I'm Just A Soul Whose Intentions Are Good | Video| OTA

[ushahin]

[The first thing is that the phone has been propped between two branches on a tree in the orchard. Ushahin needs both hands for the task at hand. He's trying to peel a piece of fruit that has a bright purple skin on it. The problem is that if he tries to use his good hand to peel, his bad one can't hold onto it firmly enough, so it falls. If he tries to use his bad hand to peel while his good hand holds, his crippled fingers don't have enough force to break the skin. He'll be trying both methods alternately as he speaks in his usual soft tone.]

I was thinking tonight. A dangerous pastime, to be certain, but what I was thinking was this. How many of us who have been brought here are good? [He pauses, trying to get his nails under the skin, and he fails.]

I would ask how many of you here think you are a good person but-- [And there goes the fruit again, falling out of his bad left hand. He sighs and picks it back up.] --I don't think many of us have that high of a opinion of ourselves. I know I don't. [He's shattered too many minds and killed far too many people to think he's still got a soul anywhere close to being pure.]

So I will ask this. How many of you think those who are here with you are good people? Your family and friends, how many of them are good souls? [The fruit slips from his grasp once again.]

Damn. [He's given up trying to do this the nice, neat way. He ends the video by using his good hand for support, then biting down into the peel, and using his teeth to tear it partially off. It's not the most dignified method of being able to peel the fruit, but at this point, he's too stubborn to give up.]

Comments

[ushahin]

That is a beautiful and generous description, my friend. [He'll have to remember that next time someone asks him exactly what he thinks of himself. Ushahin sometimes wonders if he is as terrible as he sometimes thinks.]

I shall take your word for it. You are one of those that has a gift for seeing the good in others even when they cannot see it themselves.

[muscovy]

[That is a really nice thing to say. Even though it is a bit silly when people think that they're terrible when they aren't.]

I only see what is there and put it in words, yes?

[ushahin]

I try to do the same, but I tend to only see that which people wish I didn't.

[Partially because of his powers and partially just because Ushahin had never been taught boundaries. He was so often destructive without meaning it.]

[muscovy]

Like things they are bad at?

[Things that people wish he didn't see has to be something that he could harm them with, so weaknesses is Muscovy's best guess.]

[ushahin]

Sometimes. Or things that they wish would remain hidden.

[Being someone who could know everyone's secrets didn't exactly make Ushahin popular at parties.]

[muscovy]

What do you see in me, then?

[Things that he wouldn't want others to know... He likes to think that he is very honest.]

[ushahin]

Not much, my young friend. I see other places you have been, people you have seen.

[Just in a vague way. They hold no context for a half-man.]

You are very honest. That makes you one of the good ones.