(no subject)

[gotbottle]

If you knew you absolutely couldn't fail--that you were guaranteed success--

What would you do?

Comments

[eluding]

I would cure myself of... being a werewolf. [The honesty is difficult to get through his throat, to verbalize but he does manage it.

He would stop being a monster, stop feeling it claw at his chest with its darkness and promise to take over him completely when the full moon comes.]

...what about you?

[gotbottle]

[ She nods--grave, sympathetic. ]

I can't imagine what it must be like. Or how much you might want to be without it.

...I don't know. I go back and forth. A lot of the time I think I'd like to get rid of my shadow--it's not--it's a problem. But then I worry about changing some part of myself that much.

So then I think I ought to write a book... but I'm probably going to do that anyway, whether it winds up failing or not.

Maybe I'd try to patch up my family. Get us all close again.

[eluding]

[Ethan smiles softly when she nods with that sympathy in her expression.]

I don't know that I could put to words how much.

[It's said quietly, honestly before he listens.] ...your shadow? It can be the danger of any major change to oneself. What are we without it? Even when it's something we might not like.

What's the book going to be about? [her final answer makes him smile though, because if there is anything he understands it's family, how important it is for family to be close.] Very good answer. That last one.

[gotbottle]

Well... okay. Maybe not getting rid of my shadow, like, entirely. Maybe just... changing the fact that it's not like everyone else's.

[ She doesn't particularly want to stand out that way. Hasn't ever been comfortable with it. ]

I'd write the book about a case I worked on. When I find the right one, I'll know. But it's gotta be something I reported on from the start, so I know the story better than anyone to write it.

[ She nods. ] I know family's everything but. I don't know. I feel like we all have no idea what to do with each other now that we're all adults.

[eluding]

How... is it not like everyone else's?

[The question is asked softly without any pressure for her to answer if she doesn't want to talk about it.

Ethan frowns quietly. His chest kind of aches. Family is important, but.] I think... life can honestly sneak up on you in a way you're not prepared for. Before you know it, you're so far away from the people you love and grew up with.

[gotbottle]

Everyone else's can't take solid form, I'm pretty sure.

[ She spreads her hands. ]

Our lives did that, yeah. We've also been broken for a long time. I think we've grown apart and don't really know how to come back together again.

[eluding]

They... can't, no. I can't imagine what that must be like.

[It's said softly before he nods. His jaw locks a bit in understanding. Something twists up in his chest.]

When you become broken, it can be hard to know how you all fit together anymore, how you ever did to start with. Do you.. think the rest of your family wants to?

[comewither]

Rob a bank?

Wait, no. Something that involves getting a lot of money without being shot at by the cops.

[gotbottle]

Yeah, I guess getting shot at by the police doesn't exactly make for success.

Rob a banker? He's probably got more money than most, but it wouldn't touch what's in a vault.

[comewither]

Pretty sure that would bite me in the ass somehow. You know how rich folks are.

[does she??? Mabel is just assuming here]

[gotbottle]

Yeah, seriously.

[ Honestly, Rachel's just assuming too, but all evidence points to rich dudes being epic assholes, so. ]

So. You need something that'll get you a lot of money without getting shot or having your life ruined by the rich and powerful. Some great discovery to sell?

[comewither]

Ooh, buried pirate treasure? Lost city of what's lost these days? Something that requires the least amount of work from me, that's for sure.

[gotbottle]

...Who says it even has to be a real pirate treasure? Start rumors, get people interested, sell fake maps to some remote place. By the time they get back, you're long gone.

sorry (not sorry at all)

[toooldforlosing]

Now that is a question that sounds like it has a story behind it.

NEVER BE SORRY

[gotbottle]

[ She smiles, shrugging slightly. ]

I like to know what's in people's hearts.

[toooldforlosing]

I guess you trust people's answers more than I do.

[gotbottle]

Wouldn't be the first time I've been accused of being too trusting.

You think people would hide what they really want, or want to do?

[toooldforlosing]

I think it's a rare person whose both honest with themselves and willing to honestly answer that kind of question, that's all.

[gotbottle]

So you think, if I get answers, I'm just gonna get what people think I want to hear? Or think they ought to wish for?

[fruktansvard]

[ die. ] Heal [ moment ] the broken.

[gotbottle]

[ She smiles at him. ]

It's very noble of you to think of others before yourself.

[fruktansvard]

[ if only you knew why, what changed him from what he used to be into this. ] Hardly noble, I think. It's what's right. We belong to the universe, we should care for it and one another.

[gotbottle]

[ She nods. ] It's true. It is. We're just so far away from those ideals as a society that when someone upholds them, we find it remarkable.

I think it's a little sad that that kind of thing is remarkable and not commonplace.

[fruktansvard]

Your reaction is equally as rare, honestly. Most people tell me to get out of the 60's as if caring for life is an era and not common sense.

[ which is funny when his age comes in to account but anyway ] And yourself, what would you do?

[gotbottle]

Like I was saying... people have forgotten how to be good to each other.

[ She's quiet a few long moments, thoughtful. Figuring out how much to share of herself, here. ]

I'd write a book. I'd try to reconcile my family--we're not really on bad terms or fighting but we haven't been close in a long time.

And there are things I'd change about myself.