Sermon Two

[withoutasign]

[Signless has chosen his location carefully; when he turns on the video function, there's a wall of water behind him, and a school of brightly colored tropical fish swimming past. He's very clearly in the bubble again.]

My friends, today I want to talk to you about fear.

[His voice is low and soothing, his story-telling voice.]

I have known great fear in my time. In my world, the color of my blood was a source of fear, something that drove me into hiding for a long time. Then, when I dreamed of the world that could be, rather than the world that was, I was afraid again... afraid that I would never see what I knew we were capable of come to pass. I was afraid to speak out, afraid to make a ripple in the still, stagnant waters of our society, and tried instead to live my meager little life underneath the notice of the highbloods.

But then I saw what my silence was doing, what those in similar positions were suffering, and I knew I could not stay silent. I could not sit idly by while our world rotted away from its very core, while its corruption bled away the talents and very lives of so many trolls who had done nothing beyond being hatched the wrong color. I could not wait for another to come along and demand change, or I would wait the rest of my life. I needed to cast aside my fear, to find a reserve of strength within me, and rise to what my world needed me to be.

[His voice falls, becoming hushed and soft, almost painfully honest, and he looks down, his cloak hiding his eyes.]

I was terrified. Casting off fear is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Fear is something I knew, its cold comfort as familiar to me as my guardian's face. It would have been... easy to live my entire life in fear, I thought.

[He looks up then, and his eyes are burning, his voice strong once more.]

I thought that fear was a cloak to hide me, but it was a chain I wore around my neck. When the fear was gone, when I made the decision to cast it aside, I have never felt so free in my entire life. It was how I imagine it must feel to wake up one morning with wings, and look out the window into an endless sky. When the fear was gone, I could breathe a deep breath for the first time in my life, and look to the future not as an ominous, foreboding thing, but as a path bathed in light and redemption.

I am not afraid any longer, Vatheon. This is my home now, and it is worth fighting for. I will not be driven out of my home again. I will not let fear control me.

Comments

AND SUDDENLY VISIBLE FOR ANYBODY AT ALL

[aim_exorable]

D --> Besides
D --> You were hardly any marvel at six yourself
D --> Or am I the only one amongst the two of us who remembers that broken leg of yours
D --> Miss Jungle Princess?

[Listen, he is currently running all over Vatheon to try and not be found by her, he deserves to be a little petty.]

WOW DARKLEER WHAT A DICKBUTT!!!

[o8liter8]

I'll have you know I was the very 8est Jungle Princess.

WOW BECAUSE YOU'RE SO MUCH BETTER???

[aim_exorable]

D --> A jungle princess who couldn't walk

UM SHE ISN'T GIVING OUT EMBARRASSING PERSONAL STORIES OF YOUR CHILDHOOD!

[o8liter8]

These things happen.
As I recall you were practically a little flower child, Chiron.

NOW SHE IS

[aim_exorable]

D --> I was not
D --> Having an appreciation for nature does not make one a 'flowerchild'

[Whoops continued bickering all in public!]

HE STARTED IT

[o8liter8]

You tooooooootally were.
It was cute!
You were so happy, frolicking in the forest.

NUH UH

[aim_exorable]

D --> ...I don't "frolic"
D --> Ever.

YEAH HUH

[o8liter8]

That's what you'd like all your 8uddies in the Archeradicators to think.
8ut I know 8etter!

NUH UH

[aim_exorable]

[A light wince on his end. Right, the Archeradicators...]

D --> No you do not.

YEAH HUH!!!!!!!!

[o8liter8]

I know things a8out you that noooooooo one else knows.

DON'T USE ALL THOSE SHOUT POLES AT HIM

[aim_exorable]

[...Crap.]

D --> I could say likewise about you

[Stalking isn't creepy, is it?]

[devwocean]

Really?
I'm shocked.
Somehow, she failed to mention this to me, in all a the swweeps wwe'vve knowwn each other.
Tell me more, Darkleer.

No Dualscar. Just no.

[o8liter8]

Wow, creepy!!!!!!!!
No one invited the rotting sushi to this reminiscence party.

[devwocean]

You don't havve to invvite me. I go wwhere I wwant.

[Not here...]

[rebull]

[...but... watching.]

[Not in Darkleer's book?]

[aim_exorable]

D --> I certainly will consider it, sir
D --> There is quite a bit to tell

[Really just replying to get back at Mindfang...]

[...She brings out the younger side of him. That is petty as all hell.]

Re: [Not in Darkleer's book?]

[o8liter8]

You are the worst kind of traitor.
Interfering in my 8lack interests is pretty l88888888me, Dorkleer.

[ YEAH THEY BOTH GET...KINDA CHILDISH ABOUT THEIR BICKERING... ]

[aim_exorable]

D --> First of all
D --> I'm not interfering in anything
D --> I am simply answering a question laid out by a superior

D --> Second
D --> Really.

[That nickname, really?]

[o8liter8]

You don't even remem8er the nicknames I gave you?

[aim_exorable]

D --> I remember far too well
D --> You really are 11 aren't you?

[o8liter8]

No, I'm not, I would lie a8out something that entirely pointless.

[aim_exorable]

D --> You are behind the curve you know
D --> Again

[o8liter8]

And yet I still manage to 8eat the odds every time in the end.

[devwocean]

Don't hold back. Please.
Go on.

[aim_exorable]

[Mindfang is currently blackmailing him back, so Darkleer really shouldn't say more, exceeeeept...]

D --> Do ask her about the incident with the pineapple and praying mantises.
D --> Her reaction should be interesting.

[And that's all he can say.]