Unexplained Lessons

Romi · Feb 19, 2019

That was... that was fair. It wasn't something he'd really thought about, but it was true now that he sat and thought about it. He didn't often think about the reasons behind what his enemies were doing. He only knew the motivations of maybe a handful of his enemies. One of them had been his father. Another was Broen. The more he thought about it, the more it occurred to him that some of the most important people in his life had once been his enemies--enemies he'd learned to empathize with.

Angelo was effectively staring into spare as he thought about it, plunking through his options. Would he have acted differently around, say, Calliope if he had known from the beginning what she'd gone through at the school? Some of his enemies had simply been evil--evil given physical form and allowed to do their nasty work--but so many of them had been humans, pushed into villainy by unfortunate circumstances.

"You're right," Angelo said after a moment. "We didn't really... Well, we didn't really deal with that sort of thing. But even so..."

His lips pressed together in a thin line.

"Sometimes it bothers me. A lot of them just kind of went away. Some of them weren't so bad. But once they were in the birdcage, they were gone from our lives forever. And realizing it now... almost all of them are just dead. They're dead because they didn't even get a chance to escape. They stayed locked up to the very end."

The thought was clearly an uncomfortable one, and Angelo averted his eyes, not quite looking at Erione.

PixelatedGlory · Feb 19, 2019

Erione patiently waited while Angelo searched for his thoughts. Completely content to sit there sipping his tea and just be a friendly presence if that was what his friend needed. The guy's life had been, and was still from what he was seeing, very emotionally taxing.

The rings of glass on his cup bent as he played with them, starting to form a shell of abstract art all around the cup. Angelo's discomfort wasn't missed by Eri though. The god let him finish speaking and then scooted closer to rest his hand lightly on Angelo's shoulder.

"Hey, that's not on you. You had to protect people from the villains even if they had reasons for doing it. Then you all gave everything you had to save people. Your actions personally ensured a huge number of lives were saved when they evacuated to here." As painful as the thought of all those trapped to die without a chance of escape was, there was a lesson to be had there. Angelo was feeling guilt so he must have realized some of the villains had redeeming qualities.

Erione used the glass on his now empty cup to float it away and rest it on the table holding the centerpiece of the shrine. It was hard to be sacrilegious when it was your own altar you were leaving things on. Although in his own way it was art too.

"Are you ok Angelo? I'm not trying to make you upset, but I think it's good for you to think through all this. We can lighten things up a bit if you need a break." Erione didnt mind distracting Angelo with something if needed, but things had to be centered on how the other teen felt. That was really all that mattered in the moment.

Romi · Feb 19, 2019

For a long time, Angelo hadn't done physical affection. Basilio was getting better, but for more or less the entire of Angelo's life, he'd been someone who kept his emotional distance. He'd had his reason for it, but that hadn't changed that until the Defiant had come into his life, things as simple as a touch to the shoulder had been entirely unknown. If Erione was paying attention (which it seemed like he was), he'd probably still feel the abrupt tension at the touch that immediately eased away.

He was getting better at that, at least.

"I'm alright," Angelo said with a shake of his head. "I think about this kind of stuff.. a lot, I guess. It's a lot to think about, and some of them are still around. Like... I don't know if you ever met her, but there's an info broker here who used to work in Halcyon. My dad. The guy who made my arm. Even Finch - I see him around the school, and it's hard not to remember how things were back there."

And Broen's father. But if Angelo never said his name again, it'd still be too soon.

"Thanks. You're... you're a good friend. You're good for second opinions and good talk. Although sometimes..."

He trailed off a moment before turning, giving Erione his full attention.

"Don't you have anything that bothers you?"

Was he just a bottler, or was he really just as relaxed as he seemed? It wasn't as if Angelo had a good point of comparison for other teenagers, and Erione... well, he wasn't exactly a human teenager.

PixelatedGlory · Feb 20, 2019

Erione almost pulled his hand back as Angelo tensed up. Plenty of people didn't like to be touched. But his friend seemed to relax almost as quickly as he had tensed up so he left it there. In his opinion Angelo needed the comforting touch.

"You're right, it's a lot to have to process," he agreed even though he didn't actually know the full extent of it. He didn't really have to though. It was quite clear from how Angelo was speaking. Not to mention he'd sought Erione out because he wanted advice.

Erione pulled his hand back away to keep Angelo from feeling weird about the contact- the purpose of the gesture had been to remind him that he was there and a friend. And that was accomplished. The shift in the conversation though did throw Erione a bit.

'Don't you have anything that bothers you?'

