like a plan.

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[slipperysoul]

Yeah, it does.

[ a beat ] What's your name?

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[faking]

[His head cants to the left, as he considers this person, and then he smiles delicately.]

Alois Trancy, Earl of Buckinghamshire. It's a pleasure to meet you. Might I have your name too?

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[slipperysoul]

[ Big name for a little kid. Angel just smiles, though it's honest. ]

Angel. But do you want to know a secret?

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[faking]

[Politely - but eager in a hushed way - ] Yes, please.

video; private

[slipperysoul]

[ He makes it private, just to make it even more secret-y. ] My name used to be Liam.

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[faking]

That's a grand name, too. [He has such a strong urge to say, I used to be Jim. Maybe this is a person who understands things; a kindred spirit of sorts. But Alois purses his lip to keep from saying all of that, and nods firmly.]

I won't tell anyone. A man has his reasons for becoming someone else, right?

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[slipperysoul]

You're right, he does.

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[faking]

Thank you. It's good to know of a secret, sometimes.

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[slipperysoul]

You're welcome.

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[faking]

[Pause - conflict - he opens his mouth.]

Are you scared? Of hell?

video; private

[slipperysoul]

[ He only hesitates for a second, trying to decide if he actually has to think that one over. ]

No. Lot more scared of other things.