[Closed] Pray to your god, open your heart...

[notabomber]

Characters: Katsura (notabomber) and Takasugi (visceralreality)
Content: Takasugi's just joined the Amestris as a diplomat, and Katsura has promised his old comrade some of his free time. Takasugi's taken it upon himself to decide just when that will be.
Setting: Katsura's Quarters
Time: During Lunasa
Warnings: Takasugi's ceeper-ness.

Comments

[alastinglight]

"Are they all really innocent, though?"

Takasugi was one to believe that everyone was to blame for any fault or failure that the world possessed. People always cut corners, always had selfish reasons for each decision, each act, each word.

[notabomber]

"Most of them. The ones that matter." The rich were not, of course. People like his own parents had their share of sins. But those who were merely scraping by, trying to make ends meet and find a little happiness in the process, well. Those were the people he was fighting for. Not the people who used their wealth and status to arrange the world to their own benefit.

[alastinglight]

"And how do you define 'innocence'?"

Nothing had changed in Takasugi's tone, but there was a different edge to his smile now.

[notabomber]

"In regards to the workings of civilized society? Those who work for what they have, who do not seek to use others for their own gain, who do not accumulate wealth and material possessions as a means to display their status in society. The ones who look only to earn what they need... those are the true innocents."

Was there something hypocritical in that assessment? After all, money and status were the very things which had funded his education and helped him along his path. He had never asked for that aid, however, and he spurned it now. He couldn't change the circumstances of his birth, but he could change the society that allowed it.

[alastinglight]

"Yet people always end up using other people somehow. There is always someone effected by another's decisions. Another's actions."

Low and quiet and maybe a little amused, but the anger was building. He could hear the chattering start up at the back of his head; he could see those heads lined up on a riverbank, somewhere, years from where they were now.

[notabomber]

"Of course. It's an unavoidable fact of life." The only way to avoid that was to live in total isolation, after all. "But there is a difference between those who are simply going about their lives, and those who make decisions knowing full well there will be a negative impact on others, and not caring what happens to those people."

He had to believe that there were some good people in the world. The only other choice would be to give into the despair and futility of it all, as he had when he was young and unable to see beyond the flames of Bydan.

[alastinglight]

"Can you really afford to differentiate them, though?"

Takasugi brought his pipe to his lips, took a long drag before speaking. In the next moment, the smoke seemed to shroud his face.

"One should never underestimate mankind's capacity for self-delusion."

[notabomber]

"If I didn't what would be the point in doing anything?" Honestly. If he took that sort of outlook on things, the only course of action would be to give into despair and kill himself. He wasn't that eager to die.

"Of course not. But good people do exist." As jaded as the other man might be, Katsura would not be dissuaded from that notion.

[alastinglight]

A hum, and another drag.

"Be careful what you choose to believe in, Zura."

[notabomber]

"I don't see why my beliefs should be of any concern of yours." Their mutual interested had ended long ago, and so far as he knew, Takasugi had no interest in Ivona's fate.

[alastinglight]

"A man can be concerned for his friends, can he not?"

Because, until the moment they drew their blades upon each other, that was what they were: 'friends'.

[notabomber]

"While I appreciate it, you needn't worry about me," he replied. "I can handle things." Which was a gross overestimate about his ability to cope, but not one he was capable of recognizing.

[alastinglight]

No, he couldn't. At least not as much as he might have wanted to. That was something Takasugi was well-aware of, if, indeed, things had not changed since Bydan.

"If you say so."

[notabomber]

Katsura arched an eyebrow at that reply and took a sip of his tea. "You think that poorly of me?" He knew when he was being humored.

[alastinglight]

"'Poorly' is such a harsh word."

But Takasugi wasn't elaborating, wasn't trying to correct what Katsura had concluded for himself. The man finished his tea, considered the pot, then the door.

...Ah, yes. They were not finished yet.

"Have you seen him?"

They had been four, yes, but the man Takasugi talked about now could not have been anyone else.

[notabomber]

"Perhaps."

It wasn't at all difficult to guess who Takasugi meant, no. "I just saw him the other day," he replied. "His ship is in town for the festival. You didn't know?"

Strange, because those two had been the closest, out of any of them.