He decided to make sure his face was a little more serious to answer that. "Of course there are things that bother me. I'm not sure if you remember but I really really didn't like Broen when he got here. I could tell he was acting out, probably in response to things from his past, but he was really mean and rude to a lot of people. The kind of person I would refuse to allow into one of my shrines. Period. But had he really wanted to talk to me about something I still would have listened for as long as he wasn't upsetting me," he explained as he recalled meeting Broen in the Community Center. The teen had shattered through Erione's general happiness like a wrecking ball with insults and being horrible to people.

"Angelo, I'm blessed with happiness every time someone appreciates something made of glass so I'm happy a lot. But we all have things that bother us. For me it's when people are being hurtful towards me or others. It breaks my heart to see that kind of thing." He was being very honest with Angelo. Erione was happy almost all the time but he could get upset.

Romi · Feb 20, 2019

Angelo never really forgot anything. His mind was a bear trap, refusing to let go of any piece of information he didn't personally make himself forget. But that didn't mean he was actively thinking about everything he knew. He knew Erione hadn't liked Broen, but it wasn't exactly something that was in the forefront of his mind.

"I'd forgotten," Angelo said, which wasn't quite accurate, but close enough to the truth. "He's gotten better, at least. He was... well, he was an adjustment for me too. I used to be very... ah. Upper class? I guess that would be the best term for it. Broen helped me realize that we weren't so different, I guess."

Broen had taught him a lot of things, but not all of them were things he was willing to talk to Erione about.

"I guess we're just sort of... different people. I have a hard time focusing on the happy things, but I have an easier time moving past people being... uh, not so nice."

Probably because of his dad.

No, scratch that. Definitely because of his dad.

"Pros and cons to both, I guess."

PixelatedGlory · Feb 22, 2019

Erione accepted Angelo's having "forgotten" the situation, though to be perfectly honest he wasn't worried about whether Angelo had actually remembered or not. The point was to show him that even Erione could get upset at times.

He listened as Angelo described his relationship with Broen and Eri nodded. It was a perfect thing to discuss. "See, that's the way to become more empathetic with people though. You recognize that you're different but remember they're a person too and have similar needs and drives as you do," Erione explained and gave Angelo a thumbs-up.

"If it helps, maybe next time you are starting to judge someone just take a couple moments to think about what brought them into the situation. If it's out of their control or you don't know enough to make a guess then try to give them the benefit of the doubt on things."

Romi · Feb 25, 2019

It was a good thought experiment, and Angelo mentally stored it away. Just take a couple moments to think about what brought them into the situation. That gave him enough ground to be good and righteous if someone was being dumb--because several people had been exceedingly stupid when it came to the very event that had brought him there--but also gave more people a benefit of a doubt.

He nodded, giving Erione a smile after a moment.

"Thanks. That's... it's good advice. You're good at this sort of thing, but I suppose that makes sense."

Which kind of made Angelo wonder - did he get lessons, or had he just naturally figured this stuff out on his own?

"Did you want me to, ah, clear out the snow now? Might make it a bit easier for you."

PixelatedGlory · Feb 27, 2019

Erione was so pleased his words seemed to help. If not so much giving an answer as giving Angelo a nudge towards how he could work on it himself. Which, to be perfectly fair, was generally the intention. Teaching a man to fish and all that.

He grinned wide as Angelo thanked him. "I'm really glad I could help. And I'm easy to get ahold of if you need me. All you have to do is...," he paused to give it a moment as he spun a small amount of glass in his fingers. To give Angelo the chance to infer something about prayer.

And then he pulled out his phone and set it on the cushion beside him. "Call or text me," he laughed at his own joke. Whether or not it was good.

"But you're right, it's kind of part of my very being to give advice. It's in my... well I dont really have much in the way of blood but you know what I mean. I really appreciate you helping me too. It means so much to me." Technically maintaining the shrine, and access to it, was like working to protect his life. "Don't overdo it though, I'd rather have snow than see my friend hurt trying to clear it."

Romi · Feb 28, 2019

Considering how much of Erione's glass was in his room, it had genuinely never occured to Jude that he could use them to contact Erione of he needed. Even if that was kind of the point of them, he still felt like it would be a bit intrusive, so he made a note to only do that if he really needed.

Otherwise, much like Erione had said... texting worked.

"It's in your molten glasslike substance that passes for blood," Angelo said with a small chuckle under his breath. Erione didn't look it, but Angelo knew he was... vaguely... well, made of glass.

Which was weird, but so was everything on Manta Carlos.

"It's not an issue," Angelo said as he got up, stretching out and zipping his jacket up. "I don't really get tired, so as long as I don't shovel like a whole city block I'll be just fine." Doing the front path wasn't going to be a big deal at all, and the way he saw it was that it was a bit tit for tat for the advice he'd gotten.

"I'll let you know when it's all done."

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Unexplained Lessons

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