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

action;

[aim_exorable]

[The closeness is indeed familiar, but more in a nostalgic way for him. He half didn't know what to do with himself when he returned to the hive one day and suddenly she was gone. What was he supposed to do with all that space?]

[Get a life, apparently.]

[But he adjusts to the miniscule weight easily and eyes her from the corner of his vision.]

Bathroom, Mindfang. And it is of no consequence what happened to them.

[...He needs to tell the Helmsman to never deal with this troll. Mindfang would catch on quick.]

action;

[o8liter8]

It is so! You wouldn't give those up except for something really big.

[ And oh, she's a little bitter about that. You can't go home again. Leave before they leave you. ]

action;

[aim_exorable]

You're looking far too deeply into things.

[Except she isn't.]

[Sighing, Darkleer trudges off with his new passenger to go find a place to sit down.]

How much has anyone actually told you of this place?

action;

[o8liter8]

Wow, you are totally underestimating how well I know you right now! Whatever, I don't care.

[ Except she does. That stupid helmet was more important to him than anything. ]

I have bits and pieces. Dualscar was a bit too busy strutting and preening trying to look good to really have a lot of conversation.

Re: action;

[aim_exorable]

[He's really not sure how she would react to knowing that he gave them away to a yellowblooded Helmsman. Best to just... not mention it. Ever.]

Yes, well, that's not surprising. Where have you been staying?

action;

[o8liter8]

I found a shipwreck!

[ stupidly proud. ]

action;

[aim_exorable]

[...]

You stayed the night in the shipwreck. The haunted shipwreck.

action;

[o8liter8]

I think it's homey. Even if I could do without the ghosts, the traps are excellent.

action;

[aim_exorable]

[Darkleer presses his hands up against his face, fingers nudging up the glasses up the bridge of his nose. It's the kind of action Mindfang always seems to bring about in him.]

You are ridiculous. I should remain unsurprised after all this time.

action;

[o8liter8]

What? It's not like there's anywhere else particularly great to stay. I liked my captain's cabin.

action;

[aim_exorable]

I could disagree with this. In fact, I am disagreeing with this, because you have the entire city to choose from and you choose the wrecked ship.

action;

[o8liter8]

Well, where are you staying then, Fussybritches?

[ She grins a little. Just like old times! ]

action;

[aim_exorable]

A hive. Like a normal troll.

[That's right, he's not giving the address.]

action;

[o8liter8]

You know I'll just find out anyway. Anyway, normal is overrated.

[ nyah nyah. ]

Keep this up and I'll almost think you don't like me anymore, Chiron!

action;

[aim_exorable]

[weh]

To my deep misfortune, I am well aware of your stubbornness in finding me.

[Sigh.]

Whether I like you or not doesn't really matter.

action;

[o8liter8]

Why doesn't it?

action;

[aim_exorable]

[Because I owe you now.]

Because you do what you please, and not even the Condesce herself could not stop you from it.

action;

[o8liter8]

Of course she couldn't. [ A liiiiittle smug there. ]

You must have been happy when I finally left.

action;

[aim_exorable]

I certainly didn't have to worry about running out of food as often.

[He won't admit that the hive felt too big and empty without another troll in it.]

But that was a very long time ago, for me.

action;

[o8liter8]

Everyone's from the far-flung future, huh? You probably haven't seen me in sweeps. Unless they put you on the hunt to bring me down, I suppose, but I doubt it. I'd probably be the province of the Legislacerators.

[ And that's fine. If she was just another mouth to feed to him, that's fine. Whatever. She doesn't need him.

She lets go of his shoulders abruptly, scooting away on the bench slightly. ]

action;

[aim_exorable]

[So she's finally moving off of him. He's fine with that. Just fine.]

I would not doubt that. However, in my case, I saw you fairly recently before arriving in the city.

action;

[o8liter8]

Was I pillaging some place you were stationed at? Sorry about that.

[ She sounds flippant and not sorry at all. They're not kids anymore. Not friends. He's an Archeradicator, and she's free and alone as she always wanted. ]

action;

[aim_exorable]

[Like he expected her to apologize sincerely anyway. In fact, he's not sure she would apologize to anyone at all. He's fine with that, or, at least, he's gotten so used to the idea, he knows better than to let it bother him anymore.]

No... Although, knowing you, I'm sure you made sure to take some time for some illegal activity or another before running into me.

action;

[o8liter8]

Just a chance encounter of childhood acquaintances, then?

[ Acquaintances. Not friends. They were never friends. ]

action;

[aim_exorable]

[Definitely not-friends. Not-friends who stayed in the same hive for sweeps together, and the same not-friend who he helped clean blood off of and who he carried around when she broke her leg and who he continuously made breakfast for even though he could have killed her with a poke...]

[So not friends.]

...Not exactly.

You'll find out when you're older.

[For some reason, he's still not exactly comfortable with admitting his exile... And with Mindfang, the one who made sure he escaped with his life? Well...]