Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
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Post by Anna on Jul 2, 2009 19:30:31 GMT 1
Good, so he was Garou. She didn't care about the other details. The elders could quiz him on his tribe and rank. She just wanted to get out of here.
"If you stopped fidgeting I could heal you," she said impatiently. She took another step towards him. "We should get out of here. Do you have any suggestions? Besides the Umbra?"
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Tristain
Cub
"Monsters are as Monsters do. Am I a Monster?"
Posts: 170
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Post by Tristain on Jul 2, 2009 22:57:24 GMT 1
Tristain stays facing away from her, not moving though if he feels her place her hand upon his back again, he shrugs it off. With all the dark memories flowing around his head, he couldn't stand the thought of her helping him. He didn't deserve it. And he couldn't pretend.
"You know what they'd've done." He speaks quietly, with a darkness to his voice that says he's going to get this said whether she wants to hear it or not. "You know it because you've felt it. You've been there already, right?" He takes a deep breath. "I know because I was with them for two months. I know the kinds of shit they had me do. I know... what they... made me be." He closes his eyes. Back still to her, he doesn't even try and defend himself, but braces for the pain he expects, the pain he deserves.
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Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
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Post by Anna on Jul 3, 2009 0:08:11 GMT 1
Anna had almost reached out to try and touch him again, but stopped when he spoke. This was probably the last thing she wanted to hear. Conflicted, she fell silent for a long time. She stood behind him, watching his back, watching the deep scars that he took for her. And that was something no Spiral would do.
Finally, she broke the silence. "They will never stop hunting you, you know," she said. "They hold a special grudge for defectors and runaways."
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Tristain
Cub
"Monsters are as Monsters do. Am I a Monster?"
Posts: 170
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Post by Tristain on Jul 3, 2009 6:50:14 GMT 1
"They're probably not too fond of people who slide a knife between their ribs either." It sounds odd. It might have been an attempt at humour, but even Tristain's not sure. "I know. I've been running a long time."
Why hadn't she attacked him? Tristain stays facing away from the girl, not really knowing what to do.
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Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
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Post by Anna on Jul 3, 2009 14:50:44 GMT 1
"You've been on your own all this time?" Anna asked.
She knew she would never have been able to face everything that had happened in the past year if it hadn't been for her pack. And no cub should have to do this alone. There he was, in a impossible situation. She knew her side well enough. There was a good chance they would attack him on sight. She wasn't sure why she hadn't yet.
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Tristain
Cub
"Monsters are as Monsters do. Am I a Monster?"
Posts: 170
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Post by Tristain on Jul 3, 2009 16:35:22 GMT 1
Tristain finally turns around with a shrug. "What's the alternative? Right now I don't even know what the difference is between you and the East-side lot, save which side of the Wall you claim. And I'm not too keen on signing up with anyone right now. Not until I know what I'd be signing up for."
He still doesn't meet Anna's gaze, and for all his talk the sense of loneliness still cuts him deeply.
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Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
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Post by Anna on Jul 3, 2009 17:14:22 GMT 1
"The difference?" Anna sounded a little shocked that he didn't know. "Only everything they stand for. The reason for our very existence is to stop them and what they do. Every horrible depraved act they commit, they do it in the name of the Wyrm. Everything we do amounts to fighting its corruption."
At least she wasn't getting angry again. Like most Garou, she seemed to get angry very quickly. That, at least, was universal.
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Tristain
Cub
"Monsters are as Monsters do. Am I a Monster?"
Posts: 170
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Post by Tristain on Jul 3, 2009 17:24:41 GMT 1
Tristain finally looks up at Anna properly, and a strange smile crosses his face and is gone again. "It's easy to say that you're fighting the good fight. They say they're fighting the good fight. And when you hear it properly, you even start to believe it. I know about what they do, and why they do it. I guess what I want to know, is what your side would do in your... holy war. What does your... faith justify?"
He is poking uncomfortably, and he knows it, but he also knows too well what sort of atrocities can be justified in the name of the Gods. That these Westies don't serve the Wyrm sounds like a good start, but it doesn't mean they can't be just as damned evil.
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Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
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Post by Anna on Jul 3, 2009 17:55:19 GMT 1
Anna blinked. Was this another trick? Using words like 'faith' and 'holy wars' was making Tristain sound a lot like No-Eyes. She really hoped he wasn't listening. She looked around nervously, and tried not to succumb to her paranoia. "This isn't about faith," she said, not quite succeeding in her attempt to remain calm. "This is about seeing atrocities and doing something about it. Like protecting those who can't protect themselves. It doesn't matter what you believe, it's there! It's happening. And nobody else can stop them."
She was getting frustrated, and in her frustration she was having trouble finding the right words. She was also tired. That didn't help.
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Tristain
Cub
"Monsters are as Monsters do. Am I a Monster?"
Posts: 170
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Post by Tristain on Jul 3, 2009 18:02:08 GMT 1
Tristain watches her carefully as she speaks, then nods. He still doesn't know whether he believes her, but she sounds earnest, and that's probably the best he's going to get for now.
"We still need to get out of here and get some clothes," he says, quite abruptly changing the topic. He pauses, remembering something else. "And food."
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Post by Shehrazad on Jul 3, 2009 18:07:12 GMT 1
Like every time when he was given an opportunity to remind Anna of his views, No-Eyes interfered. He whispered across her mind again. "Atrocities indeed? And who defines them as atrocities? The weak, ignorant, stupid humans that raised you, that's who. There is no right or wrong, there is only what is ground into your mind by the society that raised you. There have been societies over the centuries that believe in cannibalism, those that rape and torture their wives, and that was all seen as perfectly acceptable. Why would morality change if it truly held any meaning? The victims complain, but that doesn't make it wrong, you only believe that makes it wrong because you have been taught to."
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Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
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Post by Anna on Jul 3, 2009 18:14:53 GMT 1
There were a few seconds while Anna was listening to something that wasn't there. She definitely wasn't looking at Tristain when she muttered: "I'll take that morality over that of the Wyrm any day."
"Right, next move," she busied herself with thinking of more practical things. She couldn't take him to the Caern. She didn't know how the others would react to him yet. They couldn't go back to Simon's... She pushed any thoughts of Simon into the back of her mind. "My friend lives near here," she said. She looked up at Tristain to see if he'd object to that suggestion.
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Tristain
Cub
"Monsters are as Monsters do. Am I a Monster?"
Posts: 170
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Post by Tristain on Jul 3, 2009 18:22:45 GMT 1
Tristain looks a little confused as Anna zones out. "Who are you talking to?" he asks, a little hesitantly. "And who's the friend?"
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Post by Shehrazad on Jul 3, 2009 18:32:16 GMT 1
"Sentimental, fanatic drivel. You're sticking to the belief you've been told to because you've been indoctrinated against the alternative. You're as much of a victim to the ingrained morality of society as the Nazi youth."
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Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
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Post by Anna on Jul 3, 2009 18:36:21 GMT 1
Now getting visibly angry over what seemed to be nothing, Anna gritted her teeth and swallowed back whatever retort she had for No-Eyes.
"Nothing important," she said. "She's... one of us." She hoped that wouldn't put Tristain off the idea, because she didn't really have any others. She didn't fancy taking him to meet Nadya or Vasara... at least not yet.
"Her house is close though," she said. Close enough.
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