SECOND SONG ♫ TEXT

[hasitsthorns]

[ At some time that is far too late for probably anyone to be awake, a message comes across the network.

God, how she's missed being able to text. ]

Have you ever done something you regret? That you're ashamed of?
Maybe it's a lot of things. It is for me.

How do you deal with that now?
Did you find a way to make it better or did you just ignore it until it went away?
(The latter is my strategy. Hasn't worked out so well, let me tell you.)

I have trouble sometimes with it all still.
I try to do better, but...
Trying only gets you so far sometimes.

Comments

text

[hasitsthorns]

[ This sounds exactly like what she'd say. She knew there was a reason she liked Ushahin. ]

Yeah.
People are dead because of me too.

And, hey, I get that.
But we're still learning, I guess?
Sometimes I think I only make things worse but I have other people to help me put it into perspective. Sometimes.

[ushahin]

[They're on the same wavelength. After all, there had to be a few people here who liked him instead of looking at him with fear and hatred.]

It is difficult, I find, to change my behavior after remaining the same for so long. Immortality allows for such a luxury. But I am learning that I must try.

[hasitsthorns]

How old are you? If you don't mind me asking.
I'm only 340, so probably young comparatively.

I get it though, being set in your ways.
I was the same for three decades before meeting my packmates. It's still hard sometimes not to fall back on the way things were.

[ushahin]

Over a thousand and two hundred years, though I have lost track of my exact age. They tend to blur together after a certain point.

Exactly. I find that sometimes it is easier to remain the same than make any effort to change my ways. But I am trying, no matter what others here seem to think.

[hasitsthorns]

Dang.
I'll be lucky if I see a thousand. With my track record, it's probably doubtful tho.

Definitely easier.
But sometimes, I'unno. People kind of help give me an outside perspective on the things I used to do? Like I used to think not telling anyone anything was a good idea. Turns out it's kind of not. At least not ALL the time.
But hey! I believe you're trying. I think we all are in our own ways.

[ushahin]

I have been exceedingly fortunate thus far. Trust me when I say there has been quite a few things in life that have tried to kill me. None have succeeded yet.

We shall have to look out for each other then, so that we can help each other to grow. That is what people who get along do for one another, isn't it?

[hasitsthorns]

Some have, for me. I don't know if it counts in these places though.

[ ... Or if these places aren't just deeper and deeper levels of Hell. She tries not to think about that too much though. ]

It is.
I'm pretty sure.
And I'd like that, yeah.

[ushahin]

Good. We are friends now?

[Had he been on video, that would have come out as hesitating and unsure. Over a thousand years old and completely emotionally stunted, that was Ushahin. Friends weren't something he often found himself in possession of.]

[hasitsthorns]

I'd say we are.
So long as you don't mind me calling you one.

[ Rose is only convincingly human on the surface. Even now, that facade is starting to peel away as she's realizing people don't mind nearly as much here about what she is as they do back home. ]

[ushahin]

Good. I can always use another friend.

[Having people he cares about helps to keep him sane. It keeps the voices at bay, from letting them overwhelm his mind during his worst days. If he no longer has his family back home, he's found something of a substitute here in Hadriel.]

[hasitsthorns]

You and me both!

[ Funny, coming from the woman who three years ago would rather not have involved herself with any could she help it. Haven - and now Hadriel - have changed her though. She still falls into old ways, still is afraid sometimes... But she'd rather face the world now with her packmates than alone. ]