Amazing Grace

[judaspaladin]

Who: Alexander Anderson (judaspaladin ) and Johan Andersen (thejewelergem )
When: Late at night, Thursday
Where: Anderson's Church
Format: action! (With paragraph intro)
What: Johan and Anderson discuss/argue over the ethics of revenge, Johan is tested in his morality
Warnings: Talks of murder, philosophy, blood possible

Comments

[thejewelergem]

[A momentary pause. Then Johan crosses himself absently--more out of habit than anything else--and looks up.] Hi.

[He holds out a hand, sort of gesturing to the room.] It's not the best there is. But in Anatole it kind of is.

The front window's probably a little loose. I've never put one in before. [He sounds rather sheepish over the possibility of having given Anderson a rattly window. Which is funny, when you consider he was talking about murder with no compunctions at all.]

[judaspaladin]

[He stops himself from reacting to the crossing motion. It does his heart good to see it, though.]

It's beautiful, lad. Dinnae worry about the window.

[He smiles for the lad, to show that this gift means more than anything material has in a long time. The smile fades as he steels himself for what must be done.]

Naew, wha' conclusions have yeh caeme tae?

[thejewelergem]

I . . . don't know. [He shrugs. It looks a little self-mocking.] That's kind of why I'm here early.

I just don't want anyone hurt.

[judaspaladin]

Ah'm glad yeh are seein' sense finally.

[He takes a couple steps forward.]

Hurtin' someone else will naet change wha' happened. Yeh have tae know tha, lad.

[thejewelergem]

But it could keep someone else from getting hurt. [And this is why he's on the fence.] If he's not around anymore to hurt anyone else . . .

[judaspaladin]

Everyone has the potential tae hurt someone aer somethin'. We cannae joost get rid o' everyone naew can we?

It's why the Good Laird gave us free will. We have tae find it in ourselves tae naet hurt oothers, tae prove we are worthy o' His glory.

[thejewelergem]

Well apparently somebody's not doing so well with that.

He tried to kill Ruby. And me. Maybe she doesn't mean as much to you as she does to me, but he was ready to beat my head in just because I'm not from here. [He flips his fringe up to show a mark, still only partially-healed and leaving behind a real wowzer of a scar. Then he lets it flop back down.] Back home, people like that get put in prison for years. But there aren't any prisons here. Which means there's nothing to stop him from doing it to somebody else, if he decides to.

[judaspaladin]

[He inwardly flinches at Johan's scar. Though it's the attitude that really bothers him.]

Dae yeh ever think tha' he might feel guilty faer wha' he did?

[thejewelergem]

I guess I'd have to see him to know that, wouldn't I? [He's not being sarcastic.] I'm not a psychic.

[judaspaladin]

[Sigh.]

Ah know tha, lad. Weh are givin' these trials tae test us. Weh have tae let the Laird guide us in these trials. An' while ah dinnae know wha' the Laird wants faer us everytime, [Being in Anatole for example.] Ah dae know tha' the Laird wouldn't want yeh hurtin' someone faer revenge sake.

[thejewelergem]

Just checking, are we talking about the same God here? The one who went "oh, I don't like what you're all doing, I think I'll just destroy this entire town"?

If trials are all he had in mind, he could start by not almost killing me.

[judaspaladin]

Aye, we are. Those town failed their particular "tests". Ah never said wha' the Laird daes was fair. Yer familar with the book o' Job, aren't yeh?

The Laird wouldn't give yeh more than yeh can handle, lad. Yeh told meh before tha yeh dealt with terrible, deadly creatures in ..."sand world". How exactly was this encounter different?

[He raises a hand to stop Johan from giving the obvious answer.]

An' dinnae tell meh about how he hurt yer family. Ah get it. Yer family was in joost as much danger in the other place as here, right?

[thejewelergem]

It was different because the creatures in Sand World were made to attack. Harpie Lady might have a mind of her own, but that doesn't mean she's not a natural predator. This guy . . . . [He shakes his head, eyes dark.] This guy wanted to kill someone who never did anything to him just because he could. I'd never even seen him before the people he was with decided to start throwing rocks at me.

[judaspaladin]

As ah recall some biology lessons, humans have canine teeth faer meat eatin'. Man was created to hoont.

[Hm, he had been getting somewhere. Perhaps the arguement needed to be grounded in this card game of Johan's.]

The creatures were made by who, exactly?

An' explain this game tae me again.

[thejewelergem]

And that excuses man for trying to murder somebody just for kicks?

They weren't "made" by anything. Pegasus just . . . channeled them, somehow, and painted cards that connected them to my dimension. Some of them . . . it's kind of a chicken-and-egg argument. We can't say if them being . . . born, I guess, causes him to be able to see and make the cards, or if him making the cards causes them to be born, because they're from a different dimension--a few different ones, actually--and most people don't even know it's there, much less have the ability to see them.

[judaspaladin]

Ah never said tha'. A' ah'm sayin is tha' there isn' tha' much difference between "Harpy Lady" an' this man. Both have minds o' their own an' both have baser instincts. [Boy follows his own logic. This was something he hadn't necessarily missed about dealing with young ones.]

Sae these people whae use these cards...spirits...ack! [He lost where he was going with this, trying to understand the mechanics of extra-dimensional spirits in cards. Some might even call that game witchcraft. Some might call them angels. Something he'll have to ponder on later.]

Wha' dae yeh think yeh'll accomplish ifin' yeh did harm the man? Others are capable o' the same thin'.